Transcript 0:00 Back with the whole Red Dot Fitness crew here in the Iron Site studio at Red Dot Fitness in San Jose, California. We just came off the, uh, 2024 presidential election. 0:09 It just happened, uh, a couple days before we're recording this, and we're releasing this just a couple of days after. 0:14 Topic today is on, uh, the Dietary Health Committee from the current administration, uh, and the issuing of new guidelines for people in the United States recommending that plant-based proteins should supplant animal-based proteins such as, you know, beef, chicken, eggs, all that kind of stuff. 0:31 And we get into this one. There's a little bit of emotion here. We, we try to plant some flags, but also stay away from a few things and don't try and get too far off the rails. 0:39 But this one's an emotional topic, and, uh, it's a little bit of a different one. So while it is nutrition based in general, kind of cover a lot of things. 0:45 You'll hear some different takes from our, from our coaches and, uh, maybe get a little personal insight to where they're coming from at, you know, beyond being a coach and beyond just being on the podcast. 0:54 But in the end, the goal here is to maybe provide some perspective on how to think about these guidelines as they come out, what the guidelines have been in the past, what is the process to finding us some solutions to what these guidelines, I think, are trying to solve for. 1:07 That's what we really get into today. Before you get into this one, it makes sense, since we're talking about nutrition sort of in general today, to talk to you about nutrition coaching at Red Dot Fitness. 1:18 Steven's one of our main guys here who takes people through their personalized nutrition coaching programs. We also have some self-guided programs that you could go through as well. 1:26 If you're somebody that has some questions about your nutrition or maybe looking for a little bit more guidance, or maybe you're pretty experienced with this stuff and you're looking for some really specific stuff to dig down and really get your arms around the things that are gonna help you be a healthier, happier, better performer, maybe you should reach out. 1:40 It's super easy. You can go to rdftrainonline.com. That's rdftrainonline.com. You'll see all the things that we do here at Red Dot Fitness when you, uh, when you get on that page. 1:49 But you can go to the nutrition coaching page and find out both how you can get a, uh, free consultation with Steven or get into our Fuel You program. That's F-U-E-L You. 2:01 That's our online self-guided nutrition education success program. There's a lot of stuff there, and you're probably gonna have some questions when you get there. So like I said, reach out. Hit that contact page. 2:11 Let us know who you are, how we can help you, and we'll get right back. That's rdftrainonline.com. [rock music] Welcome to Iron Sights. 2:24 This podcast candidly seeks to create opportunities and deliver impact by sharing the experiences and wisdom of successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders who unapologetically aim to win in health, fitness, business, and life. 2:38 I'm your host, Scott Howell. Welcome to old school meets new school, tradition meets innovation, and imperfection meets excellence. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the show. 2:50 So, uh, we're gonna start this one off, uh, by talking to Steven about the thing that he just did recently, which is- The thing... yeah, which is 100, 100 miles. Not 100K. 100, your first 100-mile road race. Insane. 3:03 That's a lot of miles. Trail race. Trail race. Sorry, trail race. Yes. Sorry. That, that's, um, that's a lot of miles period, whether you're driving [laughs]- Doing whatever... or flying. [laughs] Or whatever. 3:14 That's, that's a lot of miles, man. I'm curious about the experience. But first off, congratulations for just flat out completing it. You survived. You're here. I did. Yeah. You look great. Oh, thank you. Thank you. 3:23 [laughs] And I'm, I'm, uh, I'm like, what, five days, uh, five days out now. Five, five days into recovery, and I would say I'm, like, 95% better. Wow. That's fantastic, man. I saw you on the gym floor today. Yeah. Yeah. 3:34 Upper body, I'm definitely good to go. Quads, quads were absolutely blown up afterwards. Yeah. But they're, they're making a recovery. They're almost there. I was able... I could squat to depth today. 3:45 It hurt, but I was squatting to depth. But- I always talk about the toilet test, so that's always- Yeah. No, the fir- yeah, first couple days afterwards- Yeah... that was a challenge. Yeah, getting up off the toilet. 3:53 [laughs] It was like a, it was like a, uh, like a box squat when you... if you get stuck on a box squat. Yeah. Uh, and, and just you try to lift and then you go right back to the seat. [laughs] Nope. 4:02 Yeah, that was happening to me, uh, getting off the, uh, getting off the throne. Yeah. Um, but you know, thankfully, our restrooms here are ADA- Oh, yeah. [laughs]... um, [laughs] up to ADA regulations. Thank God. 4:14 Thank God, man. Because, uh, yeah, on Mon- You got the oh shit bar... on, yeah, on Monday, I did have to grab the bar- [laughs]... to just give myself a little lift. 4:21 I just had an image of him, like, waddling himself out of the hole. Yeah, just to give myself a little lift. Yeah. Yeah. 'Cause yeah, getting, getting into- [laughs]... 4:26 into that much knee flexion, that was, that was hard to get out of. Yeah. [laughs] But, uh, but yeah, no, I, uh... Um, we're really happy with how it went overall. 4:34 Uh, I mean, I, I hit my goal time range, which was 18 to 19 hours was what I was shooting for. I was actually pacing to potentially get under 18 hours, which I was really excited about. 4:49 But over the course of 100 miles, your pace can change. In 18 hours. [laughs] Yeah. So, uh, I, I did, uh... 4:57 I, I was really cruising along better than I expected, actually, for the first 80 miles, and then the last 20 miles after nightfall, navigation became a little bit more difficult, and I did end up taking a couple wrong turns. 5:11 Oh, wow. And you end up essentially, like... You know, there's... You're, you end up spread out, so you end up, like, "Okay, there's nobody around me. There's no spotters. There's no, no one. 5:20 It's completely black where I am other than my headlamp." So, uh, you, you, you, your pace slows down in order to make sure you're still going the right way. 5:30 Even though I was going, I was reversing course, you know, as far as I had, I had run going north in the light, and then I made a loop and was coming back south in the dark. So it was along the same course. 5:44 I, I was retracing my steps, but it does not look the same at night. [laughs] At night. And when you're going the opposite direction, it's easy to get disoriented. 5:51 So, um, I did lose some time with some detours, but that is, that's part of the game. Uh, you know, navigating is part of the game, and navigating at night is part of the game. 6:02 So I ended up at, uh, 18 hours and 54 minutes, which was- Less than 19 hours- Yes... which was what I was hoping for, and ninth place overall out of, like, 300 people who started, so. Yeah. How many people finished? 6:13 Yeah, so we were trying to figure out- A little over 200 finished. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we were trying to figure out how many participants- Yeah... there were. Yeah. 6:19 And I saw at one point there were, like, 202, but there was a whole list of DNFs. Yeah, I think, yeah. 6:24 Yeah, I- Oh, a lot of people didn't make it through the day, didn't- Yeah, I think the original, uh, I think the original sign-ups was maybe a little over 300, but then you maybe take away, you know, uh, some DNFs, some did not start, like people who'd never made it even to the start line. 6:38 And then, yeah, DNFs, I think there was, like, 80 or something like that. Um, yeah, some people, to be honest, I, I don't really know why they will take on something like that when they absolutely are not prepared. 6:49 And like, absolutely, like, there's no way you're gonna finish this. Why would you... Some people literally just do it to see how long they could last. Mm. But some people- Okay... don't last very long. 6:57 And you could just do a shorter race. Yeah. That's [laughs] that's my thought on it, but. I feel like a lot of people just have the like, "Yeah, let's see what happens. I'll try." Yeah, no, yeah. Yeah, yeah. 7:04 And they don't realize how hard that is. Yeah. And, and I guess, yeah, they almost treat it more like a one-day backpacking adventure type of thing- Mm. Yeah... 7:11 where, like, they're literally just, like, hiking or walking- Yeah... the entire thing, which, you know, that sounds horrible- Yeah... to me. 7:18 Like, j- walking that distance or hiking that entire distance, it's 25-plus hours, is how long that's gonna take. Yeah. Was, what, what was, what was the longest time? Like, w- was there a cutoff? 7:28 Yeah, the cutoff was 30 hours. So were people still out there at 30 hours and got cut off? I don't know. Maybe, but there were definitely people who finished, like, 28, 29 hours. So this is- Right... 7:39 we started at 5:00 in the morning on Saturday. Saturday. So there were still people finishing, like, as the sun was rising the following day. Where you'd already had, like, probably two meals in you and a nap. 7:51 [laughs] Oh, yeah. I was, I was already back, uh, you know, back in the Bay Area trying to sleep, not going very well, but, you know, that's, that's a nervous system issue after you- Mm... 8:02 give your body such shock like that, so. Yeah, it was interesting you were talking about how you were, like, almost in this, like, like, comatose state. Just your hands. Or your CNS was, like, fried. Those things, yeah. 8:10 Well, yeah. No, I went into, I actually went into what I would consider, like, mild shock after, after I finished, 'cause I had, um, [clears throat] I had just gotten through [laughs] a section called The Meat Grinder. 8:23 Nice. Um, which going out in, in the daytime when I had more fresh legs was not that bad. 8:28 But then I had to come back over it, and I was descending it, which is actually worse when your legs are fried, um, because you're just taking all this impact. It's, like, a very rocky area. Desolation and everything. 8:39 Yeah, and it's dark. So I was, like, tripping over these rocks on completely fried legs 90-plus miles into it. And I finally got literally out of the woods [laughs] and- Mm-hmm... 8:51 uh, towards the, the last portion was more flat and straightforward, like, wide, like, bike trail almost. And, uh, I saw that I was... 8:59 It was 11:20 PM, and I was really, really wanting to finish before midnight, especially because I had lost, like, half an hour getting lost. So that was about four miles left on completely fried legs, 40 minutes. So 9:15 I pretty much emptied the tank entirely- Yeah... um, and ended up actually passing someone, which surprised me. 9:22 At that point, I didn't think I was gonna gain any further position, but I somehow found enough left for, you know, eight-minute miles and, uh, and actually sprinted to the finish, or what would be considered a sprint- [laughs] At that point... 9:36 at that, at that point in time. At that point. Yeah. It felt... It's funny, because it, when I was doing it, I'm like, "Oh, yeah." It feels like you're sprinting- You're flying... you're sprinting the 100 meters. 9:43 [laughs] And then I see the video, and I'm like, "You were trucking, dude." Yeah. [laughs] Like, you were not, you were not moving that fast. 9:49 But after, yeah, after the adrenaline of that final burst wore off, I, I started shaking, like, uncontrollably. Yeah. Like, trembling. 