May 14, 2025 • 28 mins
Dr. Derek Alessi shares his transformational journey from a 244-pound college freshman with a 44-inch waist to becoming a health and fitness expert who helps others achieve sustainable results. His discovery of exercise science changed his career path from dentistry to health and fitness, leading to an 85-pound weight loss in just one year.
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• Mindset must come before strategy when approaching health and fitness changes
• Taking ownership of your health decisions is liberating and essential for success
• Professional guidance prevents injuries and ensures effective exercise programming
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• Quality ingredients matter - New Zealand protein standards require 100% grass-feeding versus just 4% in the US
• Sustainable packaging eliminates plastic toxicity risks for both bodies and the environment
• The human body makes very few mistakes when mind and body work together rather than against each other
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, how are you?
This is Dr Damaris MariaGrossman and this is the
Mindfully Integrative Show, andtoday we have a wonderful guest
on the show for you guys to meetand understand and get to know.
His name is Derek, dr DerekAlessi, and he's going to tell
you a little bit about hiscompany, but a little bit about
why he is in the health spaceand what he has done for himself
(00:22):
and for others and how he canimpact you, and some more
information.
So thank you, derek, for beingon the show and thanks for just
kind of coming in and kind ofgiving us some insight of what
you know, why you feel like youmade changes and, obviously, why
health is super important toyou.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, thank you, and I enjoy sharing the message and
thanks for having me on the showFor me.
I've been in the health andfitness field for 32 years,
helping people in the clinicalroute lose weight, drop body fat
, improve their health andfitness and the quality of their
life.
And when people ask me, did Ialways know I was going to do
that for a living?
My answer is no, I was going tobe a dentist.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Really Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I was going to be a dentist.
Yeah, no, I was going to school, undergrad.
I was going to go to dentalschool.
That was what I wanted to do,and when people ask me, why did
you want that?
And the answer was prettystraightforward I had two
reasons.
Reason number one is I had anuncle who was a dentist and he
had a practice and I wasfollowing in his footsteps.
Number two is I also was 244pounds.
(01:22):
I had a 44-inch waist when Iwas a freshman in undergrad and
I never thought of health andfitness ever before in my life.
So I was not the jock, I wasnot the fitness guy, I was not
the anything.
So luckily, I had to take someprerequisite classes in this
brand new field called exercisescience.
(01:44):
Oh, it was a brand new fieldback then Okay, well, yeah,
nowadays it's pretty well known,but in 1989, not every school
even offered it.
So I had to take someprerequisites, and more so than
just finding it interesting.
I found as though it spoke tome.
It's kind of like saying hey,you know, you should be doing
these things.
On top of just learning aboutthem, you should be doing them
yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And the message struck me loud and clear.
I never knew exercise had ascience.
I didn't know anything about itother than the fact that some
people seem to jog.
Some people at the time werelifting weights, they wanted to
be bodybuilders and so on and soforth, but I didn't know there
was a science behind it and Ifound it ridiculously
interesting.
It spoke to me, more so becauseof the fact that I didn't want
(02:27):
to have a 44 inch waist, Ididn't want to be 245 pounds.
So I took the message to heartand I really just did two things
.
I started lifting weights withsome friends, probably four
times per week or so, notknowing anything about what I
was doing.
And number two, I didn't know alick about nutrition, other
than the fact that if it wasjunk food, so if it came out of
a wrapper, I probably shouldn'teat it.
(02:48):
That was it and within oh, buttaught Like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I feel like we're not taught like at all.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
No, and certainly not back then, I think, a lot more
information-.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I mean more now, but I wouldn't say back then no, not
at all.
No, not at all Not.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Not at all.
No, not at all, not at all.
And I should preface this bysaying both sides of my family
are from Italy, right?
So, both mother and father.
So I had all of the Italiandelicacies you could ever
imagine growing up, and itseemed to hit me a little bit
harder than it hit my siblings.
So I was holding a lot ofweight Nonetheless those two
(03:24):
things just lifting weights,avoiding junk food and within
one year I dropped about 85pounds and went from being the
heaviest kid in my graduatinghigh school class to, as a
freshman a man in my freshmanyear in undergrad, on the stage
of a bodybuilding show.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
In about a year, year and a half Now.
Bodybuilding did not speak tome.
I did not like it.
I did not like any aspect of itother than the training.
I did enjoy that, but I didn'tlike everything else that went
along with it and I certainlydidn't like all the contest prep
, tanning and removing all thehair from your body I mentioned.
Both sides of my family are fromItaly, so that was no small
(04:00):
task.
All of that posing trunks andeverything else that went along
routines and doing like yourposing routine.
It didn't appeal to me at all.
But what I did love is thetransformation that happened
along it.
So I kept pursuing exercisescience, taking additional
classes, and it eventually ledme from changing my major, from
(04:21):
going to dentistry, so pre-med,to into exercise science, which
is that I, of course I pursuedand got a PhD in exercise
science.
But that was kind of mytransformation.
That's how I got into the fieldand that was geez.
That was 1989.
So it was what, 36-ish yearsago, that I started that quest,
and each and every day I'm stillpassionate about it and work in
(04:42):
this field in many differentways, and my message always is
to try to inspire other peopleto do the same.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I think it's, I think it sounds.
I mean it is important, noteven sounds.
It is important because it'slike if you can change one
person today and then anotherperson and then you've changed
your perspective on it.
I mean, back then it probablywas quite challenging going
through the nineties trying toget people to, like, eat
differently, you know, andchange their thinking.
And OK, you do have to exercisethis and I mean there were so
(05:11):
many fads and who knows what,but that must have been, you
know.
And then it must have evolvedover the years on how to
probably transition for each ofthese.
You know, your clients and such.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, you know it's interesting when there's pros
and cons that anytime you'retrying to do something.
So if you want to start withsome of the cons, if we're
thinking about nothing but diet,we were in the middle of low
fat, no fat diets, which wasvery popular at the time, and
when you eat low fat, no fatdiets, generally speaking,
you're eating a lot morecarbohydrate based foods.
So all of those things fromsnack well products, low-fat
(05:45):
things and so on and so forthwere very prevalent.
So there's a lot more carbs atthe time.
So that was the con.
If you ask me, like, what aresome of the pros of it?
When you go back into, like theearly 1990s and even in the
early 2000s, people had adifferent sense.
