June 24, 2025 • 55 mins
In this episode of Regenerative Renegades, former NFL linebacker and Minnesota Viking Ben Leber shares a great message of being intentional about our lives through daily practices – everything from scheduling our daily lives, family life, nutrition and environment. Ben took a holistic dive into his health and wellness as a professional athlete and his story helps us understand ways that we can apply his learnings and unique experiences to our own lives and health journeys. His approach proves why Ben excels in all aspects of life through a football career leading into the NFL, leading TV and media personality and all-around good guy.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Well, hello, everyone.
Today, we're very honored tohave with us Ben Lieber.
Ben is a very active guy, verybusy ex-NFLer.
(00:25):
I'll go through his bio a littlebit, and then we'll dive right
in.
Welcome, Ben.
Good to have you here today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:31):
Yeah, Matt.
It's good to see you.
Thanks for having me on.
Congratulations on the podcast.
I know they take some work onthe front end to get going, but
I'm glad you guys are up andrunning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:43):
Yeah.
Thanks for being a part of it.
I really appreciate it.
So Ben Lieber is a retired10-year NFL linebacker, played
for the San Diego Chargers forthree years.
Or four years.
Four years, yep.
Four years.
Minnesota Vikings for anotherfour or five.
Five, yep.
Yep.
(01:03):
And the St.
Louis Rams.
He currently works in theMinneapolis-St.
Paul media market as a radio andtelevision personality.
For radio, he works exclusivelyfor the number one sports radio
in the nation, FM 100.3 KFAN,our home sports radio station
here.
in Minneapolis.
(01:24):
He appears on multiple radioshows every week, and he is the
radio sideline reporter for allthe Minnesota Vikings football
games.
Skol! On television, he's theco-host for Twin Cities Live, a
lifestyle program on the ABCaffiliate.
Twin Cities Live is the numberone afternoon program in the
Twin Cities.
(01:44):
He also appears on the VikingsEntertainment Network and Fox 9
as a team analyst.
Oh, so by the way, you're ontoday with the number one
grass-fed beef brand, so all youdo is play with number one.
SPEAKER_00 (01:56):
I guess so.
It feels good to be part of awinning team.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Yeah, I bet it is.
And you know, when I wasthinking about you with our
little bit of interactions, Ithought, you epitomize, if you
want something done, ask a busyperson.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
I guess.
I mean, it is true.
As I've gotten older in thislife, I've realized about myself
that I get way more done, I'mway more productive, the more
scheduled I am.
You would think that those offdays that we kind of take for
ourselves are like, I'm justgoing to clear the calendar.
(02:37):
I'm not going to do anythingtoday.
I deserve a me day.
Those are my least productivedays because I don't do well
with just having idle time.
I can easily distract myselfwith a lot of just needless,
senseless stuff.
So yeah, I think the morescheduled I am, the busier I am,
(02:57):
I tend to check off a lot moreoff my list.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
Yeah.
Well, I've heard some of thatfrom about you talking about
yourself over the radio and Ican totally relate.
I
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
don't know if it's just the way I'm built or it's
the conditioning from thefootball world where everything
is so scheduled, but I just likehaving a directive and I like
having sort of a checklist to doevery day.
And I'm not saying, look, it'sIt's not necessarily the home
(03:29):
stuff.
My wife and all of our wives cangive us a whole list of things
to do all the time.
That's not necessarily what I'mtalking about.
But it's nice to know that, allright, I have a directive for
the day as far as work goes, andthis is what I need to get
accomplished.
And I just feel better that way.
And it's funny because I hadsome time off last week, and...
(03:52):
I was just going through somestuff and I was getting a bunch
of emails done, a bunch of justlike administrative stuff done.
And I get into work thatafternoon and I was talking to
my co-host.
I'm like, she's like, oh, howwas your morning?
I'm like, man, I was soproductive.
I got so much stuff done, but Istill don't feel like I got
anything done.
You know, it's like all just thethings that needed to get done.
(04:15):
It was kind of mindless and busywork, but I didn't have that
sense of accomplishment.
So, yeah, I like to have thenice productive list every day.
SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
Well, you know, we talk about, I'm always
fascinated with hearing thestories, like on the NFL draft,
for example.
The best part about the draft tome is hearing the backstories of
the people that are gettingdrafted and and where they came
from and what they needed toovercome, because there's always
things to overcome, right?
(04:44):
To get to any level of anyindustry or any vocation,
there's a lot to overcome toachieve whatever the highest
level is.
And so I'm really curious tohear your story, where you
started, how you started infootball, how you balanced life
(05:05):
with football, We've alreadyscratched the surface a little
bit on the mindset of BenLieber, and I'm sure this is the
way you've always been wired.
So if you could take us back tothat journey and share, you
know, the successes, but alsothe failures and the setbacks,
(05:26):
so we could learn a little bitmore about you.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Well, yeah, it's a long story, so buckle up.
You know, it's funny.
I'll start with the basics.
sort of the draft, you know,that was an interesting time
because there's so much that youprepare for and you spend weeks
(05:48):
and months and months and monthstrying to train just for these
specific drills.
And it really kind of messeswith your head.
And all this kind of like, maybefrom a global standpoint, just
kind of like, talk to you guysand let you guys know just like
where my mindset was with all offootball.
I got to play with so many greatteammates, and I would see these
(06:12):
guys when I was a freshman,sophomore in college, and I'm
just trying to find myself incollege and figure out who I was
as a person and as a footballplayer and all this other stuff,
kind of like every 18,19-year-old, 20-year-old does.
And I look around at all theseguys and I'm like, man, so many
of my teammates came from theseharsh situations.
(06:34):
They didn't have a dad, maybetheir dad was incarcerated or
maybe their parents are in jailand maybe they don't know them
or they had a major caraccident.
All of these really, really biglife moments.
You've got a family member thatwas killed that was super close
to you.
All these things, and I hear allthese guys talk about, this is
(06:58):
the big life hurdle that I hadto overcome.
It might've been multiple lifehurdles.
And then they really foundfootball as the sanctuary.
They really found football as akind of a way out.
Maybe it's a bad neighborhood, abad family dynamic, a bad
situation.
Football for them was thatguiding light of like, this is
(07:19):
gonna keep me on a straight andnarrow.
It's gonna keep me...
distracted enough to where Idon't have to think about all
those challenges in life.
And in a weird way, I kind offelt like, not jealous, but I'm
like, I don't have that.
I came from a great family.
(07:41):
I didn't use football as adistraction.
I wasn't using football as a wayout.
That wasn't like the motivatingfactor for me.
And I look at these players, I'mlike, man, all of these guys
sort of play with this edge.
You know, they have thisedginess about them because
they're a little bit morehardened than I am and all this
(08:02):
stuff.
And I was kind of envious of thefact that, like, their life
experience kind of gave themthis edge, this football edge
that everybody's looking for.
Yeah.
I really sort of strung like,man, I don't know what, I don't
know if I have a life struggle,you know, like I was very
fortunate to grow up in a, in a,you know, two parent home.
(08:23):
And, and, uh, my, both myparents worked extremely hard
and I saw all of that.
And it's kind of a weirdpsychological deal because, um,
still need to picture
SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
that family though.
Give us the father knows best,um, description of that family.
Your dad, it sounds like schooladministration, uh,
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
Yeah, so my dad, always in education, he was kind
of like the quintessential storyof got his teaching degree, he
was a teacher back at the sameschool in Council Bluffs, Iowa,
where he graduated from at St.
Albert High School, and thenworked his way up.
(09:03):
Worked his way up from teacher,coach, coach track and football,
and then then worked his wayinto administration.
And then we moved to Albia, Iowabecause he was the high school
principal.
We were there for a number ofyears.
And then he thought there wasjust going to be a better
opportunity for him and for thefamily to move.
And so he took another principaljob in Vermilion, South Dakota.
(09:27):
We moved there.
And then all through my highschool career, he was in the
hallways every day.
I saw my dad every day at schoolas the high school principal.
It was great.
It was great.
I mean, a lot of people werelike, oh, man, you know, I hate
to have my dad at school all thetime.
You know, I was I mean, shocker.
I didn't get in trouble thatmuch.
You know, you're
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
a good guy, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:52):
Well, you know, I'm I'm I'm fortunate that I had two
older brothers that really pavedthe way in everything that I
did.
Was that all your
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
siblings?
Two older brothers?
I
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
have two older brothers and a younger sister.
Both my older brothers werefantastic athletes and great
guys.
They always got good grades.
I just had to follow along.
I was just one of the ducklingsin a row.
SPEAKER_01 (10:16):
What grade were you in when you fell in love with
football?
SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
I've got to be honest, Matt.
I didn't fall in love withfootball probably until my end
of my sophomore year of college.
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (10:35):
wow.
So you got that far.
Yeah.
It's kind of natural talentand...
Yeah, I just...
I mean, I'm not saying youweren't dedicated, but, you
know, you're kind of moving
SPEAKER_00 (10:45):
along.
Yeah, I really...
I just really...
I enjoyed...
When I was in high school, Ienjoyed the game, but I think
because in a small town in SouthDakota...
It's like you play the game offootball, you get done, win,
lose, or draw at the end of theseason, and then you move right
into basketball season orwrestling.
And then after that, you goright into track, and then we
(11:08):
have Legion summer baseball.
And so it was always just playthe sport, have fun with it, we
work hard at it.
I was dedicated when I was thereand very committed.
You know, I would...
try to stay after and do otherthings.
And I really liked the gym and Iwould lift weights and stuff.
And then once it was overthough, I'd go right into
basketball and I would neverthink about football again until
(11:29):
the next, the next fall.
So, um, I don't know if I reallyhad a chance to really like, it
wasn't for me, like my passion,passion.
And then when I got to college,I actually really, really
questioned whether or not,because it's so hard and the
life adjustment is, is sodrastic.
UNKNOWN (11:49):
Um,
SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
And shocking.
Trying to manage your time andyou're getting your ass kicked
every day in practice.
You're getting belittled by thecoaches.
You feel like you're just likeminuscule this tall and your
confidence is shot.
And I mean, so I went from...
Just ho-hum.
I like playing football in highschool.
This is kind of cool.
(12:10):
I'm getting attention.
That's neat.
I'm getting this scholarship toKansas State.
And then my freshman year, Ialmost quit football because I
hated it so much.
And then once I started to graspthe game, and then I saw the
upperclassmen getting draftedand getting looked at as far as
the NFL.
And I was like, I'm not that farbehind these guys, I don't
(12:31):
think.
Maybe this is an opportunity.
So it really wasn't until Isaw...
maybe the bigger picture, that'swhen I sort of dedicated my life
to, I want to go down that road.
I want to see if I can do this.
SPEAKER_01 (12:43):
I'll segue into hope about the future and talking
about nutrition.
I know you've taken the time tovisit our farm and learn about
regenerative ag, and you're verygood at researching and
educating yourself.
So I'd like to hear about how,what your relationship has been
with food and nutrition and, asyou went through this whole
(13:03):
journey that you described, andmaybe even how you look at it
for your children now, and whereyou see hope there.
But first starting, just how younavigated that through those
stages of life.
SPEAKER_00 (13:21):
Yeah, I think with a lot of people, when they try to
deep dive into something andthey really become educated in
something usually there's athere's some sort of catalyst
personal catalyst that happensthat really kind of forces them
into it and for me um it was twothings uh getting drafted by san
diego was a major life shiftwhen it came to how i look at
(13:43):
nutrition you know southerncalifornia which i I didn't know
anything about SouthernCalifornia.