9:58 Um, and it was, it was kinda cold, but not cold enough that I would be, like, shaking uncontrollably for... It was a solid, like, 20, 30 minutes before it stopped. My girlfriend was like, "Oh, do you need a sweater?" 10:08 I'm like, "No, that's fine." [laughs] [laughs] "It's not really that I'm cold. [laughs] Don't worry. It'll stop." [laughs] Convulsing. Uh, yeah. 10:16 No, really, like, ch- teeth chattering, hands, like, quaking, like, trembling. Wow. Um, so I was like, "Don't worry. My body just thinks I almost died." 10:25 [laughs] I, I wonder about your psychology, just the mental state through this versus some of the other races. What, what came up for you? Um, you know, it's... It wasn't that much different, actually, um, which was... 10:38 I mean, I would say the l- the, the grindiness was probably those last, like, 20 miles when it was... 10:43 That was when I was actually, I probably screwed myself, because I was thinking the first three-quarters-plus, I was like, "I'm not in the pain cave. Like, I have not gotten into the pain cave yet." 10:53 And I'm, I had already run further than I'd ever gone before, and there was never a point where I was like, "Oh my God, this is, this sucks so bad." Yeah. 11:01 Until the last, like, 10 miles, then I was like, "Oh my God, this sucks so bad." [laughs] [laughs] So I, I didn't, yeah, I, I didn't get to, like, true pain cave until probably, like, 85 miles. 11:13 So, like, about 15 miles left was when I wanted to stop really bad. Yeah. Um, that was also part of that last burst, was 'cause I just wanted to be done so badly. Yeah, yeah. Um, but, uh, but yeah, I mean, uh, [laughs] 11:27 I guess if you're, uh... 11:29 Something that comes to mind as far as, like, the mental games you play, like, when I was in those last 15 miles and I was going through that meat grinder section, um, you also, like, the miles slow down so much- Mm... 11:41 when your visibility is limited. Like, you don't, your, your perspe- you have tunnel vision, essentially. Um, so you can't really see the landscape that kinda passes the time. 11:51 You don't feel like you're flying in the dark? [laughs] N- no, well, this, see, this is, yeah, I, I got to the point where I was like, I just started convincing myself, "I am a woodland ghost now." 12:00 [laughs] "This is, this is my fate." There's a point on your head. "I'm just gonna be, yeah, I'm just gonna be here in these woods forever. This is where I live now." [laughs] I'm gonna visit... 12:07 [laughs] Can't imagine being you, yeah. Because it, it really felt endless. 12:10 And, you know, you, I was trying to not even look at my watch at that point in time, because I would look at my watch and I was like, "How the fu- Fuck, was that only one mile? [laughs] Yeah, God. That was so long. Yeah. 12:18 Like, that was... And I thought at that point, you know, I was like, "I'm still, I'm shuffling along pretty good," and it's like 14-minute mile. I'm like, "Yeah, you're not shuffling that fast, man." 12:28 [laughs] It, it never showed that on the, on the thing that we were following. Yeah, so we had a tracker. Yeah. You had a tracker on you, and we were, we were getting updates and whatever. 12:35 Like, you know, I, I was traveling the first part, or the last part of that. Mm-hmm. And I was like, "Where's he at? Where's he at?" Mm-hmm. "What's going on?" 12:41 And, and so but we were watching kinda all night as you were, as you were going through there. It was pretty interesting. Yeah, at each, it would update at each, uh, checkpoint. Yeah. 12:47 Like, each aid station that I got to, and, like, there were timing mats. So yeah, there, there was, there was stuff happening in between those checkpoints. 12:54 [laughs] Yeah, I wonder, did you ever on your way back sh- specifically, and maybe because you got so far out in front, I mean, you finished ninth overall, right? Yes. 13:01 I mean, that's, and I think that's eighth in the males, and there was a, there was a female competitor that- Uh, there was d- Eight... two females finished in front of me. 13:08 Yeah, so dude, I mean, that's an outstanding finish in terms of the field that you're in. 13:13 But I wonder, like, as y- when you're on, on your way back, and maybe you didn't 'cause, uh, it was dark, but did you see anybody, like, just curled up in the fetal position, like in the gutter or the ditch somewhere? 13:22 No. Yeah, no, I actually didn't see anyone, um... Yeah, I, I didn't see any, like, fallen soldiers. 13:29 Uh, uh, not that I, I sort of maybe expected that, but I think there were, there were definitely people that I saw along the way that were kind of in, kind of in the pack with me, and all of a sudden I'm like, "What happened to that guy?" 13:41 Yeah. Like, "That guy was right behind me," or, "That guy was right in front of me." And then, um, I, when I had signal, I was able to actually check, I was checking where people were at myself. 13:52 I was actually tracking- That's kind of cool... where people were at myself. 13:55 So there were, you know, I'm tracking, like, who's in front of me, who's around me, and, you know, trying to match, like, okay, yeah, I, I saw that guy. Okay, I saw that person, or whatever. Like, oh- Interesting... 14:05 dude, dude's right behind me. Like, I shouldn't lag ass. He's only two minutes behind me, or something like that. But then people would, I'd be like, "What happened to that guy? He was right behind me, now he's gone." 14:14 [laughs] That kind of thing, so. So it was you messaging people, because one of our clients- [laughs]... that we, we all share- [laughs]... she's like, "Yeah, Steven texted me back." [laughs] Yeah, yeah, Rebecca. 14:22 And I was like, "What?" [laughs] She had, she had a question about, like, an appointment that- Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Like, no, oh no, and she was like, "Are we meeting today, Steven?" You're like- Yeah, no, yeah... 14:28 "No, we're meeting Monday." Yeah. It was, like, in the middle of it. [laughs] Yeah, I happened to have signal at that point, and I was checking my map on my phone. 14:35 And, uh, and yeah, I think it was, it was the appointment that she thought was gonna be happening then. [laughs] Like, it just, I just happened to check my phone at that point, and I just responded, "Monday." 14:44 [laughs] [laughs] I mean, is any- anyone interested in working with Steven, that's the kind of commitment. That's the dedication. Yeah. [laughs] The dedication. 14:48 He'll be in the middle of the woods, but I'm not- [laughs] In a 100-mile race. And he will, and he will- And he'll message you back... do- He'll confirm your, he'll confirm, he'll confirm your appointment time. 14:56 [laughs] I mean, I actually, that, that is what happened, to be honest. [laughs] It just, yeah, the timing worked out- Dedicated... that I, that I happened to have signal at that point in time. Funny. 15:03 So that was actually nice, um, that I, I did have signal, um, so that, you know, I could listen to music a- and, you know, there was some stuff that I- Take a picture of yourself along the way. Yeah, yeah. 15:14 Well, that I could've done whether I had signal or not. [laughs] But, um, but yeah, I did, uh, yeah, there was a selfie that I did have to take one selfie, um, on the, uh, the No Hands Bridge. 15:23 It's a bit of a, it's a landmark in the- Okay... in the trail running world. So- That's cool... um, I had to, I had to take a little selfie there just to commemorate that. 15:31 And, uh, I tried to take some, like, ass videos, like, while I was still moving, like, trying to, like, "Oh, this is nice. The American River looks nice. Let me just..." And it's all, like, bouncy and crappy. Yeah. 15:41 Like, I need to upgrade to, uh, uh, that dude, I don't know if you guys have heard, uh, his name is Matt Choi. I know exactly who you're talking about. 15:48 He, uh, he just got disqualified from the New York Marathon because he's, like, a runner influencer guy, and he'll just bring these, like, obnoxious, like, amounts of gear, and, like, camera crew, and he's, like, shooting ads during the race. 16:02 Oh my gosh. And there's been a little bit of a stir o- over that recently. Yeah. Like, this guy's, like, this guy's disrespecting the game. Um, [laughs] and, uh- Yeah, he's just an asshole, actually. 16:10 [laughs] It's, I'll just, I'll just come out and say it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't think that's cool at all. I, I've never really, I've watched maybe a little bit of his content, or I've never listened to his podcast. 16:17 Just go do your, just go fucking do it on your own, man. [laughs] You don't need to get in everybody's way. Yeah. That's why, you're just in the way. Yeah. You're being obnoxious. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 16:24 He's got, like, a, a camera crew on e-bikes following him- Stupid... during these races. 16:29 A- and yeah, yeah, especially, like, something like the New York Marathon, like, there are, like, world-class athletes in the New York Marathon. And they'll be like, "Who's this clown?" Yeah. 16:36 Like, "What's this guy doing?" You know? Yeah. Get out of there, dude. Yeah. There's a time and a place for everything. I, look, man, congratulations. Thank you. 16:42 That, that was a, a, I hadn't heard the story yet, so I definitely- Oh, yeah... wanted to open up with that. It was the first time I've seen you guys in quite some time. 16:48 And then as we, we rolled right through that race, like I said, I was traveling. I just got back yesterday, and, um, or the other day, and we rolled right into the presidential, [laughs] presidential election. Election. 17:01 Election. Which leads- There's a lot going on, yeah... 17:02 which leads into today's conversation about effectively what we're talking about is, like, food guidelines or the, like, the food pyramid, uh, that we'll, we'll talk about. 17:12 But just real quick on the election, I got the, I got an opportunity to kind of sit on the couch, and I didn't think I would be sucked into it like I was. Dude, I got sucked into it. I was up all night watching this. 17:21 Really? Yeah. Okay. It j- it was compelling for a lot of reasons. So first, I'm, I've been around for a lot of elections and, you know, the, they're an important part of, of, uh, our democracy. 17:32 They're a very important part of the country. 17:33 And, uh, however, I've been very disenfranchised by, by the presidential election in a lot of ways, specifically living here in California and understanding how my vote impacts that particular election, and that it won't most of the time. 17:45 If I am not voting as a Democrat, which I am not, I'm not saying I'm a Republican either, but I will, I'm not voting that way. 17:53 So with as many electoral college votes comes out of this state, you kind of know how it's gonna be every time. Interestingly, I can drive 10 air, air miles, and it's not blue. [laughs] Yeah. Not at all. Yeah. 18:04 Like, if I go 10 air, air miles, like the most, most of this state is not like Los Angeles or the Bay Area- Mm-hmm... or even Sacramento. 18:11 I mean, you can go two miles outside of Sacramento, and it gets about as conservative as it, as it gets anywhere else in the country. 18:17 But- Part of that is, is I've been pretty disenfranchised lately and with all the ridiculousness that we've had to go through probably in the last 12 years. Um, or at least the, certainly the last four. 18:28 I was like, "Ah, this is just gonna, it's gonna be a circus again." And I remember 2016 vividly when, [laughs] when just the media response to what was happening, what was going on, and the shock and awe. 18:40 And so I was watching for that again, too, because this thing looked to be very, very close in a lot of ways. At least that's the way it was being portrayed I think in the end when we look at it. In 2016. 