4. Wealth of Health with NASM Trainer Patrick Jones

In this episode Certified PT & Nutrition Coach, Patrick Jones, and I discuss using the conscious mind to help us eat a healthier diet and to exercise more often. We share our opinions on how food choices can be heavily influenced by our culture as well as touch on the pros and cons of fad diets. 

Transcript

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Hey friends. Welcome to hi the hell. Are we friends? The podcast where we discuss hard hitting topics that sometimes results in different opinions so much. So it can make us question our friendships, but we are here to find the value in these opposing perspectives and maybe even become a little bit more empathetic in the process. That way, the next time we hear a crazy ass statement from a friend, we don't jump to judgment, but instead we lean in and maybe even broaden our own perspective in the process. Hello, beautiful people. This is your host. Tommy Jones. Welcome to hi. The hella we friends podcast. Today's episode will be on one of my favorite types of wealth, and that is health. I have one of my favorite people joining me today. And that's Patrick Jones. He is a NASA certified personal trainer and nutritional coach. Hello Patrick. Hey, how dude, Tommy. Thanks for having me here today. And I would just like to say, uh, I actually played baseball in college. I went down to Florida to play baseball. So if you guys ever listened to episode one, Uh, I did not play basketball. I played baseball. thanks for clearing that up. He, he called me, uh, I was on a flow and said basketball instead of baseball, but I sounded too good. I couldn't go and rerecord it. So we had to, we had to clear the record today, but back on today's topic, I, I know when we hear wealth, we all tend to think about, you know, the financial aspects of wealth and we think wealth is only correlated to money. But I wanna spend some time today, deconstructing wealth. I think wealth is defined as an abundance of anything. And my favorite thing to have an abundance is my health. So today we're gonna cover some amazing topics. Um, and some of these topics dramatically did change my life. And one of which is how health has affected both of our lives. Uh, how much subconscious minds actually contribute to our. And how our culture and environment influence our choices of foods and the different diets and trends and fads that we see out there. And some tips and tools for moderation. But speaking from a personal experience, focusing on my health has changed my life and was one of the biggest contributing factors to me even being able to retire at 34. I can remember one of the pivotal moments for me is when I received my results from a blood test. I thought I was relatively healthy. And when I went in for a routine checkup, I found out that I had high cholesterol and I was prediabetic. This was a prospective shift that forced me to think about my health and my future. I thought to myself, I can either just keep enjoying my life as it is and eating whatever I want. And just start to begin to take medicine. Like my doctors tried to actually prescribe me on that. Or I could learn as much as I could about my health and change all my habits that have been formed around my relationship with food and exercise. So luckily I chose option two and if you're interested, you can actually go to my Instagram and check out some of my transformational pictures of, you know, how my lifestyle looked before. And after this transformation on my Instagram at tank travels too. And one of the biggest things that I did notice when I changed my habits around food and exercise was my mood and energy levels. Before my shift, I used to work an eight hour day and once I finished working, I always felt exhausted. And, you know, just wanted to watch TV and relax on the couch and do nothing, cuz I didn't have any energy to be really productive. And now after implementing my new routine and my new way of thinking, it completely changed how I live my day to day life. I now have a lot more energy after I get done working. So instead of chilling on the couch and just being, you know, put after a day of working, I spend time learning real estate and learning more ways and strategies around investing and even working on this podcast here, which, you know, all this contributed to me living, uh, more you living, a more fulfilling life. And now after, you know, hearing me speak all about. My transformation and my pivotal moment, I wanna introduce Patrick again and, uh, ask him the same question, pat. What was a time in your life that was, you know, really pivotal that made you prioritize and focus a lot more on your health? Uh, well, first before I get into my pivotal moment, I just wanna say that it's, uh, pretty amazing that from 32 to 34, that you've been able to kind of do a 180 with your. Thank you. That's, uh, that's pretty amazing. Um, and I would say, uh, something that really stood out from, from this pivotal moment and this change in your lifestyle is that you talk a lot more, so this podcast is right up your alley. You have a lot