Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
The drugs people are taking right now to loseweight quickly is a fad.
There's not enough history and research behindthem.
They work.
Yes.
But when you're done, do they teach youanything?
What are you gonna do with your
You just rebound.
Right?
Which is very inflammatory on the body.
Your body's like, finally, all this weight'sgone.
And then it's like, oh god.
And it gains it all back.
(00:21):
It's a
lot of stress.
And we were just talking, you know, a fewminutes ago about longevity and beating
genetics.
So if you're taking something like that andhave that kind of stress rebound, now you're
fighting against all that good knowledge wejust expressed a little while ago.
So that's an example of things just, you know,common sense fighting Yeah.
Reality.
(00:42):
I do it in a way where it involves some naturalproducts that are amino acid based that bring
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Now back to the episode.
Welcome to Health decode, your number onesource for real health information with your
host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
Welcome back to Health Decoded.
(02:28):
I am your host, doctor Alfred Alessi.
Thank you for joining us today.
Today's episode is gonna be an awesome episode.
We are going to relaunch an episode we shotlast year with Zeke samples who since then we
have brought on as a member of our team,piloting and leading our weight loss division
and nutrition and wellness with his Genesisprotocol to help people lose up to a pound a
(02:51):
day of fat and maintain those results for life.
So this is a really cool episode.
Zeke gets into his story.
He talks about how he came from a state of,unhealth to robust health and becoming a world
champion bodybuilder and nutrition coach, andultimately just kinda share some awesome
strategies and tips for everyone.
(03:12):
So it was a very impactful and profound episodewe wanted to reshare.
Then this was an episode from the Full Fieldpodcast.
So we hope you enjoy.
Thank you for joining us, and enjoy theepisode.
Oh, we're back with your host, Matt Tack.
Doctor Alfred Alessi.
And we have a super special guest today, ZekeSamples.
That's his real last name too.
(03:34):
And I'm gonna describe Zeke here.
Love it.
With, over 25 years of experience in the healthand wellness industry and once a weight loss
patient himself, Zeke has overcome the pastphysical limit limiting challenges of scoliosis
and kyphosis?
Yes.
Is that Ask him.
Exactly.
You did a good job there, buddy.
(03:55):
Of the spine during his teenage years, to nowlead a life dedicated to helping others and
achieve their health and wellness goals.
Zeke is a past national champion and runner-upworld champion in the physique competitions and
pairs that experience with lifelong knowledgeto his personal commitment to helping patients
of all ages needing nutritional and expertiseguidance.
Yes.
(04:15):
Welcome, Zeke Samples.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
This has been in the making for quite some timenow.
And I like being around you, but I also don'tlike being around you because I literally feel
like a peanut.
Dude, yeah.
I I remember I'll never forget that one time wewere sitting together, and I was looking at you
seriously just, like, listening, and you said,I lost my concentration because you keep
(04:39):
looking at me like that.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like he's
the first thing you notice when
the dude walks in is his arms are bigger thanmy legs.
I'm like, alright.
Like, that that made me feel a little insecurehere, but this dude just jacked.
It's absolute unbelievable.
You know what was one of the coolest experiencewas when, I got to kinda quasi work out with
you.
(04:59):
I, I met up with you, and, you were just, like,slanging around.
Wait.
I'm just, like, pushing on, like, holy.
This guy is an absolute monster.
But meanwhile, I'm I'm one of the nicest peoplewe will meet.
So Absolutely.
You really are.
Yeah.
They
have to turn my mic up
today.
So Yeah.
(05:19):
We're gonna jump in a little bit of everything.
We wanna jump into your coaching side as well.
One of the things that I think is really coolabout you is really the story of how kind of
everything came about.
Are you dealing with scoliosis at a very youngage, a spinal issue that eventually you had to
reach out to people and learn.
So tell us a little bit about that, then how itled to becoming a national champion.
(05:43):
I'm gonna run her up world champion in thebodybuilding physique competitions?
Lot of fortitude and mindset.
That's that's what it required.
Yeah.
So at 14, I wasn't really, in my teenage years,I wasn't really the healthy kind of person.
You know, I wasn't taught about nutrition.
My family has an athletic background, but, youknow, did as generations progress, even our
(06:08):
parents, you know, they were taught differentlythan the grandparents were.
I mean, the weight room was the place thatslowed you down.
And now it's somewhere that you have to to bein in order to be the best.
So even the mindset shifts that we see todaywere even apparent back then.
It just rolls through technology and whatpeople actually believe to be true with
(06:31):
nutrition and with exercise.
I'm sure you see all that evolve in differentways.
So for me, I started out as not really knowingmuch about anything, but then I was diagnosed
at 14 and a half years old with this backissue, scoliosis and kyphosis, wore a back
brace for 2 years, High school years at a timewhen I was accepted to a prestigious boarding
(06:53):
school that didn't allow cars on campus.
