Ever wondered how a radical shift in diet could transform your life? Join us as we welcome Eric Reynolds, better known as Keto 5-0. Eric recounts his remarkable journey of losing 80 pounds, improving his heart health, and overcoming metabolic disease through the ketogenic and carnivore diet. Initially skeptical, Eric's self-education and willingness to challenge conventional medical advice not only saved his life but ignited a passion for nutrition coaching. Now, he's dedicated to helping fellow officers reclaim their health.
Retirement isn't just about financial planning; it's a pivotal moment for reassessing health and lifestyle choices. Hear firsthand about the transition from a structured career to the freedom and unpredictability of life on the road. Personal stories, such as coping with the loss of a close friend and the decision to embrace full-time camping, offer valuable insights into the emotional and physical challenges faced during this life stage. We emphasize the importance of making informed decisions about nutrition, the dangers of processed foods, and the myths surrounding fasting and exercise.
Imagine a therapeutic retreat specifically designed for first responders—a place where community support and work therapy on a farm provide healing and growth. We introduce "Cops and Campers," a unique concept that promotes camaraderie through shared experiences and the bonds formed around campfires. Discover the benefits of homesteading and regenerative farming, and why knowing where your food comes from is crucial. We wrap up by encouraging you to rate, review, and recommend future guests to ensure our community continues to thrive. Join us on this enlightening journey of health, healing, and personal transformation.
As a First Responder, you are critical in keeping our communities safe. However, the stress and trauma of the job can take a toll on your mental health and family life.
If you're interested in personal coaching, contact Jerry Lund at 801-376-7124. Let's work together to get you where you want to be and ensure a happy and healthy career.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jerry (00:02):
Welcome to today's episode of Enduring the Badge
podcast.
I'm your host, jerry Dean Lund,and if you haven't already done
so, please take out your phoneand hit that subscribe button.
I don't want you to miss anupcoming episode.
And hey, while your phone's out, please give us a rating and
review.
On whichever platform youlisten to this podcast on, such
as iTunes, apple Podcasts andSpotify.
It helps this podcast grow andthe reason why, when this gets
(00:24):
positive ratings and reviews,those platforms like Apple
Podcasts and Spotify show thisto other people that never
listened to this podcast before,and that allows our podcast to
grow and make more of an impacton other people's lives.
So if you would do that, Iwould appreciate that from the
bottom of my heart.
My very special guest today isEric Reynolds, also known as
(00:45):
Keto 5-0.
How you doing, eric.
Eric (00:47):
All right man, Thanks for having me.
Jerry (00:48):
Yeah Well, I mean, people are going to wonder straight up
what's Keto 5-0.
Let's start there.
Eric (00:54):
Well, it's a long journey but at one point I discovered a
ketogenic way of eating.
I ended up losing 80 poundsthrough ketogenic and also a
carnivore way of eating justnice and basic.
Through ketogenic and also acarnivore way of eating, just,
you know, nice and basic Meatand vegetables got off the
processed foods and ended uplosing 80 pounds in about a year
and a half and I ended uphelping my heart disease, curing
(01:14):
a lot of the other issues I hadwith my metabolic disease.
You know, when you're 250pounds at six foot tall, I
should have been around 190, 200, but now I'm at 180.
I've, you know, the Keto 5-0started because I started
helping cops at work.
Hey, you know, are you sick?
Are you dying to something?
I go, no man.
I'm down to 33 inch waistbecause of this way of eating
and taking care of myself.
So I started helping cops and Ijust got the nickname Keto 5-0,
(01:37):
you know.
And then it just ran with it.
And then I went to school andand just started a nutrition
business for coaching you know,guys, and it's, that's how it
started.
You know, play off a hawaii 50,of course, yeah, yeah.
Well, all the times in the hoodthey'd run from me you know.
Jerry (01:53):
So it kind of fit.
Eric (01:54):
It made sense.
So I was like, ah, that's cool.
So why?
Jerry (01:57):
why did you go with the keto way there's?
Why was that particular to youlike?
Why was your interest there?
Eric (02:03):
I was 40 since 48 years old, already been diagnosed with
heart disease.
They were trying to push stentson me and they're trying to
push statins and all this stuff,you know, make me a patient for
life.
And one day I learned to SouthFlorida.
All those dead bodies I had toinvestigate and flip over.
A lot of them were so boggeddown with medication and pills I
always kind of stayed away fromthat way of thinking that pill
(02:26):
isn't going to save my life.
There is no magic pill.
So, a friend of mine, you know,I tried to do it the way we all
do.
Right, you try to work out, tryto cut back the booze, I'll,
you know, eat some chickeninstead of red meat.
And the next thing, you know, Ikept getting fatter and fatter,
doing it their way, and sickerand sicker, you know, and
overall, mentally, I got moredepressed.
And you know, with some of thestuff that happened in my career
, it was just a perfect recipefor me to, you know, go down a
(02:49):
dark way, you know, or a darkpath.
But playing basketball with abuddy of mine, I always stayed
pretty active.
He had lost 50 pounds and hesaid something about this keto
and I thought it was some newCrossFit training that I was
going to hate.
I just thought this is going tobe the worst, you know.
And he goes nah, it's aboutburning fat for fuel.
And I was like what are youtalking about?
I had no idea I could write asearch warrant, I could go
(03:10):
arrest somebody and write aprobable cause affidavit, but I
didn't know my blood work, Ididn't know really what I was
putting in my mouth.
And that's when it started,within like three weeks to I was
like man, at this rate I'll befreaking 180 jacked, you know.
But of course over time yourbody adapts.
(03:30):
You lose inches, not alwayspounds, you know you start
building more muscle and youknow my path.
I started getting moremotivated by it and I started
thinking clear and I was likeyou know what I really like this
route I'm going.
And then obviously people pickyour brain and you start talking
about it.
You know it's like people thatlove talking about guns and it
doesn't take long for you tofigure it out, Right.
So I was like that with keto.
I'm like dude, do you know howtoxic Coca-Cola?
Jerry (03:52):
is and I'm like, oh God, here we go.
Eric (03:54):
Yeah, people would walk by in an apartment by the evidence
area, cause I was right there,you had to pass me, and they'd
be hiding their Dr pepper ortheir mcdonald's bags.
I'm just like you know.
I just look at them, you know.
Jerry (04:05):
But yeah, so it was a good path, you know, and saved
my life yeah, I mean,everybody's gotta make their
choices right and and live withthem and maybe at some point
those choices get them to apoint right where they're like
you, like I've got to dosomething.
I gotta change change to whatI'm doing, because what I'm
doing is not healthy.
Eric (04:26):
Yeah, I mean I, I battled my cardiologist, you know, and I
knew what I was talking aboutwhen I went in there.
Unfortunately, most of us gointo these doctor's offices and
we don't know.
We're just going to push, we'regoing to give them all of our
health.
Here you go, you make thedecision, you know and I'm like
come on, man, you know it's notyour individual doctor, it's not
his fault that who owns themedical you know, schools and
(04:47):
also the businesses is allpharma connected.
They want you on pills you know, and that's just the way
they're being taught,unfortunately.
I mean, and that's why Idiscovered, you know, it's a big
organized crime.
I mean, big food was owned bybig tobacco.
Well, what did big tobacco do?
They got doctors saying it wasokay to smoke.
It's a great way to you know,and meanwhile it's giving you
heart attacks.
I mean, it's just such a bigmoney-making scam and once my
(05:09):
eyes were open, you can't goback.
You're like, wow, and nowthey're doing this to children,
they're doing it to our military.
I mean, all these food programs, donations to Haiti or whoever
needs help.
They're sending them puremetabolic disease garbage.
That's what they're sending.
Jerry (05:23):
But that's another that's another tirade.
Eric (05:25):
I can get into.
We start helping people.
Jerry (05:28):
What?
What's the benefit to yourbrain with doing keto?
Eric (05:35):
Well, obviously one of the things people don't understand
is you have a direct linkbetween your stomach and your
brain.
So if your stomach's all jackedup because it's not acting
right, because maybe you're noteating the right, proper foods,
it's going to make you a littlebit less aware.
You're going to be slower,you're going to be cloudy,
you're going to be grumpy, youknow, you're just going to be
feeling lethargic a lot becauseyour body's not operating in the
(05:56):
proper way.
We're not supposed to eat everytwo hours.
That's idiotic.
What carnivore, keto-vore,herbivore animal does that?
We're not cows grazing all daylong, all right.
We aren't supposed to eat everytwo minutes.
Your digestive system does notneed to be working all day long.
It's designed to eat, processit like a lion.
(06:16):
You kill a doe, you eat thatthing and you chill, digest that
bad boy.
Now you're ready to go for acouple of days.
