June 6, 2025 • 32 mins
Should you drink less, or not at all?
As summer starts, we want to help you answer this question and give you the tools to stay on whatever wagon YOU choose.
We cover:
- NA drinks, THC, nicotine, and what actually helps
- The workouts, supplements, and habits that keep us anchored
- How to use accountability, routine, and mindset to stay consistent
- Why it’s not about being perfect—it’s about knowing your “why”
If you’re trying to drink less—or quit altogether—this episode is for you.
SPONSORS:
- Take control of your drinking with medication-assisted treatment from Oar Health: https://bit.ly/OarStrength
- Boost your performance and recovery with Momentous Supplements—get 20% off with code "STRENGTH": https://livemomentous.com
RESOURCES
- Visit our website here.
- Subscribe to our newsletter here.
EPISODES YOU MIGHT ENJOY
- Are Today’s Kids More Addicted Than Ever? | Chris Herren, NBA Star & Recovery Advocate: https://spoti.fi/3AZ8f0P
- How to Eat to Drink Less Alcohol | Dr. Brooke Scheller: https://spoti.fi/JAPP9g3
- Social Media Addiction - 5 Statistics That Should SCARE You: https://spoti.fi/ygZw3lZ
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- Spotify Podcasts: https://spoti.fi/3GAGVPJ
- YouTube Channel: Running Free Podcast - YouTube
Life is short, and it moves fast. This show will help you make the most of it.
Running Free is a podcast about optimizing health, and breaking free from the habits and distractions that hold us back. We cover fitness, mental health, culture, addiction, parenting, humor, and everything in between.
Hosted by veteran, fitness expert, and health advocate Jesse Carrajat, each episode explores what it means to live fully—through honest conversations with thinkers, creators, and everyday people who teach and inspire us to trade distraction and frivolousness for healthy, long, meaningful lives.
Stop Chasing Life. Start Running Free.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I heard once your why should make you cry.
How do you constantly remind yourself of your why?
The biggest thing is staying on top of myself, being proactive
with communicating like my wife is my the biggest part of my
support and I don't deserve her at all and I will say she's my
(00:21):
Angel and without her. Yeah, that's a good point, man.
It's like you don't, you don't really have to be practical to
be reminded of you. Why, when you wake up every
morning and walk in the kitchen,they're all standing there right
in front of your kids in your life.
(00:50):
Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to the Running Free
podcast. I'm Jesse Carriage at.
Thank you for being here. Summer's here.
And we thought we'd take some time to kick off the summer to
do 2 things. One, because we've been blessed
with so many new listeners and followers since we started this
show back in December of 2023, which feels like forever ago, we
(01:11):
thought we'd just kind of updateand talk about our own
relationship specifically with alcohol.
But because it's summertime and while summer can be amazing and
fun, it can also present a lot of temptation, a lot of
opportunities to really just kind of go off the rails, if you
will, whether that's with something like drinking or just
(01:32):
let our fitness go. And we just want to make sure
that Justin and I are both kind of sharing the tips and tools
and the things that we do to tryto stay focused, not just in the
summertime, but also year round.So Justin, we'll start with you,
man. Where Where are you with alcohol
currently? Yeah, where am I at?
It's a good no. So from, from my side at least,
(01:55):
you know, with alcohol specifically, alcohol is no
longer a part of my life and it hasn't been for five years and
seven months now. And it can't be a part of my
life. It just it can't, it's not, it's
not an option. I made a decision years ago.
And does that mean I'm cured? Like does that mean I know I'm
I'm good for life? Like it I'm never going to know.
(02:16):
Absolutely not. Like my goal is to get through
today to not drink and then samething tomorrow and the days
after that. But like understanding the
phrase of like one day at a time, Like I know there's so
many cliches you hear and recovery in the a, a world, but
really understanding that like taking this shit one day at a
time has been the biggest savinggrace, I would say, in terms of
(02:40):
all things mental health and sobriety for me.
I had I interviewed A prominent journalist named Katie Herzog,
who's came coming out with a book called Drink Your Way
Sober. I think it comes out in August,
she said. For over a decade, alcohol ruled
her life, but not when she was just drinking, when she wasn't.
Like she, short of thought aboutit, planned her day, planned her
(03:04):
weeks, and it was just kind of all consuming, suffocating
existence. That's the thing, man.
Five years and seven months later, and you also just said
you're not free from it. Do you still have impulses or
compulsion? Sometimes is are you tempted?
What does it feel like to be on this side of the fence?
(03:25):
Not with drinking, no. Like I feel very fortunate and
blessed to say that. I think a lot of it has to do
with the hell that I put myself in my family through when it
comes to alcohol. I'm not going to be ignorant to
say that I'll never gonna drink again, but I will say I'm not
gonna drink today. Yeah, the impulses are, are
they're, they're gone now. And I hope they stay gone.
But if there's a very high chance they'll come back because
(03:47):
as you know, and everyone else knows, like just because you
remove the one vice or the substance, like life is going to
continue to life. Shit's going to continue to go
wrong. And you're going to have to
continue to deal with things. But removing the one thing or
the one crutch that you that I thought used to keep me stable,
but in reality it was the thing that was fucking holding me back
has made me understand what is going on without numbing it, you
(04:09):
know? Yeah, when you're socializing
like or should I say when you'replanning to socialize, do you
ever not go to certain types of events to avoid situations or
are you just like, Nah, I'm good, I got this and it is what
it is and it's fun. You know, in early recovery, I
feel like you go through the beginning phase of like,
everyone's going to think I'm fucking weird because I'm not
jumping with the only one not drinking.
(04:31):
Like I'm not going is that. What they sound like.
And now it's to the point where like, invite me to every goddamn
wedding because I want to see everyone get drunk and make
idiots out of themselves and be that sober guy laughing and
having fun. Like I will say, it took me a
long time to get to the point where I'm at now, obviously.
(04:52):
Do you miss it? Do I miss it?
That's a good question. I miss the idea of it.
I don't miss it simply because Iknow what will happen.
Yeah, I think in the beginning the hardest thing for me was a
social aspect That was that was tough for me because everyone
knew Justin as that obnoxious, while I still am obnoxious.
(05:13):
But that went away for a bit like that over the top funny
guy, like make everybody laugh like.
Yeah, like redefine yourself. Almost.
It's impossible to stay sober without not necessarily
redefining yourself, appealing back the layers, and
understanding how you're hooked up and why you are the way that
you are. You got to answer.
(05:35):
You got to open a lot of doors that you've purposely kept
closed in order to truly be on the other side of this shit, I
feel like and stay there. Yeah.
And, and yeah, I, I asked these questions sitting here like
authentically because I've neverbeen in your shoes.
I've I've never gone a year, letalone five years and seven
months. So I'm always just very
fascinated to try to understand,like, what is life feel like
(05:55):
like in the more mundane moments, the quiet moments, like
what does life feel like on a Tuesday at 1:00 PM when you
know, I'm, I've got this long stretch of freedom from alcohol?
Like, am I happier? Am I more present?
Am I more fulfilled? Like, you know, those are all
like really important words. And I just wonder how how much
of alcohol can diminish those those feelings.
(06:19):
You know, I. Can tell you from personal
experience that you know when you talk a lot about being
present on on a lot of our episodes.
But like removing that alcohol has allowed me to do the work
that I needed to in order to become as present as possible.
