September 8, 2025 • 34 mins
What happens when your world turns upside down in an instant? For DK Kang, martial artist of 34 years and author of "Mindset Metamorphosis," that moment came when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, followed shortly by losing his job just after requesting flexibility to support her through treatments.
Most people would spiral into negativity, but DK reveals how he and his wife chose a different path – reframing their crisis by asking "why not us?" instead of "why us?" This powerful mindset shift allowed them to navigate ten months without income while facing mounting medical bills and the emotional toll of cancer treatments.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when host Anthony connects DK's experience to a biblical principle about not conforming to the patterns of this world. Why would anyone want to be "average" when the average American is overweight, unhappy, and working in a job they dislike? This challenge to societal norms becomes a cornerstone of the discussion about intentional health choices and mental resilience.
DK shares practical wisdom about habit stacking – building small, positive habits onto existing routines that compound over time. His example of doing push-ups while waiting for morning coffee to brew demonstrates how tiny, consistent actions can transform physical and mental health without overwhelming lifestyle changes.
Perhaps most eye-opening is the financial reality DK reveals: a single chemotherapy treatment cost $80,000. This staggering figure underscores why preventative health measures aren't just physically beneficial but economically crucial. As DK poignantly notes, "You have one mind and one body. What are you going to do with them?"
Whether you're facing a health crisis, seeking motivation for positive change, or simply interested in strengthening your mental resilience, this episode offers both inspiration and practical tools for transforming your mindset and, ultimately, your life. Subscribe now and discover why fitness truly is medicine for both body and mind.
Learn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is Health and Fitness Redefined, brought to
you by Redefined Fitness.
What's up, everybody, andwelcome to another episode of
Health and Fitness Redefined.
I'm your host, anthony Amen,and today we've got another
great episode for all of you.
Today, all about mindset,probably my favorite topic for
(00:23):
those that avidly listen to theshow.
It's something I think that'ssuper important and hopefully we
can learn a little more.
So today's guest is DK Kang.
Welcome to the show man.
It's a pleasure to have you onwhat got you into writing and
learn about mindset.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, thank you for having me uh to be on your show,
uh.
So what got me writing aboutmindset is uh.
So I've been doing martial artsall my life, about 34 years now
.
I started at the age of five,and I mean your show talks about
adversity and overcoming it,and so when you're doing martial
(01:03):
arts, martial arts is not, it'snot, it's not easy, it's, and
it's small progressions, butthere's also a lot of that
mindset of you know, meditation,clearing the mind, breath, work
, and so when I wrote this book,mindset Metamorphosis, it was
actually because I was goingthrough a challenging time.
(01:24):
So last year, january of 2024,my wife gets diagnosed with
breast cancer and then we'retrying to do all this research,
because I talk about a fixedmindset versus a growth mindset.
Like a fixed is you kind of knoweverything and that's it.
But growth is like how are youprogressing?
(01:46):
Like, how are you learning, howare you growing?
And so when we heard the news,you know we just dug deep.
We went into research aboutnutrition, about fitness and how
we can help with diseases andwith going on a plant-based diet
to help, basically, heal fromcancer.
(02:07):
And so the book kind of cameabout is because I felt I felt
overwhelmed, I felt stressed andjust stuck.
I'm like what do I do?
Because my wife is goingthrough this.
And then I'm reading this bookcalled the Breast Cancer Husband
and it's basically talkingabout be there for your wife, no
(02:28):
matter what, like to all herappointments.
And then, as I'm about tofinish it, the book says to let
your employer know what's goingon and to have more of a
flexible work schedule.
So then I tell my employer thisflexible work schedule.
So then I tell my employer this, and so it's like february 1st
(02:50):
when I tell them that.
And then they're like yeah,okay, that's fine, we'll give
you a flexible work schedule.
Then a week after that, on athursday, they're like we're
gonna let you go.
And I'm like what do you mean?
Like you said, oh, you knowit's okay to have a flexible
work schedule.
They're like, oh, it's, it'sbudget cuts, things like that.
But I'm like, I don't.
(03:11):
I'm pretty sure that there'sother reasons, but you know, for
me I could.
We could easily went down thespiral of like, oh, like the
world is against us, oh, lifesucks.
And so we had to reframe, likehow do we get through this?
And so we had no income for 10months, from February of last
(03:33):
year to December.
So medical bills added up, Imean living expenses still kept
coming and so.
But our mindsets really savedus because it's like like your
mind is like a magnet.
If you're thinking negativethoughts, you're going to get
negative results, like here's anexample In 2023, I ran a 50K
(03:59):
Spartan Ultra.
It's not, it's definitely forthe few.
And Anthony know you've done a21k's the beast before, so you
know what it's like right.
So doing a 50k's pretty muchdouble that 60 obstacles for me.
Everything that went wrong wentwrong.
Like I tore my hands.
(04:20):
I lost my tracker.
I had to.
I was already like a half milein.
I had to run back a half mileto go get my tracker.
I lost my tracker.
I had to.
I was already like half mile in.
I had to run back a half mileto go get my tracker.
I lost my gloves, I had anosebleed, I dropped a boulder
on my toe, like the big Atlascarry a lot, but for me, like,
(04:48):
my mind was like I need to keepgoing, I need to keep moving
forward and take those steps tocontinue to keep going.
And then, as I was, as I'mpassing people that's doing the
50K with me, as you know,everyone's wearing an ultra
shirt, so you know thateverybody's doing an ultra and
they're saying they're sayingthis out loud like oh, this,
this 50k is way too freakinghard, or this is like I'm not
(05:10):
going to make it to the finishline.
And with that mindset, likethose people did not finish,
like the 50k is a 50 percentfail rate, like the guy you know
he's announcing at thebeginning of of the Spartan race
and he's like 50, 50% of youguys are probably going to fail
this.
That I mean, and it's true like600, about 620 people went in
(05:33):
and about 300 people finished onthe finish line.
As you know, you see stats atthe end of your, your, your race
.
And so me, kind of going backto that, I was thinking like,
with everything going on with mywife, I'm like all right, like
the mindset, like what we thinkis what we can control, like
(05:53):
everything outside of that, likewe you know, I can't control if
I find a job or not, but youknow and so we had to rely on
just our mind, but like not onlyour mind, but like our faith.
And so we had to rely on justour mind, but not only our mind,
but our faith, our faith.
You know, the Bible talks aboutin Romans, about not to conform
to this pattern in this world,but to be transformed, of the
(06:16):
renewing of your mind.
And so we had to renew ourminds of like what that meant.
We had to renew our way ofthinking and we had to reframe
like, instead of saying like, oh, this is a terrible situation.
You know, we ended up prayingafter I lost my job.
And then, you know, as soon asI got home from work, when I got
(06:40):
the news, we prayed, butinstead of like kind of breaking
down and crying like, I endedup just kind of laughing and I
was just like, well, all right,god, well, why not us?
And so I had to reframe that oflike thinking instead of why me
, why us?
I was reframed it to, why notus?
(07:02):
And saying, oh, maybe this,this might help somebody else
that might be going throughstuff Like everybody.
As I'm writing this book, I'mlike everybody's going through
some sort of adversity, somesort of challenge, some sort of
storm, and like it's not justone person is going through this
(07:23):
.
