Latest / The Daily Writer / Health, Fitness, Keto & Creativity (with Jessie Conley)

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Health, Fitness, Keto & Creativity (with Jessie Conley) · The Daily Writer

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, this is the first week of 2019, so it's pretty likely that you're thinking about changes you want to make in your life this year.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if your goal is to get healthier, more fit, or lose weight this year, this episode is for you.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Today's guest shares lots of great information and inspiration to help you become the best version of yourself.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to get serious about your health, so stay tuned.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to the Born to Create Podcast.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders, and I'm an author, professor, and creative coach.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, and principles to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to share my conversation with Jesse Connolly, who is a speaker, writer, podcaster, and certified health and weight loss coach for Christian women.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll learn all about several topics related to fitness and health, such as water consumption, caffeine, the keto diet, intermittent fasting, and much more.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I asked Jesse to be on the show today because I want to be healthier myself.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I also wanted to explore some of these health-related topics.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can only be at our creative best whenever we feel good and we have enough energy.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And getting healthy is a key component of fulfilling our God-given creative potential, I believe.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I wanted to mention before we get into the interview is that I had some technical glitches while I was recording this interview.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I went to edit the interview, I discovered that my recording software was just randomly taking out little chunks of the interview.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it may seem like the interview is a little bit choppy at times or that we're interrupting each other.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Neither one of those things are the case.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I did the best I could in editing, but it's still a little bit choppy, and I really apologize for that, but I think the content is still really, really good.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I did want to make you aware of that before you listen to the interview.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: All that said, I trust that you'll still find a lot of value in Jesse's story and her information and inspiration that she's going to share with you.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to take a deeper dive after the episode's over, be sure to check out our show notes at Kent Sanders.net slash health.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I am honored today to uh be here talking with Jesse Conley.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, Jesse, welcome to the podcast.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Happy to be here.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we are sitting here in the church lobby, so it's kind of an odd location to be doing a podcast.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's like my sons over there setting up the cafe for Saturday Night Church, and people probably will be coming in and out, but uh we will we will make this work.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good to me.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're gonna talk about losing weight, getting healthy, and you're an expert in this area, so this is an area that I have wrestled with seemingly my whole adult life.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: So this might be like a personal counseling session or something.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or whatever.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So uh everybody just gets to listen into this, I guess.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I read this quote yesterday doing some um some prep for our interview today, and it said, according to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly forty percent of all American adults are not simply overweight, but obese.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at other countries, what's really interesting is while we are one of the richest and we have one of the most unhealthy and the most obese for all developed countries.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's interesting.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is very interesting, and I think really what it comes down to is um we are so heavily uh our nutrition is really what it comes down to.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So in the United States, we have very low standards for what we consider nutritious food.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um interesting.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I never thought of it that way.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so it what happens is um you can look at uh a certain things.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's take like craft mac and cheese as an example, just because it's one I know, right?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Who doesn't?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't admit that to you, probably.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you look at the ingredient list on the box for the craft mac and cheese that is in Europe, for example, and then you look at the box that's in the United States, you're gonna find a different list of ingredients.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why is because Europe has much stricter laws and rules, and there's a lot of ingredients that they ban in their food that we do not ban here.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Part of all of that trickles down, and when we have so much processed foods as our daily diets, um, literally the standard American diet, sad, is what it's called.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: It is sad.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and um, a lot of it is because we rely so heavily on processed foods, and most of those processed foods are filled with sugar, and sugar is going to be your really, really big issue when it comes to obesity in children and adults.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does it take then to change the laws about that?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I had not even anticipated even getting into like the whole legality of it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Is it powerful food lobbies and that kind of a thing that makes it difficult to actually change regulations?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I always like to say vote with your dollar.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the biggest things that we can really do, and and we'll talk about I'll talk about this in a second, but you can literally watch the market change based on demand, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody knows the supply and demand thing.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: So what's gonna happen is if you vote with your dollars, you buy more what you want to see more of and demand that those changes take place.