I will say I'm always. So interested because right now
where you find me, like heading into the summer just in general,
as I've landed on, there's threedifferent buzzwords for it, but
(06:40):
I'll just use moderation, you know, and, and it's interesting
when I think about that word, like as it relates to drinking
for me, like how do you discern what's moderate for me versus
what's moderate for someone else?
If you're starting place is likechronically drinking and binge
drinking 10 drinks a day every single day.
And then you get that down to two drinks a day, which is still
above the recommended health, you know, kind of guidelines.
(07:03):
Are you a moderate drinker? If you started at 10 a day and
you're down to two versus like if you start at two, you 2 a day
and you're down to 0, but you drink on a Friday, But like it's
hard to determine what, what is moderate.
So, so I'm, I fully embrace the idea that if I'm drinking much,
much less than I was at the the depths of my drinking, then
that's moderate for me. And then there's other ways to
look at it like is drinking impacting my life?
(07:23):
Is it preventing me from, you know, meeting my
responsibilities? Is it robbing me from the joy
every day? So all that to say, I consider
myself a moderate drinker for me.
And still though, what I what I love about what what you said,
it's like it feels to me like you're kind of free from the
constant pull towards alcohol. I'm not.
And I think that's the rub. That's the downside of choosing
my lifestyle versus yours. Because when I go to a concert
(07:46):
at Red Rocks in freaking Colorado and I smell weed in the
air and I hear a country music and someone has a cooler, like
what do you think I'm thinking about?
I'm thinking like. Damn it.
Damn it. So I have to constantly do this
dance where I'm actively moderating or actively having
restraint. Or as your lifestyle has the
benefit of like if you give yourself enough time away from
(08:08):
it and do the deep work and explore mental health and
therapy and maybe find alternatives, you can truly kind
of release yourself from that pole.
I feel it. It was 8:00 last night.
My neighbors are sitting out with lawn chairs.
They've all got a drink. I'm like, I wasn't supposed to
drink tonight. It's Thursday.
And again, I'm like, damn it. So it's like, how do you how do
you go into the summer prepared to kind of strengthen the boat,
(08:30):
if you will? And I think a a first good one,
which is all the rage right now to chat about.
And I wanted to ask you because I know you're always
experimenting with these non alcoholic like.
You know beverages. We're going to talk about
cannabis and THC in a second too, but NA beers, I thought
it'd be good to kind of, you know, say, hey, what are what
are we using now? What are we doing?
And I, I saw this, this awesome statistic, which is really
(08:50):
encouraging. And it's that last year overall
beer consumption in America wentdown 1%.
That's all categories. So your lives, your IPA is all
that. And at the same time, the NA
category went up 9% in 2024 and it's projected every single year
annually. NA beers as a category will
(09:12):
continue to increase at an 8% clip until 2029.
Again, 9% in 2024, and it'll keep going.
So if you're thinking about starting an NA beer company, now
is your time. I don't know what's going to
happen in 2029 where they're projecting that all of a sudden
it'll drop who knows what. Are we doing here guys?
What do you know that we won't? But I think that's cool.
So that now NA beers as of 2024 is the second, the second
(09:35):
largest beer category across allof them.
Can you guess the number one type of beer?
Sorry. Like logger.
Yeah, 92% of all beer consumption in 2024 was loggers,
believe it or not. What's your go to's now man?
What are your number one alcoholalternative drinks?
You were the first person to hand me an NA beer years ago.
What was it? It was an athletic Golden Dawn,
(09:56):
I think. The OG.
Outside down dawn, it was whatever one of those ones.
It was at Meg's parents house inVoorhees in the backyard.
And I remember you hit. I thought you were handing me a
beer you handed to me. I literally said, what do you do
or what am I supposed to do withthis?
And then you're like, there's noalcohol.
And I was like, what the what did you just say?
And then I took a sip and then Ilooked at Alyssa and I was like,
everything's changing, right? That's awesome.
(10:21):
That kind of that not kind of started that 100% started the
journey of like my eyes opening because when I heard NA beers in
the past, all I thought was fucking O'doul's, you know?
Yeah. And that's exactly it.
That was my reaction to it. So since then, that was probably
three years ago or four years ago, sometime along those years,
(10:41):
there's just so many more options now.
So to your point about there being more to look at at the
stores like they opened a Super Buy ride, they have a whole like
2 rows and a back cooler all forNas.
They have a whole like 50 foot shell for NATHC drinks.
Like oh, they got THC in Jersey in Jersey.
In Jersey they do, Yeah. No, I didn't.
(11:02):
Expect that. That's yeah, it's pretty
awesome. And that like, so right now do I
have a staple I'm in? No, I don't.
I am in like, I'm going to try that.
I'm going to try this. I want to see what that's like.
Like I'm just testing all these different ones that I've never
even saw before but the one thatI will always have in my fridge
is either corona 0 or bud 0 justbecause on a hot day in the
(11:25):
summer they are the best and especially on the.
Black. Is there a lime?
Do you put a lime in the Corona 0?
Sometimes Alyssa did bring some limes home 2 weeks ago and we
were Outback grilling and I I put it in and I was like OK this
is this. Is limes are like avocados.
I buy them and they're fresh andI intend on using them and they
always go brown. Yeah, I don't think.
Yeah, they usually that this is very significant occurrence that
(11:46):
happens here. Yeah, OK.
But yeah, I think a lot of the seltzer's too, like the the hop
waters and the hop larks and allthat are really good as well.
But definitely I try and mix it up, you know, especially when
we're in like this boom period of it just growing and growing
right now. So there's more and more coming
out. But I like obviously also
supporting like the smaller mom and pop breweries and like the
(12:10):
local NA options and stuff, which is also cool that they're
even a thing. Yeah, it's cool to hear you say
it because it reminds me of whenI first turned on the Ipas and I
used to love like just experimenting with different
Ipas and like shopping. You're doing the same thing with
Nas. Are you, let's just say, I don't
know, like a Friday night or Saturday night and you're like,
OK, I want to have I want to have fun tonight.
I want to kick back. Are you combining your Nas with,
(12:31):
like you mentioned, THC? Are you taking any supplements
or doing anything else for any type of mine kind of shift?
Or are you just like all in? I got my my corona zero.
I'm good to go. I definitely have Micronas here
in my Nas and then yeah, I'll definitely throw in like a THC
cell. So they're only like 10
milligram here. And for me that's not going to,
I'm not going to feel any. I would anything from that.
(12:54):
You would definitely. So they're also like 10 calories
and I don't know, it's just theytaste good to me as well.
And they also help with my back pain.
So I can't can't complain. But yeah, I think I see your
point earlier of like creating enough space between who you
were when I was in my shit and the thick of it to where I am
(13:14):
now to like, it's not like I used to be all the first thought
in my head Friday morning was, Oh, it's.
Friday, Yeah. How can?
Unwind tonight and let loose anddrink like, and now it's like
I'm taking the kids to see Lilo and Stitch movie tonight.
I'm fucking so excited for it and that's what I'm looking
forward to now, so. In a 10 milligram THC seltzer
(13:35):
you go see lilo we'll. See.
We'll see. Is it lilo or lilo and stitch
lilo? Lilo.
Lilo, lilo. OK, I.
Don't it's I think I thought it was Lilo.
I'm probably saying it wrong like I do every episode.
Say something and. Yeah, we saw it.
By the way, we saw that movie already.
I'll ruin it. The character cry.
I was told I was going to cry. I I did, I did all right.
(13:57):
I'm yeah, but but it was like a self aware cry where I was like
crying at the same time, like thinking why am I crying, which
is a different type of cry. I was kind of like this is
weird. Why am I making so many loud
noises while I'm crying in the theater?