more energy and a lot more time to talk, so, right. thank you for noticing my strength, right. yeah. So, alright. So, uh, there, there actually a couple pivotal moments for. So my first one, uh, was during my, um, I used to compete mm-hmm and men's physi body building. And, uh, it's extremely rigorous, like the, as far as nutrition and how, you know, you have to really pay attention to the macros mm-hmm um, you know, how much better you consuming cars, protein. and it really intrigued me on how just having the mindset and the focus to focus on what you are really taking can, can impact how you look. Mm-hmm you know, um, I've always been an athlete and I wasn't necessarily worried about, you know, what I was consuming at that time, but in this type of realm of. Body building competition. I mean, you're looking to go home with the number one prize. Exactly. So you take it seriously. Um, even water intake, you know, it's you take it seriously. It's a science. Yeah. It is a science. It's extremely a science. So years of doing that, I learned to appreciate. Just the science behind nutrition mm-hmm um, so I would say that was one of my pivotal moments and just one of those, uh, uh, times in my life to where I really appreciated, you know, just learning about nutrition and, uh, to be honest, it, it became a lifestyle after a while, even to today, I'm still going to the gym at least six times a week. And I'm still where, you know, I'm still tracking what I'm eating. Mm-hmm you know, Hey, I'm have my cheat dates, but you know who doesn't right. Yep. So. And another time, a pivotal moment for me was, um, I was speaking with my father and he, uh, he was on different types of hypertension, uh, medications for high blood pressure. Mm-hmm and I spoke to him. I said, you know, you could probably easily, uh, Eliminate these meds by just tweaking your diet mm-hmm Um, and so I put him on, uh, a diet plan. Uh, granted I was not certified at that time, but I felt like I knew enough to kind of be dangerous. And so I had him on this plan for about three months, that fourth month he had his doctor's checkup and he went into the doctor's office. And my dad told me, the doctor said, Hey, Mr. Jones, uh, what have you been doing? and he said, you know, I've just been watching what I've eaten. My son has put me on this diet and, you know, and I've just kinda, really cleaned things up. He was like, sir, uh, you don't need this medication anymore. And so, wow. My father told me that I was like, wow, like there is power and nutrition. There, there there's something to be had and, and gain from just really being attentive and, um, intentional. Mm. About. What we consume. Exactly. And it all starts. Knowledge one and, and actually being aware. Yes. Um, so I think that that was another pivotal pivotal moment, and I think that's what really triggered me to really want to help more people. I love it. I love it. That's great. And I think that's why I'm here on my journey too, is you really, you know, you, you, you experience these changes and the effects of people around. And it really does motivate you to wanna pass on some of the knowledge that you consume to possibly help someone else. And that just fulfills you. Cause I think at this point of our life, you know, true value for me anyway, is, is helping other people serving. Absolutely. Yes. I get such a fulfillment out out of helping other people and that's what this whole podcast is about. So thank you for sharing that story. Uh, it was a beautiful story and, um, I'm pretty sure everyone would love to hear. That leads us onto our, our next part of this. And that was how I was speaking about our subconscious mind. And on this podcast, you might hear me talk about subconscious and conscious minds often because I feel like it is such an important aspect to understand cuz as you mentioned earlier, Patrick awareness. Is I think just fundamental in a lot of things we do. And so drawing awareness to so many things that can help us is what I'm trying to do mostly. So did you know that like 95% of our life is completely automated by our subconscious minds? And only 5% is actually controlled by you. Did I know that? Yeah. And it's, and it's funny because when I tell my friends, they're like, no way, man. I don't think that that's true. That, you know, I think I actively control a hundred percent of my choices all day, every day. Like this is me, but you don't, you know, like think about it when you actually use your conscious minds. What's also called your neocortex. You, you know, you use the process of elimination, you weigh pros and cons. You analyze how a choice will affect you in the short and long term. And then you lay out that process and you figure out ways to test that theory. So think about doing that at every juncture of your day, it would be literally exhausting and you wouldn't get anything done, right? Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Now you just be paralyzed through analysis to where every single thing you come up to, you have to analyze. What our mind does, is it, it has this huge chunk of it, which is called the limbic part of the brain, which runs all of our programming, all of our subconscious programming from what we eat, how we cook it, what we're gonna be doing. It's just all, we're just running, just, you know, basically off of this program, that's in our, in our head and what our neocortex allows us to do is to actually go in and program. That subconscious on what we want to do, because we do rely on our subconscious to make so many decisions for us. Like what we eat when we eat it. It's, it's all programmed from what we have been consistently been doing our entire lives. Now I know you thinking, but I try to change my habits all the time. Like eat healthier or to work out more. So how come that doesn't change my subconscious mind or change my habit. And that's what I'll be talking more about today. Now that we understand that we run 95% of our lives on autopilot, and we only have 5% of the day to program a autopilot. I want to tell you how I approach programming my 95%. Uh, I like to call it the big three. One is knowing. That we actually need to do this. This can be a completely new concept to some of us and knowing is half the battle, you know, like knowing that wow, 95% of my life is automatically ran for me. And I have to actually be intentional about doing that. And that brings me to number two, being intentional about doing it. Now that we understand we can be more intentional about reprogramming and, and being conscious. About the choices that we're making and not just relying on that subconscious mind to allow us to go into that cupboard and grab the Cheetos because this is, this is what we wanna eat right now. We can stop that and, and reprogram that. And number three is completely understanding our old program. You know, how we are currently living, knowing these programs. That we have and where they've come from. And most likely it's our environment, but from the way we grew up and oftentimes it's the people that we are hanging around that influence. A lot of those choices and a lot of those programmings, so completely understanding it is, is just tracing it back to where it came from and knowing how to change that. Like, how do you feel about this? Do you, do you resonate with any of that? Do you have some programming that you can trace back to environment or people that you've met or new groups of friends that you've hung around? Oh man, I have. Heck yeah. I think I had my first bag of hot Cheetos when I was in school, but never had'em at home. You know? So that was definitely That was definitely an influence lot Cheetos. Right. but, but yeah, man, I, I, I think you hit the nail right on the head with that. Um, it all starts with, with being aware mm-hmm and um, a lot of times we get trapped. Into these, uh, almost automated and robotic, uh, type of, um, just way of living mm-hmm you're just kind of going through the routine, going through the norms and, um, yeah. Yeah, you do sometimes kind of take control and make those split second decisions or, or, or really are really, uh, in tune to making something, a decision outside of what that norm is. Mm-hmm you know, um, but is. Is it a habit, most likely not mm-hmm Um, and so I can see how like, uh, how the subconscious mind becomes relevant, um, and, and how, and, and being aware of that, you can make those changes. Um, but, but it starts with awareness and, and understanding, and, and the thing is like, you know, When it, when you start to try to understand, or even try to, like, let's say research upon it, you, I feel like people really have to be careful on how they research or what it is they research mm-hmm cause there's a lot of misinformation out there. So being aware is great and educating yourself, knowing, um, is great and, and trying to gain some type of understanding, but just, you just really have to be vigilant. On making sure you get that proper information. So tell us about a time that, you know, you were greatly influenced by someone probably closer to you that probably changed some of this programming for good or bad. Hmm. I would say, uh, it would have to be, uh, my wife, crystal mm-hmm And so when I met her, she was. She's vegan. I would just say she's vegan. Okay. Right. And so I'm in the house, I'm cooking my steaks, I'm cooking my chicken, you know, and I'm, I'm looking at her and, and the boy is like, I don't know what y'all eating, but when I'm cooking up over here, this baking, I know you got smell. I don't know. Y'all like it. You know what I'm saying? So, um, I was, I was the carnivore in the house, you know, mm-hmm and, um, but I could not deny that the food. This is vegan mm-hmm right. That she would prepare would just be bomb, right? Mm-hmm so not, not only did I gain an appreciation for like this whole different world mm-hmm um, of preparation of food and, and the nutrition behind it. Um, I. Actually like, uh, I'm vegetarian now, you know, I could not necessarily go full blown vegan cause I love my cheese and my dairy, but, but, um, but yeah, I just found out a whole new appreciation for that type of lifestyle. And I would say she definitely played a big role in, um, And me, and I'm not