Number one most people were alittle bit more committed and
determined and they took moreownership.
(06:06):
I think now people getdistracted a lot easier.
Maybe it's the internet, maybeit's the pace of society, maybe
it's the fact that the mindsetisn't quite as developed as it
was back then for a lot ofpeople that were more
sophisticated, but there waspros and cons to both of it.
Nowadays the challenge iscutting through the clutter,
trying to keep people from justtrying to do bad things.
(06:28):
So if you wanted to kind ofrelate this to school, a lot of
people are cramming for theirfinal exam.
They're not studying all yearlong, they're not going to class
and they're hoping they couldjust cram for the two or three
days before their final and geta decent grade, which would be
equivalent to they're not goingto have their health and fitness
be consistent, they just wantto, at times, crash diet, they
(06:50):
want to go on some type of keto,they want to go on some type of
intermittent fast.
They want to go to the gym fivetimes a day for the next two
weeks because they're crashingbefore they go on a trip or
before the New Year'sresolutions or something like
that.
So I'm always about the messageof you want to be a good
student, you want to do thingsconsistently and you don't want
to have to cram at any giventime.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I think that the message of consistency can vary
for each one right, literally.
And then the fact that they'renot wanting to go and change.
I mean that can be for avariety of reasons.
What have you found has beenchallenging with that?
Is it mostly mindset forclients recently?
(07:34):
Let's go with.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, I would say that's the place to start,
unfortunately, Well, maybe allof them is mindset, Maybe the
biggest.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What do you think is the biggest challenge?
You think mindset first.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Mindset first.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I think I can agree with you on that too,
considering I call myself thecompany mindfully integrative.
You don't change the way youthink, like seriously.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Oh, totally, totally Exactly.
That's why I love it.
It's mindset so so often peoplewant to jump into strategy.
So even before they have themindset, they already want to
start talking.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I mean I want to do both too, but I get it Like
mindset.
Why mindset?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, you know, should I fast?
Should I spin?
Should I, should I Zumba?
You know they have all thesedifferent ideas of what they
should be doing, but no, withreally the mindset.
The mindset is super important.
Once again, I think, if themindset, if I'm trying to
identify myself as being a goodstudent, I want to do what good
students do.
So I start with the mindset ofI want to be a health and
(08:25):
fitness person, even if Ihaven't been so, even if I
haven't been, I first mustdecide why it's important to me,
what I'm trying to, what myobjective is.
Secondly, I have to realizethat I am the person in control
of this, so I'm takingresponsibility and ownership of
it.
It's not society.
I can't just blame society.
(08:45):
I can't just blame governmentor big food or big pharma, or I
can't blame my spouse or my kids.
I can't blame my coworkers.
I'm putting the food into mybody, I'm deciding when to
exercise, so I'm taking extremeownership of it, which is
liberating.
And lastly, I have to believethat I could pull this off.
This is not impossible.
I'm not trying to go to themoon by myself here.
(09:07):
I'm just trying to change mybehaviors, and the longer I do
it, the easier it becomes and Ibecome more consistent and I
identify even stronger as thishealthy, fit person, even though
I hadn't been earlier in mylife.
So the mindset, even before thestrategy, is where I think most
people should start and it'swhere they lack.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I can agree with you on that.
I think the lacking, you know,the just not understanding what
needs to be done, or just likethey teeter off toward when it
gets hard, or like, oh wait, Iplateaued, or I can't even do it
, and then they then it's a done, done deal.
Um, what have you noticed likewell, not even just for your
(09:50):
clients, but just for you lately, that you have you changed,
like?
Has it changed for you over theyears, for yourself, or, for
the most part, have you had apretty consistent routine for
them Since you lost all thatweight?
Did you do a pretty consistentlike are you got a regimented
thing or did you change it upnow as you've gotten older?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, my staff calls me the robot.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You have a pretty set foods, pretty set things right.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, so I can assure you that I'm not a robot.
In fact, that's my story to alot of the clients.
They say well, it seems so easyfor you.
Yeah, but what I'm doing is I'mgiving you the after version of
practicing this for over 30years.
Of course, like anything elselike learning a foreign language
, like learning a musicalinstrument, like learning a
sport or playing golf of course,course I should get better with
this over time.
(10:38):
That's the goal.
The goal isn't to make itharder on yourself.
The goal is to make it easieron yourself, and that's the
great part about habits thelonger you practice them, the
longer you do them, and thelonger you work on improving
them, the easier it becomes.
So, at this stage, if I were toeat or drink something poorly,
it's because I decided to do itin advance.
Where, growing up, oh mygoodness, it was just part of my
(11:00):
everyday life.
So, to give you an example ofit, I mentioned that both sides
of my family were from Italy andmy mother would make these
things of pasta and Italiandelicacies and the giugelini's
and the cucciadotti's and allthese Italian cookies, and at
first it was like, oh mygoodness, how can I go like two
days without this stuff.
Two days right, like, oh mygoodness, how can I go like two
days without this stuff?
Two days right.
(11:20):
I'm scared.
I was scared out of my mind ofgoing like a day or two without
some of these things, because Ialways had them.
Yeah, it turns out that humanscan't survive longer than a day
or two without all of theseitalian delicacies without the
sugars and the.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, all the good stuff, right, yeah right, right
your mind mind never mattered,for sure it's really
understanding it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It is, and in the beginning people are so scared
of that oh my, I always eat ordrink this thing.
Are you saying I can't do ittoday?
That's impossible, I'll neversurvive.
You will survive, you willdefinitely survive.
But you have to get over themindset that you can and you
will, and once you do that, itbecomes easier, not harder.
So that has been the philosophy, not only that I teach, but
(12:01):
also, too, I try to live by thatpassion to make each day easier
than the next.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
What have you like in reference?
You were saying mindset, andthen what's another key tip that
you think is necessary forpeople to be successful in their
health journey?
Because I mean, I know now youknow you've built like your
business and you've built, youknow, online products and such.
What did you find that has beenyour next step?
That wasn't mindset.
(12:27):
What was that for you?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The next step would be probably just coming up with
a good, consistent plan.
So so often we may seesomething on the internet, we
may see or hear things thatother friends are doing that
might be inappropriate for us.
And I'll give you a greatexample.
Many people especially peopleover the age of 45, feel as
though going to a gym isn'tappropriate for them.
They feel uncomfortable, theyfeel intimidated, they feel as
(12:53):
though people are judging them.
