Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 253: 23 Fitness Tips and 23 Nutrition Tips to Make 2023 YOUR Year!

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This episode is brought to you in part thanks to some of our amazing partners like LMNT. LMNT makes the best electrolyte product on the market. In fact, I've actually started drinking my LMNT each and every morning before I have coffee so as to optimize my circadian biology, make sure that I'm hydrated, and make sure that I'm getting ahead on my water intake throughout the day and not reliant on stimulants, but instead being somebody who's reliant on hydration and the proper balance of minerals and electrolytes. If you want to feel your best all day, mentally and physically, it's imperative that you stay hydrated. LMNT provides a balanced ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium to support
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Starting point is 00:01:21 the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, as well as athletes like you and I looking to take your fitness to the next level. My favorite flavors are definitely the raspberry and citrus. When I put a box together, I try to load up on raspberry and citrus. And when you put your box together, you can get a free sample pack containing all of Elements' amazing flavors like mango chili, citrus, raspberry, orange, and more. To get access to this free gift with purchase, scroll down to the show notes and check out using the special link for Dynamic Dialogue listeners. This episode is brought to you in special part thanks to our awesome partners over at Ice Barrel.
Starting point is 00:02:00 If you're like me, you want to get the absolute most you can out of your fitness and out of what it is that you're doing in life. I like to make sure that I'm recovering well and prepped for hard workouts. I like to make sure that my cognition is sharp and I like to make sure that I'm doing what I can to maintain my long-term health. And cold water immersion is a phenomenal tool I use and have used for a while to help me do this. Cold water immersion or taking ice baths is a great way to improve your recovery and performance. Just a few short sessions a week can really make a difference in how you recover. It can increase and improve your heart rate variability. It can
Starting point is 00:02:36 enhance performance. It improves mood and brain function. It also provides an awesome boost of energy and focus because when you hop in an ice bath and you get this amazing vasoconstriction effect and your body starts releasing epinephrine and norepinephrine, it kind of lets you re-enter the world awake, energized, excited, and enthused. And I would much rather take an ice bath in the mid-afternoon, especially if I had a hard training session in the morning, than consume more caffeine. Ice Barrel allows me to do this in a super sleek, aesthetically pleasing packaging. It's a beautiful barrel that comes with a matching lid for keeping the ice cold and water inside clean, a nice step-up stool, a cover. It's portable and
Starting point is 00:03:14 durable, and it comes in a beautiful matte black and a gorgeous tan. I have the matte black out on my patio, and I absolutely love the way it looks with the fencing I have around the yard, but you can put this inside, outside, on the front porch, on the back porch, in the side yard. It's quite portable. It's very durable. Like I said, the design is super, super sleek, and it's very easy to drain to make sure that you are only getting in to cold, clean water designed to help you improve your performance, improve your recovery, enhance the way your brain feels and functions throughout the day. This is an amazing one-time cost tool that once you have it, you use it a couple of times a week. It is one of the best
Starting point is 00:03:50 investments you can make in your health. And again, if you want to improve your cognition and performance, and you have those midday lulls, or you want to be more present for your family or for your friends when you get off of work and you don't want to caffeinate, temperature modulation like ice baths or cold exposure or sauna heat exposure can be really valuable for increasing that subjective sense of well-being and bringing you back to a place of alertness in a really chaotic world. It's also great for just cultivating resilience. I find I'm much tougher. Again, this is a more anecdotal thing, but I find that I am much tougher, ready to face the day's tasks when I am consistently exposing myself to the elements. Call it bromeopathy, call it anecdote, but I will tell you one thing is for
Starting point is 00:04:30 sure, cold water immersion has made a huge difference for my health and well-being in just a few short sessions a week, and Ice Barrel is the sleekest, best-looking, cleanest, and most affordable way to do it reliably. You can head over to icebarrel.com slash Danny to take advantage of their 100% satisfaction guaranteed with again, a 30 day money back guarantee and save 125 bucks on your ice barrel using the promo code Danny. So again, icebarrel.com slash Danny and check out using the promo code Danny to save 125 bucks. This podcast has some awesome partners. And one of my favorite, of course, is Legion Athletics. Legion is my go-to supplement manufacturer for what I like to call my big rock
Starting point is 00:05:14 supplements. This would be my protein powder, my pre-training formula, my post-training formula, and creatine, and my kind of ancillary vitamins and micronutrient protection. creatine, and my kind of ancillary vitamins and micronutrient protection. So why do I like Legion so much? What sets them apart? It's quite simple. Legion uses all natural ingredients. All the formulas include natural coloring and natural sweeteners. No artificial sweeteners, just stevia. And every single formulation, be it a pre-workout or a vitamin, contains clinically effective dosages of ingredients shown to work in humans in clinical research supported by robust trials. No filler, just legit ingredients in each and every formulation proven to work. The whey protein
Starting point is 00:05:56 isolate is so light. It's fantastic. It mixes in water. It tastes amazing. And I drink it every day, even as somebody who's lactose intolerant. That's just how high quality this whey protein is. And it's sourced from Irish dairy cows that are raised well, eat their natural diet and packaged in climate friendly packaging. I love their plant protein too. For those of you who like something that's a little on the thicker side and you aren't a fan of animal products. Also, I love Legion's pre-workout, but specifically the pre-workout that does not contain caffeine. That would be their Stem Free Pulse. I'm a huge, huge fan of beta alanine and L-citrulline, but I don't like taking in wildly high amounts of caffeine. So if you are somebody who likes pre-workout with caffeine, you can try Pulse. Or if you like it without caffeine,
Starting point is 00:06:41 because you maybe want to enjoy your morning coffee or monitor your caffeine consumption, try the Pulse Stim Free. My favorite flavors there for sure are the new grape and the amazing, amazing tropical punch. As for my creatine, I get that from Legion's Recharge. Five grams each and every day. I take it on the days I train as well as the days I do not because Recharge also contains L-carnitine,
Starting point is 00:07:03 which can help with promoting muscle recovery and decreasing soreness, as well as some ingredients to help with creatine utilization. And of course, my favorite supplements for my ancillary micronutrient health are Legion's multivitamin and Legion's greens powder. Not only do these two products contain a ton of high quality vitamins and minerals. They also contain unique adaptogens like KSM 66 ashwagandha and reishi mushroom, which I like to take each and every day to promote my health. If you want to cover all your bases with a high quality protein, creatine post-workout or the ancillary micronutrient health stuff like greens,
Starting point is 00:07:40 powders, and multivitamin, I encourage you to go over to legionathletics.com and check out using the promo code Danny. That'll save you 20% on your first order and you'll rack up points that you can use the same way as cash every time you use the code and you'll also be supporting the show. Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga, and this is a special New Year's New Year's resolution focused episode. I have learned over the years as a fitness coach, personal trainer, online coach, and even coach to other coaches, just how big of a deal the New Year's window is for changing your health and changing your fitness. It is something that when I worked in the corporate side of fitness, working for larger companies, we capitalized on
