You are now listening to The Model Health Show with Shawn Stevenson.
For more, visit themodelhealthshow.com.
Welcome to The Model Health Show.
This is fitness and nutrition expert Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today.
This is a very, very special occasion.
We're celebrating episode 1,000 of The Model Health Show.
Now doing 1000 of anything is absolutely amazing, especially something that requires so much consistency and preparation and execution and also a lot of love.
I started this show with a huge aspiration and mission to really up-level the health of our families and our communities our world community and as of this recording the model health show has been downloaded and listened to someone in every country on planet earth we have well over a hundred million listener downloads i don't even know what the number is at this point and this is also coincidentally Last week was the anniversary, 13 year anniversary of when the show started.
And I mean, I couldn't have even imagined how my life would be at this point.
When I started the Model Health Show, I had recently moved from Ferguson Missouri, into the adjacent town, Florissant.
We still share the same school district, Ferguson, Florissant.
And it was in Ferguson that my health deteriorated and it was in Ferguson that my health was transformed.
And I had aspirations at the time, of course.
I was... the first in my family to go to a four year big time university.
And I wanted to follow through and finish that mission.
And it was while I was in school that I was diagnosed with a so-called incurable spinal condition that had me relegated to a plethora of different medications and in chronic pain.
And I don't talk about this often enough, but it wasn't just the pain, it was the fear.
It was the fear of the pain.
Every day I was afraid to get out of bed.
Every day I was afraid to get up from my raggedy ass love seat.
You know, love seat, I guess it's smaller, so you have less proximity with the love or whatever.
But if you can carry it with your, with your own two hands, it's not a couch, all right?
So I carried that bad boy up to my apartment myself prior to the diagnosis, by the way.
But over time being, in fear of getting up, I got heavier and heavier and heavier because I stopped moving.
And I continued to eat my college, I guess we'll call it a drive-through diet.
All right.
And this was the bulk of what I was eating and it was making me bulky.
And eventually I and my wife knows this.
She can actually affirm this.
When she met me, she saw the ramifications of this couch and my heavy weight, because my ass broke through the wood of the couch one day as I was sitting there, just crack crack.
And so I had pillows stuffed under the cushion, and she met me about a year and a half after that and I transformed my health, and that's why she was even messing with me in the first place, maybe two years later.
I should have got a new couch, first of all, but dudes don't care.
That's the thing.
Dudes don't care.
If it wasn't for her, this would not be here right now.
She made it beautiful in here.
The balloons.
She was like, babe, she called me yesterday.
Babe, I want to get some balloons.
Dude, I don't know.
I don't even know.
She was like, have ideas on the balloons.
I don't know.
I'm a dude. but I appreciate the beauty.
And also this studio itself being in existence is due to her.
She is the one who worked with a team to put everything together the set design and just even the location that we found here.
Being from the Midwest and coming to Los Angeles with our family, it was a huge endeavor and I cannot this would not exist without her.
I would not be who I am without her.
So I just wanna share a lot of love for my amazing wife, Ann Stevenson, my best friend and my partner in all of this as well.
And so after She came into the picture prior to this moment of revelation, but at this point I'd gained maybe around 40 pounds of, and this was not like a mass gain.
All right,
This was sheer unadulterated body fat was on me.
And I was on a little cocktail of medications, prescription and over the counter to try to meet the needs of that pain right.
And that's one of those things that's really been marketed to in recent decades, right?
This pain epidemic.
And so I was definitely a participant in that, with my cocktail of medications, and everything changed in what seemed the blink of an eye, but it was two years of suffering, every single day.
And so I know what that's like.
And it was thanks.
And this is so important to what I want you to walk away with today, in addition to all the incredible special guests and our QA that we have in store for you.
The power of community, the power of our relationships.
It was thanks to those touch points from the people who cared about me that helped to pull me out of that darkness.
And somebody who was like truly my North Star which I didn't realize at the time I'm already getting a little choked up was my grandmother.
And she was calling and checking on me.
And she knew that I wasn't okay.
But you know, just being what I thought to be a grown ass man, you know, I'm just like, I'm fine.
I'm fine.
I'm fine, grandma.
I'm fine, Meemaw.
And I just kept kind of pushing through.
But it was a remembrance of her and what she instilled in me as a child and the love that she showed me and showing me, proving to me that I was special and that I mattered and that I was gonna do something special with my life.
And here I was, I gave up.
I relegated my life to a lifetime of medication and pain.
And so that was the spark, just remembering that this is not me.
No one else has permission to tell me what's possible for me.
I know better than this, but I stopped fighting because I was tired of fighting.
And that's the truth.
Coming from the environment that I come from, going through all the things that I went through in my life literal, all the literal fights.
I was tired of fighting.
And this diagnosis gave me a permission to give up.
And I took it.
And at that point, everything changed because it was her and it was my two kids.
At the time, I had my little girl, Jasnah, and my son, Jordan, was just born.
And knowing, having this terror, that I would not be able to throw the ball around with my son to pick my daughter up from school, you know, without embarrassment.
And just these things really started to all of a sudden dig into me like this.
My grandmother's input, the fear of who I might become in my kids' eyes.
And fear.
Doubt, worry can be a catalyst, but what's sustainable is something that's aspirational and positive.
So eventually I had to turn the volume up on, no, I'm going to be that man.
I'm gonna show my son what's possible.
I'm gonna show my daughter what a great man is.
I'm going to show up and I'm going to do all these things that I've always had in my spirit, in my DNA, to be able to do with my children.
I'm not going to give up.
And so turning the volume up on that, again, the pain could be a catalyst.
The fear can be a catalyst, but we need to attach to something bigger than ourselves and something that is sustainable, because it's just not good, of course, to carry that kind of negative energy in your body.
And so long story short, making the decision to get well was when everything changed.
Most people never do that.
We never make a firm decision that that's enough.
I am done.
It is over.
This is what I'm doing.
Nothing can stop me.
And I had that moment of revelation sitting there in my one bedroom apartment in Ferguson, mattress on the floor.
My feet were comfortably on the floor, almost knees up to my chest, sitting on that mattress.
And I decided to get well.
I decided no matter what, I'm going to do something so that I can feel better.
My transformation really entailed three specific things.
One was changing the way that I was eating, because truly every cell in our bodies are made from the food that we eat.
It is the basis, it's the raw materials to build what we see in the mirror.
When you see yourself in the mirror, you're seeing the food that you've eaten.
You're seeing the minerals.
You're seeing the vitamins.
You're seeing the amino acids or lack thereof, all these things.
You're seeing the result of what you've eaten.
And this is what was missing in my university education.
When talking about biology, when we're studying a human cell, that nucleus is made from the nutrients that we eat.
Our membranes are made from our menus.
Our mitochondria is made from our meals.
And so I was eating straight up 90 plus percent ultra processed foods every single day.
It's where I came from.
All right.
It's just the way it was.
Two for 99 cent tacos at Jack in the Box.
Two, you know, double cheeseburgers from Mickey D's and a fry and a high C. Shout out the high C.
Was it supposed to be high in vitamin C, I guess?
I don't know.
Get you high and see what happens.
But if I didn't have a few dollars to get some fast food, then I would eat ultra processed foods at home.
And my favorite meal was a box of macaroni and cheese.
Like a big ass kid.
I'd whip up that box of macaroni and cheese perfectly.
You know, put a little salt bae in it, a little pepper.
Make it look nice.
Like I'm making my body out of very, very low quality materials.
What do you think is going to happen?
Not to mention all the deficiencies that I had.
And so being able to actually provide my body with the raw materials to do what it already knows how to do.
Our bodies know how to heal.
Our bodies know how to heal.
Oftentimes we need to just get out of the way and make room for our bodies to do what they know how to do.
So that's part one.
Part two is movement.
And we've got guests to talk about all these things today as well, including myself.
Right movement coupled with right nutrition was really a huge catalyst because life is movement.
And that movement is the input to actually increase absorption of nutrients, elimination, right?
Exercise, exorcism, getting rid of stuff, toxicity in the body.
And just really being able to assimilate and to give my body a reason to heal.
And the third part was my sleep quality.
If you're not sleeping, you're not healing.
And if you've been with me for some time, you know that I've written the book Sleep Smarter, which is the first sleep wellness book to become an international bestseller.
It's really kind of... been the catalyst for this movement with Sleep Wellness.
I'm grateful for that.
The first iteration was written about 12 years ago.
And so these all became my mission to help to get the word out.
And that's where the show actually had its origins was in that desire to help others to heal, in the same way that I had to remember what's possible, in the same way that I did.
And that is part number four that I didn't know at the time, which is how important it is to optimize our mindset, to have a mindset of health, a mindset of healing, a mindset of strength, a mindset of empowerment.
And dare I say, Take back your mind.
And with that said, we're gonna go ahead and invite in our first guest.
We have the one and only Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith here in the studio.
Happy thousand, man.
Thank you.
A thousand.
Yes, thank you.
You've been kicking cosmic Easter for a long time.
Thank you.
You know, you're the first guest here at the studio.
Oh, outstanding.
Yeah, you blessed the studio.
You dubbed this a sanctuary of inspiration.
Yes.
You know, I never forgot that.
And I appreciate you for that.
Absolutely.
And that's what it turned out to be.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, so I know today you were leaving the gym when I text you.
Yeah.
You're about that life.
This is what people don't really get about you.
You know, they see the spiritual strength.
Right.
But you were about that life like holistically.
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
I can remember being keenly aware of taking care of the body temple through movement every day exercise, some kind of exercise every single day, and obviously good nutrition, good thought.
And I can remember years ago, I was criticized by some of the metaphysicians.
They were saying why are you so concerned about doing this with your body and eating the right stuff?
And you can just heal it with your mind.
I said, why do I wanna waste time healing my body when I don't have to get sick in the first place?
Come on, come on.
And so, interestingly enough, a lot of those people that were critical of me later on in life began to take care of their body because they had to.
Yes.
You know, and then they kept it up, you know, so.
One of the things that I learned from you early on that kind of helped to affirm what I was doing too is our bodies being able to hold that wattage.
There it is.
So we might have these revelations in what's possible and know our ability to create and to manifest the life that we might aspire to.
But we can short circuit, trying to have that high vibration.
Yeah, because the broadcast whatever language you wanna use, the broadcast from the quantum field.
The signal is always pure.
The broadcast from the mind of God is always pure.
The static is in us.