Like and I had to really thinkabout that, and like I wanted to
give people like practicals on,like how to overcome those
challenges, cause if you'redoing a Spartan race, there's
obstacles in the way.
Like, do you get over it underit, through it around it?
Do you crawl under it?
Like you know, we're just goingto have obstacles, I, we're
just going to have obstacles.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I'm going to jump in on this because I think this is
so important.
I never knew that Romanssection.
Can you repeat that thing forme again In Romans?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
So in Romans 12.2, it says Donot conform to the pattern of
this world, but be transformedby the renewing of your mind.
And then it continues.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
The first line do not conform to the pattern of this
world.
I have been stuck on this forthe last week and it's crazy,
like you said, like things justkind of connect and hop in
because I don't know that, Ididn't know that was in there.
But what I've been stuck on isI heard this last week and I've
just been obsessing over it so Iwas being interviewed a
(08:32):
successful CEO and he waslaughing at the fact that
everyone always talks aboutbeing average, right, everyone
wants to fit in right, so thatmeans conforming and fitting
into a society.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But let's take the average American overweight,
they have underlying healthconditions from it.
They're divorced, they're nothappy, they're in a job they
hate and can't wait to retire.
So they feel like they'rewasting their time, like even
just those five things.
So why the hell would I want tofit in and conform to that kind
(09:16):
of society?
And that flips into what you'retalking about is, if you go to
be just like everybody else,you're going to end up being
like everybody else.
If you do habits like everybodyelse, you're going to end up
being habits like everyone else.
So when someone says to me,anthony, why do you do things
that way?
That's because all of you gothat way.
(09:37):
So I'm going that way because Iknow that's not the answer.
Try comparing me to that person.
Screw you.
I don't want to be average.
Don't compare me to that person.
Compare me to the top 3% in theUS and those are the habits I'm
going to follow, as opposed tothe average American F that I
even took it to an extreme.
(09:58):
I had a conversation with mywife and she was talking about
how like is this normal?
She kept saying that it's likewell, I do this.
Is this normal?
I said who gives a shit?
Why do I want to be normal Likewe're taking that?
Said who gives a shit?
Why do I be normal like we'retaking?
That?
I know it's a saying she had inher vocabulary.
Like we're taking that out ofvocabulary, it doesn't matter,
it no longer matters.
If something is normal, don'tbe normal.
(10:22):
Be different, because that'swhat's going to help you
ultimately succeed in life yeah,I mean I, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Um, I, for me, growing up I grew up in Missouri
I was never their normal kid.
Like I brought kimchi and Ibrought Korean food to school in
the middle of nowhere ofMissouri and I got made fun of.
But for me, like my parentswere Korean, they immigrated
here and so they're like here'sa lot of health benefits to
(10:51):
kimchi.
They're like here's a lot ofhealth benefits to kimchi.
And I mean I wrote a cookbookon how to integrate kimchi into
dishes because there's so manyprobiotics and the fermentation
and health benefits with yourgut, brain, health, with with
fermented foods and so, likeI've always kind of been like
that the outcast kid, kind ofgoing against the grain.
(11:12):
And so like, like you're saying, like I kind of didn't want to
be normal, like and you know Igrew up doing martial arts,
martial arts isn't a normalthing to do, that everybody does
.
Like I didn't play basketballsoccer because all the other
kids are doing that and I'm likethere's more.
I want to just do martial artsbecause that helps with your
(11:32):
mind, body, spirit and it justreally helps you to overcome the
adversity, the challenges,because when punches and kicks
are flying at your face.
What do you do?
Soccer?
No one's trying to kick you inthe face or punch you in the
face, everyone's chasing a ball.
So I think you're right, justtrying to not be normal and,
(11:57):
like when my wife got diagnosedwith cancer, like we didn't do
the normal thing.
Like we ended up seeing threedoctors.
Two of them were like, yeah,just eat pretty much anything
you want to eat.
And we're like reading thisbook called Crispy Cancer and
it's a great resource.
But you know he talked about,you know, going on a plant-based
(12:18):
diet, whole foods and juicing,and you know a lot of that.
And then, like, for some ofyour listeners I don't know if
you know about this um, thisdocumentary called um, uh, the
game changers.
It's a it's, it's a plant-baseddocumentary and how a
plant-based diet helps withathletic performance great,
(12:41):
great documentary.
And there's there's a bunch ofother ones, like fork, silver
knives is one um.
But so you know, as we'rereading this book crispy cancer
we just we're like, all right,we're gonna go full plant-based
and we're going to heal fromthis, and so that was like our
mindset.
We had to change instead oflike, oh well, we're just going
to continue to eat our diet.
(13:02):
Well, like, if you look atcancer, cancer is not, it's not
a genetic disease anymore thesedays.
Maybe it's like 5%, but 95%it's a lifestyle disease from
your environment, your eatinghabits, your stress, like the
type of work you're doing, likeall these things adds up the
(13:23):
chemicals that we're ingesting,the processed food that we
should get away from, and so wejust went completely plant-based
and that was like our mindsetshift Because we're like, all
right, we need to learn fromsomeone that's been there before
us.
You know it's like.
It's like, it's like fitness.
You know you.
You know you're a coach, you'rea trainer, you're a personal
(13:45):
trainer.
You know people don't come tosee you based on like, oh, I'm
already at your level.
It's like, no, you're trainingthem so you can bring them to
your level or even better.
And you know, same for me.
Like I've done martial arts,I've taught it.
Like, for me, my end goal is Iwant my students, the people
(14:07):
that I'm training, I want themto be better than me, but that
doesn't mean that I'm going tobe a slouch and not train
anymore.
I'm like I'm going to keeptraining but I'm going to keep
bringing you up with me andthat's going to bring you better
and so so, yeah, the mindset is, is is very powerful, and I
believe that so many of us don'tpractice mindset tools, even
(14:31):
like habits, micro habits.
Mindset tools, even like habits,micro habits, like how do we
build upon another habit?
Let's just say I talk aboutthis in my book about habit
stacking.
And let's say you already havea habit you do every single day
Like I don't know, everybodydrinks coffee, right, I don't
drink coffee, but I kind of usethis as an example.
(14:51):
You're brewing your coffee.
It takes two minutes, right,and you're saying I want to get
better in fitness.
Well, while your coffee isbrewing for two minutes, knock
out as many pushups as you can.
Do that every single day.
That's going to compound.
These little steps are going tocompound into something bigger,
because by the end of the year,you, like man, I've done a
(15:13):
thousand push-ups just by doingpush-ups every morning when my
coffee's brewing, you know.
So it's things like that, andand it was the book was a way
for me to deal with my stress,my overwhelmed and me feeling
stuck and like what are some ofthe things that I know that I've
done that helped me, that I'msure it's going to help other
(15:34):
people as well, like breath work, like taking deep breaths, uh,
prioritizing what's important toyou, uh, so, like a lot of
these things, I was just like Ineed to write these things down
and put it in a book and I justwant to help people change their
minds and get active.
Like I talk about hydration inthere too, like you know,
(15:55):
drinking water every day, everyday, try to drink half your body
weight, and so like.