I mean, a lot of the clients Iwork with that are cops.
I have them fasting on duty Ifthey got a 10, 12 hour shift.
You're not eating a meal, butyou're going to have coffee and
broth and some heavy cream andeven a little stevia, if you
need to keep that a little bitsweet, cause we're all hooked on
the Dunkin' Donuts stuff.
(06:36):
I mean, it happened right, it'sindoctrination.
But this way these guys arepaying attention, they're alert,
they're focused, they'reenergized and then at the end
their shift they go hit a dinerand they're eating bacon and
eggs and, you know, pork chops,and then they're satisfied man,
it's just a better way.
And I had several guys saying,man, this is the best way to go
(06:56):
and they're trying to spread theword.
But you know, it's just.
I think we overestimate howvaluable our health is.
And how many guys do you lookat your academy picture and you
look at when you retire?
Oh, that's when I was jacked, Iwas ripped.
Family.
No, you've ate yourself intothis situation, unfortunately,
(07:17):
and you medicated yourself inthis way, whether it's through,
you know, blood pressure,prediabetes medicine, statins
and all that stuff.
Unfortunately, we have reallytaken that approach and we just
let them do it to us.
You know, unfortunately, youknow.
Jerry (07:32):
I mean there's.
Eric (07:33):
I didn't know it either.
I was like I said 250 pounds.
They wanted to put stents in meand I had a fellow officer that
died of a heart attack afterhaving stents put in and I just
I knew there had to be adifferent way and the other ways
before it wasn't working.
And the minute, like I said, Ijust started feeding my body
natural, real food.
It doesn't have to be grass fed, but you don't want to be
(07:53):
eating Taco Bell.
You know meat.
You know all those fast foods.
They're a business.
They're designed for profit,not for your health, and it's
going to be cheap.
Well, I can get, you know,eight burgers for freaking 99
cents.
Hey, yeah.
So you know, eating the way Ido now, which is mostly animal
based, it's not really that muchdifference in price.
(08:13):
When you start adding up allthe chips and the other crap
people buy, from sodas tocigarettes, to you know you
eliminate that.
I can go get a nice ribeye youknow, $12, $ 12 13, but that's
my meal for the day, yeah, withsome eggs and stuff like that.
It's just a different way, youknow yeah, I think that's true.
Jerry (08:31):
You think you have to get over the mindset shift of like.
Like you said, it seems likeit's going to be a lot more
expensive to eat this way.
But you're right.
If you do, cut out all thoselittle things, you know you're
right, you can have it, yeah, Ican have whatever you want.
At the end of the day, youhaven't really spent any more
money than you normally wouldspend.
Eric (08:51):
Yeah, I mean, unfortunately sugar is pretty
evil.
You know, I read a book calledBig Fat Surprise by Nina
Teicholz and man, you just seethe dirty business behind it
Hiding research, bribingscientists and you wonder why
we've been having this hardepidemic for the last you know
70 years.
We've tried animal, I mean wetry plant-based.
We think we've been eating thelast 70 years is a plant-based
(09:14):
diet.
The meat's been fairly sprinkledin you know, you get your six
ounces, there's your littleburger.
Son, keep eating those mashedpotatoes and the bread.
You know it's just over time.
That's why we're so freakingsick across this country.
We've just been fooled.
You know, and I don't eat myfirst meal of the day, usually
till 12 or one o'clock.
You know people are like whatI've already worked out.
You know I've done some otherthings around our life.
(09:36):
You're not going to starve todeath.
If you've ever watched theseshows like Naked and Afraid,
shout out to Gwen Grimes.
You are not going to die.
Okay, your body has fat reserves.
It will feed off of that andyou just supplement yourself
with minerals.
You know magnesium, potassium.
You know, obviously, salt,sodium of some sort to keep
yourself.
(09:56):
You know the mineral intake andelectrolytes on the right level
.
But yeah, it's, it's totallypossible to do a crash wave,
doing it like that.
But I would suggest develop thegood habits right now in eating
, spreading it to your family,because that's one of the things
that there seems to be someblowback If you try to tell a
man's wife or a wife's husbandthat the food they're bringing
(10:18):
into the house is makingeveryone sick.
Jerry (10:21):
You know, take it personal.
Eric (10:22):
You know, and I get it.
Jerry (10:28):
It's a, you know you don't want someone.
Eric (10:29):
You don't want me coming in your house looking through
your pantry, right, right, Imean, what do you feel guilty
about?
Then you make that decision.
Don't let me make it.
You know, you know, come on.
So yeah, it's been fun thisnutrition way.
I just wish I knew all thisinformation when I was younger
so I could have just takenbetter care of myself and the
people around me, you know whatI mean.
Jerry (10:44):
So working out without eating, I mean that's generally
been taught like that's kind ofa right.
I'm saying it's been taughtthis way.
I'm not saying it is the rightway to have like to not go work
out, right, you're just burningup muscle by not having any, you
know, food and protein andstuff in your system and you're
(11:05):
actually you know.
Eric (11:06):
but the problem is we get in the cycle of eating processed
foods and then you get hungrybecause you're not eating a
nutritious meal and then you gostuff yourself and then like
Chinese food, right, you'realways hungry an hour later.
It's because that's just garbage.
That's why if it was a realsteak or real like, even if you
ate chicken wings and you ate 15chicken wings, you're not going
(11:26):
to be hungry in an hour, I mean.
So yeah, sometimes you know,thinking you don't have to work
out on an empty stomach, Ithought that too.
I thought I had to work outright afterwards too, like, oh,
now I'm going to feed my bodyprotein.
You got enough in your systemalready, especially if you're a
little heavy guys.
You got it on there.
Your body will use it and theneat later on.
(11:47):
I mean, there's all kinds ofwindows.
You got to find out what worksfor you.
If you're staying up later, youknow you're on a different shift
.
You know I eat at one and maybesix, and then I'm done.
Sometimes I skip the six.
If the one's like a ribeye withthree eggs, I'm probably not
going to eat dinner and it'scrazy.
I'll have coffee and some maybebone broth or some collagen or
(12:08):
something in there.
I'm still hooked on coffee.
I've been killing the coffeesince I stopped the booze about
almost 10 months in, and notthat I was drinking and driving
and sliding in the signs andstuff like that.
It was my own battle I had overthe years.
It was a coping mechanism andeven when I lost weight I was
(12:28):
still drinking, but I wasn'tgetting bombed.
It was just something to calmmy central nervous system down.
You know and obviously that'sfor me being in the shooting and
then also you know, the wholecareer itself, just kind of
being hypervigilant all the timeso the alcohol would calm me
down.
In 2019 we sold our house,bought an rv, started full-time
camping.
Everywhere I went everyone'shappy.
Hey, we're camping.
(12:49):
Hey, here's a beer.
I mean, what do you think'sgonna happen?
we're on campus but then fouryears of camping.
You're like man.
I might have an alcohol problemso I drink the coffee.
I try to make it, you know, asnutritious as I can.
You know I use mold-free coffeenow because I did have a
diagnosis.
I had really high mycotoxins inmy system, along with heavy
(13:10):
metals.
So I was telling you earlierI'm going through a detox
process and one of that is notto drink that BS coffee that
they sell you in the stores thatare.
You know it's cheap or whatever, because it's filled with molds
and other pesticides and otherchemicals that aren't good for
you.
So I drink the good stuff rightnow.
It's worth it.
What else are you going to do?
You know I hate grinding thebeans and stuff.
(13:30):
I do go a little instant nowand then, but it happens right.
Jerry (13:34):
No, I yeah.
It's a world of difference ofgrinding your own beans and you
know, and drinking coffee.
It's a world world ofdifference, for sure.
What?
What other things have youchanged in your life?
Eric (13:50):
I mean, just touched on camping and stuff like that to
deal with some of the traumathat you went through on the job
I retired.
I got out.
Yeah, it was funny.
My in 2018, you know, I was atmy heaviest.
I was.
I just lost one of my buddies.
I told you of a heart attackand he was a lot better shape
than me and he was like man.
We were connected through ourwhole careers and was just such
a tough loss.
And you start questioningyourself and your physical
(14:12):
capabilities and you know I'velost both my grandfather's heart
attacks or lung disease orsomething like that Right heart
attacks or lung disease orsomething like that Right.
So you're like, wow, you know,and I remember my wife
mentioning about retiring.
You know, when can you retire?
And I was like 48 years old inmy head.
(14:33):
I had seven years.
I had five years of the dropand then two years when I was
eligible to retire at 50 yearsold, but it never really hit me
at 50.
I could just leave, you know,and that's what we ended up
doing.
We sold the house.
we pretty much knew I wasn'tgoing to get promoted, I wasn't
trying to go to nights with twokids at home you know I already
saw that life, one I livedthrough with my mom, so I saw
(14:55):
that side, and for the money perhour it wasn't worth it.