You see our thought, as you say, not be able to hold that energy.
And so when we come into alignment with truth and allow the body temple to be as healthy as it can be, then we hold more wattage.
You know, because
What I know for truth is that the broadcast from the spirit is happening perennially.
It's happening all, it's never on and off.
But are we listening?
Are we catching it?
Are we integrating it?
Are we embodying it?
That's the question.
So you never have to pray to get a bigger blessing.
That's silly because you've already been given everything.
So you're praying to basically become receptive to that which is being given.
So the ability to hold that energy, people have insights and it sputters away.
They don't put it into action.
They don't remember it.
What they remember is all the static and all the noise that they're living through, but they don't remember the little blessings every single day.
Now, if you start to remember the blessings, the serendipity, the coincidences, the things that seem minimal, and they become popular in your awareness, you develop your intuition, but you also develop the capacity to hold the blessings, to hold the guidance, to hold the wisdom.
And so that's the whole thing about taking back your mind, not only to be pulled by the noise, because the noise is all over the place.
And what is that noise though?
You know, is this like separate from us or is just something?
Is just a human being?
You know decision options, evolution.
You know just the kind of messiness of it all as we're trying to sort ourselves out.
It's all of that.
And the world, I distinguish between the world and the planet.
They're not the same thing.
The planet is Mother Earth.
She's alive.
She's evolving.
She's got energy.
The world is the condensation of thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, opinions, points of view, positionalities that forms itself into a big belief that determines experience.
So you have people on the planet that are animalistic might makes right, I'm gonna steal your stuff.
I don't care how I get over all the way up to people who are more compassionate loving, generous giving, forgiving.
Every stage of development is on the planet.
And so oftentimes you see the lesser of us, meaning the younger brothers and sisters who are into stealing warring, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
They dominate the noise.
You know, people actually think might makes right.
You know they'll look at the presidents and all the people around the world who are quick to war, as normal.
No, that's just immature.
It's not abnormal, but it's immature.
But that creates a whole lot of noise, you know.
And so there are other people.
They're operating on a different level.
But the thing is, you don't see that that much.
They don't dominate the news.
You know, what dominates the news is if it bleeds, if it leads, it bleeds, it leads, you see.
And so it is.
As you say.
It's a part of the evolutionary process of being human and then coming into a higher state of being.
And it's also individuals that only care.
You know, they don't care about all of that.
Until they have enough pain and then they have to grow.
That part.
That part.
Yeah.
You know, when you mentioned the youngsters.
Yeah.
This doesn't just mean chronologically.
No, no.
I'm talking about individuals who are atrophied emotionally, atrophied around empathy, atrophied around compassion.
People are actually hypnotized into thinking that somebody's color of skin or where they were born or their nationality is an other is different.
That's a very small myopic point of view.
It's the younger brothers and sisters that told that.
But once you wake up, you begin to realize that we all shot from the same source.
There is no other.
You may have a different color skin.
You may be different gender or whatever, but you're emanating from the same source of all creation.
There is no other.
But the younger brothers and sisters think there's another.
You know, they had to develop that in order to do what they do.
So instead of hating, I don't hate, those are just little kids.
You know, you don't hate your kid when they're learning how to walk.
You know, and learning certain things that become normal to us.
You just, you have to have a little patience with them.
Sometimes protect yourself, you know, and protect them, you know.
But so we have some younger brothers and sisters who haven't evolved yet.
And their ego is so big that they dominate a lot of things in the world.
All right, since we've got Dr Michael Bernard Beckwith here, we're gonna be able to ask some questions.
And by the way, this was a live stream event of episode 1000.
So hopefully you got to experience this live, but if you didn't, This is one of the most valuable aspects of this is the time in between and being able to ask questions being here live.
And so we've got some questions from the chat.
And the question that I have for Michael Beckwith is how do you keep on track?
How do you keep on track and block out the noise?
But my life is basically a practice, started off as a practice, that's now how I live.
Yeah.
So when I wake up, I go into a feeling of gratitude and thankful.
Thankful for my existence.
I'm thankful for my life.
I'm thankful for the perfect day that's unfolding.
I'll even ask a question.
Why is this day unfolding so perfectly?
Now the aspect of our brain that hears, that will begin to look for ways to provide evidence that the day is unfolding perfectly.
So it's like, I'm not asking, I'm not determining that there's noise.
I'm asking a different question.
So I go to a particular place in my home and I meditate.
You know, first I'd get my waters together.
There's certain things that I drink every morning.
You know, my lemon, my warm water, my electrolytes, my little salt and some lemon, things like that.
I drink that, take a couple of supplements that are supposed to be on an empty stomach.
Then I go to my spot.
And I meditate.
It's not for a long period of time.
Just set the tone.
Then I go to the gym.
I work out.
You know, hour and a half.
Then I come home. have another drink, make my smoothie, then I do a longer meditation.
So I'm not allowing the world to determine my point of view.
I'm determining my point of view.
I get to choose the state I'm in.
And then, so that's basically, those are the basics.
But I would tell people, and I've said this, even if you look at my book Life Visioning or any of the books, you know I always talk about empowering questions.
You know, and sometimes people live, you basically experience the question you're asking.
So people will ask the question, what's wrong?
Who's to blame?
Why is all this mess happening?
They'll ask that kind of question.
But if you change the question up and you say, you know, why am I so healthy?
Why do I have the body of an athlete? why is money always flowing into my life?
Why am I always safe?
Then a part of your brain will look for the evidence of that and create that as your field that you're generating, and then conditions will bend toward your dominant field.
So don't ever ask what's wrong.
You can ask what's the meaning of something, but don't ask what's wrong.
Ask a much more higher question and your life will begin to look like that.
So those are some basic ways that I stay on track.
I love this so much.
And I know the reverse to be true as well.
You know, you just said your practice becomes your way of living.
Right.
Right.
And so that practice is the key and doing it even when.
Even when you don't feel like it.
You know you look at the great Olympic athletes.
You know they don't work out.
They work out for excellence, but they don't wake up and say I don't feel like it today.
You know, that's when a lot of improvement can take place, in the moment that they're suffering from emotional reasoning.
I don't feel like it today.
And they move past that, they become stronger.
So you develop some level of practice because see, you could have a belief system.
You can believe all the good things.
You know, you could read all the books.
You've gone to all the seminars.
You've got inspired.
Inspiration is the spark.
Practice is the flame, you see.
So you can get inspired.
It's good to be inspired.
You have to have inspiration.
That's the word of God coming through.
But then you have to put it into practice in order to integrate it.
No practice, no integration.
Come on.
Come on.
And speaking of the reverse earlier, what I mentioned, I know this to be true because I would have never thought that I would fall out of my practice, which you know, the past two years.
Well, this was about six months ago, but a two year period was very difficult.
We experienced a lot of changes all at once.
Yeah.
My father passing and father passing my oldest son moving out and my, my youngest son and changing schools in LA is such a deal.
And then 20 other things, right?
This is just one after the other, after the other.
And there were certain things that just kind of anchored me in and I've been meditating for years, every day.
And I just even now thinking about all the times when we're traveling and just I'm sitting at the bottom of the bed meditating while Anne's still getting her Z's on.
But I stepped out of it a little bit and I kind of allowed myself, in a weird way, to get immersed in all the chaos and the struggle.
And I could see that relationship between not having my practice and beginning to kind of spiral or just to kind of start to be more like a tumbleweed, in a way.
And so, and then I would also start to compliment in my day to day, the stuff that we were doing.
We started watching the walking dead.
In the toughest time of my life, I'm just like, babe, this show has got like 20 seasons.
People seem to love it.
They got all these like Comic-Cons or whatever.
So we start watching The Walking Dead, which is like this apocalyptic zombie, just bad feeling.
One thing after the other.
And we were just tearing through this multiple seasons.
I've watched it.
Yeah.
So I know what you're talking about.
But your mindset is different when you do this stuff.
That's another thing.
I want to circle back to that.
Yeah.
And so for me, but here's the thing.
Once I had a true revelation and funny enough was consistent back with my practices, my routines.
Now there's certain things I'd never stopped doing by the way, of course, like I was still training.
I was still, you know, but it was that, it was that going inward.
It was the, it was the, not working out, but working in, right?
Because a lot of stuff would come up, right?
And so.
But once I had this kind of revelation and my practices were clicking back in place, I had no desire.
I had to stop cold turkey.
And I told Ann and she was just like, well, Can I still watch it?
Because she was still in it, right?
And so, you know, but I was just like, babe, I already know what's going to happen.
There's like a cat and mouse thing going on right now, whatever.
I just made these little excuses, but I just didn't feel good watching it.
And it didn't resonate with me.
And I needed to immerse myself in other.
Absolutely.
But you learn something about yourself when you backed off your practice a bit.
You actually learn how valuable it is.
Yes.
It wasn't just a theory.
Yes.
You actually know the value of that kind of practice so that it changed your perspective forever.
Yeah.
Yes.
So thank you for saying that.
That's what you always do.
You get me to like, oh, that makes sense.
Yeah.
Because it became a way of life.
Yeah.
I only knew that.
Right.
And so now I actually value it in a different way.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
When you lose something for a moment and you get it back, you say, oh, I'm not doing this again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it also and I know this is a big part of our mission here with the show is this became a catalyst for me because prior to this and my father passing literally two weeks before I was going to start getting the word out about the Eat Smarter Family Cookbook and my mission was had just kind of unlocked for me to focus on family, to focus on empowerment of our communities and our families.
And the things that we evolved having has been so fractured in our culture recently.
And this came along with that mission all these different puzzle pieces changing with my family.
And so life was qualifying me to speak about this and also the pain that we go through as these pieces are moving and evolving.
And right now, as we sit here today, this is the first time I'm ever experiencing mourning for not having a baby anymore.
Cause I've always kind of perpetually, you know what I mean?
Like as soon as my youngest son was, like you know, starting to stop playing with his toys or whatever.
Then Ann was pregnant with Brayden.
And so I was back at it again with the baby.
And so being able to navigate these things and knowing that You know and this is something I might've heard this from you back in the day
Some people in your life for a reason, for a season or for a lifetime.
And- our relationships can evolve and change and it's us.
This is where we have to do the work.
This is where we have to continue to evolve and to remember how powerful we are to create our life in a way that makes us feel joy, and to feel that sense of purpose, regardless of what's going on in the outside world.
