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Hosted by Dr. Val Civelli, White Coat Black Sheep explores physiology, functional medicine, and the medical questions most people are told not to ask.
This is where evidence meets curiosity, where dogma gets uncomfortable, and where real world medicine takes priority over headlines.
From understanding your lab work to debunking hormone myths, medication misconceptions, and optimization strategies, this podcast helps you understand what is actually happening inside your body.
If you care about health and think there might be a better way to practice medicine, you’re in the right place.
Welcome to White Coat Black Sheep.
I'm your host, Dr. Elli.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We have with us, Lord,
I'll let you please introduce yourself. Sure.
Lord Elliot, uh, owner of NAS Power Gym, which
Is awesome.
I go there. Um, well, yeah, welcome.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Um, I wanted to just chat with you really about life Ooh.
And health. Okay. Um, I'm obsessed with what I do.
Functional medicine. I know you are a gym owner.
How did you arrive there?
Well, we only have 40 minutes, so, um, well, uh,
you know, my, my journey started with my father
and he was, uh, he was a,
he started in the sport of powerlifting.
He was an Okie, now Japan.
'cause he was served in the Marine Corps.
And, uh, he came home one day, he's like, Hey,
I started training for this thing and I'm 12 years old.
So he's like, you're coming to the gym with me. Wow.
And so, being at 12, my dad's a superhero to me.
He's like, GI Joe Marine, you know,
and he puts me on the exercise machines.
I'm like, whoa. What else can I do? How much can
I do? Good question. At
12, what structurally
and size wise were we working with?
Were you small for your age? Or how did you range?
I was teased four by four. Four feet tall. Four feet wide.
Sorry for that. Loud clap, guys. That's funny. Okay.
So she laughed at my four by four. So thanks.
Um, so yeah, I was, I was in wrestling. I played football.
Uh, but because I'm, I'm short,
I was the shortest in my class.
Sports did not go so well for me.
All my friends were taller. Mm-hmm.
They're faster, they're very, you know, uh,
because of the, their height mm-hmm.
They had a lot of momentum behind their weight
and they could just, I just didn't
perform as well as they did. Mm-hmm.
Structurally different, Very structurally different.
Mm-hmm. And so, strength training was, uh,
was something I was really good at.
So, you know, 13 years old now, he comes home from Okinawa.
He's done with his tour
and he signs me up at a gym, uh, family fitness then.
And the only way he could sign me up is
by lying about my age.
Oh my gosh. So I was 13 years old as a member
where the minimum age was 14.
Okay. So he lied about my age and he started training me.
Well, that's our real story started then. Mm-hmm.
My relationship with my father.
'cause when you're,
when you're in the Marine Corps military brat,
you hardly see your father.
Mm-hmm. And at 13 years old, all I wanted
to do was spend all my time with this hero of mine.
And we trained almost daily, as often as we could.
I hung out with him and the Marines.
'cause he was a coach of the USMC, uh, powerlifting team.
Wow. So, in order for me to hang out with my dad, I had
to hang out with the, the Marines.
So, which is a really cool experience on its own.
It's amazing experience down in El Toro Marine Corps base.
And, uh, and that's when they had the Marine
F 18 jets flying overhead.
So it was super cool. It was so insane. Yeah.
Uh, especially as influenced as I was as a kid. Mm-hmm. Um,
Adolescent years. Yep. Pivotal,
It was so important for me.
Mm-hmm. Well, I training so well.
My father said, Hey, we're gonna do a, a competition.
So I did my very first powerlifting competition.
Wow. At 12 And at, at now. Now I'm, I'm turning 14 now.
Oh, okay. Okay. Um, so all the disciplines
and the training that my father put me through, it's time
to put it on the platform.
It's time to test it.
How well can you perform with your disciplines
under the test on the sport.
Mm-hmm. And I did phenomenally well.
Oh, wow. I broke all the state records. Oh my gosh.
I took home trophies, lots of trophies.
And that kind of set the tone of what my expectations were
that he had of me.
And I was really just a sponge to listen to him
because he's my hero.
That's all I wanted to do was, was be around him.
And, you know, I got to eat some great food.
Because when you're powerlifting, you eat so much food.
Oh yeah. You're burning through it.
And my favorite food, honestly, was the Frosted Flakes.
Oh my gosh. I didn't think that you were gonna go there.
I went there Frosted Flakes breakfast
every morning. That's not Wheaties
Was Frost Simple Sugar.
Oh, it was ter Yeah. At least it has 10% vitamins. Mm-hmm.
That's important. At least it had 10%. Yeah. 6%.
It's certified. So, Got what you could
Get some vitamins. Yeah.
Do you feel like it really shifted maybe a path
that kept you out of trouble?
Or did you get in trouble?
Like, what was, what was the teenage you like from there?
I just didn't get caught, so, um, I was,
I was a naughty teenager.
Um, very naughty. I
Can't even picture it. Yeah,
right. Well, when you grow up without your father
around so much, and, uh, you're a latchkey kid kind
of thing, where you come home
and your parents are working all day.
Uh, last time you see them is seven o'clock
in the morning when you go to school.
