Episode 47: Keith Norris – Why the Healthcare System is Failing Us

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

Welcome to episode number 47 of the Warrior Soul podcast. This is Chris Albert. And before we get into today's episode with Keith Norris, I've just got a few short announcements. This podcast is brought to you by Dinotropin. Dinotropin is a 100% natural human growth hormone secretagogue.

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This podcast is also brought to you by Warrior Soul Keto Camp. Warrior Soul Keto Camp is a fully integrated course that teaches you how to adapt into ketosis, how to train efficiently for adaptation into ketosis, teaches you how to optimize your hormones, teaches you how to optimize your digestion. These are all things that many trainers and quote unquote nutrition experts neglect when they're trying to put you on a nutrition and fitness regimen. Yet, these things are so vital. If your gut health is not in order, if your digestion is not north in order, if your hormones are out of whack, then it could send you in a tailspin that will keep you from burning fat and increasing your performance.

So, if you're interested in harnessing the power of ketosis, getting all the mental and physical benefits along with the ability to burn fat at will, then check us out at warriorsoulketocamp.com. That's www.warriorsoulketocamp.com. And all the links to every product that sponsors this podcast will be up on the show notes at www.warriorsoulagoge, that's agoge.com under podcasts, episode number 47. When you think about medicine and what medicine is supposed to do for you in theory, we think of it as kinda like a safety net. Know, for example there's this huge debate going on right now about health insurance and whether or not health insurance should be mandatory, whether or not everybody should get health insurance.

But what nobody's really talking about is the personal responsibility involved in your own health. We tend to look at doctors as almost a priestly class in this country. People who aren't to be questioned. In fact, we know that there is a bias if somebody puts on a white coat regardless of how they sound or how they present themselves. There's an instant authority that's given to them.

We've seen that through different types of psychological tech tests and we know that. But why are we giving doctors so much authority? Why are we outsourcing every aspect of our health to them when their record isn't really that great? In trauma, granted, there's we have a pretty good record. We're really good at treating trauma.

But as far as chronic disease goes, we're not very good at that at all. In fact, most of the pharmaceuticals and most of the treatments we see are meant to help you to manage symptoms. They don't help you to get better. They force you to become dependent on a product or a pharmaceutical or a particular treatment. And then, you know, if you don't get that treatment you end up withdrawing or you end up in a place where you're not gonna be able to help yourself at all.

The truth is that it's our personal responsibilities to see to our own health, to eat the proper food. And when you understand this, you also understand that food, lifestyle, nutrition, all of these things are the true medicines that are gonna keep you from getting sick in the first place. I said before that fitness is essentially freedom. The more you neglect fitness, the more you are shackling yourself into a body that doesn't work and into a life where you're not living optimally. Today's guest is a guest we've had on before.

His name is Keith Norris and he's the founder of Paleo FX. And Andrew and I had the pleasure of heading out to Paleo FX in Austin last month. And, it was an amazing event. We saw some amazing new ideas and some awesome technologies out there. But, Keith has a bigger purpose than than just putting on Paleo conferences.

What he's looking to do is to create a revolution. And not a political revolution but a revolution against the idea that we have no control over our health and that we need to outsource it to some sort of priestly class of doctors. This was a really great conversation and there's gonna be a lot of ideas in here that might make you a little bit uncomfortable. Might make you question a few things. But I ask you to come into this with an open mind.

Because the alternative could be just accepting sickness And just accepting the fact that someday you're going to get a chronic disease. And none of us want that for you. We want you to live your best life. And to be active and able to do what you want to do for the rest of your life. So with that, let's get into episode number 47 of the Warrior Soul podcast with Keith Norris.

This is Chris Albert, and I'm here to remind you of one thing. Someday, you're going to die. Now that's not some morbid statement or scary idea. It's solid fact. Your time here on this earth is limited, and you need to be reminded of this as much as possible for one simple reason, to live your best life while you can.

This is the Warrior Soul Podcast. Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast. We are here today once again with Keith Norris, the co founder of Paleo FX. And, we're here today to talk a bit about, I guess you could say the medical system and what we're seeing now in terms of treatments, in terms of successive treatments, and in terms of alternatives that are coming around the bend.

First, I want to say this though, Keith, we were just out at Paleo FX, and I have to say it was so inspiring to to walk around there and to see how many different types of modalities, how many different types of, you know, things are out there to help people to to just feel better, to to to live better and to become healthier that are outside the pharmaceutical realm.

Keith Norris 00:09:53 (link to this point)

Yeah, Paleo FX is a passion project for both Michelle and I and actually everybody on the Paleo FX team who helps put on that show. You were out at the show, it's a big production. I mean, it's not by any means, you know, just a small convention. It's huge.

Chris Albert 00:10:13 (link to this point)

Definitely, definitely. You know, it was absolutely amazing. This week in the news, we had the American Heart Association coming out and saying that coconut oil is horrible for you, and that you should never eat it. And that if you do eat it, you're praying for a heart attack and you're gonna be really, really unhealthy. And a lot of us who have made coconut oil one of the staples of our diets, I consume quite a bit of it.

I know Andrew does as well. We were quite surprised at that. And what are your thoughts on this right now, Keith?

Keith Norris 00:10:59 (link to this point)

Yeah, well, is indicative of the problems that are within the medical industry itself right now. Any organization, the American Heart Association, the American Diabetic Association, all of these entities become ossified over time. And you know the same thing happens to a large extent in academia as well. People get into positions of power and you know they get tenure so to speak and although there's not overt tenure in the the know the American Heart Association that there there is at least how can you say acknowledged tenure. And that is to say that these attitudes and the knowledge that these guys came in with you know fifty years ago forty years ago is not the same knowledge that we have now.

