September 8, 2022 • 27 mins
All-American football star, 1st Round NFL Draft pick and Co-Host of 2 Pros and a Cup of Joe, LaVar Arrington shares the journey he took learning about his ancestry and health. All it took was a little spit and after submitting a DNA sample kit to 23AndMe, both LaVar and his producer Lee DeLapp received reports that unveiled a treasure trove of information.
Being a mentor and coach to young athletes, LaVar explains how valuable this information is in giving an advantage on and off the field. Whether it's how to optimize your nutrition, better understand your sleeping cycle or learning about health predispositions, information garnered from 23AndMe reports helps with all that.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
That remaining one holds incredibly meaningful information that could change everything.
And I'm not just talking about your family treat ho.
I'm Barrett day Thurston and on this season of Spit
(00:24):
and I Heart Radio podcast with twenty three and Me,
we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry, it can
also be key to understanding your health. Hello you, and
welcome back. Now. In today's episode of Spit from the
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe podcasts, we have
(00:44):
All American football star and first round NFL draft pick
LaVar Arrington taking a break from covering the biggest sports
headlines of the day. LaVar, along with this producer Lee
de Lap, recently took a twenty three and Me test
and sat down to or what they learned from each
other's reports. Now, LaVar is no stranger to taken care
of his body, both physically and mentally. He believed that
(01:08):
awareness and control over your health is crucial to personal
development as well as the maintenance of an athlete's body
and the information we can learn from our genetics can
help you achieve that balance. As LaVar and League get
into it, LaVar can't help but think how valuable this
information could have been to him earlier in his career.
What would the information in the twenty three and the
(01:30):
reports have meant to him as an athlete? Knowing what
he knows now, could he have made changes to his
health routine to help him succeed more on and off
the field. Let's listen in as LaVar and League get
into it, and maybe you two will be inspired to
take action in your own life. Whether you're a professional
athlete looking for an edge or just a fan in
(01:50):
the stands, Knowing more about your amazing DNA can help
make you a winner. Hey, thanks for listening to the
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe podcasts with myself,
LaVar Arrington. Make sure you catch us live weekdays six
to nine am Eastern or three am to six am
(02:12):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. You can find your local
station for the Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
show over at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
UT's live every day on the I Heart Radio app
by searching f s r G. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Now alright, it's Spit the original podcast series
(02:39):
and I heart original along with twenty three and Me
where they go into details and stories of people like
myself who have experienced using the sample kits for twenty
three and Me to learn about what they have going on.
I am LaVar Arrington, Yes, one of the coh posts
(03:00):
of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe and the
weekend show up on Game part of Fox Sports Radio.
I am so excited to be a part of this.
I got my man lead to lap here with me,
the producer of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe.
We will be talking about how this journey, how this
(03:20):
experience has made a difference in our lives. Let me
first introduce myself again. I am LaVar Arrington, a co host.
But before that, I was an athlete, an accomplished athlete.
At that I would say I played seven seasons in
the National Football League, was an All American. In college,
(03:41):
I played for the Washington then known as uh well,
we'll just say they are now the Commanders. Okay. I
also played for the New York Super Giants, and in
college I played for Penn State. That's right, I'm a
Nickney lion and enjoyed it. I'm a big time family man,
and I enjoy mentoring and role modeling, UH, developing athletes,
(04:05):
developing fine people. It's a passion of mine. I'm also
a serial entrepreneur, so my health and my energy and
my stamina is super super important to me and my
daily dealings. All right now, I don't want to go
too much further without bringing my man, Lead the Lap
in so that he can tell you who he is
(04:27):
and what he's got going on. Lead the lap talk
to the people for me. Man, what you got going
That's right, LaVar, I'm excited to be with you for
this on this episode of SPIT. I was super excited
to hear that twenty three and me wanted to team
up with you, LaVar. And then I got to come
along and see my reports. You know, I was one
of those guys who had a grandmother who had the
ancestry all across the hallway, and like you know, you
(04:49):
see your ancestors and your and your great great great
grandparents and all that stuff. So I thought I knew everything,
but I knew there was a lot more to uncover.
So it was really cool to see that these reports
validate what she had taught me and give a whole
another layer of information for me. I love the way
that sounds. I like the way it sounded like for me,
it was very interesting. You know, I needed to to
(05:13):
really kind of think about if I wanted to do
the twenty three and me tests. You know, some of
the things that came about were you know, just kind
of is it real? Does it? Does the information really
make sense? Are you getting laid down a different rabbit
hole than the rabbit hole that you were anticipating. But
(05:34):
I gotta say I was pleasantly, Uh, I was pleasantly.
I don't want to say surprised, bye bye. When I
got my report and checked out the summary and the
dashboard of everything that that took place, I was very excited.