Every myth that I had aboutSouthern California when I lived
in the Midwest was broken when Imoved there because the people
are, they actually arehardworking.
There are a lot of things that Ivalue there.
But the other thing is, they'reso far ahead of us from the
(14:04):
Midwest as far as nutritiongoes.
I mean, all the way back in theearly 2000s, I didn't even know
what kale was.
You know, like I didn't know.
We don't have a lot
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
of green all winter in Iowa to get, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
I know.
It really was just a meat andpotatoes, you know, lifestyle
when I was growing up.
And it was just kind of like eatwhatever you want.
And calories are just calories.
And that's, you know, we allknow that's not the case
anymore.
So when I got to San Diego, Isaw these guys just like really
eating healthy and doing thisand that.
And I'm like, I was just kind oflike curious and excited.
(14:41):
Like, why are you eating that?
What is that?
And they would educate me justhere and there.
So just through osmosis and justthrough just general curiosity,
just, okay, this is a whole newthing that I didn't know about.
And then about four or fiveyears later, Throughout my whole
life, I'd always had theserandom, spontaneous, giant hives
(15:03):
that would pop up.
There'd be times when my lipswould swell, and my mom has a
little of the same thing, so Ijust thought, we always just
thought it was genetic, and Iwould take an antihistamine and
maybe an ibuprofen or something,and then it would calm down
several hours later, but I neverknew when they were gonna pop
up.
I just never, and I nevercorrelated it to anything
(15:24):
especially nutrition wise.
Cause we just didn't, we weren'tknowledgeable like that.
And then, so, you know, when Iactually, when I came to
Minnesota, I had probably sixmonths of that.
Maybe I think it was 2006,right?
When I got here, that footballseason was the worst outbreak of
hives I've ever had.
(15:45):
I get them all the time.
I had really, really bad eczemaon my hands, which then I just,
I chalked it up to like, okay,I'm in my sweaty football gloves
all day long.
It's gonna be winter time.
I haven't spent a winter likethis in years.
And so maybe it's my hands arejust cracked and all this other
stuff because of that.
And so I was always justifyinglike, why I was having these
(16:08):
reactions.
And it got to a point where I goto practice one day, I woke up
with a whole bunch of hives, Iwoke up with part of my jaw
swollen, my lip was swollenagain, and the swelling around
my jaw was moving down into myneck.
And I'm sitting in meetings andI can't really talk to my
(16:30):
neighbor.
And my voice is starting to getaffected by the inflammation.
So I go to the trainers, andthey're like, hey, man, we don't
know what's going on, but let'sjust give you an EpiPen.
So the EpiPen me.
Everything sort of calmed downfor a little bit after that.
And I just sort of had it.
I'm like, I've got to get thisfigured out.
I went to a bunch of doctorshere in town.
Your livelihood's at risk now.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And I'm like, this is gettingreally out of hand.
And now it's like, man...
the next big outbreak could be,you know, something that maybe
I'm not in an area to get anEpiPen.
So I got mad.
I had no answers.
Nobody could give me an answer.
Um, I, I did the allergy testswhere they, you know, the skin
prick you and all this stuff andnothing really came up as
(17:15):
conclusive.
I go down to the Mayo clinic,they do the same thing.
Their allergist was like, Heyman, um, It's your body's kind
of reacting to a bunch ofdifferent things Why don't you
just keep taking yourantihistamines if that's working
then just do that on a dailybasis and I mean to be honest
(17:36):
with you my response because outof the frustration when I walked
out was a major double middlefinger F you and I was like this
can't be what modern medicine isdoing to me so I I found through
somebody else and just doing myresearch, I found a functional
(17:58):
medicine doctor and I said, I'mgoing to try this route.
And we went the functionalmedicine way and found out that
I was highly, highly sensitiveto wheat and some other food
products.
And it was as simple aseliminating wheat from my diet
that changed everything.
(18:18):
So since...
The gluten.
So since 2007, I've beengluten-free.
So long story short, that wasthe reason getting no answers
from the Western medicineapproach and finding a more
holistic way to look at my bodyreally opened my eyes to what we
(18:41):
put in our body makes a hugedifference.
And I started reading books.
I started...
researching things and it wasjust slow but consistent and it
was kind of like my off-seasonpassion you know i would just
consume all of these nutritionbooks and functional medicine
approaches and holisticapproaches and whatever and i
(19:04):
found out that man you know foodreally is the medicine that we
need and a lot of times it'savoiding certain things is what
we need and um I've startedreading more about
nutrient-dense foods, and thenthat kind of led into how we
grow our food, how we raise ouranimals, the herbicides, the
(19:24):
pesticides, the soil, all thisother stuff, and have thankfully
found regenerative agricultureas what I think is the true path
forward.
And it's funny because it's notnew.
It's like it's what we weredoing before conventional
farming.
So it's a huge, huge benefit tohave people like you guys in our
(19:48):
state, to have the voice, theproducts, the influence.
Yeah, that's kind of been myjourney.
And I'm so happy and proud thatwe're friends and that I get to
use you guys' products and feedmy family.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
Well, thank you for doing that and for sharing that
story.
similar situations in our familythat, you know, required us
looking past conventionalmedicine.
And we went on the same journey,basically, you know, where
conventional Western medicinewas not finding solutions to a
(20:30):
couple of issues in our family,one of our sons and unable to
find any kind, just the samething, just complete kind of,
well, we don't know.
We don't know.
And no other solutions offered,no other paths offered.
You find them on your own.
But I can't, what I really wantto ask is, has professional
(20:53):
sports, I won't even pull outthe NFL, but this professional
sports, it amazes me now whenyou're sitting where you are and
we are, where we're at in thisunderstanding, you know, to go
to the trainer or any medicalstaff and they give you an
EpiPen, has there been anyprogress on that front?
(21:15):
You ended up at Mayo.
It just seems like they'relagging behind.
And I say that because you gothow many millions you're
spending on the player salariesand the facilities and the
investment that happens is huge.
It's a huge thing.
But it seems as though there'smaybe a lag there from what
conventional to what we'retalking about.
(21:37):
And I don't understand that, butmaybe I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_00 (21:41):
You know, it is getting better.
You know, when I was tellingthat story back in 2006, it has
progressed so much since then.
You know, I do sympathize withour, you know, our training
staffs and every place that I'vebeen, our medical staffs,
they're phenomenal.
But they have to work in more ofa triage situation.
(22:01):
You know, it's like we have toget these players, you ready to
play and recovered around theclock, ready to go the next day.
Because our practices are justas important as the games.
And so missing practice is a bigdeal too.
And so on a constant basis,they're like, what can we do
today to let you practice andget you ready for Sunday?
(22:24):
And so they're not necessarilythinking about taking the longer
road approach on how to fixthings.
They just need to fix you now.
But that is changing.
I mean, a lot of these guys,part of it is the players
themselves are much moreeducated.
There's a lot more people likeme that became educated at even
(22:47):
a younger age and they'realready on a nutrition plan.
They already know, they've takenfood sensitivity tests and all
this other things.
They're getting their hormoneschecked.
They're getting all this stuff.
They're taking more of aholistic approach to their own
health and wellness.
And then they're communicatingthat to the actual team and the
(23:08):
team doctors.
So there's a little bit moresynergy.
I wouldn't say that every teamhas adopted the philosophy and
they have their ownpractitioners on the team, but
you can take what you're doingoutside of the game, bring that
to the team doctors and say,hey, let's come up with a plan.
Let's bring my food panel to thedietician and nutritionist.
(23:31):
And then we'll come up with aplan of what I can eat while I'm
actually at the facility whenthey give you the free breakfast
and lunch.
And they can individualize andcustomize a lot of the plans.
I mean, it's the same thing instrength and conditioning.
You have something going on.
You talk to the strength andconditioning.
It's no longer just paint with abroad brush.
You're like, hey, linebackers,tight ends, fullbacks, you guys
(23:53):
are all the same type of guys.
You guys go do your own workout.
This is the workout for you.
Now it's like, okay, Ben Lieber,you've got this deficiency in
your hamstrings.
We need you to do this extraexercise, these extra stretches.
And then when we do ourconditioning stuff, we need you
to have X, Y, and Z.
So it's much more customized,kind of top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Well, and I want to...
urge those that are listeningthat you can run a parallel path
to what Ben just described.
You know, now it is functionalmedicine, homeopathic, holistic,
natural, unconventional,whatever you want to call it.
Those doctors are out there,those professionals, those
advisors are out there toaccess, and you can open up this
(24:37):
whole world with seeking outsomeone that you would trust do
some research and then, and thenrunning those panels and
learning about your body andlearning about other options
that you can take to care foryour body.
So it doesn't have to be theprofessional athlete.
You can now, because oftechnology, you can now access
this yourself for you and yourfamily and have a much more
(25:01):
targeted regimented approach toyour health.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
Yeah, no, I, I completely agree.
And I think, um, you know, we'restarting to see that more and
more and, um, whether it'sbecause it's the political
landscape or whatnot, but Ithink just the idea that we can
take health into our own handsis it's empowering for
everybody.
And I think then we're startingto see a little bit more of this
(25:26):
stuff trickle out where you cantake control of your health.
And yes, thank goodness we havedoctors and, and, um, the drug
companies to kind of help usguide us to get to that point.
You know, some people need totake some of these drugs just to
kind of get over the hump, butthen at the same time, you can
still be taking control of yourlife of like, okay, I need to
(25:48):
eat, be eating less sugar, lesscarbohydrates, this or that.
And then that can actually, I'llwean myself off of the drugs and
then I can take control of mylife from there on out.
I mean, to say five years ago,that you can reverse type two
diabetes, people would thinkthat you're crazy and that
you're a crackpot.
And like, nope, it's genetic,it's this, it's this, and this.
(26:12):
And now it's pretty muchmainstream that we know that you
can reverse type two diabetes,which is a huge, which is a huge
strain on our medical system andhealthcare system.
You can change that and reverseit yourself, and there's
thousands and thousands ofstories where people are doing
this exact thing where, Theunfortunate part is it might
(26:32):
take you six months to a yearversus, oh, I just wake up every
morning and I take this pill andI just feel better.
You know, that's what peoplewant.
But you give yourself one year,you can get off all the drugs
and you can become a happier,healthier person.
SPEAKER_01 (26:47):
That's true.
And you gain so many morebenefits through that slower
approach.
It's just, it's kind of likeagriculture.
You know, there's all thebenefits that go into
regenerative agriculture, butThat it does take time.
It's just like our health.
It's the health of our soil.
But it does take intentionality.
And this, you know, this podcastis regenerative renegades,
regenerative renegades.
(27:09):
And you do have to be.
I want to.
Encourage people because you dohave to be somewhat of a
renegade to get outside of theconventional and start to look
at this yourself.
And you do have to push a littlehere and there.
You do have to research.
You do have to get outside theboundaries some to be able to
(27:30):
adopt this type of nutrition andhealth plan.
But it's so worth it.
It's so worth it to take thatstep and trust yourself and be
your own advocate.
you know, so that you can starton that path.
And you hit it right on the nailon the head with that long-term
approach.
I mean, it's the same withagriculture.