But it's very, very tough when you're in a position of power to admit that you were wrong in the past and to be able to change your ideas and your stance on things. And we see this play out in the American Heart Association. Mean, it's almost they've gotten to the point now where I use the word ossified because that's the best term I can think of. I mean, that kind of gets the point across where they just keep harping the same message that we know now is wrong. It's just absolutely wrong, but they cannot change course because that, you know, that would look bad.

And these people in positions of power now lose their power. And, you know, they're just not going to give that up. So they'll just keep beating the same drum over and over and over again, which, you know, would be fine if the general populace would realize that. And I think that's part of the Paleo FX mission is to try to get the general populace to, you know, question authority. I'm taking something from my youth here, but that's essentially what we're doing.

You have to question the people who are in power and the people who are considered authority and continually question them and just ask, is this right? Is this right? Is this right? And you know, when you ask a question five times, always like to say, you're going to get a very different answer than the first answer you receive. In the American Heart Association, the American Diabetic Association, they're just going to keep pumping out the same knowledge, even though I would assume now that those in power realize that that message is wrong.

Chris Albert 00:13:41 (link to this point)

You know, you would hope that they do. We've known about since, I think it was 2010, when that BMJ review came out that basically said there is no connection between saturated fat and coronary heart disease. We've known for quite a while now that saturated fat can actually have a positive effect, if not a benign effect. And there's a lot of people out there who are following higher fat diets. But I think the larger issue here is when it comes to medical science and the medical establishment and what its purpose is right now, as you said in your article, I think that all we're seeing is management of symptoms, management of disease.

We're not seeing any cures. We're not seeing any advancements. And those of us who have suffered from chronic disease, I've suffered from ulcerative colitis. Andrew has suffered from traumatic brain injury as a result of chronic brain inflammation. We have to search for answers.

And if not, we're giving up freedom, man. We're giving our ability to maintain the way we live and to control our own circumstances.

Andrew Marr 00:15:06 (link to this point)

Well and, you know, Chris and Keith, along with that point, talking about the American Heart Association specifically, our friend doctor Michael Michael Lewis, author of When Brains Collide, had an article yesterday on the AHA, you know, debate, I guess you can call it. And it's well documented for the last fifty years that the pharmaceutical industry has basically run the American Heart Association. You know what I mean? And when you when you hear that, Keith, you start to understand why you have this ossified narrative that continues to be the same thing because it's not really in their best interest. Like, because now you have major entities in America putting out bad information.

I mean, we we know that. And so how has this been the driving factor of what you wanna do for Paleo FX, Keith, to give a alternative means to put forth truth to to to provide something that's different from the status quo? You know, what was what was that like?

Keith Norris 00:16:13 (link to this point)

Yeah. Our our main thrust with Paleo FX is to put forth information that we know as of today is truthful information. Now that information may change tomorrow. Right? And we and I think those leaders within the paleo community are of the same mindset that what we know today is likely going to change a year from now, right?

I mean, we kind of went through the whole thing with milk. We went through the whole thing with the gray area carbohydrates. Know, three years ago potatoes were verboten on a quote unquote paleo diet. Now there now we realize, you know, some people can handle them just fine. They I'm in that camp.

I can handle starchy tubers just fine within my you know within my overall diet. Other people can't and so you know we are able to shift on a dime and make these changes because no one within the paleo community is so totally vested in yesterday's knowledge and we pride ourselves on being able to change. As you you alluded to the problem really crops up when there is big money involved in propping up a certain entity. And I mean, if we back this all the way back down to The US economy, The US economy is driven in a large part by healthcare. I mean, just when you start to look at this and when you start to look at the money that's made between big medical, we'll call it, big pharma, US subsidies to, you know, to support grain farming, the insurance industry, All of these just it and I don't think it's a coordinated effort per se, but it's just kind of a collusion of monetary interests that keeps this whole engine churning. In any if any one of these interests were to change course, that would just kind of well, wouldn't kind of. It would topple the economy. Really, this is the engine driving the economy right now. And, you know, and I hate to put it this way, but who is the ultimate fuel for this to be able to drive an economy this way where you have to have sick people?

And so your interest is not in curing per se because now that person is opting out of the system, the person is cured from whatever disease it is. The money is made on the maintenance. Okay? If you can keep somebody healthy enough to still take part in the economy if they have heart disease, if you can keep them healthy enough if they have diabetes to still keep the economy churning, then everybody, and I I mean everybody on the monetary side of it, is happy. We keep this house of cards going and the smoke and mirrors going for another generation and we keep right on going on.

But the problem is obviously we realize that the information is wrong. You know, coconut oil is not going to solidify in your arteries. In fact, it's going to make you a much healthier human being, which by the way, you and I, all of us probably listening to this podcast have pretty much opted out of the traditional medical system. We're opting out in droves and that can be pretty scary to those entities who have, you know, a huge financial incentive to keep this whole engine churning. That's why you're never going to see the change course.

You're never going to see the American Diabetic Association change course. They're going to still keep pumping out the same information because they have to from a financial standpoint.

Andrew Marr 00:20:08 (link to this point)

And that's what I love about the Paleo FX community is that is that they're willing to change based on the latest evidence and and science, and they're gonna put it into practical use. It's not just saying, hey. This is this is the one true statement or way to live, and everything else is false. That's, you know, fascism in in a sense. So it's saying, hey.

Let's evolve. Let's base our our solutions and how we're gonna solve problems on the current body of work and not this archaic means of of thinking.

Keith Norris 00:20:44 (link to this point)

Yeah. It let Go ahead. Yeah. I was I was just gonna drop this in there that Paleo FX we had Art De Vany come out. It was the first Paleo FX that Art De Vany has taken part of.

