Decoding Diet and Fitness: A Deeper Dive into Nutrition with Brian Melancon

Do you often find yourself struggling with your dietary choices? Are you searching for sustainable ways to transform your health? We've got you covered! In our latest conversation with Brian Melancon, the nutrition transformation wizard behind C620 Nutrition and C620 Nutrition Supplements, we uncover the truths, misconceptions, and the mental journey around nutrition and fitness. Let's embark on a journey to understand food labels, make healthier choices and appreciate the significance of individualized fitness programs.

Now, let’s not deny it, dieting can be tough, especially when dealing with societal pressures. But what if there's a balanced approach to nutrition that you can maintain for life? Brian is here to guide us on how to make small, but profoundly impactful adjustments to your diet. We also debunk the myth of nighttime eating leading to fat gain and discover the importance of a diet revolving around whole foods to provide satiation. It's time to make peace with your plate and unravel the many intricacies of eating habits and fat gain.

As we delve deeper into the world of fitness, we discuss unconventional training techniques for optimal body composition and the manipulative tactics of the supplement industry. Brian sheds light on gluten issues and provides valuable tips to overcome food addiction. We wrap up with an enlightening conversation on testosterone and hormone replacement therapy along with the vital role of community in health and well-being. So, are you ready to embark on this comprehensive wellness and nutrition journey with us? Tune in and let's transform our health together!

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Thanks to this week's sponsor: Krewe Allons, Official NIL Collective for Ragin' Cajun Athletes. Join the Krewe today!

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Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:10

On today's episode of a KDNICast presents, we are with a very special guest, mr Brian Malon saw. He is the owner of 620 nutrition and C620 nutrition supplements. He's the owner of great harvest. He's also just a nutrition transformation specialist. He's going to help me change how I think about fitness and health and nutrition. Maybe you guys as well will learn a few things along the way. I'm very excited to talk about that and we'll talk a little bit about bread. You know we'll mix it up. We're going to have a good time today.

Speaker 2: 0:42

But before we get into that conversation with Brian, let's go to me and our friend John Akin real quick with Krulon. We'll be right back to the episode in just a second, but we want to talk real quick with our friends over at Krulon. Joining us now is John Akin, president of Krulon NIL Collective supporting Raging Cajun athletes. John man, this is so exciting, this collective. We had you on the show before, but we want to just get you on every now and then real quick to just keep in mind folks about this collective. What do folks need to know? How do they get involved?

Speaker 3: 1:15

Man. Thanks for having me, carter. Yeah, there's so much momentum growing and awareness. The best way to get involved is to go onto our website, wwwkrualacom, and when you go to there, there's several different things. You can join the crew. There's some links to join the crew. You can pick your level. You can donate a dollar. You can donate up to $10,000. There's an FAQ section. There will be a section for our board, so that's a great place to find out information and to get involved.

Speaker 2: 1:48

Alrighty. So what is this collective going to be doing for Cajun athletes? That's different from other collectives.

Speaker 3: 1:55

Sure. So a collective is different from a lot of the giving that goes on on campus, really, and that this directly goes to the student athletes. So every dollar that is given to the collective will directly enhance the experience of UL student athletes through the monetization of their NIL name image and likeness. That may be appearances, that may be opportunities on social media, partnering with businesses, and so ultimately, the collective is just partnering with different individuals and communities in town to help monetize and educate and create brand recognition for our student athletes.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Alrighty guys, you heard the man Go to wwwkrualacom, that's K-R-E-W-E-A-L-L-O-N-Scom. John, thanks so much for joining us and for all the work you're doing for those athletes.

Speaker 3: 2:46

Thanks brother, All right.

Speaker 2: 2:48

Thank you very much, john, and me Appreciate it. What a good interview. I am, and without further ado, ikehdeena Kaz presents Brian Moloso. Glad to have you. I'm Carter Siminoe, host of Ikehdeena Kaz presents. Go to IkehdeenaKazcom for more locally sourced podcast content, kind of focused on the South Louisiana area, but we give folks out there in the internet land a little taste of something too. And we got shows like Law have Mercy the Tea with Ben Powers Developing Lafayette. We also have the Buzz on Better Business. Ikehdeena Kaz presents. We're growing, we're showing. Go like, comment, subscribe, do all those things, tell us on all the social media platforms. Help us grow this brand and give you guys some really cool content. Now let's get to the man of the hour, brian Moloso.

Speaker 4: 4:00

How are you today? I am fantastic. I'm very glad we get a second takes on this. Yeah, I'm doing great man, it's an honor to be here and man, y'all y'all set up is just amazing man. So this is, I feel I feel, surreal right now. So it's awesome.

Speaker 2: 4:15

Yeah, jai, cut to the the fake intro that we just did.

Speaker 4: 4:18

Man, thank you so much for the opportunity to be here, and that was a fantastic intro.

Speaker 2: 4:22

Oh, thank you. I'm taking notes. Oh, thank you.

Speaker 3: 4:25

I'm not done yet.

Speaker 2: 4:27

So basically I in post production he's going to put like the opening credits and whatnot. I apologize, oh it's all good Shit. We might just keep this in, who knows? We'll fix it in post. Yeah, we'll fix it in post. I just wanted to say that let's okay, let's go with Okay. So that's. That's a little editing production fun for you there and for the audience. If Jai does it, he might just say screw you, carter.

Speaker 4: 4:48

So anything I don't like, I just yeah exactly. It's like the clap on lamps. Fix it in post.

Speaker 2: 4:55

Yeah, I'm trying to train Jai like, like, like Pavlovian dolls now.

Speaker 4: 4:59

Dwight on the office with the Menta. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: 5:03

So, dude, this is a perfect time for you to come on this show, because I just kind of jumped into refocusing for the first time in my life on my body or not refocusing because I haven't done it, I'm focusing. I didn't pay attention to what I was putting in my body all my 20s about to turn 30, never had any sort of routine and anything. I'm trying to change those, those thought patterns and whatnot. Started also like therapy. You know doing some work with our friends at Rise Physical Therapy and Sports Lab with my lower back I had some issues in the gym that a couple of years ago that maybe we can get into. But point is, I did the whole 30 diet. Are you familiar? Very yes.

Speaker 2: 5:41

Yeah. So you know, didn't have any gluten or anything, and he added sugars for a month. You know, get rid of alcohol and then reintroduce it to my system and during that time, like I've never, never felt better. And not only that, but I learned more and more about how to read labels. Never did that before and I one thing that I that I saw, I guess because also part of whole 30, they want you to eliminate most, like corn as well. Can you tell me about big corn in America, because it seems like they control so much.

Speaker 4: 6:13

Well, man, we may dive down a conspiracy radical here, you know. But yeah, I mean, if you look back in, I believe it's like the 70s or 80s when the food pyramid changed, like there's a lot of like supporting evidence to really show that like big corn and stuff and in grain, like paid off the FDA to reprotice the food pyramid and so again, that's one of those conspiracy theories things. But you can clearly see a delineation where it was just like you know, meat based products and then it really shifted to grain based products and the the food pyramid of what's most important. And you know it makes sense. You know I'm kind of a conspiracy guy. Okay, let's go.