Starting point is 00:08:32 each and every year, was very apparent in how things were marketed, and just the general social consensus around the new year being a great time to work on your fitness. And you learn to be a little bit pessimistic, quite frankly, about the kind of effectiveness of new year fitness strategies because so many people fail. And when I was younger, I would always make a point to harp on this. And I actually learned quite quickly that it wasn't very helpful. And so in the spirit of learning from my mistakes and trying to meet people where they're at, because like I said, societally, fitness culture, and just more generally the way we look at the new year window, this is a time where a lot of
Starting point is 00:09:10 people are going to be looking to improve their health and fitness. So this episode is designed to specifically help you, whether you're advanced, but particularly if you are new, with beginning a fitness journey and taking you from start to finish with 23, of course, for the year 2023, fitness tips and 23 nutrition tips that you can take with you and run so that you can engage with more health-promoting behavior in the new year. Do things that will help you live a more healthful life. If you'd like to lose weight and body fat in the new year, many of these tips will be helpful. If you'd like to build muscle, maybe improve your body composition, improve your strength, these tips
Starting point is 00:09:54 will help you. And if you'd like to just live a lifestyle that is more aligned with health and well-being, all of these tips will help you. So we'll start off with tip number one. We'll do 23 fitness tips. Then we'll get into 23 nutrition tips. But the first fitness tip I have for you, if you are looking to improve your health and fitness in the new year, is to set a little bit more specific and say something and kind of commit to something like, I'd like to run a 5K. I'd like to lose 12 pounds. I'd like to work out three days a week all year. You need to find a way to kind of pin or peg, I should say, a number to this, to peg something competitive to this, to peg something trackable to this. To say simply that I'd like to lose weight or I'd like to get in shape is not specific enough. You need to describe how much weight you'd like to lose or the amount of weight you'd like to lose, what that would look or feel like. And if it is a fitness goal, you need to be quite descriptive. So the first thing that I think most people fail with is just setting clear goals
Starting point is 00:11:02 that are specific and then breaking those goals down into small habits. So first set a clear goal and make sure that you break that down into the constituent habits. So for many of you, that will look like exercising and changing your diet or getting better sleep and eating more vegetables, right? Got to specific and gotta turn the goals into habits. So the second tip I have for you is to find a workout partner. And we've talked about this on the podcast before, and for many of you, it's not practical, so you can skip ahead if, in fact,
Starting point is 00:11:35 you think it's unreasonable with your schedule or with your social circle to find a workout partner. But one thing that I think remains fairly true is that people tend to share their New Year's resolutions. And one thing that you will probably hear from at least one other person when you discuss what you'd like to do better in the year ahead is, hey, I'd like to get in better shape. if they're slightly ahead or slightly behind, you can work to hold each other accountable, whether that be as workout buddies, whether that be as accountability partners, somebody who you check in with, somebody who you know is going through the same transition, who is looking to make some of the same changes. It's very, very helpful when you embark on something to have people with you. Human beings are tribal and we do better when we work in teams. It's part of
Starting point is 00:12:25 how we operate. And you might be one of the people who just genuinely does better going at things alone. I totally understand that. Or maybe finding somebody to go with you to the gym at the time you need to go is going to be challenging. But if you do have the opportunity to touch base and kind of loop another person in on what it is you're trying to accomplish, and you can hold each other accountable to, you know, hopefully goals that are quite similar, I think you'll do better. So, you know, look through your social circle. A lot of you have family or friends that you could inspire as well. So if you're somebody who's more advanced and you're looking to take your fitness to the next level, bring somebody along for the ride. If you're somebody who's just getting started and you maybe have a spouse who's been inactive as well, you can get them in the mix with, I would say, it's not going to be the
Starting point is 00:13:10 easiest thing in the world because people do have to want it, but a lot of people will at least be inspired by your inspiration. So don't be afraid to ask. Tip number three, make the time for your training. Don't try to find it. I know this is probably quite simple to understand, but a lot of people really struggle with the idea of instead of trying to find a time of the day that you work out, just pick a time of the day and go at that time. So, you know, I guess a lot of people go, where, where am I going to work out today? When am I going to work out today? I'm not sure when I'm going to work out today. Well, if you look at your schedule a week in advance, a month in advance, most people keep a schedule and you don't have a super variable schedule.
Starting point is 00:13:52 You can actually schedule your physical activity. You can just put it on there. You can say, hey, I'm working out for an hour, three days a week in the morning. Or hey, I'm going to work out these days at these random arbitrary times because that's where it fits. Put it on your calendar and you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to actually follow through with it. I know that it's very easy to make excuses for not working out, but it is important to prioritize your health. So try to fit in at least, at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day,
Starting point is 00:14:20 whether that's walking, okay? Whether that's weight training. I wouldn't recommend weight training for 30 minutes every day. It could be stretching, okay? Try to fit in 30 minutes of physical activity every day, no matter what. And then on top of that, right, you can have a few hour, hour and a half long resistance sessions, longer sessions, hikes, whatever. But don't ever go let a day go by where you literally sit the whole day. At least get up and go on a 30-minute walk. It will help you create a routine, develop a routine, cultivate discipline around your fitness, and scheduling something every single day will really help you habitualize it. And I don't expect you to schedule an hour workout every single day. Tip number four is to follow a fitness program.
Starting point is 00:15:01 So this could be something that's written for you by a coach that you're working with. It could be something like an app-based program. We offer these at corecoachingmethod.com. Could be a PDF program that you implement. We offer these at corecoachingmethod.com. Could be a custom program that you put together yourself using tools like this podcast or various different media channels that make fitness content. Even one that you put together yourself that's imperfect, because let's say you are inexperienced or relatively experienced lifter slash trainee, but you're not super well-versed in the nuances of how to program for optimal progression, that's still okay. It's better to follow something than nothing. And having a routine that you write down or you log is an extra bonus point,
Starting point is 00:15:47 right? You're going to get even more results if you write it down. So find a routine, find a program and stick with that. Follow that. Try your best to comply to that and you will do very, very well. Tip number five, again, might seem obvious, but it's not to skip your warmup, five, again, might seem obvious, but it's not to skip your warmup, especially if you're reintroducing exercise into your life. For many of us, we have ambitious goals each and every year. And many of you are probably in a situation where you're looking to get in shape for the second time, the third time, the fifth time, the 10th time. And, you know, one of the main reasons people's fitness journeys fall off the bandwagon where they are derailed or they're lost on their path is because they get injured along the way.