They might come up with well, Ihave a bad shoulder, I have a
bad knee, I can't do this, Ihave a bad hip.
So they come up with all ofthese things ahead of time and
that's not really the way toattack it.
Look, when you look at the humanbody, whether you have
imbalances of the knees,shoulders, hips, back, neck you
want to do a program that'sappropriate for you and that
(13:14):
doesn't mean that you go tooeasy on yourself, but it's using
a professional to design aprogram that will help the
imbalance.
That's what physical therapy isall about.
But that could also be workedinto your exercise program so
that you're working the damagedarea but also working around the
damaged area.
That's appropriate for whereyou're starting from.
So if this was school, I haveto handle a first grader
(13:36):
differently than a 10th grader.
I have to deal with a thirdgrader differently than a
graduate school student, andit's the same thing with
workouts.
So the strategy is superimportant.
It's not a one size fits all.
And unfortunately, a lot ofpeople do think well, I know how
to exercise, I don't need anyhelp, but do you really?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, I can definitely attest to that, like
as a person you know, losingweight through thought I was
metabolically healthy and waslike whoa, I'm totally not.
Yeah, and then just the changes, like you said, that age,
depending upon the age, whatpeople can or cannot do, and
then them limiting themselves Ithink people are afraid
sometimes to do certain they'repetrified.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, no doubt about it.
And another analogy would belike I'm just starting to play
golf, should you take a lesson?
No, I'm not going to take alesson.
I'm going to go to the rangefirst and I'm going to do some
things before I take a lesson sothat I can work some of these.
Oh, my goodness, you're goingto make it worse.
See professional guidance firstin this whole thing.
Don't try to teach yourself agolf swing.
(14:34):
Don't try to teach yourselffitness.
Don't try to give yourself aneducation in school.
That's why the school systemshave been designed and we have
curriculums and all these othergood things, because they're
evaluating you appropriately.
It's the same thing for yourhealth and fitness.
So, although a lot of peoplethink they know where to jump in
, eventually they don't know andthey might do something that's
inappropriate for them, whichwill do nothing but turn them
(14:55):
off to the entire process, andwe don't want that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
No, no, and you and you kind of like I mean you want
them to at least startsomewhere.
Have you found people do morehome things, or are you just
depending upon what, whatsomeone needs, like what's your
go-to, let's say, exercise thatyou give most?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think supervision is extremely important.
Once again, most people thatcome to see me are over the age
of 45.
They have at least oneorthopedic injury or so.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Ah, knee or elbow like a joint injury.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, exactly, and I think supervision is critical.
It's crucial not just to makesure that they don't get hurt,
but they're doing something alsoeffectively to benefit
themselves.
Supervision is super important,even if, though you think you
don't need it, you can benefitfrom having it.
It's like having a coach, ateacher, somebody on your side
helping you do it quicker,better results.
(15:47):
So I would go with that, and I'ma big fan, specifically, of
always trying to strengthen thespine and the muscles around it,
so the back and the spine andthe core, if you want to look at
that group.
A lot of the injuries and amuscles around it so the back
and the spine and the core, ifyou want to look at that group a
lot of the injuries and a lotof our movement patterns are
going to come from the spine andfrom the back.
And in the 30 plus years I'vedone this, I have never once met
a person that said you know, myback is too strong, I just have
(16:11):
to, I just have to relay offand take it easy here.
It's not the case.
We always want a strong back.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I can definitely see that, like, I mean, I feel like
the injuries, might you knowthen?
Then your hips are in thereback, your shoulders are like,
and then who knows who knowswhat from there.
Yeah, have you.
I mean, is it a lot more injury?
Injuries with these individuals, mostly Cause I mean, you see,
you know an array of differentthings, or, or, depending upon
lately, what's your, your, yourgo-to kind of lately, but over
(16:41):
45, I guess it depends right.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It does depend, but there are a couple of
commonalities, though.
When you look at it, if a womanis overweight and has been for
a while, typically she's goingto have knee problem, and it's
not just from the weight, butyour body is really smart.
So the knees move inward, thefemurs rotate, the knees move
inward, and then what happens isshe starts wearing out the
cartilage in her knee from theinside or the anterior part of
(17:06):
the knee outward.
So if it keeps hitting and thenarthritis builds up and then
it's bone on bone.
We're looking at a partial orfull knee replacement only
because the femurs have movedinward to balance her weight.
So that is really smart.
So with women, if a woman comesin, if she is overweight, the
chances are it's going to beknee.
(17:27):
That's probably 70% of the time.
For men it's mostly going to beback, but it can be shoulder as
well, because when a man getsheavy his shoulders rotate
inward and when they rotateinward he's at much more risk of
hurting his rotator cuffbecause his acromion process and
his humerus aren't in the rightposition.
So we have a lot more shoulderproblems and back problems with
(17:49):
heavier guys.
So that's usually where westart with, but it can be
injuries in a lot of otherplaces too.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Oh, of course, but no , that makes a lot of sense.
I mean, you think about thatand then you're trying to go.
Okay, so outside of exerciseand outside of mindset, what,
what's your, your next?
Like thought that you would sayto someone okay, you're coming
to me, so these intervals, comesee you online and also in your
office.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
You know, during the pandemic I did more online, but
prior to it and post pandemic,it's all in office.
Oh, nice, ok, it's the mosteffective way I can work with
somebody.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Where are you located?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I'm located in Buffalo, New York.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Wonderful, ok, even in the cold weather, people got
to go.
How to move?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Hey, listen, it's the city of good neighbors.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh, nice Right, Nice OK.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, buffalo, people take care of each other.
But, that being said, though,it is not known as the fitness
hotbed of the world.
No-transcript.
(19:08):
Certain individuals that aremaybe type A personality and
more successful sought myservices out earlier than ever
before, but now it's pretty mucha crossbreed of all types of
populations.
A lot of people that areretirees come to see me, but
also, too's pretty much acrossbreed of all types of
populations.
A lot of people that areretirees come to see me, but
also, too, a lot of busy officeworkers come to see me too, so
it's evolved over time.
(19:28):
The next phase, of course, Iwould get into is cleaning up
their diet Critical, somethingthat's not taught early enough
in a person's life, and,unfortunately, too many bad
habits we're going to creep in.
