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Tyson Popplestone is a Comedian from Melbourne Australia. Join him for a brand new interview each week.
Tyson (00:01.772)
Awesome, man. No, that's good. Well, it's so good to have the chance to sit down with you. I know we scheduled a couple of weeks ago to catch up for the first time, but you're just telling me before I hit record that you've had a daughter that moved from what she was in Florida with you and now she's in Queensland.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (00:16.477)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And now we're from Brisbane. I don't know exactly where it's a veterinary school that's, you know, part of the zoo. The U. What was the guy? Yeah, yeah, Irwin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the zoo is connected with the Irwins and it's apparently the top 22nd school in the world. So she got accepted and of course, was very excited. She's doing great. Only one problem we have.
Tyson (00:29.838)
Steve Irwin.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (00:46.903)
She had a dog here and she misses her dog and getting animals into Australia seems to be very, very tricky and it can be done, but it seems to be very abusive to get them in 10 days quarantine and into so cages. So I don't know how it's going to end up with her missing her dog, but we'll see what happens. Whatever happens, happens.
Tyson (01:00.238)
It's a.
Tyson (01:12.11)
Man, I don't know how much you know about the reputation of Australia, but internationally, we paint the picture that we're so laid back, we're so relaxed, and then you try and bring a dog into our country and we say, hold up a second, this is pushing it too far. It was wild, actually. A few years ago, we had a story of Johnny Depp, the actor, trying to get his dog into Australia because of the fact that he was recording a movie here. I'm not sure if it was a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean or what it was, but...
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:20.443)
Ha ha.
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:29.533)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:38.877)
Yeah.
Tyson (01:39.534)
It was it was Australian news that Johnny Depp's dog was being refused entry into Australia. And so many we're not letting Johnny Depp's dog in. I don't know whose dog we're letting him without the paperwork. But yeah, it's it's really interesting. How she settling in up there. The the world of Queensland is nice, man. Brisbane. I'm not sure how much you know about it. It's not going to be too much of a transition from the weather from Florida. I think it's a little more tropical. It's where you go for the water. It's where you go for the weather. It's where you go if you want to see the.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:50.743)
Yeah?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (02:03.421)
Yeah.
Tyson (02:09.23)
in my opinion, the really nice stereotype of Australia. Maybe not Brisbane specifically.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (02:15.271)
Okay, yeah, yeah, I don't know. She's been on some hikes and she's been already obviously animals she needs to see. There were some kangaroos in her yard and she's seen koalas already. So she's in heaven. She just misses her dog. So.
Tyson (02:27.05)
No, awesome, man, that's good. It's nice to know that we're going to have an excuse to get you into the country. But I've been man, I've been so pumped to have to have a chance to sit down with you because you're seeing is a scene that I'm so fascinated by. I mean, I don't know how many of the past guests you've seen on this show, but there seems to be a real theme around health, around wellness, around performance. And when I read through your bio, when I listen to your talks, I go, okay, well, this guy's the epitome.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (02:33.565)
That's right.
Tyson (02:54.83)
of the guests that I like to speak to on this show. And it's interesting because you look at your bio and I know it's the PhD in health, nutrition, wellness, but I mean, that boils down so beautifully into a number of topics which are really trending today at biohacking, anti -aging subjects I'm really interested in. So we've got, I mean, we've got a whole world of topics to cover potentially, but I thought maybe I could be selfish for a moment and guide the conversation into something that I'm fascinated by.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (03:17.693)
That's right.
Tyson (03:24.398)
I recently turned 37. So depending on where you sit, that's either very young or getting quite old. To my mom, I'm young, to my son, I'm old. But I mean, in my mind, every birthday you go, well, okay, I'm getting a little bit older. So the subject of anti -aging is fascinating to me for purely aesthetic reasons. I've noticed the wrinkles on my face getting a little deeper. I'm still into exercise. I love fitness, I love health, but there's constantly,
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (03:34.237)
That's right.
Tyson (03:53.624)
new areas in the anti -aging world, which seem to be talking about. So Matt, maybe we could start there. That's a topic that I'm fascinated by. I don't know if there's anything in the actual scene which has really got your attention at the moment, but I'd love to hand you the baton to kickstart the conversation around anti -aging and maybe we could dig into that a little bit together.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (04:03.215)
Yeah, I know.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (04:14.973)
Yeah, as much as you want.
Tyson (04:17.548)
Awesome. It's a man that the anti -aging subject is from what I remember. Correct me if I'm wrong. I feel as though maybe the last three or four years it's become a huge topic with is it Dr. David Sinclair? I've seen his name be mentioned quite a bit on shows like Joe Rogan. But it seems that we're at a strange time in history where it's a combination of both the natural and the supplemental.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (04:35.141)
Yeah.
Tyson (04:44.622)
or the science things which are being blended together to really improve the, you know, not only the health of your body, but the, the appearance of, of the outside of it. When you talk about anti -aging, where does that conversation even start for you? Are we starting at science? Are we starting at exercise? What is it that we should be focusing on when we're dipping our toes in that thing?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (05:04.221)
Well, you know, there's a lot of, of course, if you want to be successful, you have to have foundations in place. But, you know, you mentioned your age, 37 and to your son, you're old and to your mom, you're young, right? But we got to get away from thinking about or even remembering it's not necessary. Our chronological age doesn't mean anything. And what I mean with that is I just saw a patient and he was 87.
and he had a knee replacement and I said, what other medical conditions are you diagnosed with? He said nothing. So he was your 87 year old that looks 60 that can do whatever he wants to do. He got a knee replacement but wants to continue to travel and hike. So that's your 87. But then on the other hand, you have 60 year olds that are in and out of the hospital with their first stroke, they're overweight, they got metabolic syndrome and everything's going on. And they may keep that 60 year old alive another 20 or 30 years.
but they're not really living, right? They're in and out of the hospital, they have no quality of life. So what does that number of your chronological age mean? Really nothing, because some people at 60, their life's basically over and other people at 87, they still got 20 good years to go. So what's really important is what we call our biological age, which is how old is our body, our biology, our physiology.
And today we can actually measure our biological age, which is good because we can use that measurement as a baseline and then incorporate lifestyle modifications and biohacking strategies and whatnot to see if they're effective in reversing that biological age because that's what biohacking actually means in my opinion, from a health point of view, it's reversing, objectively reversing your biological age, increasing your lifespan because today,
I really believe that anybody, not just the elite, if we implement these biohacking strategies and tips, et cetera, I believe anybody easily can get to 100 years chronologically, but more importantly, have a biological age of 50, 40, 50, meaning is you are 100, but you're able to do the things that a 40, 50 year old can do, meaning still travel, play golf, and whatever it is that you like to do.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (07:19.975)
And so that's about quality of life. It's about lifespan and health span. So we're trying to get away from chronological age. It's just something on your passport. It's not important. Your biological age, that's what's important. And that's what we need to work on.
