Male's Work: Why I Do What I Do

For more than fifty years I have been helping men and their families to live fully healthy lives. Over the years I have developed expertise in the emerging field of gender-specific healing. I call what I do, simply: “Men’s Work.” A colleague of mine is writing a book, A Call to Wise Elders: Leaving a Legacy of Goodness for Future Generations. He asked me to contribute and address two questions:

                 1. “Why do what you do?”  Give a voice to the impetus that moved you to work to make those around you safer, more comfortable, more fulfilled, and /or make the world a better place for ensuing generations.

                2. “What do you receive?” Describe the way you personally feel rewarded, (emotionally, psychologically, spiritually) by the process of giving your knowledge, resources, time and energy in service to a purpose larger than yourself.

Here’s how I addressed these questions.

                “Why do what you do?”  This is the answer that is most alive for me as I write today.

                It has been said that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you found out why. The first important day is straightforward and specific. I was born December 21, 1943 in New York City. The day I found out why was November 21, 1969 at Kaiser hospital in Vallejo, California.

                The second important day requires a bit more historical context. When I met and fell in love with my first wife, we were college students at U.C. Santa Barbara. As young couples do, we talked about our future and desires for children. We agreed that once we were married, we wanted two children. We hoped the first child would come naturally, but decided we wanted to adopt our second child so that a child in need would have a good home.

                Now back to Kaiser hospital in 1969. After coaching my wife with the relaxation and breathing techniques we had learned in the Lamaze child-birthing classes, we were told it was time for my wife to move into the delivery room.  I still remember the words of the nurse.

                “OK, Mr. Diamond, your work is done now. You can go to the waiting-room and we’ll let you know when your child arrives.”

                I was sorry to have to leave at this point, but we had been told the rules. Fathers were not allowed in the delivery room. I kissed my wife, wished her and the baby well, and told her I would see her soon. She was wheeled in one direction, and I went the other way.

                But as I was going through the waiting-room doors, something stopped me. I felt the call of my unborn child telling me:

                “I don’t want a waiting-room father. Your place is here with us.”

                I immediately turned around and made my way to the delivery room. I came in and took my place at the head of the table as my wife began the final stages to bring our child into the world.

                There was no question about my leaving. I knew where I belonged. No hospital rules were going to keep me away. It didn’t take long for the final push and our son, Jemal, came into the world amid tears of joy and relief. Holding him for the first time I made a vow that I would be a different kind of father than my father was able to be for me and to do everything I could to help create a world where fathers were fully engaged with their families throughout their lives. Two-and-a-half years later, we adopted a two-month-old, African-American baby girl, who we named Angela.

                For fifty-six years now I have worked in the emerging field of Gender-Specific Medicine and men’s health. According to my colleague Marianne J. Legato, M.D, the founder of the professional field of practice and author of Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women were essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and that everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the ways they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato acknowledges that most of the focus in the field has been on women. She has applauded my work with men and how it deepens and expands her work with sex and gender issues.  

                I have written seventeen books, including My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound. The book recounts my father’s healing journey from the time he took an overdose of sleeping pills when I was five years old and was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital to his escape after his “treatments” made him worse.

                It took many years and a lot of help and support for him to recover. I also lived with his legacy as I dealt with my own depression and recovery over the years. I share what I’ve learned in a number of on-line courses: “Healing the Family Father Wound,” and “Navigating the 5 Stages of Love.”

                My present wife, Carlin, and I now have six grown children, seventeen grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. Our work in the world continues as we move into our eighties and explore our contributions as elders.

                “What do you receive?” The answer to this question would require more books than I have already written. But the simple answer is that by engaging this work, I am able to fulfill my life’s destiny, fulfill the promise I made to my family, and to offer guidance and mentorship for the those who resonate with me and this vital healing work the world needs now more than ever.

                Following the publication of my fifteenth book, I thought my time writing books was complete. It seemed that fifteen books was a good body of work to complete my writing career. My wife, Carlin, surprised me when she said,

                “You need to write at least one more book. There is so much separation and conflict between men and women these days (that was during the height of the #MeToo movement and many men in positions of prominence and power were being accused of sexual misconduct), you need to write a book about what is good about men.”

                I was surprised at her insistence since she had always been supportive of my writing but had never told me I should write another book. Books require a lot of research and time alone to think and create. They take time away from family. I also wanted to do more teaching, training, and mentoring and less time doing counseling and writing books.

                After deep reflection I agreed that I had some interest and energy for book writing and began work on my 16^th book, 12 Rules for Good Men and later my 17^th book, Long Live Men! The Moonshot Mission to Heal Men, Close the Lifespan Gap, and Offer Hope to Humanity. I do love to write and I feel it’s a gift that I want to continue offering.

                The gift of these elder years is to engage with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and the generations that will follow me. I believe that men are both the canaries in the coalmine warning us about the dangers we face as humanity continues to be out of balance with the natural world. Healing men is also the hope for the future. I’ve also learned that when we heal men, we also heal women, children, and our communities.

                I very much resonate with the words of historian Thomas Berry who offered this warning and call to action.

                “We never knew enough. Nor were we sufficiently intimate with all our cousins in the great family of the earth. Nor could we listen to the various creatures of the earth, each telling its own story. The time has now come, however, when we will listen or we will die.”