So we want to clean that up,because they're going to have to
consume food the rest of theirlife, and we want to make a good
stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I mean you're the one to come to him and
that's a significant, you know,life transformation for you, not
just, like you know, physicallybut just mentally just having
to go through that.
So people have to understandhow to kind of navigate that.
I mean, I feel like I have thatconversation quite often with
people with you know, you thinkyou know, and then they're like
oh wait, what's in your pantry?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, you'd be surprised, right?
I do have a couple of quicktips on that.
In fact, if pantries keepgetting bigger, so does our
waistline.
The things in a pantry ingeneral are going to be things
that increase your blood sugarand your insulin.
So in a pantry in general aregoing to be things that increase
your blood sugar and yourinsulin.
So I always tell people therefrigerator which of course
people are scared to death ofthe refrigerator but the
refrigerator is going to have alot of good things in it.
(20:28):
The pantry is going to havenothing good for you in it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Most of it is processed.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Exactly, it's processed, it's shelf stable,
it's not essential, it's not awhole food in there.
So big refrigerators, smallpantries, and you're going to
have a smaller waste.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Makes makes a lot of sense.
I think what happens is, youknow, you ask people what they
even have and then they go, oh,I've got this and they've got
this, and you just go.
Okay, do you probably start offwith just telling them did you
read the label or is there nolabel?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah right, exactly, if there's no label, it's a
pretty good thing, because it'sa whole food.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You hope so, right, right, you know.
One person said to me oh my God, you find this joking.
So I said I, you know, I hadone of those quick conversations
with someone.
And then someone said well, Iwas at the bakery and it was a
cake and it didn't have a label.
Does that mean it's good, canyou believe?
And she was wholeheartedly, noteven laughing.
She goes that means it's okay.
Right, it's whole.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I just didn't even know what to say Well, she had a
point and it's a good joke, butnonetheless it won't help her.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Right, right, exactly .
It was like oh goodness, ohgoodness.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I'm going to the right one, so we joked about
that.
So what would you like to leavethe audience before we go?
I mean, I want to make surethat you know they get the most
out of our conversation and alsojust want to get to know more
about you.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, well, I think this.
In fact, if you want toprioritize one thing, I would
prioritize your food.
In fact, even the company thatI started, strength Genesis,
which is now a seven-year-oldcompany, was all designed around
getting the best possiblequality food and food
supplements into your body,because I'm a huge fan of
putting the best possible fuelin the body.
So a couple things to point out.
Everybody's taken a proteinpowder or at least most people
(22:22):
who's taken a protein powderbefore we import ours from New
Zealand.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So tell me.
Why is that?
I saw that I was going to askyou about that.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, no, it's a big thing because it's grass fed.
And now a lot of people willask me yes, but you can get
grass fed protein from theUnited States and you can't.
Here's the difference.
Grass fed in New Zealand,united States, and you can't.
Here's the difference.
Grass-fed in New Zealand andNew Zealand has the highest
standards in the world.
If they call it grass-fed, it'sgrass-fed 100% of the feeding
time.
So better protein, better Bvitamins, more biotin, better
(22:52):
assimilation rates so qualitysources of clean protein.
In the US, grass-fed means it'sjust hitting a standard of 4%
of the feeding time or more.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Really, that's it.
Four Goodness, that's a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Huge difference, huge difference.
So that is one thing.
And also, too, the protein isso light and fluffy, it's just
pure and delicious, and we loveit.
Also, we bring in what we callthe world's greatest cooking oil
, which is cold pressedmacadamia nut oil from Australia
it is ridiculously delicious.
(23:28):
So it's rich and buttery, butthe omega-3 profile is even
stronger than that of olive oiland it holds up to a higher
temperature than olive oil.
So olive oil is a great oil.
As I mentioned, both sides ofmy family are from Italy.
It's a great oil, but it's nota great cooking oil, where the
macadamia nut oil outshines itin every way in temperature, in
(23:49):
omega-3s and in taste.
So those are the types ofingredients.
That's the type of thing thatwe get really interested in,
interested in.
And lastly, we have this OriginKeto salad dressing that is
made with 100% extra virginolive oil.
That has been ridiculously hotand popular lately.
We haven't been able to produceenough of it.
(24:11):
And this salad dressing you donot need to refrigerate after
opening.
It's the only dressing of itskind that you don't need to
refrigerate, and it's becausethere are no other bad oils that
can oxidize and go rancid.
There's no canola oil in it,there's no soybean oil in it,
there's no preservatives in it.
It's just made from 100% extravirgin olive oil, red wine,
(24:32):
vinegar and spices and you canput it right on your countertop
afterwards.
It's that pure.
So all of those things we haveat strengthgenesiscom.
Ingredients do matter.
And, lastly, I packageeverything in sustainable
packaging.
And the reason why that mattersis if you've ever walked into a
supplement store, there's allof these big, obnoxious plastic
(24:53):
containers of protein and pillsand capsules and vitamins and
all these things.
Plastic toxicity is awfulbecause all of these
microplastics are petroleumbyproducts.
Increases dementia risk,increases obesity risk.
You don't want it in your body,you don't want it in the
environment, so we puteverything in glass, metal or
(25:14):
paper to make sure that there'sno plastic involved.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Oh, that's excellent.
So that's less of anenvironmental toxins are out,
and then we can go on a wholetopic of that alone.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We call it better for the body and better for the
planet.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I can't wait to check that out and I also will put
that obviously in the show notesfor those individuals to reach
out to you and to try one ofthose.
I'd love to try the protein andnot the dressing.
I think I definitely want totry that macadamia oil.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It sounds absolutely delightful.
In fact, use a discount code.
I'm going to give you adiscount code here.
Use POD1, p-o-d-1 as a discountcode at checkout and you're
going to get a discount on yourfirst order.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I'll put that in there for those that are
watching or listening.
Then they can get in.
So that'd be awesome.
Thank you so much, and I'll putit in there too.
So do you have any other thingsthat are questions for me or
anything else you'd like to addin for the day before we go?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I think the human body is brilliant.
I think it makes very fewmistakes.
If the mindset is correct, thenthe mind and the body are
working together as opposed toopposed to each other.
And when that happens, it's notjust about losing weight and
dropping body fat.
It's not just about eliminatingor reducing medications.
It's about improving the lengthand the quality of your life,
(26:29):
which that matters, and itmatters a lot.
So we want to make sure thatyou're always putting yourself
in the best position possiblefor your own good.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I could not agree more.