gonna say converting. Yes. But, but just adopting, um, you know, more of a, a, a vegetarian lifestyle. Yeah. That environment helped you definitely change here for the better. Yeah. Which is amazing. Yeah. And I'm not gonna say, you know, meat is bad for you because I'm not, you know, I'm not gonna, you know, teach throne. Exactly. Yes, yes. I'm has their own. But, um, I would just say, especially at the time when I was body building, this is around the same time. Mm-hmm, I'm consuming. Chicken steak, fish nonstop. And I, and I, I will not lie. Like it just became too much, got burn out. I always, I got burnt out. It always felt bloated and heavy and everything. She cooked tastes great and it was light and it was nutrient dense. So I always felt full. Yes. You know? Yeah. Um, so, you know, whenever you really feel full. From eating plant-based, um, foods. Yeah. It's mostly your body saying, Hey, all the nutrients and vitamins, the micro nutrients that I that's what I needed. That's what replenishes my body. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So I really started to learn that. Yeah. And, and I've been in this lifestyle for eight years now. Nice. I love that. That is, that is perfect. That environmental influence was a perfect segue into what we're speaking about. Next. Something that I think we both experienced a lot of is, is. Um, is what influences us from our culture and our environment. So I know I. A big part of our health or a big impact of our health is the types of foods we eat while we're growing up. Because I think this is a fundamental programming that programs us so deep that boy, it can be, you know, very soothing to eat foods from our childhood. And sometimes depending on, you know, what your background, what culture you have, those foods are not, you know, they're, they tend to not be very healthy for us. I think this is such a big impact on our. The types of food we eat while growing up programs us so deeply, because it can be very soothing when we're having a bad day to, to eat something from our past. That's not good for us. So understanding that relationship with food really allows us to be more intentional with our habits. And if we eat these foods or these bad snacks, when we get stressed, let's, let's try to find a alternative to those bad snacks, or we can use, uh, these foods as a reward in moderation, of course, you know, after eating well for a week, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And, and once again, you know, when you speak on cultures and the environment, um, culturally, and I would say. More specifically, like in the black community, we have our soul food. Mm-hmm you know, it feeds the soul. It's our comfort food. That's what we kind of go to for all the big cookouts or, or dang it. I'm having a hard day. I'm about to fry up some of this catfish make some candy yams and you know, potato bread, you know? Yes. So, yeah, culturally, um, these are foods that we've been introduced since we were young. and that we've just grown to not only love, but we start cooking it for ourselves and then, then cooking it for our own families when we have it. And so it's just a trickle down effect, but I don't think we're necessarily, uh, cognitive of the fact that it's detrimental to our health mm-hmm you know, and that's the awareness again that we were talking about earlier. Um, but, uh, I would say also culturally, um, we. We aren't necessarily educated on what's out there. Yes. You know? Yeah. We, we, we aren't necessarily educated on what's out there. For instance, we go to a grocery store and let's say we're in the hood. It's a safe way. Right? Mm-hmm well, the, the foods that we should be buying right, that are going to, uh, provide us the nutrients that we need. Mm-hmm for a healthier lifestyle. It is very minimal. You know, and at the same time we're uneducated on how to prepare those in the right way. Right. Mm-hmm but we might have a McDonald's a Chick-fil-A not even, no, no, Nope. Not, not. Chick-fil-A a McDonald's and Arby's a Hardee's on every corner, you know, a, a liquor store almost in every corner. So. Our natural selection of what to go to ISS TA culturally. Yeah. You're thinking about food deserts and having a lack of fresh produce. Exactly. Because they tend to not put, you know, a lot of whole foods in, you know, lower impoverished areas. Absolutely. And that ties into the environment that you were talking about. Exactly. And so, uh, and that's why they say, you know, sometimes people are just a product of their environment, you know? Exactly. That is, that is a huge one in, in getting out of the mindset of saying, oh, well, since I go to the grocery store, that's closer to me and we don't have a lot of produce. I'm just going to go ahead and order the process, packaged food. Like I normally do, you know, where we can definitely try to, to do Amazon fresh, which I know we have where we're getting more. Uh, accessibility to these healthy produces or farmer's markets. They're just driving a little bit more if you're capable of doing that to get healthy foods. Yeah. And that, and that ties into the