Jonathan is 21 years old, already followed by researchers and doctors across the health and longevity space, and in this conversation with Mirit Moon he makes the case that sunlight is one of the most underrated variables in human health. He opens by dismantling the idea of a midday "circadian dead zone," walking through the real mechanism: light hitting melanopsin in the eye signals the brain's master clock, and both morning light and light exposure throughout the day play distinct roles in keeping that rhythm strong.

The conversation moves into a piece of medical history many listeners won't know: heliotherapy, sun-based treatment that hospitals worldwide used successfully against tuberculosis, work that earned a Nobel Prize, and Jonathan's account of how and why that practice largely disappeared from mainstream American medicine. From there, he and Mirit cover the real difference between sunburn and a normal sun response, why melanin functions as the body's original sunscreen, the connection between UV exposure, nitric oxide, and cardiovascular health, and the gap between vitamin D produced in the skin versus taken as a supplement, including a widely discussed claim about a calculation error in the original RDA recommendation. Mirit shares her own account of recovering from a serious 2024 health crisis through sunlight, grounding, and diet. The episode closes on a personal note: Jonathan has never been vaccinated, a choice that made completing clinical rotations in a US medical school essentially impossible, and reshaped his path toward research instead.

Topics covered:

• Why the "circadian dead zone" is a myth, and how light actually sets your internal clock
• The history of heliotherapy and its disappearance from mainstream hospitals
• Sunburn versus normal sun response, and melanin as natural sun protection
• Nitric oxide, UV exposure, and cardiovascular health
• Vitamin D synthesis versus supplementation, and the RDA controversy
• Why an unvaccinated 21-year-old can't complete medical school rotations in the US

This is not medical advice. Vitamin D dosing, sun exposure decisions, and vaccination choices should be made with your own doctor.

This psychiatrist, who has worked inside both the pharmaceutical industry and academic medicine, lays out what he calls "capture," the financial and career incentives that push researchers toward pharmaceutical funding over independent sources. Publications, conference travel, and research grants from drug companies are, in his words, "a thousand times easier" to secure than government funding, and early in an academic career, that becomes the fast track to promotion. He argues this has entrenched a model of mental health that reduces most human suffering to a chemical imbalance, at the expense of the body, mindset, and relationships he believes actually drive wellbeing.

He points to one statistic as evidence the current system isn't working: suicide rates are up 40% over the past 25 years. His own three-part model for mental health, body, mind, and what he calls the spiritual, relationships, meaning, safety, is the framework behind the clinic he and his wife built to help people taper off psychiatric medication safely, rather than being told a pill is the only path forward.

Topics covered:

• Why researchers gravitate toward pharmaceutical funding over government grants
• The historical models of mental health (Freud, Pavlov, biological psychiatry) he says all missed the mark
• His body-mind-spirit framework for mental health
• The rise in suicide rates over 25 years, and what he thinks it signals about the current system
• Why tapering off psychiatric medication safely requires more than going cold turkey

Before he became a critic of how psychiatric medication gets prescribed, this guest was inside the machine that builds it: a clinical development team at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, then the FDA's division of psychiatry, reviewing the drugs that end up in nearly every American medicine cabinet. In this conversation, he explains why 15-minute appointments turned mental healthcare into a symptom checklist, how SSRIs like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft work by blunting emotional range rather than addressing root cause, and the mismatch he says doctors rarely disclose: no antidepressant clinical trial has ever run longer than a year, while most patients stay on them for a median of two years, and some for decades.

He also gets into what he says he witnessed firsthand: patients whose medications stopped working over time, personality changes tied to long-term use, and cases where worsening symptoms were treated as a new diagnosis rather than a side effect of the drug itself. Six years ago, he and his wife, also a psychiatrist, left conventional practice to build a clinic focused on helping people safely come off psychiatric medication and learn the non-drug approaches to mental health he believes should have been offered from the start.