Speaker 4: 6:51

You're only a conspiracy guy until it comes true. You know, right, but it's like you know you can see the, the evidence of just you know, with all things follow the money, you know, but it's like, but in you know, in a very real sense, it's like the world would be in a pretty big bind if there wasn't a big agricultural industry, especially where there was. Like you know, a lot of people really freak out about like you might find food, but it's like if we didn't have GMO it's we wouldn't be fed. You know it helps the the corn grow faster, it helps a wheat grow faster, so there can actually be enough to provide. And so and people get, you know, gmo.

Speaker 4: 7:30

They get the wrong idea from it because it's like you know most apples are were designed in labs. You know it's like there's no Granny Smith apple in nature, you know. And so people get the wrong idea about GMO that it's just terrible thing. And I'm wrong. There's some things that are highly modified that like don't agree well with the gut, but a lot of the food we enjoy today like our GMO, because they were created and modified in labs to give us a variety of food. So there's some some misconception about that, but on a broad spectrum it's there. You know, there's a little truth in everything.

Speaker 2: 8:00

Okay, can you, before we get kind of in your background, just kind of piggy tailing off of this, are you able to elaborate on the kind of the science of corn and what it does to the body? No, Okay, fine. Well, let's talk a little bit about your background and get out of the the, the, the converse.

Speaker 4: 8:19

Yeah, we can talk about anything except like corn Okay.

Speaker 2: 8:23

We won't talk about corn. He obviously works for big corn. So, brian, you, you, you initially were working as a trainer at any time fitness. I went there. I was like my first gym at and I went. I was over here besides going to bourgeois, you will that, I went to a doctor Pelicoin over there and Scott, a good dude but you eventually were training people and it got to the point where, like you were like the results of these these folks were speaking for itself. People were coming after you be like, hey, can you train me, can you train me? And you just couldn't handle working at any time just by yourself anymore. You decided to go off on your own and create your own thing.

Speaker 4: 9:03

Correct. So the backstory of that is so yeah, I was training anytime fitness when I was in school, at UL, for kinesiology, and then I moved to Baton Rouge to run the personal training program for a new gym that my boss, bobby Himes, was opening, and at the time, it's like, you know, biomechanics and kinesiology was just like, like, science has always just made sense to me, like it's like, it's like how I find God Must be nice, yeah, and it's like you know. You know I don't I'm poor at other things, you know, math isn't my strong suit, but science just makes sense, you know. And so I was working at any time and you know I got the nickname the mad scientist for how I, you know, programmed and how I train people in a like, a very safe manner, but like just really getting the best out of people, and so, in the type of workouts I was programming, and then I really started to dive into the nutritional aspect of things because, you know you, when you train for a long enough time, you realize this like and this was early in my career, you know, circa 2009, 2010, you realized that it's like, you know, you can really, you can really train all you want, but you can't out train a bad diet, you know, because it's just so easy to take your caloric threshold over, above like above a maintenance level, and then you're not in a deficit for the day, so you don't see body composition changes. And so I really dove down the rabbit hole hard of nutritional sciences and at the time I was very big into like like natural bodybuilding and I studied a lot of stuff that my friend Lane Norton put out, and he's a PhD nutritional scientist. He did a thesis on leucine metabolism. So just brilliant guy and puts out a lot of really great content.

Speaker 4: 10:40

And at the time Bobby, like every year, would get a specialist to come in town and teach a seminar. And so you know I was always talking about Lane in the gym. And so Bobby actually reached out to Lane and they flew Lane in and me and Lane got to spend a lot of time together because the seminar was supposed to be at our airline location but we weren't open yet Because, you know, anytime you're dealing with construction there's always months and months of delays. And so we ended up having the seminar at Bobby's Franklin location. And in that commute time of you know me driving Lane to Franklin from Baton Rouge and back.

Speaker 4: 11:14

We just developed a friendship and, you know, after the seminar, you know he started following me on social media and started following, like the my client transformations and how well they were doing. And that took a scientific approach. And he actually emailed me a couple weeks after the seminar and he was like Listen, like I have too many people coming to me for for coaching and I can't handle it. Like, would you like to be on my preferred coaches list? And that ended up itself as like a huge honor, you know. And so I was like Absolutely, man. And then a couple weeks later he ended up doing a YouTube video about metabolic adaptation and the video ended up getting like half a million views and at the end of the video he was like, hey, if you're looking for a good coach, and then he named like two of his best friends and then he was like he was like or like Brian Mellenkahn down Louisiana, and you know he even pronounced my name like phonetically incorrect, but you know how you can spell it out, right and so.

Speaker 2: 12:08

But you maybe think I just mispronounced your name and you didn't need it.

Speaker 4: 12:11

You didn't.

Speaker 4: 12:11

You got it right but but yeah.

Speaker 4: 12:15

So really after that, like you know, because the video got so much exposure and he mentioned me, my name, and he also tagged me in the comments in the description of the video almost overnight, man, business is exploded because whenever I started to see 620, I was just doing it for fun and my manager at the time, josh Bailey at any time then is I convinced him to let me prep him for a show, and then he ended up winning the show.

Speaker 4: 12:42

And then the guy he beat came to me and then I prepped him and then he won all his shows, and so I already had like a little local group of people that I was coaching, but then, let that, with that huge endorsement, business just really blew up overnight and it got to the point where I couldn't do my job well at any time because I was working so much at night trying to keep up with the client load. And so I decided to take the leap of faith, man, and start my own business, and so C620 nutrition became official in 2012, like legally official, and from there, man, it's just been exploding, and so I've been working with, like high level athletes and professional athletes since since 2012.

Speaker 2: 13:21

So, with C620 nutrition, what would be your elevator pitch to an athlete who just is hearing about you, and, and? And how would you describe it in a way that is unique or different from other approaches?

Speaker 4: 13:33

For sure, the biggest thing, man, is individualization. Every specific client needs an individualized program, especially if you're trying to get a little snowflakes, we're all different.

Speaker 4: 13:43

Yeah, yeah, and you know I specifically work with a lot of physique athletes and so getting someone to essential levels of body fat, you know for men that you know that four or 5% range where you're so such low body fat that you can see like the fibers in your glutes, and you know for women that 9 to 10% range, depending on the division.

Speaker 4: 13:59

So getting someone to essential levels of body fat just takes such an intricate knowledge of the body and it just takes a really custom program.

Speaker 4: 14:08

And if you don't do it custom, you're either probably not going to get in shape, you're going to either lose muscle, you're going to mess up your hormone profiles during the process, because it's already tough enough, because when you get down to those levels, your hormone profiles already start going crazy. You know, like you see lots of drops in, like your natural testosterone, your thyroid function, and so having a program that's built out custom, with a preliminary plan even before contest prep starts, you know it's it's the most optimal way to really reach a level of conditioning you've never reached before and like I really got my my name in the industry as like the conditioning guy and so and so that that's the biggest thing is just people understanding that like listen, if you truly want to win in your next show, it doesn't start at the beginning of contest prep, it actually starts long before you know wow conditioning, so it's just not a with your guys.