I've already been around toolong to figure that out.
Unless I was going to go upstraight through to lieutenant
and work my way out, and Iwasn't going that route.
So they had something in ourstate pension or our police
pension about you can retire at50 years old as long as you got
15 years of service.
I was like man, I'm going tohave almost 19 years of service
(15:16):
so I can walk.
So I sat with the pension ladyand she's figuring out your
numbers and it wasn't great.
I wasn't going to be rolling indough.
I mean they take your top five,60 months, and they average it
out.
You know, and that's yourpension.
And we went seven years, wenton a raise down in Boynton Beach
, Florida, like a lot of peopledid.
I was there from the 08 crashof everything and we were just
lucky to keep our take-home carsat that point.
(15:37):
So we went a lot of time where Iwasn't able to pad my pension,
not getting promoted, certainovertime hurricanes yeah, you
can boost it up, but I prettymuch know I wasn't going to make
a ton.
But the drop money I left onthe table those last five years.
I don't know if people know,but they invest your retirement
(15:58):
money while you're still gettingpaid for the city and then you
walk away sometimes three, four,$500,000, depending on who you
are and what rank you are.
But we decided to leave thatfive hundred thousand on the
table because it wasn't going tobe worth it.
You know we were seeing thestatistics of not only cops but
pretty much all first responders.
I mean from dispatchers tofiremen.
I mean the death rates amongstus after we retire.
Within five years half of us aredying right you know a lot of
(16:18):
us because we're hanging on tothe job for 35 years, dude, or
30 years.
That's why, at 20, I was like,yeah, I think this is good.
My mom did 30.
I think I like the thing Isuffered with her in those 30
years because I was at the endof a lot of stuff.
But yeah, it just seemed rightand I was like, wow, and we had
been looking at, like NorthCarolina, tennessee, that area
(16:40):
because my mom had alreadyretired up there.
So we started looking at it.
I'm like, yeah, I can get anevidence job somewhere, some
civilian job at a department,let's just do it.
You know, and we've beenwatching tiny house shows and
I'd already been telling peoplemy wife's crazy, she's looking
at treehouse shows, storage, youknow, shipping containers in
the woods.
Let's freaking carve out window.
(17:01):
I'm like, oh my God, what'shappened?
Who did I marry?
And it ended up saving my lifebecause the minute we hit the
road in the trailer and I didn'thave any of the baggage of a
job to go back to which is acrazy feeling to be free like
that, especially as a 50 yearold with kids and people were
like, how'd you do it?
(17:21):
Well, we didn't have a mortgageand we just had a truck and
trailer and you know our placeswe go.
You know, obviously food becamean issue as prices went up over
COVID, but at the initial onsetit was a great plan.
We travel around for two tothree years and there's some
place out there we're going tomake home.
We don't even know where it isyet.
It was kind of exciting, youknow.
And then the more you travel,the more addictive you get to
traveling, because every placehas a unique story.
Or you know, and if you startfollowing national parks, you
(17:43):
start following, you know, theTrail of Tears.
You really want to learn somesad stuff about our history, you
know, and it's just whole time.
Or homeschooling, you know, I'mlearning with my kids.
Half these places go to.
So it was just such a fantasticdecision, you know, and at the
same time you know I'm losingmore weight because now I left
(18:03):
that stress behind you know,even though, COVID hit, I still
lost another 25 pounds.
I got down to 175 and I hadn'tseen that since, like bring in
seventh grade.
It was insane, dude, you know.
And feeling great, I wasmotivated.
You know I'm already helpingguys, even with COVID is going
on and I saw right through allthe BS and you know I just like
(18:24):
we got to survive and navigatethrough this freaking world
right now.
And man, what a journey it isto get out there when every day
you open your door it could besomething different but you
still sleep in the same bed,same shower, your stuff's.
You don't have as much stuffbut it's still where you put it.
You know I'm saying it's prettyit's pretty wild.
I wish I did this a lot younger.
I wish I lived in a trailer asa cop.
(18:45):
I'd be a millionaire right nowbecause I wouldn't have paid all
that money to the banks, youknow right.
I ended up traveling in atrailer anyways.
I would just had a bigger rv bynow, probably so were you a
vacationer before this?
Typical you rush it in, gottasave it for christmas, gotta run
up see grandma in tennessee andthen hustle back you know the
(19:06):
whole vacation.
You needed a vacation from thevacation you know, and then
you're back to the grind overand over again, you know.
So, yeah, you know, my wifeended up once we had our first
child.
She ended up staying at home.
It wasn't planned and it wasjust one of those things that
felt right.
And she became a stay at homemom and raising our two boys,
and she was never one to ever bethat.
(19:27):
She was not what she hadplanned on in life, but she
wouldn't change anything.
Now I mean our relationshipwith our boys by being with them
on a daily basis, teaching them, learning with them, learning
stuff.
I thought I knew the answers toyou know it's really awesome.
Instead of asking teachers,they're asking you and then you
can learn.
(19:47):
You know you find the answerstogether, you know, and it's
just especially the way theschool systems are now and stuff
.
You're like, wow, good thingthey're with us right now, but
they're learning how survivalstuff I mean, we're on a farm
right now.
They just had an airsoft war,them and a little farm kids here
, and they got their mask on andyou know they're lighting each
other up and we had an incidentwhere one shot one without they
weren't on the range.
So we just had a littletraining issue and the guns are
(20:11):
off the playing table today.
But you know, they're learningstuff like that out of both
fires and they know more aboutnutrition than I ever knew, ever
in my life, until they've justbeen sucking it up.
They read the back of labels.
They're like Dad, what are youdoing with that energy drink?
Once in a while I want a bangenergy drink or whatever right
and they'll just make me feellike you're probably right.
(20:31):
If I can't pronounce half thosechemicals on it, I probably
don't need to Even me.
Jerry (20:35):
I still slip up now and then, but they're a good uh
gauge you know, yeah, I mean noone's uh too perfect right,
especially traveling the country.
I'm sure you know it could be alittle bit challenging to be on
keto.
Eric (20:49):
Maybe, as far as I mean it gets planned, I think you have
to be planned yeah, we have afreezer with us and we we kind
of know where the farmersmarkets are and we do ask around
, we go out to them, we talk tothe farmers.
Hey, man, do you grasp?
You know what type of beef?
How?
Jerry (21:03):
do you?
Eric (21:04):
raise it.
You know, regenerative farmingis one of the things we're big
into.
And then we get invited out totheir farms or we'll ask hey,
can we come check your farm out?
We're looking at homesteadingourselves yeah and then you make
friends with them and you'relike, hey, we want to buy a
quarter cow or an eighth of acow.
Yeah, next thing, you know, youload up, you're not, it's not
cheap.
But at least you're getting areasonable deal and you know
(21:24):
where it's coming from right youknow, and and it's not as bad
as you think now my boys areeating a little more.
You know, there is some issueabout us when we start
homesteading, how many animalswe're gonna have.
I thought we just have somelike chickens and goats, but now
I'm like I think we're gonnaneed a couple of cows because,
the way the government's goingright now, we want to be in
control of our meat yeah, yeah.
Jerry (21:44):
So where does this end for you?
Where's, where's your end gamewith this?
Eric (21:50):
with the keto, or this homestead, or life, life, how
about?
life life right now is um liketo get some land, have a whole,
have enough room that, even havea cops and campers campground
there possibly.
That would of course entailmore land, but hey, things
happen.
And doing my own retreatprograms there, whether it's on
(22:10):
a massive scale, 50 campers to100, or doing it 10 to 5,
depending on what type oftherapy guys need.
I mean, that's kind of what I'mdoing now, except I'm traveling
to different campgrounds to doit, which is awesome, but one
day that's the end game.
Have a farm, have guys come out, they want some work therapy,
All right, I need.
You know let's put up somefences or we need to move the
(22:31):
pigs from one field to the otheror something, just to get them
get their minds off of it,Especially now I've come in
contact with so many cops andfire and first responders in the
camping world.
A lot of us are camping andsometimes they're.
You know they're missing out onstuff.
You know we're not part oflineups or shifts or platoons.
(22:51):
You're kind of missing out alittle bit.
So when you find a whole newworld of guys, it's like going
to a new department where youget along with everybody Because
no one's like pissed you offyet no one's backstabbed you
because of a promotion.
These are, it's all a fresh youknow.
Start, you know and you end upmeeting some real guys that come
through the same shit as you,man, same problems, whether it's
with their wife, kids, a boss,a parent, whatever they may have
(23:17):
, a kid on drugs, whatever youfind someone there that's going
through the same shit you know,it's almost going like the AA
and you realize you're not theonly one and it's refreshing and
it's healing.