For me, I'm, I've been a massagetherapist for 18 years now and
I my main focus is athleticperformance, athletic recovery
and with stress management andpain management, because I know
(16:15):
everybody's stressed, I knoweverybody's in pain, but a lot
of my clients are athletes, likeI see runners, I see golfers
and um, and they're like in painbecause they're like breaking
down their muscles, and so I'vebeen helping them with the body
work.
But then today it's also yourmind, too.
Like, what are you thinking?
(16:36):
What do you?
What are you feeding your mind?
Are you feeding your mindgarbage?
And same thing, are you feedingyour body garbage, to like, are
you eating McDonald's everysingle day, which is not not
good, like you know, becauseit's all process and we have to
think like, why is the UnitedStates one of the richest
countries in the world but weare the most obese country in
(16:59):
the world as well.
Like it's very.
It's disheartening for mebecause I want people to be
healthier in their mind andtheir body, just also like, like
emotionally as well, andexercise helps with that good.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Here's a good question that we can ask, and I
want my listeners to reallythink about this.
Why, in our studio, as aperfect example, do I have to
push people like actively,persuade them to start taking
creatine?
But they'll blindly go buy aprocessed food at a grocery
(17:41):
store and even, to the extreme,go inject some medicine into
them, like your GLP-1s, withouttruly knowing what's doing to
your body.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, because it's easy.
You know a doctor tells them todo this, they're like okay, I'm
going to go do it, like,instead of like actually reading
about it or educatingthemselves and having that
growth mindset.
Because for us, like we saw adoctor, they're like yeah, eat.
Whatever you want to do, youneed to do.
You know 12 rounds of chemo.
(18:11):
You need to do 10 sessions ofradiation.
You need to do.
You know 12 rounds of chemo,you need to do 10 sessions of
radiation.
You need to all this.
And then, as we're doingresearch, we're like well, why
do we need to do all that?
And then the doctor tells uslike, oh, we over diagnose and
over medicate everybody.
And well, we're like well, canwe cut that in half and still
get the results?
And they're like, oh, yeah, soI'm like well, can we do that?
(18:34):
Like, because we did our ownresearch.
But I think when people easilyjust go to there because it's
readily available and peoplewant to be in their comfort
zones because that's all theyknow, yeah, I totally.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How's your wife now?
How's her cancer diagnosis?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
yeah, so she is cancer free from January,
February of 2025.
But that also entailed hergetting cataracts from the
steroids, from the chemotreatments.
The doctor says that it's notrelated, but her eye doctor says
it is related.
So you know is related.
(19:15):
So you know it's like.
Who do we trust?
Uh, but she just done cataractsurgery last last thursday on
her second eye.
So she's still recovering fromthat.
But I mean with, with, like withcancer, it's a.
It's a long and hard recoverybecause those drugs, I
chemotherapy, it kills.
The good and the bad it doesn'tmatter.
(19:36):
And so, energy level, I'll tellpeople right now to start
changing your diet right now andchanging your mind.
And when we had no insurance atthe point when I lost my job,
(19:57):
she had her first chemotreatment.
It was $80,000 US dollars, Likefor one, and she had to do 12.
You would go broke if you don'ttake care of your body.
It's more expensive to getchemo than it is to just change
your diet into a whole, a wholefood diet instead of eating
(20:18):
hamburgers.
And I'm I'm saying that because, like, we're still kind of in
the thick of it, Like you know,I mean, luckily, our insurance
kicked in, but our we, you know,we still have like $60,000
worth of medical debt like thatpiled up because you know we
didn't have insurance and or Imean we didn't have income
(20:38):
coming in.
And so you know, I just want, Ijust want to help people like
hey, like wake up and like thisis this is real?
Like more and more people aregetting diagnosed with cancer,
Like my father had pancreaticcancer, my best friend's mom has
cancer, my wife's few friendshave cancer.
It's a big deal and if you canprevent it, it's going to be so
(21:07):
much more better for you and foryour family, Because when you
hear the news you have cancer itturns your world upside down.
I mean, it did for us, for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And so that's kind of mind-blowing if you hear those
kind of things, and the post Iwas going to put up today in my
social accounts actually was alot of people choose wealth over
health and yeah, it should bethe exact opposite, because it
doesn't matter how much moneyyou have in the world, your
health is the most importantthing, as you kind of just said.
If you tie, tie them together, achemo treatment costs you
(21:36):
$80,000.
That's like how much moneycould you invested of that into
your health?
And then what do you havegotten?
Would you've got breast cancerfrom that point?
I don't know, the chancesprobably would have been way
lower, or she would have beenway better.
Prognosis right.
Should have way better qualityof life.
Yeah, better prognosis right,should have way better quality
(21:57):
of life.
And if you turn that into whatyou really see, with yet again
tying into the average American,by the time the average person
retires from work, they are onsome sort of disability to the
point where they can all thethings they talked about
traveling the world, backpackingEurope, doing this, going on
this they can't do anymorebecause they're just too sick.
So you get caught in that.
(22:20):
Well, maybe I should have takentime off.
We can't go back in time andtake more time off.
I mean the easier solution ifyou can't afford it financially
is start taking care of yourhealth.
Prioritize your health aboveabsolutely everything else.
When you look at your spend asfar as like your month-to-month
like balancing your budget, yourit really shows where your
(22:40):
priorities actually are.
Yeah, and a lot of peopleprioritize stupid shit and I see
this time and time again as anexample.
Women, just I'm not picking onyou, but getting your hair done,
going to get a blowout and acut at an expensive salon you're
talking like 200 bucks and movesome people to that bi-weekly.
That's not bettering yourhealth.
Maybe cut that down and do halfthat, or what about going out
(23:02):
to eat.
You can go out to eat and tolike a takeout like Chipotle
spend 15 bucks.
Or you can go out and get wineand steak at an expensive
steakhouse spend 100 bucks aperson.
Like, look at that, that's an $85 difference right there that
you could have used to investinto your own health.
It had way better outcomes thanjust one hour of enjoyment.
(23:26):
Would you rather that one houror would you rather a lifetime
and years of being able to watchyour kids get married, watching
your grandkids get born?
Like being there for, uh,elderly parents that are in
their 80s.
If they're alive it's a lot,and if you don't prioritize your
health, you're fucked.
Bottom line, that's it, and Idon't know at what point we need
(23:50):
to have a wake-up call.
I mean, we're seeing it now, atleast this year, with what's
going on politically, but likewake up let's, let's start
focusing on our health.
I don't want to hear how goingto a gym is expensive and time
consuming.
Who the fuck cares?
You're gonna be around yearslonger.
(24:10):
Yeah, you're gonna feel waybetter, you're way less likely
to get that cancer.
Think about those before youstart thinking about.
Oh well, I've got to wake upearly and go to the gym and you
know you don't have to sign upfor a gym.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Like start small.
Like go outside, get some sunexposure, get some vitamin D.
Like go on walks.
Like walking is just so good.
Like, if you're starting outlike a couch potato, like don't
be mean, go do a 50K Spartanrace, just get up, put your
shoes on and walk to the mailboxevery day and then go out a
(24:45):
little bit further.