In fact is probably the best word lee. And and
the reason why I was excited is because not only
(05:57):
did it break down, uh, what my my my background
is and and just gave me an idea of where
I come from, where my my ancestors come from, but
it also gives so much information in terms of what
is connected to my my line and the traits of
(06:18):
of what goes along with that. You know, how athletic,
I could be if I'm gonna have hair for much longer,
you know, different things like that. Uh heck, you know
if if if my kids maybe you know, athletic give
you know, certain certain ailments that I could possibly be
on the lookout for that I could alert my my
(06:39):
physicians to in terms of moving forward, I think those
are super super critical pieces and valuable pieces of information,
just as it applies to in general. You you know,
you spoke of your grandmam having the ancestry in the
in the hallways and and how that looked, and just
to get more detail connected to what it is that
(07:01):
that your grandmam was was putting together. You know. For me,
I I you know, we we have definitely family family
tree um of sorts and and both sides, my mom
and my father's side, but never broken down to you know,
percentages of where you know, our our ancestors have have
(07:23):
come from. So you know, that's that's one thing that
that is very very uh intriguing to me. But you
know one thing that I would like to get into
uh league, And and I'll ask you you know how
you feel about it as well. You know, I'm a
I'm a former player. And now I'm a coach and
(07:44):
and just looking at you know, how I approach what
I'm doing and and the amount of you know, detail
and information that goes into having success with what it
is that you're doing. You want to gather and gain
all the information that you possibly can gather and gain.
And and so for me, I always think about the
(08:06):
most important part of anything. It starts with your your
mental and emotional and physical wellness. You know, there's there's
the idea that if you if you achieve the balance
of mental, emotional and physical wellness, then that balance will
lead to too great results. Now how do you get
(08:27):
how do you achieve that? You know? And it's like
you get up. They say breakfast is the most important
meal of the day. So okay, you know, you get
up and you get breakfast. What does that breakfast look like?
You know? Have you thought about that? Lead like you
think about it? It's like, okay, breakfast is the most
important important meal of the day. We have a really
(08:49):
interesting schedule, so breakfast is is a little different for us.
But I mean, did you think about you know, one
thing is to eat breakfast. It's important. But looking at
are you know, our reports and whate and me provides
for you in these summaries. For me, now I look
at what I'm going to eat for breakfast differently. You know,
(09:11):
how about how about you? What what was your thie?
Have you ever looked at it from the standpoint of huh.
I woke up, I ate a piece of toast or
something whatever it may be. But now I realized I
should probably do this when I wake up for breakfast.
You know, this actually has helped me a lot in
that the the gut health stuff that you you might
not give enough thought that really affects you any person really,
(09:31):
but especially an athlete. Um. Yeah, I looking at this,
I suddenly realized, Hey, I should be maybe taking more
of an account of like how much lactose is in
your diet, how much grain is in your diet, because
not only will it tell you you know how likely
you may or may not be affected by certain diets,
it tells you about those diets and what you could
do to change it. That was something kind of the
cool thing I saw about you know, these, uh, the
(09:53):
databases and the health dashboard. Not just did it tell
you what to look out for, but how how to
fix it, how to change things k details the same
with the ancestry to like when you find out, hey,
I have a little bit of French or German. You
could learn about the French and Germans and like in
what era you know that ancestry came from. You know
what century that might have happened, and what the history
(10:15):
was like in those regions. Does the same thing for
your health. I thought that was super interesting. You go
down a super big rabbit hole with all the information
they give you. I mean it is so deeply like,
it's so funny, how accurate this stuff is right, so
so likely to be. Uh, you know one who you
know is lactose and tallerant. I'm lactose and tolerant. As
(10:38):
you mentioned, like making sure that you value what it
is that you know. Your dietary plan is um from
day to day. It breaks down your sleep movements, like
I'm likely more average and movement while I sleep. I
move while I sleep. It goes as far as to
tell you like when you might wake up for a
certain person. Obviously it's different for you and me Lare
because we get up super early. Shows it can kind
(11:00):
of guestimate to the minute what somebody with your gene
type might wake up at It's amazing, like it breaks
you down. I mean, fear of heights. I'm definitely, definitely
afraid of heights. Whether you can smell asparagus, whether you
can smell asparagus or not. Yeah, I can detect it, though,
(11:21):
you know, saying I'm likely I can't, But I can
detect asparagus. I believe. Can you sneeze on a full stomach? Right?
Just weird stuff like that. I mean, it is, it is.
It's so interesting. Fear of public speaking, less likely to
have fair of public speaking, which is interesting because uh,
I'm afraid of talking in front of people, but I'm
(11:45):
good at it. So maybe there's something there where it
opens up the conversation of well, it's not necessarily that
you're not a strong public speaker or whatever it may
be that that the report brings back to you Informationally speaking,
it's about learning more about yourself and how that can
(12:07):
play a part in and your success and your approach.
I do do well speaking publicly, but it's like, Okay,
I want to understand why I don't like speaking publicly.
I want to focus in on trying to figure out
what gives me anxiety about being in front of groups
of people. Because if I'm genetically predisposed to be good
(12:29):
at doing it and I am, then why do I
not like getting in front of people? So it's like,
now I can I can take that information and go
a step further and trying to understand and realize that
could be something that helps me out far beyond just
doing public speaking. That could be why I don't like
(12:50):
going to shopping centers. You know, I don't like going
to malls. I don't like being in the public. I
don't I don't like being seen. I don't like getting attention.