He loved what we were doing but you know his message the past few years has been you know what guys happily retired and hanging out in Arizona you guys are doing a great job keep moving forward. We finally coerced him to come out this year and Art De Vany is a decidedly low fat version of paleo, you you could say. But to see him discussing, you know, the the other side of that coin, the high fat side of the coin was great discussion. To see him on panels and just see him discussing with the people who are more on the ketogenic side of the camp and having a sane discussion about this. I don't know, you know, I don't know what the the true healthiest version of a paleo diet is. Maybe it is Art's lower fat version of it. Maybe it is a ketogenic higher fat version of it, which I personally ascribe open to other ideas. I know how I look and feel on a high fat diet and I know how I look and feel on the lower fat version of that and I, you know, I feel better and look better on the higher fat version. But at least I know that other option is out there.

And at least I know that we, I can have a same conversation with someone who I would consider to be a founding father of the paleo movement. And we can have that discussion very, very openly. And I know that given enough evidence Art would switch sides and be totally okay with it. And given enough evidence, I would switch sides and go on a lower fat version and I would be okay with it. Of course, this whole don't be ossified idea is infused within the paleo community right now because we've seen the error of the past of the old school mentality, right?

We've seen that error. We see how it ends up. We see the ossification over time and we don't want to be there. I mean, those old screen, I'll just say old school in quotes and I'm using air quotes that don't transfer well in audio, but I I mean, maybe this was a necessary evolution to get us where we are today. I I, you know, I don't know, but I I I know that I'm not going back to the old school method of just keep beating the same message because I know that message is gonna change, and it should change.

What we know to I mean, we know what we know today is not the final answer. We know that. I know that. And so the the idea is a continual search for truth and a continual refinement, not to get locked and loaded in today's ideas and to hold that no matter what. That is that is absolutely the wrong approach.

Chris Albert 00:23:50 (link to this point)

Keith, I

Andrew Marr 00:23:51 (link to this point)

I was gonna ask Chris, how has Paleo FX kinda evolved since the the first year? And then how have those numbers changed also, as we're as we're watching this transformation?

Keith Norris 00:24:02 (link to this point)

Yes. So, know, the first year of Paleo FX, we had probably eight I think if I'd have to go back to look at the numbers, but it was less than a thousand attendees. I think we had 800 ish, 700, 800 ish, had about 40 speakers. And the true telltale sign is that we had 12 vendors, 10 of which came in for free. We just had them come up and set up because we needed to fill a space.

Contrast that to this past Paleo FX, we had over 7,000 people through the doors, two forty plus vendors and sponsors, all of which paid. So that's the that's the transformation in five short years. And I've repeated this over and over and over to people that your most immediate form of democracy is how you spend your money. That that is by far how you're gonna affect change on a personal level the fastest. If you believe in a product, if you believe in a thought pattern, then that's where you put your money, and that forces change.

And in five years, well let's go back six years, six years ago when we were planning for the first Paleo FX, there weren't very many paleo food options. Biohacking for instance was not seen as part of the traditional paleo lifestyle. Know, things like this have totally transformed in the last six years. Now biohacking is seen as an integral part of the paleo lifestyle. We get the idea that we can leverage technology to to live an ancestral lifestyle.

We get that. And those are some of just some of the overview observations of the past six years in the in the paleo community.

Chris Albert 00:25:57 (link to this point)

I wanna get into to what biohacking is in a second, but just to to say something here, one of the things I think you're really battling against here and getting people to opt out of the system is fear. Because the establishment seems to to use fear to try to delegitimize everything that's being done. You know, you you take this latest coconut oil instance. You take the way that doctors within the establishment talk about things like paleo and keto. And what they're really playing on is people's fear of uncertainty.

And their messages, know, we're the high priesthood of the truth in medical science. And, you you should listen to us just because we have these white coats and we have these degrees and things like that. But I think for the person at home who is trying to figure out their way and trying to figure out why they've got diabetes right now or why they have heart problems or why they're not feeling good. I think it's at the end of the day, it's it's fear that's ruling everybody and keeping the system in power.

Keith Norris 00:27:17 (link to this point)

Yeah. It's totally fear. I mean, if you wanna see the way that the this game is played, a great documentary to watch is called Merchants of Doubt. One of my at the same time, one of my favorite documentaries and at the on the flip side of that, one of the documentaries that probably depresses me the most because it is so true. And so people like the the American Heart Association, people like big medical, people like big government, all of these entities who have a financial vested interest in this, all they have to do to keep the public, the general public in this state of fear like you say and it is fear, all they have to do is cast doubt on a certain idea because because they're already they're already in positions of power.

So if you're in a position of power, that's all you have to do is cast doubt in the public's mind. For those of us on the on the paleo side of things, we have to continually prove, continually prove, continually prove, which is a much tougher objective than to cast doubt. It's easy to cast out. I mean, you're in a position of power. Hey, I've been in power for sixty plus years.

I have the ability to cast doubt in your mind. And you see this a lot in older generations. Right? So I look at my parents who would be of the generation, and this is my own parents, right? And I'm trying to get them to buy into the paleo idea.

And they're like, you know, essentially, who are you? Who are you to be giving medical advice? You know, my doctor, my doctor, my doctor. And I'm just like, okay, how about not listen to me? How about just question yourself?

Maybe, you know, maybe I am completely out to lunch, but why don't you just question what your doctor is telling you? Just question it. But that generation was brought up in a different landscape, right? That generation was brought up to where science ruled and science fixed the problem. Science cured polio, science put a man on the moon, you know?

And and so they see science in air quotes is being associated with a medical association. They see science as being equal to big pharma. And so they don't question. I mean, they just put all of their faith in that basket. Whereas it kind of the things started to change in my generation.

You know, I came of age in the early seventies where there was this a little bit more question authority mindset, and the millennials now and those below certainly have that mindset. I mean, they're not gonna believe anybody or anything. They're gonna question everything, And thank God for that. Right. You know?