18:48 Yeah, it really wasn't this year. It wasn't really close v- very much at all, uh, in terms of how it all, all lined out. I mean, there's, there's... 18:56 You could debate that, you know, where it came from and how it happened, whatever else. But it's really interesting. Uh, I, I, like I said, I got sucked into it. I found it really compelling. 19:03 The other part of it I would say is this, and a lot of people are saying this. 19:06 It was really interesting to see how America did come out to voice their, you know, their opinion on who they thought, you know, and their vote and exercise their democracy, which is what the country needs. Yeah. 19:16 You know, for so long I think the results of maybe even the last election were because people ke- kinda given up or feeling a little bit apathetic about the whole thing. 19:24 And then they got exactly, you know, kinda what, um, what- What apathy gets you. Yeah. Yep, exactly. What apathy gets you, exactly. 19:30 And so it, sometimes you gotta go to those depths or to that place to realize, like, that's not a good answer for the problem if I'm gonna sit around and complain about it. Gotta get out there and, and change it. 19:41 Um, and, and so j- again, along the election lines, I, I mean, I have my convictions about very, very specific things, and neither candidate that we had this year fulfills the things that are really important to me at every level. 19:55 So that's a challenge for me when I think about, like, it, was this an election or was this a selection? And how they, how that impact, impacts things. I don't wanna go... 20:03 I don't wanna get too, too political, but politics is a part of living in America and it's part of being an American. 20:09 And if you bury yourself in the s- your, your head in the sand about that, and religion for that matter, um, and you just say, "Oh, it just makes me uncomfortable. I don't wanna talk about it," well, 20:19 when you're done in the fucking third grade, then let me know and then, you know, you're gonna find out real fast how far that gets you in life. 20:25 Because then what, what that ends up leading to is a dis- total disconnect from it, 'cause you don't understand it or you can't or you don't want to, which then leads to the apathy, which then leads to this, like, hard, 20:37 this hard, like, diving into stuff that you don't really know about and you're trying to learn it all maybe or you're taking everybody's opinions and trying to figure it out, and I think that's just kinda where things have been. 20:47 It, it's gotta get worse before it gets better, I think. 20:49 I, but I think, like, particularly here in the state, we, we, we made a couple of really hard turns, I think, for the better as a state in my opinion with some of the DAs that we have in some very influential areas. 21:01 Prop 36 was voted- Mm... no against, um, which was... Prop 47 got turned down a few weeks before. 21:08 These are, these are major bills that have impacted, uh, crime and basic- basically making crime not criminal, uh, anymore. 21:17 And those are things that we're seeing and we see every single day on our streets, you know, and in our, in our neighborhood. So I, I saw some things, some really positive things happening. 21:26 But just kinda looking at how this, this whole thing turned out, I was really interested... It's gonna be interesting to see how, how it works out. And there was y- and, and how America responds. 21:36 I gotta be honest, like, I thought, and we m- it's a little early still, but I thought we would see some emotional reactions erupt out kind of on the streets here. 21:47 And I know that was kinda happening in some areas, but I think the closeness of the race and the realities of kind of how it was presented, um, are, or may be helpful there. I don't wanna speak too soon. 21:59 The weekend hasn't happened yet. Mm. Uh, and [laughs] usually when people are off work and they have time to sit around and, and think about it or do nothing but cause trouble, that's when that happens. 22:07 But n- not like we've seen sort of with some other things in the past. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. 22:13 Um, I'm curious on your take, on, on your guys' take in kind of watching it or not watching it or, you know, where, where your thoughts are on it. 22:21 [sighs] Yeah, I mean, I think for me, I, I, initially some of the reaction, like, I feel like I've seen a strong reaction even just from people online. But 22:31 it's weird, this kinda, there felt so much stress and build-up around it, but it kinda feels like, you know, the dust is already a little settled, like, the, we haven't seen- Or it's the calm before the storm. 22:41 Or it's the calm- Mm-hmm... before the storm, exactly. And that's where it's, it's just kinda this weird... I, I, I, I feel like there's just so much, like, confusion and d- people just being distraught in an election. 22:51 And I think, and truthfully even before the election, I think this is the most that I've had conversations with people about no one really feeling good, uh, like you said, about either candidate, and really no one feeling, like, confident or like, "This is what I want to do." 23:05 And that's, like, a weird feeling where you feel everyone's... There's not this where it's like, "Oh, no, you really want this person or really want this person." It was a lot more of, "I don't want that person." Yep. 23:13 Oh, yeah. And so seeing the emotion and seeing the reaction now, it, it's, it's almost been less dramatic than I thought it was, but I c- you can almost feel this heaviness- Anticlimactic? 23:24 Anticlimact- a lit- a little bit, but then it almost feels a little, like, heavier emotionally in some ways, too. 23:29 So it's, I'm kinda still processing how I feel about everything, but it's interesting interacting with, like, different people on both sides as well, so. Mm. Yeah. 23:37 I think es- especially where we are here, um, that [laughs] most of the people here are identifying with the, uh, the losing team. Mm. 23:45 So I think what kinda what we, uh, may- maybe what we're feeling or experiencing here in the Bay Area on the ground I think is, you know, like you said, the people who are distraught, people who are really upset. 23:57 But mostly on social media. [laughs] It's, it's mostly on social media. It hasn't, uh, spilled into the streets- Mm-hmm... and hopefully it doesn't. Yeah. You know, [clears throat] 24:06 um, I think Scott and I, we made it a rule several years ago that we don't talk politics at work when people are in the gym, and so I've really stayed to that. Good idea. 24:18 Except I do have this one client where I have talked politics with this person, and- 24:25 It's been interesting because that person and I seem to be pretty aligned on a lot of topics, but that's the only person that I have talked politics with in several years. 24:35 And so the other thing is that person said, "So have you and Scott really talked about it?" And I said, "No, we really haven't talked about it as well." 24:44 My daughters asked me questions as far as who are you voting for, so on and so forth, and I've had conversations with her. 24:50 And, you know, I, I just generally try to s- stay away from politics when it comes to conversations with friends and family, just because I personally haven't had very positive interactions, and so I think it's just better to le- be left alone. 25:06 And my thing is, is if you can't handle yourself emotionally and have that conversation, I don't wanna have that conversation with you. 25:13 If it's gonna cause a rift to where you're a bad person and I'm a good person or vice versa- Yeah... let's just not even go there. 25:20 So for me, it was about, like, filling out my ballot, delivering it, and, uh, Scott was out of town, so it was just Callie and I, and we had things to do. 25:32 So we did see, uh, Scott's daughter earlier in the day, and I saw that she was looking at the results on her phone. I'm like, "Hey, how are you doing that?" And so she took my phone- [laughs]... 25:41 and she hooked me up so I could keep, you know, with, with the times as far as what was happening, and so that was really awesome. But, you know, life was continuing on that- Yep... that night. And it will. 25:51 So- It will continue on. Exactly. [laughs] And it has continued on, so nobody died yet. [laughs] Yeah. The world hasn't ended yet. Exactly, yeah. Let's hope it stays that way, yeah. 26:01 Man, and it, you know, and it's interesting you're talking about being someone who put their head in the sand, and, and if I'm being honest, like, that's kind of been me a lot over the years because I, I've always had the philosophy that, yes, it's important to know what's going on around you, and, and, and I've seen the impact of where your vote lies, and then I've seen that more, especially as I've, you know, gone into an adulthood longer and longer. 26:24 Um, but I, I think a lot of people get so caught up on politics on both sides, the... 26:32 Especially we talk about social media and virtue signaling on there and wanting to have this, this idea of what they feel that they sh- represent and what their vote is for, but then in their daily life and how they treat people and how they impact those around them does not reflect that at all. 26:48 [laughs] And it's, and it's very negative. And it, it was interesting, there's this guy, he... They can be a little, uh, cheesy, but it's called, he's called The Daily Stoic, if you've heard of him- Oh. 26:56 I'm listening to him... which I love a lot of the... Marcus Aurelius, I love all that, but he can get a l-... 26:59 Anyways, but he had a video that he had prepared, and it looked like whether it was either candidate, and he posted it the morning after the election. 27:06 And really the message was just, like, regardless if you are happy or unhappy with the outcome of that election, like, as a person, you are still called to be virtuous, and you're still called to impact people around you and still be good and still do things for the good of your community- Right... 27:21 still good things for the good of your family, your friends. And I, I have always identified more with having an, uh, an intention of how I handle myself in my day-to-day versus how I handle myself in that. 27:34 I have felt more called to that, but at the end of the day, if you... 27:37 You know, there's a lot of emotion and distress right now going on, on, on really on both sides of the fear of what could happen and the, the f- and what has happened. 27:45 But at the end of the day, like, your impact on the people around you and knowing that just if someone has voted differently than you or had a different, uh, uh, uh, way of going about this [laughs] is most people want what's best for the country, and most people, they just view different ways of going about it, and you need to control how you treat people going forward. 