10. All About Nutrition, Glucose Tracking, and Biomarkers - with Derrick Lytle - Wholly Empowered

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I'm Kristen Russell, and this isThe Wholly Empowered Podcast,
where we dive into all thingsholistic healing and open our
minds, hearts, and paradigms tonew ideas so we can live our
most empowered, healthy, joyfullives.

Kristen (00:16):
Derek Lytle.
I'm so happy you're on thepodcast.
Welcome to Wholly Empowered.
so today we have Derek Lytle whois he's known him, we go way
back.

Derrick (00:28):
Way back.

Kristen (00:29):
Way, way back.
We're, we're actually cousinsand Derek is a, You're a runner,
you're a videographer slashphotographer, you do really cool
what are they called?
I always forget what they'recalled.
Timelapses.

Audio Only - All Particip (00:46):
Yeah.

Kristen (00:46):
Like, I love them, I just can't remember what they're
called.
Really cool timelapses you havea podcast, am I missing
anything?
I feel like you do so manythings.

Derrick (00:55):
Yeah, I wear a lot of different hats.
I think people mainly know me aslike a runner and a filmmaker,
but I'm interested in diet,nutrition, and like photography,
just stories and people ingeneral.
Like, I think I'm probably a lotlike you where a lot of things
are interesting to me and it'skind of hard to focus sometimes
because it's like, I'm not ADHDby any means, but just like, Oh,
that's so cool.
Like health is interesting orspirituality is interesting, or

(01:16):
this story is interesting.
Like random things are just sofascinating all the time.
But sometimes it's kind of hardto focus on one thing.
So like I do wear a lot ofdifferent hats.
So I am trying to likeconsolidate these things and be
like, okay, I wanted to only dothis, but it's kind of hard when
everything in the world is sointeresting.

Kristen (01:32):
That's a struggle.
It is.
It's

Derrick (01:33):
a struggle.
Struggle is real.
It

Kristen (01:35):
is.
Yeah.
well, and that's kind of what Iwanted to, the reason I have you
on is you've tried a lot ofdifferent, you're, you're a big
runner, which is interestingcause we're going to talk more
physical health today, I guess,and like we'll tie it in to all
the other kinds, but that's kindof more the focus and big into
running like biking.

(01:56):
You've gotten some opportunitiesto do some really cool tests and
different things with yourphysical health.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about that.
But let's start at thebeginning.
So, when did you actually startrunning?
Because this has been a bigthing for you, I feel like, for
a long time, kind of a base.

(02:19):
Yes,

Derrick (02:20):
it's definitely become like a huge part of my life and
something where I never thoughtit would, to be honest.
Like growing up, moved around alot and my brothers and I, we
just played soccer and I waslike the big thing that we did
all the time, like live inNorthern California and it was a
big thing there.
And then we moved to Nevada, alittle small town and no one
really played soccer, but wecontinued to play.
And it was just kind of like,it's kind of became like a fun

(02:41):
thing at best.
Like no one cared.
We, we, we took it seriously,but it was just kind of like,
yeah, what's the point almost.
Our team wasn't very good.
It was like a small, like threeday school, but it was still
super fun and taught me a lotabout life.
And, and it was funny.
I remember one time our soccerteam on a trip, we all.
We got into like a food fight onthe bus.
I just throw them like Cheetosand chips at each other because
we're dumb like high schoolers.

(03:01):
And the next day at practice, weall got reprimanded for it.
And I think like four or five ofus actually admitted to doing
it, even though everyone did it.
And so we all had to run 12 lapsaround the track, which is like
three miles.
I remember thinking like, wow,this is absolute torture and
punishment.
Like, I can't believe our coachwould make us do that.
And that was like, kind of likemy introduction to running, if

(03:22):
you want to call it that.
And then years later when I wasat BYU in college, like everyone
there runs, it's like active insome sense, whether that's like
rock climbing or biking orwhatever, but.
Being a poor college kid, like Ididn't have money for a bike and
people were running I had aroommate that didn't...like he
moved in with us kind ofrandomly and he ran a Ragnar.
I'm like, Oh, what's that?

(03:43):
And I realized that like, Oh,Ragnar is like sound kind of
fun.
Even though like he couldn'twalk after he ran his Ragnar.
Then my, my buddy and I werelike, Oh, we should do a Ragnar.
And so we started doing eventslike this.
And I think my first race wasthe snow cannon half marathon in
St.
George.
And, and I, it was super fun.
It was just fun to like, hangout with people and like kind of
push myself.
And.
I was definitely not a runner byany means at the time, but

(04:05):
living like right at the base ofthe Wasatch mountains was just
kind of like, Oh, cool.
Like we can go and explore andlike, go like quote unquote run.
It was like mostly just hikingand, but it was just kind of
exploring and checking thingsout.
And like, at that point, justkind of got this bug and I
realized like, wow, people canrun really far.
Like, that's really cool.
Like I want to do that.
And so then I ran my first trailrace on I think it's Antelope
Island up by Salt Lake.

(04:26):
And it was awesome.
Like I had a really good time,enjoyed the community and
definitely changed my life in amillion different ways where.
I never thought I'd be likeworking, creating, like, running
content for brands and peopleand telling stories that way.
Like, I was a journalism majorin college, so I was like, oh,
I'm just gonna go, like, work atwhatever, NBC or something.
But now it's like, okay, now I'mgoing to make stories about

(04:47):
people running and filming themwith a camera.
I think it's, it's crazy.
It's taken me all over the worldand it's been super fun to kind
of combine like this fitnesslevel with a storytelling
camera.
So it's been pretty cool.

Kristen (04:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, I feel like like trailrunning is kind of your thing.

Derrick (05:03):
Yeah.
It's kind of funny because Allmy running friends think now
that I just ride bikes and mybiking friends think I just run
because I like to do both andthey're just both fun ways to
explore and like, so I think insome ways, I'm kind of like this
enigma to some people, theycan't kind of figure out like
what I like to do, but it goesback to like things being
interesting to me, like, like, Ilove hiking.
It's just so fun to like, hikeand look at things.

(05:24):
I love running because I canjust get this cool feeling from
that.
I love biking because you canjust go super far and it doesn't
hurt as bad, but like all thesethings are just so fun.
It's this cool way to explorethe outdoors, but I say
primarily though I am a trailrunner and I shoot mainly like
trail running stuff, just likebeing outside for the most part.

Kristen (05:40):
Yeah, yeah.
So I know we talked a little bitabout the, the difference
between the trail runningcommunity is like it's own
thing.
And I feel like it kind of like,once you're into that, it's just
like, oh, these are my people,you know?
Yeah, definitely.
The like one trail race I'vedone, I'm like, yeah, I know.

Derrick (05:59):
No, that definitely is like, it's something that I
didn't even really think aboutuntil recently, where I was at a
an aunt's house in Phoenix and Idon't remember why I had to go
there, but we were just talkingand I had just ran a race or I
was going to run a race.
And she was like, Oh, it soundslike you just like to run for
the social aspect.
And I'd never really thoughtabout that before.
But it's true though, like allof my good friends are runners

(06:19):
and it's, we all met throughrunning.
And it's just kind of weird tothink about this community of
people that I have, like we'reall like have different beliefs
and so many different thingswith very different lifestyles.
But like the most simple thingyou can possibly do is brought
us all together as friends.
And it's, it's kind ofinteresting how like those
things intersect that way, Iguess.
Cause in so many ways it's like,well, I'd never be friends with
this person or that person, butwe can go out and run and just

(06:41):
talk about nonsense for threehours.
And it's awesome.
And it's like, and you're goodfriends.
And like, maybe we disagree onpolitics or religion or other
things, but we can kind of cometogether through running, which
is pretty cool.

Kristen (06:52):
Yeah, it's like a whole lifestyle.
I feel like once you get intorunning, then you kind of
naturally get into nutrition.

Derrick (06:57):
Yeah, and

Kristen (06:58):
it all comes together.

Derrick (07:01):
No, that is true.
It's like you become a lot morein tune with your physical body
because you realize if I eatthis, I'm gonna have a bad run
the next day.
If I eat this, I'm gonna feelbetter after my run or
something.
So you kind of start not evenlike it's almost like
inadvertently figuring nutritionout because I want to perform
better on my run because I don'twant to go out and run.
Say 15 miles, but not feelterrible.
So like, how can I do that?

(07:23):
And you just figure things outalong the way.
So it's, it's kind of cool.
It's kind of like figuring outthis puzzle.

Kristen (07:28):
Yeah, yeah, because I know you've done a lot of keto
and I don't know, listening toyour podcast you talk a lot
about keto and carnivore andjust like all these different, I
feel like you've done all thesekind of, I don't know, like, I
want to say like micro, likethey're just barely different,
but kind of a high protein issort of, seems to be the theme.

(07:50):
I don't know, did you ever triedbeing vegan?

Derrick (07:53):
No, so never officially.
I, I, I have like dated a girlwho was

vegan

Derrick (08:00):
and it's like whenever I was at her house, it was like,
Oh, you need to eat vegan.
I'm just like, okay, I guess.
It was like eating this massivebowl of salad and like hungry 10
minutes later type thing.
And, and so I honestly, like, itjust, there's no way I could
live that way because for a lotof different reasons.
And like scientifically, I just.
I don't think the data supportit, honestly, but then like from
a everyday perspective, it'slike you're just eating a lot of

(08:23):
just fiber.
It's like, you're not reallyeating.
It's like eating rabbit food allday.

Kristen (08:27):
Yeah.

Derrick (08:29):
Oh, go ahead.

Kristen (08:30):
Oh, just especially when you're using so many
calories.
It's just, that's hard.

Derrick (08:34):
Yeah, and like, I have friends that, like, have ran
professionally being vegan andstuff.
I actually did a podcast earlierwith a guy who's mostly vegan.
He eats eggs.
And he's like, oh, I just feelbetter, so I do this and these.
But he's also if it comes downto it I'm not 100 percent like,
till I die, vegan.
He's like, if I need meat, I'mgonna eat meat.
And he's not very like dogmaticabout it's kind of like kind of
just rolling with the flow, Iguess, or going with the flow

(08:57):
and which I think is a goodperspective on those things, but
I do think it's fun toexperiment with diet though,
because it's like, okay, how canI maximize my health?
And it's not just and say Oh,I'm healthy or healthier than
you.
It's just so I can do moreduring the day and think more
clearly and have a betterquality of life.
And maybe like my idea of highquality of life is being able to
go out and run, ride my bikeevery day.

(09:18):
And maybe for someone else, it'sjust so they can pick up their
grandkids.
But either way, it's like, ifyou can maximize the amount of
years you're having a life, it'slike, why not do that?
If it's something as simple asnutrition, you're going to eat
every day.
So why not eat good foods thatmake you feel good?
So you can have a better lifeversus just slamming a bunch of
pills every day and sufferingall those side effects.

Kristen (09:37):
Yeah, yeah, and like you were saying, like your
friend who eats vegan mostly, Ifeel like everybody's, every
body is so different, and youhave to kind of figure out what
works for you, and seems likeyou've spent a lot of time
figuring out what works for you,right?

