Episode 581: Dr. Joey Munoz: Nutrition Myths, Muscle Loss, and Sustainable Fat Loss

Fresh it!

Welcome to Habits and Hustle, where I sit down with the world's biggest thinkers, entrepreneurs

and experts, to uncover the habits and strategies that actually move the needle in your health, happiness, and success. And today, I'm sitting down with Dr. Joey Moon as, who is a nutrition expert and full-time coach, who helps people lose fat, build muscle, and create sustainable habits. Without falling for every new diet, supplement, or wellness trend.

He has a PhD in nutrition, and has built his work around evidence-based fitness, and practical behavioral change. And cutting through all the misinformation that keeps people confused. In this episode, we get into all of it, why intermittent fasting may be overrated, understanding GLP-1 medications before you take them, and why focusing on the number on the scale can

actually create bigger problems later. We talk about all of it, and how trying to find the perfect diet can actually turn healthy habits into an unhealthy obsession. This conversation will make you rethink weight loss, nutrition, supplements, strength training,

“and fitness rules you've been told you need to follow.”

Why Dr. Moon as shares in this episode will really stop you from majoring in the minors in what I call. By building habits that can maintain you for your life and preserve muscle as you age. So let's dive in, and please guys, don't forget, if you have not subscribed, please press that button, subscribe, and enjoy the episode.

All right. Welcome to another episode of Habits in Hustle, where I'm joined with Dr. Joey Munios. Perfect. I said it right? Good.

Good. Okay. And he's up my alley, and I'm hopefully he'll be up your alley too. He's a PhD in nutrition, so I guess you can guess what we're going to be talking about today.

Hell, fitness, wellness, and all the best practices around that. He's actually a useful time coach, right? Yes. And what I love about you, he focuses on evidence-based fat loss, muscle building, sustainable habits, which I love, and cutting through nutrition misinformation, which by the way, and

all these chasing trends, nonsense, which I'm very against as well. I know. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I was just listening to your episode where you were talking about, how do you

know who to trust or who to listen to? Yeah. I resonated with everything you said on there. Really. Thank you.

“Well, because I think it's become like, it is the wild wild west out there, and now everybody”

and their dog has an opinion.

And the problem is, if you have a following, people, like, will listen as it's gospel,

and think it's gospel, and what's happening is people are just like pushing every pushing affiliate codes all day, all night, and, you know, if someone doesn't know, and doesn't have the wherewithal, they are falling victim to this, which is a really big problem. Deservant is something that needs to be activated in my opinion right away. It's hard, it's hard for somebody who doesn't have an educational background to be able

to discern sometimes, because you mentioned this in your episode. Some of the people that are spewing the most horrendous advice sound, the most convincing as well. Yes, they sound the most convincing, because they have, like, they have a gift of the gap.

They have the rhetoric, they have the right verbage. And so just because you're good in sales doesn't end and speaking, doesn't necessarily mean you're speaking with the most valid information. Yeah.

“Did you see this whole thing that when, I feel like it wouldn't viral, like the last few”

days. And then the other bananas, you see this, was it Rhonda Patrick, because I talked to Rhonda Patrick, said this whole thing on Mel Robbins podcast about, like, if, just for those, I'm just kind of, this is me just giving you guys some background, that, like, there was polyphenols in the, in the banana, in the blueberry, in the blueberry, in the blueberry.

There are oxidates in the banana, and it degrades the polyphenols, which are healthy compounds in blueberries. There is some truth to that. There's more nuance as well. I want to back up really quick, because claims like that blow up all the time.

And a lot of my content is explaining why those claims are not true. And the reason why I do that is because of my personal journey, I have gone through all the diets. Yeah. Starting at a very young age yet.

So when I was probably like 11, 12 years old, I was really overweight as a young kid.

Some, a first-generation Cuban American.

And so my parents came from Cuba in the, my mom in the early '90s. And coming from a country where they had nothing, and then being in the States, and having like ample access to food the way they showed love was through food. Yeah.

So I've always been really active, always into sports.

I grew up in the gym, because my mom cared about working out, so I did my dad. But I was very overweight as a young kid, and then my mom started putting me on all sorts of diets, and I started going on YouTube. And I was doing the fasting in the morning, taking a ton of caffeine, and doing cardio, and the keto diets, and every fat under the sun I've tried.

And every time I did a fat, like most people, it usually backfires. It works for a period of time. If I had all. And then it's usually unsustainable. It's really restricted.

And so I would kind of be in this yo-yo, dieting cycle for the vast majority of my teenage years, and my earlier adulthood as well. And for me, education has been what has helped me cut through that noise. And it's why I'm so passionate about talking about that stuff on social media. And it gives me their ample topics to talk about, because there's a lot of that.

We keep it professional. But the claim was that if you mix bananas with blueberries, and it's moving the ruins, the health benefits of the blueberry, and that's not nuanced enough, because so polyphenols

are compounds in blueberries, and not just in blueberries in plant-based foods, that have

positive health impacts. So like anti-inflammatory effects, anti-oxidated benefits, and there's this thing called polyphenol oxidase, which oxidizes them, which essentially means they just don't work the same way. But that reaction takes time. It's not like you make us move in immediately.

It's all gone. It also takes time.

“And the other important point is that there are a ton of other very health-promoting compounds”

in blueberries and other fruits that you still get, even if you mix it with bananas. Right, right. My main issue, Jen, is I've been at fault of this as well. Is that social media has turned into just taking clips of stuff and taking it out of context as well.

That's exactly what happens. But what was taken out of context with that, because I did see the whole... Yeah, I didn't see the whole thing. Oh, you did see the whole thing. I saw the whole clip.

The clip was incorrect. Yeah. Yeah. I did a thing with Gary Brecca many years ago on my podcast about a banana, a different claim was made though.

And I got torched, right, as if it's my fault. But he said a claim, or he was talking about how, when you blend in banana, the bananas composition changes.

And so much sugar is being released, and it's basically saying, basically saying something

similar. Yeah, but basically, don't put a banana in your smoothies. I have also debunked about one. Did you debunked on my show? Could have been.

I think you probably did. Probably. Okay, so what was the reason with that? And then what happened?

“I think he kind of retracted it, right, and I believe that was like three years ago.”

I can't remember the specific claim, but it was something about the sugar content, just being way higher. Way higher. That was what it was. Also, just not true.

Because typically, okay, so when you blend something, it's kind of like pre-digested kind of. Not really because, like, cells are really, really tiny, they're microscopic, and when you blend something, you're not bursting all the cells open, and digestion actually begins in the mouth.

So some lives would start breaking down carbohydrates. This level of complexity, the main point I want to make is, I think one of the reasons why people feel really confused. Mm-hmm. Yeah, tell us.

Because it's unnecessary, like, whether, let's say you blend the banana and it does spike your blood sugar a little bit more, it just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. We're overall health for nutrition. Not really.

Like, let's say it spikes it another five or ten percent. It really does not matter in the grand scheme of things.

“I think we put too much emphasis and focus on these small things that don't move the”

need. Yeah, 100 percent. We're majoring in the miners. Yeah, exactly. Right?

We're all majoring in the miners. We're worrying about a banana how it's broken down versus the fact that we're then going into have, like, you know, in an outburger, right? And not exercising for two weeks in a time. Well, it's, like, this whole thing also, like, diet coke, right?

Like, I have a diet coke and people, like, lose their mind. Like, I'm, like, the antichrist, right? Like, don't meet, like, you're allowed to have a diet coke once in a while, people. Like, I feel, like, people are focusing on the wrong thing to kind of feel, like, either they have the control or, like, the wrong, like, to me, if you do the basics and major in

the majors, you can do a lot of minor stuff. Does that make sense? 100 percent. Right? Right?

Everything I preach. Right? Like, I just think that I also feel that when you try to be too perfect into extreme, that's what backfires. That's another really great point.

Sometimes people sacrifice their psychological health for physical health, psychological health is equally as important. If not more important. More important. Like, the people, like, if you're, like, not going out and you're, like, staying home

for every meal because you're nervous about every calorie that's going to be consumed. Yeah. Not in, like, a bikini competition tomorrow or, like, most people are not going to be or, like, you know, like, I think there's something to be said for, like, actually living

enjoying yourself. Like, there has to be some of that, too, because otherwise you're just like, you're, you're, what are you doing it for? Yeah.

One of the things I always like to say is that, and I see this often working with people who

just start focusing on their health and start improving their health and they become so obsessive over it that it impacts their quality of life negatively. Exactly. And I also think, Jen, like, for people who are potentially getting started or have just recently started their health and fitness journey for lack of a better term, you kind

of have to go through those, some of those trials and tribulations to learn. Right. But my level of life. Yeah, exactly. My level of life is that health and fitness should enrich your life, every aspect

of it. Right. Socially, health. And if you are doing things in a way where you stress out about having a freaking piece of cake at your kids birthday party, like, is that really contributing to your

health? I would argue it's not. Not your mental health. Yeah.

But I think there's also people do need and, like, you know, there has to be, like, you

need to put guard, some people need the guard rails to keep themselves, you know, intact. Right. Like, I think that when a lot of times people don't like cheat days, because then once, you know, the train is left the building, it's, it's not a great either, right? So people do have to have a knowing who you are and, like, what kind of guard rails I would

“call it, like, kind of parameters that you need to kind of keep on point and important.”