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So for example, you probably noticed that in the last couple of years, a lot of things have started being marketed as no high fructose corn syrup.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I have noticed that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Or you'll notice things like, you know, organic is popping up more and more, gluten-free is popping up more and more.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's because they're following the demand of the market.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: People are wanting more of those things, they're buying more of those things, so more of those things are becoming readily available.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: Even like Aldi and Walmart and those kinds of places have a whole bunch of organic options now.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: They have a whole bunch of gluten-free options now where five years ago they didn't have any of that stuff.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's because they're following the demand of the market.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you can take that into your nutrition as a whole, and if we stop buying the stuff that is so junky and demand that they change what they're offering, then that's going to create change.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are also lobbyists out there.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um uh the food babe is a is uh somebody that I follow.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: She goes by the food babe, and she's a very big proponent of removing a lot of these harmful chemicals out of um our main food sources.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So one of her big recent wins was that she got Subway to take that chemical out of their bread.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: That um is the same chemical they use in yoga mats.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And seriously, yeah.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: So she had this whole big movement and she actually got them to change.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: So there are people out there that are working towards this stuff, but um I mean what it really comes down to ultimately, of course, as always, is money and greed and you know, all that kind of stuff plays into it, and it's cheaper for them to produce food this way.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so they they also try to tap into these buzzwords.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like you'll see things on packages that are like whole grain, whole wheat.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so we think, oh, that must be better.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: With that's that's that buzzword I'm supposed to be looking for.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: But you read the ingredients on it and you see it's just as junky as the old stuff.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um they're just putting those buzzwords on it because they're hoping that that's all you're looking for.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: See, that's interesting because I've always perceived Subway as a healthier A lot of people do.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not healthy like when you get the foot long with chips and all sodas and all that stuff.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So talk about your journey a little bit of changing your mindset with health and fitness.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know that that you've had quite a journey over the last few years of your life, and obviously you're focusing your business on helping people in this area.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So can you take a few minutes and kind of walk us through what changed in your life and what led to this major passion to help people with health and fitness?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it actually started for me um probably about seven years ago-ish.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: My daughter was about one, so it would have been about seven years ago.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I actually stumbled across a blog and it's called 100 Days of Real Food.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: I started reading all of her data and information and stats on the true idea food industry in the United States and all this stuff, and I just became like enthralled with it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was information and like learning all this stuff, and I looked at my then one-year-old daughter and I was like, I can't feed you this crap.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I'm changing the way that we're eating, there's no more hamburger helper, we're not eating Kraft Mac and cheese anymore.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And he's all like, What?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I literally just decided like I can't know it now that I know and I can't unlearn what I just learned.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you can't unsee it.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: You can't, and so I was like, I have almost no choice but to change the habits of my family because I'm like, this is my family, like this is my baby.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I now that I know what I know, I cannot willingly hand her these things that I know are literally damaging to her body.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I that's when it really started for me was transitioning my family over to clean eating, stopping all of the frozen foods and the boxed foods and just all that process, you know what I mean?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was me and um cereal every morning for breakfast.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Just we we lived that way, as many Americans do.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I I don't judge them for that.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's what we know, it's what we grew up with.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it gets passed on and it just happens.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: But like we just said, like now I knew, like my eyes were opened and I couldn't unsee that.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started transitioning everything over to just um more nutritious food, more fruits, more vegetables that were fresh and not from a can, and um making my meats and you know, buying whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta and just all these little changes that I started to switch over.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so that's really what started it for me.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course I started to get a little bit more into it, and I was like, okay, the baby's a year old now.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I still have a lot of this pregnancy weight on.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like now I gotta really kind of take it next step.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I started trying to work a little bit more on diet, specifically to lose weight, versus just the health aspect.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, started exercising a little bit.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then you know, of course, down the line you have another baby, you gain all the weight again.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um course I'm a man, so I don't fully get it.