It didn't you know, if it was a mixer with agirl school, it was a sign up sheet.
A trip to the mall, it was a sign up sheet onon a bus, that kind of thing.
So very difficult part of my life to acceptthat what I felt was a defect at that time in
an environment where I was around kids thatwere there for athletics, that were there for
(07:18):
scholastic reasons.
And trying to make friends around all of that,was very challenging.
That's how it kinda started was around my highschool years.
What eventually led to you start competing inbodybuilding?
Well, it it kind of evolved that way onlybecause I became a product of my product.
(07:39):
I it was a passion for me to start tounderstand exercise and a fear.
It was fear driven or fear based because I wastold I'd have metal rods put in my spine if I
didn't correct my spine on my own.
So I had just enough growth platelets left inmy back at that age to make a decision, and it
was all up to me.
Was I going to capitalize on this this moment,this short 2 year span of my life where I could
(08:05):
learn about nutrition, I could learn aboutexercise?
And I decided to dive into it, but nobody wasthere to really help me.
I was going to see a physical therapist who wasa, you know, 65 year old woman at a local place
in Orange, Virginia down from the school that,you know, was just kind of into basic
exercises.
(08:25):
It was nothing that was gonna be like, hey.
This is what you need to do to put musclearound this part of your your back or, you
know, your your biceps complement your yourback muscles when you're exercising, so make
sure you don't over train them, you know, therewas none of that.
So I had to learn all that through justmagazines and through that period of my life, I
read and absorbed as much as I could throughthe magazines.
(08:47):
That's kinda where it started.
You became, like, obsessive over it a littlebit, Yeah.
Because I I looked at it as a point to save mylife.
It wasn't for any self gratification or glitzand glam.
It was just, you know, if I look like this guythat I see in these pictures, then there's no
way I'm gonna have metal rods put on my back.
I'm gonna win.
Yeah.
Little back against the wall kinda story.
(09:08):
You know?
It would take now or never.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That'll test what you got though for sure.
Yep.
That's awesome, man.
One of the things that you did, during thatstage is, like, you you reached out to people.
I believe you reached out to, like, a an elitetrainer at that time as well that was in your
area, and you're like, hey.
(09:29):
This is something I want.
Is this something you could help me with?
Am I am I right on that?
Yeah.
So at that time, it was Lee Haney had justfinished competing.
He was a Tom mister Olympia, and he had wonmore than Arnold Schwarzenegger did.
But Arnold went to to the movies where Lee wasmore of a family man.
He kinda reclused from the sport, dedicated tofamily time after he retired.
(09:49):
But at that time, he still owned his gyms, andthey were in Atlanta, Georgia.
At that time, my grandparents were still alive.
They lived in Sandy Springs, which was a suburbright outside of Atlanta.
So we made a personal training appointment forme to go train with Lee.
At that time, it was it was around the sametime that I was told that I didn't have to wear
my back brace anymore.
(10:10):
So to me, it wasn't a finish line.
Like, it's like a golf clap moment.
Like, congratulations.
You killed yourself.
You're stressed out and you busted your tailfor 2 years.
You don't have to do this anymore.
Okay.
Next.
You know?
So I I was like, no.
I I I've learned all this stuff.
Yeah.
I can apply it for the rest of my life, but I'malso learning about this sport called
(10:31):
bodybuilding and the sport called muscle andfitness, and I wanna see what I can do to
challenge myself on a next level.
Let me see if I can do what these guys haveaccomplished.
So that's what got me to make the appointmentwith Lee.
And, he was $250 an hour, which is stillexpensive today, but back then in 1990 5, it
(10:53):
was really expensive.
But I did it as a means to see if he would takeme under his wing.
There was a hidden purpose behind thatappointment.
It wasn't to get the t shirt, which he actuallyhad with his face on it.
It was to get, him to help me and take me underhis wing.
So at that time, I worked out and, the firstworkout was good.
(11:15):
You know, it was upper body.
We kind of went through some exercises.
I told him at that meeting in his office what Iwanted to do and my real purpose for being
there, and he said, well, I'm really busy.
I've got this thing called my Harvest House,which takes underprivileged kids off the
streets of Atlanta, teaches them about farming,teaches them about countryside because they
(11:36):
weren't raised that way.
They don't have these things.
They were probably raised around drugs and onthe streets.
So it was a way for him to give back to thecommunity, and he said, let me talk to my wife,
and why don't you come back tomorrow foranother workout?
And at that time, we kind of my dad and Ilooked at each other, and I said, well, we
(11:57):
don't really have the money to pay for anotherworkout.
And he leaned over and said, I didn't say youhad to pay me.
So that was a really interesting moment and afun moment because now I got to train with this
icon again for free.
So we came back the next day, and that day, we,trained legs, but we actually ended up at the
(12:18):
gym at the same time together.
So as he parked, we were parking.