Um And it's weird because I like attention. I like
being acknowledged for the good that I do. I like
being seen for the successes that I have. But I
really don't, And I know it seems kind of weird, like, well,
(13:12):
how can you like it but not like it? I
just don't. I would like to be able to read
about it. You can report about it on a on
a television. I just don't want you coming to me
with it like, oh my gosh, I saw what you
did lavard this. I know that was amazing. It's like
I would kind of feel better, you know, you maybe
leaving in a comment or something. But I feel like
(13:33):
it's really cool to be able to address your own
personal idiot secrecies and and your own habits that you've
developed and that you have, and be able to cross
reference it to them. Basically taking all of these years
of information from the people who came before me and
that that were a part of me becoming who I am.
(13:56):
Um taking down this information. So it's it's wild. You know,
my mother she has diabetes and that's on here. You know,
it's typical. It's typically likely for me with my my
ancestry line and my report I degeneration, you know, losing
your your eyesight as you get older. That my grandfather,
(14:17):
you know, he lost his sight later on in in life,
later on towards the end of of what he had
going on. So you know, leave for me when I
see these things in the reports and it's like, okay, well,
how do I address these things now? You know how?
And not just for me? How do I address these
(14:38):
things for my kids? You know? I can now ask
the questions, all right, is this something that's age related? Okay?
Can I help reduce this being an age related deal
for myself? Can I do it for my children. Um,
if it's diabetes, what can I do, it's it's it's
type two in particular, what can I do to take
(15:02):
a proactive approach? And and so for me, UM, I
enjoy that. I enjoy having that type of information, having
that type of knowledge. I think it's interesting when you
think about all of the things that are connected to
wellness in your life, the balance, as I've mentioned early on, um,
(15:25):
the things that make you tick. UM, I just I
just wonder sometimes you know, why, the what and the
why of of how how I'm going through things and
how I'm teaching and and you know, imparting my information
to others. So as a mentor, as as a coach,
(15:46):
you're often in situations where you're giving educational conversations. You know,
do this this way, get this amount of rest, make
sure you're taking care of your nutrition, make sure that
you're you know, getting to quit sleep and whatever it
may be, icing your your sore spots and different things
like that. And and it's like when I looked at
(16:08):
this report and I saw how how accurate it was
as it applied to me, and then to think about,
you know, how that could apply to my performances. I
wish they'd have had this when I was playing, because
knowledge is power. Man, I'll tell you what. And in
(16:29):
terms of how I eat, you know how that impacts me?
How do I sleep? Like? Okay, if it's saying I'm
less likely to be a deep sleeper, which is very
very true, I am not a deep sleeper, and sometimes
that can lead to me um not being my best
when I wake up because I don't feel as rested
(16:52):
as I should feel? Well? How do I adjust that?
How do I how do I handle that? I can
recall times before games lead where it's like the night
before I can't sleep and and I closed my eyes
but and I'm there, but I'm kind of not. I'm
I can hear everything moving, I can hear people walking
(17:14):
down the hallway like whatever it is, I can hear it.
And and I'm still that way to this day. And
I just will wondered if I could have been able
to address like if in my mind it's brought to
my my my attention because I'm just now really thinking
about it during this podcast right now, had I thought
about that I could do something to help me sleep
(17:36):
better to night before games. I wonder if it would
have impacted my performance in the games, because when you're
at that level of competition, right, every single little thing
you need as an advantage, whether it's that diet or
that extra bit of sleep, that rest, everything comes into play, right,
And that's kind of that's kind of how cool this
report is, is how all the little things add up
(17:58):
for an athlete on or off the field. And shots
out to to my heart and this is you're listening
to spit podcast original uh I Heart uh twenty three
and me podcast, just to have opportunity to be on
a platform to talk about things that can impact you positively.
That's always been my main thing. My main objective is
(18:21):
being able to give people um my life experiences to
to help them be better in creating their life experiences
and and just understanding what what this summary and this
report has done for me uh and having the opportunity
to talk about it. I would I would suggest that people,
if you haven't tried twenty three and me um and
(18:43):
and took your your salava and and and put it
out there to to be uh analyzed, I would say
you're doing yourself a disservice and you could be doing
your family a disservice because this information, as as you
you mentioned lee such priceless information. You know, there could
be uh something that that you're predisposed to, UM in
(19:07):
terms of on your wellness report that you should be
paying attention to that you weren't necessarily paying attention to.
Uh and and no, small things are super important as
as you go through your daily living. So you have
your report in front of you. Alright, So my composition,
it's pretty interesting. Um. Sixty percent of my composition is
(19:33):
African um sub sub Saharian Saharian um African so West African.
My largest percentage is Nigerian, but but I do have
ancestry and Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which is pretty
that's pretty cool. Um, I have thirty percent European. Yes,
(20:00):
I got you beat there. I'm sure you do European.
