Shawn Stevenson: Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. Listen, there is so much information out there when it comes to health and nutrition, and exercise obviously. You know, we're in the information age. There's a lot out there to pull from and to experiment with. But one of the things that I'm seeing, and I've been seeing for many years, is that the experts tend to over-complicate things, alright? We as people tend to over- complicate things in our own lives, you know? It's kind of a natural human tendency in a way, you know? Especially if something is so simple as far as us having a great result, we tend to find a way to muck it up a little bit. To over-complicate and make things harder than they really need to be, and that's why today's episode I really want to drill down and talk about some of the fundamental things that we all need to be implementing in order to have the health and the fitness that we truly want. Because some of these things are going to be a recap, and that's important because there's a statement that knowledge is power, right? You've heard this before, right? Knowledge is power, but I do not believe that in the slightest. Alright? Knowledge is potential power, right? Knowledge applied, that's power. So with this recap, and some of these things are hard-hitting, very important, very valuable, clinically proven to work to get us the health and the body that we truly want. But are you doing them? Alright? And so that's what we're going to talk about. We're going to drill down on what those things are, and talk about some strategies to start implementing those things like yesterday, alright? And before we even get in to that, I want you to think about what your goals are. Alright? We've talked about goal setting and goal achievement on the show before, and the data to back up the process of goal setting in and of itself, even writing down a goal, and how you get an increase in about 30% in your potential of accomplishing that goal simply by writing the goal down. Right? And we'll put that in the show notes, that was the episode we did with Michael Hyatt, which was fire, alright? Michael Hyatt is like that guy- he's like the grand-dad that everybody wants, alright? I'm sure he gives great Christmas presents, by the way, and he's got five daughters. Five daughters. And he's got his grandkids, but he's just doing things at such a high level right now, and just a great human being, and really driven to get better, even where he's at in the age bracket. Like every day he's waking up trying to find a way for him to get better. And he has this youthful zest about him which you hear in that episode, and so again, if you happened to miss it, I'll put that in the show notes for you. But I want you to get clear on what your goals are, alright? We're still just scratching the surface on this year, alright? We've got some months ahead. Your goals that you set at the beginning of the year, it's not too late. As a matter of fact, the best time to start was yesterday, alright? Second best time is now. And so getting some more momentum to fuel that, and that's what we're going to get to today, but here's the thing, how can you achieve your goals if you don't have any? Simple, it's basic stuff, you've got to know what you want. You know? You're going to be able to elicit certain factors of the human psyche to accomplish your goal if you get clear on what it is. And that takes in a level of honesty, right? A lot of times we don't set a goal or state a goal because we feel that in some way that we're getting outside of our comfort zone, right? Or that we're going to be bumping up against what we believe to be possible for us, or what other people believe is possible for us, and we have to really address that because there is so much potential in you. There are so many things that you can accomplish, but you have to be honest about what you want. Not what somebody else says you should have, but be honest about what you want. Alright? I don't really like the word 'realistic' too much, you know? But you do need to bring a level of realism to it. It's just like if you've got fifty pounds to lose, you're like, "Well I want to lose fifty pounds in two months, Shawn. Like that's my goal." We cut off an arm maybe, cut off a leg, or maybe some pinky toes or whatever, I don't know. Something will start adding up, but that's not feasible, alright? But ten pounds, absolutely. We want to make sure that we're not getting into this Biggest Loser mindset though, because that will set you up for failure. Listen, I've had the opportunity to be in the room with a lot of these people, and even talking about with contestants who've been on the show. And the producer, very up front at the beginning letting them know and asking this question- these participants, "Do you want to get healthy or do you want to win? Alright? Because these are two different things when we're talking about this kind of public display of losing all of this crazy amount of weight in such a small amount of time." And a little unknown fact for a lot of folks is that around 80% plus, or 80% to 85% of the contestants go on to gain that weight back, and oftentimes and then some. Right? And these are the stories, of course they're not going to put that out, right? You're not going to hear about those stories. And there's many well-intentioned people behind this, behind this particular show, but some it's for the glitz and glamour. It's not real life, alright? Real life, this takes some consistency, it takes work, it takes dedication, it takes making this a part of who you are so that it's sustainable, but the work doesn't have to be brutal, the work doesn't have to be something that you detest. It can actually be something that you fall in love with, and that's what we're going to be talking about this particular topic today, of really taking control of your health and fitness, and really mastering this by implementing small changes consistently. Alright? So that's what we're going to be diving into, but first of all, I want you to think about what is your goal for your own health and fitness? No matter what level you're at, if it is the fifty pounds, or if it's just like 2% body fat. You're like, "Shawn, I'm pretty swole right now. I'm looking good, I'm feeling good, but there's another level I want to get to. I appreciate where I'm at, but I'm not content." I like that, I like that way of being, because we do need to bring a level of appreciation to it, you know? Even if you feel like you're so far from your goal, your body is the most amazing thing that's on this planet, right? This is your place that you live in. This is housing your spirit, right? Your body has been there for you through thick and thin. It's the only thing that you can truly call your own, alright? All your stuff, one day somebody else will own it, alright? It's kind of messed up, but one day somebody else is going to live in your house, somebody else is going to live in your apartment, alright? Somebody else is going to be driving your car potentially, alright? But the reality is the one thing that we have that we can call our own is our bodies. And so to have a level of appreciation for all the good that it's done for us, to be here, to smile, to laugh, to enjoy life, to cry, to experience, you know? It's just such a great gift, and we want to work with our body, right? Do these great things we're going to be talking about today so that our body can continue to give good back to us, right? So do good by our body so it can be doing good by us. And so one of the things that me personally, I'm looking at what can we do to really optimize our health? On both ends of the spectrum, when we are starting our day and also ending our day? And one of the things that I've been talking a lot about the last couple of years in that kind of evening ritual, because a great morning, having great energy through the morning starts the night before, right? With getting great sleep. And when people would come into my clinic, I mean every day folks would be like, "Shawn, what can I take for more energy? Shawn, what can I take to improve my sleep? What can I take?" And they're seeing me like this allopathic person like I'm going to give them a pill for every ill kind of thing, but that's far down the line. Before we get into medication, before we get into supplementation, let's do the stuff with our lifestyle first. And then even that, when we're adding in certain things that are clinically proven to work without crazy side effects, let's start at the upper echelon of things that have been used for a very long time, that have potentially sometimes thousands of years of documented history, right? Not something that was created like last week, alright? With the Ambien, okay? So when people are out Ambien tweeting or whatever, alright? Now so for me, what I'm going to be utilizing, what I love to have to kind of cap off my night, it's just so good on so many different levels, is rishi, alright? Rishi. And this is particularly great to have in the evening as a wind down kind of tea that I make with the rishi. And here's why. This was a study published in the journal 'Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior.' So this is a journal that's looking at the function of a lot of drugs. They're like, "Wait a minute. This very, very safe, no side effects resulting herb that's been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine, wait a minute, it's doing some stuff." So the journal 'Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior' found that the renowned medicinal mushroom rishi was able to number one, significantly decrease sleep latency. So that means you fall asleep faster by utilizing rishi. Number two, it increased overall sleep time. That's good. And also increased non-REM deep- so this is the deep delta wave sleep, and light sleep as well. Alright? So you're actually getting more efficient sleep cycles. What more could you ask for? That is amazing. That's amazing. All from this one medicinal mushroom. So for me, rishi, the quality means everything. If you want to get these kinds of results, you need to make sure you're getting it from the right place. Because in the study, you're not hearing was this an alcohol extraction where this is going to be something to do with the terpene compounds? The more hormonal related things? Or was this a hot water extract where we're dealing more with the beta glucans, antioxidant activity? We don't know, right? We don't know. So how about we get both? How about we get a dual extraction, and the company that's doing that in their tasty little teas, their mushroom coffees, their lattes. Have you had the latte yet? Oh my goodness. The chai latte, it's the real deal. But the rishi specifically is the elixir that I use before bed, and so the dual extraction, number one. Number two, organic so you're not getting a hot cup of pesticides. That will put