You know a lot of guys sittingaround the campfire were
bullshit and you know, and theywon't say anything, but they're
there.
Jerry (23:35):
Yeah.
Eric (23:35):
You know, that's the start , you know, and then they start
realizing all right, you know,and then they'll talk to you
later.
You know, and that's what, thebiggest things that happened at
our first cops and campers eventwas the amount of people that
came on and go.
Man, you got to keep this going.
This is just so therapeuticguys getting out here and you're
, and you're in a safe zone.
You're not at a regularcampground where there's already
a lot of military and you knowfirst responders anyways, but
(23:57):
it's a different vibe.
You know, you kind of feel like, all right, I'm safe here, my
family's safe.
It's just, you know, and it allstarted because of a you know
campground told me to take downmy flag.
I mean, everything's got toforget.
My life is insane.
Sometimes it's all got a storyLike what was that Slumdog
millionaire?
Every answer to the question itwas back.
The guy could remember itbecause it was something huge
(24:18):
that happened.
That's what's happening to meright now.
Jerry (24:24):
If I'm, you know, my brother and all kinds of crazy
stuff.
You know, yeah, what is Copsand Campers.
Eric (24:28):
So Cops and Campers.
Originally, what happened wasdoing the nutrition thing and
putting my flag out.
I would meet a lot of peopleand I would walk up who's the
cop in the family?
My dad's a cop, my mom's a cop.
I'm a cop, you know.
You just start talking.
They're like you're a copbecause I got long hair and you
can't see it now, but long hair,I got the beard, I look like a,
you know, a hippie or surferguy or something, a skateboarder
.
And they're like you're a cogor not?
(24:49):
Well, I'm retired and you know,and we get into it and they
start understanding.
I show them before and afterphotos of me at 250 pounds and
then they see me now in theirown, they see me, they can
almost touch me and stuff, andyou're like, oh my God, this guy
like actually exists.
He's not an infomercial Right.
And then I'm not selling themanything.
I was like, hey, man, you justgot to really look at this stuff
, you know, and try to justpromote, you know, nutrition
(25:13):
education for them.
You know, and that was the patheverywhere I go, I was hoping
to maybe get a sponsorship likea pork rind company.
Hey, you know, we want you todrive around and hand out bags
of pork rinds.
I'm like hey, I'll do it right,instead of Doritos, it's much
better.
That's just a little keto trickfor you.
And then we go to a campgroundin New York and it was a
(25:35):
thousand trails camping club wewere part of and I put up the
flag, like I always do set up,and then I go to the playground
and watching my kids play aroundI just made myself a cocktail
of victory cocktail, you knowand a guy rolls up on a golf
cart and tells me dude, you gotto take your flag now.
And I thought he was justmessing with me.
You know, I was like what it'slike?
No, you got to take your thinblue line flags.
And then I recorded them and Ilost my shit a little bit on the
(25:58):
recording.
I stopped it.
I never touched the guy, eventhough everyone thinks by the
time I was probably putting myboot to his head or something,
but I didn't.
And it turned into more.
The manager tried to kick usout.
They were going to call NewYork State Police to arrest the
cop for not leaving because itwas flag.
I mean, it was bizarro world,but everything was crazy in 2021
, right?
So I just remember I'm notleaving.
(26:20):
So we ended up staying therefor eight days.
I was just an irritant.
I'm not taking my flag down andbetter yet, I'm going to reach
out to everyone I know in thisworld and I'm going to tell them
about this.
And it freaking caught fire.
So next thing you know, hudsonValley News came out, did a news
story.
They had a rally there thefollowing week at a tractor
supply store.
Like 50 cars and trucks showedup with thin blue line flags.
(26:41):
So I drove all the way fromNiagara Falls back from my own
rally and they had me second inthe parade.
It was freaking awesome.
And then we got stopped.
Our plan was to go back to theold campground that was screwing
with me and then we had copscamping inside and we were going
to all show up and just fill itwith police flags everywhere.
I'll throw it down and knockthem in the ground.
But New York State Police got agot word of it and they stopped
(27:03):
us and pushed us back.
So at one point at that rallypoint I was in the back on the
back of a truck saying thank youeveryone for supporting and I
go.
We're going to start somethingcalled Cops and Campers and go
to pro first respondercampgrounds where they want us,
where flags aren't an issue.
You know, it's just kind of ahoot and hollering moment.
Jerry (27:20):
Yeah.
Eric (27:20):
And then it just kind of started getting more feedback
yeah, we should start a freaking.
I want to go where you guys aregoing.
And I was like, all right,let's kind of run with this.
And we finally went nonprofitlast November.
People smarter than me saiddude, you got to do something
with this because trying to runa business, cops and campers
isn't the same, you know tryingto sell some t-shirts.
(27:45):
Hey, you know, but doing it formental health seemed like, wow,
this is really a great avenue toget guys to the party, to the
barbecue, to the campfire, andlet's talk about mental health
and also your physical health.
You know that belly you got isgoing to kill you.
You know it's going to lead toheart disease.
You're going to have a heartattack.
Everyone dies of heart attacks,you know.
So why are you going to justgive into it at a young age?
Let's enjoy your retirement.
You know, do some more campingand fishing trips.
(28:07):
So it just kind of built.
And when we had our first event,a guy named Patrick Shaver who
had done a couple ofdocumentaries, police stuff he's
actually done a bunch, he's aretired cop himself he said, hey
, man, why don't we do adocumentary called Cops and
Campers and we'll film it?
And so he put it together withme and we made a 30 minute
documentary that's on YouTubejust to kind of show what it's
(28:28):
about.
And now we use it for,obviously, to promotion if they
want to see what goes on.
But it's real.
I mean we have cornholetournaments, we have the
National Guard comes out withthe obstacle course.
There's a big pool there.
We have a live band that night.
I mean I got this year, I gotyoga.
I got Dr Robert Kiltz, who'sbig on the carnivore keto world,
coming out to talk aboutmetabolic health, ptsd and your
(28:50):
diet.
And also Kevin Donaldson'scoming out and he wrote the book
man You're Crazy and he's gothis own PTS journey.
So now I'm starting to get inyoga.
Rescue's coming, van's going todo some yoga for us, so it's
like I'm getting some people nowthat are part of my.
You know, I'm putting togethermy cabinet.
Jerry (29:07):
Yeah, all these all star people.
Eric (29:08):
I think that would help me or it's going to help everybody
else.
So that's what we're doing, man, it's starting to.
You know, I got some comediansthat want to eventually come out
.
They couldn't do it this year.
So I think I'm going to make aFriday night comedy night and
then have Saturday be the rockand roll night in the future.
And you know, this place isvery special because when we got
that flag incident we gotsuspended from the camping group
(29:30):
for two months so I couldn'tcamp with it.
I mean I could go to differentcampsites but kind of threw off
our whole itinerary for the tripthat year.
And four different campgroundsin upstate New York said bring
your flag, your rig and yourfamily, you're staying with us.
And they covered the whole time.
Well, ithaca, at Spruce Row withScott.
He was the first one thatreached out.
He had his son do it on Twitteror Instagram, I don't remember.
(29:51):
I wasn't even all about socialmedia, and then I was just
trying to camp and promotenutrition and they go, bring,
come on over.
And I got there and you knowthey actually had a charity
event Hold on, hey, sorry.
Well, once in a while the kidscome in and forget I'm in here.
And I go, hey, let's do anactual cops and cameras event.
He's like, let's do it, and theband's already retired cops,
(30:13):
you know called Taylor May.
Then do it, and the band'salready retired cops, you know
called taylor made and they singsinging southern rock, and I
was like, man, this is gonna beawesome.
So we're coming up on our thirdevent there this year.
I've done two in georgia.
Um, I think those are gonnapick up.
I just gotta lock in a goodtime, um, because time of year,
you know to try to in campingyou know, it's a lot going into
campers.
it's just not a weekend trip.
But but yeah, they want me togo to Austin, texas now, and
(30:43):
Utah and I'm like wow.
So, yeah, it's, it's I bit offa little more than I could chew,
but it's for a good reason,it's a good cause and I got a
lot of good people looking outto help me, you know.
So yeah that's how it started.
It was just camping with a flag.
It's crazy.
Jerry (30:51):
Yeah, that's awesome.
It's an awesome story and it'sgonna be super cool to see uh,
see you grow.
Excuse me, eric, where canpeople find you and follow you
and see what's going on?
Eric (31:03):
you follow me at keto50.com or copsandcamperscom.
Um, there you can see all thestories behind the scenes,
everything from my shooting andall that stuff.
I, I mean I, I, you know I havetalked a lot about that and
that situation and thenobviously, how it led to me
being metabolically sick at thesame time.
