Transcript 0:00 Welcome back to the Iron Sights podcast. Today's a little bit of a different conversation. It centers around nutrition and culture. Stick with us on this one. We go a couple of different directions. 0:08 I'll be honest, it's a little bit more of an esoteric conversation. 0:11 Hopefully, it provides perspective on how you make food choices, why you're making them, why establishing belief systems can be a positive or maybe a negative thing, and where those are coming from. 0:21 And, uh, more specifically, like, planting a flag in one diet tribe versus another, and how that could impact you in the short and the long term. 0:29 Again, maybe just a little bit more of a thought-provoking conversation that gets you thinking a little bit differently about how you're approaching, uh, your health and your wellness. 0:36 [whooshing sound] You know what happens next. This is the part where I remind you that all these episodes are brought to you by Red Dot Fitness Training Products and Programs. 0:44 Again, it's a nutrition-based conversation today. It would make sense that I talk to you about our nutrition coaching program here. You can find out more about that by going to rdftrainonline.com. 0:54 Also, when you're there, you can check out all our other products and programs. 0:56 Maybe you're local and wanna check out what we're doing in the gym, or, uh, maybe you live somewhere else in the world or on the planet and you wanna get involved with us virtually or online. 1:04 Whatever you decide to do, whether it's nutrition coaching, whether it's virtual fitness training, whether it's our self-guided programs, you should know that the most important thing you do is get started, and to help people do that, we're always giving some type of promotional offer. 1:15 If you're looking for maybe a self-guided program, you can check out RDF Strong, RDF Max, or FuelYou. That is our online nutrition and success program. 1:24 If you go to rdftrainonline.com and you go to those self-guided programs, you can get 25% off right now if you use code STRONG25, MAX25, or FUELYOU25. 1:36 Uh, on the nutrition coaching side of things or anything that we might be doing in the gym, like I said, we've always got some stuff going on. You'll have to contact us to find out about that. 1:44 Again, go to rdftrainonline.com. Hit the contact page, and I will happy to have a conversation about what might fit your needs the best and how we can help you. [upbeat rock music] Welcome to Iron Sights. 2:00 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. 2:14 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. It's been an interesting week here. 2:27 The, the, the, the major, like, podcast platforms are, are post- are, are letting their listeners know what their top, or their most listened to stuff was. Like, sometimes... 2:39 I've gotten that from Spotify before, like, "Here's what our top playlists were or the songs that we listened to." Spotify Wrapped season. Is that what they're calling it? Oh, yeah. Yes. It's Wrapped. 2:46 The Spotify Wrapped. Spotify Wrapped. Yeah. So, I, like, I don't listen to Sp- listen to podcasts, I don't consume podcasts through Spotify. I do it through Apple. Mm. 2:53 And I, and I've seen them put this stuff out too before. But what the feedback that I got, uh, was, number one, first people were, like, snapshotting that or screenshotting it and posting it and tagging- Yeah... 3:04 us in it, which I thought was really cool, and I really appreciate it. And the point of that is, is, you know, the podcast game is interesting. 3:10 It's, it's kind of a lonely, weird, um, mysterious world, uh, in a lot of ways. We- gaining metrics and understanding, like, who's listening, what are they listening to. 3:20 There's things you can do, like, YouTube's a better platform for that and kind of understanding, like, demographics, how long people are listening. It, it gives you all kinds of feedback. But when you're looking at... 3:30 You know, we use a distribution platform. I'll give it a plug 'cause I think they do a pretty good job. It's called Buzzsprout. 3:35 So for anybody that's out there, you know, thinking about doing a podcast or doing it, I, I like that platform. I think they do a pretty good job, and they do provide some stats. 3:42 But they're very limited in when I say stats. Like, how many v- uh, how many listens did you get? You know, and, and what platforms were they on, were they on, were they listening from? And that's kind of what you get. 3:52 That's it. Yeah. So unless you get direct feedback from listeners, you don't really know. Um, you know, how much of this stuff [chuckles] really, really reaches people? 4:00 How much of it- And the depth of the engagement- That, yeah... versus just flipping it on. Right. Yeah. Turning it on, and how long, you know, again, how long did they listen to it? 4:07 And that becomes important, like, on platforms like, like Apple and Spotify, because their... or YouTube, because their goal is to keep you on, on the channel as long as they can. 4:17 So if you're one of those, those podcasts or, again, influencers, whatever, that gets people on and gets them engaged, they're gonna favor your stuff. 4:25 Uh, but, uh, the point of that being is I received some really interesting feedback of how some of the conversations that we have on all ends of the podcast, uh, you know, with all the different types of episodes that we drop. 4:38 Whether it's this type with this crew, or what I'm doing on the After Dark side, or what I do with the Unextremus Performance crew, you know, during the week, that people were sending me actually screenshots- Mm... 4:50 of these group conversations that they are having about the discussions that were... that, you know, maybe I've engaged in somebody's post or, or something like that, and how it's created these conversations with... 5:03 In one case, there was, there was like 100 people on this group- Wow... group chat. I was like, I was shocked by that. Wow. 5:07 Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't know why I'm shocked, because I do realize, but it, this validates for me, that I think the deeper thinkers, the people that are really seeking education, knowledge, different perspectives, those people are not all over the interwebs with a voice, right? 5:27 Yeah. They're using the interwebs or using the platforms to have conversations with like-minded people or people that they know. And in, in a lot of cases, it was pe- uh, like, people with much differing opinions. Mm. 5:38 Um, and so as much as I have this, like, I still have it, like, this deep internal resistance to social media in so many ways, it really kind of, um... 5:48 it touched me in a way just with, like, how powerful it is and, and, and it can be. 5:53 And so with that, it got me thinking a little bit differently about c- the types of conversations that we, we have and some of the ones I've been having both online and, and offline. 6:02 And I mean that on the podcast, off the podcast, on, you know, publicly on, on social media and then not. The, the... There's a ton of those types of conversations that I have that aren't produced, right? 6:14 And they're very organic and, um, I'm always interested to get in. I do as best I can to try to engage people that want to engage on stuff. 6:24 So in going back to the deeper thinkers and the people that are really thinking about stuff, one of the things that came up for me in kind of scrolling through [laughs] the interwebs and some of the other stuff that c- that, that, that, uh, some of these conversations I just mentioned, is this concept about nutrition and how people are planting flags or develop belief systems, and [sighs] 6:47 some of the deeper things that go into that and how it's impacting people's health, how it impacts people's decision-making and the, the extremes on both end, ends, and then this, this confusion that, that exists in the middle. 