And thank God for that.

Chris Albert 00:30:14 (link to this point)

Based on questioning. I mean, real science is is questioning the truth, having healthy skepticism at every step of the way. Yeah. Always questioning whether what you're doing is right or wrong. And that was the message that we had Gary Taubes on the podcast a few weeks ago.

And that's basically what he's been saying in his writings all along. It's not, is fat the healthiest thing you can eat. It's, well, why aren't we questioning all these things that have been put out for the last fifty, Yeah, 60

Keith Norris 00:30:44 (link to this point)

that's totally it because, know, today's fat is gonna be tomorrow's, I don't know what it's gonna be, but it's gonna be something. I think, I think the big, how can I say, the new fat idea coming down the pike now is the whole idea of living in a more tribal environment? And I don't mean, you know, going back to Cave and Spear, I mean living in smaller communities that have purpose and that are driven by a purpose and that purpose being something that the entire community can come together on. And we've totally gotten away from that and poo pooed that whole idea in the last, well, last couple hundred years probably we've been moving away from that idea, at least here in the West. But we realize or starting to realize, and especially the younger generations are starting to realize and especially the paleo community is starting to realize how very important tribe is for psychological health, but also for physical health because psychological health is going to be a large player in physical health.

I just just finished reading, Sebastian Junger's, book called Tribe and it's illuminating and it casts light on all of these questions that the older generations would have completely poo pooed. Like, why is it that people in the first world and especially people who live in cities have such a high rate of depression as compared with people who live in tribal communities. I mean, just that question itself, every need is met, every physical need is met, every comfort need is met in the first world and yet we show the highest rates of depression. What is that all about? There's got to be something that underlies that.

I don't know where, what the original question was, I kind of went off on a tangent but yeah, questioning. You you know, just questioning the status quo, I think is the most powerful thing that anybody can do to affect their health in a positive way.

Chris Albert 00:33:01 (link to this point)

Yeah. I I wrote an article a while back saying, that veterans are the new hippies. And, you know, one of the it's funny because one of the reasons why I first reached out to Andrew was because, you know, seeing him and what he was doing with the Warrior Angels Foundation. And everybody had this idea that PTS and traumatic brain injury and these things were irreparable and incurable. And I think that what we're gonna see with the veterans community and a lot of these other kind of, I guess you could say, non geographic tribes that we're seeing, I think we're gonna be seeing a revolution.

We're gonna be seeing a revolution, not only in healthcare, but in culture and ideas, in our ability to communicate with each other, and our ability to communicate ideas outside of the media establishment.

Keith Norris 00:33:56 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I think it's, you know, at Paleo FX this year, I really felt a change in tide. So for the past five years it has been those within the Paleo tribe have been how can I fix myself? What do I need to do to get myself you know healthy? What in the emphasis was all on self, is cool.

You have to fix yourself before you can do anything else. But this last year I saw a big change in that people were like, okay, I think I've got a handle on myself. How can I now go out and fix the tribe? And once we make that turn from self to tribe, that's when revolution kicks off. And that's what you're going to see in the next few years.

There is going to be a massive push to change quote unquote tribe. And you're going to see you're going to see a lot, a much heavier, a much more focused, a much more intense pushback on articles like you saw recently came out from the American Heart Association. It is going to be an intense blowback and a concerted effort blowback. And part of what we're doing at Paleo FX too is shifting Paleo FX, the entity of Paleo FX, and especially my position in Paleo FX to be an activist organization.

Andrew Marr 00:35:23 (link to this point)

That's interesting, Keith. How can the the biohacking in essence, supports and validates everybody's subjective, you know, findings? And so how do you think you can continue to harness the power of biohacking and these other technological advances that is substantiating what people are are just saying as anecdotal. I feel better. I look better.

But now we can run these numbers and get an objective reading and saying, oh, yes. Well, you can say that American Heart Association, but how do you dispute these these lab analysis and this lifestyle? You know what I mean? At that point, it's very difficult for them to say, well, you guys are just wrong.

Keith Norris 00:36:05 (link to this point)

Yeah. Well, you know, within the paleo tribe now, because we do have access to all of these biohacking technologies, are just incredible and I cannot imagine what the next ten years is going to bring with the ability to track just the basic numbers of what it is to be a healthy individual. You know it won't be long before you can check-in real time cortisol, check-in real time what your C reactive protein is. All of these things that now may take lab analysis and blood analysis which is cool enough. I mean we can get those results back pretty quick but in a very very short period of time we're going to be able to get that those readings instantaneous ly and we're going to be able to track each individual very very cheaply as well instantaneously what these markers of health are and we can see them in real time tracked against what we're doing and it's going to make the I'll say this, I don't know if the if the older generations will ever come around.

I don't know that. I mean, you know, the big the saying that, you know, scientific advancements comes one funeral at a time. Unfortunately, that's very, very true. And I don't think any big changes in attitudes within a populace as a whole comes about rapid fire either. I think that comes about one funeral at a time unfortunately.

But this the culture as a whole driven mostly by the millennial age, people in this country that change is coming about rapidly and they get the idea of being able to track instantaneously these these biomarkers. Now all you have to do is show them what biomarkers are important. You know, I'm not going to tell you what the band should be, you know, all of that you can figure out, you can read and figure out, but we're gonna give you the information, let you track it and then you make decisions on your own and within your tribe, what is working for you. Putting that power in people's hands is immense and soon enough, I mean, I'll put it this way. I did not even know that the American Heart Association had put out that article until someone essentially dropped it in my lap because I don't even listen to the American Heart Association on a personal level.

I listened to them in that I have to rebut a lot of their stuff on the, on the Paleo FX side of things. But if I were an individual who is just operating within my tribe, I would not even pay attention to what they're putting out. I mean, are so ossified right now and their information is so wrong. I, as an individual, you know, if Paleo FX weren't a business and an entity that I were running, I would not even pay attention to them. They wouldn't even be on my radar.