Starting point is 00:16:31 And one of the best ways to reduce the risk of injury or excessive pain or, you know, excessive soreness is simply to warm up properly. So set eight to 10 minutes aside to warm up properly before your training, get your muscles loose, get the blood flowing, get your temperature warmed up. And I think you'll find that the likelihood of you developing pain or sensitivity or even an injury that could derail your training goals or derail your fitness journey drops precipitously. You'll be much more likely to stick with it. Okay. Tip number six is to stay hydrated. It's very simple, but one of the most common, and I debated whether or not I wanted to put this in the nutrition category. One of the most common lifestyle behaviors we change with our clients
Starting point is 00:17:16 at core coaching method is to really, really make a point to get them to drink about half their body weight in ounces of water. I know that for people who are heavier, that might seem like a lot. So you can set a cap at say like, oh, I'd like to drink at least one gallon of water per day, or I'd like to drink 100 ounces of water per day, or I'd like to drink 60 ounces. I would say anything over 75 ounces is probably a good place to start for active adults who are going to be sweating and exercising and want to reap the benefits of being well hydrated and want to reap the benefits of having enough fluid in their body and their brain to perform their
Starting point is 00:17:55 best. So definitely take your hydration serious, drink plenty of water before, during, and after your training, and make sure that you don't wait until the middle of the day to start drinking. A lot of people drink mostly coffee or energy drinks in the morning and spend the entirety of their early portion of the day dehydrated and feeling not the best. Tip number eight, if it hurts or causes pain in a recurrent fashion, don't do it. A lot of people go to the gym and they see people do exercises and they copy them or they go on social media, they see exercises and they try to replicate those exercises in the gym. And a lot of times what happens is people do exercises with improper technique that is beyond their fitness level and it can create pain. If there's a injury that's already there, or if there's tissue sensitivity
Starting point is 00:18:40 that's been existing for quite some time, the wrong movements can make that stuff flare up. And there's a culture of kind of no pain, no gain and pushing through discomfort at gyms that make people want to keep going. And I think if you're just feeling a burn or generally uncomfortable doing a movement, you can push through pain. But if you feel pain specifically at a tissue or a recurrent area that causes pain, don't work through it, particularly if it's something like a knee, a back, a shoulder, or an elbow, because you do want to avoid doing damage to your body so you can train longer and build enough tissue resilience that you become like pseudo bulletproof. But you'll never get there if you're just grinding away at an already
Starting point is 00:19:20 agitated tissue. So be sure to pay attention to the feedback you're getting to your body when you're training. So that would again be, you could also name this tip something like listen to your body, but I thought that was a little too general. You need to pay attention to pain and if something is creating pain in a specific tissue, don't do it. Replace the exercise, regress to a simpler version or get help on your form and technique from somebody who's a little bit more advanced, maybe a trainer, maybe a coach. Just be sure to play it safe, especially with regress to a simpler version or get help on your form technique from somebody who's a little bit more advanced, maybe a trainer, maybe a coach, just be sure to play it safe, especially with things that are more advanced like weightlifting. But if you're doing things like running and you're constantly getting pain, you can always regress to things like walking. If you're doing
Starting point is 00:19:58 things like cycling and it's hurting your lower back, you can always attempt to adjust the seat, right? This piece of advice scales to a variety of different fitness endeavors. It's just important for you to understand that there's a difference between exercise causing discomfort because it's hard and exercise causing pain because it's not the right exercise in the way that you're performing it in that moment in time. Exercise is very, very safe. I want to make sure that I explain that ad nauseum throughout this because with novices, I think there might be a little bit of kinesiophobia, which is a fear of exercise
Starting point is 00:20:31 because it has the potential to be dangerous. And I'd like to avoid stoking that fire if at all possible while still keeping you guys safe. Okay. Tip number nine is to incorporate some form of strength training, no matter what it is that you're going to do. Listen, cardio is important. I don't want you to neglect it. And for many of you who are just beginning with exercise or it's the new year and you're looking to change your health and begin exercising, you're likely to start with aerobic training like walking or running or hiking or going to the gym and walking on the treadmill.
Starting point is 00:21:02 Most people do not start with resistance training. It is more common now than it used to be, but most people will not start with resistance training, and I would like to encourage you to do so. The reason for this is multivariate. There are no shortage of scientific rationalizations for resistance training. There are so many unique organ systems that benefit from it. Obviously, your soft tissues, your tendons and ligaments get stronger when you weight train. Your muscles, of course, get larger and more strong when you weight train. Your brain develops quite rapidly from resistance training. When we talked to Dr. Dean Scherze, he highlighted the unique neurological effect that we see with brains getting not only more capable,
Starting point is 00:21:48 but also even growing in response to weight training specifically compared to aerobic training. So a lot of incredibly unique benefits. The primary of which, and the most functional for you, is that you're probably going to have a better overall metabolism and lower overall risk of disease development as you age when you maintain and even build muscle. The reason for this is because as people age, they lose bone density and they lose muscle. Women lose more bone density than men, but we do see osteopenia and sarcopenia kick in. We see a loss of these tissues. With that, we see oftentimes dysregulated blood sugar because muscle is so important for blood sugar metabolism, which can lead to things
Starting point is 00:22:31 like diabetes, which is a really, really big issue and a probably top five health issue for most Americans. And not only can lifting weights help with body weight regulation, bone density, can lifting weights help with body weight regulation, bone density, which would be osteopenia and sarcopenia. It can help a lot with managing your blood sugar and keeping your metabolism going through the maintenance of muscle across the lifespan, which is wildly beneficial in disease prevention. So metabolic syndrome is something that most people are concerned about. And it is a, I would call it very much a first order issue with regards to human health, especially here in the United States. And you can really help yourself a lot by doing any kind of exercise, but resistance training
Starting point is 00:23:16 particularly appears to be beneficial. So I would work that in at least two days a week. If you're going to train two days a week, do total a week. If you're going to train two days a week, do total body sessions. If you're going to train three days a week, you can do total body four days a week, upper lower sessions. That's how I like to split it up. Tip number 11, or I should say tip number 10. I skipped to number 10. Tip number 10, don't forget to take your rest days.
Starting point is 00:23:39 This is a huge problem for New Year's resolution fitness journeys because people come in so motivated in the new year. They're so inspired. They're so excited. They want to work hard. They want to commit to this. They want to change the lifestyle from one of, uh, you know, sedentary, low movement, not a lot of health promoting behavior to one of a lot of movement, a lot of action, a lot of health promoting behavior. And while I think it is wonderful to engage in as many health promoting behaviors as possible, not taking days off and going quote unquote beast mode all the time is a huge pitfall and a huge reason people fail.
Starting point is 00:24:12 They just do too much too fast. And we already discussed what that can do to your body with regards to injury risk, but it's also really important to outline what it can do to your mind in terms of burnout and just the general low sustainability of all in or all out exercise behavior. It just doesn't seem to hold up well for most people. So don't do it. Schedule your rest days. It's important to give your body time to recover. So schedule in advance. Tip number 11, use proper technique when exercising. I know that that sounds crazy obvious, but it actually has less to do with
Starting point is 00:24:45 injury prevention and pain management than you think. You see, I promised that I wouldn't help you develop a case of kinesiophobia. So I got to share this with you. The form and technique with which you lift has a lot less to do with injuries than I actually ever believed. I used to think as a personal trainer, bad form would absolutely result in my clients getting injured. And while yes, it is important to lift with good form, your body is an incredibly resilient and adaptive organism that can definitely handle multiple imperfect reps. I don't ever want anybody thinking that if they don't do a perfect rep, they're going to get hurt and they're going to explode and their joints are just going to break.
