The Squeeze - Patrick Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver: Parenting, Holistic Health, and Alzheimer's Awareness

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

The Lautners are joined by one of Taylor’s longest friends and their mother, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, to discuss raising children, holistic health, and Alzheimer's awareness, as they talk about their brain-healthy protein bar company, Mosh. We get insight into Patrick and Maria’s personal and working relationship, and Maria offers a mother’s perspective on mental health and raising kids. Patrick discusses the various roles he has played as an actor that have highlighted mental illness, and the importance of putting yourself in others shoes and understanding what others are going through. The two also discuss their protein bar company, Mosh, a brain healthy alternative that raises money for Alzheimer's Awareness. Maria shares the biggest misconception when it comes to Alzheimer’s, and offers advice for families facing that diagnosis. Today’s episode is all about health and family as the Lautners sit down with two people they respect tremendously. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.  You can follow Patrick @patrickschwarzenegger and Maria @mariashriver. Be sure to check out Mosh and Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most by Yale faculty Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz.  Thanks to our awesome sponsors for making this episode possible:   Athletic Greens — Go to athleticgreens.com/SQUEEZE to get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase  Babbel — Go to Babbel.com/thesqueeze to get up to 60% OFF your subscription  To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail].  Be sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on Instagram, @thesqueeze and personally @taylautner and @taylorlautner. To learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow @lemonsbytay on Instagram and visit lemonsbytay.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Happy Wednesday. Thank you for joining us today. I hope your week is off to a terrific start. And if it's not, guess what? We got the whole rest of the week. Hook yeah. You say, hook yeah. Hook yeah.

Hook yeah. Fuck yeah. I'm super excited for today. One, I'm having a great day. We've got both of our puppies by our side. It's our favorite weather. Yes. Gloomy and rainy outside.

Nice and cozy. And we have one of my longest friends on today's episode. Mm-hmm. And his mother. Yes. We have my great buddy, Patrick Schwarzenegger. And his mother, Maria Shriver. I'm just so excited to have them.

I mean, I've known Patty for so long, but we don't, like, we don't see each other all the time. We just, you know, obviously we're both busy, but we just like, we just live, you know, different lives. But every time we see each other, it's, like, jumping right back in. You're like low-maintenance, friends. Yeah. Like, I feel like I'll walk in randomly and you guys will be FaceTiming one day. I'm like, once last time we talked to Patty? And you're like, it's been a couple months.

It's like you guys just consistently pick up where you left off. They're both like the kindness people and just like hardworking people. Oh my gosh. Genuine people. Their family is just unbelievable. When you talk about hardworking, respect, giving, loyal, generous people. Yeah. This family.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, Maria and Arnold raised kids that are just not real. It's like, what? They still make kids like this today? Yeah, right. I mean, as we talked about in the episode, definitely took work and Maria definitely, you know, set, well, her and Arnold both, you know, set boundaries with the kids. We're quote unquote, strict parents.

But a lot of the times you have, like, you know, people think of sure. strict parents. Yeah. You also think, like, scared of your parents or, or you think, you know, very, very strict parents. You think, like... You're, like, you're scared of them and you don't, like, want to go to them. And a very parent kid relationship. Yeah.

These people, they, they just, it blows my mind that the relationship that they have. Yes, they were strict. Yes, they had their rules. And they did those for very good reasons. Arnold's done a movie or two. So raising kids being one of the biggest movie stars, governor, Maria coming from her family, they knew that they, you know, wanted to implement these things into their kids. But they also, they're like best friends too. Yeah. They're all so close. Yeah, they tell each other everything. They have just the most beautiful relationship. I don't know how they figure out that balance.

But man, when we are parents one day, we'll have another chat with Maria. Yeah. I remember this is so random, but I actually remember it during the interview, they have this big circle table at Maria's place. And there's like, there's so many chairs around it, because there's four kids and, you know, friends, spouses, whoever, there's a lot of people. And family dinners are family dinners. Family dinners are very important.

And I remember Patty being like, oh, yeah, my mom loves a circle table. And I feel like that is so speaks to their family and just how they are. You know, like they're one, what a circle means. They are one unit. But also just like, it's everyone has like their place there. Engaging with everybody. Yeah. And listening to everybody.

they're the same with their home here. Yeah. Circle table. And they do family dinner. And it's just a beautiful thing. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely learned a lot.

I feel like we had a whole list of questions to ask them. And they kind of even answered the questions before we could even ask. So made our job a lot easier. We just got to sit back and listen. I was telling Tay before we started filming this after. we filmed their episode. I was nervous while we were talking with them because Maria also comes from, she's got a lot of hats. She's done a lot. But she also comes from the world of journalism. So I was like a little intimidated to be like interviewing, you know, somebody that is so good at doing that.

Yeah. And I was like, they're going to think that we suck at this because they answered all of our questions before we could even ask them. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. It's so cute. But they work together. We talked about their relationship, their working relationship, mosh their company, which we will dive into and leave a link for you guys to buy some of these brain healthy bars. They are delicious. I just ate one. They both are just doing so much good in this world. Yes. I mean, Patty is so talented and has become a terrific actor and is in some really, really awesome projects. And Maria's list of life of accomplishments goes on. But beyond that, both of them just do so much good for this world and give back so much. So we were just honored to have them on. And it's a great chat. And I know you will enjoy listening to it. Yeah, it's good to it. Patty, Maria, thank you for being here. We love you both. and we feel so honored to have you.

And we're just so excited to sit down and talk with you guys because you mean so much to us. Thank you for having us. We were excited to drive out here. Oh, yeah. For everybody listening that doesn't know, Patty and I've been friends for quite some time. 11 years, something like that. Yeah, I was going to say probably close to a decade. But it's actually more.

I was in high school. You were out of high school. Yeah, I was 20. or 21. Yeah. Just barely. He's on the wall. He is on the wall.