                The greatest gift any of us can ask for is to have the courage to step up at the most challenging times in which we live and support those who are creating, in the words of my colleague Charles Eisenstein,

                “The more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”

                I look forward to connecting more deeply.

                Jed Diamond, PhD, LCSW, Founder/VHS (Visionary, Healer, Scholar in residence) MenAlive.com

The post Men’s Work: Why I Do What I Do appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: Men’s Work: Why I Do What I Do
Sourced From: menalive.com/mens-work-healing-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mens-work-healing-men
Published Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:17:28 +0000

New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40

I have been working in the men’s health field since 1969. My work expanded greatly in 1997 following the publication of my fourth book, Male Menopause, which soon became an international best-seller translated into seventeen foreign languages. In the book I defined the male “change of life” this way:

“Male menopause (also called andropause or manopause) begins with hormonal, physiological, and chemical changes that occur in all men generally between the ages of forty and fifty-five, though it can occur as early as thirty-five or as late as sixty-five. These changes affect all aspects of a man’s life. Male menopause is, thus, a physical condition with psychological, interpersonal, social, and spiritual dimensions.”

                I went on to say,

                “The purpose of male menopause is to signal the end of the first part of a man’s life and prepare him for the second half. Male menopause is not the beginning of the end, as many fear, but the end of the beginning. It is the passage to the most passionate, powerful, productive, and purposeful time of a man’s life.”

                I listed the following symptoms I had seen over the years with clients I treated. The most common physical symptoms include:

• Less endurance for physical activity
• Taking longer to recover from injuries and illness
• Weight gain
• Loss of skin tone

                Common psychological symptoms include:

• Irritability
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Loss of purpose and direction in life

                Common sexual symptoms include:

• Loss of erections
• Low libido and interest in sex
• Increased anxiety and fear about sexual changes
• Increased fantasies about having sex outside of primary relationship

                I discussed the impact of hormonal changes for men going through this life passage.

                “Lowered levels of hormones at midlife are central to the changes associated with male menopause. Although hormones tend to decrease with age, each man is unique and individual levels vary widely. In one study, for instance, the average level of testosterone for men in their fifties was 600 ng/ mL. However, individual levels ranged from 200 ng/ mLl to 1,000 ng/ mL.”

                I also detailed the early experiences with testosterone replacement therapies (TRT) and some of the concerns about its use.

                “While clinicians in the U.S. debated the risks and benefits of TRT, British physicians were already beginning to use hormones to treat men who showed symptoms of testosterone deficiency.”

                Over the years, there continues to be controversy about the use of TRT in treating men. Nevertheless, testosterone continues to be prescribed widely for millions of men. I recently wrote about a new company, GameDay Men’s Health, that has been expanding rapidly with new clinics throughout the country. Says their founder, Evan Miller, PhD,

                “By focusing all of our energy on delivering premium testosterone replacement therapy, removing the stigma around erectile dysfunction services and more, we ensure our clients’ experience is relaxing, fast, and most importantly, delivers results.”

Acesis BioMed: Revolutionizing Treatment of Low T and Other Health Problems

I recently learned about a new company, Acesis Biomed, that is taking a different approach to treating low testosterone in men. Acesis Biomed was founded by Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas.

                Dr. Papadopoulos is Dean of the University of Southern California Alfred Mann School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. He holds the John Stauffer Decanal Chair in Pharmaceutical Sciences and is a professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Medicine at USC. Before joining USC, Dr Papadopoulos served as Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada.

                Dr. Karatzas is Acesis’ CEO and has over 35 years of experience in Life Sciences in the public, private and academic sectors. He attended McGill University, where he earned his Ph.D., in Molecular Biology. He has over fifty peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor with 18 patents. From 2009 to 2021 he was the Director of Business Development and Contracts Office at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Canada.

                I recently had an opportunity to talk with Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas about their company and their new approach for helping men with low T. They told me,

                “Millions of men suffer from low testosterone (T), leading to reduced quality of life. Acesis Biomed is pioneering a first-in-class, patented, oral treatment that restores the body’s natural T production — without synthetic hormones.”

                From my experience working with mid-life men and their families for more than fifty years, I believe this is a monumental breakthrough in what will be offered to men. Up until now, men who were experiencing symptoms of low testosterone were limited to taking Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Now, for the first time, Acesis Biomed, is offering a treatment approach that helps men restore their testosterone levels through a potentially safer and more natural approach by inducing the testes to produce testosterone.

                “Our vision is to unlock the body’s ability to restore testosterone, rather than using external steroids, setting a new approach for men’s wellbeing,” they told me.

                 They continue by stating:

                “What if a pill could help millions of men feel like themselves again — without needles, patches, gels or synthetic hormones? At Acesis, we are on a mission to transform the way low-T or deficiency is treated.“

                Dr. Karatzas stated that,

                “Our unique solution is rooted in the science, developed by Dr. Papadopoulos. His research has led to a better understanding of the pathways leading to steroid hormone synthesis, the pharmacology of steroid formation in the periphery and brain, and the identification of new molecules targeting key elements in diseases where steroids play a determining role.”

                They told me they want to be sure that when this new medication is available, it is safe and has undergone the necessary clinical trials and regulatory scrutiny.