Tyson (07:32.398)
It makes so much sense. It's a great answer because you often, I know I get caught up on the number, as I mentioned, 37, 40 is just around the corner. People start to speak about aches and pains like it's a natural part of the progression in your age. And I've heard enough people like you speak to not buy into it too much anymore. In fact, the most recent experience I had, my background is distance running. I got back into some distance running after about five or six years away from competitive training.
and I started to have some calf troubles. And it was amazing to me how many people said, oh, it's old man calves. This is just part of the territory. And I mean, again, I'd heard enough people speak to know that there were things to do. I'm on top of it and have had about six months of consistent running with no issue. But I think a lot of the time it's easier just to put something in a box and label it than it is to bury, dig down a little deeper and find out, okay, what is actually going on? And okay, is it biology? Is it age? Is it habit? Is it routine?
And what can I actually do to see improvements in this particular area? But as I say, the point of just labeling something, I think it's much easier and perhaps not as scary for a lot of people because it means that you can do less thinking when it's got a label. And so beneath the label of biology or biohacking, what are we actually talking about?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (08:52.349)
Yeah, well, no, again, biohacking is doing those types of things that we can reverse our biological age. So when I maybe the best way to explain it is when I have clients, I usually put them in three categories. Number one, we need to regain control of our health. And unfortunately, that's the majority. So those are people that are overweight, have a medical diagnosis, currently have a few cancer patients, Parkinson's, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, have those types of patients.
And on the other spectrum, I work with top athletes, but many people, you know, we need to start at that first phase is regain control. So we need to get back to normal because we're below normal. We got to eradicate that diagnosis or that disease. We got to get to optimal weight and we got to get back to that baseline, that normal line. Unfortunately, the second phase then is when we're back to normal and we don't have any pain and we're at an optimal body composition and we're not diagnosed with anything and everything seems to be okay.
then we need to get in phase number two to optimal health. So this is where we incorporate lifestyle modifications where we now are strong and vital and fit, you know, like an athlete as yourself, where we're not coming home and we're tired and we're watching Netflix and no, we're at optimal level when it comes to health. And then step number three is when we are in optimal health, that would be the ideal foundation.
to maximize the benefits of biohacking. Now we're in ultimate health. Now we're gonna reverse our biological age, right? But we can't start there because if we start giving you strategies and technologies and you're not gonna respond to those because your body is busy putting out fires, dealing with a disease, dealing with being obese, et cetera. So there's these three stages that I put people through and you may start at one, two or three, right? But...
But even in the biohacking world, when biohacking actually has many different definitions, I explained already the one that relates to health, which is objectively reversing our biological age, but simply said, it's upgrading the body, the mind and life, right? So now how do we upgrade is basically the question. Well, if you wanna have long -term effects and upgrade, we need to have some foundations in place, right?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (11:11.325)
And so those foundations don't, they don't have to cost money because people think, oh, biohacking, it's probably where we have to invest in technology. We probably have to have a hyperbaric chamber in the house. We need a whole body photo biomodulation device, which is $100 ,000. Now, if you have the money, yes, go ahead, but make sure your foundation's in place because again, you can have the money, but if you don't have your foundations in place, you're not gonna respond to those technologies either. So.
For all of your listeners, we can put certain foundations in place. In my latest book, I talk about seven foundations that are very simple and easy that everybody can do to kind of lay the framework or the basis for biohacking and reversing that biological age.
Tyson (11:56.014)
Yeah, it's so interesting how many people when they start a new routine, particularly in exercise and for my own selfish reasons, distance running, you'll see a person go, okay, I want to start running. And they go, and it is amazing to watch a person who has a little bit of money, a little bit of cash to throw around go, all right, hey, what shoes are going to help me run the fastest? What watch do I need? What's the most comfortable hat? I go, Hey, let's.
Let's flip this on its head because the truth is right now we've got to get you running consistently for a couple of days a week. Don't worry about your new Nike Vaporfly Marathon racing shoes because they might be efficient in improving the time of a person who's at an elite level over the marathon. But for you, we've got to figure out what shoe feels comfortable. And it's a very overwhelming experience. I think when you take that approach, you start digging first into the science and into the technology and go, okay, this is the start point.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (12:40.541)
Yeah.
Tyson (12:51.342)
But there's something, it seems as though the order that you just explained, there's like a natural progression in what it is that you're doing. Cause once you first of all get yourself back to a healthy baseline and then start taking steps towards improving that, then okay, you've got your body in order, your physiology is adapting to what it is that you're throwing at it. The idea of actually making adjustments technologically and whatever else, I mean, as far as I know, that is the next logical step.
What do you think that is? Like, why is it that we're getting so caught up on the technology side of things without an understanding of the basics? Because I think it doesn't matter whether you look at diet or exercise or sport, it seems to be a theme that trends whenever we start a new topic. We tend to lean towards the complex rather than focusing on the simple.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (13:39.773)
Yeah, of course, you know, it's a technological age. We live in number one. Number two, you know, I mean, it's the propaganda and the marketing, you know, this technology, because as humans, you know, we look for conveniences, right? Nobody has much self -control and self -discipline anymore. And so we're always looking for that shortcut or for that magic pill or for that silver bullet, right? Our magic bullet.
And so, you know, when there's a technology, we think, oh, I don't have to put in the work. This technology is going to do it for me. And partially that may or not may be true. But if you have your foundations in work and in place and you put those foundations, you know, if you put in the work to put those foundations in place, then those technologies are going to be so much more effective because your body can respond to them. Right. And so, but I think.
to answer your question is this people always looking for that shortcut is for that instant gratification and and just you know many times that's a disappointment because it doesn't exist.
Tyson (14:46.926)
Hmm. Yeah, it's so true. It's amazing how quickly even still I catch myself doing things that I know like, uh, for my health, my wellbeing, it's not necessarily nice, but for the dopamine hit, it's pretty enjoyable, especially you've been through the young kid phase before when they go to bed, the amount of times I find myself scrolling through Instagram just to dull my mind. I go, my God, it's like, this is my wife and I have a deal at the moment where if she catches me on there for more than 15 minutes at a time, any minute over that, I owe her a massage. And so.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (14:58.525)
Sure. Yeah.