I was hoping for something a little more, you know,
a little worse. What what what are you know? Pardon?
So mostly Northwest, that's like the norm western as well.
That Irish blood, that Irish blood and Scandinavian. I think
we're both Scandinavians. Our ancestors were probably you know, sailing together.
(20:22):
That is pretty interesting, man. I have a ton of
British Irish. How about that? British and Irish and it all,
it all kind of validates again like when I said
when my grandmother said the same regions, like you can
track to the name all the way back. So that
was super cool to kind of like see how again
we talked about accuracy. It's it's it's really kind of
(20:45):
freaky sometimes. Well I get up out it here on
you on this one. I have East Asian as well.
Yeah I don't. Yeah, that's cool. I I don't have
anything like that. I have a touch of Filipino, I have.
I have a touch of Indonesian. Uh. And I do
have Indigenous American how about that? Damn Yeah, you beat
(21:06):
me on that. At the point when I was hoping
for a little bit more on that because yeah, my
grandmother was like, well my my grandmother was was a Cherokee,
and I'm like, well, maybe that's the one point one percent,
but I was hoping for more. And then you know,
like my girlfriend, she's Caribbean, so that's from all over
the place. Yeah, absolutely, so I'm really curious to see hers.
Plus she's been she's hounding me about because I have
(21:26):
some Neanderthal in my ancestral So she's been teasing me
about that. We've been having a lot of fun with it.
She loves reading my report. I would love to read
her report as well as just being helpful. It's fun.
Well there you go. Listen. No matter what it is
that your your report says, what what your ancestry composition is,
(21:47):
it's you know, knowing where you come from. They they say,
there's the same right if you know where you came from,
you know, then then you have an idea where you're going,
or or maybe you put it in the in the
way you can't where you're going to let you know
where you came from. Um, depending on how you you
know where the origin of the saying comes from for you.
(22:07):
But I know for me, I have a sense of pride.
I have a sense of excitement being able to to
look at this report. But I also have a sense
of you know, resolve, and and that resolve comes from
me being able to say this gives me a better
(22:28):
snapshot of how I can do things better. And that's
always my you know, my main thing for me personally
is how can I improve myself? How can I improve
my circumstances, how can I do things differently? You know,
I suffer from migraines um valent migraines. UM, I suffer
(22:48):
from joint pain um valent joint pain. And and so
having this report, you know, I have the ability to
be able to apply this information to you know, the
conversations that I have with my caretakers when when we're
having these conversations where they could be even more detailed
(23:11):
and and pinpoint even more how that you know their
medicine or how the practices that that come my way
can improve you know, my my wellness, my overall wellness. UM.
I don't. I don't like getting migraines. I have seasons
where I get them and and it really is debilitating.
(23:32):
So so to have knowledge that can help with that,
it's just important. If that means staying away from certain foods,
whatever the triggers could possibly be. It's just the idea
of of going deep into this dashboard of information UM
based off of your ancestors. I just, you know, it's
(23:53):
pretty intriguing to me. That's why I wanted to do
this podcast and and just kind of air it out
with you Lee about the benefits and the bonuses of
having this type of information at your fingertips. Yeah, I've
been sold on twenty three and Me. I was a
skeptic at first, and um, after taking it, all those
(24:13):
worries were erased. It's helped me out. I know it's
gonna be different for everybody. Everyone's gonna have a different experience,
and I think that's what's what's really cool about it. Well,
it definitely helps. Make sure you do check it out. Okay,
make sure you check out this podcast again spin. It's
an original podcast brought to you by My Heart and
(24:33):
twenty three and Me. If you are interested in the
twenty three and me, uh, you know summary the test kit,
all you have to do is visit uh twenty three
and me dot com uh and and you can get
started right there. I mean they'll send you the kid,
the kid to come to your house. All you do
is is fill it up to the to the line. Uh,
(24:55):
you put it back in the box, you send it out,
and then boom you you create your profile online and
and then you get this information and and it becomes
pretty cool, as you mentioned, lead to share with people
that you love. So you get you get a girlfriend,
a spouse, whatever, it may be a boyfriend uh to
to do this with you and you're able to go
(25:16):
along this this wellness journey together, you know, discovery journey
together of of not only just ancestry, but just approach
to your daily living into your life. So I'm super
excited to have this opportunity with you, guys. I am
so appreciative. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Yes, I
am LaVar Arrington. That is the Yes, that is very true,
(25:38):
and yes that is Lead the Lap of Two Pros
and a Cup of Joe. Make sure you check out
the rest of the podcast as well. There are some
pretty esteemed guests that are doing uh spit podcast shows,
so make sure you check in to see who else
is is talking about uh their reports and talking about
(25:59):
their experien answers as it applies to the twenty three
and me read out and print out in summary of
who you are, Okay for me for Lead the Lap.
We're gonna call this to day. We're gonna wrap it
up all right. I hope you guys are well out there,
enjoy yourselves. Take care. Be sure to catch live editions
(26:20):
of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn,
LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knocks week days at six am
Eastern three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio I and That's It on Another Dope show.
Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look
at your health history, your genetic makeup? Who new DNA
(26:43):
could reveal so much about our past while also holding
the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future.
I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I
hope you do as well. Catch you next time. Listen
to Spit, an original podcast from my Heart Radio and
twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah h
Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
That remaining one holds incredibly meaningful information that could change everything.
And I'm not just talking about your family treat ho.
I'm Barrett day Thurston and on this season of Spit
(00:24):
and I Heart Radio podcast with twenty three and Me,
we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry, it can
also be key to understanding your health. Hello you, and
welcome back. Now. In today's episode of Spit from the
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe podcasts, we have
(00:44):
All American football star and first round NFL draft pick
LaVar Arrington taking a break from covering the biggest sports
headlines of the day. LaVar, along with this producer Lee
de Lap, recently took a twenty three and Me test
and sat down to or what they learned from each
other's reports. Now, LaVar is no stranger to taken care
of his body, both physically and mentally. He believed that
(01:08):
awareness and control over your health is crucial to personal
development as well as the maintenance of an athlete's body
and the information we can learn from our genetics can
help you achieve that balance. As LaVar and League get
into it, LaVar can't help but think how valuable this
information could have been to him earlier in his career.
What would the information in the twenty three and the
(01:30):
reports have meant to him as an athlete? Knowing what
he knows now, could he have made changes to his
health routine to help him succeed more on and off
the field. Let's listen in as LaVar and League get
into it, and maybe you two will be inspired to
take action in your own life. Whether you're a professional
athlete looking for an edge or just a fan in
(01:50):
the stands, Knowing more about your amazing DNA can help
make you a winner. Hey, thanks for listening to the
Two Pros and a Cup of Joe podcasts with myself,
LaVar Arrington. Make sure you catch us live weekdays six
to nine am Eastern or three am to six am
(02:12):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. You can find your local
station for the Two Pros and a Cup of Joe
show over at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream
UT's live every day on the I Heart Radio app
by searching f s r G. You're listening to Fox
Sports Radio. Now alright, it's Spit the original podcast series
(02:39):
and I heart original along with twenty three and Me
where they go into details and stories of people like
myself who have experienced using the sample kits for twenty
three and Me to learn about what they have going on.
I am LaVar Arrington, Yes, one of the coh posts
(03:00):
of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe and the
weekend show up on Game part of Fox Sports Radio.
I am so excited to be a part of this.
I got my man lead to lap here with me,
the producer of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe.
We will be talking about how this journey, how this
(03:20):
experience has made a difference in our lives. Let me
first introduce myself again. I am LaVar Arrington, a co host.
But before that, I was an athlete, an accomplished athlete.
At that I would say I played seven seasons in
the National Football League, was an All American. In college,
(03:41):
I played for the Washington then known as uh well,
we'll just say they are now the Commanders. Okay. I
also played for the New York Super Giants, and in
college I played for Penn State. That's right, I'm a
Nickney lion and enjoyed it. I'm a big time family man,
and I enjoy mentoring and role modeling, UH, developing athletes,
(04:05):
developing fine people. It's a passion of mine. I'm also
a serial entrepreneur, so my health and my energy and
my stamina is super super important to me and my
daily dealings. All right now, I don't want to go
too much further without bringing my man, Lead the Lap
in so that he can tell you who he is
(04:27):
and what he's got going on. Lead the lap talk
to the people for me. Man, what you got going
That's right, LaVar, I'm excited to be with you for
this on this episode of SPIT. I was super excited
to hear that twenty three and me wanted to team
up with you, LaVar. And then I got to come
along and see my reports. You know, I was one
of those guys who had a grandmother who had the
ancestry all across the hallway, and like you know, you
(04:49):
see your ancestors and your and your great great great
grandparents and all that stuff. So I thought I knew everything,
but I knew there was a lot more to uncover.
So it was really cool to see that these reports
validate what she had taught me and give a whole
another layer of information for me. I love the way
that sounds. I like the way it sounded like for me,
it was very interesting. You know, I needed to to
(05:13):
really kind of think about if I wanted to do
the twenty three and me tests. You know, some of
the things that came about were you know, just kind
of is it real? Does it? Does the information really
make sense? Are you getting laid down a different rabbit
hole than the rabbit hole that you were anticipating. But
(05:34):
I gotta say I was pleasantly, Uh, I was pleasantly.
I don't want to say surprised, bye bye. When I
got my report and checked out the summary and the
dashboard of everything that that took place, I was very excited.