But I just think as we keep on going, it's just becoming, everyone's becoming more and more extreme, more and more severe, like, to the point where it's like, what's enough is enough, right? Like, people's routines are, like, they're now becoming prisoners in their own lives, because they won't do anything because they're so scared that their, their longevity protocol will

be screwed up. Yeah. And I think it depends on the person too, right? Because some people definitely take it to an extreme. What you were mentioning about guard rails, it's a really interesting topic.

And this is why, like, even for people listening, there are general rules. And then we break those rules depending on the individual, right? What I mean by that is, some people do need to be stricter with their diet and other people. Right. But do need to do things that may be quote unquote, not sustainable long term, at least

for a period of time to certain, to develop certain habits. But my general perspective with nutrition and diet and fitness overall is, if you can't see yourself doing it for the rest of your life, then it's probably not the right thing to be doing it. Right.

But the way I say to people, like, was the best, people say, was the best exercise to do? The one that you're actually going to do is the best exercise to do. And I will add a caveat there and say, the type of exercise that will help you build muscle as well. Because that's important.

You know, when you see somebody who's really fit, people who aren't as fit will say, that person's really lucky they can afford to eat a lot and they still stay pretty lean. Well, that person who's really fit has a lot of muscle on their body. And muscle, in many ways, is so beneficial for our metabolism and people throw around the

term as fast metabolism, slow metabolism, most people don't even know what that means. But in general, your metabolism is how many calories you'll burn at rest. If you have more muscle, you burn more.

So one of the things that I always try to do when I work with somebody is optimize for

muscle mass first. I think one of the things that people struggle with too Jen is that they just focus too much on weight loss.

“And yes, losing weight is important, depending on the person, right?”

If you have excess body fat on healthy and losing weight will be helpful. But we don't want to lose weight in a way where we sacrifice muscle mass. And the funny thing is not funny, like objectively, if you spend two, three years really focusing on building muscle mass, you have so much more flexibility with your diet. Because you can just afford to eat more food and maybe get away with foods that are a little

bit less healthy on a more frequent basis. And then we won't have the same impact. Also, you can be focusing on fat loss, not weight loss, right? Because weight loss can mean muscle, right? Yes, exactly.

Which is becoming the problem with all these GLP ones. Correct. Now the baseline, I mean, to me, that's where you really get yourself in trouble. Because when you do gain your weight back, right? You're going to gain, you're going to gain more weight because now your muscle is usually

depleted. What happens if I have a question? If someone's taking a GLP one, but they're also doing weight training, measuring training, does it counteract each other? 100%.

So this is another really nuanced subject. One thing I want to say, because when you were talking about your episode where you were talking about like who to trust and who not to trust, at least in the nutrition and fitness space, anybody who presents anything as just black and white, it's you. It's usually wrong, like there's usually some gray in the middle of nuance with anything related

to nutrition. Well, either way, 80, ready to life, nothing is ever, but everything is nuance.

“That's why you keep on saying the word nuance, it's like my favorite word because life”

is nuance, relationships are nuance, like business is nuance, that would be a great name for a podcast nuance, you're just having in-depth conversations anyways. It's true, though, because nothing is ever black and white, and when people start thinking black and white, they're getting themselves into a lot of trouble, you know? Yeah.

No, you're good. Yeah. The GOP is, I like, I can go on tangent.

The GOP.

We're going to be able to talk more about nothing.

So interestingly, so if you take a GOP one and you lose weight rapidly and you're not strength training and you're not focusing on protein and adequate nutrition, you lose a ton of muscle. The data do show, though, that the amount of muscle lost is no different than if you just crash dieted, didn't do any exercise, didn't focus on your diet.

So the amount of muscle mass is actually pretty similar on a GOP one or not on a GOP one if you're not doing things correctly, meaning GOP one is not inherently exacerbate muscle loss. Now here is an interesting point, though.

“You mentioned when you need to focus on fat loss.”

One of the variables that determines whether you lose more fat or more lean mass aka muscle is the rate of weight loss itself, meaning if you lose weight really quickly, a bigger proportion of that will be muscle mass. Why is that? Because we can go in a couple of different directions here, essentially there seems to be

a rate limiting process with fat loss. You can only lose body fat at a certain rate and then your body still needs energy if you're in a big deficit and you're losing weight quickly so it pulls from lean mass. It's okay. I can get some energy from the body fat.

I can get some energy from the lean mass and so in general, slower weight loss tends to be more sustainable weight loss. Now we don't want to do it so slowly to work like you're not seeing any progress itself because the progress itself is motivating, but you want to lose weight at a rate where you're not starving yourself, right?

You're not just crash dieting. Anyways, I bring this back to the GOP ones because what happens on a GOP is that there are such potent appetites of presence that you naturally eat weight less than you lose weight really quickly. So you might be exacerbating muscle loss because of that.

But I mean, we work with a number of clients who are on GOP and they want to transition off of them by focusing on the lifestyle stuff. If you strength train, if you focus on proper nutrition, you'll have really great outcomes. When it comes to GOP, it's like a lot of people like demonize them and a lot of people like to say it's that they're the best drugs in the world.

Think the true answer lies somewhere in the middle and it's about evaluating the pros and cons for yourself. I have worked with clients who have struggled with food noise and it'll be city of their whole life.

And when they use the GOP ones, they genuinely tell me it's the first time in their life

that they can focus on healthier habits without having a ton of food noise. So, okay, for that person, pretty helpful, but there's people taking it to lose five or ten pounds of body fat. And it's like, there are side effects, it's just not necessary.

“So I think it really depends on the person in the context.”

So if someone's taking it because let's talk to the people who are taking these GOP ones to lose the five or ten pounds because that's to me now is that the majority of people I know, like I can't throw a stone and not find somebody who's on a GOP one, especially in LA. Yeah.

Is it just because I'm in LA, because I mean, it's like everyone's skinny now. It's like a very strange, just like a pseudo life and reality here. Does that mean everything is a pendulum going to swing eventually because do people acclimate to it and do you have the continually increase the dosage to keep being thin on there?

And like does your appetite come back slowly if you're not increasing the dosage? Like what happens to people if they're just taking it for the five or ten pounds? Did they gain it right back when they get off of it again? Yeah. So super transparently, I don't know if your body acclimates to the impacts of it and whether

higher doses are required over time to have the same appetite-suppressing effect. I don't know the answer to that question that's a really good question. What I do know though is that independent of whether it's for five or ten pounds or more weight loss, the data do show that when people stop taking the GOP ones to go back to your previous habits, the hunger does come back and you start to gain it.

Yeah. By the way, very fast. I have a girlfriend. She's a friend of mine that I know, she lost like 50 pounds on this thing and I didn't

“think she had 50 pounds to lose quite honestly, but she went off of it.”

Not only did she gain the 50, she gained another 20 and fast. It was like in a month. It was fast. Yeah, that's tough. That's scary to me, right?

It's not like it just kind of like, you know, comes back kind of slowly and after a year you're like holy shit. It's like boom. So like what is scary to me and like all these peptides and all these other things is never one.

What's really in these things? That's the first thing. Yeah. Secondly, like, what is the ramification afterwards? Yeah.

I know you don't know. I mean, we all, to be honest, I don't think anybody knows. No, I think a lot of people extrapolate and just actually don't really know. Exactly. Yeah.

You can't know about something that hasn't been studied yet. You know what I mean? Exactly. Like we're in, it's in real time. Exactly.

You know, it's IRL, IRL is exactly in real life. So I think that it's yet to be determined. Do you remember Finn, Finn, back when? I don't. It sounds.

How old are you? Oh, my God. You're a baby. Okay.

Finn, Finn was a big deal when I was like 25, like I never took it.

Okay. It was like a diet draw. Everybody was on it because everyone was losing weight so fast and more those like the panacea. Like this GLP one.

like it took them a while.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then they banned it from the problem, they banned it so people were unable to get it anymore. But everyone was skinny walking around.

But what I was going to say is, I'm curious later on what's going to happen. Does that mean like in 10 years from now? Like, because GLP ones are on the market actually for diabetes. And now they're saying, oh, they have inflammation and all these other things. Yeah.

I don't know if it's true or not. Here's the here. That's a really good point. A lot of the benefits are driven because of the weight loss, because body fat itself, like negatively impacts your health.

One of the main ways is that it really drives inflammation.

So somebody is significantly overweight or obese and they lose 50 pounds.

Yeah, their inflammation is going to go way down. Is it directly because of the GLP ones? No, but indirectly definitely, right? Like my hope would be that 10 years pass and there are no negative impacts. Like, I don't wish anything negative on anybody.

“But the truth is, as you mentioned, we just don't know.”

We don't know. Can I ask you a funny quote, not a, how does those epic or those GLP ones affected the nutrition, coaching, fitness, coaching, business? Has it kind of like, as everyone's numbers really down, because everyone now is just thin because they're doing that.

So interesting question. I think because of my message and what I talk about, many of our clients that come to us tell us they want coaching because they don't want to go on a GLP. So a lot of them are like, yeah, I want to learn how to do this. Naturally, I want to learn how to still improve my habits and strength training because

I know it's important for longevity because I talk about that often.