Tyson (15:16.142)
She has one of the healthiest backs in the world at the moment because I've been going over the limit a little bit more. But I mean, so, I mean, there's so many different places we could start, but let me just start here. A client comes to you and they go, man, look, Mike, I'm relatively healthy. My baseline's good. I'm exercising regularly. I feel pretty good, but I want to optimize. I want to dip my toes into this world of technology. I don't have all the money in the world.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (15:16.253)
Oh, there you go. Yeah.
Tyson (15:45.134)
Where do you direct them first? Because I'm familiar with things like, I'm probably the perfect client for you in this sense is I'm familiar with the Aurarings. I'm familiar with Strava. I'm familiar with a couple of things that you can do at home to, to at least monitor some of the data that you're being sent if you had access to it. But beyond that, I'm pretty much a man lost in the wilderness. I don't know what's available. Cryo chambers you mentioned.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (16:02.653)
Yeah.
Tyson (16:15.66)
Where do you direct me?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (16:17.085)
Yeah, well, no, again, I would if you were my client, of course, I would have to know a few baselines, some blood work, some other parameters and your biological age and we'll get those done. So we have a baseline that we're to see. OK, what are your goals? And then we're going to prioritize what's what's most important. But with most people, we have to get those seven foundations in place. And they're very simple. I can go over them if you want to. And then then I would probably follow up if you like with with.
you know, the top biohacking things today. What is it as a biohacker? What are the main and easiest things to do that give the most bang for your buck or the most effect on your health today? But the seven foundations are easy. So the first one is, you know, oxygen. We all get 21 % of oxygen, right? But the problem is that we don't know what to do with it because 99 % of us breathe through the mouth.
They also call us shallow chest breathers, right? But this particular thing we got, because that's what we're supposed to breathe in and out through, the mouth is to speak and to eat. So the nose becomes important, most people don't know, but we need to, a normal breath is five counts in through the nose, capturing the nitric oxide that sits here, driving that oxygen deep into the lower lobes of the lungs, the tissues and the cells.
you know, while we have the nitric oxide. So five counts in through the nose, six counts out through the nose. And so everybody can start learning that and learn about breath work. You can get YouTube, you can get, you can learn it anywhere at no cost. The best app today is called The Source or The Breath Source. You can download that for free because all the breath masters in the world are on that same app. It's a great platform. So The Breath Source, I think they changed the name to The Source.
You can download on your smart device. But think about this. Yes, we need oxygen to live. But at the same time, oxygen also is our enemy because oxygen means oxidative stress. It's aging, it's rusting, right? Oxygen rusts, it ages us quickly. So if we learn to breathe properly, five in through the nose, six out, we only would take an average of five and a half breaths per minute. Right now, most people are 16 breaths or higher.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (18:34.813)
So we would increase our efficiency by 300 % just by learning to breathe properly. It may be the number one biohack right there. Okay. Now imagine you learn how to breathe properly and then you do 100 % oxygen treatments or you do hyperbaric chamber or meditation. The effectiveness of those now becomes much, much more effective because you know what to do with that oxygen. So step number one, learn to breathe properly, right?
Tyson (18:44.846)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (19:04.317)
Step number two, water. All right, we are a plumbing system, circulatory system, lymphatic system, which is part of our immune system and so on. So stagnation equals disease. So if you think about a plumbing system, we need to constantly pour water down that system. So you need to drink enough water and hopefully clean water. And with clean, I mean, you know, no fluoride, no toxins and stuff in that water. So based on where you live in the world, find out.
Tyson (19:04.334)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (19:33.917)
what toxins are in your water and make sure you get some kind of a system to filter those toxins out so you can drink enough clean water. My water has stabilized hydrogen into, we can talk about hydrogen rather if you like, but hydrogen is something great inhalation -wise and drinking -wise. But, and then enough water, clean water, step number two. Step number three, I could say movement because we just talked about a plumbing system stagnation. So besides drinking water, if we want to,
keep things moving, we have to move. And I usually don't use the word exercise when I talk about health, because exercise is a scary word for people who don't, right? But from a health point of view, we don't have to go to the gym or we don't have to run marathons as long as we move. Because I know people that are in the gym every morning, seven days a week for an hour, an hour and a half, but they're not healthy because the rest of the day they sit at a desk selling insurance, for example, right?
So that's not healthy either. So it's about constantly moving, whether it's walking, playing with the kids, playing with the dogs, being outdoors and those types of things. So movement becomes important. Now, if you can't move, that's when the technology is coming into place, right? If you have that sedentary job, there's high frequency vibration plates, there's high frequency massagers, there's mini trampolines. You gotta find ways that you constantly can move. Number four, the opposite of movement is rest, right? So...
During rest or during sleep, a deep delta sleep, everybody knows we recuperate, we renew, we replenish, and all these renewal processes and repairing processes are going on. So if we can get into a deep delta sleep, you know, the damages accumulate pretty quickly. I usually use the analogy of a supermarket. If the people that work at night to restock the shelves strike for one or two days, there is no supermarket.
It's the same with our body. We need to have the time to repair, renew, regenerate. And so a deep delta sleep is important. And most people don't have good sleep these days, right? They don't get into a high quality sleep. So we need to find a way to get into that. And there's many things that I do with my clients, but to just give your listeners an idea, one of the main thing is you cannot eat.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (21:53.533)
several hours, three, four, five hours before you go to bed because you don't want digestion to take place and your body still be working when you're trying to get into a deep delta sleep. Number two, a lot of people when they go to sleep, their mind is going wild, right? Oh, I gotta do this tomorrow, I gotta go there, gotta pick up the kids, I gotta do this, I gotta go to that meeting, what I'm gonna say at the meeting and so our minds don't shut up. So as part of my evening routine or evening power routine,
I do a one minute visualization where I go in my mind to the next 24 hours, step by step, and I make the right decisions at each point of contact. And so we've run one minute, I go through the next 24 hours, so now my mind can be at peace and I don't have to worry about the next 24 hours when I go to sleep. So that's just a very small part of my evening routine. So whatever it takes, you need to wake up refreshed.
And if right now you're listening and you're not wake up refreshed and ready to go, you need to do something about that, you know, getting into a deep delta sleep. And there are technologies out there that can help you, whether it's, you know, natural supplements or whether it's a brain tap, which is technology. There's many things out there, but you need to find something that works. So that's number four. Number five is sunlight. Light stimulates all biological, physiological and nutritional processes in our body.
