Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 399: Mind Pump vs. IIFYM

Episode Date: November 10, 2016

While there is nothing wrong with enjoying unhealthy foods now and again, IIFYM social media influencers largely highlight unhealthy foods on their Instagram and Facebook pages rather than first emphasizing a health-focused diet. For the unsuspecting masses who look up to these influencers, the focus on these sickness inducing foods can result in a new kind of eating disorder. In this episode Sal, Adam and Justin discuss what a healthy relationship with food looks like and how to achieve health enlightenment. Have Sal, Adam & Justin personally train you with a new video on our new YouTube channel, Mind Pump TV. Be sure to Subscribe for updates. Get MAPS Anabolic, MAPS Performance, MAPS Aesthetic, the Butt Builder Blueprint AND the Sexy Athlete Mod (The RGB Super Bundle) packaged together at a substantial DISCOUNT at www.mindpumpmedia.com. Get your Kimera Koffee, Mind Pump's first official sponsor, at www.kimerakoffee.com, code "mindpump" for 10% off! Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Each week our favorite reviewers are announced on the show and sent Mind Pump T-shirts!

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, please only one place to go. Mind, up, mind, up with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. One of the things we actually have never asked people to do, and I think this, it's been a while since we've discussed a whole episode regarding macro nutrients and if it fits your macros. So I wanna challenge those that have either family or friends or people that they were competitors,

especially that industry. That could use help with that is to share this podcast, share this episode with them because I feel like with our experience of all the clients that I've trained, this type of topic or this is the type of stuff that I think has helped most of my people break through some of the addictions that they've had with food or even to even realize that they had that.

So, you know, challenge those of you guys that listen to this, if the information helped you out to pass it along and help somebody else out. Excellent, and a little reminder, this month, enroll in any maps bundle and you get to pick your choice, any guide for free, that includes the Nutrition Survival Guide, the Fasting Guide, or the Occlusion Guide. You will also get for free any maps shirt of your picking,

maps, red, green, black, or white. Here's what you do, After you're rolling a bundle, go to admin at minepumpradio.com. Media, excuse me, at minepumpmedia.com, admin at minepumpmedia, enter in your, give them your name, give them your shirt size, give them your address,

and what kind of guide you want, and you'll get all those things for free. Oh yeah, do as in rolling a bundle. Mindpumpmedia.com. Guys, I wanna give a quick shout out to We just got some bottles of wine sent from some mind pump listeners proposal is a name Delicious wine very very good stuff. And I'm not a big wine connoisseur, but I like it a lot. Yeah, good stuff

Check it out. Yeah, I just want to give them a little shout out. They send us some wine. We checked it out We liked it. That was nice. Wasn't that nice of them? That was nice. Yeah, we like alcohol We like if you want to send us free alcohol Let me see if you want to send us gifts any whiskey connoisseurs. Let me give you my address if we like the gift We'll talk about it on the show. Hey 4973. We're gonna hold shit little things down You know what came to my attention not really my attention, but really you know You ever have those moments where you're kind of thinking to something,

and then you're like, whoa, aha, that makes a lot of sense. You know, I know we talk a lot about IAF William. Oh, wow, you're gonna go this way. Yeah, I'm gonna talk about IAF William. I actually were due for this. We talk a lot about IAF William and how simply tracking macros and calories, if you're starting from a position of knowing nothing,

you should, that's the first step. But how you need to progress from that because that step, it's not the BL end all. Food isn't just proteins, fats, carbs and calories. It's a lots of other things. But I just realized something. When I, I had somebody message me on Instagram who, because I had done a post recently

where I would give out, for the first 15 people, I'd give out some free advice on nutrition and exercise. And I had a young lady contact me and she's telling me all this stuff. I'm obviously not going to call her name out, but I want to share the story because I think that a lot of people can learn from this. And she told me how she used to have really bad eating disorders, but now she does IIFYM, and she's gained weight and she's stronger and this and that. So I go to her Instagram page and probably 80% of the pictures that are posted are of food,

but not just any food. They're the quote unquote bad foods, cupcakes, ice cream cream pancakes, whatever. And I realized that she took one eating disorder and moved it to something better. I FOAM is definitely better than any other anorexia or bulimia, but she took that obsessive quality of that you get from having eating disorder and moved it and became obsessive about something else. And she's still, and I told her, I said, you still have an obsession with food.

You're so obsessed with food, that you're posting the fixation. That you're posting pictures of. Yeah, if you have more food pictures, you know, that should be your problem. Unless you're, I mean, unless that's your M.O. and your building. Well, yeah, if you're a chef maybe,

or like you make cakes for a living, that makes sense. No, and then if you consider yourself a fitness professional or someone into health and fitness, and 90% of your photos are some, you know, chocolatey, syrupy dessert. Well, I'm realizing something. Something's wrong. I'm realizing, you know, what really hit me after looking at that was that I, I FYM, uh, is actually can very strongly lead to food obsession.

It could lead to a state in which you become obsessed, which is the exact counting macros, counting calories, and then fitting whatever, you know, food that you can possibly fit within those macros. Which is exactly what they try and campaign against that. Right. That's what I'm saying. They sell it as helping that. It doesn't. That's the irony in it.