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't get it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just I'm gonna just totally admit, you know, most guys are like, oh, you know, they act like they understand, but I don't understand, so I'm not gonna pretend that I do.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um ultimately I gained 50 pounds with each of my three pregnancies.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: I just that's just what my body needed to gain when I was pregnant, and that's just what happened.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I am not one of those people where it came right back off afterwards.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I started to lose the weight, and I actually did really good then because I had the motivation of my best friend was getting married later that year, and I had to fit into the bridesmaid's dress.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So um did really good.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: But then when he was nine months old, we got pregnant again.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um again, I gained 50 pounds, and then it was after my third baby was born that I was like, okay, I not only want to do this again for myself and my family, but I really need to share what I've learned with other moms because I really felt like I know what it's like to look in the mirror and literally have so much hate for your body and so much hate for how you look.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not fair to do that to ourselves, like our bodies just did amazing things, but it's what happens.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I really think the enemy has a lot to do with that because the more self-conscious we are, um, the less likely we are to go out there and do God's work and talk about Jesus and you know, do these other things.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the enemy wants us to be really self-conscious and he wants us to have no confidence because then we're not spreading God's love.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I sat there and I was like, okay, I I have this kind of figured out.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: I know how to be healthy, I know how to lose the weight, and I know other moms struggle with this too.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I want to help them with what I've learned.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's really kind of what prompted me to really go into this business.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so um it was after Tyler was born, I think he was about two months old, when um I started my business and went into losing the weight again myself and just kind of took everybody through that journey with me.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously at that point I had that 50 pounds to lose, right?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um I had done it before, but here I am again at square one because I had another baby.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I took everybody kind of with me on that journey.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: And um uh of course, since then, you know, I've lost all the weight and I've maintained and I've had my ups and downs with life as everybody does, but um, my business has really grown through that because I think people really crave that authenticity.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's really easy to go on Instagram and see all these pictures of these perfect gym rats, you know, and they look awesome.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you're like, ugh.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think people really crave just that true authenticity.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really pride myself in sharing, yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we went and had Panda Express last night, or yeah, you know, I didn't get my workout done today because the kid woke up early, or you know, whatever, and just really sharing that and not trying to give this image of perfection because nobody nobody's perfect.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because nobody believes it anyway.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: All it does is, you know, make them feel like they're inadequate.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: What am I not doing enough?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't I stick with it?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say if I came to you and I said, I've lost weight, I've gained it back.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So where do you start with somebody like me?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: What ends up happening is it becomes a lot easier for you to talk yourself into these things you're not supposed to be doing.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna say things like, Oh, there's donuts in the break room today.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go ahead and have one.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the grand scheme of 50 pounds over a year, it's not gonna make that big of a difference.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've never done that.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Who nobody has.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done it in the last 90 minutes.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: So and that's what happens.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: You end up talking, it's easier to talk yourself in.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna skip today's workout.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the grand scheme of a whole year and a whole 50 pounds, it's not gonna make that big of a difference if I miss one day, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And then but what happens is that keeps compounding.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: You miss one day, then you miss another day, then you miss an I'm gonna start over on Monday, I'm gonna start over, I'm gonna start over next month, right?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we keep getting into that cycle.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: So if you break your goal down and you say, okay, I know that if one to three pounds per week is the healthy rate, I'm gonna aim for two pounds a week, is gonna be my my goal.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I wanna lose two pounds a week.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's my goal.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So every Friday morning, two pounds lighter than the week before.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let me throw this.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just I can't believe I'm like admitting this on a public thing.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: But but I guess I have a small bladder because like when I drink water, I have to go a lot.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's normal.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like really often, and it's it's I know this sounds really stupid, but in an office environment, and I'm a I'm a teacher.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I can't stop the middle of class and go to the bathroom.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So is does it be then become a thing where you have to time when you're drinking things and you have to go through this because that sounds mentally exhausting to me.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: The trick is to make sure you're remembering to drink enough.