Just add some sort of physicalactivity.
We have one mind and one body.
What are you going to do withit?
If you had one car, how wouldyou treat that one car?
If you had one toyota camry,how would you treat it for the
rest of your life?
Like same thing.
You have one mind, one body.
What are you gonna put into it?
(25:06):
Are you gonna give it?
You know hamburgers and hot dogsand you know fast food.
Are you gonna change your dietand add some more nutritious
food that's you know whole foodand try to get some exercise,
and because you know fast food.
Or you're gonna change yourdiet and add some more
nutritious food that's you knowwhole food and try to get some
exercise, and because you knowwhen you're overweight like?
I see this with a lot of myclients as well.
Like I see a lot of some peoplejust overweight because they
have a desk job, because they'restressed and you know they have
(25:29):
a lot of pain.
But I'm like you know you'reputting so much on your joints
with that extra weight.
I'm like you're going to end upgetting a knee replacement or a
hip replacement in a couple ofyears and then, once you get
that and you don't lose theweight and keep the weight off,
like you're going to needanother knee replacement and
it's not the surgeon's fault.
It's.
It's like we need to haveownership.
(25:51):
We need we're not the victim weneed to have ownership of our
own health and our own, like,mental health as well.
And what are we doing with that?
You know, we just want everyoneto fix us like, oh, the doctor
gives me a new knee replacement,but you don't do anything about
it.
Then, well, it's on you youcan't blame the surgeon for a
new knee replacement that itgoes bad in a couple years.
(26:14):
Like you know, you got to thinkabout these things that we need
to have ownership of our ownhealth because no one's going to
take care of it besides you soin your book?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
what?
How did you discover how to getthrough to people like what do
you think is the answer and wayto start a conversation with
somebody to get them to have amindset shift?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
uh, you know, I think first you have to figure out,
like, what's your why?
Like, think about, like, youknow, some people's like I want
to lose 20 pounds or 30 pounds.
Okay, so, but why, like?
Why do you want to lose that?
You, because I just want tolook good.
I'm like, well, what's yourbigger?
Why?
Like, oh, I want to be able toplay with my kids.
(26:58):
I'm like, okay, now we'regetting somewhere and let's
start shifting that mindset oflike, all right, what do you
need to do?
And how do you start small from?
Because you're not just goingto run a 5K right now.
If you're trying to lose 30pounds, all right, well, let's
just start walking and then dothat for like a month.
(27:21):
It's starting like these smallhabits, these small like shifts,
like when you, you know, likejournaling would be another one,
like journal down, I'm feelingoverwhelmed or I'm feeling stuck
or I'm not enough, like thesenegative thinking patterns.
And then it's like, all right,now let's start reframing it to
(27:42):
well, why do I feel that I'm notenough?
And then writing it down likeokay, here's some things that
I'm grateful for and why I amenough to start a business, or
to lose 30 pounds, or you know,whatever it is and it's, it's
starting small and buildingthose habits, because those
(28:03):
habits change your behavior andonce you change that behavior
you start seeing better results,not only in your mind, but also
just in your physical activityas well.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Here's a tough one for you.
How do you approach, or do yourapproach?
You know those people that youtalk to and they make jokes
about their health all the timeand they like pretend they don't
.
I'm going to say, pretend thatthey don't care.
They're a hundred poundsoverweight or they're smoking
and they're drinking a lot andyou're just like, oh, I don't do
that.
(28:37):
How do you approach that kindof person?
Is that even worth it?
If, even if you absolutely lovethat person because, let's say,
it's a spouse or a kid, whatwould be your response to get
that person motivated?
Because they're not thinkingabout why.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
they're thinking about how to pull this off um,
you know, it depends on theperson too.
I mean, if it's like a goodfriend of mine, then yeah, you
know I would approach them andsay, hey, like that's not a good
mental framework to have,because you know you're bringing
yourself down and you can'thelp anybody else.
But if it's just someone that'sjust like I don't know, I'm not
(29:11):
really gonna approach them andbecause then I'm wasting my time
and I'm wasting their time?
For because usually it ends uphappening is like an argument
happens and they're right, I'mwrong, or I'm right, they're
wrong, whatever it is.
And so, like I, for me, I justrather not, because we're
wasting both of our times.
I mean, if you want help, likeI'll try to help you, but at the
(29:35):
end of the day they don't wanthelp, and so it's hard to give
someone help when they don'twant it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, I just take it as a personal responsibility,
and people always bring nutsbecause I'm usually wearing a
gym shirt that has their name onit, so they'll just see me and
they'll just say something, evenif it's unprompted.
So that's always.
The biggest thing I strugglewith is I do I do this because I
want to help people and I savelives, but like they're going
out of their way to saysomething, to bring it down and
to make it sound not important.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, but you know, I think just asking the questions
to that person says like, well,like, why do you talk to
yourself that way, like you know, or why do you think that?
And just to really kind of getin their Like you know, or why
do you think that?
And just to really kind of getin their heads, you know.
And because then for you it'slike oh, I'm just trying to help
people, I want to save lives, Iwant this world to be healthier
(30:25):
and better, and so you know whydo you think that?
But I don't want to be aroundsomeone that's going to bring me
down as well.
So it's a fine line, it reallyis.
It's a it's kind of where doyou cross that line or where do
you not cross that line?
And sometimes you just have togauge it and it's hard because
(30:48):
people are people, are notrobots.
People have emotions and youknow, and sometimes I've heard
that like, oh, body's shaming me.
I'm like well, no, I'm tryingto tell you the truth, the truth
hurts, but like, if you don'twant to hear it, then I'm
wasting my time and energy onyou, like, and so I, I'll move
on to the next, next person then.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So yeah, I could totally see that dk tell us a
little bit about, like, whereyou're headed.
So what are this whole mindsetframe you had for yourself and
going to not having a job like,where do you see yourself going
in the next five years?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
uh, next five years.
Uh, I'm working on another bookabout gratitude.
Uh, that's something thatdefinitely helped us as well as
to get through what we're goingthrough, uh, is just practicing
gratitude every day, becausewhen we're not grateful, it's
only then when we're gratefuland we don't have what we don't
(31:44):
have anymore.
And so, yeah, I'm working onanother book and I just want to
be able to help people in thenext five, 10 years More than
that is a lifeline, a lifelongthing.
Be on more podcasts, spread theword about health, fitness,
(32:04):
about mental, and really justshare my story for people that
they're not alone, that peoplecan do this.
People can lose weight, peoplecan get healthier.
People can lose weight, peoplecan get healthier, people can
stay healthy, and maybe evencoaching one of these days, like
(32:24):
coaching clients or somethingto change their mind or to build
better habits or to even get inshape.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I love that.
So just to summarize, just tokind of wrap this all together
for our final two questions here, the first one would be if you
were to summarize this episodein one or two sentences, what
would be your take home message?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Take home message start small, change your mind,
get some exercise, get some sun.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Love it.
And then, of course, how canpeople find you, get ahold of
you and find your book?
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, so you can go to my website, dkkangcom.
If you subscribe to mynewsletter.
I'm actually giving away thefirst chapter of my book for
free.
It will be as a download.