If you listen to people like, I know, Lane Norton's a huge, huge with it. Which just points to me, you know, I'm a big fan of Lane. I think he brings a lot of science to an industry that's full of bullshit. But it really disappoints me that he's so like, he's like doubles down on his stance with if it fits your macros when food is, I mean, it's so much more than fucking proteins

fats and carbohydrates and calories. And it's like the BLN doll, IAF, this is what you do and it's better for you. Well, I think he just has himself in a i i he was he was here before we were right like he he made a he made a voice in the name for himself uh... i mean he i mean been grinding away ten years plus in the social media world so that before he really took off and uh... i've been following them and watch the stuff for a long i love a lot of

the stuff that he puts out there. He inspired me a lot with speaking out against what was going on with competing. That's how I found him was like, he was the first person that I found in the competitive world that was talking about what was wrong with the way these athletes were dieting for these shows. And I felt like I was all alone. I couldn't find it.

And he was the first professional I felt that was speaking out against that and was talking about calling out all the coaches out there that were fucking people's metabolism up. And I really liked where he was going with that. Now then he explodes and then here comes IFYM, right? And he attached himself to it early on. In fact, he attached himself

so early on to it. I don't even know if Lane is part of the people that created the whole acronym and started it or not or he was right after. I don't even know. I wouldn't be surprised though because how much he's attached himself to it. And it's funny because then you see him, he's got these summits, right? He does all these cool educational summits where, you know, a lot of doctors and other professionals in specialties, whether it be nutrition or biomechanics or, and they do these cool summits, which I would love to attend. I'd love to put that down as a mind pump retreat to head over there and go check that out because he does.

He's had Dom Diagostino on there. He's had some names. I know his buddy Paul, which is crazy to me because he's You know, he'll have people like Dom Diagostino a show, but Dom Diagostino will just like most you know professionals in this field will tell you food is very complex You know chemicals that are interacting with your body. There's so much more to food than just macro nutrients and you need to educate yourself on that and pay attention to that, and that it matters.

It matters a lot. It doesn't matter. No, this is where, and this is where Lane and his group that really push it are smart about the argument. The argument that they take is one that you can't prove wrong, right? Because what they choose to do, because now the science is going the other direction, and it's starting to make it look like it's not good at all. So now they take the psychological approach that, you know, getting someone to have balance

in their life and not demonize any types of foods, and just to make be conscious about what macronutrients they're intaking is a much safer, healthier approach than someone who's just going to eat. Yeah, you see that because of the way that bodybuilders would prepare, and they'd only have to lock you. They'd only have broccoli.

They'd only have like, you know, the certain amount of, you know, rice, and this was like kind of, it was so formulaic and so unhealthy to fixate on that and also demonize everything else as far as like, I even look at, we've had a lot of people talk about like being on a date with some poor girl that's been through this and all of a sudden sees ice cream and then starts to break down and cry. Because it was such a big deal that this was so bad to include.

And so then the opposite of that now is that I have for amcrowd, so then it's like, well, no, you can still have this. But then it became not just you can still have this and have a healthy diet. It's you can eat like shit and make it work for you. Yeah. Well, my point here, so here's the thing.

They're trying to tackle an obsession with food that bodybuilders had, the obsession being, I'm eating the same meals six times a day, it's the same measurements, it's the same, I can't ever go off my meal plan. And they took that and they created a different obsession. I have to fit my macros, everything has to add up. And now that I feel like I have this false sense

of balance and freedom, I'm going to, because I am an individual with a bad relationship to food, I'm going to cram as much of these foods as I can into my macros, you know, I'm gonna cram as many of these bad foods that I couldn't eat before into my new plan. It's not any different. There really isn't any difference.

You still have a poor relationship to food. You still have a food obsession. You have still blunted and retarded your growth where you're trying to move forward and reach what I like to call health and enlightenment where you can eat in a way that does not require you to fucking count and track every single thing you put in your mouth. You don't want to live that way.

And I'm telling you right now, like every single, you know, competitor that I ever have worked with or talked to. And now I'm getting messages from a lot of competitors. And I wasn't in that world like you, like Adam was, but now I'm starting to get lots of people asking me questions and I'm talking to them and I am I cannot believe the depth of the food Food relationship issues that these people are experiencing from the extreme dieting to get in their show to the extreme Off just going off the fucking rails crazy binging to the I need to have so much structure in my diet

That that's the only way I could possibly not get fat. So it's IIF lamb all the time and if it fits my macros, however, you know, I still have this bad relationship to food and eating these pop tarts makes me feel happy because I'm sad or whatever. So I'm going to squeeze it into my, my program. And you've, you're just, it's another monster. It's the same. You're not addressing the issue. You're just trading one obsession for the other and calling it, you know, you're just, it's another monster. It's the same. You're not addressing the issue. You're just trading one obsession for the other and calling it, you're calling it something different. You're not trying to optimize your health.

You're trying to look a certain way and maintain a certain aesthetic. And you're not considering all the inner workings of your body and how to optimize that and make everything work for you better. Yes, and I call it health enlightenment because the term enlightenment refers to like spiritual enlightenment, right?

Or where you reach this kind of point, this Zen point where it happens naturally, it is not a stress on you, it is not a challenge for you. You're doing these things for the right reasons. You are simply living a good, healthy, fulfilling life. That's the pinnacle. That's the place that you should cons, you should be striving to get to. And IIFYM and structure and counting is merely a step towards that health enlightenment. But it's a step way the fuck down here. It's way down here.