(27:53):
There's a very, very clearparallel between conventional
medicine and conventionalagriculture.
You know, I won't get into allthe reasons why that exists or
whatever it does for many, manyreasons.
But thankfully, today, there'salternatives.
And you can You can marry themtogether however you want or
(28:14):
sync them up or synergize them,whatever you call it.
But the options are there.
I guess that's the message Iwant to send.
The options are there.
I've been through it myself.
I've had cancer twice and thatopened my eyes to...
oh, what am I doing that'scausing this?
What have I been exposed toenvironmentally?
(28:39):
What am I diet?
What am I lifestyle?
Do I need to change?
And, man, you know, 20 yearslater, I feel better than I did
then.
Yeah.
It's just amazing, the energylevel and the ability to focus
and just have a– greatproductive day and feel good,
(29:01):
that's priceless.
SPEAKER_00 (29:03):
I know.
I'm fortunate that I grew upbasically in two farming
communities, both in Iowa andSouth Dakota, and not so much
around it now here in the TwinCities metro, but having that
upbringing, and you can speak tothis directly, knowing what we
know now and looking back, theamount of chemicals that are on
(29:26):
a conventional farm that youngkids are around every day, every
day, whether they're playing inand around it, whether their
parents are spraying that dayand it's a windy day.
The water, I mean, it is crazythe amount of poison that we
(29:46):
allowed our children to continueto play around is scary.
And it's no secret why A lot ofthese kids have asthma.
They've got skin issues.
They've got autoimmune issuesthat they can't detect and can't
figure out.
I'm like, well, look at thefarming practices and look at
their homes and where they are.
(30:08):
And thankfully, you know, regenagriculture eliminates all that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:13):
Well, and, you know, the way we care for our lawns is
a direct parallel to ourconventional agriculture with
still a lot of chemicals.
I started an organic lawn carecompany in the late 80s when I
was in college.
And I did some research that ledme to that.
And I had some health issuesthat led me to starting that
because I basically was drenchedin chemicals that are the same
(30:35):
chemicals we put on fields, weput on lawns, basically.
And back then, we let our kidsand animals roll around in it
after the lawn was treated.
And we do the same on our land.
But specifically in Iowa, Ifound a study then that was done
that showed the highest percapita rate of cancer was in
(30:56):
Iowa.
No.
Yes.
That was back then.
That was a study that was done.
And of course, nobody heardabout that.
You really had to dig to findit.
I had to be on the microfiche inthe library in the days that I
was in the library, you know.
But I found it and I was like,okay, there's something here.
And started researching thechemical companies and getting
(31:17):
answers.
And, you know, I'll share thequick story.
I I was working for a lawn carecompany, worked my way through
college, had a background inlandscaping.
They go, Hey, this is great.
I've arrived.
Now I can drive a truck around,spray lawns.
This is easy work.
It's not breaking my back, likelifting sod balls and all kinds
of crazy back work.
And so I got this job and likethe third day I'm out 20 lawns a
(31:40):
day.
Okay.
I got to get 20 lawns a day.
I'm very competitive.
So I'm going to exceed that ofcourse.
And it's a hot muggy day inMinnesota and, I get through
about 10 lawns or so.
In the town I grew up in, and Iwent to high school, and I went
to college, I got lost.
I couldn't find my way back tothe warehouse or to the next
(32:02):
lawn at that point.
I had to sit down on the curband try to clear my mind because
I was lost.
I had no idea where to go.
And, you know, I was a young,healthy adult.
I loved working out, and I wasin great shape.
And so...
I look around.
I go back.
I finally figure out how to getback.
I'm like, dude, I don't knowwhat happened, but I completely
(32:26):
couldn't think.
He goes, oh, don't worry aboutit.
The owner of the company islike, I don't worry about it.
Drink some water.
You'll be fine.
As he's stirring up thechemicals in the tank with his
hand, he goes, this was fine.
I go, can I have one of thosecans?
I want to call the company andask some questions.
So I did.
I said, okay, I'm applying thischemical that you sell.
(32:47):
What should I be wearing?
I said, well, first of all, youshould have a face covering for
your air.
So you're filtering the air andthen you should have rubber
gloves up past your elbows.
You should have a rubber bib onand you should have rubber boots
up to your knees.
I had a polo shirt and shortsand tennis shoes.
Oh
SPEAKER_02 (33:06):
my God.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
So I bring that back to the owner and I said, this is
what the chemical company toldme.
And he said, well, we can't dothat.
No one will ever buy this fromus.
And I said, well, And I'm deadbroke.
I'm a college kid.
My best job I ever had.
And I said, oh, okay.
I'm going to have to quit andfind another job.
(33:29):
Good for you.
I value my health and I can't dothis.
So that's sort of the organiclawn.
I did a bunch of research onorganic lawn care the last year
I was in college.
And it was a lot of fun becauseI'm running ads that say, is
your lawn chemically dependent?
I'm like...
Come over to us because we'renot.
(33:50):
We're just going to put somenatural fertilizer.
And if there's a littlediversity in your lawn, let it
be.
Don't worry about thedandelions.
They're good for pollinators.
And we were doing soil testingto customize our fertilizer to
their lawn.
And it was so much fun.
But here is this college kidwith maybe 50 lawns total that
(34:13):
I'm taking care of.
I got death threats on myanswering machine for
bad-mouthing chemicals.
SPEAKER_00 (34:22):
No.
I
SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
did.
I couldn't believe it more thanonce.
So I got their attention, andthey didn't like it.
And I thought, ooh, I scratch anerve.
And I tucked that away and wentoff and did my career in
marketing and then ended up backin regenerative agriculture.
But I tell that story.
(34:44):
for the listeners to know thatstuff is real yeah and cutting
it out of your diet and yourenvironment um is so worth it
SPEAKER_00 (34:55):
yeah i mean being being aware is such a huge thing
i mean the fact that the factthat you had enough curiosity
now it took you know it took amoment where you were
disoriented to like reallyfigure this out but A lot of
people don't do that.
A lot of people will have thesespells or this and that, and
(35:17):
they'll just go about their dayand they'll say, ah, it's, it's
fine.
It's just a little phase, alittle this and that.
And they have no idea that what,what they're around on a daily
basis could be killing them.
SPEAKER_01 (35:28):
Yes.
Yep.
And if, and it's, that's alsolong-term, you know, you don't,
you don't have that moment.
And then the next day you're inMayo with cancer, you know, So
many years later of theaccumulation that it takes
before your body reacts, youjust don't know.
Yeah.
You know, so you can take stepsto just minimize as much as you
(35:50):
can.
And, you know, we have as much,I always hit this because most
people aren't farmers and verysmall percentage are, but we
have like, what is it?
55 million acres in lawns withone species of grass in that
lawn.
And the, chemicals that controlthat.
You know, I'd love to see, Imean, I always got in trouble
(36:12):
from my neighbors when I livedin the suburbs because my lawn
was a mess, you know, speciesand I'd have to sneak home after
dark or I'd have to get theglare of the neighbors.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Drug dealer leaving, living nextdoor.
That's got this messy nativespecies lawn.
(36:32):
He's freaking nuts, man.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:35):
Well, we, the funny thing is we have, we have a
house that's not far from usthat they have a sign in the
yard that says like, you know,we practice natural lawn care or
whatever.
And yeah, they have the, thething that I don't mind that
they're doing it.
It's just, you can probablystill keep it somewhat kept and
(36:57):
like, you know, but they havetaken the approach of just
letting the wild grasses get astall as they want.
And I'm like, well, I, I applaudyou for doing that, but it does
look like it's a bit, it's anabandoned home.
SPEAKER_01 (37:11):
Yeah.
We have to redefine what abeautiful lawn looks like.
Change our mindset.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
Yeah.
No, we have, um, we've certainlygone the same way we've, I, I
use an organic lawn care companynow.
Um, and it is, you know, part ofit is, you know, my, my
experience and exposure to youguys and then, uh, the whole
world.
And I'm like, wow, same sort ofthing.
I'm like, I don't live on afarm.
you know, I, but I do have avery small farm in my front yard
(37:38):
that I'd have to take care of,you know, some, some grass and
some soil.
So, um,
SPEAKER_01 (37:43):
you're stewarding land, you are stewarding land.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
And for our animals, you know, there are times where
when we were using conventionalstuff, I mean, obviously every
time they come out andfertilize, they put the little
sign out and say, you know, forthe next 24 hours, don't let
your animals come out here.
But, um, you know, Now we don'treally have to do that, you
know?
So that's that little, thoselittle signs are probably enough
to say that they're puttingpoison on your lawn.
(38:09):
And even if you, you're notthinking about from your kid's
standpoint, running aroundbarefoot, you know, just your
dogs, you know, going out andusing the restroom, coming back
in, they're tracking all thatstuff back into your house.
And that's, that's chemicalseverywhere.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
And the same is true of parks and golf courses and
any manicured, landscape thatyou find you know it's great to
ask the question of of yourschool your school yeah
playground how are you treatingthat you know because i don't
know i don't know thepercentages but it's a high
(38:43):
percentage that are stilltreating conventionally with all
of our kids running around on itand then going back you know
playing whatever and then goingback inside if they're lucky
enough to have recess i guessyeah right exactly if that
hasn't been cut So, all right,Ben.
Well, is there anything else?
(39:04):
You know, I guess I was thinkingabout on this athlete
perspective, you know, you weresaying triage, short-term and
all that.
I was thinking about, you know,there's some really easy changes
that could happen in food thatwould decrease inflammation.
(39:24):
You know, like your glutenexperience, a decrease in
inflammation would be morenutrient-dense, help recovery?
Are they past, okay, you needprotein, protein, protein.
Are they past to the type ofprotein, the level of protein
that is more nutrient-dense?
Are they getting there?
What's the status on that?
SPEAKER_00 (39:46):
I'd like to say that they're getting there.
But again, it's certainly notmandated by the NFL to, It's
just sort of a team by teambasis.
And some teams are really goodabout having the right type of
dietitian and nutritionist andchefs and cooks and stuff like
(40:08):
that.
and they have sort of thesewellness, a lot of the strength
or a lot of the, the training,the head trainers are kind of
more of the, you know, sportsperformance, wellnessy, you
know, there's a lot of slashesto their titles these days.
And so I'd like to think thatthey are getting more educated.
Um, you know, when I, I sit downand talk to some players, um, a
(40:32):
few times a year, and we havethese long-form conversations.
And because of my own naturalcuriosity, I will ask kind of
similar questions that you'reasking me.
And most of them, aside frommaybe some of the linemen,
offense and defense linemen,where they just– a lot of these
guys just need to pack oncalories because a lot of them
aren't naturally over 300pounds.
(40:53):
You know, they're– they have tofight and kind of like really,
really work at keeping theirweight up during the season.
So they, they probably don'tcare as much, but a lot of the
skill position guys, they, theyreally do.
They were much moreknowledgeable and they're much
more dedicated.
Some of these guys have personalchefs at home that have
(41:13):
nutrition plans for them laidout.
So yes, I think that the, theunderstanding of nutrient
density is, And not all caloriesare just the same calorie, that
they can be metabolized indifferent ways for different
people.
And for some, you know, the onestory I love to tell, and it's
really kind of stuck with me, isas I was going through the same
journey, I was talking to, Iwon't mention his real name, but
(41:38):
he's a Hall of Fame widereceiver.
And he was telling me how he wasblown away by his approach to
nutrition.