Derrick (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, and that's, that is something
that I find it's crazy how howcultish the diet community has
become, where people are like,I'm vegan, or I'm keto, I'm
carnivore, I'm paleo, like, Xand X there's a billion
different ways that people eatfor whatever reason and people
get very dogmatic about it It'slike if you disagree with them
on one thing or point out apotential flaw in their diet

(10:14):
They like get offended and it'sit's so crazy to me because like
why wouldn't you want to hear acon?
Like not a controversial but aan opposing opinion or view or
data So that way you canmaximize your quality of life
because maybe you're vegan Butyou're suffering from like
anemia because you don't eatenough iron from you Okay, maybe
you should introduce some ironto your diet, whether that's
through a supplement orsomething, there's something you

(10:36):
can glean from everybody, I feellike, whether you like that
person or dislike that person,there's so much you can take
from them.
And so, like, over the yearsI've experimented with all these
things, and it's not like I,because I don't have a
nutritional degree of any kind.
But it's more so just learningand being interested in these
things and talking to friends.
Like I have friends that arelike hardcore keto.
I have a friend who's doingcarnivore right now.
I have vegan friends and justtalking to them about how they

(10:59):
eat is just like, oh, it'sreally interesting.
And, but it, it really does kindof come back to that.
Everyone's a little bitdifferent and our goals are all
slightly different.
Like how I, as like a trailrunner or like a cyclist or
something may not be the sameway that you eat for.
Whatever you're doing or like myparents or something, cause
that's going to change as we ageand based off things that we do,
but at the same time, it's stillfun just to look at data and

(11:20):
research, like, Oh, like maybeif I eat this, I can, I don't
have, I don't know, better focusor something or, or stay awake
if I need to stay awake or maybeI'm staying awake too much and
like, how can I fix my qualityof sleep or something?

Kristen (11:33):
Yeah.
So many solutions like food ismedicine, right?

Derrick (11:36):
Yeah, no, no, exactly.
It wasn't like Socrates thatsaid that or something like let
food be like medicine.
I don't remember, but

Kristen (11:41):
someone really smart.

Derrick (11:43):
There's definitely one of us that said that.

Kristen (11:45):
yeah.

Derrick (11:46):
But it is true though.
Like, you know, when I was onthis podcast earlier with my
guy, my friend Scotty, we weretalking about that, how like,
How like eating better, you justfeel better.
So it can be your medicine in alot of ways.
It's like, okay, like if youhave this deficiency, it's like,
maybe we should add this intoyour diet or something.
And so it is true that like foodis medicine and people in recent
American culture, it's like, wejust kind of want this quick fix

(12:09):
to everything like for better orfor worse.
And it's like, well, I'll justgo.
My, my, my blood sugar is toohigh.
I'll go get metformin orsomething.
It's like, well, or you couldcut back on like all the soda
you drink every day and go for awalk, like little things you can
do that are free and or cheapand it can improve your quality
of life.
And.

Kristen (12:25):
Improved so many things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Totally.
Have you ever had I, it seemslike you you just like to kind
of fine tune things.
And I don't know, have you everhad anything like major happen
where you were like, Oh, I haveto eat this way to recover from
this or to help my body functionbetter?

(12:46):
Or was, or has it just kind ofbeen like kind of fine tuning
and tuning in?

Derrick (12:51):
Yes and no.
There wasn't like some acutething where I'm like, okay, I
Whatever, like I, I don't know,stomach cancer or that's just an
example.
Something extreme,

Kristen (13:01):
yeah.

Derrick (13:02):
Yeah, something extreme, But just like growing
up though, it was always kind oflike, oh, my stomach just feels
a little bit off.
And I just follow whatever thedoctors told me to do.
It's like, oh, eat more fiber oreat more of this or don't eat
that.
And it's like.
Okay, so you're just kind oflike repeating this like generic
information.
I never got better.
And then when I was on mymission so I went on a mission
for the church, went to Mexico,whatever, and it's like, things

(13:23):
didn't get any better, but a lotof times things got worse.
We're just eating a lot of crap,like just bad food.
And it's nothing against likeMexican culture, but it's like,
when you have to eat out of likea convenience store or something
because of where you are, it'slike, you know, gummy bears and
chips and Coke is like.
It's probably not gonna makeanybody feel good, but that's
when I started realizing, like,okay I can kind of tweak my diet
and feel better or worsedepending on what I eat.

(13:46):
So then when I was in college, Istarted thinking about a lot
more too, and it just kind ofstarted the general thing okay,
well, the government says, don'teat red meat, but eat these
things.
It's like, okay like, I didn'tknow anything.
And so I was like, well, I'mgonna go buy turkey, and I'm
gonna eat peanut butter, andcrackers, and bread, and
whatever.
Again, it's all low quality foodbecause I'm a poor college
student.
But like, from there, I waslike, okay, well, if I eat, I

(14:07):
eat a whole sleeve of saltinecrackers with peanut butter, I
might feel full, and they tastegood, but I don't feel good
after.
I eat like, like, whatever, TopRamen, or like, whatever stuff,
I'm going to feel terribleafter.
So how can I eat something tomake me feel good?
So it's kind of likeexperimenting with things.
And that's how I, or one of thereasons why I just kind of
experimented over the years.
Like one is for general health,but then once I started running,

(14:28):
it was like, okay, how can Irecover better?
And so it's probably what a lotof people do.
It's like, just Google stuff andjust try things.
It's like, how can I recoverbetter as an athlete?
Then you, maybe you hear thegeneric stuff initially, but
then, you know, on YouTube, it'slike, oh, well, here's so and so
who's a medical professional aswell, talking about this.
Like, why don't I try that?
Like, what do you have to lose?
Like, try something for a week.

(14:48):
It doesn't work.
It's like, you're probably notgoing to die from just eating
only meat for a week orsomething, or.
Or like, not eating carrots fora week, right?

Kristen (14:56):
Yeah, whatever it is, right?

Derrick (14:58):
Yeah, and like, and it just became kind of fun because
then at certain points it kindof reached a baseline of like,
hey, I feel good, most of thetime but then like, hey, like,
if I eat or drink this, I don'tfeel as good or I feel like,
maybe if I have like too muchcaffeine, I feel very like,
antsy and like, just not right.
Okay, so I shouldn't have thatmuch caffeine or I shouldn't
drink this or shouldn't eat thator something and you just kind

(15:20):
of start fine tuning things andit kind of becomes like this
game of like, how good can Ifeel?
Which is kind of funny, like, itsounds funny like, I don't want
to use the term like biohack,but it's kind of that way of
like, kind of quote unquotebiohacking with like whole food
nutrition.
And it's kind of fun.
It kind of becomes addicting andyou talk to other people and
like, we should try that.
Or I tried this and I tried thatand then you get involved in the

(15:41):
running and cycling world andit's like everybody has their
views on like what is healthyand you can kind of see things
like play out in real time.
You're like, okay, well, thisguy was whatever diet for two
years, but now we can't walkanymore.
Oh, maybe I shouldn't do that.
There's just like one equalsone, but it is still like data
and you can use that to learnfor yourself.
It's pretty interesting.

Kristen (16:01):
Yeah.
And it is kind of like you weresaying, it's kind of a game.
It's kind of fun when you get tothat point.
I feel like you get moresensitive to how your body's
feeling.
And then it is kind of fun tojust play around with it and be
like, Oh, I ate this.
Now I feel like this.
Probably won't do that again,or, or whatever, or this is
really working for me, like if Ieat this before a run, or if I,

(16:24):
you know, whatever, whatever itis.

Derrick (16:26):
Yeah, and I think that's like a really way, like a
good way to fast track howyou're going to feel, because if
you eat, like, if you're on arun, you're like, okay, I want
to eat, this bar, this gel,you're going to feel it almost
immediately whether you feelgood or not.
And then the consequence to thatis like, I'm throwing up on the
side of the trail or my stomachhurts or something.
And like, you learn immediately,like what works for you and what
doesn't.

(16:46):
And then you can on your nextrun, try something else and
figure things out.
And like, like at this point,I've kind of figured out what
works for me.
But that said though, I'm stillopen to new ideas and new
science.
Cause I think it's superfascinating.

Kristen (16:57):
Do you have anything you'd want to share?
Like, what are some of yourfavorite things for like pre or
post run nutrition?

Derrick (17:04):
Oh man, kind of controversial.
Pre run, like it kind of dependson what I'm doing.
I mean, like, and I feel likeit's a cop out for a lot of
people in the answer yourquestion, but it does depend
though.
Like I'm going to go for like aneasy 30 minute run in the
morning.
I might just wake up and likejust drink some electrolytes and
go for a run.
Like if there's zero intensityto that run, but if I'm going to
go do a workout.
I always have a little bit ofsomething before and that could

(17:25):
be like yogurt with fruit andhoney or something just
something but like not a lotbecause you don't want something
sitting in your stomach.
You want to make sure your bodyhas some fuel and a lot of
times, or yes, every time thatapplies to the night before like
we have a solid dinner, you knowis going to sit well with you.
And you can use that the nextday for your fuel and like the
kind of having a morningbreakfast is like just add a
little bit something more, andthen like post run like

(17:47):
personally like I'm a fan of rawmilk and whey protein like it
sits really well with me and Ithink it's delicious.
And but if you're not a fan ofmilk, you can just.
Try milk, but just try to buy,buy the best quality you can
afford and it's always what Itell people is like buy the best
quality food you can affordbecause it goes back to like
food is medicine, right?
Yeah.

Kristen (18:07):
I was gonna say The whole like using your meal from
the night before to fuel alittle bit.
I feel like often we emphasizebreakfast so much.
Yeah.
And maybe I'm biased because Idon't, I'm not really a
breakfast person.
Like I wake up and I'm like, Idon't want to eat anything.
And like working out fasted isactually really, especially if
it's a light run like that islike, it just feels really good.

(18:32):
And so I feel like breaking outof the norm a little bit and
really like experimenting is so.
Useful, because maybe breakfastdoesn't work for you.
Or like, maybe like, you know,eating something, going for a
little run, and then eatingsomething, and then doing a
workout, or whatever.
But, just being flexible.

Derrick (18:52):
Yeah, if you think about it from a historical
perspective, it's like, Okay,like, would you have, like, a
bowl of Cheerios and a glass oforange juice and, like, two eggs
before you go out and hunt?
Probably not.
Like, you may or may not have,like, options for food before
you go, so, like, the body canadapt.
And especially in, like, a nonstressful situation, like, a 30
minute run at low intensity isnot gonna, like, add a lot of

(19:15):
stress to your life.
It's just good for you.
And it teaches your body like toburn fat and work that way, like
work that way.
But if you're gonna go dosomething intense, like say you
have like a two hour run withlike intervals in it, or you're
gonna run a marathon, you'reprobably, like speaking in
generalities, gonna have abetter run if you eat something
prior to that.
And depending on like what youwant to eat, it's gonna be like

(19:36):
maybe some eggs.
Like I like a couple eggs beforea run, like I feel great
generally.
But some people just like eatinglike pure carbs.
It's like, okay, if that's whatworks for you and you think that
works, like great.
Like, and who am I to say that'snot working if it's working for
you, right?

Kristen (19:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and like, and anotherpoint is sometimes it feels like
not very accessible to eathealthy because people are like,
it's expensive, but like twoeggs, you know, like when you,
when you break it down, it canbe really simple.
Especially if it's like, like, Ifeel like you're always like
eating a steak and then you'relike, I had a steak.

(20:11):
And that was it.
And I went on with my life.
Like, I don't know, like there,there are ways to just make it
affordable and Easy.
And even if I feel like even ifyou're spending a little bit
more, it's just, it's so muchbetter for your health that it's
so it, it evens out or it likeis cheaper in the long run to
spend like 20 percent more orsomething.

Derrick (20:33):
Yeah.
And like, and that's the crazything is like, and I see these
comments all the time.
It's like, Oh, well, I can'tafford to eat.
It's like, okay, well, like whenI eat meat, generally, I'm not
buying like A ribeye orsomething like the tomahawk
steak.
It's like for the past threedays, all the meat I've eaten
has just been like ground beef.
I had ground beef and groundlamb or something.
And it's like, those arerelatively cheap.