Am I still on the wall? You're still on the wall? Because I haven't been back in a bit. I was worried that I might have gotten removed. For people that don't know what the wall is. The wall is at my mom's house from when I was in high school. And she painted her basement like the, the Palm Restaurant with all the different names and faces of people,

the character drawings on the wall. And Taylor was... Of all the people that came over all the time. that everybody loved. So everybody got to vote who got on the wall. So it was a really big, it is a big honor to get on the wall. And then there are some people who have been taken off the wall. Okay.

And I haven't. No. You haven't done anything. Okay. That's true. I've been taken off the wall. I haven't done much recently. No, no.

You haven't done anything that's like what we're quite bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that's like if you, I don't know, we're mean to the dog or if you were like mean to me or if you left a mess, you'd come off the wall.

Yeah. You'd be like, I threatened Christopher's friends the other day. They left a mess when I came home. Like, this is worthy of being taken off the wall. Oh, my gosh. So there hasn't been anybody. No adhesive has come down yet. But those are the kinds of things that get you off the wall.

Okay. I need to start a wall for you. Yeah. You could do wall in here, like of all the guests. Yeah, you should. That's a good idea. Yeah. I actually did think about doing it in that corner.

Yeah, you did. And then it did it's like polaroids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Little caricatures like we have.

Yeah. And then if like people would vie to get on the wall and it's kind of a big honor. It's the honor to get on the wall. Yeah. That's right. Wow. If they don't like repost our story of their episode, they're off the wall. They're off the wall.

They're off the wall. Okay. So go back to your intro. So Patty and I. This is going to be a fun one. Patty and I met actually before, but right before grownups two. Yep. We were frat boys together in the gorgeous, beautiful movie grownups too.

If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's unbelievable. But yeah, Patty and I, we started working out together. Yeah. Right. Jordan. Jordan. I know.

Rest in peace. Oh, my gosh. And, yeah, just been friends ever said. and just respect the crap out of Patty is a human being, his work ethic, his loyalty, and the person sitting next to him has a lot to do with that. So we're just so thankful to have them both here. Yeah, that's my little intro spiel. Citchfiel.

Okay, so we start every episode off with a little game we call Citrus Got Real. Wow. Like chit-just citrus. Thank you, babe. Thank you. I do it every couple episodes. Profanity, Maria is here. So sorry.

I apologize. This beautiful jar has a bunch of questions in it. Are you going to pull? Oh, no. I'm used to people being virtual and I have to pull for them, but you guys are right here. Perfect. Am I supposed to pull one? Yeah.

They're very intense questions. They're intense questions? No, they're not. I hope they're intense. I hope they're deeply complicated. Oh wow, they are deep. They are good. What animal is the biggest party animal?

Biggest what? Party animal. What animal is the biggest party animal? I know. We're going on a mental health podcast I was expecting really deep questions. A horse? Yeah, a horse. Great.

Do you want to pick one? Do I want to pick one? Is this real? It is. Keep going? Okay. Wow. All righty.

I might not be able to read it. I can't because I don't like glasses. If you were transported for, 400 years ago into the past with no clothes or anything else, how would you prove that you were from the future? Well, I would tell them everything that's going on in the future. And then they would be like, damn, this woman knows a lot. She's either a witch from the future, mystic.

We should burn her at the stake. But I would just start talking. I don't know if they'd believe you. They probably wouldn't. They'd be like, there's no way. Oh, my gosh. So we put that back? Yeah.

Do we keep going? If you want to. The entire episode is just us pulling questions from the jar. Maria's like, what did I come up for? I've done a lot of interviews in my time. I've never been asked the biggest party animal. I actually really liked that party animal question. Do you have an answer for that?

Wait, why did you say horse? Because that's kind of my spirit animal. I love horses. I ride. I kind of have a great love for horses. Mine's a shark. Great white shark. He's terrified of sharks.

I'm terrified, but it's my spirit animal. Yeah. It's crippling of I can't even go in the ocean. Yeah. So we go to the Cape in the summer and he can't even get in the ocean because he's convinced that if he gets in the ocean, there'll be a great white shark that will come and eat him. That's waiting for me. That's why I love Gaza in the lake. Yeah.

I feel at peace. It's true. I know there are weird things in the lake, but without sharks, I'm good. Yeah. My party animal would be a flamingo. That's a good one. I can see it with like a little party hat on. Yeah.

It's like pink, hot pink. It's ready to go. Yeah. I like flamingos. I like a... It says a lot about you. You're like little pink cat ready to go. One leg.

Yeah, it's it. I like a party pig. A party pig. You went pink too. I guess so. Did you ever come over when we had the pig? Oh, no. You didn't?

No. I don't think. I think I did. Oh, yeah. Bacon was his name? Oh. And yeah, he got so fat that his stomach when it would rain or anything would, he would go out into the lawn and his stomach would drag in the grass and in the lawn. And then he would come in and his stomach would drag over the carpet with all the schmuts on his belly.

But, yeah, I bought him and he was, they owner assured me that he would stay a mini pig. Like this big, and it grew to the size of the couch. Stop. He was huge, like hundreds of pounds. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Bacon. Yeah.

I just missed stair protector. Yeah, Sarge. Oh. He's on the wall. He's on the wall. He's on the wall. He's on the wall. He's never coming off the wall.

He's a legend. He protects everybody on the wall. Oh, my gosh. He's still guarding those stairs. Actually, all those boys that were over the other day that left the mess, we're all talking about Sarge and what a legend he was. would just sit there. You'd have to move him around towards the end.

Yeah, let's just protect the stairs. Aw. So something, as you guys know, that has been a huge part of my mental health journey, Taylor's mental health journey journeys as individuals. And as a couple has been therapy. Amen. And that is why I am so excited to share our next sponsor with you guys, which is cerebral. Cerebral is here to help you achieve your mental wellness goals with professional therapy.