Speaker 2: 14:57

It's not a bunch of just meatheads who can't do any cardio right.

Speaker 4: 15:01

Oh, no, no. So there's a bunch of meatheads but, there's a lot of meathead. We love the meatheads here, but like when I, when I, when I refer to conditioning, I'm specifically referring to like extremely low levels of body fat. Oh okay, because whenever you get on stage it's like you're trying to present the leanest version of yourself, with the most muscle possible, with the best symmetry possible. But a lot of people you know show up on, but you know what look goods on the beach, looks, looks fat on stage.

Speaker 2: 15:31

So, jai, pull up my laptop real quick. Here's just some before and after photos that we have. So this is on your website, c620nutritioncom, your before and after photos. And, like you said, you're you do a lot of competition and these results I mean good God. So are you? Are you trained? Just regular schlubs like me.

Speaker 4: 15:55

Sure do, man, and I actually really enjoy working with with business people, because as business people begin to thrive in their health, their business consequently does better. So, yeah, so I do work with non competitors as well, and I also have a coaching staff under me, and so we have a powerlifting division, a mother's division. We call it mom on a mission Nice Little acronym for mom and so, yeah, we do work. We are full spectrum transformation specialist service.

Speaker 2: 16:22

So I mean you talked about how this individualized approach and how, as we mentioned earlier, there's a lot of you could find something for yourself on the internet. Yeah, that doesn't really challenge you. With that being said, part of the individualized approach is are you looking past just the, the biological component of someone's body? Are you looking at their mental state or their lifestyle, or, for sure, that's a really big part of it, because and I won't go- down because you got to meet people almost halfway at some point, right.

Speaker 4: 16:49

Absolutely, you know. And also to you know the mental aspect is really important too, because you know it's like with competing, because it's like so hyper restrictive at times because you just have a very small window to attain like a really drastic result. So it gets very, very intense at the end On my campus yeah, and it's sorry, that was funny to make me spit, I'm sorry, you know and so like it can create a really, a really unhealthy relationship with food, because it's like you track and measure everything you know and it's just then after the show, when you start putting back on some body fat to get your hormone profile back to normal and live your normal life. It can create this body just more a few where it's like you're not staged lean year round, but you're not supposed to be staged lean year round. And so the mental aspect is also it's like making sure we have a healthy relationship with food. We have a really great exit plan for after a hard diet, so that transitions into lifestyle clients as well.

Speaker 4: 17:49

Because you know one thing you see a lot, and especially with females, and I get it. I'm really thankful I'm not a female, you know. It's like the societal pressure to have to look a certain way and then you know, anytime you just look at a magazine, like you know if you're over 150, you know it's like there's just a crazy skewed standard of beauty, you know. And so there's just so much societal pressure on women to look a certain way, and so oftentimes with women, what we find is that that there's just a chronic history of like binge and purge, you know, where it's like really heavy overeating than really hyper restrictive dieting than really heavy overeating again. And so the mental aspect of us be a woman, because yeah yeah, it's not exclusive to women.

Speaker 4: 18:33

I'm saying we see it a lot in women, you know. And so what we want to do is really focus on the, the mental aspect of it, and like learning that. Like okay, we want to create a balanced approach, because one thing I'll tell people who are newer to the gym like for you, for starting your transformation, the best diet you can stick to it, I mean, the best diet you can do is when you can stick to like. There's all kinds of diet fads out there. You know it's like I'm sure everyone's heard of keto and carnivore and all this stuff, but a lot of these fad diets are just so hyper restrictive.

Speaker 4: 19:02

You know, like keto, for example, and don't be wrong, it's an approach and some people may thrive on it. So you have to know, going in, well, you're taking an approach that completely eliminates an entire food group of carbohydrates. You know and so I always tell this to clients is like you remember in science class they had on your on on the teachers desk. They had that, those, those, those balls to display kinetic energy. You know, you pull one back and then it has the opposite reaction on the other side. I tell people, dieting is just like that, like the more aggressive you diet, it's just like pulling that, that ball back, and when you let it go, it's like that's the potential opposite reaction you have.

Speaker 4: 19:37

And so we want to create an approach, especially with lifestyle clients, is that it's a balanced approach, but it's something that they can actually do for life. And so, like when I'm starting with a new lifestyle person, it's like we're not starting with six days in the week in the gym, we're not starting by dropping 1000 calories and like on my intake form I even put like hey, like, what are foods you actually enjoy? Because if we can create a nutritional approach that you actually enjoy eating, you're much less likely to fall off. And so when we start small and we ease into it and we create sustainability, that way, it's something that can last for life and it's not just a momentary result and then you end up back in your old ways again.

Speaker 2: 20:12

So, talking about the you know these fad diets and different types of dieting, a lot of times when you're, when you're doing these or if you're just going back to the gym, whatever, there's a lot of you know this liquid dieting, you know, putting protein and shakes and whatnot, which obviously has some, some benefits, but there's a lot of people who are talking about like you shouldn't be drinking all of your protein and whatnot. But, that being said, what is kind of the balance with, like, a protein shake and what types of proteins are best for that?

Speaker 4: 20:39

For sure, for sure. So I I have no problem with with protein shakes, because whey isolate is what's called 100% bioavailable, meaning your body can absorb all of it. Now, do I think you should have a lot of whole single ingredient foods? Absolutely. But, like for busy people who are, you know, can't seem to find the time to actually stop their day and eat, like it is totally fine to add in shakes and fruits and, you know, nuts and you know, blend everything up and just make it, make it liquid.

Speaker 4: 21:08

So I have no problem with with with whey isolate or even like like vegan based protein, because, you know, plants often provide, like amino acid strands that can be combined with other plants to create a full protein, a full protein chain, and so, yeah, the biggest thing is, like so many people just under eat protein, and so if you need to use supplemental vegan or whey protein to get in your daily allotment, I'm totally fine with that. But I do very much agree that you know, having a diet that's based around whole food that provides a high level of satiation is super important too, because liquids just they just pass through you so fast, you know, and so it's like if you're primarily just doing liquids and you're hungry all the time, and then that promotes you actually falling off your diet. Well then it's like, okay, we need to reevaluate the, the baseline structure of how we, how we've created your diet.

Speaker 2: 21:57

Interesting. What would be your advice for someone who's maybe they listen to this, they like what you're saying, but not ready to make that jump in being part of your program, but as a simple advice of going to the grocery store? What would you tell someone?

Speaker 4: 22:11

Yeah, for sure, for sure. The best advice is to start small because, again, we want to create sustainability. And so for some people that may look as simple as having one less Coke a day, you know, and that doesn't seem like much. But if you know, if you look at like a full can of Coke, I mean, what's it? 240 calories, and you know all from all from, from sugar and carbohydrates. So it's like shaving one Coke off a day will shave you 240 calories. And then it's like you walk two miles in the afternoon.