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I know for me in my busy office environment, um, time just gets away from me.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'll look at the clock and be like, oh crap, it's been three hours since I've had water, you know, like that's that kind of thing.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you can do little things like set alarms on your phone to go off every hour to remind you to drink.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or something simple.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just something really simple.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And for anybody that has an Apple Watch, it tells you every hour to stand up, right?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's one of the things on an Apple Watch is on at 10 minutes to the hour, it says, time to stand up.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: So use that as a reminder, you know, for people that have an Apple Watch and then train yourself and your mind to get to that point, especially if you're somebody that drinks a lot of coffee.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: I would recommend getting organic coffee.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, coffee beans are actually one of the most toxic crops in the world.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's a lot of chemicals used on coffee beans.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So if you can, and even Aldi has really good organic whole bean coffee, and so I just grind it up in my blender and make my coffee that way.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um so if you're good, if you're a coffee drinker and it's something you're drinking every day, splurge a tiny little bit and get the organic.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to be so worth it.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then also try to limit to two cups a day because if you're drinking more than two cups for just basic energy, that actually is going to tie it more into the rest of your lifestyle versus needing actual caffeine.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's an element here of okay, if you're consuming a lot of caffeine, I mean, I wouldn't say I'm like on the extreme end, but I probably drink too much caffeine.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a matter of, okay, look at the the lifestyle issues or sleep patterns or stress factors that are causing you to need the caffeine rather than just like masking the issues with consuming more caffeine.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_01: You want to look at the root cause.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, because you're exactly right.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just continu continuously drinking coffee or drinking these energy drinks, you're just putting a band-aid on a bigger issue.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're just trying to make it through the day, but you're not solving the actual problem.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: That makes sense.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um so what you want to really look at is, and I know it sounds counterintuitive, and people always try to fight me on this, but number one, getting more exercise will actually give you more energy.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are like, but that doesn't sound right because I'm using more energy.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I know, but you gotta trust you sleep better, it's gonna give you more energy, and then like literally you your nutrition plays a huge part.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking actually through your courses on your website, which is jessiconnelly.com, correct?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have a course on there about the keto diet.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's something that's really hot right now.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Can you explain what that is exactly, why we should consider doing it, how to do it, and kind of like the short version of what it is, yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it is uh a super hot topic right now, and it's also uh hugely debated.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have people on one side saying your body needs carbs, and then the other side saying your body doesn't need carbs, and it's very controversial and all this other stuff.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I was also recently published in a local magazine for an article on on the keto diet as well.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um I love this topic.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, what keto boils down to is it is a diet of low carb, high fat, moderate protein.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I did not say no carb, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I do firmly believe that our body does need carbs, but I think that we currently, and especially in the United States, consume way too many carbs and also bad carbs.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I think there's a two-pronged problem there.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, what keto is again is it's the low carb, high-fat, moderate protein diet.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not just a modified Atkins diet.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, Atkins diet is actually super different.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um so with the keto diet, um one of the things that you want to really focus on obviously is that high fat.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: And the the goal is to switch your body away from being what we call a sugar burner and instead make it burn fat for energy and fuel.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: So anybody that is probably alive has body fat they'd like to burn, right?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's part of what we actually want when we talk about weight loss.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like we want our body to look differently, and a lot of times we have so much fat on our body, and that's what we really are wanting to do.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: So, what happens when we eat too many carbs and even when we eat too much protein, our body can't process it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, what it does is it stores it as body fat.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how you're getting that body fat.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So when we switch our body away from a sugar burner and into a fat burner, first with our nutrition, so we give it dietary fat, avocados, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, um, things that are high healthy fats, and our body starts burning fat for fuel and energy.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: What has happened is when we kind of went to this war on fat back in the 1970s, right?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And everything went fat-free, low fat, like fat was evil.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like getting it.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's where diet coke came out of, wasn't it?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Probably that era.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: All the diet drinks and stuff.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I know way too much about this.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that was in the 70s when that happened, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody had this war on fat.