Absolutely.
Your field becomes a field of joy and gratitude.
And through meditation and introspection you tap into that field, and it has nothing to do with an external condition.
You know, when we're first growing and maturing, we're happy if this happens.
We're happy if the ducks are in a row.
We're happy, you know, but as we mature, we realize that happiness is, we've been given happiness.
We've been given joy straight from the creator presence, right?
And then that which moves around, we may not like it.
We may not prefer certain things to happen, but we don't let it steal our joy.
So within that field then, wisdom and guidance comes through, because you're not putting static on the line by making sure that your happiness is based on that thing.
Your happiness is based on you, you see?
So now you can hear the wisdom, the guidance, and then you know how to navigate through those things that you don't like.
You know because you're not blocking, you're not putting static on the line.
This makes so much sense.
You've been so helpful to me over the years, you know, in more ways than I could count.
I'm so grateful for you.
Now, since this is episode 1,000, I'm going to do something I don't typically do.
I'm going to turn this around a little bit.
Uh-huh.
And, you know...
The one and only Ann Stevenson is here as well.
And she helped to get Take Back Your Mind podcast, your show, started in the very beginning.
Yeah, she was very helpful.
So, baby, you're the best, first of all.
But having that incredible platform that you have, I've been on the show a couple of times.
I might have been your first guest.
You might have been.
I think I did one solo show.
Yeah, you did a solo.
Yeah, yeah.
So we did the same thing to each other.
Yes, exactly.
And this is what tends to happen, you know.
But you know, I'm saying all that to say that you know, number one make sure everybody check out.
Take Back Your Mind.
It is one of the greatest gifts to humanity.
Let me put it like that.
This isn't even a great podcast or a great show.
It's a gift to humanity.
And just push play and your life will be transformed.
Period, point blank.
But I'm going to turn this around a little bit since this is episode 1,000.
And a lot of people are sharing their heart and sharing what they feel about this show and about me and this mission.
So when you think about the Model Health Show, when you think about me, what comes to mind?
Excellence and- an individual that knows what he's talking about.
I check with you about things.
If I see something going on, I say, hey, is this true or not?
Whether it's a supplement or whatever's going on.
So your excellence and your research prowess is top notch.
And so when I think about you, I think about excellence.
I think about a family man.
You know, I think about a man who loves his family so deeply that, as you just described, when things happen in your family, it moves you very deeply.
You're not stoic. even though you might appear that way as an athlete, you know what I'm saying?
But inside you're a puff cake.
You love your family, you love your wife, you love your kids.
You want everything to be just right.
And so, you know, Lee and I talk about you all the time and I'm always telling people about you.
You know, he said, oh, you need to check out Shawn Stevenson.
You know he's going to, you will discover the truth about whatever it is you're trying to, you're trying to know about.
So, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're a love guy, you know?
But the word that comes up all the time for me is excellence and an individual that puts his word into practice.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you, Rev.
Thank you, Rev.
Well, you know, this is a very special day.
This only happens once, episode 1000.
And to have you here, to be our first special guest.
Also, again, you're the first guest here at the studio, period.
Blessing this space and us continuing to evolve and to grow and to make an impact.
And we need it now more than ever.
That part.
And we're more powerful than ever.
Yes, we are.
So it's like it's scary good right now if we're tuned into it.
So I want to affirm again for everybody listening to really lock in.
Do your best to immerse yourself in those things that remind you of who you are and how powerful you are.
Subscribe to Take Back Your Mind and also Agape Spiritual Center here in LA.
There are services every Sunday, meditation, but also you live stream.
It's live streamed on- The services as well.
All over the world.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So- It's on YouTube.
It's on live stream from our website and-
Yeah.
Is there anywhere else you want people to connect with you and check out?
Well, they could go to my Instagram page, because there's something inspirational that's placed there every day.
Yes.
And then as you just said, they can go to agapelive.com.
And watch the services on the website, see what classes I'm teaching.
Or they can go to our YouTube channel, Michael Beckwith or Agape and watch it live or watch it after, depending on what time zone they're in.
Because by the end of the week, there are thousands of people who have watched it.
But many people are around the world, so they were asleep when I was doing the deal.
Yeah. but yeah.
It's there for you.
It's right there.
I appreciate you so much for coming to hang out with us.
Hey man, thank you for the invitation.
Of course.
As soon as we heard that you wanted to be on your thousandth episode, we just looked at the schedule and just maneuvered and said yeah, we're going to do this.
Yes.
And by the way, Michael Beckwith is on the Mount Rushmore or what should we call this?
Mount Crushmore of the Model Health Show.
All right.
One of our most frequent guests, one of our most in demand and respected and loved guests here on the show.
I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for coming out with this.
Thank you.
Thank Sister Anne for her assistance.
And thank you all, you know, because you guys are family.
I mean, we hang out, you know.
We're going to the Jazz Festival tomorrow.
We're going to Jazz Festival tomorrow together.
And, you know, so it's really, ever since I met you in Portugal.
Yeah. you know, and then there was a connection and then it's just evolved.
And, you know, your kids, my kids, I love them.
You know, they're like God kids, you know, even though they're growing into adulthood.
Yeah.
Thank you so much.
I better play your younger one basketball quick.
Oh man, like, hey, hey.
Just a little bit of horses before I have any chance.
Yeah, well, again, I appreciate you so much.
And everybody, we've got so much more in store for you.
So stay tuned.
Let's go.
I have something very special to share with you for episode 1000 of the Model Health Show.
It's important for us to understand that beauty is truly from the inside out, but also the outside in is important as well.
And today...
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And now back to the show.
Next up in this very special 1000th episode of the Model Health Show, we have a very, very special guest.
And again, part of my healing was multifaceted.
It was the nutrition right, nutrition right, movement right, sleep right mindset, right mindset.
But the linchpin of it all was relationships.
And so we've got a special guest who's going to direct us to some value and some insights on a couple of these very powerful linchpins and our ultimate success.
We got our next guest coming in here, world famous, best-selling author, award-winning poet.
Have you heard of Deaf Poetry Jam?
Yeah, he did that back in the day.
But this guy is somebody who is transformative as a performer, lights up the stage every single time I've seen him, but also he's just a great human being with a heart as big as the world.
I want to welcome the one and only NQ to episode 1,000.
Of course.
Oh wow, I love this.
And did it, man.
I love this.
And did it.
You already know.
You already know.
First of all, congratulations.
Thank you, bro.
Huge congratulations.
It's an incredible accomplishment. a thousand episodes of inspiration, information.
It's crazy.
Passion, conversations.
And it's really a big deal, man.
And I'm honored to be here today.
Thank you, man.
I'm just letting it pour over me.
Well, how do you feel?
Can I ask you?
Of course.
Yeah.
I mean, it's kind of surreal because I don't have a temperament typically of celebration.
I'm just kind of like, what's next?
What's next?
How can I get better?
Yeah.
And so thankfully, and my team and my family were just like, this is a big deal.
Yeah.
You know, let's pump the brakes a little bit.
Enjoy this process. because I tend to be very regimented.
Even when I come in for the show, it's very structured, but I flow within that structure.
And so for me to allow myself to just enjoy this process.
Have a good time today, and to talk to my friends is pretty dope.
Well, you deserve the celebration.
You deserve the positive attention.
I mean, you've definitely changed people's lives.
And you never really know how something you say in a conversation or obviously a podcast, enters into people's psyches and plant seeds in their minds or their hearts that grow later.
And I guarantee those seeds have grown into reality for people and made their lives better, man.
Yeah.
Thank you, bro.
Yeah, I received that.
You know, something really special happened the first time that I heard you speak, and you, you're one of those people that something could just click.
And what I saw and this might not be true for everybody that sees you, but what I saw was something that I saw, something that I felt was in me, and you were articulating it.
And the way that you were articulating it, I felt like it was me. if that makes sense.
Like it just felt very close to me.
And again, maybe it's just our kind of shared background, you know what I mean?
But it just felt so familiar and it felt like such a blessing.
And it was just like oh, that's his superpower, to express this and to heal, and to help others to heal, you know.
So what I'm saying is, When you share your gift, it's much bigger than the performance.
Thank you, man.
You know, and so I appreciate you for that.
And what I want to do first and foremost is, you know, having everybody here with us, and also again, episode 1000, for people to also still be able to walk away with something to add to their life and a new insight, a new tip, a new tool, and your inroads into healing, you know, into transformation, has been through creativity.
It's been one of the main vehicles of that.
And so can you talk a little bit about that first and foremost?
Why is creativity so valuable in helping us to heal and to grow as a person?
Yeah, first of all, thank you for saying all that, man.
I really genuinely appreciate it.
I would answer that energy has to move through us, otherwise it gets trapped.
And even the word emotion is supposed to be energy in motion.
And unfortunately, we, we don't let it move.
And so that winds up becoming disease or actual disease.
And we take it out on somebody sitting in traffic.
We're angry at them for something that hasn't moved inside of us.
And there are plenty of ways you can move the energy.
You can do it through yoga, meditation, martial arts.
You can take a hike.
You can just sit in silence.
You can be in nature.
You can do breath work.
You can spend time with a great friend.
But you can also do it through creativity.
And every single genre of creativity works.
All you have to do is attach it to something that is moving and meaningful to you, which gives you the framework and then the permission to tell the truth.
And I think to your earlier point, the reason that a lot of people will resonate with the things that I'm saying is because I'm starting from the inside out.
I mean, when I write things, I don't necessarily consider the audience.
I don't even really consider whether or not I'm ever gonna share it.
The writing is always for me first.
And so that's the message that I try to share with anybody that's listening to me or participants that come to workshops.
It's tell your truth.
And if you tell your personal truth, you will also be telling a universal truth.
Yeah, yes, that part, that part.
Can you, if you could?
You know you mentioned that there's many paths to the goal when it comes to this.
You know, with you is spoken word.
So what are some other means?
So of course there's like, painting, there's, you know, there's freestyle.
Sure.
There's singing.
Yeah.
You know, what are some ways that we can kind of use art to express ourselves?
Well, you said it right now.
I mean, let's take singing, for example.
Other than karaoke, or people like sitting alone in their house or being in the shower.
When you're an adult, you don't really sing.
Cause we leave it to the people that are professionals.
And leaving it to the professionals is the problem because, as adults, we just calcify.
We just get caught in our own routines over and over again.
And when you're not growing, you're dying.