Speaker 4: 22:37

Well, now you're in a 500 calorie deficit a day from something so small that isn't going to be stressful or drastically change your lifestyle and create this like really sense of like. I'm so deprived, you know, and so the best thing would be, you know, shop the outsides of the fruits, the food store, you know, because that's where the things, that the perishable things are, and buy foods that you actually enjoy, that you like eating. Get creative with your recipes, your seasonings, like, like you don't have to have bland food. I mean, season your food to taste, you know, and enjoy what you eat. But shop outside of the grocery store and then also, it's like focus on a really small change that won't make you feel hyper, hyper depleted.

Speaker 2: 23:20

So, yeah, I mean this might be like a local issue, but you know, working over here on the north side of Lafayette, there are really no options for like if I just want to step out for 30 minutes to an hour for lunch of healthy food, even like if I'm going to like to, if I go to like the super plus or whatever grocery store right there, it breaks my heart just seeing people in line just like filling up their cards, which is like all kinds of just sugary drinks and whatnot, and like I was like you know, like there's, there's still a vegetable aisle over here, right, yeah, but like the point being, I guess, specifically to me, like I have trouble finding anything around this area and so if I'm, if I'm not planning my meals, if I'm not thinking ahead and have something like brought with me, then I'm going to just like go to McDonald's or something you know which I'm trying to get out of that, that cycle.

Speaker 2: 24:08

But as far as like healthy food options, you know how do people kind of navigate that If they're living in an area like this, that it's, it's not easily attainable.

Speaker 4: 24:18

Yeah, so I'm going to say something controversial in a second, but but in terms of just how to eat when you have to eat out, I mean, man, there's lots of places that have salads where you can add grilled chicken breast. I mean, sushi is like. I mean, I have a lot of people like doing sushi a lot, because it's basically fish, rice, avocado, you know, and rice, especially down here, gets such a bad wrap. Yeah, you know, it's like our body, like we're primarily glucose burners, Like our body knows what to do with with carbohydrates, you know, and like rice, it's hypoallergenic. It doesn't cause stomach issues with 99.9% of people. So it's like rice isn't the issue. And where, like, rice gets a bad rap is it's it's the overconsumption that leads to weight gain, Like you know.

Speaker 4: 25:02

Again, back in, like the seventies, eighties, you know this this fat came out of. Like eating at night is what makes you fat, but it's like it's, it's it's. It's not logical. That's what, where, where that came from is that people typically will eat their daily allotment of food and then at night they'll have, like cake and ice cream and stuff or you know, just extra food, and what that does is push their daily total calories over their maintenance level. So it's not the fact that they ate at night that caused fat gain, it was the caloric surplus that caused the fat gain.

Speaker 4: 25:31

You know, for some people, like people who I have trained in the morning and just with their work schedule, they have to train like four or five in the morning, fast in, and they just can't get a meal in and have it digested by the time they get to the gym. What we'll do for them, even as like carb back load them, and so we'll put most of their carbs in their last meal of the day. That way they wake up with full muscle and liver glycogen stores and actually some like energy to train. And this is people eating you know a hundred, 200 grams of carbs at night before bed and still losing fat. You know so your, our body doesn't function on the same time frames that we do.

Speaker 4: 26:05

So it really is about daily total nutrition as opposed to, as opposed to like when, when you eat. You know so it's like eating at night does not cause fat gain. It's if you overeat over your daily allotment that causes fat gain, and so, yeah, so rice gets a really bad rap, but back to where to eat out, but it's like. So I'm big on sushi. There's lots of places that do like Hibachi around here where you can just get like veggies, meat and rice grilled yeah.

Speaker 2: 26:32

But I want to stay like within like a mile radius.

Speaker 4: 26:34

Uber, Uber eats baby.

Speaker 2: 26:35

Money, so I'm just going to have to meal prep. It's what I'm going to have to do. Yeah, but so what was the controversial thing?

Speaker 4: 26:44

So the controversial thing is in and I know people are going to disagree with this but just do the research and look at the data. It's like the most of the health benefits that people see is from just losing body fat and less food dependent. Now, how you feel in the long term will definitely have some interplay with food sources, but in terms of improving health markers, we see that if you look at the meta-analysis, we see that most, if not all, of the health markers improve just from decreasing body fat, even if quote unquote unhealthy food was eaten. And so the biggest thing is like, if you still have to eat out but you're still in a caloric deficit and still losing body fat, you will still see the biomarkers of improved health from the result of losing body fat, even though the food may not necessarily be quote unquote healthy. But you're seeing new people who are super new to it and don't want to dive off into the deep end of rice, chicken and salad and steaks every day.

Speaker 4: 27:53

It's like even just hyper-focusing on just losing body fat, and the reason why I keep saying body fat instead of weight is because weight and body fat are two different things. I work with some MMA fighters and to make weight sometimes we'll have to drop five 10 pounds in a day. Well, it's like that's obviously not five, 10 pounds of body fat, it's just weight gravitational pull by manipulation of electrolytes and water. And so it's hyper-focusing on losing body fat and not just seeing the scale go down, because you can do lots of crazy steps to see the scale go down. People use skinny teas which just give you explosive diarrhea and so you see weight go down because you're dehydrating yourself. But yeah, the biggest thing for super new people starting, especially if you're really overweight or even in the obese range, is that your health markers will see the most improvement from just losing weight, even if the food sources aren't necessarily the best to start.

Speaker 2: 28:50

Well, playing devil's advocate here. Earlier you said that, more so than being a powerlifter or whatever it is, it's your diet that can really help transform you. But now you're saying, like, well, not so fast, maybe don't go full into the diet.

Speaker 4: 29:06

No, no, they correlate Because, to Don't forget, I'm an idiot. Oh no, no, you're not. You're not Getting in shape for a show, it's 100% diet. And so the reason why we use a lot of whole, single ingredient foods is because they provide the most satiation and the most volume. But you can still see fat loss on eating quote unquote not healthy foods.

Speaker 4: 29:31

Not, for example, like if you are trying to get in contest shape and like, let's say, at the end of contest prep, you're down to close to essential levels of body fat, but you're just really having to dig. And, let's say, your daily calories had to be at like 1600 calories for you to go from that last step of 6% to 5% to 4% body fat If you chose to eat those. And so this is where it also interplays too. If you chose to eat those calories from McDonald's, that's you eating like one burger and a small fry, versus, so that's one meal that's going to take up all your calories for the day, versus you eating four meals, 50 grams of carbs, veggies and some trace fats and stuff.

Speaker 4: 30:18

And so where the interplay comes in is for general lifestyle people, when you're trying to lose weight, starting with focusing on getting a daily calorie reduction. But when you really start focusing on body composition change, which means putting on muscle and burning fat, that's when you need to make sure you're hitting your protein markers. We haven't enough dietary fat for healthy hormone production and then the rest of your daily allocated calories will come from carbohydrates. And so when you're trying to change body composition, especially for competition and shows and even just people who are looking to improve their physique and build shape, you just can't eat the junk as much, because the macronutrient profiles don't line up as much, because, like eating fast food is going to be much heavier in carbs and fat and much lower in protein, and you're just not going to have the body composition change you want if you have a really low protein diet. But in terms of general weight loss, it really is calories in, calories out.