In fact is probably the best word lee. And and
the reason why I was excited is because not only
(05:57):
did it break down, uh, what my my my background
is and and just gave me an idea of where
I come from, where my my ancestors come from, but
it also gives so much information in terms of what
is connected to my my line and the traits of
(06:18):
of what goes along with that. You know, how athletic,
I could be if I'm gonna have hair for much longer,
you know, different things like that. Uh heck, you know
if if if my kids maybe you know, athletic give
you know, certain certain ailments that I could possibly be
on the lookout for that I could alert my my
(06:39):
physicians to in terms of moving forward, I think those
are super super critical pieces and valuable pieces of information,
just as it applies to in general. You you know,
you spoke of your grandmam having the ancestry in the
in the hallways and and how that looked, and just
to get more detail connected to what it is that
(07:01):
that your grandmam was was putting together. You know. For me,
I I you know, we we have definitely family family
tree um of sorts and and both sides, my mom
and my father's side, but never broken down to you know,
percentages of where you know, our our ancestors have have
(07:23):
come from. So you know, that's that's one thing that
that is very very uh intriguing to me. But you
know one thing that I would like to get into
uh league, And and I'll ask you you know how
you feel about it as well. You know, I'm a
I'm a former player. And now I'm a coach and
(07:44):
and just looking at you know, how I approach what
I'm doing and and the amount of you know, detail
and information that goes into having success with what it
is that you're doing. You want to gather and gain
all the information that you possibly can gather and gain.
And and so for me, I always think about the
(08:06):
most important part of anything. It starts with your your
mental and emotional and physical wellness. You know, there's there's
the idea that if you if you achieve the balance
of mental, emotional and physical wellness, then that balance will
lead to too great results. Now how do you get
(08:27):
how do you achieve that? You know? And it's like
you get up. They say breakfast is the most important
meal of the day. So okay, you know, you get
up and you get breakfast. What does that breakfast look like?
You know? Have you thought about that? Lead like you
think about it? It's like, okay, breakfast is the most
important important meal of the day. We have a really
(08:49):
interesting schedule, so breakfast is is a little different for us.
But I mean, did you think about you know, one
thing is to eat breakfast. It's important. But looking at
are you know, our reports and whate and me provides
for you in these summaries. For me, now I look
at what I'm going to eat for breakfast differently. You know,
(09:11):
how about how about you? What what was your thie?
Have you ever looked at it from the standpoint of huh.
I woke up, I ate a piece of toast or
something whatever it may be. But now I realized I
should probably do this when I wake up for breakfast.
You know, this actually has helped me a lot in
that the the gut health stuff that you you might
not give enough thought that really affects you any person really,
(09:31):
but especially an athlete. Um. Yeah, I looking at this,
I suddenly realized, Hey, I should be maybe taking more
of an account of like how much lactose is in
your diet, how much grain is in your diet, because
not only will it tell you you know how likely
you may or may not be affected by certain diets,
it tells you about those diets and what you could
do to change it. That was something kind of the
cool thing I saw about you know, these, uh, the
(09:53):
databases and the health dashboard. Not just did it tell
you what to look out for, but how how to
fix it, how to change things k details the same
with the ancestry to like when you find out, hey,
I have a little bit of French or German. You
could learn about the French and Germans and like in
what era you know that ancestry came from. You know
what century that might have happened, and what the history
(10:15):
was like in those regions. Does the same thing for
your health. I thought that was super interesting. You go
down a super big rabbit hole with all the information
they give you. I mean it is so deeply like,
it's so funny, how accurate this stuff is right, so
so likely to be. Uh, you know one who you
know is lactose and tallerant. I'm lactose and tolerant. As
(10:38):
you mentioned, like making sure that you value what it
is that you know. Your dietary plan is um from
day to day. It breaks down your sleep movements, like
I'm likely more average and movement while I sleep. I
move while I sleep. It goes as far as to
tell you like when you might wake up for a
certain person. Obviously it's different for you and me Lare
because we get up super early. Shows it can kind
(11:00):
of guestimate to the minute what somebody with your gene
type might wake up at It's amazing, like it breaks
you down. I mean, fear of heights. I'm definitely, definitely
afraid of heights. Whether you can smell asparagus, whether you
can smell asparagus or not. Yeah, I can detect it, though,
(11:21):
you know, saying I'm likely I can't, But I can
detect asparagus. I believe. Can you sneeze on a full stomach? Right?
Just weird stuff like that. I mean, it is, it is.
It's so interesting. Fear of public speaking, less likely to
have fair of public speaking, which is interesting because uh,
I'm afraid of talking in front of people, but I'm
(11:45):
good at it. So maybe there's something there where it
opens up the conversation of well, it's not necessarily that
you're not a strong public speaker or whatever it may
be that that the report brings back to you Informationally speaking,
it's about learning more about yourself and how that can
(12:07):
play a part in and your success and your approach.
I do do well speaking publicly, but it's like, Okay,
I want to understand why I don't like speaking publicly.
I want to focus in on trying to figure out
what gives me anxiety about being in front of groups
of people. Because if I'm genetically predisposed to be good
(12:29):
at doing it and I am, then why do I
not like getting in front of people? So it's like,
now I can I can take that information and go
a step further and trying to understand and realize that
could be something that helps me out far beyond just
doing public speaking. That could be why I don't like
(12:50):
going to shopping centers. You know, I don't like going
to malls. I don't like being in the public. I
don't I don't like being seen. I don't like getting attention.