Starting point is 00:25:29 The human body is resilient. You are resilient and you are an adaptive creature capable of sustaining and withstanding tremendous force from all types of different directions. But the reason to lift with good form and technique is that it will better help you develop your body, will better help you spread the forces out appropriately across all of the muscles. If you're doing compound lifts, it helps you keep the smaller muscles safe. You know what I mean? Like if you're doing big compound bench presses and your elbows aren't quite in the right position, you might use more shoulders than pecs. So you might be really putting a lot of strain on these little muscles and not training as much of your chest as you like. If you're doing squats and your stance is too narrow, you might not be stable enough to have high power output. So from a performance muscle development standpoint, form is really important. And then also from a skill standpoint, much like a golf swing, you might have very similar swings or patterns, exercise to exercise, but each club is different and you need to learn the nuances of each club. And there are so many
Starting point is 00:26:31 different exercises to learn and so many different nuances in how they are performed. I think it's really important to always use proper form during your workouts to ensure you're getting the most out of them, not just from a safety standpoint, but also from a development and symmetry standpoint. Okay. Tip number 12 is don't forget to take deload weeks. I know what you're thinking. A lot of you are probably like, I'm kind of new to this. Do I really need to take a deload week? And the truth might be that you don't need to take one in the canonical sense. Like a deload is, if you were to ask the average strength coach, they'd probably say it's a intensity and volume reduction somewhere between
Starting point is 00:27:11 20 to 40% of what the athlete was doing for a week. If you're new and you're training for two, three, four weeks in a row, I don't think you need to take a deload like every four weeks. But a lot of you will come out of the gates hot and you will train really, really hard for multiple weeks in a row. And it is important for avoiding burnout and avoiding injury that you make sure to give yourself time to back off. You will also tap into something known as super compensation, which is gains that you've kind of already created through your work that need opportunity to be actual need a rest opportunity to be actualized. So the best way I could describe it is like, you've done all this work, you've done all this hard training, and there's all these muscle
Starting point is 00:27:57 fibers that are just begging for the opportunity to recover. And a deload week gives them that time. And you're not, not, it's not that you're not training or just not training so hard that you do a shit ton of additional damage. And so what happens is you notice the recuperation and the restoration and your fitness level actually jumps up. You train really, really hard. And then you actually get to a point where you see diminishing returns and you go backwards. Then you take a break and boom, super compensation occurs. and you go backwards. Then you take a break and boom, super compensation occurs. So deloads kind of guarantee you get to access and take advantage of that law of super compensation, which is badass. It's awesome. That's what you want. That's kind of the name of the game when it comes to
Starting point is 00:28:36 fitness. Push, push, push, go, go, go. Don't overdo it. Don't overdo it. And relax, recover, repair. That's like a workout. That's a set to set thing. That's a workout to workout thing. And it's a week to week thing with regards to your deloads. Like there's so many ways in which you can apply the idea of push really hard, but not to the point where you break, but almost to the point where you break, then stop. So like in the gym, one set, push hard, one rep from failure. I stop. I do that for a whole workout. I do that for four weeks. And then after four weeks, I take a chill week. I think philosophically speaking, it's important to know when to pump the brakes and deloads will help you, again, better manage how you do things.
Starting point is 00:29:16 Tip number 13 is to find a training style that you enjoy. So I think it's important to find an aerobic training style and an anaerobic training style that you enjoy because those are the two main fitness pathways we need to develop. Examples of aerobic options, walking, jogging, hiking, running, rowing, cycling, stair mastering, ellipticaling, ellipticaling, snowshoeing, skiing, swimming, you name it, okay? Anaerobic options, these are all going to fall under the general umbrella of resistance training. Weightlifting, Olympic style, CrossFit, power lifting, body building. We could call it circuit training, be the combination of multiple exercises together without a specific fitness goal. Like the first five things I mentioned, like CrossFit, bodybuilding, et cetera. We're just taking movements and putting them together into a
Starting point is 00:30:15 circuit. Calisthenics, Pilates. Okay. Those are the options I like for anaerobic. Now I would recommend if you're going to choose to do the body weight variations like calisthenics and Pilates, that you are reasonable about your starting point because they are harder to start for heavier individuals because of the relative strength. And I know that a lot of people think weightlifting would be harder than body weight training, but it's not always the case. So find things you enjoy, lean into those, don't do anybody else's shit. Find what you like. If you hate running, don't force yourself to run just because you see people on the internet running. Find an activity you enjoy and you'll
Starting point is 00:30:53 be a lot more likely to stick with it. Okay. Tip number 14, don't compare yourself to others. It's really easy to get discouraged when you see other people making faster progress. But remember, everybody's on their own journey. Everybody had a different starting point. Everybody has different genetics. Focus on yourself, focus on your goals, focus on your progress. Tip number 15, try new things. Okay. I know that it can be very easy to find one thing you like and just stick with it, but I can speak from my own experience. I have found that I've put together a fitness routine now after 10 years that includes principles from Olympic lifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, athletic training, calisthenics, Pilates. I do a lot of unique aerobic training with my assault bike, with the walks I take the dogs on. And one of the things,
Starting point is 00:31:44 and even with supplemental things like sauna and cold exposure. And if I wasn't trying new things, I would still be doing the very routine I started with, which was hilariously silly to me looking back on it now. It's just so, so dumb what I used to do in the gym. Like I laugh. I used to start every workout with arms because that was the most important muscle to me. And then I would do super setting flat dumbbell bench and flat barbell bench before I went on the lap pull downs. And I didn't train legs because I thought that that would make my, I wouldn't as a basketball player be able to recover and prepare for practice because we were already doing legs with the basketball team. So I never did more legs, which now is like, oh gosh, cringe,
Starting point is 00:32:27 right? But I've learned so much along the way from trying new things, not being afraid to incorporate new movements and activities, just having an open mind, learning from people. I've trained with powerlifters. I've trained with CrossFitters. I've trained many athletes from many different sports. I've had so much of an opportunity to learn and borrow from great people and really put something together that works for me. And I would encourage you guys to always maintain an open mind and try new things that seem evidence-based, safe, and intelligent. Okay. Tip 16. This is a good one. And this is totally, totally one that people overlook. Use proper footwear. When you are going to the gym to lift weights,
Starting point is 00:33:06 you should not be using shoes that you would run a marathon in. If you are going to run a marathon, you should not be using shoes you'd use to lift weights. This doesn't mean you need multiple pairs of shoes to go to the gym. Truth is, for most of you, you can get by with a relatively flat-soled shoe or a running shoe that doesn't have a massive amount of additional cushion. So a low-profile running shoe or a relatively flat-soled shoe will be just fine. The shoes you want to avoid are shoes that are overly cushioned, shoes with a super narrow toe box, or shoes with no cushioning if you're going to be doing a lot of running. Now you can really get in down to the nitty gritty, the granular details when it comes to
Starting point is 00:33:52 footwear for running specifically. So I don't want to go there, but I do think it's important that you guys remember to pick the right shoes. If you're training at home, if you're training with body weight, if you're not training with anything you could drop on your foot, I also think training barefoot is a really good way to keep your feet strong, to develop your intrinsic foot muscles, and also develop balance, stability, and a nice amount of kind of whole body coordination. Tip number 17, stretch after you train, not before. Stretching can improve flexibility, reduce injury risk, reduce inflammation, and make you feel better and more relaxed. Training is also something that you want to get
Starting point is 00:34:31 the most out of. And I think a lot of people think, okay, well, if I stretch before I train, I'll get more out of my training and then I won't have to stretch later. And I see the logic there, but the truth is, it's probably better to do something a little more dynamic before you train, like a cardio warmup, and then some specific movements that are going to replicate what you're going to do. So for example, if you're going to do dumbbell bench press, you might want to do a few pushups. That would probably be better than just stretching your pecs because then when you go to your bench press, your pecs are in the lengthened position or not the lengthened position, but they're going to be slightly more lengthened. They're going to be stretched and their force production might actually diminish. Whereas at the end of your workout, after you've been contracting your muscles and pumping them and you've challenged them and beat the smokes, beat the shit out of them, smoke them, whatever you want to call it, you can then do static stretching, traditional stretching to hopefully help those muscles recover, help you maintain your flexibility and mobility. They will have