(20:53):
Even the higher quality version,like the grass had finished or
still like half the price issteak for whatever reason.
Like I, I honestly don't knowwhy, but like you can get like
quality ground beef and you justhave to cook it up.
And like, I love like burgerpatties with eggs on top.
It's like, it's so cheap anddelicious.
And like even buying qualityeggs, like if you buy like, say

(21:13):
like middle tier eggs, like thecheapest ones at Walmart are
kind of like kind of iffy, thenthe really expensive like 12
bucks a dozen eggs is kind oflike, well, it's pretty intense,
but you can get like kind oflike middle tier that it's like,
okay, those are good eggs, goodquality, what do they cost like
50 cents a piece?
If you think of like, okay, howmuch do like two Pop Tarts cost?
Like it's going to be either thesame or more like cost wise.

(21:36):
So you might as well eatsomething that's actually once a
whole food has way more vitaminsand minerals and it doesn't have
a bunch of hyper processed junkand you're going to feel better,
more satiated through the day.
And like, that's not eventhinking about how like these
extra things are adding to poptarts or like cereals have been
linked to like ADHD and likehyperactivity with kids.
So it's like give your kidslike, or yourself, something

(21:56):
that's going to actually feelyou through the day and like be
nutrient dense versus somethingthat's just going to give you a
huge sugar rush and you're goingto spike.
And then like Or fall off afterthat and just be tired again and
have to have more Pop Tarts.

Kristen (22:07):
I was gonna say, and then you want more.

Derrick (22:09):
Yeah, and don't get me wrong, like, Pop Tarts, at least
last time I had them, like,they're delicious.
Like, they're, they'reengineered that way though, to
like,

Audio Only - All Partic (22:16):
they're like

Derrick (22:17):
a bag of Doritos.
If I had a bag of Doritos, like,I can't just eat one of them.
I'll eat the entire bag.
If I have a bag of Sour PatchKids, I will eat the entire bag
of Sour Patch Kids and probablywant more.
It's like food's engineered tobe addicting, but like, when
you're eating real nutrientdense food, you just feel better
and your body's going tonaturally know, like, okay,
well, I ate a pound of groundbeef.

(22:37):
It sounds like a lot to a lot ofpeople, but like, you're going
to feel so satiated after andjust good because you ate real
food.
Maybe not a whole pound for somepeople, maybe like a half pound
of some eggs and whatever, some,whatever salad you want to have
or something, just like wholefoods are going to be
exponentially better for you.
And probably the same price,honestly.
I don't know.
A lot of the stuff is, it soundsexpensive because like, you'll

(22:59):
see like some of these likenutrition influencers and they
go, you have to buy the bestquality ground beef.
It has to be grass fed andfinished from Whole Foods, or
you're going to die tomorrow.
It's like, okay, well, noteverybody is making 500, 000 a
year.
And if you have three or fourkids, it's like, You can't give
your kid like a T bone steak inthe morning for breakfast every
day, like it wasn't gonna costlike 200 a day just to like send

(23:20):
your kids to school, doesn'tmake any sense, but like

Kristen (23:22):
if

Derrick (23:23):
you could do like a couple eggs cooked in coconut
oil or like tallow or somethingand give them something nutrient
dense, like they're one gonnaperform better and they're gonna
have a higher quality of life,so it's like, why not?
And they're not eating junkfood.

Kristen (23:36):
Yeah, yeah, and lately I've been doing a lot of like
the steak with the stew meats.
Oh, yeah.
It's like the cheapest.
I mean, it's, it's much, it's alot cheaper than a lot of
things.
It's easy.
It's already cut up for you andI'll make stew, but I've also
used it as like a roast where Ijust like throw it in, throw
some spices in, some vegetablesand it's just, and then it's

(24:00):
like meal prep for a week orwhatever and it's so easy and,
and it's pretty cheap.

Derrick (24:07):
Yeah, exactly.
Like, like I remember growingup, my mom would make a roast
every Sunday.
Like I love this because I canget that big roast and have like
potatoes and carrots and we hada pretty big family so it's like
and my mom didn't work so likewe're always like okay like
what's like the best food we caneat and not gonna just break the
bank right and so we'd come homefrom church on Sunday and we'd

(24:28):
have pot roast with potatoes andcarrots and she'd make a salad
or something it's like those arelike whole foods that are super
good for you and cheap Iremember we would then she would
reuse that to like okay now I'mgonna make This thing with it
and this thing with it, becauseyou make a giant pot roast.
One is easy.
Like you're saying, like a crockpot, you just like basically
turned on and leave.
And then you have food for atleast a few days, like for a
family.
Like that's, that's so crazy.

(24:50):
And it's so cost effective.
And I think we just kind of getstuck in this mindset that like,
okay.
Everything that's cheap or it'sgoing to be cost effective is
like prepackaged.
But like, in reality, that stuffis more expensive at the store,
like cost per calorie or costper gram of protein is like way
higher than, and it's not evenlike quality.

(25:10):
I guess it's kind of junk.
Like you look at like a box ofcereal, for example, like I,
that's the only thing I couldeat an entire box of.
Like my family was in front ofme for that growing up, like
where I could have like a box ofCaptain Crunch.
I'd eat the entire thing.
It's like 2000 calories or 1500calories.
But eat the entire thing andstill be hungry because that
stuff is not satiating ornutrient dense.

(25:30):
But if we would have like,instead of buying that 4 or 5
box of Captain Crunch, just gaveme like six eggs, I probably
would have just ate that andbeen done for a while.
Just something I was thinkingof, like, as we're talking here
is like, I think a lot of peopleget wrapped up and like, I think
it's interesting to talk aboutdiet and like different styles
of diet, but really what itcomes down to health.
And this is coming from justobservational things that I've

(25:50):
seen.
It's just that eating basicallya whole food diet as best you
can is going to make thegreatest impact in your life.
It's not like you have to goketo or carnivore or vegan or
whatever.
It's like just focusing oneating real food and what your
budget allows.
And if that's four eggs in themorning with a potato or
whatever, like that's a greatbreakfast.

(26:12):
Like if you cook it in like nota seed oil, like just real food.
Like, it's gonna go so much,your day's gonna go so much
better eating that, and it's notlike, oh, well, this is vegan,
or whatever, whatever, it'slike, you're eating real food
that our bodies have eatenforever, essentially, and like,
that's gonna be what your body'scraving, it's not, you don't,
you're never gonna have, like, adeficiency in, like, cottonseed
oil, or yellow number five, orsomething, you're gonna have a

(26:34):
deficiency in, like, realprotein, or vitamin A, or B, or
whatever.

Kristen (26:38):
Yeah, just cutting out the processed food, and, like
all the sugar and just cuttingthat out and just focusing on
whole foods is such a gamechanger, like between just
craving stuff.
Like, I feel like when you'reeating sugars and carbs that are
processed, you just, they're,they're engineered to make you
just want more, like we've beensaying, but, but yeah, it's, it

(27:03):
just, I feel like people startdoing that and they, all these
health problems just go away.
And it's like, oh,

Derrick (27:12):
yeah, it's like if you stop drinking Coca Cola every
day, it's like, okay, one,you're going to cut, probably
going to lose weight, but alsoyou avoid all these symptoms
that come with it.
Just high fructose corn syrupand just wanting to eat more and
more sugar because like I, ingeneral, I tried to avoid eating
like just.
white sugar, processed sugar,whatever, unless I'm like
running or riding or doingsomething active.

(27:33):
Like that is like my, I don'tknow, maybe that's debatable
with some people, but like, Ifeel like I perform better when
I'm having that sort of stuff.
But I do notice that like aftera race, for example, if I go out
and run for like, like 12 hours,the next day I'm just like, oh
my gosh, like I want sugar sobad because I've kind of become
accustomed and really addictedto just eating mass amounts of
sugar.

(27:53):
And so you're just doing that ona daily, just like, like a
whatever monster for breakfast.
And then you have Coca Cola atlunch, and then you have like a
Sprite at dinner.
It's like, you're just, yourbody just wants sugar, becomes
used to having all that sugar,and it's It's really not good
for you, obviously.
I know it's not reallydebatable, but like maybe we're
just stating

Kristen (28:11):
the obvious here.

Derrick (28:12):
We kind of are, but it's like, it's good to hear it
though.
But

Kristen (28:15):
it is, I know, I need reminders even when I'm, you
know.
Really on track, but yeah, butlike the little, all the little
bacteria in your gut, like theyfeed off of the sugar and then
they want more and you have tofeed the little sugar monsters,

Derrick (28:31):
you know, like And like people talk about sugar
withdrawal and really likethat's what it comes down to is
like your microbiome is like, ohcrap, we, it influences your
brain, like your gut, your gutmicrobiome and your brain are
connected in a lot of ways.
And so like when your gutmicrobiome is craving sugar, you
feel like withdrawal symptomsbecause your gut microbiome

(28:51):
wants that sugar and you wantthat like endorphin release and
it's, it's crazy, but once youstop for like a few days, it
doesn't become an issue anymore.
And you can just be like, Oh,well, it doesn't really attempt
to you, but like it.
Man, I used to eat so much sugarall the time and like when I
just like, I had to like weanmyself off like, okay, like I'm
gonna start drinking La Croixand then I started feeling a
little bit better and like,okay, well now what other sugars

(29:12):
can I get out of my life becauselike, this is so prevalent and
everything but like.
When you're just drinking sugar,it's like, it's crazy how much
you can drink.
And like, I'm not saying thatperfect by any means my diet,
but like, I don't know ifanybody is, and it's like,
whatever, but like, we shouldtry as much as we can to cut out
all this stuff.
Because like, we were justsaying that engineered to be
addicting.
And when we see all the negativehealth consequences for it, that

(29:34):
one are physical, but then two,they impact your brain so much
and like.
Which impacts so many otherparts of your life.
And it's, this is crazy.
Like how some, something sosimple as like bothered or
affected so many people in ourcountry and across the world,
it's really sad because it'slike food.
It should be an enjoyable thing,a social thing, because it's a
big part of culture.

(29:55):
But it shouldn't become likethis drug and shouldn't be, I
don't know, like an addictingthing that's actually hurting us
versus helping us.
Like, we should look at food asfuel and not as like a drug or
something that makes us feellike crap.

Kristen (30:06):
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of like, all ourfood is just dead.
It's a lot of dead food.
And it's not, nutritious orhelpful.
And like you said, you want toenjoy your food and it should be
there's so many rituals aroundfood and there's so many like
good things and you should likeI feel like eating comfort food
is like okay like it's a goodthing to in moderation you know

(30:27):
like we should have our thingsthey're like oh this is like a
This is lovely, but

yeah,

Kristen (30:36):
but our food is so messed up that it makes it like
dysfunctional.

Derrick (30:42):
Yeah, definitely.
And I think like within socialmedia and this is kind of one of
the negatives of social media islike, there's a reductionist
views of okay, if you just eathealthy, you're going to live
forever.
Or if you are just meditatingfor an hour a day, you're going
to live forever.
If you just do this one thing.
Everything else doesn't matter.
It's so reductionist because itdoesn't make any sense.
Our bodies are so complicatedand it's crazy that when you

(31:04):
look at all the data, it's like,okay, the spiritual side of
things matters, your mentalhealth matters, your physical
health matters, and all thesethings go together.
And like, there are studiesshowing that people who like are
actively like social with peopleand more involved with people,
they tend to live longer.
And people that are morepositive, have positive outlooks
on life generally will livelonger.
Like it's, it's so crazy to me.