It's right outside of like going through the bodybuilding, you know, the neurotic, you know, components of that. Yeah, and if you stay there, if you stay on that step, your relationship to food, I promise you, will be horrible. And I know right now there's people listening that are getting their minds blown because they are that person.

They are that individual who right now listening to the show could tell you how many grams of fat, how many grams of protein, how many grams of carbs they just had, they can tell you what they're going to squeeze in to fit their macros, they can tell you how it feels when they're outside their macros one day and how horrible it feels and how obsessed they are when they go to a party or they go somewhere and they, oh my god, what if I go off a little bit or, oh my god, I'm craving this, you know, this, this food, so I'm gonna, you know, make it fit my macros on Saturday, my cheat day,

and it's so structured and obsessive that it is unhealthy. It is not, first of all, it's not sustainable because when you're like this, you only have two options. It's either you're on the rails or you're way the fuck off the rails. I've never met anybody who's super strict into, you know, counting every little morsel who can simply go off a little bit and it's usually one of it's one of the other. You know, just hang out. Chew on this, dude. This is what a remark. So reminds me of religion and it reminds me of somebody who finds a

religion and it changes their life. Yeah. And then and it changes their life. And then they're just so- Then they're evangelists, really. Then they're evangelists, they're so-bought into the religion that it's what has changed them and it's so good and everybody else should have it in their life too and then they become regurgitating all the information that they've been fed. I FY, the fact that it has a fucking name is the first red flag.

The first that a way of eating has got an acronym and has a name already should be your first red flag. That right there is already starting to create the cult-like religion part about it. And then when you get into these debates with people that are very educated and know what they're talking about Oh, bro The angle that they use is just like arguing with somebody about religion is you're gonna use shit

That I can't that we can't really debate on and I can't really you know, I'm saying like those are all Here's the thing dude, okay, and this is where we're I have a huge issue with this is I In someone like Lane, nor I hate the way I feel bad We're picking on poor Lane, because there's tons of people that are guilty of this, but he does push it hardcore, so fuck it, we're gonna go that way. Like I said, lots of respect for the guy,

but he's on the wrong side when it comes to this particular issue. That's just it. Yeah, and when you talk to someone like him who starts to promote and push it, like I said, the arguments that they're using, the science that they're basing it off of, is this psychological effect that, let me tell you, I've trained thousands of people and introducing weekly treats into their diet is not fucking helpful and does not work without sending that person

on a healthy relationship with food, educating them on food and how different foods affect them and what nutrient-dense foods look like and how they affect your body, that's what helps people. Let me tell you a little, here's a little secret. I might have talked about this on previous podcasts, but I'm seeing it again with another person

that I'm working with. When you have, I had this happen a few times, I'll have a client who obsesses about food, who needs to schedule in the treat day, who needs to do these types of things because their goal is constantly to be lean, lose weight, I can't get fat, do all these other things. And by the way, this takes a while, but when I can get them to change their focus

and stop, and one of the first things I'll tell them is I don't want you to weigh yourself anymore. You're not allowed to go near a scale, stop weighing yourself. And I want you to stop eating based off of wanting to lose weight. Like we're not, I'm not even, I don't even care about your fat gain or fat loss signal.

That's the one signal we're not gonna pay attention to. We're gonna pay attention to all these other signals. And it is very difficult for them to do this. It is very, very hard, but if they buy in, and it takes a while, but if they buy in, what ends up happening is that treat, that food that they really wanted so bad, that oh my God, I can't wait to have it,

it loses a lot of it's a lure. And they find themselves cheating less. They'll get messages from them and they'll be like, I just realized that I went four weeks without having a single piece of chocolate. And these are the same people who tell me, I have to have chocolate if I don't have it. It's something I have to have, I love it, it's my thing. And once we get to this kind of state of mind,

they don't really crave it anymore. I guess what there's not a thing. It's so psychological. I mean, so much. Yeah, it's like everything. And I think that's what we're, we're coming to realize here, like with, with all of our experience combined. It's just every single one of our clients, like these issues keep arising because the psychological component

had never been dealt with. Well, that's the difference when you argue with guys like us. And that's the, tell you what, I mean, when you can pair how many studies I've actually done to lay in, or I'm going to lose that argument all day long, but you want to, you want to compare how many people that I've stood in front of me that have asked for my help. And that I've helped, we can do that all day. Because that's where I'll tell you, you know, just like you, I literally just had somebody three weeks ago that I said, no more scale, no more entering your food. I don't care about any of those things. Here's all the markers we're paying attention to. I want to know about your sleep. I want to know about your energy. I don't care about any of those things. Here's all the markers we're paying attention to.

I wanna know about your sleep, I wanna know about your energy, I wanna know about your mood, and I start listing off all these things that has nothing to do with measuring or looking at anything. You are, I've already told you the foods that we're trying to eat. I want you to be targeting those, but I don't want you to be weighing.

I don't want you to be paying attention to that. I want you to be watching all these markers. And then we'll check back. We'll check back in three or four weeks, assess all that, and then I'll guide back. We'll check back in three or four weeks, assess all that, and then I'll guide you from there. That type of shit, like that's the real people. Those are what are struggling with you.