He's always been very consciousof it.
And one off season, he was justeating just chicken and rice and
kind of doing, you know, thequote unquote, like the men's
(41:58):
health like thing to do.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (42:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (42:01):
Yeah.
The standard.
Hey, let's eat clean and let'slike really limit the fats and,
you know, let's go high proteinand all this other stuff.
And so he was doing all that andhe felt terrible.
He's like, I don't know what I'mdoing wrong.
I'm doing all the right things.
I'm eating brown rice andbroccoli and complex
carbohydrates and high leanproteins.
(42:23):
And come to find out after doinga food sensitivity test, a blood
test, that he was actuallyreally reactive to chicken.
And he's like, what?
I didn't even know that thatcould be a possibility.
And so he changed his diet,basically doing the same thing,
but replaced chicken withturkey.
And he's like...
(42:45):
I didn't realize how much betterI could feel.
And he's like, my, he lost, helost a few pounds instantly.
He said that he, and he'salready a lean guy.
I think he leaned up by apercent and a half to 2% body
fat.
And he's like, I could step offthe practice field and my ankles
didn't hurt.
And he was like, my recovery forthe next day was unlike anything
(43:09):
he's ever experienced.
And that was just, by theknowledge of finding out that
even, even though you thoughtyou're doing the right thing for
his body, it wasn't the rightthing.
And all he was doing wasinviting more and more
inflammation and his body wasinternally fighting with itself
all the time.
And, um, he made a simple changeand it made it all, all the
(43:29):
difference.
SPEAKER_01 (43:30):
Well, that's one.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Cause that's one.
Okay.
We're a beef company.
Big disclaimer there.
Beef is what we sell and allthat.
But one of the biggest misnomersin our industry, historical
healthy diet is chicken.
Because chicken raisedconventionally with conventional
grains and then fried in seedoils is actually one of the
(43:55):
worst things that you can eat.
So you're not getting the animalfat that we need.
And because of the diet, they'rehigher in omega-6s, their
omega-6, omega-3 ratio ishigher.
And then you throw seed oils onit, whether you're frying in a
pan or deep frying or whatever,chances are it's prepared in
seed oils, which again is wayout of balance with your
(44:18):
omega-6, omega-3s.
So it ends up that that is oneof the worst things ever.
that you can eat.
Now, I feel like lightning'sgoing to strike me.
But I've researched it enough tosay it pretty confidently.
Now, you can change that withthe type of chicken and, you
know, are they pastured andfrying in tallow versus seed
(44:41):
oils?
There's ways to change it andyou can still gain nutritional
benefits.
But chicken's just not thatnutrient dense either.
You know, they're fast growing,short lives.
They don't have a bigopportunity to pack in a lot of
nutrition into that meat.
So So yeah, you get someprotein, but the rest of the
vitamins and minerals aresomewhat suspect on chicken.
(45:01):
And, you know, I just seeeverywhere that people think
that that's just the best thingin the world to eat.
SPEAKER_00 (45:07):
No, I'm glad that you kind of highlighted that
too, because, you know, recentlya lot of people are kind of
going after the store-boughtrotisserie chickens and, you
know, Costco's getting hammeredfor their rotisserie.
they knowingly accept the factthat they're losing money on
their rotisserie chickensbecause it brings people to the
(45:28):
store and they strategicallyplace it in the back of the
store, all this other stuff.
But then you look at the actualquality of the chicken, not only
is it steaming in the plastic,which is a whole other
situation, but also these youngchickens are pumped full of
steroids, antibiotics, all thisother stuff.
And so to your point, is itreally a clean meat at the end
(45:49):
of the day?
It might be sustenance, but isit really nutrient dense and
really what you need?
And if you go, you know, more ofa region approach and pasture
raised approach to the chicken,yes, you're, you're eliminating
all those, all those, you know,injectables that they give them
and the terrible feed, you know,and a lot of people don't even
(46:10):
realize that chickens arecarnivores, you know, and, and,
And when they say, oh, thischicken is on a vegetarian diet,
it's like, well, it's really notwhat they're supposed to be
SPEAKER_01 (46:22):
eating.
That brings up the story of myyouth because we used to have
chickens running around in ourfarmyard.
We'd have a couple hundred at atime, always outside, always on
their own.
We fed them grain, but theybarely ate any grain because
they were eating so many bugsand, believe it or not, frogs
because we had frogs everywhere.
Almost their entire diet waschasing frogs down and eating
(46:46):
them.
They didn't even want the grain.
They had all this otheravailable to them, this other
diet.
And of course, now things havechanged so much that, A, frogs
aren't readily available whenyou have chickens outside.
And what's the stats on theamount of insects that we've
lost?
Billions and so many speciesjust completely gone.
UNKNOWN (47:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (47:09):
You know, my anecdotal story on that is I
worked at the truck stop downthe road when I was a kid, and
man, in the summertime, peoplecome in at night with their
headlights on.
It was full service back then.
Remember that, those days?
We'd have to scrub and scrub andscrub to get those resins of
those bugs off the windshields.
They'd be covered.
(47:29):
Well, I can drive my truck allsummer and clean it twice a To
get the bugs off?
I mean, the amount of bugs, it'salarming.
But that's what birds eat, andthat's what chickens eat.
So birds are in trouble,pollinators are in trouble, dogs
are in trouble, and we'rekilling them.
So, you know, it's really sadthat we can't raise them the way
(47:53):
we used to and have thatnutrient density.
SPEAKER_00 (47:56):
Yeah.
Well, the nice thing is for whatyou guys do too, it's like you
just let the grass grow and yougot these four-legged animals
coming around just mowing themdown.
It's like the perfect food forthem.
SPEAKER_01 (48:11):
Yeah.
And we just keep them, well,just this morning I was dealing
with, you know, we had unusuallywarm weather here, which leads
to mud.
And the common theme is just tokeep them moving.
Even in the winter, we just keepthem moving.
They don't wreck anything then,but they're fertilizing.
And they're helping things togrow during the growing season.
And you just mimic nature andeverything just works.
The soil comes back to life.
(48:32):
The pollinators come back.
The birds come back.
It takes a while.
It's not a quick fix.
But, you know, five, ten years,you can make a huge difference.
Nature is very resilient andshe'll recover easily.
if you just give her the rightatmosphere and the right
environment.
And it's just a beautiful thingto watch.
SPEAKER_00 (48:51):
Yeah.
I think the, one of the coolest,um, sort of benefits to what you
guys, you side benefits to whatyou guys do and everybody else
around the country.
And, and I've, you know, wetalked about it when we visited
your farm, but the biodiversitythat's on your farm versus
neighboring farms areconventional.
It's now, this is going tosound, I'm going to
(49:13):
over-exaggerate, but justpainting the picture for
everybody listening is, um, youcan really build sort of this
Garden of Eden where you havethis idea where it's every
species, every native species ofanimal is gonna live there and
they're gonna live there sort ofin harmony.
And you can sort of build thaton your own plot of land and
(49:38):
people are like, well, how isthat so?
And it's like, well, when youdon't kill everything off from
the microbes all the way up withall the pesticides and all this
other stuff, then all of asudden, you know, the worms come
back and then, well, what do theworms get eaten by?
Well, they get eaten by, birdsand then the birds come back and
(49:58):
they they start to start nestingall stuff and all of a sudden
now there's predators that wantto eat those birds and it's like
now you look around you likeyou've got your your livestock
that you're raising but thenthere's a fox and there's a
coyote and there's deer andthere's these birds and these
pheasants and quail and all thisother stuff that you have on
your property that nobody elsehas and you know watching these
(50:19):
documentaries about these theseregen farms down in the south
and georgia and all this otherstuff i mean they're getting the
the quail to come back in hugenumbers and all the neighbors
are like, we love to hunt quail.
We haven't hunted quail in 15years because we can't find
them.
Nature is going to find a waywhere they're wanted and they
(50:39):
have the infrastructure tosurvive.
SPEAKER_01 (50:42):
It's very true.
Even the plants, the nativeplants come out and start
sprouting and growing when youaren't trying to kill everything
and grow a monoculture crop andkill everything else.
So we get these diversegrasslands coming back from the
(51:05):
seeds in the seed bank.
And then we've learned in ourown nutrient density study that
we're a part of that's superfascinating.
And it's cutting edge datacoming out of that.
But just the real top headlineis we found, the researchers,
the scientists, found acorrelation between the
(51:27):
diversity of the grassland andthe nutrient density of the
meat.
So that's how they were designedto eat.
So we narrow it down to a verynarrow ration instead of a
diverse grassland for aruminant.
Well, now all of a sudden youromega-6s drop.
You've got a 2 to 1 ratioinstead of a 7 to 13 to 15 to 20
(51:52):
to 1 ratio of a 6 to 3.
And plus all the other vitaminsand minerals and the
phytochemicals that are in theplants actually get passed
through the meat and actuallycan be detected in humans.
So you're getting that salad, inessence, by eating a steak,
which I love.
But it's amazing.
(52:13):
There's going to be so muchcoming out about this that the
diet of the animal, you are whatyour food eats, that it really
ends up expressing itself.
So there's a lot of benefit tothat.
to allowing nature to justflourish.
I love, I love the garden ofEden.
I'm going to use that.
(52:33):
That's what it feels like.
SPEAKER_00 (52:35):
Well, yeah, that sounds like way more spiritual
than I wanted to, but I was justtrying to paint this picture of
like, man, you could have this,like, you know, what we all kind
of envision of this, this, youknow, this beautiful place where
are these, the, the humans andthe birds and everything kind of
live in harmony.
And although they kind of likeare predatory and they feed off
each other, but still, you know,you get the, you get the point,
SPEAKER_01 (52:56):
you know?
Yes, I totally do.
And the spiritual reference isokay with me too.
Yeah.
Um, so, you know, thank you fortaking the time.
Do you, I really appreciate youjoining us.
I, I really do.
I know you're busy and takingthe time to do this is, is just
great of you.
Do you have, um, one hopefulmessage that you'd like to leave
(53:18):
our listeners with within thiswhole regenerative realm?
SPEAKER_00 (53:25):
You know, I would say just kind of going back to
my story and then the story thatyou've shared about your health
journey.
And, you know, maybe this isn'tjust specific to regenerative
agriculture, but, you know,don't be afraid to take control
of your life.
and don't be afraid to takecontrol of your health.
And if things aren't makingsense, and if you are being
frustrated by hitting roadblockswherever you look, keep looking
(53:50):
and do your own research.
And I know that term has beenvillainized lately, the last
couple of years, but if peopleweren't doing their own research
and being their own personalrenegades, then we wouldn't have
made this progress that we'vemade where I think we've made a
ton of progress with health andwellness and understanding our
(54:14):
bodies and understanding what wedo to the land and how it
affects us directly.
So I would say just don't beafraid.
Be bold when it comes to takingcontrol of your life.
I
SPEAKER_01 (54:28):
love that.
I love that.
That was actually a message Ireceived this morning.
Just be bold in going forth.
Don't be sheeple.
Be bold.
chart your own path.
It's okay.
You can do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No problem.
SPEAKER_00 (54:47):
Uh, thanks for having me.
Congrats again on the pod.
And, uh, I look forward tohearing other ones.
SPEAKER_01 (54:52):
Yeah.
Great.
Sounds good.
Have a good day.
All right.
You too.
See ya.