Yeah, I'm just curious more of a macro level. It definitely has impact. We should, yeah, we should chat GPT and find out, right? Well, I'll tell you anecdotally, people will tell me, like, why should I do this? Or should I just take a GLP one?

I'm like, they're not the same thing. Right, right exactly. If simple questions you want to be on it forever, no, and then it's not your phone from I'll tell you that much. Even aside from the weight loss, like most people want to do what they want to be able

to get on the floor and get up and play with their kids or their grandkids without paying. Like the GLP ones are not going to do.

“You need to build muffler, you need to get stronger, right?”

So, right? It's like the weight loss is just part of the equation. What is K? Let's take a pivot or a turn here, so I can talk about this all day, the social aspect of the socialization aspect of the GLP one.

Let's talk about nutrition, good at your specialty, and the myths around it. Is intermittent fasting overrated? Yes, it's overrated. In the sense that it's positioned as a unique solution that has unique health benefits, and it doesn't when you compare it to just traditional caloric restriction.

Like if you restrict your calories by just eating less or you intermittent fast and the food intake is the same, the fasting itself doesn't seem to have any unique health benefits in an intermittent fasting protocol. That said, I think it's a really practical tool for a lot of people. To keep the calories checked?

Yeah. But what about all this talk about atophagey when you're fasting and you're not eating for eating these small windows, how your body, the senescent cells, and the atophagey isn't that real? It is real.

But I think this is an area, again, Jen, and I don't want to position myself as like, I know everything, everybody else doesn't, because that's not true at all. The thing is, sometimes we take like an ounce of truth and we extrapolate. When it comes to intermittent fasting specifically, reducing food intake, reducing caloric intake does stimulate more atophagey.

But the fasting itself does not seem to be the reason why it occurs. It's just the reduced food intake. Got it. So there are studies where they take two groups of individuals and they put them on the same caloric intake.

One group is just able to eat normally throughout the day and the other group intermittent fasts, and they look at measures like atophagey, and it's pretty much the same in cross groups. So it's the reduction in food intake from a practical perspective. If somebody has an easier time skipping a meal, and it's just a simple rule they can

follow, and they're able to stick to it than I'm all for it. So I'm going to use my own product of my own experience, okay? Because do you want to remember this because you're four and a half years old? But it used to be what the body was. Getting roasted over here.

Not really, I wish I was 32, but like I remember and still is the case for bodybuilders. It was six meals a day, like small, six small meals a day, and that's how people kind of, and they said, "Oh, if you do that, it grabs your metabolism. It keeps your metabolism, your humming and going," and then, of course, over time, everything changes.

“So you have to eat between the window, a four-hour window, a six-hour window, and that's how”

you're going to whatever. I'd like to get your opinion on this. When I skip a meal, maybe because I'm not used to, when I skip breakfast, I'll just eat double the amount at lunch. You're having this.

Right. If I skip lunch, I'll eat double the amount at dinner. Yeah. So for me, if I eat throughout the day, my calories will naturally just be lower, because

So what is your take about revving your metabolism in six meals a day, small ones? Yeah, number of meals is not impacting the metabolism at all. Here's, here's your... Or how about just eating, throw out the day versus fasting for 12-hour windows or whatever. It also just really does not matter.

“When it comes to meal frequency, how many times you eat in a day, the only thing that”

matters is consistency.

So if we're talking about first off in the perspective of having a healthy body composition,

okay? Not having a ton of body fat, having a healthy body composition, what matters when it comes to meal frequency is regularity. For most people, whether you have three meals, six meals, two meals, it does not make a difference.

I mention regularity because our bodies adapt or hunger cues adapt to our normal eating schedule. So if you skip breakfast, you're going to be really hungry for lunch. But if you skip breakfast for two weeks straight, your body will adapt to that. So, right.

So you're saying maybe if I had more willpower, just let it go for 10 days. Or just... What's the point, right? Like, if you're... If you're schedule allows you to have three solid meals and you enjoy that.

There is no benefit to cutting one out and there is no benefit of doubling up to six. Now, in terms of meal timing, what is extremely consistent in the research is breakfast consumption. It is associated with two things, better hunger regulation. Like if you have a big breakfast, you're last hungry throughout the day.

I don't know why it how people are skipping breakfast. I also find that this intermittent fasting works better on men than women. Yeah. Yeah.

“Again, this is just my own personal, you know, holes and questions, you know?”

Because men are... I don't know why that is. I just find, like, the guys I know who do it, it's working for them. Women, it's not working. Maybe it's hormonal.

I don't know. Yeah. I'm not sure. I know there's also debate on that. Like I'm super straightforward, like based off the research, like it doesn't seem like

there's a big difference, but also there is a lot of research missing on women. So who knows? With the breakfast thing, what I was going to say is like there's better hunger regulation, I think let's use common sense. If you have a big meal, you're going to be full for a period of time to that, right?

Yeah, common sense. And so if you skip a meal, and then your biggest meal is dinner, yeah, you're going to be full after dinner, but we go to sleep after dinner, so you're not taking advantage of having a big meal strategically or the end of the day. And then really, interestingly, is if you have a big breakfast, you actually burn more

calories throughout the day naturally, probably just because you have more energy and you move more unconsciously. 100% I think, again, I'm going to use myself as an example.

If I don't eat breakfast and then I exercise, I'll never work out as hard, but by exercise,

I get wave A, I'm not nauseous, B, I will work harder because I have like energy and fuel. 100%. Right? Let me share my daily routine game changer with you.

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That's livemomentas.com code, Jen, for 35% off your first subscription. Trust me, you'll be happy you did. Based on the evidence, what has had the yielded the best result? Guido, Mediterranean, high protein, what's your, what's your take on all the different diets and all the different trends and diets?

Yeah, so from a health perspective, it's hard to be a Mediterranean style diet, improvements in cardiovascular health, blood sugar regulation, my rules for the perfect diet are pretty simple.

“Like, one, you need to have a diet that covers all your bases.”

We can't be deficient in micronutrients or macronutrients. I think pretty simply, just make sure you have a whole-food-based diet. I think it's completely unnecessary to eliminate any particular food group with all these different diet camps. It's like, don't even vegetables, because of anti-nutrients.

That's a ridiculous statement. Like vegetables are super healthy for you. They'll be people that say, don't eat beans because of these other compounds. Don't eat oats because it's poverty food. That's a really common one.

Yeah, that's a very ridiculous. That's a super common one. Yeah. Whole foods, all whole foods have health-promoting impacts. Like, there are unique benefits of meat that you don't get in vegetables and vegetables

have unique benefits that you don't get in beans and beans have unique benefits that you don't get in dairy, like, have a wide array of whole foods, unless you are sensitive

So whole foods, 5-7 servings of fruits and veggies to make sure you get your micronutrients

in. 0.8 grams of protein per pound of ideal body weight. So I weigh around 220 pounds, I'd be consuming around 170 to 180 grams of fruits. That's all I do. 6-4.

Yeah, it's a really tall. Yeah. Yeah. I am really tall. Yeah, that's how you look really tall.

So one, making sure we're covering our bases, right? If you focus on Whole Foods fiber and protein, that's pretty solid right there. Then you need a diet that is tailored to your particular goals as well because just because you eat healthy doesn't mean you're going to make progress towards a particular goal. And unfortunately, if you are really overweight or your obese, even if you have the healthiest

diet, you're not healthy by definition. Because the body fat itself is bad for your health. So when I say tailored to your goals, that's where we talk about things like calories. Okay. It's also the argument of, like, it's not calories, it's food choices, it's hormones, it's

like, no, it's all of it. It's all of it. Like, to say it's only one thing is ridiculous. Well, what would you say, okay, so what would you say is the best breakfast to have? Good question.

So good breakfast is going to have a solid amount of protein. So for me personally, I like having about four whole eggs and some Greek yogurt. Eggs are extremely nutritionally dense, like, great source of colon, pretty much, great source of every micronutrients.

“So eggs are, if you want to call it a superfood, I don't like that word, but they definitely”

are a superfood. I love Greek yogurt because it's high protein if you can't have dairy than a plant. It's not based protein would be fine.

And then I always try to have at least one or two servings of fruits and veggies with

my meals. With breakfast, I just like fruits. I'll have like an apple or a banana or something like that. So I tend to have a smaller breakfast because I'm just not super hungry in the morning. I'll have that and I work out about an hour after that and then when I get back from

my work, I'll have protein shake and then a pretty big lunch, like lunch is my biggest meal. Really? Yeah. Me too.

I love lunch is my try to be my biggest meal too. Is there anything to be said for because I eat the same food every single day, I'm like the most, more because I don't want to think about it. And if I like something, I just like it and I eat it constantly, is that a bad thing though?

Because I heard that your body obviously, well, not I heard. I know, research has shown that your body does need to have varieties. So it, is it actually a negative thing if you eat the same things over and over again? No, as long as you have variety within what you're eating. Wow.

I'm having salmon and green beans, like five days a week. I was not very happy. The veggies at all. It'll be, it'll be just green beans and that's all you have. Well, for now, I mean, sometimes I have a spare again, sometimes I'll have a, you know,

like, but I'm talking, if I travel a lot and I do, you know, have to switch it up. But I would say I'm like right now I'm on a green bean kick for the last, before I was on a Greek salad and a chicken kick. My point is I can eat the same thing for like a year before I get sick of it. I eat pretty much the same thing.