Speaker 2: 31:17

So let's talk a little bit about some of your nicknames. Your nickname the mad scientist. Are you using unconventional methods? What makes you the mad scientist?

Speaker 4: 31:28

I love science and so I just take a very scientific approach, but I also believe in the brutality of anecdotal evidence and so learning how to program workouts for people that generate the maximum amount of peripheral fatigue, but not enough to where you can't recover quickly, because building muscles about stimulus and response, and so what we want to do is train and then be able to be fully recovered in three to four days so we can hit it again, so we can have a total weekly volume that's divided between two sessions, so our body sees stimulus of something we're trying to grow at multiple points instead of just one time a week, but with but still hitting a total weekly volume.

Speaker 4: 32:05

And so what I do when I'm programming is I decide how much total weekly volume we need to have and then like, if we're like for you, for example, if you're like, hey, I really want to grow my chest and shoulders, well, we may only want to do like 14 total working sets for the week, but instead of putting all that in one session, we'll do seven and seven and so, but you'll have much more strength only doing seven sessions and you'll have a much higher like a rate of perceived effort, cause you're like, hey, I only have seven working sets today, so I'm really going to give it my all. And then programming in a way that stimulates the muscle the best for growth, and you know I'm very big on four range of motion, slowy centrics, um, and really learning how to contract properly. And then, but so generating a high amount of peripheral fatigue in the muscle that we're trying to grow, but not not taxing your body so much that you like, if we did that on Monday that you wouldn't be recovered by Thursday to hit it again. And so, uh, it's really uh, the brutality of training with, uh, taking a smart of approach as we can to produce optimal results faster, because lots of things work. But what I do is to make things optimal.

Speaker 2: 33:09

Now you're also nicknamed Yoda. Is that because you're hopping in the backs of your clients or running around the swamp of Louisiana, or what? What are you doing? Do you speak in riddles?

Speaker 4: 33:17

It is, it is Uh, no, it's uh. I don't know. Good for me. I love Star Wars man.

Speaker 3: 33:29

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4: 33:30

I think, I think that's just one of those things where, like he's smart and he likes Star Wars, so let's do it, yeah right.

Speaker 2: 33:35

You know, but I imagine you have all kinds of wisdom that you've learned. When you talk about the, uh, obviously you come from a physical part, but the mental side of things and I know that just being a little more active, getting outside, I mean part of during the pandemic people shut down on their houses, People were being prescribed Adderall on moss because it just got them moving and moving around and so obviously with you know, and going to a gym and feeling better Physically helps in your mental state. Do you see that? And and how do you kind of Talk about it? With what clients or do you?

Speaker 4: 34:10

for sure, for sure. I mean, like we talked about earlier, the mental aspect is so big, but I mean there's so much supporting science of the the net positive benefits you get from resistance training. You know it helps with serotonin levels, that helps with dopamine levels, that helps with stress relief, I mean. So it's not, it's not just physical, it's also a huge mental component as well. But also from like, a psychological point of view, it's like If you start to do things consistently, even when you don't feel like doing it, you develop a personal sense of pride, and when you start getting a lot of wins under your belt, it just does something to your psyche and your confidence, and so that's one of the coolest benefits we see, where people are actually like, hey, I completed this week in full and I'm proud of myself, and that sense of self pride is such a momentum builder for people.

Speaker 4: 35:02

I mean that's why CrossFit, in my opinion, blew up so fast, because every time, every time you went into CrossFit, there are so many different metrics for you hitting personal records, whether it was one more jump rope, one more double under, or you were one second fast, or you're you lifted 2.5 pounds heavier, you know, just 2.5 pounds more of the bar and every time you went in people were hitting PRs or are hitting PRs and it just does something to this momentum building aspect because you just have wins so often. So what we want to do is create a program where we have many goals and can see wins as consistent as possible, and there's just such a higher rate of success when people Feel proud of themselves and can see a long history of wins. And so even in you know, general lifestyles like set goals for yourself that are Attainable but a little challenging, and then, once you hit them, it's like reassess and set another one. But then you look back six, twelve months. It's like man, I accomplished everything I set out to do.

Speaker 2: 36:02

Now talk to me. Let's talk about the world of supplements. Yeah, there's so much out there when it comes to supplements. I feel like every one their mother is slinging supplements these days. How do you break through the mold of that? But also, you know there's a lot of Bullshit supplements out there that just don't do what their advertising do, because they're not. You know, there's no FDA approval with a lot of these.

Speaker 4: 36:25

You know how do you navigate that and and build trust with, with clients the supplement industry is extremely tough and like I haven't, I haven't broke through that glass ceiling. I'm like so small, you know. But the whole reason why I started was because there's such a lack of integrity in the supplement industry. There's a documentary that a guy named Mark Bell did where he Like ate a bunch of chips and and sodas and made himself super bloated. He took up a four-picture and then he wouldn't get a, wouldn't get a pump suck in, and took the after picture in the same day and then he got a photoshop guide to edit it. Then he put it on a bottle and then he put rice, rice powder in capsules, filled the bottle, sealed it, put plastic around the lid He'd sealed that and went sell at the supplement stores. And this was all part of an experiment to show like how, how Manipulated the supplement industry is with with photoshop and false ingredients, because there isn't that FDA regulation Sort of wrong, like the FDA will like look over your labels, but like they're not, I mean they're not testing the product, you know. And so one thing I do is because the only reason I got into it's because, like I was, like I can do this better Than other supplement companies are doing because I don't care about the profit margins, but then it's like it to do it properly and with integrity. It is so expensive. Sure, you know it's like you know I have some, you know, acquaintances in the industry and that we know we better have much bigger companies than myself and you know I was talking to them about like some of their pricing and also like know their ingredients and, like you know, their stuff is costing like three or four times less than mine. You know, and and and that's not that's not knocking them by any means, because obviously, like, as you grow and scale, things get a little bit cheaper, but it's like like my, if my thing is like, if I know something and I don't do it, then I'm responsible, you know, and I feel like I'll be judged for that one day, you know. And so me knowing what I know about supplements in the human body is like I put everything that I think you need into the product and that just makes it just so more expensive, instead of subdividing it into four or five Different products and charging that to the customer, and so I try and make my products with the highest level of integrity, and then also you can do things like third-party testing. I will verify that everything's in there, which I do recommend people do.

Speaker 4: 38:52

If they're going to like buy supplements, make sure it's like third-party verified, but it's assuming that the third party is not nefarious for sure. Well, I mean you go to like an independent lab, like they have a really big company out in California, that's that's that they just test product. It's not even like a supplement testing company, they're just a lab. They analyze the ingredients. They're like, hey, this is the percentage of this and there but yeah, I mean the supplement and doing wrong. There's some really great companies out there. You know, even locally, my buddy, jason Netherland, has a supplement company called fortune nutrition. He makes really great product, his protein is awesome, but like as a whole, there's just there's just a lot of really scammy stuff out there, you know.

Speaker 2: 39:35

Yeah, so for the general masses, if there is one thing that you think everybody should be taking, what would it be?