And the next time you see them,
it's not till nine o'clock at night.
Mm. So you kind of just watch yourself
and, uh, you know what you're supposed to do.
You do it. So,
Oh, you're so, God.
Yeah. I, so my dad was retired military. Mm-hmm.
He was a Marine. And so, but,
and we're the, I would describe it as the second family,
like the do over family.
Yeah. I hate to describe it like that,
but I think that's really the best picture of it.
Um, so I'm the oldest.
My dad today is 90,
and my mom is 20 years younger than him.
So he was a retired, um, pilot
whenever I was, um, in my teen years.
And so he never, he didn't have to go anywhere.
So he's always home. But he was, you know, just watching tv.
He didn't really get too involved.
And then my mom was, um, she was a nurse,
but mostly she wanted to just be like a helicopter mom.
Like, really, like, I, I mean, I couldn't even sneeze.
I felt like, wow. I feel like it was just like
overly protective.
Yeah. So I was the wild child, the one
that always worried them the most that I'm gonna be nothing,
nobody just in trouble.
And I, I gave them a run for their money in high school.
Okay. So that, that did happen.
But, um, I feel like college, you know,
I kind of figured it out.
I'm like, nah, I'm gonna just be academic.
So, so that really, I think, kind of redirected me.
I did sports, but not like you.
I didn't, I wasn't good enough, strong enough, fast enough,
really, for anything competitive.
Um, I went to Christian school, so the school that I went
to, I feel like the talent was like mediocre at best.
We're like, we're a small group. We had fun.
We laughed a lot, but are we good?
Not really, you know, but it, it's okay. Yeah.
I did, uh, I did mostly soccer and I was fast, but yeah.
Not fast enough to get a scholarship
or do anything with that.
That's really tough, you know? Mm-hmm.
When you, when when you're looking
for a future, what am I good for?
What can I do? So I'm sure you were at a pivotal point
in your, in your life career of, well, what am I good at?
What can I do? Am I smart enough for this?
Am I physical enough for that? So
I was mediocre.
So a lot in your life, you've always said was,
was some really quotable words, like, blah, blah enough.
Mm-hmm. Am I blah, blah enough.
That's true. Did you live a lot with that?
Um, yeah. You know, I, I actually am always trying
to validate myself to myself or,
and in all fairness, I mean, my family was tough on me.
Um, not so much my mom and my dad,
but I feel like my grandma.
And it's just so weird. 'cause she wasn't overly involved,
but she was just enough.
So when I did see her, I'm hearing a comment about some,
there's some critique.
And like, for example, when I was like, oh,
I'm gonna become a doctor, she's like, oh,
I think you're smart enough for that
Enough. There's the word.
I was like, no, no.
I really, I really don't think that I'm smart enough.
So I don't think I'm good enough for really anything,
but, uh, I'm gonna do it.
And it doesn't mean I'm gonna do
it well, but I'm gonna do it.
Yeah. And, and I, yeah.
That's kind of how I have approached really everything.
Funny. You found that so quick.
Yeah. The word enough is, is a very toxic way for,
it's very triggering for a lot of people
that it's a hidden trigger, I should say.
It is very much a hidden trigger.
That word can be a very hidden trigger that, you know, a lot
of what prevents us from really finding success is fear.
And we're always afraid,
I'm afraid to do this.
Yeah. This scares the crop out of me.
Yeah. Look, I just got goosebumps look at that.
Like, but um, yeah.
So I, I found that fear is, is, uh,
if you want dispel fear, you have
to just put your one foot in front of the other
and just do something and like
Move towards it. Move
towards it. Just one, just one foot,
uh, one step at a time. Just
Look at, yeah. I feel like
I'm just gonna face it head on
and just see what's on the other side of it.
Yeah. Which I don't know if
that's like the curiosity killed the cat scenario.
You, so far it hasn't been
because it's like there's enough like wisdom there to
what is like, harmful for you.
Right. But enough, uh, push, uh, a momentum forward
to what's on the other side of that.
Yeah. And it feels, yeah.
Uh, that's such a unique thing
that you just already captured. Yeah.
It's, it's really easy to see in a lot of people.
Well, when, you know, uh, when you know the end game mm-hmm.
Of what people don't do, you find out why they didn't do it.
I just couldn't accept me for to, to, to be that story.
Yeah. There were so many moments
where you could quit, right?
Mm-hmm. Like, if you look at your life
and you're like, if I would've just stopped right here,
that's just where you almost make it.
That's where so many people do stop.
And it would've been understandable to stop.
Do you have anything, I guess, in your professional world
that would really kind of capture that
Ev Every day?
It's every day. So I had a conversation with a,
with a friend this morning who,
who's also in the gym business.
And I was explaining to him, you know, um,
the success for me to continue the success
after 11 years of being a gym owner gets
less and less and less.
And he, he's like, well, you've been in a long time,
so wouldn't you think that the
percentage of success is higher?
I said, no, because look, if you look at Walmart
and, uh, target, those are massive retail stores.
So you look at Mervin's, you look at Sears,
all these retail stores that went under.
So who's left? Well, that's the one percenters.