Um And it's weird because I like attention. I like
being acknowledged for the good that I do. I like
being seen for the successes that I have. But I
really don't, And I know it seems kind of weird, like, well,
(13:12):
how can you like it but not like it? I
just don't. I would like to be able to read
about it. You can report about it on a on
a television. I just don't want you coming to me
with it like, oh my gosh, I saw what you
did lavard this. I know that was amazing. It's like
I would kind of feel better, you know, you maybe
leaving in a comment or something. But I feel like
(13:33):
it's really cool to be able to address your own
personal idiot secrecies and and your own habits that you've
developed and that you have, and be able to cross
reference it to them. Basically taking all of these years
of information from the people who came before me and
that that were a part of me becoming who I am.
(13:56):
Um taking down this information. So it's it's wild. You know,
my mother she has diabetes and that's on here. You know,
it's typical. It's typically likely for me with my my
ancestry line and my report I degeneration, you know, losing
your your eyesight as you get older. That my grandfather,
(14:17):
you know, he lost his sight later on in in life,
later on towards the end of of what he had
going on. So you know, leave for me when I
see these things in the reports and it's like, okay, well,
how do I address these things now? You know how?
And not just for me? How do I address these
(14:38):
things for my kids? You know? I can now ask
the questions, all right, is this something that's age related? Okay?
Can I help reduce this being an age related deal
for myself? Can I do it for my children. Um,
if it's diabetes, what can I do, it's it's it's
type two in particular, what can I do to take
(15:02):
a proactive approach? And and so for me, UM, I
enjoy that. I enjoy having that type of information, having
that type of knowledge. I think it's interesting when you
think about all of the things that are connected to
wellness in your life, the balance, as I've mentioned early on, um,
(15:25):
the things that make you tick. UM, I just I
just wonder sometimes you know, why, the what and the
why of of how how I'm going through things and
how I'm teaching and and you know, imparting my information
to others. So as a mentor, as as a coach,
(15:46):
you're often in situations where you're giving educational conversations. You know,
do this this way, get this amount of rest, make
sure you're taking care of your nutrition, make sure that
you're you know, getting to quit sleep and whatever it
may be, icing your your sore spots and different things
like that. And and it's like when I looked at
(16:08):
this report and I saw how how accurate it was
as it applied to me, and then to think about,
you know, how that could apply to my performances. I
wish they'd have had this when I was playing, because
knowledge is power. Man, I'll tell you what. And in
(16:29):
terms of how I eat, you know how that impacts me?
How do I sleep? Like? Okay, if it's saying I'm
less likely to be a deep sleeper, which is very
very true, I am not a deep sleeper, and sometimes
that can lead to me um not being my best
when I wake up because I don't feel as rested
(16:52):
as I should feel? Well? How do I adjust that?
How do I how do I handle that? I can
recall times before games lead where it's like the night
before I can't sleep and and I closed my eyes
but and I'm there, but I'm kind of not. I'm
I can hear everything moving, I can hear people walking
(17:14):
down the hallway like whatever it is, I can hear it.
And and I'm still that way to this day. And
I just will wondered if I could have been able
to address like if in my mind it's brought to
my my my attention because I'm just now really thinking
about it during this podcast right now, had I thought
about that I could do something to help me sleep
(17:36):
better to night before games. I wonder if it would
have impacted my performance in the games, because when you're
at that level of competition, right, every single little thing
you need as an advantage, whether it's that diet or
that extra bit of sleep, that rest, everything comes into play, right,
And that's kind of that's kind of how cool this
report is, is how all the little things add up
(17:58):
for an athlete on or off the field. And shots
out to to my heart and this is you're listening
to spit podcast original uh I Heart uh twenty three
and me podcast, just to have opportunity to be on
a platform to talk about things that can impact you positively.
That's always been my main thing. My main objective is
(18:21):
being able to give people um my life experiences to
to help them be better in creating their life experiences
and and just understanding what what this summary and this
report has done for me uh and having the opportunity
to talk about it. I would I would suggest that people,
if you haven't tried twenty three and me um and
(18:43):
and took your your salava and and and put it
out there to to be uh analyzed, I would say
you're doing yourself a disservice and you could be doing
your family a disservice because this information, as as you
you mentioned lee such priceless information. You know, there could
be uh something that that you're predisposed to, UM in
(19:07):
terms of on your wellness report that you should be
paying attention to that you weren't necessarily paying attention to.
Uh and and no, small things are super important as
as you go through your daily living. So you have
your report in front of you. Alright, So my composition,
it's pretty interesting. Um. Sixty percent of my composition is
(19:33):
African um sub sub Saharian Saharian um African so West African.
My largest percentage is Nigerian, but but I do have
ancestry and Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which is pretty
that's pretty cool. Um, I have thirty percent European. Yes,
(20:00):
I got you beat there. I'm sure you do European.
I was hoping for something a little more, you know,
a little worse. What what what are you know? Pardon?
So mostly Northwest, that's like the norm western as well.
That Irish blood, that Irish blood and Scandinavian. I think
we're both Scandinavians. Our ancestors were probably you know, sailing together.
