{"id":218368,"date":"2026-01-05T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/218368\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T19:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T19:45:10","slug":"how-andrew-huberman-is-staying-healthy-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/218368\/","title":{"rendered":"How Andrew Huberman Is Staying Healthy in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

On his wildly popular podcast, Huberman Lab, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman<\/a> presents a weekly roadmap to a healthier life, expounding on everything from the benefits of a magnesium soak (for sleep), red light therapy (for circadian rhythms), and a technique called the \u201cphysiological sigh\u201d(for calming the nervous system). Despite the fact that episodes of his podcast can run longer than Avatar 3, Huberman\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a> has more than 7 million subscribers. In 2023, a TikTok user named Sierra Campbell chronicled her husband\u2019s health and longevity hacks, coining the term \u201cHuberman Husband<\/a>.\u201d Though you may be more familiar with another Huberman Lab nickname: Goop for bros<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Huberman, 50, doesn\u2019t shy away from the comparison (more on that soon). In fact, he\u2019s going all-in, launching a collaboration with Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s restaurant concept Goop Kitchen<\/a>, which I once had delivered as a joke but now order regularly. (The Japanese sweet potato soup is that good.) Huberman\u2019s signature meal\u2014available today at Goop\u2019s 13 California locations\u2014is an organic turkey chili made with kidney beans and a blend of five chiles; for $16.95, you can build your own bowl, adding sweet potato, pickled cabbage, lime crema, pickled jalapenos and fresh cilantro. Like everything at Goop Kitchen, the dish has no processed sugar, seed oils, or gluten.<\/p>\n

In the hope of starting the year right, we hopped on a Zoom with Huberman to talk about how he\u2019s staying healthy in 2026\u2014minding his cortisol levels<\/a>, integrating fermented foods in his diet, and minding his micronutrients.<\/p>\n

GQ: How did your collaboration with Goop come to be?<\/p>\n

Andrew Huberman: When I use DoorDash, I put in \u201corganic grass-fed\u201d and I just see what gets picked up.<\/p>\n

How many restaurants come up, one?<\/p>\n

Well, in Los Angeles or in Austin\u2014more. Goop Kitchen popped up. I was like, \u201cAll right, I\u2019ll try this Bento box-looking thing.\u201d Then I found myself wanting to drink the sauce, which never happens. This carrot ginger dressing? I was like, I\u2019d buy a bottle of this.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good sign if you want to drink the condiments.<\/p>\n

I kept blabbing about it to people. Somehow that got back to Gwyneth. Then she reached out saying, \u201cIt would be fun to do something.\u201d She must have done her homework. I think some people assume that I\u2019m the \u201coptimization guy\u201d or the \u201cmassive amounts of protein intake\u201d guy. No, I\u2019m 50 years old. I\u2019ve been into fitness since I was 16. Sure, I like eating protein, lifting weights. But being healthy\u2014being able to move, sleeping well\u2014it\u2019s the full picture. And it\u2019s got to be easily attained. The turkey chili doesn\u2019t taste like turkey. It tastes a bit more like beef to me. It has a lot of protein but some starch. I\u2019m not one of these anti-carbohydrate people.<\/p>\n

Your podcast has been called \u201cGoop for bros.\u201d How do you feel about that comparison?<\/p>\n

Gwyneth was first in this general space of thinking about one\u2019s health. And also bringing about a real life aspect to it, right? Sometimes you can cook. Sometimes you need food prepared for you. She\u2019s doing all the vetting of sourcing. I\u2019m a fan. It\u2019s interesting, I think the press tends to pick up on the most extremes on the distribution of any one kind of personal brand.<\/p>\n

Exactly. For us that would be, \u2018it\u2019s all about supplements<\/a> and cold plunges<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good segue. How are you staying healthy in 2026? What habits are you still focused on, and what have you lost interest in?<\/p>\n