My book is on Amazon, mindsetMetamorphosis, and then my other
book, the Kimchi ConnectionCookbook.
It's about integrating kimchiinto different dishes.
(33:20):
That's on Amazon as well andthat's under my actual, real
name, which is Dae Q Kang, sothey're both on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I love it.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you, guys for listeningto this week's episode of Health
and Fitness Redefined.
Don't forget, subscribe, share.
It's the only way this podcastgrows is to spread the message
and hopefully we could changemore lives and remember fitness
is medicine.
Until next time, thank you,guys for listening to this
(33:52):
week's episode of health andfitness redefined.
Please don't forget tosubscribe and share this show
with a friend, with a loved one,for those that need to hear it,
and, ultimately, don't forgetfitness is medicine.
I'll see you next time.
This is Health and Fitness Redefined, brought to
you by Redefined Fitness.
What's up, everybody, andwelcome to another episode of
Health and Fitness Redefined.
I'm your host, anthony Amen,and today we've got another
great episode for all of you.
Today, all about mindset,probably my favorite topic for
(00:23):
those that avidly listen to theshow.
It's something I think that'ssuper important and hopefully we
can learn a little more.
So today's guest is DK Kang.
Welcome to the show man.
It's a pleasure to have you onwhat got you into writing and
learn about mindset.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, thank you for having me uh to be on your show,
uh.
So what got me writing aboutmindset is uh.
So I've been doing martial artsall my life, about 34 years now
.
I started at the age of five,and I mean your show talks about
adversity and overcoming it,and so when you're doing martial
(01:03):
arts, martial arts is not, it'snot, it's not easy, it's, and
it's small progressions, butthere's also a lot of that
mindset of you know, meditation,clearing the mind, breath, work
, and so when I wrote this book,mindset Metamorphosis, it was
actually because I was goingthrough a challenging time.
(01:24):
So last year, january of 2024,my wife gets diagnosed with
breast cancer and then we'retrying to do all this research,
because I talk about a fixedmindset versus a growth mindset.
Like a fixed is you kind of knoweverything and that's it.
But growth is like how are youprogressing?
(01:46):
Like, how are you learning, howare you growing?
And so when we heard the news,you know we just dug deep.
We went into research aboutnutrition, about fitness and how
we can help with diseases andwith going on a plant-based diet
to help, basically, heal fromcancer.
(02:07):
And so the book kind of cameabout is because I felt I felt
overwhelmed, I felt stressed andjust stuck.
I'm like what do I do?
Because my wife is goingthrough this.
And then I'm reading this bookcalled the Breast Cancer Husband
and it's basically talkingabout be there for your wife, no
(02:28):
matter what, like to all herappointments.
And then, as I'm about tofinish it, the book says to let
your employer know what's goingon and to have more of a
flexible work schedule.
So then I tell my employer thisflexible work schedule.
So then I tell my employer this, and so it's like february 1st
(02:50):
when I tell them that.
And then they're like yeah,okay, that's fine, we'll give
you a flexible work schedule.
Then a week after that, on athursday, they're like we're
gonna let you go.
And I'm like what do you mean?
Like you said, oh, you knowit's okay to have a flexible
work schedule.
They're like, oh, it's, it'sbudget cuts, things like that.
But I'm like, I don't.
(03:11):
I'm pretty sure that there'sother reasons, but you know, for
me I could.
We could easily went down thespiral of like, oh, like the
world is against us, oh, lifesucks.
And so we had to reframe, likehow do we get through this?
And so we had no income for 10months, from February of last
(03:33):
year to December.
So medical bills added up, Imean living expenses still kept
coming and so.
But our mindsets really savedus because it's like like your
mind is like a magnet.
If you're thinking negativethoughts, you're going to get
negative results, like here's anexample In 2023, I ran a 50K
(03:59):
Spartan Ultra.
It's not, it's definitely forthe few.
And Anthony know you've done a21k's the beast before, so you
know what it's like right.
So doing a 50k's pretty muchdouble that 60 obstacles for me.
Everything that went wrong wentwrong.
Like I tore my hands.
(04:20):
I lost my tracker.
I had to.
I was already like a half milein.
I had to run back a half mileto go get my tracker.
I lost my tracker.
I had to.
I was already like half mile in.
I had to run back a half mileto go get my tracker.
I lost my gloves, I had anosebleed, I dropped a boulder
on my toe, like the big Atlascarry a lot, but for me, like,
(04:48):
my mind was like I need to keepgoing, I need to keep moving
forward and take those steps tocontinue to keep going.
And then, as I was, as I'mpassing people that's doing the
50K with me, as you know,everyone's wearing an ultra
shirt, so you know thateverybody's doing an ultra and
they're saying they're sayingthis out loud like oh, this,
this 50k is way too freakinghard, or this is like I'm not
(05:10):
going to make it to the finishline.
And with that mindset, likethose people did not finish,
like the 50k is a 50 percentfail rate, like the guy you know
he's announcing at thebeginning of of the Spartan race
and he's like 50, 50% of youguys are probably going to fail
this.
That I mean, and it's true like600, about 620 people went in
(05:33):
and about 300 people finished onthe finish line.
As you know, you see stats atthe end of your, your, your race
.
And so me, kind of going backto that, I was thinking like,
with everything going on with mywife, I'm like all right, like
the mindset, like what we thinkis what we can control, like
(05:53):
everything outside of that, likewe you know, I can't control if
I find a job or not, but youknow and so we had to rely on
just our mind, but like not onlyour mind, but like our faith.
And so we had to rely on justour mind, but not only our mind,
but our faith, our faith.
You know, the Bible talks aboutin Romans, about not to conform
to this pattern in this world,but to be transformed, of the
(06:16):
renewing of your mind.
And so we had to renew ourminds of like what that meant.
We had to renew our way ofthinking and we had to reframe
like, instead of saying like, oh, this is a terrible situation.
You know, we ended up prayingafter I lost my job.
And then, you know, as soon asI got home from work, when I got
(06:40):
the news, we prayed, butinstead of like kind of breaking
down and crying like, I endedup just kind of laughing and I
was just like, well, all right,god, well, why not us?
And so I had to reframe that oflike thinking instead of why me
, why us?
I was reframed it to, why notus?
(07:02):
And saying, oh, maybe this,this might help somebody else
that might be going throughstuff Like everybody.
As I'm writing this book, I'mlike everybody's going through
some sort of adversity, somesort of challenge, some sort of
storm, and like it's not justone person is going through this
(07:23):
.
Like and I had to really thinkabout that, and like I wanted to
give people like practicals on,like how to overcome those
challenges, cause if you'redoing a Spartan race, there's
obstacles in the way.
Like, do you get over it underit, through it around it?
Do you crawl under it?
Like you know, we're just goingto have obstacles, I, we're
just going to have obstacles.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I'm going to jump in on this because I think this is
so important.
I never knew that Romanssection.
Can you repeat that thing forme again In Romans?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
So in Romans 12.2, it says Donot conform to the pattern of
this world, but be transformedby the renewing of your mind.
And then it continues.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Stop there.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
The first line do not conform to the pattern of this
world.
I have been stuck on this forthe last week and it's crazy,
like you said, like things justkind of connect and hop in
because I don't know that, Ididn't know that was in there.