We kinda walked in together, and he had a fannypack on.
And, you know, fanny packs are coming back now,but at at the time, they were cool back then.
Yeah.
And, he had this fanny pack on.
The reason that's significant is because, to mystory, he didn't go to his office.
(12:38):
He didn't go to the bathroom.
He didn't leave my side.
We walked straight to the gym floor and did theleg workout.
I was really known for my leg strength at thattime because, 1, I was reading magazines, but,
2, I never put spinal compression on my backwith squats.
I would always do things like leg pressing orlunging.
(12:59):
And, I mean, I could leg press 13, £14100 justYeah.
For reps
Every play.
At at 18 years old.
And he had this vertical leg press.
The listeners, I don't know if you know whatthat means, but it's basically you can imagine
yourself sitting in a space shuttle about totake off to the moon and the position that you
(13:21):
see those guys in the movies, they're on theirback.
They're vertically looking up at the sky.
Well, that's how you position yourself in thisleg press.
So when your feet go on this platform, it'sabove your head like where the ceiling would
be.
So if you screw that exercise up, you have allthis weight that's gonna come down on you and
you're not gonna be able to crawl out.
They have one of that Mi 40.
(13:41):
Right?
Yeah.
You gotta take a short video out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's my favorite exercise because it's sochallenging, but at the same time, it takes all
the compression off your back.
So it's full power.
And I think that's the moment that I reallyimpressed him because he just kept putting
plates on there, and I just kept doing it.
So we walked back to his office, and heunzipped his fanny pack.
(14:04):
And he said, you know, I've given a lot ofthought to what you asked me, and I'm willing
to say yes if you can come down and train, youknow, with me all summer.
I was like, okay.
Yeah.
I can do that.
Oh, yeah.
And he pulled out a workout sheet, and hepulled out a nutrition plan that he'd already
written.
So around his waist, that whole time fromleaving the parking lot to walking on the gym
(14:28):
floor, he had made his decision pretty much forthe most part, 90% of it.
I mean, he still could have never revealed whathe had to provide, but he had it already
decided at some point the night before, themorning of, that he was gonna help this kid.
So when I kept to what I needed to do, mydedication to prove myself, I shined to a point
(14:54):
where he said, yeah.
I'm gonna move forward and, hey.
This is what I got.
Let's let's get started.
So I carry that on in my life with a lot ofchallenging moments I have now that have to do
with situations where you're starting a newcareer.
You're starting like you guys, you're starting,you know, the cohorts and everything with with
the business.
(15:15):
You're starting the new side of the practice.
There's probably some fear in there, like, isit gonna be successful?
Are we gonna do it right?
Are we gonna be able to make everybody happy?
We're gonna get good reviews?
All those things.
It's like, yes, they're valuable concerns, butat the end of the day, they're concerns that in
(15:35):
a way you can't even control.
You just have to keep pushing forward becauseyou're always gonna be in charge of your
destiny.
And it rolls down to health and fitness too.
It's one of the very few things that we have asa human being that we can always be in charge
of.
Yeah.
What we put in our mouths, what we do with ourbodies.
100%.
And And that's, like, the goal with this wholemovement of full fuel is, like, you're in
(15:57):
control.
Right?
Like, we can't do it for you.
We can give you the tools.
We can give you the building blocks, but,ultimately, you had
to do it.
Right?
You had to do the work.
I wanna touch on something with the termbodybuilding.
Right?
Because I think people hear that, and theythink that means you're competing, or that
necessarily means you're trying to go elitelike you did.
Right?
You were the 1% of the 1%.
That that doesn't have to be for everyone.
(16:18):
Right?
And and most people are never gonna do that,but you still need to bodybuild.
Right?
What I deal with in my practice all the time isspinal corrective care.
Things like what you had, scoliosis, kyphosis,where your spine is moving out of balance
because the muscles around it are notproportionately strong or weak.
Right?
So if we build our body up, obviously, you'vecorrect those deficiencies, but then building
your muscular structure is a longevity place.
(16:40):
Now your body can handle injury.
It can handle faulty movements.
Right?
You're less likely to get hurt.
You bend down to grab something off the flooror pick up your kid.
If you're getting injured, like opening adrawer or, like, you you sneeze or something
and you're getting hurt, that core strength isnot there.
So I think that's a big thing for, like, ouraudience is, like, bodybuilding isn't, like,
some faraway thing I'll never attain.
(17:00):
It's like, no.
You everyone should be doing it to some degree.
Would you agree with that?
Oh, yeah.
Totally.
I mean, the definition vocabulary, if that's aword, would be exactly what you said, but an
image might be a guy in his underwear.
But that's not really the the truth behind it.
It's a 65 year old can be bodybuilding just ina different way.
Yeah.
(17:20):
Definitely.
Yeah.
Muscle is just such a I mean, we, GabrielleLyon is just one of those she's obviously wrote
her book and
We'll get her on here eventually.