subconscious mindset that you were talking about earlier. Yes, because I think our, our habits extend to the grocery stores, like you were saying to piggyback off that a little bit. We, we buy what we're used to because we all, we already know how to cook that. Therefore, we think it's easier and it requires less thinking again, like you said, letting our subconscious mind take over, we go into a grocery store and we say, oh, I know how to fry, cat fish make macaroni and cheese and, and all these things that are not necessarily healthy for us, but that's some of our subconscious mind just, you know, just taking us over into autopilot again. I think this contributes to the misconception about the cost of nutrient dense food as well. And the, the, the time it takes to prepare those meals. I've heard some of my friends tell me that they either can afford to eat healthy, or they think they don't have the time to cook these types of meals. And this is where I challenge them to actually go and try to do this, go and try to buy more proteins, vegetables, and fruits. And that is if you eat meat, but try to, you know, buy the more fresh foods and see how cheap that actually is comparative to all of your processed food or your normal food that you would eat on a day to day basis. And a lot of my friends see that it's actually cheaper to eat like this. And when it comes to preparing these meals, It's a lot easier to meal prep, these real foods, or these nutrient dense foods produce and have them prepared for the entire week. So you don't have to even cook it every single day, which saves them time. And, and I know we speak about, you know, knowing even what to go in and get in the grocery store when it comes to cooking. If we're have never been exposed to these types of foods. And I know on the beginning of my journey, I would go in and just try to buy all the fruits and vegetables that I could. And eat what's healthier, but one of the things that led me on my journey, uh, and clarified a lot of the things on my journey was this product called volume. Actually it's, uh, products that you, you give a small bit of stool sample and blood sample, and it actually. Yeah. I know a lot of people are grossed out by that, but what's the best way to find out what you should eat is, you know, you can think about it from your stool because your stool encapsulates all of your gut biome and the bacteria, and that actually tells you what other bacteria interacts with the bacteria in your stomach? What kind of foods? I thought just because I was eating blueberries every day, that was amazing for me, but did a volume test and they told me to absolutely avoid. Blueberry. So to everyone out there listening, I really think this is a great product to definitely get you started on your health journey to find out what exactly foods you should be eating. And that's volume V I O M e.com and they sell their tests at cost around 1 79 or 1 99. And it's a, it's a great test to get started on your health journey. So that leads me into our next topic. And that is diets. I feel, you know, now there are so many diets that promise to get you to your goal and the quickest, but do we really want the quickest fix in this area of our life path? Uh, you know what I think that's, uh, kind of an unfair question. Mm-hmm only reason I say that is because, uh, so, so we, so we know that. There are fad diets out here that kind of give you quick results. Um, but realistically, like you've pinned on before, you know, there's a lifestyle change with this type of, um, Approach. Yes. Right. So I think there are certain instances where the quick, bad diets are, uh, more attractive to people who have quicker goals. For instance, um, you know, you may have a lady who wants to get into fit into this dress. Mm-hmm for the, for just the wedding. And then afterwards, you know, she may say, oh, well, I'll worry about this lifestyle change later on, you know, so. I don't think, I, I think there's a disconnect, um, of, of reality when it comes to diets. Mm-hmm so I, I I've had clients who who've taken these fad diets. Right. Mm-hmm and they feel like they should just con be able to continue to take them or, or, or, or follow them, I should say mm-hmm um, just forever. And, and, and that's it, but, but those fat diets. Literally do they know are only for quick results? Mm-hmm you're gonna apply toe out. Yes. And you're going to become discouraged and then you're going. Try to all right, well, this bad diet didn't work. Let me try another fad diet. Yes, exactly. You know, um, and not realize that this is a process. Yes. Is a process. I actually love your, your thought because I never even thought about it like that about cuz I was prepared to come in here today and say, oh no, I don't like fad diets. And you know, we should, we should focus on a different type of lifestyle shift and perspective shift. But that actually illuminated me a bit because yeah. There are some times that people wanna follow a, a fad diet or something to get quick results. Whether it's, I wanna look really good for, you know, this, this beach vacation, or this is that, but