you right to bed in a negative way, alright? And they're also making this very easy convenient- I just got back off the road last night. I just got back in town, and I bring my little packets with me. I've got my little instant pack of rishi, my instant pack of lion's mane coffee, or whatever the case might be that I'm utilizing while I'm on the road. This is super important because it helps to keep your immune system strong. Rishi, for example, has been found to increase your NK cells' activity over 300%. So that's your natural killer cells. So these are cells that seek out and find pathogens and develop weapons against pathogens in your body, alright? So these kind of in a strange way help to train your immune system, alright? So this is why several medicinal mushrooms have been found to fortify the immune system when folks are going through things like chemotherapy, where their immune system is just getting demolished, but helping to rebuild that, and rebuild that activity. You know, like maitake and shiitake for example, so there's lots of data coming out about that. So bottom line is if you're not utilizing Four Sigmatic, you are truly, truly missing out. So make sure to head over there right now, www.FourSigmatic.com/model, alright? And of course this is in the show notes if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, you just go down to the show notes, put a little swipe up, and the link will be right there for you. Or you can just pause this, go to www.FourSigmatic.com/model, guess what? You get 15% off all of their medicinal mushroom elixirs, the mushroom coffees, the mushroom hot chocolates, everything. Alright? 15% off, so head over there and hook yourself up. And on that note, let's get to the iTunes review of the week. ITunes Review: Another five-star review titled, 'Thank you,' by CFelder. "I have been overweight for some years now. When I found your podcast, I went back to episode one and listened to every episode. So yesterday when I was told that I have breast cancer, after the shock of it, I thought about your podcast. I knew I'd listened to more than one episode about cancer, when it was the furthest from my mind. You can't imagine how much hope you give me. I know that I can turn this around, and win my weight loss battle once and for all. Thank you, Shawn, for caring about me and everyone else who needs the information you provide. Thank you." Shawn Stevenson: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that, and sharing a little bit of your story. That is just beyond powerful. And we are all sending you right at this very moment so much good energy and well wishes through this process, and I'm very grateful to be a resource for you, and absolutely this is just the beginning. There's going to be something very good and beautiful that comes from this difficult situation, and as mentioned everybody, there are several episodes that we've done talking about the business of cancer. What it is, just to pull back the veil so that we can eliminate some of the fear, and what are some like so many clinically proven tactics that we can utilize to stack conditions in our favor, so we can come out on the other side of it with our health and wellbeing. Alright? So this is a very just powerful and touching story, and I'm just so grateful, so thank you so much for sharing that. Now on that note, let's go ahead and get to our topic of the day. So today we're talking about just really diving in and getting back to basics. Taking control of our health and our fitness, and utilizing the things that actually work. But here's the issue, and why we tend to have problems with this, is when we talk about taking control of our health and fitness, what we really need to do is talk about how did you lose control in the first place? That's where we need to start so we don't fall back into those same patterns. Because chances are you were never given a chance when you were growing up to decide whether or not you were going to be in an environment that supports your health. Alright? Chances are you weren't given that option, it's just the environment that you're in, and you become what you're around. You know? There's a statement everybody's heard before that humans are a product of their environment, but to up-level that a little bit, we're also creators of our environment. If we're not aware of that, we're just going to continue to fall into those same patterns. So I don't know about you, if you might have grown up in the eighties, maybe some seventies, even the nineties is spilled over, but if you grew up in the eighties, food lifestyle in the eighties. This was the dawn of the Poptart, alright? This was when things changed. This is the opening scene of the fast food revolution, alright? This is really where things just took it to a whole different level where we see skyrocketing rates of diabetes and obesity. We saw a steady build-up, but things took a big jump in the eighties. Microwave dinners, okay? This is- I grew up with that. The Salisbury steak? I don't know if- if you're into mushy steak, hey that was me. I didn't like the regular steak. I thought Salisbury steak was how steak was supposed to be. Mush-mush where I could chew this with no teeth, alright? With or without teeth you can eat this steak. But these are the things we grew up with, you know? We'd go with Hungry Man dinner, we'd grab something out of the freezer, you know? We had the little Totino's pizza, right? The little ones with the little cubes of pepperoni. It's so annoying, just give us a whole pepperoni. Anyways, they were doing their thing. Tombstone, what about Tombstone? Alright? I just thought about this. Literally they're calling it 'Tombstone.' How ironic is that? That's poetry right there, but I sure ate it. Thankfully I'm still here. So just think about this, you know? Having this access and just being a part of the world around you, and that's what you grew up in, that's what you'd come to believe is that this is just food, you know? And for me, as a child, if I can eat it and it tastes good, it's food whether or not it's something highly processed and damaging to my health, or whether or not it's something healthful and health-giving, you know? So we have to have that insight first. So I want you to think a little bit about that, about your childhood, and kind of how you grew up in the environment around you. Because again, if we're going to talk about taking control, we need to look at where did we lose control in the first place, alright? So I know for myself, my days started with a bowl of cereal, alright? Most days started with a bowl of cereal. Whether it was the Smurf cereal, whether it was the Mr. T, that was when I lived with my grandma because she had a little bit more money. Alright? When I was with my mom, we had the off-brand stuff. So we didn't have Captain Crunch, we had like Lieutenant Crunch, or Lieutenant Crunchy, or something. Alright? So that's what we were eating. Alright? And we had the WIC, right? We were getting things like government funded meals, you know? We had the milk and the cheese, sometimes we'd get the skim milk. Oh my- let me tell you. It's like what's the point, you know? Just you might as well literally just pour water on your cereal, right? Why would you do that to yourself? And so come to find out that eating cereal turns out not to be a good idea, alright? We're starting our day by just bombarding ourselves with a huge, huge amount of sugar, highly processed sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, things that are now being linked to issues with the brain, cytotoxins, these things that can excite your brain to the point that you're like killing brain cells to start your day. Right? And you see the picture on the commercial, it's not just the cereal but you get the orange juice, and then you get the toast with it. Really? You know? You might as well just kick your metabolism right in the gonads, seriously, because at that point we're setting ourselves up for a whole world of trouble. And so again, having this programming. Still to this day if I think about Lieutenant Crunchie, I get a little salivary gland action. Like it sounds pretty good, some Crunch Berries. You know? Throw that right in there. And so it's just waking up and realizing, "Wow this stuff is deeply engrained into who we are." But here's the thing, that nerve pathway is still there in my brain, but what supersedes that is the nerve pathways that I can consciously build myself that kind of in a way go around that. Right? So it fires so much stronger and so much deeper because I'm laying down more myelin, and I'm ignoring that other thing that I used to do so long that it starts to wither away. Alright? But that takes time. You can't just be like, "I'm done with Mountain Dew," alright? You're going to get the Mountain Dew jitters, I promise you, when you stop drinking the Dew, it's going to hurt you. Alright? So that was a poet and I didn't know it. I just hit another rhyme. I was rhyming in here earlier on accident with my guys in the studio. So here's the thing, it's a process that we're going to talk about, and breaking down those connections, and building new ones, alright? So we're going to get to that in just a moment. So I want you to think about this. I just want this to roll around in your mental Rolodex, and how did this happen in the first place? Another thing is who do we look up to? Who are our heroes in society? Even if your family isn't like all trying to get you to eat broccoli or whatever, if you see Michael Jordan downing the Gatorade, high fructose corn syrup, right? You see him downing that as he's telling you Wheaties is the breakfast of champions, guess what you're going to do? Alright? You're going to be right on that. Like, "I want to be like Mike," right? Or the other Mike, Michael Jackson with the Pepsi, right? Either way, the people that we look up to in our culture, our 'heroes,' when they're doing those things, even if they're actually not doing those things a lot of times, because the truth is you'd better believe Michael Jordan was on something else. Alright? Actually his trainer- I'm not even going to get into that, but he's disclosed some secrets about- he was a very well-oiled machine in a way, in the way that he was eating, alright? So just keep that in mind, but it gets out to us, this propaganda, and it makes us more connected to them, you know? It makes us more attracted. So think about those things. Like what in your life- who did you look up to that maybe had an influence on some behaviors that you might not think they're the best for you right now? Maybe it's drinking, right? Maybe it's smoking, or whatever the case might be. Where did you pick that up, right? A lot of times it's our environment, it's also who we look up to that influences us. And today, really it's more of the same. You know? The faces have changed but the game remains the same, alright? The game