I think that's a great way toend the day.
So thank you so much for beingon the show, dr Derek Alessi,
and I look forward to us meetingagain for another topic, you
know, down the road.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Thank you, and I enjoyed being on.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Thanks so much and thank you guys for listening in
and make sure you make it amindful way every day.
Hi, how are you?
This is Dr Damaris MariaGrossman and this is the
Mindfully Integrative Show, andtoday we have a wonderful guest
on the show for you guys to meetand understand and get to know.
His name is Derek, dr DerekAlessi, and he's going to tell
you a little bit about hiscompany, but a little bit about
why he is in the health spaceand what he has done for himself
(00:22):
and for others and how he canimpact you, and some more
information.
So thank you, derek, for beingon the show and thanks for just
kind of coming in and kind ofgiving us some insight of what
you know, why you feel like youmade changes and, obviously, why
health is super important toyou.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
No, thank you, and I enjoy sharing the message and
thanks for having me on the showFor me.
I've been in the health andfitness field for 32 years,
helping people in the clinicalroute lose weight, drop body fat
, improve their health andfitness and the quality of their
life.
And when people ask me, did Ialways know I was going to do
that for a living?
My answer is no, I was going tobe a dentist.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Really Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I was going to be a dentist.
Yeah, no, I was going to school, undergrad.
I was going to go to dentalschool.
That was what I wanted to do,and when people ask me, why did
you want that?
And the answer was prettystraightforward I had two
reasons.
Reason number one is I had anuncle who was a dentist and he
had a practice and I wasfollowing in his footsteps.
Number two is I also was 244pounds.
(01:22):
I had a 44-inch waist when Iwas a freshman in undergrad and
I never thought of health andfitness ever before in my life.
So I was not the jock, I wasnot the fitness guy, I was not
the anything.
So luckily, I had to take someprerequisite classes in this
brand new field called exercisescience.
(01:44):
Oh, it was a brand new fieldback then Okay, well, yeah,
nowadays it's pretty well known,but in 1989, not every school
even offered it.
So I had to take someprerequisites, and more so than
just finding it interesting.
I found as though it spoke tome.
It's kind of like saying hey,you know, you should be doing
these things.
On top of just learning aboutthem, you should be doing them
yourself.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And the message struck me loud and clear.
I never knew exercise had ascience.
I didn't know anything about itother than the fact that some
people seem to jog.
Some people at the time werelifting weights, they wanted to
be bodybuilders and so on and soforth, but I didn't know there
was a science behind it and Ifound it ridiculously
interesting.
It spoke to me, more so becauseof the fact that I didn't want
(02:27):
to have a 44 inch waist, Ididn't want to be 245 pounds.
So I took the message to heartand I really just did two things
.
I started lifting weights withsome friends, probably four
times per week or so, notknowing anything about what I
was doing.
And number two, I didn't know alick about nutrition, other
than the fact that if it wasjunk food, so if it came out of
a wrapper, I probably shouldn'teat it.
(02:48):
That was it and within oh, buttaught Like.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I feel like we're not taught like at all.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
No, and certainly not back then, I think, a lot more
information-.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I mean more now, but I wouldn't say back then no, not
at all.
No, not at all Not.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Not at all.
No, not at all, not at all.
And I should preface this bysaying both sides of my family
are from Italy, right?
So, both mother and father.
So I had all of the Italiandelicacies you could ever
imagine growing up, and itseemed to hit me a little bit
harder than it hit my siblings.
So I was holding a lot ofweight Nonetheless those two
(03:24):
things just lifting weights,avoiding junk food and within
one year I dropped about 85pounds and went from being the
heaviest kid in my graduatinghigh school class to, as a
freshman a man in my freshmanyear in undergrad, on the stage
of a bodybuilding show.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
In about a year, year and a half Now.
Bodybuilding did not speak tome.
I did not like it.
I did not like any aspect of itother than the training.
I did enjoy that, but I didn'tlike everything else that went
along with it and I certainlydidn't like all the contest prep
, tanning and removing all thehair from your body I mentioned.
Both sides of my family are fromItaly, so that was no small
(04:00):
task.
All of that posing trunks andeverything else that went along
routines and doing like yourposing routine.
It didn't appeal to me at all.
But what I did love is thetransformation that happened
along it.
So I kept pursuing exercisescience, taking additional
classes, and it eventually ledme from changing my major, from
(04:21):
going to dentistry, so pre-med,to into exercise science, which
is that I, of course I pursuedand got a PhD in exercise
science.
But that was kind of mytransformation.
That's how I got into the fieldand that was geez.
That was 1989.
So it was what, 36-ish yearsago, that I started that quest,
and each and every day I'm stillpassionate about it and work in
(04:42):
this field in many differentways, and my message always is
to try to inspire other peopleto do the same.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I think it's, I think it sounds.
I mean it is important, noteven sounds.
It is important because it'slike if you can change one
person today and then anotherperson and then you've changed
your perspective on it.
I mean, back then it probablywas quite challenging going
through the nineties trying toget people to, like, eat
differently, you know, andchange their thinking.
And OK, you do have to exercisethis and I mean there were so
(05:11):
many fads and who knows what,but that must have been, you
know.
And then it must have evolvedover the years on how to
probably transition for each ofthese.
You know, your clients and such.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, you know it's interesting when there's pros
and cons that anytime you'retrying to do something.
So if you want to start withsome of the cons, if we're
thinking about nothing but diet,we were in the middle of low
fat, no fat diets, which wasvery popular at the time, and
when you eat low fat, no fatdiets, generally speaking,
you're eating a lot morecarbohydrate based foods.
So all of those things fromsnack well products, low-fat
(05:45):
things and so on and so forthwere very prevalent.
So there's a lot more carbs atthe time.
So that was the con.
If you ask me, like, what aresome of the pros of it?
When you go back into, like theearly 1990s and even in the
early 2000s, people had adifferent sense.
Number one most people were alittle bit more committed and
determined and they took moreownership.
(06:06):
I think now people getdistracted a lot easier.
Maybe it's the internet, maybeit's the pace of society, maybe
it's the fact that the mindsetisn't quite as developed as it
was back then for a lot ofpeople that were more
sophisticated, but there waspros and cons to both of it.
Nowadays the challenge iscutting through the clutter,
trying to keep people from justtrying to do bad things.