And again, the best way to think of that is when you think about the animals around the equator in the rainforest, we got our tigers, we got our strong, beautiful, vibrant and colorful animals versus those that live in the dark, a mole. They're even blind, right? So who you wanna be really, you know? And so that's all caused by sunlight. And so we need to spend more time outdoors to get that fresh air.
to be outdoors and we can take our shoes off and do some grinding at the same time because we can stack our biohacks, we can be out there breathing in properly fresh air, we can be grinding and we can be exposed to sunlight. Now, sunlight is not the same as heat because heat exhausts us, right? It's the sunlight that's very important and we gotta take our clothes off. I'm not suggesting everybody starts walking around naked but especially at the house, shorts, get that t -shirt off, we need to be exposed to that sunlight.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (24:13.533)
So again, if you're living Norway or Iceland in the winter and it's 24 seven dark, that's where the technologies come in. And you can do them at home too if you're forced to be trapped inside because of your job. There are all counts of light sources, red light therapies, et cetera, that may be a semi good substitution, but the most powerful sources are in mother nature, right? So that's number five. Number six.
is upgrading our diet, right? We always talk about diet, but it's just a part of our upgrades, our foundations. The best way, I guess, to explain it, because we could talk about diet 24 hours easily, right? But the best way I think is, my opinion is that the cause of all disease is toxemia. And toxemia literally means toxins in the blood.
But in a little bit more detail what it means is that as part of daily living, as part of our metabolism, we obviously produce waste and toxins, but in a healthy organism, those toxins are removed from our body through the bowels, the kidneys, the skin, etc. So no harm is done. However, if we are exposed to or take in far more toxins than the body possibly can eliminate, then there's an accumulation of toxins in our blood and our body. And that's what we call toxemia.
Now, scientific research shows that there's two things happening when those toxins are floating around. Number one, these toxins steal an electron from a healthy atom, which then becomes unstable, which we all know as free radicals. And we can go into that, but I know most of your listeners know about free radicals and free radical damage. But number two, even more important to understand is that we are now in a state of emergency because we cannot keep up with the elimination of toxins. So the body is constantly trying to neutralize those.
And in conventional medicine, we actually have a name for that. It's called systemic inflammation. And even according to conventional medicine today, systemic inflammation is responsible for over 90 % of all diseases, right? So that's why I say toxemia is the cause of all disease. So how do we prevent disease and stay healthy? Well, theoretically simple. We need to keep toxemia in check. How do we do that? We need to do whatever we can.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (26:32.125)
to reduce the exposure and intake to toxins and intake of toxins from what? Man -made foods, man -made drinks, they're loaded. Over -the -counter prescription medication, household products, cleaning products, the cosmetic products we put on our skin. And then of course, electromagnetic frequencies, our wifi, our cell phones, our fluorescent light bulbs. We need to do whatever we can to mitigate that.
And at the same time, increase the nutrients that do what? Fight free radical damage and repair our DNA and fight systemic inflammation. And if we just tip that balance, then we will be bulletproof against any virus or disease of the 21st century. And so that's what I teach my people to do is we don't have to become health freaks, but we need to tip that balance and be in control of that balance.
Tyson (27:22.638)
Yeah and is there a last one? Was there six or seven?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (27:25.533)
Yes, the last one is number seven, probably the most important one. And I start with all the clients there, it's upgrading our mindset because the mind not only controls the body, controls health, controls disease, it's also the blueprint for our future, our success and our failures. So, you know, we really need to work on our mindset. And I mean, I work with cancer patients, like I said, and so they have been labeled, you got cancer.
you will die probably within one year. And if there's patients believe that then the doctor's gonna be right. So we need to get rid of labels. We need to get rid of negative thoughts, negative words. So my cancer patients, I forbid the word cancer when I work with them. And so we need to get rid of the past experience and labeling and be built forward by the future. And we need to work on the belief systems because if...
If you have any down in your mind that you are gonna survive that cancer or beat the cancer or like win a marathon, whatever, or fulfill your goals and dreams, doesn't matter what it is. If you have any down in your mind that the universe has two options, failure or success. If you have no down in your mind that you're gonna beat cancer, win a gold medal, be the top salesperson in your company, doesn't matter. There's no doubt the universe only has one option, a big win.
So you can see how important it is to shift and to limit the doubts and increase the belief system being pulled forward by the future, not held back by the past. So with the cancer patient, you're gonna focus on beating the cancer, continue to live, see your grandkids grow up, still hiking, still golfing, and then utilize that, like you said, in a daily power routine where we use techniques such as visualization, manifestation, meditation, breath work, gratitude journaling.
whatever works for that person to on a daily basis, project that outcome. And probably it's the most important one because the first six are not gonna be as effective with that right mindset.
Tyson (29:32.462)
Man, really, really well said. I mean, you said that we could do a podcast on each of those. I reckon we could dedicate a whole podcast towards each of those subjects and have enough content to get through every week. But I mean, for the sake of the conversation today, perhaps I can rewind the clock to the first one. We can break them down a little bit because everything you just said then is a real topic of fascination for me. I mean, to go back to number one, I've been lucky enough to sit down with Patrick McCowen and James Nestor.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (29:44.603)
Yes.
Tyson (30:01.312)
author of the Oxygen Advantage, author of Breath and just be introduced to this idea of breath work. And that was where I first heard of this idea of an overuse of oxygen. Or I think, I'm not sure if it's, I think it's James Nestor refers to it as almost a greediness when it comes to oxygen. We breathe the way we eat a lot too much. And that idea is, is,
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (30:22.959)
Yeah.
Tyson (30:25.582)
quite foreign. It was very new to me, this idea that we could possibly be breathing too much. I always thought as an athlete that the most effective athlete was just the athlete who had the most oxygen going through the body. But what James Nestor corrects is no, it's the athlete who is the most efficient with the oxygen that they're actually absorbing to actually nourish their body with that oxygen, exert that CO2 most effectively or deal with that CO2 most effectively that's going to be helped. I've had two sinus surgeries.
in my past, the first one was in 2010, the second one was in 2013 or 14. I was getting ready for a third sinus surgery. The ear, nose and throat doctor said, unfortunately Tys, this is just gonna be a part of your routine forever. Ironically, I've got a slight head cold at the moment. It's not a common problem anymore. But I went to this meeting, I was getting ready to pay another however many thousands of dollars to get this.
this procedure done and my wife's grandma who was in my mind a little bit of a hippie She said you know what it sounds like you have like an allergy to dairy or something or there's something in milk She goes do you drink a lot of it and I go well, yes, I drink more of that than I do water She goes, okay Do me a favor she goes if it's wrong ignore me cut all dairy out of your diet for one month and See how you go. That was 2014. I never had that third sign of third sign of surgery
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (31:36.349)
So yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (31:48.669)
You'll be fine, yeah?