You know from the stresses ofit, but yeah, I'm also able to
(31:26):
be reached out through email.
You know, it's the same thing.
You can find me everythingthrough keto50.com.
Jerry (31:31):
Perfect, perfect Well, thank you, eric.
Thank you for being on today.
All right, man thanks for havingme.
Yeah, thanks again forlistening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewthe show wherever you access
your podcast.
If you know someone that wouldbe great on the show, please get
a hold of our host, jerry JerryDean Lund, through the
(31:53):
Instagram handles at Jerry fireand fuel or at enduring the
badge podcast, also by visitingthe show's website, enduring the
badge podcastcom for additionalmethods of contact and up to
date information regarding theshow.
Remember, the views andopinions expressed during the
(32:17):
show solely represent those ofour host and the current
episode's guest.
Welcome to today's episode of Enduring the Badge
podcast.
I'm your host, jerry Dean Lund,and if you haven't already done
so, please take out your phoneand hit that subscribe button.
I don't want you to miss anupcoming episode.
And hey, while your phone's out, please give us a rating and
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On whichever platform youlisten to this podcast on, such
as iTunes, apple Podcasts andSpotify.
It helps this podcast grow andthe reason why, when this gets
(00:24):
positive ratings and reviews,those platforms like Apple
Podcasts and Spotify show thisto other people that never
listened to this podcast before,and that allows our podcast to
grow and make more of an impacton other people's lives.
So if you would do that, Iwould appreciate that from the
bottom of my heart.
My very special guest today isEric Reynolds, also known as
(00:45):
Keto 5-0.
How you doing, eric.
Eric (00:47):
All right man, Thanks for having me.
Jerry (00:48):
Yeah Well, I mean, people are going to wonder straight up
what's Keto 5-0.
Let's start there.
Eric (00:54):
Well, it's a long journey but at one point I discovered a
ketogenic way of eating.
I ended up losing 80 poundsthrough ketogenic and also a
carnivore way of eating justnice and basic.
Through ketogenic and also acarnivore way of eating, just,
you know, nice and basic Meatand vegetables got off the
processed foods and ended uplosing 80 pounds in about a year
and a half and I ended uphelping my heart disease, curing
(01:14):
a lot of the other issues I hadwith my metabolic disease.
You know, when you're 250pounds at six foot tall, I
should have been around 190, 200, but now I'm at 180.
I've, you know, the Keto 5-0started because I started
helping cops at work.
Hey, you know, are you sick?
Are you dying to something?
I go, no man.
I'm down to 33 inch waistbecause of this way of eating
and taking care of myself.
So I started helping cops and Ijust got the nickname Keto 5-0,
(01:37):
you know.
And then it just ran with it.
And then I went to school andand just started a nutrition
business for coaching you know,guys, and it's, that's how it
started.
You know, play off a hawaii 50,of course, yeah, yeah.
Well, all the times in the hoodthey'd run from me you know.
Jerry (01:53):
So it kind of fit.
Eric (01:54):
It made sense.
So I was like, ah, that's cool.
So why?
Jerry (01:57):
why did you go with the keto way there's?
Why was that particular to youlike?
Why was your interest there?
Eric (02:03):
I was 40 since 48 years old, already been diagnosed with
heart disease.
They were trying to push stentson me and they're trying to
push statins and all this stuff,you know, make me a patient for
life.
And one day I learned to SouthFlorida.
All those dead bodies I had toinvestigate and flip over.
A lot of them were so boggeddown with medication and pills I
always kind of stayed away fromthat way of thinking that pill
(02:26):
isn't going to save my life.
There is no magic pill.
So, a friend of mine, you know,I tried to do it the way we all
do.
Right, you try to work out, tryto cut back the booze, I'll,
you know, eat some chickeninstead of red meat.
And the next thing, you know, Ikept getting fatter and fatter,
doing it their way, and sickerand sicker, you know, and
overall, mentally, I got moredepressed.
And you know, with some of thestuff that happened in my career
, it was just a perfect recipefor me to, you know, go down a
(02:49):
dark way, you know, or a darkpath.
But playing basketball with abuddy of mine, I always stayed
pretty active.
He had lost 50 pounds and hesaid something about this keto
and I thought it was some newCrossFit training that I was
going to hate.
I just thought this is going tobe the worst, you know.
And he goes nah, it's aboutburning fat for fuel.
And I was like what are youtalking about?
I had no idea I could write asearch warrant, I could go
(03:10):
arrest somebody and write aprobable cause affidavit, but I
didn't know my blood work, Ididn't know really what I was
putting in my mouth.
And that's when it started,within like three weeks to I was
like man, at this rate I'll befreaking 180 jacked, you know.
But of course over time yourbody adapts.
(03:30):
You lose inches, not alwayspounds, you know you start
building more muscle and youknow my path.
I started getting moremotivated by it and I started
thinking clear and I was likeyou know what I really like this
route I'm going.
And then obviously people pickyour brain and you start talking
about it.
You know it's like people thatlove talking about guns and it
doesn't take long for you tofigure it out, Right.
So I was like that with keto.
I'm like dude, do you know howtoxic Coca-Cola?
Jerry (03:52):
is and I'm like, oh God, here we go.
Eric (03:54):
Yeah, people would walk by in an apartment by the evidence
area, cause I was right there,you had to pass me, and they'd
be hiding their Dr pepper ortheir mcdonald's bags.
I'm just like you know.
I just look at them, you know.
Jerry (04:05):
But yeah, so it was a good path, you know, and saved
my life yeah, I mean,everybody's gotta make their
choices right and and live withthem and maybe at some point
those choices get them to apoint right where they're like
you, like I've got to dosomething.
I gotta change change to whatI'm doing, because what I'm
doing is not healthy.
Eric (04:26):
Yeah, I mean I, I battled my cardiologist, you know, and I
knew what I was talking aboutwhen I went in there.
Unfortunately, most of us gointo these doctor's offices and
we don't know.
We're just going to push, we'regoing to give them all of our
health.
Here you go, you make thedecision, you know and I'm like
come on, man, you know it's notyour individual doctor, it's not
his fault that who owns themedical you know, schools and
(04:47):
also the businesses is allpharma connected.
They want you on pills you know, and that's just the way
they're being taught,unfortunately.
I mean, and that's why Idiscovered, you know, it's a big
organized crime.
I mean, big food was owned bybig tobacco.
Well, what did big tobacco do?
They got doctors saying it wasokay to smoke.
It's a great way to you know,and meanwhile it's giving you
heart attacks.
I mean, it's just such a bigmoney-making scam and once my
(05:09):
eyes were open, you can't goback.
You're like, wow, and nowthey're doing this to children,
they're doing it to our military.
I mean, all these food programs, donations to Haiti or whoever
needs help.
They're sending them puremetabolic disease garbage.
That's what they're sending.
Jerry (05:23):
But that's another that's another tirade.
Eric (05:25):
I can get into.
We start helping people.
Jerry (05:28):
What?
What's the benefit to yourbrain with doing keto?
Eric (05:35):
Well, obviously one of the things people don't understand
is you have a direct linkbetween your stomach and your
brain.
So if your stomach's all jackedup because it's not acting
right, because maybe you're noteating the right, proper foods,
it's going to make you a littlebit less aware.
You're going to be slower,you're going to be cloudy,
you're going to be grumpy, youknow, you're just going to be
feeling lethargic a lot becauseyour body's not operating in the
(05:56):
proper way.
We're not supposed to eat everytwo hours.
That's idiotic.
What carnivore, keto-vore,herbivore animal does that?
We're not cows grazing all daylong, all right.
We aren't supposed to eat everytwo minutes.
Your digestive system does notneed to be working all day long.
It's designed to eat, processit like a lion.
(06:16):
You kill a doe, you eat thatthing and you chill, digest that
bad boy.
Now you're ready to go for acouple of days.
I mean, a lot of the clients Iwork with that are cops.
I have them fasting on duty Ifthey got a 10, 12 hour shift.
You're not eating a meal, butyou're going to have coffee and
broth and some heavy cream andeven a little stevia, if you
need to keep that a little bitsweet, cause we're all hooked on
the Dunkin' Donuts stuff.
(06:36):
I mean, it happened right, it'sindoctrination.
But this way these guys arepaying attention, they're alert,
they're focused, they'reenergized and then at the end
their shift they go hit a dinerand they're eating bacon and
eggs and, you know, pork chops,and then they're satisfied man,
it's just a better way.
And I had several guys saying,man, this is the best way to go
(06:56):
and they're trying to spread theword.
But you know, it's just.
I think we overestimate howvaluable our health is.
And how many guys do you lookat your academy picture and you
look at when you retire?