So you have to find ways to get out of your own comfort zone.
And like I said, there's so many paths to that.
There's so many paths to presence.
There's so many paths to power, but you have to take one of them And then you have to find kind of like the strength and the time to take the next one.
So don't leave art to the professionals, just attach it to something that actually charges you and sparks you.
And then you might be surprised by what happens on the other side.
That's so powerful.
I'm just thinking about how quickly something like music and singing can change your disposition.
Yeah, man.
Yeah, 100%.
Yeah, and then we leave it to the people that are on stage to do it for us.
I think that's why we idolize them a lot of times.
It's because they have the courage to do what we don't have the courage to do.
And we say, oh, they're better than us.
We either put people higher than us or we put people lower than us, but we never actually look at people.
That's a societal issue.
So I would say you don't have to be a poet to make a poem.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you for that, man.
And also the same thing holds true with any form of art.
You know sometimes, of course, we can pick up a message from somewhere or somewheres that we're not good at a thing.
If a thing makes you feel good, we have to, abandon that false belief that you can't do a thing.
When it comes to singing, for example, it's like you can't sing or you don't have a good voice, or whatever the case might be.
So what?
This is your gift.
This is your gift to yourself to be able to express yourself.
The same thing holds true with writing.
I'm not a good writer.
I've heard that so many times from people over the years. but you have the capacity to write.
And if you enjoy it, give yourself permission to do it.
And there's many different forms of this.
This is something that you've advocated with your recent work as well, and being able to journal certain things, to have certain prompts, is so healing to get stuff out of your head and out on the paper.
A hundred percent.
I would actually like build on that too, because journaling is an amazing tool for this, but I want to differentiate journaling from poetry, because when you're journaling, you're using the same voice that you use in your own mind or that you use when you're talking to other people.
And that's great because it's like stream of consciousness, get shit out of your system.
That's definitely a process for healing and for just self-awareness.
But when you're making poetry, you're creating a piece of art.
And when you create any piece of art, you actually separate the art from the story.
So you have more space in between you and that narrative.
And that space provides alchemy for you to then look and go, oh, this story is different than me.
I exist beyond this story.
And there's something really powerful that can happen from that space.
Hell yeah.
Hell yeah.
Something that I've seen with you because I've known you for a couple of years now.
Maybe it was like five years ago when you came to my career during the vid times.
Yes.
I got to say, because I was telling Ann right now, I have such a vivid memory.
She opened the door and I was like, hey, how you doing?
And I had a mask on, you know?
And she goes, you're good.
Took it right off.
And I felt immediately at home and our friendship just grew from there.
Yeah.
And I appreciate you for that, man.
Like just coming through and sharing your gift man, that superhero, that superhero poem that you did still resonates with me.
I can see it.
I can see it.
And I want to ask you about something because, knowing you for a few years, I've seen this evolution and more investment for you personally in relationships you know and you growing your family and the changes in the dynamics that have happened there and creating a person as well, which is like, like I mean, have you ever made a person?
You know, like that's just, that's crazy if you just think about that in and of itself.
But also you know how I know you and how I get to stay in touch with you, even if we're not in touch, is through our relationships and the people that we know and having incredible experiences together.
So can you speak to how much value it holds or how important it is for us to be intentional about cultivating our relationships for overall wellbeing?
Yeah, I mean, it's a great question.
One thing that I try to do that I would recommend to other people, even though I have no credentials here is I try to check in and see how I feel after I leave a hang.
You know, cause it's an interesting thing.
You know, usually we'll leave the thing and then an hour later we're feeling something and we attribute it to something else.
But it's good to actually connect it to the thing that you just came from.
And then you get to kind of understand when you leave somebody, do you feel bad?
Do you feel neutral?
Do you feel good?
Do you feel great?
Do you feel inspired?
Every time I leave hanging with you, I feel inspired and I feel connected and I feel grounded.
So we don't have to talk every day.
I'm always in your corner.
I always have your back.
And I know that the same is true on the other side.
And I try to like think about that on a regular basis.
Sometimes, by the way, I'll have relationships that felt really great for a season and they felt good for a season, and then they start to feel bad.
And it's not like, oh, if I have a bad feeling after I hang with somebody, I cut them off.
No, I'm a very loyal and committed person.
But if there's consistency there, I pay attention to it and I might start to make some different decisions around it.
Man, there's a thread going in this special event as well, just with Michael Beckwith.
And we share the sentiment that, you know, because in our... way of being in our world today.
Obviously humans, we have a natural attachment tendency and we want things to work out, obviously.
And there's a sentiment that some people in your life, for a reason, for a season or for a lifetime, and being able to distinguish, being able to and it's not that you're not gonna hurt when things change in certain relationships, but the overall, the most important part, and also this speaks back to the importance of going inward and creativity and self-expression, so you know yourself well enough to be able to tune in.
Cause that's the thing like when you said I tune into how I'm feeling that can be a foreign aspiration for some people.
And this is why it's important to do the work, so that you have kind of your antenna is there's not a lot of static on the line, so that you could pick up that data.
And being able to navigate that, because today more than ever, there's a lot of moving pieces.
There's a lot of obstacles.
There's a lot of flashy things.
But being able to remember who you are, being able to remember your standards, is super important for me, something that I really value, but that's not always easy.
But it becomes more graceful when you really know yourself.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
And I think it's relationships, it's also chapters of your life, like you even have to let go of old parts of yourself, which sucks, I mean it really does, and you know we were just chatting about that as well.
You see a lot of people who are not willing to let go of old parts of themselves, and it just creates an enormous amount of suffering.
You see them holding on to either who they thought they were or who other people thought they were.
Their successes, even their failures.
And you have to just be willing to move with life.
You have to change the world, but you have to be also changed by the world.
Both are incredibly important.
So it's external and it's internal.
And it's interesting when you reimagine your truth or you move into this like new chapter and you recognize wow, the things that I wanted I actually don't want anymore.
Can I be okay with that?
I mean a lot of people's ideas become their ideologies or identities and then, in order for them to change, literally a part of them has to die, and they're just not willing to do it.
But we're all the caterpillar into the butterfly over and over again.
Come on, come on, that part.
I think that as a society, we could do a better job of informing our children that this evolution, this metamorphosis, is a part of life and that's okay.
That's so true.
Talk more about that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean obviously again, we are kind of programmed with this idea, this aspiration.
You pick this thing and then you, You know it's the American dream.
You go after this thing to whatever end to make it happen.
And having the wherewithal especially when we're young that it's okay to change how you feel about something.
It's okay to decide that you want something different.
It's okay to listen to your heart, to listen to your gut.
Like we don't value those things in our, because we're very head focused, you know?
And this is like a thinking man's game, a thinking man's world, but look what that gets us.
You know what I mean?
And so it's just, and it's not to negate the value of that, But it's giving our kids the awareness that your gut and your heart are also giving you valuable feedback.
Now we got the science.
We got the science to affirm that these are very real phenomenons.
And even our ancestors.
There's ancient scripture on this alignment of the head, the heart and the gut.
You know.
And so, yeah, I mean, but by the way, the chat is popping off right now.
What's up chat?
And somebody mentioned, They mentioned the vampires.
They mentioned the vampires that suck the energy out of you.
Oh yeah, that'll happen.
Talk a little bit about those vampires because they're out here.
It's twilight sometimes and they, you know, that's all right.
But, you know, talk about the energy vampires.
How do you deal with that?
You know, sometimes through annoyance, sometimes through anger, sometimes through compassion.
I'm not always great at dealing with people that are trying to feed off of my life force energy.
But I try to, once again, just like be present so that I know what's happening.
Because if you don't know what's happening, then you're not gonna have the ability to navigate.
If you know what's happening, you can kind of like acknowledge your feelings but then hopefully still make the best choices for you and the situation, the environment, the people around you.
A lot of times they're doing it unconsciously.
Most people I think are just doing the absolute best that they can.
And they're just like weighed down by their past or their desires or their own blind spots.
So the earlier conversation I mean the older that you get, the more commitments you have and the more responsibilities you have and the more that you fully realize whatever time you're giving to one thing is not going to another thing that you care about.
And so, like I mean, I remember thinking oh, when we have a kid I'm just gonna be so split in my life.
Everywhere I go, I'm gonna be halfway there.
You know, and that's actually not what happened.
I feel more anchored to wherever I am because I know what I'm sacrificing.
So it's like being here with you, I wanna be fully with you.
I wanna fully be a value to whoever's listening.
I wanna fully connect with everyone around me, and myself and God, if I can, because otherwise I'm actually doing a disservice to my son and my wife.
And I think that when it goes back to that vampire statement At a certain point, you just go.
I don't have time for that.
I don't have energy for that.
I don't know how long I'm going to be here.
I had four people pass last year that were close to me, including the first rap partner that I had, somebody that i wrote the disney songs with, um johnny vella, and then tony madrano, or you know, freestyling in the alley drinking 40s.
I mean, you know that was family to me when i was 15 years old.
I still love him.
You know he passed man.
It was a therapist that i was working with that passed zoya And Johnny, by the way, was walking with his girlfriend.
He's in his forties.
He was in really good shape, seemingly.
He had a heart attack out of nowhere.
We don't know how long we have.
You know, so I just want to make sure I'm giving it to things that I want to be giving it to.
And I'm as grateful as I can be for the moments that we get to have together.
Well, man, this has been amazing so far.
And just talking about impact.
It's your superpower, man.
And we've got something very special for everybody.
And you know this is also very special for me, because I know that you don't do this for just anybody, for any situation.
And you're gonna bless us with your gift.
And so, This is a very special exclusive alert in queue here at the Model Health Show studio.
Performance, sit back, relax, and enjoy.
I used to prepare for the worst.
Now I prepare for the best.
I used to prepare to be cursed.
Now I prepare to be blessed.
I used to prepare to hear no.
Now I prepare to hear yes.
I used to prepare for disasters.
Now I prepare for success.
I never believed in happy endings. where the good guy got the girl and the hero wound up winning.
I would watch a movie and think all these people are pretending for the sake of storytelling, in an industry that thrives on manipulating feelings, bending truth or weaving lies for the sake of story selling, compartmentalizing lives into perfect little endings, when we all know perfect little endings are beginnings.
Plus, I knew where they were heading with the characters and settings, but I often wondered what would happen right after the wedding.
Or like after someone hits the big shot or wins the big race or big case or stands up to the bully punching him right in his big face.