Tyson (31:53.91)
Symptoms disappeared, exercise improved, health improved, night sweats for a big part completely stopped. I was healthy. It is amazing that, and perhaps it's not as amazing after the last couple of years, that we've been told to trust the experts. And it turns out that a lot of the time the experts have no idea what the fuck they're talking about.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (32:16.861)
Certainly, if it's not government, you know, dairy is totally useless to any human being, you know, that easily can be proven, but it's propaganda, right? It's getting supposedly your calcium, etc., etc., etc. But, you know, it's the wrong type of calcium. And again, there's nothing nutritious about any milk, especially not from another species.
Tyson (32:39.694)
Yeah. Is that okay? That's so interesting because at the moment I, I, this probably shows a lack of education or a lack of, um, uh, understanding on my part, but we still have some organic dairy products in the fridge for my boys, which I give him. He has a little bit of yogurt each day. You think unnecessary unhelpful.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (32:58.813)
No, just what I do with patients too is like, instead of getting a second opinion from any physician, which is probably not a good idea anyways, is just ask yourself, what do animals in the wild do? And it will give you many answers. And so when we talk about milk, look at any animal in the wild on this planet. When do they drink milk? Well, from the mother's breast, right? And so when they get off the mother's breast, what do they drink for the rest of their life? Just water.
No coffee, no tea, no soda, nothing. And so here we are as humans, you know, pushed into our milk's important for calcium and all accounts of other reasons, but it's not. And even our biology is proof because from the day we're born till we're about one year old, we produce an enzyme called lactase, which breaks down lactose. But after one year of age,
We don't produce that enzyme anymore because Mother Nature intended us not to ever drink milk again because we come off the mother's breast. And then as humans, we get a little bit of a perversion because now we drink the milk that's intended for the young of another species, whether it's a cow or a goat or et cetera. And so if you look at cow's milk, the calcium content is much, much higher.
than mother's milk because a cow needs to grow much faster than a human would grow and the type of calcium is not absorbed by a human. And so a lot of kids that continue to drink milk, you know, they get all of allergies, yes, because there's mucus production also, but you know, and intolerances, et cetera, it causes a lot of upset because the body does not know how to break it down. When people ask me about lactose intolerance,
All of us, all humans above one age, one year of age are lactose intolerant. That doesn't mean they have symptoms because there's always coping mechanisms, right? But we're all lactose intolerant because we don't have the enzyme to break it down. There is no use for milk. And where do the cows get the calcium from? I mean, at least if they're still grazing grass, they get it from the greens, right? So that's where we get our good.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (35:10.757)
calcium from that that's absorbed by our bodies from greeny leafy vegetables. That's where the calcium comes from. So there's no need for any milk. When you come up the mother's breast, there's water.
Tyson (35:16.94)
Man, I'm gonna... Yeah, I'm gonna clean my fridge.
Yeah, I mean, it makes so much sense. It makes so much sense. I don't even know why it's something that I've settled for with my kids when it's, I think maybe convenience to a degree, because I think to a large degree, most of the food, I know I'm jumping ahead here to diet, but a lot of the food that we'll have is, I've made the shift in the last few years to, as I've learned more about glyphosates and sprays and things that are over foods, just to eliminate so much of the unorganic and go towards brands which are fairly well trusted.
to be organic for the most part, trying to eliminate at least that pesticide. But with things like dairy, maybe a laziness or maybe, yeah, I'm not 100 % sure I've got an answer for it, but.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (36:01.501)
convenience, a habit, you know, that easily can be broken.
Tyson (36:04.014)
For sure. Yeah, for sure. For sure it can be broken. The second topic I feel still has a reputation in a lot of people's minds as, and I guess you mentioned the word propaganda a couple of times. I think that's a big part of the next one is when you're producing water en masse for an entire population, obviously there's gonna be treatments that go into that water to make sure that the population isn't getting.
I'm not sure exactly what it is, maybe stomach viruses or bugs. You've got to kill it somehow, deal with it somehow, treat it somehow. And so, I mean, it's no secret anymore that if you take a trace of the water from wherever you are in the world, there's a good chance that there's going to be additional appearances of sort of foreign substances in that water. So a good alternative, I'm not sure what you use specifically. I'd love to hear.
But about three or four years ago, we got a, it's called a Genzone or a Genzone filter. And I think they call it reverse osmosis. So I'm not a hundred percent sure the process it takes, but the idea is it extracts a whole heap of those foreign substances out and hopefully leaves you with something that resembles a more natural source of water. I mean, I know some people are sourcing their own water. I'm not that committed just yet. I don't know if we'll have the time in the day to justify it, but I'd love to hear about what you're doing and why.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (37:13.659)
Yes.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (37:18.525)
Yeah.
Tyson (37:24.078)
when it comes to the water that you drink.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (37:24.413)
Yeah, again, like you said, it's very hard because you really got to do a little bit of research and you got to find out which filters and which system take out which toxins, right? So the first thing is to find out what's in your local drinking water and then find the right treatment system that takes out those toxins. That's number one. Number two, you got to consider, are you just going to do it with your drinking water or can you afford a whole house system where also your shower water?
the water you use for washing your clothes, et cetera, also takes out those toxins because if it's just the drinking water, you still get it absorbed to your skin, especially, you know, we got a lot of chlorine in our water here in the United States. So when you take a hot shower, the chlorine fumes are just coming in and you're getting into a gas chamber literally and you're inhaling it, right? So, and then washing your clothes too, it all sits in there. So, you know, step number one, what toxins are there? Step number two, look at the different systems that are out there.
and ask the right questions and then make sure that those toxins are filtered because certain filters are maybe only taking certain particles or certain toxins. So it's important to match that with your local water supply and then ask yourself, you know, can you afford a whole house water system or just the drinking water? And if you can't afford all our systems, start with the drinking water, right? And then, you know, if it filters too much, then you're again, then you're with that water, right? And that's...
then it also takes the minerals out. So there are systems that would filter the heavy metals and the toxins and the chloramine and the chlorine, but also then re -infuse it with some minerals, right? And then my system also infuses with hydrogen gas. So, I mean, there's hundreds and hundreds of options and you just got to do a little bit research, but I would start really educating yourself on what's in my drinking water that's not good and which type of filter do I need to eliminate those toxins. That would be step number one.
Tyson (39:19.182)
Yeah, and what are you doing when it comes to showering? Do you have something attached to your house where it just pretty much cleans all the water that's coming out?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (39:26.813)
Yes, you could do that too. It's a whole house system. So whatever the water comes in, usually in the garage or something like that, you could set a system that all the water that comes into the house, your washing machine, your sink, your dishwasher, your showers, then all that water goes through the filtration system first. But obviously, they could be expensive. Yeah.