Yeah, no, it was a sweet movie, like with a sweet like kind of
like message to it, which is really, really cool.
Yeah, dude. So I'm totally off of beer and
(14:17):
as I and it's a it's a for me, it's this is so it was
superficial, but like I, I look at the carbs.
So like a lot of those athletic brewing ones, they'll have like
20 grams of carbs. And if I'm trying to like cut
out my carbs towards the end of the day and, or, or if it's like
8:00 at night, I just can't, I can't get past it.
And just in general, I move pastbeer.
(14:37):
So my, my go to, I mean, I've tried them all.
It's still hop water. I still like hop water 0
calories. And it does have the ashwagandha
and theanine. And there's something about
that. It just feels like I'm having a
like a Lacroix or like a seltzerwith a little slight alcohol
taste, which just feels familiarto me.
So that's mine. But I do have in my fridge right
now, and this is for more of like an occasion is I love
(14:59):
Guinness, man, they're Guinness NA we we've talked.
Real good, yeah. It's still good.
It tastes just like a Guinness. Like a real Guinness.
First one last year. That's phenomenal.
So I have that there for more oflike an occasion, but I go with
hop waters. I don't do, I don't do the THC
thing. We've talked about this.
I, I mean, I, you said 10 milligrams.
I I forget, I think you were outhere once Justin, when you came
(15:22):
out to Colorado, like the the OGstate of, you know, all these
products. I don't know what, I don't know
what you gave me, but I think itwas like it was like 2.5
milligrams was like a coming. You were.
I wasn't. Definitely did its job.
Yeah, dude, we were, I think like our kids were watching
Frozen. Yeah, we were watching on the
couch and the adults kept talking and you guys were gone
(15:43):
to me. And I'm.
I'm pretty sure I was like in the sled with Christophe and.
I literally said to Alyssa, uh oh.
You know, it's gone and I even after you guys left, like I
experimented with probably like,you know, maybe 3 months, four
months and I, I bought as you cool kids call it the flower,
you know, the actual real marijuana.
I did the gummies and every single time it was for me and I
(16:05):
think it was because of my nervous system, the way I'm
wired, it just moved. It shifted me too far into like
almost like an intoxicated feeling.
So I gave up on that. Probably for the best, but
interesting one. I wanted to riff with, with you
about this, but you know, I've, I've picked up these, the
nicotine pouches I've found, at least for now, until I my
tolerance goes through the roof.But like by putting in like a
(16:27):
nicotine pouch and grabbing an NA or even just like a Lacroix
or something like that, it changes my mood.
And that's, that's all I'm looking for is a mood change.
And it doesn't have to be alcohol.
It's just a mood change. And it's been working a lot for
me honestly. That's amazing, especially
finding something that you know that works consistently too and
that has, you know, benefits as well as scratching the itch, if
(16:49):
you will look. One in ten Americans today
struggle with alcohol use disorder and I was one of them.
Did you know that there is a safe science backed daily pill
that you can take to drink less or even quit alcohol for good?
It's called naltrexone. A doctor prescribed medication
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(17:10):
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(17:33):
from alcohol. Let's move towards, we'll call
it like fitness and supplements.So does does your fitness change
at all in the summer or you justkind of like year round?
I would say the biggest thing for me that I realized is
insanely important too is my workouts have to be done first
thing. Like if I don't work out in the
morning, whether it's right after I drop the kids off at
(17:53):
school, like I it's almost impossible for me to get there
during the day because of my work schedule and they
constantly change. So even if I'm like, oh, I'll go
on lunch, guess we'll get scheduled at lunch a meeting
that I didn't have an hour ago. The amount of mental benefits
that morning workouts gives me for at least the next couple of
hours. I want to say the rest of the
day but is insane and like to the point where my wife will
(18:16):
encourage me if I'm not at the gym in the morning to go to the
gym in the morning only because of how happy and nice I will be
afterwards. You want grumpy, grumpy Justin?
Yeah, no one was that I don't want it either.
So like understanding and realizing like how important and
like I need to do this and if I want to be the best or a better
version of me for the rest of the day.
And then the Solomon Wise had been doing a lot of
(18:39):
experimenting with saffron recently.
What is Saffron? It is supposed to be very
effective for anxiety and stress, and there's clinical
studies around it being as effective as Celexa, which is an
SSRI for antidepressant and anxiety.
So the ones that I call are called happy drops, but there's
(19:00):
a lot of research and stuff coming out about it, or I am
just seeing it. It may have been there for a
while. So diving into that, another big
one that is going to be a wild card that I was never on my
radar as something to include inmy supplemental rotation.
Baking soda. Yes, I have been deep diving a
lot of the research of includingnot much at all.
I think it's like 1/4 of a teaspoon to half a teaspoon a
(19:23):
day in water. And the benefits range from
testosterone boosting sleep, improving inflammation, pH,
restoring gut health, cancer fighting.
It puts your body in an alkalinestate, which prevents any chance
of cancer cells growing. So there's a lot of really of
yeah, I literally just learned all about this.
I was talking listen about it yesterday.
Super interesting. I can send you the studies
(19:43):
because I was literally looking at it last night.
So like go in your pantry like the arm and hammer.
No, no, no, no. It can't be that.
Please don't do that. Yeah.
And then the staples, the protein and turmeric and fish
oil, all that fun stuff. All right, so fitness wise you
keep it kind of steady throughout the year, but would
you agree for you if I put it this way that like fitness plays
(20:03):
a role in your maintaining of your?
Five year. Oh my gosh.
Friday. If it.
Yeah. Why though?
Because that was my number one outlet in the beginning of my
recovery journey when I was trying to figure out who the
hell I was and why I do the things that I do when I know I
shouldn't be and I don't want todo them.
I turn that into I get the opportunity today to work on
(20:27):
myself. I'm walking through the doors of
this gym to walk out better thanI did when I walked in.
And that doesn't necessarily mean I have to put up £500 on
the bench or I have to lift morethan I did the week before.
It's like getting away from thatmentality of fitness and viewing
it from my like, I need to do this because it's going to make
me be the best dad that I can that day.
(20:49):
You know what I mean? It's going back to it.
Yeah, the gym is one of the biggest tools in my tool belt in
terms of making sobriety. I, I would actually just agree
with everything you just said. I, my preference is always to
work out like first thing in themorning for the reasons you
said. And I found that in in the
season of life that we're both in with young kids and full time
jobs and entrepreneurial visionsand things for me like it, it,
(21:11):
it gives me like a protected space in the morning to just
like actually sometimes just organize my thoughts and just
have that peace and quiet that gives me that sense of agency.
Yeah. And it's me time.
And for me it went what let's just say I planned to work out
in the morning and then I stayedup too late.
And I don't, it is a noticeable difference in my nervous kind of
(21:33):
like my disposition, how I feel that everything feels more
intense for the rest of the day.And then what I wind up doing.
And I don't know if this is healthy or not, but I wound up
trying to like carve out a time to work out because I'm chasing
that box getting checked and buteverything, every interaction,
everything feels more heavy and urgent.
But if I do it, I think there's also something powerful, like I
(21:54):
had a plan, I stuck to it and that rewarding.
And that when is like empoweringand energizing when you take it
into your day. So like without a doubt, in the
summer particularly, I really try to hit those morning
workouts. And then what I'll also do,
because I am still actively drinking, unlike you, I'll reach
out to random friends to meet meearly in the morning to go for a
(22:17):
run or a bike ride or something.Particularly on Saturdays if I
know I've already committed to having one or two drinks on a
Friday. Because then there's that other
thing. I don't want to let them down.