is to be sold not to be told. I guess. I don't know if that applies here. But the reality is our superstars- and we have so much more influence and interaction, it's at a whole different level of influence with what the people that we look up to and see as heroes in our society, the influence that they're having on children specifically, alright? So again, growing up in that culture of like, "This is what we do." But fortunately there's this whole different reality that's taking place where parents are becoming more conscious about creating a healthful environment for their kids to grow up in. Right? And this conscious parenting movement is really ushering in- like there's two totally different realities going on right now, and what we're doing here, and even with The Model Health Show, is working to bridge these two together. Alright? So that we can all have access to this information, so we can all have access to this empowerment, and to be able to take control of our health. Because nobody is waking up like, "You know what? I want to feel terrible today." Alright? They're not waking up like, "I want to feel so uncomfortable in my own skin. I want to wake up each morning and be in pain." Nobody's doing that, alright? Many of us are not aware that we have these options, right? We think that if we're going to get healthy, we need to beat ourselves to the ground in the gym, we need to eat a lot of salad, and that's the end of the story. Alright? But the reality is far from that. But if you don't have the access to the information, that's another part. It doesn't matter if you are wanting to take control of your health if you don't have access to the right information. Right? So we need both. We need both. We need that insight aspect, and that decision to take control, and we also need the information to be able to put that in play. Alright? So that's what we are working to know together here on that show. So speaking of which, so we're getting back and talking about how did we lose control in the first place? Let's talk about what's going on in the brain, alright? I've talked about this before, I'm going to reiterate it here, when we're talking about taking control, we're talking about habit change when it's really- when we're looking at the fundamental principle of that. And your decisions on what you eat and how to get active got programmed into you at an early age. Again, so for a lot of families being active just isn't something that they have as a culture. It's just not a culture in the household. And history tends to repeat itself in successive generations. Alright? And so for my family, and my children that are growing up under my roof, being active is what they do. This is what they do. They're not aware that this is not an option, right? This is just something we do. We go to the track together. I take them into the garage and we work out together, we go for walks together, we eat together, you know? This is a part of their culture of being active, right? I didn't have that as a culture. We did have sports, you know? I went to go out and play sports, and so fortunately I had that thread, but for a lot of us if we're missing even that piece, or after the sporty days are over, then what? Then what do you have left? Right? If that's your thing that has been keeping you active until you graduate high school, right? And so what are we doing? What are we working against when we're wanting to make this habit change an actual part of who we are? Listen, I really want you to understand this. It's literally changing your brain. When you're creating a new habit, creating a new way of life, it's changing the physical structure of your brain. This is not a small thing. If you want to change the outer appearance of your body, you have to change what's going on in your brain first. To change your physical body, you have to change your mental body first. So changing your brain physically is what's going to allow you to change your physical body, alright? That's where it really happens. And so there's four levels that we go through in creating this automatic relay of information in our brain when we are addicted to something, or when we have the habit of doing a certain thing that's positive for ourselves. So breaking that old mental pathway of cereal, alright? The cereal for breakfast, we have to create a new pathway, and it takes going through these specific steps, alright? So we're going to start with this. So level one is something called an unconscious incompetence. Alright? That's where we start. Unconscious incompetence. This is where you don't know that there's another way, and you don't know that you don't know. Alright? So I hope that makes sense. You don't know what you don't know. So unconscious incompetence- so you're not aware that all food is not created equal. You're not aware that this broccoli or this wild caught salmon is going to impact my body very differently than this half dozen donuts, right? That's an unconscious incompetence. You have no idea that it matters, and that's where a lot of us exist when we're kids. Like we just don't know. And so but we move from there, and we go to a conscious incompetence. This is where we start to wake up and realize, "Wait a minute, these things aren't the same. Like I'm aware that I'm having a very different impact on my body with lack of movement versus when I'm moving." Or, "I become aware that when I eat these particular foods, it has this impact on my body versus these particular foods." So I'm aware of it, but I'm incompetent as to what to do about it, or I'm incompetent as to which things are going to be the very best for me. Alright? So that's a conscious incompetence. And it's important to have that stage where you realize like, "Wait a minute, something's not right here." Alright? You realize that this doesn't feel right, this doesn't feel good, and I want to do something about it. Alright? But from there, this is where we move- So we go from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence, now we move to a conscious competence. This is where we know what to do, and we consciously have to put effort into doing it. This is where the habit process begins to take and build legs. Alright? So this is where we realize- okay so we have this particular exercise program, this is where we have to think about doing it, and we have to go through the sometimes tough process of creating this as our reality, alright? So different experts will say different things. Twenty-one days to create a new habit, 100 days, 365 days. Bottom line is we don't know, alright? And what I feel in my practice, what I've seen, is that it just depends. It depends on the person, it depends on the level of motivation, it depends on the level of consistency. There are so many factors that go into it, but you can change your brain to change your body. Alright? You can change your brain to change your life. And this I know for certain. Being aware of these processes. So the conscious competence, we'll just give it a twenty-one day example. The first seven days, easy. You're like, "I'm changing my life, I'm juicing." You juice and dance, you've got music on. Juicing, got your green juice, going to the gym, you're doing yoga. You never did a downward dog, now you're downward dogging, alright? Life is totally different. Totally different. Right? Then day eight hits. This is where your brain, who it's been hardwired doing this other process, this is where you get into the discomfort zone. Right? First you got the new energy, then you move into the discomfort zone. Like, "Wait a minute, this is not what we're used to." Alright? "That was fun for a minute, but now it's getting serious." Alright? And so your brain is literally in a strange way competing against your new activity. Okay? So you need to be aware of this. This is where stuff starts to come up, right? Maybe you got a rough night of sleep, maybe you unconsciously manufactured an argument with somebody that throws you off and you don't go to the gym, or you go and get you a comfort piece of cake or comfort cake. The CC, the other CC, not Chanel. Alright? Comfort cake. You do that, or something happens with your car, or you miss an appointment. Something happens and you use that as either an excuse or use it as fuel. You get the option, alright? My wife, we've been talking about this, Chalene Johnson was on the show recently, absolutely amazing episode. So, so powerful, you've got to check it out. I had no idea how much it would impact my life, and just in my household, alright? I'll put that in the show notes. It's talking about the connection between our environment- like physical environment and then clutter, and how it impacts weight loss, how it impacts food choices, it's crazy. And the science behind it, just mind-blowing, alright? But another thing that Chalene talked about recently is the culture of being late, alright? How do you avoid being late? If you've been a habitual late person, and she broke it down, she's got two fire episodes, and I'll put that in the show notes for you, on how it impacts other people. But it's not her, these are people like calling in, and it will hit your spirit. If you're a person who tends to be late, you're going to be like, "I'd never heard this before." But so my wife, she tends to- like her goal is to be on time, right? And when she said that to me, I'm like automatically, "You're losing," alright? Because you want to be early to be on time, alright? It's a different culture. So just yesterday- and she's been doing this recently, you know? Because of the Chalene episode, and like so she's trying to be early, she was trying to pick me up from the airport, and she came extra early. She came thirty minutes early before my flight was supposed to land, and my flight got delayed. So it's the universe saying- because she had to sit there for an hour, right? Somebody who just wants to get there on time, so they're not waiting, just imagine the turmoil, right? I'm like, "Babe, this is just the universe. It's giving you an opportunity to grow some muscle here, alright? You've got embrace this and see this as a benefit in some kind of way." You know? So she worked through it, she- I think she had some stuff to do on her phone, and as far as I know, she's still going to be on the early train. I don't know, but the bottom line is this, and I'm just giving you one example of something coming up that's going to test your medal, alright? Because you're saying you want this thing, but your brain is used to doing this other thing, so this whole concept of something called self-sabotage is going to rear its face. And opportunities are going to come up- you're going to start unconsciously looking for opportunities to get back to doing what you were doing. You've got to be aware of this. Right? And see it's like, "Oh I know what this is. I know what this is trying to do. This is trying to throw me off my game." And