Becoming a we will.
It's becoming just like, that topic of how,like, how important muscular density is as you
progress later in life.
And there's just like, obviously, I think myfeed's full of it too.
(17:42):
I'm constantly, like, feeding my audience thatthere's never not a bad time to start building
muscle mass.
Yeah.
And, like, you can literally they had, this onethe other day.
A lot of people send me stuff now too.
So I'm like, thanks for the audience that sendsme sends me these reels of, like, these, this
guy.
This was me at 60 years old, but here's me at70 1.
(18:02):
It's like I mean, he was, like, floppy.
And now he's, like, a jacked, and he's, youknow, doing plyometrics and, has, like, an
actual vertical leap
at 70 1 o.
Jumped on that you sent me.
Oh, did I send you that?
Massive.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that goes to show you that it's, like, it'snot too late.
Like, humans are capable of, anabolism forever.
Right?
It's not like you get to a certain age and yourbody's all of a sudden, like, no.
(18:24):
I'm not gonna do that.
It's just a matter of you need more protein atan older age, right, to make that happen.
You need more input.
But it's easier if you don't stop.
Right?
So, like, the 3 of us are probably never gonnastop working out.
I'm not gonna be like, yeah.
I'm gonna take a few years off.
No.
It's something I just do.
Right?
But that will allow me to stay in that shapeforever.
Right?
Absolutely.
And I think there's some thought andconversation too that goes behind, genetics and
(18:50):
getting started the earlier that you theearliest that you can in your life making that
decision earlier because then you can beat someof that genetic code too for sure.
Yeah.
Peter Attia talks actually a lot about that onhow it's not necessarily, like when you know
your genetics, and then they call it the E4over the E4.
So, one of the big things is is do you havedementia potentially in that genotype?
(19:16):
Do you have Parkinson's in those genotypes?
Which we have I have Parkinson's in my family.
Those are all neurogenerative diseases.
And so how do you go about not necessarily notgetting them, but pushing them out further.
Right?
So that your quality, your health spans arejust that much better over a quality period of
(19:36):
time.
And so he just, like, had broken down all thethings, but, like, the the main thing is is,
catering to exercise.
And then what does that exercise look like?
And he it's very much focused on anabolic, so alot of his routines, being a longevity doctor,
is focused on that anabolic movement.
(19:56):
But, you guys get read the book Outlive.
Have you read the book Outlive?
I'm in it right now.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
The last chapter is the best chapter, so I'mnot gonna ruin it for you.
But, like, he just takes you through theprinciples of what that is.
And ultimately, what it comes down to is, like,how you're reducing your oxidative stress loads
to elongate that health span, where you're justimproving the quality of life over a period of
(20:19):
time.
But one of his main focuses right now is likeis building muscle, is building a, you know, a
dense muscular structure for the purposes oflongevity.
He realized that like all those challenges, theswimming challenges, everything that he
incorporated in really took a toll on his bodywhere it's like now more so catered, like where
(20:41):
it's a very, very balanced approach to how he,to how we incorporates day to day for longevity
purposes.
It's pretty cool.
So That's like the concept of epigenetics isthat you're not determined by your genes.
Right?
The genes, like, load the gun.
Your lifestyle then pulls the trigger ofwhether it's disease or health.
And so, you know, if you have cardiovasculardisease, metabolic disease, Parkinson's,
(21:04):
neurodegenerative in your genetics because yourfamily has it and it's in there, right, you
have these gene mutations, that doesn't meanyou're gonna get it.
You can do a lot of things that our bodies areconstantly turning over all the time.
In a year, your sales will be a totallydifferent person.
You're still mad, right, soul wise, but, like,your body will be new.
And so if that's happening, well, how are werebuilding it with good stuff?
(21:24):
And so I talk about I think about that all thetime.
It's like you're setting we just talked aboutthis in a previous episode.
Like, today, you're setting the stage forwhether or not you're gonna be sick or healthy
when you're older right now.
For sure.
Where you're at.
I love the idea too of, challenges.
Like, I incorporate I like try to incorporatechallenges into my year to year as far as,
(21:47):
like, more healthy sustainable challenges whereI'm like, alright.
I wanna do this.
But you have a you have a kind of cool storythat really your wife pushed on you a challenge
that you weren't you weren't really necessarilyyou're like, I don't know if I wanna do that.
You're like, she pushed you forward.
So you were a national champion and then youguys got married and she's like babe, I think
(22:10):
you should do it one more time.
You're like, wait a minute.
I wasn't even thinking of that route.
Am I right at that story where your wife kindapushed you to the challenge and then, tell us
about that.
Yeah.
It was definitely a retired Rocky kinda moment.
So, I mean, and that's the thing.