Andrew Marr 00:39:00 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I think that's probably the case, you know, with a lot of people. But, you know, when you're talking about waking up essentially, waking up into what the the different establishments have continued to do, it is a little bit scary at first when you think, my god, now everything is back on me. It's my responsibility to figure out what's right for my life as far as health care or education or spirituality or, you know, finances, all these other areas. And it it can be a little bit overwhelming in that initial stages.

What would you recommend for somebody waking up? You know, how can they get inundated with Paleo FX to start finding those places to get their own information and personalize it and and make it their own truth and to instead of just taking it wholeheartedly from somebody else. How would you walk somebody through that process, Keith, when they're first coming to these conclusions?

Keith Norris 00:39:57 (link to this point)

Yeah. I think you know fear does play a big part in in humans reaction to any to anything whether it be information, you know, a legitimate physical threat, anything. Fear fear is an overriding motivator. That's how we evolved. You and I wouldn't be talking, wouldn't be having this podcast if we if we weren't that way we would have died off long long long ago.

I think the so so one thing I tell people is A question authority and B you are not alone. Even though the decisions you're making have to be driven individually, you are the one that has to question authority. You are the one that has to choose what's right for you. You are gonna have to be the one because everybody's a little bit different. You're gonna have to learn your body, come back into your body and learn that and retake authority and sovereignty of your own being.

Yes, all of that is true and yes, all of that may sound daunting, especially to those who have outsourced all of that prior. But you do have the support of a very, very big and growing by leaps and bounds daily community around you who are doing the same thing. So it's both individualized and it's community. And again, I fall back to that book Tribe because it explains so much in the way of human psychology that we can be individuals who are who are in sovereign control of our own individuality and our own bodies and be part of a larger tribe and contribute to that tribe. All of that comes around full circle to making good decisions both for yourself individually and for the betterment of the tribe.

Chris Albert 00:41:44 (link to this point)

It's amazing to me that the activist idea here. And I think it's it's it's very important to state this because there's so many people out there right now who are mad about a lot of different things. You know, we we we get a lot of what they call SJWs now who who who are mad about various political issues. We get a lot of, people on the other end of this spectrum who are mad about various political issues. But rarely, rarely do we see anybody taking an activist stance in the role of personal healthcare and wellness.

And it's astounding to me because without any of these things, without a sound mind, without a sound body, you are essentially shackling yourself. You are essentially trapping yourself in your own body. And you're relying on a system that has been demonstrated over and over again outside of of the realm of trauma, as as I think you stated in your article. But you're relying on a system that's demonstrated over and over again that it's going to do nothing but tow the status quo. It's not going to do anything to search for an actual cure for you.

And I think that that's an amazing thing that you're doing and that you're promoting there. And I think that the way the media is right now, you know, we have podcasts, we're on a podcast right now. This kind of democratization of media is gonna gonna play a huge role in this.

Keith Norris 00:43:26 (link to this point)

Oh, absolutely. One of the big players that I left out of the whole game of the, you know, when I was talking about big medical, big insurance, big government in the way of subsidies, the obvious other player there that I did not mention was big media. And big media is going the way of the dinosaur just like these other entities is. And I think right now what you see the political culture the way it is, I mean that's obviously driven by big media. Big media needs to sell ad time, right?

And what's the easiest way to sell ad time, just to build this fervor within the, you know, within your viewing public and you just create this false fervor that's there. Well, you know, again, in in my parents' generation has bought fully into that. I mean, I go to my parents' house and Fox News is on pretty much twenty four seven and it just it drives me nuts. But then I go, you know, with the people that I generally spend most of my days with and the entrepreneurs that I work with and just in my day to day, no one really even knows what Fox News is. I mean, we don't it's not even it's we don't even pay any attention to it.

In fact, it's a funny story. The other day, I was at at a friend's house and she turned on the TV just to check the weather. We were all we were all riding and just to see, you know, where we live in Texas, storms are apt to just crop up now and again, we just wanted to see if we were gonna get poured on. Anyway, long story. Anyway, she turns on the TV and she's flipping through the channels to try to find the the weather channel.

And she stops on Fox News and there's like eight or 10 of us in the room and all of us are just with our jaws open going, what the fuck? What is that? What? What? Is that reality?

I mean, we were just, all of us were just awestruck and we just sat there watching it going, Holy crap, the general public watches this? And it was just reaffirmation to me because I so don't pay attention to that. That's so not on my radar because I realize it for what it is. It's a manipulation, the same way that the American Heart Association manipulates people to buy into their system. It's just a form of manipulation and all you have to do is opt out.

That's it. All you have to do is opt out of it and seek information that will fulfill you and actually make you healthy and actually make help you make better decisions on a day to day basis. That's all you have to do is opt out.

Andrew Marr 00:46:07 (link to this point)

That that's it, man. Like, is this making my life any better? Do I feel elevated? You know? Am I is it helping me to help anybody else?

And I think you already answered that. The overwhelming answer to that is no. And it just makes you feel bad to get hit. There's no good there's no, like, talking about solutions or solving problems or people in history that have got it right. That's what we we should be talking about.

Not all these ridiculous minute issues that you can't do anything about in your own daily life, yet people are let it to just let them run off the hinges about some information that they have absolutely no ability to affect any change on. And I think that's what you say, what can what can I affect change with? And does this does this help me to do it?

Keith Norris 00:46:48 (link to this point)

Yeah. You know, and one thing that I love is the older generations disdain for millennials. Right? And I look at that and I'm, you know, millennials won't work. Millennials won't do this.

Millennials are lazy. Millennials won't do this. And I'm like, no, millennials just will not work for you. Millennials are not buying into your message. That's what your problem is.