7:02 And I think it's largely, uh, it's largely rooted in the extremes on both ends. Yeah. And there's... But the much larger population is right in the middle just trying to figure their shit out. It's so it's, it... 7:15 You know, I thought today we'd have a little bit of a different conversation about nutrition as it relates to, like, culture because a, one of the other cool things about the internet [laughs] is that you can talk to people all over the world, and I do, and it's really cool. 7:27 You know, I got people that I talk to from all different, all the continents. You know, at some level there's, there's, there's, there's some engagement going on, which is super cool. 7:36 It's also really enlightening- Yeah... in so many ways. So anyway, going back to, like, culture, nutrition, um, what social norms, uh, what people are trying to adjust to. 7:49 I ca- kind of just lead this off with, like, we have a really unique perspective here, and that's, I sort of already knew that. 7:55 Some of it's been validated in the past, some of it's been revalidated, in that we live in the Bay Area and we work with a lot of people- Yeah... from all over the planet. And particularly on the nutrition side. Mm. 8:07 And that gives us, um, it challenges us, right? It ch- it, it's certainly challenged me. I know it challenges Steven. 8:15 There's some things that are very consistent, and there are some things that pop up that you're just like, "Whoa," like, "I hadn't thought about that, and how do we make adjustments here?" 8:22 And obviously the more reps you get, the more conversations you have, I think the better- Yeah... you can define things. But it, that said, what's really c- what, what I guess what I really realized is, is the, 8:36 the disconnect i- in so many ways and where it's coming from, and then the challenges that people are facing because of that disconnect in terms of trying to be healthy, trying to be fit, right? 8:47 Trying to be happy, vibrant, and also fit into [laughs] society, you know, at some level. 8:53 So this is a little bit more of, like, kind of an esoteric conversation that, that specifically speaks to nutrition, 'cause we've had a few conversations lately, or one specifically about, like, kinda how our government is trying to influence things. 9:05 Mm-hmm. Um, and people are getting these influences from so many places. 9:10 So maybe, maybe we talk a little ab- about that a little bit today and, and maybe help people with some different perspective on how they're making decisions, how they're judging people, um, how they're planting their flags and their reasons. 9:22 Maybe help them understand why that may be a good decision. Maybe they need to be thinking about things a little bit differently. 9:29 But o- one of the things that's come up for me is the disconnect that people have about even the term culture. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Right? [laughs] And wh- Culture or ethnicity. And, a- Right? All of that stuff. 9:42 I mean, just define it a little bit, you know, in terms of, like, the differences, because I think, like, people think they might, you know, they have a really good grasp on this. Yeah. 9:50 And then they, you know, you start to get in a little bit of a deeper conver- You ask the second and third question, they're like, "Uh, I think you're a little confused, confused on this maybe of, of what that means." 10:00 However, if you're from s- if you're from a, a place on the planet and you c- and again, we're in a, in a, we're in a place on, in the state of California that has a lot of people from a lot of different places on the planet. 10:13 Yeah. Those people, and when I say that, I just mean those people who have come from different places on the planet, grew up there, um, and, you know, have had a good part of their life there. 10:22 Uh, Steven mentioned something off-air, and we'll talk about this, that have been steeped in tradition, steeped in a consistency, again, in, in their culture. 10:29 Coming to, coming to the United States, like, that can be a very rough transition, and the people that they're around may not... 10:37 Not that they don't understand their culture, they don't even understand what that even means. [laughs] Mm-hmm. And I mean that. Like, I, I mean that, uh, uh, I, I guess I mean that for everything. 10:46 I just, you know, in the, in the truest sense of the word is they, they don't really understand it, and that creates, like, this confusion and this misunderstanding, and then I also think misinformation, so. 10:55 Well, I do think that there is a crossover when it, when you talk about culture and you're talking about ethnicity as far as, you know, the, the ways of life. 11:04 So when I think of ethnicity, I generally think of ethnicity as being ascribed. That generally something that you are born into. Um, and you're not necessarily given an opportunity to choose your ethnicity. 11:18 Um, that's rooted in, I, I would say customs and tradition, religion, you know, foods as well. Mm. Um, where I, I think of culture as being more fluid and, and changing. 11:30 And, um, you do have, again, talk a- you talk about food. You can talk about tradition and those types of things as well, but I think it's a, a little bit more, uh, I guess I would say ebb and flow. Mm-hmm. 11:44 It, it, it can change- I like that... over time. There's different categories of culture- Mm-hmm... I would say. Yeah, there could be your, yeah, your ethnic culture or your racial culture, your national culture. 11:54 There's food culture. There could be the culture of your neighborhood. There could be the culture of the sports team that you follow. Community. For sure, yeah. 11:59 There could be the sp- the culture of- Religious community... yeah, whatever groups you are affiliated with. There could be a, a culture of your profession. Yeah. There's all different types of culture- Yeah, yeah... 12:08 but we do tend to, yeah, think of culture always as relating to race or ethnicity or maybe nationality. I l- I love what you said there about ascribed versus subscribed. Mm-hmm. Right? 12:19 Which is, which is different, which I think we can get into, but yeah, like, it's a really good point. Yeah, so- [laughs] So in terms of, like, talking about ethnicity- Mm-hmm... maybe talk about culture a little bit. 12:30 So as far as, you know, I, I think Steven, you know, wrapped it up pretty well as far as the different types of culture. 12:36 And within your culture, you know, there's a, a group of individuals that have a similar maybe, uh, beliefs or, uh, I guess, um, ways of thinking, um, and- Similar perspective. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. 12:51 So, you know, within culture, 12:54 you know, when you were talking earlier, people are grown up, let's say i- in a, in a different, on a different continent, different country, and they have, uh, different types of foods and celebrations and traditions and those types of things. 13:09 And then when they come to another country that has their different ways of celebrating and eating and those types of things, that's when you ha- generally have a, a clash- Collision, yeah... of cultures. Yeah. 13:22 And then I think that's where some confusion arises. Yeah, it's... 13:26 And the confusion then quickly turns into a, you know, maybe trying to subscribe to something that they think helps them fit into the current culture- Mm-hmm... that they're in. 13:35 And again, ethnicity set aside, like if you've, if you've grown up and been raised and this is what you know, and now you're trying to, to find a different way, and this includes what's, what, you know... I don't... 13:50 This one's tough because of what America is in terms of a, a, a conglomeration of so many things. The melting pot. That's what makes America great. They, they, they changed it into- The to-... more of a salad bowl. 14:00 [laughs] A tossed salad, yes. Yeah. We're, we're, we're coexisting near each other, but we don't, we're not necessarily mixed. Is that- Yeah. Yeah. But, but if, if you go, like, regionally- Tossed salad. 14:09 [laughs] Like if you just think- Yeah... of the United States regionally, you go to different areas of the United States, there's everything we just talked about- Mm-hmm... exists there- Yeah... 14:15 in a much different way than... Not that, you know, if you went to, um, Africa, right, you're not gonna see the same things. That's just, that's just how the world works. Yeah, for sure. Right? 14:24 Um, and the, the, my, my point, uh, in saying that is, is like you sh- you should go around. The, the same struggles I think exist, right? 14:31 Because before, a- and when I say before, maybe before the onset of social media and the, the availability of all this information that i- that is out there, probably wasn't thought about a lot. 14:41 "This is just what I know. This is what we do." 14:44 And now, you know, people are maybe becoming a little bit, and there's things that have happened, that people are be- become more health conscious or more aware of certain, certain things, a- again, m- whether it's cultural or not, specific to food and specific to nutrition and more specifically to health, which is what I wanna relate this and really stick on that, on that thread, is, is certainly like, um, as an example, we, CC and I traveled a couple times this, this last year. 15:10 We went to the South, the Deep South. Mm-hmm. And, you know, when, when you walk into a restaurant there, what are you faced with? Mm-hmm. For me, it's awesome. 