How Andrew Huberman Is Staying Healthy in 2026

On his wildly popular podcast, Huberman Lab, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman 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 “physiological sigh”(for calming the nervous system). Despite the fact that episodes of his podcast can run longer than Avatar 3, Huberman’s YouTube channel has more than 7 million subscribers. In 2023, a TikTok user named Sierra Campbell chronicled her husband’s health and longevity hacks, coining the term “Huberman Husband.” Though you may be more familiar with another Huberman Lab nickname: Goop for bros.

Dr. Huberman, 50, doesn’t shy away from the comparison (more on that soon). In fact, he’s going all-in, launching a collaboration with Gwyneth Paltrow’s restaurant concept Goop Kitchen, which I once had delivered as a joke but now order regularly. (The Japanese sweet potato soup is that good.) Huberman’s signature meal—available today at Goop’s 13 California locations—is 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.

In the hope of starting the year right, we hopped on a Zoom with Huberman to talk about how he’s staying healthy in 2026—minding his cortisol levels, integrating fermented foods in his diet, and minding his micronutrients.

GQ: How did your collaboration with Goop come to be?

Andrew Huberman: When I use DoorDash, I put in “organic grass-fed” and I just see what gets picked up.

How many restaurants come up, one?

Well, in Los Angeles or in Austin—more. Goop Kitchen popped up. I was like, “All right, I’ll try this Bento box-looking thing.” Then I found myself wanting to drink the sauce, which never happens. This carrot ginger dressing? I was like, I’d buy a bottle of this.

It’s a good sign if you want to drink the condiments.

I kept blabbing about it to people. Somehow that got back to Gwyneth. Then she reached out saying, “It would be fun to do something.” She must have done her homework. I think some people assume that I’m the “optimization guy” or the “massive amounts of protein intake” guy. No, I’m 50 years old. I’ve been into fitness since I was 16. Sure, I like eating protein, lifting weights. But being healthy—being able to move, sleeping well—it’s the full picture. And it’s got to be easily attained. The turkey chili doesn’t taste like turkey. It tastes a bit more like beef to me. It has a lot of protein but some starch. I’m not one of these anti-carbohydrate people.

Your podcast has been called “Goop for bros.” How do you feel about that comparison?

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

Exactly. For us that would be, ‘it’s all about supplements and cold plunges.’

That’s a good segue. How are you staying healthy in 2026? What habits are you still focused on, and what have you lost interest in?

Brace yourself for this. Getting your physical health right—which puts your mental health in the best possible place—is all about intentionally high cortisol in the morning and intentionally low cortisol at night. Everyone goes, “Oh my God, cortisol is a stress hormone. It’s going to give me visceral fat, moon face.” 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’t 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.

How do I get that hit of high cortisol in the morning then?

The best way to spike your morning cortisol is to get bright light—ideally from sunlight—in your eyes in the first hour after waking. If you can’t do that, maybe invest in a 10,000 Lux artificial light. If you can’t do that, just flip on as many artificial lights as you can. I’ve made a mistake in the past—a tactical mistake, a strategic mistake—by calling it sunlight. People say, “it’s overcast.” What we should say is, “Get daylight in your eyes.” Dim mornings and bright nights is the worst way to go.

What else should I be doing?

If you can work out first thing in the morning, great. If you don’t 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’re going to exercise, don’t make it terribly intense. You wouldn’t want to cold plunge at night. Notice I didn’t even say “cold plunge” for morning. We could talk about cold plunges in a moment.

*We never came back to this. But when later asked about cold plunges by e-mail, Huberman’s rep clarified his current stance: “Andrew is still a fan of cold plunges. They are a fantastic way to increase mood, focus, and alertness. But they’re 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’re essential to a healthy routine.”

How should we be thinking about our diet in 2026?

The way I eat is very simple. And I think this is the way that most people—on or off GLPs—should eat. And I’m not on GLPs. If you’re going to eat what people would call a “full meal,” 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’t doubt that you can get a lot of protein from peanut butter. But you’re going to make yourself sick and overweight eating enough peanut butter.

Have you been looking in my kitchen cabinet?

Everyone loves peanut butter. But it’s not a protein. It’s a lipid, it’s a fat. One thing that we’re going to hear a lot more about this year is micronutrients. It’s not that difficult, certainly not in the United States, to get enough macronutrients—calories, that is, including protein—for 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’s hard—even with eating fruits and vegetables—to get enough micronutrients. So magnesium, 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’s why eating a small piece of fish—you’re going to get your protein at a good protein quality-to-calorie ratio, you’re getting some healthy lipids, and it’s got a bunch of other things in there that are healthy, too.

Do I have to worry about fibermaxxing?

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, the big thing—it’s been known for a while, but it’s really going to hit a square-on in 2026—is low-sugar fermented foods. These are the ways that you support the gut microbiome.

Are you talking about pickles?

Pickles, as long as they have to be refrigerated, with low-sugar. A sauerkraut, kimchi, natto. The study done at Stanford—in my colleague, Justin Sonnenburg’s lab—showed 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’s 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.

[Laughing] You know what’s also expensive for people? Goop Kitchen.

Well, I’ll just restate, when you push it through the filter of ‘how can you get high-quality, low-calorie but high macronutrient content?’ The price is reasonable for what it is.

Let’s just go with the data. And then I’ll 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 by my colleague, Keith Humphreys, at Stanford. Anytime you hear “cardiac benefit from a little bit of wine,” guess what? It’s greatly offset by the cancer risk. You can’t 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.

Now we’re talking.

I’m not a teetotaler. I totally acknowledge the social-stress reduction benefits of the occasional glass of wine or a cocktail. The revision would be, it’s 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’ve always been about enjoying life. I wish I had never said the word “optimize.” Because optimization includes mental health, which includes pleasures in life.

Would you ever have RFK Jr. on your show?

You know, I don’t know that that conversation makes sense for our show. It’s not an impossibility. I’d probably bring Marty [Makary] on as well from the FDA. There are a few topics I’m particularly interested in. For instance, potential legalization of psychedelics for the treatment of mental health issues.

Fantastic. Ketamine, MDMA for PTSD, the depression stuff, ibogaine for severe chemical use disorder—I’m 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 on my podcast directly, “Do you think vaccines have saved lives?” He says, “Yes.” I asked, “Do you think childhood vaccines have saved lives?” “Yes.” You want the big question? The big question that needs resolving is, “Does 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?” Not “is this vaccine dangerous” or “is that vaccine dangerous.” Because I think the data on those tend to be fairly clear. Look, I’ll sit down with anyone. It’s not an impossibility. But I prefer on my podcast to have conversations about biology with biologists and clinical issues with clinicians.

Coming back to your Goop meal, is there a sleeper hit in it? A side dish? A sauce?

The turkey chili is so good. Their roasted potatoes are out of this world. They’re proof—again—that I eat starches.