If it fits your macro, sure, the competitive mind person who's getting ready for a show and measuring and weighing things and tracking, like it sounds so brilliant to them. I'll tell you right now, I went through a show, and I tracked all my food and I made choices where I would allow bars and shakes and diet coax and all these things along the journey. And then I did a show where I did everything,

100% natural organic whole foods and eliminate all this stuff. And there not only was there a significant difference in my results, the way I looked, most certainly the way I felt. Both of them I got ready for a stage, both of them I literally were abounding. Yeah, exactly. And that's the normal eating. So much, it was so much easier for me to manage

these cravings. Like when I have a diet soda, oh my God, I want another one so bad. And I share this with you because this is my vice, this is my issue. I deal with this, it's something that I am constantly reflecting on and paying attention to that. And I this, it's something that I am constantly reflecting on and paying attention to that.

And I know it's like, I tell Katrina all the time, like don't bring them to the house, because if you bring them to the house, I have one. It's not like I have, it's not even like an addictive personality, I have it. It's like something gets triggered inside my body that makes me want to have another one. And then I want another one.

There's an association place there. Yes, and when I learn to eliminate that out of the diet, because there's nothing fucking healthy about that food, that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one.

And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one.

And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. And that I want another one. I look at it like that. It doesn't always have to be like it doesn't always have to be something that oh that hurts you How about like why don't we put something in our mouth that actually benefits us, you know, it's So again talking to another another individual I'm working with and she's telling me how

When she's stressed out she's starting to finally make the connection to being stressed out and Eating quote-unquote, you know bad or eating poorly. She's not eating the nourish her body And so we had to take a few steps back and one of the things I asked her was I said look I said and eating quote unquote, you know, bad or eating poorly. She's not eating the nourish her body. And so we had to take a few steps back. And one of the things I asked her was, I said, look, I said, what does it feel like when you eat that food? You're stressed out.

What does it feel like? And she says, well, she says, it keeps me distracted from my stress. So as I'm eating, it keeps me distracted. I said, okay, maybe. I said, but you could distract yourself a lot of different ways. You could watch TV, you could read a book, and you know, do those achieve the same thing. And she says, no, I said, so what is the food doing for you? And it's funny because she couldn't pinpoint it. And it took us a while. And

then she said, you know, it kind of makes me feel good for a second. Like it gives me a little bit of a reprieve from my stress. And so I said, okay, it's not the food that you want. It's the reprieve from your anxiety and stress. All we have to do, all we have to do is find something that does that also. So when you're stressed or anxious, what are some other things that give you some reprieve from your anxiety? Maybe it's meditation, maybe it's stretching, maybe it's, you know, being outside in the fresh air. Maybe it's calling a friend, maybe you're jerking off. I don't care what it is. I mean, I'm serious. You could.

You could. What is, although that can be a session, you know what I'm saying. What is it that is giving you, you know, what can you find other things that are gonna give you that reprieve, but that also requires one thing. And this is step one. Step one is to become mindful of what you're eating.

And here's what I mean because here's the thing. Most of you, most of you eat mindlessly. It's, you don't even think about it. Even if you track, you don't fucking think about it. And when you go off the rails, you don't think about it even more. You're just eating this food and putting it in your mouth. And it's making you feel like shit.

And the reality is just so mindless that you're not even connecting to how bad you feel to the food because if you did, you wouldn't want, you wouldn't even want to, and think about this. How often do we eat when we're not even hungry? How often do we, beyond being free? Well, you know what's very helpful technique for that

is fasting. Yeah. Talk about like having that time to be mindful about food and what you're putting in your body By eliminating it. It's so true. You know taking just taking one meal Yeah, I know that like even people now it's crazy to see on the forum people getting grief for even mentioning fasting to some of their friends and You know the common thought process that's still out there and exists You know as far as like oh my god, you, oh my God, you're gonna crash and burn.

Your whole mental clarity is gonna crash. You're not gonna be able to think straight. All these crazy detrimental things are gonna happen to you. No, it's not. And guess what? You being hungry is a signal. And that's a signal that is a response, but it's not gonna kill you.

It's a normal one. And you know, it's not only that, some people still need to learn what is a signal and where is the signal coming from? Yeah, that's what I mean by being mindful. They have no idea. A lot of times, and I think that's probably been one of my favorite things when I teach someone

about fasting is they all exactly what Justin was saying. That's what they're thinking. They're like, oh my God, I'm not going to be able to think. I'm going to be dumb all of a sudden, or I'm going to be like, oh, it's going to hurt, or it's going to be like all these things, or muscles going to fall off me. Yeah, exactly. There's this whole list of things that are all bad information that we've been giving for years and years and years, that people are thinking when you tell them to not eat

or fast or skip meals. And then all of a sudden, they do it. And then you start asking all these other markers, like pay attention to all that stuff. Like, and how many of those things are just had a habit. And it's just a habit that you always ate food when you did this, or you absolutely had to have this. And there's another big association with that

because it's 12 o'clock. Oh my God, I didn't eat at 12 o'clock. My whole day is ruined. Like, I didn't eat at 12 o'clock. My whole day is ruined. I'm going to have a bad day. It's implanted in your head that all of a sudden now I don't have energy. All of a sudden now, I'm getting angry because I missed this meal that was supposed to provide me all XYZ. Correct. Because when you, so here's what interesting thing. Now I've worked with hundreds of people and a lot of them have incorporated fasting in

some way, shape or form. And they'll always tell me like, man, I don't know. When I miss a meal, man, I get really irritated. Like I get hangry, they'll say, or I get really, I need to have food. And I tell them, I say, well, most of not all of that is a psychological withdrawal because you anticipated eating, you knew you were supposed to eat and then you missed that meal, now you missed your routine. That's like showing up to Christmas, expecting that your parents got you a gift and they didn't. Yeah, so you get that psychological. If it wasn't Christmas, that wouldn't be a big deal.