So the reality of being successful
after a certain amount of years, you know, the study shows
after 10 years, you're less, less than 4% successful.
Well, you're the 4%. Oh my gosh. You're the 4%.
And, you know, owning a gym is, is not, you know, it,
it's a very high risk business.
Very high risk. Just like a restaurant.
Restaurants, it's the highest risk business. Yeah.
You know, and the customers that you bring
and what, what kind of, what kind of product do you have
to keep the customers coming?
And that's very hard for restaurants.
'cause there's always another restaurant that opens up,
or they rebrand their name and it becomes about branding
and what's the vibe, what's the energy.
Mm-hmm. And then it's, you're,
you're missing the true heart of it.
I get It. Yeah. And so with Nas power,
it's, it's the heart of it.
Like, I, I put my heart in it.
And, um, I like to believe that what I have to offer,
you know, what my coaches teach, what, uh, the members get
to learn, the performance, the results
that they learn, and they get.
Um, and we're a community.
So when it comes to businesses, you know, what kind
of community can you create?
Well, you look at Walmart, you look at Sam's Club, you know,
look at the community that they've created.
Um, there's people that love working there
because, you know, it's a great community for them.
I've, I, I've some, some people gripe, well, what family,
what members and families gripe all the time.
And then you just have those leaders, those chargers.
Well, all right, that's what I wanna focus on, is the lead
and the charge and the positivity.
And if you look too far down the road
and you get scared by that,
and you're not looking at what's in front of you,
you're gonna end up walking away.
Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. Am I afraid of failing every day?
But what can I do today to prevent myself from failing?
Yeah. Well, let me go say hi to somebody. I'll start there.
I'll put my hand out, shake and, and meet them.
You really feel it. And so I met you, I would say several
weeks or so or so after I had already joined the gym.
And exactly as you just described is
how I experienced your gym.
Everybody says hi. It's, it's a full community.
And that's exactly why I joined. And I'm a gem hopper.
I have gone, I will day pass every single time.
I don't care if it's more expensive, I will hop
to different gyms so I don't have to commit.
And so, but
after my first experience, I was like,
this feels like a place that I want to go, that I will go.
That I'm not just gonna pay and not go.
I want to show up here. And I just, I like your whole team.
It just, it's different. It's different.
And really, I, I didn't even
know the name of it for a while.
'cause I was just like, I just love my gym. Yeah.
And then anytime I talked
to people were like, oh, well, where do you go?
I was like, I had to describe its location.
'cause I was like, I really don't even know the name,
because it's not overly like, logoed
and, you know, it's not right.
You don't lead with that.
You know, with branding, it's, it's, it's the feeling
that you get whenever you go and you leave.
So, um, and just how easy it is to, um,
you know, be yourself.
And like, if we film, like everyone's just
so like, comfortable with it.
And, um, we get to bring other people along into our journey
where we're trying really hard too.
We're struggling with the same thing
other people are struggling with.
Yeah. And it's like, you get
to see me not quit even though I want to.
Yeah. So, yeah. I, I think it's very well done.
Awesome. Well, I appreciate that. Yeah.
Thank you so much. And
It feels like you exactly.
As you just described it, so,
I mean, you're the secret sauce. The people matter.
The people matter. And, uh, you know,
you can have a great entree,
but what kind of sauce you put on it. Yeah.
It can ruin it. It can ruin it,
or can make it phenomenal.
Amazing. Yeah. So, um, yeah. If we're talking food,
Oh, I could talk about food.
I was a cook in the Army for six years.
Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah.
Interesting. And so before I came here, I was,
before I came back, um, I, I taught elementary school,
uh, for a couple months. Isn't that
Stressful? You know
what? That Looks really hard.
It, it, it's speechless to me
because it was an absolute amazing experience.
I, I taught four years at Santa Barbara College.
Oh, wow. Okay. And exercise science and business.
Um, so I thought, you know, if I go,
if I take this position, how well, how will it go?
Mm-hmm. And I said, you know what, I've never done it,
so let's just go for it.
You know, my son is eight years old at,
you know, when I did it.
And I'm like, how, how bad can it be?
Oh, I, I say that. Oh, how bad.
How bad can it be? How bad was it?
It was phenomenal. You know, I thought I, it,
it was such a great experience.
Sure. There, there's some,
there's some heartfelt moments I had I come home
crying to my wife.
Oh. Because learning about, you know, kids,
kids are phenomenal.
Mm-hmm. Sometimes the parents are not Yeah.
To be, just to be raw.
Uh, that's, that's exactly why I did
not go into pediatrics.
I am family medicine originally, so I,
I could definitely see kids,
but it's the, the parents that I really,
it's not like they're, there's anything negative,
but like, there's just enough moments where, you know,
I don't know, there's just a little bit too aggressive.
And I was like, I just don't know that I could
do this every day.
Mm-hmm. And like, still be me
and still feel like I'm doing my purpose in life
Might Be irritated.
I I can totally understand that.
Especially when, you know, I see them healthy
and you get to see 'em the sick.
So mm-hmm. I get to see the progression.
I can't imagine what's like for you that you don't get
to see the end game mm-hmm.