I just try to make sure that I have variety within what I eat, meaning like I'll have

“a different veggie with dinner than I do with lunch, is it really bad what you're doing?”

No, not at all. Like, excuse me, for health, like your body composition, your obviously healthy, you're

in good shape, like that is the most important thing.

So whatever you say, that is the most important thing. Because I think people can look superficially good and then not be healthy inside. Sure, sure, sure. And there are plenty of cases for that. But in general, and this will be maybe a controversial statement if somebody is overweight

or obese, and they have a really healthy diet on paper. If they lose weight with a less healthy diet, they will be healthier on paper. Like, you take blood work, their blood biomarkers have improved. The easiest way to tell, Jen, whether what you're doing is working or not, is to get in-depth blood work done and see if you're deficient in anything or anything's too high or too low.

Right. Because it just depends on the individual. Well, this whole idea of like eating so much protein now, I mean, it's like, especially at my age, I mean, anybody in their 40s and 50s, it's like protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein protein, I mean, like, I couldn't consume

that much protein. Yeah. I take, like, I take this, um, amino supplement. Yeah. No.

By Kiong. Do you know what they are? I do know the company, yeah. Yeah. I haven't tried their product.

What do you think of that? Tell me the truth. Yeah. That's true. I've taken amino's.

Yep. So, for losing and all the things. They're not bad. They're a great supplement, but they don't replace total protein intake because, by definition, they are just a couple of the amino acids.

“And some are essential in the last sentence.”

No, it's not any of mine. All mine essential. Yeah. That's a good product. Because some will just have a couple.

They might not have any more than a portion. No, not a portion. No, not a portion. Solid. I mean, no, amino supplements are fine.

They're just not necessarily better than consuming protein. And sometimes they are positioned as superior to protein. And it's, it's not. Oh, I just think it's more about, like, making sure you're covering your bases. Yeah, making sure you're covering your bases.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think it's up. I don't think it would replace my food, right? Yeah. Anybody's food.

But like, if you, I was going to say, I do think protein is like way overhyped right now. Isn't it crazy or high? Yeah. Like, it's only that's when the trends are going to ask you. So, look, what do we do about that? Just not like, tell me about that. Tell me why it's so overhyped protein. Because in the health and fitness space trends come and go. And as something becomes popular, companies market it and profit off it. Yeah. Well, they put protein and everything. Yeah, exactly exactly. I mean, protein like protein cars like protein chips, protein popcorn, protein protein, but like,

I don't think putting protein into muffins is going to change the fact that you're eating a ton of sugar and carbs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah, for sure. But the thing is, Jen, a lot of people will target like 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight or even like 1.2 or higher. That's really high. But Amy for 0.7 to 0.8 grams per pound of body weight. People just say 1 gram per. Yeah, yeah. But that's like, it's a lot. It's a lot and it's also not necessary, like there isn't a ton of research to support that. We definitely know that point 8 gram seems to be like the sweet spot for optimizing health and body composition.

Point 8 grams per pound not kilogram because it used to be kilogram the RDA, which was about half of what you actually need. So for me, weighing 220, eating 170 grams of protein, I just make sure I have 50 grams with breakfast lunch and dinner and then I'll have a snack within another 20 or 30 grams. So the breakfast that I was saying earlier for whole eggs, that'll be around 7.14 about 28 grams of protein, like 7 grams per egg, and then I'll have a serving and a half or so of Greek yogurt that gets me to 25 grams.

I've always enjoyed eating a higher protein diet like it doesn't bother me and for lunch and dinner like 8 ounces of any lean protein source chicken fish beef doesn't matter is going to get you about that 40 to 50 gram range.

“So for a woman who's a lot smaller, let's say you're aiming for 100 grams or 110 grams. Do you know how much protein you aim for?”

Oh god, so much protein. I usually eat more than I should. Only because I'm starved. I have a huge appetite. I'm a volume meter though, you know, I like volume.

So like I know what I'll do is I'll fill up on protein and vegetables. I'll have an exit and fruit. I love fruit. I can have 5 pounds of grapes. I know a lot of sugar, but I love them or I'll have like 4 chicken, not 4 chicken. I'll have I can easily down 20 ounces of chicken at lunch like no, I can eat more than any man alive. It's actually like a known thing in my life. Like my appetite is a ravenous, but I think it's because I exercise a lot and I like food. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm definitely not someone who's afraid to eat.

Good. Put it that way. That's good. That's good. What would you say if you knew what your protein target is to maybe give some of my protein?

I don't go by that. I don't like use. I don't I actually don't actually calculate or do any of that.

That will drive me up a wall. I can't do it. I can't do it. I just have to just like, if I'm hungry, I'm going to eat. I have no will power when it comes to, I feel like listen, I do exercise like a thing. I'm eating pretty clean. I walk a lot. If I'm hungry, I'm going to eat.

“Yeah. That's how much that's basically. Have you ever tracked your food? No. No. Okay. What's your perspective? I'm just curious.”

So have you ever struggled with your weight or anything at all? A little bit, but I mean, I wouldn't say it's just ruggled with my weight. That's an overstatement for reach. I think that like I have like a seven to nine pound. That's good. You have a range where you feel comfortable. I have a range. Like I feel better when I'm like on the lower end. But like I can easily creep up to that seven every pound, nine extra pounds based on the amount of food I eat. So like for example, I just got back from a weakened Vegas with my daughter doing a summer intensive.

And I was with her friend, my friend, her, you would ever like the two moms and the two kids. Yeah. Even though I exercise is the way I tell everybody exercise will help you get toned and we could do your mood and like good for like, you know, I gained five pounds in like a week. Why? Because boredom, like I was sitting around waiting. I was like, I'll eat like an extra like, yeah, my eating healthy food. Yes, but I ate like an extra piece of or two extra pieces of chicken. I had like sauce on that thing. Which is I had tons like I.

So even eating healthy. I ate so much more than normal than I think I've had. You check yourself when you get back home. I mean, yes. But you just get back into your routine. I just go back into my routine. Yes.

“That's a double struggle. That's what I know. So what people end up doing is like they”

have forget it. I'm already like, yeah, they think they're a failure. They're like, I screwed it all up. Or they go the other extreme. And they're like, I'm going to run for 10 miles today, not five. Well, that's the cycle that people go through. It's it's extreme restriction. Yeah. Or like, fuck it. I'm already. Yeah. Well, it goes back and forth. It's extreme restriction for a period of time. And then you can't do that forever. So you either burn out or you go on a vacation and you say,

fuck it. And you do whatever you want. And then you come back. You're like, I already screwed up. So that behavior that extends for weeks or months. Yeah. And then you get to a point where you get uncomfortable. It's like, I'm going back on this crazy diet. Right. And it's the most common cycle that people are stuck in. Yeah. And it's because you're just going between this back and forth, mindset of like, I either have to be perfect or I'm not doing it at all. Yeah. It's just not helpful.

because I, because I just feel like I'm not as lean as I was two weeks ago. Sure. Right. So

it plays a, especially if you like, it's, it's how you identify yourself, right? It's the standard that you hold through. Exactly. But it's a lot of this is psychology, right? Like, so like, for me, people can look at me and like, what are you talking about? You look so bad. I remember. But it doesn't matter. They say it's because I have a certain identity. I identify as someone who's a certain way with certain standards for myself. So if I see like the fact that I can close my pants,

which happens all this more often than that. Because I have it sometimes. But I'm used to it. And I try not to kill, like, beat myself up, go back into the, you know, routine without the

“extreme exercise and dieting. I think women have a hard time with this. What I was going to ask you”

as you lost a lot of weight, you said when you were a kid, you were overweight. How did you lose

so much weight and what are you doing? So the first thing I decided to hit a growth for it, I'm sure.

Yeah. Well, first and foremost, I, okay. So I'm 11. I go to the doctors with my mom and the doctor whispers to my mom. I overheard him saying that I was 2% body fat away from being obese and that I had to go on a diet and I had to lose weight. That was all the advice. My mom doesn't know anything. Right. So she put you on all these diets. Yeah. And she had a trainer and the trainer was like, well, carbs, make you gain fat. So for like a whole year, I remember clearly my dinner every day was

just like a whole rotisserie chicken. Nothing else. Just street chicken. So the first thing I did was go super low carb diet and then on top of that exercise was kind of used as a reward mechanism. Like as a kid, if I wanted something, say I wanted a toy or whatever, I had to do a certain amount of

“exercise. So then I started developing this like weird relationship with exercise that it was kind of”

like punishment for doing bad things. So I it was low carb. If I went to family parties, I wouldn't eat anything. Being from a Cuban family like we eat a lot of rice. We eat a lot of cheap vegetables. We eat a lot of plantains like high carb foods. And so I would go to family parties and not eat anything because I just thought it was going to make me fat. If I did eat it, I would feel bad and then wake up the next day and go for like crazy long runs. Not because I enjoyed

running, but like out of punishment, right? So that was how I lost weight. And I started swimming.

