The Project: Kuwait

Shauna Reiter: Founder of Alaya Naturals Digs Deep Into Supplementing Your Life With All The Right Things

April 28, 2021 Mahdi Al Oun, Shauna Reiter Season 1 Episode 234
The Project: Kuwait
Shauna Reiter: Founder of Alaya Naturals Digs Deep Into Supplementing Your Life With All The Right Things
Show Notes Transcript

In this Episode Shauna talked about supplements and enhancing your overall life by making the right decisions ! 

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

supplements, body, feel, sourcing, put, day, eat, tumeric, parasites, workout, piece, husband, food, blend, effect, good, literally, tahini, weeks, year


00:00

You're now listening to the project to the project to the project, where we stop at nothing to bring you the right backs on health, fitness and psychology, featuring some of the world's most experienced professionals. So you can learn, live and win with your hosts make dr. D. And whether it's you mean to tell me there's arsenic in my protein powder, it's small amounts, but we all know arsenic can build up over time definitely caused gut health issues, and it could cause a lot of issues down the road. And it's just I agree with you 100%, that, you know, knowing the source is, you know, pretty much the whole battle, in my opinion,


00:40

marketing is so interesting in general, like, I remember for years in my 20s, I was buying things that said natural on it all natural, right? And then I read somewhere that, you know, natural doesn't mean organic, and it was sort of at the beginning of people going like, yeah, organic is really different from food that's not organic. And they just sort of tricked us by saying natural, like that word meant nothing.


01:05

All this and more in today's episode. Hey, everybody, welcome to this episode of the project. And today we are going to be talking about supplements with someone who started their own supplement company based off of you had some autoimmune issues, correct, Shawn? If I'm not mistaken?


01:23

That's correct. Yep. So many. I could talk about a number of times, like shuffling cards in a deck.


01:32

I'm sure you're gonna jump right into that. Shawna Rita, founder of Elia naturals, I hope I didn't butcher the name, I do that often. For some reason, the last three months, this, this whole COVID things, it's got me all messed up. So it's


01:44

a mind jarbo, we have to be very selective about where we put our energy and the specificity of names, I think is not a priority, a rose by any other name.


01:54

I appreciate that. That's got to be on a T shirt right there.


02:00

Yeah, I know, I've learned firsthand how important it is to prioritize. I mean, I've been even noticing recently that I'm speaking to fewer friends and the quality of my conversations with the friends I'm connecting with is so much richer, and more textured. And I just think that having to really selectively use our time has been a game changer for myself. I don't know about you, but there just isn't enough brain capacity for everything. And everyone, you know, the multitasking has to really has to really be so selective.


02:34

No, 100%. I'm curious, just that after you said that. Because I've been trying to, instead of texting people, or going on over here to what's happening them and messaging them. I've been trying to call people more just because I feel like I haven't, you know, like, it's easy to send a message now. And you don't want that level where you call them? Do you do that now too. I'm just curious if this is like a weird trend that's going on between people, just because for me, it was like, I want to actually engage with someone from now on. Yeah,


03:04

I do. I mean, I feel like it's really important to hear people's voices, I was a former singer and songwriter. So actually, to me, the voice is everything, having a voice hearing people's voices, you know, the major issue I have with texting is it it's impossible to really interpret a person's tone. So you know, you read a sentence, and a person might be basically communicating that they're in an absolutely desperate moment. And our you know, it's a 911 tags, and you think that they're like making stir fry and watching Netflix, because so much has missed over text. And also, just, of course, like the intensity and depth of conversation is diminished when the frequency is so great. It's like, it's like anything, right? Like, if you have three bottles of wine at night, you're not going to savor it the way you would a class or, you know, I'm I've become increasingly aware of my tendency to turn to sugar during times of stress. But I'm really conscious that when a piece of coffee cake becomes a treat, and not my everyday snack, you know, there's a different level of appreciation and gratitude for that consumption. So I feel like when we're consuming voices and relationships, and really absorbing meaningful connection, it's really important to savor it. And that just doesn't happen as much. I think when we're sort of sloppy and lazy with the texting. I think there's a convenience there. That is very tempting. And that I for sure utilize, I mean, I'm not going to wait to call people every time I have a thought that I want to share. But I think it's an interesting sort of overall question that we should all be asking ourselves is like, where do we find meaning in connection, like what is actually satiating and nourishing our souls versus just kind of practical communication? And also, you know, if you happen to have kids like what's the model that you are choosing to demonstrate and I've become increasingly aware How unconscious I've been with my utilization of the phone. And I've got a four year old, barely four year old and a barely six year old and they're watching me. I mean, my daughter watches the way I apart my hair, my son watches the way I talked to my husband, they're just on it absorbing like sponges. So if every other minute, I'm looking down, and not up, I feel like the message that I'm giving them is don't be here in this world in this moment with me, always be somewhere else distracting yourself from how you're feeling, or what you really want to be doing, that's going to serve a longer term goal. So it's not to say I won't text in front of my kids. But I, I did get on a kick for a period of time during lockdown, where I realized that it felt a little bit like survival to be in constant connection with people. But it began to negate my real life, you know, real moment to moment, relationships with my kids and husband, were right in front of me. You know, news is is the thing too, because people are constantly scanning articles. But how much of that content is really valuable for a source that's well trusted?


06:08

It makes so much sense, especially going into our talk about supplements and you know, satiating your body with the right foods and the right supplements, especially nowadays with you know, I mean, come on, everything's kind of engineered in a lab, to take a smell sort of training us to over consume in abundance. I mean, let's be realistic, you know, you don't eat a bag of Doritos. You know, if you ate a chip itself or a potato, you can only have so many potatoes. But if you get a Dorito you're gonna eat a whole bag at times. I mean, at least that's me.


06:42

Yeah. Yeah. Because they literally done studies. I mean, they've got people in a lab saying, Oh, it's too crunchy. It's not crunchy enough, you know, it needs more of this zest, it's got a not enough of those spices. I mean, it's so particularly an intentionally engineered and so is technology, and it has the same goal to hook you and to keep you addicted, so that you are not consuming what will actually nourish yourself.


07:08

100%. And that's funny, because someone told me Oh, have you fallen into the trap, or of the new trap? Or the algorithm of Instagram? Where if you post, that's where they like, I don't know, that's when your likes pouring when you're bored or something crazy, like, Yeah, and I was I was looking at my buddy. I'm like, What are you talking about? Like, I have no idea. I just post because, you know, I have friends in the states that, you know, I just updated, I usually post my workouts or whatever. But, you know, it's like, I didn't know algorithms and all this crazy stuff existed. I did know not supposed to know.


07:47

I didn't even


07:50

know they were watching me. They literally they disabled my account without any warning. They disabled my account, like four or five weeks ago. And I was like, why they said, you know, you violated community guidelines. And I was just like,


08:03

well, I want to hear that story. That sounds a lot juicier than the supplement.