They're holding me accountable and they don't even know it.
So I like to do that like kind of layer in some accountability
over it. As far as supplements, I've
been, I've been on this because it works, but there's this kind
(22:37):
of adaptogen stack that is just awesome for me as far as like
mental resilience and fortification, pest management.
And it's L theanine ashwaganda and rodeola rosaya.
That's it it you can get it in bundles with different
companies. You can get them individually
price, shop, make sure it's quality ingredients, but those 3
again, that's L theanine, which you can also find in matcha tea
(22:57):
and other natural products. A lot of NA beverages and just
general beverages are starting to put L theanine in actually,
what am I drinking right now? I'm pretty sure this this is a
monster product. This has L theanine in it.
I know a lot of caffeinated beverages are putting L theanine
in it to kind of level out that caffeine jitters and stuff like
that. Ashwagandha, amazing Rhodiola,
(23:18):
It just helps really regulate cortisol levels and just kind of
mute those intense stress reactions we might have as life
feels a little bit out of control sometime.
And then one I, I just have to say, 'cause it works.
Not because it's a sponsor, but and maybe more for someone who's
kind of stepping into, you know,for the first time trying to
drink less or not at all is medication.
(23:38):
So now Trexone particularly or health is a sponsor.
Very grateful for them, But there's different ways to take
medication. One is called the daily method
where you literally take it at the same time every day,
typically with a full stomach, so you don't have any like, you
know, minor side effects. And the other is called the
Sinclair Method, which look it up guys, we're not going to go
too deep into it, but that's a method where you take naltrexone
(24:00):
A targeted time before you actually drink.
And then the naltrexone works inyour brain circuitry and
literally mutes the neurotransmitter response of
that euphoric buzz. And it can do amazing things to
help people start to move away from alcohol.
Katie Herzog, who I mentioned was on the show, her book is all
about how to use that particularmedication to help moving away
(24:20):
from drinking. So those are my supplements that
I take. And then like you, fish oil,
multivitamin if you're not eating a well-rounded diet, and
a couple other things, creatine for performance and whatnot.
But those are the supplements that I lean into.
Quick now tracks unplug. That was a very big part of my
early recovery journey. So big testament to naltrexone
(24:42):
and I also did the the Vivitrol shot though once a month shot in
the. Butt do you like?
That I it was it was it was interesting, didn't feel good,
but we'll say definitely not A and all be all approach.
Still tried to drink on both of said things because of where I
was at in my life when I was on them.
(25:03):
But definitely a very, very, very powerful tool to keep in
your tool belt as well. Yeah.
And I think what blows people, blows people's minds,
particularly around the naltrexone piece, is that the
Sinclair Method, often abbreviated as TSM, encourages
you to continue however much youwere drinking, volume and
frequency, and take that pill before you do it because you
(25:27):
will self select out of drinkingbecause you just won't get that
desired that you're chasing, which blows people's minds.
Yes, Katie's going to be on the show in a in a couple weeks to
help promote her book. Look, life can be hard and
stressful sometimes. We all know that.
But when it comes to supplements, why is it that
nobody talks about stress and resilience?
For me, I take the adaptogen stack from Momentous
(25:50):
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ashwagandha, rhodiola and L, allclinically backed to help you
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(26:10):
quality. Head to livemomentous.com and
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Again, that's live momentous.comcode word strength for 35% off
your first order and get startedtoday, man, This last section,
we'll kind of call it like what else?
(26:31):
Maybe like lifestyle things thatwe can do and I'll go first.
Just some some things that that have really, really worked for
me. And they're so boneheaded and
simple, but it's like sometimes the simple things work.
How about not having alcohol in your house?
If it's not there, you're probably not going to drink it,
right? So I found I'm going to use this
(26:51):
expression again, moth to a flame, right?
If there are, if there's wine, if there's tequila, if there's,
you know, hard kombuchas, if they're there, I know they're
there. And there's something super deep
in subconscious that's like, it feels like it pulls me there.
So I think a really practical thing that I do that anybody can
(27:12):
do, I think set if you're, if you're moderation because you're
sober, right? But if you're a moderate
drinker, set a goal of this is how many drinks I'm going to
have this week, that week, Buy that amount, put that in your
house, use it or lose it and it doesn't compound over to the
next week, you psychos, if you don't drink it.
(27:36):
Bonus beers from last week. I want next week to be crazy
right now, but dude, that is so simply stupid.
Like easy. But like, I'm like, all right,
well, I've got 4 and if it's Thursday and I have two sounds
like Saturday, I'm out, right? Like it's just like it's so
simple. But when it's not there is the
point exactly. You're not going to be pulled.
(27:56):
So I like to just do that right?But I think that's a really easy
one. And then one other last thing
for me, I think, you know, tallying up your drinks like so
if you set that goal for four, Ihave actually a white board on
the backside of my pantry and ithas seven days and I'll just put
it, put a little tally. If I had a drink, I'll put 2.
There's something really tangible and I think like kind
(28:17):
of impactful for me to get that win when I put that zero there,
right? Just it feels good.
It's a little reward, It feels nice.
And you track them. If you want to get more
sophisticated, I've done it in an Excel document next to my
weight, like if I'm tracking fitness.
And there's plenty of apps out there, Sunnyside app, Reframe
app. There's other ones too that in
addition to just being a drink tracker, there's also
communities built in if you needit.
(28:38):
There's meetings that are free. But I think like having those
tools in place, I think could bereally, really helpful.
What about you, bud? No, I think everything you said
is super awesome and applicable and very relatable.
I feel like for a lot of people too.
So I love that for me, I don't know, it's kind of a different,
like a different perspective on the question and the answer.
Yeah, but you know, the the deeper meaning of the why behind
(29:02):
my sobriety and I, I usually saythat a lot of like identifying
the why behind things, our behaviors, our thoughts, our way
we handle things. But like I, I know the person
that I was when alcohol was involved not and then alcohol
wasn't the only reason I was theperson that I was.
(29:22):
So alcohol wasn't the problem tome.
Alcohol was the solution. But I am afraid, honestly, and
scared of the person that I was.And I know how much space I've
created in between then and now.And like, I have my life back,
you know, and like that fear of losing it all because I came
(29:46):
that close to doing it. And like I don't again, I go, I
don't have another one in me. And that is a fear that scares
the shit out of me. But I I love it and I respect it
because without that fear, I don't think I would still be
sober, obviously. Yeah.
(30:07):
So lot of lot of self work went into all of this, obviously.
But I think I never want to forget where I was because
that's what got me to where I'm at right now.
And not just the good times, butthe bad times and the hard
parts. Like, I never want to forget
that feeling because if I do, I'm going to remind myself in a
way that I don't want to, you know?
(30:29):
Yeah, I heard once your why should make you cry and outside
it for you with with sobriety, maintaining long term forever
sobriety outside of prompts likethis in a podcast setting like
this, how do you constantly remind yourself of your why?
Well, one of the big ones I see on my chest every single morning
(30:51):
when I look in the mirror. I have two ugly, disgusting,
scary faces tatted on my left chat on my left booth.
They're huge and they're literally screaming faces.
And I they need to be ugly and they need to be scary and they
need to be horrific because every time I look at those, one
represents mental health and onerepresents addiction.
(31:12):
Two of the things that I've struggled with the most of my
life that I know how ugly they can get.
But it has turned into the most beautiful story, you know?