                “Our current goal is to complete our preclinical program and transition to First-in-Man clinical trial in men with low testosterone, also known as male hypogonadism.”

                As a leader in the field of Gender-Specific Medicine and Men’s Health I am excited to continue learning more about the ground-breaking work that Drs. Papadopoulos and Karatzas are doing.

                The field of Gender-Specific Medicine is relatively new. My colleague, Marianne J. Legato, MD founded the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine in 1999. In her book, Eve’s Rib: The New Science of Gender-Specific Medicine and How It Can Save Your Life, she says,

                “Until now, we’ve acted as though men and women are essentially identical except for the differences in their reproductive function. In fact, information we’ve been gathering over the past ten years tells us that this is anything but true, and everywhere we look, the two sexes are startingly and unexpectedly different not only in their normal function but in the way they experience illness.”

                Dr. Legato has told me on numerous occasions that there is a great need for new approaches to helping men. In her book, Why Men Die First: How to Lengthen Your Lifespan, she says,

                “Despite the significant opportunities and advantages most societies afford men, they remain shockingly vulnerable on many levels. Researchers have largely ignored the phenomenon, with tragic consequences. Simply put, we never turned a gender-specific lens on men. We have not thought enough — if at all — about why they are uniquely prone to disability and premature death.”

                It is time that men’s health got the recognition it deserves. I will keep my readers posted on these innovations and look forward to hearing more from Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos and Dr. Costas N. Karatzas in the future. You can learn more about Acesis BioMed and their work to transform men’s health by visiting their website here.  If you would like to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter and read articles about innovations in field, you can visit me at MenAlive.com and subscribe to the newsletter here.

The post New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40 appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: New Cutting-Edge Health Technologies For All Men Over 40
Sourced From: menalive.com/new-health-technology-for-men-over-40/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-health-technology-for-men-over-40
Published Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:06:21 +0000

Podcast # 1,076: The Microbiome Master Secret-- How 100 Trillion Bacteria Influence Your Weight, Mood, and All-Around Health

When you think of the microbiome, you probably think of your gut. But bacteria live all over your body. And they’re incredibly numerous; you play host to about as many microbes — a hundred trillion of them — as you do human cells.

As my guest will explain, these microbial ecosystems are not only ubiquitous but hugely influential for your health — impacting everything from your weight and mood to your risk of developing many diseases.

Dr. Brett Finlay is a microbiologist and the co-author of The Microbiome Master Key. Today on the show, Brett explains what the microbiome is, how modern life — including our overemphasis on hygiene — has damaged it, and how the quality of your microbiome is connected to nine of the top ten leading causes of death, as well as everything from depression to Parkinson’s. Brett also shares how we can boost the health of our microbiome, including whether probiotic supplements are effective, how something as simple as flossing your teeth can cut your risk of Alzheimer’s by 50%, and why you might want to let your dog lick you in the face.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• Let Them Eat Dirt documentary 
• AoM Article: How and Why to Eat More Fiber
• AoM Article: Don’t Be a Stick in the Mud — Why You Should Let Your Kids Get Dirty
• Probiotic gum

Connect With Brett Finlay

• Brett’s faculty page

Listen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)

Listen to the episode on a separate page.

Download this episode.

Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice.

Transcript Coming Soon

 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

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By: Brett & Kate McKay
Title: Podcast #1,076: The Microbiome Master Key — How 100 Trillion Bacteria Influence Your Weight, Mood, and All-Around Health
Sourced From: www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/health/podcast-1076-the-microbiome-master-key-how-100-trillion-bacteria-influence-your-weight-mood-and-all-around-health/
Published Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:21:39 +0000

Recovering Ourselves, Healing Our World: Brenda Snow Healthcare Maven Extraordinaire

                I first learned about the incredible work of Brenda Snow when I found her book, Diagnosed: The Essential Guide to Navigating the Patient’s Journey. Over the years I have had to deal with several health challenges in my own life including asthma, chronic pneumonia, bipolar disorder, as well as some rather exotic diseases that impacted my kidneys (Glomerulonephritis) and adrenal glands (Pheochromocytoma). I am now a full-time caregiver to my wife, Carlin. I know I am not alone. No one gets through life without being a patient and/or a caregiver.

                Brenda Snow has pioneered patient engagement for the life science industry with her agency Snow Companies, which she leads as the founder. Brenda’s leadership is grounded in her own experience as a patient with multiple sclerosis and her ability to share her story with millions of women and men who have had to deal with a frightening diagnosis.

                “Here’s the first thing I want you to understand,” says Brenda, “You are not alone.”

                I had the good fortune to interview Brenda on my podcast. You can watch the full interview here. Hearing Brenda share her story not only reminds us that we are not alone, but that we have a caring guide who understands what we are going through and can help us survive and thrive.

                “If you’ve been sucker-punched by a terrifying diagnosis,” Brenda says, “you might feel alienated from the life you used to live. You feel foreign to the person you used to be. It’s isolating, lonely, and scary.”

After thirty years of living with a chronic illness, and twenty-five years working with thousands of people managing a chronic or terminal disease, Brenda Snow is an authority on living a full life as a patient as well as the skills and courage necessary to be a loving care-partner.