as, as understanding that I also want to like provide, uh, under layer of life. Opposed to just living your life from diet to diet, to diet. Yeah, because you know, we always see that, right. We see someone that hits that fad diet gets their goal for their summer body. And then the rest of the winter, they, they lead a very unhealthy lifestyle. I go back to hibernation. Exactly. exactly. And I think my approach is, is more along the lines of, of getting a, a foundation of a healthy lifestyle to where yeah, if you, if you wanna shed an extra 10 or whatever, how many extra pounds to, to look better on the beach, you're there it's much more quickly attainable, but I think today I'm, I'm really wanting to focus on that lifestyle. So I do love what you said, but this leads me to my opinion. The most important aspect of living a healthy lifestyle, and that is creating a sustainable routine that fits your lifestyle and like, exactly, like you said, diets, majority of the time are not sustainable. You either plateau or you stop getting results or you simply get tired of doing them and there, or you completed your goal and then you're done. And then you're back to your unhealthy eating. And some of my ideas around that is moving away from some of those. Trendy or fad diets, cuz like I said, I felt most of these programs out here rigorous and just simply unsustainable for us. I mean, yes, they can provide that huge boost of confidence because you know, you've set a goal, you accomplish it like, Ooh, I wanna get a six pack. And once you accomplish that, boom, you get a huge boost of confidence. But the real question is, you know, what do we do after we get these results from a diet program, we tend to slide back into old habits. Once we finish that diet. Now my advice would be not to worry about the quick results, because once you get those results and you're done most times you regress, but if you do something that, you know, you can sustain, the results will come slowly, but there are results that will last for much longer since you're training your subconscious mind on these habits and these lifestyles, opposed to a momentary goal that you're looking for. I, I feel like most of the diets and, you know, you can gimme your opinion, but I feel like most of these diets and programs are, are like drinking from a water hose, which can be very overwhelming. I feel we should approach a new, healthy lifestyle. Like we approach learning a new skill or educational topic. Like take, for instance, let's say Patrick, you wanted to learn how to play the piano. Uh, what do you think would happen if you started playing this piano? Six hours a day? Every day. Yeah. At first you'll be excited about becoming a pianist. Right. But could you realistically sustain playing the piano for six hours a day? Every single day. Right. And once you actually understand that you can't maintain that, what happens you like, oh, I'm gonna do wanna give up. And this piano collects dust in the corner. And that's, I think how we take our approach to a lot of these diets, we try to jump right in and cut out all the bad foods and we try to cut out every, every bad habit that we do right away and try to follow that and think it's gonna be sustainable. But most of the times it doesn't turn out like that. And I think, I mean, if you think about like taking their approach, Playing the piano for only 30 minutes a day, taking these smaller chunks, something that, you know, you could commit to now that is sustainable. Now the results may be, you know, a little bit slower at becoming a proficient pianist, but the, the higher probability of success is there and you can succeed. Right. Absolutely. You know, and, and I think, well, I feel that you, you made a great point. I have a testimony to that, you know? So during the process that I was becoming a vegetarian mm-hmm I started in January intentionally because I wanted to give myself a whole entire year to transition into becoming a vegetarian. Right. So like every three months, um, I would cut out a. Starting with pork. I don't, I don't really eat pork anyway, like that, you know? So that was the easy, that was the easy one to cut, you know? Alright. It, but, but in the meantime, and I think this is what's typically missed because a lot of people, which is fine, kind of rely on other people to tell them what to do. Mm-hmm you really have to be vigilant to find the information yourself as well. So. In that time, every three months I'm cutting out, you know, pork or I'm cutting out steak, fish, chicken, you know, I'm educating myself yes. On what I could consume to still get that protein yes. To, to, to hit those macronutrients. Right? Yes. And, and give my, my body and my mind enough time to transition into that type of lifestyle. I love that, you know, stopping cold Turkey and thinking that. I can make this change. It's easy. I can do it today. Boom. And I'm stop. You never see a smoker stop on on one day, right? Yeah. Not, I mean, there's addictive natures in everything, especially food, exactly. And sugar, you know, it's a most addictive drug on earth. Yes. You know, so