Starting point is 00:35:25 no negative implication on your performance or force production. And in fact, it will probably, if anything, just help you recover and stay more mobile and get to a parasympathetic state where you can better recover. So definitely make sure to stretch after your training. Tip 18 is to find a workout playlist you really enjoy and do what we call temptation bundling. So a good workout playlist can hit harder than any pre-workout. And what I would recommend you do is you put together a really, really curated workout playlist of your favorite songs that pump you up and really get you in the mood to train and only listen to those songs at the gym. I know that sounds crazy, but it helps you tap
Starting point is 00:36:06 into something known as temptation bundling, which I learned from James Clear's Atomic Habits. It's basically the philosophy that you take something you need to do and pair it with something you like to do. And you only do the thing you like to do after or during the thing you need to do. And so that would be, I love these songs, but when they come on on the radio, I skip them. Or if they on on the radio, I skip them. Or if they come on on shuffle, I skip them and I only listen to them at the gym. So that way, when you're on your way to the gym, you're like, oh my gosh, I'm stoked. I get to listen to my favorite playlist. It's my favorite time to tap into this and just go. I don't listen to that
Starting point is 00:36:37 any other time of day. I got to be training to get to take in these songs. You'll build a indirect positive association with going to the gym because you will essentially temptation bundle the music you really enjoy to the habit you're trying to ingrain. I know that might sound a little silly, but that has worked really well for a lot of people that I've worked with over the years. Tip number 19 is to try to do your workouts in the morning if you can. I have just had so much luck with this over the years with clients, especially when I train more clients in person, just asking people to go to bed an hour earlier and get up or go to bed. Yeah. Go to bed an hour earlier and get up
Starting point is 00:37:14 an hour earlier, come to the gym, see me, and then go on with your day. That way, when you're off work and you're tired and the stress of the day has added up and the kind of compounding effect of all the stressors, all the nonsense, all the drama is just weighing you down. The last thing you want to do is go to the gym and hit it. Like you get to get off work and be like, Oh, that was a crazy day, but I already worked out. I, that helped me manage my stress. I'm going home to chill. That is the best feeling ever. people. I'm telling you, it's one of the best feelings ever. So find a workout that's going to fit in your schedule. That's the first thing. But if you could do it in the morning, do it in the morning. And there's
Starting point is 00:37:54 no such thing as a workout that's too short. Quick and efficient workouts can be 20 to 40 minutes on the low end, up to an hour and a half on the high end, of course. But you don't need to be in the gym for a million years to have an effective, enjoyable workout that's going to help you reach your goals and maintain your fitness. What's going on, guys? Coach Danny here, taking a break from the episode to tell you about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method, and more specifically, our one-on-one, fully tailored online coaching program. My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for core coaching method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming and we have app-based programming. But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with
Starting point is 00:38:35 a coach like myself or a member of my coaching team, someone who is certified, somebody who has multiple years of experience working with clients in person, online, somebody who is licensed to provide a macro nutrition plan, somebody who is actually good at communicating with clients because they've done it for years, whether that be via phone call, email, text, right? This one-on-one coaching program is really designed to give you all the support you need with custom training designed for you, whether you're training from home, the gym, around your limitations and your goals. Nothing cookie cutter here, as well as easy to follow macro nutrition programs that are non-restrictive. You'll get customized support directly from your coach's email, or they'll text you, or they'll WhatsApp you. We'll find the communication medium that best supports your goals, as well as provides you with the accountability and the expertise you
Starting point is 00:39:25 need to succeed, as well as biofeedback monitoring, baked-in accountability support, and all of the stuff that you need from your coach when you check in. We keep our rosters relatively small so that we can make sure you get the best support possible. But you can apply today by going over to corecoachingmethod.com, selecting the online coaching option. And if we have spots available, we'll definitely reach out to you to see if you're a good candidate. And if we don't put you on a waiting list, but we'll be sure to give you the best shot at the best coaching in the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my team today. Hey, everybody, I have a favor to ask you.
Starting point is 00:40:06 If you're a regular listener or somebody who gets value out of this podcast, somebody who's learning from me on your health and fitness journey, whether you're a trainer, a high-level athlete, or you're just getting started, other people need this kind of advice. And the best way for you to help me grow the podcast is to take a little bit of time, literally one to two minutes max to leave a rating and review on the app that you listen to your podcasts on. The majority of you probably listen on an iPhone and you probably listen on Apple podcasts, but many of you listen on Spotify. Both platforms allow you to leave a quick, easy review. And if you could leave me a five-star review, plus a short one to two sentence blurb about what you like, not only will it help more people reach
Starting point is 00:40:50 the podcast, it will help me to continue to refine what it is I bring you each and every week. Thanks so much for doing this. It means the world to me. It helps me achieve my dream of helping more people live a healthier life. Enjoy the episode. watch and engage in sports with my friends. Underdog is the best fantasy sports app out there for best ball and for pick'em. If you like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WNBA, UFC, boxing, Underdog has something exciting for you. You can bet on your favorite teams. You can bet on your favorite players in the easiest and simplest way to engage at a higher level with sports. It's so much fun to be able to do a pick-em with a player from the NBA team I like and
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Starting point is 00:43:06 to the app store today, download underdog, enter the promo code Danny, and they will match your first deposit up to a hundred dollars. You'll have a blast playing underdog all season long. Back to the action. Number 20, tip number 20. We got 20, 21, 22, and 23 to go before we transfer over to nutrition, guys. So tip number 20 is don't be afraid to ask for help. Okay. If you're struggling to reach your fitness goals, if you failed in the past, consider hiring a coach, personal trainer, joining a class, getting guidance from a friend who's fit, reaching out to other members of the gym, asking for help with your form, asking for spots. You do not need to go this alone. And human beings, again, I will say it out loud, are a social being. We thrive in communities. We thrive in tribes. Find people to help you. Don't be afraid to find a guru,
Starting point is 00:43:56 quote unquote, a guru. This is from Robert Green's work on mastery, but find a role model. Okay. Find a guru, find somebody that you look up to. Hopefully, they're evidence-based and they promote good health-promoting behavior that's reasonable and something that you can adhere to, but find somebody to guide you. If it's somebody like me on social media or some of the other fantastic creators or a great trainer, whatever. I don't care. Find somebody. Don't be afraid to ask for help and find somebody to guide you on your fitness journey. Okay. Tip number 21 is to stay consistent with it. Remember, you gotta just keep doing the damn thing. That's the truth, right? Ryan Holiday says it best. I believe this is
Starting point is 00:44:40 specific to writing. It's courage puts your ass in the chair and discipline keeps it there. And so, you know, courage is what's going to get you into the gym. It's going to get you to go into the new year and try the fitness journey, but it's discipline that's going to keep you going. And you just must remain consistent. You must have discipline. Your health is way too important for you to quit. If you miss a workout, that's cool. Get right back on track the next day. It is very important that you stay consistent and you roll through your failures. Do not let them become things that hold you down and weigh you down and prevent you from moving forward. You must move through your failures as you start a fitness journey. It's not supposed
Starting point is 00:45:17 to be easy and you got to be able to keep moving forward. I promise you, if you just don't stop, you'll get there. A lot of people just start and stop, start and stop. If you just don't quit, you will get there. It's really quite remarkable. In fact, tip number 22, have fun with this. If you find, find a way to have fun with this, it does not have to suck. If you're just like, dude, everything about this is miserable. Go back to the drawing board.