08:08

I'm not I'm not gonna put you on the spot. It's all it's all. It does sound fascinating. First question is,


08:14

if you're a vegan, I apologize. All right, because I tend to make fun of vegans joking around. I have a lot of friends that are vegans. I have no issues with veganism at all. You know, it was a running joke between me and my friends of you know, grilling food or grilling meat and putting hashtag vegan. So a vegan took offense to this. They DM me and started an argument and you know, saying, Oh, you know, we weren't meant to eat me. And I said, Yeah, 1000 years ago, we were, you know, foraging for nuts and berries in the middle of the desert. I was like, dude, you're gonna eat whatever you ate 1000 or 2000 years ago, that's just one, you know, food and shelter. That's what you were looking for. And well, yeah, words went back and forth. And I said, you know, alright, well, who's gonna stop me, You and what army? So I guess him and his vegan army put in a bunch of complaints next morning. My accounts gone. And oh, wow.


09:10

Well, that's interesting, because that feels really that feels like inappropriate to me, because that's just freedom of speech. You didn't say anything that to me would warrant like dismantling the system. But I have to say, you know, these there's power numbers, and every tribe has its motivations. I am not a vegan. I don't eat meat, though. I'm a pescetarian. Who doesn't eat dairy. So I have a particular brand of ridiculous and I swear by it, by the way, I've never felt healthier, stronger. But I also feel like, you know, maybe at the beginning of time, we were primarily plant based. And if we could, if we came by meat, and that was incredibly lucky, we would enjoy it and then there would probably be weeks or months where we didn't have access to those food sources. In our body, my understanding is our digestive tract is actually not necessarily engineered to be metabolizing and digesting meat on a regular basis. But in moderation in small portions, I think everything is fair game, it was hard for me


10:17

to understand, honestly, to each their own, and I preach this on the show, like everyone's body is different, you know,


10:23

1,000% I think depending on your blood type, depending on your ancestry, your level of activity before you hit record, we were talking about you and your wife's protocols in your read your health regimens and what you've got going on with bodybuilding, I mean, I lift, you know, the only thing I'm lifting is my coffee cake, or my you know, my celery tray, I mean, you guys are doing heavy duty weight bearing activity, you might need the density of meat, you might need some blood in your bones, you know, I don't because I'm not physically asking that much of my body. So I totally agree. I mean, I think it's important to take inventory of what you're doing or not doing, how you're sleeping, you know, what the demands are of your life and, you know, different times of the month for women in particular, in terms of their hormonal cycles, you know, you might at certain points of the month require more iron, or more raw food, you know, and it's important, I think, to always listen to the signs and cues your body craves sometimes, you know, I'd like to say all the time, but I think the level of toxicity in our body can obscure intuition, but if we're starting from a place of really pure health, our body does know what it means. I believe that and if you are if you need that steak, like more power to you, you know, it's not my jam, but my husband's carnivore My children are carnivores, and they're all kind of like always in all of my 10th Day to you know, raps and my Brussel sprout tacos with tahini.


11:54

There's nothing wrong with it all right, there's nothing wrong with that like


11:57

honestly important this tahini it's so it's like it's talking about addiction. This tahini has become like such a huge part of it. There was a point where it first discovered this friend of Dini and I was literally putting it on everything including my like morning croissant, and my husband walked in I was like, are you dipping a croissant and tahini and I said there's absolutely nothing tahini doesn't pair well with like a good, like a good pair of blue jeans. It's like you can put it on a salad. You can put it on meat, like whatever it is. It works.


12:27

Just out of curiosity. Do you guys add? We call it by Hannah. Our pronounciation of is by Hannah. Not teeny. But


12:34

yeah, he is completely American and butcher butcher. Yeah,


12:37

it's a totally my mother says the same. So


12:40

I'm sorry. It's like to fear like my girlfriend from Russia is like it's a fear. She I don't know how I still don't remember how to pronounce it, Greg, but she always corrects me when I say oh, I say Kieffer. And she says it's goofy. But I have to say I feel kind of presumptuous saying it the correct way as an American to other Americans. Like I don't want to be that fringe person in a restaurant who's like, you know, the chi punk.


13:04

I know exactly what you're saying. I


13:06

know. So, here,


13:09

I have a friend like that. I'm like, dude, I just want to punch you in the face man. Like,


13:12

yeah, my mom has a flawless French accent. She was a French major in college and she could fool any Parisian. But we'll go to you know, back in the day when restaurants were a place where people went pre COVID you know, she would order this you know, this really obscure thing in French I think just so she could pronounce it. But like part of me it was just like blushing you know, going like, Oh, this is so awkward. Like I know you can do it but don't who are American. It's strange. It's presumptive. I'm joking.


13:41

Do you guys put in how much they're just out of curiosity? Yeah, cuz Yeah. It's like when I when I go back to Boston, and I get my hummus from like Whole Foods or anywhere. There's no tahini in it. And I'm just like,


13:53

isn't that crazy is missing so there's there's a great kebab place here that we're actually I order from my kids the chicken kebab because I don't like to cook meat. And it's super traditional. And it comes with basmati saffron rice to the T word. I don't dare pronounce


14:13

your tongue. Totally. You're totally


14:15

homeless.


14:18

Yeah, no, it's delicious. It's all is it? Is it?


14:22

Is it like a Lebanese restaurant? I mean, they got kebab.


14:26

It's you know, it's pseudo Lebanese? Yeah, it's it's actually like an Americanized la very pretentious version of Middle Eastern slash Lebanese. So it's got like, you know, a frittata that has like 15 kinds of zucchini in it in addition to the kebab. So it's not a traditional Mediterranean recipe they've, they've lost and you find it.


14:48

Trust me. That's, that's probably one of our traditional restaurants over here now.


14:54

Everyone's modernized. Oh, yeah. In LA in particular, it's like girls go to a rescue. Not in the order salad with him, but they take everything out of it. But the lettuce, like just just order lettuce or just buy lettuce. It's


15:07

so much cheaper. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no 100%. So let's dive into your background a little bit, how many autoimmune issues have you faced in your life and what led you to create your own supplement company?


15:23

So I was born with a body that for some reason doesn't want to produce a sufficient, I shouldn't say sufficient, because I'm sitting here talking to you, it's sufficient enough to keep me alive, but a normal number of white blood cells. So on a scale of like four to 11, I'm about a 1.7. In general, I've never been higher than a 2.5. So COVID kind of a frightening phenomenon for me, right? Because I don't have I'm not really equipped to fight virus. But at 14, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis In the same month, and actually was battling parasites at the same time. So it was kind of an explosive situation.


16:04

So what exactly is Crohn's disease? If you don't mind me asking?


16:07

It's not. It is genetic. It's generally hereditary. And we know now with genetics, that you have markers that may or may not be turned on, depending on environmental influences, it causes a lot of intestinal distress. And so that in conjunction with all sort of colitis, which I believe was emotionally based, and stress based, and having traveled internationally for summer for an entire summer, and having parasites was a lethal combination, so I was pretty knocked out.


16:39

Did you go to like Brazil? Or like, I mean, how did you get parasites? That's like something? Yeah, from drinking water out of the Nile in Egypt? I mean, no. No offense, my gyptian friends, I have a lot of Egyptian friends, but we do gyptian food. Oh, it's amazing. Oh, yeah, they ate everything. I love falafel, like the Egyptian falafel that I love. It's amazing. I had my buddy who was over here last week. And he goes, we don't get COVID I drink out of the Nile. I don't get any disease. Because the night their


17:11

immune system is prepared for us. They felt so much worse stuff.