even if you get thrown off your game, you get right back on it, right? So I want to give you an example. My son, Jordan, who just traveled with me, I was taking him out to some football camps on the west coast. And he went to the first football camp, and he came out- like coaches coming up to him, you know, he's in high school. He's going into his senior year, just like really kind of like inquiring about him like, "Who is this kid?" Because you know, he's coming from even another state to this camp. And everything was going good, he's just looking kind of a stand out, and he had a sprained ankle because of competing before he left about three days earlier. And I thought it was a slight sprain, you know? Because you know, he's a guy so he'd be like, "I'm fine, everything's fine. I'm good. I'm good, Dad." And he wasn't good, alright? So this sprain got re-agitated, and so he's out there like visibly limping, but he'd go hard on the plays because they were doing one-on-one drills. And he's a defensive back, and so he was looking outstanding, but sometimes things would happen with that ankle, and the person would get by him. And as the plays went on, as they did more and more of these, he got worse and worse, and he just kind of lost his step. And the coach even afterwards was just like, "You started off so great, and then you just declined." But Jordan wouldn't say, "It's because of this injury." He didn't want to use an excuse, which sometimes is justified, but even still he's just in this mindset of taking responsibility. You know? He put himself in that position, and now he's dealing with it. So here's the thing. He went through that, you get back up, right? You reassess, you fight, you adapt, you get back in the game. It's really that simple. Stuff's going to happen. He wanted to be able to impress these coaches, didn't turn out that way. Things were stacked against him, but guess what he's going to do? He's going to be smarter, he's going to learn a lesson, because what he should have done is communicated to me that he was not well to compete at this high level, and to focus on his recovery so he can actually get to the important thing, which is having a good season. It actually has a little bit higher of a rung of value than this other thing. You know? So again, you fall off, either the self-sabotage, stuff happens, you get back up. You learn from your experience, you move on. That's how you change your brain. Alright? You get back up. So many of us, we fall, and we stay fallen. Alright? We fall- we fall off the wagon- the thing is, you can fall off the wagon, but if I come back by on the wagon a week later and you're still on the ground, that's a problem, alright? And seriously, like get up. Right? You're like in the way of the road. Other people are trying to get by. So listen, you go from this unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence into the ultimate stage, which is an unconscious competence. Alright? This is where you're doing the thing that you want to do, and you don't even think about it. It's become a part of who you are. That's the ultimate, right? So today when I got back, I've been on the road, right? Sleeping in different places, different cities, I get back today I'm like, "I've got to go to the- like I've got to get to the gym." My body desires it. Alright? So much so, I even told my team like, "We're going to start a little later today, I've got to get to the gym." Alright? My body- I just needed it. It's my brain is wired up, it's craving that. As crazy as it sounds, I know some people are like, "I never crave the gym." Okay? But there are certain things that you do crave, alright? And we're going to tap into those today. So now, looking at how we lost control is the key. Understanding that our environment helped to shape this stuff, but we can change it, but you have to have these two things. So there are two ways to change and rewire your brain to embrace this new behavior, new way of being. Number one is an emotionally charged event. That's number one. That's the number one- by the way, this is in no particular order, but an emotionally charged event can help to really lay down more myelin, really create like a strong firing of that synaptic connection to this new behavior. Right? Maybe it's like something tragic happens in the family with somebody's health, right? And you're just like, "We're done. We're never- we're done with this whole lifestyle, this stuff that helped to create this situation whether it's like somebody smoking or whatever the case might be, we're done. We're not going to go through this again." Alright? Or maybe it's a situation where somebody is just fed up, they are done. They are done struggling with their weight, they're done feeling uncomfortable, they're done not being a model for their kids and their household, for their family, and they want to be the example. Right? They're just done. "I'm done." It happens, alright? Very emotionally charged, but maybe there's something that triggers that, right? Maybe it has to do with a significant other, maybe it's something with the kids, but an emotionally charged event. This is why I think live events are so powerful too, because getting in that environment, it can be a very emotionally charged just atmosphere period for these breakthroughs to happen, and being in that presence of a different environment in and of itself can help to create change. So that's one way. But the true number one way- alright so there's two ways, but this one should actually be ranked higher because this is more likely to be the way this happens, is repetition. Right? It's said that repetition is the mother of all skill, alright? Repetition is the key. Repeating these things, you're laying down more and more myelin, right? It's not practice makes perfect, it's practice makes permanent. The things you're doing continuously over and over again, your brain is going to- brain cells that fire together wire together. Alright? So if you're doing these things over and over and over again, your body, your mind is going to come to crave it, alright? So those are the keys. So we're talking about taking control, it starts with these insights. Alright? So now let's talk about some of the tangible things and look at what we're doing for our actual plan, alright? So we're going to go through three things in these three critical areas. So we're going to start with nutrition. These are the things that I want you to do, and I don't care if you know about it. Are you doing it? You need to do this daily, and it's so simple, but you will get so much bang for your buck by doing this. So number one- number one action step as far as your nutrition to take control of your health from here on out, number one action step is eat two or more servings of green vegetables per day. This is not a random number, I'm not just throwing this out there because this sounds like a good idea. Nutritional epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris and her team at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center found that people who ate two servings of green vegetables each day experience fewer memory problems and cognitive decline compared with people who rarely ate green vegetables. In fact, they estimate that the veggie lovers who ate around two servings a day had brains that were roughly eleven years younger than those who consumed fewer greens. Listen, all of this stuff that we're talking about, the whole process starts in your brain. Eleven years younger. You keep your brain eleven years younger by having two servings of vegetables a day. Eat your veggies! It's that simple, right? It's that simple. So which ones are we talking about? Let's go a little bit deeper. A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute tracked 142,605 men and 335,873 women for an average of nearly nine years. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of people they're tracking. What they discovered was that eating more vegetables was associated with a statistically significant reduction in cancer risk. The data translates into a 4% lower risk of cancer for every two servings of vegetables a person eats each day, alright? Every two servings that you eat reduces your risk of cancer by 4%. Alright? So if you eat four servings, you get 8% reduced risk. Now which ones? We talked about this recently on our- these five clinically proven ways to defend our body against cancer. So I'll put that in the show notes. But cruciferous vegetables specifically, and this is because of indole-3-carbinol and sulforaphane have been found most frequently and examined for their anti-cancer effects. Both have been found to inhibit the development of cancer in several organs including the bladder, breast, colon, liver, lung, and stomach. Eat your veggies, alright? Specifically the cruciferous family; bok choy, arugula, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale. Kale is hot. Kale has stepped on the scene, like it's top five right now in the vegetable game. You've got your top five rappers, you've got your top five veggies. Who's on your list? Kale is there for sure with everybody. Alright? Collards as well. Collard greens. So keep this in mind, two servings a day. That's your bare minimum, alright? The best way to do this, make sure you get it, do it in the morning. Get in it with breakfast. Change that whole paradigm with the cereal, okay? I remember I had a friend, and this dude, he was just weird. Alright? Everybody thought he was so cool, I just thought he was weird, but he was my friend, right? You know, and what- he introduced some things into my life. One of the things he tried to convert me on was the fact that- because you have the bowl of cereal, and then like you pour the milk over the cereal, but some people don't like the cereal to get soggy. So he thought he invented the idea of pouring the milk in the bowl first and then pouring the cereal on top. I think that's psychotic. Alright? Why would you do that? Alright? No disrespect if that's how you do the cereal, but you know, doing the cereal thing for breakfast, we've got to turn that whole thing upside down, alright? It's just not worth it. Alright? So we can look at maybe doing a vegetable omelet, or you're adding whatever you're having, whatever your protein is with some sautéed spinach, and some avocado, right? Getting in some veggies in the morning because it's another meal, but we've come to believe that breakfast is dessert really. It's a time for the pancakes and the waffles, and all that. I'm not saying you can't have that, absolutely, like that's still in the mix. Everything is an option, alright? This is a great strategy to start to re-train our brain and re-train our thinking, alright? So with that said, another big key here is the micronutrients and it helps to elicit leptin, which is your body's satiety hormone, so helping to regulate what's going on in your brain as far as you having