Starting point is 00:45:44 See what you can do. Your exercise and fitness should be enjoyable. Don't forget to have fun when you're working out. Again, find styles of training that vibe with you and that work well for you. The last tip guys, tip 23, before we transfer to nutrition is to take progress photos. I have heard so many people over the years tell me that they wish they took progress photos before they started their fitness journey because their body has changed so much and they really wish they could see where they were at. A lot of coaches and a lot of trainers will take progress photos and metrics with their clients, but a lot of people who go it alone forget to do this. And I think it is really
Starting point is 00:46:25 motivating to look back at how far you have come. So if you're going to start something in the new year, I would highly, highly recommend that you take some pictures before you start. So you have something to look back on. And as you transform, you'll find motivation in knowing that you are no longer the person in that photo. It's a really powerful experience. All right, guys, we will take a break to hear from our amazing show sponsors before we pick up on the other side of this episode talking about nutrition. Okay, guys, getting into some nutrition tips for the year 2023 that will help you live your best life, feel good, have energy, and make sure that you're aging in a way that is hopefully as graceful as possible. Okay. Tip number one is to eat the rainbow. Eat a variety of whole unprocessed foods that have different colors, reds, greens, blues,
Starting point is 00:47:20 purples. A lot of these will be plants, but you want to eat a variety of colors in your diet. I say this because of all the plant foods we have access to, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and even different proteins. The hue, the color that is displayed in the food is oftentimes indicative of a unique profile or content in the food. So for example, salmon is very orange because it contains a good amount of beta carotene, the same reason that we see carrots have that unique orange hue. Now blueberries contain something known as anthocyanin, which is a, whenever you hear cyan, you can think of blue. Anthocyanin is something that contributes to that blue color. I think
Starting point is 00:48:11 it's lycopene in tomatoes, which contribute to that red color. And so when you think about this, this. Foods gain a lot, a lot of its nutritional value from these intrinsic components that give it its color. So as a general rule of thumb, eating a variety of colors is going to expose you to a variety of nutrients and hopefully a variety of healthy foods you enjoy. We talked initially about trying different exercise and what that can do for helping you develop a more well-rounded, sustainable fitness routine. Trying new foods can help you with that too. Tip number two is try to eat on a semi-regular schedule and avoid skipping meals. This is something that I see a lot when people begin New Year's resolutions is skipping meals,
Starting point is 00:49:06 trying things like fasting, trying fad diets that are a little bit extreme. And what I have noticed to be generally true for most people is skipping meals and fasting or going long periods of time without eating because you're trying to be restrictive. Maybe you're not fasting in the sense that somebody who's more experienced with something like intermittent fasting might be. You're just trying not to eat as it can lead to greater rebounding in caloric intake later in the day. So you'll actually eat more later or the next day when you overly restrict. So don't skip too many meals. Don't overly restrict even if your goal is weight loss in the new year Which for many of you I know it is. Okay
Starting point is 00:49:49 Skipping too many meals can lead to a situation where you actually have a rebounding effect a binge you eat way too much I think it is better to eat balanced meals when you're hungry not to the point that you're completely stuffed But to the point where you're getting enough food to know that you're not hungry anymore. And then if your goals are gaining weight or building muscle, yeah, you might have to eat a little bit more. But again, I don't like fasting or skipping meals. I think it's important to space your nutrition out across the day, unless you have a specific reason to take long breaks without eating. Because I think for most people, you'll be more energized, you'll be more
Starting point is 00:50:25 energized, you'll have a more regulated appetite, and you'll have a better time with building muscle and losing fat, depending on what your goal is, assuming you can get the calories right there. Tip number three is to eat enough protein. You've heard me say this a lot on this podcast, if you're not new, but you're looking to eat between 0.6 to 1 grams per pound of body weight in terms of grams of protein if your goal is to have a athletic look. I heard that from Alan Aragon. I really like it. If your goal is athletic in aesthetic or athletic in performance, you should eat between 0.6 to 1 gram per pound of body weight. If you are heavier, you can do 0.6 to 1 grams per pound of goal weight. And if you are somebody who's just looking to live healthier and a little better,
Starting point is 00:51:09 for women, I'd recommend 20 to 30 grams of protein three to four times a day. For men, 35 to 40 grams of protein three to four times a day. Spacing your protein out has additional benefits, but we won't dive too much into that here because most of that is pertaining to optimizing muscle growth and appetite regulation, which I do think is a little bit higher end. But remember, guys, protein is essential. It's a nutrient that helps with muscle repair and growth. Your skin is protein. Your hair is protein. Almost every physical structure in your body is made up of protein. So you need to make sure that you're getting enough throughout the day. Tip number four, do not eliminate entire
Starting point is 00:51:46 food groups. It's important that we have balance in our diet, especially when we are on the go or busy. Versatility and balance are key when it comes to sticking with things. Remember, most people fail because they over-restrict. So removing entire food groups is never something that ends particularly well for most people, unless they have like a legitimate ideological reason to remove that food group for like religious purposes or sticking to a really extreme diet, which in some levels oftentimes feels like pseudo religious. Eliminating entire food groups makes it much harder to stick to your diet.
Starting point is 00:52:20 So if you can avoid cutting carbs altogether or avoid getting rid of dairy altogether, which many of you can and still live a healthy life that's fueled for performance, I would definitely recommend doing that. Tip number five is to stop drinking your calories. Coffees, alcohol, and sugary drinks like soda and juice can add a ton of empty calories to your diet. Try to stick with water, unsweetened teas, low-fat beverages, even artificially sweetened beverages that you space out across the day to supplement drinking a ton of water. Water is something that I think most people drink quite a bit of, but a lot of people do get most of the fluid that they get from other beverages. I think you should
Starting point is 00:53:03 get most of the fluid you get from water, and then when you do drink, try to avoid drinking things that are overly high in calories. Tip number six, learn how to cook three to four healthy meals that you enjoy. Now, when I say healthy, that can mean a lot of things, but what we're thinking about here contextually are things that would benefit most people, particularly people who are new on their fitness journey. So I think these would be foods that are high in protein, high in fiber, that contain a variety of micronutrients that are somewhat tasty and enjoyable, and that you're not likely to overconsume.