17:16

100%


17:16

We're so weak here in LA. We're like so over sanitized with her when we were overusing PRL far before there was an actual threat. So yeah, so I was in Africa and Jamaica, the same summer, I was partially raised by a Jamaican woman who lived with us from the time my older sister, my older sisters, two and a half years older than I am. And so this woman, Lucille who's no longer with us, unfortunately. But Lucille moved in when my older sister was just three and a half months old. And she lived with us until I went to college. And she travelled back and forth between my parents homes. My parents divorced when I was three, and was with my sister, and I 100% of the time, you know, whereas my parents were with us 50% ultimately. And so I traveled back to Jamaica, with my nanny during the summers. And often during spring as well, I went home with her on the weekends. I mean, she was really a family member, like a second mom to me, but you know, tap water in countries where you're not accustomed to the bacteria and the flora, whatever's going on there is it can be really treacherous. And so between that and Africa, and just not being particularly mindful of you know, what I was drinking and eating there, I ended up with pretty bad parasites.


18:38

Oh, wow. Wow, that's brutal. How long were you like? I mean, do they give you medicine for it? Or I mean, I've heard sometimes they had to go in and get them out. Right? How was that deal? I'm just, yeah,


18:50

colonics is kind of an alternative way there. There are a few ways now that at 14 wasn't a part of my health journey. But open colonics I think are there are two kinds of kalon X, as far as I understand open and closed systems. So my research has shown that open system colonics are the healthier of the two the safer of the two. And I actually got a I got a series of colonics in my 20s. And let me tell you the things that came out, you cannot believe what is living in your body just like old toast.


19:27

Literally,


19:28

like I saw this, this tip have a piece of toast that to myself, I have not eaten toast in like weeks, I saw parasites. There's also these ionic foot soaks that you can do where you can actually see parasites and other heavy like heavy metal toxins and stuff come out from the bottom of your foot because you know, the foot absorbs so much. But I took a bunch of just traditional anti parasitics and then I also did herbs I did Chinese herbs and I did Paul Darko woodworm is an excellent kind of natural, you know, anti parasitic. There are a bunch of parasite detoxes that people can do, you know, in addition to traditional methods, but some of them are very stubborn. And I think what was challenging for me at the time is I had multiple influences with similar outcomes, you know that the symptoms I was experiencing from all sort of colitis were not unlike the ones from Crohn's disease, which of course mirrored the symptoms of parasites, just a lot of intestinal distress, weight loss, sleeplessness, all of those kinds of things.


20:36

Wow. So you're essentially kind of battered around in your early days with, you know, battling parasites. And I mean, that's brutal. So you get through this, and you've realized what you put into your body has an effect.


20:51

Well, that was a huge part of my getting through it, you know, so the fact that you were saying one after the other is totally accurate. Like, I had gone on prednisone for the ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's and I got so much worse, unfortunately, from the steroids, they then put me on a series of other Western medications. I'm unfortunately a very delicate, my husband calls me a delicate flower, I'm super resilient, but I'm very sensitive to what to input to anything I put in my body. And so unfortunately, I'm the person who if there's any potential side effect gets them all. And so that was happening with every medication I took, I eventually, after over a year of alternating between Western medications, got off everything and started from scratch holistically. So I saw a Chinese doctor at the time, who gave me herbs, I did acupuncture, I saw a Sikh who gave me homeopathic remedies. And I saw nutritionist and the nutrition piece was the piece that felt the most manageable and accessible in some way. Because I could easily select and choose what I was putting in my body on any given day versus with the herbs where it's this kind of abstract pile of roots, and you know, pieces of bark. And it's kind of hard to identify what you're, you know, consuming, but the food piece was a huge game changer, because I really began to understand the healing properties of food and how essentially food is medicine and can cure a lot of disease.


22:28

Yeah, no, and that's so true. And I shoot myself in the foot all the time, because I'm like, Yeah, what you put into your body has an effect on everything you do your workouts, your sleep, your everything. And I for one know when I eat, for instance, chicken, dairy, certain foods heavy on carbs, I don't feel good. But I love to do.


22:50

We all do I carry pleasure. Yeah,


22:52

I love to do it. I know that red meat for me keeps me going literally, I could live off of bone in rib eyes for the rest of my life and not have a problem with it. Writers you know, and poetry seems to be problematic. Oh, huge, big time. I don't know if it's just poultry in the Middle East. Or if it is in the US, I'd never really because when I'm in the US, I kind of eat anything and everything because I don't see that food all year. So I can't pinpoint anything. But what I have here, I can definitely pinpoint the foods that make me feel good, make me feel bad. And you know, just chicken just does not sit with me for some reason, my my hands swell up, my body just gets really inflamed. My joints hurt. And yeah, it just goes to show with what you said, when you can control how you're feeling through your nutrition and makes a world of a difference. Now, when you got into that piece of your inputs, so to speak, like your foods, everything that's going into your body. How did life change after that? And how did that start you on your journey of creating your own supplements?


23:56

Sure. So I do want to respond to what you just said, because I think it's important. If something isn't agreeing with you, it could be for a couple of reasons. One is sourcing. And that's why I think you noted that, you know, you don't know if you would have a similar reaction to food in America and within America. Of course, there are multiple ways in which food is sourced and a lot of ways are not as pure as other ways. And so you might have different experiences, you know, depending on which grocery store you shop at or which butcher you go to. So sourcing is really huge, which is why and we'll get back to the story of how I started my company but which is why I am scrupulous about sourcing okay because it does affect your experience with not only metabolizing but benefiting from or being adversely affected by what you put in your body. The other thing is that you know a lot of us don't talk about is that not every healthy thing is healthy for every person. Like you were saying, you know, you could live on a ribeye and then maybe that's your jam and that's what feels your body and for me, it would knock me out for a month. You know, you might have a sensitive Diversity or an allergy, to dairy or to poultry. And so, you know, for one person, chicken might be the best solution for their fatigue. And for another person, their body just may have an inflammatory response. And we know that inflammation is one of the things that caused brain fog and fatigue, and, you know, muscle aches and soreness and all of those things. So I crawled out of my sort of teenage despair. But again, after having so I just also want to know that what changed, you're asking about the physical changes, what changed was not only feeling free of the symptoms, which for me, were a lot of intestinal distress, only know I wasn't digesting food properly, a lot of bloating and gas, a lot of nausea, a lot of pain in my stomach, chronic fatigue, insomnia at the same time, which are kind of like dueling realities that are confusing for people. But you can be sort of brain foggy during the day, but up all night, if your body isn't regulated, and there's a lot of inflammation, but I also felt a huge shift emotionally and mentally when I changed my diet and began to heal. And, you know, we're now understanding so much more about the microbiome and the gut and how gut health is so responsible for an influence influences so deeply, you know, our mental health and our state of well being. But that wasn't as much of a conversation 25 years ago, when I was in the depths of my Yeah, yeah, people just kind of wrote a prescription. And there were not a lot of alternative remedies. You know, I had to do a lot of deep diving to understand later on in life, the mental health piece of wellness. And, you know, so to circle back around to your second question, I had two children and 24 months, and I had been breastfeeding my first child through a large portion of my pregnancy, gave birth and began breastfeeding my daughter. And within a very short period of time, I recognized how depleted I was, and to do with circumstances relating to my pregnancy, we had to move twice. I mean, the second move was while I was in labor, literally Our house was falling through, the roof was falling through from rain, we moved into an air b&b. And I went into labor that night that we moved into an air b&b with a couple of bags, you know, packed. So there had been a lot of exhaustion throughout, you know, the especially the latter part of my pregnancy, but also just to having a 24 month year old to be responsible for and then giving birth and wanting to be fully present for both of my babies, you know, took a toll. We also know that, you know, breastfeeding as miraculous and beautiful as an offering is it is to a child, and for mother as well. I mean, it's a beautiful gift that you know, for us and experience rest. It does strip pounds and minerals from one's body. And if you're in any way, malnourished, you're undernourished to begin with the consequences will surface relatively quickly in the way of exhaustion or depression. So I recognized pretty quickly after my daughter was born, that I was sliding into a place that I felt would potentially lead to more serious health issues. I had not had that experience after my son, but two kids and 24 months, breastfeeding continuously, lots of environmental stress that I was not in control of, and having had a history of, you know, really relying heavily on food as medicine, I decided to start my company, there's more to this story. How did you get there? Initially, we wanted to create a long for breast in pregnant men, because that's where it was at the time I was, you know, a new mom of two and, and breastfeeding. But I realized that I wanted to have a line that could sustain me personally indefinitely. My, my mothers were a little bit selfish in terms of wanting to feed myself,