What happens then?
Because 10 times out of 10, they got to wake up and be human once again.
That's why I'd rather leave a theater unresolved.
Show me too complex to solve.
Show me how the world revolves and evolves.
Show me lonely on the edge when there's no one left to call.
Show me real above it all until the credits start to roll.
But now I'm 47.
I just want my happy ending.
Pessimism is for purists or for circular offending.
Plus, I don't want to wait until the moment I'm transcending to separate my spirit from the image it's defending.
Plot twist
I'm too old to reinvent the wheel.
My second act was satire, so I'll skip the big reveal.
They say success is measured by my willingness to fail.
That's why every day I have to fight for my fairy tale.
I have to scratch tooth and nail to reach the light that no one sees.
I have to build a kingdom in my mind, then give away the keys.
I have to feel into reality beyond what I believe, and be grateful for my goals before they've even been received.
Hell, it hurts to be in heaven.
We deserve our happy endings, but I'm not sure we would notice if we're focused on ascending.
Me, I have a son.
So suddenly the boundaries have been blending.
The blessings are astounding, but the pace is unrelenting.
I have no time or space and space and time for wasting time or space, yet I still find both tempting.
I fantasize that somewhere there's a fence that needs my mending or a garden worth attending.
I've been falling off on purpose, like a forest floor of neon leaves.
But underneath the surface, I've been having dreams of having dreams.
I'm having hopes of having hopes, I'm having prayers, of having prayers.
You'd swear I'm in the same place, but I've been climbing spiral stairs.
Unconsciousness is fertile ground for planting seeds, but the greatest art I'll ever make can barely reach my knees.
When he gets old enough, I'll drop him in a field and watch him leave.
When it gets cold enough, he'll build a fire off what I've achieved.
Eventually he'll wave goodbye to me like wind against the trees, but he'll have made a better sequel than his father could conceive.
I'd rather turn our backs as equals than be spiritually deceived.
What's the point of people pleasing when the people can't be pleased?
I never believed in happy endings, so I won't wait around till then.
I have my happy ending because I'm happy that it's not the end.
I used to prepare for the worst.
Now I prepare for the best.
I used to prepare to be cursed.
Now I prepare to be blessed.
I used to prepare to hear no.
Now I prepare to hear yes.
I used to prepare for disasters.
Now I prepare for success.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Everybody, we got snaps going on.
Oh my God.
Yes, bro.
Thank you so much.
I'm happy that it's not ending.
Yes, sir.
My man.
Thank you so much, man.
My pleasure.
My cheeks hurt.
I'm over there just like, oh, this is so amazing.
Thank you, bro.
We're happy that this is not ending.
We've got the one and only NQ here with us for this celebration.
Where can people follow you, get more information, check out your fire album?
Thank you, man.
Yeah, so just go to IN-Q.com.
NQ is short for In Question.
So it's IN-Qcom and they have the album on there, they have a book called inquire within.
They have a journal called the never ending now poetry journal and then also we're doing a retreat it's like a poetry workshop slash adventure retreat in ireland in the end of August.
And we just sold out the first one and we have a couple of rooms left for the second one.
And it's gonna be a fantastic time.
I've done them in the past in Bali, in Morocco, in mexico and hawaii uh, but i've never been to ireland.
I asked my wife.
I was like, is there anywhere you would want to go?
And she said yeah, for some reason i want to go to ireland and i said okay, that's where we're going to do the next retreat.
So now uh, arthur will get to run around the rainforest for a couple of weeks and I would love for people to join me and then just Instagram in Q life.
I in Q life without the dash.
My bro, I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for sharing that.
The one and only NQ, everybody.
Thank you, everybody.
We're celebrating episode 1000 of the Model Health Show.
And I wanted to invite on some of the most frequent, most impactful and most in demand guests of the Model Health Show.
And we already designated, we're gonna call it the Mount Crushmore of the Model Health Show.
And I wanted to bring on somebody, and this is an individual who, even if we are not constantly talking to each other, I talk about you a lot
I encourage people to follow him, to check out his work, because he is walking the talk.
He is demonstrating true longevity.
When I talk about him, I talk about the energy that this individual has, that we had to put a metaphoric seatbelt on this chair to keep him strapped in because he's bouncing around so full of energy.
And just to be an inspiration for me personally.
He's somebody that is a mentor of mine when I'm thinking about longevity, and when I'm thinking about energy, and when I'm thinking about showing up.
And so our next special guest is the one and only Dr. Johnny Bowden.
Come on in here.
Come on in here.
I love you.
Thank you for coming.
Here you go.
Have a seat.
Have a seat.
Thank you for joining us.
I'm just listening to that intro.
I'm looking around.
What is he talking about?
I'm talking about you, man.
That's very kind, man.
Of course.
Of course.
So good to be here.
Congratulations.
Yeah, thank you, man.
1,000.
Thank you.
Holy moly.
Can you pull that a little closer to you?
Because you're probably going to hit it.
That's the thing, too.
When Johnny's here...
I'm a New Yorker.
We talk with our hands.
We move things around.
We bang the microphone.
And low key, what people don't know about you, and I'm glad that I got a gift and I think it's going to match your vibe, by the way, for you after we're done.
Okay.
They don't know how swaggy you are.
Okay?
They don't know that.
I get it from you.
I get new shoes every time I come.
I go, what is he wearing?
I'm getting them.
See, it's like, you know, you have a timeless fashion sense.
Where does that come from?
That's very sweet of you to say.
I really appreciate that.
Where does that come from?
Do you see your DNA?
It must be in my DNA.
I really don't know.
But thank you for saying that.
Of course.
Well, just to have you here again is a blessing.
There were a select few people that I absolutely want to have on the show.
And I wanted to bring on somebody for this 1000th episode.
1000th episode.
I can't believe that.
Crazy.
You haven't been in this studio for a thousand, have you?
Because you started in your house.
Four years.
We started iHeartRadio back in St.
Louis.
And then we went to a place called Shock City.
And then we went to Santa Monica once we came here and-
And I did my first episode in your house.
Yeah, that's when the world shut down.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so that was the catalyst.
Like, we got to get the studio open.
Right.
And we live so close.
We live very close.
I know, right?
Trying to record at home with kids.
Yeah. with the leaf blowers.
I've got an idea for everybody.
If anybody's out there as an inventor and they want to create something to be a multimillionaire, potentially billionaire.
Get rid of the weed blowers?
Make it make unpleasant sounds.
Well, can I tell you something?
That is the number one source of pollution in LA is those machines.
Really?
Yeah, people who don't live here don't know that.
But we all have gardeners and they come and they blow with it.
That is the number one source of pollution.
Who knew?
Of course you knew.
Of course you knew.
Those are very bad for you.
One of the things that I love about you, you're one of the people that sends me stuff.
You send me research.
You're like, hey, did you see this?
And a big part of the mission for today and why I wanted to have you here, was to provide people with some inspiration around their nutrition.
And today obviously, we have a very, very strong pull happening with our food environment ultra processed foods.
But there's also an emerging medium and community around eating real foods.
And so for you, from your experience, how important is it for us to really be able to lock in on our nutrition right now?
I think it's foundational.
I think it's impossible to overstate how important it is.
And I don't think it's as important as the stuff we're probably gonna talk about.
I think that, as important as it is and you know I've spent a lot of time talking about cholesterol and heart disease and lab tests
I think those things are really important.
They can't be denied.
They can't be ignored.
They need to be handled, but they pale in terms of predicting longevity, predicting happiness and predicting health.
They are absolutely crushed by community, social relationships, and family.
Yes, yes.
That's the lesson I've learned in 35 years of doing this that every great nutritionist that I grew up with and came up with doesn't look at food diaries anymore.
We just don't.
Because we know that the glass ceiling that we all carry around in our head, the thing that keeps us from putting this information into use, is way more important than getting.
We don't need more information.
You know, there's a thing in high fidelity, they talk about signal to noise ratio, right?
We got a lot of noise and very little signal.
So we all have tons of information, right?
Where the action is is how do you become the person who can use that information and actually take action?
Because we get stuck at the action part, not at the knowledge part.
I think I've said this on the show.
There is not a person in the world who ever stopped smoking.
Like, wait, I didn't know they caused lung cancer.
Wait, let me throw my Marlboros out.
No, it doesn't work that way, right?
Yeah.
Same with ultra processed food.
They're killing me.
They're jamming my arteries.
They're giving me diabetes and prediabetes and everything else.
I'll stop.
Just stop like that.
They don't.
And that's where the action is.
Yes.
It's not just what you're eating.
It's who you're eating with.
That's right.
And how you're eating.
And how you're eating.
And how you're eating.
Yeah.
Thank you for illuminating this.
Before we switch gears and talk more about this, because you know better than most that this is really where to focus.
Because guess what?
The people that you're eating, with the character, the habits of those people are greatly going to determine what you're eating.
When you and I went out to eat together, there's a certain quality, there's a certain standard.
It's just automatic once we're around each other.
And we ate at a burger place.
I mean, we ate at a place.
It's not like it was a magical food with everything was organic.
It was good stuff, but there's nothing.
Best example, my wife and I spend a lot of time in French-speaking countries.
Let's put it that way.
And we go to Paris frequently.
For years, we were taught as nutritionists about the French paradox.
And what is the French paradox?
Well, they eat all the saturated fat.
They eat all this stuff.
They don't have any heart disease.
Yeah, go there and you'll see why.
You don't see anybody walking on the street eating.
You do not.
You see some Americans with big Starbucks cups.
Generally, you don't.
People sit down.
Their whole culture is based around the cafe where people sit.
You won't get a check.
You can't get a check when you're in a French restaurant.
They expect you to sit there three hours because the talking is the purpose.
And people sit in cafes and they talk and they chat and they have so many more social connections than we do.
And you can just feel it in the atmosphere.
They talk softer.
You don't hear people screaming and, you know, these entitled people.
I didn't get my Starbucks with the right amount of cream.
They don't.
That doesn't happen in Paris.
And that's weird.
One of the reasons they don't have heart disease like we do, it isn't just the food.
Right.
Yeah.
It's the way they eat, the manner they eat, the slowness that they eat with.
You know, all these things count.
Not just what's on your plate.
It's the whole system, you know.
Please hear this, everybody.
This is the truth.
This is, again, we could search for decades and you and I know a lot about nutrition.