Topics covered:

• Why 15-minute appointments reshaped psychiatry around a symptom checklist
• How SSRIs actually work, and what "numbing" versus "root cause" really means
• The gap between how long these drugs are studied and how long people take them
• Personality and emotional changes tied to long-term antidepressant use
• Why he left a career at Janssen and the FDA to build a clinic focused on safe tapering

In this episode of Mirit Moon, I sit down with Tomo Marjanovic, founder and CEO of Aspire Rejuvenation and author of Operation Optimal.We talk about hormones, testosterone, estrogen, perimenopause, menopause, longevity, and why so many people today feel tired, inflamed, and unhealthy despite having more access to healthcare than ever before.Tomo shares his perspective on optimizing health instead of waiting until you’re sick, the importance of taking responsibility for your body, and how small changes can make a big difference over time.We also discuss masculinity, femininity, relationships, discipline, mindset, and what it really means to build a healthy life.If you’re interested in hormone health, longevity, biohacking, or simply feeling your best, I think you’ll enjoy this conversation.Topics we cover:• Hormone optimization for men and women• Testosterone and estrogen• Perimenopause and menopause• Longevity and regenerative medicine• Masculinity and femininity• Modern healthcare• Discipline and personal responsibility

Dr. Anthony Chaffee, known as "the Carnivore Doctor," joins the podcast at the Shield documentary opening in the French Riviera to talk about women's health, autoimmune disease, and why he walked away from a path in neurosurgery.

Anthony shares how years of clinical practice led him to focus on root cause medicine instead of simply treating symptoms, and why he believes lectins in plants play a major role in autoimmune conditions like Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, and Hashimoto's. He breaks down the connection between carbohydrates, insulin, and hormonal imbalances in women, including how diet impacts conditions like PCOS and iron deficiency, and explains why low fiber intake on a carnivore diet often improves digestion rather than harming it.

The conversation also dives into cholesterol, exploring why Anthony believes the link between cholesterol and heart disease has never actually been proven, and how metabolic health markers tell a different story than LDL numbers alone. He and the host also discuss the financial incentives behind mainstream medical advice and why he sees his approach as a return to a more traditional form of medicine focused on curing disease rather than managing it.

Anthony Chaffee is a medical doctor, former neurosurgery specialist, and lifelong athlete who has treated thousands of patients using carnivore and ketogenic protocols to address the root causes of chronic and autoimmune disease.

Mark Shapiro, real estate entrepreneur and author of "The Keys to Your Cage," joins the podcast for a raw conversation about prison, faith, and fatherhood.

Mark spent nearly 15 years in federal prison on a securities fraud conviction he maintains was the result of a corrupt system rather than actual wrongdoing. He shares why he refused a plea deal, what daily life inside was really like, and how he found purpose teaching fellow inmates real estate, business, and financial skills.

He also opens up about the hardest part of it all: his relationship with his four daughters. Mark talks candidly about the toll his divorce and incarceration took on his family, the painful distance that remains with some of his kids today, and what it would mean to him if they reached out.

The conversation covers his return to faith, the presidential pardon that set him free in December 2020, rebuilding his life and career from nothing, and the lessons behind his new book, which argues that real freedom starts as a decision, long before anyone opens the cell door.

Rafa Conde, founder of Man of War Society, joins the podcast to talk about what it means to raise strong, faithful men in a world that's forgotten how.

Rafa built the Man of War Crucible almost a decade ago, drawing on warrior traditions from the Knights Templar, the Samurai, and the Spartans to put men through a physical and mental rite of passage. He explains why he sees this as God's work, why he believes women play a role in pushing men toward strength instead of just comfort, and why he named the brand after Exodus 15:3, "The Lord is a man of war."

Rafa also opens up about his own journey, walking away from a million dollar Wall Street career after 9/11 to join law enforcement, spending 19 years in narcotics and SWAT, and losing his house and cars along the way before eventually building Man of War into a growing global brotherhood.

The conversation covers marriage, fatherhood, faith, the effects of porn and social media on men, and his advice for anyone trying to become a better version of themselves.

Man of War Society is now expanding into Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, with Asia next on the horizon.