Like, if if we're talking about this topic ofthere's so many it can be Google can be a
(22:33):
confusing rabbit hole to listeners, and youhave to make sure that you pair yourself up
with people that you trust that are what wecall the ace, the authority, the celebrity, and
the expert in your local realm or nationallythat that can answer your questions and teach
you.
And that's I mean, my mind is thinking rightnow even just off that question, how how much
(22:59):
things evolve with back to what you said aboutbodybuilding and the and the thought or the
misconstrued conception of it.
The people that compete over and over again 3,4, 5, 6 times a year, their bodies aren't
healthy.
They're breaking it down so much Yeah.
That it's not knowing.
Right.
It doesn't know what's going on.
(23:19):
Well, even the weight room or lack of food ornutrition.
Females, for example, if they're getting theirbody fat too low, they miss menstrual cycles.
That that's not a natural reason.
So I think doing it in balance is veryimportant.
And now to answer your question for me, I mean,I've competed, I think, 4 times.
(23:40):
I can count.
And I've accomplished what I've accomplished,but it's been an in and out kinda thing for me.
Like, I I'm kinda, like, asleep.
I'm doing it for a purpose.
Now I'm 18.
Okay.
Didn't expect I would win a nationalchampionship.
It allowed me to turn into a business.
It was a blessing because
Yeah.
Then I became known in the industry, and thisis before we had cell phones that, you know,
(24:07):
had social media and all this stuff.
So this is 1998.
So being able to to get at the top and thenhaving people help me, I opened up my personal
training studio.
I had, trainers underneath me.
That was fantastic.
I did that for all of my twenties and half ofmy thirties, but I I mean, I was done.
(24:28):
And then at 35, she was like, yeah.
You're gonna compete again.
I'm like, you're crazy.
I haven't done this for 17 years.
Like, I've lived and done it once as long asI've lived and not done it since.
So so but, but I was like, okay.
So we got married, and I needed a coach again.
Chris Aceto went through some healthchallenges, and Lee's kind of even more retired
(24:51):
than he was the first time.
So I just needed new guns, and there's a guythat really fit the mold personality wise
located in the New Jersey area.
His name was Jeff Lopez.
The amazing story behind Jeff is that he's aChristian guy and he treated how he trained me
that same way.
So anytime we would make diet changes, he'dtell me what to eat, and then there'd be this 6
(25:13):
or 7 second pause on the phone.
Yep.
Nope.
We're not gonna do that.
God told me we're gonna change it this way.
So so
I'm like That's awesome.
Like, okay.
So we're not doing what you just said?
Yeah.
And he's like, nope.
We're gonna change it to this much proteininstead.
So, you know, it sounds crazy to somelisteners, but fast forward, I tell you, then I
became out of nowhere in 17 years second in theworld.
(25:36):
So there was reasons why all that took place,and I feel like that has also propelled why
I'm, you know, writing my first book.
It's in publishing right now.
It just all encompasses the uniqueness and thechallenges of what we have to offer if we just
don't give up and just push forward and believein ourselves too.
Yeah.
Let's talk about that book a little bit morebecause I love the name of the book.
(25:59):
I think it's how I just think about life.
So talk about the book.
There just isn't a finish line.
So the the book title is There is No TrueFinish Line, and it explains my story, in a
little more detail, the challenges that I wentthrough even as a a kid in high school wearing
that back brace, the the mental toughness thatit took.
(26:23):
There were times in my life where I was even,you know, I had suicidal thoughts because I was
made fun of, you know.
Kids would come up and knock on the brace.
It was it felt it was this hard plastic shell.
Like, you you get molded for a a cast.
It was like that, but it was plastic.
And I had to put it on every day.
I could only take it off when I went to bed ortook a shower.
(26:43):
So it had 2 straps behind the back, which madeit tight, and those were held on with some
metal grommets.
And if you broke the grommets, now you gottaget new grommets.
And, you know, again, it was 1994 to 96a half Iwas wearing that thing.
So, you know, it wasn't like you could get themon Amazon Prime.
So it was, so then there were times where I wasscared that I'm not wearing it because I'm
(27:06):
waiting on grommets to come in.
But it was, a book that I wrote out of out ofheart just to it came with a faith base too
because as I evolved in my personal life, Iinvolved in my spiritual life and faith
foundation, so along the way there were quotesand evangelists and pastors and people that I
(27:31):
looked up to that really helped fuel me throughthose moments that I needed them.
I mean, the the way I thought when I was 18 to20 is different than the way I thought at 35.
I think almost anybody can say that.
So I needed new challenges.
I needed new, thought processes to keep mestronger at that time in my life.
(27:53):
At the time, I was a evangelist named JonathanShuttlesworth that I remember I was listening
to his messages laying in bed in Las Vegas theafternoon right before finals.
So just to keep myself focused.
Because I'm a shy person when it comes to beingon stage, you know, I'm a gorilla in the gym,
but if I have to stand up in front of a bunchof people and quote unquote show off, it's just
(28:18):
it does it's not my strong suit.