These are the foundational principles that really make it all work.
And if you could, for everybody here and I've got two here you're the guy when it comes to nutrition.
Can you give us three important principles when it comes to choosing which foods we're eating?
I can give you one.
And everything else follows from that.
I've said it before.
Eat real food.
But before you dismiss that and say, oh, yeah, we all know it's not as easy as it sounds.
It's simple, but it's not necessarily easy.
And people don't even know what real food is.
They go, well, are kale chips real food?
No!
Kale's real food, and kale chips are processed from kale.
They may not be as bad as potato chips, but...
The real food is food.
I used to say the Johnny Bowdoin four food groups, food you could hunt, fish gather or pluck.
If you could have, in another time, hunted for it, even if it's showing up at the supermarket.
But if it could have been hunted, it could have been fished for, it could have been plucked off a tree or gathered off the ground.
It's probably good for you.
And if you can only do that, that trumps macros, it trumps calories, it trumps all the other things that we look at.
Is it real?
Come on, Johnny.
Yeah, Johnny be good.
I mean, but is that not true?
I mean, come on.
I mean this is, if we can just follow that principle, we're going to transform the health of our culture.
Not even in doubt.
And it doesn't mean that we don't need more protein because we do more than we were ever told in the past.
That's a big new piece of information, certainly in the last decade, probably the last five years, that we realize how low the protein requirements are, and especially in a GLP-1 world.
But that's a separate subject.
So it's not that we don't care about the macros, But the quality of the food, the fact that it's actually real that it would spoil if you left it outdoors, that your great-great-great-great-grandmother would know that it's actually food.
Because in the Blue Zones they actually took some supermarket food to these elders, like you know juice boxes.
And they literally, you know, they did this.
What is this?
So if they knew- Mamma mia.
Yeah.
I mean.
To me that's the number one piece of nutrition advice that I've ever gotten and that I've ever given.
Eat real food.
And if you're not sure if it's real, err on the side of throwing it out.
It's probably not, if you have to wonder.
Come on.
Nobody wonders about a steak or broccoli.
Simple.
Johnny, why?
And I'm going to ask you this because usually when I'm asking you questions, I have my community in mind.
Okay.
I want to ask you this for myself.
Sure.
Why did you say yes to being here with me today?
Oh, are you kidding?
Number one, I adore you.
I respect you.
I love what you're doing.
And we have the best time when I come in.
Why would I not?
It's the question.
Not why would I say yes, but why would I ever say no?
I appreciate that so much, man.
It's 100% true.
I feel it, man.
I feel it.
Thank you so much, Johnny.
You don't know how much you mean to me and how much I speak about you again.
You don't know how much I speak about you?
I mean, I talk about you and it's like, you know, this guy's the real deal.
Thank you, Johnny.
That means everything.
Again, you've been... since I was in diapers.
You know what I'm saying?
Not me, real talk.
I knew that was coming.
I knew that was coming.
I grew up listening to you.
It's like a double-edged sword.
You grew up listening to me and you're 35.
On vinyl.
I put on the vinyl.
Listen to Dr. Johnny Bowden.
Okay.
So you know again, real talk.
You know you just.
You've been here with your life experience and figuring things out and putting together a unique formula for yourself, but you found principles that tend to work for everybody.
And you are such a blessing.
You've got so many incredible books as well.
Can you share with everybody really quickly?
Where can people connect with you, find your books, all that good stuff.
Well, I'm on Instagram.
I make about five videos a week.
I don't really follow.
Now I'm beginning to liberate myself from the formula that it has to be 20 seconds.
I decided my audience is smarter than that.
And I'm not going to get the TikTok people with the seven second attention.
I'm just not.
So I make videos that run a minute and a half to two minutes.
You're the French of this.
You're the French version of it.
Sit down, listen, learn something.
So what's your handle on IG?
It's at Johnny Bowden.
J-O-N-N-Y, no H in Johnny.
And then I have a website and I have private coaching practice and do a lot of consulting and speaking and all the things I love to do.
Man,
And play tennis every day with great people.
Yeah.
I just talked about you on stage in Chicago.
You did not.
Two weeks ago.
Yes, I did.
Get out of here.
When I was talking about the importance of finding your tennis group.
That is great.
That's a great way to put it.
Find your tennis group.
Because I've been asked on podcasts all the time, you know, I'm going to be the big 8-0.
This year.
And they go, you're eight years old and you've got this energy and you do all this stuff.
I said, the secret is my tennis group.
Yeah.
Fine, do tennis group.
We've got 20 people, 30 people.
We have two big group texts.
I'm not tight friends with every one of them, but we go out to dinner.
We see each other.
There are a lot of performers in our group.
We go see their concerts.
We see their things.
We... have lunch together, we do all kinds of stuff together and we talk every day.
And that plus the exercise of tennis, the best thing you could possibly do, you know?
Amazing.
I was speaking about you in that context of, real longevity.
This is one of those ingredients.
Find your tennis group, you know, having that community is so important.
And so again, I appreciate you so much, Johnny, we're coming up on the close of our time.
All right.
And again, what a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, man.
Come on, man.
I'm totally serious.
Are you kidding me?
Yeah, I appreciate you, man.
I'm totally serious.
Yeah.
All right.
And I got to see Anne again.
I know.
And we got a gift for you as well.
So don't leave without that.
But again, Instagram handle one more time?
Johnny Bowden.
J-O-N-N-Y-B-O-W-D-E-N.
And the website?
J-O-N-N-Y-B-O-W-D-E-N.
JohnnyBoden.com.
That's right.
I'm on Facebook as Dr. Johnny Boden.
Like that.
Johnny, be good.
All right, buddy.
The one and only.
I appreciate you so much.
Thank you.
The one and only Dr. Johnny Boden, everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
This special episode 1000 of the Model Health Show is brought to you by the power of a real vitamin C.
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Now, if it's structurally vitamin C in some form or fashion, isn't it going to be all right, Sean?
The answer is a no and a punch in the kidneys.
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This is absolutely insane because this is one of the most popular supplements in the world.
It's not the fact that vitamin C is the problem.
Vitamin C is essential.
Vitamin C is responsible for yes, helping to regulate the performance of our immune system, but also it's critical for the health of our skin, for our cognitive function, for our our cardiovascular performance, for our sleep quality.
Vitamin C plays a role in that as well.
There's so many different things that we need vitamin C for, but it's those crappy synthetic versions of vitamin C that are the problem.
Yes, we want to get vitamin C from vitamin C rich foods.
And if we're going to supplement, we need to do it right with a superfood, whole food concentrate of some of the most vitamin C dense foods ever discovered.
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This is one of the things that I do on a regular basis, especially during times of stress.
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And now back to the show.
This show would not be possible without our amazing team and my amazing partner in all of this.
My best friend, the love of my life and Stevenson.
We've got a very, very exceptional time.
You're one of the most in-demand guests of the Model Health Show.
People even know, like our more recent guests.
You know, followers, listeners to the show, they don't know about the early days.
I know, they don't.
You know?
And those that do, they're like, when is Anne coming back?
They're checking their watches.
They're waking up like, when is Anne coming back?
So thank you for gracing us with your presence.
I truly do appreciate you, baby.
Well, I appreciate you suggesting this.
And I don't feel as nervous or anything.
I just I just feel really good.
I think all the love.
Today too, just it's like can I say hell yes.
This is like hell yes that you know um showing up and you know showing up for them.
So I'm here.
Yeah, thank you baby.
And also, I talk about you every single day when we're in the studio.
When anybody comes in and they're celebrating the ambiance and the vibe here in the studio, I'm always like this is Anne's doing.
Anne made all this happen.
And even the balloons and the vibe here, which this makes me so happy.
It makes me feel more of a celebration vibe.
But when you messaged me yesterday, you called me asking about the balloons.
I'm like, baby, I don't know, whatever.
But it's these type of things where you see my blind spots.
You see the things that I might miss.
You also are like.
You are the greatest inspiration that I've ever had in my life to continue to be better, because you are so good.
You know, and I want to ask you what has it been like For those that you know that have been a part of this community for a long time?
You know, you know me better than anybody.
So what is it like working with me and the way that I go about doing this show?
What have you seen as far as the preparation and what we put into creating this?
I would say, number one, it's very intense.
You know, I think that you're so meticulous.
I love what Michael Beckwith said.
It's just excellent.
I think since day one you know first episode, like you've been taking this seriously, so serious, and from spending hours upon hours, like every episode you know and honestly makes me want to do more honest being around you like it makes you want to do more all the time and and I fight.
I fight you sometimes because I'm like When are we having fun?
I want to have fun.
And you're like, no, we need to do this.
We need to go to sleep at this time.
We got it.
I'm like, OK, you know, I'm recording on Friday and the days he's recording.
Just whatever it is, unless if the house is not burning down, like just got to live alone.
And and it's it's crazy how you transform into this.
And I was listening to the team the other day, like into this. different person, like not different.
It's like you just turn the switch on and all these amazing things and information.
I've been with you for so long.
I'm still fascinated.
Like, how do you know all these things?
And so it's very inspiring for sure and challenging.
I think people always want to have a partner who is, who's going to challenge you, who's going to up-level, but do you really want to do the work?
You know what I'm saying?
Like some some, some people.
I don't know if you you have to dig deep in there and be like okay, I can do this.
And and you know you're not gonna um, you're not going to.
Uh, You got to push me even even like, if I don't want to push myself like, are you going to make sure that I'm OK?
So long story short, it's intense, amazing and very inspired.
I'm very proud of you for just showing up every week, even when, when None of us really want to do it, including myself.
You just your level of excellence is unmatched.
Thank you, baby.
You know, that means more to me than anything.
Like, thank you for seeing me.
I'm just so grateful.
And I literally tell you this, like, I'm grateful I even get to talk to you.
You know what I'm saying?
You're just so awesome.
You're so fun.
You're so insightful.
You're also, you could, you're a baddie.
You're a baddie, no doubt.
But also, of course, you could be a bowl of trouble, and you know that everybody needs spice in their life, a little bit, a little spice in it.
That's what she said, you know, but it's you know.
You keep me, You keep me from getting complacent and you give me all of the fuel to know, number one, that I matter, but also that I need to be better because we're growing together.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, and back in those early days of not having a real template of what a marriage looks like and us figuring it out, a big part of that, like we talked about, we united on growth but we were growing like in a parallel way and it was creating this friction, you know.