So again, a tattoo is not going to keep me sober, but it's a
good reminder. And you know, obviously the
biggest thing is staying on top of myself, being proactive with
(31:33):
communicating like my wife is mythe biggest part of my support
and I don't deserve her at all. And I will say she's my Angel
and without her. Yeah, that's a good point, man.
Is like you don't you don't really have to be practical to
(31:54):
be reminded of your why when youwake up every morning walk in
the kitchen they're all standingthere right in front of your
kids and you're. What?
And being present in that man. Yeah, Amen to that, man.
That's beautiful. All right, everybody, that's the
show. Folks.
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast and spending
some time with us today. We've got a favor to ask.
(32:15):
If you enjoyed the show, would you please consider subscribing
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That simple act drastically helps us reach more people at
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(32:37):
and so much more. Know that your support fuels our
brand and is greatly appreciated.
So until next time.
I heard once your why should make you cry.
How do you constantly remind yourself of your why?
The biggest thing is staying on top of myself, being proactive
with communicating like my wife is my the biggest part of my
support and I don't deserve her at all and I will say she's my
(00:21):
Angel and without her. Yeah, that's a good point, man.
It's like you don't, you don't really have to be practical to
be reminded of you. Why, when you wake up every
morning and walk in the kitchen,they're all standing there right
in front of your kids in your life.
(00:50):
Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to the Running Free
podcast. I'm Jesse Carriage at.
Thank you for being here. Summer's here.
And we thought we'd take some time to kick off the summer to
do 2 things. One, because we've been blessed
with so many new listeners and followers since we started this
show back in December of 2023, which feels like forever ago, we
(01:11):
thought we'd just kind of updateand talk about our own
relationship specifically with alcohol.
But because it's summertime and while summer can be amazing and
fun, it can also present a lot of temptation, a lot of
opportunities to really just kind of go off the rails, if you
will, whether that's with something like drinking or just
(01:32):
let our fitness go. And we just want to make sure
that Justin and I are both kind of sharing the tips and tools
and the things that we do to tryto stay focused, not just in the
summertime, but also year round.So Justin, we'll start with you,
man. Where Where are you with alcohol
currently? Yeah, where am I at?
It's a good no. So from, from my side at least,
(01:55):
you know, with alcohol specifically, alcohol is no
longer a part of my life and it hasn't been for five years and
seven months now. And it can't be a part of my
life. It just it can't, it's not, it's
not an option. I made a decision years ago.
And does that mean I'm cured? Like does that mean I know I'm
I'm good for life? Like it I'm never going to know.
(02:16):
Absolutely not. Like my goal is to get through
today to not drink and then samething tomorrow and the days
after that. But like understanding the
phrase of like one day at a time, Like I know there's so
many cliches you hear and recovery in the a, a world, but
really understanding that like taking this shit one day at a
time has been the biggest savinggrace, I would say, in terms of
(02:40):
all things mental health and sobriety for me.
I had I interviewed A prominent journalist named Katie Herzog,
who's came coming out with a book called Drink Your Way
Sober. I think it comes out in August,
she said. For over a decade, alcohol ruled
her life, but not when she was just drinking, when she wasn't.
Like she, short of thought aboutit, planned her day, planned her
(03:04):
weeks, and it was just kind of all consuming, suffocating
existence. That's the thing, man.
Five years and seven months later, and you also just said
you're not free from it. Do you still have impulses or
compulsion? Sometimes is are you tempted?
What does it feel like to be on this side of the fence?
(03:25):
Not with drinking, no. Like I feel very fortunate and
blessed to say that. I think a lot of it has to do
with the hell that I put myself in my family through when it
comes to alcohol. I'm not going to be ignorant to
say that I'll never gonna drink again, but I will say I'm not
gonna drink today. Yeah, the impulses are, are
they're, they're gone now. And I hope they stay gone.
But if there's a very high chance they'll come back because
(03:47):
as you know, and everyone else knows, like just because you
remove the one vice or the substance, like life is going to
continue to life. Shit's going to continue to go
wrong. And you're going to have to
continue to deal with things. But removing the one thing or
the one crutch that you that I thought used to keep me stable,
but in reality it was the thing that was fucking holding me back
has made me understand what is going on without numbing it, you
(04:09):
know? Yeah, when you're socializing
like or should I say when you'replanning to socialize, do you
ever not go to certain types of events to avoid situations or
are you just like, Nah, I'm good, I got this and it is what
it is and it's fun. You know, in early recovery, I
feel like you go through the beginning phase of like,
everyone's going to think I'm fucking weird because I'm not
jumping with the only one not drinking.
(04:31):
Like I'm not going is that. What they sound like.
And now it's to the point where like, invite me to every goddamn
wedding because I want to see everyone get drunk and make
idiots out of themselves and be that sober guy laughing and
having fun. Like I will say, it took me a
long time to get to the point where I'm at now, obviously.
(04:52):
Do you miss it? Do I miss it?
That's a good question. I miss the idea of it.
I don't miss it simply because Iknow what will happen.
Yeah, I think in the beginning the hardest thing for me was a
social aspect That was that was tough for me because everyone
knew Justin as that obnoxious, while I still am obnoxious.
(05:13):
But that went away for a bit like that over the top funny
guy, like make everybody laugh like.
Yeah, like redefine yourself. Almost.
It's impossible to stay sober without not necessarily
redefining yourself, appealing back the layers, and
understanding how you're hooked up and why you are the way that
you are. You got to answer.
(05:35):
You got to open a lot of doors that you've purposely kept
closed in order to truly be on the other side of this shit, I
feel like and stay there. Yeah.
And, and yeah, I, I asked these questions sitting here like
authentically because I've neverbeen in your shoes.
I've I've never gone a year, letalone five years and seven
months. So I'm always just very
fascinated to try to understand,like, what is life feel like
(05:55):
like in the more mundane moments, the quiet moments, like
what does life feel like on a Tuesday at 1:00 PM when you
know, I'm, I've got this long stretch of freedom from alcohol?
Like, am I happier? Am I more present?
Am I more fulfilled? Like, you know, those are all
like really important words. And I just wonder how how much
of alcohol can diminish those those feelings.
(06:19):
You know, I. Can tell you from personal
experience that you know when you talk a lot about being
present on on a lot of our episodes.
But like removing that alcohol has allowed me to do the work
that I needed to in order to become as present as possible.
I will say I'm always. So interested because right now
where you find me, like heading into the summer just in general,
as I've landed on, there's threedifferent buzzwords for it, but
(06:40):
I'll just use moderation, you know, and, and it's interesting
when I think about that word, like as it relates to drinking
for me, like how do you discern what's moderate for me versus
what's moderate for someone else?
If you're starting place is likechronically drinking and binge
drinking 10 drinks a day every single day.
And then you get that down to two drinks a day, which is still
above the recommended health, you know, kind of guidelines.
(07:03):
Are you a moderate drinker? If you started at 10 a day and
you're down to two versus like if you start at two, you 2 a day
and you're down to 0, but you drink on a Friday, But like it's
hard to determine what, what is moderate.
So, so I'm, I fully embrace the idea that if I'm drinking much,
much less than I was at the the depths of my drinking, then
that's moderate for me. And then there's other ways to
look at it like is drinking impacting my life?
(07:23):
Is it preventing me from, you know, meeting my
responsibilities? Is it robbing me from the joy
every day? So all that to say, I consider
myself a moderate drinker for me.
And still though, what I what I love about what what you said,
it's like it feels to me like you're kind of free from the
constant pull towards alcohol. I'm not.