So I had one of the past world champions andcurrent world champions at that time knock on
my door.
I remember, like, who's knocking on my door atthe hotel room?
And it was him.
He said, can I come in?
And I was like, yeah.
Sure.
It was AJ Ellison, and he's like, you've gotthis.
(28:38):
You just have to come alive.
And I was like, okay.
So that's what I just focused on is my routineand everything, at that moment.
And yeah.
So the whole book encompasses faith andencompasses it's not self help.
I don't believe in that.
I believe in a higher power that helps youalong.
And, of course, your efforts are aligned to it,but I think that when you are at the worst
(29:08):
point in your life and you have struggles thatyou cannot accomplish or overcome on your own,
there has to be something to help you and Yeah.
Just depends on what you decide that to be.
Yeah.
And that faith principle then is, like I mean,it's pivotal for most people.
Right?
You hit that point where you're like, man, Ican't do this on my own.
And I don't even have people that can help me.
(29:29):
Right?
Because, like, we're all just humans.
We're gonna let each other down.
We're gonna fail.
Right?
But if you have that faith and just thatsecurity knowing that, like, god's got me, you
can kinda give it up at that point, thesurrender principle, which is so hard, man.
Right?
I struggle with that every single day.
Like, just take it away.
God, I'm good.
Like, just give it up.
You know?
But, yeah, it's huge, man.
(29:49):
So when is, when is when is the book ready?
Or when are you, I know you said it'spublishing, so you might not have a date on
that.
But
It should be very soon in the next couplemonths.
I'm working on some endorsement parts rightnow.
So Okay.
Sweet.
But, yeah, as soon as that's done, we'll workon cover and should be ready.
Nice, man.
Talk about kinda what you're doing withcoaching and stuff now because you obviously
(30:11):
went through your own transformation, radicaltransformation, and now you're helping other
people kinda do that.
So Yeah.
The the best blessing for me is not to receive,but to give.
So I I pay it forward, and I've done so, whereI can make it something that's financial to me
too.
As a Christian, I also believe in tithing andand giving back that way.
So it it's kingdom building.
(30:33):
That's what we talk about and believe in.
And what I do now is to help educate people onthe the why and how to lose weight a 100%
naturally.
So I believe that the drugs people are takingright now to lose weight quickly is a fad.
There's not enough history and research behindthem.
(30:54):
They work.
Yes.
But when you're done, do they teach youanything?
What are you gonna do with your
You just rebound.
Right?
Which is very inflammatory on the body.
Your body's like, finally, all this weight'sgone, and then it's like, oh god.
And it gains it all back.
It's a lot of stress.
And we were just talking, you know, a fewminutes ago about longevity and beating
genetics.
(31:14):
So if you're taking something like that andhave that kind of stress and rebound, now
you're fighting against all that good knowledgewe just expressed a little while ago.
So that's an example of things just, you know,common sense fighting
Yeah.
Reality.
I do it in a way where it involves some naturalproducts that are amino acid based that bring
(31:35):
up your hormone levels to where they should be.
It does not exceed where they should be like arejuvenation clinic would.
Not bashing them, but I'm sure they would agreewith me that they never get it right the first
time.
So it's kinda like a plane trying to land inturbulence.
You know?
You might take a little much and then we'llblood test you again and see if you're a little
low.
We'll bring it back up again.
So you're always trying to find that perfectspot.
(31:56):
And then once you find it, it's gonna changewhen the person changes.
Yeah.
Where this changes your hormone levels just towhere they should be for your age.
They're like adaptogens.
Right?
That's the that's a term with, like,adaptogens, like the mushrooms that we put in
the newts and stuff is, like, they're gonna ifyou're low, if your hormones are low, it'll
raise them.
If they're high, it'll lower them.
They're, like, really amazing compounds.
(32:18):
It's crazy.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
And then the nutritional plan that the wholefamily can eat from.
So there is, you know, food as well.
You're not stapling your mouth shut to loseweight.
You are gonna have all the normal meals youhave throughout the day.
You're gonna have a snack.
I involve a lot of recipes too, so you cancertainly eat what the family's eating, but
(32:38):
you're just eating for your portion and foryour goals.
I had a female.
My average females lose about £15 a month andmales are about £20 a month.
And I had a female that lost £16, and herhusband, just by default, lost 20.
Yeah.
So it was like, man, that's a great testimonytoo.
So I love that.
Because, yeah, because, I mean, that's probablyone of the biggest things with, like, our
(32:59):
optimizers program is that we're always at thebeginning.
We're like, dude, you gotta get your wife onboard.
If she's not on board, she's gonna be buyingthe cookies and stuff for the kids, and then,
dude, your temptation's gonna be there.
Right?
You're gonna sneak 1, and
then we're gonna have
to yell at you.
You know?
We don't wanna do that.