it's, uh, you have to be patient with yourself. you know, uh, you talked about some of the fat diets, you know, one of the, uh, the keto diets where they mm-hmm you know, Ooh, they cut away all the carbs. Yes. These mostly protein and fats. Yes. Like I can see how that works and you can reach your goals, but it's not sustainable. Mm-hmm because. You are built to consume carbs. Mm-hmm you need that for fuel and energy. Mm-hmm you know, and, and next thing you know, well, which I've seen actually happened to me. You go through ketosis, mm-hmm, going through a keto diet, no pun intended, you know, but, but, but you know, you start having mood swings and then you're just angry all the time, you know? And, and you barely have any. One thing that I subscribe to and I even, uh, do myself and I subscribe my, my clients to are carb cycling diets. Mm-hmm right. So you're still getting a quality protein, carbs and fats, but they're just at a, uh, calorically. They're just a little lower than what you would typically consume each and every day, you know, um, now having a car cycle diet, you can go to the gym and have sufficient energy to. To, to, to, to, to really clang and bang outta a workout, you know, and, and really have a productive workout instead of coming in there dragging because I've only had chicken and, and, uh, avocado, you know, today, you know? Yes. And, and water, and that's it, you know, now you're discouraged now you're frustrated. Mm-hmm you know, so that's one of the things that, oh, the main thing that I subscribe to is making sure that, you know, you're not taking away everything. Exactly. You are. Moderating everything well, everything's in moderation, but. But there's a science behind it. Yes. And, and that's why you need the professionals. Yes. cause we are not all nutritious, right? Yes, no, that, that actually, um, resonates a lot with me because when I started my journey, I, I that's exactly what I did, man. I went in and I got in, on a fat diet and it was basically exactly like you said, it, something like keto, but. Prioritized protein cut out as much carbs and fat as you can. Right. And yeah, I stuck to it and I was, I was just disciplined and I was determined to follow through and yeah, I got all the way down to like five, 6% body fat and was just shreded and ripped. But like you said, oh my goodness. I was moody temperamental. I was in Hawaii with my lady and I was just like, why am I so angry? I'm in Hawaii, I'm on a beach. Like, yes, I looked good. But like, oh my God, like the, the side effects. I just, at that day, I was like, I can't do it. And I just went to go get, eat some croissants, some rice, I just carbo load. I was like, I gotta I'm on vacation. I'm angry. Right. You know? So that was the point of again of awareness, right? Yeah. That brought my mind to, what am I doing? Like I know I'm trying to look good and I'm trying to be healthy, but is this the most healthy avenue? And that's why having this episode even is, is showing me that, you know, It, it took trial and error. So I'm speaking from some of my experience to share some of my stuff, because like, yeah, I've read all up on that diet. And I was like, oh, this is great. I did it. And I was aware enough that this isn't sustainable. I can't continue to be angry at everybody around me just to, to look good with on the beach, you know? So that's when I started diving into more of a healthy lifestyle and started making changes to my diet and finally adding back in sweet potatoes and rice and beans, because I needed those. Cause yeah, I would try to go to the gym and hit two sets and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna go home. Cause the energy was depleted. So I, I remember those, uh, phone calls I vividly. Yes. Why do I feel this way? I mean, I look great, but I can't even, I can't even get a full work. I said, tank, you need to eat some carbs, bro. yes, but, but, but no, you need it. I fought that. Cause I thought I was right. You kept fighting me on that. And then, and then you started implementing carbs and you were like, Yo pat, my abs are popping now. I was like, oh, you're starting to fill out a little bit more. Yeah. Cause now you have energy in that. Now you push'em on weight. Okay. All right. Yes. Well, I wouldn't steer you the wrong way. Yeah. And that, and I love that because that is a Testament to my journey period. Like I speak in that episode one just simply about my favorite quote, quote of Socrates of like true knowledge is knowledge, no knowledge at all, you know, admitting. And even during this time of talking to you, which yeah, you knew a lot more than me, but I thought, Hey, I've read some stuff and no, this is what I'm doing. I thought I knew more. And I didn't take that time to sit and listen and try to incorporate, but now I'm in that much better place to where yes, I will admit that. Damn I was wrong. I should have definitely been implementing, you know, more carbs for my body, for the, for the, for the things that I noticed. So yeah, that, that's beautiful, cuz that's a Testament to my journey. Where I was and not listening. And you know