28:05 That's, that's just a big thing for me. Well said. 28:07 I think there's, um, there's a, a few things that come to mind here, and that is, one, like, your life is still the same as it was three days ago or whenever w- whenever it is the election happened when we're recording this. 28:17 It's, I think we're releasing this one on M- you know, just next week, so it'll come out a couple of days after we talk about it, but so it's a little... It's relevant now. It'll still be relevant in four years. Yeah. 28:27 With that, what everything you just said will be relevant in 40 years, and I think it's what people do lose sight of, and it's very easy for that to happen, going back to kind of how you opened up, just specific, like, with where their emotions will take them and, like, what is this? 28:40 Is this the dust has settled- Mm-hmm... or is this the calm before the storm? Yeah. And, uh, whether you're in, whether we're talking about this or, um, change in general is very hard for people. 28:50 You know, we talk about change all the time in terms of fitness and health and wellness and making decisions and taking the first step forward. But, 28:58 you know, we presented this model here at the gym before when we were talking about, um, making changes culturally, organizationally, uh, and with clients, like from a personal perspective, and there's this, there's this model out there, and people may have heard of it. 29:11 It's called the Kubler, Kubler-Ross change model or change curve. And there's a book out there written called, I believe it's called Death and Dying, 29:21 where the, the Kubler-Ross model kind of gets depicted, but it's the different stages that people go through specific to grief. 29:28 And change can create that, that sense of, of loss and then, you know, moving on to something else or having to move on to something else. 29:35 And the first thing that comes up is the denial, and you, uh, again, the interesting, what I was watching happening in the media, you know, back in 2016 to kind of what I was watching it hap- watching happen on the, the other night was much different in terms of how they were handling that part of it. 29:49 I think everybody's gonna go through, like, "Oh my God, I can't believe this just happened. This didn't just happen. There's no, no way this just happened." This time's a little different. Like, you knew it could happen. 29:57 You saw it kind of happening, and the way it manifested was not shocking to anybody, I don't think. 30:02 I mean, again, people were, are disappointed by the outcome and the, you know, kind of, uh, again, who their candidate, if their candidate didn't win or whatever. 30:12 But I think kind of how you experience it, you know, is, is one thing. 30:16 It's kind of like if you have somebody that's afflicted with some type of obvious, some terrible disease and you know the end is coming, you can kind of mentally prepare for it a little bit differently versus, you know, somebody's di- you know, dies in a, in a traumatic event like a, a car accident or something where all of a sudden You know, you're just, you're- You're today, gone tomorrow. 30:33 Yeah, it's just you're caught off guard. Everybody's been through something like that before. You know, so you get... 30:38 You go through this, this stage of denial, and then there's this, you know, the, what I think what we're waiting for is the anger to come out and bef- You know, we've seen it in the past, and I think that maybe that's actually a good thing that people understand that that anger can exist, and so they're maybe treading a little bit more lightly and having certain conversations or maybe not. 30:56 But to your point, CC, like, you can't handle yourself emotionally, like, be an adult for God's sakes. I understand adults have emotions, but how are you behaving is super, super interesting. 31:06 And then that, that leads into, like, sometimes some really inappropriate or misdirected energy. You know? 31:12 Like, as people are trying to figure out what to do with the feeling of angst, and we've seen it, like, you know, we go out and we, quote-unquote, "mostly peaceful pros- uh, protest" and we burn people's businesses down. 31:23 We steal shoes out of the Foot Locker, and we break into the Walmarts, and we empty the shelves, and we go to Target, and we, we steal all the things that are there, and we wreck people's lives and livelihoods and burn cars and beat people up in the street for wearing certain clothes or hats or having certain... 31:38 You know, they look a certain way or whatever else. That's, that's one way. 31:41 And the other way is to kind of sit back and kind of stew, you know, a little bit or get very fearful, you know, about what's going to happen versus moving on, you know, in this curve. 31:52 But the, the other part that comes up then is, like, they start bargaining. Like, [laughs] and that's, that's part of the curve. That's part of the stage is like, "What am I gonna do now?" You know? 32:01 Like, what, what can, what can I give and take from this situation? And that's where kind of the real stuff kind of really starts. 32:08 So there's, like, this exploration phase of kind of, hey, um, you know, like, I'm going to, I'm gonna do something that's against my moral standard or my ethical standard or say things or attack people or try to accept people. 32:22 That's the other, other side of it. Just try to accept the situation we're in and kind of move forward. Uh, again, with the death and dying thing, it's like, um, ch- I guess trying to find some peace somewhere. 32:32 But this, again, sometimes it's really misdirected energy. 32:35 And then when you find that that's not really working or it's not giving you the outcome or the emotional response that you need or want, then depression kind of sets in. 32:43 And w- I, I think we see that, and it's tough, like, especially during the holiday seasons and whatnot when these elections have happened. 32:48 Like, it always happens at a really rough time, and then you have families coming together, and then they're being separated because of this emotional state that exists, and there's no... You, you just mentioned it, man. 32:59 Like, the importance of, like, people, like, being good people to one another, whether that's your family or somebody that may have a complete disagreement. 33:06 Like, thinking about those things ahead of time and not getting caught in that emotional rollercoaster and moving backwards in the curve, right? 33:12 To anger, to, you know, to shock or denial, and then, uh, again, moving into anger and this bargaining of, of whatever. 33:19 And then ultimately we come out the other end with some type of an acceptance, and acceptance can mean burying your head in the sand and just throwing your hands in the air, or acceptance can be like, "This is my situation, and how am I going to deal with that?" 33:33 And then I think, you know, for me and when it comes to politics, particularly with, with elections, po- politics are about policy makers. And those... The policies, I... 33:46 That's the thing that I have the, the biggest problem with. 33:49 And going back to the basic foundations or fundamentals of being a good human being, right, and managing yourself so that you can help other people manage their stuff, too, and being there for them to do that 34:00 comes down to these very root, rooted principles or foundations. 34:04 And for me, when people ask about, like, how I'm feeling about things politically or whatever else, I, it's very easy for me because there's a very specific document that was put, that was put together in a really good way that outlines these fucking principles. 34:17 It's called the Constitution of the United States of America. And anything, any policy, any politician, any policy maker that violates any of those basic core principles for me is a piece of shit. 34:29 And, and I think it's really easy for people in those positions to fall into those things when we're talking about money and power. 34:36 Um, and what's really wrong about it all is how it influences people from there and their actions. And so when we look at, look at things like anything that's violating my right to free speech, you can go fuck yourself. 34:48 Anything that's taking away my Second Amendment, my ability, or even thinking about it, even talking about it, you can go fuck yourself. 34:55 So if, if I don't care what candidate you are or what party you might stand behind, those are basic principles. We start going into thing... Uh, lots of other things. We can go down the whole entire list, right? 35:05 It's basically spelled out and, and is it a perfect document? No, and I don't expect it to be, right? But there are some core principles there, you know, we kind of look at things. 35:13 One of these things, in transition here, [laughs] without going through a, a history lesson, is no government, no h- no human being, no person, no thing on the planet should be telling me what I should be doing with my body, right? 35:28 Uh, and so you can... People listening to, to this, again, going back to sort of my, my constitutionalist nature, you, you, you, you can guess or whatever. 35:36 You wanna have an offline conversation, I'm happy to talk to you about why I've chosen or why I feel strongly about these things. But nobody gets to fucking tell me what to do. 35:44 Nobody tells me that I have to put certain things in my body, that I have to take certain things out, or how I should be handling myself there. That, that is an inalienable right that I have. 35:55 And so as we transition into this topic of what's going on with governmental guidelines on what to eat, how to eat, and how that impacts things going down the line, I got a big problem with this. I got a big... 36:07 I always have had a big problem with it, and it's not been burying my head in the sand around it, a-about it. 36:12 It has been coming out and outright having, taking a very strong stance and planting my flag in the ground, like, you can do whatever you want, and I wanna help you with whatever you want. 36:21 But nobody should be telling you this. And going back to how emo- emotionally invested people are in politicians or policy makers, are you serious at this point? Like, I'm, I'm asking you that seriously. 36:34 Are you serious at this point after just what we've seen- Everything that's happened... in the last five or six years? Like, really, man? 36:41 Like, and you don't have to go back too far in history to start looking at things, and we can talk about some of that as this comes, as we go through this topic today, of how wrong they constantly are. Mm. 36:52 And the detrimental impacts of them being wrong, but more importantly, the detrimental impacts of people accepting this and doing what they're told versus doing what is right. 37:03 Um, and there's, there's, there's a big difference there between a policy and a law, right? And what's right. Yeah. Right? And so I think we'll, we'll talk a little bit about that today. So let's talk... 37:11 [laughs] Stephen, I'm gonna let you jump in from here. Without further ado. Yeah, I think you- [drum roll noise] I've set it up. Like, I, I- [laughs]... I think you guys can carry this today. 37:18 I don't wanna give too many opinion statements, but I will give what I think are, um, back some of what I say up with some very specific things that, quite frankly, at the end of the day, like, going back to the Constitution, does anybody wanna, wanna argue with me that the right to free speech is not a thing? 37:33 Like, come on. So I'm gonna... I'll, I'll approach this conversation about nutrition and nutrition guidelines as the same way, right? Like, i- if... I'll stop there. I'll let you go. 37:43 [laughs] 'Cause I, I'm, I'm pretty fired up about it. The... We're, we're, we're rolling now. 37:47 Um, so, uh, to introduce the, the article that, uh, I was just looking for nutrition in the news, frankly, to see if, you know, if there was something topical, something that we could talk about here, and I found, uh, an article from, uh, this is The Washington Examiner, so this is not The Washington Post, uh, and this is on, uh, MSN, uh, msn.com. 38:07 The headline is, uh, "Biden/Harris Diet Panel to Elevate Plant Proteins Over Meat in Snub to Farm Voters." So this actually was, uh, this article was released prior to the election, so, um, keep that in mind. 38:22 But the, uh, the opening, uh, the preamble, if we're talking about, uh- Very good, Stephen. I see what you did there... the constitutional documents. You see that? Yeah, that's right. 