15:18 Like, it's like, "Look at all this different shit we don't get exposed to- Yeah... in such a different way." And a lot of that food is steeped in tradition, right? 15:26 And this is what we do and 'cause this is what people are used to, and this is what they like, and this is what they purchase and- Or that's what's grown in that area of the country. Right. 15:35 And so you see that in front of you versus going to other places in the country where it's, it's, it's much different. 15:41 You know, like if you're living on a coastal region, you're probably seeing a little bit more, um, stuff from the, from the sea. Sea. Right? You know, you're seeing a little bit more seafood. 15:48 As you get a little bit further in, you're seeing less of that. You know, for whatever the... Maybe it's a little bit more beef, uh, or poultry or, or whatever. Yeah. Um, the, uh, produce changes dramatically. 15:59 I mean, I'm always the first to complain when I walk into the grocery store. I go, "We live literally in..." Like the Central Valley is only a couple hours from here, right? 16:07 It's the most bountiful [laughs] region in the country. A- and in the world. I mean, we grow more produce here. Like in, like... Think of other things, too, like even cotton. 16:17 We grow more cotton in the Central Valley of California than any place else in the entire world, right? 16:22 Um, and I only say that to say, like from an agricultural perspective, we have so much opportunity to have so much variety. Yeah. We have an amazing climate that grows things. 16:31 Other things don't grow well, but the, the, the... we have the ability to do stuff, yet it turn, it, it, it's driven by finance, right? And, and, and demand- Yeah... for very specific things. 16:42 And so, like, I walk into the grocery store and I'm like, "Why the hell can't I get a decent apple here?" Yeah. You know, "Why, why..." [laughs] In, in this grocery store. 16:49 Or, "Why am I constantly looking at this, you know, this corn," or whatever the vegetable is, it, as a, as an example, that it's, it's just not great quality, right? 16:59 And there's not as much variety as we should probably have. And it doesn't matter what time of year I walk in, it's the same shit on the shelf all the time. The tomatoes. Right. That's the biggest one- You-... 17:10 that you can see the difference. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. I, you know, like... 17:13 So as an example, like even here I struggle with, like, not having certain varieties that I would like to see when we talk about seasons and what, what's, what's natural to be grown during certain t- periods of time. 17:25 I mean, like asparagus is an example. Like y- [laughs] we're getting our asparagus shipped in from Mexico, right? When it, it, it, during the season where it doesn't really grow well here. 17:36 So you can always get asparagus, right? Yeah. 17:38 Um, and versus, like, changing with the, with, with the seasons and eating, which is important in terms of nutrient density, the different things that you get, the variety, gut health. Yeah. 17:49 You know, how things are, how, how your physiology responds to different things you get. 17:53 So I don't wanna get too far down in the rabbit hole there, just that I think the, the point there is, is as you move around, you have these different things. 18:00 And now we're at this, we're at this point where everybody has all this information, right? And they're trying to ma- make sense of it, and they may live in a region that doesn't necessarily- Mm-hmm... 18:10 subscribe to whatever, hasn't subscribed to whatever diet or diet plan or diet tribe you may have, you, you may have planted a flag in. 18:22 Um, a- again, I don't wanna get off the rails here, but we have a unique, we have a unique perspective here because we get to see so many different things, and we get to see the struggles people have- With trying to adapt and adopt different, different eating styles. 18:37 And I don't think it's, it's, it's certainly not isolated here. We've already covered that. Uh, we just have, we have a, we have a unique perspective in, in kind of the people that we work with. 18:46 So I wanted to talk about that a little bit and just kind of like, hey, maybe think about things a little bit differently in terms of your health, right? And how you... A- again, it's not like eat this, not that. 18:58 But more like, hey, no matter where you are or where you're coming from, everybody's struggling in some way. Um, but an- but, and how is, are the struggles influencing the choices? 19:09 And how are the choices then influencing the health? And then how is that health and those choices, going back down that line, how are they affecting people's mindsets about what is good or what is bad? 19:21 And that's, that's, that's an interesting topic to talk about. So anyhow, um, I did a little Google searching and, and whatever, and, and kinda keywords were like top five healthy food cultures in the world. 19:37 And, and there were some pretty, there were some consistent things. And I always keep in mind, I'm always very objective about this, like who is writing this? Where is this coming from? Yeah. Is it the CDC? 19:48 Is it the NHO? Is it the, um, or, uh, the NHI? Uh, is it the WFO? Is it the FDA? Is it the USD- Associated Press. [laughs] Yeah, e- exactly. Exactly. 20:01 You know, and then when you start to look at like the media, major media outlets, I always look at things with a little bit of [laughs] skepticism. Mm-hmm. And let's just say I look at it with a lot of discernment. 20:11 Like- Critical thinking... and that's what I think- Yeah... that's kinda why I wanted to have this conversation- Yeah... 20:16 to think about things a little bit differently and kinda where you're getting your, your information. 20:19 But some of the things that came up, like the, the, when I looked at the like top five, some of the consistencies were like the Nordic countries. Yeah. 20:26 Um, as being very health conscious, and then it talks a little bit about their food. Uh, the Mediterranean countries. Uh, like people have heard about the Mediterranean diet. 20:35 There's some, there's some, some very specific things about that I wanna, I wanna dig into. Japan is another place that seems to have their shit together, you know, when it comes to a healthy population. 20:46 And we need to talk about like, well, how are we valuing health? Mm. How are we talking about it, and how do we measure it? Um, and as it, as it's compared to, uh, as it's compared to the United States. 20:59 And one of the other ones that comes up very consistently is India. Uh, and a lot of people might be like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. They eat nothing but, but grains and legumes out there, and those are bad." Yeah. 21:09 Like, we shouldn't be t- Those, that shit gives you cancer. Mm. Right? 21:13 Um, and I would imagine, like if I'm in India, and I'm looking at like the other end of the spectrum like here in the United States, like for, for some people listening to what I just said there about India, they may go, "Dude, that's wild." 21:26 Well, how would an Indian person view somebody that's on this c- on this carnivore track? [laughs] Yeah. Like- Yeah. Like for them- On the KFC diet. [laughs] Right. That, that could be totally wild. 21:35 Uh, but you know, kinda just going through these, these different things, there's some consistency there, and then I, I dug a little deeper, like well, what are they actually eating? How are they sourcing their food? 21:42 More specifically, what is the message coming out about health, and how are they valuing that? 21:48 Um, and I think one of the things that influences that most in the United States is social norms in, in what we're supposed to look like and what people are telling us we're supposed to feel like. 21:59 And I don't think there's another place in the world maybe, uh, there may be some European countries. [laughs] Mm-hmm. 22:04 But I don't know if there's, um, another place in the world that's worse at doing that, I mean in every sense of that word, than the US, in terms of the shit that comes out of, uh, and what we put out and what's, what's valued in terms of like aesthetics and, and things like that. 22:20 So, um, anyway, without getting, again, trying to dig too deep into that rabbit hole, going back to kind of how those things were rated, I was inter- it was very interesting 'cause they were very different. Mm. 22:30 All of those places were very different, yet when you look at, um, how those, how the health was b- was being evaluated, that was also very different. I'm, I'm, I'm listening. Yeah. I'm waiting. 