But what I've been stuck on isI heard this last week and I've
just been obsessing over it so Iwas being interviewed a
(08:32):
successful CEO and he waslaughing at the fact that
everyone always talks aboutbeing average, right, everyone
wants to fit in right, so thatmeans conforming and fitting
into a society.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But let's take the average American overweight,
they have underlying healthconditions from it.
They're divorced, they're nothappy, they're in a job they
hate and can't wait to retire.
So they feel like they'rewasting their time, like even
just those five things.
So why the hell would I want tofit in and conform to that kind
(09:16):
of society?
And that flips into what you'retalking about is, if you go to
be just like everybody else,you're going to end up being
like everybody else.
If you do habits like everybodyelse, you're going to end up
being habits like everyone else.
So when someone says to me,anthony, why do you do things
that way?
That's because all of you gothat way.
(09:37):
So I'm going that way because Iknow that's not the answer.
Try comparing me to that person.
Screw you.
I don't want to be average.
Don't compare me to that person.
Compare me to the top 3% in theUS and those are the habits I'm
going to follow, as opposed tothe average American F that I
even took it to an extreme.
(09:58):
I had a conversation with mywife and she was talking about
how like is this normal?
She kept saying that it's likewell, I do this.
Is this normal?
I said who gives a shit?
Why do I want to be normal Likewe're taking that?
Said who gives a shit?
Why do I be normal like we'retaking?
That?
I know it's a saying she had inher vocabulary.
Like we're taking that out ofvocabulary, it doesn't matter,
it no longer matters.
If something is normal, don'tbe normal.
(10:22):
Be different, because that'swhat's going to help you
ultimately succeed in life yeah,I mean I, I totally agree.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Um, I, for me, growing up I grew up in Missouri
I was never their normal kid.
Like I brought kimchi and Ibrought Korean food to school in
the middle of nowhere ofMissouri and I got made fun of.
But for me, like my parentswere Korean, they immigrated
here and so they're like here'sa lot of health benefits to
(10:51):
kimchi.
They're like here's a lot ofhealth benefits to kimchi.
And I mean I wrote a cookbookon how to integrate kimchi into
dishes because there's so manyprobiotics and the fermentation
and health benefits with yourgut, brain, health, with with
fermented foods and so, likeI've always kind of been like
that the outcast kid, kind ofgoing against the grain.
(11:12):
And so like, like you're saying, like I kind of didn't want to
be normal, like and you know Igrew up doing martial arts,
martial arts isn't a normalthing to do, that everybody does
.
Like I didn't play basketballsoccer because all the other
kids are doing that and I'm likethere's more.
I want to just do martial artsbecause that helps with your
(11:32):
mind, body, spirit and it justreally helps you to overcome the
adversity, the challenges,because when punches and kicks
are flying at your face.
What do you do?
Soccer?
No one's trying to kick you inthe face or punch you in the
face, everyone's chasing a ball.
So I think you're right, justtrying to not be normal and,
(11:57):
like when my wife got diagnosedwith cancer, like we didn't do
the normal thing.
Like we ended up seeing threedoctors.
Two of them were like, yeah,just eat pretty much anything
you want to eat.
And we're like reading thisbook called Crispy Cancer and
it's a great resource.
But you know he talked about,you know, going on a plant-based
(12:18):
diet, whole foods and juicing,and you know a lot of that.
And then, like, for some ofyour listeners I don't know if
you know about this um, thisdocumentary called um, uh, the
game changers.
It's a it's, it's a plant-baseddocumentary and how a
plant-based diet helps withathletic performance great,
(12:41):
great documentary.
And there's there's a bunch ofother ones, like fork, silver
knives is one um.
But so you know, as we'rereading this book crispy cancer
we just we're like, all right,we're gonna go full plant-based
and we're going to heal fromthis, and so that was like our
mindset.
We had to change instead oflike, oh well, we're just going
to continue to eat our diet.
(13:02):
Well, like, if you look atcancer, cancer is not, it's not
a genetic disease anymore thesedays.
Maybe it's like 5%, but 95%it's a lifestyle disease from
your environment, your eatinghabits, your stress, like the
type of work you're doing, likeall these things adds up the
(13:23):
chemicals that we're ingesting,the processed food that we
should get away from, and so wejust went completely plant-based
and that was like our mindsetshift Because we're like, all
right, we need to learn fromsomeone that's been there before
us.
You know it's like.
It's like, it's like fitness.
You know you.
You know you're a coach, you'rea trainer, you're a personal
(13:45):
trainer.
You know people don't come tosee you based on like, oh, I'm
already at your level.
It's like, no, you're trainingthem so you can bring them to
your level or even better.
And you know, same for me.
Like I've done martial arts,I've taught it.
Like, for me, my end goal is Iwant my students, the people
(14:07):
that I'm training, I want themto be better than me, but that
doesn't mean that I'm going tobe a slouch and not train
anymore.
I'm like I'm going to keeptraining but I'm going to keep
bringing you up with me andthat's going to bring you better
and so so, yeah, the mindset is, is is very powerful, and I
believe that so many of us don'tpractice mindset tools, even
(14:31):
like habits, micro habits.
Mindset tools, even like habits,micro habits, like how do we
build upon another habit?
Let's just say I talk aboutthis in my book about habit
stacking.
And let's say you already havea habit you do every single day
Like I don't know, everybodydrinks coffee, right, I don't
drink coffee, but I kind of usethis as an example.
(14:51):
You're brewing your coffee.
It takes two minutes, right,and you're saying I want to get
better in fitness.
Well, while your coffee isbrewing for two minutes, knock
out as many pushups as you can.
Do that every single day.
That's going to compound.
These little steps are going tocompound into something bigger,
because by the end of the year,you, like man, I've done a
(15:13):
thousand push-ups just by doingpush-ups every morning when my
coffee's brewing, you know.
So it's things like that, andand it was the book was a way
for me to deal with my stress,my overwhelmed and me feeling
stuck and like what are some ofthe things that I know that I've
done that helped me, that I'msure it's going to help other
(15:34):
people as well, like breath work, like taking deep breaths, uh,
prioritizing what's important toyou, uh, so, like a lot of
these things, I was just like Ineed to write these things down
and put it in a book and I justwant to help people change their
minds and get active.
Like I talk about hydration inthere too, like you know,
(15:55):
drinking water every day, everyday, try to drink half your body
weight, and so like.
For me, I'm, I've been a massagetherapist for 18 years now and
I my main focus is athleticperformance, athletic recovery
and with stress management andpain management, because I know
(16:15):
everybody's stressed, I knoweverybody's in pain, but a lot
of my clients are athletes, likeI see runners, I see golfers
and um, and they're like in painbecause they're like breaking
down their muscles, and so I'vebeen helping them with the body
work.
But then today it's also yourmind, too.
Like, what are you thinking?
(16:36):
What do you?
What are you feeding your mind?
Are you feeding your mindgarbage?
And same thing, are you feedingyour body garbage, to like, are
you eating McDonald's everysingle day, which is not not
good, like you know, becauseit's all process and we have to
think like, why is the UnitedStates one of the richest
countries in the world but weare the most obese country in
(16:59):
the world as well.