(31:26):
Cause they could be a smoker.
Doing these things that we knoware bad for you.
When you have this positiveoutlook on life, you're spending
time with friends, people youcare about, and you have purpose
in life, it almost like kind oflike overshadows all that and
like puts you ahead.
I'm not saying you should startsmoking and drinking and doing
all these like bad things, butit's like, you can improve your
quality of life just by likefinding purpose.

(31:46):
Like how many people do you knowthat are just like, they're just
so depressed all the timebecause they go work their job
that they hate?
And they come home, just watchNetflix or stare at their phone,
and rinse and repeat day afterday.
And they're like, the energyaround them is like, so, like,
bad.
Like, it sounds so, like, woowoo to say that, but like,
people do put off energy.

(32:07):
And it matters.
Like, you can tell, like, whensomeone's like a positive, good
person, you want to be aroundthem.
Because like, they have thisinfectious personality, but
like, it's kind of like theirenergy that they put off, like
this spiritual energy.
And like, I don't know, like,does that make sense or am I
just kind of like I feel likeyou're

Kristen (32:23):
just me talking right now, like this is something I
would say.
I'm like, yeah, it makes perfectsense.
No, I totally agree.
Like, well, they've There wassome study.
I wish I had it available, butWhere they studied like these,
basically they found that whenpeople don't have community,

(32:45):
like they get heart disease,there's like a direct
correlation, you know, it, itreally does like all of our
mental emotional stuff reallyaffects us physically.
It like manifests physically andyeah, it is hard, like, as you
were saying with the, just thedaily grind and not, connecting.

(33:05):
It's so easy to fall into thatin our society right now.
Like I find myself looking forpurpose, you know, some days it
just doesn't, even though Ilike, I love my life.
I have great stuff going on.
I'm social, but you just kind ofwash, rinse, repeat.
Like it's just, you know, and Ifeel like we used to live in
these communities that werevery, you had a lot of purpose

(33:26):
and now it's kind of hard tofind it.

Derrick (33:29):
Yeah, definitely.
And like, even more so, like,like, we're talking remotely
right now, like, obviously,we're, we live in different
states, so it's really cool thatwe have this technology to be
able to do that.
But like, it's like with socialmedia, where people feel like
they have all these friends, allthese connections, but in
reality, it's like, that doesn'tgive you the same feeling as
like, walk, going for a walkwith somebody, or like, giving
somebody a hug.

(33:49):
Like, there's data showing that,like, having hugs is helpful for
you.
Just being with people thatlike, and actually having a real
community and like, I don't knowif you've, if you've seen
anything about this, but like,you know, like when, like, say,
like, there's a couple ofmarried for 50 years, and then
like, whatever the one of thespouses dies, the other one
almost immediately after willdie as well.

(34:09):
And it's because of a brokenheart.
But really, it's just like,okay, you lost something so
important to you.
And it's kind of like, what's mypurpose in life now?
Or like people like when theirchildren die?
It's like, okay, well, my kidshas died.
Now I'm just depressed.
And like, Things that godownhill super fast, it's like
all this stuff is related andpeople want to act like, oh,
it's like, just, it's allspiritual, like nonsense and

(34:30):
whatever, like religion's fake,but it's like, there's a reason
why, like, people have been so,like, into religion for all
these years, because it matters,like health matters, the
community matters, and I don'tknow, like, it's just crazy now
how, like, like, I don't know,like, from, like, I guess a work
perspective or point of view orsomething, like, I know a lot of
talented photographers, Andthey're younger, they're like,

(34:53):
what would you call it, likeGen, I don't know, like the 20
year old?
Gen Z?
I think it's Gen Z.
I don't know.
Is it Gen Z?
I was just discussing

Kristen (35:00):
this earlier with somebody, like, what's the age?
So I think we're still in Gen Zif they're in their 20s.

Derrick (35:06):
Okay, so say they're Gen Z, just for the sake of
like, the discussion, because Ihonestly don't know like where
these lines start and end.
No, it doesn't really matter.
Because it's just in general,where it's like, people want to
be like, look at a text like,hey, I want to like work with
you.
It's like, Who are you?
Like, I've never seen you at arace before.
I've never seen you at an expobefore.

(35:26):
We've never ran together before.
It's like, like texting somebodyis not a real connection.
You could just text an AI botall day and it's the same thing
as just texting an anonymousperson essentially.
But like, like for example, likewhen I hire people that I want
to work with, almost 100 percentof the time it's because I know
them personally and I knowthey're going to work hard and

(35:46):
do a good job.
And maybe it's just becausewe've quote unquote networked by
like going for a run togethergoing for a walk together or
something, but it's like thatmatters like those connections
matter like it sounds kind ofcrazy to say, but like the face
time you make with people isreally, really important.
And that's just from like abusiness perspective.
So then you can kind of like, Idon't know what the word would

(36:08):
be like, amplify that orextrapolate that to just social
connections in general, whereit's like, if you have a group
of people, like, you're morewilling to help somebody, you
know, than a complete stranger,right?
And then vice versa.
And so like having these likeface to face connections with
people and not to just like usepeople but like people want to
help people that they know like,like if I break down in the

(36:28):
middle of nowhere like I havefriends I know are gonna come
and get me because we're friendsand that's what your friends do
but like if I just called somerandom person they're gonna be
like What, what, like, what,like, what is going on and it's
like, and like, maybe likestrangers will help you on the
side of the road or whatever,but like, that's less and less
common these days because somany crazy things happen or
we're told crazy things happen.

(36:48):
So like, having a solidcommunity is super important and
like, whether that's a communityyou make through like, I don't
know, like going to a yoga classor something or whatever class
you want to go to just likehaving some sort of social
connection really matters and itgives you purpose to like, like
I like I'm not a professionalathlete by any means, but I have
friends who are pro runners andlike, I love going to help them

(37:10):
see them accomplish things.
It's so cool and it gives mepurpose and I feel good by
helping them because I couldcare about that person, right?

Kristen (37:18):
Yeah.
Yeah, those in personconnections are, it's, it's kind
of becoming a lost art to beable to make those connections
and especially with, I feel likethe younger generations, but I
was just listening to a podcastabout communication and she was
saying how these like, shecalled it like, I can't remember
what she called it, like weakconnections or just like these

(37:38):
little, like when you just sayhi to someone, like, it's just
like when you pass by them everyday or you just make these
little, Oh.
Baby connections.
They're, that's like what thingsare built off of.
That's like, it's so importantand we don't do it anymore
because we wear iPod, whateverthey're called.

Derrick (37:57):
AirPods.
Yeah,

Kristen (37:57):
AirPods.
Because we wear AirPods.
We wear iPods in our ears.
So, yeah, we just really don'tdo that anymore at all.
And it's, it's not good.
And I was thinking when you weretalking about just, just in
person, like, feeling someoneelse's, like, a hug, or, you
know, when you're around anactual human being, it feels so

(38:21):
different than, like, a digitalconnection, and it, it made me
think of, like, Like when I,when I done like online dating,
like back in the day when I wasreally, I do like, I remember
like Skyping with this guyforever who lived like in New
Hampshire or something.
And I was like, wow, I reallylike him.
And, and then I, he came over,he came into town and I met him

(38:44):
and I was like.
This is not it.
You know, it's just, and thathappens so much with,
especially, like, if you've doneany online dating, you notice
that, like, there's a missingcomponent.
There's an in person factor thatjust doesn't, you have to have
that to get the full experienceof someone's personality and
just, like, really actuallyconnect with them.

(39:06):
And it's, it's interesting.
So.

Derrick (39:09):
Yeah, definitely.
Like, I've had those experienceswhere, like, just chatting with
somebody, not even, like, onvideo, but just, like, they're
like messengers they have, like,in dating apps.
Yeah.
Like, oh, this person's supercool.
They sound fun.
Like, they're funny.
Like, whatever.
You kind of feel like you havelike this connection with them
and you meet them in real life.
And just like, oh, there'snothing here.
And it's, it's so weird.

(39:30):
And like, I don't know the likethe psychology behind that, but
I think it does show that likeour bodies are designed to like
actually be next to somebody andnot just communicating digitally
because you just can't, youcan't make a full connection
that way.
And it's.
And nor is it like a lastingconnection either, because like,
I don't know about you, butlike, people I've met in dating
apps where we've just chatted,and if we meet one time, it's

(39:52):
like, after that, I never thinkabout them again.
But if it's somebody I'veactually met in person and gone
on like, say, four or five dateswith and didn't work out, I
might think about them, like,oh, hey, like, that was a good
time we had together, or theysaid this or did that, and it's
not like, yeah, it didn't, like,it didn't work out, obviously,
but it's like, Oh, at least Ihave like some sort of feeling
to come from it and not justlike, like again, like texting

(40:12):
an AI bot or something.

Kristen (40:15):
Totally.
Totally.
Something I wanted to talk aboutwas you did a you did a glucose.
Continuous glucose monitor, andwe were just, we were just
talking about all the, the wayfood impacts you, and I think
it's so interesting becausenormally you get a continuous
glucose monitor, it sticks onyour arm if you have diabetes,

(40:36):
and that tracks your glucoselevels, so you know.
Where you're at and which isgreat because then that's like
the replacement for stickingyourself in the finger like
constantly, right?
But they're, they've found likecorrelations between if you can
keep your glucose levels leveland avoid spikes or dips, you

(40:58):
avoid pretty much every singlemajor disease like heart
disease, diabetes, obviouslycancer.
Dementia.
Like, everything.
Like, it's so important.
And so, you had the opportunityto try it.
Cause it's kinda, it's not superaccessible right now, I feel
like.
I'm hoping it'll be moreaccessible, coming, like, in the

(41:19):
coming years.
But In the past, you had to havea prescription for it, I think,
and I think they're finallymaking it available.
So anyway, I'd love to, I wantto hear about your experience
with that, and yeah.

Derrick (41:34):
Yeah, yeah, I guess like, just real quick, like,
love or hate the Americanhealthcare system, it is cool
that we have access to thesethings, like, with or without
insurance, because there's a guyI've listened to who's Canadian,
and he started, like, a bloodwork company.
And he's Canadian, but he had tostart it in the States because
it basically wasn't allowed inCanada because of their health
care system.

(41:54):
So the fact that we have accessto these things in the States,
and like, yeah, costs are stillrelatively high, but they have
come down a lot, like you weresaying.
Initially, like a CGM was justprescription, and now there's a
few companies selling them, andI got an ad on Instagram the
other day for one that was like50.
It was like, it's crazy.
It was super cheap.
Like I read some reviews and itwas kind of like hit or miss,
but like, I think that just kindof goes to show though, that

(42:15):
like people are interested inthis stuff and having this
market where we can buy thesethings is super cool.
Cause you can really take healthinto your own hands.
Cause like, for example, so likeI, I guess I should backtrack a
bit.
So like I got a CGM to thecompany called levels.
It's like, I think her name isCallie means is the owner or
something.
She's kind of like a big dealright now, but like.
She sent me one or the companysent me one just to try out and

(42:37):
whatever, like no obligation,basically.
But this is really interestingbecause like my, my RF family
that was like pre diabetic andlike my family doesn't
necessarily eat super healthy,like, okay, well, this would be
interesting to see like what mylevels are.
And like, I went into ithonestly, like a little
arrogant, like, Oh, like I runall the time.
So like, I'm sure my bloodsugars are great.
Like, I don't have any issueswith it.

(42:57):
And when I got my fasting bloodsugar, like day one, I was like,
this thing has to be brokenbecause it was way higher than I
thought it would be.
You know, I was like, Oh man,like this is something I need to
think about a lot.
And then I started experimentingwith foods.
I'm like, okay, well, this is ahealthy food.
How does it impact my bloodsugar?
And one specifically wasmangoes.
Where I'm like, mangoes are,they're delicious.
They're so good.