22:42 [laughs] Like are we talking about obesity, longevity- Yeah... cardiometabolic d- disease? So I think that's the discussion. Uh-huh. Like how are they ranked as- Yeah. How, how, how are we measuring health, right? Yeah. 22:53 And is it, are you measuring health purely on the food source, or what's actually happening with the people? Mm. And is it the food source that's contributing to this healthier population? Yeah. 23:05 And how we, how are we defining health, or is it more of a mindset and approach to, um, the way they eat and the things that they eat? And so I think that's more of the discussion. 23:17 Yeah, I would say that, I mean, just as I'm listening to you here, and I feel like th- this country, we're health conscious. 23:26 We're probably the most health conscious country, and yet we are the least healthy country- The most unhealthy... of any developed country in the world. Yeah. Any metric. 23:33 And we, you know, when you think about, I think you mentioned like the Nordic countries being like health conscious or healthy. 23:39 I'm not sure, I haven't visited, but I'm not sure it's as much that they are on a day-to-day basis thinking about, "How can I be healthy today?" It's just their, their cultural norms. The way they live. 23:49 It's just the lifestyle o- of those countries. They're not necessarily trying to unfuck themselves as much as we are here. I feel like we get so tangled up here. 24:00 We're spending so much time trying to unfuck ourselves, when if we were just following traditions, it wouldn't be a problem. You don't have to be conscious about something that's not an issue. Is that making sense? 24:11 Oh, it makes perfect sense. Yeah. I feel like it's in the culture for us to almost like be preach- Like we're putting so much more effort into showing off or preaching our health status or our health- Talking about it... 24:20 where we're planting our flag, or planting our flag, um, but not actually, uh, you know, doing the things. Like we're so caught up in projecting it to everybody- Mm-hmm... 24:29 that we're not actually, so many aren't, aren't doing these basic fundamentals that equal a healthy lifestyle, so. Yeah, it's, it's an interesting psychology, you know, when you start to break it down. 24:37 As I was digging into this, I was, I was reading into some things, and it took me on a, on a little bit of a journey and a, and a rabbit hole. And-[laughs] 24:45 Again, the psychology piece is really interesting here in how people judge things or make decisions in their belief system. 24:53 This is a little bit off track, but I think there's some relevance to it in talking about, um, kind of some things that happened over the last couple years. So this article I read, and I think it was, like, the... 25:03 I, I f- I forget. I think it's, like, The Journal of Psychology. It's a public or, um, um- A review journal... yeah, pub- pub, uh, yeah, a review journal. 25:12 And it was talking about what was happening during COVID, specifically around, um, people ordering out for different types of foods, and very specifically they were talking about Chinese food and Italian food. 25:24 And if we remember back to COVID, right? 25:27 Obviously, there was a direct connection with COVID and the country of China, and then Italy was one of the, the countries that was getting the most attention right away because of the devastation that was happening there at that time with people just getting sick. 25:42 Yeah. Right? Um, and what they were getting sick from and what they were dying from, that's probably open for, for, for contention. But bottom line is people were getting sick. 25:50 And so as a result, people were be- w- people were being faced with the, the, the, the idea of death. Like, and if I... 25:59 And they were being forced with their mor- their mortality, and th- that is a very conscious thing, right? And with that, you will make conscious and unconscious decisions about what you do. 26:11 And so the dar- the, the study, this was again a, a, a study, kind of went on to say, like, in the United States, people stopped buying Chinese food and Italian food. 26:23 Like, they were Ubering and Uber Eats-ing, eating, and, you know, whatever, those, the DoorDashing and stuff- DoorDash and stuff, yeah... 'cause peop- places were being shut down. 26:31 And Chinese restaurants and Italian restaurants were getting hammered. Uh, I, I do remember one of the numbers was just, like, Chinese food was down, like, 17% across the board. Yeah. 26:39 Because people were, were connecting- They were associating, yeah... they were associating what was happening- Their local Chinese restaurant- Yeah... 26:44 with the food I'd be curious if that was, like, a conscious decision or if it was a subconscious decision. So the, the, the, the study went into that a little bit- Oh... and more into the- Mm-hmm... 26:51 like, the psychology of how people make decisions and when they're faced with these, these questions, like... And again, that mortality, the question of mortality is something... 27:01 Like, our, our bodies will do things psychologically, physically, emotionally purely for survival. Yeah. That is what th- that is what's har- downloaded or, or, or, or on the hard drive. 27:14 And whether you understand it or, or whether you, you recognize it or you're conscious of it or not, you're gonna make decisions, and unfortunately, those same types of decisions could kill you, right? 27:24 Like- Fear-based decisions. E- exactly. Mm. 27:27 And so I think when people are looking at their nutrition, like, what is driving a lot of decisions for people, and I think going back to, like, social norms and fitting in and acceptance and to your, to, to your point, that, that very specific word fear, that is what's driving a lot of the decisions. 27:44 And whether it's a, a, "I fear being unhealthy and dying," or, "I fear being out of shape, unattractive- Mm... and alone- Mm-hmm... for the rest of my life." Not- Shunned, yeah... not finding a par- That's another one. 27:55 Yeah. Not being accepted. Those are all big things that drive these decisions, and unfortunately, to the detriment of people's, people's health. I mean, I think that's, that's such an important point to think about. 28:07 I mean, it kind of goes back to... 28:08 We didn't get, you know, into politics too much, but I, I think of that, that discussion where so many people's decision is based off of fear, and I think th- a lot of the people get really dogmatic and the l- generally the loudest people are gonna be the ones who have the most, like, extreme beliefs or they're most dogmatic about it. 28:25 So I feel like with nutrition, so much of that is rooted in, in causing fear in people. Like, if you eat whatever, die. Farty die, you're gonna die. Yeah. Right? Uh, you know, things like that. And it... 28:36 That's how, like, so much of nutrition i- and culturally, um, whether it's the culture of, like, people's e- uh, like, ethnic background or the culture of s- people who are carnivore or people who are veganism. 28:47 They're, they're, like, these camps that get generated, and they, how they are fed the fire and, like, how they grow is, is playing off people's fears. It's fearmongering. It's fearmongering. Yeah. 28:56 And that's, that's insane of just so many people's decisions getting made by that. And I think that's- So is it, is it fearmongering, or is it the fact that social media is so pervasive now- Mm... 29:06 that in order to get attention, people are saying whatever they're saying to get the click so somebody is then, you know, paying attention to what they have to say? Yeah. 29:14 It's based, based on that hard drive, based on what's hardwired into us. Fear gets our attention. Oh, 100%. That's- That's it... 29:19 the, and that, that's what we're playing on in social media, and I think that that is- Yeah... 29:23 more pervasive here than maybe in some of these other countries that rank higher in terms of, you know, b- food health or, or healthy culture, is they're not faced with all of this fearmongering. 