Of, of them healing and living Right.
Where I can see them living. Mm-hmm.
But I also see their, the, the hardships of their life.
Yes. You know, you're taking, and
how they must show up sometimes, like, not
clean or whatever.
It's like Yeah. Or I know. I can't even imagine.
That's, that, that was the hard part.
It, the experience I had working with
teachers now sitting on this side of the table mm-hmm.
Uh, gave me a completely different perspective of, uh,
what these teachers go through.
And I gotta say, you know,
teachers out there, you guys are amazing.
Absolutely. You guys are angels
and you guys have a special place in this world
that's just, wow.
You know, heaven has to have a special place for
what you guys have to go through.
It looks hard. It's, they have,
they have such a special heart mm-hmm.
And love and tenderness mm-hmm. That I learned a lot from.
Mm-hmm. My supervisor that I, that
that was pretty much over me, um, watched over me, you know,
and, and I, I had to sit with her
and talk to her about my emotions,
because how do you manage the emotions of dealing with
the hardships of what kids go through?
I know that exact discussion in healthcare, we have to
get training on exactly that.
And it's a term really described as porous.
Like if you have pores that, or like an a mesh
and your feelings can like go through it.
Like if you're running water, so you can't be so porous so
that you bear that burden.
How is it described to you
whenever you are having that conversation?
It's pretty much, I mean, she was a counselor. Yeah.
So, um, she was always open to listen.
But, um, I gotta say that the hardest thing I had
to do was not just step in like, you know,
my military ways of, you know, dress.
Right. Dress. And you actually had to learn
to listen to the kids.
You had to actually learn how
to be compassionate to the kids.
Mm-hmm. And I often found myself taking a deep breath
and just opening my ears and my heart.
And that was very vulnerable for me. It
Is. Right.
Very vulnerable for moment for me.
It was also a very learning lesson for me.
Like, wow, I'm capable of learning. Mm-hmm.
Emotionally learning.
And when I would talk to her about it, she's like, you know,
you're, you're following the steps.
Mm-hmm. You, you logically understand how to listen
and how to be compassionate.
Um, and I would just say, give me some more guidance.
'cause this is coming at me so fast, I have no idea, um, how
to slow this down, speed it up, pause. Mm-hmm.
It's weird. It's almost like one of your gifts in life to
be able to see people that are hurting, to be able
to recognize something is, is not okay.
And, and to have a burden on your heart
to like, do something.
Not everybody will feel that or experience it.
It's something that you are essentially gifted with.
Um, because you could put somebody your same age
and everything, your same background Right.
Into that same scenario. And they'd be like, yeah, yeah.
I, I saw the kids today. And they feel nothing about it.
Right. I'm like, within, you know,
and I feel that way in the elderly communities
that I take care of.
I, you know, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
I'm taking care of all the grandmas and grandpas 65 plus.
And it is really sad. I've learned how to deal with it.
But for a long time, I mean, I would go home
and just cry by myself
because I'm like, this is horrible, horrible.
You can't even turn yourself over.
You're, I mean, you're just, you're so vulnerable.
You are the most vulnerable. And, um, yeah.
Just, I felt such a heavy heart from that. But, um, yeah.
So, but then my colleagues felt nothing.
They're just like, oh yeah, there's just another patient.
I'm like, just another patient.
Like, it just made me feel heavy. Right.
So it really, so I have kind of moved in that direction for,
I guess a chance to be different
and to help people that I see as vulnerable,
that can't help themselves, that nobody care.
No one's fighting me to see the elderly. You know?
And it's like, it's just, it's a very interesting experience
and I realize it is a gift in a sense.
That's my burden on my heart.
It is something to be, to, to be humane about humanity.
Yeah. To, to feel, to feel feelings towards humanity. Yeah.
There's a lot of blood and guts and violence on,
and the shows even that I watch, I mean,
everyone's getting like, you know, some sort of violent,
something happening and I watch all the shows
And they have to shut, they have to shut down.
Yeah. They have to compartmentalize. Yeah.
And when you shut down
and compartmentalize, you,
you almost seem like you're not human.
Mm-hmm. And so, even for me to, like I say,
I learned about emotions, um, even at
probably just a couple years ago, I've, I've learned to
open up quite a bit more about my own personal
emotions, validate myself. Uh,
Was there something that kind of shifted you into that?
Or it's just like emotional maturity?
Like over time sort of,
Um, yeah. You
know, being vulnerable.
Well, when you grow up, you know,
with without your parents' supervision all the time, and,
and you kind of just go through life
and you see how your parents are,
and then you kind of adopt that way.
And you don't know how to self-soothe.
You don't know how to cope.
You don't know how to understand feelings, so
you really just become avoidant.
Mm-hmm. So I, I have this thing
where I was very avoidant attachment, attachment style.
Mm-hmm. You familiar with all that?
I am. Um, but yeah, like, you just, uh,
you just don't talk about it.
You just don't talk about it. And then
It's somehow supposed to go away,
but it doesn't, it comes back later, I feel like,
in your relationships and
Exactly what's happened.
Yeah. And so I learned about that.