(43:18):
But then when I had one, it wasjust like a rapid spike in my
blood sugar.
And it was crazy.
And then other foods didn't dothe same.
So I was like, okay, like maybemangoes aren't something I
should be eating every daybecause of all like the things
you mentioned, like, likeassociated with high blood sugar
levels.
Like, okay.
And like, well, let's see howthis reacts in the run.
And CGMs are cool becauseinstead of pricking your finger
and having like, maybe like fouror five tests throughout the

(43:40):
day, you get an update, likeessentially continuously, like
every 15 minutes it'll like tellyou, which is super cool because
you can really see like thecurves of like how things affect
them.
Like, okay, if I have whiterice, where's brown rice?
Or if I just have, if I'mfasting, if I have meat or if I
have butter or a high fat mealor a high protein meal, like.
Like, how do these things affectmy blood sugar?

(44:00):
And it's super fascinating,especially when I'm out like on
a run or something.
It's like, well, I had this dipin energy.
Like, is that because of lowblood sugar?
Or am I just like, I don't know,I'm not feeling it today or
something.
Like for whatever reason, I'msure there's some psychological
reason why like that's a thing,but like, there is a super
interesting way to like takehealth into your own hands and
like, not just listen tosomebody says like, Oh, this is

(44:21):
healthy.
You should eat this becausemaybe that impacts me a lot more
than impacts you.
Like all of our genes arerelatively similar, but like,
like somebody from like, I don'tknow, Sudan or something is
going to have different geneticsthan mine that are more
Scandinavian European.
And so it's like, well, maybe mydiet should differ from them, or
maybe they're more sensitive tothis thing.
Maybe they can handle like ahigher, like, or a higher sugar,

(44:44):
higher carbohydrate diet than mebecause ancestrally my family
wasn't eating those foods.
And it was crazy.
I remember one time, like I wentfor a run and I was just like, I
just want to see this.
And like, I used to love donutsgrowing up.
They're so good, like, it's likethat, that fried sugar, like,
grain, like, oh, it's so good.
And I went for a run on the wayback home, there was a donut

(45:05):
shop, like, here in Arizona,there's like a whole bunch of
donut shops for, I don't knowwhy, like, I swear there's a
donut shop in every corner.
And I stopped and got like twocake donuts.
And as I was sitting there, likeI, I ate them slow on purpose so
I could sit there and like justwatch the app and like see my
blood sugar change.
And it was like insanely high,like not diabetic levels, but
just crazy high, just like superspike.

(45:28):
And then like, then I left andit was just like, bam, crash
super fast.
And it was interesting to seethat because you feel that, but
then when you see it, it's justlike, oh yeah, like it just
verifies what you're feeling.
And then.
Like same thing like I was on ashoot in Silverton, Colorado in
the winter and the only placeopen was this pizza place.
It's like a really small town.
It's like full time residence islike 200.

(45:49):
So it's super small.
It's like up in the Alpine.
It's like at 92 or 300 feet orsomething.
It's like Arctic up there in thewinter.
And we went to go get pizza.
And I was really curious to seelike what would happen with my
blood sugar.
And I had like a sourdough pizzawith like, whatever, pepperoni
and cheese on it.
And like, my blood sugar wentcrazy eating that.
And I was really surprisedbecause I was like, well, it's

(46:12):
It's carbs, but there's likesome protein and fat.
I was like, oh, maybe Ishouldn't be eating this stuff
regularly because it's, it's notgood, obviously.
It's just crazy to see that inreal life.

Kristen (46:24):
Yeah, well, I know, like, it's super, super
individual.
Like what sets your blood sugaroff and what doesn't.
And so there's no, like, this iswhat I love about it.
Cause it, often people act likethere's, they can be so
prescriptive about diet.
And it's like, no, everybody'sso different.
And so it gives you this viewinto, what your specific things

(46:45):
are.
And then I feel like you canreally tailor your diet around
that, right?
Yeah,

Derrick (46:49):
that's the cool thing is because you could say, like,
I'm going to follow the USDAguidelines, for example, which
that's a whole wide topic we canget into about corruption and
lobbying and everything.
But in reality, though, it'slike, you were able to access,
like, say, your own blood workand then use a CGM to see, like,
your blood levels.
That is a little bitreductionist as well, because
it's like, well, whatever, saylike eating coconut oil doesn't
spike my blood sugar, but it'sonly a fat.

(47:12):
It doesn't have any protein orany other like micronutrients in
it.
So like, obviously you justdon't need coconut oil for the
rest of your life, but you canuse it as a gauge though.
It's like, okay, like I can eatthis T bone steak and does this
for me.
Or if I do this, she'll do thatfor me.
And like, you can really takehealth into your own hands,
which is super cool.
It's going to cost a fewdollars, but like that.
Those, those dollars are goingto pay off in the long run.

(47:32):
Your ROI is huge.
It's like, I'd rather spend likea few hundred dollars a year on
like blood work and a CGM versuslike thousands of dollars down
the road dealing with insuranceand getting whatever disease
that you mentioned previously,like heart disease or dementia
or something like you can reallylike, like tailor your quality
of life, which is, is prettycool that we can do that
nowadays.
Honestly, like it's, it's kindof inspiring.

(47:54):
Like love or hate the techworld.
That's pretty awesome.
Like, it's cool.

Kristen (47:59):
Well, I feel like you only, you don't even have to do
it very long, right?
Like, how long did you do itfor?

Derrick (48:04):
I'm trying to remember.
I think we had him for threemonths.

Kristen (48:06):
Which

Derrick (48:07):
seems,

Kristen (48:07):
like, long enough to kind of figure out what works
for you and what doesn't, atleast, I don't know if it
changes, but, like,

Derrick (48:14):
Yeah, because, obviously, like, your, your
lifestyle patterns and yourdietary patterns will change
that stuff, and I was actuallylooking at levels the other day,
and not just to plug them,they're just one that I've used,
but, like, I want to getanother, like, CGM again, just,
you can do, like, a monthlything, just, like, one month of
the year, you can do, kind of,just buy it by the month, and I
want to do that just to see howmy levels have changed over
time.
And like, I don't necessarilyneed to have it like every day

(48:36):
for the rest of my life.
Maybe some people do, but it'scool.
You have that access.
I think most people can like useit as like a baseline, like use
it for a month.
Be like, okay.
Like this fruit really jacks up,my blood sugar, or you see it
like that, whatever that redbull I had for breakfast with
the donuts, crazy spike in myblood sugar.
It's like, okay, I shouldn't dothat.

(48:56):
This kind of validates thingsthat you know, are already true.
And it gives you that data inyour face.
And you're like, Oh yeah, like,I need to not be doing this
because otherwise I'm gonna bediabetic or something.
So, so it's pretty cool.
Yeah.
So you can do it like, and itis.
Like you were saying, it is kindof like pricey still, like I, if
I had like a family of like fivekids or something, it's like a
thousand dollars a month to likebuy CGMs, like that's crazy.

(49:17):
But if you could just like foryourself personally use it one
time, like, okay, use it for amonth, you pay the 200 or
whatever, you have this 200 upfront, but that saves you from
like being on Metformin the restof your life.
Like that's a huge win.
And that's really cool that youcan do that.
Or even just like in general tosee your fasting blood sugar
levels.
Cause I, like when I had mine, Irealized it was high.

(49:39):
Like, okay, like, this issomething I need to think about,
like, maybe I need to, maybethat's why I feel better on a
higher protein, high fat diet isbecause like my body responds
better to that.
And like, maybe other people aredifferent and like, that's fine,
but you can at least kind ofvisually see like what you
should be changing and like finetuning, even if it's just for a
month and you can do it again ayear later, another year later,
you save 10 a month or whatever,15 a month, you buy it again in

(50:02):
January again, give it a shot.
And I don't, it's an easy way.
15 a month is like for mostpeople, pretty doable.
So, like, just cancel yournetflix and get a CGM once a
month, once a year.

Kristen (50:14):
Yeah, easy!

Derrick (50:16):
Yeah, easy! It's so simple.
So easy! So

Kristen (50:18):
simple.
But, yeah, I know even, like,exercise, like, for most people,
they recommend, like,exercising, like, going for a
walk, doing something after youeat, and that will kind of lower
your, or, like, level out, atleast, your blood sugar, but
that's another thing you canplay around with, too, right?
Like, it's like, oh, I ate this.
My blood sugar was here.
I did this, like these exercisesor this time, like the timing.

(50:41):
I feel like it's something youcan kind of play around with.

Derrick (50:44):
Yeah, definitely.
Like, there's a lot of datashowing that doing like, just
going for a walk, like a 20 to30 minute walk after a meal
really dampens that spike.
Which is really cool because youcan eat like, and I'm not saying
you should eat like garbagefood, but if you do like a Chick
fil a or whatever.
Whatever it is.
Whatever it is.
Whatever the meal is, you can gofor a walk and it'll at least

(51:05):
like kind of curb that bloodsugar spike.
And I was reading something theother day that like just doing,
I think it was like 10 airsquats, like 10 body weight
squats every hour.

Yeah.
It's almost as

Derrick (51:15):
effective as Metformin, which is crazy that like
something that's free.
It's good for you.
And I think, like, personally,for me, like, I'm a pretty thin
person just in general.
I think part of the reason whymy blood sugar is higher than
what I want it to be is becauseof the lack of, like, huge
muscle mass.
Where, like, your muscles canbecome like a glycogen sink or a
sugar sink.

(51:36):
So, like, if you go to the gymand work out It's way better
than cardio, for example, so youcan go lift some weights and
that can really drop your bloodsugar levels, like, to become,
like, a healthy, or in a healthyrange.
So it's, like, really coolbecause it's, like, they're
simple things, like, and it'snot even, like, you have to go
and, like, be, like, a gym broand whatever, you can just go
and, like, do some squats, dosome basic things, and you can
do it at home, do push ups, dosquats, go for a walk.

(51:59):
That's going to exponentiallychange, like, how your blood
sugar is, and then you can seethat in real time on your CGM,
you don't just feel like you'reYelling into the wind or
something you can actually seethe results and then you just
feel more motivated at least Ido like when I see the results.
I'm like, Oh, I want to keepdoing this because I feel better
when I can actually see the dataand it's like, yeah, I need to

(52:19):
be doing this and things in ourmodern lives are just so
sedentary all the time.
And like, even though I'm fairlyactive, I still have days where
I drive a lot or I sit a lot onmy computer and it's like, okay,
I should be walking around a bitmore and doing something a bit
more.

Kristen (52:33):
Yeah, well in the I was, I think I was listening to
Calley Means talking about that,the, if you get up every, Every
hour or every half hour orsomething and just do like a few
just like two minutes.
Just do something active It'slike even better than for you
then Doing like a hard workoutfor an hour once a day.
It's like way better for you inthe long run Yeah, and that's

(52:55):
that's so doable.
I think for most people

Derrick (53:00):
Say like like say you like you have an office job like
kind of like I'm, I've putmyself in a situation where I
don't really have like a quoteunquote office job.
I still like stare at mycomputer a lot and I'm editing
jobs where I edit a lot and sitat the computer.
But if you get up every hour andjust like go for like a five
minute walk, like just walk toget a drink of water or like go
do something, that just helpswith everything.