29:34 And we have, like, such a complex culture here in terms of, like, there's so many different inputs from so many different backgrounds- Yeah... that it becomes very confusing very fast. 29:45 And then you're like, "Well, this camp says I can't eat this, and this camp says I can't eat that. And they say I can't eat this." Yeah. 29:49 I feel like that goes on much more here in the US than maybe in some other countries, where it's just like, "This is how we eat. This is how we have eaten." Mm. "And this is just how we do things here." Yeah. 29:58 You, we're not worried about it i- in some of these other countries. 30:01 Yeah, I mean, the ol- the other thing that, that's coming to mind is, you know, marketing and how, you know, food is grown and produced in the United States of America versus how food is produced and marketed in other countries. 30:12 I mean, you know, w- w- we've ha- heard so much l- recently about how there are additives in our food in the United States where, you know, it's banned in other countries. Mm-hmm. Right. You know? Yeah, yeah. 30:24 So I mean, how much does that then play into then the whole psychology and palatability of wanting to eat certain foods? 30:32 And then, you know, if you're talking about having money and unlimited sources of money, then you're, y- you're at liberty to buy whatever you want. Mm-hmm. 30:39 Versus you may not have that option in other, other parts of the world. Yeah. Correct. Yeah, the market drives that, right? And, and I think the, the term I would use is, like, the fear's been weaponized- Mm... 30:48 i, i- in a way, and people can go, "Oh, that might be stretching a little far." I, I don't know. I, I... 30:53 For me, it isn't Uh, because when I, again, to your point on the social media, when I go across there, again, we are, 30:59 we, the collective we, the, the, the entire culture, uh, through social media and whatnot, is that's what you see all the time. You know, it's, "Don't eat this 'cause it'll kill you. Don't eat this 'cause it's bad." 31:12 Um, and unconsciously or consciously, that's getting attached to culture- Mm-hmm... to ethnicity- Mm-hmm... in a, in, in a way. And that is dangerous, right? And how dangerous is it? 31:24 Just look at the health of our country. Mm-hmm. And the shit that's coming out and where we are. I mean, we talk about it all the time on the show. Like, you wanna find diabetes? 31:32 Just go [laughs] to the United States of America. You wanna find obesity? You wanna find heart disease? Y- you, you wanna find the, the, you know, the top five, uh, metabolic disorders that exist on the planet? 31:43 Man, w- we're winning. We got 'em. Yeah. [laughs] USA, USA. Yeah. We're, we're, we're winning there. 31:49 Despite, again, like a country like India that eats primarily legumes and, and, and grains all the, all the freaking time. 31:55 So at, at the same time, I think one of the other things that, that could be confusing pe- for people is when you're looking at, like, again, what we're holding up s- from, like, a, a social currency perspective, that being like you're fit. 32:09 You lift weights, right? You, you fill out your shirt better than, than other people. Look, we work with a lot of people from East India that are here. They come here. 32:18 A lot of folks come here to work in the tech industry or a tech support type, type of role. 32:23 Then they're faced with all kinds of challenges in terms of, again, adopting and adapting to what their new, their new, their new thing is, right? Like, "How do I do this?" 32:32 And so they're faced and seeing the same shit that we're seeing and talking about right now, and they're like, "Well, maybe what I've been doing my whole life is the wrong thing," right? And then- Mm-hmm... it... 32:42 I mean, I'm sure Steven could talk about this. They're like, "Well, you know, like, I started eating red meat. You know, I started eating poultry. I started doing things," and then they're... 32:50 That, that makes them feel uncomfortable, right? Because they're maybe going against what their cultural norm has been. Maybe even going back to religion and things like that. 32:59 Like, those things are challenging for people, and so they're trying to overcome that. Not only they're trying to overcome that in their head psychologically and emotionally, but physiologically. Yeah. Right? 33:08 You start putting that stuff in your system. You've never eaten that stuff before. Or you're eating things like you're going out all the time. Mm-hmm. And we can talk about that. 33:16 Because you don't have the food availability to you that you're used to eating or that you wanna eat, so you, you outsource that. Mm-hmm. And you, and you go somewhere else. That are so plentiful in this area. 33:26 I mean, there's a restaurant on every block. Right. Yeah. You know? And it... Exactly. 33:30 Yeah, no, I think that as far as what I've experienced with, you know, particularly that culture, East Indian culture, that conflict there is... I remember a specific conversation I had with, uh, with an individual. 33:41 Super smart guy, was, grew up in India. And he said that, "When I came here, it was like fitness is so much more a part of the culture here than it was where I grew up." 33:51 Like, going to the gym, having muscles, d- you know, all of that, that sports and fitness culture just was not a part of his upbringing, and he felt a pressure to... 34:01 He's like, "Yeah, when I started, when I got here, I started going hiking. I had never been hiking in my life before." 34:06 There's also an issue of, you know, in India specifically, a lack of open spaces and green spaces in some of these cities that are extremely dense populations. Like, yeah, we didn't have parks. 34:16 We didn't have hiking trails. We didn't have any of that stuff where I grew up. So I, I got here, and now I'm like, "Oh, shit, I'm in America now." As an adult. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I need to, like- Yeah... 34:25 get into this fitness culture. And there was, you know, a clash or a conflict between the way he grew up and then being here and kind of looking around and like, "Oh, man, everybody here is, like, big and muscular. 34:37 I feel weak," or, "I feel-" Yep. Mm-hmm... uh, you know, "less than because I don't fit in with this American culture of, like, being jacked." Yeah. 34:45 I had, I had a very similar conversation with somebody that came in, uh, to the front desk one day, and they were inquiring about our services. 34:51 And he was saying that in India, where he's from, that, you know, exercise isn't something that was of a f- of a focus for them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It- So it was very different. 35:00 Yeah, so they, they come here with very little experience. They feel very fish out of water. 35:05 Um, and then as you were kind of alluding to, like, okay, well, maybe the way that I was eating has led to, you know, my body type looking this way. But the way people eat here, you know, oh, they look like this. 35:17 I need to look like that because I live here now. And then you start [laughs] actually getting into American food- Mm-hmm... which, uh, the, the standard- It's a certain-... 35:24 American diet hasn't been working very well, [laughs] uh- It's, it's-... over these last 30, 40 years. Yeah, the SAD diet just, uh, you know, it's... 35:31 It just doesn't matter what you, what research paper you read or met- meta- meta-analysis that comes out, like, that's what you're gonna find. 35:38 You know, you mentioned something about, like, onboarding other things here and the perversion of, uh, of mass production of food here in the United States versus other, other countries. You know, but it won't take... 35:48 People don't have to reach very far back for the gluten craze. Mm-hmm. Right? And the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, uh, uh, weaponization is not the right word, but the, the demonization of gluten- Mm-hmm... 36:01 and wheat in, in general. And while there are a lot, there's lots to talk about there and how that impacts people differently, not everybody responds the same. 36:09 But there was, uh, that came out, I wanna say it was about 10 years ago. 36:14 There was a meta-analysis done on, on that very thing, and specifically they measured that in a, in, in Italy, the c- the, the, the country of Italy, where in, in certain regions of Italy where they eat more pasta or wheat, bread, uh, grain, grains than they do in others. 36:30 Depending on where you're o- are in that country might, might be more of a, a meat-dominant diet. Northern, southern. Yeah. Yeah. Northern, southern Italy or whatever. 