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Get going on that therapy. Okay, Patty. Yep. You have played, I mean, it seems to me like you've played numerous roles that have highlighted either mental illness or just like in the mental health arena. How difficult was it for you to play those roles and was there something, you know, that you use to tap? into, you know, whatever those characters were going through. People, if you haven't seen, Daniel isn't real. Patty can really get to some places. The staircase, phenomenal. He can get to some amazing places that I, you know, haven't myself seen him as a friend. And I'm just like, I wonder, what do you, what do you do? How do you get there? Well, I think, you know, Frat Boy Cooper in growing up too, that was a lot of preparation, right? I can't believe I remember the name, actually.

Pretty impressive. It was Cooper. I'm pretty sure it was Cooper. Oh, my gosh. Oh, mine was Frat Boy Andy. Was it? Yeah, because it was supposed to be Andy Samberg. Okay, got it.

I don't know if mine was supposed to be Cooper. I don't know. But, no, I mean, look, you know probably better than I do. you've been doing this for longer. But, you know, I think that I've gotten to continue to grow as an actor. I've gotten to learn, you know, from the years that I've been doing this. I think most importantly is from class. You know, I still go to class every Thursday night and learn under Nancy Banks.

It was an amazing, you know, acting coach and kind of gives you tactics and tools and different, you know, ways to explore different characters or try to put yourself into someone else's shoe. And that's what I do. I mean, I try. Obviously, I've gotten better and better over the years. And, you know, different characters are obviously come with different difficulties and come with different past lives. And you're putting yourself into someone else's shoes every time you step into a role. And Daniel isn't real. It's something that was, you know, really investigated the idea of mental health because it was kind of you're playing an alter ego and you're playing someone else's voice in their head. So that kind of talked a lot about that world and that space and in the

staircase. You know, I mean, that's a true story. So I got to take a lot of what that guy in real life was and what he was going through. And I got to expand on it because there was only so much on the documentary side. But, you know, just like I said, putting myself in that person's shoes and trying to see, you know, whether that was AA classes or meetings, you know, and then going and talking to people from AA meetings or going into one and actually kind of getting to experience that and what it was like, you know, as a, you know, a drug addict or an alcoholic and the mental health side of losing and gaining weight. I mean, this guy fluctuated a lot with that and, and just things that, you know, as Patrick, I don't comprehend or understand, but I try to as Todd in that, in that case.

And, you know, one of the things that I think that's such a great benefit of being an actor is that we do get to try to place ourselves into someone else's shoes. And a lot of the times when you're talking about whether that's mental health or anything in life, politics or if it's a sibling or whatever, just trying to understand what someone else is going through. A lot of the time, my girlfriend, you know, we talk about some of the struggles that she has as a model or what she's in. it's hard for me to understand, you know, some of the difficulties on a day-to-day thing or, you know, people measuring your waist or telling you're too, you know, fat, or you're not walking this and that. And it's just, I think that's one of the beauties of being an actor is that it kind of allows you to step back and try to understand what that person is going through. Yeah. Staircase. I feel like I can go back. I don't know how to do it for Lava Boy. That's what

I'm not. Tell us. Yeah, it was, Struck Boy and Lava Girl. It's really tough to dive in. too. Love a girl. I said love a boy. It's okay. You know, the diehard shark boy fans are going to be really upset with you for that one. Sorry. I think I think what's really great about what Patrick just said, and I think what I respect and admire about Patrick is how hard he's worked at his acting journey. He's done so many, you know, as he said, he goes to class every week. He's done independent films. He goes out in auditions. He takes rejection. He keeps trying. He studies. He tries to get better all the time. And I think that, you know, we always see people in acting when they make it, right? We don't understand the path that leads up to that. The work, the rejection, the doubt, the insecurity, the, you know, like should I continue all of that that goes

into the journey of becoming an actor and how few actors actually make a living at acting. And survive at acting and how long it takes to really perfect one's craft. And I think, you know, what's really been great, I think, about you is that how many different projects you've tried, how many different things, all on his own. And he really was adamant about making his own way in this profession, making his own name, in this profession making his own contacts, having his own team, and working his way up. And I think, you know, people will always, oh, you got it because your name is this. But he's really worked, issued all that and really worked his way up from the bottom. And I have great respect for that when you talked about his work ethic.

I think it's really important, particularly if you have a well-known name, to have a strong work ethic, to, you know, make your way and put in the discipline to make your own name and know that you did that. because people will always try to take it away from you and that you will know when you comes back to mental health people will always say, well, you didn't get her, you didn't, but you know. Right, right. You know you've made your way.

You know you've done the work. You've made your own team. And that's really important for one's mental health. Yeah, nobody can take that away. Yeah, nobody. Truly, I'm not just saying this because you're sitting here right now and taking a test of this.

Everything you've done, you continue to get better. It actually blows my mind. Every time I watch something of yours, if it's a new thing, it's like you were better than the last thing. Well, we watched the staircase. I think after the first episode,

we were like, well, like, Patty just did that. It was so good. I know. Thank you. Thank you. I wish Christopher were here his younger brother, though, because he would say that he probably was responsible for Daniel isn't real because he's like, I've seen that. I saw that guy in Carpool. I've seen that guy on the tennis court.

So I think siblings see different versions, especially younger brothers. I'm not wrong. I want to ask you, we get so many questions from our listeners, and there's so many of them always ask for a mother's perspective, just kind of on mental health and raising their kids how to prioritize your mental health as a mother to be able to tend to your kids and just kind of. of anything that you learned along the way of raising kids related to mental health? Well, that's a long conversation, right? I think, you know, raising, there's four kids here, and I think there's no doubt about it. It's a challenge. And if you're working, as the majority of parents are, they're balancing raising children,

they're balancing work, and more and more, they're also balancing taking care of aging parents. And so people have a tremendous amount on their plate. And I think just first naming that and recognizing that and letting people say that to themselves, like, I have a lot on my plate, you know. And then looking at your day, I think, in kind of trying to first prioritize your own time, I think is really important, even if it's just 15 minutes early in the morning. Yeah. Another thing that I really wanted all four of the kids to feel like they were the priority in the house. That was certainly really important to me. I grew up in a very public family that was really chaotic and busy. And I felt like I was always fighting for my parents' time and attention. And they were terrific my parents. But I was really adamant that Patrick's dad and I raised the kids in a really private way as best we could where they felt like they were the priority. that their friends were the priority, that their house was quiet, calm, safe, and fun. Yeah.