a drive to want to eat more sugar, right? By getting those green veggies in, we can start to dissuade that pattern, alright? Another thing, very dense in fiber, alright? Another thing that helps with the cancer prevention. And by the way, so again, eleven years younger brain, 4% reduction in your cancer risk for every two servings. Hey, let's not just do the bare minimum, you know? Let's do greatness. Let's go ahead and shoot for four servings a day. Alright? Four plus servings. It's not that difficult to do, especially if you make the veggies taste good. Why would you not do that? Why would you suffer through trying to like scarf down some uncooked brussel sprouts? Alright? Why would you do that to yourself? And no disrespect, if you are eating the brussel sprouts raw right out of the garden, popping them like candy, I've got to respect that. Alright? You've got some muscle, you've got some internal muscle that is admirable to say the least, alright? But for a lot of us, making it taste good, you know? Cooking it with some great fats and some seasoning and you know, for some folks maybe throw a little bacon in there. Alright? Or whatever the case might be, do something to make it taste good because that's really the key to you feeling a joyous experience of eating vegetables instead of something that you have to do, alright? Another way to sneak it in is with- if you're doing the green smoothie thing. But focus on the green, alright? Green smoothie for a reason, not a sugar bomb, alright? And speaking of these micronutrients, absolutely we must get in these two to four servings each day, but really taking things to another level to ensure we're meeting all of our micronutrient bases, I believe every single human being needs to be on a green superfood blend. It's essential today, absolutely. We're not living in times where- we're exposed to an extremely high amount of stress, pollution, your body is just not running the same. We need to get these bases covered, and you're not getting it through those synthetic One-a-Day whatever so-called multi-vitamins. That's the- we have no data indicating that these synthetic nutrients are impacting our body in the way that we want. Right? Just because it chemically looks the same doesn't mean it functions the same in nature. For example, magnesium, if you look at the Mendeleev's table of elements, that's measuring the ash. That's measuring when it's burnt, right? Active alive magnesium in real food, it might do something different, right? So just keep that in mind, keep that in context. And so utilizing something that's super dense in magnesium, for example, moringa, spirulina. Moringa is one of the things that's found in Organifi, if we're looking at getting these nutrient bases covered. Seven times more vitamin C than oranges, seven times more potassium than bananas, four times the amount of calcium as milk, four times the amount of vitamin A or beta carotene than carrots, twenty-five times the amount of iron in spinach. We've got moringa, we've got spirulina, we've got chlorella. Come on now, it's so micronutrient dense from real whole food sources that people have been utilizing for thousands of years. That's what we want to go for, and it tastes good. It's got the mint vibe to it, we've got the ashwagandha, it's good, alright? This is something, even when I was on the plane with my son, we've got our Organifi Go-Packs. Tear that bad boy open, pour it into the bottle of water, shake it up, we're winning. We're on the plane winning. Alright? People are looking at them like, "I want to be like you guys," alright? Real story though, just being able to have access to something like this today is super valuable. This is something I always travel with, I bring my Go-Packs with me at the house. I make sure my little guy, my youngest son gets his Organifi in as well. This is the real way, it's cold-processed to retain the nutrient density that you actually are looking for. So make sure that you're utilizing Organifi. Head over to www.Organifi.com/model. That's www.Organifi.com/model and you get 20% off. 20% of the green juice blend, the red juice blend, the gold juice. Don't get me started on the gold, alright? The green juice blend is absolutely essential when we're talking about these micronutrients. Alright so make sure you're utilizing Organifi, head over to www.Organifi.com/model and you get 20% off. That's it, guys. So that's number one here with these three tips for nutrition, is getting these green vegetables in. Number two, eat fat. Eat fat. This is a key to you taking back control of your health from here on out. Eat more fat. Why is this still something that we're talking about? It's because we still have an issue with semantics. We still have an issue with the way that the word fat connects to us psychologically. We still feel- I know there's a part of you in your spirit that's like, "Eating fat makes fat. Eating fat turns into fat on my body because they're the same thing," but they're not the same thing. Biochemically they can't be any more different. They're not the same thing. Fat in food does not directly translate to fat on your body. They should be called two different things because that's like protein equals fat on your body or carbs equal fat on your body. It's none of those. It's how your body metabolizes things and the calorie intake, the calorie density of those things, and how many you consume. The calories do matter. The quality of those calories matter a lot as well, alright? So I want to make that clear. So when eating fat, why does this translate over to us taking back control of our health? I've got my friend, Dr. Mark Hyman's book here. We had him on the show and we talked about his book 'Eat Fat, Get Thin.' Check this out. National Institutes of Health found that in a metabolic ward- so this is where they actually got people inside a building, alright? They are trapped in a way, alright? So they got a metabolic ward where every ounce of food and every movement and every calorie burned are carefully measured. Those who ate more fat calories compared to an identical number of calories from carbs burned more than 100 additional calories a day. Over a year, by the way, that 100 calories, that amounts to a ten-pound weight loss. And it also reported in this study of brain imaging and function that they were tracking, that eating more fat shuts off the hunger and craving centers of the brain. Wow. I mean that's just layered with proof in how important this is just even for body composition. Another one- so this is a weight loss study published in the 'Journal of the American Medical Association' in 2007, and this was a twelve-month study of 311 overweight, non-diabetic, post-menopausal women. Hands down, the high fat group in this study did better in every way. They lost twice as much weight and every cardiovascular risk factor improved, cholesterol profile shifted from bad to good, with lower triglycerides, higher HDL, and lower total cholesterol to HDL ratio, and that is actually the best predictor of heart attacks is that ratio. Okay? It's right there in black and white. We need fat to be thin. It's not necessarily-again, the goal is not necessarily to be thin, but for some of us it is. Right? And this is the way to do it. For everybody it's different. This does not mean a high fat diet, alright? You have to find the right ratio for you as far as these micronutrients, but bottom line is you need to get plenty of these healthy fats your body because of the role that they play with your metabolism and also your cells in your brain themselves. Your brain is mostly fat. If you become deficient in these high quality fats that your brain really needs from the omega-3s, to saturated fat, your brain actually has a nice percentage of it is actually saturated fat. We still don't know yet what being deficient in those fats can do, but we do know we've seen skyrocketing rates of Alzheimer's and dementia. Alright? So there's a big movement to make sure that folks- that we're getting in and being proactive to prevent those things by getting in plenty of healthy fats for your brain to function at its optimal level. Your cell membranes that hold your cells together- your cell membranes allow- it's kind of like the brain of the cell in a way, alright? The nucleus- you can actually remove- it's a process called enucleation. You can take the nucleus out of the cell, the cell will still do its processes. If you take the brain out of you, you die, right? So believing that the nucleus is the brain of the cell, it's what I was taught in biology class, it's not exactly accurate because the cell membrane actually does a lot of communication, right? There's a lot going on there with the cell membrane itself, and so that cell membrane needs fat. We need high quality fats to support the membranes of all of our cells. Alright? So not to say the nucleus isn't important, by the way, it's super important, alright? That's where the genetic information is kept, you know? But it's not to say that there isn't more to the story. So I want you to keep that in mind, alright? So eat fat. Which fats? High quality fats, alright? I'm not talking about Crisco, alright? That's another thing, my friend I talked about earlier, he introduced me to this spicy chicken sandwich that they cook in this- oh my goodness, I don't even know what it was, what kind of oil that was, but it tasted good. He got me onto that. But avoid the Crisco, avoid. The so-called vegetable oil. It's not vegetables, by the way. It's not broccoli oil. It's not brussel sprouts oil, alright? This is some highly processed industrialized like canola, and soy, and corn oils. Very high in these omega-6 pro-inflammatory brain damaging fatty acids, alright? We need some omega-6's, but in the natural state from something like real vegetables like avocado. You're going to get some omega-6s, you're also going to get some omega-3s, great for your brain, great for your metabolism. So avocados, coconuts, nuts and seeds, olives, olive oil, right? There's so many studies on the benefits of olive oil, coconut oil. Alright? So there's a lot to choose from, alright? So keep that in mind. And also if you're on an omnivorous approach, you know? Fatty cuts of meat, fatty fish, right? Like salmon I mentioned earlier, we're making sure we're getting wild caught rather than farmed salmon, alright? So many different options as far as these healthy fats, and there's even a place for supplementation in many aspects, you know? But the bottom line is we need to eat more healthy natural fats. That's really the key. I love olives, by the way. I didn't think I liked them until I really got some good olives, the Greek olives, the Kalamata. So good. But before, it was like my mom had like a jar of those olives that just sat in the refrigerator forever, alright? I think one of them was like on something, and I bit it, and I was like, "Yeah, I'll never have that again." And so- but fate would have it, now definitely enjoy olives. Great source of fat. This is in like spiritual textbooks, right? Talking about olives, and the olive tree, alright? So not the Olive Garden though, that's different. Breadsticks. So make sure that you're getting some high quality healthy fats. Alright we're moving on to number three here on our list of these three essential things to do to take control of your health and fitness, regarding our nutrition specifically. Alright? This is one of the key three areas we need to hit. Simple things. You don't have to turn your world upside down to utilize this, but I want to make sure that you're taking advantage. Now listen to this. This really fascinating study- this was in the 'Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism' found that drinking 500 milliliters of water, which is about seventeen ounces, increases your metabolic rate by 30%. 