Speaker 4: 39:44

Or is there?

Speaker 2: 39:45

because you said, like I could be said earlier, everyone is different.

Speaker 4: 39:47

Yeah, it really did. It really depends man, like some things that what?

Speaker 2: 39:51

what are we, especially as Americans? What are we lacking?

Speaker 4: 39:54

So I'll tell you what I program as a baseline list of supplements for all my clients before I even get into, like the end of the individualization of what they need. Like, like, based on what I see in the blood work, I put everyone on Omega 3 fatty acids, specifically Omega 3, like with all the modern processed meats. We have plenty of six and nine in our diet curcumin, coq 10, and so those are focused on being antioxidants because, you know, the best diet is an anti-inflammatory diet. But also it's like we need help with anti-inflammatory Supplements that that work as scavengers for for isolating free radicals, I think and this is just my opinion but it's like cancer is like at the highest rate it's ever been, and I think the factor just has to be environmental, whether it's, you know, the, the food, whether it's the chemicals that are always on our body, whether it's like us being around Cell phone, you know, signaling all day classics, yeah, yeah, I you know it's like you know, I mean, the rates are just preposterous and so what we want to do is do the best we can, and that's why, you know, just going back to we're talking about earlier, it's like, hey, people just starting out, yeah, just start with the caloric deficit, you know. But then you want to lead into progressively buying better and better food and then increasing your protein, and so but yeah and so, yeah.

Speaker 4: 41:14

So I always put curcumin, coq 10, omega 3, fatty acids, vitamin D3 and vitamin K2. And because most of us just aren't, you know, vitamin D3 is really great, especially for like people like me and you that have all fish jobs, that don't get enough sun exposure, mm-hmm. But those are the baseline things of what I program in and then so. But if I just have to isolate, it's a one supplement that most Companies carry.

Speaker 4: 41:40

The average American just is not getting in enough dietary protein, and so I think, outside of those vitamins and minerals that I listed, a really good, high quality Way, I slit and like for me, like we're relaunching the supplement company in January. My protein is from grass-fed cows and it is a cold filtration, so removes 99% of the lactose enzymes and so like, because I'm lactose intolerant. So I have to have to program for me first, right, but yeah, and so I would say, aside from the vitamins and minerals, most Americans are not getting enough protein. So using a supplemental protein powder to help get their daily allotment up, because protein does more than just build muscle health with your immune system. I mean proteins used for so much stuff in the body.

Speaker 2: 42:24

Now let's talk a little bit about gluten. Okay, you're a bread guy, you know in second heart for witness great, great harvest yeah second harvest is like the nonprofit. I think, yeah, great harvest. How do you, how do you balance the world of bread which me now, in this diet world I'm learning is the source of all evil and and also being this nutrition?

Speaker 4: 42:46

expert. Yeah, so I mean, it's two totally different, different markets. You don't understand, but you know the the reason. You know it's like whenever I bought great harvest I got a. You know people thought in the industry I was like crazy for doing it, but I bought it for a reason, you know. But yeah, it's the biggest thing. It's like right now it's like, you know, it seems like everyone in their mom has a gluten insensitivity, you know, but the biggest thing is like we usually like really high quality.

Speaker 4: 43:12

The reason why most people have issues with gluten is because of the consistency of use of the same same type of flour and then it's just low quality flour as well. So we we get our our wheat berries shipped in from Montana and we actually mill them in house and then for the white flour we use, we use something called a king author, which is like one of the highest qualities you can get, and so we just focus on using really, really great quality flour and a lot of times, people that even have gluten insensitivities or gluten sensitivities Are they typically do okay with our product because it's just a much higher standard. And you know, people also like go travel to, like Italy and stuff like that and have no issues with their bread and or France I mean, over there in France it's you know, it's like they take baking and bakery so serious that there's laws around it. You know, like they literally have to have a bakery within a certain amount of square footage of each other so everyone can have access. It's like legally they have to use like double zero flour.

Speaker 4: 44:09

And so one of my buddies, justin Ward, is a big-time Chef in in France and whenever he comes in the states we connect and like dude the, the laws they have around bread over there are Insane. So you like you'll even hear of people like going overseas who have gluten issues and eating full gluten. You know pizzas and pastas and stuff and being absolutely fine. It's just because the quality is so much better, and so the biggest thing is like getting really good quality gluten could you bottle the smell of fresh bread until like a cologne and In sell?

Speaker 4: 44:40

that if enough people would buy it, I wouldn't make it happen.

Speaker 2: 44:46

I'm about that bag bro but yeah, cuz I live near, near near, evangel made and I was driving by it sometimes the morning you smell it, or I'll just walk out of my house and you can smell that down.

Speaker 4: 44:59

It is a great smell no-transcript.

Speaker 2: 45:03

Live in here in South Louisiana. We have such a rich culture. A lot of it has to do with food and a lot of the food Is probably not the best for you. How do you, how do you, find that balance?

Speaker 4: 45:12

Honestly, like, again, if we're speaking to, like, the general population, the biggest thing it's just portion control. You know, I mean that that's really the biggest thing. It's like our portions are out of control. That's why, you know, we have such a problem with weight. You know, because, again, like we talked about earlier in the episode, is like it really boils down to calories and calories out, and if you're just starting a calorie reduction, it's the way to start losing, losing body fat, and then, as you want to transition more into body composition change, that's where your macronutrient profiles get a lot more specific. But unfortunately, it's like Just making making better choices, you know, because unfortunately, everything's just cooked with, with oil, butter. I mean it's like, do that? I mean a little insider secret from the restaurant industry is like, dude, the secret to everything is is butter, oil and sugar. Like Like pretty much anyone can start a restaurant, like if you put enough sugar on anything, it'll taste good, you know, and and so, yeah, and so in the reason why I say unfortunately portion control, is because it's just tough. You know, it's really tough to exercise that type of discipline in a culture that is so rich in heritage.

Speaker 4: 46:18

With with food, you know, especially food is, and especially food is like quote-unquote comfort food, you know, right, but even that end of itself is kind of an interesting term that, like man, we like, we turn to, to food for comfort, you know. And you know not not to go down too big of a rabbit hole. But I do love the psychological aspect of all of this, you know. And so even in the terminology of comfort food I'm like, okay, well, we utilize food, you know, as Amines to like, ease pain or make ourselves feel better. But what does that do to the brain? And so we get dopamine responses from, from food that tastes really good, right, so we get these.

Speaker 4: 46:54

We have a hard situation, then we turn to food for comfort. We get a dopamine hit. And so the next time that we get in a hard situation, our brain's like, well, I want to feel good. So what's what? What are the good be? The impulse drivers can be like, oh well, let's go get food. And so that's how, over a long enough period of time, it can actually create food addiction Is because, like, your brain is really searching out the dopamine hitting that we get from food, you know, and that's, you know, it's same thing with other things you know drugs acts, all kind of things. It's like we turn to social media.