                “I’ve seen this healing Journey enough times that I recognize its stages,” Brenda says, “Yes, there is a Patient’s Journey. Similar to the Grief Cycle, patients tend to journey through a recognizable series of experiences as they cope with their illness and process what it means for their lives.”

                She recognizes that following phases and stages:

                Phase I: Putting out the Fire

1. Pre-Diagnosis
2. Diagnosis
3. Grief
4. Anger
5. Acceptance

                Phase 2: The Rest of Your Life

1. Endurance
2. Optimize Your Relationships
3. Optimize Your Care
4. Rebuilding
5. Impact

Phase I: Putting Out the Fire

                “The first half of the Patient’s Journey is relatively linear,” Brenda says. “Phase 1 encompasses the early, acute part of your Journey: you’re dealing with your body’s most debilitating symptoms and putting out the fire. Phase 1 is brutal, but — if you can move through it — you will get beyond it.”

Pre-Diagnosis

“In the Pre-Diagnosis stage, something weird is happening to your body and you don’t know what,” says Brenda. “Your behavior may be characterized by a mixture of denial and frantic Googling attempts to self-diagnose.”

Diagnosis

                “The Diagnosis stage brings both relief and sadness,” says Brenda. “Relief, because you finally have a name for what’s happening to your body. Sadness, because — what the hell — you can’t believe that this is going to be your life now.”

Grief

                Grief comes when it starts to get real, when you realize this isn’t going to go away.

                “These are ugly, painful moments that confirm: ‘Yes. I really do have this. This is part of my life now and I can’t make it go away,’” Brenda says.

Anger

                Anger and grief often go together.

                “A lot of people are angry about what their disease took away from them,” says Brenda, “Their health, their job, their physical appearance, their ability to run around with their kids or make love to their partner.”

Acceptance

                “Acceptance is hard,” says Brenda. “I don’t want to sound like Pollyanna here.”

                There is much we can’t control about chronic illness.

                “But one thing you can control: the glasses you put on to perceive your reality and determine the way you show up. You can choose how you see the world.”

Phase 2: The Rest of Your Life

                “Phase 2 is not linear,” says Brenda, “because you will engage in every one of these latter stages for the rest of your life. They may occur simultaneously or in a different order.”

                Phase 1 must be engaged first.

                “You won’t have the energy you need for any of these latter stages,” says Brenda, “until you turn the corner of Acceptance.”

Endurance

“You will need to endure your illness on a regular basis,” says Brenda, “because just when you think you’ve got the nut cracked, you’ll realize there’s some new shit you’ve got to figure out. Of all the Patient’s Journey stages, this is the one that lasts the longest.”

Optimize Your Relationships

“The Patient’s Journey instigates profound changes in patients, care partners, and everyone touched by the disease,” says Brenda. “It causes relationships to evolve. Everyone must learn new roles and new ways of engaging with one another.”

Optimize Your Care

“You’ll need to keep tweaking, retooling, and revisiting the plan to architect your Best-Case Scenario as you move through different seasons of life and as your disease potentially changes or new treatment protocols become available,” says Brenda.

Rebuilding

                “Rebuilding is all about architecting fun and normalcy back into your life,” Brenda explains.  “Life is too short to be serious all the time, and that’s a truth you now know with greater sureness than you ever have before,” says Brenda. “Surround yourself with people who ‘get it’, who make you laugh.”

Impact

“And now, patients begin to ask, ‘What am I going to do with it? How am I going to give back and leave the world a better place?’ That’s when you arrive at the Impact stage of your Journey,” Brenda says. “As a patient, you’ve been freshly and brutally reminded that we’re all going to die one day. That universal truth now has personal immediacy to you.”

Women and Men as Patients and Caregivers

                Although we all are going to die some day and we all will become patients and/or caregivers at some point in our lives, women and men often face different challenges. Women are more often caregivers and men more often face life-threatening illnesses, though our greater resistance to getting professional help often keeps men in denial.

                According to Dr. Will Courtenay, author of Dying to Be Men,

                “Although traditional men are socialized to be providers for and protectors of others, they tend to be poor guardians of their own health. Men in the United States have greater socioeconomic advantages than women, but despite these advantages men — on average — are at greater of serious chronic disease, injury, and death than women.”

                As someone who has spent his professional career as a healer working with men and their families, I have experienced these gender differences over the last sixty years.

                “For nearly all 15 leading causes of death [except Alzheimer’s], men and boys have higher age-adjusted death rates than women and girls,” says Dr. Courtenay. “These 15 leading killers account for more than 80% of all deaths in the United States.” [Based on statistics gathered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.]

One of my goals in my life has been to help men live fully healthy lives so we don’t have to die before our time. Along the way I’ve learned to become a better caregiver to myself, my children, my parents, and my wife.

Both my wife and I are now in our 80s. In addition to the diagnosed illnesses we’ve had, we also have to deal with the realities of being old. We’ve been married for forty-five years and have six grown children, seventeen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.. Brenda Snow’s experience and expertise has helped us navigate our Patient Journey as well as our Caregiver Journey. Yet, we still have more life to live and more lessons to learn.

If you’d like to know more about Brenda Snow and her work, you may do so here.

                To see the interview and discussion we had together, you may do so here.