28:58

but is it selfish to, you know, actually experiment and bring something good and nourishing to the rest of the world? I mean, once you experiment on yourself, you know, are we our own best guinea pigs? I always totally I always tell my kids, I used to coach baseball for 15 years. And I always told them, I would never make you guys do something I wouldn't do myself whether it was a push up a break, pull ups, you name it, whatever I was going to ask my kids to do, I was ready and willing to do with them. So I mean, I totally get it. And it's awesome when you can come up with a product from something you're trying to nourish your body with. So sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. But I just think it's great that you did do that.


29:39

No, I appreciate that. And what you're saying makes total sense. And it's absolutely accurate and onpoint. And what I developed essentially was more pure version of my own medicine cabinet, you know, because I wanted to trust what I was putting in my body because I was breastfeeding children. You know, in addition to that, you know, addition to just being your own best guinea pig in a way. It's really hard. To sustain passion about something that you're not really personally invested in, you know, and as a business owner, there's so much running a business that doesn't relate to the reason why you started the business and the more soulful aspects of what you're trying to contribute and offer. And so to have my own personal allegiance to these, you know, supplements and to this nutrition really helps me keep my eye on the ball, because all of the peripheral aspects of you know, sustain a business, ultimately are leading to one thing, which is my desire to help people and to help myself.


30:42

And that makes total sense. And I honestly, I really appreciate that where you said, you know, help people help myself. And I think it's great that you do have such a clean line of products out there. From what I could see. And I honestly wish we didn't have COVID going on, and I can order some of your products because, I mean, they honestly they seem really bad ass. Most of the things that you have in your, you know, your organic green superfood blend, or your super blend is stuff that sits really well with my body and you know, as simple as Moringa leaf, which is something I don't really see in a lot of superfood blends. You know, you always see the blueberries, you see all the poster boy stuff, but you don't really see some of the, you know, like the dandelion leaf, you don't really see that often. And can you dive into some of the thought process that went behind creating some of these products? And the sourcing of it? I mean, that's just I know maringa Moringa leaf pretty well and experimented on my own body.


31:43

Do you use that for I'm just curious, do you use it for energizing effects? Because of what you Yeah, cuz if you're weightlifting, yes, yes, yeah, I have a welcome to being like a mother of two small children. That energy doesn't matter what you're doing,


31:58

like I use that I go through a lot of stuff is for me, it's like my wife's like, oh, what's the flavor of the week this week? You know, because, you know, she jokes around? What's working for you? Is it creatine? Is it l carnitine? l carnitine. is a


32:13

na C


32:15

is an alpha GPC. What what's going on with you this week? And for me, like I so


32:20

many acronyms.


32:21

Oh, there are and it's sometimes like it's just it's turned into like, I'm just gonna put a scoop of everything inside my shaker bottle before the workout. But when I'm very heavily invested, especially in my recovery, you know, I have a blend that I take for my adrenal fatigue. You know, I'm 37 years old. So there's a lot that goes into my recovery right now with magnesium is a big supplement for me right now. I felt so much better omega


32:45

threes to take magnesium before bed ever.


32:50

Yes, yeah, I have. And it's irritated me a little bit. I'm not gonna lie. So I tend to take it a little too much. Maybe I mean, that you're taking too much of it. Yeah, I think it's a little too much. Even when I reduced it. It just wasn't sitting well with me at night. So I tend to take it earlier, I'll take it right after dinner at around six o'clock, I go to bed at usually 910 o'clock. So right around there. You know, and it's good to see your supplements, because a lot like I said, a lot of them sit well, like their supplements that I see out there that have you know, special that nighttime stuff where they'll have like DNA and DNA, it has the adverse effect on me. I'm wired, if I have any, right, I'm absolutely wired. And it goes back to what you said earlier, everyone's body reacts completely different. And you know, people that take ashwagandha, they'll get the calming effect, and you know that they'll get that side of it for me. No, it's the opposite. It's like I had 350 milligrams of caffeine. And I can't focus and just hyper. Yeah, it's, it's crazy. So I try to stay on,


33:55

chug on does an adaptogen. So the thing with adaptogens is it's responding to where you are foundationally you know, and everyone has a different starting point. Our foundations are different. Our hormone levels are different, our cortisol levels. And so the goal of an adaptogen is you know, it's an herb that tries to basically match whatever your body's needs are, you know, in essence, yeah, but we all don't know our starting point a lot of the time. Sometimes we take too much of something, or too little, and it's just not respond to what our actual needs are. And it's hard to assess sometimes because like we were discussing earlier in this conversation, our individual needs vary from day to day and moment to moment. You might respond well to something one day and not well, five days later, but labor things that don't agree with your body, and there's a reason for that. So


34:54

it could be the sourcing also, I mean, we don't have


34:57

it absolutely could be the sourcing


35:00

We have some of the cheaper brands in Kuwait, they come here, they sell really expensive. You go on to sites like lab door and you check out, you know, they're just the brand itself. And I've gone on and usually they've you know, it's a bunch of fillers. And one of the brands that, you know, one of our big supplement companies here have claimed is like, oh, the best omega three, you can get on the market, I dug a little deeper and find out they were being sued in you know, California. It was like


35:29

making false claims. Exactly, exactly. And


35:32

it's like when you when you're getting sued and you're making false claims, then you know, your products probably not that good. And I chalk it up at the end of the day to some things to the sourcing factor of it. We were talking about CBD earlier. And I have had good CBD and I have had absolutely horrible CBD. Right. And I think the same goes for ashwagandha theanine, I've tried different variations all over the world, and it's always kind of had the same effect with me. Sure. ashwagandha, I had noticed that my testosterone jumped a little bit I can kind of, I'm smart enough to know when I'm low in testosterone or high in testosterone, if that makes any sense. I can kind of course, yeah. Yeah, I can check it


36:16

definitely feel your wife can as well. Yeah.