Speaker 3: 47:22

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 47:23

I man. That is a great, great point. Thank you, especially social media, you know, and like our affirmations from likes, you know it's like. So I think such a big part of getting our body healthy is also getting our mind healthy and realizing, like, what do we actually turn to During hard seasons, you know, but it's just tough because we get addicted to food, and then it's like when your brain telling you like, I want this, I want this, I want this, and you know you're fighting a chemical drive in your brain.

Speaker 2: 47:51

It's really hard to resist, you know yeah, and a lot of times that manifests itself that I want this drive. It's I deserve this. Yeah, I deserve this, and you can almost trick yourself like I earned this you know, yeah, I walked to the mailbox today.

Speaker 4: 48:03

Yeah, yeah, I burned six calories.

Speaker 2: 48:08

Talking about? I mean, obviously you do a lot of. You know resistance training, you know really all kind of just high-intensity stuff, simply walking. Yeah, can you talk about, elaborate on that? Just just like 30 minutes a day of walking around your neighborhood?

Speaker 4: 48:25

Absolutely man, just getting out and moving and getting some sunlight, you know. And so we burn a lot of calories during our day through two primary ways that people don't think about. Often, like whenever your resistance training, even if you're training really hard, you may only burn like 3-400 calories. It's not that much, you know. But we burn most of our calories through something called a neat so not an exercise activity thermogenesis, and so that's fidgeting, moving around, you know, walking to the mailbox, all that kind of stuff. And then we actually burn a lot of calories in our sleep as well, and that's why sleep is also such an important driver for for body composition change and transformation. But just being intentional about walking, what it does is like it really just provides this extra outlet of burning calories.

Speaker 4: 49:10

That doesn't, that isn't from a source that requires high or any recovery. You know, for example, like if I were to, it mean you were to go sprint up and down a vanjunth through a like tomorrow. If we did, you know, 10 200-yard sprints, like tomorrow, our legs would be trash, like it'd be. You know, we wouldn't feel good is because that's a high-intensity Exercise and it does require central nervous system recovering your peripheral, recovering peripherally in your legs. Well, walking it's like there's really no recovery to it and so it's one of the easy things you can do to burn calories.

Speaker 4: 49:43

That also has secondary benefits of like getting sunlight. A sunlight exposure is super important, you know, at least like 20 minutes a day. I follow Andrew Huberman a lot and he's done a lot, a lot of research on getting it first thing in the morning and what it does to to your brain and You're just natural circadian rhythm and so. But walking is like it doesn't require Any equipment, you don't have to pay for a membership and it doesn't require any recovery. But it's just a great way to actually get you moving. We sit all day long, so our hips are in a 90 degrees. It gets us, it gets us standing upright and actually moving. It improves your circulation and so there's just lots of benefits with with really no downside aside from it costing time, right.

Speaker 2: 50:27

And time is time is a big thing for a lot of people, but I feel like, as I've learned, you know I can. You can make time throughout the day.

Speaker 4: 50:34

Yeah, and do it's like you know, if, if we're being really self-critical, yeah, it's like man. How much time am I wasting like Instagram, youtube?

Speaker 2: 50:44

Yeah, go look at your screen report and tell you, tell me down time every Sunday.

Speaker 4: 50:47

When it sends it to me, I'm like, I'm so sorry. So you've done some competitions before oh, I mean when I was a child a long time ago and I'm a much better coach than I am a competitor.

Speaker 4: 50:58

But I mean I will. I will one day again, just just for the mental aspect of I mean because you learned so much about yourself during prep, because it's like you're intentionally depriving yourself so hard and like you learn how you treat people when you don't feel well. You learn like how your work ethic is when you don't feel well. So there's a lot of net positive benefit that can come from it. So I will do it again at some point. But at this point in my life with, you know, with three businesses and you know, just buying into a fourth, it's like I do not want to suffer or feel that bad right now, you know sure.

Speaker 2: 51:33

Do you do like the whole spray tan or bronzer or whatever?

Speaker 4: 51:36

What is all that so out there? The reason why you have to do that is because the stage lights are so bright. Sure, if you Don't tan, you can be in the best shape in the world and you will just look like a pillowcase up there. And so the spray tan isn't like this ego driven thing, it's like you. Just you literally have to do it so the judges can see your muscle separation Because the lights are so bright, and you will understand that because you are familiar with lighting.

Speaker 2: 52:00

Yeah, I had to work makeup every day when I was working for the news.

Speaker 4: 52:04

Yeah, so there is, there is a reason to it. It's not just because, like you know, we, you know, these are ego maniacs that, like you know, you know you have to do it if you're gonna compete my gosh.

Speaker 2: 52:15

Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I've always wondered that you're talking about. Like you remember, he's a big proponent of cold plunges, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, a lot of people are. It's good, yeah, one of those kind of fads, but it seems to be actually clinically proven to you. Show results, yeah.

Speaker 4: 52:32

Do you agree with that? Do you use it? Yeah Well, I mean, I don't have five thousand extra dollars to buy cold plunge you get a cow tub and fill it up with water nice. Well, my dogs was slobbering there and drinking, and then it'd be full of algae in like a week. But no there's. There's a lot of benefits to cold plunge, for sure. I'm a really big proponent of the sauna, though.

Speaker 2: 52:53

Yeah, that's what I asked you about a song.

Speaker 4: 52:54

There's just a tremendous amount of incredible research coming out of Finland about the net positive benefits of heat exposure. I'm especially what it can do long term in terms of preventing like cardiac events, and so I'm a huge believer in in sauna and so what I have at the house is it's a brand called my high and is basically this infrared sauna sleeping bag, and so I'll do that about three times a week and I mean you feel amazing afterwards, but it's like I'm really just doing it for the long-term health benefits, for reducing cardiac events let's talk about.

Speaker 4: 53:33

Tea, let's talk about tea. Testosterone, yeah, oh awesome.

Speaker 2: 53:37

Why is it so awesome oh?

Speaker 2: 53:39

It's great man, it's it's like growing up, you know, like you hear, like you know juice heads or whatever, like baseball, like you had the big negative stigma to it. But now you listen all these type of podcasts, you know, you know People more health conscious than ever before. You're starting seeing especially people in their 40s and 50s. Men Started to take a little testosterone, and not crazy amounts, but just to help with recovery and and things like that. You know, is that something that that you look into or know about can speak on?

Speaker 4: 54:09

Oh for sure, I mean hormones are, you know one, a huge part of bodybuilding. You know, it's like, if we're just being completely honest, it's like if you're going visit or watching untested show or watching the Olympia, it's like there's a high level of drug use, you know, I mean, but that that's abuse, you know. But I mean, if we're just being honest, yeah, but a hormone replacement therapy is what you're specifically referring to and what that's designed to do is to take your Current hormone levels and get you to an optimal range of where you were at at your peak, you know. And so earlier we were talking about like environmental factors. You know how I believe like that has a big interplay with, like current cancer rates and stuff. But if you look at the testosterone levels of men in their 30s now, to like men in their 60s, like 40 years ago, men in their 60s had higher, higher Free and total testosterone levels than the men in their 30s now, and so I also think there's a huge environmental interplay with that as well. But yeah, so, but is it.