                If you would like to read more articles about health and wellbeing, I invite you to subscribe to my free weekly newsletter here.

The post Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World: Brenda Snow Healthcare Maven Extraordinaire appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: Healing Ourselves, Healing Our World: Brenda Snow Healthcare Maven Extraordinaire
Sourced From: menalive.com/healing-ourselves-and-the-worl/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=healing-ourselves-and-the-worl
Published Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2025 19:00:28 +0000

The Compassionate Warrior: The Power of Mature Masculine Psychology

                In a world where war seems to be a recurring reality, a new kind of warrior spirit is beginning to emerge. In my book The Warrior’s Journey Home: Healing Men, Healing the Planet, I quoted Chögyam Trungpa a Tibetan Buddhist master and scholar.

                “Warriorship here,” said Trungpa, “does not refer to making war on others. Aggression is the source of our problems, not the solution.” He goes on to say, “Here the word ‘warrior’ is taken from the Tibetan pawo which literally means ‘one who is brave.’ Warriorship in this context is the tradition of human bravery, or the tradition of fearlessness. Warriorship is not being afraid of who you are.”

                I first heard the words “compassionate” and “warrior” combined when I read the book Warrior Compassion: Unleashing the Healing Power of Men by Sean Harvey.

                “When we combine the concepts of warrior and compassion, an energetic shift happens,” says Harvey. He goes on to say, “Compassion is most easily defined as the feeling or emotion when a person is moved by suffering or distress of another, and by the desire to relieve the suffering. Taking a step further, to be compassionate to others, we must begin by learning to become compassionate to ourselves.”

                I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sean for my podcast. You can see the full interview here.

                “The warrior archetype represents strength, courage, and the relentless pursuit of justice and honor. It embodies discipline, resilience, and unwavering determination to protect and defend what is most valued.”

                In their book, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine, Jungian analyst Robert Moore and mythologist Douglas Gillette describe both the mature as well as immature aspects of each archetype. Many people today blame Patriarchy, “toxic masculinity,” or sometimes men themselves. But Moore and Gillette have a different understanding.

                “Patriarchy, in our view, is an attack on masculinity in its fullness as well as femininity in its fullness,” say Moore and Gillette. “Those caught up in the structures and dynamics of patriarchy seek to dominate not only women but men as well. Patriarchy is based on fear — the boy’s fear, the immature masculine fear — of women, to be sure, but also fear of men. Boys fear women. They also fear real men. Patriarchy expresses what we call Boy Psychology. It is not an expression of mature masculine potentials in their essence.”

                From our board rooms to our bedrooms and even in the men we see exercising political power in our government, we can recognize the absence of mature masculinity and the presence of Boy Psychology.

The Boy Psychology Archetypes and Mature Masculinity of the Warrior

For each archetype Moore and Gillette describe two polar opposites. They describe Boy Psychology of the Warrior as The Grandstander Bully and The Coward.

                “The boy (or man) under the power of the Bully intends to impress others. His strategies are designed to proclaim his superiority and his right to dominate those around him. He claims center stage as his birthright. If ever his claims to special status are challenged, watch the ensuing rageful displays!”

                It is not difficult to see examples of this kind of Boy Psychology.

In describing the archetypal Coward, they say:

                “The boy (or man) possessed by The Coward, shows an extreme reluctance to stand up for himself in physical confrontations. He will usually run away from a fight, excusing himself by claiming that it is more ‘manly’ to walk away. He will easily acquiesce pressure from others and unable to feel heroic he will cave in.”

                Moore and Gillete recognize the destructiveness of Boy Psychology and also the discomfort that many have in embracing the mature warrior archetype.

                “We live in a time when people are generally uncomfortable with the Warrior form of masculine energy — and for some good reasons. Women especially are uncomfortable with it, because they have often been the most direct victims of it in its immature shadow form. Around the planet, warfare is our century has reached such monstrous and pervasive proportions that aggressive energy itself is looked upon with deep suspicion and fear.”

                Yet, we need not fear the energy of the mature warrior. In his book, Warrior Compassion, Sean Harvey says,

                “When we bring the warrior spirit to compassion, it becomes a courageous and loving energy that brings healing to the suffering in the world. I define warrior compassion as:

“The fierce healing power within that liberates you to courageously walk from a place of deeper consciousness, compassion, and connection in the world while expanding creativity, authenticity, intimacy, and a sense of community in the ways we live and carry out our mission.”

In describing the work Sean engages with in proving leadership and training he says,

                “We address isolation, dismantle hate, bridge polarization, and humanize hyper-masculine systems, organizations, and communities. We build bridges that transform the world.”

What makes Sean’s work so powerful and effective is that he works both with individual men and with groups and organizations to create deep systemic change.

                “Hyper-masculine systems often perpetuate cultures of fear, control, and exclusion,” Sean says, “but they can be reimagined as spaces of collaboration, inclusion, and shared humanity. At the Warrior Compassion Institute, we work with organizations in sectors such as military, law enforcement, government, and corporate environments to transform their cultures from the inside out. Our programs emphasize trauma-informed psychological safety, redefined power dynamics, and compassionate leadership to foster systems where everyone can thrive.”