who I'm trying to be now practice now. And with all that being said, this brings me to one of my favorite sayings and it's choosing your hard, right? I think a lot of us, we will get afraid of saying like, ah, I gotta go and diet and learn what foods to eat and work out. That seems difficult or hard. Right. I always say, life is all about choosing your heart so we can choose our heart today to be, you know, eating more healthy and getting up, walking, exercising more, or like you spoke about your father or even my story. We can continue to live our lives now, like we are, and, and not worrying about the lifestyle because it's easier. And not worried about eating healthier exercising, but guess when our heart is gonna show up in the future, by taking all the medication for blood pressure yeah. For diabetes, for, for cholesterol. So I think that's one of my, you know, biggest statements I would love people to take away is I know all this sometimes can seem overwhelming and like a lot. But it's really not. It's just a hard that you can choose right now, instead of, you know, when you're in your fifties and you're struggling to, to go outside and either play with your kids or grandkids or, or significant others, because you need to take your medicine, you need to take your insulin, you need to check, you know, your sugars. Like all of these things can be avoided from a simple, healthy diet, like you said, but, uh, that brings us to the point in the show where I really wanna to ask you, you are a wealth of knowledge when it comes to. Uh, exercising. And when it comes to eating healthy and nutrition, what are some of the things that you would love to leave the people with today? That is a great piece of advice that they can walk away with and use, or either, you know, tell some people in their environment? Well, I would say just to kind of piggyback off of choosing your heart, you have to understand that anything new is gonna be hard mm-hmm because there is always gonna be a lack of information. And with the lack of information is gonna be frustration mm-hmm you know, and so you really have to be patient with yourself, um, and understand that you have to grow into this process. It's not gonna come overnight. Um, the more education that you have, the easier it gets, because then you're able to implement a, a, a routine that fits for you. Mm-hmm you know, and you're not sitting in here scrambling. Okay. What can I eat now? What can I eat now? All right. Well, I have. This, uh, this box in my hand, but you know, how do I read this label? You know, that's, that's another form of education that, that can sometimes be, um, that can kind of stifle someone's progress. Seriously, like reading labels at, at the grocery store, you know, you think you have something nutrition in your hand, but the first ingredient is sugar. Yeah. You know, so, so it's like, and what that means though, the first ingredient is the most, it's the, it's the most prominent thing in exactly. In whatever you're eating. Yeah. You know, so learning how to read what's first what's second what's last. Yes. You know, Oh, I'm my peas are last, like yeah, you pick up a vegetable dish and last things like high fructose corn syrup, right. Gum, Des TROs. Yeah. And then peas up. Right. Then you think that's, that's healthy, right? Exactly. It's season. Exactly. You know, so you really have to be patient that's. One of the things that I feel, um, that people really have to hone in onto, and another thing is recognizing and sticking to your, why. You know, you have to have a why you can't just go into it blindly and, and holding yourself accountable. Yes. Why are you wanting a healthier lifestyle? Oh, oh, because you just want to, you want to grow old with your significant other. That's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful reason, but hold yourself accountable. Mm-hmm you know, each and every day have a why that's gonna hold you accountable. I love that, you know, um, Simply saying, I just, I just want a better body. Okay. That's, that's a, that's a cool why, but it's not strong enough. Mm. Because your body's always gonna fluctuate. Mm. And when your body fluctuate, your mood fluctuates mm-hmm and then next thing you know, you could just spiral out and like, ah, I can't do this no more. Mm. You know, so have a strong why, you know, and I, I think I'll leave you with that. So, yeah, Patrick, I just want to thank you again for being on the show. I loved having you today. Hey man. It was a pleasure. It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me. And, uh, please let people know where they can find you at, uh, on Instagram. Uh, my Instagram tag is PBJ underscore fitness, 21. Do not be afraid to hit the follow button and DME, if you need any advice plans, uh, I'm, I'm more than happy to. Thanks so much for that. And again, you know, uh, my Instagram please go like follow is at tank travels two and our podcast, Instagram is at how the hell are we friends? So please like subscribe, follow, uh, and thank you so much for joining us this week. And I look forward to seeing you beautiful people next week.