36:37 And what they found was is the incidence of gluten intolerance and even allergies was very low. 36:43 It was, like, uh, uh, it was negligible, uh, i- in that country where they dom- where o- in, in a lot of that country where that, that, those, those types of food products dominate the diet. Mm-hmm. And the-... 36:58 versus the United States, where it's obviously all over the United States, it tends to dominate most people's, most people's food intake, and the gluten intolerance that exists here, um, and, uh, even a- even allergies that may exist there. 37:12 And so the question comes up, it's like, well, what is it? Is it the wheat or is it what's being onboarded with the wheat? Mm-hmm. And, or not onboarded- Mm... with the wheat, for that matter. 37:21 So when we talk about what's being onboarded, like, what chemical processes are we using to grow that wheat, keep that wheat alive, harvest that wheat, then process that wheat, then put it in the package for somebody to go out and buy and then ultimately consume, versus what's happening in a country like Italy? 37:39 Um, how many times has it been touched by human hands? How many things have been put on it? So that's one end of it, right? 37:46 The other end is something that you, I, I think you alluded to earlier, CeCe, and that was is, like, how do we produce it, right? Versus how maybe they produce it somewhere else. 37:54 Uh, how much has that soil been fucked with, right? Again, and I mean that with all the things that could be onboarded with it, you know. 38:01 And, and how does that impact the nutrient density of what's coming along, the vitamin, mineral profiles, uh, macronutrient profiles that exist within the, in the foods that we're eating. 38:09 So again, like, things for th- for people to think about instead of demonizing or villainizing wheat. 38:15 And again, there, there's a case to be made for people that are way more sensitive to it, uh, than others for different reasons, but what are those reasons? And it's not the gluten, right? 38:25 It, maybe it is for some people, but that's not the majority probably of the reason. Yet people plant a flag in "Don't eat grains," right? Okay, there may be a c- a, a cause for that th- or there may be a, a, a, a, a 38:39 reason why you don't wanna eat grains or a certain amount of grains. You wanna, you wanna restrict how much you're, you're actually eating for all kinds of reasons. 38:47 But to simply say, "Don't eat this because it's bad," because somebody else had this experience, or more importantly, going back to this information, more specifically misinformation, people don't understand the depth of, of where that goes. 39:01 Well, and I think this is where a lot of the issues start to come, both on the, the fear-mongering, but then also, like, the support or, um, like, marketing around these different, like, when people plant flags in these different cultures of different t- diets. 39:12 So you, you see these things that there's so many people to see some- Oh, these are gluten-free cookies, so I can eat 10 of them, right? Yeah. Or whatever, and that just automatically makes it healthier. 39:20 I think a lot of, like, a super big thing to slap on a label is that it's keto-friendly. [laughs] Or plant-based. Right? Or, or plant-based, right? Yeah. And that just makes it healthy. 39:28 Or, like, a, you know, a plant-based burger, Beyond Burger, where it's, like, 100, or not 100 ingredients, but it's countless ingredients to make a, um, to process this thing. 39:35 And I think that's where a lot of these issues of this confusion of labeling and cultures and what do I do and what I don't do, and this is where I think a lot of, because these are, there's so many, um, people are so loud when they're, they're pr- um, uh, saying these things, let's just say [laughs] Taking a stance. 39:52 Projecting. Taking a stance. There you go. Projecting. Yeah. Is that's where it creates so much confusion in the general population, especially in, in the United States. 39:58 And that's why I think a lot of our struggles come from. Yeah, there are two, two opposing sides that are both adamant that they're right- Exactly... when they're, like, complete polar opposites. Yeah. 40:06 Like, how, how could they both be right when they're on complete opposite ends of the spectrum? Mm. But they both swear they're right, and they can cite some studies that they've cherry-picked that supports their side. 40:16 Um, and you leave most people who want to have probably a more, like, omnivorous or moderate type of diet- Yeah... confused as to, like, what choice will work for me. 40:26 I mean, a carnivore and a vegan walk into a bar, like, that's [laughter] gonna be really hard. But they're both right. But they're both right. 40:31 No, but I mean, I think that's where a lot of confusion comes from, these big dogmatic different planted, uh, like, cultures, food cultures, so. Yeah, and so then, a- again, that just comes back to, like, the middle. Mm. 40:40 This massive population that sits in the middle trying to kind of figure it out and, and choose things. 40:46 And I think when you boil it down, you know, when you go to these different cultures and y- or you s- study or look at them in a little bit more depth or go to these different regions of the world or even the United States, 40:56 when you look at health, I think we kind of just, well, what are we valuing, right? What, what are we valuing here? 41:01 And again, how are we rating that, and what, what percentage of importance are we placing on certain things? And a- almost always it comes down to, you know, aesthetics, right? And what's- Image, yeah... 41:14 image, what's perceived on the outside without anything on the inside. I mean, you could, I, uh, this is not to bad-mouth anybody, but, you know, you look at, like, bodybuilding as a, as a thing. Mm. 41:23 It's become very, very, very, very popular, um, for lots of reasons. Well, look, people are working out. That's good. They're lifting weights. That's good. 41:31 They're probably at least attempting to eat whatever the term healthier means, right? 41:37 Maybe a little bit more, probably, maybe they're, they're, more of those, those folks are meeting their protein needs, where other people need to be doing a better job with that. 41:45 Um, but at the same time, like, what also is being onboarded [laughs] with, with, with that culture and, and that, those things? 41:50 I'm not saying all bodybuilders do this, but what about all the extra stuff you're putting in there? 41:54 Yet the, the, the perception from the outside is this person's healthy 'cause they look a certain way, and those are the people that are getting the attention or they're getting the likes, they're getting the comments, they're selling the products, they're making the money. 42:06 They must be doing something right. Look at them. Yeah. But then unconsciously or consciously, people are looking at, "Look how messed up that person is," right? That's all they care about. 42:13 There's, it's just vanity, you know, whatever else. And, and again, that, that confusion, when you go back to the, the middle of the population, how are we looking at health? How are we rating health? 42:23 And, and how are we talking about it? And when it, and it almost always leads to the aesthetic, you know, outside looking in or outside, just purely looking at the outside. That's, that's, that's a dangerous place to be. 42:36 And it's created, it's created these problems. 42:38 So, a- again, when we're valuing health and we're looking at these other countries, again, going back to Steven made a, made some really articulate points there about how, how cultures-... view their health, right? 42:50 And, like, [laughs] go to, go to Asia, right? Particularly Japan. People are living to be 100 fucking years old, like, all the time. Versus our mor- our mor- morbidity rate, mortality rate here continues to change. 43:01 It continues to- Yeah, our life expectancy is shortening... our life expectancy continues to drop, right? Healthcare continues to get more expensive, right? It, sick care is, is what it is. 43:11 'Cause we're, people are m- more people are sick. They're, they're getting sick sooner in life. 43:16 Um, these things are compounding on one another, uh, for the individual and for the system and for our, you know, our financial, you know, stability and everything else. 43:25 And so what are we really, really valuing here when we're looking at things? And maybe we should be taking a harder look at some of these cultures. I'm not saying the Mediterranean diet is what you need to be doing. 