UNKNOWN (54:59):
Bye.
Well, hello, everyone.
Today, we're very honored tohave with us Ben Lieber.
Ben is a very active guy, verybusy ex-NFLer.
(00:25):
I'll go through his bio a littlebit, and then we'll dive right
in.
Welcome, Ben.
Good to have you here today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:31):
Yeah, Matt.
It's good to see you.
Thanks for having me on.
Congratulations on the podcast.
I know they take some work onthe front end to get going, but
I'm glad you guys are up andrunning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:43):
Yeah.
Thanks for being a part of it.
I really appreciate it.
So Ben Lieber is a retired10-year NFL linebacker, played
for the San Diego Chargers forthree years.
Or four years.
Four years, yep.
Four years.
Minnesota Vikings for anotherfour or five.
Five, yep.
Yep.
(01:03):
And the St.
Louis Rams.
He currently works in theMinneapolis-St.
Paul media market as a radio andtelevision personality.
For radio, he works exclusivelyfor the number one sports radio
in the nation, FM 100.3 KFAN,our home sports radio station
here.
in Minneapolis.
(01:24):
He appears on multiple radioshows every week, and he is the
radio sideline reporter for allthe Minnesota Vikings football
games.
Skol! On television, he's theco-host for Twin Cities Live, a
lifestyle program on the ABCaffiliate.
Twin Cities Live is the numberone afternoon program in the
Twin Cities.
(01:44):
He also appears on the VikingsEntertainment Network and Fox 9
as a team analyst.
Oh, so by the way, you're ontoday with the number one
grass-fed beef brand, so all youdo is play with number one.
SPEAKER_00 (01:56):
I guess so.
It feels good to be part of awinning team.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Yeah, I bet it is.
And you know, when I wasthinking about you with our
little bit of interactions, Ithought, you epitomize, if you
want something done, ask a busyperson.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
I guess.
I mean, it is true.
As I've gotten older in thislife, I've realized about myself
that I get way more done, I'mway more productive, the more
scheduled I am.
You would think that those offdays that we kind of take for
ourselves are like, I'm justgoing to clear the calendar.
(02:37):
I'm not going to do anythingtoday.
I deserve a me day.
Those are my least productivedays because I don't do well
with just having idle time.
I can easily distract myselfwith a lot of just needless,
senseless stuff.
So yeah, I think the morescheduled I am, the busier I am,
(02:57):
I tend to check off a lot moreoff my list.
SPEAKER_01 (03:01):
Yeah.
Well, I've heard some of thatfrom about you talking about
yourself over the radio and Ican totally relate.
I
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
don't know if it's just the way I'm built or it's
the conditioning from thefootball world where everything
is so scheduled, but I just likehaving a directive and I like
having sort of a checklist to doevery day.
And I'm not saying, look, it'sIt's not necessarily the home
(03:29):
stuff.
My wife and all of our wives cangive us a whole list of things
to do all the time.
That's not necessarily what I'mtalking about.
But it's nice to know that, allright, I have a directive for
the day as far as work goes, andthis is what I need to get
accomplished.
And I just feel better that way.
And it's funny because I hadsome time off last week, and...
(03:52):
I was just going through somestuff and I was getting a bunch
of emails done, a bunch of justlike administrative stuff done.
And I get into work thatafternoon and I was talking to
my co-host.
I'm like, she's like, oh, howwas your morning?
I'm like, man, I was soproductive.
I got so much stuff done, but Istill don't feel like I got
anything done.
You know, it's like all just thethings that needed to get done.
(04:15):
It was kind of mindless and busywork, but I didn't have that
sense of accomplishment.
So, yeah, I like to have thenice productive list every day.
SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
Well, you know, we talk about, I'm always
fascinated with hearing thestories, like on the NFL draft,
for example.
The best part about the draft tome is hearing the backstories of
the people that are gettingdrafted and and where they came
from and what they needed toovercome, because there's always
things to overcome, right?
(04:44):
To get to any level of anyindustry or any vocation,
there's a lot to overcome toachieve whatever the highest
level is.
And so I'm really curious tohear your story, where you
started, how you started infootball, how you balanced life
(05:05):
with football, We've alreadyscratched the surface a little
bit on the mindset of BenLieber, and I'm sure this is the
way you've always been wired.
So if you could take us back tothat journey and share, you
know, the successes, but alsothe failures and the setbacks,
(05:26):
so we could learn a little bitmore about you.
SPEAKER_00 (05:28):
Well, yeah, it's a long story, so buckle up.
You know, it's funny.
I'll start with the basics.
sort of the draft, you know,that was an interesting time
because there's so much that youprepare for and you spend weeks
(05:48):
and months and months and monthstrying to train just for these
specific drills.
And it really kind of messeswith your head.
And all this kind of like, maybefrom a global standpoint, just
kind of like, talk to you guysand let you guys know just like
where my mindset was with all offootball.
I got to play with so many greatteammates, and I would see these
(06:12):
guys when I was a freshman,sophomore in college, and I'm
just trying to find myself incollege and figure out who I was
as a person and as a footballplayer and all this other stuff,
kind of like every 18,19-year-old, 20-year-old does.
And I look around at all theseguys and I'm like, man, so many
of my teammates came from theseharsh situations.
(06:34):
They didn't have a dad, maybetheir dad was incarcerated or
maybe their parents are in jailand maybe they don't know them
or they had a major caraccident.
All of these really, really biglife moments.
You've got a family member thatwas killed that was super close
to you.
All these things, and I hear allthese guys talk about, this is
(06:58):
the big life hurdle that I hadto overcome.
It might've been multiple lifehurdles.
And then they really foundfootball as the sanctuary.
They really found football as akind of a way out.
Maybe it's a bad neighborhood, abad family dynamic, a bad
situation.
Football for them was thatguiding light of like, this is
(07:19):
gonna keep me on a straight andnarrow.
It's gonna keep me...
distracted enough to where Idon't have to think about all
those challenges in life.
And in a weird way, I kind offelt like, not jealous, but I'm
like, I don't have that.
I came from a great family.
(07:41):
I didn't use football as adistraction.
I wasn't using football as a wayout.
That wasn't like the motivatingfactor for me.
And I look at these players, I'mlike, man, all of these guys
sort of play with this edge.
You know, they have thisedginess about them because
they're a little bit morehardened than I am and all this
(08:02):
stuff.
And I was kind of envious of thefact that, like, their life
experience kind of gave themthis edge, this football edge
that everybody's looking for.
Yeah.
I really sort of strung like,man, I don't know what, I don't
know if I have a life struggle,you know, like I was very
fortunate to grow up in a, in a,you know, two parent home.
(08:23):
And, and, uh, my, both myparents worked extremely hard
and I saw all of that.
And it's kind of a weirdpsychological deal because, um,
still need to picture
SPEAKER_01 (08:33):
that family though.
Give us the father knows best,um, description of that family.
Your dad, it sounds like schooladministration, uh,
SPEAKER_00 (08:42):
Yeah, so my dad, always in education, he was kind
of like the quintessential storyof got his teaching degree, he
was a teacher back at the sameschool in Council Bluffs, Iowa,
where he graduated from at St.
Albert High School, and thenworked his way up.
(09:03):
Worked his way up from teacher,coach, coach track and football,
and then then worked his wayinto administration.
And then we moved to Albia, Iowabecause he was the high school
principal.
We were there for a number ofyears.
And then he thought there wasjust going to be a better
opportunity for him and for thefamily to move.
And so he took another principaljob in Vermilion, South Dakota.
(09:27):
We moved there.
And then all through my highschool career, he was in the
hallways every day.
I saw my dad every day at schoolas the high school principal.
It was great.
It was great.
I mean, a lot of people werelike, oh, man, you know, I hate
to have my dad at school all thetime.
You know, I was I mean, shocker.
I didn't get in trouble thatmuch.
You know, you're
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
a good guy, right?
SPEAKER_00 (09:52):
Well, you know, I'm I'm I'm fortunate that I had two
older brothers that really pavedthe way in everything that I
did.
Was that all your
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
siblings?
Two older brothers?
I
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
have two older brothers and a younger sister.
Both my older brothers werefantastic athletes and great
guys.
They always got good grades.
I just had to follow along.
I was just one of the ducklingsin a row.
SPEAKER_01 (10:16):
What grade were you in when you fell in love with
football?
SPEAKER_00 (10:24):
I've got to be honest, Matt.
I didn't fall in love withfootball probably until my end
of my sophomore year of college.
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (10:35):
wow.
So you got that far.
Yeah.
It's kind of natural talentand...
Yeah, I just...
I mean, I'm not saying youweren't dedicated, but, you
know, you're kind of moving
SPEAKER_00 (10:45):
along.
Yeah, I really...
I just really...
I enjoyed...
When I was in high school, Ienjoyed the game, but I think
because in a small town in SouthDakota...
It's like you play the game offootball, you get done, win,
lose, or draw at the end of theseason, and then you move right
into basketball season orwrestling.
And then after that, you goright into track, and then we
(11:08):
have Legion summer baseball.
And so it was always just playthe sport, have fun with it, we
work hard at it.
I was dedicated when I was thereand very committed.
You know, I would...
try to stay after and do otherthings.
And I really liked the gym and Iwould lift weights and stuff.
And then once it was overthough, I'd go right into
basketball and I would neverthink about football again until
(11:29):
the next, the next fall.
So, um, I don't know if I reallyhad a chance to really like, it
wasn't for me, like my passion,passion.
And then when I got to college,I actually really, really
questioned whether or not,because it's so hard and the
life adjustment is, is sodrastic.
UNKNOWN (11:49):
Um,
SPEAKER_00 (11:50):
And shocking.
Trying to manage your time andyou're getting your ass kicked
every day in practice.
You're getting belittled by thecoaches.
You feel like you're just likeminuscule this tall and your
confidence is shot.
And I mean, so I went from...
Just ho-hum.
I like playing football in highschool.
This is kind of cool.
(12:10):
I'm getting attention.
That's neat.
I'm getting this scholarship toKansas State.
And then my freshman year, Ialmost quit football because I
hated it so much.
And then once I started to graspthe game, and then I saw the
upperclassmen getting draftedand getting looked at as far as
the NFL.
And I was like, I'm not that farbehind these guys, I don't
(12:31):
think.
Maybe this is an opportunity.
So it really wasn't until Isaw...
maybe the bigger picture, that'swhen I sort of dedicated my life
to, I want to go down that road.
I want to see if I can do this.
SPEAKER_01 (12:43):
I'll segue into hope about the future and talking
about nutrition.
I know you've taken the time tovisit our farm and learn about
regenerative ag, and you're verygood at researching and
educating yourself.
So I'd like to hear about how,what your relationship has been
with food and nutrition and, asyou went through this whole
(13:03):
journey that you described, andmaybe even how you look at it
for your children now, and whereyou see hope there.
But first starting, just how younavigated that through those
stages of life.
SPEAKER_00 (13:21):
Yeah, I think with a lot of people, when they try to
deep dive into something andthey really become educated in
something usually there's athere's some sort of catalyst
personal catalyst that happensthat really kind of forces them
into it and for me um it was twothings uh getting drafted by san
diego was a major life shiftwhen it came to how i look at
(13:43):
nutrition you know southerncalifornia which i I didn't know
anything about SouthernCalifornia.