And I always really encouraged them to talk. I really wanted boys who were empathetic and who felt that they could talk about their feelings and daughters who felt that they could do that as well. But raising young men to be able to talk about their feelings was super important because I think it was a little bit counterculture at the time. So I prioritized family dinners, family conversations, family vacations, sticking together as a family, talking things out because I think whenever there are multiple kids in a home, they're there, but they're individuals. They're a collective, but they're individuals. And so that was also really important to me to recognize that there are

four people here. Yeah. I grew up in a family where everybody lumped us all together. And I was always fighting for my own identity. I also have four brothers. So I wanted all four of these children to know that they were unique and individual and that I saw them as that, and that yet they were part of this larger collective. And so I think, you know, trying to encourage them to speak and understand what maybe one of their siblings was going through might be different from what they were going through was also. And that has continued. I think it continues and changes when kids are teenagers. And also So when kids are no longer kids, they're adults. Yeah.

And their mental health is different than it is when they're in grade school and teenage years and at young adults. I think we don't talk enough about the parenting process for young adults, which is much longer than it is for toddlers or teenagers. All the books and the focus is on zero to five or toddlers or teenagers. But then the long haul is adults. That's so true. And you as a parent have to change and adjust. And then there are new people that come in and change the dynamic of the family. So I think talking about that and having, giving people time and patience and trying to keep it all together is an ongoing process.

And I think it's a challenge. Yeah. Or sure. I think parenting is the biggest challenge that one faces. And as I said, I think recognizing that we need it as a country. I believe need to do more to support parents because I talk to so many people, particularly my age or 10, 15 years younger, that are really struggling with younger kids and with parents. And it's really expensive to have aging parents. And it's really expensive to have little kids. And people are buckling under the weight of all of that. And so that they feel, you know, anxious about not being able to take care of parents or not being able to take care of kids. And so I think giving people an outlook, to express that is important. Yeah.

Yeah. Why don't you explain what Mosh is? Okay, so Mosh is our new protein bar. We made this protein bar for the brain. So it supports brain research, gender-based research for women, for Alzheimer's.

And we have developed this bar. We now have six bars. We've been in business about a year and a half. And it was an idea that I kept talking about, and Patrick said, because he moved in with me during COVID, he and Abby, and he said, why don't you stop talking and just do it. And I was like, well, I'm too old. Well, he goes, no, just do I'll help you.

And he had made, once again, all of these contacts in the CPG space. I now speak in acronyms, just so you know. And he had all of these ideas about how we could build this company that would develop products that were all good for your brain health. And raised money for research. So these are our bars. We have them in peanut butter, peanut butter, chocolate chip, chocolate, cookie dough, blueberry, lemon. We have another one coming out in June for brain health awareness month. I think the main thing was you were doing so much after your father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Right. You know, it was that 20 years ago. Yeah. Almost. You were doing so much work for Alzheimer's research. Right. You were doing, you know, documentaries. You were writing books. You created a coloring book for people with Alzheimer's. You had movies. You did research, testified in front of Congress, all these different things. And one of the, the largest, you were writing books. You created a coloring book for people. You had Alzheimer's, you had movies. And one of the, the large,

just kind of pillars of things that affected someone's brain health, and I'm sure it has to do with mental health as well, was food, was diet. And specifically it was Americans with their intake of sugar. So we wanted to create this product and this brand with different brain health doctors and nutritionists that centered around no sugar. So our bars have 12 grams of protein, no added sugar, and all these different brain healthy ingredients like vitamin D3, B12, Lionsman, Oshvigando, Omega-3s. But the main goal was how, how can we create a business that was mission driven. That wasn't just for profit, but that educated the consumer about what they ate impacted their brain health and then raised money. And it's pretty

cool. I mean, we've raised over $50,000 for Alzheimer's, which is really cool to, you know, it's one thing to donate that, but to build a business that can sustain that and to create money for research all while, you know, creating jobs and giving people food that they enjoy has been a fun, fun experience. It's been incredible. I mean, it's been unbelievable, we, you know, kind of launched during COVID. So we've, we, it's been an incredible experience up, down, you know, like drama. Yeah. All out our money at SBB Bank last week.

You know, Patrick was like, oh, my God, this is really bad. You know, we've, like, several times like, uh-oh, we're done, we're done. And then, you know, we're still here. And, you know, our hope is to build a company that when you walk into the market or the drugstore or whatever and you see Mosh, you know. that those products are good for your brain. And as Patrick said, we now know so much more that what we eat affects depression, affects anxiety, affects whether you can sleep or not sleep. And this whole field of research, when I started in the Alzheimer's space, it was believed that it was a disease of the aging and it was about plaques and tangles. And that was it. Nobody spoke about lifestyle. Nobody spoke about gender and nothing. And now we have this entire new field of research that says that as many, of half the cases of Alzheimer's may be preventable due to lifestyle choices. And so we still don't know why it disproportionately impacts women, but we know so much more

about the food we're eating, about processed foods, and what impact that has on children, on teenagers, on aging people, and beginning to have a conversation about something you can't see, right? Which is really hard. You know, people can see if they eat cake, they can see it on their thighs, right? You can see it on your face. That's what you always say. She always says, I want to get people thinking about their brains as much as their thighs, the biceps, your lips, et cetera. And it's a whole new space of mental fitness, right? And so we talk a lot about, you know, here's what I'm doing from my triceps. And this is a conversation, you know, Patrick and I and the kids have all the time, like you're going to the gym,

but what are you doing for your mental health, your spiritual health, you know, your holistic health? because it's so connected. Your body is not separate from your brain, right? Your heart is not separate from your brain. They're all connected. And therefore, what you do for one impacts the other. So getting people to think about their health holistically. And that involves your relationships.