30% from drinking water. Water is super important for your metabolism, for your organs, for your brain. When I said earlier about your brain being mostly fat, there's a lot of water involved as well, we could essentially say it's mostly fat and water, alright? And your hormones, your neurotransmitters, they're all communicating with each other, especially your neurotransmitters, on a water super highway throughout your body. Like if you're deficient in this key nutrient, this key substance to you being a healthy sovereign human being, all of those processes start to shut down gradually, alright? This is how important it is, and this is something that you are so fortunate, if you're listening to this show, chances are you're in a part of the world where you have access to clean water, and it's such a gift. But for many of us, we're just kind of blind to it. We don't even see the value. Like we're more likely to like- we're driving by seeing fountains, people watering their lawns, rather than understanding the importance of us drinking it, right? We're very- oh, by the way, when I was driving in L.A., and only in L.A., there was this water spout like you would see on the side of a house hanging in thin air, and there was water coming down from the spout, alright? So like a spicket, like you turn the handles, and water's coming down. I'm assuming there was a pole where the water was pouring out of holding it up, but it was a total mind freak. Alright? I thought that I had time warped, you know? Like it was so crazy. My son is the one that actually saw it first. So we were driving, and we drove past it, it was a one-way street. I don't recommend this, okay? What's I'm about to say. But there was nobody else there, he was like, "Dad, you've got to go back." I was like, "Is it really worth it?" And he was like, "Yes." And it was worth it, alright? I hit reverse, backed up, and I saw that spicket hanging in thin air. But again, it's like are utilizing it or are we just taking it for granted? So make sure you're drinking high quality water. Check out the master class, we'll put that in the show notes, on proper water and hydration, because if you're not, you're missing out on literally the main substance you really need as far as like intake. This is the number one thing, is water. The ratio that we generally give is half your body weight in ounces is your goal. So if you're somebody who weighs 200 pounds, you need around 100 ounces of water to help run all these metabolic processes, to get rid of metabolic waste products from your system. Alright? To hydrate your organs, your tissues, your skin, your synovial fluid, your discs in between the vertebrae and your spine. They're non-vascular so they don't even have direct blood flow and hydration. So if you're deficient in water, your discs are going to be the first thing to get the hit, alright? And they're the last thing to get hydrated, alright? So a lot of people don't realize like you can lose like half an inch in your height just as the day goes on, as the discs are getting compressed, your body is getting dehydrated, so make sure you're getting that water in. Alright? Really simple stuff. So those are your three keys as far as nutrition, so now we're going to shift gears and we're going to get into the movement, alright? So movement, here's three things-they were super simple in nutrition. You can do that. Tell me you can do it. I know you can do it. You know you can do it. And so you're going to do it, alright? You've got this. So moving on, three things with our movement. Number one, get your steps in. I've never- like so many people are rocking the trackers, right? Whether it's a FitBit or what have you, alright? On the wrist, tracking those steps. I think it's really cool. I think it's really cool. I would love to see us in a place where we don't need to self-quantify because we're just living an active life, but we're gamifying this bad boy in a way. Like we like games as humans, like we like games, okay? Especially games that we can win, alright? So there's some numbers that are out there like 10,000 steps a day, that's the mark, right? That's the bar we're trying to hit is that 10,000 steps, alright? Research is indicating it might be a little bit more, maybe 15,000 for this kind of optimal level of health. Again, research is still new. It's talking about specifically how many steps, but check this out. According to a study published in the 'Journal of the Public Library of Science Medicine,' walking for eleven minutes a day is enough to extend your lifespan by two years. Research also- meanwhile, Australia's University of Sydney shows swapping one hour of sitting for one hour of walking can slash your risk of early death by 14%. Which could mean for the average person, nine additional years of life. You're welcome. I'm just going to say it, alright? You're welcome. Nine extra years. Come on. So these are the minimums, right? Eleven minutes. You've got that eleven minutes. You've got that. This is your net time. Right? You can do this while listening to your podcasts, taking the kids- just parking farther away, right? It's something I started doing because you know how it is. Like you want to get the close parking spot, you're trying to get there, right? But it can be a fight, especially in those Whole Foods parking lots. I think there's like some comedy bits about that. It's a jungle out there, man. Alright? They're trying to get that organic mango, right? It's ruthless. So park further away. You know? Get those steps in. Get that eleven minutes. Eleven minutes to extend your lifespan by two years, according to the data. Huge studies, alright? Or swapping out an hour, getting an hour in, that's nine additional years, baby. Get your steps in, alright? Walking is magic, alright? The human body of everything that we can potentially do, that we know we were designed to do, is walk. Out of everything. Squatting with 500 pounds on the bar? We can do it, it's awesome, we can build a nice squat booty, yes but is that what- we were designed to walk. Your genes expect you to walk, and if you're not walking- we're talking about this is an epigenetic trigger. That's why we're talking about extending life so much. If you're not walking, you're not turning on genetic programs for your well-being, for anti-cancer programs. And by the way, earlier when we talked about the nutrition in regards to having these anti-cancer properties, when we're talking about taking control of our health, when we're talking about having our level of fitness where we want it to be, your body could care less about you having a six-pack if it's trying to fight diabetes, if it's trying to fight cancer. Alright? There's a hierarchy there. We've got to get our priorities together. Alright? We want to be healthy so we can have- the body is a side effect of doing things good for ourselves that again, our genes expect us to do, like walking. So that's number one. Alright? That's number one, get your steps in no matter what. I gave you the numbers, alright? Let's do this. Number two with movement, build muscle. Build muscle. How many times do we have to talk about this? Probably more, but that's okay, because I love this stuff. But bottom line is this. Your muscle tissue- here's the crazy thing if you look at the data, you see folks that do strength training, resistance training, as they get older, they tend to have faster recovery, less injuries, right? And why is this? They recover faster when things happen because muscle itself is like a reservoir for anti-aging hormones. It's like a container that holds these back-up things to help when things go down. Muscle is so valuable. Muscle is your body's fat burning machinery. It's very expensive for your body to carry muscle. When you're building muscle, it's telling your physiology that times are good. Right? Things are good, we can take some time and put this onto our frame to enable us to build, to grow stronger, to move things. Right? We're in control, we're empowered. And so my question to you is are you taking advantage of this? You know the data, you know how valuable it is to have muscle on your frame. It puts you in this tremendous metabolic advantage, alright? You're just burning more calories than the person next to you if you have some muscle on your frame. Just sit in there watching Friends, right? You watch Friends reruns? The Seinfeld ones though, alright? Eternal, alright? Whether you're doing that, you're watching the Scandal, whatever you're into. If you're sitting with somebody who doesn't strength train, you're burning more calories just simply by doing nothing because you have more muscle on your frame. It's more metabolically active. It requires a lot of energy to maintain, alright? So we're doing ourselves a disadvantage if we're not building some muscle. Does this mean you need to hit the gym every day? Absolutely not. Even one to two days a week with some strength training will do your body good, extend your lifespan, and put you in this place metabolically where you're able to have the body composition that you desire and deserve, alright? But you need to build some muscle. We've gotten over the stigma, we're not talking about this anymore in this thing where when I started in this field, this was over a decade and a half ago easily, maybe seventeen years now, eighteen years, but working to let women know that if they lift these weights they're not going to get big and bulky, alright? It's just not- that's not how it works, alright? First of all, this is related to hormone function, alright? Not having all of those anabolic hormones to really build up and get swole in the first place. Second of all, you don't get bigger by lifting weights. You get bigger by eating food, right? You need food to put on size, and a lot of guys, they're trying hard, they're working hard to get swole, alright? They're taking weight gainer 5000 shakes, alright? Like Cartman from South Park. He's like, "It's my cheesy poofs." Right? It's all about him, he's