38:29 [laughs] Um, a dietary health committee from the Biden/Harris administration is poised to issue guidelines for people in the United States recommending that plant-based proteins supplant animal-based proteins such as beef, chicken, and eggs. 38:44 The recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which are reevaluated every five years, are slated to arrive by the end of the year after the 2024 election, which has now happened. 38:56 In the meantime, though, the plan to downgrade animal-based proteins could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris's chances with swing state voters in farming communities. So that kind of introduces the topic at hand. 39:09 Um, think it's also important to note that, uh, the, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, they have been in the process of developing these new dietary guidelines this entire year. 39:21 Yeah, you and I talked about this- Yeah... on a previous episode, yeah. We, we, yeah, we talked about it in regards to their take on ultra-processed foods. So, um, this, uh, 39:30 th- th- this guideline that they have more or less already agreed upon, uh, they already agreed upon that prior to the election. Mm-hmm. 39:37 Um, and that, uh, you know, a dietary health committee from the Biden/Harris administration, uh, the- these are- That's a little pointed. Yeah, yeah. These are nutrition experts. These are dieticians. 39:48 These aren't necessarily partisan decisions that are being made. I mean, you know, you could certainly argue that. [laughs] Um, but it- Someone's getting paid, dude. Yeah. 39:58 Yeah, but I, I, I w- I would encourage, uh, folks to not think about this as like- It's a Biden/Harris administration... Biden/Harris cronies are deciding, you know, what's, what you should be eating. 40:07 These people were there before that. Yeah. Long before that. Yeah. These people were already appointed. You know, so, uh, it's not exactly, like, a purely partisan thing. 40:15 Um, however, uh, I, I think there has been some political undertones of this, uh, movement towards plant-based protein and away from, uh, animal-based protein, and there has been some conflation between, like, I eat meat and I lift weights and being a right-winger. 40:35 Um, so that, that has come up. So- Yeah... Jones. I have heard that, yeah. I've had people say that to me before. Yeah, so it, it- It- Oh, yeah? Oh, you're a fascist 'cause you lift weights? Well, yeah, that. Yeah, yeah. 40:45 That, the fitness industry is, is a deep, like... I don't know if they say the term deep state, but, like, yeah, for support it for, like, right-wing extreme... Yeah. Yeah, right-wing extremism. 40:55 Being healthy is- Yeah, yeah... is right-wing. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, boy. The carnivore diet is a right-wing extremist diet. Um, uh, but yeah. 41:01 And then there's, yeah, there, there's all kinds of jumping off points there, but I, I think, um, you know, what's important to, to note is... 41:10 Well, well, first I think it's important to kind of review, like, okay, plant proteins versus animal proteins, like, why is this, why are we talking about this and why is it potentially, why are these guidelines potentially harmful? 41:23 And at the same time, not completely dismiss plant protein as being absolutely useless. 41:28 Because I think we could go, you know, there are those that are probably listening to this podcast that are, you know, meat eaters all the way and completely dismiss the value of plant protein and maybe have a negative, um, a negative connotation of what plant eaters, uh, you know, are those types of people. 41:46 Um, and that can, again, kind of flow back into the, into the political discussion- All right. So let's keep-... of labeling each other. Let's keep that high level then. Yeah, yeah. Let's just... 41:55 The differences, the major differences between plant and animal-based proteins. What do you wanna say? Yeah. 42:00 Uh, I mean, I would say the, the biggest thing when we're talking down at a nutrition level between animal and plant-based proteins is the amino acid profiles, and that animal proteins are complete proteins, meaning animal protein sources contain all nine of the essential amino acids that your body cannot produce on its own. 42:19 These are amino acids that are essential to life that you need to get from your diet, whether that be from food or from supplements. There are amino acids that your body cannot synthesize on its own. Mm-hmm. 42:33 And any type of animal protein is going to have a complete profile of all nine of those essential amino acids, whereas a plant-based protein source may only have six or seven, maybe eight. 42:47 The, the- Main takeaway is that most plant protein sources do not contain all nine of those essential amino acids. 42:55 So from a purely nutritional standpoint, there are those that will say that it is a, quote-unquote, "uh, inferior form of protein." I think inferior is maybe a strong word, but maybe a less efficient form- Incomplete... 43:08 of protein. An incomplete protein source. As it relates to how your body intakes, uptakes, and utilizes it, it's an incomplete source. Yes. Yeah. 43:17 There, the, depending on what plant-based protein source you are eating, there may be one or more of those nine essential amino acids that is missing. Right. So you gotta get it from somewhere. Yeah. 43:28 So it's- Do you have to get it from meat? No. Yeah. But you're gonna need to get it from somewhere- Right... in order for that to, to be an ef- the most effective or efficient way to get it done- When I-... 43:38 in terms of protein... 43:38 yeah, I'm sure, I mean, I'm sure we've talked about even when we go, like, supplementation versus, like, a vegan protein of, like, these, there are these blends of different type of plant-based proteins that do complete the amino acid profile. 43:49 Yep, 100%. It needs to be blended in order to, to do that. Exactly, and they need to be, yeah, blended. They need to be taken together. 43:55 And I think, you know, I'm sure we'll get, dive into this more, but I think that's where a lot of the, like, uh, uh, issues or things that we need to be concerned with with this is a lot of people don't realize the detail and the awareness that you need to have if you are getting your primary protein from plant-based proteins, which I think a lot of people aren't. 44:14 They just consume these things, you know, uh, a- a la carte or alone, and they don't really understand, like, the pairing and n- what the importance of that to sustain life. Yeah. So. Yeah. 44:23 You, you n- if you are con- if you are on a strictly plant-based diet, you need to piecemeal your, your protein sources- Mm-hmm... together a little bit more. Mm-hmm. And I think the, the w- why this... 44:33 Well, first I guess we'll, we'll talk about kind of the, the rationale here, and the primary rationale really is the, uh, environmental impact of the farming of livestock. 44:46 That, that's the, the concern [laughs] which again can get into a very political arena. 44:51 But the, the concern is that the factory farming of cattle specifically, but also poultry, is bad for the environment, and that it is unsustainable over time. 45:02 So we should switch to, uh, more, quote-unquote, "sustainable" forms of farming, uh, uh, via, you know, uh, farming plants, which, I mean, most of the time it ends up being soy really, um, and a few other primary plant protein sources. 45:16 So that is the, the rationale, at least that's listed in this article, or the rationale that, uh, the, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee put out, um, that this is... 45:28 Th- then this is where I begin to kind of have a problem with it, where it's a little bit more about protecting the environment versus actually protecting human health. Goes beyond that, too. But go, keep going. 45:38 Which is, like, uh, if, if we're talking about the dietary guidelines for American human beings, shouldn't we be talking about what is best for human nutrition? Well said. 45:49 But then you could make, you know, then the argument becomes, "Well, having an earth to live on is important for human health." Yes. 45:55 Um, so, you know, we could talk about, you know, like regenerative agriculture and that there, you know, it doesn't have to be so black and white. 46:02 It doesn't have to be 100% plant protein or 100%, um, you know, uh, stockyard type of, uh, cattle, uh, production, which, you know, d- does have negative effects, and the meat is lower quality. 46:15 Um, but th- that's kind of the battle that we're talking about here because th- there is the environmental concerns, but then my concern is most people I sit down with are not eating enough protein- Bingo... 46:27 to begin with. Mm-hmm. So even now, uh, most people are not eating enough protein to begin with. Rising cost of meat, people's consumption of meat has dropped, and that is exacerbating the problem. 46:38 It's making it even worse. But there's also been this shift towards plant-based equals healthy. Plant-based is always healthy. Red meat is bad for you. 46:47 So we already have a protein-deprived society, and then they're being led in the direction of a less efficient or incomplete protein source. So people are, "Well, I'm getting my, my, my protein. 46:59 This says plant-based on the package," because it's always packaged. [laughs] And, uh, you know, someone who's probably not eating enough protein already, they're not getting enough quantity. 47:08 Now they're not getting enough quality as well. Mm-hmm. So, uh, as far, yeah, I mean, it- Uh, it goes on and on. I, here's... I'm just listening here. 47:17 I'm trying to keep my shit together and stay emotionally controlled going back to managing- [laughs] Being, being an adult. Yeah, no, I, I, I say that half seriously. Yeah. There's a couple things here. 47:26 Uh, I think the, the larger issue in general, and you g- you nailed it just with, like, we need healthier human beings, period, end of story. 47:34 That's what humanity should be working for, is working for a healthier human being because we've got problems. 47:38 And the United States as a whole has the, one of the biggest problems in the entire world, l- largely the largest problem with unhealthy human beings. 47:46 And we have, that's juxtaposed against a, a, a healthcare insurance medicine, right? We can talk about the FDA and all those kind of things, and how that is bolstered by having unhealthy human beings. Mm. 48:00 So in t- terms of having healthier human beings, how do we do that? We're telling them what they should and shouldn't do and what's, what qualifies as something and disqualifies something else. 48:10 What we need to be doing is educating them. Mm-hmm. We need to be educating them on the very basic foundations, foundation principles of being a healthy human being. 48:19 And yes, one of those is nutrition, but going at it by cl- reclassifying foods or telling somebody that something is evil or is by doing it or eating it, you are now causing problems for planet Earth- And there's a guilt trip associated with meat eating [laughs]... 