Yeah.
But, yeah, get everybody on the same page.
That's that's really important, man.
Yep.
It's a unit.
And then there's after you reach the goal,there's maintenance.
(33:20):
So you never have to to do products.
You know, it's not a hook on anything likethat.
There's no real small print.
But, once you balance your body out, you'reable to sustain it.
So it's a full, teaching protocol and educatesthe person on why they're doing what they're
doing for longevity.
(33:41):
Yeah.
Nice.
And so it's primarily focused on fat loss,weight loss.
That's kind of the most yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Primarily focused on on fat loss.
And, you know, I have the common person toothat comes up to me and was like, hey.
Will you train me or help me build muscle?
And I can do that.
You know, I can knock the dust off that and
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, help somebody out.
(34:01):
But my focus is the epidemic of people thatare, prediabetic, that are gastric bypass
patients.
You know, there's 1% death rate in gastricbypass.
So it's just a scary thing, and and none ofthese things from from drugs to surgeries are
teaching you anything.
Yeah.
It's like I always put it in the analogy of afishbowl.
You're gonna drug the fish or clean thefishbowl.
(34:24):
So Fantastic.
Yeah.
And, like, you know, the analogy I use a lot oftimes when I see patients with, like, disc
issues.
Right?
This just made me think of it as, like, someonecomes in with a herniated disc or a disc that's
compressed, and so they're having nerveirritation in their spine.
They're like, I was gonna get an injection.
I was like, you can get that injection.
You're gonna feel fantastic.
(34:44):
That did not fix the disc.
That did not, you know, take the pressure offthat disc that's hitting the nerve.
It just made you not feel it.
Now you're probably gonna feel good.
You're gonna go do a bunch of stuff that's youshouldn't be doing and make it even worse.
Yep.
So it's like, how do we actually fix the issue,which is what you're doing?
And, I mean, maybe a little devil's advocatehere, but would you ever say that there's a
time where you could use, like and I'm surewe're referring to the same drugs, like
(35:05):
semaglutide or, you know, those kind of,peptides that they use for the weight loss for
a brief period, but then educate someone to,like, hey.
When this is done, we gotta make sure we'redialing in here.
Sure.
So the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So I I don't discount go walking into a anoffice that's promoting semiglutide or that's
(35:26):
promoting Ozempic.
Mhmm.
Oh, no.
They're just doing everything bad.
No.
I'll walk in and be like, hey.
When your patients are done doing what you'rehaving them do Mhmm.
Refer them to me.
I will teach them how to keep it off andsustain their weight loss.
Yeah.
So we still work hand in hand.
Cool.
Thoroughly believe in that because at the endof the day, what are we all doctors here to do?
(35:46):
We're here to to serve the patient.
That's right.
And we're not here to try to just get what wecan out of them and push them away.
So one can always domino effect in the theother, and we work synergistically.
Yeah.
I think you're very much like me and like Matt.
It's like, yeah.
I'm a doctor, but, like, I wanna be more of,like, an educator, and I want my patients to
(36:07):
come in here, learn as much from me as they canso they can do it on their own.
Right.
Right?
Obviously, they can't decompress their spine ontheir own that much, and there's certain things
you can't do.
But if I get you healthy, then you just keep itthere.
I'm gonna give you the tools.
Now you do it.
Like, take control of your life.
Right?
This is you.
Like and I'm sure you've had to have thisconversation.
It's like, I can't care more about your healththan you do.
(36:28):
Yeah.
If I do, that's a that relationship, I don'teven wanna take that on, because then there's
gonna be just there's gonna be problems there.
You have to care.
Right?
And you have to put in the effort.
Yeah.
I think, the the analogy to I love the, theenemy of the enemy is my friend.
I love that.
You give a man a fish, you know, he's you yougotta teach a man a fish.
(36:49):
That's right.
And that's part of the educational process of,like, how are you teaching them for that
component of longevity?
And I go back to this story that I just heardtoday.
So I was telling doctor Alessia this.
Ed Millett was just talking about a scenario inhis life.
He was, like, in his mid thirties.
And, a doctor came up.
He had a screen done on his chest.
(37:09):
I think he was having some chest pains orwhatever it might be.
And a doctor came into the waiting room, and healready had knew that, like, Ed had already had
the screen done.
But he came in there, and there was, like,about 3 people in the waiting room.
And he's like, can I speak to, Edward Mylett?
And, he he's like, yeah.
(37:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've had my let.
And so he comes up, and he takes a look atthem.
He's like, jeez.
I cannot believe these arteries are in thatbody.
Come with me, son.
And so he's, like, setting them up to likeeducate him, but he's like, he's like, alright.
What's going on?
(37:50):
What's in that folder?
So he takes him to the back room and he sitshim down and he's like, tell me about yourself,
Ed.
You got kids?
He's like, yes, sir.
I have 2 kids.
He's like, how old are they?