I learned about that with myself and,
and, uh, going through, you know, exercises after exercise
and you realize what vulnerability means.
Mm-hmm. And it really just allows you to be a better human
when you can just be vulnerable.
It's strength rather than, you know, a lot of people would
call that a weakness, but really it's,
it's a strength to me mm-hmm.
To actually let your guard down. Mm-hmm.
Because that is hard, that is
so hard in relationships, you know, professionally.
Like to connect with people, you have to. Right.
Otherwise you're, uh, wolf in sheep's clothing.
You're, you're a fraud.
You're fake. Yeah. You're a fake Yeah. F
Facade. I don't like it. Yeah.
I want nothing to do with that. Yep.
I'd rather be vulnerable. And Oh, I saw this thing.
It was like, um, the fastest way to sift through the people
who are not for you is to just be yourself.
Because you're gonna naturally just drive them away.
If they're not for you. Let them,
And I was just about to say something like that.
'cause when you are more vulnerable, you are empowered.
And that empowerment, uh, allows you
to attract attract mm-hmm.
People of, you know, uh, a a better vibe around you.
Yeah. The right people that are more
likeminded and aligned.
Mm-hmm. I love that. Yeah. And I had to learn that.
I wish I would've learned it faster, but,
And then even for those who aren't like-minded, even
for those who are searching for, you know, inspiration,
you create that inspiration also for others.
That's true. And that you can move and inspire them.
And, and, uh, that to me, in my business,
that's very important that I'm able to, you know,
acknowledge them mm-hmm.
Inspire them and just hit a little something
that makes them feel a light.
I like that. That they can kind of go towards. Yeah.
And, you know, we're all searching for something.
We all need help in some way. Mm-hmm.
And if my tools that I have can do that
for someone else mm-hmm.
Well, how am I being as a person to open a bigger,
wider gate for more people to,
that I can help, I can be there for her.
I feel the same. So Yeah.
And it doesn't mean that I'm like actively looking for it,
but it does mean that I, I'm not gonna shut it down.
Like, if I see that somebody feels like, inspired
that they weren't, they wouldn't
otherwise arrive to that level of like,
inspiration, like medicine, right?
Mm-hmm. Or for you, um, health and fitness.
So, I mean, I, I find that brings me joy just to sort
of nurture that as well.
So Yeah. I don't know.
There's so many different directions that you could,
you could enhance that or, or feed that,
but like, taking on students, um,
that's one way I could do it.
Or, you know, this podcast, right?
Like, I want people to be able to treat themselves, um,
or that device that I spoke to you about mm-hmm.
Which there was like a hidden $10,000
and I was just like, shocked that that hidden part, like,
was like, why didn't we start there?
Like, you know, so, but the device is awesome.
I think we're gonna give it a little bit of time
to really let other people pay that.
And then I, and, um, I can get a better price on it,
but it's just, it's teaching people to, you don't need,
um, the tools that you thought that you did to be healthy.
Right. You don't need, you know, anything fancy
or, or crazy.
You keep it simple.
Like, nutrition shouldn't be that complicated.
And it's not, it's not.
So I want it to be achievable, doable.
Like, you can get inspired by something small.
You can pass that on to each others,
but you can change your life.
Yeah. You can, you can change override your genes.
I know we've spoken a little bit about your personal health.
Mm-hmm. And, um, you know, I have a similar,
I would say genetics.
I'm predisposed to diabetes.
And, um, you know, there's just, there's things that
if I can change it for you
and I can change it for me, then you can do that
for yourself and somebody else.
Yeah. So, yeah.
I don't know if there's anything health wise
that was a major that you would like to share, but Sure.
Yeah. You know, I, I'm diabetic, I'm type two diabetic,
and through my life, um, I was obese as a child,
and then I played football
and I lost 50 pounds in fifth grade.
Oh my gosh. That's a lot of weight for a fifth grader.
Right. And I play, I started playing football,
started wrestling, so I got a better care
and handle on my health, but I didn't have the knowledge.
I just kind of, you eat less, you work out more, you know,
link cuisine, link cuisine equal on some grapefruit.
Yeah. That's, that's kind of how I did it.
Um, I just did what my parents told me. Mm-hmm.
And so once I started lifting weights, well,
protein shakes are coming in more like chalk protein.
It was terrible. The Joe weer Oh man, that,
that was a terrible product, but I did it.
You just kind of, you just kind of choke it down. Yep.
And that's what you thought it was.
So through my junior years, all the way up
until I left into the army, um, I was a powerlifter
and I loved every bit of it.
I had phenomenal success. And that
Helped you in your health too, right?
Like it was like a healthy version or?
Well, it's funny that you say that
because it was a very toxic situation.
Oh. I wanted it to be the other, it could be
Both. So, well, it, well,
we all learn differently, right? Yeah.
In, in, in our time, in our timeframe. Yep.
You know, um, we're both in our forties. Mm-hmm.
Or is that everybody knows your
I'm 42, everyone knows that.
Yeah. I, I will never lie about my age. I'm fine with it.
Um, so, you know,
every every five years we learn something about
ourselves and how to change things.