                In a world where many countries are led by authoritarian male leaders and many are influenced by their false promises, we need a new kind of mature masculine strength and power that Sean Harvey is helping to bring about. In her prescient and important book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat says,

                “Ours is an age of authoritarian rulers: self-proclaimed saviors of the nation who evade accountability while robbing their people of truth, treasure, and the protections of democracy. They use masculinity as a symbol of strength and a political weapon. Taking what you want, and getting away with it, becomes proof of male authority. They use propaganda, corruption, and violence to stay in power.”

Sean Harvey offers a different vision for our future. You can learn more about Sean and his work by visiting his website: https://www.warriorcompassion.com/

You can watch the interview I did with Sean here.

If you would like to read other articles about men’s mental, emotional, and relational health, come visit me at https://menalive.com/.

The post The Compassionate Warrior: The Power of Mature Masculine Psychology appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: The Compassionate Warrior: The Power of Mature Masculine Psychology
Sourced From: menalive.com/mature-masculinity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mature-masculinity
Published Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2025 20:07:59 +0000

How I Turned ChatGPT Into My Individual Nutrition Coach and You Can Too

We’ve discussed the many helpful ways you can use AI to improve your life

One that’s been a game changer for me is using ChatGPT as my nutrition coach.

Coach ChatGPT recently guided me through a successful five-pound cut. It adjusted my macros each week and gave me food suggestions on the fly. It was super handy.

If you’re looking to lose some weight, put on some pounds, or change your body composition (more muscle, less fat), here’s how you can use ChatGPT (or another AI tool) to reach your goals.

Create a Dedicated Chat in ChatGPT That Will Serve as Your Nutrition Coach

Create a dedicated thread within ChatGPT that will serve as your nutrition coach. Name it “Nutrition Coach.” Whenever you have a diet/nutrition-related question to pose or an update to give, you’ll always go directly to this thread instead of creating a new chat.

Using a single thread as your nutrition coach keeps things organized and helps ChatGPT give you smarter and more helpful responses. ChatGPT doesn’t automatically remember what was discussed in another thread (though you can ask it to save things), and unless you explicitly re-provide context or refer to saved notes, it doesn’t know prior details. By keeping all your nutrition-related “journaling” in one chat, ChatGPT will retain the full context — every question you’ve asked, every answer it’s given, and any preferences you’ve shared — allowing it to avoid repeating explanations, build on earlier answers, remember nuances, track your progress, and offer refinements based on where you’ve been and how you’re doing.

When you initially create your chat, you want to prompt ChatGPT to let it know how you want it to act and give answers as your nutrition coach. I got this tip from AI expert Ethan Mollick in my podcast interview with him.

Here’s a prompt you can use:

I want you to act as my personal nutrition coach. I’d like you to be direct, practical, and evidence-based. Base your guidance on the latest research in fat loss, muscle gain, performance nutrition, and behavioral science. Help me stay consistent and make adjustments week to week based on my goals, training, weight, energy, and progress photos. Be concise, honest, and results-focused — no fluff. I’ll be checking in regularly. Treat this like an ongoing coaching relationship.

Upload a Selfie to ChatGPT to Get an Estimate of Your Body Fat Percentage

One of the lessons I got from my conversation with Mollick is to experiment as much as possible with AI to see what it can do because its capacities might surprise you.

Going into my recent effort to shed five pounds, I wanted to use body fat as a way to measure my progress, and I wondered if ChatGPT could estimate body fat percentage based on a picture of myself.

I set up a test to see how accurate ChatGPT’s estimate was by scheduling a DEXA scan. On the morning of my DEXA scan, I snapped a shirtless selfie and told ChatGPT my weight. I then asked it:

Based on my weight of 195 pounds and this picture of me, what would you estimate my body fat percentage to be?

Its answer? 13%.

I then went and got the DEXA scan.

My DEXA scan body fat percentage result? 12.6%.

ChatGPT got its estimate impressively close.

Instead of using complicated or expensive ways to measure body fat, you can just use ChatGPT to gauge it. It’s fast, easy, and pretty accurate.

Once you know your initial body fat percentage, you’ll have a starting point to measure your progress.

Ask ChatGPT to Estimate Your Macro/Calorie Goals 

After I got my body fat percentage, I asked my ChatGPT nutrition coach to calculate my macro/calorie goals based on my age, sex, weight, height, activity level, food preferences, and what I wanted to do — lose body fat.

It recommended I consume 2,400–2,500 calories a day and gave me a macro breakdown to follow.

Here’s the prompt I used. Copy and paste it into ChatGPT, changing the details so it matches your situation:

Calculate my calories and give me macro targets based on my goal and these other details about my life and training.

My goal is to lose body fat while maintaining as much muscle as possible. I’m a 42-year-old man. I weigh 195 lbs. I am 6′ tall. My body fat percentage is about 13%. I lift weights 4x per week and do zone 2 cardio 2x per week. I get 10,000 steps daily, but my job is mostly sedentary. I prefer higher protein, moderate carbs, and moderate fat. I eat mostly whole foods like eggs, meat, rice, potatoes, and vegetables.

Please give me daily calorie, protein, carb, and fat targets.

Start Tracking Food and Use ChatGPT to Help

Now that you have your estimated macros/calories, it’s time to put them into use.