Oh, that's when I was jacked, Iwas ripped.
Family.
No, you've ate yourself intothis situation, unfortunately,
(07:17):
and you medicated yourself inthis way, whether it's through,
you know, blood pressure,prediabetes medicine, statins
and all that stuff.
Unfortunately, we have reallytaken that approach and we just
let them do it to us.
You know, unfortunately, youknow.
Jerry (07:32):
I mean there's.
Eric (07:33):
I didn't know it either.
I was like I said 250 pounds.
They wanted to put stents in meand I had a fellow officer that
died of a heart attack afterhaving stents put in and I just
I knew there had to be adifferent way and the other ways
before it wasn't working.
And the minute, like I said, Ijust started feeding my body
natural, real food.
It doesn't have to be grass fed, but you don't want to be
(07:53):
eating Taco Bell.
You know meat.
You know all those fast foods.
They're a business.
They're designed for profit,not for your health, and it's
going to be cheap.
Well, I can get, you know,eight burgers for freaking 99
cents.
Hey, yeah.
So you know, eating the way Ido now, which is mostly animal
based, it's not really that muchdifference in price.
(08:13):
When you start adding up allthe chips and the other crap
people buy, from sodas tocigarettes, to you know you
eliminate that.
I can go get a nice ribeye youknow, $12, $ 12 13, but that's
my meal for the day, yeah, withsome eggs and stuff like that.
It's just a different way, youknow yeah, I think that's true.
Jerry (08:31):
You think you have to get over the mindset shift of like.
Like you said, it seems likeit's going to be a lot more
expensive to eat this way.
But you're right.
If you do, cut out all thoselittle things, you know you're
right, you can have it, yeah, Ican have whatever you want.
At the end of the day, youhaven't really spent any more
money than you normally wouldspend.
Eric (08:51):
Yeah, I mean, unfortunately sugar is pretty
evil.
You know, I read a book calledBig Fat Surprise by Nina
Teicholz and man, you just seethe dirty business behind it
Hiding research, bribingscientists and you wonder why
we've been having this hardepidemic for the last you know
70 years.
We've tried animal, I mean wetry plant-based.
We think we've been eating thelast 70 years is a plant-based
(09:14):
diet.
The meat's been fairly sprinkledin you know, you get your six
ounces, there's your littleburger.
Son, keep eating those mashedpotatoes and the bread.
You know it's just over time.
That's why we're so freakingsick across this country.
We've just been fooled.
You know, and I don't eat myfirst meal of the day, usually
till 12 or one o'clock.
You know people are like whatI've already worked out.
You know I've done some otherthings around our life.
(09:36):
You're not going to starve todeath.
If you've ever watched theseshows like Naked and Afraid,
shout out to Gwen Grimes.
You are not going to die.
Okay, your body has fat reserves.
It will feed off of that andyou just supplement yourself
with minerals.
You know magnesium, potassium.
You know, obviously, salt,sodium of some sort to keep
yourself.
(09:56):
You know the mineral intake andelectrolytes on the right level
.
But yeah, it's, it's totallypossible to do a crash wave,
doing it like that.
But I would suggest develop thegood habits right now in eating
, spreading it to your family,because that's one of the things
that there seems to be someblowback If you try to tell a
man's wife or a wife's husbandthat the food they're bringing
(10:18):
into the house is makingeveryone sick.
Jerry (10:21):
You know, take it personal.
Eric (10:22):
You know, and I get it.
Jerry (10:28):
It's a, you know you don't want someone.
Eric (10:29):
You don't want me coming in your house looking through
your pantry, right, right, Imean, what do you feel guilty
about?
Then you make that decision.
Don't let me make it.
You know, you know, come on.
So yeah, it's been fun thisnutrition way.
I just wish I knew all thisinformation when I was younger
so I could have just takenbetter care of myself and the
people around me, you know whatI mean.
Jerry (10:44):
So working out without eating, I mean that's generally
been taught like that's kind ofa right.
I'm saying it's been taughtthis way.
I'm not saying it is the rightway to have like to not go work
out, right, you're just burningup muscle by not having any, you
know, food and protein andstuff in your system and you're
(11:05):
actually you know.
Eric (11:06):
but the problem is we get in the cycle of eating processed
foods and then you get hungrybecause you're not eating a
nutritious meal and then you gostuff yourself and then like
Chinese food, right, you'realways hungry an hour later.
It's because that's just garbage.
That's why if it was a realsteak or real like, even if you
ate chicken wings and you ate 15chicken wings, you're not going
(11:26):
to be hungry in an hour, I mean.
So yeah, sometimes you know,thinking you don't have to work
out on an empty stomach, Ithought that too.
I thought I had to work outright afterwards too, like, oh,
now I'm going to feed my bodyprotein.
You got enough in your systemalready, especially if you're a
little heavy guys.
You got it on there.
Your body will use it and theneat later on.
(11:47):
I mean, there's all kinds ofwindows.
You got to find out what worksfor you.
If you're staying up later, youknow you're on a different shift
.
You know I eat at one and maybesix, and then I'm done.
Sometimes I skip the six.
If the one's like a ribeye withthree eggs, I'm probably not
going to eat dinner and it'scrazy.
I'll have coffee and some maybebone broth or some collagen or
(12:08):
something in there.
I'm still hooked on coffee.
I've been killing the coffeesince I stopped the booze about
almost 10 months in, and notthat I was drinking and driving
and sliding in the signs andstuff like that.
It was my own battle I had overthe years.
It was a coping mechanism andeven when I lost weight I was
(12:28):
still drinking, but I wasn'tgetting bombed.
It was just something to calmmy central nervous system down.
You know and obviously that'sfor me being in the shooting and
then also you know, the wholecareer itself, just kind of
being hypervigilant all the timeso the alcohol would calm me
down.
In 2019 we sold our house,bought an rv, started full-time
camping.
Everywhere I went everyone'shappy.
Hey, we're camping.
(12:49):
Hey, here's a beer.
I mean, what do you think'sgonna happen?
we're on campus but then fouryears of camping.
You're like man.
I might have an alcohol problemso I drink the coffee.
I try to make it, you know, asnutritious as I can.
You know I use mold-free coffeenow because I did have a
diagnosis.
I had really high mycotoxins inmy system, along with heavy
(13:10):
metals.
So I was telling you earlierI'm going through a detox
process and one of that is notto drink that BS coffee that
they sell you in the stores thatare.
You know it's cheap or whatever, because it's filled with molds
and other pesticides and otherchemicals that aren't good for
you.
So I drink the good stuff rightnow.
It's worth it.
What else are you going to do?
You know I hate grinding thebeans and stuff.
(13:30):
I do go a little instant nowand then, but it happens right.
Jerry (13:34):
No, I yeah.
It's a world of difference ofgrinding your own beans and you
know, and drinking coffee.
It's a world world ofdifference, for sure.
What?
What other things have youchanged in your life?
Eric (13:50):
I mean, just touched on camping and stuff like that to
deal with some of the traumathat you went through on the job
I retired.
I got out.
Yeah, it was funny.
My in 2018, you know, I was atmy heaviest.
I was.
I just lost one of my buddies.
I told you of a heart attackand he was a lot better shape
than me and he was like man.
We were connected through ourwhole careers and was just such
a tough loss.
And you start questioningyourself and your physical
(14:12):
capabilities and you know I'velost both my grandfather's heart
attacks or lung disease orsomething like that Right heart
attacks or lung disease orsomething like that Right.
So you're like, wow, you know,and I remember my wife
mentioning about retiring.
You know, when can you retire?
And I was like 48 years old inmy head.
(14:33):
I had seven years.
I had five years of the dropand then two years when I was
eligible to retire at 50 yearsold, but it never really hit me
at 50.
I could just leave, you know,and that's what we ended up
doing.
We sold the house.
we pretty much knew I wasn'tgoing to get promoted, I wasn't
trying to go to nights with twokids at home you know I already
saw that life, one I livedthrough with my mom, so I saw
(14:55):
that side, and for the money perhour it wasn't worth it.
I've already been around toolong to figure that out.
Unless I was going to go upstraight through to lieutenant
and work my way out, and Iwasn't going that route.
So they had something in ourstate pension or our police
pension about you can retire at50 years old as long as you got
15 years of service.
I was like man, I'm going tohave almost 19 years of service
(15:16):
so I can walk.
So I sat with the pension ladyand she's figuring out your
numbers and it wasn't great.
I wasn't going to be rolling indough.
I mean they take your top five,60 months, and they average it
out.
You know, and that's yourpension.
And we went seven years, wenton a raise down in Boynton Beach
, Florida, like a lot of peopledid.
I was there from the 08 crashof everything and we were just
lucky to keep our take-home carsat that point.