That's right, so that's that psychological withdrawal. And so I tell them when you go in with the intention and understanding that you aren't going to eat, withdrawal. And so I tell them when you go in with the intention and understanding that you aren't going to eat most of that if not all of it is eliminated. And here's something you need to consider. One of the most liberating, awesome feelings you could get towards your path towards, you know, when you're going towards health enlightenment or whatever kind of enlightenment you're looking towards, even if it's spiritual, is your removal of attachments. When you're attached to something, whether it's my routine to eat, or I have to have electricity, that's why some people when they go camping,

it's so like freeing because they've realized how they could survive without all these different things, or you realize you don't have to necessarily eat at lunch, or I realize I don't have to count my macros, or I don't have to just weigh myself and obsess over how much I weigh or my body fat. I mean, right now, I know this, I know this too. I know those people listening right now who are shaking their heads and God,

that would be amazing. I was one of those people. It was an amazing feeling to finally not have to think about my food and relationship to how lean I was and have to constantly modify to either get leaner or go off or go leaner or go to go or going off. It was this constant, stressful struggle and this false sense of control

that I know comforts people in their normal lives that maybe feels out of control. But the reality is that understanding that the uncontrolled life is like programming because the programming has been established there based off of like marketing, you know, the marketing of breakfast, the marketing of what you eat at lunch, you know, we even have very specific foods that we have to have for those very specific categories of eating schedules. And, you know, for some reason, we all agreed on it. And that became the thing.

But why? Why do we all have to do things the same exact, promatic way and have to live that way? Well, this goes into, you know, you bring up the marketing thing and this goes into really the sinister side of IFYM. And this is the part that I think why we're also passionate about is because we all see this. I get what they're also passionate about is because we all see this I Get what they're they're they're playing into your weakness They're playing into that everybody has a hard time letting go of all these treats and these things that they want in their life

So what sounds more awesome than me telling selling you something that I can tell you hey, guess what? I could help you look the way you want to look and eat the shit you want to eat and be okay. So they have completely marketed around that and really all they're really doing is they're playing into your weakness instead of teaching you how to address it and overcome it. And that's just the problem I have because I'm in the business of actually helping people and changing people and getting them to understand and make that connection with food where I'm not in the business of actually helping people and changing people and getting them to understand and make that connection with food. Or I'm not in the business to try and take advantage of your simple mind, which is what all these infomercial type things do, too, where they give you a fucking six minute shake-weight infomercial with a rip-dew to make you think that he really uses that to look like.

He's associated immediately because he's using it that that's what got him right. And somebody's laughing right now thinking, oh, I would never do that, but guess what, millions are. Yeah, millions are. We're all susceptible to that. I'll tell you what, I had a client a while ago, this reminds me of a story.

So I had a client a while ago who she was lean, she was very into the fitness industry. So she followed all the latest advice and she did all the six meals a day and take your protein here and, you know, fit my mat. I have my, this is my Macro breakdown. This is my calorie breakdown. And she was, she was lean. She was always lean. She maintained herself lean, but it was obsessive. It wasn't healthy. It wasn't healthy in the sense that she could not, you know, go off of her program. And if she did, she would go way the fuck off. So it was either all or nothing, you know go off of her program and if she did she would go way the fuck off. So it was either all or nothing you know because she was so obsessive about it.

And when she came to me, I started asking her other questions that were not related to body fat percentage. And one of the questions was, do you ever experience bloating? And she's like, oh yeah, like crazy. I'm like, what do you mean like crazy? She's, well, after I eat, you know, breakfast or lunch, sometimes I get this ridiculous like painful bloating. And so she actually had pictures on her phone and she showed me that and she was lean so you could clearly see the distended gut from the bloat in the picture. And it was dramatic. It was a massive difference between normal, which was flat and bloat, which was like, it looked like she swallowed, you know, a watermelon.

And it was painful and stuff. And I asked her, how long has this been happening? How long have you been getting, you know, this kind of bloat? She's like, oh, she's like years. It's been happening for years. Now, had that signal been fat game, she would have addressed it. Mm-hmm. But because it was bloat, because it was a different signal that she paid no attention to, she just accepted that this is just part of the thing and I'm lean and whatever process. And it literally was the food she was eating and some of the supplements she was taking. We removed and changed her diet

and that bloat was completely gone. But that's a big red flag. That's a huge signal that was being completely ignored because all she could focus on, or all she was taught to focus on was fat gain, fat loss, muscle, and weight. That wasn't even important, but once we got eliminated that, it was like a whole new world to her. And then we looked at other things like mood and we looked at inflammation. Over the course of a year, this young lady went from obsessive exercise and obsessive counting to a very,

and yes, it's very possible to get here, intuitive type of eating and workout. She was able to maintain the leanness that she had before, but it felt effortless to her. And she almost, she felt liberated. That's what she's talking about. You liberated me. I feel so free free and I don't have the cravings I used to have because I'm not obsessing with food. I'm telling you right now if you start obsessing with food

Whether it's losing weight or gaining weight or whatever you obsess with food You will you will crave those quote unquote bad foods much much more you will break You know quote unquote break much much more. It's going to cause issues for you. It's no different than being in a culture or in a society where sex is completely demonized and you see all these perversions of it come out because people came and talk about it. It's like this, it's no different. It's a succession with a particular subject in this case, food and I. I.