(06:28):
So if you wanted to kind ofrelate this to school, a lot of
people are cramming for theirfinal exam.
They're not studying all yearlong, they're not going to class
and they're hoping they couldjust cram for the two or three
days before their final and geta decent grade, which would be
equivalent to they're not goingto have their health and fitness
be consistent, they just wantto, at times, crash diet, they
(06:50):
want to go on some type of keto,they want to go on some type of
intermittent fast.
They want to go to the gym fivetimes a day for the next two
weeks because they're crashingbefore they go on a trip or
before the New Year'sresolutions or something like
that.
So I'm always about the messageof you want to be a good
student, you want to do thingsconsistently and you don't want
to have to cram at any giventime.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I think that the message of consistency can vary
for each one right, literally.
And then the fact that they'renot wanting to go and change.
I mean that can be for avariety of reasons.
What have you found has beenchallenging with that?
Is it mostly mindset forclients recently?
(07:34):
Let's go with.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, I would say that's the place to start,
unfortunately, Well, maybe allof them is mindset, Maybe the
biggest.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
What do you think is the biggest challenge?
You think mindset first.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Mindset first.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I think I can agree with you on that too,
considering I call myself thecompany mindfully integrative.
You don't change the way youthink, like seriously.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Oh, totally, totally Exactly.
That's why I love it.
It's mindset so so often peoplewant to jump into strategy.
So even before they have themindset, they already want to
start talking.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
I mean I want to do both too, but I get it Like
mindset.
Why mindset?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, you know, should I fast?
Should I spin?
Should I, should I Zumba?
You know they have all thesedifferent ideas of what they
should be doing, but no, withreally the mindset.
The mindset is super important.
Once again, I think, if themindset, if I'm trying to
identify myself as being a goodstudent, I want to do what good
students do.
So I start with the mindset ofI want to be a health and
(08:25):
fitness person, even if Ihaven't been so, even if I
haven't been, I first mustdecide why it's important to me,
what I'm trying to, what myobjective is.
Secondly, I have to realizethat I am the person in control
of this, so I'm takingresponsibility and ownership of
it.
It's not society.
I can't just blame society.
(08:45):
I can't just blame governmentor big food or big pharma, or I
can't blame my spouse or my kids.
I can't blame my coworkers.
I'm putting the food into mybody, I'm deciding when to
exercise, so I'm taking extremeownership of it, which is
liberating.
And lastly, I have to believethat I could pull this off.
This is not impossible.
I'm not trying to go to themoon by myself here.
(09:07):
I'm just trying to change mybehaviors, and the longer I do
it, the easier it becomes and Ibecome more consistent and I
identify even stronger as thishealthy, fit person, even though
I hadn't been earlier in mylife.
So the mindset, even before thestrategy, is where I think most
people should start and it'swhere they lack.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I can agree with you on that.
I think the lacking, you know,the just not understanding what
needs to be done, or just likethey teeter off toward when it
gets hard, or like, oh wait, Iplateaued, or I can't even do it
, and then they then it's a done, done deal.
Um, what have you noticed likewell, not even just for your
(09:50):
clients, but just for you lately, that you have you changed,
like?
Has it changed for you over theyears, for yourself, or, for
the most part, have you had apretty consistent routine for
them Since you lost all thatweight?
Did you do a pretty consistentlike are you got a regimented
thing or did you change it upnow as you've gotten older?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, my staff calls me the robot.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You have a pretty set foods, pretty set things right.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, so I can assure you that I'm not a robot.
In fact, that's my story to alot of the clients.
They say well, it seems so easyfor you.
Yeah, but what I'm doing is I'mgiving you the after version of
practicing this for over 30years.
Of course, like anything elselike learning a foreign language
, like learning a musicalinstrument, like learning a
sport or playing golf of course,course I should get better with
this over time.
(10:38):
That's the goal.
The goal isn't to make itharder on yourself.
The goal is to make it easieron yourself, and that's the
great part about habits thelonger you practice them, the
longer you do them, and thelonger you work on improving
them, the easier it becomes.
So, at this stage, if I were toeat or drink something poorly,
it's because I decided to do itin advance.
Where, growing up, oh mygoodness, it was just part of my
(11:00):
everyday life.
So, to give you an example ofit, I mentioned that both sides
of my family were from Italy andmy mother would make these
things of pasta and Italiandelicacies and the giugelini's
and the cucciadotti's and allthese Italian cookies, and at
first it was like, oh mygoodness, how can I go like two
days without this stuff.
Two days right, like, oh mygoodness, how can I go like two
days without this stuff?
Two days right.
(11:20):
I'm scared.
I was scared out of my mind ofgoing like a day or two without
some of these things, because Ialways had them.
Yeah, it turns out that humanscan't survive longer than a day
or two without all of theseitalian delicacies without the
sugars and the.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, all the good stuff, right, yeah right, right
your mind mind never mattered,for sure it's really
understanding it.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
It is, and in the beginning people are so scared
of that oh my, I always eat ordrink this thing.
Are you saying I can't do ittoday?
That's impossible, I'll neversurvive.
You will survive, you willdefinitely survive.
But you have to get over themindset that you can and you
will, and once you do that, itbecomes easier, not harder.
So that has been the philosophy, not only that I teach, but
(12:01):
also, too, I try to live by thatpassion to make each day easier
than the next.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
What have you like in reference?
You were saying mindset, andthen what's another key tip that
you think is necessary forpeople to be successful in their
health journey?
Because I mean, I know now youknow you've built like your
business and you've built, youknow, online products and such.
What did you find that has beenyour next step?
That wasn't mindset.
(12:27):
What was that for you?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
The next step would be probably just coming up with
a good, consistent plan.
So so often we may seesomething on the internet, we
may see or hear things thatother friends are doing that
might be inappropriate for us.
And I'll give you a greatexample.
Many people especially peopleover the age of 45, feel as
though going to a gym isn'tappropriate for them.
They feel uncomfortable, theyfeel intimidated, they feel as
(12:53):
though people are judging them.
They might come up with well, Ihave a bad shoulder, I have a
bad knee, I can't do this, Ihave a bad hip.
So they come up with all ofthese things ahead of time and
that's not really the way toattack it.
Look, when you look at the humanbody, whether you have
imbalances of the knees,shoulders, hips, back, neck you
want to do a program that'sappropriate for you and that
(13:14):
doesn't mean that you go tooeasy on yourself, but it's using
a professional to design aprogram that will help the
imbalance.