(53:20):
It helps with blood flow andyour concentration.
It kind of resets your mind.
It can maybe like lower theblood sugar down a little bit.
It's like these very basicthings.
I think we try to overcomplicatenutrition.
It's like, Oh, you have to.
Do a 20 minute HIIT workout, andthen you have to lift weights,
and you have to only eat meat,and you can only do this, and
then you have to take like 10,000 supplements, and make sure

(53:41):
it's all like, the mostexpensive ones, it's like, no,
like, go for a walk, eat realfood, go play with your dog,
like, I don't know, do somethingjust for a few minutes every
day, and like, it all adds up,like, it's all like, compounding
and adds on top of each other,and, but I think like, maybe
it's just the marketing fromlike, and this is, It kind of
theorized in here, like maybeconspiracy theory a bit, but

(54:02):
like, just like big pharmacompanies have told us, they're
like, no, like, if you want tobe healthy, you have to take a
stat, you have to take thisdiabetes drug, or you have to do
this, and it's like, notnecessarily, like, do all these,
do the Hadza in Africa, like,take metformin and stuff, or
like, do these, like, nativetribes that are just eating real
food and walking around everyday and doing stuff, are they

(54:23):
taking pharmaceutical?
No, like, they're just livinghow humans are supposed to live,
and And we, we don't have tolike live in the jungle like or
whatever, but like we can applysome of those principles to our
everyday lives and still takeadvantage of like the stuff that
we have here.

Kristen (54:38):
Yeah, well we're so separate from nature now that we
think we're not part of it.
And it's like, you, we wereliving like we did like even 100
years ago I feel like we'd justbe a lot more, a lot more in
tune and a lot more liketrusting our bodies.
You know, and not that we couldtrust our bodies because they're

(54:58):
working the way that they'resupposed to as well, you know.

Derrick (55:03):
Yeah, and like, honestly, like, it sounds funny,
but like when, man, this ismaybe going to get like hate
comments, but like, and I didn'tthink this was real for years.
I thought it was just all likekind of crazy talk, but like
grounding, like walking barefooton the ground.
One, it feels really good, butthen it's like our bodies and
everything like in the world islike, has like some sort of

(55:24):
electromagnetic field.
I don't, I'm not an expert byany means on this.
I'm not going to act like I am,but like just walking barefoot,
like out on the grass or in thesand, doing little things like
that.
Like, you don't have to go walklike down the street in a city
barefoot, but like just going toa park and walking around
barefoot or like, it feels sogood.
And it kind of makes you feelconnected to the planet, which I

(55:44):
know sounds like hippie ish orwhatever.
But, like, it also kind of makessense that, like, these people
that are walking around withoutshoes on, like, they're
connected to nature, and, like,this is one little thing that we
can do as well, like, you know,and plus it just feels good,
like, just flat out, like, froma very, like, top level
perspective, it just feels good,so, like, why not do it?

Kristen (56:04):
Totally.
Yeah.
Well, in our bodies, like, ourhearts and our brains are very
electromagnetic, you know, andso it makes sense, because there
are, like, there'selectromagnetic fields in the
earth, and it's, like, That's athing.
And yeah, I think it's becominga little more well known, I
guess, but when you, when youthink about it, it's like, Oh,
that actually makes a lot ofsense that we would like feel

(56:26):
better and feel like polarizedand grounded when we connect
with the earth.
So, yeah, podcast for you totalk about that.
So it's fine.

Derrick (56:38):
Well, I don't want to make it sound like, Oh, like you
just walk around barefoot.
You're going to like cure canceror something.
But like,

Kristen (56:42):
yeah,

Derrick (56:44):
your mood's going to change a hundred percent.
You're going to cure yourdepression.
Like that's not, maybe not true,but it could maybe when there's
like small little things we cando that just makes us feel
better.
And like, if it just, if youjust walk outside barefoot and
you just feel a little happier,it's like.
That's a net positive.
Like, why not do that?
So it doesn't cost

Kristen (57:02):
anything.

Derrick (57:02):
Yeah.

Kristen (57:03):
Yeah.
Totally.
Going back to like the glucosemonitor and the, all that me and
you did Viome.
We did Viome tests a while back.
Well, you did it.
And then you told me about it.
I think that's what happened.

Audio Only - All Participants (57:21):
I was like, that

Kristen (57:22):
sounds cool.
But That was like another coolthing where it's like
personalized and I was justthinking about when you were
talking about the glucosemonitor and like all these
little things that are sopersonalized and all these you
can test all these differentkind of techniques with what
your body needs as far as likehow to live how to live and how
to operate and like uh how toeat and what's optimal and not

(57:46):
that like Not that you have tobe boxed into this stuff all the
time or anything, but it's justgood to know.
It's just good information.
It's like, how would we haveever even, I had never heard of
this stuff until you told me, Ithink, or something.
I don't know.
So I listened to a podcastprobably.
But yeah, it's just like onemore thing.

(58:07):
That was a, that was a cooltest.
Cause they, they do the, theytake a, you send them a blood
sample.
I think We both did, I don'tknow what you did, I did a blood
sample and a stool sample.
You just like, they send you alittle kit, a finger prick,

Audio Only - All Participan (58:20):
and

Kristen (58:21):
stuff you need.
And then you like, do your, doyour thing and they send it back
to them and they testeverything.
And like, granted it's probablyjust like a snapshot of your
body that day.
You know, so it's kind of like.
I don't know.
But it was cool because theygive you foods, like, they label

(58:42):
it super foods I can't rememberwhat the other one is, like,
foods that are going to bereally good.
Yeah.
Foods to avoid.
And like, never, like, don't,really try not to eat this.
It's not going to be good foryou.
And it's all based on, like,your gut health.
And your blood.
But that was a cool one.
Cause it gives you some basis.
It gives you like something toexperiment with and try where

(59:03):
you're like, okay, this is whatmy body's telling me, telling
them, whatever.
And it just gives you somethingto start with where it's like,
okay, now I know, but also Idon't feel like the test was
like bulletproof, you know, likesome of the things on it, I was
like.
I know that doesn't agree withme.
That should not be on my goodfoods list, you know?

(59:25):
But like, it was, it was cool,and I felt really good when I,
like, followed that diet.
So, I don't know what yourthoughts were with that, but.

Derrick (59:35):
I think it's really interesting because I think,
like, at least right now, like,gut health is kind of having
like this renaissance, wherepeople are like really focused
on it because they realize likehow much that affects
everything.
And it, and it does becauselike, say like, whatever you're,
you eat a bunch of food, but ifyour body can't digest it,
What's the point of eatinghealthy food if you're not
absorbing any of it?
So you kind of have to have ahealthy gut to be able to absorb

(59:56):
these things, which would bereflected probably in your blood
work or something.
And I think right now, at leastin my opinion, it's still fairly
rudimentary because it's kind ofnew technology in a lot of ways,
but it's still really cool thatwe're doing this, that you can
kind of take this snapshot.
Maybe it's not going to, I don'tknow, I don't know, I guess it

(01:00:17):
can be very useful, I guess, andbeneficial to your life, and
affect a lot of things, and thenyou can compare and contrast
these things, so like, okay,then I wore a CGM, and it said
to avoid, like, mine says avoidkombucha.
It's like, okay, but then Inoticed that when I was wearing
my CGM, if I drank a kombucha,it spiked my blood sugar just as
much as like drinking a Coke.
So it's like, oh, maybe Ishouldn't be drinking kombucha,
because I've been kind ofvalidated twice right now.

(01:00:38):
So, I don't know, like, I guess,in the end, I think all these,
like, companies, like, I guessyou'd call them like biotech
companies that are starting upare really cool.
Because it's really bringinglike nutrition, like when it's
personalized, this is going toramp up more and more over the
years, but it's verypersonalized.
And we're not just kind of stuckwith like blanket statements
because like, that has nothelped people obviously, like

(01:00:59):
the recommendations from likethe government have been a total
failure.
You see like every chronicdisease is like amplified over
the years.
So it's like, okay, like now wehave these companies that are
trying to solve the problem.
That's really cool.
And like, maybe a volume, like,I think it was great.
It was really cool to see thedata.
Super interesting.
And maybe it's not perfect, butit can help put you in at least

(01:01:19):
the right direction.
And I think that's like wherepeople will try to like, I don't
know, like They're like, Oh,it's not perfect.
So it's a waste of money or it'sall voodoo crap.
Like don't use it because it's awaste of time.
It's like, no, like these thingsare important because they're
pushing us in the rightdirection.
It's like, like just doing astudy essentially on yourself.
But when you can kind of compileall these data and like the

(01:01:40):
super set of data, like that'sreally cool.
And if we can use that to likehelp people, like, and like,
say, then you can apply that tolike, Your specific genetics,
like say like Scandinavians, asan example, it's not data or
accurate at all, but it's like,let's just say, for example,
like that Scandinavians dobetter, like 90 percent of them
do better on a high fat, highprotein diet.

(01:02:01):
Great.
That's how most Scandinaviansshould, that should give you
like a baseline.
But then like, for example, likesomeone who lives in like the
equator, maybe they should behaving a more high carb diet
because that's what they're usedto genetically.
It's like, that'd be really coolto know all this data and like.
You just have to help peopleversus just like, Oh, blanket
guideline, eat vegan.
It's like, that's clearly nothelping people.

(01:02:22):
And like, it doesn't take agenius to realize that.
Like, I'm not going to say I'm agenius by any means, but like,
you just look at trends and dataand it's like, Oh yeah, we've
been kind of screwing things upover the years.
It's like, how can we fix that?
And it seems like it's just kindof going back to basics, like
eat real food, go spend timeoutside, go for a walk, lower
your chronic stress levels.
You do all these things.

(01:02:43):
And you're just gonna, it's likevery basic, like health wise,
and there's like, there are likedifferences between like men and
women and whatever, like geneticdifferences and variances in
people, but like, generally it'slike they're all kind of
similar, which is, I think allthese like data are proving
that, it's, it's, it's justreally cool.

Kristen (01:03:00):
Yeah, yeah, and I think it can feel a little bit
intimidating when there's allthese tests and they're kind of,
they're not like cheap.
They are, Viome if you don't buyit on sale.
Yeah, I don't even know what itcosts.
You're a sucker, like, don't,like, don't get their stuff if
it's not on sale.

Audio Only - All Particip (01:03:15):
Yeah.

Kristen (01:03:16):
Buy, they're always having some kind of big sale.
But knowing things like thathelps.
But often though, you can do itjust once.
And it's it gives you I onlytook the test once I could have
done it again, but I was like,it's probably gonna be similar.

Audio Only - All Participan (01:03:29):
And like

Kristen (01:03:29):
that can be helpful if you have the means to do that.
But you know, I feel like justdoing it once gives you a good
baseline where you're like,okay, and then if you want to do
it again, like you were sayingin a year or whatever, then do
it again.
If you want to do it all thetime, fine, but like, There are
ways to make it like you canmake it work for you.
I feel like, well, yeah, mostpeople can, I think,

Derrick (01:03:50):
to some degree, yeah, most people can.
And if you can't, like, it'slike, no shame on you.
It's like, okay, well, maybe youcan use someone else's data to
like, try to apply that to yourlife.
Or maybe you just You put away afew dollars every month, so you
can do that test once a year,and it might be a sacrifice, but
that sacrifice will pay off,because like, I'm not rich by
any means, but I do think it'simportant to like, focus on
health, and like, maybe this islike my mindset about things,

(01:04:13):
but, it's like, you can, if youreally want something, you can
find a way to make it happen,it's like, hey, well, where can
you cut out that money from yourbudget?
Like, is that like, I don'tknow, every morning you stop and
get a soda or coffee somewhere.
Cool.
Like, don't do that.
For just only do it two days aweek or something and pocket
that money and put in a littlesavings and then use that to buy

(01:04:34):
a CGM and then you're going tosee like, okay, like, well, now
I have some data to show me likewhat I should improve upon in my
life.
And it's interesting too,because I, I'm a big believer in
like voting with your dollar,where like, instead of having
like, oh, some sort of likegovernment regulation or the law
or whatever, it's like, okay,like, I think that like CGMs are
cool.
So I should like support thesecompanies by buying their

(01:04:56):
product.
Same with anything.
If it's a good brand, likesupport them by paying for it.
And like, if you can, like,whatever, like, financially, as
much as you can afford to do it,that's awesome, because it's
going to help more people.
And, but if you can't, like,yeah, same thing, like, no
shame, like, not everybody has,like, million dollar homes and
can afford, or million dollarpaychecks all the time, they can
afford these things, but, like,just kind of do what you can,

(01:05:17):
and then, like, if you can't atall, it's like, okay, like,
start cutting out processedfoods.
Kind of hyper processed stuff tosee real food.
Like, you're gonna feel a lotbetter.
Like, it's like, almost not evendebatable.
Like, it's gonna feel better byeating real food.