Every myth that I had aboutSouthern California when I lived
in the Midwest was broken when Imoved there because the people
are, they actually arehardworking.
There are a lot of things that Ivalue there.
But the other thing is, they'reso far ahead of us from the
(14:04):
Midwest as far as nutritiongoes.
I mean, all the way back in theearly 2000s, I didn't even know
what kale was.
You know, like I didn't know.
We don't have a lot
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
of green all winter in Iowa to get, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
I know.
It really was just a meat andpotatoes, you know, lifestyle
when I was growing up.
And it was just kind of like eatwhatever you want.
And calories are just calories.
And that's, you know, we allknow that's not the case
anymore.
So when I got to San Diego, Isaw these guys just like really
eating healthy and doing thisand that.
And I'm like, I was just kind oflike curious and excited.
(14:41):
Like, why are you eating that?
What is that?
And they would educate me justhere and there.
So just through osmosis and justthrough just general curiosity,
just, okay, this is a whole newthing that I didn't know about.
And then about four or fiveyears later, Throughout my whole
life, I'd always had theserandom, spontaneous, giant hives
(15:03):
that would pop up.
There'd be times when my lipswould swell, and my mom has a
little of the same thing, so Ijust thought, we always just
thought it was genetic, and Iwould take an antihistamine and
maybe an ibuprofen or something,and then it would calm down
several hours later, but I neverknew when they were gonna pop
up.
I just never, and I nevercorrelated it to anything
(15:24):
especially nutrition wise.
Cause we just didn't, we weren'tknowledgeable like that.
And then, so, you know, when Iactually, when I came to
Minnesota, I had probably sixmonths of that.
Maybe I think it was 2006,right?
When I got here, that footballseason was the worst outbreak of
hives I've ever had.
(15:45):
I get them all the time.
I had really, really bad eczemaon my hands, which then I just,
I chalked it up to like, okay,I'm in my sweaty football gloves
all day long.
It's gonna be winter time.
I haven't spent a winter likethis in years.
And so maybe it's my hands arejust cracked and all this other
stuff because of that.
And so I was always justifyinglike, why I was having these
(16:08):
reactions.
And it got to a point where I goto practice one day, I woke up
with a whole bunch of hives, Iwoke up with part of my jaw
swollen, my lip was swollenagain, and the swelling around
my jaw was moving down into myneck.
And I'm sitting in meetings andI can't really talk to my
(16:30):
neighbor.
And my voice is starting to getaffected by the inflammation.
So I go to the trainers, andthey're like, hey, man, we don't
know what's going on, but let'sjust give you an EpiPen.
So the EpiPen me.
Everything sort of calmed downfor a little bit after that.
And I just sort of had it.
I'm like, I've got to get thisfigured out.
I went to a bunch of doctorshere in town.
Your livelihood's at risk now.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And I'm like, this is gettingreally out of hand.
And now it's like, man...
the next big outbreak could be,you know, something that maybe
I'm not in an area to get anEpiPen.
So I got mad.
I had no answers.
Nobody could give me an answer.
Um, I, I did the allergy testswhere they, you know, the skin
prick you and all this stuff andnothing really came up as
(17:15):
conclusive.
I go down to the Mayo clinic,they do the same thing.
Their allergist was like, Heyman, um, It's your body's kind
of reacting to a bunch ofdifferent things Why don't you
just keep taking yourantihistamines if that's working
then just do that on a dailybasis and I mean to be honest
(17:36):
with you my response because outof the frustration when I walked
out was a major double middlefinger F you and I was like this
can't be what modern medicine isdoing to me so I I found through
somebody else and just doing myresearch, I found a functional
(17:58):
medicine doctor and I said, I'mgoing to try this route.
And we went the functionalmedicine way and found out that
I was highly, highly sensitiveto wheat and some other food
products.
And it was as simple aseliminating wheat from my diet
that changed everything.
(18:18):
So since...
The gluten.
So since 2007, I've beengluten-free.
So long story short, that wasthe reason getting no answers
from the Western medicineapproach and finding a more
holistic way to look at my bodyreally opened my eyes to what we
(18:41):
put in our body makes a hugedifference.
And I started reading books.
I started...
researching things and it wasjust slow but consistent and it
was kind of like my off-seasonpassion you know i would just
consume all of these nutritionbooks and functional medicine
approaches and holisticapproaches and whatever and i
(19:04):
found out that man you know foodreally is the medicine that we
need and a lot of times it'savoiding certain things is what
we need and um I've startedreading more about
nutrient-dense foods, and thenthat kind of led into how we
grow our food, how we raise ouranimals, the herbicides, the
(19:24):
pesticides, the soil, all thisother stuff, and have thankfully
found regenerative agricultureas what I think is the true path
forward.
And it's funny because it's notnew.
It's like it's what we weredoing before conventional
farming.
So it's a huge, huge benefit tohave people like you guys in our
(19:48):
state, to have the voice, theproducts, the influence.
Yeah, that's kind of been myjourney.
And I'm so happy and proud thatwe're friends and that I get to
use you guys' products and feedmy family.
SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
Well, thank you for doing that and for sharing that
story.
similar situations in our familythat, you know, required us
looking past conventionalmedicine.
And we went on the same journey,basically, you know, where
conventional Western medicinewas not finding solutions to a
(20:30):
couple of issues in our family,one of our sons and unable to
find any kind, just the samething, just complete kind of,
well, we don't know.
We don't know.
And no other solutions offered,no other paths offered.
You find them on your own.
But I can't, what I really wantto ask is, has professional
(20:53):
sports, I won't even pull outthe NFL, but this professional
sports, it amazes me now whenyou're sitting where you are and
we are, where we're at in thisunderstanding, you know, to go
to the trainer or any medicalstaff and they give you an
EpiPen, has there been anyprogress on that front?
(21:15):
You ended up at Mayo.
It just seems like they'relagging behind.
And I say that because you gothow many millions you're
spending on the player salariesand the facilities and the
investment that happens is huge.
It's a huge thing.
But it seems as though there'smaybe a lag there from what
conventional to what we'retalking about.
(21:37):
And I don't understand that, butmaybe I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_00 (21:41):
You know, it is getting better.
You know, when I was tellingthat story back in 2006, it has
progressed so much since then.
You know, I do sympathize withour, you know, our training
staffs and every place that I'vebeen, our medical staffs,
they're phenomenal.
But they have to work in more ofa triage situation.
(22:01):
You know, it's like we have toget these players, you ready to
play and recovered around theclock, ready to go the next day.
Because our practices are justas important as the games.
And so missing practice is a bigdeal too.
And so on a constant basis,they're like, what can we do
today to let you practice andget you ready for Sunday?
(22:24):
And so they're not necessarilythinking about taking the longer
road approach on how to fixthings.
They just need to fix you now.
But that is changing.
I mean, a lot of these guys,part of it is the players
themselves are much moreeducated.
There's a lot more people likeme that became educated at even
(22:47):
a younger age and they'realready on a nutrition plan.
They already know, they've takenfood sensitivity tests and all
this other things.
They're getting their hormoneschecked.
They're getting all this stuff.
They're taking more of aholistic approach to their own
health and wellness.
And then they're communicatingthat to the actual team and the
(23:08):
team doctors.
So there's a little bit moresynergy.
I wouldn't say that every teamhas adopted the philosophy and
they have their ownpractitioners on the team, but
you can take what you're doingoutside of the game, bring that
to the team doctors and say,hey, let's come up with a plan.
Let's bring my food panel to thedietician and nutritionist.
(23:31):
And then we'll come up with aplan of what I can eat while I'm
actually at the facility whenthey give you the free breakfast
and lunch.
And they can individualize andcustomize a lot of the plans.
I mean, it's the same thing instrength and conditioning.
You have something going on.
You talk to the strength andconditioning.
It's no longer just paint with abroad brush.
You're like, hey, linebackers,tight ends, fullbacks, you guys
(23:53):
are all the same type of guys.
You guys go do your own workout.
This is the workout for you.
Now it's like, okay, Ben Lieber,you've got this deficiency in
your hamstrings.
We need you to do this extraexercise, these extra stretches.
And then when we do ourconditioning stuff, we need you
to have X, Y, and Z.
So it's much more customized,kind of top to bottom.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
Well, and I want to...
urge those that are listeningthat you can run a parallel path
to what Ben just described.
You know, now it is functionalmedicine, homeopathic, holistic,
natural, unconventional,whatever you want to call it.
Those doctors are out there,those professionals, those
advisors are out there toaccess, and you can open up this
(24:37):
whole world with seeking outsomeone that you would trust do
some research and then, and thenrunning those panels and
learning about your body andlearning about other options
that you can take to care foryour body.
So it doesn't have to be theprofessional athlete.
You can now, because oftechnology, you can now access
this yourself for you and yourfamily and have a much more
(25:01):
targeted regimented approach toyour health.
SPEAKER_00 (25:05):
Yeah, no, I, I completely agree.
And I think, um, you know, we'restarting to see that more and
more and, um, whether it'sbecause it's the political
landscape or whatnot, but Ithink just the idea that we can
take health into our own handsis it's empowering for
everybody.
And I think then we're startingto see a little bit more of this
(25:26):
stuff trickle out where you cantake control of your health.
And yes, thank goodness we havedoctors and, and, um, the drug
companies to kind of help usguide us to get to that point.
You know, some people need totake some of these drugs just to
kind of get over the hump, butthen at the same time, you can
still be taking control of yourlife of like, okay, I need to
(25:48):
eat, be eating less sugar, lesscarbohydrates, this or that.
And then that can actually, I'llwean myself off of the drugs and
then I can take control of mylife from there on out.
I mean, to say five years ago,that you can reverse type two
diabetes, people would thinkthat you're crazy and that
you're a crackpot.
And like, nope, it's genetic,it's this, it's this, and this.
(26:12):
And now it's pretty muchmainstream that we know that you
can reverse type two diabetes,which is a huge, which is a huge
strain on our medical system andhealthcare system.
You can change that and reverseit yourself, and there's
thousands and thousands ofstories where people are doing
this exact thing where, Theunfortunate part is it might
(26:32):
take you six months to a yearversus, oh, I just wake up every
morning and I take this pill andI just feel better.
You know, that's what peoplewant.
But you give yourself one year,you can get off all the drugs
and you can become a happier,healthier person.
SPEAKER_01 (26:47):
That's true.
And you gain so many morebenefits through that slower
approach.
It's just, it's kind of likeagriculture.
You know, there's all thebenefits that go into
regenerative agriculture, butThat it does take time.
It's just like our health.
It's the health of our soil.
But it does take intentionality.
And this, you know, this podcastis regenerative renegades,
regenerative renegades.
(27:09):
And you do have to be.
I want to.
Encourage people because you dohave to be somewhat of a
renegade to get outside of theconventional and start to look
at this yourself.
And you do have to push a littlehere and there.
You do have to research.
You do have to get outside theboundaries some to be able to
(27:30):
adopt this type of nutrition andhealth plan.
But it's so worth it.
It's so worth it to take thatstep and trust yourself and be
your own advocate.
you know, so that you can starton that path.
And you hit it right on the nailon the head with that long-term
approach.
I mean, it's the same withagriculture.
(27:53):
There's a very, very clearparallel between conventional
medicine and conventionalagriculture.
You know, I won't get into allthe reasons why that exists or
whatever it does for many, manyreasons.
But thankfully, today, there'salternatives.