36:22

But ashwagandha, all those adaptogens can and you know, affect your hormones. So it is important to, you know, as people who are not overly informed about supplements to not, you know, just kind of self diagnose and start taking a bunch of stuff. If there's an amount, like I've included some adaptogens, and my greens blend, but it's a, it's a very responsible amount, you know, and what I was doing previous to owning my own supplement company, I was constantly self diagnosing, and acting like a functional medicine doctor for myself, and trying every single thing in the market. And we have these beautiful gourmet health food stores here and supplement stores. And we have access to online stuff where it's like endless, endless amounts of herbs. I was just taking everything. And did you say it was an omega three, that was a company that was manufacturing? Like, are they third party tested, because if they are someone probably would have discovered discrepancies between their what they're claiming and what the actual effects of the supplements are. And unfortunately, the effects of supplements that aren't well sourced and aren't organic and pure, are not neutral, that they're not benign, like they can actually hurt you and have harmful effects. It's way better not to put anything in your body, in my opinion, than things that aren't that aren't organic and properly sourced.


37:44

I would have to agree with that. One thing that I was I was bewildered at when I saw a few years ago, when I first was introduced to like, sites like lab door, for instance, was arsenic. I was like, wait, so you mean to tell me there's arsenic in my protein powder. It's small amounts, but we all know arsenic can build up over time definitely caused gut health issues and it could cause a lot of issues down the road. And it's just I agree with you 100% that, you know, knowing the source is, you know, pretty much the whole battle in my opinion. It's funny that when you say you are your own kind of doctor, you know, and I went down that route with the hillbilly tonic. I'm not sure if you've heard of that one.


38:26

I need to know everything around it. I want to get out some barbecue sauce and cornbread, right? Ever. That was delightful.


38:34

But one of my buddies Yeah, we get a lot of guys from the military here and he introduced me to it. It's got like Tabasco sauce, garlic, peppers, cayenne peppers. It's got shredded horseradish. It's literally got everything in it. Anything you can kind of think of That's gross. It's pretty much in there. And you put it in a jar and just kind of let it sit for like three or four days. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my first time trying this. I was kinda like, I was like, Dude, are you sure?


39:03

Are you sure they weren't playing a prank on you? I'm starting to do they tell you to put like a toads foot in there or something that


39:12

I don't know. It was it was pretty nasty. I can't say I felt great drink in it. You know the whole thing was to drink a shot a day and Darryl did this he swears by it. He's


39:22

he was natural. Basically it's an it's an homemade natural antibiotic. So let's kill whatever is


39:28

whatever's whatever's in your body. And he swore by it. He was 58 still bench pressing around 300 pounds. So I was kind of like, Alright, let's do doing something. Right.


39:38

Right, right.


39:39

I did it for about a week and I was like, God, I can't do this. And he


39:42

was doing steroids. Let's be on jackin here's my personal thought about that. So I sell olive leaf extract, which is an antiviral, anti microbial, anti bacterial. It's amazing. It's a natural antibiotic. That in conjunction with olive leaf extract, which you can take in capsule form or in a tincture, that will knock a lot out. There's other stuff too. I mean, people take garlic, I'm of the mindset that people probably shouldn't be taking that kind of a brew that kind of cocktail on a daily basis, because you sort of want to save it for a moment where your body is actually trying to fight something, it's hard. It's hard to know, with our immune systems, what is too much and what's not enough, but I feel like you know, like, in the same way that we only save antibiotics for a time when we're really not well, when we're not healthy and need to be killing something, we don't actually want to be killing everything in our gut every day, we want to actually, you know, be a little bit more refined with our sensibilities about what we're preserving what we're not. And so when we actually do throw darts at whatever, you know, intruder invader is in there. It's responsive.


40:57

That makes total sense. And that just brings me on to tumeric. And tumeric has been such a hot topic over the last few years. You know, it seems like every single supplement company has a tumeric supplement. Personally, I used to mix my own tumeric it's gross, but I just take a teaspoon of it, you know, in the morning out, you know, it was after my hillbilly tonic,


41:21

they actually just had a tumeric loss.


41:25

You guys out in LA you guys have everything out there. I mean, I haven't had a tumeric latte


41:29

with homemade almond milk, and Ceylon cinnamon. This was my last day. I'm just remembering a few moments ago the joy of


41:36

seeing Oh, so you didn't you didn't go to Starbucks. You had that at home?


41:40

Yeah, I may I make my own lattes every night. Usually I do a matcha latte. Every morning, I pick up Do you guys have matcha?


41:48

Yeah.


41:50

Yeah, it's just become so popularized overnight here. But I do a much a lot of Thai almost every morning. And it's got such good stuff in it. But I did add tumeric this morning. So it was like more of a tumeric matcha latte. I mean, sometimes my flavor choices are like a little bit to experiment with like, there's just too many flavor profiles in this one beverage, but it's exciting to kind of mix and match.


42:15

Now do you feel it? Here's my question to you. Because you've experimented a lot on your body. I've experimented a lot, especially with taking supplements. Also, do you feel an immediate difference within a few days or a week? Or do you feel the difference when you stop taking it for


42:30

tumeric? in particular? I'd


42:31

say I'd say yeah, I'd say with anti inflammatory such as tumeric. And you know, you know, I


42:36

don't take tumeric regular basis. So first of all, it's curcumin is that you know, yeah, component of tumeric that is anti inflammatory. So I actually that's one of the things I sell, right, I sell curcumin, I take it a lot, my husband had shoulder surgery and as all kinds of inflammation all the time from his diet, his carnivorous sugar infused diet. I'm messing with, you know, it's mostly the sugar and the sugar. In his case, it's definitely the sugar. In my case, I have got a really wicked sweet tooth. But um, so he takes curcumin, he does notice more of a difference than I do. I think I work so actively to counter inflammation in my daily choices by getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water, and not eating foods that I know are inflammatory for my body. So when you're that nuanced, you know, I really have eliminated so many of my sources of inflammation that I don't think a tumeric latte is gonna you know, I'm not if I'm noticing a difference from one tumeric latte, I feel like it is probably a placebo. I think it takes probably two, two weeks minimum to really notice a difference in general with supplementation unless it's, you know, you're popping in the Advil or something. Right? But like when it comes to more holistic supplements, it takes a couple weeks. And for me for sure, yes, I noticed more when I'm not taking it because the new normal becomes like me feeling Amazing, right? Like, I'm going to be 40 in July. I've never ever in my life felt better than I feel today. But when I get off track, and I've stopped taking my supplements and I start eating too much sugar and I'm not sleeping great. You know, I noticed I feel it. I feel it really quickly.