Kristen (01:05:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I feel like there's a,there's another, like, there's
kind of a learning curve whenyou're getting into that, when
you're switching over.
Like, I started doing food prepwith a friend a few years back.
And I, I already, I've alwaysbeen pretty into healthy eating,
but there was still, like, acurve of, like, figuring out.

(01:05:52):
recipes and meals and how to,and like the best places to shop
to get the cheapest stuff andthe best quality.
But at the, you know, figuringout that whole thing is kind of
a, it's a lot of mental work inthe beginning, but once you
figure it out, then it's likereally easy.
And so there's like, it's notalways easy to like jump into
the stuff, but then once youfigure it out, it's like, Oh,

(01:06:14):
okay.
Now this is more like just partof my routine and.
Lifestyle, I guess.

Derrick (01:06:21):
Exactly, like if you, if you go to like, say you're
going to go to the grocery storeand you know all the work you're
going to get, like one, you juststart saving time.
Say you're going to meal prepfor the week.
It's like, okay, well, I'm goingto need this much ground beef.
I'm going to need these manypotatoes.
You just go in and it's like,bam, bam, bam.
The first time it might take youa moment to kind of like figure
out the layout of the store forthose specific things.
But like, in that grocery shopnow, it's just like, just go and

(01:06:43):
do it and it's done.
In and out.
Yeah.
It's just so simple and like Idon't spend as much money
because I'm not buying like, I'mnot affected by like all these
potato chips over here.
It's like buy, buy three, getone free or something.
I'm like, Oh, that's a greatdeal.
It's like you just don't eventhink about that and it just
becomes habit after a while.
And like, like once again, likeI'm not perfect with my diet.
I want to just clarify that, butlike, for the most part though,

(01:07:04):
it's like, it's just so simpleto be like, go in and buy these
things and like, not be temptedevery time to like, I'm going to
spend 10 on just like junk thatI don't need.
I can just go buy what I need.
Yeah.

Kristen (01:07:17):
Then it just becomes

Derrick (01:07:17):
habit.
It's just such a normal thing.
Like meal prepping.
So you just spend Sunday eveningmeal prepping.
Cool.
That's what you do.
It's easy.
If you have like breakfast ideasin your head already.
Yeah.
I'm going to have my eggs andthis and this and that.
I'm good to go.
You don't even think aboutbuying like tricks or whatever
cereal people buy.
I don't know.

Kristen (01:07:37):
Yeah.
I'm like, well we just solvedeveryone's problems.
You're welcome.
World problems are solved.
All you gotta do,

Audio Only - All Participan (01:07:44):
all you gotta do is listen to us.

Derrick (01:07:46):
Yeah.
And to be totally honest though,it's like, it was hard.
Like when I was cutting outthings, like, I think baby
stepping was a really good wayto get like, To just eat better.
It's not like day, like you'vebeen eating like garbage your
entire life and like suddenlyI'm carnivores, like that's
going to be really hard.
Like what you could do is justlike, okay, like I'm still going

(01:08:08):
to eat my normal diet for lunchand dinner, but I'm going to
start by having a goodbreakfast.
I'm going to have like Greekyogurt with honey and some
blueberry and a few eggs orsomething like that's an
example.
That's a start your day offright.
And you're like, okay, well, nowI can apply that to my lunch.
What can I make for lunch that'sgoing to be also, is equally
going to make me feel good andhealthy.

(01:08:29):
You can just kind of baby stepinto things.
Or if you have a soda addiction,like, like I was saying earlier,
like I drink so much soda andlike energy drinks, it's like,
okay, now I'm just going to docarbonated water.
And I put like a flavored ones.
It's like, yeah, it's not thesame, but eventually it becomes
your normal.
And then you want that versuswanting like a orange soda or a
Coke or something.
And so I guess it's kind of babystepping through things and not

(01:08:50):
beating yourself up because it'slike, oh, I failed today because
I had my, my Swig or whatever.
It's like, no, like you, okay.
You made a mistake.
That's fine.
Like.
Whatever.
It is what it is.
Enjoy it and then move on andthen just start eating good
again.
Like it's not a big deal.

Kristen (01:09:03):
Or maybe you're keeping your swig for a little while and
you're switching out this other,you know, like it's, it's fine.
Like everything, everything is,it counts.
It's fine.
I've done that with ingredientstoo, where I'm like, Oh, I'm
just going to get avocado oil.
And that is now what lives in mycupboard, you know, or just
slowly switching out ingredientsyou have.

Derrick (01:09:23):
Yeah.
Cause it is hard, like from afinancial perspective, like,
okay, I'm going to clean out allmy cabinets.
It's like, and then restocks,like that's expensive, but like,
okay, like, say you wanted tobuy better quality salt, it's an
easy, simple one, right?
So you can, you finish out yourtable salt, then you start
buying like, like sea salt orRedmond sea salt or whatever,
pink Himalayan salt, somethinglike that.
It's like, yeah, it's one smallchange that like, maybe it's

(01:09:45):
like an incremental differencein like how you're going to
feel, but it's just anotherpositive step.
And it's like, okay, well nowI'm going to, instead of having,
I don't know.
Whatever pop tarts again, youfeel you made your own.
I guess that took forever.
Make your own pop tarts Like youcould do something like that.
Like just making food at home.
Yeah No other time reallydesire, I'm sure they'd be

(01:10:06):
delicious So like or just likemaking meals at home instead of
eating out for dinner I know alot of people do that every
night cuz it's easy and whateverIt's like the same amount of
time to like go drive somewhereand buy food And then whatever,
throw it away, it's like, youcould just make an easy meal at
home.
Like, or if you're mealprepping, it's like, it's just
there and ready to go, just doit.

Kristen (01:10:25):
Yeah, emphasis on easy, right?
Like, few ingredients orsomething, yeah.
Yeah.

Derrick (01:10:30):
Yeah, cause honestly, like, I, I hate cooking, I hate
the clean up.
I guess I, I shouldn't say Ihate cooking, I just hate the
clean up.
Doing all that, but like, Ifound ways that work for me that
are really simple to make ahealthy meal that I enjoy.
And so like, that might not bethe same for you, but you can
find these ways that are easy.
Like, like I have a meat smoker,and so I can put like burger
patties on there, and like theytaste super good.

(01:10:52):
And I can just kind of throwthem on there, and I can be
editing and working.
And like, oh, well dinner'sready.
And it's like, it's so simpleand that works for me may not
work for you, but it works forme and that's what I found out
works and or like, I don't know,like, I guess it'd be more
expensive.
You can buy like boiled eggs.
You can buy them pre boiled.
Like, not that it's hard to boileggs, but like you can do that.

(01:11:13):
And if that's going to be theone step to improve your
breakfast every morning, causeyou hate cleaning eggs off a
pan.
Do that.
It's super simple.
Like And if it's going to putyou on the right track, give it
a shot.
Yeah.

Kristen (01:11:26):
Do what works for you, right?

Derrick (01:11:28):
Exactly.

Kristen (01:11:30):
Yeah.
Okay.
You're doing, you're getting,you're in the middle of getting
tested for, this is the new, thelatest sponsor thing you're
doing.
You're getting your biomarkerstested.
With some company, I don'tremember, is it Forum or Forum?

Derrick (01:11:46):
Function Health.

Kristen (01:11:47):
Function.
Function Health.
And they offer like a ton ofbiomarker tests.
And, tell us about that.
What's a biomarker?
How do they do this?
What does it mean?

Derrick (01:12:02):
So yeah, so Function Health is kind of one of these
like, companies where theyessentially contract out to
different like, like, whateverlike, blood draw people,
whatever, so they draw a bunchof blood.
And then they analyze all of itand they put all your data like
in this app and you can use theapp and the membership to kind
of view your results over time.
So I went in, it was justyesterday I think it was, and

(01:12:25):
went in the morning and thiswoman, I don't know what you
would call them like that.
It's a lab.
Yeah, I think it's a quest,quest or something.
I don't know what it's called.
We don't, we don't know thedoctor.
We don't

Kristen (01:12:35):
know.
I don't know.

Derrick (01:12:36):
I honestly, like, when I walked in, I was just like,
oh, I don't like hospitals andstuff because it's like a
hospital, like medical setting.
That's what kind of like weirdsme out, which sounds funny
because I'm interested in it.
But so this woman, like she drewa bunch of vials.
It was like eight to 10 vials orsomething.
It was a lot of blood and I waslike, well, this is a lot.
But then what they do is thenthey analyze it and then your
biomarkers would be things like,They say your vitamin D levels

(01:12:57):
or your testosterone levels oryour pre testosterone like all
these different things that areassociated with different health
outcomes.
And like, so they sent me anemail and it's just like this
thing where it was just likewith no obligation, we're just
trying to like figure thingsout.
I'm like, oh, cool.
It sounds interesting.
And like, so I'm gonna do aYouTube video about it.
Cause I'm just like curious.
Cause it's like, Yeah, like whatare my results going to be?

(01:13:18):
And like my main one, thinkingabout it from like my
lifestyles, my testosteronelevels as a male, because like
traditionally like people whoare in endurance sports, like
specifically running andcycling, like their testosterone
kind of drops a lot.
You're not doing a lot ofstrength trainings, more
endurance work.
And so I'm like, Oh, like, Iwonder what my levels are like,
because I do eat what should beconsidered like a high or a

(01:13:43):
testosterone raising diet.
But at the same time though,it's like, well, I'm doing these
other things that could kind ofconflict with that.
So that's what I'm reallycurious about.
But then there's all these otherthings too.
It's like they test yourelectrolyte levels and like
other things that couldpotentially like detect cancer.
And like, I can't name all thetop of my head.
There's a lot.
100 plus just in the basic test,but then they also offer like

(01:14:05):
allergen testing and differentthings as well.
So it's like, it's like reallyinteresting because it's like
you can get blood work done.
And I think if you were to payfor it, it's like, like two or
300 or something.
And you could do that like onceor twice a year, but the same
thing, like it sets you in theright direction.
It's like, okay, like, like forme personally, it's like when
it's not sunny out, I don't feelas happy and energetic.