48:34 absolutely fucking ridiculous to me. Like, I, I just, I cannot, I will never get on board with that. The second thing, the, 'cause this article goes on and without all... 48:44 I don't want to summarize it or, uh, paraphrase it, so I'm gonna read it One of the goals of the 2025 dietary guidelines set by the Biden-Harris administration, blah, blah, blah, to ref- is to reflect racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity in the United States. 49:01 During the public meeting last week, committee member and Harvard University professor Deirdre To- Tobias said protein is facing a, quote-unquote, "branding crisis" because most people think of meat, poultry, and eggs when contemplating protein. 49:15 Quote, "If there are, if there are more plant sources of protein in the protein category, that could help overcome that, you know, mislabeling or misnomer or misinformation by having it more prominently," Tobias said about moving legumes into the protein category. 49:31 I, I, I'm gonna go back to if you treat people like they're idiots, then that's what they're gonna be. Right? I find that statement to be very insulting. Insulting. 49:42 We're talking about DEI policy around food and nutritional guidelines. We need nutrition education. 49:49 We don't need some Harvard professor, or any other group of people for that matter, standing there on the pulpit trying to reclassify foods or tell us what, what foods should be classified as and exactly what you should eat because of the guilt trip about some type of environmental crisis that we're in. 50:07 There's a lot of debate about that anyways, right? While they sit there and drive their Electron or their electric Prius typing and, on, on their phones that were made by slave labor in China, right? 50:17 And whatever else that's going on, you know, that... And wearing their leather shoes, right, which were made by the cows that I ate. Mm. Right? That, that kind of stuff. 50:25 Like, we could go on about this topic all day long, and I'm not gonna. Like, I don't spend my time thinking about that. 50:30 What I spend my time about thinking about is, what is the problem, and what is the process-based solution to finding, to finding a solution to the problem? What is the process we need to go through? 50:42 And, and putting people in a room every five years or whatever to come out with stuff like this, what has the result of that been? 50:49 Instead of focusing on what this, whatever result they want, which is clearly what this is, what do you think the result is that the human being wants on the other end? 50:58 And my take on this, my gut's telling me that what they want is to just be, to re- to, to be happier, healthier, and be able to do the things that they wanna do, eat the fucking foods they wanna eat, and have a vor- more vibrant life. 51:12 Live a little longer, don't be sick, not have to take as many medications. Th- this stuff doesn't solve any of that. It only makes the pro- it only, it only makes the problem worse. 51:20 It's like throwing kerosene on a fucking grass fire. Like- It's already a problem, protein consumption. Yeah. 51:25 Th- that in and of itself is a problem, but I, again, going back to dietary guidelines, what happened in the '80s when we came out with this, which is when this thing started, like this, this, this committee started, and we started throwing things at, at, at our, the American public, like the food guide pyramid. 51:40 I mean, there already s- this is an res- this is part of a response to understanding how, how wrong that food guide pyramid actually is- Yeah... in so many ways. And again, you make your own food guide pyramid. 51:51 Like, you're, you're not... And, and what you do within that is up to you. That's the responsibility of being a human. 51:57 It's the responsibility as, as a parent in order, you know, with regard to what you're passing down to your kids, which has become the problem. When did it all start? 52:04 It all started then when the government tried to start telling us what we, what we should be eating and how we should be eating it. Stop it. Like, stop it. Like, I'm not burying my head in the sand. 52:13 I've just seen the results of what you've told people, and it's devastating. Devastating. We have the highest rate of obesity of any place in the entire world. 52:24 We have the highest incidence of diabetes than any place in the world. Type 2. The Type 2 diabetes. We have the highest incidence of childhood Type 2 diabetes of any, any place in the world. It's, it's maddening. 52:37 It's saddening. And we're only allowing by accepting this kind of stuff as, as word, we're, we're making, we're basically complicit. We're the collective we are complicit in making it worse. It makes zero sense to me. 52:51 And then again, going back to the whole protein thing, we have issues. There are issues. But assigning some, that we're saying that there's some kind of identity crisis and- Branding crisis... 53:01 Yeah, branding crisis or identity crisis, and that, that somehow if we just change the words, right, and we make them, we make people think that it's, it's, you know, if you call it this, it's, it's something that it isn't. 53:13 Fuck, dude, we've been seeing that for a long time in this country, and it's caused nothing but divide, right? Politically, socially. 53:20 We talk about social literacy and where people are coming into this k- this k- this kind of stuff. They are completely confused, and as a result, they become very divided. 53:28 It's a bunch of sheep, like, doing what somebody else is telling them, telling them to do, and it makes it very, very difficult for somebody to come up with the right answer for them and go through any kind of a process to find a good result at the end. 53:40 And then the worst part about it is, is when it doesn't work out the way the government or somebody else told them, they blame- The individual. Yeah... somebody else. Yeah. 53:50 [laughs] And then they expect yet somebody else from there to take care of their problem for them. Like, "Well, I should be getting free medical care," or, "I should s- this is somebody else's fault. 54:00 They did this to me." No, you did that to you, and it started all the way back from you not taking personal responsibility for yourself and/or buying into things like protein has a branding crisis. Give me a break. 54:15 So I think that, yeah, I mean, the... I, I guess to pl- somewhat play devil's advocate in terms of... You know, well, I guess the, the issue is that s- pro- plant protein supplanting animal-based protein. 54:27 I think I would have less of an issue if there was an acknowledgement that there is value to plant protein as far as, like, it can contribute to your daily protein intake. Mm-hmm. 54:40 Not necessarily supplanting meat, but acknowledging that like, yes, legumes can be categorized as a protein source as well as, whatever, a grain or a fiber source or whatever else. 54:51 Yeah, just like salmon, salmon can be categorized as a fat source. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, th- th- th- there's more nuance there. Mm-hmm. 54:56 But what seems to be getting pushed and what this has really been several years in the making, this whole plant-based equals healthy thing, and then we get these Beyond Burger- Mm-hmm... 55:07 Franken foods that are just processed garbage. But the- Like 30 ingredients. Yeah... Yeah, but because it says plant-based on it People are like, "Well, plant-based is better." 55:16 And I hear over and over and over again from my clients, "Well, I cut red meat. I stopped eating bread and I cut red meat." That's, that's how we lose weight, that's how we get healthy- Mm-hmm... 55:26 is I stop eating bread and I cut red meat. And, uh, a- and that is a reflection of this, uh, you know, m- I think that's the branding crisis, [laughs] specifically related to beef, that- that it's bad for you- Yeah... 55:39 or that it's always bad for you. I think there are varying grades of quality when it comes to beef a- and to any animal protein source. 55:48 But there's just a lack of, there's a lack of nuance, and I think they're dismissing the nutritional value of animal protein to prioritize this, uh, this environmental concern to the detriment of the health of the American people. 56:04 A- and that is my biggest issue with it. Well, and- and I- I get frustrated 'cause it even mentions factory farming. 56:09 And- and, you know, they talk about factory farming, which, yes, there are issues with the over-farming and the over, um, you know, the having so much cattle [clears throat] within a specific area and things like that, but factory farming, when it goes for the agricultural side of when it's actually, like, farming, you know, when we think about our fruits and vegetables, things like that, like the micronutrient density is plummeting on that because of the overuse of farming of fields. 56:34 And I think if we start to push things that continue to be grown and things like that, I think it's gonna hurt on that side of things, and it's gonna just... We- we kinda... 56:42 People talk about the factory farming of cattle, but they don't talk about the factory farming of- Of soy... of soy and things like that. Of corn, yeah. Corn. 56:48 And that's, and that's even thinking about the protein source, but even when we're thinking from like a micronutrient density of, like, our other th- you know, common fruits and vegetables, I think that's also a big impact, one, for the environment, but then two, for the health of- of all individuals i- in, you know, in the United States and- and in the world, so. 57:04 Yeah. I think that... Well, I mean, that- that makes me think of kind of the- the regenerative agriculture, uh, component of this that, uh... I mean, Rob Wolf is a guy that- Mm-hmm... 57:14 we all follow here that is a- a big proponent of it. Um, Dave Asprey, even though that guy is full of, uh, you know what sometimes, um, he's a big proponent of it. 57:24 O- o- of the role of ruminant animals in replenishing our soil- Yep... and fighting against some of that soil- This is nature, man... depletion. Yeah. And- and to your point, yeah, the... 57:34 there seems to be a- a complete lack of attention towards the environmental impacts of mass-producing soy, where a- a giant field of soy, you are absolutely nuking a ton of rabbits and squirrels and bugs and all kinds of living critters when a giant, you know, a- a- a giant, uh- Combine or whatever... 57:57 yeah, combine, yeah, is, uh, is going through this field. Like, there- there are animal casualties, and there are environmental, uh, impacts of farming the- the soy that it takes to make your plant-based burger. 58:11 Um, so th- that seems to be conveniently, like, "Oh, we- we're- we're not, we're not looking at that. The issue is, is the farming of the animals." Mm-hmm. And- and that, I mean, i- it's, uh... 58:22 Again, not to make this a, like, a partisan thing, but because that's on a lot of people's minds right now, uh, it- it does... 58:31 You know, you could go down the route of they- they want you sick, they- they want you uneducated, they- they want you docile. 