Take the macro goals ChatGPT gave you and plug them into your food-tracking app of choice. I’ve been using MyFitnessPal for years. It makes tracking your macros super easy. Their database has over 11 million foods (including foods at most major restaurants) with their corresponding calorie count and macro breakdown. You can even scan the barcode of packaged foods with your smartphone, and their macro information will be entered automatically.

There are other macro-tracking apps out there. Pick one you like because you’ll be more likely to use it.

Once you’ve got an app, there are a few ways Coach ChatGPT can help you track your food and stay on track with your macro goals:

Generate meal prep ideas. If you’re stumped on what to feed yourself so you can hit your macro/calorie goals, ask your ChatGPT nutrition coach for ideas. Here’s a prompt you could use:

Can you help me come up with easy, cost-effective meal prep ideas for breakfast, lunch, and snacks that will help me hit the macro goals you gave me? I want to be able to eat flexibly with my family at dinner, so I’d like these earlier meals to be more controlled and high in protein. Prioritize nutritious, whole foods that are simple to prepare in bulk. I’m okay with eating the same thing every day. Please include estimated calories and macros for each idea. Generate a shopping list based on your ideas.

Estimate macros for home-cooked or restaurant meals. One challenge with tracking is estimating macros for home-cooked meals or items at local restaurants. Now, I snap a pic of the recipe or menu item and ask ChatGPT for a rough macro breakdown. It’s not lab-accurate, but it gets me in the ballpark — which is good enough. I enter the estimate manually into MyFitnessPal.

Suggest meals based on remaining macros. Let’s say your family is making an impromptu stop at Chick-fil-A for dinner. You’ve got 45g protein, 30g carbs, and 20g fat left for the day. Here’s a prompt I’ve used for this scenario:

Here are my remaining macros for the day: ______. What can I get at [insert restaurant] that will fit my macros?

Check in With Your ChatGPT Nutrition Coach

You will check in with your AI coach at the end of each week. You need to do this regularly if you want ChatGPT to be an effective nutrition coach, as it will help you make adjustments based on your progress/setbacks.

Here’s the prompt you’re going to use for your check-ins; also upload a shirtless selfie:

Weight: [X lbs]

Compliance With Macro Goals: [yes/no]

Training: [e.g., 4x/week lifting + 1 HIIT]

Please assess my progress and estimate my current body fat. Be objective and honest. Make adjustments to macros/calories if needed to progress with my fat loss goal.

Coach ChatGPT tweaks my targets based on my results. Over six weeks, I lost about a pound per week, dropping to around 11% body fat, without any guesswork.

Adjust Goals as Desired

Once you’ve accomplished your initial fitness goal with your ChatGPT nutrition coach, feel free to adjust it.

I’ve recently shifted from cutting to maintaining around 191–192 lbs. I asked my ChatGPT nutrition coach what my macros should be for this goal. I’m now eating 2,800 calories daily and trying to recomp — add muscle while staying lean. ChatGPT is helping me manage this transition, too.

Each week, I check in with a photo, weight, and notes on training. If my weight holds steady and I’m still lean, my AI nutrition coach keeps things the same. If my weight jumps too fast or I start looking softer, it reduces calories slightly. It’s pretty dang awesome.

Your On-Demand Nutrition Coach

Could you lose or gain weight without using ChatGPT?

Of course — people have been doing it for centuries.

I lost 30 pounds a few years ago by just gradually reducing my calories. I also did a 15-pound bulk last year. Didn’t use ChatGPT in either situation.

But using ChatGPT has made the process easier, more precise, and more consistent. It’s like having a nutrition coach in your pocket. It gives me solid suggestions, helps me troubleshoot sticking points, and lets me outsource some of the mental load. And, even though I know it’s a bot, the encouragement it offers is affirmative and motivating.

Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey or fine-tuning years of experience in the gym, ChatGPT offers a practical, no-fluff partnership to keep you on track.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

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By: Brett & Kate McKay
Title: How I Turned ChatGPT Into My Personal Nutrition Coach and You Can Too
Sourced From: www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/fitness/how-i-turned-chatgpt-into-my-personal-nutrition-coach-and-you-can-too/
Published Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2025 16:13:02 +0000

Overall Male Care is Here: Assisting Male Look Great Now and Forever

Too many guys have been told that midlife is a crisis, and that everything is downhill from there. That was not my own experience or the thousands of men I have seen in my clinical practice at MenAlive since we launched in 1972. I have written seventeen books to improve the mental, emotional, and relational health of men and their families since my first book, Inside Out: Becoming My Own Man was published in 1983, the year I turned 40.

                In his book Learning to Love Midlife, my colleague Chip Conley, co-founder and CEO of the Modern Elder Academy, says,

                “In my opinion (and that of a growing number of sociologists), in the world with more and more centenarians, midlife may last from 35 to 75. Just as adolescence is a transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, maybe part of the midlife role is to be a transitional stage between adulthood and elderhood.”

                Conley shows us that midlife need not be a crisis, but a chrysalis to the most passionate, powerful, productive, and purposeful time of a man’s life. Yet, we can’t do it alone.

                In a recent article, “Gameday is a Game Changer in the Emerging  Men’s Health Field,” I introduced you to Dr. Evan Miller, who I had the pleasure of interviewing about a highly effective program that had the potential to help millions of midlife men. I asked Dr. Miller how he came to be involved with men’s health issues.