Like it's very.
It's disheartening for mebecause I want people to be
healthier in their mind andtheir body, just also like, like
emotionally as well, andexercise helps with that good.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Here's a good question that we can ask, and I
want my listeners to reallythink about this.
Why, in our studio, as aperfect example, do I have to
push people like actively,persuade them to start taking
creatine?
But they'll blindly go buy aprocessed food at a grocery
(17:41):
store and even, to the extreme,go inject some medicine into
them, like your GLP-1s, withouttruly knowing what's doing to
your body.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know, because it's easy.
You know a doctor tells them todo this, they're like okay, I'm
going to go do it, like,instead of like actually reading
about it or educatingthemselves and having that
growth mindset.
Because for us, like we saw adoctor, they're like yeah, eat.
Whatever you want to do, youneed to do.
You know 12 rounds of chemo.
(18:11):
You need to do 10 sessions ofradiation.
You need to do.
You know 12 rounds of chemo,you need to do 10 sessions of
radiation.
You need to all this.
And then, as we're doingresearch, we're like well, why
do we need to do all that?
And then the doctor tells uslike, oh, we over diagnose and
over medicate everybody.
And well, we're like well, canwe cut that in half and still
get the results?
And they're like, oh, yeah, soI'm like well, can we do that?
(18:34):
Like, because we did our ownresearch.
But I think when people easilyjust go to there because it's
readily available and peoplewant to be in their comfort
zones because that's all theyknow, yeah, I totally.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How's your wife now?
How's her cancer diagnosis?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
yeah, so she is cancer free from January,
February of 2025.
But that also entailed hergetting cataracts from the
steroids, from the chemotreatments.
The doctor says that it's notrelated, but her eye doctor says
it is related.
So you know is related.
(19:15):
So you know it's like.
Who do we trust?
Uh, but she just done cataractsurgery last last thursday on
her second eye.
So she's still recovering fromthat.
But I mean with, with, like withcancer, it's a.
It's a long and hard recoverybecause those drugs, I
chemotherapy, it kills.
The good and the bad it doesn'tmatter.
(19:36):
And so, energy level, I'll tellpeople right now to start
changing your diet right now andchanging your mind.
And when we had no insurance atthe point when I lost my job,
(19:57):
she had her first chemotreatment.
It was $80,000 US dollars, Likefor one, and she had to do 12.
You would go broke if you don'ttake care of your body.
It's more expensive to getchemo than it is to just change
your diet into a whole, a wholefood diet instead of eating
(20:18):
hamburgers.
And I'm I'm saying that because, like, we're still kind of in
the thick of it, Like you know,I mean, luckily, our insurance
kicked in, but our we, you know,we still have like $60,000
worth of medical debt like thatpiled up because you know we
didn't have insurance and or Imean we didn't have income
(20:38):
coming in.
And so you know, I just want, Ijust want to help people like
hey, like wake up and like thisis this is real?
Like more and more people aregetting diagnosed with cancer,
Like my father had pancreaticcancer, my best friend's mom has
cancer, my wife's few friendshave cancer.
It's a big deal and if you canprevent it, it's going to be so
(21:07):
much more better for you and foryour family, Because when you
hear the news you have cancer itturns your world upside down.
I mean, it did for us, for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And so that's kind of mind-blowing if you hear those
kind of things, and the post Iwas going to put up today in my
social accounts actually was alot of people choose wealth over
health and yeah, it should bethe exact opposite, because it
doesn't matter how much moneyyou have in the world, your
health is the most importantthing, as you kind of just said.
If you tie, tie them together, achemo treatment costs you
(21:36):
$80,000.
That's like how much moneycould you invested of that into
your health?
And then what do you havegotten?
Would you've got breast cancerfrom that point?
I don't know, the chancesprobably would have been way
lower, or she would have beenway better.
Prognosis right.
Should have way better qualityof life.
Yeah, better prognosis right,should have way better quality
(21:57):
of life.
And if you turn that into whatyou really see, with yet again
tying into the average American,by the time the average person
retires from work, they are onsome sort of disability to the
point where they can all thethings they talked about
traveling the world, backpackingEurope, doing this, going on
this they can't do anymorebecause they're just too sick.
So you get caught in that.
(22:20):
Well, maybe I should have takentime off.
We can't go back in time andtake more time off.
I mean the easier solution ifyou can't afford it financially
is start taking care of yourhealth.
Prioritize your health aboveabsolutely everything else.
When you look at your spend asfar as like your month-to-month
like balancing your budget, yourit really shows where your
(22:40):
priorities actually are.
Yeah, and a lot of peopleprioritize stupid shit and I see
this time and time again as anexample.
Women, just I'm not picking onyou, but getting your hair done,
going to get a blowout and acut at an expensive salon you're
talking like 200 bucks and movesome people to that bi-weekly.
That's not bettering yourhealth.
Maybe cut that down and do halfthat, or what about going out
(23:02):
to eat.
You can go out to eat and tolike a takeout like Chipotle
spend 15 bucks.
Or you can go out and get wineand steak at an expensive
steakhouse spend 100 bucks aperson.
Like, look at that, that's an $85 difference right there that
you could have used to investinto your own health.
It had way better outcomes thanjust one hour of enjoyment.
(23:26):
Would you rather that one houror would you rather a lifetime
and years of being able to watchyour kids get married, watching
your grandkids get born?
Like being there for, uh,elderly parents that are in
their 80s.
If they're alive it's a lot,and if you don't prioritize your
health, you're fucked.
Bottom line, that's it, and Idon't know at what point we need
(23:50):
to have a wake-up call.
I mean, we're seeing it now, atleast this year, with what's
going on politically, but likewake up let's, let's start
focusing on our health.
I don't want to hear how goingto a gym is expensive and time
consuming.
Who the fuck cares?
You're gonna be around yearslonger.
(24:10):
Yeah, you're gonna feel waybetter, you're way less likely
to get that cancer.
Think about those before youstart thinking about.
Oh well, I've got to wake upearly and go to the gym and you
know you don't have to sign upfor a gym.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Like start small.
Like go outside, get some sunexposure, get some vitamin D.
Like go on walks.
Like walking is just so good.
Like, if you're starting outlike a couch potato, like don't
be mean, go do a 50K Spartanrace, just get up, put your
shoes on and walk to the mailboxevery day and then go out a
(24:45):
little bit further.
Just add some sort of physicalactivity.
We have one mind and one body.
What are you going to do withit?
If you had one car, how wouldyou treat that one car?
If you had one toyota camry,how would you treat it for the
rest of your life?
Like same thing.
You have one mind, one body.
What are you gonna put into it?
(25:06):
Are you gonna give it?
You know hamburgers and hot dogsand you know fast food.
Are you gonna change your dietand add some more nutritious
food that's you know whole foodand try to get some exercise,
and because you know fast food.
Or you're gonna change yourdiet and add some more
nutritious food that's you knowwhole food and try to get some
exercise, and because you knowwhen you're overweight like?
I see this with a lot of myclients as well.
Like I see a lot of some peoplejust overweight because they
have a desk job, because they'restressed and you know they have
(25:29):
a lot of pain.