Now you finally hit upon a group of people who are questioning authority in mass. They are calling you out on your bullshit and you don't like it. That's what the problem is. It's not that the millennials are lazy. It's not that they're not loyal.

It's not that they're unpatriotic. It's not any of that. They are simply calling you out on your bullshit. And that's Well, Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:47:41 (link to this point)

Absolutely. We we've just had a generation of millennials fight two wars. You know what I mean? That's that that that that's something I think people don't realize. We've got millennials who are taking charge of American industry and who are coming up with massive innovations.

I think that something to be said for that generation.

Andrew Marr 00:48:05 (link to this point)

Well, and I I think, Chris, like broad generalizations like that are very dangerous. Right? When you when you write off a whole generation past or present, I think that's very dangerous.

Keith Norris 00:48:15 (link to this point)

Yep.

Chris Albert 00:48:16 (link to this point)

Absolutely. And and and and the thing is too, you know, it's why shouldn't we question? Why shouldn't we question the idea that to be happy, you have to get a house with a white picket fence, and you have to, you know, spend eight to twelve hours every day in a place away from your family, away from your loved ones where you're not happy, why shouldn't you question a system where you are told that someday you were probably going to get heart disease or diabetes or cancer and die and you have to be happy with that? I think that that's, you know, I hate to use the whole hashtag woke thing, but, you know, it is a process of waking It is a process of opening your eyes, looking around and seeing the dumb fuckery that's going on around everywhere. Excuse my

Keith Norris 00:49:09 (link to this point)

No, it's very true. And I think I, I was lucky enough early on to just be mentored by people, you know, mostly those who came up through the sixties and that question authority idea where that, you know, where that idea really coalesced and, you know, obviously obviously, you know, you had civil rights, you had the civil or the civil war, Jesus, Vietnam war. You had all of these things crop up that caused people to question authority. And one of the biggest pieces of advice I got was, you know, if if your questioning of authority makes somebody nervous or if they don't like it or if there's a major pushback, have to ask yourself, why is there that pushback? You know, why is that person in authority?

Why are they worried about you questioning their position of authority? There's gotta be something there. There you know, something's gotta be there. They gotta be holding something over you for them to be nervous about this.

Andrew Marr 00:50:18 (link to this point)

Well, sure. I mean, they should be bending over backwards in that position to be serving and be transparent. And I think that's what we're not seeing and that's why, you know, we're having these underground movements that are becoming more and more mainstream because of that.

Keith Norris 00:50:32 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I, you know, and I have I've had philosophical discussions with people to that have that have asked me. They're like, well, Paleo FX is starting to move into this position where they are becoming an authority. And my answer to that is exactly. I mean, yes, we are, but we love people questioning.

I want people to come in and question. I implore people to come in and question because the absolute last thing I want this organization to do is to ossify. Because in my mind ossification equals death just like we're seeing the American Heart Association die. I want this Paleo FX, the activist arm of it, the whole idea of it to continue on forever long after I'm gone and for it to do that, it cannot ossify. That means new ideas have to keep coming into the system.

That means every Paleo FX that we have every year, there's got to be some tension involved there. Right? This year was kind of the low fat versus high fat version of Paleo. Very, very cool. I like that, but we have to have that continual tension for this organization continue to grow and be meaningful.

And that comes back to whoever's coming in at the at the at the, top of the funnel coming into the paleo community. I want them to question certain things about the We have to have that. In fact, I invite it.

Chris Albert 00:52:08 (link to this point)

Absolutely. And once you stop inviting it, then, you know, the organization becomes stale and and, you know, that's a lesson for anybody trying to do anything out there in this world today where we do have democratization of media. If you were not constantly questioning, if you're not constantly trying to innovate, then you're gonna go stale. You're gonna go the route of the dinosaur. One thing I really wanna mention here too is that, you know, for those who listen to the podcast, you know this, but everybody on this show right now is a veteran who has served The United States Of America.

Keith served in the US Navy, Andrew served in the US Army, I served in the United States Marine Corps. And the reason why I say that is because there's gonna be some people who hear us saying, Oh, we're questioning authority. We're questioning this. We're questioning that. And just as Keith said, this is not an act of of saying, okay, we're we're we're anti US.

We're anti government. We're anti anything. What we are seeing is this. I'm sick and tired of my veteran brothers and sisters coming home and being told that they're gonna be suffering for the rest of their goddamn lives with various diseases. I'm sick and tired of the fact that one in four veterans admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospitals has diabetes.

I'm sick and tired of the fact that we are constantly being told that we have to suffer, that we have to endure disease, And I think more importantly, just simply because the doctors tell us to. And I think that's the biggest thing we're seeing here is that you have to question that idea that you're trapped, that that you're screwed, and that you have no control over it.

Keith Norris 00:54:04 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I think it's, you know, the the I guess if there's an overriding message here is that there is information out there but you have to seek it out. And I think the first step whether whether you're a veteran, whether you know you're just the college kid trying to figure things out, Whether you're an older person who you know is just sick and tired of being sick and tired that the number one, the absolute first step is that you have to say to yourself that I am sovereign over my own body. Right? I don't care.

I don't care if the powers that be tell me this is the way it is. It doesn't have to be the way it is. I mean question that. Is it really the way it is? I mean, just start with that basic question.

Is my doctor giving me the right answers? Right? I mean, it just it starts there. And this isn't going to be an overnight change and I get that, but it's going to be a rapid change. And I think that we're going to see very, very quickly all of this, you know, let me back up just a second by saying there, right now the stickiness of these entity, the large entities, the big medical, big pharma, government subsidies, big media.