I've always done a ton of sports. So it was definitely a combination of the swimming with the diet

stuff. But my cousin who's about three years older than me, same story. He was pretty overweight as a young kid. And he started swimming competitively. He lost ton of weight. So I'm almost like you're going to swim because swimming makes you lose weight. And I lost a ton of weight. I can still swim. I don't swim anymore. I can still swim very well. I did not like swimming. No. No, because I definitely have undiagnosed OCD. And so when I would swim, I'm like, I'm, I get way in my head

on distance sports. So like running, swimming, all I would do is just count every single lap and every single stroke and I just, I don't want to do this. You don't want to do it. No. So what's your diet like now? Yeah. And what do you do for exercise now? If you hate swimming, so start with the exercise piece gets a little bit easier. The foundation of my exercise is strength training. I've been strength training four or five times a week for the past 15 years.

I love strength training. Like it's, it's what I look forward to every single day. And it's you do it every day. Four, four times a week right now. Well, and I didn't have kids I used to train a lot more. But I have a four year old and a two year old. And they keep me busy. But I did build a home gym and my son, my son is my four year old. He'll, he'll be for this month. It's awesome to just see him watch me working out. And he comes outside and he's like, I want to do pull ups and I want to do squats

and living in Florida outdoor gym. I work out shirtless and my son comes outside and he's like, I want to take my shirt off. So that has been an awesome body experience that I really look forward to. But strength training is the core of what I do. I do two upper body days, two lower body days, pretty much just focus. At the moment, I cap it at like an hour. If I had a limited time, I would work out for two to three hours. Like I just like it. News like it. Yeah. Yeah. And I can socialize

the gym. I like it. But I just focused on the song. But wait, you could have told me you said all right. No, no, no. Oh, okay. Well, I was going to ask you because, you know, you were you struggled with weight. You have food noise. And I like a lot of chocolate. Are you, do you have disorder eating? I would say not eating disorder, but a disorder eating. I did for a long time, Jen.

“I did for a long time. I think at least based off my experience, it came from an unsatisfaction”

with my body and being too hyper-fixated on the way I look. I think since getting married and growing a business and having a team and having kids, my priorities just have totally shifted to where like I see my body as something that serves me to be healthy and be physically fit. And of course, I care about the way I look, but it's not nearly as obsessive as it used to be.

so like people wouldn't notice it or I would just avoid stuff, but it would be there all the time.

Yeah, yeah. When it comes to my diet now, I really, I eat whatever I want whenever I want. Like I just had an app before coming here. But I have overall really healthy dietary patterns. Like I enjoy eating healthy food. You know, my breakfast at eggs, Greek yogurt and a banana. I don't do that because I'm on a diet. I like that. I really like that. That's what I feel about my breakfast, yeah.

One of my favorite meals, lean ground beef, spinach, and sweet potato. I eat that multiple times every single week. And somebody will see that, it's like, oh my god, that's whatever. Restructured for your diet and it's like, no, I actually really like eating that. So, I think we're trained ourselves.

“Yes, exactly. So, I think all of this has to, yeah, we really like it because that's what we do.”

That's what we know for, yeah. We've literally trained ourselves to like look at that and like

of all the evils. That's the best. Yeah. But also, if my son's like, Dad, I want some ice cream. We'll just get some ice cream. Well, can you give you the ice cream? Yeah, all the time. I also think four. I mean, I'm also very active. Like, I train very hard and I walk a lot. Like, you're exercising. I just move a lot. I do, yeah. And for myself, similarly to you, have a range where if you're comfortable, which you're ranged through 10 to 20. Okay, 10 pounds.

Yeah, exactly. Everyone has like that range. Do you believe in a bait? Like, I believe. And maybe maybe you do too. Everyone has like a baseline that they're the most comfortable way. Yeah. And once you start fucking around with it, like, it's hard to manage it. Right? Like, if I go too low for my, for my body type, it's so hard to maintain. Like, then I'm like having to like watch every green being that I eat, right? Or every chicken breast that I

“consume. Because like, it's really hard for my body type. That's how I can tell when I look at”

people. If they are, like, I can tell really quickly if someone's naturally thin or if it's like not really their body frame, right? I do think we all have a baseline. And I also think that baseline can change. Do you think so? 100%. Specifically for people who are developing, like, not, okay, when you're talking about like being on the lower end of the range where you feel comfortable and that feels more different. I mean, lower than that. Yeah, exactly. I mean, lower than

basically. I don't mean like in the, in those eight to seven pounds. I'm talking if I go down 15

at 10 extra pounds. Okay. 10 extra pounds. You're talking about getting very lean. It gets very, very lean. It gets the point where like, that is unsustainable because your body is saying, I need more fat on me for optimal health. Right. And the second I even put something in my mouth, I'll gain that way back anyway. But the opposite of that, what I meant to say is, I think the baseline can change from a place where your baseline may be relatively unhealthy and you get to a healthier spot.

Because I've seen it with my own eyes with literally hundreds of people that I've worked with. We're like, you're out of weight where you are, you have been there for years. It's easy to maintain. But you are objectively unhealthy and starting to focus on healthy. Because when you change your habits, your baseline changes. If your dietary habits change, you're going to feel full. You're naturally going to eat less calories. If you start sleeping better. If you start

strength training, you have more muscle that baseline will change. And I wanted to emphasize that because I don't want people to hear like, oh, I have a baseline. I can't change type of thing. Yes. Okay. One food, everyone should eat more of. Eggs is definitely up. These are the already. Beans. Beans. Why? They are the only whole food that is high in both fiber and protein. That's a really interesting one. Beans are so bloating. A lot of carbs. And I think that if you

don't watch your exact amount of serving size, you can gain weight. That's with nuts also. So I feel the same way. And that's a super color. Yes. So if you're, if you're someone who has a problem with portions like me, I try to stay away from beans and nuts for sure. Here's the part about bloating. If you go from not eating any beans, eating a ton of beans. You're going to feel

“enough for me. But here's the thing, Jen. I'm sure you would acknowledge it. Anytime you eat”

very differently than how you typically eat, you feel not good. So it's the fact that your microbiome and your digestive system is not used to the new dietary pattern. Okay. And beans are super high in fiber. So if you go from a low fiber diet to a really high fiber diet, you are going to be gas. You are going to be polluted. And your body gets used to it for the most part. But I just think beans are super overrated. You think it's underrated and then it's overrated.

Very interesting. Because because of the amount of protein in fiber, they have they are very hard to overeat. Now if you're having barbecue baked beans with like, that's going to be super colloid, but beans in general, like if we look at like lentils. Yeah. That's a really good bean. Yeah, lentils chickpeas, black beans in a fairly like basic way that's not like super tasty by adding a bunch of stuff to it. Yeah. Extremely satiating. Very hard to

love. I love I love chickpeas and I love lentils. So I can overdo it and have like way too many of those. Okay. One health trend that will disappear in five years. I was going to say cold plunging, but I feel like it's already disappearing. Is it as popular? Listen, I don't see as much

you see jumping into cold water? Yeah. I feel whenever anything becomes too mainstream,

“it starts to kind of dissipate. Like now every gym is like putting a cold plunge in there”

in their backyard or whatever. I was never on board with a cold plunging. I have one. I hate it.

I find why that's me is just ultimate suffering and it's very core. I'd rather be in the sauna. Yeah. You know, but that's me. Can I tell you a funny story? Sure. I was at the gym and this guy comes up to me and he's like, "Do you guys know you from somewhere?" And I was like, "Where?" And he's like, "Where we at the cold plunging pace, there's a place in Tampa called sauna and chill." Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. They were like, "A sauna and chill."

I was like, "You did not catch that. That's the first neck came to mind." But I think cold plunging, I don't know if it's already dying or whatnot. I think from a dietary perspective,

like, I hope the whole carnivore diet trend goes away in much sooner than five years

because there is just no reason it's not any plant-based foods. I think that's just pure stupidity. I don't know where this whole eating a piece of spinach is bad for you or broccoli is bad for you. It's extrapolation. It is or tomatoes are bad for you. Yeah, it's extrapolation. It's like they have these compounds, oxalates, phytates, whatever they want to pinpoint, and then they're like, "These things are toxins and poisons." It's like, "It's not true."

“So here's the thing, Jen. This is where context and nuance matters. If I told you,”

and maybe you know the answer to this question, maybe you don't. If I told you there's this thing, that causes the following, causes inflammation, causes tissue damage, causes fatigue. Would you say that's healthy or unhealthy? Unhealthy? Exercise does those three things. Exercise induces inflammation. Exercise induces stress. You spike cortisol when you exercise and there's so much talk about cortisol going around. It causes muscle damage.

You break down your tissues and you are very fatigued after you train. But it's healthy. Why because the dose is what makes the poison? There's this concept of hormesis. Hormesis means that when we expose our bodies to a stressor, our bodies can recover and get stronger from those stressors. And in fact, a lot of the health impacts that we get from consuming certain plant-based foods seem to be due to those minor stressful effects of some of these

compounds that some individuals without naming names say that they're really bad for you and they're not. So it's like it's the same as exercise. It causes a little bit of stress, but not so much that your body can't recover from it. That's actually a good point. Do you think green powders are worth it? Depends on how you measure worth it. Do they are the healthy? Yeah, for sure. Are they overmarketed? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's the issue. It's like their way more expensive than

the vegetables, which is fine if you can afford it and it's practical for you, go ahead, but they're overly hyped in many ways. But yeah, you're getting vegetables. You're getting different plant-based foods and drying them up and putting them to a powder that they're definitely healthy. I'm all about finding sustainable ways to optimize performance. The kind of work that

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plus a $40 bonus gift. When you subscribe to their 5-day program, go to prolonlife.com/generforcoin and use Jennifer Cohen to claim your discount and bonus. That's prolonlife.com/generforcoin and use code Jennifer Cohen. Which supplements are a complete waste of money?

is useful because it's a very short list. I want to ask you that question next. Okay, so I'm trying to make clips here. Okay, so I do think green powders in many ways in many ways.