44:18

You just kind of answered what I was looking for ours hoping to hear actually, because I I was you know i supplied with tumeric it was part of the recovery blend that I was taking over the summer. And you know, I've been getting hurt a lot the past six weeks. And it's because you know, I've run out basically, you know, being in Kuwait with COVID. It's like anything you order from abroad. You know you were talking about this earlier, you can't really get as much of it now and then when you do get it it takes about two or three weeks to re up depending on the shipping and depending on everything else. And I cut this out I didn't think anything of it. And my wife actually brought it to my attention and she was like, yeah, you haven't been supplementing with your tumor lately, and What do you mean? She was like your recovery blend? I was like, Ah, that makes sense. And it was heavy on the tumeric side, it was tumeric CBD. It was a mixture of tumeric and CBD. So I think it you know, is killing two birds with one stone basically.


45:15

Maybe you don't feel the pain from the CD.


45:17

I know maybe that's a good mood. You're


45:19

like, Who cares if it hurts?


45:21

I know, right? I don't see CBD. Actually, surprisingly, I was like, Alright, let me try and take CBD before I workout and see what happens.


45:30

Hmm,


45:31

I had like one of the best workouts of my life. And I don't know if it was a placebo effect or what it was, but I'm definitely too chicken to try it again. Because you don't want to ruin that like magical. I really, I really don't I just


45:45

don't want to find out if it was a placebo.


45:47

Yeah, I really don't. Because I had a flow in CrossFit. There's Olympic lifting and then there's like a workout where it's, you know, high intensity basically interval training for like 20 or 30 minutes a day, you know, it kills me kills my central nervous system. So this I was like, calm moving through it, you know, going on a really good steady pace. And afterwards, I was like, What was different now could have been the CBD? You know, I chalked it up to I just slept well the night before. But like he said, I don't want to ruin it. But I was just curious with the tumor question because your tumeric blend is 95% curcumin, other supplements on the market are a lot less. Yeah, I


46:25

don't think they're probably as effective as mine


46:29

is probably just a VC for blood.


46:32

There's a reason it's that percentage, because we want to actually feel effects. Right? Like, yeah, you know, and that's, again, with just trusting reputable sources. It's like people can throw it a name or a label at something. And it doesn't necessarily mean anything, right? Like you have like how much is actually of the active ingredient is something that is actually in the supplement, you know, to ensure that it has a real benefit and effect. Marketing is so interesting in general, like I remember for years in my 20s, I was buying things that said natural on it all natural, right? Like, I would buy whatever chips or you know, this is when it was like, I was like healthy, but still wanting my Intel, you know, I'm not like I am now or it's like cassava tortillas and whatever. But I was like, oh, natural, natural. And I read somewhere that you know, natural doesn't mean organic. And this was sort of at the beginning of people going like, yeah, organic is really different from food that's not organic. And they just sort of tricked us by saying natural, like that word meant nothing. It was naturally not natural. Like it didn't mean anything. Like it wasn't even non GMO like it did nothing. But I was buying it because it said natural. And so we have to be really careful to not be seduced, you know, by beautiful labels and packaging. And to really do the deeper dive, you know, it sounds like you do, like you unpack things and go like, Oh, this doesn't really make sense when I look at it. Or if I take this, I don't feel good, there might be something else going on here. You know. And that's what I did. I mean, when I started my supplement company, I was not having great experiences with the nutrition that I was consuming, I wasn't having the effects I wanted, I didn't like the way things tasted, I didn't want to have to be constantly mixing and matching and playing doctor all the time, I wanted to work with a great team of consultants to create stuff that I trusted, that's also, you know, indicative of the controlling part of, you know, like, the part of me that just really wanted some assurance that I would be well and stay well. But we all need that right now. I think we've COVID in particular, people, there's so much outside of our control right now, it's really hard to let go and to continue to focus on our little micro worlds, you know, and the things that are beautiful in our everyday lives. But I have to say this nutrition has sustained me and given me peace of mind during a time that you know, but as I think catalyzed insecurities for a lot of people, you know, it's it's been a really strange time psychologically, mentally, emotionally and physically for people. And to know that there's, you know, nourishment that I feel is keeping me strong, has been really helpful for me.


49:15

And that makes total sense. And I think it's awesome that you can actually put things into your body that you're well versed on and know a lot about.


49:23

Are you calling me a control freak?


49:30

Definitely, definitely. That's me say that you're pretty smart.


49:34

With my husband before the interview. Okay, good. We're in good shape. All right.


49:39

This moves me on to my next question. And it's, I think, a question that a lot of people have, but no one ever comes out and asks, and I think you could probably explain it a lot better than me. spirulina. You also offer that supplement. What does spirulina do? What's its background, I would say just to give our listeners a little Have a background on it because I can answer that. But I'm not going to give the same answer that you're going to give.


50:05

I'm just curious and I have to ask you again. I love asking. I'm like, I totally know your whole art like arsenal. And I wish that I could ship you stuff right away. But have you tried spirulina for energizing again,


50:18

I honestly I tried a blend of and my guys at the office thought I was absolutely insane because I walked into in, you know, this is, you know, this is a very culture sensitive office that I work at. We're talking, you know, guys that are of the Bedouin culture. They're very, very in tune to habits rituals, so to speak. And they look at me funny because A, I don't dress like them b i don't talk like them and see I sure as hell don't eat like them. And they saw me walking with a bunch of baggies of green stuff in it. And they're like spirulina matcha forget the other one. It was a brown powder. And I was essentially taking this maka. maka. Yes, it was. It was Makkah, which I haven't been able to find in Kuwait for like,


51:08

Oh, no. You can find it here literally, like on the sidewalk.


51:12

I know. So abundant. You guys


51:14

have everything over there. Like I'm so jealous.


51:16

And moq is great for fertility. So I've been recommending it to some girlfriends who are having issues with that.


51:21

So on. Alright, so that's more for females. I'm glad I knew I was taking some.


51:26

But it's energizing. It's energizing as well.


51:28

I'll definitely say like when I took my weird green powder blend and stuff in the morning, I did feel energized for the rest of the day. Whether it was that or abundance of coffee that I was drinking either or. But I'm sure it helped me along the way. But for us spirulina was actually really expensive. I think I bought a bag of it for 40 or $50. Oh my Yeah, it was really expensive. And I remember my wife saying, Are you sure you're gonna actually use that? Like, yeah, I always use this stuff. But what is it? It's like, well, you


52:01

definitely have to be at that price point. I'm not really asking you I'm telling. She


52:06

looked at my shelf, and she'd be like, you've wasted so much money this month. But I was like, Yeah, but look at me, I'm gonna be healthy. And