Tyson (39:46.542)
sure. Yeah, it's really interesting hearing you talk about the chlorine in the water in the US. I mean, I've been to the US a few times. I don't know, I was in Oregon, I was at the other side of the country to where you're at at the moment. I'm not 100 % sure that the difference...
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (39:59.037)
The US is bad. The US really doesn't care about the health of that. They're one of two countries that put fluoride in drinking water and fluoride. You can look it up because there's always this argument with dentists too, because we got fluoride in our toothpaste, right? And supposedly it makes your teeth white, but that's bogus too, because there's really no direct research that shows that. But so have the companies told the dentists, right? Just like the big pharma tell the doctors what medications do, so do the...
the dental companies, you know, tell the dentist on what it does. But if you just Google it, you know, or do a little bit of research, fluoride is a neurotoxin, just like aluminum and those types of things, then you don't want them into your drinking water and get a daily dose of those toxins. So you got to be careful. That's why you got to know, you know, certain toxins are toxic, but other toxins are really, really bad. And fluoride is a really bad one. And it's in the US drinking water. You know.
Tyson (40:57.966)
Yeah, I mean, this is something I've been interested in because I've still got a couple of, I had a terrible diet when I was younger, not because I thought, not because I wasn't interested in health. I was, I just, as a young kid, bought into the idea, a surface level idea that if it's, if it's fat free, it's healthy. And so 95, 99 % of my diet was just filled with sugar and I've got the fillings to prove it. So I'm in the process just at the moment of I'm booking in this year to, I've got some of the, the mercury fillings. Um,
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (41:13.501)
Yeah, sure.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (41:17.755)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (41:25.853)
I would say, yeah.
Tyson (41:26.126)
that are still in my mouth, speaking of neurotoxins, I've heard they're not great for you. So I'm in the process of trying to organise for that to be removed. Is that something that you would say is obviously essential?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (41:30.907)
Nope.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (41:35.389)
Yeah, I did it. One of my best friends are a biological dentist. So they only use biologics when you go there, but they also will be able to do what you're going to do is remove the harmful fillings and replace it with something biological.
Tyson (41:49.102)
or your teeth look amazing at the moment. So if there's someone I'm gonna hear about talk about, you know, using a fluoride free toothpaste, what's going on there? Cause I mean, I've got a little, I wouldn't wanna be in a photo next year. Cause you got me covered in the white department. They look great.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (42:03.613)
Yeah, no, again, fluoride free, you do whatever you can. We talked about toxemia on every level. You got to avoid those toxins so you can lower that intake and then increase the nutrients that neutralize those toxins and repair your DNA, whatever is damaged. And if you can do that, you're in good shape and you got the foundations in place.
Tyson (42:26.318)
Yeah. How do you go talking to people about sunlight? Because in Australia, sun is a terrifying word to so many people. And if you're outside for more than 10 minutes, you've got to be layered up in sunscreen. You've got to be making sure you're putting your hat on, putting your sunscreen on, covering up. It's amazing the conversation around what is one of the most natural things in the world. I find it so interesting. I laugh with my mum quite a lot because she works in an office job. She's not as interested in health.
as I am, she'll listen if an expert says, hey, you got to be making sure you're layering up in sunscreen. She'll do it because she wants to, she'll want to take care of her health. But I mean, it's interesting how, how many people are fine to put like a carcinogenic sunscreen on their skin because they're afraid of what the sun might do. But, but what is this, what is this fear of the sun? Because I'm in a little coastal town.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (43:01.693)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (43:11.333)
and absorbed it all.
Well, you have to, people have a difficulty distinguishing between sunlight and heat. Again, let's look at the animals in the wild. When do they go out in the open? Early in the morning, late in the evening, that's when they hunt. Then when they eat their prey, they go in the shade and they rest for hours and hours because that's what we all should do when we eat. That's why breakfast is the least important meal in the day.
When we eat, we need to relax and let digestion takes place. Because when we eat lunch, for example, you have an eight to five work, then you go out for lunch and you come back to work. How do you feel? You know, very lethargic and fatigued because all your energy is going to digestion, but you need that energy to do your job. So you kind of end up with two half ass jobs, right? So, you know, but if you look at animals in the wild again, they go out when the sun comes up.
And when the sun goes down and they get the sunlight, they avoid the heat because the heat will exhaust you, right? So it's not that the sunlight that gives you, you know, some stroke and exhaustion and hydration, that's the heat of the sun that does that. So we need to avoid the heat, but we need to seek out the light, the sunlight. And that's early morning. And when the, when, you know, when the hot part of the day is over, that's when you want to be outside for hours.
Tyson (44:33.23)
So you can get them? Yeah.
Tyson (44:40.238)
And should we be paying attention to UV? Because I know we've got apps here in Australia that says the UV is this. Perhaps that is a good guide. So just avoid the hottest, the...
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (44:48.701)
Well, yeah, when the sun comes up, the first half hour, I mean, in the United States, the first hour or so, there is no UVA or UVB. So that's the part of the day you want to be out because the UV is not there yet. Right. So those are the parts of the day the animals are out and that's when we should be out.
Tyson (45:01.262)
Yeah.
Tyson (45:05.326)
It makes so much sense. So you've just got to be a little more intelligent with the times you choose to be out in the sunlight. Yeah, I think a lot of the time we throw the baby out with the bath water and we go, okay, sun's bad at all times, don't see it. But that does make, you can feel the difference, can't you? If I'm outside early in the morning and there is a nice sunrise, you can feel that there's, not only is it peaceful and enjoyable to watch, but you can feel that it lacks the intensity that what that midday sun does sort of feel. So I mean, from a health perspective, at least psychologically, you notice it.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (45:10.461)
Yeah, that's right.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (45:26.365)
Mm -hmm.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (45:34.781)
Yeah, no, all of it is common sense.
Tyson (45:36.014)
Yeah. I don't know if you've paid too much attention. Yeah, for sure. I don't know if you've paid too much attention to the, the blue zone studies, but the, the, the topic of movement is, is really interesting because I, I read the blue zone solution a few years ago by Dan Buettner. And since the Netflix documentary has come out, I've obviously been all over it. It was really interesting just to see the actual people that he was talking about throughout the book. But, but one thing that stood out to me very quickly was what you touched on before is there's, there's no gym memberships.
and there's no organized running groups and there's no Pilates classes, but there's a lot of gardening. Yeah, there's a lot of gardening. There's a lot of hiking outside. I mean, yeah, it's, yes.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (46:10.653)
they're walking everywhere. They're outside, they got their own organic foods, they got fresh air, so they have a lot of the foundations in place. That's it.