58:39 [laughs] Um, I know that there are, you know, again, those listening that may, uh, agree with that, that thought process. Um, and I don't necessarily disagree with it. 58:46 Um, so that was why, you know, I brought this topic up. Yeah. And, uh, and there are some, there were some political implications of it as far as, you know, specific swing states and things like that. 58:55 So, I don't know, do you wanna, do you wanna get onto that- I- I-... side of things or? Go ahead. Oh, I was just thinking- Mm-hmm... 59:00 as far as, you know, the whole partisan thing, you know, that was the- the big talk around the whole, um, Trump, uh, versus, uh, Kamala with, uh, who's- who's endorsing Trump. And let's just be honest, like RFK. Mm-hmm. 59:17 Right? I mean, that was a... He- he's- he was, um, put out there, and I mean, I nev- I didn't really pay much attention to him until, was it earlier this year or last year when he started speaking- Last year for me. 59:28 Yeah. That's when- Yeah, speaking out about, uh, environmental health and, uh, health in general of individuals. And then when he started to, or when he endorsed Trump, I mean, 59:40 uh, there was a lot of conversation about that as far as- Mm... the dislike of Trump, but yet they were really torn because they really respected RFK's- Yeah... past. 59:52 Yeah, a lot, yeah- As far as his professional journey... a lot, a lot of people in the health and fitness space- Mm-hmm... 59:55 were definitely aligned with some of RFK's, um, w- with some of, uh, uh, yeah, uh, uh, some of his statements, but realistically he was, he had no chance to win himself. 1:00:06 Uh, so I- I think there definitely was a, you know... I- I think there- there was, uh, some- some shifting of some votes- Mm-hmm... when, you know, he kind of went to the, to the Trump side of things. Oh, for sure. Hmm. 1:00:17 Yeah. So. 1:00:17 Yeah, I think it's part of this, like when I first read this article, this looks like a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction, but to your point, this has been kind of an ongoing conversation, or it has been an ongoing conversation in with regard to policy and changing things and these new guidelines that are coming out. 1:00:31 But, you know, when you look at, you know, the timing of it and kind of where it came into play and who released the article and how the article was written, I think it, it, it, it definitely is kind of a, a positioning one against the other kind of thing, and it's making it look like this is what, uh, you know, one side of the aisle is looking to do with regard to improving health in America. 1:00:51 And you talk about RFK and his, his, his, the, his initiatives, the things that he's, he's, he's really coming to the table to do, and one of those is fighting for a healthier America and looking at things like the WHO, the FDA, uh, what's going on with big pharma, big food, uh, and, and, and, and fixing problems, right? 1:01:12 Versus... And again, that's a process, right? To we need to start holding people accountable to what's real out there and what's actually happening and following the money. Right? 1:01:23 And versus this other side was like, "Oh, well we're just gonna make legumes, uh, we're gonna put it in a food guide pyramid. 1:01:29 We're gonna tell people they're gonna- they should eat, and they can't eat more of this, and this is gonna make it better. 1:01:32 And they're also gonna feel better about it because it fits more of their cul- cultural diversity." Right? That is a pipe dream. That is purely based on emotion with no logic whatsoever. And, uh, when I look at, 1:01:47 when I, when I look at the larger context of this whole thing, and again, going back to what you're saying, like, I think what you were alluding to maybe, Steven, there was, like, the conspiracy theories of the fat, sick and, you know, unhealthy and docile type of thing. 1:01:59 Yeah, that they're, as I... They're intentionally changing the guidelines to create a more docile society. Yeah. Yeah. You, you, if you wanna go there, you can. I'm not gonna. 1:02:07 What I would, I would always say is just follow the money. What, what are the implications here? 1:02:11 So when you, you were talking about, you know, farming of, uh, the soil and, and specifically with livestock and, you know, kinda how that looks now. Ask the corn farmer in Iowa how much it, he makes on selling corn. 1:02:25 We have commodities, we have subsidies. The government subsidizes farmers. It costs the farm- farmer more to grow the corn than it does, than he makes on selling the corn. It costs him more. 1:02:36 He's literally going bankrupt all the time. He's dependent on the government, right? 1:02:41 That, that, that, that the farmer's dependent on the government to get subsidized, subsidized in order to continue to farm the corn and keep his farm and feed his family. That's inherently not good, right? 1:02:54 If you look at where our corn from, comes from in the United States, we off... We ship our corn out, and we bring corn in. When you look at table corn versus feed corn, right? 1:03:05 So, uh, my, my point of this is, is when you look at how the whole system is structured, well, if we're feeding other countries with, with corn that we are growing on our own soil, right? 1:03:16 Then yeah, we're gonna be over-farming the shit out of it, 'cause we... You, you go, how, c- is America supposed to feed everybody else? I'm not saying we shouldn't be cooperating, there shouldn't be trade and all that. 1:03:24 That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is the thing has gotten so convoluted and it's been pushed by finance. 1:03:30 And so when you look at why these decisions are being made and how it's, how, how they're lining up, what or who ultimately benefits by this, right? It's, it's big pharma. It's big food, right? 1:03:42 It is big, it is big government, and it, the people that get paid by those entities that I just said to be in an office to institute policies and have committees to sit around and tell us that we should be, we should be having a diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation about our fucking protein. 1:03:59 [laughs] Like, s- s- think about that for a second. Like, just use your head. I don't care what side of the aisle that you're sitting on and how you feel about any of that. Like, I, I don't care about your feelings. 1:04:09 I'm asking you to do some math. Like, do math. And then more importantly, like, if you don't like math, that's fine. What is the result that we have gotten to this point? Tell me where it's gone right. I'll wait. 1:04:22 It's completely messed up, right? And if you don't believe me, go to your local elementary school. Mm-hmm. Walk into a third grade classroom. Ask those kids to stand up. 1:04:31 This, this sounds awful, but ask them to stand up and line up, and tell me what you see. To tell me you see a bunch of healthy, well-adjusted, like, educated, vibrant kids standing in front of you. 1:04:45 I know it's not that way, 'cause I seen it. You know? It... Do it. Like, and if you don't believe me, go to the shopping mall if that's too much for you. Go to the shopping mall. Go to Disneyland. 1:04:55 You wanna see a cross-section of what America, what the impacts of this kinda stuff is on America? And think about how it could be changed. Like, is it... 1:05:02 Do you think it's 'cause those people, like a person that's overweight, has metabolic disorders, is all kinds of medications, that isn't active, that has depression, that can't... 1:05:11 The dude that can't get it up because his, he's, he's a total dis- disaster. Right? All that. You think he wants to be that way? No, I don't think so. My gut tells me that people want to be healthy and vibrant. 1:05:21 Like, what's stopping him, right? What are all the obstacles in the way? Does this kinda bullshit, does this fix that? Yeah. What, what I was... 1:05:29 [laughs] What I thought you were gonna finish that sentence with was did that person who's metabolically unhealthy, et cetera, et cetera, did they get there because they were eating too much animal protein? 1:05:36 No, absolutely not. [laughs] That's my point. That's... That is my point. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe you could, "Oh, well, burgers and hot dogs." Never met- Okay. I think we all know that that's a different conversation. 1:05:46 I've never met anybody that was, had all of that stuff and, and, uh, ate too much, in quote-unquote, "ate too much protein." I just don't know anybody. Yeah, yeah. That, that individual. 1:05:54 Uh, they, they ate too much, you know, uh- It's not, it's not worth it... chicken breast. That's how they became overweight. Yeah. A- again, so it's about, like, what is the process in fixing the problem? This is not it. 1:06:04 Yeah, it's the top of the headline, right, that, that's coming out. And whether... 1:06:06 You're listening to this, you're going, "You guys are just, you guys are going way off the rails on this thing, and you're, you're over the top." It's because we deal with the impacts of this on a daily basis. Mm-hmm. 1:06:16 Um, you may, maybe it was the way you were brought up, right? And maybe it was the way in, in... 1:06:21 It, this is just inherently kind of you, you, you have more intuition because you, you know, your parents or you, whoever you were living with had a better handle on nutrition and exercise and lifestyle and things like that. 1:06:33 But here's the thing, the majority of America isn't like that. 1:06:36 So when you're voting, right, and when you're giving your money to people, or when you're at the store shopping, right, you are, you are contributing to this. 1:06:43 You can sit there and say, "No, I would never do that, and I don't contribute. I didn't vote for this person, so this isn't, you know, so I didn't contribute to that problem. 1:06:49 That's somebody else's problem created by somebody else and how they voted." Bullshit. That's putting your head in the sand, right? It's denial, right? 1:06:56 And we're, we're all, we're, we're all complicit to this at some level. I mean, we all are. 1:07:01 The, the, the difference is, is, like, what are we doing in terms of a mindset perspective and how going out to, going all the way back to the top of this, Ryan, it's like, what are we doing to help people be better people? 1:07:11 That starts with you, right? And it starts with... 1:07:14 And, and, and it doesn't necessarily start with, but it certainly is part of, like, when you read this stuff or when you see this stuff coming out, ask questions and think about, like, why are these decisions being made? 1:07:24 Don't just blow it off as it's, this is just another stupid policy. I agree. It's another stupid thing that's coming out, and we'll have to answer those questions for people. 1:07:33 And, and that's, well, that's why we're, that's why we are answering these questions Already are in those conversations. Yeah That's why we're already having those conversations. 1:07:39 And you know, when they bring their kids to us, and they're desperate because they're way beyond, you know, a certain point to where they even feel like they can get themselves back, and they're seeing their kids get there, and they're like, "I don't want that for my kid, but I don't know how to help them." 1:07:55 Man, that is, that is sad. Mm-hmm. That is so sad, and it doesn't have to be that way. 1:07:59 If we spent more time helping parents, right, understand the things when they're kids, when they're kids, to understand when they're parents how to impact things the right way, we would not be in this situation. 1:08:09 And I don't think it takes decades and generations to do that. I, I, I don't think it does. 1:08:14 I think we start eliminating things like food guide fucking committees that come up with this stuff and just create complicated things for, and, and problems for- Confusion... 1:08:23 and confusion for everybody to have to deal with. Like, it really isn't that d- that, that hard. That's, for me, that's the process. Like, first off, you're done. You're fired. You're fired. You're fired. 1:08:33 But there's money tied to that. There's lobbyists tied to that. There's taxes tied to that. There's, again, going back to the industry, the agricultural industry, the food and drug industry, and all those kind of things. 