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at the trend in different illnesses since then and how many of them are related to hormone production, so we started to see a rise in infertility, a rise in PCOS, a rise in cancers, which are usually hormone-based.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like all these issues went on the rise.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: We also started to see deficiencies in vitamins.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody now has a vitamin D deficiency, right?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody hears about that.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Vitamin D deficiency, like you need more vitamin D.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's a fat-soluble vitamin, which means you have to consume fat for your body to be able to absorb vitamin D.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, what I'm getting at here is when all that fat was taken out of our diets, now all of a sudden our body didn't have the fat that it truly needs to be able to perform the way God designed it to perform, right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: We started having issues creating hormones, issues absorbing key vitamins and nutrients, issues doing all this stuff because we some for some reason decided that this help that this fat was bad.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: In reality, our body truly needs it.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: So with the keto diet, you're putting those healthy fats back in and allowing your body and your metabolism gets rebooted, your hormones level out, your blood sugars level out.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now you're able to absorb nutrients the proper way again, and it literally positively benefits your entire body when we start giving it this healthy fat that it's needed all along.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: But we took it out.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the keto diet, a lot of people try to say, oh, it's a fad, like it's this new fad, and it's just something that came from Atkins or, you know, whatever, whatever.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Keto actually the latest person is.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um keto was actually created in the early 1920s.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been around for a very long time.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it was originally developed um from doctors out of John Hopkins University, and they developed it as a way to successfully treat epilepsy because your brain is like 70% fat, and your cells, all of your cells are like 70% fat.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: So your body needs a lot of fat, is what I'm getting at here, right?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like very clearly, like you can look at all these reasons that your body needs healthy fat.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what they found is because epilepsy obviously is a neurological thing.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um when they did a high fat, low carb diet with epileptic patients, it stopped their epilepsy.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's amazing.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: It like helped their brain be able to do what it needed to do.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so they were successfully treating that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then of course, drugs came on the scene to treat things like epilepsy, so it was kind of forgotten.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then we had that war on fat in the 70s, so then it was really forgotten.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: But now people are starting to be like, hey, wait a minute, guys.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think we kind of do need some of this fat, and it's starting to have a resurgence, but this it's not new.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of information.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's I could like talk about this for like five hours.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that's really great.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's actually a super helpful summary because you know, I first heard about it from I think Tim Ferris.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love his productivity stuff.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I've got some other kind of extended family who are sort of doing keto and sort of not.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I just have been like, I don't even know where to start with this.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's really helpful and it makes sense.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've explained it in a way that makes sense to kind of a simple person like me.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: What is intermittent fasting and why we should be doing it and or should we be doing it?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And what that does is it allows your body to do a couple of things.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: It allows it to completely digest and process the food that you have eaten and still allow time for it to have a break of not digesting anything so that it can do all the other stuff in your body that it needs to do.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um so like your body goes through natural, um like your cells, for example, your cells die off and new cells are kind of recreated all the time, right?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's a natural part of the process of what the human body does.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um kind of giving it a break.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one of the really big things too.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: And there's actually um a more healthful way than taking pharmaceutical drugs.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have never heard that before.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and in fact, me personally, when I got sick um a couple months ago, I fasted for 24 hours and got rid of it.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't take any medications.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I drank um herbal tea and fasted for 24 hours.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um because it allows your body to do all that cell regeneration and it allows everything to kind of clean out and do what it needs to do.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's really fascinating.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So intermittent fasting itself, though, is having that eating window, and most people do an eight-hour eating window.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: There are people that will do a six-hour eating window.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, I have a really good friend of mine who's been doing intermittent fasting for three years straight, just like with the rest of my diet, my nutritional phasing, um, just because that's what I like to do.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: He he does intermittent fasting and he swears that it's what makes him look as young as he still looks, it's kept his skin.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: So he's a huge advocate of intermittent fasting, and he's like, you know, this big beefy guy that always works out and stuff like that.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's cool that he does it and that he talks about it.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, so that that's kind of what what that is.