And I think that's the rub. That's the downside of choosing
my lifestyle versus yours. Because when I go to a concert
(07:46):
at Red Rocks in freaking Colorado and I smell weed in the
air and I hear a country music and someone has a cooler, like
what do you think I'm thinking about?
I'm thinking like. Damn it.
Damn it. So I have to constantly do this
dance where I'm actively moderating or actively having
restraint. Or as your lifestyle has the
benefit of like if you give yourself enough time away from
(08:08):
it and do the deep work and explore mental health and
therapy and maybe find alternatives, you can truly kind
of release yourself from that pole.
I feel it. It was 8:00 last night.
My neighbors are sitting out with lawn chairs.
They've all got a drink. I'm like, I wasn't supposed to
drink tonight. It's Thursday.
And again, I'm like, damn it. So it's like, how do you how do
you go into the summer prepared to kind of strengthen the boat,
(08:30):
if you will? And I think a a first good one,
which is all the rage right now to chat about.
And I wanted to ask you because I know you're always
experimenting with these non alcoholic like.
You know beverages. We're going to talk about
cannabis and THC in a second too, but NA beers, I thought
it'd be good to kind of, you know, say, hey, what are what
are we using now? What are we doing?
And I, I saw this, this awesome statistic, which is really
(08:50):
encouraging. And it's that last year overall
beer consumption in America wentdown 1%.
That's all categories. So your lives, your IPA is all
that. And at the same time, the NA
category went up 9% in 2024 and it's projected every single year
annually. NA beers as a category will
(09:12):
continue to increase at an 8% clip until 2029.
Again, 9% in 2024, and it'll keep going.
So if you're thinking about starting an NA beer company, now
is your time. I don't know what's going to
happen in 2029 where they're projecting that all of a sudden
it'll drop who knows what. Are we doing here guys?
What do you know that we won't? But I think that's cool.
So that now NA beers as of 2024 is the second, the second
(09:35):
largest beer category across allof them.
Can you guess the number one type of beer?
Sorry. Like logger.
Yeah, 92% of all beer consumption in 2024 was loggers,
believe it or not. What's your go to's now man?
What are your number one alcoholalternative drinks?
You were the first person to hand me an NA beer years ago.
What was it? It was an athletic Golden Dawn,
(09:56):
I think. The OG.
Outside down dawn, it was whatever one of those ones.
It was at Meg's parents house inVoorhees in the backyard.
And I remember you hit. I thought you were handing me a
beer you handed to me. I literally said, what do you do
or what am I supposed to do withthis?
And then you're like, there's noalcohol.
And I was like, what the what did you just say?
And then I took a sip and then Ilooked at Alyssa and I was like,
everything's changing, right? That's awesome.
(10:21):
That kind of that not kind of started that 100% started the
journey of like my eyes opening because when I heard NA beers in
the past, all I thought was fucking O'doul's, you know?
Yeah. And that's exactly it.
That was my reaction to it. So since then, that was probably
three years ago or four years ago, sometime along those years,
(10:41):
there's just so many more options now.
So to your point about there being more to look at at the
stores like they opened a Super Buy ride, they have a whole like
2 rows and a back cooler all forNas.
They have a whole like 50 foot shell for NATHC drinks.
Like oh, they got THC in Jersey in Jersey.
In Jersey they do, Yeah. No, I didn't.
(11:02):
Expect that. That's yeah, it's pretty
awesome. And that like, so right now do I
have a staple I'm in? No, I don't.
I am in like, I'm going to try that.
I'm going to try this. I want to see what that's like.
Like I'm just testing all these different ones that I've never
even saw before but the one thatI will always have in my fridge
is either corona 0 or bud 0 justbecause on a hot day in the
(11:25):
summer they are the best and especially on the.
Black. Is there a lime?
Do you put a lime in the Corona 0?
Sometimes Alyssa did bring some limes home 2 weeks ago and we
were Outback grilling and I I put it in and I was like OK this
is this. Is limes are like avocados.
I buy them and they're fresh andI intend on using them and they
always go brown. Yeah, I don't think.
Yeah, they usually that this is very significant occurrence that
(11:46):
happens here. Yeah, OK.
But yeah, I think a lot of the seltzer's too, like the the hop
waters and the hop larks and allthat are really good as well.
But definitely I try and mix it up, you know, especially when
we're in like this boom period of it just growing and growing
right now. So there's more and more coming
out. But I like obviously also
supporting like the smaller mom and pop breweries and like the
(12:10):
local NA options and stuff, which is also cool that they're
even a thing. Yeah, it's cool to hear you say
it because it reminds me of whenI first turned on the Ipas and I
used to love like just experimenting with different
Ipas and like shopping. You're doing the same thing with
Nas. Are you, let's just say, I don't
know, like a Friday night or Saturday night and you're like,
OK, I want to have I want to have fun tonight.
I want to kick back. Are you combining your Nas with,
(12:31):
like you mentioned, THC? Are you taking any supplements
or doing anything else for any type of mine kind of shift?
Or are you just like all in? I got my my corona zero.
I'm good to go. I definitely have Micronas here
in my Nas and then yeah, I'll definitely throw in like a THC
cell. So they're only like 10
milligram here. And for me that's not going to,
I'm not going to feel any. I would anything from that.
(12:54):
You would definitely. So they're also like 10 calories
and I don't know, it's just theytaste good to me as well.
And they also help with my back pain.
So I can't can't complain. But yeah, I think I see your
point earlier of like creating enough space between who you
were when I was in my shit and the thick of it to where I am
(13:14):
now to like, it's not like I used to be all the first thought
in my head Friday morning was, Oh, it's.
Friday, Yeah. How can?
Unwind tonight and let loose anddrink like, and now it's like
I'm taking the kids to see Lilo and Stitch movie tonight.
I'm fucking so excited for it and that's what I'm looking
forward to now, so. In a 10 milligram THC seltzer
(13:35):
you go see lilo we'll. See.
We'll see. Is it lilo or lilo and stitch
lilo? Lilo.
Lilo, lilo. OK, I.
Don't it's I think I thought it was Lilo.
I'm probably saying it wrong like I do every episode.
Say something and. Yeah, we saw it.
By the way, we saw that movie already.
I'll ruin it. The character cry.
I was told I was going to cry. I I did, I did all right.
(13:57):
I'm yeah, but but it was like a self aware cry where I was like
crying at the same time, like thinking why am I crying, which
is a different type of cry. I was kind of like this is
weird. Why am I making so many loud
noises while I'm crying in the theater?
Yeah, no, it was a sweet movie, like with a sweet like kind of
like message to it, which is really, really cool.
Yeah, dude. So I'm totally off of beer and
(14:17):
as I and it's a it's a for me, it's this is so it was
superficial, but like I, I look at the carbs.
So like a lot of those athletic brewing ones, they'll have like
20 grams of carbs. And if I'm trying to like cut
out my carbs towards the end of the day and, or, or if it's like
8:00 at night, I just can't, I can't get past it.
And just in general, I move pastbeer.
(14:37):
So my, my go to, I mean, I've tried them all.
It's still hop water. I still like hop water 0
calories. And it does have the ashwagandha
and theanine. And there's something about
that. It just feels like I'm having a
like a Lacroix or like a seltzerwith a little slight alcohol
taste, which just feels familiarto me.
So that's mine. But I do have in my fridge right
now, and this is for more of like an occasion is I love
(14:59):
Guinness, man, they're Guinness NA we we've talked.