Tyson (46:26.03)
Yeah, it's interesting just seeing how many factors come into the health of these people. What does your own exercise routine look like with that in mind? Are you more of a structured exercise man or are you like an incidental exercise that you'll just do it as a part of the activities that you're already doing in your day?
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (46:42.845)
Yeah, I used to be competitive swimmer, so I was a very, I had a daily weekly regimen, right? Right now I'm not competing. So again, I'm just doing some strength training and I like to go do outdoor activities, hiking, you know, those types of things. So I stay active. I'm not really working out, out, out, but I'm still going to the gym once or twice a week to do my strength training because that's the best way of cardiovascular training too, as you know.
So I kind of maintain it, but I'm not really working out towards any goal. I sum up world record in 2019, but people also need to understand that exercising at that level is not healthy, right? You are breaking down your body, you are accelerating aging. So doing that for a short period of time is okay.
but those people that keep competing and competing and competing, great for them, but from a health point of view, that's not where to be, because there's too much of a breakdown, too much of a release of free radicals. And so, especially those people that train but don't find the balance between hard training and adaptation period, meaning recovery, right? So you can train hard, but then you need to allow your body the time to make the adaptations.
as a result of that training. And there's recent research that says even going to the gym when it comes to strength training, seven to 10 days to get full adaptation. So you really don't need to go to the gym every day to maximize your benefits. Somebody could go every day and I could go once a week and get the same results, right? So you gotta be a little bit smart too. It's about movements and it's about that finding that balance between activity and exercise and recovery.
and ignoring that recovery and allowing that adaptation that your body will make as a result of that exercise is not going to do you any benefit.
Tyson (48:42.094)
Yeah, it's interesting. My brother -in -law, who I mentioned in Oregon, he works as an arborist. And so he's constantly climbing trees all day, up and about. And me, yeah, he's active. Whereas I've got a, if for lack of a better word, I spend a lot of my time in this office that I'm in now. This is where my work gets done and I'll structure exercise because the work that I'm doing throughout the day, more like that office worker, it's not going to happen as a default practice. There's not much going on behind my computer.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (48:47.323)
Mm -hmm.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (48:50.749)
He's active.
Tyson (49:10.478)
But what was interesting was a couple of years ago, he comes to Australia for six to eight weeks every year. And when he comes, he says, I always feel guilty because you've got this structured exercise routine. I said, mate, let's get you into a routine. Come to the gym with me. We're about the same height, same size. And I said, don't try and keep up with me. Just do what you're going to do. Mate, this guy comes into the gym. I was trying to keep up with him and he was laughing because he's like, mate, I thought you were the king. And I was trying to explain to him this idea that, uh, that you're explaining, like that the incidental movement that he's getting every day.
As a result of his job, it's left him in a position to beat me up in a fight without any trouble. So as a result, I'm on my best behavior when I'm around him. But I guess if you're lucky enough, or if you've, you've organized your life in a way where that kind of exercise is a daily part, you're probably less inclined to need that structured exercise by the sound of it. Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I've been amazed as well as a bloke who's been going to the gym for a few years. I've recently started doing some Pilates, just body weight Pilates.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (49:59.005)
Mm -hmm, yeah.
Tyson (50:09.006)
And I'm middle distance build. I'm not overly big. I mean, I'm about six foot tall, one foot wide, which just suits distance running pretty well. But I started doing these Pilates class with like a little petite dancer chick just online. And I was amazed at how many areas of my body that I just hadn't hit through being in the gym. So even like a variation in the strength routine seems really interesting in producing results.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (50:15.197)
Yeah, hopefully.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (50:31.357)
or yet.
Every movement recruits different ratios of muscles and so it's always going to be different. Yeah.
Tyson (50:40.046)
Yeah, what are your thoughts? Like I know they've got the acronym, the standard American diet, the sad diet, which I think the Australian diet is pretty much exactly the same. I think if I'm not mistaken, you're from Belgium originally. I'm not sure the Europeans seem to, especially the Italians, I'm not sure if it's still true, if I'm just romanticizing the idea, but there seems to be a little more connection with tradition in some of the ways that food's produced in a place like Italy.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (50:51.909)
Correct. Yeah.
Tyson (51:07.374)
I follow a guy called Carnivore Aurelius on Instagram. I'm not sure if you're familiar with his account, but he often talks to... Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (51:10.577)
Yeah.
No, but I think in the smaller villages, yes, but obviously everything's modernized. They also have the fast foods and the McDonald's and the big cities. And so that's all mass produced. I think if you go in Europe to, you know, in all the countries, Norway, you know, the Netherlands or whatever, I think you still find the culture and still the farming, which of course, you know, they're trying to get rid of that too now in the European countries because...
Cows supposedly cause all this methane gas and global warming, which is all big BS, but that's all politics, right? So no, you're right. I think in Europe, there's still parts where you can find that, but certainly not in the big cities. They're all caught up with America, unfortunately.
Tyson (51:55.212)
It is so interesting, man.
For sure, it's so interesting watching this. And I do, I just got to clarify this by saying, I actually don't know what I'm talking about, but it does seem like a bit of a stretch to say, like when you look at the unnatural processes that are taking place around the world, it does seem wild that we could, like we start to blame the cows. And it's amazing how many of the smart minds of the university world are saying, no, this is a hundred percent the problem. Like if we can eradicate this, then we eradicate the problem. It seems.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (52:24.445)
Yeah.
Tyson (52:26.926)
It seems just from an entry level perspective to be a little bit of a stretch, but I don't know. It looks like you've got, you've probably got more to say with more backing than what I do on that. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (52:39.325)
Well, you know, again, it's, it's, you know, especially in politics and stuff. It's funny that when, when the people that make, you know, that, that vote for budgets are that, you know, want to fight global warming, when you ask them simple questions, like what's the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, they just guess 5%, 10%. They have no clue, not knowing that it's 0 .0005 % and that it raised from 0004%, but that it's a cycle and it
It has been doing that for thousands of years. And just the thought that we as humans can eff up the earth is just a little bit arrogant because we're effing up ourself, our species. We will be long gone. And once we're gone, the earth will recover pretty quickly, a matter of weeks probably. But as...
You know, as humans, we just need to just start using our common sense and step a little bit backwards and get rid of your political orientation and ask simple questions. You know, of course, like global warming, there is no global warming. We actually at the end of a 15 year cooling stage and it cycles and our plastic straws are not the ones that are.