I. I. I. I. I. I. I. in this case, food, and IIFLAM, it'll move you towards that direction. Now, I wanna be clear, IIFLAM is a great step. That's probably the first step. If you don't know what the hell you're eating, you have no idea what your calories are. You wanna get healthy. Oh, it's a very-

Stary surface. Yeah, start there, but don't stay there. If you stay there, you're gonna end up in a bad way. Well, I know, I think we need to voice that because I feel like we patronize your common person. Like we all are getting all this information that's like, oh, well, you can't handle this. We'll give you like three things to focus on, maybe two things. And it's Gittling and you know, just like work out hard and those two things. And honestly, if you ask your

everyday person on the street, you know, what is fitness? And those are the, you're there two answers right there. And, you know, we're trying to, to get past that surface level knowledge that I feel like people, if they just spend the time, and this is the other issue I have with schools that they totally neglect to really teach people and give them the proper skills and tools to, you know, empower themselves to keep digging deeper, keep finding out more about their body. What do these other signals mean? Why do I have to be so reliant on a doctor, a dietician, a somebody else, a, you know, fit, why can't, I mean, these are not complex issues, but we make them, like we patronize people because we think that they can't handle

it or something. You know, it's funny when I find, that's what I mean, we play right into their weakness. We do. More often than not, when I run into a person in their 50s or 60s who used to be a body builder or used to compete on stage or used to be some kind of a competitive athlete in a sport that were, you know where how you look is very important whether it be synchronized swimming or those types of things. More often than not, the person is at that point

when the 50s and 60s obese and has horrible health because they had developed such a poor relationship with food and exercise during that period of time. I can't tell you how many times I'll meet some dude, 50 or 60 who's overweight Looks real bad and we'll start talking and he'll and they'll notice that I'm fit and be like oh man I used to be a bodybuilder and they'll pull out their wallet and there's a picture of this shredded Fit looking dude, but they didn't maintain it. They couldn't maintain it They went off the fucking rails and now they're just in poor health

It's more rare to find someone who continues and stays and grows and now has developed this lifelong, you know, good relationship with exercise nutrition and health. And that's kind of one of the things you've got to pay attention to. It's a little bit of a, again, another red, red flag. Well, I think, too, this is something that you will, this journey is something you will consistently be working at. And that's why I like to admit my own faults And I admit the things that I do because you know

Heaven forbid somebody we we talk all this shit and then someone takes a picture of me drinking a diet coke at lunch one time You know, and they're gonna be freak out and I'll tell you right now like that's something that like I have to I'm constantly working on and because the diet coke is not going to make me fat So diet coke is zero calories, right? But I understand that I'm putting something in my body that has no nutritional value whatsoever. And I know how it makes me feel. I've I've connected that already. But yet I still feed into the addiction and I still catch myself. Shit, there I go. But then I also understand too that, Hey, there's times where I want to do that. I want to have some, I want to have popcorn and I want to have a diet coke and watch a movie

and I want to enjoy myself. And if I feel like I haven't done that a long time, I'm going to and I'm not going to make a big deal of it. But I also am going to be aware of what that's going to kick up and be aware of. Give yourself some credit though, dude, because you have, in the short time I've known you, you have progressed tremendously

and I know you have progressed tremendously and I know You've progressed tremendously from 10 years ago 15 years ago like you know You got to understand you know the listeners need to understand you know both you and I had very poor relationships the food Well, it's not because we were obese But because we thought we needed to continue to gain weight We were too skinny and my relationship to food was, eat everything as much as possible, especially if it has protein, can't get enough protein. If someone's got protein, I mean, to fuckload of it, and I'm gonna feed myself like crazy,

I'm gonna throw protein bars on top of it, and I don't need to worry about getting facts, I'm skinny, and that created something, that created a poor relationship, to me, and it took me a long time to reverse. Well, absolutely, I think that's why we're also passionate about this, is because I think that's why we're also passionate about this is because we admit that listen, all the schooling, all the education, all the clients, everything that we have underneath our belt when it comes to fitness still have these things that we have to deal

with internally ourselves that we have either one created ourself or society has created for us. And it's something that we, I'm still well constant work in progress. And I think that's the, the, the why we do mind pump. That's why we are so passionate because I know there's somebody who's listening right now 100% we have enough people for sure listening. There's probably quite a few people that absolutely love IFI am. They talk a lot of shit. They're to talk all about it and are huge advocates of it that are turning us off right now because they don't wanna hear us poopoo on all their shit. And at the end of the day, it's not about that.

It's about trying to share with you guys. I get it. I understand. I see why you love it. I get why I would like it too and be all about it. But that's not we're not you're not addressing you're not evolving. You need to evolve. You need to grow. You need to learn more about your foods and what is good and what is not good for your body. And stop listening to these people that are taking the opposite spin and saying, Oh, there's no such thing as

good food and bad food. Fuck yes, there is. Yeah, well, there is such thing as good food and bad food. Yeah, we're so passionate because we see the snares, we see the traps that lie behind the covering of all these different things. And we can see how easily it is to be lured in all these different directions. And the problem is, is that everything's getting pulled in all these different directions for people so it's confusing. And so your average person is like, yeah, well, this makes sense because I already like this.