52:13

oh, my gosh, my husband and I has given me that lecture so many times, because I try every you know, every powder every day, I'm like, should we add this to a formula, I'm in the middle of formulating a bunch of new stuff, including an adrenal and stress support supplement. But because of that, I'm literally trying everything. And he's like, what are you gonna do with the rest of this model or the rest of this package, and like, I'm gonna wait like a year to throw it away until it expires, I don't feel like as guilty. So the algae world is kind of awesome. And the benefits are pretty incredible. I don't want to over state because what I'm about to say, is still speculative. But there is trending research, that implies that there might be some anti cancer benefits to, you know, members of the allergy world as well. And for some reason, cancers, the one struggle that I've always feared is it doesn't run in my family, and I don't have it, but I do a lot of like anti cancer, cancer prevention. For myself. Personally, I just think with the level of toxicity in the world, it's kind of wise for us all to be really mindful of detoxifying and staying clean and, and algae. I think it's going to explode pretty in a couple years. I think we're going to have a lot more data to support that. But yeah, the energizing pieces here To me, it's funny, because you're talking about did you mention maringa? A while back? Yes, yeah. Which is something that some of my supplements, it's also good for breastfeeding, by the way, it's good for increases milk production. But yeah, all of these things that I've I supplements tend to have an energizing effect, because it's a new mode. That was what I was looking for. And now as a mother of a four and six year old, I'm like, Oh, I need the adrenal support. Now, I need to calm down. Because I have little Rugrats running around teasing each other. I mean, you and I were laughing right before you press record because you were handling your son and my daughter had just accidentally split my son's lip open and he was bleeding everywhere. And my husband was chasing them out of the room so we could chat. So the next round of supplements that I'm working on have to do with a supporting thyroid supporting women's libido, supporting detoxification, so you can tell I'm aging. You can tell now that I'm thinking about all these next things that are very relevant to me. So adrenal support is going to be at the top of the list. I've already got sort of basic formulas for this stuff.


54:59

Oh, That's a


55:00

require a lot of Thank you, I'm excited about what's gonna be a while


55:04

I'm not gonna lie, I've tried several adrenal blends, and you know, I look I'm a crossfitter, I work hard every day for about two, three hours talking, lifting heavy, and I try to do it, I try in quotations, I still try to be competitive at my age, on a master's level from 35 to 40, or whatever. So um, I still try to be as competitive as possible. And you know, that's working full time go to the gym for two, three hours, or two hours, so to speak. If you take out the stretching, that usually takes me an hour to just get loose nowadays. So, I mean, you know, I've I've tried different supplements to sort of stave off the adrenal fatigue that goes on in my body. And, you know, I stuck with it for about two, three weeks, but I really didn't find any changes at all. And that was, well, I was still tracking my HRV, I was tracking my sleep. So I was kind of really on point with everything, I think, you know, goes, maybe it just didn't work for me, you know what was in there, I would like when you definitely when you have something put on the market, I'm going to come back for your site. And I'll probably check it out and try


56:14

I'm putting together something pretty clever. So I'm sure it will include ingredients that whatever you've sampled doesn't include, but I will also say for you, the key might just be supporting your baseline with organic green super blend kinds of things, so that you just don't max out and aren't as crushed. They don't require as much aftercare. So there are different ways to approach it. I mean, we all want kind of the prevention angle, right? We want to prevent not feeling our best and then we want to recover and to support ourselves. recovery process just sounds like you might want to emphasize and place more energy on the prevention. Yeah, and then allow sleep and kind of naturally distressing to support your body. Which they will


57:03

Yeah, I mean, I hope it works. I try everything in the kitchen sink sometimes I throw it out my I mean how my wife almost killed me when he or she saw that a Sona was being delivered to the house. She's like,


57:15

Oh, I'm dying for one I just I've been researching does your head stick out of it? Because that's I just don't want to fry my brain. Oh, no mines, like,


57:22

mines. Mine was at I bought mine from a store here in Kuwait. It was on the floor. And I said, Look, dude, this has been on the floor for a year and a half. I will buy it off of you right now, if you take off about 300 Katie, which is the equivalent to $1,000. So I was like, if, if you can cut the price down to that much, I'll give you the cash right now. And I'll buy lunch. So the guy goes, let me talk to my manager, whatever comes back and he goes, alright, we can do that deal. Your raise any way to make a deal. And you know, I was like, Oh, look, see the rubbers fallen off. It was literally stuff that I could fix in a matter of like an hour. So they show up and it's a brand new one that they had in storage that no one knew about. So so I get this awesome infrared sauna. You mean my wife can sit in there? Not comfortably? Yeah, you know, and not because of her. She's not that big. She's a power lifter, but she's you know, she's only 57 kilos. So she's still tiny. But you know, I


58:22

don't know what that translate in pounds. But 57 is a small number.


58:25

Yeah, it's it's I mean, it's about 100 110 pounds maybe?


58:31

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And she's that as mighty as you've described. Yeah.


58:36

Yeah.


58:36

I have no excuses.


58:38

She's got some serious strength. So she's pretty tiny when it comes down to it. And you know it's infrared sauna. And I swear by it in all honesty like I I do hot and cold. She almost killed me again. When I came home with a steel tub that was fabricated to put next so that I could do my ice and cold like is


58:59

I am so glad that you live across the world because we would just endorse each other to do things that would drive our spouses. I literally convinced my husband to get a treadmill not just anything treadmill, this Nordic really expensive Nordic treadmill that happened to be on sale over the holidays and you know, they have a guide or the screen they are running with you and all this stuff. And he got it he looked at me and he said you know what that treadmill is gonna be for you right? I said a lifesaver he goes no, a coat rack. And I said Come on, give me some credit. I've used it one time


59:31

I've used really


59:34

mines. Yeah and so that's why I can't like push for the sauna. Also we don't own our home you own your home right so you're able to sort of establish you know these things can really have a true residents a permanent moving a sauna and a treadmill I feel a headache. But so what I've heard with the sauna, not only is it incredible for detoxification and you know like cell turnover all those but I've heard If you are starting to come down with something like you just can sweat it out so quickly in that thing


1:00:06

I have tried that. I didn't have it last year when I had COVID. But this year, I felt like a little bit of a head cold coming on. And you know, my son had a runny nose, it was just a typical head cold. And when I when I felt it coming on, I immediately went straight into the sauna, you know, and I tend to go overboard sometimes. So there's a thermometer on the inside, I wrap a piece of cold wet tissue around it, so it drops the temperature


1:00:32

bypass the system, I bypass the system,


1:00:35

so I can't get the sun is hardcore. Yeah, it gets high. They're like my wife will walk in. She's like, why the hell is it this hot in here doesn't get this hot. When I'm in here. I'm


1:00:45

like, honey 4000 degrees. I


1:00:47

was like, honey, you know how to mess with this thing I know. And she looks at me, she goes, you're gonna kill yourself. I'm like, No, I'm totally fine. You know, I'm only in here for about 10 minutes, I go between the cold either a cold shower or a cold bath. Just because I know bring my body temperature up that high. I still want to drop it again to kind of get the immune effects on my body and height might


1:01:09

also say that the cold shower is anti stress.