Speaker 2: 55:10

Could that also be? Well, you know, the environmental aspects may be play into what makes us a healthy, unhealthy society, but more more over the past 40 years as as a country we've become less healthy.

Speaker 4: 55:21

So is that kind of yeah, yeah, less healthy, less active, less sun exposure, all the different, poor food quality. You know All those things for sure and so. But what you're talking about with feeling good in health Very much a big believer in hormone replacement therapy, you know, especially for for men, because one thing that they have shown clinically is that lower testosterone is actually more dangerous than high testosterone in terms of, like, heart disease and stroke risk. And so what hormone replacement? So, for example, if you go to your doctor and you get your blood work done and you come back at like 300 nanograms per deciliter, that is what will qualify for you to be a candidate for hormone replacement therapy. And so what HRT or TRT does? Testosterone replacement therapy is you take Exogenous testosterone, like a synthetic version of testosterone, once a week, or you can do cream, or you can do pellets. I think once we conjections are best to keep your blood work stable. But what that does is that will take you from like 300 and we want to get you to like a high normal of like over 1800 to 1200. And so what that does and that will improve your recovery, that will improve your sleep, that will improve your sex drive, that will improve your energy levels there's just a huge net positive benefit to making sure you have optimal testosterone levels, especially as a man and females.

Speaker 4: 56:44

Females need HRT too, hormone replacement therapy like, especially like females that are like premenopausal. They really need to make sure that their hormone and their progesterone levels are in check. You know, I was talking to a buddy mine the other day and they did a. They did a study on on divorce rates with like women in their between 40 and 50, where they're premenopausal, and you know they did the study and they collected the data after. But 80 and 85% range said the biggest cause of their divorce was how they, how they felt going in their, their premenopausal phase. You know, cause their hormones were so crazy and and you know, and so everyone take that with a grain of salt. But all that to say it's like man, hormones are the master key and so making sure your hormones are in check and they're in optimal levels is such, is such a cheat code.

Speaker 2: 57:33

And how do we figure out our hormone levels without dropping a lot of money?

Speaker 4: 57:38

So they have some places that have like relatively inexpensive hormone testing and usually your insurance will will pay for either an annual or semi-annual blood work. But if your insurance doesn't, or you don't have insurance lab corp or quest diagnostic one of those two you will have to get your doctor to write in the script, but one you can just order it yourself and I mean you can get like a full, a full male health panel for 150, 175 bucks. That's not bad, not bad at all, and then you take those results to your doctor and and and then he'll assess on on whether he'll give you hormone replacement therapy or not.

Speaker 2: 58:13

Well, man, I really appreciate you. You're sitting in with us today and learning, learning some things as we kind of wrap up in the past episodes. I'm sure I've done it on the show before, but I've definitely called CrossFit a cult and I stand I stand by it.

Speaker 2: 58:27

But it's good. You guys are good. Good cult they're. They're good cults, they're bad cults. They're a good cult. But with that being said, what? What makes it so, so beautiful a lot of times for people is that is that community aspect. Right, and that's something that I know you do. You care about in your personal life and your gym or your training is kind of building these communities For sure. Why? Why is that?

Speaker 4: 58:50

You know if, if you want to go fast, go by yourself, but if you want to go far, bring a team. You know and I mean community, having a group of people to bounce ideas off, support you when you're having a rough time it's just, it's again that that that's one of the other cheat codes of people that one love you enough to hold you accountable but two have the same shared interest as you. Cause, you know, if someone asked me the other day, they're like. They're like what's something as an adult that surprised you, that you didn't expect, you know, and so I thought about it for a second and I was like, honestly, like there's just a certain and I don't mean this in a negative way, but like there's just an aspect to being an adult where it's just, it's just lonely.

Speaker 4: 59:26

You know Meaning like when you're a kid, you're with your friends all the time, every, every night you're playing, like as an adult dude, it's like you're working and then you're going home to your family, and then it's like, if you have kids, it's all the extracurriculars and it's like your circle. As you get older, your circle just gets smaller and smaller and smaller, and so. So there's a certain aspect of adulthood that has, like a, a tenor of loneliness to it, or isolation more so, probably a better word. But having a community of people that have the same interest as you just provides you this, this outlet for one to two hours a day, where you get to meet with people that you can jive with, and so I think community is so, so important in that aspect.

Speaker 2: 1:00:04

That's beautiful man. Well, once again, thanks for coming. If real quick, give the folks at home all your different plugs how folks can find you, support your businesses.

Speaker 4: 1:00:12

Man. Thank you so much. So if you're interested in lifestyle coaching or like extreme transformation coaching, you can find me on Instagram at C620nutritioncom and the link in my bio is goC620nutritioncom and that will lead you to an intake form to fill out a a request and that will also book you on my calendar to meet one on one. And then, if you're local, if you're a sales rep or looking for gifts or just breakfast or lunch, you can find us at 854 College, Saloon Road. That is Great Harvest Bread Company. Especially with Christmas coming up, Everyone loves a good, good homemade bread for for Christmas. But yeah, C620nutritioncom and Great Harvest of Acadiana. Do tomatoes belong in gumbo? No bro, Okay, no bro, those are fighting words.

Speaker 2: 1:01:02

All right, I'm just laying, getting laid the land here and I'm going to start asking everybody that make, because, well, the content that that hits the hardest I've found on social media is like hot takes about Cajun culture and so I do like okra and gumbo though.

Speaker 4: 1:01:17

Okay, that may that may be one of the sand for some people.

Speaker 2: 1:01:20

That's what gumbo means. It means okra, does it?

Speaker 4: 1:01:23

really, I did not know that at all.

Speaker 2: 1:01:25

Yeah, someone fact-checked me, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Speaker 4: 1:01:26

Are you pulling my leg?

Speaker 2: 1:01:27

No, that seems wrong. Let's see Gumbo meaning or maybe etymology. Gumbo etymology Gumbo from soup thickened with okra, 1805 from Louisiana, French probably ultimate, ultimately from the central Bantu dialect. Compare umandu gumbo okra, also used for the Creole patties of Louisiana. But yeah, so I think it's an African word for gumbo, I mean for okra.

Speaker 4: 1:02:01

I still don't know if I believe you.

Speaker 2: 1:02:02

Oh wow. Fact-checked me in home folks. I don't really give a shit anymore. I'm just happy that we had a really cool conversation and as we end every single episode and you can take a look at this solo camera right here and you can be a word, a phrase, advice, a slogan, a mantra. You've lived by something to leave the folks with. As we end the episode with, I'll give you the open floor.

Speaker 4: 1:02:24

Leave people better than you found them.

Speaker 1: 1:02:27

Hey, thanks for tuning into the show. Since you made it this far mind as well, give us a like, a follow, a subscribe. You know whatever you gotta do to alert you that there's a new episode out. Look, it helps us grow and it allows us to give you the content that, well, you deserve. If you want to be a sponsor, if you want to be a guest, if you just want to berate me, hey, all goes to the same place. Info at akadienacastcom. Email info at akadienacastcom and for more locally sourced podcasts, go to akadienacastcom. Bye.