That involves what you eat, how you're sleeping. Are you using your brain? Yeah. Or are you just sitting there like a lump in the corner? Yeah. We talk about that all the time. We've talked about it a number of times on this podcast already. It's like, why we set aside time during the day for our physical health to go to the gym, to, you know, get some cardio, whatever.

We set aside, you know, supplements to take for, you know, our muscles or whatever. It's like, you should be doing that same thing for your mental health. Set aside some time to work out your brain. you know, to put things in your body that are good for your mental health. And rest your brain. That's an really important thing because now, you know, your generation is on 24-7. You know, Patrick's speaking into his watch. He's got his phone in one leg and his other leg is bouncing with his watch.

But I'm constantly like, you know, like let's like walk in nature without the phone. Let's, you know, have a conversation without the phone. And, you know, the only time your brain really rests is if you're in meditation or sleeping. And all the research also shows that that's the time when your brain can eliminate, for lack of a better word, the trash that it accumulates during the day. So prioritizing those things, you know, social interaction off of your devices, these things are really important for children. It's important for a child to be bored. it's important for us all to be bored. Yeah.

It's important for us to be in nature. It's important for us to be off of devices and let our brains calm down. And it's important to nourish our brains with the right people, the right food, the right environments. Yeah. That's all fuel and food for the brain. Yeah. Yeah. I recently stopped drinking caffeine because it was really getting to my anxiety.

I'm not looking at you. I'm such a coffee addict. But I, cutting it out, because we saw Dr. Raymond and he was like that, you need to, that's something that you need to do is you need to like cut the coffee out. And I love coffee. And I've always said caffeine doesn't have an effect on me because it doesn't like wake me up. Right. Like I wouldn't feel that effect of caffeine, but I was feeling the like anxiety.

The thing I couldn't see like what it was doing to my brain. And a couple weeks ago, I stopped drinking coffee. And it's literally, it was a little hard at first because I was going to. headaches because I was like severely like loved coffee. But now like the amount of times I was anxious drinking coffee and now like literally I just have decaf and I don't get anxious anymore. Like around 1 p.m. I normally start to get anxious. Like that's just how it would always hit me. And I haven't been anxious recently having like relating to that. So it's so true like really feeding. Coffee is so good. I know. Decaf. But the other thing is also to know is that you know what affects you

is different than what affects me. And that's also kind of a burgeoning health conversation, personalized medicine. Certain foods really are good with you. A plant-based diet may work really well for you. Keto diet may work really well for you. And so I think recognizing that nobody's the same, nobody learns the same, nobody moves through life the same. And I think also when we talk about mental health, I think judgment is a big part. of trying to drop judgment about how other people are kind of living their lives.

What are they eating? What are they taking? How are they parenting? Yeah. This is a lot of mental health challenges. I see young girls. You know, they're all like, she's not dressed like that and her kids got hold with it. You know, I was like, let's just stop judging. I remember when I brought his younger brother to school and I was first lady at the time. and he had shoes that he loved, and they had holes in them. And he would not give them up. He wanted to wear the shoes with the holes in the and everything. And I remember the teacher came to me, she was, can I speak to you?

And I said, yes, what is it? She goes, I know you're really busy. I know, you're first lady. But I don't know if you've realized that your son has holes in his shoes. I wanted to. I wanted to decker, you know, because I, I was like, I, because I felt what she was like, she was like saying, you know, you don't see that your kids coming here with. You're too busy for your kids.

And I'm like, those are his favorite shoes and he'll be coming with holes in his shoes and socks for as long as he wants. Because that's how he wants to roll. But it was, you know, I received it as she was judging that I. And I think it's a natural people are all judging each other. But I think if we could kind of let that go a little, it would be better for our mental health and other people's mental health. If we just assume maybe the kid likes the holes in his shoes. And we could ask him. Yeah. And if he needs a new pair of shoes, well, then we can get him. But we don't want to assume that his mom or dad doesn't know that. Yeah. Yeah. Before we get off of Mosh, so Alzheimer's runs in my family. And I love everything you do for it. I think you probably hit on this. But I wanted to ask you, what you think the biggest misconception is behind Alzheimer's?

That it's a normal part of aging. People think, well, that's just going to inevitably happen to me, and that's wrong. And people also think, well, if it doesn't run in my family, it's not going to happen to me. And if it runs in my family, it's going to happen to me. Both are wrong. Okay. So there are things you can do, and I think the longevity space now is exploding. with, you know, this is all really in the last, I'd say, five to ten years, really.

But once again, you know, there are things you can do. We don't have a magic pill for Alzheimer's. We don't know exactly. We know the numbers go up as you age. Neurological deterioration, neurological diseases, be it Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, different forms of dementia, MS, ALS, these increase as one ages. And we are an aging population, an aging country. So these diseases are front and center for millions and millions of people. But we can do things today that prevent maybe delay a year, two, or five years from now.

We don't know at what point the brain begins to deteriorate. The women's Alzheimer's movement that I started, that the Mosh Barz Fund is now at the Cleveland Clinic, and they are doing the largest brain study in the world where they are tracking healthy people, starting at like 40 and trying to look, does the brain begin to deteriorate or change at 45, at 48? And perhaps in the future, when you guys get that age, there might be a statin type, I'm using that word, that you now can take.

You take a statin to prevent heart disease, right? And you give you that to prevent. There might be some pill in the future that would be given to you at a certain age when we can begin to see the brain changing. And we can now see that due to cat scans and different technological advances. But Alzheimer's is something we should all be concerned about. And you should be concerned about it starting in your 30s and 40s.