I'm trying to make money in my opinion. Yeah. So green powders, it's always-

Oh, they listed it's helpful. You're like kind of being a counter and then you want to get a chance. Yeah, you are a new one. So it's like, can we have my other guests? Yeah. But they're, they can't, they're, I think they're a waste of money. I would not recommend somebody consume a green powder. I would say like, get some veggies in. Yeah. Right. Hydrations supplements for the most part for a lot of people. Yeah. Can you just put like

Himalayan salt and water? Yeah, and most people get more than enough salt from their diet already. That's the thing. This whole electrolyte, hydration, powder, nonsense. Again, what we're doing four years ago before this became the thing. Like, I don't even understand

“how it became so crazyly popular. It's the, here's the thing, right person, right context.”

It's helpful. Athletes who sweat a ton, who are great. But that's the thing. It's like, it's helpful there. And then a company will say, if you want to be like an athlete, here's a hydration supplement. It's like, it doesn't do anything for the normal person. That's eating enough salt and not sweating a ton of not working out for three hours. It reminds me of, there's like, when people go in their little 45 minute hikes and they pack like their little trail mix. And they have

the camel water that they have. I'm like, dude, you're going for like 40 minutes up the mountain

like in the suburb. I think we can relax a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I've always had this stuff. But like,

that's exactly it. Like, yeah, I don't drink any electrolytes. That's not my thing. I don't know. I just find some of this stuff is nonsense. Okay, give me some more things that aren't. Yeah, I think for the most part, a lot of amino supplements are as well. Be, okay, I would, I actually agreed with you up until very recently. And I'm not just saying this because I take the key on supplement. I'm saying this because I did my own research and they have

all non essential amino acids and losing. And I just know how I feel like for the female muscle mass. So a lot of this lot of the stuff is not great, but I do like that one. BCA's for the most protein. That's a waste of money. That's a waste. The other part, the thing is, Jen, you can make an argument for any supplement. It's not that it's a waste. It's a waste. Some of them are waste. Some of them are a waste, but some of them are also just overly hyped.

Overly hyped. Okay, they have an impact, but the way they're marketed is completely wrong. True. Okay, without saying any names. Okay, go ahead. I will say this. A name that you mentioned earlier already has an amnesia, anybody who follows this stuff is going to need to talk about, of course. No, no, not agent one. This person has an amino supplement. Oh, God, I know exact. Yes, and then the claims are that, you know, this is cleaner than protein. And it doesn't have

all the junk that that protein supplements have. You know, I'm a perfect amino. Yes. Yes. You can say it.

“Okay. Okay. First of all, I take that's why I'm a key on-girl, because I think that that's not”

the case. Yeah. My issue are the claims. The claims. Yeah. That's why I issue two. Okay, name other ones. I would say those are the most mainstream ones. There are a hundred different forms of creatine as well. Creatine is super helpful, but there is like creating this and creating that, and this and I just better, and there are like five times more expensive than just plain creatine on a hydrate, and there's not much research to support the other forms of creatine

compared to just creatine on a hydrate. Yeah, the creatine I like is momentous. Have you tried that one? I haven't, but I will promise you it's creatine on a hydrate if you look at it. And it's also something pure. So it's the way to cure a pure. It's just produced in Germany. It's a really high

quality product essentially. Like, you know where it's coming from? It's with that third-party

tested and it's an essay certified blah, blah, blah, blah. But I thought they had a particular way in way that they actually manufacture it. Where? Essentially, I'm not sure. Yeah, it dissolves. It basically dissolves in the water or your water or whatever you have, where most of these things, I find a lot of these these supplements or a lot of the creatine clumps. Yeah, yeah, they're gross. They do. Yeah. I got nauseous. If I'm taking creatine, so now I use creatine gummies.

Oh, as I'm going to ask you about creatine gummies, momentous has one. Also people love that one too. So my postdoc mentor, his name's Dr. Michael Lawrence v. He's a great sports nutrition researcher. His colleague is coming out with the first research study now on creatine gummies in its efficacy.

“What do you think? We'll see. So like, do you think they're effective as effective?”

So third-party testing, if a test then it has five grams of creatine, it certainly seems to be effective. The whole question is, do we absorb it the same way from gummies? And that's literally being tested right now. Like, we don't have any research on it. My logical brain says it doesn't make sense that if it was a gummy you wouldn't absorb it the same way. So I would almost bet my money that it is as effective, but we'll see when the research comes out.

What about multivitaments? Well, I think multivitaments are great. I think multivitaments are first off good product, right? Because like,

it's like, we're going to make the assumption that it's a good product and it's being sourced. Yeah, properly. Don't make that assumption actually. Yeah. Well, actually, if you know they're party tested, right? Like, in the context of like multivitaments, obviously there are things that are

like dirt cheap that aren't third party tested that you shouldn't be buying. I'm not to say,

“again, I'm a big momentous girl because I know how it's been how it, I think they have got great”

vitamins, multivitamin actually. I don't take multivitaments that often, but I recommend those ones. Yeah, I think multivitaments are great because they're, yeah, you take it for people who don't really have a proper diet. Yeah. And they're a very cheap failsafe. Like, if you are deficient in anything, you're going to get it from multivitamin and if you're getting too much of it, you'll pee it out. So it was okay with hold on, which ones do you think are under like overrated though, continue?

Overrated. Overrated. Okay. I think just go boom boom boom. Okay. Boom boom boom. Yeah. I don't think too much about supplements because like, I just don't care about supplements, but greens powders. Overrated. Hydration supplements. Overrated. BCAAs. Overrated. Many amino supplements. Beyond quality ones. Overrated. On. Many specific, just like mega-dosing vitamin D, or vitamin C, or vitamin B12, those were really popular, completely overrated because if you just

take too much of it, you pee it out. So I would say those are some of the main ones. Maybe to throw me a rock. I can't really even think about too many supplements beyond those. Okay. How will underrated? Underrated. Yeah. That's a vitamin way underrated because they're super cheap and they're hard to market and make a lot of money. Oh, yeah. No names. Methylated B vitamins. Overrated. So overrated, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anytime you say any supplement and you make

a 10 times more expensive by calling it something can't see you're overrated across the board. 100%. What about magnesium? Very good. Very, very good. No. Once the difference between taking a magnesium L-thionate, or magnesium glycineate for bed. That's a really good question. From from my understanding, magnesium glycineate seems to be more effective for calming effects and sleep overall. I'm not as familiar with magnesium three and eight specifically.

I take magnesium glycineate because the research I've read and the most common products are

“magnesium glycineate. So that's what I use. I love a magnesium supplement because that”

got them in a bunch of the statistics. But I think it's like 56 to 60% of Americans are significantly deficient in magnesium. The staff there could be completely wrong. It's a large amount of people are very deficient in magnesium. Magnesium is so important for so many biochemical reactions. It's not just sleep, but muscle function, bone health, optimal hormone health. It's super important and we don't get enough of it in our diet. Okay. What about this? I take this all the time too.

These magic mines. They're like basically with reading ingredients. It has like lines, main,

ashwaganda. Look at all the ingredients. Here is my only concern with stuff like this. The ingredients are good. It's just like is it at a high enough dose to have an impact? I don't know. Take it now. All right. Let's take it. I should have given it to the beginning of this. This one has no caffeine. Do you want some with caffeine? Sure. Even though I already opened this one can I have to. Yeah. I'll spare another one hold on. I don't know if you could take two to

“row though, because the caffeine one is really good, right? Yeah. And so I think this is really good”

for like just like the nitropic. You believe in nitropics because of the nitropics. One of my new favorite supplements that I've been taking is caffeine with Elfianine together. I really like it. Really? Why? So Elfianine seems to support just like focus and almost like calm energy is the term people like to use. Essentially, yeah, feel the caffeine. You feel focus but you don't feel jittery, which I really like. Could there be some placebo shirt, but I've really been enjoying it. Really?

So like what's your take on these nitropics? Like the Ashwaganda, Lyand, Maine? Yes, so when you saw them. Yeah. And I will be super transparent. I don't know the specifics of every single ingredient, but Ashwaganda, yeah. Like supplementations to the whole other world. But Ashwaganda, I love Ashwaganda's really good product. Ashwaganda seems to have some pretty good impacts on sleep as well if you didn't know that.

Ashwaganda is good. I think it's more of a comment because there's Ashwaganda here. I thought it was, this is supposed to be good for my mental focus and my lower stress. And for my, yeah,

basically, my calm energy, calm energy. Yeah. So it says, rodeo is another really good product.