And so now I can look lean and also have this so cool, but there's still a trap at the end. Well, you have to be aware of that. Two things. Number one, the fitness industry has been around for a while now. Jim's have been around for a while now. Diet books have been around for a while now. Gems have been around for a while now. Diet books have been around even longer. We've known about calories, proteins, and fats

for a long time, but we've known for a long time if you count calories and you count those things that you can lose weight or gain weight. What has happened, has that helped? Has any of that helped? No, instead, we have, as we have an obesity epidemic that's exploding at an exponential rate so fast in fact that a child born today has something like a 70% higher chance of getting or has it no a 60% chance of getting diabetes versus kids born when we were kids

where the chance of diabetes like 20% and before that it was almost 0% right. That's crazy. If you have two kids there there's chances are one. At one point they're gonna develop diabetes. And it's growing, it's getting faster and faster. So we've had this information, but it hasn't helped because that's not the problem. That's not really the problem.

That's a step towards getting towards a solution, but that by itself isn't gonna fix a goddamn thing. And the second thing is I wanted to ask you a question at them about the diet cooks. Now, we both, you and I have both talked to great extent about how we've had bad relationships with exercise and nutrition because of issues with our own body image issues and all that stuff. But it related to us being skinny, right?

One and a gain weight. Let me ask you this. Let's say when you were younger, like, conclusive evidence came out that if you drank diet coax, you would lose muscle and strength. Do you think you'd still be drinking diet coke right? Of course not. Right. Right.

The difference is both Adam and both you and me, we were so concerned with needing the gain weight that we don't want to lose a single fucking pound. And so if it didn't do anything in regards to me losing weight, then fuck it. I'm going to do it. But God forbid taking this, drinking this, eating that, contribute to loss of muscle, you better fucking believe I never touched that fucking thing again. Oh, yeah. And again, that is the, that is the motivation. And you're, and right now, does that give you a little bit of a aha moment. Well, no, it's exact. It's, I know this. I understand the problem, you know, and that's why it's a constant battle.

Like it was a big step in the right direction for me when, you know, I switched from drinking the diacoste to when we went to the green coax where you have, you know, real cane sugar in it. Because before, like you said, you know, if it wasn't something that was going to build muscle or have an effect on that, then I didn't care, right? That's why in the past, I used to think that, you know, I used to think that, because before, like you said, if it wasn't something that was going to build muscle or having an effect on that, then I didn't care, right? That's why in the past, I used to drink the sugar, the full coax with like food because I wanted the calories, and I would never go, I would never go a meal without, or skip a meal because I needed the calories, or also I was going to lose muscle on my body.

So to think of not eating for a meal was just absurd. And I would rather have a junk meal. I would rather go get, you know, 12 tacos from Jack in the box before I went to bed then to go to bed and not get those extra calories because I'm gonna wake up and muscle is gonna have a fall in the box. Here's a statement that I'll stand behind all day long. If we eliminated stress eating, depressed eating, poor image issue eating, if we eliminated all those motivations behind when we eat the things that were not, you know, quote unquote,

not supposed to eat, you would see a dramatic reduction in the market for those foods. The vast, I know you said you think to yourself, oh, when I eat, you know, potato chips or candy, it tastes good. Yes, but that's not the main motivation. That isn't the main motivation you eat it. I'm telling you right now, if it was just based on enjoying the taste, you would do it far, far less because of the other negative effects that you're getting from it. The reality is, it's a drug.

It's being used as a drug. You are eating these things for the wrong reasons. You're not being mindful. And so you can't cure that with simply counting macros. That is only a step, a little bit, that's a step above where you're at now, but you need to continue moving beyond that. Otherwise, you're not going anywhere.

What you might do is you might maintain yourself at not getting fatter. Which isn't that. That's the argument, right? There's there. But you gotta understand, there are health, there are health detriments with just the simple act of being argument, right? There's there's there. But you gotta understand, there are health, there are health detriments with just the simple act of being obese, okay?

You can definitely get negative effects just from carrying lots of body fat on you. But there's lots of the health detriments that come from things that have nothing to do with your weight. In fact, a good percentage of people who get heart attacks weren't obese. A good percentage of people get diabetes. Did you't obese. A good percentage of people get diabetes. Did you know, there's like a chunk of people,

I don't remember what percentage it was. It's not a majority, but it's a big percentage of people who get diabetes aren't overweight. They're normal weight and they get diabetes. Some of the sickest people in the world are not, are underweight. They're not even overweight, they're skinny. So you get to understand that fat gain

or lots of body fat on your body is a symptom of something. It is not the cause. It is not the cause of all your issues. So simply trying to be lean doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have better health. Now if you're very obese, simply losing weight, it's definitely gonna help some because you're eating less or whatever.

But at that point, you need to go beyond that because otherwise you're going to still, you're not gonna get the kind of health and benefits that you want from your food. And if you continue, you continue that in that path of simply focusing on that, what's at the end of that tunnel is obsession with your food. It's, oh my god, when am I gonna get the next treat?