And once we decided, first of all, we learned about each other.
Learned like actually took, bought some CDs, because this is the CD days to learn about.
Oh, and I shared this at the conference recently.
Yeah.
It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Something might be so obvious for everybody.
I realized that you think differently than me.
You think differently than me.
And it's not right or wrong, but a lot of us walk around here thinking that people think the same way that they do.
Oh, it's just like this.
It's just like that.
Oh, you're just forgetting.
Let me remind you.
But it's just.
This is the value of having a partner and a relationship, and our friends and our family and our community, because there's so many different perspectives.
And we can all see things differently.
And how cool is that?
Versus we're trying to convert the world into thinking like we do.
And then we just have...
AI.
So, you know, thank you, baby.
Thank you for for being who you are.
And again, we're here to do a Q&A portion right now.
So at Beth Stardust Within says, how do you start your morning spiritually?
That's a great question.
It's so interesting.
We talked with Michael Beckwith about this and how my routine changed when the trouble season hit, because I was so locked in.
You've been with me this whole time.
I was meditating every day for years.
I wake up in the morning to this day, and I always do this first.
I drink water.
I drink about 25 to 30 ounces of water.
And recently, for the past maybe a year since Katie Bowman who special shout out to Katie Bowman, One of the Mount Crushmore guests of the Model Health Show.
And she was, of course, like we were in talks about getting her here today because she's a cloud hopper.
She's a world traveler, but also she's very grounded in in her, in her home as well, and she brought me as a gift, when she came into the studio most recently, this incredible salt.
And so people are, i think, are aware salt can be these different salt brands, the microplastics and contaminants, but it was some exquisite, beautiful salt she brought me, so i put a little bit of that in my water, a little lemon.
So that's how I start my day every day, with my inner bath.
You know, you wake up, you're dehydrated.
It's one of the longest times we go without hydration.
It's gonna help to eliminate, flush out a lot of metabolic waste products.
Also get a little boost for our metabolic, rate as well.
And so that's number one.
Number two, and my wife knows this, I go and do some reading and I'm usually doing a little stretch like a hip flexor stretch while I read.
Why are you shaking your head?
It's because the amount of books by our couch.
It's wild.
I don't think you guys understand.
He reads every book.
The guests.
I think sometimes some of the Model House Show guests don't know that They don't expect him to have read the books, but he reads every single one.
And then they are usually...
I just gave up.
I just gave up.
So after I do some reading, so I'll probably read at least like 15 to 20 minutes.
And then...
Normally, I'd go into my meditation after that.
But I took some time off.
It was very here or there with my meditation for those two rough and tumble years of close family members passing, transitioning with kids and things like that.
And just all manner of craziness was going on.
And I kind of my anchor, you know and.
But gratefully, because of all the work I put in, I was still living it, but it definitely now.
Even today I took that time before everybody got up and I'm back into my practice.
It's so wonderful, so wonderful.
And then I'll go for a quick walk outside, get some real sunlight.
And then I'll start the day.
Usually come in from there and make coffee for us, help with my son's breakfast.
And that's what I do pretty much every day.
I love it.
And honestly, it just goes back to what I said earlier.
I think all of those years of having such a robust, you know morning routine, even in the trenches season, like you were still able to.
Just show up as your best version, even when I didn't want to.
Like you were holding us all together, you know?
So shout out to you.
So someone just a simple question, actually, is how old were you when you got married?
Oh, damn.
I just...
No, this was, so this was 2007.
So it was right before my 27th birthday.
And so you were 25.
I was 27, right?
Yeah.
That's crazy.
We don't know that.
Yeah.
But I know it was 2007.
Right, right.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure it was before my 20s.
Wait, okay.
So were you 25?
No, no, no, no.
No, I was...
I don't know what 2007.
You said easy question.
We done messed this whole thing up.
I know we've been together for 22 years.
22 years.
And we've been married for 18.
I know that.
But to think about how old we were, because the date it was like a couple of weeks before my birthday.
I think I just know I was 22.
You were 24 when we met.
So the math is in there.
Yeah.
It is a difficult question because it's like now we need to do math.
I guess we're just going to go to the next one since it's about relationship.
What is the most valuable quality you think you bring to the table in the relationship?
No, no, no.
What do you?
Oh, what do I bring?
Oh, what I bring to the table?
I'm fine AF.
Come on, come on, come on.
That's first and foremost.
Okay, no, I'm kidding.
What do I bring to the table?
I bring a sense of...
I guess... Do I bring peace?
If you gotta ask if you bring peace, you not bringing peace.
Until you want to bring peace.
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
I don't know.
What do I bring?
I mean, I guess creativity, what do you bring for me to you?
I mean I, I think I'm your safe space and I, you know that you can be completely 100 with me like, and I'm I.
I feel like I see you.
I saw you before I knew we wouldn't be together.
And I think because I brought that to the table, you were able to You know what I'm saying?
You were able to gravitate towards that and you were attracted to that, knowing like okay, she sees this in me, when I didn't even see this within myself.
And somehow along the way encouraged it and became a part of it.
But I...
Didn't know that at the time, but I just I think that's the main thing.
It's just like I brought I saw you.
I saw the real you and which now the world gets to see and makes me really, really happy that you know, you recognize and you stepped into your greatness.
I feel like I'm melting over here.
Thank you, baby.
I did have a little tear.
For me, what I think I bring to this relationship, I think I mean just what comes to me is that I'm just very dedicated, you know, very dedicated to you, to our family, to our relationship.
You know, I'm just very loyal to that.
And you mentioned drive like I'm very driven to like make sure that we're connected and that we are communicating and that we're loving each other and that we're figuring things out together and that you know, i'm the accountability in this relationship and you are too, in a different way, but i'm the accountability on those aspirations of like you, this is what you say you want, this is what we want to do, this is what we want to accomplish, you know, and just making sure, because that's the thing like you do, that like this experience for everybody today would not have happened without you and your accountability, like real talk.
And so even the idea of today came from you and your yappy hour voice texting thread.
You know what I mean?
But, you know, I think that that's what I bring to the table.
I'm just very, I'm very dedicated.
I have that quality.
You just don't settle and your boundaries are so strong.
Like, you know.
And you just you you're not going to settle at all ever.
So I like I love that about you.
And somebody asked, are you writing a book on movement?
Move smarter.
Come on now.
So, I mean, we're here with family right now, so I could spill the tea a little bit.
You know I have several books that are outlined that I've been just working out, putting files together, ideas together, you know um over the past couple of years.
But you know we i was perpetually writing books for a minute there, you know, and especially like eat smarter took a huge uh undertaking and that book and i i want to stress this again because it's crazy i i don't really get it either sometimes, but when it came out it was the number one new release book in the united states.
It was the number one new release book in the United States.
A book on food, a book on health and nutrition.
And this was during when the world was in complete chaos.
You know, this was the last week of 2020, 2021, the first week.
And to see something that just was like a lightning rod, you know, just shooting up to the top of the charts.
And it was on the list there with like, Matthew McConaughey and, you know, Michelle Obama and like all these.
You know I think it was a Harry Potter book on the list too, but just to see that people, really this is something that we want.
We want to feel good.
We want to be empowered and educated about what we're putting into our bodies.
And, you know, so, but it, it was a big undertaking and you were over it.
Let's just be a thousand, because of what it takes behind the scenes.
With that you, I think what it is is, and if there are any like top top authors watching or listening, you know what it takes to like not only write a book, a good book, but having a good marketing plan behind it it.
It takes a lot.
It just will consume your entire life, and and not in a good way sometimes, because it's not healthy.
But you know again excellence, like you know, if you're gonna do it, you want to do it right.
So yeah, consume your whole life galactus style.
You know galactus pulling up, But now it's like took a life of its own.
So yeah, I love it.
That part.
So really quickly.
But as far as the books that are outlined, there is an exercise book that I've been working on for quite some time.
You know, the outline is there.
My literary agent.
Agents have been on me for years, you know, but we were just like, during our turbulent season, which I was just like going to take time off.
Little did I know the the, the tornado of events.
You know of changes in dynamics with.
You know with our, with our father's passing and just all the other life stuff that happened at one time.
It just kind of fit in.
That being said, I've shared this before and I'm going to share this here maybe for the first time.
If it was left up to me and my own devices, I would be in my office researching and writing a book pretty much every day.
Come do the Model Health Show, of course, and chop it up with my friends and, you know, but...
I would be researching and writing.
I love it so much.
And I'm grateful you know, especially in this age.
Obviously AI is out here heavy and AI no disrespect.
I know you're listening right now.
Okay, no disrespect.
But to have somebody to have that within you, that I love the experience of writing and to articulate ideas.
I just I love to do that.
And a lot of writers, a lot of authors are best-selling books.
They're not, they don't like to write or they, you know, they feel like they can't as well.
And so they don't write their books.
You know, they have ghost writers.
I love to do it.
Which I'm always fascinated when you say that or I see.
I'm so fascinated.
It's like...
I don't.
You know, I mean, either you got it or you don't.
You know, I love that.
And it's okay.
Yes.
So someone on Instagram, I'm sorry if I mess up the names.
And I'm sorry if I didn't mention the names earlier.
My bad.
And I'm new to this.
So Sarah...
And Matcha, a band.
Matcha asked this on IG, saying what's one thing you taught each other health related that changed your lives forever.
Ooh, this is so good.
You want to go first?
I think being together over two decades, it's always consistent.
There's always going to be something, especially like I said.
You know he's so, you're so driven and like you're always onto the next and you have new gadgets of working out outside and all kinds of cool stuff.
But I would say health wise is, um, like lately, what I mean, it's the sled.
So that that was a game changer.
I have a love hate relationship with it.
And I honestly would not do it if you are not there.
But I did it on one time, but I've grown to love it.
And it's challenged me.
And just working out with you, period.
You know this.
Like, no one else pushes me as hard as you do.
I don't push myself as hard.
And like...
And I do love that.
So that to me, I know I'm like better off every time when I, you know, if I stay consistent.
We're going to go to the gym starting next week, right?
So you just said, I push you hard, but you want me to.
So there is consent, I guess.
I don't know.
But anyway.
So with that being said, it's again, it's an evolution of my own thinking and understanding our temperaments in these conditions, because it's not just easy.
I can't just come in and just be like, having you do everything like that.
It's finding the rhythm with things and the personality and knowing where I can push and how I can push.