That's what physical therapy isall about.
But that could also be workedinto your exercise program so
that you're working the damagedarea but also working around the
damaged area.
That's appropriate for whereyou're starting from.
So if this was school, I haveto handle a first grader
(13:36):
differently than a 10th grader.
I have to deal with a thirdgrader differently than a
graduate school student, andit's the same thing with
workouts.
So the strategy is superimportant.
It's not a one size fits all.
And unfortunately, a lot ofpeople do think well, I know how
to exercise, I don't need anyhelp, but do you really?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, I can definitely attest to that, like
as a person you know, losingweight through thought I was
metabolically healthy and waslike whoa, I'm totally not.
Yeah, and then just the changes, like you said, that age,
depending upon the age, whatpeople can or cannot do, and
then them limiting themselves Ithink people are afraid
sometimes to do certain they'repetrified.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, no doubt about it.
And another analogy would belike I'm just starting to play
golf, should you take a lesson?
No, I'm not going to take alesson.
I'm going to go to the rangefirst and I'm going to do some
things before I take a lesson sothat I can work some of these.
Oh, my goodness, you're goingto make it worse.
See professional guidance firstin this whole thing.
Don't try to teach yourself agolf swing.
(14:34):
Don't try to teach yourselffitness.
Don't try to give yourself aneducation in school.
That's why the school systemshave been designed and we have
curriculums and all these othergood things, because they're
evaluating you appropriately.
It's the same thing for yourhealth and fitness.
So, although a lot of peoplethink they know where to jump in
, eventually they don't know andthey might do something that's
inappropriate for them, whichwill do nothing but turn them
(14:55):
off to the entire process, andwe don't want that.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
No, no, and you and you kind of like I mean you want
them to at least startsomewhere.
Have you found people do morehome things, or are you just
depending upon what, whatsomeone needs, like what's your
go-to, let's say, exercise thatyou give most?
Speaker 2 (15:14):
I think supervision is extremely important.
Once again, most people thatcome to see me are over the age
of 45.
They have at least oneorthopedic injury or so.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Ah, knee or elbow like a joint injury.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yeah, exactly, and I think supervision is critical.
It's crucial not just to makesure that they don't get hurt,
but they're doing something alsoeffectively to benefit
themselves.
Supervision is super important,even if, though you think you
don't need it, you can benefitfrom having it.
It's like having a coach, ateacher, somebody on your side
helping you do it quicker,better results.
(15:47):
So I would go with that, and I'ma big fan, specifically, of
always trying to strengthen thespine and the muscles around it,
so the back and the spine andthe core, if you want to look at
that group.
A lot of the injuries and amuscles around it so the back
and the spine and the core, ifyou want to look at that group a
lot of the injuries and a lotof our movement patterns are
going to come from the spine andfrom the back.
And in the 30 plus years I'vedone this, I have never once met
a person that said you know, myback is too strong, I just have
(16:11):
to, I just have to relay offand take it easy here.
It's not the case.
We always want a strong back.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I can definitely see that, like, I mean, I feel like
the injuries, might you knowthen?
Then your hips are in thereback, your shoulders are like,
and then who knows who knowswhat from there.
Yeah, have you.
I mean, is it a lot more injury?
Injuries with these individuals, mostly Cause I mean, you see,
you know an array of differentthings, or, or, depending upon
lately, what's your, your, yourgo-to kind of lately, but over
(16:41):
45, I guess it depends right.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It does depend, but there are a couple of
commonalities, though.
When you look at it, if a womanis overweight and has been for
a while, typically she's goingto have knee problem, and it's
not just from the weight, butyour body is really smart.
So the knees move inward, thefemurs rotate, the knees move
inward, and then what happens isshe starts wearing out the
cartilage in her knee from theinside or the anterior part of
(17:06):
the knee outward.
So if it keeps hitting and thenarthritis builds up and then
it's bone on bone.
We're looking at a partial orfull knee replacement only
because the femurs have movedinward to balance her weight.
So that is really smart.
So with women, if a woman comesin, if she is overweight, the
chances are it's going to beknee.
(17:27):
That's probably 70% of the time.
For men it's mostly going to beback, but it can be shoulder as
well, because when a man getsheavy his shoulders rotate
inward and when they rotateinward he's at much more risk of
hurting his rotator cuffbecause his acromion process and
his humerus aren't in the rightposition.
So we have a lot more shoulderproblems and back problems with
(17:49):
heavier guys.
So that's usually where westart with, but it can be
injuries in a lot of otherplaces too.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Oh, of course, but no , that makes a lot of sense.
I mean, you think about thatand then you're trying to go.
Okay, so outside of exerciseand outside of mindset, what,
what's your, your next?
Like thought that you would sayto someone okay, you're coming
to me, so these intervals, comesee you online and also in your
office.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
You know, during the pandemic I did more online, but
prior to it and post pandemic,it's all in office.
Oh, nice, ok, it's the mosteffective way I can work with
somebody.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, it makes sense.
Where are you located?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I'm located in Buffalo, New York.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Wonderful, ok, even in the cold weather, people got
to go.
How to move?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Hey, listen, it's the city of good neighbors.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh, nice Right, Nice OK.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, buffalo, people take care of each other.
But, that being said, though,it is not known as the fitness
hotbed of the world.
No-transcript.
(19:08):
Certain individuals that aremaybe type A personality and
more successful sought myservices out earlier than ever
before, but now it's pretty mucha crossbreed of all types of
populations.
A lot of people that areretirees come to see me, but
also, too's pretty much acrossbreed of all types of
populations.
A lot of people that areretirees come to see me, but
also, too, a lot of busy officeworkers come to see me too, so
it's evolved over time.
(19:28):
The next phase, of course, Iwould get into is cleaning up
their diet Critical, somethingthat's not taught early enough
in a person's life, and,unfortunately, too many bad
habits we're going to creep in.
So we want to clean that up,because they're going to have to
consume food the rest of theirlife, and we want to make a good
stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, I mean you're the one to come to him and
that's a significant, you know,life transformation for you, not
just, like you know, physicallybut just mentally just having
to go through that.
So people have to understandhow to kind of navigate that.
I mean, I feel like I have thatconversation quite often with
people with you know, you thinkyou know, and then they're like
oh wait, what's in your pantry?