It's, I can't eat this particular thing where I'm going over here and I don't know, I can't eat out because I don't know what the macros are. I need to add it up on my, you know, my, my, my, it consumes your life. It takes over everything. Thank you very much. It consumes your life and that's what I've noticed the most with IIF-WAM, especially with the people that I have talked to, is that they are consumed by it and they are no way,

in a good position for their own health and their own well-being, and they've confused their body image with their self-image. I'm sorry, that's not flexibility. That's not flexibility in your diet. There is no flexibility. That was the other argument. It's not providing flexibility. No, when you look at food as something that nourishes your body, when your goal is to

eat for health, when you pay attention to all the other things that your food does for you, fat loss becomes a guaranteed Side effect. It is not your ultimate goal, but it happens all by itself. You're naturally just kind of maintain this good body weight This lean body, you might not get shredded ripped, but hey super shredded ripped isn't healthy either, but you'll get this good Maintainable, you know body fat percentage, you'll have good performance in the gym. That's very attractive already. It is very, and you'll lose that obsession, you'll break those chains that you have linking you

to food on a constant basis. And that, my friends, is extremely freeing and it's extremely enlightening. It's no different than every other gimmick diet that we've seen for the last 20 years. Correct. It's just like every other, it just happens to be the most popular one right've seen for the last 20 years. Correct. It's just like every other, it just happens to be the most popular one right now,

or the fastest growing one right now. Okay. It's why when we talk about keto, we make sure to say that. Yeah. It's the same thing. Keto's got great benefits for specific reasons and things out of immune issues and neuroprotective if you've got issues,

you know, you want to improve cognition. It's a very specific way to eat to achieve certain targets. But like Adam's saying, you stick into this regimen, and you're not eating a nourish your body. Look, if keto isn't nourishing your body, then you probably shouldn't eat keto. And it's not great for everybody. We talk about that all the time.

Well, yeah, I hope that, I mean, I hope most of our hardcore listeners had listened to that episode after, I mean, it was weighing on me heavy when we, after we had all went keto, and we were talking how great it was I was like, well, let me pump our brakes here because I don't ever want people to I don't once again anything It's got a name on it. You know, I'm saying the ketogenic diet, you know, it's got a name It's the fact that they've created a fucking name for it already should be a red flag So there are some great things to take from I have I am there are some great things to take from IFYM.

There's some great things to take from it. There's some great things to take from the ketogenic diet. But once again, as a diet, it has a name. There's, you're supposed to be learning about the foods that are best for your body, for optimal health, for optimal performance, whether that be trying to achieve a look, a feel, to sleep better, to perform, whatever it is. Your goal is to find that and to find that

for yourself through you learning about all these different foods and learning to look at all these different markers. But I remember when you're doing the keto and I was doing it with you and I was like, man, there's all I'd notice my psoriasis down. I noticed I energy, I noticed cravings, inflammation, all these great things. But then I also noticed I was eating a lot of butter, avocado, coconut oil, and like, that's it. You know, that was like my diet was like, was a, and then of course I was getting my veggies and stuff that I need, but as far as like the bulk of my calories were coming from these

four and macadamia nuts, like these four or five things that I could only get my hands on all the time and I, and like this, this like light bulb went off like, dude, this can't be any better for me if I'm not being able to rotate a lot of different foods. And I think Sal does the best job of following a similar type of eating because he likes things like sardines and all this weird shit. And he doesn't have a problem with pulling over at two o'clock in the afternoon and eating avocados with his fingers and eating macadamia nuts that are dipped in olive oil and shit.

That's fucking good, by the way. I just don't care too. Well, when it comes to that kind of stuff, again, I'm listening to my body. You get to understand one thing. A healthy food is not healthy for everyone. Again, I had another client who experiences, you know, digestive issues and we narrowed it down to broccoli and she's like, but broccoli's healthy. I'm like, well, it's not healthy for you. Like, you got to listen to these things. I like eating in a ketoish fashion.

And I'm not always keto, but a ketoish fashion. what was bothering her was the broccoli? Yeah, she was eating raw She was eating it raw. Okay lots of raw body was able to break it down No, she wasn't a break old break it down But even if she ate it without with cooking it and it bothered her fucking remove it I don't give a shit how healthy yeah, right? But even for me, you know, the reason I keyed a wish is I just feel Better eating that way now sometimes I do throw in some white rice and I feel good and I know when to throw it in I know the signals that my body tells me, you know, when it's time to eat those things.

But again, I'm just listening to my body and it just so happens to be the best way to eat for me. But it's taken me a long time to get here and we hope that the ultimate goal that you have is to move in that direction. And it, it, look, if you're, I wanna let you guys know this, if you're in a position right now where you're doing IIFLAM, you're doing IAFOM, you're countering macros,

you're counting calories, it's gotten you to a certain place, but now you're, this is resonating. What we're saying is resonating, and you're like, God, how do I break a free of that? Because it's scary, it is very scary to go from tracking everything and weighing yourself all the time, to not weighing yourself and not track, because your biggest fear is, oh shit,

I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna get super fat or I'm gonna lose all this muscle or whatever It's very scary, but I'm here to tell you It's it's a long process Be kind to yourself. Don't judge yourself. It takes this it takes a little while to become aware It takes a little while to go from mine from mindless to mindful Give yourself some months to do this. Pay attention to what's happening to your body. At the end of this, you will never look back again. You will be happier and feel better than you've ever felt in your entire life. And at that point, you will have

discovered health enlightenment. And with that, leave us a five star rating review on iTunes. If you like, if we like your review and we pick it, you're getting it free, mine pump t-shirt. You can also find us on Instagram, mine pump radio. You can find me at mine pump style. Adam is at mine pump atom, and Justin is at mine pump Justin. Thank you for listening to mine pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy,

and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballad, maps performance and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by SOW, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable

free resources at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is MindPump. you you