But I'm like you know you'reputting so much on your joints
with that extra weight.
I'm like you're going to end upgetting a knee replacement or a
hip replacement in a couple ofyears and then, once you get
that and you don't lose theweight and keep the weight off,
like you're going to needanother knee replacement and
it's not the surgeon's fault.
It's.
It's like we need to haveownership.
(25:51):
We need we're not the victim weneed to have ownership of our
own health and our own, like,mental health as well.
And what are we doing with that?
You know, we just want everyoneto fix us like, oh, the doctor
gives me a new knee replacement,but you don't do anything about
it.
Then, well, it's on you youcan't blame the surgeon for a
new knee replacement that itgoes bad in a couple years.
(26:14):
Like you know, you got to thinkabout these things that we need
to have ownership of our ownhealth because no one's going to
take care of it besides you soin your book?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
what?
How did you discover how to getthrough to people like what do
you think is the answer and wayto start a conversation with
somebody to get them to have amindset shift?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
uh, you know, I think first you have to figure out,
like, what's your why?
Like, think about, like, youknow, some people's like I want
to lose 20 pounds or 30 pounds.
Okay, so, but why, like?
Why do you want to lose that?
You, because I just want tolook good.
I'm like, well, what's yourbigger?
Why?
Like, oh, I want to be able toplay with my kids.
(26:58):
I'm like, okay, now we'regetting somewhere and let's
start shifting that mindset oflike, all right, what do you
need to do?
And how do you start small from?
Because you're not just goingto run a 5K right now.
If you're trying to lose 30pounds, all right, well, let's
just start walking and then dothat for like a month.
(27:21):
It's starting like these smallhabits, these small like shifts,
like when you, you know, likejournaling would be another one,
like journal down, I'm feelingoverwhelmed or I'm feeling stuck
or I'm not enough, like thesenegative thinking patterns.
And then it's like, all right,now let's start reframing it to
(27:42):
well, why do I feel that I'm notenough?
And then writing it down likeokay, here's some things that
I'm grateful for and why I amenough to start a business, or
to lose 30 pounds, or you know,whatever it is and it's, it's
starting small and buildingthose habits, because those
(28:03):
habits change your behavior andonce you change that behavior
you start seeing better results,not only in your mind, but also
just in your physical activityas well.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Here's a tough one for you.
How do you approach, or do yourapproach?
You know those people that youtalk to and they make jokes
about their health all the timeand they like pretend they don't
.
I'm going to say, pretend thatthey don't care.
They're a hundred poundsoverweight or they're smoking
and they're drinking a lot andyou're just like, oh, I don't do
that.
(28:37):
How do you approach that kindof person?
Is that even worth it?
If, even if you absolutely lovethat person because, let's say,
it's a spouse or a kid, whatwould be your response to get
that person motivated?
Because they're not thinkingabout why.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
they're thinking about how to pull this off um,
you know, it depends on theperson too.
I mean, if it's like a goodfriend of mine, then yeah, you
know I would approach them andsay, hey, like that's not a good
mental framework to have,because you know you're bringing
yourself down and you can'thelp anybody else.
But if it's just someone that'sjust like I don't know, I'm not
(29:11):
really gonna approach them andbecause then I'm wasting my time
and I'm wasting their time?
For because usually it ends uphappening is like an argument
happens and they're right, I'mwrong, or I'm right, they're
wrong, whatever it is.
And so, like I, for me, I justrather not, because we're
wasting both of our times.
I mean, if you want help, likeI'll try to help you, but at the
(29:35):
end of the day they don't wanthelp, and so it's hard to give
someone help when they don'twant it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, I just take it as a personal responsibility,
and people always bring nutsbecause I'm usually wearing a
gym shirt that has their name onit, so they'll just see me and
they'll just say something, evenif it's unprompted.
So that's always.
The biggest thing I strugglewith is I do I do this because I
want to help people and I savelives, but like they're going
out of their way to saysomething, to bring it down and
to make it sound not important.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, but you know, I think just asking the questions
to that person says like, well,like, why do you talk to
yourself that way, like you know, or why do you think that?
And just to really kind of getin their Like you know, or why
do you think that?
And just to really kind of getin their heads, you know.
And because then for you it'slike oh, I'm just trying to help
people, I want to save lives, Iwant this world to be healthier
(30:25):
and better, and so you know whydo you think that?
But I don't want to be aroundsomeone that's going to bring me
down as well.
So it's a fine line, it reallyis.
It's a it's kind of where doyou cross that line or where do
you not cross that line?
And sometimes you just have togauge it and it's hard because
(30:48):
people are people, are notrobots.
People have emotions and youknow, and sometimes I've heard
that like, oh, body's shaming me.
I'm like well, no, I'm tryingto tell you the truth, the truth
hurts, but like, if you don'twant to hear it, then I'm
wasting my time and energy onyou, like, and so I, I'll move
on to the next, next person then.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
So yeah, I could totally see that dk tell us a
little bit about, like, whereyou're headed.
So what are this whole mindsetframe you had for yourself and
going to not having a job like,where do you see yourself going
in the next five years?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
uh, next five years.
Uh, I'm working on another bookabout gratitude.
Uh, that's something thatdefinitely helped us as well as
to get through what we're goingthrough, uh, is just practicing
gratitude every day, becausewhen we're not grateful, it's
only then when we're gratefuland we don't have what we don't
(31:44):
have anymore.
And so, yeah, I'm working onanother book and I just want to
be able to help people in thenext five, 10 years More than
that is a lifeline, a lifelongthing.
Be on more podcasts, spread theword about health, fitness,
(32:04):
about mental, and really justshare my story for people that
they're not alone, that peoplecan do this.
People can lose weight, peoplecan get healthier.
People can lose weight, peoplecan get healthier, people can
stay healthy, and maybe evencoaching one of these days, like
(32:24):
coaching clients or somethingto change their mind or to build
better habits or to even get inshape.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
I love that.
So just to summarize, just tokind of wrap this all together
for our final two questions here, the first one would be if you
were to summarize this episodein one or two sentences, what
would be your take home message?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Take home message start small, change your mind,
get some exercise, get some sun.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Love it.
And then, of course, how canpeople find you, get ahold of
you and find your book?
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yeah, so you can go to my website, dkkangcom.
If you subscribe to mynewsletter.
I'm actually giving away thefirst chapter of my book for
free.
It will be as a download.
My book is on Amazon, mindsetMetamorphosis, and then my other
book, the Kimchi ConnectionCookbook.
It's about integrating kimchiinto different dishes.
(33:20):
That's on Amazon as well andthat's under my actual, real
name, which is Dae Q Kang, sothey're both on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I love it.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you, guys for listeningto this week's episode of Health
and Fitness Redefined.
Don't forget, subscribe, share.
It's the only way this podcastgrows is to spread the message
and hopefully we could changemore lives and remember fitness
is medicine.
Until next time, thank you,guys for listening to this
(33:52):
week's episode of health andfitness redefined.
Please don't forget tosubscribe and share this show
with a friend, with a loved one,for those that need to hear it,
and, ultimately, don't forgetfitness is medicine.
I'll see you next time.
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