And you can You can marry themtogether however you want or
(28:14):
sync them up or synergize them,whatever you call it.
But the options are there.
I guess that's the message Iwant to send.
The options are there.
I've been through it myself.
I've had cancer twice and thatopened my eyes to...
oh, what am I doing that'scausing this?
What have I been exposed toenvironmentally?
(28:39):
What am I diet?
What am I lifestyle?
Do I need to change?
And, man, you know, 20 yearslater, I feel better than I did
then.
Yeah.
It's just amazing, the energylevel and the ability to focus
and just have a– greatproductive day and feel good,
(29:01):
that's priceless.
SPEAKER_00 (29:03):
I know.
I'm fortunate that I grew upbasically in two farming
communities, both in Iowa andSouth Dakota, and not so much
around it now here in the TwinCities metro, but having that
upbringing, and you can speak tothis directly, knowing what we
know now and looking back, theamount of chemicals that are on
(29:26):
a conventional farm that youngkids are around every day, every
day, whether they're playing inand around it, whether their
parents are spraying that dayand it's a windy day.
The water, I mean, it is crazythe amount of poison that we
(29:46):
allowed our children to continueto play around is scary.
And it's no secret why A lot ofthese kids have asthma.
They've got skin issues.
They've got autoimmune issuesthat they can't detect and can't
figure out.
I'm like, well, look at thefarming practices and look at
their homes and where they are.
(30:08):
And thankfully, you know, regenagriculture eliminates all that.
SPEAKER_01 (30:13):
Well, and, you know, the way we care for our lawns is
a direct parallel to ourconventional agriculture with
still a lot of chemicals.
I started an organic lawn carecompany in the late 80s when I
was in college.
And I did some research that ledme to that.
And I had some health issuesthat led me to starting that
because I basically was drenchedin chemicals that are the same
(30:35):
chemicals we put on fields, weput on lawns, basically.
And back then, we let our kidsand animals roll around in it
after the lawn was treated.
And we do the same on our land.
But specifically in Iowa, Ifound a study then that was done
that showed the highest percapita rate of cancer was in
(30:56):
Iowa.
No.
Yes.
That was back then.
That was a study that was done.
And of course, nobody heardabout that.
You really had to dig to findit.
I had to be on the microfiche inthe library in the days that I
was in the library, you know.
But I found it and I was like,okay, there's something here.
And started researching thechemical companies and getting
(31:17):
answers.
And, you know, I'll share thequick story.
I I was working for a lawn carecompany, worked my way through
college, had a background inlandscaping.
They go, Hey, this is great.
I've arrived.
Now I can drive a truck around,spray lawns.
This is easy work.
It's not breaking my back, likelifting sod balls and all kinds
of crazy back work.
And so I got this job and likethe third day I'm out 20 lawns a
(31:40):
day.
Okay.
I got to get 20 lawns a day.
I'm very competitive.
So I'm going to exceed that ofcourse.
And it's a hot muggy day inMinnesota and, I get through
about 10 lawns or so.
In the town I grew up in, and Iwent to high school, and I went
to college, I got lost.
I couldn't find my way back tothe warehouse or to the next
(32:02):
lawn at that point.
I had to sit down on the curband try to clear my mind because
I was lost.
I had no idea where to go.
And, you know, I was a young,healthy adult.
I loved working out, and I wasin great shape.
And so...
I look around.
I go back.
I finally figure out how to getback.
I'm like, dude, I don't knowwhat happened, but I completely
(32:26):
couldn't think.
He goes, oh, don't worry aboutit.
The owner of the company islike, I don't worry about it.
Drink some water.
You'll be fine.
As he's stirring up thechemicals in the tank with his
hand, he goes, this was fine.
I go, can I have one of thosecans?
I want to call the company andask some questions.
So I did.
I said, okay, I'm applying thischemical that you sell.
(32:47):
What should I be wearing?
I said, well, first of all, youshould have a face covering for
your air.
So you're filtering the air andthen you should have rubber
gloves up past your elbows.
You should have a rubber bib onand you should have rubber boots
up to your knees.
I had a polo shirt and shortsand tennis shoes.
Oh
SPEAKER_02 (33:06):
my God.
SPEAKER_01 (33:07):
So I bring that back to the owner and I said, this is
what the chemical company toldme.
And he said, well, we can't dothat.
No one will ever buy this fromus.
And I said, well, And I'm deadbroke.
I'm a college kid.
My best job I ever had.
And I said, oh, okay.
I'm going to have to quit andfind another job.
(33:29):
Good for you.
I value my health and I can't dothis.
So that's sort of the organiclawn.
I did a bunch of research onorganic lawn care the last year
I was in college.
And it was a lot of fun becauseI'm running ads that say, is
your lawn chemically dependent?
I'm like...
Come over to us because we'renot.
(33:50):
We're just going to put somenatural fertilizer.
And if there's a littlediversity in your lawn, let it
be.
Don't worry about thedandelions.
They're good for pollinators.
And we were doing soil testingto customize our fertilizer to
their lawn.
And it was so much fun.
But here is this college kidwith maybe 50 lawns total that
(34:13):
I'm taking care of.
I got death threats on myanswering machine for
bad-mouthing chemicals.
SPEAKER_00 (34:22):
No.
I
SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
did.
I couldn't believe it more thanonce.
So I got their attention, andthey didn't like it.
And I thought, ooh, I scratch anerve.
And I tucked that away and wentoff and did my career in
marketing and then ended up backin regenerative agriculture.
But I tell that story.
(34:44):
for the listeners to know thatstuff is real yeah and cutting
it out of your diet and yourenvironment um is so worth it
SPEAKER_00 (34:55):
yeah i mean being being aware is such a huge thing
i mean the fact that the factthat you had enough curiosity
now it took you know it took amoment where you were
disoriented to like reallyfigure this out but A lot of
people don't do that.
A lot of people will have thesespells or this and that, and
(35:17):
they'll just go about their dayand they'll say, ah, it's, it's
fine.
It's just a little phase, alittle this and that.
And they have no idea that what,what they're around on a daily
basis could be killing them.
SPEAKER_01 (35:28):
Yes.
Yep.
And if, and it's, that's alsolong-term, you know, you don't,
you don't have that moment.
And then the next day you're inMayo with cancer, you know, So
many years later of theaccumulation that it takes
before your body reacts, youjust don't know.
Yeah.
You know, so you can take stepsto just minimize as much as you
(35:50):
can.
And, you know, we have as much,I always hit this because most
people aren't farmers and verysmall percentage are, but we
have like, what is it?
55 million acres in lawns withone species of grass in that
lawn.
And the, chemicals that controlthat.
You know, I'd love to see, Imean, I always got in trouble
(36:12):
from my neighbors when I livedin the suburbs because my lawn
was a mess, you know, speciesand I'd have to sneak home after
dark or I'd have to get theglare of the neighbors.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Drug dealer leaving, living nextdoor.
That's got this messy nativespecies lawn.
(36:32):
He's freaking nuts, man.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:35):
Well, we, the funny thing is we have, we have a
house that's not far from usthat they have a sign in the
yard that says like, you know,we practice natural lawn care or
whatever.
And yeah, they have the, thething that I don't mind that
they're doing it.
It's just, you can probablystill keep it somewhat kept and
(36:57):
like, you know, but they havetaken the approach of just
letting the wild grasses get astall as they want.
And I'm like, well, I, I applaudyou for doing that, but it does
look like it's a bit, it's anabandoned home.
SPEAKER_01 (37:11):
Yeah.
We have to redefine what abeautiful lawn looks like.
Change our mindset.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
Yeah.
No, we have, um, we've certainlygone the same way we've, I, I
use an organic lawn care companynow.
Um, and it is, you know, part ofit is, you know, my, my
experience and exposure to youguys and then, uh, the whole
world.
And I'm like, wow, same sort ofthing.
I'm like, I don't live on afarm.
you know, I, but I do have avery small farm in my front yard
(37:38):
that I'd have to take care of,you know, some, some grass and
some soil.
So, um,
SPEAKER_01 (37:43):
you're stewarding land, you are stewarding land.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
And for our animals, you know, there are times where
when we were using conventionalstuff, I mean, obviously every
time they come out andfertilize, they put the little
sign out and say, you know, forthe next 24 hours, don't let
your animals come out here.
But, um, you know, Now we don'treally have to do that, you
know?
So that's that little, thoselittle signs are probably enough
to say that they're puttingpoison on your lawn.
(38:09):
And even if you, you're notthinking about from your kid's
standpoint, running aroundbarefoot, you know, just your
dogs, you know, going out andusing the restroom, coming back
in, they're tracking all thatstuff back into your house.
And that's, that's chemicalseverywhere.
SPEAKER_01 (38:21):
And the same is true of parks and golf courses and
any manicured, landscape thatyou find you know it's great to
ask the question of of yourschool your school yeah
playground how are you treatingthat you know because i don't
know i don't know thepercentages but it's a high
(38:43):
percentage that are stilltreating conventionally with all
of our kids running around on itand then going back you know
playing whatever and then goingback inside if they're lucky
enough to have recess i guessyeah right exactly if that
hasn't been cut So, all right,Ben.
Well, is there anything else?
(39:04):
You know, I guess I was thinkingabout on this athlete
perspective, you know, you weresaying triage, short-term and
all that.
I was thinking about, you know,there's some really easy changes
that could happen in food thatwould decrease inflammation.
(39:24):
You know, like your glutenexperience, a decrease in
inflammation would be morenutrient-dense, help recovery?
Are they past, okay, you needprotein, protein, protein.
Are they past to the type ofprotein, the level of protein
that is more nutrient-dense?
Are they getting there?
What's the status on that?
SPEAKER_00 (39:46):
I'd like to say that they're getting there.
But again, it's certainly notmandated by the NFL to, It's
just sort of a team by teambasis.
And some teams are really goodabout having the right type of
dietitian and nutritionist andchefs and cooks and stuff like
(40:08):
that.
and they have sort of thesewellness, a lot of the strength
or a lot of the, the training,the head trainers are kind of
more of the, you know, sportsperformance, wellnessy, you
know, there's a lot of slashesto their titles these days.
And so I'd like to think thatthey are getting more educated.
Um, you know, when I, I sit downand talk to some players, um, a
(40:32):
few times a year, and we havethese long-form conversations.
And because of my own naturalcuriosity, I will ask kind of
similar questions that you'reasking me.
And most of them, aside frommaybe some of the linemen,
offense and defense linemen,where they just– a lot of these
guys just need to pack oncalories because a lot of them
aren't naturally over 300pounds.
(40:53):
You know, they're– they have tofight and kind of like really,
really work at keeping theirweight up during the season.
So they, they probably don'tcare as much, but a lot of the
skill position guys, they, theyreally do.
They were much moreknowledgeable and they're much
more dedicated.
Some of these guys have personalchefs at home that have
(41:13):
nutrition plans for them laidout.
So yes, I think that the, theunderstanding of nutrient
density is, And not all caloriesare just the same calorie, that
they can be metabolized indifferent ways for different
people.
And for some, you know, the onestory I love to tell, and it's
really kind of stuck with me, isas I was going through the same
journey, I was talking to, Iwon't mention his real name, but
(41:38):
he's a Hall of Fame widereceiver.
And he was telling me how he wasblown away by his approach to
nutrition.
He's always been very consciousof it.