He's like,
2 years old and 6 months old.
And he's like, okay.
He's like, you wanna see your, 2 year oldgraduate from high school?
He's like, yes.
(38:11):
And so now he's thinking, what the heck is inthat file?
Like, tell me what's in that file.
And he's like, he's got another question foryou.
He's like, do you want another man walking yourdaughter down the aisle?
He's like, what is it that what is in thatfile?
Please tell me what's in that file right now.
And he's like, well, you gotta listen to me.
You gotta you gotta do step by step what I'mgonna tell you.
(38:33):
But he immediately grabbed out of it.
The significance of, like, what his lifestyle,what he was predisposed to, and what his
lifestyle was is like, wait a minute.
So he calls that day, Bella's wedding day.
And he's like, I I'm gonna do everything in mypower to make sure I set the foundation
correctly in order to walk my daughter down theaisle.
(38:54):
But it was one of those things where, like, youknow, that's a doctor.
That's a that's like a teaching doctor.
I was like, I'm gonna teach this There's a
criticism severity there too.
Yeah.
It's a big deal, bro.
This is a big deal.
I mean, that kinda goes back to, like, whatwe're talking about a little
little bit ago with, like, the genetic testing.
Right?
I think everyone should kinda have an idea ofwhere their genes are and what maybe their
predispositions might be.
(39:14):
And then it's like, what do you do with that?
A lot of people just get it, and they're like,oh, looks like I have heart disease in my
genes.
Fantastic.
What are you gonna do to combat that?
How are you gonna prevent that?
Right?
And then put in the things into play so thatthat doesn't become an issue or that you can
fight against it.
Knowledge is power in that sense.
Right?
Right.
You gotta know.
And that's why we run biomarkers, and that'swhy we do, like, you know, very thorough
(39:34):
histories.
I'm sure you do as well.
It's like, what things are we dealing withhere?
What's what's gonna possibly be a hindrance inthe future, and how do we prevent that?
Yeah.
And a little piece of the mental challenge too.
Like, what's the relationship with somebodythat somebody has with their food and with
their lifestyle.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Totally.
Eating disorders, all that kind of stuff canget pretty deep.
How are we looking on time?
(39:56):
Yeah.
You wanna get to full field question?
Full field question.
I love this question.
I'm dude, I'm about to we should braceourselves.
I feel like I'm gonna get thrown through thewall by his answer.
It's gonna be so good.
We have 6 pillars, and I think we've alreadyshared these with you, but it's fuel, movement,
sleep, mind, work, and spirit.
And when you have all 6 pillars of the fullfuel pyramid dialed in it's not a pyramid.
(40:17):
There's 6.
Right?
So hexagon.
If you have all all 6 of those dialed in, youare living full fueled.
How does Zeke samples live full fueled, andwhat does that mean to you?
That is a great question.
So full fueled, I would say, is faith, family,and finances.
I have pillars of my own, and I feel like whenyou have balances like you guys do, it life can
(40:41):
be maximized.
You know?
Everything that we do can really be taken toanother level, and it all works on along the
lines of giving back to and finding ourpurpose.
It's finding something that's bigger thanourselves and serving that purpose.
So that's how I live life fully fueled.
(41:01):
Hell, yeah.
You do.
Yeah.
That's a great answer, brother.
I love that.
Is there anything you wanna leave the audiencewith?
Any advice?
Tell them where they can find
you if they're interested in learning more.
Sure.
So my personal website is my first and lastname dot com, zeke samples.com.
And then my, weight loss website is, mybusiness name, Surreal Body, and then h n.
(41:25):
The h stands for health.
The n stands nutrition.
It's just shortened.
Cool.
Awesome.
It's real body hn.com.
Yep.
And we'll put make sure those goes in the shownotes.
But, you know, the only way the word's gonnaget out is if you share it.
So we appreciate you listening today.
Sure.
Thank you so much, Zeke, for coming out of theshow today.
And we'll be more Aw, dude.
And, I'll give you a
(41:46):
book and a call.
Scissors.
And then as always
do that again.
We expect you to live full fuel and live beyondlimits, baby.
Alright.
Thank you again for joining us on this episodeof Health Decoded.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please share,subscribe, leave us a review.
(42:07):
That's how we grow.
That's how we get this message out and impactmore lives.
If you like this episode, stay tuned.
Next week, we are going to really unpack weightloss myths.
We're gonna bust some of the biggest mythsaround weight loss and give you some really
practical science based strategies that you cantake home today to significantly impact your
(42:28):
body's metabolism, ability to lose weight, andmaintain for a long, robust, healthy life.
So thank you again for joining us, and staytuned.
Sign up for our newsletter at Alessifunctionalhealth.com, under the resources tab,
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So thank you again, and have a great day.
(42:49):
Thank you for tuning in to Health Decoded,where we break down the truth about all things
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(43:10):
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