(15:37):
So we went a lot of time where Iwasn't able to pad my pension,
not getting promoted, certainovertime hurricanes yeah, you
can boost it up, but I prettymuch know I wasn't going to make
a ton.
But the drop money I left onthe table those last five years.
I don't know if people know,but they invest your retirement
(15:58):
money while you're still gettingpaid for the city and then you
walk away sometimes three, four,$500,000, depending on who you
are and what rank you are.
But we decided to leave thatfive hundred thousand on the
table because it wasn't going tobe worth it.
You know we were seeing thestatistics of not only cops but
pretty much all first responders.
I mean from dispatchers tofiremen.
I mean the death rates amongstus after we retire.
Within five years half of us aredying right you know a lot of
(16:18):
us because we're hanging on tothe job for 35 years, dude, or
30 years.
That's why, at 20, I was like,yeah, I think this is good.
My mom did 30.
I think I like the thing Isuffered with her in those 30
years because I was at the endof a lot of stuff.
But yeah, it just seemed rightand I was like, wow, and we had
been looking at, like NorthCarolina, tennessee, that area
(16:40):
because my mom had alreadyretired up there.
So we started looking at it.
I'm like, yeah, I can get anevidence job somewhere, some
civilian job at a department,let's just do it.
You know, and we've beenwatching tiny house shows and
I'd already been telling peoplemy wife's crazy, she's looking
at treehouse shows, storage, youknow, shipping containers in
the woods.
Let's freaking carve out window.
(17:01):
I'm like, oh my God, what'shappened?
Who did I marry?
And it ended up saving my lifebecause the minute we hit the
road in the trailer and I didn'thave any of the baggage of a
job to go back to which is acrazy feeling to be free like
that, especially as a 50 yearold with kids and people were
like, how'd you do it?
(17:21):
Well, we didn't have a mortgageand we just had a truck and
trailer and you know our placeswe go.
You know, obviously food becamean issue as prices went up over
COVID, but at the initial onsetit was a great plan.
We travel around for two tothree years and there's some
place out there we're going tomake home.
We don't even know where it isyet.
It was kind of exciting, youknow.
And then the more you travel,the more addictive you get to
traveling, because every placehas a unique story.
Or you know, and if you startfollowing national parks, you
(17:43):
start following, you know, theTrail of Tears.
You really want to learn somesad stuff about our history, you
know, and it's just whole time.
Or homeschooling, you know, I'mlearning with my kids.
Half these places go to.
So it was just such a fantasticdecision, you know, and at the
same time you know I'm losingmore weight because now I left
(18:03):
that stress behind you know,even though, COVID hit, I still
lost another 25 pounds.
I got down to 175 and I hadn'tseen that since, like bring in
seventh grade.
It was insane, dude, you know.
And feeling great, I wasmotivated.
You know I'm already helpingguys, even with COVID is going
on and I saw right through allthe BS and you know I just like
(18:24):
we got to survive and navigatethrough this freaking world
right now.
And man, what a journey it isto get out there when every day
you open your door it could besomething different but you
still sleep in the same bed,same shower, your stuff's.
You don't have as much stuffbut it's still where you put it.
You know I'm saying it's prettyit's pretty wild.
I wish I did this a lot younger.
I wish I lived in a trailer asa cop.
(18:45):
I'd be a millionaire right nowbecause I wouldn't have paid all
that money to the banks, youknow right.
I ended up traveling in atrailer anyways.
I would just had a bigger rv bynow, probably so were you a
vacationer before this?
Typical you rush it in, gottasave it for christmas, gotta run
up see grandma in tennessee andthen hustle back you know the
(19:06):
whole vacation.
You needed a vacation from thevacation you know, and then
you're back to the grind overand over again, you know.
So, yeah, you know, my wifeended up once we had our first
child.
She ended up staying at home.
It wasn't planned and it wasjust one of those things that
felt right.
And she became a stay at homemom and raising our two boys,
and she was never one to ever bethat.
(19:27):
She was not what she hadplanned on in life, but she
wouldn't change anything.
Now I mean our relationshipwith our boys by being with them
on a daily basis, teaching them, learning with them, learning
stuff.
I thought I knew the answers toyou know it's really awesome.
Instead of asking teachers,they're asking you and then you
can learn.
(19:47):
You know you find the answerstogether, you know, and it's
just especially the way theschool systems are now and stuff
.
You're like, wow, good thingthey're with us right now, but
they're learning how survivalstuff I mean, we're on a farm
right now.
They just had an airsoft war,them and a little farm kids here
, and they got their mask on andyou know they're lighting each
other up and we had an incidentwhere one shot one without they
weren't on the range.
So we just had a littletraining issue and the guns are
(20:11):
off the playing table today.
But you know, they're learningstuff like that out of both
fires and they know more aboutnutrition than I ever knew, ever
in my life, until they've justbeen sucking it up.
They read the back of labels.
They're like Dad, what are youdoing with that energy drink?
Once in a while I want a bangenergy drink or whatever right
and they'll just make me feellike you're probably right.
(20:31):
If I can't pronounce half thosechemicals on it, I probably
don't need to Even me.
Jerry (20:35):
I still slip up now and then, but they're a good uh
gauge you know, yeah, I mean noone's uh too perfect right,
especially traveling the country.
I'm sure you know it could be alittle bit challenging to be on
keto.
Eric (20:49):
Maybe, as far as I mean it gets planned, I think you have
to be planned yeah, we have afreezer with us and we we kind
of know where the farmersmarkets are and we do ask around
, we go out to them, we talk tothe farmers.
Hey, man, do you grasp?
You know what type of beef?
How?
Jerry (21:03):
do you?
Eric (21:04):
raise it.
You know, regenerative farmingis one of the things we're big
into.
And then we get invited out totheir farms or we'll ask hey,
can we come check your farm out?
We're looking at homesteadingourselves yeah and then you make
friends with them and you'relike, hey, we want to buy a
quarter cow or an eighth of acow.
Yeah, next thing, you know, youload up, you're not, it's not
cheap.
But at least you're getting areasonable deal and you know
(21:24):
where it's coming from right youknow, and and it's not as bad
as you think now my boys areeating a little more.
You know, there is some issueabout us when we start
homesteading, how many animalswe're gonna have.
I thought we just have somelike chickens and goats, but now
I'm like I think we're gonnaneed a couple of cows because,
the way the government's goingright now, we want to be in
control of our meat yeah, yeah.
Jerry (21:44):
So where does this end for you?
Where's, where's your end gamewith this?
Eric (21:50):
with the keto, or this homestead, or life, life, how
about?
life life right now is um liketo get some land, have a whole,
have enough room that, even havea cops and campers campground
there possibly.
That would of course entailmore land, but hey, things
happen.
And doing my own retreatprograms there, whether it's on
(22:10):
a massive scale, 50 campers to100, or doing it 10 to 5,
depending on what type oftherapy guys need.
I mean, that's kind of what I'mdoing now, except I'm traveling
to different campgrounds to doit, which is awesome, but one
day that's the end game.
Have a farm, have guys come out, they want some work therapy,
All right, I need.
You know let's put up somefences or we need to move the
(22:31):
pigs from one field to the otheror something, just to get them
get their minds off of it,Especially now I've come in
contact with so many cops andfire and first responders in the
camping world.
A lot of us are camping andsometimes they're.
You know they're missing out onstuff.
You know we're not part oflineups or shifts or platoons.
(22:51):
You're kind of missing out alittle bit.
So when you find a whole newworld of guys, it's like going
to a new department where youget along with everybody Because
no one's like pissed you offyet no one's backstabbed you
because of a promotion.
These are, it's all a fresh youknow.
Start, you know and you end upmeeting some real guys that come
through the same shit as you,man, same problems, whether it's
with their wife, kids, a boss,a parent, whatever they may have
(23:17):
, a kid on drugs, whatever youfind someone there that's going
through the same shit you know,it's almost going like the AA
and you realize you're not theonly one and it's refreshing and
it's healing.
You know a lot of guys sittingaround the campfire were
bullshit and you know, and theywon't say anything, but they're
there.
Jerry (23:35):
Yeah.
Eric (23:35):
You know, that's the start , you know, and then they start
realizing all right, you know,and then they'll talk to you
later.
You know, and that's what, thebiggest things that happened at
our first cops and campers eventwas the amount of people that
came on and go.
Man, you got to keep this going.
This is just so therapeuticguys getting out here and you're
, and you're in a safe zone.
You're not at a regularcampground where there's already
a lot of military and you knowfirst responders anyways, but
(23:57):
it's a different vibe.
You know, you kind of feel like, all right, I'm safe here, my
family's safe.
It's just, you know, and it allstarted because of a you know
campground told me to take downmy flag.