Right now their stickiness is due to this economic engine that has been set up between all of them and it's a very, very powerful engine. But and I think, you know, I look at this and I think, know, what what's it gonna take to break that engine up? And I, I look at this and I keep going to, you know, when we get back to looking at the decentralization of certain things, the fallback to the tribe, the one power that, that we don't currently have but is coming online quickly is a decentralization of money. And as soon as decentralization of money becomes commonplace, all bets are off. It's both a scary proposition because of the, you know, what the fallout might look like, but it is also on the other hand, a very, very liberating proposition because I think so many, so many, so many lives will be saved in the long run.

And I think that the quality of life person to person to person will be so much bettered by that. Which is why at Paleo FX we have panels and discussions and talks on decentralization. We had a decentralization of markets panel at Paleo FX, and we continue to beat this drum and I don't know, you know, I'm going long winded on this. I don't know when this is going to come about. I don't know what, if it's gonna be like a seismic shift or if it's gonna be a slow shift, but the ease and the acceptance of a cryptocurrencies and decentralized money systems is really gonna be the ultimate linchpin that kicks this thing off full fledged?

Andrew Marr 00:57:17 (link to this point)

Well, it's gonna essentially get away with the with debt as we know it or the banking system where you can give them $10, and they can give that $10 out 10 different times and charge interest on that money. You know what I mean? Take take that out of the equation and what happens? They can't make up money anymore. They can't print more money.

So I think it levels the playing field and it takes it out of the those hands and back in the individuals. I'm with you. I I I can't wait for the blockchain, you know, cryptocurrency to come mainstream. But I wanna talk a little bit about the planning process, Keith, before we let you go. Sure.

What does that look like when you're putting on an event of this magnitude? What does it look like your preplanning and then postplanning for the for the next show and and making sure you find new ideas and have your finger on the pulse of the tribe, so to speak. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Keith Norris 00:58:14 (link to this point)

Yeah. So it's the run up, it's about an eighteen month run up. So right now we're heavy, heavy into the planning for 2018, but we're also already starting and we're into a little bit of the planning for 2019. So it's an eighteen month revolution. And yeah, the planning comes about, we constantly have our finger on the pulse of what's going on in the community.

And 2018, we saw early on that kind of the focus would be, you know, on the health or let's put it on the diet side, the focus would be on this question of low fat versus ketogenic. That was kind of the, that was one of the big themes. On the lifestyle side of things, decentralization of markets was starting to starting to be a real heavy topic. And so when we start to put together a show, we look at those overriding themes and from those themes, we then start to to bring in speakers and we start to flesh out what the panels will look like and we flesh out you know the speaker stable overall. It is at the same time it's like a living organism and I like to tell people that is very much like a living organism and the fact that there's a genetic component or a predetermined component to it, little bit of top down, you know, this is the way it's going to be, but it is a lot of epigenetic input.

I mean, get we get feedback from the tribe. We get feedback from current events. So it's a very, very dynamic system.

Andrew Marr 01:00:04 (link to this point)

How much dedicated full time, you know, part time and volunteer help does that take to put that on Keith?

Keith Norris 01:00:10 (link to this point)

Yes. So we have overall about 15 employees and that fluctuates in and out throughout the year. Towards the end of the show, obviously that skyrockets, the employees that we have to have on the floor to put it on. But on a general day to day like we are right now, you know, a month out of the show, the past show we're at about 15 employees right now. So it's it's a, it's an undertaking. I'll just put it that way. And it is a, it is an undertaking that we had no idea. I mean, when we first did the original Paleo FX, we had no idea where we would be now. You know, I tell people that I could play like I'm some kind of a business savant and I knew this was happen six years ago and I had no idea. But just the, you know, the community feedback we got from the first show, you know, just really compelled us to a show the next year and that has just kept us going.

Andrew Marr 01:01:20 (link to this point)

As it continues to evolve, where you wanted it to see, like, after like this last Paleo FX in in Austin and in May, what would you want to see differently or what can you improve on in the future do you think?

Keith Norris 01:01:34 (link to this point)

Yes. So my vision, my part of this is to really turn Paleo FX into an activist organization. So I would consider us in the past more of an education entertainment business and we'll continue that education entertainment portion. But for my personal part, I really wanted to push the activist portion of Paleo FX. And you know that's it so that it's one thing to rage against the machine, right?

And that's that's part of it. Part of being an activist is is raging against the the social ills that you see in front of you. But the other part of that is training up people to come behind you to fill the void after the revolution takes place. And I I always tell this to people that revolutions generally succeed. Know, if there's enough public fervor for something and if there's enough public displeasure with the current status quo, a revolution will take place, but where revolutions fail, and if you look back at history, every revolution that has has failed in the aftermath, it's been a result of no one there to fill in the power vacuum after the after the revolution passes through and this is just, know, it's just I come from a political science background and a military background and I mean you see this play over and over and over again.

This is why the other aspect in Paleo FX is training and educating entrepreneurs who will come in and be the people who will build up the system after the old system collapses. So in other words, there's got to be entrepreneurs and practitioners who have viable services for people after the old school medical association goes away. Otherwise, we're just gonna be back with just some some reiteration of the old school medical system. And that's why

Chris Albert 01:03:38 (link to this point)

Yeah. The word is that's like, building institutions. Think, I've I've a big political science background myself, and that's the thing. Like and what I like about what you guys are doing is that you are building an institution. You are building an institution that is providing solutions.

And I think at the end of the day, if you're going to be an activist about something and you're going to rage against the machine, you need to be providing viable alternatives. That's what I admire about you guys is that you are providing viable alternatives. You are democratizing this information. You're getting it out there to the people. And I think that's absolutely amazing.

Keith Norris 01:04:20 (link to this point)

Yeah. And I look at, you know, I look at the all the activism, excuse me, that that was going on in the in the sixties, know, that had to do with civil rights and the Vietnam War and all of the all the all of the social unrest of that time. And, you know, some of those revolutions succeeded, civil rights succeeded, but others others failed. And you look at, you know, why those social revolutions failed for the most part and they there just was no institution behind them. I mean, was it was a lot of rage, but there was nothing to there there was no institution to come back and fill the void after the rage.

