February 23, 2026
I was never any kind of disciple of Anthony Bourdain, but I find him very interesting as a person. That being said, there was a time where I was a bit more herbaceously inclined, and prone to a certain laziness, I’d ofttimes leave a program on rather than change the channel. I want to say I saw this live on television, and not a YouTube clip, but I remember Anthony Bourdain being in some Asian country and taking a shot of alcohol that had a live beating snake heart in it – a concoction which was said to inspire male potency.
At the time I thought it was the most baller, badass thing you could possibly ever do in your life. As an older person, I think it’s kinda cool, and I’d most likely try it myself, but the pedestal is much lower than it once was.
These days instead of dreaming of vampire shots, I dream of miracle drugs.
Drugs isn’t a good word for them, as most things are natural. But I’ll be Goddamned if hearing a YouTube video about the benefits of Fish Oil or NAC doesn’t make me start furiously finger-blasting my mouse in search of a 2 for 1 deal at CVS.
I’ve been doing this for years.
I’ll even share my current ‘stack’ for giggles:
Previously I was adding in Tongkat Ali and Horny Goat Weed cause I thought it would up my testosterone, but more on that later.
It took me at least a few years to warm up to AI, and over the past few months I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was using ChatGPT as an answer generating tool, not an optimization tool. I was asking for answers for life, the universe, and everything instead of laying my cards out on the table and asking which ones might be a good idea to sweep off into oblivion.
During a 3 week fast this year at church I stopped drinking, which is a pretty big deal for me since I’m quite the party animal, and I’m planning on doing it long term, if not… forever.
I’ve used ChatGPT in the past for health tracking to moderate success. I’m one of those fellas who just get’s really gung-ho about a project or idea, puts in a bunch of effort, and it fizzles out in a fortnight. When I initially started health tracking I was getting into the real nitty gritty: calorie intake, protein intake, the whole 9. I “stopped drinking” about 3 times in 2025, and during health tracking was probably the longest I went abstaining, so physical and cognitive improvements over time was a large part of that.
I started health tracking again during the fast and it was incredibly helpful and insightful, and for whatever reason this time I decided to try and optimize what I was taking rather than pile on a bunch of supplements.
As a shameless victim of supplement greed and gluttony, I implore you to do 2 things:
There’s a good chance 1 or 2 things might help your current situation to some moderate amount, but I’m convinced that we need very little other than healthy food and appropriate exercise. We didn’t evolve for a bajillion years to start poppin’ pills.
I’m not sure why this time around it was easier for me to quit alcohol, but I’m chalking it up to putting less pressure on myself and leaning into perspective and insight over excessive planning.
Also, I’m not going to go get my testosterone tested or anything, but I was very scared that quitting alcohol would negatively affect one of the “blessings of marriage” by screwing up my hormones, but after a few weeks of paranoia I can safely say that daddy is better than ever.
There’s a time and place for being a party animal, but make sure you get it all out of your system before you’re just one of those gross old dudes in the corner, and if you have any trouble substances (alcohol, food, nitrous oxide) figure that shit out quick so you can leave a sexy corpse.