Mm-hmm. So even, even coming outta my teens, uh, you know,
because I'm a powerlifter and the, the whole energy
and vibe about powerlifting, you can eat a whole lot
of food, but we train really hard.
Mm-hmm. Really strong. Yeah. And you don't do any cardio.
That, that, that was a vibe back then. Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, it's, it's kind of like
how collegiate athletes mm-hmm.
I've, through my time, I've heard I collegiate athletes have
the, uh, you know, they, they have a,
they build a very terrible relationship with food.
They, they starve themselves trying
to be the elitist athletes, uh, the coaches,
the way they abuse their, their, their athletes.
Mm-hmm. And these, this is what you have to do.
You know, I've heard of things.
You can't have ketchup after nine.
You can't have ketchup at all.
You can't have, it's just, it's just very abusive. Yeah.
There are so many things that I'm sure a lot of listeners,
if they were athletes in college
or even in high school cheerleaders mm-hmm.
Having, you know, very bad eating
Disorders, Eating disorders, I didn't wanna say that.
Mm-hmm. But yeah. Very bad relationship with food. Yeah.
Um, well, I've met a lot of athletes that came out
with a very bad relationship with food.
Mm-hmm. And my relationship with food was my soothing.
Mm-hmm. You know, to my emotions
with the emotions I didn't understand
or I didn't know I had.
Mm-hmm. I didn't realize how food was my soothing.
And it gave you dopamine like you felt Yes.
Some relief of some sort when you had Yeah.
You know, whatever was the comfort food, it,
All of it, Twinkies.
Mm-hmm. Twinkies was, was anything sweet. Mm-hmm.
Anything, salt pizza. Mm-hmm. It would be the whole pizza.
Yep. You know, so through my time I realized,
oh wow, my health is getting really bad
because I'm eating bad.
I'm not really performing really good,
but, you know, I'm a powerlifter.
Life gets you, you have a ki a kid. Mm-hmm.
And then life gets you, you have career changes, your job,
your opportunities, and you, you just get
so outta focus from your own personal health that
that drives everything else.
You lose, you lose connection with that. And
That was probably, I'm guessing like a
whole decade, right? I'm guessing.
Yeah. Almost. Well, yeah.
Probably one and a half decades. A good 15 years.
And you don't see it 'cause you're in it. Right.
But to zoom out from here, it's like, that's a lot of harm
that can happen, which I believe is
reversible. So, so
Far it is in my journey.
Perfect. In one year, it's, it's been completely, instead
of going one direction,
it's gone the other direction. So because
You caught it, I got tired of, well,
I was finally diagnosed, my body broke one day.
I lost 30 pounds. I, my skin turned gr completely gray.
I had this, my wife would say, you have this chemical smell.
Mm-hmm. And I started shaking. Mm-hmm.
Just going to total shakes
and I could barely walk 'cause I was just shaking.
Mm-hmm. Took me to the doctor. Oh yeah, you're diabetic.
Your blood sugars are 4 96. And I'm like, wow, is that bad?
And they're like, yeah, you, you're, you're, you're,
you should have a stroke right now.
And so, immediate medication,
immediate this stopped doing that.
So I got into that vibe of exercising and mm-hmm.
But my body just felt sluggish.
Like it's just vomiting, it's just ugh.
So much. That's a diabetic myopathy. Yeah.
That's actual breakdown of the muscles.
And it was, I, I, it was a terrible, terrible feeling.
And fast forward three years, a year ago, January, uh,
January as of January 28th.
So in eight more days I said, I am going to,
can I cuss on this thing?
Absolutely. I'm gonna kick its ass. Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna kick diabetes in the ass. Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna beat it. So since then
I have lost 30 pounds. Oh,
Good Job. So since
January 28, I just,
I just did a power lifting event, you know,
a couple days ago that you weren't there for.
Anyways,
Shame.
Um, so, you know, my strength went through the roof.
My, my in and my inflammation and my shoulders, my hips
and my knees have reduced significantly so I can train.
I love that you mentioned that because with diabetes
and really with your blood glucose that goes high
and then low, if you had a more stable high
and low, that is already better than these
wild bing, bing, bing.
Yeah. That gives you inflammation,
it triggers cortisol, this whole cascade.
And it's, it's, it's atrocious. Yeah. It's awful.
It was an awful feeling to experience.
But I was consistently, so I got my blood work done.
I was 8.4 on my, uh, A1C
A1C. Mm-hmm. I
was higher than that. I was in the nines.
That means your average glucose
was three to four hundreds.
Yeah. Yep. And I was able to get down
to the one eighties consistently.
And I looked at my diary, I'm like, wow, I can't imagine.
You know. And then, um, probably by November,
so from January to November, my blood glucose was anywhere
between 1 0 4 98 to 1 10, 1 20.
So a stain nose mm-hmm. In that area. And my A1C was 5.9.
Good job. So my last blood work I had done
before coming here, my A1C is 5.6
Way to go.
And my glucose is 88.
So he has, I'm gonna say he,
'cause I'm just gonna talk about you.
Look, you're not here right this moment. Okay.
But you know, you have
reduced your risk tremendously.
So after you, if you're at 5.7 to 6.4 A1C,
you have a five-year prediction of converting to diabetes.