Starting point is 00:53:40 A good example of this might be like a chicken salad with grilled chicken, diced apples, a little bit of added nuts for some additional fats, and a vinaigrette. That's something that you can learn how to prepare and cook for yourself that you can make multiple times a week and probably enjoy. Now, you can find three to four things that you can learn to cook that you actually enjoy, that provide protein, provide fiber, provide some nutrient density, provide fuel to perform if it's before a training session, are portion controlled if your goals are fat loss, right? That is going to be a massive, massive boon for your ability to succeed with your fitness in the new year. A lot of people
Starting point is 00:54:22 really struggle with having the right foods around them and being able to cook and prepare the right stuff is a big, big help. Tip number seven out of 23, plan ahead. Meal prepping of course is quite popular, but it can be a little bit daunting, especially if you have kids or a lot on your plate. So if you don't have the opportunity to meal prep a few meals per week, at least be sure to plan ahead. Before you go to bed, think about what your food is going to look like the next day. Ask yourself the question, do I have a plan for lunch? Do I have a plan for breakfast? What's on the menu for dinner? Should I bring snacks depending on my day? Should I pack a protein shake depending on my day? Plan ahead.
Starting point is 00:55:04 The days that I go to work, and this is as somebody who's been training for a while and knows a lot about nutrition, the days that I go to work without food, without snacks, where I'm very unprepared are the days that when I get home, I tend to fall off the rails and overeat. So I would definitely recommend planning ahead when it comes to your food. Tip number eight, don't be afraid of fat. Many of you were raised during the 1980s and 1990s when everything was low fat. And that meant that a lot of people were particularly afraid of dietary fat. They avoided fat like the plague. There are some fats though that are uniquely beneficial like omega-3 fats.
Starting point is 00:55:46 And fats are so essential for the human body, in fact, that if you don't have enough of them, it can become problematic. In fact, I've worked with a number of women who go on low-fat diets and see irregularities start to arise in their menstrual cycle fairly quickly because you need fats to make important hormones like estrogen. So as you enter the new year and you look to make good decisions with your health and fitness, I would recommend you to monitor your calories more than I would to monitor your fat intake. Now, fat is pretty high in calories. So by watching your calories, you'll kind of indirectly be keeping an eye on your fat. But if you stay away from fat and you just completely avoid it because maybe you grew up in the 80s and 90s
Starting point is 00:56:25 where low fat was all the rage and you still use terms like fattening. Skipping out on fat can come with some downsides. So I wouldn't recommend doing that. But fats are an important part of a healthy diet. They provide many essential nutrients and you can choose healthy fats to cook with like olive oil. You can use avocados and salad. Nuts tend to be very healthy. Plant-based fats tend to be a little bit healthier than saturated fats and especially healthier than trans fats, which are usually things like when you think about man-made fats, like hydrogenated oils. So that's my recommendation. Be a little careful with your calorie intake, but don't be afraid of fat. Tip number nine is to eat more slowly and more intentionally in the new year.
Starting point is 00:57:13 This means don't eat while you scroll through TikTok. This means don't eat while you watch Netflix. This means sit down with a glass of water, with a plate of food, be focused on the food, chew the food, listen to your body's natural satiety signals. Don't be hyper distracted and just shoveling your food into your mouth, okay? It can take up to 20 minutes for your brain to even begin to register that you're full. So take the time to savor your food, chew it, eat it slowly. This will absolutely benefit your digestion as well. Don't rush through your food in the new year. Tip number 10, take the right supplements, but don't rely on supplements. A lot of supplements are sold in the new year. I'm sure GNC, Vitaminshop, Bodybuilding.com, many of the popular supplement retailers in America and around the world have their strongest month in January
Starting point is 00:58:00 because people begin exercise routines and they intelligently begin supplementing with things like vitamins, omega-3. Sometimes pre-workout makes sense. Creatine always makes sense. Protein powder always makes sense. I'm not bashing supplements. I think supplements are very helpful. Obviously, I'm constantly promoting Legion on this podcast because I think they make fantastic sports supplements. I think that Element makes the best electrolyte on the planet, which is great for training, especially if you train fasted in the morning like I do. I'm a huge fan of Seed who makes an amazing probiotic. So I take supplements, but don't rely on supplements. What I mean by that is don't think that just because you take
Starting point is 00:58:39 a multivitamin, you can eat like crap. Don't think that just because you drink a protein shake, you're good on protein throughout the day. Supplements can help. And in certain cases, they can help a lot, but they're no replacement for a healthy diet or a balanced diet. Supplements are supplementing a healthy diet. Tip number 11 is to take it easy on the caffeine. Caffeine is a very powerful stimulant and it can help with exercise performance as well as managing exercise fatigue. But a lot of people drink way too much caffeine throughout the day and drink multiple high calorie coffees to boot. Caffeine is a drug. It works on the brain. It binds to the adenosine receptors and competes with them so you don't feel so tired
Starting point is 00:59:21 and it helps your body secrete adrenaline to give you energy. But a lot of people deal with a tremendous amount of anxiety and trouble sleeping. And I debated whether or not I should put this in here because when I think of caffeine, I think about it as a supplement and a slash drug. But I do believe that coffee is a dietary staple for so many people that if they're told to be mindful of their caffeine intake, it will probably also adjust the way they interact with food. So be careful with that. Don't over-caffeinate. Try to be reasonable with it, especially if you feel anxiety and have a hard time getting enough sleep at night. Tip number 13 is to be cognizant of your gut health. A lot of times we talk about muscle growth. We talk about fat loss. We talk about longevity. We talk about performance. And it's very hard to succeed and excel in any of those areas if your microbiome, gut,
Starting point is 01:00:13 and just general digestive system are not well. Your digestive system is critical for the health of your brain, for the health of your muscular system, for the health of your bones. All the food that gets into your cells and tissues gets there essentially by going through this digestive system. And a lot of people struggle with their gut health. Gut health is an esoteric term, so I don't want to speak to it because there is no such thing as quote unquote perfect gut health. So when I say people struggle, I mean a lot of people have excessive gas. A lot of people have irritable bowel syndromes or associative similar conditions. A lot of people have irritable bowel syndromes or associative similar conditions. A lot of people deal with abdominal discomfort and bloating. And one of the best ways to care
Starting point is 01:00:52 for your gut health is to take care of the hundreds of millions of organisms that live inside your gut, your microbiome. Now, the best thing you can do to take care of your gut microbiome is to eat a good amount of fruits and vegetables and something known as resistant starch, which are just foods that essentially travel to your microbiome and the fiber in them, we'll talk about fiber in a second, the fiber in them fuels them. It feeds the good bacteria in your gut and helps that system be happier. Now, can it cure any of the conditions I mentioned? I don't know. I can't say for sure. For most people, you definitely are better off listening to a medical professional, but all of us need to be aware that we have a microbiome that