That's really good. I love rodeo a lot. Two makers healthy, obviously. Elfianine here. Nice. You know how much caffeine is? That one's only 50. That one's like a killer. I mean, when terms of like, I think it's, I take one every single day before and this is not because I work with them. I, I work with them because I'm obsessed with it. Okay. They, I take it before and work out. It really does keep me on point. Surprise how good it tastes. I'm to everyone. It's

my god. You're going to have like five. They're going to like kill me for giving you like two in a row. We're going to be like, no, I think it'll be fine or six four. There's only one way to find out.

the calorie caffeine. But it's like, we do call it's time released. I'll give you a box of those if you want. Sure. I would love it. They're so good. So what are you going to tell me about muscle that? What, what are you going to tell my audience about muscle that we don't know already? What I say that is like talking, what, what, what I mean by that is I know the importance of it's like the longevity thing and all this stuff. But people, people, there's a lot of

content around muscle. What can you add? That's additive about muscle that maybe we don't know. Got that's a really good question because I don't know what your audience knows.

Well, let's try and see. One thing I always like to talk about from the body composition perspective.

What I mentioned earlier of having more muscle mass means you can eat more food. That is absolutely true. Also, if you have more muscle mass, you can have a higher body weight and still look relatively lean, which is a really big benefit. I'm sure that's fairly common sense. But when we talk about body fat percentage, percentage is relative to your total body weight. So if you put on 10 pounds of muscle, you can have literally the same amount of body fat in your body and look

“substantially lean. Yeah, 100%. So that's why I always tell people like one of the easiest ways”

to have a leaner and healthier body is to focus on just building more muscle. But we've said that already. Yeah, yeah. And then what is your audience not know? I think focusing on building muscle is the single most beneficial thing you can do for long-term health from the following aspects.

One, improved cardiovascular function. Like you don't need to do a ton of cardio to improve

cardiovascular health. Yes, cardio is helpful, but so is strengthening the building muscle. So reduced risk of heart disease, at the risk of sclerosis. It's the single most beneficial thing you can do for blood sugar regulation because we store glucose in our muscle as glycogen. So you'll see people who are thin and type two diabetics. You know, like what's going on there? I thought diabetes only happens when you're overweight or obese. It happens when you're under

muscle relative to how much weight you have. So best thing you can do for glucose regulation is have more muscle. Bone health, osteoporosis, do you talk much about bone health, specifically for women? Do I talk about... Or are you kidding me right now? Do you do? Do you do? Do you know me? I know. I guess I don't know you just. Yes. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Like such, there's so much... Listen to how sad this is. Okay. Older adults who fall in break a hip in our admitted into

an assisted living facility. I think it's about 40 to 45 percent of them die within one year

from complications from the hip fracture, which is completely, again, don't quote me on the stat. The specific number might be off, but it's a large number of people die within a year. Due to complications associated with the hip fracture, totally preventable by lifting weights. Yeah. Well, I think a couple of things. Number one, lifting weights is number one. I also think it's important to do functional training. Sure. That's another one. That mobility training.

Sure. I think a lot of time it's not just lifting weights. The lifting weight is so much more beneficial for sure, but working out in different planes of motion. 100 percent. So when you're...

“I think that's under-talked about. If you want to know the truth, that is something that hasn't”

been spoken about. And I would say that the two are not different. My whole perspective actually this will be a really good topic is that proper strength training really improves mobility and function. Oftentimes people strength training in a way where it's not conducive towards improvements in mobility because they're just using weight that's too heavy. They're limiting the range of motion. So if you're perspective, I think most people probably listen to a lot of new watch the podcast

as well. I'm a tall dude. I'm 64. I'm extremely flat-footed. I used to not be able to squat past 90 degrees without coming onto my toes. Just really bad mobility. And my favorite sport to play is basketball. I love playing basketball. I used to not be able to play basketball because I would get intense, intense shooting pain from my hip to my knee. This happened when I was in my early early 20s. So not age-related at all. And I don't experience any of that anymore.

I have really great mobility for my height. Like, I can easily put my whole hand on the floor. It's great. I love any of my knees. I can squat, ask to grass, like, really good range of motion.

“And the only thing I have done to be able to do those things is strength training. But I”

strength trained in a way where I intentionally really push the end range of motion. Right? Like, a lot of people squat tonight at a reason come right back up. I used to only be able to do that. And I didn't add away to the bar until I could go all the way down. I can go, like, my handstrings touch the back of my calves. And that's a great point. Well, that's what I taught. That's why I want it. Like, to me, it's not like people missed the other half of the conversation.

Yeah. Like, yes, it's an important to weigh training and resistance and training of course it is. But how you do it is so. Yes, yes, yes. Right? Like, I can tell you can tell a trainer is a really shitty trainer where they're just adding more and more weight to the to the bar and the machine when they're training with their clients versus getting them to be able to do full ranges of motion

with a client and they are afraid to do certain exercises because they've always gotten hurt and

they're like, and I can't do the exercise because I worked with the trainer and so the trainer was teaching me how to do it and I always got hurt. I was like, I feel so bad for that person because they've just been so misguided and they've spent so much money on somebody who wasn't really

“helping them because the truth is that no exercises inherently bad, like squats are not bad for you.”

Devils are not bad for you. They're only bad for you if done incorrectly. And some people should they do alternatives sure. But like, I would love to be able to show you examples of people that we worked with in their 70s, Jen, who were like, I can't bend my knees more than like 20 degrees because of crazy pain. And like a year later, they're literally squatting on the dumbbell, you know, all the way down. Yeah. And it's because you just have to learn how to do it correctly, which means

come down slowly. Don't just go down as quickly as possible. When you get to the bottom and it's uncomfortable, pause there, control the weight on the weight on the way up, push yourself every time to go a little bit deeper rather than just add weight for the sake of adding weight. So there's all these little variables that when you do them correctly, strength training is extremely regenerative. I think the biggest misconception around strength training, one is women think they're still going

to get too bulky, which is ridiculous. But two is that it's harmful if you do it too much or too hard, which is not true at all. That's good. Okay. So I like that. Give me something else about what you want to talk about muscle. And so maybe not even muscle, but strength training as a whole, I credit. I think fitness strength training specifically is has been my biggest mentoring my life. So maybe getting a little philosophical and deep here towards the end of the episode. But um,

so I grew up the majority of my life for the single mom had no idea what a healthy relationship looks like. My dad was in that of my life. My dad and I are cool now, but he's had issues with alcohol and drugs and abuse his whole life. Sorry. No, it's, it's, I'm so used to it. But yes, it's not,

I don't, I don't wish I don't anybody, right? So never saw a healthy marriage growing up.

My mom, single mom, did the best she could. We had a lot of challenges. I grew up feeling like I was stupid in my whole life. Like, I'm definitely, or was, I don't know, dyslexically, how we get my numbers and colors mixed up in school. I was class clown. I would always act out. Now I realize it was because a lot of it stemmed from the instability at home. And on top of that, I was chunking overweight and uncomfortable with my skin, the majority of my life. And I say that

“fitness has been my biggest mentor because fitness for me is strength training. That's what I've done”

my whole life. It's what stopped me discipline. Here's a perfect example of what I mean by my parents weren't the best example for a lot of these things. In fifth grade, I was asked to test to be in gifted classes. And I told my dad about it. He was like, why would you want to do that? That's more hard work. So like this whole idea of discipline, non-existent, right? That's what your dad said. Yeah, he's like, why would you want to do that? I mean, you got to do more work. I'm like, all right.

Who wants to do more? And that's why you didn't do it. You ended up doing it. My mom has always

pushed me strongly academically. But discipline, I feel like it's something that I learned through strength training, delayed gratification, right? The idea of like doing hard work now and for an unforeseen result in the future. Consistency, all of these skills that are extremely transferable. Do you know what you did a TED talk on this, right? I didn't know that. Did you do anything back about that? I watched your Instagram content. Okay. Okay. Well, I know you. I did do clips about this.

Yeah. Actually, in all fairness, it didn't come out yet. Okay. But I basically, the fitness TED talk is called why I believe the squat rack taught me more than my business degree. Yeah. Because of these exact reasons. So you've just gave me chills. That's what I want to help people realize that yes, it's cool to build muscle and get a better shape and look better. Like, that's super cool. But it's the actual skills that you develop by focusing on the skills. Yes.

Yeah. I 100%. This is what I do a lot of myself on this. And I think strength training is just like such a visceral example of that. Did you not, if you, you should see what I just posted today. Did you see what I posted today? I don't know. I haven't. Okay. Well, you should listen to it. You should put that on your, when you're to do lists. On IG? Yes. I will watch it right after this. No, you have to light and comment. If you don't, I don't see a comment from you because

that's literally what we talked about what you're saying. I think it's like,

“to, that's what I talked about. Is that fitness for me? Isn't about the fitness piece?”

It's about like, like, it's, it's the byproduct of what it taught me in life. But people, and I wanted people to know, like, people, you can't, it's the gateway drug in my opinion for success. That's how I navigate the gateway drug. Like, yeah, maybe you, you show up because you want to get a nicer ass, but you leave a whole different person. 100%. And that to me is like the message, the other thing that's interesting. I don't know if you know this because, well, I told you before

we started, your whole thing about Strong is a new skinny, like, that was like a book I wrote, a bestselling book, like, 2010 years ago. I'm like, did this guy just, are you guys, are you just

Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm not trying to rip you off of the person. The last thing I was going to say with this whole strength training piece, because I do think it's like, it's who you become, and it's also the ripple effect of the impact it has in the people around you. That's a great point. This is a really cool story that for me is incredibly touching. I'll say his name because he's not anybody on social media. One of our clients's name is Axel. And...