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, you'd be surprised, right?
I do have a couple of quicktips on that.
In fact, if pantries keepgetting bigger, so does our
waistline.
The things in a pantry ingeneral are going to be things
that increase your blood sugarand your insulin.
So in a pantry in general aregoing to be things that increase
your blood sugar and yourinsulin.
So I always tell people therefrigerator which of course
people are scared to death ofthe refrigerator but the
refrigerator is going to have alot of good things in it.
(20:28):
The pantry is going to havenothing good for you in it.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Most of it is processed.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Exactly, it's processed, it's shelf stable,
it's not essential, it's not awhole food in there.
So big refrigerators, smallpantries, and you're going to
have a smaller waste.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Makes makes a lot of sense.
I think what happens is, youknow, you ask people what they
even have and then they go, oh,I've got this and they've got
this, and you just go.
Okay, do you probably start offwith just telling them did you
read the label or is there nolabel?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah right, exactly, if there's no label, it's a
pretty good thing, because it'sa whole food.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You hope so, right, right, you know.
One person said to me oh my God, you find this joking.
So I said I, you know, I hadone of those quick conversations
with someone.
And then someone said well, Iwas at the bakery and it was a
cake and it didn't have a label.
Does that mean it's good, canyou believe?
And she was wholeheartedly, noteven laughing.
She goes that means it's okay.
Right, it's whole.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I just didn't even know what to say Well, she had a
point and it's a good joke, butnonetheless it won't help her.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Right, right, exactly .
It was like oh goodness, ohgoodness.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I'm going to the right one, so we joked about
that.
So what would you like to leavethe audience before we go?
I mean, I want to make surethat you know they get the most
out of our conversation and alsojust want to get to know more
about you.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Yeah, well, I think this.
In fact, if you want toprioritize one thing, I would
prioritize your food.
In fact, even the company thatI started, strength Genesis,
which is now a seven-year-oldcompany, was all designed around
getting the best possiblequality food and food
supplements into your body,because I'm a huge fan of
putting the best possible fuelin the body.
So a couple things to point out.
Everybody's taken a proteinpowder or at least most people
(22:22):
who's taken a protein powderbefore we import ours from New
Zealand.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So tell me.
Why is that?
I saw that I was going to askyou about that.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, no, it's a big thing because it's grass fed.
And now a lot of people willask me yes, but you can get
grass fed protein from theUnited States and you can't.
Here's the difference.
Grass fed in New Zealand,united States, and you can't.
Here's the difference.
Grass-fed in New Zealand andNew Zealand has the highest
standards in the world.
If they call it grass-fed, it'sgrass-fed 100% of the feeding
time.
So better protein, better Bvitamins, more biotin, better
(22:52):
assimilation rates so qualitysources of clean protein.
In the US, grass-fed means it'sjust hitting a standard of 4%
of the feeding time or more.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Really, that's it.
Four Goodness, that's a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Huge difference, huge difference.
So that is one thing.
And also, too, the protein isso light and fluffy, it's just
pure and delicious, and we loveit.
Also, we bring in what we callthe world's greatest cooking oil
, which is cold pressedmacadamia nut oil from Australia
it is ridiculously delicious.
(23:28):
So it's rich and buttery, butthe omega-3 profile is even
stronger than that of olive oiland it holds up to a higher
temperature than olive oil.
So olive oil is a great oil.
As I mentioned, both sides ofmy family are from Italy.
It's a great oil, but it's nota great cooking oil, where the
macadamia nut oil outshines itin every way in temperature, in
(23:49):
omega-3s and in taste.
So those are the types ofingredients.
That's the type of thing thatwe get really interested in,
interested in.
And lastly, we have this OriginKeto salad dressing that is
made with 100% extra virginolive oil.
That has been ridiculously hotand popular lately.
We haven't been able to produceenough of it.
(24:11):
And this salad dressing you donot need to refrigerate after
opening.
It's the only dressing of itskind that you don't need to
refrigerate, and it's becausethere are no other bad oils that
can oxidize and go rancid.
There's no canola oil in it,there's no soybean oil in it,
there's no preservatives in it.
It's just made from 100% extravirgin olive oil, red wine,
(24:32):
vinegar and spices and you canput it right on your countertop
afterwards.
It's that pure.
So all of those things we haveat strengthgenesiscom.
Ingredients do matter.
And, lastly, I packageeverything in sustainable
packaging.
And the reason why that mattersis if you've ever walked into a
supplement store, there's allof these big, obnoxious plastic
(24:53):
containers of protein and pillsand capsules and vitamins and
all these things.
Plastic toxicity is awfulbecause all of these
microplastics are petroleumbyproducts.
Increases dementia risk,increases obesity risk.
You don't want it in your body,you don't want it in the
environment, so we puteverything in glass, metal or
(25:14):
paper to make sure that there'sno plastic involved.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Oh, that's excellent.
So that's less of anenvironmental toxins are out,
and then we can go on a wholetopic of that alone.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
We call it better for the body and better for the
planet.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
I can't wait to check that out and I also will put
that obviously in the show notesfor those individuals to reach
out to you and to try one ofthose.
I'd love to try the protein andnot the dressing.
I think I definitely want totry that macadamia oil.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It sounds absolutely delightful.
In fact, use a discount code.
I'm going to give you adiscount code here.
Use POD1, p-o-d-1 as a discountcode at checkout and you're
going to get a discount on yourfirst order.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I'll put that in there for those that are
watching or listening.
Then they can get in.
So that'd be awesome.
Thank you so much, and I'll putit in there too.
So do you have any other thingsthat are questions for me or
anything else you'd like to addin for the day before we go?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
I think the human body is brilliant.
I think it makes very fewmistakes.
If the mindset is correct, thenthe mind and the body are
working together as opposed toopposed to each other.
And when that happens, it's notjust about losing weight and
dropping body fat.
It's not just about eliminatingor reducing medications.
It's about improving the lengthand the quality of your life,
(26:29):
which that matters, and itmatters a lot.
So we want to make sure thatyou're always putting yourself
in the best position possiblefor your own good.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I could not agree more.
I think that's a great way toend the day.
So thank you so much for beingon the show, dr Derek Alessi,
and I look forward to us meetingagain for another topic, you
know, down the road.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Thank you, and I enjoyed being on.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Thanks so much and thank you guys for listening in
and make sure you make it amindful way every day.
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