(20:22):
That is pretty interesting, man. I have a ton of
British Irish. How about that? British and Irish and it all,
it all kind of validates again like when I said
when my grandmother said the same regions, like you can
track to the name all the way back. So that
was super cool to kind of like see how again
we talked about accuracy. It's it's it's really kind of
(20:45):
freaky sometimes. Well I get up out it here on
you on this one. I have East Asian as well.
Yeah I don't. Yeah, that's cool. I I don't have
anything like that. I have a touch of Filipino, I have.
I have a touch of Indonesian. Uh. And I do
have Indigenous American how about that? Damn Yeah, you beat
(21:06):
me on that. At the point when I was hoping
for a little bit more on that because yeah, my
grandmother was like, well my my grandmother was was a Cherokee,
and I'm like, well, maybe that's the one point one percent,
but I was hoping for more. And then you know,
like my girlfriend, she's Caribbean, so that's from all over
the place. Yeah, absolutely, so I'm really curious to see hers.
Plus she's been she's hounding me about because I have
(21:26):
some Neanderthal in my ancestral So she's been teasing me
about that. We've been having a lot of fun with it.
She loves reading my report. I would love to read
her report as well as just being helpful. It's fun.
Well there you go. Listen. No matter what it is
that your your report says, what what your ancestry composition is,
(21:47):
it's you know, knowing where you come from. They they say,
there's the same right if you know where you came from,
you know, then then you have an idea where you're going,
or or maybe you put it in the in the
way you can't where you're going to let you know
where you came from. Um, depending on how you you
know where the origin of the saying comes from for you.
(22:07):
But I know for me, I have a sense of pride.
I have a sense of excitement being able to to
look at this report. But I also have a sense
of you know, resolve, and and that resolve comes from
me being able to say this gives me a better
(22:28):
snapshot of how I can do things better. And that's
always my you know, my main thing for me personally
is how can I improve myself? How can I improve
my circumstances, how can I do things differently? You know,
I suffer from migraines um valent migraines. UM, I suffer
(22:48):
from joint pain um valent joint pain. And and so
having this report, you know, I have the ability to
be able to apply this information to you know, the
conversations that I have with my caretakers when when we're
having these conversations where they could be even more detailed
(23:11):
and and pinpoint even more how that you know their
medicine or how the practices that that come my way
can improve you know, my my wellness, my overall wellness. UM.
I don't. I don't like getting migraines. I have seasons
where I get them and and it really is debilitating.
(23:32):
So so to have knowledge that can help with that,
it's just important. If that means staying away from certain foods,
whatever the triggers could possibly be. It's just the idea
of of going deep into this dashboard of information UM
based off of your ancestors. I just, you know, it's
(23:53):
pretty intriguing to me. That's why I wanted to do
this podcast and and just kind of air it out
with you Lee about the benefits and the bonuses of
having this type of information at your fingertips. Yeah, I've
been sold on twenty three and Me. I was a
skeptic at first, and um, after taking it, all those
(24:13):
worries were erased. It's helped me out. I know it's
gonna be different for everybody. Everyone's gonna have a different experience,
and I think that's what's what's really cool about it. Well,
it definitely helps. Make sure you do check it out. Okay,
make sure you check out this podcast again spin. It's
an original podcast brought to you by My Heart and
(24:33):
twenty three and Me. If you are interested in the
twenty three and me, uh, you know summary the test kit,
all you have to do is visit uh twenty three
and me dot com uh and and you can get
started right there. I mean they'll send you the kid,
the kid to come to your house. All you do
is is fill it up to the to the line. Uh,
(24:55):
you put it back in the box, you send it out,
and then boom you you create your profile online and
and then you get this information and and it becomes
pretty cool, as you mentioned, lead to share with people
that you love. So you get you get a girlfriend,
a spouse, whatever, it may be a boyfriend uh to
to do this with you and you're able to go
(25:16):
along this this wellness journey together, you know, discovery journey
together of of not only just ancestry, but just approach
to your daily living into your life. So I'm super
excited to have this opportunity with you, guys. I am
so appreciative. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Yes, I
am LaVar Arrington. That is the Yes, that is very true,
(25:38):
and yes that is Lead the Lap of Two Pros
and a Cup of Joe. Make sure you check out
the rest of the podcast as well. There are some
pretty esteemed guests that are doing uh spit podcast shows,
so make sure you check in to see who else
is is talking about uh their reports and talking about
(25:59):
their experien answers as it applies to the twenty three
and me read out and print out in summary of
who you are, Okay for me for Lead the Lap.
We're gonna call this to day. We're gonna wrap it
up all right. I hope you guys are well out there,
enjoy yourselves. Take care. Be sure to catch live editions
(26:20):
of Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with Brady Quinn,
LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knocks week days at six am
Eastern three am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
I Heart Radio I and That's It on Another Dope show.
Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look
at your health history, your genetic makeup? Who new DNA
(26:43):
could reveal so much about our past while also holding
the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future.
I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I
hope you do as well. Catch you next time. Listen
to Spit, an original podcast from my Heart Radio and
twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Yeah h
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