And I think that's what you talk about. And that's one of the purposes and missions behind Mosh's. What you always say is that I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that because we can't see, there's nothing we can do or because there's no pill or Advil per se for Alzheimer's. Yes. You know, oh, we'll just, we'll cross that bridge when it comes. Yep. And I think the research that you've done, the Cleveland Clinic and the women's Alzheimer's

movement and a lot of these doctors today. And what we know now is that there are things you can do. Yeah. You are in the driver's seat. There are things that you can do today that will help your brain health, you know, tomorrow or next year or in five, 10 years from now. And I think a lot of it is, it's the long-term process. Yeah.

Which everyone that's our age, we want the quick fix, right? We want the caffeine that's going to give us the energy now. We want the pill that's going to make our headache go away. Now we want the overnight success. We want to get the job promotion or whatever that is. And a lot of the stuff with mental health or with brain health is the longevity of it, the long-term compounding effects of what you do today, tomorrow, the next day, so on, so forth, will help us in whatever years down the road.

And I think that's the hard thing for people to grasp or to understand. And I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions that we're always trying to talk about. And it makes it not only that it's fun for my mom and I to run the company together and we're two different age ranges and generations and stuff like that, but it's fun because we get to talk to two different generations. I went to the Laker game on Sunday, and a mom and her daughter came up to me and said that they both buy mosh bars and they both talk about brain health and it runs in their family and that they want to do things starting now. And like that was our goal was to get people that it was, you know, her age and my age to start, you know, thinking about it or that you would buy it for, you know, your dad or your mom or dad would buy it for you and so on and so forth. So I think that's also one of the biggest misconceptions. That's so funny because I was in Austin at South by Southwest, not too long ago. And I came down at the hotel with the people that I was working with.

And this woman was sitting there and she stood up and she goes, the creator of Mosh. Stop. And I was like, whoa, that's different. Oh, my gosh. Usually I get 10 other things. You know, she goes, I eat my mosh bars all the time. And she goes, it runs in my family. I have my mother eating mosh bars.

I eat it all the time. I'm so excited about it. It's so great. Then she turned to the, go, she all eat mosh bars. So I think it's a, you know, I think what's important is, you know, Alzheimer's and brain gender is 20 years occurring in your brain before you are symptomatic.

So my passion is that, you know, I wish I was, when I was Patrick A, I knew what I know now. Yeah. And that's really why kind of I try to travel around the world, really, and the country talking about this because it's so important at your age to be thinking about this. It wasn't around for my age. Yeah. And it will be different for your age because of the research, because of the emphasis on neuroscience, because of everything we're learning. And because, you know, people are recognizing, wow, so much of what we eat is bad for us. The way we are living and working and coexisting is bad for us.

And we can change that. You don't have to change it all at once. You can change it in small increments. But you can make decisions today that will really help you and will help your parents. I say all the time to people your age, you know, pay attention to what's happening with your parents. because if I've met one child of Alzheimer's and I consider myself that, the biggest regret I hear across the board is like I didn't act sooner. My parent came to me and said, I'm thinking this and I said, no, no, no, no, because I didn't

want them to have Alzheimer's. I didn't want them to have dementia. So I disregarded it. I poo-pooed it. I said, no, no, no, no, it's just because you're stressed. But pay attention. You are the caregivers on deck. Yeah. And this is your issue as much as it is my generation of baby boomers.

Yeah. Yeah, I was going to ask, because I've seen, like, firsthand the effects of, like, being a caregiver to, you know, your parent with Alzheimer's, like, a lot of patients that I've had in the hospital have had that. And I've seen just like the stressors with this small amount of time that I have had with families, that it can cause and just kind of the effects of it. And I love how, obviously, how passionate you are about this because like you lived it. Yeah. And is there advice that you could give to people that maybe are in like the earlier stages of it and like they just don't, they don't really know how to handle it or just like advice because that's, that's a mentally very straining time. Well, I would first of all sit with them and hold their hand and let them kind of unload because it is scary. Yeah.

And it is, it really destroys entire. It was a big. piece in the New York Times this week about how many families in this country are going under from trying to care for a loved one with Alzheimer's. How expensive caregiving facilities are after tax. So my dad had Alzheimer's, but my family had money to care for him. And it is an incredibly expensive disease and facilities are incredibly expensive and people cannot afford it. So they're scared and rightfully so and caring for somebody with any kind of dementia is 24-7 and you cannot do it alone. There are a lot of support groups that are out there, but you are going to need a village for sure. Yeah. And so I think, you know, find out there's a lot of help online. There are a lot

of support groups. There are a lot of people who are advocating in the Congress on both parties. This is a real bipartisan issue, actually. Caregiving is a big issue. Caregiving is a big issue. It's, you know, getting people to go into the profession is a huge issue. Paying them, a living wage is a huge issue. Attracting people to it is a huge issue. I just did a big report for the governor of California. I spent a year and a half developing recommendations for what could be done and should be done for the amount of people getting Alzheimer's. California being an aging state. People don't think of California that way. But we need to attract a lot more people into caregiving, much like my dad attracted people into the Peace Corps. We need a caregiving force in this country,

much like that, getting young people like you have for Teach for America or the Peace Corps, we need for caregiving. Because, you know, people who are 65, my generation, will need care. Yeah. Regardless whether it's Alzheimer's, MS, whatever it is. Yeah. And we are unprepared. So it's not just a family that's unprepared. The nation is unprepared. But there are support groups that are out there. There are people who will help you. And your mental health, caregivers often get sicker than the person they're caring for. Yeah. And so you have to prioritize your own health and you have to ask for help. You have to ask. You have to use your voice and say, I need help. And that's often very difficult for people in that situation. Yeah.