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then what you would do is um what would be an occasional thing would be if you did like a 24-hour fast or like a three-day fast.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um that would be very occasionally, like once a quarter.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you did a 24-hour fast, you could do it once a month.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because whenever we we fast, we get really grumpy and irritable.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like it brings out and you know, going back to the spiritual side of fasting, that it I think that's one of the things that it does for us is it really brings out the fact that wow, I'm like a really angry person, or I'm really irritable, or I'm really selfish, or it kind of makes you aware of all those stuff that's hiding under the surface whenever we totally mask it with food and you know, ice cream and monster and all that stuff.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Chick-fil-A.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm naming off all my sins here.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is like a confessional.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Basically.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the curtain?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, start calling you Sister Jesse.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Gonna have like a spiritual confession.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: So my final question is okay, you've given us a lot of super helpful information here.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: For somebody who is just kind of starting on this journey, what are two or three quick things they could do today or within the next 48 hours to help them get started on this journey?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, I would say one thing is check out your your website because you have a lot of helpful stuff there.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: That would be and your podcast.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Which we'll have all that stuff in the show notes.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: But any uh any other super practical steps somebody could do immediately?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so definitely um the big thing is gonna uh eliminate highly processed foods.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So a good rule of thumb is if you look at you can't pronounce, you don't know what they are, and you wouldn't cook with them in your own kitchen, you don't eat that thing anymore.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um eliminating highly processed foods.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And just by doing those two things, getting enough water and eliminating highly processed foods.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty amazing.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is, and it's 100% true.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what if somebody is in an environment where they they're surrounded by this stuff all the time?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: An office or a family environment.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Where would they seek out support for this?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um that is something that even I deal with on a daily basis.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: I work full-time in an office environment.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's like 50 people in our office, so it's always somebody's birthday.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's always somebody's something.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: There's literally cake and um brownies and cookies and candy.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's literally crap in our break room almost every single day.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: You have to make the decision every day that you're not gonna eat the crap in the break room.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna drive to Quick Trip and get that monster drink, you're not gonna hit that McDonald's drive-thru.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know my haunts, don't you?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: I know, right?
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to consciously make that decision, just like with anything else.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's really what it comes down to.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm kind of oversimplifying it because I know that it there's a lot of internal work that that takes to be successful at that, but that's really what it is.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's just deciding every day that that's what you're gonna do.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna live a different lifestyle than the one you're currently living.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: But isn't that true though?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is that it all just does come down to a choice on some level.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's like everything in life.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we tend to make everything so complicated, but it really isn't.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I I talk to a lot of people with writing, you know, that's kind of my thing.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it does it, it's just a choice, you know.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I was just at an event a few evenings ago, and some people were asking, you know, do you have a writing habit?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: How do you actually write?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I don't know what to say because I I just want to say, well, you just sit down and just do it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're making it way too complicated.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe it's the same principle with all the people.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: People are always like, but I just don't know how to, and what am I supposed to make?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: And how am I supposed to?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you just do it.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes you just have to be an adult and do it.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like that's really exactly like what you're saying.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to adult today, you know, like you just you just I know, right?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not coming at this from a judgmental standpoint because obviously I've been there and I have my moments too, but it's a really good way to be like, you know what?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: I need to be different because it's my job to be different.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like as a Christian on this earth, we're supposed to stand out and we're supposed to be different.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I have people at work say to me, How do you walk past all this in the break room and not take a bite?
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just like, God, that's it.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just very simple.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: He helps me, he helps me get through this.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, am I tempted by it?
