Podbit · 2 Bears, 1 Cave with Tom Segura & Bert Kreischer
Tom Segura is doing a full gut-health investigation that requires him to defecate into a bucket, scoop samples into separate vials at three different temperatures, and deliver them to a lab. His goal: figure out why he can eat chicken and rice and have a wild shit, then eat a cheeseburger and be totally fine.
Where this was said
At 48:24 · chapter starts 46:13
With mushrooms on their way via a mutual friend, Bert clarifies he's not doing a child's dose — he wants a hero dose, though he'll ease in with double a microdose first. What he really needs, he insists, is a shaman. Tom immediately says yes to recording a full podcast episode with both of them eating mushrooms guided by an actual shaman in Los Angeles, and adds he also wants DMT on the menu. Bert refuses the DMT add-on. The conversation shifts to Tom's gut health investigation, [1] — Tom Segura "Tom Segura is doing a full gut-health investigation that requires him to defecate into a bucket, scoop samples into separate vials at three…" 48:24 which may be the most unusual health story this podcast has ever produced: he must defecate into a bucket, scoop samples into separate vials maintained at room temperature, refrigerated, and frozen, then deliver them to a lab. His doctor specifically asked for a 'bad one.' The goal is to explain why his bowels are completely unpredictable — great food producing terrible results and vice versa. He and Bert compare daily bowel schedules in sincere detail, including Tom's trick of eating a jalapeño as a tracker to measure gastric transit time.
Bert is planning his first mushroom trip with a 'hero dose' and tells Tom he needs a shaman. Tom immediately agrees to do a full Two Bears, One Cave episode where both of them eat mushrooms guided by an actual shaman. Tom adds he also wants to do DMT. Bert says absolutely not.
Tom Segura is having his stool tested at a lab to determine why his bowel movements are so unpredictable, requiring him to scoop samples into vials and refrigerate or freeze them.
Bert Kreischer unknowingly defecated in his sleep, worked out afterward, and only discovered the incident the next morning in the shower.
Bert Kreischer accidentally defecated in his sleep, thought it was a fart, woke up, went to the gym, worked out, came home, and only discovered the evidence during his post-workout shower. His wife walked in and said 'it smells like balls in here.' He told her it wasn't balls.
Self-help fails because people are sold one universal cure by the hyper-responders who had a transformative result from it. The real problem is context: every method works for the right person at the right time, which is almost never you just because the author says so.
Spencer Greenberg was once so socially anxious his heart pounded just approaching a stranger. His therapist gave him homework: go to a bar alone, talk to 5 strangers. Starting with asking for the time, he worked up to asking men for hugs — and his anxiety fell dramatically in 6 months.
A person who flies regularly but obsessively checks weather forecasts before every flight is not doing exposure therapy — they're teaching their brain that flying is only safe with the ritual. Safety behaviors prevent the brain from ever learning that the feared thing is actually fine.
The worry-time technique assigns all worries to one scheduled slot (e.g. 5 PM). Every time a worry surfaces, you write it down and ban yourself from engaging with it until that time. When 5 PM arrives, most worries feel trivial and the act of batch-worrying exposes how little it actually accomplishes.
In a randomized study of 20 habit techniques, 'habit reflection' stood out: recall a past habit you successfully built, write down what helped you succeed, then apply those same strategies to your new habit. It works because it's self-adapting — it uses whatever worked for YOU.
The tiny habits technique — always having a minimal version of your habit you can do when life gets in the way — keeps the mental machinery of habit formation from breaking. Paradoxically, people given a tiny-habit fallback option were MORE successful at the full habit, not less.
Fears and worries act like playground bullies — they want to ambush you. But when you deliberately seek them out and choose the time of engagement, they lose their power. The volitional act of starting the fight on your own terms is one of CBT's most underappreciated insights.
Most downtime defaults are things you regret immediately after — phone scrolling, binge TV. 'Glad you did it' activities meet the same need for rest but leave you feeling like you spent your time well. The switch from a bad screen to a documentary, a book, or a walk costs almost no extra effort but compounds into identity over time.
You rarely control your first reactive thought. But you can train your second thought — the response to the trigger — by asking whether your initial reaction is the most helpful one and replacing it with something equally true but more constructive. Over time, that second thought becomes automatic.
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