Well, our generation will be better off because of the research that has been done. But that is in thanks to people like you. So thank you for setting us and our generation up for that. Well, we hope to kind of make, you know, my vision, Patrick is always like, stop talking about your vision from us. I'm like, we're going to generate millions of dollars in reshirts. We're going to have all these products. And every meeting we're in, he goes, no, what she's really talking about.

I go, no, no, I know what I'm talking about. I just keep us on, I try to keep us on track. Yeah. Because we're tasting a new flavor of a bar or something. And she's like, what if we did? What if we had new olive oil bottles? And we had olive oil and then maybe some like drinks or whatever. And I'm just like, oh, my God.

And then the person who's helping formulate the bars and the doctors there. And they're like, oh, I thought we were doing bars and helping with that, not olive oil. And she's like, yeah, let's talk about doing an olive oil bottle. And I'm just like, oh, my God. Because the doctor said that olive oil is very important. So I say, well, Patrick, I have it. Come on Patrick. We get into a disagreement.

He's like, mom, they don't understand what you. We're trying to do an olive oil flavor. He's like, they don't understand what you're talking about. Could you please? I said, no, they do understand what I'm talking about. I'm talking about. Oh, my gosh. It's a sitcom.

It's a sitcom. I support this olive oil. Oh, yeah. Over the past year, we've really learned about just what's in food and like eating clean food. And it's, it's, can you talk to Patrick for me? It's like, there's bottles, you know how expensive that is? And now you're talking about a whole other line of work, blah, blah.

Well, it's amazing. When you're in the business side of it, you have to think of all these different things, like olive oil. And then you think about the glass bottles. And then there's the breakage and how much you have to get. And what happens if the bottle breaks and how heavy it is and to ship things right now is so expensive. And all those different, you know, in the end of the day, we have to create a business. And we're, you know, a certain percentage is going to charity.

And then we have to pay employee, you know, it's just the whole working from it backwards is a lot of things to think about. But one day we'll get your olive oil. All of a word with them. Yeah, we'll talk after that. No, he's very good because he does. I do get like, I see five years down. And I've always been like that, actually. Like when I started even the women's Alzheimer's movement,

I saw 10 years and I get frustrated with the pace that it takes to actually, you know, we built the first women's Alzheimer's Prevention Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Vegas. But I saw it, you know, years before anybody else. And everybody's like, just take your time. And I'm like, I don't have time. Yeah. I don't want to take my time. Yeah.

And so I'm constantly. We're good complimenting for us. Yeah. So he's like, just mommy, just take your time. I'm like, you don't understand. I said take your time with this. And then she says, take you time with my foot moving around. Yeah.

You're a good team. I said, Patrick, can you try some meditation? How about some expressive writing? Why don't we, you know, talk? You need to come try a sound bath with us. A sound bad? I haven't done it, but I've, I mean, I've seen them before, but I haven't tried it. I just took my first.

Yeah. And I did not think I was going to like it. And I loved it. He did? Yeah, I actually didn't think he was at all because he cannot sit still for the life of him. Yeah. That's what Abby says about me, but it was good. Okay.

We usually finish with our Lemon 11 segment. 11. Yes. But we're just going to ask a couple of our favorites from that segment. Okay. And then we'll get you guys out of here and back home. So a couple of our favorite questions from the Lemon 11. Okay.

One of the questions that I wanted to ask is, what is your favorite part of your morning or night routine? Ooh, I think we both have a pretty strong morning routine. Ooh. Unfortunately for me, I had shoulder surge again. So right now my morning routine is going to physical therapy, which is frustrating. But usually I think that I'm a big believer in routines. I'm very regimented with my mornings. I like to wake up at the same time.

I like to do my alone time of my right now. I kind of live near the beach. So it's amazing to wake up in the morning and go with my girlfriend. We walk get coffee, go down to the beach, work out. And I like to do my sauna and ice bath and so on, so forth. And then go off to the office and get berated with work from my mother. But I think you have a really important morning. routine as well, which she's tried to get me to add in the meditation, which I have not successfully

added in, but why don't you? Do you do that every morning? Yeah, I have, so I kind of, I start my morning in my bed as soon as my eyes open, I pray. I thank God that my eyes are open, and when I put my feet on the floor, I thank God that my feet are on the floor. I thank God for my children and my health. I go downstairs, I make my coffee. I only have half a cup because I make really strong coffee. And I sit in silence. I just kind of look around. I see nature. I see, I kind of continue my gratitude prayer. And then I do 20 minutes of meditation, which really helps me center myself. It helps me kind of tap into my authentic self and who I want to be and how I want to go out into the world and then I go work out.

Okay. And then I go from there. No. And then I, no, Patrick just makes that up. And so, and then I get dressed and go to the office. I like to go to the office. I'm a big believer in going to the office. I'm a big believer in leaving home.

Yeah. This has been a thing, you know, that with, in developing Mosh, I want people to come to the office. I have a media company. People come. We exchange ideas. I'm a big believer. I love that.

Relationships are formed. in the office. Ideas come out of conversations in the office. So I really like that. And that's been somewhat of a, I find many of the young people I interview are like, do I have to come to the office? I'm like, you're not coming here.

You're not hired. Except recently, people have been wanting to come to the office now. Because I think that their mental health, yeah, it is really not. And it shows there's actually, it was a big new piece that came out last week saying that people,

it turns out that your mental health is at risk. by working from home. But it's not what everybody thought it was. I mean, you have a long commute. There are things like that. But anyway, so I like to go to the office. I like to put on my clothes and go like take on the day. And then I do that again at night.

I meditate in the afternoon, usually for like 10 minutes, but I always end my day with prayer, with gratitude. And I try to remember one or two great things that happened in my day, like I lay down last night. And I went to hear a lecture at my church. and his sister had said to me, oh, I'd like to come with you. And a friend said, I'd like to come with you.

So I thought, wow, that was really great that I got to go there. And I'm grateful that I have a church community, which is really important to my mental health. That reminds me what's important, that grounds me, and that keeps me grounded in reality in this town. Yeah. Yeah. The whole office thing I relate to so much.