trying to get swole. Swoler. Right? But again, so a lot of guys are trying to do this stuff, and it's difficult because you've got to bring in a lot of energy to help build that size, alright? So I want you to just- we're going to drop this forever, alright? And there are so many examples, and there are many women listening right now who've embraced the barbell, right? Who've embraced the body weight exercises to truly have the physique that they desire and deserve. They're finding that they can work out less by building muscle, alright? So we're going to drop the stigma, and all of us are going to take advantage of this at least one to two days a week. Promise me, cross your heart, right? Right now, that you're going to get some strength training in there, alright? That's the minimum, one to two days a week. Alright final thing, number three in these movements, alright? These movement things, number three is to do something you love. This is the ultimate, baby. This is the ultimate. Do something you love. I love this quote, listen to this, this is from Jerry Gillies. He says, "The more you love what you are doing, the more successful it will be for you." Alright? "The more you love what you are doing, the more successful it will be for you." Tapping into that love, finding something that you love to do is going to bring about more success, and we want success in our health and our fitness, we need to start including some things that we enjoy. Give ourselves permission to do those things. If you like to roller-skate, guess what, baby? That's active. You got little wheels on your feet rolling around, you're being active, alright? It might not be everybody's cup of tea, but if you got the crazy legs and that's your thing, do it. Alright? Give yourself permission. Start going roller-skating every week, alright? Don't do this whenever it's like a family get-together or whatever, do something you love. If you love basketball, if that's the thing that you enjoy doing, call your friends. Do some texts like, "Hey, we're going to get together, let's start getting together," get the dads together. Alright? It doesn't have to be dads, by the way, alright? I know some female b-ball players that will straight dunk on you, alright? They will put it on a fella, alright? Cross you up, break le ankles, okay? So you can get the girls together, get the co-ed, whatever. Alright? Everybody get together, we're going to hoop on Sundays, or whatever the case might be. Do something you love. You've got to implement this. This is what's going to keep you moving and healthy long-term. Tennis, swimming. If you love lifting weights, guess what? You're winning. Alright? Finding that love, okay? Find something that you love, do that. Alright? Do that. If you love hiking, give yourself permission to do the thing you love. That's how you're really going to be healthy and fit long-term despite anybody else, what anybody says about the science of this and that, the running, the lifting weights, whatever. You must implement something that you love to really keep that internal fire, and that's what's going to build that momentum, that unstoppable momentum for you to be fit and healthy for a lifetime, alright? So that's the second pillars. We've got three pillars, the final pillar here with taking control of our health. We hit the nutrition, we talked about the essentials. We know- we know the steps, we know the amount, right? We know the servings of vegetables to hit, we know. Alright? So now, third thing. The third thing- and this again, people would come into my clinic all the time and they're like, "What can I take?" Alright? "What can I take for sleep?" There is no supplement, there is no exercise, there is no hack that will give you more energy than a great night of sleep. There's nothing. Alright? This is where your body actually generates its own energy. All of these metabolic processes are taking place to rebuild you, and bring you back, and it's an anabolic process. Sleeping is the most anabolic state humans can be in. It's the building up of, right? Anabolism. Catabolism is the breaking down. It's catabolic just being awake. We need that other part so we can grow and get better. Here's what we're talking about- so by the way, when I say we're taking control and getting sleep, there's a difference between getting great sleep and being lazy. Alright? But we need to acknowledge the fact we do need to get great sleep, despite what anybody's saying, alright? Sleep is for suckers. Guess what? I'm a lollipop. Alright? Sleep is for suckers? I'll be a Tootsie Pop, whatever, because I feel amazing, and I'm going to be able to accomplish my goals, I'm going to be able to help and serve more people, and I'm going to be making sure that my mental capacity is at an optimal level, right? My body composition, all of these different things are being influenced. My immune system. One of the first things that takes a hit when you're sleep deprived is your immune system. We've done master class episodes talking about the various impacts on sleep for your body, so we're not going to do that here. I'll put a couple in the show notes for you, if you happened to miss. Specifically we'll talk- I'll put in the episode just talking about how your sleep quality impacts your body composition. Fat loss. Pretty attractive stuff, alright? We'll put that in there. But here's the bottom line, here's the three things we need to do to optimize our sleep. Number one is having a better relationship with our tech devices, alright? We're living in a totally different time now, alright? And it's having a big impact on our health and well-being. And so the big thing- and this isn't the low-hanging fruit on this one. This is a little bit of a discomfort zone, but we've got to do this because I know you know this, but are you doing it? Because now today, tonight you need to start doing this and putting this in play, alright? Harvard University researchers have confirmed that blue light exposure from our devices, from our televisions, laptops, smartphones, tablets is sending data to your brain- that blue light exposure is sending data to your brain, telling your brain effectively that it's daytime and causes our brain to produce more cortisol at night. Alright? Cortisol is this glorified stress hormone, but it's also kind of like the antithesis to melatonin. Right? If cortisol is elevated, it has a tendency to suppress melatonin. Alright? Melatonin is this glorified sleep hormone, and really it's about regulating your circadian timing, making sure your sleep cycle is efficient. You can sleep for eight hours and still wake up feeling like a dirty construction helmet left on the side of the road, alright? That just popped in my head. I saw one when we were out driving with my son. My son saw it, he pointed to it, he was like, "I hope they're okay." I don't know what happened here, but I hope they're okay. You don't want to wake up feeling like that, alright? Like you've been just hit by a truck or whatever, alright? So keep this in mind that it's about sleep quality, just like with calories, right? It's not just the calorie count, it's also the quality of those calories. It's not just the minutes you're sleeping, it's the quality of those minutes, alright? So to optimize that, we want to be aware of this impact that blue light has on our brains, and just it is what it is. We have not evolved beyond that. Will we? I don't know, evolution takes time, alright? Unless you're X-Men, you know? If you're listening to this, Wolverine, what's up? Get a new movie, I'll be waiting, alright? Bottom line for most of us, evolution takes time, okay? And so we don't want to be a victim here and wait for more data to come out and talking about how this is impacting us. So what the researchers disclosed was essentially that every hour you're on your device at night, it suppresses melatonin for thirty minutes. Okay? Every hour you're on your device, melatonin is suppressed for thirty minutes. So even if you go to sleep after watching three hours of whatever show, right after bed, melatonin is not even being produced, alright? Or produced optimally. And so you're sleeping but you're not going through your sleep cycles correctly. Again, this is the small things that make a huge difference. So what do we do? Give yourself a curfew. Just a thirty-minute screen curfew, just start there. Thirty minutes before you go to bed. Like you plan on going to bed at 11:00, right? You're going to bed at 11:00, get off your device at 10:30. Alright? Give yourself a little bit of time for your brain to relax from all the cortisol hit, because it is. It's turning cortisol on. Your brain doesn't know the difference with this light and daylight in some aspects. It's sending messages to your brain that's turning your circadian timing system all upside down, alright? And that's not good for any of us. And so that's number one, but here's the key, we've talked about this many times. You've got to implement something here. So again, this is about implementation today, taking control. That thirty minutes, you can't just sit there and do nothing for thirty minutes like, "Okay, I'm going to go to bed at 1100. 10:30-" you put an alarm. Put an alarm on your phone for it, and you just sit there and twiddle your thumbs? You've got the Mountain Dew jitters, you've got the Internet jitters. You're going to be tweaking, alright? If your phone is even close by you, you're going to be like, "I'll just check my post real quick. I've got these cheeseburgers, I'll check this post real quick. Let me just check Twitter real quick. Just one tweet." Next thing you know, you get sucked in, alright? They're designed for that. Again, we've done whole shows talking about this stuff. I'll put one in the show notes. Got a lot of good stuff for the show notes today. And so specifically with Dr. Robert Lustig, we talked about dopamine and how devices affect dopamine. It's dope. I mean, that just happened. Alright so here's the thing, what are we going to do with the thirty minute curfew? You have to do something of greater or equal value. Something of greater or equal value to being on Instagram. Hopefully if you're in a relationship, maybe you could talk to them. I don't know, maybe. I don't know if you like them more than Facebook. If not, that's a whole different problem. That's a whole like Dr. Phil episode, alright? Cash me outside, alright? So keep this in mind, talk to somebody, right? Instead of the friends on Facebook, talk to your real friends, alright? Your significant other, your kids, hang out, play some games. Audiobooks are great. Podcasts. You don't have to stare at a screen to listen to a podcast. It's a great time. Nice thing to get some good wine down, maybe you could listen to like something different like a story, right? Some of these kind of story line podcasts, or audiobooks, things like that. So many great things we could do. If you have