43:36 But what is it about the Mediterranean diet that seems to be there's some correlation between life expectancy, vibrancy, health, yes, body composition, the way people function, and for how long they do it for? 43:51 And I think when you boil it down, it's steeped in tradition, but there's also other things there. Like, what are they doing? They're eating foods from the earth, right? 43:59 Uh, and they're eating foods during the year or throughout the year and, you know, year after year that are natural to their region, that are, you know, seasonal, so they're getting a variety of foods versus eating the same thing all the time. 44:11 It's most, it's very much less processed in so many ways because they're managing this a little bit better. 44:18 And they're managing not maybe even consciously to, you know, from a, from a, a, a, like a food production business perspective. It's just like, "This is what we grow here. This is what we do here. 44:31 We know how to do this really well." It's about subsistence versus- Mm-hmm... marketing or commercialization. Which, again, is more related to health. 44:39 This is what we know, uh, you know, works for us versus continually trying to figure out what could work better or what is somebody else doing better. So nobody should be looking at the United States for what's better. 44:49 [laughs] Yeah. I think the funny... On that topic and talking about how we tend to commercialize and pervert everything in this country, the, the whole Blue Zones diet. Yep. 44:59 Uh, and that, I forget his name now, David, uh, something or other, has kind of been this, uh, you know, the champion of the Blue Zones diet that has more or less now become, like, plant-based propaganda, um, where it's like, oh, well, all these Blue Zones in Costa Rica and in Sardinia and in Okinawa, Japan, and in, um, 45:17 what is it called, Loma Linda down in southern California, well, these are predominantly plant-based diets that these, uh, that these Blue Zone cultures are following, therefore plant based is better. 45:27 But when you actually look a little bit closer, there are other social norms in these cultures. Like, just the way they approach food is different. It's not necessarily the food itself. 45:40 Maybe there are some components of the actual food they're putting in their mouth, but it's their entire perspective and the way they approach food. It's very communal. It's a, it's a social gathering. There is- 45:52 Mm-hmm... um, it's steeped in tradition. It is much more connected to the region and to their traditions, and it, it is about subsistence and it's not about commercialization. 46:02 So there's all these other factors at play where, okay, well, if, if everybody in this region tends to live longer, just eat the things that they eat, and that's, you know, that's kind of the American way of, like- Bastardizing it... 46:13 yeah, of bastardizing it, precisely. [laughs] Man, that, and that makes me think too with that w- when we think, all those things you're talking about of, I, I think the food component is, is a very big component. 46:22 And I think, like you were just saying, where people, "Oh, we must eat exactly what they eat." 46:25 But I think a lot of these other aspects of health, like food has a large impact on your health, but having healthy relationships- Yeah... having culture, have a sense of belonging with others- Mm-hmm... 46:35 getting outside- Mm-hmm... like, doing all these things that I think a lot of these other cultures in these Blue Zones and other healthy regions do- Mm-hmm... that I think we miss. Yeah. 46:43 We just wanna copy what they're doing- Precisely... like you're saying, and, and that- Only pieces of it, though... only pieces of it. Exactly, yeah. Mm-hmm. 46:48 But you, you're, it's like you're trying to get just these, these actions here or these things that are very just take away, this is point me in the direction, versus actually, like, experiencing the culture in that way- Mm-hmm... 46:57 of what are these other lifestyle habits that have an impact on your health- Mm-hmm... besides just purely what are they eating. Yeah, exactly. 47:04 Yeah, your, the, the, the point I would make there is just that your health, your aesthetics, right, your vibrancy- Mm-hmm... 47:12 your life expectancy, um, but more, more specifically if we broke it down to, like, nutrition, your dietary success is never solely based on the food that you eat. Mm-hmm. Ever. Yeah. 47:22 It's all the things that we've been talking about, yet people are trying to pick and choose the, the specific things. I do bodybuilding, right? Yeah. Or I run, or I- Mm-hmm... cycle. Yeah. 47:33 And, and I eat this diet, right? I am carnivore. I am keto. I am vegan. I am vegetarian. I am whatever, right? 47:41 And, and this somehow equates to the things that I think most people are looking for and really want, which is just to be happier, healthier, live longer and, and, and- And feel better... and feel better. Yeah. 47:51 It's al- it's almost interesting on the opposite end of that, though. 47:54 I think some of the struggle in the US is because we're so, we're looking at other cultures, or we're looking at, because we're all mixed in where there's so many different types of lifestyles to look around us, is that I think on the other side of things, I think a lot of personal ownership and individuality gets left off, and the nuance gets left off when they're thinking about even nutritionally or other lifestyle habits. 48:13 So, like, we kinda talked about, um, I don't know if we mentioned this on air, but, like, the carnivore diet where some people, they remove all vegetables and they feel way better, right? 48:22 So they do that and they just think, "Okay, this is what they're doing. I removed all vegetables. I feel better." 48:26 But there's some individuality of, like, maybe it's just the certain types of vegetables that you need to test, and you need to try to experiment and learn what your body processes, right? 48:36 Not that gluten-free is healthy, but yeah, you may be intolerant to gluten. You may have some sensitivity to it, yeah. E- exactly. 48:42 So the individual ownership of what do you process well, what is, uh, how are you even going about not even just, oh, I eat this or don't eat this, but are you, for example, like a lot of people, oh, I- I don't feel good when I eat a lot of vegetables. 48:55 Well, are you titrating the amount of fiber you eat, things like that? 'Cause if you go from eating zero grams of fiber a day- Right... to 30 in one day, yeah, your tummy's gonna be upset, right? Yeah. 49:04 Like, so things like that, that there's an individuality- [laughs] Right... component, so. Yeah. 49:08 And, and I think also people are looking for answers because a lot of times the baseline level of health in this country is crappy. Mm-hmm. And maybe, you know, for example, they, they may... 49:19 You know, an individual may want to be a part of a culture for a different reason. Yeah. Because it is a type of, you know, it's a sport that they're interested in or- A social, something social... 49:28 yeah, some type- Yeah... of social group, and they wanna be a part of that group, and then they find, "Okay, well, these guys are carnivore." Yeah. "And so I'm gonna try that." I do this. 49:37 "And now I feel a little bit better, and now I feel like I'm part of the group, and I've gotten the positive reinforcement that maybe I cut some of the processed bullshit out of my diet-" Yeah... 49:46 "and I feel better," but I associate that with, "Well, now I only eat meat. I'm part of the tribe now." Mm. "I feel better. This is the answer. Your answer is wrong." Yeah. 49:55 No, the, the- And there's a misappropriation of causation there. Yeah. 49:59 The interesting part about that is what happens on the opposite end of the spectrum for the person that doesn't believe that or thinks differently, and how then that is, um, demonized, right? Mm. 50:09 Again, like, "Well, I don't wanna have anything to do with those carnivore people because they are..." 50:14 I mean, you've mentioned it on the show before, like, if you're, if you're carnivore and you lift weights, you go to the gym every day, then you're, you're, you're associated with a, being extremely right-wing- Yeah, yeah... 50:23 somehow. Mm. Like, somehow that's equated. Yeah. Uh, I don't know that any place else in the country or in the world fucking does that. It's, it's so interesting to me. 50:31 Going back to, like, the article that you're reading. Who wrote it? You know, who funded it? You know, th- those kind of, those kind... Wh- what study? Where did this come from? Who actually did it? 50:40 You know, objectively and looking at it from a critical eye and, and, and thinking about it differently. Um, and, and then the damage that that creates. 