I've been leaving the house recently to work, normally I just sit at my desk. But recently I've just been like getting out of the house and I feel even just so much more productive. Yeah. Especially because when I'm home, I'm like, oh. Too many distractions. What's in the kitchen?

What's in the fridge? You need to get in that mindset. I'm the same way with the gym. Yeah. We used to have a house gym. I found it so hard to get into the gym when it's in my house. Like I need to go somewhere to get in that mindset. Yeah.

To truly be like. Well, you need community, right? You need other people other than being at home with your wife, right? You need another village and that that's good for your mental health, right? So I think kind of recognizing that we all need different kinds of relationships in our lives, right, to carry us through. We need work relationships. We need personal relationships. We need spiritual relationships.

We need physical, you know, workout buddies. We need all of these different entities that help us kind of. of live the life that we want to live, figuring out what is the life that we want to live. I've just published this book. I have a book imprint, and it's coming out next week. It's called a life worth living, a guide to what matters most. And it's written by these guys who teach this course at Yale. They're out of the Divinity School, but they teach, it's the most popular course at Yale. It's called the Life Worth Living. And it really asks you to think about what is it that you want. And why do you want? What is worth wanting? Not what you want, but what is worth wanting? And why is what you want worth wanting? And what constitutes a meaningful life for you? And what are you willing to change or alter or give up or sacrifice to achieve that? And what is your relationship with pain and suffering? Do you view that as part of your meaningful life? Do you see prayer? Do you believe in something larger than yourself? Do you have

relationships that will sustain all these different parts of your life. So I think these are all questions that your generation that has less involvement in organized religion or organized politics will be asking yourself more and more because you need things like this to guide you forward when you think about what kind of a life you want to live. All the questions you asked today come down to why do I want those things? Why do I want children? Why do I want children? Are they worth wanting? What do I want to impart to them? What values do I want to give to them?

How will they impact my life? Do I want them to impact my life like that? You know, all of these questions to ask oneself are important. Yeah. Okay. Can we end with this? Greatest advice you've ever received. Is there anything that jumps out?

I think that one of the things that you guys have always kind of taught us kids, and this probably stemmed from your parents, is to give back. You know, and it's kind of a cheesy thing to say on the surface, but, you know, as they say, it's always better to give them to receive. And, you know, we've been given such a fortunate life, you know, from our health side, to our wealth side, to our platforms, to who we are, and just the ability to find ways to give back and have that kind of centered in what we do, whether that is with Mosh. I mean, there's the aspect, right?

Our number one thing is to give back. It's a mission-driven company. Or if there are other things that we can do in our life and have that be kind of the guiding force because it is really fulfilling to help other people and to give back and to use your platform for the better. And ultimately, you know, I think that a lot of people that are out there just always searching for the next thing,

whether that's the next financial hit or the next job, you know, hierarchy and the next level. and those types of things, usually when they get there, they're always searching for what's next. So they get there and it's not as fulfilling or satisfying as they thought it would be or they got this quick dopamine rush. And then it's kind of like, now what? And with the giving back part, it's just a different, I think, level of happiness and fulfillment and things of that nature. So I think that's one of the overlying theme between you, dad, your parents, so on and so forth. I think the best advice I got really, I mean, like Patrick, I've gotten lots of advice. And I seek

advice to this day all the time. I especially go to people who are older than me now. And I ask them for advice about aging. I ask them for, you know, how do they keep their sense of humor? How do they keep their attitude? That sort of thing. But I remember my mother saying to me, you know, life is a marathon. And you don't have to have everything. done by 30, by 40 or 50, you want to be able to, God willing, be 85 and then look back at your life and see, you know, okay, there were all these different seasons of my life. And I was able to have these different seasons and do different things in the seasons of my life. Yeah. I think so many people are in a rush to do everything by the time you're 30 or 35 or something like that. You know,

I've got to get all this done. And like, where are you going? Yeah. We're all going to the same place. Hopefully. You know, take a breath. It's going to be okay. You don't have to, you know, come up with the next Facebook by 28. Yeah. You know, and so kind of there are seasons to our lives, and it is a marathon.

And to enjoy the seasons and to look at that way. So your job may change, where you live may change. This time, your career. Yeah. My career has changed so many times. And if you believe in yourself, you'll find different ways to reinvent or recalibrate and to just have confidence in yourself that you will find your way and that it is a marathon. And, you know, in your 20s, you're at this mark. In your 30s, you're at this mark.

Yeah. And look at it long term. Wow. Yeah. There we go. That's great. That's the squeeze. That's the squeeze.

That's the squeeze. That's the squeeze. That's good, Patrick. That's the squeeze. Thank you guys. Over and out. Yes. Thank you guys so much. I respect the crap out of both of you. Yes. And we're just, you know, feel so lucky to have you guys and so lucky to have you in our lives. Thank you. I'm glad we had you guys in our lives. And it was fun to come on. Hopefully it turns out good. Now we got to work on getting me on that wall.

Yeah. I got to go over. That's right. Yeah, you got to come over. Okay. Thanks, guys. you so much for squeezing us into your day. Please be sure to rate, review, and follow our pod and check out full episodes on YouTube. You can follow me at Taylor Lautner, my lovely wife, at Taye Lautner. Check out the squeeze on Instagram at the squeeze. And also give a little glance and a follow to Lemons by Tay.

That's at Lemonsbytee on Instagram and lemonsbytea.com. And also be sure to do. email us, Laughtner. dot the squeeze podcast at gmail.com. If you guys have any questions, any guests you'd like to see, we've gotten some interesting email so far, which has been awesome. But most importantly, please continue to talk about your journey with those around you and send our show to a friend that you think could use a little extra squeeze in their life.

Absolutely. Tootles McGoodles, everyone. This podcast has been brought to you by Podcast Nation.