And a lot of that had to do with them not being connected like we are today with the the Internet. I mean, I I'm old enough to remember life without the internet.

Chris Albert 01:05:19 (link to this point)

Me too.

Keith Norris 01:05:20 (link to this point)

So I mean, the ease and communication and the ease of being able to group like minds together is is fuel. It's absolute, it's a necessity and it's fuel for building institutions. And really Paleo FX came about just at the right time. The Paleo Movement came about just at the right time. It was built on the back of the internet largely because these people with these questioning ideas could actually band together and could actually compare in a biohacking sense, compare the results.

That's what really caused the paleo movement to take off. You had these people who were able to compare their biohacking notes. And so it wasn't just one off anecdotal evidence. Now you have a compilation of anecdotal evidence put together. That was very, very compelling and that spread like wildfire.

So, you know, being able to, being able to leverage this massive communication tool that we have to be able to build the infrastructure for the new entities that are going to take over. And I keep using the word revolution, but I really see it as a revolution. This is it's going to get it's going to get nasty. I would just say any any entrenched organization, the, you know, the medical association, big pharma, big media, all of these entities are now starting to feel this push, right? And they're starting to they're starting to realize maybe that they are starting to lose a little bit of grip over society and over their control, and they're going to push back with a vengeance.

And that vengeance is going to come through the media, and it's going to be just this ad hominem discrediting that's just gonna just gonna be blown everywhere. People like Gary Taubes, you see Gary Taubes being attacked by the mainstream. It is relentless.

Chris Albert 01:07:19 (link to this point)

Viciously. Vicious. Is.

Keith Norris 01:07:22 (link to this point)

And power to him for standing up to that and just saying, hey, you know, just just go back and look at the facts. Just question. Just question. Just question. But he has to be he has to be on his toes every single day because he's being attacked every single day by those who are in in power.

And it's it's just going to get more and more and it's going to get harder and harder. And, you know, those of us on the other side just have to be vigilant to that and be ready for the long drawn out fight. And we have to train the entities behind us to be able to take over once the power structures that are today, once those power structures finally finally go by the wayside.

Chris Albert 01:08:04 (link to this point)

Well, Keith, you know, I want to be respectful of your time here and I think this is an amazing conversation. Where where can people go to to keep up with Paleo FX? What and what you're doing and everything that's going on?

Keith Norris 01:08:17 (link to this point)

Yeah. So the the general Paleo website is just www.paleofx.com. And, yeah, so we have lots of educational material there. Obviously our big our big reason for existing is a yearly show that we put on in Austin, Texas. But we are quickly moving into the activist area and you'll see that change start to come about even more so this year.

And so we'll have community built around that. And if you'd like to join that community, hit us up. We'd be glad to have you. Yeah. And personally, I write a blog at Theory to Practice.

If you just Google Theory to Practice Keith Norris, it'll lead you right there. And otherwise, yeah, those are the those are the two big places you can find me.

Chris Albert 01:09:14 (link to this point)

Awesome. Awesome.

Andrew, any last notes?

Andrew Marr 01:09:17 (link to this point)

No. Great conversation, Keith. We really appreciate it. Me and Chris were both there at Paleo FX this year, and we plan to be there for the long haul as we're now a part of that tribe as well. So thanks again, Keith.

Keith Norris 01:09:28 (link to this point)

Awesome. Yeah. And I would just I would just, you know, for your for your listeners out there, be sure to read be sure to read Tribe. This is your homework. Okay?

So be sure to read Tribe by Sebastian Junger, and watch the documentary Merchants of Doubt.

Chris Albert 01:09:44 (link to this point)

And Sebastian Junger Sebastian Junger, if you are out there, we want you on the podcast to just put that note in. For sure.

Keith Norris 01:09:52 (link to this point)

Yeah. You'd be you'd be a great guest.

Chris Albert 01:09:55 (link to this point)

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Keith, thank you so much. And for all of you out there, you know, we've talked about quite a bit of stuff today.

And I realized that, you know, and I think we all realize that some of this stuff might make you a little bit uncomfortable. Some of this stuff might, you know, make you feel a little bit on edge. And I know there's a temptation here to say, you know what? Screw those hippies. Screw them.

Screw their revolution. Whatever. But at the end of the day, what we're talking about is the greatest source of your personal freedom. And that is you. That's your body.

That's your mind. Without those two things, you can't live, you can't perform, and you can't do all the things that you wanna do. And it's really up to you to take charge of those things and to get out there and to get the information that's really going to help you. So with that, I'll let you all go. And I want to thank you for listening to this episode of the Warrior Soul podcast.

Well, everybody, thank you for listening to that episode. I thought it was a really great conversation and we have some serious issues to talk about when it comes to health care and being the stewards of our own bodies and taking control of where we're going with our lives. And I just got one more announcement for you guys. This podcast is also brought to you by Kegenix. Kegenix is the best exogenous ketones supplement on the market.

It contains exogenous ketones salts, of course, but it's also got some nootropic factors in it. Things like Alpha GPC and green tea extract which contains L Theanine. And these things can actually help the ketones get across to the brain blood barrier which is gonna enhance your mental energy and your physical energy. I use this supplement and so does Andrew and it's absolutely amazing. You will feel the difference right off the bat.

So if you're interested in trying ketogenic and experiencing the benefits of ketosis through exogenous ketones, head to www.realketones.com forward slash hashtag warrior soul. That's www.realketones.com forward slash hashtag warrior soul. And as I said before the show, all the links to all of our sponsors will be available on the show notes. And until next time, this is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast out.