Skit. I'm sorry. I don't know. You know who that is like that. I know the name I don't know who it is. Oh, my God. Check me out. Listen. Listen. My wife roasts me for this 24/7. I don't know any celebrities. I don't know any actors. I don't know any social media people, except like the people in that bubble. I just don't pay attention to anything. Okay. That's really good. But Axel Rose is like, was a lead singer of Guns and Roses. Okay. I love Guns and Roses. I know who he is. I know who he is.

I really have to adopt his podcast. I like Slash. The guitar player, because I play the guitar. You don't know who Slash is? Come on, Jen. I don't who Slash is. I know who Slash is. But Guns Axel Rose is like me saying, do you know Michael Jackson is? Of course I know Michael Jackson.

“Well, no, absolutely. Okay. Anyway. My four-year-old loves Michael Jackson. That's what's crazy.”

He's like, okay. Anyway, we're digressing. Okay. Because Michael Jackson as I had a resurgence. But people seem to have forgotten all the charges against him. But anyway, let's go. So this is what I think fitness does for people. Axel came to work with us for weight loss, whatever. Didn't really have a love for working out at all. He actually did not enjoy working out. Committed to the process. Six months later, he was strength training in his garage at home. Six

months later, his teenage son started asking him if he could work out with him. So now he's working out with his, I think, 15, 16-year-old son. And then a couple months after that, his, he said that his son was naturally like shy and timid and timid. His friends at school started asking his son for training at vice. And then he felt cool on, like, he belonged with

this group. And what he told me, he was like, Joey never in a million years that I think I would bond

with my son over exercise. Like for me, that gives me chills too. That is, that is what I want people to realize of, like, beautiful. I love that. It's like, listen, it's fucking hard to get started, right? It's fun. I love that reason. Yeah. But you just don't see, you don't see beyond the horizon

“of, like, what's actually possible for your life when you focus on fitness? Well, I think it's”

with anything, right? Like, you know, I've a 13-year-old boy who wants nothing to do with his mom, right? But the one thing that actually is kind of connecting us now or bonding us is because I have a 13-year-old boy who is now much more focused on having being fit and having, like, you know, being brought. And, like, all, and, like, having, like, looking a certain way because he likes, he's starting to, like, girl. Yeah. So what do we have? What's the only common theme we have? Getting jacked.

Was he only thing that I can add to the conversation? He comes to me and he's like, mom,

like, I never, like, could, should I have protein shakes? What should I put in my protein shake?

What's the good exercise for that? And I'm like, oh, so we now exercise together. Be it not often, but it's starting and it's, like, I really kind of appreciate what you just said about axle because that and it's that in its own right, you know, the fact that you can bond with somebody or you can, like, I actually believe also besides the sons of whatever, the community, like, when you're, like, you, you, you kind of, you know, overall, like, the like-minded people that you

attract or like, that are, that you kind of associate with because of this, because of people who are naturally disciplined, who are people who are, are patient or team players or whatever it is,

“you know what I mean? I think it's definitely the ripple effect.”

Community is super important. Community. And yeah, we can end there. We try to, we try to incorporate as much community as possible with our clients because a lot of people who struggle with their fitness don't have anybody in their personal lives who they can rely on for fitness either. So, like, when you're part of a group of people that are going through the same experience the same challenges, it makes it that much more enjoyable and easy overall. I totally agree. I don't even have to

ask you this question. Cardi or lifting. We know you're going to slip lifting and that's like an obvious one. Why do people know exactly what to do but they still don't do it? God, that is a loaded question. I know. I think oftentimes, okay, I will do this as succinctly as I can. Please. Knowledge alone

is not enough. First off, a lot of people think they know what to do when they don't. Okay,

because, like, done in Kruger effect, we think we know more than we actually know. But from my perspective, I think oftentimes, Jen, people don't take time to reflect on what their actual priorities are. I think that's a big one. I have a lot of conversations with people around just getting to the bottom of why they're trying to do what they're trying to do in the first place. Think when you're really clear on that, it helps you identify what your actual priorities are and you realize how

to give up on ourselves, right? Like, if you're a busy parent and it's not excuses but it's the

“reality of life and you have to provide for your kids and work and you really prioritize your”

profession. It's easy to just be like, I'll skip my workout today because I can just get some more work done. I think that's where, again, being really clear on your priorities is super important. So, I think a lack of accountability, a lack of prioritization, a lack of a deep enough desire to change, oftentimes people only change when something really scary happens. So, if you are a little bit overweight and you don't focus on your fitness but you're naturally a confident person and you don't

really feel bad about the fact that you're, like, there's nothing really pushing and driving you to change because you also don't know how good it feels to be in good situation. We don't know you don't know. Exactly, exactly. So, a lot of people wait till they have a freaking heart attack

to make a change which is so sad. I think it's a combination of those variables, honestly.

I think that is a, I think that that's accurate, too. You're not wearing any wearables. You're not wearing an apple watch, you're not wearing an orring, a hoop. I am, like, the least fitness fitness person. I'm going, well, no, no, no. What I was going to actually say, which is really funny, a lot of the most fit people I know don't do any of this nonsense, which is funny. Like, do you believe in tracking your sleep, tracking your calories, tracking your blood sugar,

tracking your, I don't think those are all on the same plane field. My perspective is, so when we look at the research, the people that are the healthiest and in good shape, or let's say, let's put it this way. People that maintain weight loss, they track something. So, that's something can be your steps. It can be your protein. It can be your weight. Like, I don't track my calories, but I weigh myself because I don't like letting myself get above 220. So, I weigh myself every day. It doesn't

“bother me at all. I wake up, I weigh myself and that's what I do. I think tracking calories is a”

very useful tool for a period of time to learn about your own eating behaviors. Because a lot of people have no idea, right? They're just like orange juice, healthy. I'd say sugar bomb, a lot of calories, right? So, I think it's a really useful learning tool. I don't think it's something you should do forever unless you want to do it for me. I know people that like tracking their calories. Other things like tracking your sleep, I don't think it's bad. I just think we become so obsessed with

data. So, if you wake up tomorrow and you had bad sleep, what can you do about last night's sleep? I know. Do you know what's actually happens? I forget to check the data that I have on my, like I'm wearing this ring now because of the aesthetic of it. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, shit. I forgot to check my sleep because it doesn't help me. Me knowing that I have a score of 68 versus 88. All it does is get me pissed off. Yeah. Like, oh crap. I felt like shit. I knew I

slept like shit. So, what's the benefit to that? Like, just having the data just so you can be annoyed with yourself. For some people, I would say it is a reminder to prioritize your sleep habits. Like, I think for some people, it's helpful in that way. But yeah, I think most times we just get two obsessed with numbers. I forget who said it. There was a sleep expert. I was listening to an opportunity on a particular podcast. And it was like an hour talking about sleep metrics. And then

at the end, he was like, but honestly, if you go to sleep and you wake up and you feel good, you're good. And if you wake up and you tired, you didn't get going to sleep. It's like, yeah, it really is that simple. But everything is like, like, calmness sense isn't so calm and anymore. You know what I mean? Like, we all know, this is the problem, right? Like, too much is becoming too much. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's what when you said earlier, like, oh, I don't know

any of these people. I don't know any of the God bless you. The bless you know the better. I don't think you knowing every social media person and this celebrity and that celebrity is going to help you in any way in your life, really. You know, I like to watch on social media. What? Comedy. I like comedy. And all I get on my social media is food. Are you a food? Okay. I get sushi on my dates like nonstop. Oh, I get tons of comedy. Yeah. A lot of fitness. But I also get a,

but I get in a lot of comedy and I get actually a lot of comedy. I love it. I like my favorite things.

That's what I always heart when I think one of the best things for your health. I was going to say,

“that's what I do. I'm just doing myself. I say laughing is the best thing. Best thing for your”

for longevity is laughing. And it feels great. Yeah. Well, it doesn't like the laugh. So I want my favorite things to do. It should talk. Yeah. I think that's good. I know we got to like wrap this, but um, okay, Dr. Joey, um, where do people find you if they want to know more stuff about you? So Dr. Joey Mujos, I'm pretty much all social media platforms. I've just finished saying that. Yeah. Yeah. You think Instagram, podcast, and then two things.

One is if somebody is interested in working with us, you can head over to strongstandard.com. That's our coaching page. And just submit an application. And we'll see if we are a good fit to help you. What I always say though is before encouraging somebody to reach out to work with us is to learn more about our philosophies to see if we're a good fit. For those of you guys listening, if you are on Instagram and you comment the word "gen" on any of my posts, I'm going to send you

stuff to learn more about what we do before deciding whether or not you want to move forward with coaching.

“Don't, don't put the pressure on me. You could do it or not do it, but”

all right. Thank you so much. I appreciate you being on the podcast. You were a pleasure. Thank you.

And good luck with your, I guess you're continued health journey. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you for having me on this is a ton of fun. Absolutely. Now go to the next podcast.