Brace yourself for this. Getting your physical health right\u2014which puts your mental health in the best possible place\u2014is all about intentionally high cortisol in the morning and intentionally low cortisol at night. Everyone goes, \u201cOh my God, cortisol is a stress hormone. It\u2019s going to give me visceral fat, moon face.\u201d No, you wake up in the morning because of a rise in cortisol. You want a big, massive spike of cortisol in the morning. If you don\u2019t spike your morning cortisol, your cortisol spikes in the afternoon or evening and then everything goes awry, OK? You want your morning cortisol at least 30x higher than your nighttime cortisol.<\/p>\n

How do I get that hit of high cortisol in the morning then?<\/p>\n

The best way to spike your morning cortisol is to get bright light\u2014ideally from sunlight\u2014in your eyes in the first hour after waking<\/a>. If you can\u2019t do that, maybe invest in a 10,000 Lux artificial light. If you can\u2019t do that, just flip on as many artificial lights as you can. I\u2019ve made a mistake in the past\u2014a tactical mistake, a strategic mistake\u2014by calling it sunlight. People say, \u201cit\u2019s overcast.\u201d What we should say is, \u201cGet daylight in your eyes<\/a>.\u201d Dim mornings and bright nights is the worst way to go.<\/p>\n

What else should I be doing?<\/p>\n

If you can work out first thing in the morning, great. If you don\u2019t have time to exercise first thing in the morning, you need bodily movement. Even some knee bends, some arm swings, some jumping jacks. Movement generates cortisol and adrenaline. Then, at night, you want to do everything the opposite way. If you want to wear BluBlockers, you can. But dim the lights down, avoid caffeine. If you\u2019re going to exercise, don\u2019t make it terribly intense. You wouldn\u2019t want to cold plunge at night. Notice I didn\u2019t even say \u201ccold plunge\u201d for morning. We could talk about cold plunges in a moment.<\/p>\n

*We never came back to this. But when later asked about cold plunges by e-mail, Huberman\u2019s rep clarified his current stance: \u201cAndrew is still a fan of cold plunges. They are a fantastic way to increase mood, focus, and alertness. But they\u2019re not the only ways. There are easier, more cost-effective ways to increase cortisol in the morning. Getting outside, getting some movement in. Some people mistake the fact that Andrew likes cold plunges for a belief that they are a cornerstone of what he advocates for or that he thinks they\u2019re essential to a healthy routine.\u201d<\/p>\n

How should we be thinking about our diet in 2026?<\/p>\n

The way I eat is very simple. And I think this is the way that most people\u2014on or off GLPs\u2014should eat. And I\u2019m not on GLPs. If you\u2019re going to eat what people would call a \u201cfull meal,\u201d ideally you include some high-quality protein. Generally, animal-based proteins or a combination of plant proteins. High quality protein has a high protein-to-calorie ratio. I don\u2019t doubt that you can get a lot of protein from peanut butter. But you\u2019re going to make yourself sick and overweight eating enough peanut butter.<\/p>\n

Have you been looking in my kitchen cabinet?<\/p>\n

Everyone loves peanut butter. But it\u2019s not a protein. It\u2019s a lipid, it\u2019s a fat. One thing that we\u2019re going to hear a lot more about this year is micronutrients. It\u2019s not that difficult, certainly not in the United States, to get enough macronutrients<\/a>\u2014calories, that is, including protein\u2014for low cost. You can go eat two burger patties from a fast food joint and get your protein ratio for that meal. The point is that it\u2019s hard\u2014even with eating fruits and vegetables\u2014to get enough micronutrients. So magnesium<\/a>, all the positive polyphenols that we know are so valuable. I think the new way of eating is going to be people thinking about not just macronutrient content but what tastes great and has high micronutrient content. That\u2019s why eating a small piece of fish\u2014you\u2019re going to get your protein at a good protein quality-to-calorie ratio, you\u2019re getting some healthy lipids, and it\u2019s got a bunch of other things in there that are healthy, too.<\/p>\n

Do I have to worry about fibermaxxing?<\/p>\n

People should probably get most of their fiber from vegetables. Some fruit is fine. Berries, oranges, apples, low-sugar fruits. I will tell you, instead of fibermaxxing<\/a>, the big thing\u2014it\u2019s been known for a while, but it\u2019s really going to hit a square-on in 2026\u2014is low-sugar fermented foods<\/a>. These are the ways that you support the gut microbiome.<\/p>\n