I mean, everything's got toforget.
My life is insane.
Sometimes it's all got a storyLike what was that Slumdog
millionaire?
Every answer to the question itwas back.
The guy could remember itbecause it was something huge
(24:18):
that happened.
That's what's happening to meright now.
Jerry (24:24):
If I'm, you know, my brother and all kinds of crazy
stuff.
You know, yeah, what is Copsand Campers.
Eric (24:28):
So Cops and Campers.
Originally, what happened wasdoing the nutrition thing and
putting my flag out.
I would meet a lot of peopleand I would walk up who's the
cop in the family?
My dad's a cop, my mom's a cop.
I'm a cop, you know.
You just start talking.
They're like you're a copbecause I got long hair and you
can't see it now, but long hair,I got the beard, I look like a,
you know, a hippie or surferguy or something, a skateboarder
.
And they're like you're a cogor not?
(24:49):
Well, I'm retired and you know,and we get into it and they
start understanding.
I show them before and afterphotos of me at 250 pounds and
then they see me now in theirown, they see me, they can
almost touch me and stuff, andyou're like, oh my God, this guy
like actually exists.
He's not an infomercial Right.
And then I'm not selling themanything.
I was like, hey, man, you justgot to really look at this stuff
, you know, and try to justpromote, you know, nutrition
(25:13):
education for them.
You know, and that was the patheverywhere I go, I was hoping
to maybe get a sponsorship likea pork rind company.
Hey, you know, we want you todrive around and hand out bags
of pork rinds.
I'm like hey, I'll do it right,instead of Doritos, it's much
better.
That's just a little keto trickfor you.
And then we go to a campgroundin New York and it was a
(25:35):
thousand trails camping club wewere part of and I put up the
flag, like I always do set up,and then I go to the playground
and watching my kids play aroundI just made myself a cocktail
of victory cocktail, you knowand a guy rolls up on a golf
cart and tells me dude, you gotto take your flag now.
And I thought he was justmessing with me.
You know, I was like what it'slike?
No, you got to take your thinblue line flags.
And then I recorded them and Ilost my shit a little bit on the
(25:58):
recording.
I stopped it.
I never touched the guy, eventhough everyone thinks by the
time I was probably putting myboot to his head or something,
but I didn't.
And it turned into more.
The manager tried to kick usout.
They were going to call NewYork State Police to arrest the
cop for not leaving because itwas flag.
I mean, it was bizarro world,but everything was crazy in 2021
, right?
So I just remember I'm notleaving.
(26:20):
So we ended up staying therefor eight days.
I was just an irritant.
I'm not taking my flag down andbetter yet, I'm going to reach
out to everyone I know in thisworld and I'm going to tell them
about this.
And it freaking caught fire.
So next thing you know, hudsonValley News came out, did a news
story.
They had a rally there thefollowing week at a tractor
supply store.
Like 50 cars and trucks showedup with thin blue line flags.
(26:41):
So I drove all the way fromNiagara Falls back from my own
rally and they had me second inthe parade.
It was freaking awesome.
And then we got stopped.
Our plan was to go back to theold campground that was screwing
with me and then we had copscamping inside and we were going
to all show up and just fill itwith police flags everywhere.
I'll throw it down and knockthem in the ground.
But New York State Police got agot word of it and they stopped
(27:03):
us and pushed us back.
So at one point at that rallypoint I was in the back on the
back of a truck saying thank youeveryone for supporting and I
go.
We're going to start somethingcalled Cops and Campers and go
to pro first respondercampgrounds where they want us,
where flags aren't an issue.
You know, it's just kind of ahoot and hollering moment.
Jerry (27:20):
Yeah.
Eric (27:20):
And then it just kind of started getting more feedback
yeah, we should start a freaking.
I want to go where you guys aregoing.
And I was like, all right,let's kind of run with this.
And we finally went nonprofitlast November.
People smarter than me saiddude, you got to do something
with this because trying to runa business, cops and campers
isn't the same, you know tryingto sell some t-shirts.
(27:45):
Hey, you know, but doing it formental health seemed like, wow,
this is really a great avenue toget guys to the party, to the
barbecue, to the campfire, andlet's talk about mental health
and also your physical health.
You know that belly you got isgoing to kill you.
You know it's going to lead toheart disease.
You're going to have a heartattack.
Everyone dies of heart attacks,you know.
So why are you going to justgive into it at a young age?
Let's enjoy your retirement.
You know, do some more campingand fishing trips.
(28:07):
So it just kind of built.
And when we had our first event,a guy named Patrick Shaver who
had done a couple ofdocumentaries, police stuff he's
actually done a bunch, he's aretired cop himself he said, hey
, man, why don't we do adocumentary called Cops and
Campers and we'll film it?
And so he put it together withme and we made a 30 minute
documentary that's on YouTubejust to kind of show what it's
(28:28):
about.
And now we use it for,obviously, to promotion if they
want to see what goes on.
But it's real.
I mean we have cornholetournaments, we have the
National Guard comes out withthe obstacle course.
There's a big pool there.
We have a live band that night.
I mean I got this year, I gotyoga.
I got Dr Robert Kiltz, who'sbig on the carnivore keto world,
coming out to talk aboutmetabolic health, ptsd and your
(28:50):
diet.
And also Kevin Donaldson'scoming out and he wrote the book
man You're Crazy and he's gothis own PTS journey.
So now I'm starting to get inyoga.
Rescue's coming, van's going todo some yoga for us, so it's
like I'm getting some people nowthat are part of my.
You know, I'm putting togethermy cabinet.
Jerry (29:07):
Yeah, all these all star people.
Eric (29:08):
I think that would help me or it's going to help everybody
else.
So that's what we're doing, man, it's starting to.
You know, I got some comediansthat want to eventually come out
.
They couldn't do it this year.
So I think I'm going to make aFriday night comedy night and
then have Saturday be the rockand roll night in the future.
And you know, this place isvery special because when we got
that flag incident we gotsuspended from the camping group
(29:30):
for two months so I couldn'tcamp with it.
I mean I could go to differentcampsites but kind of threw off
our whole itinerary for the tripthat year.
And four different campgroundsin upstate New York said bring
your flag, your rig and yourfamily, you're staying with us.
And they covered the whole time.
Well, ithaca, at Spruce Row withScott.
He was the first one thatreached out.
He had his son do it on Twitteror Instagram, I don't remember.
(29:51):
I wasn't even all about socialmedia, and then I was just
trying to camp and promotenutrition and they go, bring,
come on over.
And I got there and you knowthey actually had a charity
event Hold on, hey, sorry.
Well, once in a while the kidscome in and forget I'm in here.
And I go, hey, let's do anactual cops and cameras event.
He's like, let's do it, and theband's already retired cops,
(30:13):
you know called Taylor May.
Then do it, and the band'salready retired cops, you know
called taylor made and they singsinging southern rock, and I
was like, man, this is gonna beawesome.
So we're coming up on our thirdevent there this year.
I've done two in georgia.
Um, I think those are gonnapick up.
I just gotta lock in a goodtime, um, because time of year,
you know to try to in campingyou know, it's a lot going into
campers.
it's just not a weekend trip.
But but yeah, they want me togo to Austin, texas now, and
(30:43):
Utah and I'm like wow.
So, yeah, it's, it's I bit offa little more than I could chew,
but it's for a good reason,it's a good cause and I got a
lot of good people looking outto help me, you know.
So yeah that's how it started.
It was just camping with a flag.
It's crazy.
Jerry (30:51):
Yeah, that's awesome.
It's an awesome story and it'sgonna be super cool to see uh,
see you grow.
Excuse me, eric, where canpeople find you and follow you
and see what's going on?
Eric (31:03):
you follow me at keto50.com or copsandcamperscom.
Um, there you can see all thestories behind the scenes,
everything from my shooting andall that stuff.
I, I mean I, I, you know I havetalked a lot about that and
that situation and thenobviously, how it led to me
being metabolically sick at thesame time.
You know from the stresses ofit, but yeah, I'm also able to
(31:26):
be reached out through email.
You know, it's the same thing.
You can find me everythingthrough keto50.com.
Jerry (31:31):
Perfect, perfect Well, thank you, eric.
Thank you for being on today.
All right, man thanks for havingme.
Yeah, thanks again forlistening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewthe show wherever you access
your podcast.
If you know someone that wouldbe great on the show, please get
a hold of our host, jerry JerryDean Lund, through the
(31:53):
Instagram handles at Jerry fireand fuel or at enduring the
badge podcast, also by visitingthe show's website, enduring the
badge podcastcom for additionalmethods of contact and up to
date information regarding theshow.
Remember, the views andopinions expressed during the
(32:17):
show solely represent those ofour host and the current
episode's guest.
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