1:08:44 How does, how does making a change like this, this impact those people? And I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't know at all. 1:08:49 But I don't know, I have to tell you, they make a lot more money when people start swapping out or thinking that they should be, they supplanting- Mm... plant protein for, for their animal protein. 1:09:02 If you don't wanna eat animal protein, I'll go back to what I said before, I'd never tell you what you have to do. Like, you do whatever you wanna do. 1:09:08 What I want you to understand is how that benefits, uh, what's the pros and the cons to all the decisions that you're making. 1:09:13 And if you don't have a strong level of understanding or a high level of awareness of at least some basic principles, going back to the Constitution, there's some basic principles there. 1:09:22 If you just went back to that as your compass or as your roadmap every time, dude, it'd be so much easier. But we're not respecting it 'cause we don't understand it. 1:09:31 I don't know, what else, what else do you wanna say on this? 'Cause I, I, obviously you could get me running my mouth and my emotions for days on this topic. Yeah, that's why I picked the article. Yeah, I know you did. 1:09:41 [laughs] You're just pushing my buttons. What can we get, what can we get Scott all riled up? [laughs] Yeah, pushing my buttons. 1:09:45 Well, so I sat there and I watched, unemotionally watched the election happen 'cause I, I, 'cause I, I'm just not emotional about that stuff. 1:09:51 Then I hear about this stuff that actually impacts people, you know, at a, at, at the level... Y- you, you mentioned, like, RFK. Like, I'm really fired up about that. I, I'll be hon- Here's, here's my, here's my stance. 1:10:00 I don't like Donald Trump. I don't like him as a person. I just don't. I think he could do a lot better as a leader. I think his affect, um, bothers me quite a bit. But I do like the way he handles business, right? 1:10:11 And it's very straight and to the point. Does that mean I, uh, you know, that I love the guy? Absolutely not. But, but, but I do like the fact, in terms of the business decision he made with bringing a guy like RFK on. 1:10:22 Kamala Harris, I didn't like her either. I don't like her either. But if she brought on RFK, or if she just stepped out of the fucking way and let that guy step in, like, I, I... 1:10:32 My decision-making process or how I feel about things may have changed or may change. I don't know. I, I don't know. Because that's not happening, and I don't deal in a world of hypotheticals. 1:10:41 The point of that is, is I thought that was really smart. There's some other guys in terms of entrepreneurs that are doing things out there, like a guy like Elon Musk. Do I like Elon? I like what he does. 1:10:49 I think he's, I th- I think he's good for America. Like, in a lot of ways, people are gonna disagree with me on that. Is that the guy I want for the President of the United States? Hell no. Mm-hmm. Mm. Right? I, I... 1:10:59 No way. Yeah. Like, I don't think... It's not a guy I wanna have a beer with, right? But he's an interesting dude, and I think he's bringing a different, different aspect. 1:11:05 When you start to look at the team that got put together there, I'm like, I don't know, maybe some of this stuff starts to go away. Like- Yeah... maybe we start holding the WHO and we start looking, uh, accountable. 1:11:13 We start looking at vaccines a little bit differently. We start looking at, uh, the Food and Drug Ad- Administration at a much different level, right? 1:11:20 And big food, uh, and, and how that, how that, how that's impacting the health of people. 'Cause I've, I've, I've had a whole career of this. Mm. Like, dealing with people's health. 1:11:29 It's n- The very small part of it's ever been about, like, the just looking good part. That's all, that's, that's part of it. Or the sports performance part. It's always about somebody's health at the end of the day. 1:11:39 It's, it's alway- always becomes a priority if it isn't one initially. 1:11:43 So anyway, man, I, I could go on about this shit all day long and give you my passionate speeches, um, but I'll shut the fuck up and you, you can go on with the chlorophyll. 1:11:53 [laughs] [laughs] I mean, yeah, I think I'm just, uh, yeah. I'm, I'm also excited, uh, about a, a more prominent role, uh, for RFK. I, I feel like someone is finally speaking out on a- Agreed... larger scale- Agreed... 1:12:06 about some of these issues and how big of a problem this actually is, and is not talking about how we can medicate the problem. Mm-hmm. 1:12:14 Which is how we've been doing this for years now, and it's getting us absolutely nowhere. So I'm, I'm hopeful that there could be some change. 1:12:22 Again, these, these dietary guidelines, you know, it's very easy to say, "Okay, well, I'm not listening to that shit. I'm not gonna eat that way. They can't force me what to eat." 1:12:32 And they can- You'll be paying, you'll be paying for it regardless Yeah, but there, there- Yeah, for the other people... th- there are, there are regulatory, uh, downstream effects of this. 1:12:40 These types of guidelines will affect food markets, and they will affect even school lunches- Absolutely will... and things like that. 1:12:47 So, uh, there are, um, you know, uh, these guidelines are utilized to form policy that will eventually affect you. So it's not, I mean, yes, [laughs] I agree that you shouldn't listen to them. 1:12:59 But at the same time, trying to, uh, you know, uh, support those who are against this type of nonsense is important as well. So I, I am, uh, I am excited and hopeful that maybe we'll see some change. 1:13:12 It's a very big and very sticky machine, and a lot of times there are, uh, propositions and measures and things that are passed and then never actually really implemented, or it's fumbled. 1:13:25 So there, there's always implementation and execution questions that, that come up. But, um, I thought that this was, yeah, a- Yeah... topical and, uh A, a lively conversation, which I think we had. 1:13:38 Yeah, I think- I'll be curious to see what happens in December when the, the whole report comes out. When it, when it comes out. Mm-hmm. 1:13:42 'Cause we'll, we'll see it, yeah, it come out before the end of the year, or, you know, it'll, the news will start- Yeah, what the response from the incoming administration is. 1:13:49 Yeah, and just like anything else, just like the election, nothing will change the day after. It's like, what happens downstream, down the line? 1:13:55 Uh, you know, and going back to the r- uh, what's been the process and what's actually worked. 1:13:59 Going back to your RFK comment, I mean, there's a dude who's, who's gone head-to-head with these, these huge organizations with, with things like the FDA, um, big pharmaceutical companies or whatever, and he has, he has won. 1:14:12 He has brought things to light. Has brought things to light. It's not just a dude that's talking about it. You know, I think about, like, Elon. 1:14:16 I brought up Elon, and he's kind of off topic here, but Elon's a guy who fought for First Amendment rights. Like, whether you like it or not- Mm-hmm... 1:14:23 like, he was like, "No, you have the r- it's, we have a free-" The whole Twitter thing. We have a freedom of s-speech. Yeah, Twitter to X. We have a freedom of speech. 1:14:31 Like, somebody needs to stand up for this if our, the people that have been put in office to do that very thing, they work for us. 1:14:38 They're there, they're there to uphold the rights of, uh, that we have here in the United States. They're up- they're to uphold the Constitution. 1:14:45 Nobody should be fighting against that, right, at that level, yet here we are. 1:14:49 So again, like, in terms of that team that's been put together and change that I think could be elicited from that, like, when I look at, you know, these guidelines and I go, "I wonder," like, ag- they'll go in-into place before, um, again, the new team kind of moves in. 1:15:05 But how could they influence them in the meantime, and what will actually happen? Um, I, I don't think it'll be the last of it. 1:15:11 I, I'd be surprised if a dude like, uh, Kennedy didn't address this right out of the gate, uh, kinda, kinda coming forward. 1:15:18 Man, and I, I feel like the last few minutes I've kind of been sitting here just kinda mulling through this whole discussion about my feelings on it. 1:15:25 And, and it's honestly, this feels, if I really think through all this, this almost feels like you were saying, like, heavier to me- Yep... 1:15:31 than the actual election and everything that went on there, which people are so, you know, caught up in, is 1:15:37 I, I, I don't know if it's I've, over the past few months, I think family and pe- and people have been really heavy on just with personal things going on in my life. 1:15:46 And, and even for me, thinking of, you know, starting a family in the coming years. Right. Like, 1:15:51 the, the amount of confusion and, you know, I think we've, we've had this conversation a lot, um, between us that we, it, it's, it's easy sometimes to start to, to think that the common, um, the average citizen in the US is, is educated in this stuff. 1:16:06 And it's not to say that people are stupid, 'cause that is not. Right. They're just uneducated in this area. 1:16:11 And I think we start to think of these things as these basic habits and basic nutritional principles and lifestyle principles and things like that. 1:16:18 But when, you know, when I really think about it, you know, talking about seeing, seeing kids, going out in public and seeing kids that are six years old that are m- already basically morbidly obese, you know, and things like that, that there's this confusion and there's this, this lack of action of how do we impact not only our, ourselves, but the generation coming up, of what are the basic principles that need to be followed to live a healthy lifestyle? 1:16:46 And when we see things, you know, even a couple months ago as it came out, the article of like, "Kellogg's cereal is more nutritionally dense than steak," and all those things that came up when they... 1:16:54 Do you remember when they came out with that list of- Yeah, yeah. And- Those type of classifications- Yeah... that are just like, yeah, absurd. 1:16:59 And it just re- yeah, it's just ridiculous, and it creates more and more confusion, and we're seeing the result. You know, like we're talking about. 1:17:05 We're seeing the result in my f- you know, people around me, people that I know that are sick and dying and unhealthy. Right. And the next generation that comes, and it hurts my soul. Right, yeah. I'm with you. 1:17:16 And it's so heavy for me. 1:17:17 And, and really what I ask and what I hope for, and hopefully it's, it can come from RFK and it can come from people, is more clarity on the basic things that matter, and not getting caught up in these things that are s- really at the end of the day rooted in money. 1:17:30 Like you said, these studies that are rooted in money, these things that we are told that are rooted in money and greed, and not actually the prosperity of the, of the citizens of the United States. 1:17:38 So that's what's frustrating for me. [upbeat rock music] Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Iron Sights. 1:17:43 If you enjoyed our conversation, you can support our mission by hitting the subscribe button, leaving a review, and sharing the podcast with a friend. I'll see you on the next episode.