Are you talking about pickles?<\/p>\n

Pickles, as long as they have to be refrigerated, with low-sugar. A sauerkraut, kimchi, natto. The study done at Stanford<\/a>\u2014in my colleague, Justin Sonnenburg\u2019s lab\u2014showed that increasing the consumption of low-sugar fermented foods dramatically reduced the inflammatome and supported the gut-brain access and gut microbiome. This [study] was done in humans. Increasing fiber, however, had a varied effect. Some people\u2019s levels of inflammation went up, other people went down. You have to find which fibrous foods work for you, right? By the way, you can make your own sauerkraut if you really are motivated. Because it can be expensive. Kombucha can be expensive for people.<\/p>\n

[Laughing] You know what\u2019s also expensive for people? Goop Kitchen.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ll just restate, when you push it through the filter of \u2018how can you get high-quality, low-calorie but high macronutrient content?\u2019 The price is reasonable for what it is.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just go with the data. And then I\u2019ll place a small revision, OK? Zero is still better than any. Especially for women, because of the breast cancer risk and other hormone-related cancer risk. This was just confirmed<\/a> by my colleague, Keith Humphreys, at Stanford. Anytime you hear \u201ccardiac benefit from a little bit of wine,\u201d guess what? It\u2019s greatly offset by the cancer risk. You can\u2019t take the benefit in isolation. However, if you are an adult who is a non-alcoholic, you can enjoy probably two drinks per week without any concern.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re talking.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a teetotaler. I totally acknowledge the social-stress reduction benefits of the occasional glass of wine or a cocktail<\/a>. The revision would be, it\u2019s absolutely clear that zero [alcohol] is better than any. But guess what? Living life is better than trying to turn yourself into some sort of mutant to exist a little bit longer. I\u2019ve always been about enjoying life. I wish I had never said the word \u201coptimize.\u201d Because optimization includes mental health, which includes pleasures in life.<\/p>\n

Would you ever have RFK Jr. on your show?<\/p>\n

You know, I don\u2019t know that that conversation makes sense for our show. It\u2019s not an impossibility. I\u2019d probably bring Marty [Makary]<\/a> on as well from the FDA. There are a few topics I\u2019m particularly interested in. For instance, potential legalization of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health issues.<\/p>\n

I know someone who had a good experience at Cedars-Sinai with a ketamine treatment<\/a> for depression.<\/p>\n

Fantastic. Ketamine, MDMA for PTSD, the depression stuff, ibogaine for severe chemical use disorder\u2014I\u2019m very interested in those. That conversation could happen. I think we should just acknowledge the 600-pound gorilla in the room, right? Vaccines. I asked [NIH director] Jay Bhattacharya<\/a> on my podcast directly, \u201cDo you think vaccines have saved lives?\u201d He says, \u201cYes.\u201d I asked, \u201cDo you think childhood vaccines have saved lives?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d You want the big question? The big question that needs resolving is, \u201cDoes the inflammation associated with any vaccine become a cumulative risk on a backdrop of either genetic susceptibility or number of vaccines as spaced out in time?\u201d Not \u201cis this vaccine dangerous\u201d or \u201cis that vaccine dangerous.\u201d Because I think the data on those tend to be fairly clear. Look, I\u2019ll sit down with anyone. It\u2019s not an impossibility. But I prefer on my podcast to have conversations about biology with biologists and clinical issues with clinicians.<\/p>\n

Coming back to your Goop meal, is there a sleeper hit in it? A side dish? A sauce?<\/p>\n

The turkey chili is so good. Their roasted potatoes are out of this world. They\u2019re proof\u2014again\u2014that I eat starches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On his wildly popular podcast, Huberman Lab, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman presents a weekly roadmap to a healthier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[565,564,134,131799,64873,111,139,69,145,14651],"class_list":{"0":"post-218368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-food","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-important-issues","12":"tag-life-advice","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-technology","17":"tag-working-out"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}