Starting point is 01:01:35 lives in our gut and that we are kind of uniquely and symbiotically working with that amalgamation of bacteria to produce a healthy operating digestive system. And chewing your food is a fantastic tool for having a happy gut that's not bloated and not gassy. Eating a good amount of fruits and vegetables is a great way to do this as well. So are eating fermented foods, but you might need to supplement with something like a high quality probiotic. And quite frankly, there aren't that many good ones on the market. And the one that we like is seed. Seed is really unique because it has a dual capsule delivery system. But if you take good care of your microbiome and your gut, it should take pretty good care of you. I would recommend eating a good amount of fruits and vegetables, chewing your food well, avoiding
Starting point is 01:02:16 excessive uses of artificial sweeteners and gums binding agents. I can't say empirically if this will make a difference, but I can say anecdotally that a lot of people who consume a lot of artificial sweeteners or gums, binding agents like carrageenan and plant milks, for example, report having less gas and digestive distress when they bring their intake down to what would be considered a more normal amount from a high amount. So take care of your gut and it will take care of you. Tip number 13 is to eat more fiber for all the reasons I just said. It's very important for your gut microbiome and digestive health, but it can also keep you feeling full and satisfied and help regulate things like blood sugar and cholesterol. Make sure to incorporate a large variety of high fiber foods in your diet like fruits,
Starting point is 01:03:00 vegetables, whole grains, beans, etc. Tip number 14. vegetables, whole grains, beans, et cetera. Tip number 14. If you are trying to lose weight, it is probably very valuable for you to count your calories. I know that a lot of people bang on calorie counting because they think it's neurotic and they think it can lead to an eating disorder. I can't say whether that's true for all people. Some people who have highly neurotic personalities where they're easily addicted to certain habits and behaviors and can fall down a rabbit hole, they might be what I would describe as disqualifiable from calorie counting. It might make sense if you know you have those obsessive tendencies not to use calorie counting as a weight loss tool because it can really warp
Starting point is 01:03:43 your relationship with food if you need to track everything you put in your mouth. But for many of you who want to lose weight, calorie counting as an exercise can be a fantastic way to learn the caloric density or energy density of the foods you enjoy. This will allow you to continue to eat foods you like while being mindful of how many calories a certain portion, size, or serving of that food has. And that's really, really important in the long run. You have to make sure that you don't remove the food you like. So don't be afraid to count calories. I think it can be a really valuable tool.
Starting point is 01:04:14 And I think it's been unnecessarily demonized over the years. But I do think it's important that you disqualify yourself from counting calories and find other tools that you can use to help you with your weight loss or your body composition change goals that don't involve such a myopic and kind of rigorous approach to tracking. And again, that's going to be up to you ultimately to decide where you fall on that. You know yourself much better than I do. Tip number 15, be sure to drink enough water throughout the day. I'd recommend half your body weight in ounces of water. Tip number 16, don't be afraid of carbs. Much like we talked about fat earlier, carbs have been more recently
Starting point is 01:04:56 demonized. The mid to late 2000s and into the 20 teens, we saw carbs demonized and the popularity of diets like keto and carnivore really, really rise. But here's the skinny, here's the truth. Here's what you need to know. Carbs are an important source of energy. They're your brain's preferred source of energy. They're your muscles preferred source of energy, and they should not be completely cut out of most diets. Choose healthy nutrient dense carbohydrate sources such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, instead of things that are refined like breads and pastas, and watch how much energy, nutrition, and quality of life of a boost you get when you make that swap. Just right there. Switch your
Starting point is 01:05:38 refined carbs for your whole minimally processed carbs. Don't cut them out and just watch what happens. Tip number 17, try not to eat too late at night. The reason I say this isn't because of the excessive caloric intake that also comes from late night eating, although that does generally tend to happen for most people. Our inhibitions are lower. We're tired. Dinner tends to be the largest meal of the day, but it has more to do with sleep. Sleep is really important and eating super spicy, super oily foods that take a long time to digest large meals, meals that are high in fat or fiber that can take a while to digest right before bed can make it really hard for your circadian rhythm, which is this kind of ingrained biological rhythm. Circa means around, dia means day, circadian means
Starting point is 01:06:21 around the day. We orient ourselves around the light, it can be disruptive to your circadian rhythm and sleep quality. So do not eat too late at night. This happens all the time. And I see it be a bigger problem for people's sleep than probably would be for their fat loss, assuming their calories are there. But if you're not tracking your calories and eating a ton at night, it's very possible that that might be the meal setting you over the edge. So my tip for you is to try not to eat within two hours, two hours, okay, of going to bed. Give yourself time to fully digest that food so you hit the bed and you're feeling better. Tip number 18 is to space your meals out evenly across the day into regular intervals. I know fasting is popular. We talked about that a lot, but eating at regular intervals
Starting point is 01:07:05 around regular times can help your hunger and energy levels kind of stay stable. It can help you feel as though you have kind of more structure around your eating, and it can help you get into a routine that really works for you. Tip number 19, avoid paying a premium for products marketed as healthy because they say things like gluten-free, keto, non-GMO, organic. A lot of these marketing terms apply to foods that are nutritious sometimes and oftentimes not that nutritious. For example, a keto Oreo is probably no more nutritious than a traditional Oreo, but probably more expensive with a smaller serving size, et cetera, right? So don't fall victim to these marketing ploys in the grocery store designed to get you to spend more money on things that aren't particularly
Starting point is 01:07:58 more nutritious. They just have marketing terms slapped on them. You might want to avoid pesticides and generally eat more organic foods, but that doesn't mean you need to eat only organic foods, and it certainly doesn't mean you need to be looking for things that say vegan, keto, or gluten-free. Tip number 20, speaking of vegan, this is actually the recommendation to eat more plant-based foods across the day. This includes fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This will help you get more fiber, stay more full, get more micronutrients in, and generally plant foods tend to be very health-promoting. Don't listen to the carnivore sensationalists out there.
Starting point is 01:08:36 Tip 21, don't cut out all the stuff you like. It's okay to indulge in your favorite treats every once in a while, but try to make the exception that's the exception rather than the rule, so to say. When you do indulge, make sure you balance it out, make healthy choices in advance, and on the back end of it. Tip 22, stop relying only on willpower. Gutting your way through hyper-restrictive diets and exercise routines almost never works. Try to make small, sustainable changes to your diet using any of the 21 tips I already mentioned. And the last tip, tip 23, is to find balance, okay? If you couldn't do a diet for a year, don't do it for a day, okay? Find balance when it comes to your nutrition and don't
Starting point is 01:09:17 be too strict with yourself. Allow for occasional indulgence and make sure that focus always stays on your health and nourishment. Hey, good luck this year in 2023 with your fitness goals. I hope these tips help you if they do. And if this podcast is helpful, please consider subscribing and leaving me a five-star review on Spotify or Apple podcasts. It helps the podcast rank better. So more people can find it organically, but sharing it in word of mouth is always the best. Thanks so much for tuning in and I'll catch you on the next one.

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