Tyson (54:01.71)
I'm
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (54:01.757)
You know, everything in the ocean, you know, it's the fishing industry that is causing some imbalances there, but we're so easily, you know, easily convinced by the TV, right? The TV, the news that we're getting, and we just take that for granted without thinking. It's a big problem for sure.
Tyson (54:24.75)
for sure. I mean, this is such an interesting topic because on one sense of the word, I mean, everything you say, I'm cheering for you. I believe you. I think it makes sense. And on the other sense, I'm like a bit of a hippie and I'm like in love with this idea of romanticizing the idea of like just bringing things back to full health. And I watch the way we dig or we coal mine or whatever. The town I'm from originally is called, I mean, Gippsland. It's a massive coal plant. It provides Victoria, the state that I live in with all the energy.
And you drive to Tarelgon and you see the smoke coming out of the big pylons and you're like, okay, I know from a health perspective, this isn't healthy. I know this isn't good, but then the flip side of that is like, all right, are we going nuclear or what are we going to do? Because like the other alternatives aren't very, aren't very consistent. So I feel torn. I'm like, well, obviously I want to take care of the earth. I want to take care of myself. I want to take care of my environment. I want the people around me to be healthy. I know for a fact, this subject has been heavily politicized and that's what I don't like about it. But.
It's just like a weird catch 22 because you've got the hippies going, shut it down. And then you've got the people in the office going, but I need to do my work. And so you can see where the tension seems to come from, hey, because it's like, all right, if the hippies win, we're not doing any work. And if we win, well, the Trollgen, the town that I'm from, is still just going to be pumping this smoke for however long they can.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (55:30.653)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (55:43.645)
I know, but they always wanna make the common people, you and I, they blame us. So we gotta sort our trash and we gotta stop using plastic straws. And even if every human, every single person in the world did their job, it wouldn't make much of a difference because it's the industries that produce 99 % of the garbage. And it's all about money, right? Because remember the time where we made everything out of hemp.
So there was no pollution. We made shoes and clothes out of hemp and even Ford made a car out of hemp, which was much more robust than what we use now. But then plastic was invented and obviously now hemp became illegal and we got to promote plastic. But we need to realize there are other non -polluting sources to make all the products that we have, but there cannot be money made with that. So whatever new invention there is, plastic.
You know, let's lobby it, let's promote it and we're going to make everything out of plastic. And so now we're getting blamed for using plastic straws, which don't cause any pollution. It's the one third of a lot of a million that that's caught up in it. It's the fishing nets and the fishing industry. But they think that they don't want us to look there. So they blame us and we got to sort our garbage and we got to stop using plastic straws. And even if it would, that doesn't make a difference because it all starts at the top.
So if they really want to make a difference, you know, let's start using hemp again and cultivate hemp and make everything out of hemp and let's get rid of plastic altogether. And that's possible. We could do that overnight almost, but that's not mentioned because, you know, that doesn't exactly, exactly. So we got to keep focusing on our plastic straws. It's Rome again, right? Games and bread, gladiator games and bread. And so let's keep the people busy and let's make them
Tyson (57:24.334)
Yeah, who's making money, Mike? Where's the money gonna be made with that? I live in that.
Tyson (57:35.03)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (57:39.549)
feel responsible. But the game is played much higher. Yeah.
Tyson (57:41.582)
Yeah, I'm in a state called Victoria, the South. Yeah, I'm in a state of Victoria about Southeast of Australia, about three hour, four hour flight, probably a three hour flight away from your daughter. And the state that I'm in, we call it's affectionately or maybe not so affectionately called the nanny state, which means, I mean, I'm not sure how much attention you paid to Australia during the last few years of COVID, but it was one of the most embarrassing times to call yourself an Australian, especially from a...
a Floridian's perspective. I mean, if there was one place I wanted to be in the world during that time, it was where you're sitting right now. I was begging for a little bit of Ron DeSantis in my own state, but unfortunately, we had a bit more of a Justin Trudeau figure calling the shots, which was very frustrating. But...
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (58:13.039)
Yeah.
That's right.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (58:25.885)
Yes, I obviously followed that a little bit and heard it and then later on it was the Djokovic, you know, that was all over the world. They couldn't play standing so it's like, really?
Tyson (58:37.71)
Man, there was nothing sweeter than watching him win the following year with Bill Gates sitting in the audience. I just wish there was a little bit more finger pointing, but I guess the title itself was the finger point. It was beautiful to watch. Yeah, I mentioned us being the nanny state because I sat down at a cafe with my brother -in -law who was here recently and we had a juice which was served with a cardboard straw and they served it to us in a restaurant filled with plastic chairs.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (58:42.653)
Yes. Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (58:48.093)
Yes.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (58:51.869)
Yeah.
Tyson (59:05.518)
And I thought, okay, there seems to be a disconnect here because I'm pretty sure to take four or five million straws to even come close to how many chairs are surrounding us right now. And all it did was stuff up how much we enjoyed the juice. He reckons next time he comes to Australia, he's bringing a bag of straws and starting a black market because I tell you, they'd sell very quickly over here.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (59:07.805)
Yeah.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (59:12.125)
Yes.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (59:26.621)
Yes, yeah, no, it's ridiculous. It's not going to make any impact at all. I actually seen a cardboard straw wrapped in a plastic wrapper. They exist too. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Yeah.
Tyson (59:38.104)
Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's amazing. It's amazing. Mike. I, um, man, as I said, I mean, there's a million different directions we could, we could take a conversation like this, but I have got my eye on the time. I told you an hour and I don't want to hold you up all afternoon. So maybe we hit pause on that today, but in the future, if you want to come back and do around to, I know people who listen to these podcasts are going to love what you have to say. So you're going to be a welcome return guests, but.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:00:06.877)
Hmph.
Tyson (01:00:06.99)
Man, I'm so glad we had the time to actually sit down and make it happen. Thanks for coming on.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:00:11.069)
No, anytime. Thanks for your time. It's teamwork to get the message out. So I appreciate your time, your efforts and reach out to me directly and we can do this anytime, anytime you like.
Tyson (01:00:21.55)
I will do and for everyone listening, I've made sure I've linked all of Mike's stuff in the description to this show. So if you're interested, you want to shoot him some love, get in touch, whatever it is. Um, yeah, check out the show notes, but for today I'll leave it there. I'll see you later, Mike. I'll see you later everyone. Awesome, man. I'll cut that there, brother. Dude, that was a fun chat.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:00:36.285)
Thanks.
Mike Van Thielen, PhD. (01:00:40.733)
Good, yeah, it's always fun.