But if you've already converted
and then you have a diet controlled,
or at least controlled diabetes,
and so now you're 5.7 to 6.4 with a diagnosis of diabetes,
you're still at a higher risk like fivefold of, uh,
microvascular like blood vessel issues,
blindness losing a leg, kidney issues, all of these things.
Mm-hmm. So you being at 5.6 or lower, you keep it there.
You have the same risk as me. Yeah.
So you have just, it's like a all or none effect.
So I am just applauding you quietly
so I don't hurt everyone's ears.
But that's just like, ah, that's so good.
You've changed the, you've changed your life.
I mean, you've changed your genetics,
you can override it, you
Did it. And, and in that
time, in that one year span, um,
I've been able to re reduce my atorvastatin.
Okay. So one thing I wanted to get off of was atorvastatin,
because that's not good for someone who's
trying to build strength and muscle.
Um, but, you know, I was able to reduce it
and so much to where it went from 80 milligrams to 40 to 20.
And my doctor's like, wow, you're really kicking butt here.
Uh, 20. And then he said, you know, just take the twenties,
crack 'em in half mm-hmm.
To 10. And when you're done with that, let's get off of it.
Because I was co consistently enough showing normal. Yep.
He's like, let's get off of it.
Get your body to learn how to function on its own
because you're not taking in the poison anymore.
Mm-hmm. And you're treating your body like a machine. Yeah.
Um, let's get your body trained
because the medication's
not training your body how to do it.
Normally it's doing it for you. So he's like,
let's get your body to learn again.
Mm-hmm. How to do it. Right.
And I do believe that you can teach the
body, like whatever it is.
I mean, the principle
that he's talking about is very functional medicine.
Mm-hmm. Um, you know, your body already knows how,
but a lot of times you go so long with lifestyle,
the body forgets how,
because you're not needing performance in that area.
So anyway, I love that that was mentioned. Yeah.
You can regain function, you can teach your body. Okay.
You weren't active, but now I am.
So, you know, show up, give me the energy. Yeah.
So let Okay. Body, you know, I'm,
I'm giving you the chance,
I'm giving you the platform to heal Exactly.
And, uh, perform. Mm-hmm.
And that's what we're just gonna do. Yeah.
So it's just gonna take time. Mm-hmm.
But, uh, you gotta, you gotta keep,
gotta give it the platform.
Yeah, definitely. And even as like mentally,
so your brain, if you think of it as nervous system,
which is, uh, structures connected also to the muscle
that you are working out.
So you are telling your, your muscle to
put more mitochondria here, Uhhuh give me more products
to build up more energy producing cells here.
And so that's what you're doing.
And um, I mean it's just, it's incredible. Yeah.
And you did it. And other people can too.
You just have to really like put your mind to it.
That's where you start chemically.
And then you do the call to action,
and then you do the action.
It's simple, right? Yeah. It really is simple.
It is like, like how food should be simple. Mm-hmm.
And food really is simple. It is.
It's just, uh, we complicate
It. We make it weird.
Yeah. Because we, we think, uh, time is so important.
Yeah. But then you just don't realize
how much time you're really wasting.
We, that's why we had the band.
Oh, I'm getting a five minutes warning.
So that's why we had like, uh, you know, those, uh, like,
well I think they're called booty bands, but mm-hmm.
You can really, you can travel with those.
You can, I mean, there's, there's no excuse.
I try to give myself excuses and I'm like, no,
because you can do anything.
Even if you're just at your
desk and you don't even have a band.
You can do squats or pushups. Yep.
That is cardiovascular health.
That's, you know, moving your muscles. That is bone health.
You're loading the muscle. I mean,
there's just, there's so much.
There's so much. And,
and a lot of people don't realize, you know,
when they think about strength training, oh,
I'm gonna turn into a she hulk.
Mm-hmm. No, you're not.
You're actually, you're actually just you teaching
your muscles to work.
Yeah. 'cause that's the fat burner right there. Yep.
That's your sugar burner right there. Yeah.
So if you just train your muscles, then just
because you train strength is not a correlation to size.
It's not. And that's what
a lot of people don't understand.
It's hard. It hurts the brain to understand that. Yeah.
Even like what, what I, okay, so fun example, I went
to Greece and um, in Santorini there's this mountain
that has all of these winding steps.
There's like the smallest little cute donkeys,
and they are carrying the biggest Americans mm-hmm.
On their backs all the way up all of these steps.
And I felt so bad for them, but then I, you know, Googled
and like learned how much stronger the smallest little
donkey is next to the biggest horse.
And I was just like, okay.
I mean, I feel like a little less bad for them,
but still it's, you can be small and mighty
And, and, and you could be big
and mighty like an elephant, you know, or, uh, a camel.
So true. But, but, uh, yeah.
Strength and size do not correlate together.
They do not. And that's what a lot of women
who are fear mm-hmm.
Prevents them from, from strength training. Right.
You know, exercising those sugar, the sugar furnace,
exercising the body fat furnace, that's the biggest motor
that, that I wish, uh, a lot more women can understand.
I hear you. And walking, walking is not the
key strength training.