And one off season, he was justeating just chicken and rice and
kind of doing, you know, thequote unquote, like the men's
(41:58):
health like thing to do.
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (42:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (42:01):
Yeah.
The standard.
Hey, let's eat clean and let'slike really limit the fats and,
you know, let's go high proteinand all this other stuff.
And so he was doing all that andhe felt terrible.
He's like, I don't know what I'mdoing wrong.
I'm doing all the right things.
I'm eating brown rice andbroccoli and complex
carbohydrates and high leanproteins.
(42:23):
And come to find out after doinga food sensitivity test, a blood
test, that he was actuallyreally reactive to chicken.
And he's like, what?
I didn't even know that thatcould be a possibility.
And so he changed his diet,basically doing the same thing,
but replaced chicken withturkey.
And he's like...
(42:45):
I didn't realize how much betterI could feel.
And he's like, my, he lost, helost a few pounds instantly.
He said that he, and he'salready a lean guy.
I think he leaned up by apercent and a half to 2% body
fat.
And he's like, I could step offthe practice field and my ankles
didn't hurt.
And he was like, my recovery forthe next day was unlike anything
(43:09):
he's ever experienced.
And that was just, by theknowledge of finding out that
even, even though you thoughtyou're doing the right thing for
his body, it wasn't the rightthing.
And all he was doing wasinviting more and more
inflammation and his body wasinternally fighting with itself
all the time.
And, um, he made a simple changeand it made it all, all the
(43:29):
difference.
SPEAKER_01 (43:30):
Well, that's one.
I'm glad you brought that up.
Cause that's one.
Okay.
We're a beef company.
Big disclaimer there.
Beef is what we sell and allthat.
But one of the biggest misnomersin our industry, historical
healthy diet is chicken.
Because chicken raisedconventionally with conventional
grains and then fried in seedoils is actually one of the
(43:55):
worst things that you can eat.
So you're not getting the animalfat that we need.
And because of the diet, they'rehigher in omega-6s, their
omega-6, omega-3 ratio ishigher.
And then you throw seed oils onit, whether you're frying in a
pan or deep frying or whatever,chances are it's prepared in
seed oils, which again is wayout of balance with your
(44:18):
omega-6, omega-3s.
So it ends up that that is oneof the worst things ever.
that you can eat.
Now, I feel like lightning'sgoing to strike me.
But I've researched it enough tosay it pretty confidently.
Now, you can change that withthe type of chicken and, you
know, are they pastured andfrying in tallow versus seed
(44:41):
oils?
There's ways to change it andyou can still gain nutritional
benefits.
But chicken's just not thatnutrient dense either.
You know, they're fast growing,short lives.
They don't have a bigopportunity to pack in a lot of
nutrition into that meat.
So So yeah, you get someprotein, but the rest of the
vitamins and minerals aresomewhat suspect on chicken.
(45:01):
And, you know, I just seeeverywhere that people think
that that's just the best thingin the world to eat.
SPEAKER_00 (45:07):
No, I'm glad that you kind of highlighted that
too, because, you know, recentlya lot of people are kind of
going after the store-boughtrotisserie chickens and, you
know, Costco's getting hammeredfor their rotisserie.
they knowingly accept the factthat they're losing money on
their rotisserie chickensbecause it brings people to the
(45:28):
store and they strategicallyplace it in the back of the
store, all this other stuff.
But then you look at the actualquality of the chicken, not only
is it steaming in the plastic,which is a whole other
situation, but also these youngchickens are pumped full of
steroids, antibiotics, all thisother stuff.
And so to your point, is itreally a clean meat at the end
(45:49):
of the day?
It might be sustenance, but isit really nutrient dense and
really what you need?
And if you go, you know, more ofa region approach and pasture
raised approach to the chicken,yes, you're, you're eliminating
all those, all those, you know,injectables that they give them
and the terrible feed, you know,and a lot of people don't even
(46:10):
realize that chickens arecarnivores, you know, and, and,
And when they say, oh, thischicken is on a vegetarian diet,
it's like, well, it's really notwhat they're supposed to be
SPEAKER_01 (46:22):
eating.
That brings up the story of myyouth because we used to have
chickens running around in ourfarmyard.
We'd have a couple hundred at atime, always outside, always on
their own.
We fed them grain, but theybarely ate any grain because
they were eating so many bugsand, believe it or not, frogs
because we had frogs everywhere.
Almost their entire diet waschasing frogs down and eating
(46:46):
them.
They didn't even want the grain.
They had all this otheravailable to them, this other
diet.
And of course, now things havechanged so much that, A, frogs
aren't readily available whenyou have chickens outside.
And what's the stats on theamount of insects that we've
lost?
Billions and so many speciesjust completely gone.
UNKNOWN (47:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (47:09):
You know, my anecdotal story on that is I
worked at the truck stop downthe road when I was a kid, and
man, in the summertime, peoplecome in at night with their
headlights on.
It was full service back then.
Remember that, those days?
We'd have to scrub and scrub andscrub to get those resins of
those bugs off the windshields.
They'd be covered.
(47:29):
Well, I can drive my truck allsummer and clean it twice a To
get the bugs off?
I mean, the amount of bugs, it'salarming.
But that's what birds eat, andthat's what chickens eat.
So birds are in trouble,pollinators are in trouble, dogs
are in trouble, and we'rekilling them.
So, you know, it's really sadthat we can't raise them the way
(47:53):
we used to and have thatnutrient density.
SPEAKER_00 (47:56):
Yeah.
Well, the nice thing is for whatyou guys do too, it's like you
just let the grass grow and yougot these four-legged animals
coming around just mowing themdown.
It's like the perfect food forthem.
SPEAKER_01 (48:11):
Yeah.
And we just keep them, well,just this morning I was dealing
with, you know, we had unusuallywarm weather here, which leads
to mud.
And the common theme is just tokeep them moving.
Even in the winter, we just keepthem moving.
They don't wreck anything then,but they're fertilizing.
And they're helping things togrow during the growing season.
And you just mimic nature andeverything just works.
The soil comes back to life.
(48:32):
The pollinators come back.
The birds come back.
It takes a while.
It's not a quick fix.
But, you know, five, ten years,you can make a huge difference.
Nature is very resilient andshe'll recover easily.
if you just give her the rightatmosphere and the right
environment.
And it's just a beautiful thingto watch.
SPEAKER_00 (48:51):
Yeah.
I think the, one of the coolest,um, sort of benefits to what you
guys, you side benefits to whatyou guys do and everybody else
around the country.
And, and I've, you know, wetalked about it when we visited
your farm, but the biodiversitythat's on your farm versus
neighboring farms areconventional.
It's now, this is going tosound, I'm going to
(49:13):
over-exaggerate, but justpainting the picture for
everybody listening is, um, youcan really build sort of this
Garden of Eden where you havethis idea where it's every
species, every native species ofanimal is gonna live there and
they're gonna live there sort ofin harmony.
And you can sort of build thaton your own plot of land and
(49:38):
people are like, well, how isthat so?
And it's like, well, when youdon't kill everything off from
the microbes all the way up withall the pesticides and all this
other stuff, then all of asudden, you know, the worms come
back and then, well, what do theworms get eaten by?
Well, they get eaten by, birdsand then the birds come back and
(49:58):
they they start to start nestingall stuff and all of a sudden
now there's predators that wantto eat those birds and it's like
now you look around you likeyou've got your your livestock
that you're raising but thenthere's a fox and there's a
coyote and there's deer andthere's these birds and these
pheasants and quail and all thisother stuff that you have on
your property that nobody elsehas and you know watching these
(50:19):
documentaries about these theseregen farms down in the south
and georgia and all this otherstuff i mean they're getting the
the quail to come back in hugenumbers and all the neighbors
are like, we love to hunt quail.
We haven't hunted quail in 15years because we can't find
them.
Nature is going to find a waywhere they're wanted and they
(50:39):
have the infrastructure tosurvive.
SPEAKER_01 (50:42):
It's very true.
Even the plants, the nativeplants come out and start
sprouting and growing when youaren't trying to kill everything
and grow a monoculture crop andkill everything else.
So we get these diversegrasslands coming back from the
(51:05):
seeds in the seed bank.
And then we've learned in ourown nutrient density study that
we're a part of that's superfascinating.
And it's cutting edge datacoming out of that.
But just the real top headlineis we found, the researchers,
the scientists, found acorrelation between the
(51:27):
diversity of the grassland andthe nutrient density of the
meat.
So that's how they were designedto eat.
So we narrow it down to a verynarrow ration instead of a
diverse grassland for aruminant.
Well, now all of a sudden youromega-6s drop.
You've got a 2 to 1 ratioinstead of a 7 to 13 to 15 to 20
(51:52):
to 1 ratio of a 6 to 3.
And plus all the other vitaminsand minerals and the
phytochemicals that are in theplants actually get passed
through the meat and actuallycan be detected in humans.
So you're getting that salad, inessence, by eating a steak,
which I love.
But it's amazing.
(52:13):
There's going to be so muchcoming out about this that the
diet of the animal, you are whatyour food eats, that it really
ends up expressing itself.
So there's a lot of benefit tothat.
to allowing nature to justflourish.
I love, I love the garden ofEden.
I'm going to use that.
(52:33):
That's what it feels like.
SPEAKER_00 (52:35):
Well, yeah, that sounds like way more spiritual
than I wanted to, but I was justtrying to paint this picture of
like, man, you could have this,like, you know, what we all kind
of envision of this, this, youknow, this beautiful place where
are these, the, the humans andthe birds and everything kind of
live in harmony.
And although they kind of likeare predatory and they feed off
each other, but still, you know,you get the, you get the point,
SPEAKER_01 (52:56):
you know?
Yes, I totally do.
And the spiritual reference isokay with me too.
Yeah.
Um, so, you know, thank you fortaking the time.
Do you, I really appreciate youjoining us.
I, I really do.
I know you're busy and takingthe time to do this is, is just
great of you.
Do you have, um, one hopefulmessage that you'd like to leave
(53:18):
our listeners with within thiswhole regenerative realm?
SPEAKER_00 (53:25):
You know, I would say just kind of going back to
my story and then the story thatyou've shared about your health
journey.
And, you know, maybe this isn'tjust specific to regenerative
agriculture, but, you know,don't be afraid to take control
of your life.
and don't be afraid to takecontrol of your health.
And if things aren't makingsense, and if you are being
frustrated by hitting roadblockswherever you look, keep looking
(53:50):
and do your own research.
And I know that term has beenvillainized lately, the last
couple of years, but if peopleweren't doing their own research
and being their own personalrenegades, then we wouldn't have
made this progress that we'vemade where I think we've made a
ton of progress with health andwellness and understanding our
(54:14):
bodies and understanding what wedo to the land and how it
affects us directly.
So I would say just don't beafraid.
Be bold when it comes to takingcontrol of your life.
I
SPEAKER_01 (54:28):
love that.
I love that.
That was actually a message Ireceived this morning.
Just be bold in going forth.
Don't be sheeple.
Be bold.
chart your own path.
It's okay.
You can do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No problem.
SPEAKER_00 (54:47):
Uh, thanks for having me.
Congrats again on the pod.
And, uh, I look forward tohearing other ones.
SPEAKER_01 (54:52):
Yeah.
Great.
Sounds good.
Have a good day.
All right.
You too.
See ya.
UNKNOWN (54:59):
Bye.
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