                “Similar to you, my background is on the clinical side,” he told me, “I’m a PhD in clinical psychology so I come at this whole medical health care world from a very psychological angle. After grad school I got right into the addiction treatment industry and started a treatment center.”

                He went on to tell me how he came to realize that it was better to help address men’s needs before they were having serious health problems. After having his testosterone levels checked and finding they were very low, he was able to head off potential problems and later founded Gameday Men’s Health.

                “I wanted to cast a wider net,” Dr. Miller said, “and wanted to get the average mainstream guy feeling better.” Gameday Men’s Health has become a success with centers throughout the country.

Hammer & Nails: From Shark Tank to Mainstreet, Men Are Looking and Feeling Great

When I met Aaron Meyers, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Hammer & Nails, I found another kindred spirit who cared about the health and wellbeing of men. The vision began with Michael Elliot and his unsuccessful request for funds on the popular T.V. series Shark Tank in September 2014.

Life for young Michael Elliot was hard. The former ward of the state was only twenty and had been homeless in Philadelphia for almost two years. He had no formal education, no family and no support. Instead of letting the circumstances that led to his difficult life drag him down, the young man used his considerable determination and intelligence to make his life a success.

Elliot had numerous business ideas that failed, but he never gave up. An uncomfortable experience during a manicure and an idea stemming from it led him to open a nail salon with a difference, it was targeted towards men rather than women. Only months after conceiving the concept, he opened his first Hammer & Nails salon in Los Angeles in November 2013. After six months operating the business he applied to appear on Shark Tank, primarily to interest one of the sharks in helping him to franchise the business nationally, and was accepted.

Though he couldn’t convince any of the Sharks to invest in his idea of a salon for men, Aaron Meyers understood the vision, believed in the idea, and had the expertise in franchising to make the business a success. I recently had the good fortune to interview Aaron Meyers and learn more details about this innovative and unique program for men.

“We’ve built a man cave, and it has everything you’d expect and more,” Aaron told me. “You get your own TV and remote, noise-canceling headphones, a complimentary frosty beverage, and every seat is custom crafted with your comfort being priority number one. You are going to feel like a modern-day king. And, oh yeah, you can get a haircut, shave or a manicure & pedicure, to help keep your appearance on point.”

Aaron told me they focus on successful mid-life men, but they are seeing more and more younger men. Men of all ages are looking for a male experience where guys can relax and get the kinds of pampering we might get at an expensive health spa. Whatever our age and whatever we do for a living, we want to be at our best. Hammer & Nails is manly care for the man who is ready to embrace total care and wellbeing.

As of 2025, the number of franchises had grown from 13 to 41. There are now 10 locations in California, 9 in Ohio, 3 in Virginia, 2 in Texas, 2 in North Carolina, 2 in Connecticut, 2 in Florida, 1 in Arizona, and 1 in Pennsylvania. And there are more coming. Feedback from customers have also been positive. Take their West Hollywood location, for example, it currently has a 4.8-star rating out of 365 reviews, with many praising the barber shop for its skill and service. Some have even described their barbers as having “magic hands.” You can check out their locations here.

I remember my own experiences with grooming. Growing up, I didn’t think much about haircuts. I would get one when my mother complained I looked scruffy and I would always go to the same barber shop close to our house. The owner, Eddy, would usually cut my hair, generally a quick buzz cut. It has only been in recent years that I have come to see the value of a full-service experience.

I had the good fortune to find Martin who was an old-time European barber in my hometown. He and his wife, Helga, owned a little shop in Willits. Helga took care of the women and Martin helped the men. He took his time and worked to give you the style that would make you look good. But the best part was the head, neck, and shoulder massage that accompanied the cut. It was the best part of the experience. I would often see him instead of getting a massage, he was that good.

As I’ve gotten older, my feet have become more important. I walk every day to stay healthy and getting my toenails clipped is difficult to do myself. There is a salon in town where women get their fingernails and toenails clipped, but even walking by on the street you can smell the chemicals. A friend said he went to get his toes clipped and I gave it a try. The experience left much to be desired. All the staff wore masks to help them breathe. The patrons got used to the toxic chemicals, but I care too much about my own health to accept a toxic environment. I’d rather wait for Hammer & Nails to come to my town.

“Today’s extraordinary man deserves a grooming experience that tends to the whole man,” Aaron told me in our interview. “In a space that’s far from take-a-number haircut farms and pedicure stations that reek of acrylic fumes. It’s time to care about the care that goes into men’s grooming. And it starts at a place where men’s care is all we care about. That, and a good drink.”

To learn more about Hammer & Nails you can do so there. To watch the in-depth interview I did with Aaron Meyers, you can do so here.

If you would like to read other articles on men’s health and wellbeing, come visit me at https://menalive.com/.

The post Total Man Care is Here: Helping Men Look and Feel Great Now and Forever appeared first on MenAlive.

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By: Jed Diamond
Title: Total Man Care is Here: Helping Men Look and Feel Great Now and Forever
Sourced From: menalive.com/total-man-care-look-and-feel-great/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=total-man-care-look-and-feel-great
Published Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2025 18:37:15 +0000