Real good, yeah. It's still good.
It tastes just like a Guinness. Like a real Guinness.
First one last year. That's phenomenal.
So I have that there for more oflike an occasion, but I go with
hop waters. I don't do, I don't do the THC
thing. We've talked about this.
I, I mean, I, you said 10 milligrams.
I I forget, I think you were outhere once Justin, when you came
(15:22):
out to Colorado, like the the OGstate of, you know, all these
products. I don't know what, I don't know
what you gave me, but I think itwas like it was like 2.5
milligrams was like a coming. You were.
I wasn't. Definitely did its job.
Yeah, dude, we were, I think like our kids were watching
Frozen. Yeah, we were watching on the
couch and the adults kept talking and you guys were gone
(15:43):
to me. And I'm.
I'm pretty sure I was like in the sled with Christophe and.
I literally said to Alyssa, uh oh.
You know, it's gone and I even after you guys left, like I
experimented with probably like,you know, maybe 3 months, four
months and I, I bought as you cool kids call it the flower,
you know, the actual real marijuana.
I did the gummies and every single time it was for me and I
(16:05):
think it was because of my nervous system, the way I'm
wired, it just moved. It shifted me too far into like
almost like an intoxicated feeling.
So I gave up on that. Probably for the best, but
interesting one. I wanted to riff with, with you
about this, but you know, I've, I've picked up these, the
nicotine pouches I've found, at least for now, until I my
tolerance goes through the roof.But like by putting in like a
(16:27):
nicotine pouch and grabbing an NA or even just like a Lacroix
or something like that, it changes my mood.
And that's, that's all I'm looking for is a mood change.
And it doesn't have to be alcohol.
It's just a mood change. And it's been working a lot for
me honestly. That's amazing, especially
finding something that you know that works consistently too and
that has, you know, benefits as well as scratching the itch, if
(16:49):
you will look. One in ten Americans today
struggle with alcohol use disorder and I was one of them.
Did you know that there is a safe science backed daily pill
that you can take to drink less or even quit alcohol for good?
It's called naltrexone. A doctor prescribed medication
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(17:10):
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To get started, text Strength to710710 again, that's strength to
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(17:33):
from alcohol. Let's move towards, we'll call
it like fitness and supplements.So does does your fitness change
at all in the summer or you justkind of like year round?
I would say the biggest thing for me that I realized is
insanely important too is my workouts have to be done first
thing. Like if I don't work out in the
morning, whether it's right after I drop the kids off at
(17:53):
school, like I it's almost impossible for me to get there
during the day because of my work schedule and they
constantly change. So even if I'm like, oh, I'll go
on lunch, guess we'll get scheduled at lunch a meeting
that I didn't have an hour ago. The amount of mental benefits
that morning workouts gives me for at least the next couple of
hours. I want to say the rest of the
day but is insane and like to the point where my wife will
(18:16):
encourage me if I'm not at the gym in the morning to go to the
gym in the morning only because of how happy and nice I will be
afterwards. You want grumpy, grumpy Justin?
Yeah, no one was that I don't want it either.
So like understanding and realizing like how important and
like I need to do this and if I want to be the best or a better
version of me for the rest of the day.
And then the Solomon Wise had been doing a lot of
(18:39):
experimenting with saffron recently.
What is Saffron? It is supposed to be very
effective for anxiety and stress, and there's clinical
studies around it being as effective as Celexa, which is an
SSRI for antidepressant and anxiety.
So the ones that I call are called happy drops, but there's
(19:00):
a lot of research and stuff coming out about it, or I am
just seeing it. It may have been there for a
while. So diving into that, another big
one that is going to be a wild card that I was never on my
radar as something to include inmy supplemental rotation.
Baking soda. Yes, I have been deep diving a
lot of the research of includingnot much at all.
I think it's like 1/4 of a teaspoon to half a teaspoon a
(19:23):
day in water. And the benefits range from
testosterone boosting sleep, improving inflammation, pH,
restoring gut health, cancer fighting.
It puts your body in an alkalinestate, which prevents any chance
of cancer cells growing. So there's a lot of really of
yeah, I literally just learned all about this.
I was talking listen about it yesterday.
Super interesting. I can send you the studies
(19:43):
because I was literally looking at it last night.
So like go in your pantry like the arm and hammer.
No, no, no, no. It can't be that.
Please don't do that. Yeah.
And then the staples, the protein and turmeric and fish
oil, all that fun stuff. All right, so fitness wise you
keep it kind of steady throughout the year, but would
you agree for you if I put it this way that like fitness plays
(20:03):
a role in your maintaining of your?
Five year. Oh my gosh.
Friday. If it.
Yeah. Why though?
Because that was my number one outlet in the beginning of my
recovery journey when I was trying to figure out who the
hell I was and why I do the things that I do when I know I
shouldn't be and I don't want todo them.
I turn that into I get the opportunity today to work on
(20:27):
myself. I'm walking through the doors of
this gym to walk out better thanI did when I walked in.
And that doesn't necessarily mean I have to put up £500 on
the bench or I have to lift morethan I did the week before.
It's like getting away from thatmentality of fitness and viewing
it from my like, I need to do this because it's going to make
me be the best dad that I can that day.
(20:49):
You know what I mean? It's going back to it.
Yeah, the gym is one of the biggest tools in my tool belt in
terms of making sobriety. I, I would actually just agree
with everything you just said. I, my preference is always to
work out like first thing in themorning for the reasons you
said. And I found that in in the
season of life that we're both in with young kids and full time
jobs and entrepreneurial visionsand things for me like it, it,
(21:11):
it gives me like a protected space in the morning to just
like actually sometimes just organize my thoughts and just
have that peace and quiet that gives me that sense of agency.
Yeah. And it's me time.
And for me it went what let's just say I planned to work out
in the morning and then I stayedup too late.
And I don't, it is a noticeable difference in my nervous kind of
(21:33):
like my disposition, how I feel that everything feels more
intense for the rest of the day.And then what I wind up doing.
And I don't know if this is healthy or not, but I wound up
trying to like carve out a time to work out because I'm chasing
that box getting checked and buteverything, every interaction,
everything feels more heavy and urgent.
But if I do it, I think there's also something powerful, like I
(21:54):
had a plan, I stuck to it and that rewarding.
And that when is like empoweringand energizing when you take it
into your day. So like without a doubt, in the
summer particularly, I really try to hit those morning
workouts. And then what I'll also do,
because I am still actively drinking, unlike you, I'll reach
out to random friends to meet meearly in the morning to go for a
(22:17):
run or a bike ride or something.Particularly on Saturdays if I
know I've already committed to having one or two drinks on a
Friday. Because then there's that other
thing. I don't want to let them down.
They're holding me accountable and they don't even know it.
So I like to do that like kind of layer in some accountability
over it. As far as supplements, I've
been, I've been on this because it works, but there's this kind
(22:37):
of adaptogen stack that is just awesome for me as far as like
mental resilience and fortification, pest management.
And it's L theanine ashwaganda and rodeola rosaya.
That's it it you can get it in bundles with different
companies. You can get them individually
price, shop, make sure it's quality ingredients, but those 3
again, that's L theanine, which you can also find in matcha tea
(22:57):
and other natural products. A lot of NA beverages and just
general beverages are starting to put L theanine in actually,
what am I drinking right now? I'm pretty sure this this is a
monster product. This has L theanine in it.