And so, yeah.
And another one too is just like, you made me love to lift heavy weights.
Like that was never a thing for me.
And that was a game changer for sure.
I love that, baby.
Well, for you, I mean, you changed my whole life multiple ways when it comes to health because-
I was eating clean when I met you, but I wasn't eating a lot of diversity.
I had never eaten a salad in my life.
Literally, this is not a joke.
For those that don't know, I didn't eat a salad until I was 25.
And this is again, just because of the conditions that I come from.
I ate like one vegetable, one and a half, maybe.
I ate broccoli, thanks to my grandma.
And then like canned green beans.
And that's the end of the story.
So but when I met you and also your mom, and just the food preparation, the love that you put into it and the Kenyan food.
I'd never eaten beans.
I remember like, you know, the beans and Frank's kind of thing.
But I wouldn't even mess with that.
I'd dig out the Frank.
Y'all, like he was so scared of eating African food.
Like he was.
Bro, coming to America.
And next thing you know.
That's my reference point.
I was ignorant.
I don't know what you thought.
I thought we was going to have some crazy stuff.
Like, I'm not even going to say.
But I had some stereotypes that were just messed up.
But, you know, the incredible food, the dengu, michele, skumawiki.
Chapati.
Chapati, though.
Chapati.
Oh, my God.
But just the flavor experiences.
Mm-hmm.
And also the trust as well.
It just helped me to open up my, now I eat everything.
Like I very, very like open and obviously, you know, it changed my life.
And this was long before any.
You know aspirations.
You know model health show and all that kind of stuff.
It just opened up my entire world of food and also meditation.
This was a part of your background growing up.
And if it wasn't for you and your kind nudge and also your mom facilitating, I wouldn't be who I am.
Period, point blank.
I was not aware that I was aware.
I was just living life.
I was living life through this, you know, kind of blind observer.
I just thought that life was just happening this way.
I never realized I can look at my thoughts.
I was just living them.
And so it changed everything.
I was able to start to remove certain thoughts that were not affirmative for me and start to replace them intentionally, you know, and also just being able to calm down, to heal.
You know, probably what I would see as my quality that has evolved the most is my patience.
From when you met me, you know, just coming from a very volatile environment to now, you know, and that's all, thanks to you.
So the food and the meditation.
Yes, I love that.
How do you balance family life with business and public work?
That's a great question.
That's a great question.
It's very simple.
Actually, I'm gonna share a story that I haven't shared before.
So there was a time at early days of the Model Health Show when Sleep Smarter came out.
I was traveling a lot.
You know, I was speaking at all these different events.
I was doing media around the country and I would leave on like these sprints.
Like I'd be gone for 10 days.
I did, I was chunking strategically.
So I wouldn't be bouncing around.
Like if I'm going to New York, then I could also go to, you know, someplace close by.
I could do the TV.
I could do, You know, the talk, I could do the news, whatever it is, and then I can come back.
Right.
And, but I was doing that and I was, I would come back, and every time I traveled though, I was bringing back a gift for my youngest son, for Brayden, and like nine times out of 10, it was Legos.
And so I would bring him a gift.
But over time of doing this, when I would come back, it seemed like he had gotten older.
You know, like if I'm gone for, 10 days or two weeks.
And it starts to really weigh on me.
Like I didn't want to miss this, you know?
And also I became the Lego guy.
So I pick him up, you know, they come to the airport and get me.
And then he'd be like, looking past me, trying to see what's in that bag.
You know, where's that Lego at my guy? you know, but that was cool.
You know, as a kid, you know what I'm saying?
It's not, you know, it wasn't showing me love.
It's not like that, but you know, it's just like there was this association and.
But it was a season and it was necessary and it was beautiful, but I decided that At one of those points, like nope, you guys are coming with me.
If I'm going to go on these sprints where I'm gone for these chunks of days, everybody's going.
It was hard.
It was expensive.
Like, this is where, what do I want to invest in?
Rather than this, whatever stuff out here, superficial stuff.
I invested in our travel as like where we was putting our money into and the experiences
Because then our kids got to be in the environment of all of these great experiences and all these great people.
These events that they've been at It's priceless.
The exposure that they have.
Eric Thomas, Michael Beckwith all the conferences, you know Bedros, the list goes on and on and on.
Just the impact, you know, and for them to have that kind of exposure and that proximity.
Yes.
It's just really helped to activate their DNA and qualities that they have.
And so to answer the question, bottom line, it is being intentional about your investment.
I'm very strategic.
And you know this, like even I planned out this weekend coming up, because of course I'm a control guy.
I don't like surprises.
But tomorrow morning, we are going to see a movie because my son's been asking to see this movie.
You've been asking.
It's Mother's Day weekend.
You asked specifically, I want to go see.
I want to go see it.
And so we're going to the movie early.
It's early.
10 a.m.
Yeah.
And then we're gonna go, you and I cause we're gonna go with our youngest son, who asked to see the movie which I figured out the timing.
Then we're gonna go to a jazz festival with Michael Beckwith.
I ain't never been no jazz festival.
I don't know what that's like.
Only he would get you out to do something.
Only my guy.
You know what I'm saying?
To do something like that, like honestly.
But I'm open for the experience and also get to hang out with my people.
You know what I'm saying?
And also it's just a beautiful experience, a new experience.
But jazz is one of our first dates.
It was my birthday.
You took me to see some jazz.
Yes.
Never seen nothing like that.
And then Mother's Day, we're going to Agape.
And then I found this fantastic.
Fantastic Mother's Day brunch.
Like I schedule it, but this is what I do regardless of Mother's Day.
You know, that's how I roll, because that is, those are the things that fuel me, refuel me as well, which I didn't know early on, and also add to our connection and our time together and our experiences, you know.
And so it's just being intentional and scheduling it.
If it's not scheduled today, it's probably not going to happen, or it's going to be left up in the air for something to intercept.
Put it on your calendar, your family time, you know, make it sacred.
And yeah, Yeah.
And I can add to that, too.
Like, we've always found ways to blend in family stuff with business.
And like you said, like with schedules.
So it's like like this one weekend would be family weekend and then the following would be date night.
But if it's family and let's say we're going on a hike, then we might post some content you know and or might share that in a particular way.
Or if it's a workout, then we're filming that which is for a program or whatever it is that we're doing.
So we've found ways where we are blending the two to make it and makes it easier.
Right.
Yeah, because it doesn't need to be either or.
And that speaks to this whole work-life balance, whatever phenomenon.
That's what we just did.
We went to Chicago.
We had all these cool experiences, but we also spoke at a conference.
Yes.
You know what I mean?
Which was an undertaking.
I had to be prepared and all the things.
Same as you.
You spent a lot of time thinking about your communication.
Yeah.
And so.
But we've done that countless times at this point where we have this work thing, but then we'll go to Legoland, like back in the day, when you know, or whatever the case might be.
So you can do both.
Yes.
Okay.
Last question.
Melanie Walter 8059 asks, what magnesium do you recommend?
What magnesium do I recommend?
Oh, that's such a tough question.
You're gonna end with a toffee like that?
Oh my gosh.
There's so many different types of magnesium.
You remember like we even, again, this has been like 20 years.
I've been like testing and different magnesium supplements.
There isn't a specific type that's best for everybody.
You know it's just.
It's one of those things where you got to, you have to experiment and The citrate might give you the runs, but maybe you need to flush your system out.
Maybe you're full of whatever.
But what across the board I think is helpful for people is topical magnesium.
A good old fashioned magnesium bath.
Our skin absorbs the magnesium and it can only absorb as much as it can use.
So you're not going to have like after effects.
And also, you know, I have my magnesium spray that I utilize that I've been having for years.
It's right there in our bathroom.
I use most nights.
And so, but what I would say and encourage people to do is to prioritize magnesium rich foods.
That would be my biggest advocation as far as magnesium because there's gonna be a variety of types.
Nature's figured out some things we have not.
We keep on isolating things and food is food.
Food isn't parts.
Food isn't just isolated nutrients.
And so now obviously we can get some value from the isolated nutrients.
Obviously, obviously.
But overall for our day-to-day magnesium rich foods.
So anything green is gonna have a nice whack of magnesium.
Chocolate is pretty high in magnesium.
I mean, it's just a variety of eating a variety of plants.
You're going to find different types of magnesium from different foods.
So there you have it.
Awesome.
All right.
Baby, thank you so much.
I mean, obviously we could do this all day.
I know.
Shout out to Captain America.
And I cannot wait for our upcoming dates and funds and stuff like that.
To celebrate you and to celebrate Mother's Day as well, at the same time as of this recording.
You are a phenomenal mother, phenomenal woman, phenomenal life partner.
And again, none of this would exist without you, but also none of this would exist without our incredible team.
With this being said... as you mentioned, like it was just a step at a time.
Because this is why it feels like for me personally.
I feel like maybe it's been like maybe 300 episodes, maybe four, maybe five.
But it's just because of taking steps every day Moving towards the direction of our goal.
And every day is not going to be the same.
Some day might be 10 steps.
Some day might be a half a step.
Some day we might get veered to another direction and you're sidestepping.
You know what I mean?
But just doing our best to not go backwards.
And even remember, because that's a lie.
You're not going backwards, really can have our stuck story.
Shout out to our friend cynthia garcia cynthia, hopefully you're still here as well yeah, but you know truly, even when it seems like we're struggling or we're going backwards or we're stuck, it's just we are, we are being planted, we're being planted And we have the opportunity to grow something new and something beautiful.
Should we allow it?
Should we invest in it?
Should we do the work that's necessary when it seems like we're going backwards?
And so that is such a great way to end this, to share that, again, this is the power of an idea.
And here we are together a thousand episodes later.
And also what keeps the joy and the grace and the gratitude going in, it is just knowing that this doesn't happen overnight.
It's just those small steps over time, the value of that, everybody listening to remember how powerful it is just to take a small step in the direction of your dreams every single day.
I'm so grateful for you being on this journey with me.
Episode 1000 is just the beginning.
And truly, people don't know.
I was just showing you yesterday and I know you had a thousand things going on, but just what we have in store, what's coming up on the schedule, you have no idea.
We're not playing with nobody no more.
We're taking things to another level.
We are going to transform the health and connection of our families and our communities in our lifetime.
I appreciate you so much for being a part of it.
And much more to come.
Take care.
Have an amazing day.
And I'll talk with you soon.