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it just takes three more steps to walk right past it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jesse.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, if you've listened to any of these interviews before, I always share three specific things that I learned from the guest.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And these are simply key action steps that you can put into practice right now to start making a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Key takeaway number one is that the first step to making changes in your life is to become aware of what's in your food.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesse mentioned why it's important to read food labels, and I confess to you that I don't often spend a lot of time reading food labels.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I just, you know, on my worst days I just kind of eat whatever I want, and that's probably not good.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I know it's not good, but it is kind of where I am, and I'm trying to make some improvements in that area.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: But now that I'm aware of that, I'm gonna start paying closer attention to the food labels.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: A good rule of thumb, I think, is that if you can't pronounce an ingredient that you find on a food label, it's probably not good for you.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: Key takeaway number two is that you can't work at higher levels of creativity unless you feel good and have energy.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the most important asset that we have is not an instrument or a computer or an app, it's not a bank account or even the natural talents that we have.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's our physical bodies.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, I think creativity is a matter of stewardship.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a spiritual issue.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it comes down to the fact that God has given us our bodies and we are to be good stewards of those.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest with you, most of my adult life I haven't paid a lot of attention to that.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: There have been times where I have exercised and lost weight and gotten decently healthy for uh, you know, a middle-aged guy.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: But in the last few years I've kind of let that part slide, so I'm really trying to make an effort this year at getting healthier.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm coming to realize that it's not just a matter of of energy or feeling good, it's also a matter of spiritual stewardship.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: God has given us our bodies to use for his glory and to serve other people, to serve the world around us, and um it's important that we take good care of them.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: I need to grow at that area, and probably most of the people listening to this could do a better job of that as well.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't speak as somebody who's judgmental in on any iota of that whole issue.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I speak as someone who needs a lot of help and has definitely got a lot of room to grow in that area.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully this episode is going to encourage you in that regard.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, key takeaway number three is that we need to cut down or eliminate soda and energy drinks and also drink more water.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, as with the last point, uh this is not coming from a perspective of judgment, it's coming from definitely a perspective of somebody who's needing to do a lot of growth in this area.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jesse made a great point about looking for the reasons behind your behaviors.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: So as I look at my own behavior, I have to ask myself, why do I like to drink so much caffeine?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I like energy drinks?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I feel like I need them?
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why do I feel like I have to have a soda?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's diet soda or regular soda.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is it that's driving that behavior?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of it for me is just habit.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um some of it is the fact that I just like the taste of monster energy drinks.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: I like the taste of a good Coke.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, really, you know, anywhere you get a Coke, it's gonna be the same.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I like the taste of Coke.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I like the taste of Mountain Dew.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we get into these habits, but we gotta break those habits.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm definitely speaking to myself.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know those things are not good for me.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have some things that you consume, whether it's drinks or food that's not good for you.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we do these things out of habit.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um but honestly sometimes we're just doing them because they're masking some type of emotional pain that we're in.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of my own bad eating is driven by being bored or being upset or just feeling out of sorts or feeling worried or fearful or insecure about something.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just confessing to you that I'm gonna really make an effort to do better in this area this year.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some key questions to ask ourselves whenever we're eating bad things and consuming things that we know are are bad for us.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we doing those things?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: What are the emotions that are driving that consumption?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, aside from that, we've got to drink more water.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some key takeaways.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've probably rambled on too long for those, but this is definitely an area that I need to improve on this year, as I've mentioned repeatedly.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can probably tell this is a real pain point for me.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if this is a pain point for you as well, hopefully this episode gives you some motivation to do better in this area.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, that wraps up this episode of the podcast.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the show notes at kentstanders.net slash health.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: This episode was produced by me and our associate producer, my son Ben Sanders.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: That really helps people to discover the show.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And really it just helps people to know, hey, other people are listening to this show and they find it valuable.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if you enjoyed this episode, please think about sharing it with a friend or a family member.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: You can find lots more resources to help you unlock your creative potential at KentSanders.net.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now go create something awesome.