I know a lot of caffeinated beverages are putting L theanine
in it to kind of level out that caffeine jitters and stuff like
that. Ashwagandha, amazing Rhodiola,
(23:18):
It just helps really regulate cortisol levels and just kind of
mute those intense stress reactions we might have as life
feels a little bit out of control sometime.
And then one I, I just have to say, 'cause it works.
Not because it's a sponsor, but and maybe more for someone who's
kind of stepping into, you know,for the first time trying to
drink less or not at all is medication.
(23:38):
So now Trexone particularly or health is a sponsor.
Very grateful for them, But there's different ways to take
medication. One is called the daily method
where you literally take it at the same time every day,
typically with a full stomach, so you don't have any like, you
know, minor side effects. And the other is called the
Sinclair Method, which look it up guys, we're not going to go
too deep into it, but that's a method where you take naltrexone
(24:00):
A targeted time before you actually drink.
And then the naltrexone works inyour brain circuitry and
literally mutes the neurotransmitter response of
that euphoric buzz. And it can do amazing things to
help people start to move away from alcohol.
Katie Herzog, who I mentioned was on the show, her book is all
about how to use that particularmedication to help moving away
(24:20):
from drinking. So those are my supplements that
I take. And then like you, fish oil,
multivitamin if you're not eating a well-rounded diet, and
a couple other things, creatine for performance and whatnot.
But those are the supplements that I lean into.
Quick now tracks unplug. That was a very big part of my
early recovery journey. So big testament to naltrexone
(24:42):
and I also did the the Vivitrol shot though once a month shot in
the. Butt do you like?
That I it was it was it was interesting, didn't feel good,
but we'll say definitely not A and all be all approach.
Still tried to drink on both of said things because of where I
was at in my life when I was on them.
(25:03):
But definitely a very, very, very powerful tool to keep in
your tool belt as well. Yeah.
And I think what blows people, blows people's minds,
particularly around the naltrexone piece, is that the
Sinclair Method, often abbreviated as TSM, encourages
you to continue however much youwere drinking, volume and
frequency, and take that pill before you do it because you
(25:27):
will self select out of drinkingbecause you just won't get that
desired that you're chasing, which blows people's minds.
Yes, Katie's going to be on the show in a in a couple weeks to
help promote her book. Look, life can be hard and
stressful sometimes. We all know that.
But when it comes to supplements, why is it that
nobody talks about stress and resilience?
For me, I take the adaptogen stack from Momentous
(25:50):
Supplements. It's a daily blend of
ashwagandha, rhodiola and L, allclinically backed to help you
stay calm, focused and resilient.
I'm proudly partnered with Momentous Supplements because
they are the industry's best. They don't cut corners,
Everything's third party tested,used by pro athletes, and high
(26:10):
quality. Head to livemomentous.com and
use code strength for 35% off your first order.
Again, that's live momentous.comcode word strength for 35% off
your first order and get startedtoday, man, This last section,
we'll kind of call it like what else?
(26:31):
Maybe like lifestyle things thatwe can do and I'll go first.
Just some some things that that have really, really worked for
me. And they're so boneheaded and
simple, but it's like sometimes the simple things work.
How about not having alcohol in your house?
If it's not there, you're probably not going to drink it,
right? So I found I'm going to use this
(26:51):
expression again, moth to a flame, right?
If there are, if there's wine, if there's tequila, if there's,
you know, hard kombuchas, if they're there, I know they're
there. And there's something super deep
in subconscious that's like, it feels like it pulls me there.
So I think a really practical thing that I do that anybody can
(27:12):
do, I think set if you're, if you're moderation because you're
sober, right? But if you're a moderate
drinker, set a goal of this is how many drinks I'm going to
have this week, that week, Buy that amount, put that in your
house, use it or lose it and it doesn't compound over to the
next week, you psychos, if you don't drink it.
(27:36):
Bonus beers from last week. I want next week to be crazy
right now, but dude, that is so simply stupid.
Like easy. But like, I'm like, all right,
well, I've got 4 and if it's Thursday and I have two sounds
like Saturday, I'm out, right? Like it's just like it's so
simple. But when it's not there is the
point exactly. You're not going to be pulled.
(27:56):
So I like to just do that right?But I think that's a really easy
one. And then one other last thing
for me, I think, you know, tallying up your drinks like so
if you set that goal for four, Ihave actually a white board on
the backside of my pantry and ithas seven days and I'll just put
it, put a little tally. If I had a drink, I'll put 2.
There's something really tangible and I think like kind
(28:17):
of impactful for me to get that win when I put that zero there,
right? Just it feels good.
It's a little reward, It feels nice.
And you track them. If you want to get more
sophisticated, I've done it in an Excel document next to my
weight, like if I'm tracking fitness.
And there's plenty of apps out there, Sunnyside app, Reframe
app. There's other ones too that in
addition to just being a drink tracker, there's also
communities built in if you needit.
(28:38):
There's meetings that are free. But I think like having those
tools in place, I think could bereally, really helpful.
What about you, bud? No, I think everything you said
is super awesome and applicable and very relatable.
I feel like for a lot of people too.
So I love that for me, I don't know, it's kind of a different,
like a different perspective on the question and the answer.
Yeah, but you know, the the deeper meaning of the why behind
(29:02):
my sobriety and I, I usually saythat a lot of like identifying
the why behind things, our behaviors, our thoughts, our way
we handle things. But like I, I know the person
that I was when alcohol was involved not and then alcohol
wasn't the only reason I was theperson that I was.
(29:22):
So alcohol wasn't the problem tome.
Alcohol was the solution. But I am afraid, honestly, and
scared of the person that I was.And I know how much space I've
created in between then and now.And like, I have my life back,
you know, and like that fear of losing it all because I came
(29:46):
that close to doing it. And like I don't again, I go, I
don't have another one in me. And that is a fear that scares
the shit out of me. But I I love it and I respect it
because without that fear, I don't think I would still be
sober, obviously. Yeah.
(30:07):
So lot of lot of self work went into all of this, obviously.
But I think I never want to forget where I was because
that's what got me to where I'm at right now.
And not just the good times, butthe bad times and the hard
parts. Like, I never want to forget
that feeling because if I do, I'm going to remind myself in a
way that I don't want to, you know?
(30:29):
Yeah, I heard once your why should make you cry and outside
it for you with with sobriety, maintaining long term forever
sobriety outside of prompts likethis in a podcast setting like
this, how do you constantly remind yourself of your why?
Well, one of the big ones I see on my chest every single morning
(30:51):
when I look in the mirror. I have two ugly, disgusting,
scary faces tatted on my left chat on my left booth.
They're huge and they're literally screaming faces.
And I they need to be ugly and they need to be scary and they
need to be horrific because every time I look at those, one
represents mental health and onerepresents addiction.
(31:12):
Two of the things that I've struggled with the most of my
life that I know how ugly they can get.
But it has turned into the most beautiful story, you know?
So again, a tattoo is not going to keep me sober, but it's a
good reminder. And you know, obviously the
biggest thing is staying on top of myself, being proactive with
(31:33):
communicating like my wife is mythe biggest part of my support
and I don't deserve her at all. And I will say she's my Angel
and without her. Yeah, that's a good point, man.
Is like you don't you don't really have to be practical to
(31:54):
be reminded of your why when youwake up every morning walk in
the kitchen they're all standingthere right in front of your
kids and you're. What?
And being present in that man. Yeah, Amen to that, man.
That's beautiful. All right, everybody, that's the
show. Folks.
Thank you so much for tuning in to this podcast and spending
some time with us today. We've got a favor to ask.
(32:15):
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(32:37):
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