that significant other, this might be sexy time as well, alright? Again, I'm just going to throw this out, hopefully that's more entertaining than Facebook, alright? Hopefully, but that might not be your story. I don't know. You're probably doing it wrong, but hopefully it is, alright? So- and by the way, chapter nine of 'Sleep Smarter,' international bestselling book - thank you, thank you, thank you - by the way the Spanish translation is coming, okay? Now we've got I think- we're getting close to twenty, if not twenty different languages, alright? Different countries that it's translated in, Spanish is coming. Chapter nine in 'Sleep Smarter,' by the way of course you can get it anywhere in the US, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, all that good stuff. Chapter nine is talking about the benefits that sex has on your sleep, alright? And also, the benefits that sleep has on your sex life. Alright? We're talking about this really fascinating clinical data. So that's number one, guys. Number one, have a screen curfew and / or use some of these hacks for your desktop or laptop, you've got Flux, which pulls out the most troublesome spectrum of light from your screen. We don't know the data yet, or how effective it is, the anecdotal data is absurd in how people are sleeping better, feeling better through the day when they're utilizing these apps for the computer screen to pull out some of that very strong blue and white light that's causing the most disruption and release of cortisol. Alright? So F.LUX, download it, go to Dr. Google, type it in. A couple clicks, it's on your screen, set it and forget it. It does that at night, it'll put- it'll kind of warm up your screen. I've been using that for maybe six years now. I love it, alright? It's just on all my devices. So we've got that, we've got on Apple products- so the iPads, iPhones, there's a tool built into it called Night Shift, it does the same thing. For Androids, you can go to the app store and grab Twilight is one of them, there's a bunch of them now that does the same thing. Or for like the ambient- if you really want to get geeked out, like go full geek into it, you can get the blue light blocking glasses. For that, you can go to www.TheModelHealthShow.com/glasses and you can see the ones that I use, because I've been through so many of them, alright? I started off years ago, this was maybe six or seven years ago, with these big hardware store glasses, right? Just these orange- because I saw some of the data. I was like, "I'm doing it." Because that's the kind of guy I am, you know? So I'm walking around with these big construction glasses. I could easily fit like two other pairs of glasses under these glasses, and my wife still talked to me. Looking back, like why did she even think I was attractive at this point? You know? But the technology has gotten better, and also it's so cool to see- so first of all, again these frames are really, really cool. But you can see the blue light bouncing right off of it, it's nuts. When you look at these frames, and you just see there's blue on the top of them that's not penetrating through. So it eliminates or blocks out around 99.8% of the blue light. Alright, so head over there, you can check that out. So that's www.TheModelHealthShow.com/glasses. So that's number one. Number two, and this kind of drives and puts things together in these strategies, number two for improving our sleep quality, we've got to make sure that we're doing this piece. Clinically I call this a cortisol reset, alright? And so we talked about some of the issues with cortisol, we want to make sure we have a natural cortisol rhythm going. This means cortisol is elevated in the morning and it gradually drops through the day. Some people clinically we call them tired and wired, where their cortisol is too low in the morning and too high at night. So to reset this, here's the deal. Appalachian State University study found that people who exercise in the morning tend to have more efficient sleep cycles, tend to spend more time in the deepest most anabolic stages of sleep where you are producing the most human growth hormone. They also found they tend to sleep longer, and they also tend to have a 25% greater drop in blood pressure at night on average, which that indicates a deactivation of your sympathetic fight or flight nervous system. By exercising in the morning, baby. Let's do this, okay? Five minutes, that's it. Five minute minimum. If you do hit the gym or do your whole workout, that's fine. That's even better, but five minutes is all you need to take advantage of this cortisol reset, okay? So that's number two on the tips here. Number three, final one for these three different legs of our strategy to take control of our health and fitness. Number three, create a sleep sanctuary. Alright? You want to make sure that your bedroom is a place of peace, of serenity because your brain is always creating these neuro associations, these habits, these patterns. And so if your room is the entertainment hub of the house, you know, and you have a choice, your brain even if you plan on like, "I'm going to go in here right now to go to sleep," but this is where you watch TV or this is where you sit in bed doing work, parts of your brain are going to be firing for that pattern, and this can cause issues with your sleep. With you falling asleep and/or your sleep cycle, alright? Because your brain again is always looking for patterns and hardwiring things. So get the tech out of your room, create a sleep sanctuary, alright? Somewhere that you create this neuro association that my room is for sleeping and doing the do, okay? You can still- that's fine. Alright? Because that's a parlay into sleep for some aspects. Okay, so please be aware that we want to have that neuro association. By the way, speaking of that, Italian study on couples found that couples who have a television in their room have 50% less sex, alright? So I'm just going to throw that out there. I know somebody probably paused this already to get the TV out. Welcome back, alright? Welcome back. You are welcome, alright? So getting that out of your room because number one, it influences your sleep quality, and also it's a distraction, okay? So get the TV out of your room, get the tech stuff- don't have this be a Best Buy. Are they still in business? I don't even know. Okay the other one is gone who shall remain nameless, alright? So anyways, so here's the thing, with that sleep sanctuary, also get it dark. Cornell University researchers took a test subject and put them in an otherwise dark room to track how much even a tiny amount of light can influence their sleep. And so what they did was they had them in the dark room, but they put a light the size of a quarter behind their knee, and that was enough to influence their sleep cycle. That was enough to change what their body was doing with their sleep. Because your skin has photo receptors, and that's sending information to your brain like, "Hey I don't know, is this daytime? Is the sun coming up? I don't know." A tiny amount of light. So get some black-out curtains, especially if you live in an area where you've got LEDs outside, porch light, neighbor's light, street lights, whatever, cars coming up and down the street. It's a good idea. If you live in a more rural area or you don't have that as an issue, it's not that important, okay? Moonlight, stars, that's not the issue. The lux is very, very- the luminant is very low, and humans have evolved with that. It's the other stuff, the artificial light, what researchers are now dubbing light pollution, alright? So create a sleep sanctuary, alright? I want you to do this today, okay? Get this done. These are the three things for this, alright? So we broke this down in three subsets that everybody can do. We can all do this because I want you to take control of your health. I want you to ensure, to stack conditions in your favor, that you're going to have the health that you deserve, the body that you deserve. You're going to have the life that you deserve. It really starts from you being able to take control of this amazing gift that you have access to, alright? Your body is how you're going to be able to make those deals. It's how you're going to be able to progress in building your business, or in your relationships. It's all going to be done through your body. You've got to take care of this. Alright? It's so important, and we can because believe it or not, contrary to what the experts say, this stuff is not complicated. It's simple. Let's go through and recap real quick. Number one, three things for the nutrition. Two to four servings of greens a day, minimum. Easy. Two, eat healthy fats every day. Two to four servings, minimum. Number three, drink water. Be water, my friend. Bruce Lee. It's my little Bruce Lee. Be water. So drink water, half your body weight in ounces. For the movement leg, get your steps in. Number two, build muscle. Get to the chopper. Build muscle, alright? But don't- not like Arnold, okay? I'm not saying that necessarily, alright? Number three, do something you love. And sleep. One, eliminate that blue light, alright? Have a blue light curfew, have a screen curfew and/or using these hacks. So we can still engage with this stuff, sometimes we're going to stay up. We're going to watch Luke Cage, right? Throw those glasses on or at least turn it off and get thirty minutes before you go to bed, okay? Number two, exercise in the morning, at least five minutes. Cortisol reset. Number three, create a sleep sanctuary. There you have it, guys. That's it. This is what it's all about. It's not knowledge is power, it's potential power. Are you doing these things? Because if you're not, you're missing out on huge leverage points in you having the health and the well-being that you deserve. Alright? So I want you to take control. And so if you got a lot of value out of this episode, please share this out with your friends and family. Share it on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, you can send it in an email. There's a share feature on the app that you're listening to the show on, so share it up. Sharing is caring, alright? We're in this together, so let's make this happen. I appreciate you so much, we've got some incredible guests coming up. I'm telling you, it's going to blow your mind so make sure to be ready. Alright? But today it's about taking control. Implement these things on a daily basis so that you can win, alright? Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. And for more after the show, make sure to head over to www.TheModelHealthShow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you can find transcriptions, videos for each episode, and if you've got a comment you can leave me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome, and I appreciate that so much. And take care, I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.