It's, that's cardiovascular. Like it's good for your,
for your heart, but then there's other parts of you
that need you to show up.
Yeah. So strength training
and like you're saying, you know,
really when you're thinking about strength, it's like
how long is the muscle fiber?
How many muscle fibers do you have?
How many of those are activated?
Because you could have a large muscle bundle
and then you're not able to to activate those.
Right. So there's no stretch on that muscle.
There's no firing on that muscle.
And then we gotta think about balance of the joints. Yeah.
So if you, you know, all the muscles cross over the joints.
Mm-hmm. If you don't move that muscle,
you're not keeping those joints healthy.
Yep. And thus when you get older, you start feeling aches
and pains and you start shuffling your feet Yep.
Because you did not exercise.
I tell people all the time, you know, yoga, pilates,
phenomenal strength training.
Yeah. That is strength training. Yeah.
Or even just like a little micro jump,
like a just tiny jumps. Yep.
Yeah. Like jump rope. Yeah.
Or, or just jump without a rope. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, that, that compression can be two
to three times your body weight.
Mm-hmm. So if you weigh 125 pounds,
we're talking 375 pounds of force mm-hmm.
Placed on your body that you're lifting 375 pounds. Yep.
And people don't really understand how important that is.
Yeah. Like, um,
lymphatic drainage when you're on a trampoline.
Oh, I love that you said that. Yes.
Huge. A lot of people don't understand how huge mm-hmm.
Just jumping for a minute. Mm-hmm. One minute can
Be the, the lymph is like such a whole, like
that's its own topic.
Mm-hmm. Like, it's just so understated. But yeah.
Even like the shape of your face or like how you feel
or if your stomach is bloated, like
so much is just lymph related, not right.
Gut related or other body system related.
So yeah. We'll have to talk about that.
Yeah. Now, now we're on the roll. I
Know. I'm like ready to go.
I know. Okay. Lemme ask you this.
So, um, when you started to change all of your, your habits
and you noticed like your, your body was responding
to your lifestyle changes, food changes, did, um, at
what point did you start to feel good?
Um, okay, so I didn't start feeling
Because it feels like garbage at first.
Yeah, it does. You don't get immediate
reward, especially with diabetes.
It was, it was probably about three to four months.
Uh, so January to April mm-hmm.
Is when I started really coming outta my, what,
what I felt like, alright, I'm at the start gate now.
I'm, I'm, I'm not fighting myself.
Now I'm going along with myself because
It's normal, just like you said, fighting myself.
Mm-hmm. A lot of people will wanna quit in that phase.
Right. And in your situation, I mean, three
to four months, that's a long time.
But some people, it's not gonna be even that short
of a journey, it might be 12 months.
Mm-hmm. But it will correct.
Your body will fall in line
and, um, that's the part where you're gonna want to quit.
And, and for me it was, it was the expectations
that I was this peak athlete at one point,
and then now I'm not.
So I'm fighting this sluggish, like you're trying
to walk through quicksand.
So you were competing at this time?
Not yet, no. Okay. But you were preparing to
I was preparing to because I used
competition to keep me accountable. That
Is so good. That is my accountability
tool. Mm-hmm.
So, you know, if, if I have an event coming up mm-hmm.
I know I have to train for it. Mm-hmm.
And if I need to hit a certain weight class, I know I have
to stay good on my diet.
Mm-hmm. And I achieve it,
and then I immediately get myself ready for another one
to keep my accountability.
So my numbers, I, my expectations are higher
and my expectations of weight loss is lower.
Mm-hmm. So then,
and I also get an opportunity to break the state records.
Love it. So, you know, I was at that strength already to
that I am achieving these results.
Yep. So competing, even if it's a 5K run. Mm-hmm.
It's just something to sign up for
to keep accountability and work for something
That accountability and that like go out and, and win.
That's testosterone. Mm-hmm. Which is so interesting.
So if you're somebody who doesn't have that naturally, just,
I would say get your testosterone
and your hormones checked, number one,
because that is really the, the drive mm-hmm.
Behind it. And dopamine as well, that, that desire to win.
So those two things,
it might just be a chemical thing that you're missing.
So you could, you know, ask to have those things checked.
Um, but in your case, you push through it, um,
and man, you did it.
And my testosterone increased this past year. Oh,
I love that. So I increased,
uh, 52 points.
Everything kind of just like Right.
It falls into place. Your
Body can heal. Yeah.
Yeah. Your body can heal,
Your body can totally heal.
Mm-hmm. And we're here for it.
Um, it looks like we are out of time, but thank you so much.
Absolutely. We'll have to do this again soon.
And, um, if you guys have any questions, just um, go ahead
and, uh, dm, um,
and I can get those over to you as well,
if there's any specific questions
for a guest. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Thanks
so much. Oh, that was
Good. That was fun.
Thank
You. That was fun,
man. Way to go.
Yeah. It worked for you. Yeah.
Okay. And imagine like you're somebody
who didn't have competitions who is just kind
of a loner introvert.
Mm-hmm. And has nobody like pushing them or
Like, that's sad.
That's, that's hard. That's especially when.