(01:14:28):
So it's like, I wonder if thathas something to do with my
vitamin D levels, becausevitamin D is like, it's a
hormone, it's like a link tolike, your attitude and like,
stress and all these differentthings, so I'm like, oh, maybe
that's related.
So like, if I have low vitaminD, it's like, I either need to
be in the sun more, which I'malready in the sun a lot, but in
the winter.
You know, it's, it's prettyvariable or I can supplement
with vitamin D and like thatmight be something that can

(01:14:49):
improve my quality of life andlike vitamin D supplements are
cheap going out in the sun ischeap.
So like, that could beinteresting.
Or if my testosterone levels arelow, it's like, Oh, well, maybe
I should maximize that becauseas a male, that's really
important.
And like women have testosteroneas well.
And that's also important for,for females, but just a little
different for women or for menand women.
So like, I think with women,they do like estrogen testing as

(01:15:11):
well, like all these differentthings.
So that way you can Once again,kind of like optimize your life.
And it took like, I think 10 or15 minutes to draw the blood and
like.
I didn't try not to look at itbecause I was like, Oh, man,
this is gonna suck, but it waskind of interesting.
So I'll get the results back ina couple weeks, I think is what
it is.
So I'll have another test in acouple days and they use those

(01:15:32):
and they compare and contrastthem all the time.
So yeah, it's really interestingbecause it's like, okay, I'm
taking my health into my ownhands and not just being like,
oh, well, his doctor said this,so this must be true.
It's like, no, you can do itwithout insurance is the cool
thing too.
Like they actually likenegotiate rates.
So it's cheaper without havingto have insurance.
And so you don't have to dealwith the whole hassle of like, I

(01:15:53):
got to deal with my insuranceprovider and all these different
things.
You can just go out and do it,which is super cool.
It's like another thing of like,Okay, like, like free market,
essentially economies andhealthcare, like, it's kind of
cool that these people can likestart a company.
And this is what they're doing.
It's like you're analyzing bloodand like trying to improve
people's lives.
And it's really cool.
I'm spacing the guy's name isthe founder of it.

(01:16:15):
But he's kind of like a big liketech entrepreneur, like
biohacker type guy.
And so I'm just honestly reallycurious about it.
And I'm just trying to see like,okay, what I can do to not that
in my life is bad by any meanshelp wise, but it's like, Oh,
well, Maybe I can improvesomething or maybe like my
cholesterol levels are terribleor my blood lipids or something

(01:16:36):
like these things that I don'tknow could lead to other health
outcomes.
So it's gonna be cool.
I'm excited to see the results.

Kristen (01:16:42):
Yeah, and sometimes you get, you don't know until you
know, like you don't realize youfeel crappy until you fix
something you're like, Whoa, sothat's kind of a fun like There
could be something that's wayoff that you'd never realize,
but now you know, maybe, but

Derrick (01:16:57):
Yeah, and it could be something super simple, like say
it's just like vitamin Cdeficient.
It's like, well, it's super easyto fix your vitamin C levels.
Like, whatever, it's like theeasiest thing on the planet, but
if you were having like, justnot feeling well for years and
it was that simple, it's like afew dollars to fix it, it's like
That's cool.
It's way better than going tothe doctor a million times and
having them put you on drugs andstuff like I'm not saying

(01:17:19):
getting your blood drawn is fun,but it's definitely better than
like being stuck at a doctor'soffice and having health
problems.

Kristen (01:17:26):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Did they help you like interpretor did they like interpret like
what is going on?

Derrick (01:17:34):
So like the woman or the, I guess it would be male or
female that does like the blooddraw.
They're just like, you're justkind of in and out.
They're just like a personwhatever, but when they send all
this stuff off and then Theyload the results onto their app
and then you're able to see thatand then I think after a couple
weeks they like kind of givelike their recommendations, you
don't necessarily have to followthem this is kind of you can see

(01:17:55):
like what your levels are at.
And then from there, makechanges yourself if you want, or
you can have like doctorrecommendations.
And I think there's likedifferent tiers as well.
Like mine's like the most basicone and I'm not paying for it
and I'm, I'm okay with it.
But like, I'm sure you can go alot more involved and in depth
with it.
And then you can even use thatif you really needed to.
It's like, well, okay.
Say like, Hey, like my I don'tknow, like cancer, like

(01:18:18):
potentially like these factorsare like indicating that I might
have like.
Might have cancer in the future.
Then I can go to a real doctorand be like, how can I fix this?
So you can use it as a baselineand preemptively fix a problem.
That's going to come about,which is just, this is really
freaking cool because it'sbetter than just showing up to
the doctor.
And then they go, you havecancer and you're going to die.
Like you can, you can fix it.
It's like, this is so cool.

(01:18:38):
Like, I don't know, like I'm,I'm really excited about stuff
like this because it's justgoing to help so many people's
lives and the more companiesthat started doing this, it's
going to drive the cost down andbecome so accessible to people.
And we've seen that withtechnology, like how cheap
computers, like I guess iPhonesand stuff are still relatively
expensive, but like, you can getlike a cheap Android phone for
almost nothing now.

(01:18:58):
Like, that's so cool.
You have like a supercomputer inyour hand.
And so, like, think about thatwith like medical technology.
You can get, maybe in thefuture, get a blood draw for
like 20 or get a CGM fornothing.
Just buy it, like a CVS.
Like, that'd be so cool if youcould do that.
Not the deal with insurance andall these different, like,
regulations.

Kristen (01:19:17):
Yeah, yeah, I'm really hoping, really hoping things are
just gonna, I don't know,improve in that way.
That'd be great.
I hope so too.
I'm pretty optimistic

Derrick (01:19:27):
about it right now, honestly.
Yeah,

Kristen (01:19:29):
yeah, I'm hoping.

Derrick (01:19:29):
Yeah.

Kristen (01:19:30):
So, maybe this will just be like, no big deal in the
future, we'll see.
But, yeah, and that takes like afew weeks for you to get
results.
Is that right?

Derrick (01:19:41):
Yeah.
I think they say two weeks.
Well, the email said two weeksfor full results, but then I got
an email today or a text orsomething from them and they
said the results will tricklein.
So I don't know what that reallymeans, but I don't know.
So hopefully by mid February, Ihave all my results back.

Kristen (01:19:56):
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, we'll have to, we'll haveto chat about it when you get
your results.

Derrick (01:20:02):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Or you

Kristen (01:20:03):
can just send the YouTube video, I guess.
But I don't want to

Derrick (01:20:07):
talk to you.
Watch the video.
Give me a view.

Kristen (01:20:09):
Okay.

Audio Only - All Parti (01:20:11):
Perfect.

Derrick (01:20:13):
But I'm really excited for it, though.
And like, one, for like, justpersonally, like, I'm excited
for it, but then also, like,okay, like, if it is really
helpful to me, then it's like,well, I can tell other people
about it.
And if it's beneficial tosomebody else, like, that's
super cool.
Just thinking about that, likeAnd once again, like not a
doctor by any means, but it'slike, I can tell somebody about
like, oh, the CGM or thisfunction health test that

(01:20:35):
improves their quality of life.
Like that's really cool.
That's awesome.

Kristen (01:20:40):
That's what we're here for.
It's what we want.

Derrick (01:20:44):
Exactly.

Kristen (01:20:45):
Yeah.
Oh man.
So do you have kind of likewrapping it up?
Do you have like a, a resourceor a book that you really love
that's helped you that you'drecommend to people?
Is there a kind of.
Yeah,

Derrick (01:21:00):
so there's a when I first started getting into like
nutrition stuff or even when Ifirst started to be like when I
was getting more wrapped up init.
There's a journalist, her nameis Nina Teicholz, and she wrote
a book called The Big FatSurprise, and she started doing
research on like seed oils andfats and like just dietary
guidelines.
And, like, back at the time whenI heard about the book, it was

(01:21:23):
like, oh, buy canola oil, it'sheart healthy, and these seed
oils are so good for you, like,avoid tallow, avoid whatever
fats, because they're going toclog your arteries and you're
going to die.
Then when she started doingresearch on it, she was like,
like, this data doesn't add up,like, none of this makes sense,
and, like, these big companiesare, like, shutting me down, and
they won't talk to me, and I'm ajournalist, and it's really

(01:21:44):
weird.
Because we started doing moreand more research about it, and
then she wrote a book, and it'sjust basically all about how,
like, How seed oils are bad forour health, and it's all data
backed as well.
And so that was reallyinteresting to me, and I really,
like, I don't know what you'dsay, like, kind of catapulted or
sparked my interest more into,like, doing my own research into
nutrition.

(01:22:05):
And not to be, like, okay, like,conspiracy theories to help
things or whatever, but, like, Ithink doing your own research is
very valid.
Because, like, you can hear whatyou hear on TV or from, like,
the government or whatever, butthen it's, like, well, is that
actually true?
And there's nothing wrong withhaving an inquisitive mind.
It could be true or not.
You can validate it foryourself.
And so the fact that she didthat just on a larger scale is
really interesting.

(01:22:26):
And so the book is, it's allabout like fats and like how
fats aren't necessarily bad foryou.
And like the research that shedid for that.
And it's a really cool book.
It's really interesting.
And like, whether you agree withit or not, I think it's
important to, to questionthings.
And then you're like, Oh, theseare the data and this is what's
being shown.
What can I do with this for myown life?
And that's essentially what shedid.

(01:22:47):
And so, yeah, it's a cool book,it's really interesting, and it
just makes you think.

Kristen (01:22:53):
Yeah, sounds like like there's research, and there's,
you know.
So that's kinda, that's cool.

Derrick (01:22:59):
Yeah, it's really interesting, like just, cause
like she wasn't like a quoteunquote expert in nutrition, but
she was a journalist and justvery inquisitive about things.
And so that's, yeah, she justcompiles all this information,
and it's like, yeah, kind ofwhat journalism is.
Like, then you can analyze itfor yourself.
And I think that's what we allshould be doing, and like, I
think that's what we've alllearned in the past few years,

(01:23:20):
is that, like, you're gonna heara lot of things, but it's like,
what's actually true, and youneed to question things for
yourself.
And that's with everything inlife, I feel like.
Whether it's nutrition, or,like, whatever, like, spiritual
things, like, question it, talkabout it, and like, just because
you question something doesn'tmean you disagree with it, you
just want to know the truth,right?

Kristen (01:23:39):
Yeah.
Yeah, and like, trustingyourself enough to know that you
can kind of look into things.
And

Derrick (01:23:44):
yeah, exactly.
Find

Kristen (01:23:45):
good resources.

Derrick (01:23:47):
Yeah.
And I think just blindlytrusting anybody is like, yeah,
it's kind of a weird way to goabout life.
And I don't know.
It might just having discussionsabout things like opens up your
eyes and your point of views todifferent things.
And it should be something thatwe're all doing all the time.

Kristen (01:24:01):
Totally.
Agreed.

Derrick (01:24:03):
Cool.
All right.

Kristen (01:24:05):
Well, Derek, where, where can people find you if
they want to look out?

Derrick (01:24:11):
Instagram is my main thing.
Cause I just post a lot of like.
Photo stuff, obviously, it'slike my job.
So just Derek Lytle onInstagram, and I post my podcast
stuff on there as well.
So that's the best way toconnect, is just on Instagram.

Kristen (01:24:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, and your podcast is TheJuniper Lab?

Derrick (01:24:27):
Yeah.
Correct.
So that's on YouTube, ApplePodcasts, Spotify, and yeah, all
those things.

Kristen (01:24:36):
Perfect.
Well, thanks so much.
I'm so glad you could come andchat.

Derrick (01:24:40):
Yeah, me too.
I'm glad we could chat remotely.

Kristen (01:24:41):
In person would be better,

Derrick (01:24:43):
obviously, for the social connection, but remotely
works too.

Kristen (01:24:46):
This'll do.
This'll do.
Thank you so much for listening.
If you are enjoying WhollyEmpowered, share it with that
friend or on your socials.
You can also hit the followbutton if you want to keep up
with the latest episodes.
Until next time, stay empowered.

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10. All About Nutrition, Glucose Tracking, and Biomarkers - with Derrick Lytle

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}10. All About Nutrition, Glucose Tracking, and Biomarkers - with Derrick Lytle