1:01:13

It actually is our heater in our pool a few weeks ago. So our waters around 55 degrees and I've been jumping in it regularly for the past two weeks. It's been awesome to be honest with you like I get out I'm refreshed. I'm ready to go could be nine o'clock at night and I'm just like, wow, you know, like I am and I sleep like a baby. Those two things lately have been helping my body that's been breaking down from the crazy workouts. But Sona I would definitely say a Sona is a good investment, especially if it's infrared. So


1:01:44

I have to hear what happened with with your little head cold. Do you feel like the sun had a good effect? Yeah,


1:01:50

I honestly did. I think it didn't hit me. You know, like it usually hits me really fun as it and I did not get hit by it. I didn't have a stuffy nose, maybe a little bit. The next day I had a runny nose during my workout. But again, I went back in the sauna after my workout. I do it for recovery. Also post workout, you know, just to kind of relax my muscles a little bit and get my body to calm down. And it just really like honestly, I felt like it did detoxify me, it helped me sweat it out. And when I do feel like I've eaten something that isn't agreeing with me and I feel a little bit bloated, I'll go in there. I feel great afterwards. So really, yeah, I honestly feel like whatever goes into my body from what I consumed, you know, I sweat it out.


1:02:38

I'm gonna buy a house just so I can.


1:02:41

I want one.


1:02:43

Honestly, it's the best investment but my wife still yells at me every day, especially because I put it in, you know, I put her in a bathroom that is used downstairs. So she's like, so we have people coming into our house not only seeing a sauna, but a big steel tub in the middle of the shower. She's like,


1:03:01

they're insane. It's like someone wanders in there at a dinner party and just doesn't come out. Yeah. Knock on the door. They're like fully detoxed. they've missed the entire dinner. I would totally do that. If I was your guest, I would just disappear. You wouldn't see me we'd be eating kebab and to Heenan and all of a sudden, I would be done. I would have drifted away to that's spent the entire day in there. How amazing. It's funny


1:03:27

how many people have come here for like a workout and whatever. And I'm like, Yeah, dude, make yourself at home. Use the sauna. If you want no one use it. And I'm like, I don't think


1:03:36

people are scared of it. You know, I have some reservations. I had reservations before I really did the research, just because first of all, for a lot of people. It's not a pleasant experience. No one likes overheating. But if it's done in a way that is, you know, responsible, it should ultimately feel good. I think that you sound to me like a person who doesn't mind being uncomfortable.


1:03:59

I do CrossFit. We're uncomfortable all the time when we're working.


1:04:03

Oh my god, I'm so averse to being uncomfortable. I'm so adverse to it. I really tried a minute like my husband took my kids camping Sunday night. And it was my daughter's first time joining the boys. My son's been camping since he was 18 months old. And they my husband camps with him at least once or twice a month. I mean, they're out there year round in the wilderness. And this was the first time my daughter joined and I stayed at home. And I have to say I thought to myself, Oh my gosh, this is so incredible. I'm at home alone. And the next day they came back yesterday morning and my daughter goes like Don't you want to sleep in a tent with me and daddy met and I was like, just thinking to myself.


1:04:45

That sounds


1:04:46

so uncomfortable. And my husband's always like put you know, just for this tiny bit of discomfort, like a sleepless night whatever it is like you have this gorgeous raging fire and the views and the canyon and the borders and we're climbing and there's food roasting And I'm like, that sounds uncomfortable. Like I can just take a hike during the day, but between your ability to buffer discomfort, and then also your desire to try new things and to experiment. I mean, it's a really, I think, an important combination to get to your level of physical strength and prowess. I mean, you don't look like you. I mean, I can only see your shoulders but they look broad.


1:05:24

Yeah, I think I think that comes that comes from my mother's side. But


1:05:29

if you look very strong, I can't see your biceps because of the visual, I


1:05:33

have no bicep since I started doing CrossFit, my body's weirdly changed. Because CrossFit, it's very, you lift a lot of heavy weights, but you're also doing the cardio at the same time. So you don't get that hypertrophy effect you would get like in bodybuilding. Yeah, we do a lot of compound lifts like back squat, deadlifts, Olympic lifts, like a clean and jerk, so to speak. And then you go into like the watts, which is like, you know, 20 minutes of hell, basically, where you're doing toes to bar and double unders and burpees. And just whatever crazy crap my coach wants to throw at me that day. But it all has purpose to it. At least


1:06:11

you have a coach. Yeah, yeah,


1:06:12

I do have a coach.


1:06:14

So you're bypassing the sauna, but you do have a coach to guide you through. I like, that sounds very responsive.


1:06:20

And he always tells me whatever I say, Oh, I had a crap workout. He goes, how's your sleep the night before? How What did you eat? Or you know how?


1:06:27

He's keeping track? Yeah, I'm like, dude, all those variables.


1:06:30

And then when I say something, he's like, well, two weeks ago, you said you weren't sleeping well, and I'm like, Dude, why are you going back two weeks and my messages. May.


1:06:39

He sounds hypervigilant.


1:06:40

His he is he says very few words. But when he says something, it has a lot of meaning to it and substance to it. So it's pretty cool. Right? Really good guy. He's younger than me, which is cool. Great. crossfitter, high level athlete. Same thing very in tune with his body tries everything. I think it's important to try things like when you said earlier, you know you try things. Yeah, I do. Because if you don't try something you don't know how it's gonna work with your body. Have you seen the Halo? It's a like a headset that you put on and electrocutes it stimulates your cerebral cortex.


1:07:16

Yeah, I've done it.


1:07:18

I've done it too. And it's really interesting. Does it work?


1:07:22

You feel like you were tripping? It felt I felt,


1:07:25

I mean, I


1:07:26

altered


1:07:26

I


1:07:27

maybe I didn't feel anything. I did it to


1:07:30

prime my workout. And I learned how to handstand walk within four weeks, I would say at least get the quick basics of it. Like I was able to. Yeah, I was able to walk about five feet on my hands within four weeks. And that was me diligently doing it before every session of practicing my handstand walks whether it had to do with the Halo, or it was me I have no idea could have been but you


1:07:57

you love that placebo and you love not verifying what is causing what you want to keep. I love that. My son almost exclusively walks on his hands now he's This is his obsession.


1:08:09

Oh, that's amazing. That is amazing. He's Yeah,


1:08:12

he's so coordinated a little bit Acrobat, he just turned six. That is it. This little guy is so I just agile and fast. And he's got this athleticism. I it's funny, I'm happy to hear you have a coach because you're doing such intense training. And I feel like for me in order to work out consistently I would need someone just for motivation. I think it's so interesting, as motivated as I am to eat well and to have a clean body. And I'm incredibly, incredibly focused on sleep. And, you know, I've got great rituals in my life and routines, but exercise is the one piece I'm really struggling with right now. Like I just don't make time for it. And there's no excuse cuz I'm listening to how much time you spend exercising and I'm like, I have no excuse, like but


1:08:59

is it is it I mean for you like and I always say this to my clients, what's the purpose of it? You know, what's your purpose of exercising? Is it longevity? Is it you know, squatting down to play with your kid? Is it kneeling on all fours to play with your child while he's playing with his little train set? You know, for me, these are these are questions that I'll strike up to my clients and be like, yeah, you know what? It's Yeah, so I can play with my kid more so I can run around with them. And if you can already do most of that stuff, and you can go for long hikes and you have that then, in my opinion, pretty much physically fit. It depends on what additives you're looking for it to fit ish. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, please head over to iTunes to subscribe rate and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at the project. Thank you and join us next time