50:48 And then, uh, and the other part about that is obviously is, uh, uh, how long is the thing that you've chosen sustainable for you? Mm. And- Love that... when you do place yourself in... 51:00 So you've identified yourself as part of this tribe and you're doing this thing, but is that, is that, is that the world you live in? Is that the culture you live in? Yeah. Uh, and so if you're that person... 51:11 A- again, we brought, we brought this, this particular population up 'cause, um, for, because of, there's personal experience there, but, like, the East Indian culture, you know, specifically. 51:19 Like, okay, so you come over to the United States, you know, uh, as an adult and you adopt the carnivore diet and you lift weights. 51:26 Like, but your friends, your family, your social groups or whatever are the complete opposite- Yeah... end of the spectrum still, and where does that leave you? Right? Does that... 51:35 And how did, how does that make you feel or other feel, other people feel about you? I wouldn't have any idea about that from that particular culture. I don't know. I'm- Yeah... 51:43 I, I really have v- very limited experience like that. I don't know how they, how, how you might, um, be ostracized or accepted, you know- Yeah... on the, on the other side of that. 51:52 And then what does that do in terms of driving other behaviors and, uh, in, specific to your diet, up to and including, yeah, I don't like the way I feel emotionally, w- having to answer questions or feeling just so different and left out, so you immediately go back, you know, or, or you transition back to the other thing that you were doing, and how does that impact your, your health, your psychology, your- Yeah... 52:15 psyche, a- and your emotional state? I think that's, like, a, a good, you know, kind of look at how people struggle in the US, uh, as a whole with trying to find the right things for them. 52:27 But I wanna bring it back to the point of like when you look at, when you look at things in general, these... Or at, at a larger scale, the, the, the... It really isn't... 52:37 It's complex, but it doesn't have to be complicated when we, when we reach back to what the basic foundations and fundamentals of being healthy are, right? 52:46 And so however you're measuring that, whether it's the incidence of diabetes, your blood sugar level, your body fat, you know, your body fat to lean mass composition or whatever, all of those things matter, right? 52:56 And so is the thing that you've chosen and the things that you are doing, do they contribute to those, right? And, and look at the larger picture. Like, step back. Go to, like, a 30,000-foot view here. 53:07 And, and is it, is it... 53:09 Are, are you taking those things into account, or is it strictly being focused on this, this one thing, again, acceptance, aesthetics, um, and trying to fit in somehow versus trying to take care of yourself, right, and trying to take care of your health? 53:23 I've never met somebody that has been so focused on their health that... and done that consistently over time without planting flags that wasn't healthy. I just don't know anybody like that. 53:34 Certainly, people can be afflicted with things. There are things hereditarily that, that come up. You know, genetically, you can be predisposed to some things. When we look at, um, uh... 53:43 When we look at that, you know, epigenetics, what, what, um, can trigger certain things, you know, to happen for people. 53:50 I believe, like, all of those things are very real things, and I, I believe American culture, American culture just in the broader sense, has impacted that more than anything else. 54:01 And it, and it's because people aren't chasing health. They're chasing, they're chasing a thing that is outside of their health that seemingly they have control over while losing a, a, a, losing perspective. 54:14 And God, it's so easy to do with all the stuff that's being, being thrown at you. So I, I did... 54:19 I, I just wanna have the conversation just kind of from a, more of an esoteric, I think, perspective and, and maybe get people thinking about, like, how they're making decisions, how they're judging people, um, how they're, they're judging themselves as, as well, and kinda where they fit in and understand that, and hopefully help them understand to maybe look at it and, and look at it from a different, a different perspective. 54:39 Again, maybe that 30,000-foot view. Like, does this make sense for me? How am I really feeling? Is this really working for me? And, and where am I putting value? Is it... 54:49 Do I put more value in being socially accepted over my health, and how does that impact me? Um, and then with the, with the health piece, like how am I measuring? What do I really value with my health? 54:58 Like, can I do the things I need and wanna do? Is that good for me? Is it good for my family? Is it good for my relationships, you know, the, the folks that I'm, that I'm, I'm, I'm with and hanging around? 55:08 All that kind of stuff. So, uh, that said, again, it's, it's a little bit of a deeper conversation. 55:13 It's not like specifically eat this and don't eat that, and I think that's where a lot of people come to podcasts or, or social media or whatever else. They wanna be told what to do. Think differently. 55:23 Like it, it isn't, it... I, I understand how confusing it can be, but if you look at it from, just simplify things a little bit more. 55:31 Stop looking at, you know, where somebody came from, what they're eating, what they do or they don't do with their fitness. Worry about yourself. 55:39 And if you do that, right, and, and you, you stop comparing, 'cause that, that, fuck, that game of comparison, that is an evil bitch. Evil bitch. [laughs] Evil bitch. It's savage. 55:48 [laughs] It is savage, and we see the impacts of that all the time, which was the point of, of having the conversation. So hopefully that's helpful for people. 55:55 Uh, then the last plug I'll put into to here, maybe this was too much for you. Like, maybe it's like, "No, dude. Uh, just give me the meal plan template. Tell me what to do so that I can feel and look this way." 56:04 The, the [laughs] the, the reality of that is is there isn't one, man. Like- There isn't one right answer. Mm-hmm. There, there isn't, and, and that might be a tough pill to swallow. 56:13 It means going through a journey and a process to kind of figure out what, what works best for you. And, and again, the flag planting is probably not the right place to start. 56:21 It starts with understanding yourself, uh, with a little bit higher level of awareness, and, and, and things in general, right? 56:28 And, and you don't have to be an expert on nutrition, uh, you don't have to be an expert in exercise, uh, uh, wellness to, to, to be better, right? 56:37 And that should be, the, the process should be just getting better and picking up things kinda one thing at a time. So if you... I'll just leave it with this. 56:46 If there's a deeper discussion you wanna have about your own health, about being better, feeling better, looking better, moving better, living better, let us help you with that. Just reach out to us. It's easy to do. 56:56 Hit us on Instagram at red.fitness. Uh, you can also hit, you can hit me at ironsightspodcast, or just go to the, the website, uh, rdftrainonline.com. There's a contact page. There's all kinds of shit we do. 57:08 Like, I won't bore everybody with, with all the different types of products and services that we offer people, but the most important thing I think we do is we offer people, um, accessibility to a conversation, right? 57:19 And I think that's what people need. They need accessibility. And if you've made it this far in the show, right, in this particular episode, I think that's probably why you're here too. 57:27 So there, just, just putting that out there, that accessibility exists. We're here to talk to you. 57:32 Um, it, it may take us a couple days to get back to you, but we will get back to you and, uh, and, and talk about you and what's important for you, and then how to work within that with w- whatever culture, you know, whatever tradition you're steeped in. 57:44 There is no one way. We don't, we don't ascribe or subscribe- [laughs]... to any one thing, and neither should you. [upbeat rock music] Thank you for tuning into this episode of Iron Sights. 57:55 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.
