Robin Switzer: How To Stop Snacking And Find Food Freedom | MMP #284
Download MP3Alright, Robin. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
Speaker 1:It's always great seeing you.
Speaker 2:Good to see you too.
Speaker 1:I know you've had a little bit of trouble getting to Austin, but I'm happy you're here. You'll you'll be here for the whole week scouting out for the conference. Right?
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so we you and I got to meet you, me, and Harry got to meet the first the first time we went to Keto Con was July of 2022, 113 Degrees.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:But we had just moved to Austin and heard so many great things about your conference. And for us, we were brand new into the podcasting space. We had just launched the brand, and we we figured, like, this would just be a great conference to learn, listen to the speakers, maybe network a little bit. And, I mean, we were blown away. Like, the way that you run the conference, it feels like every hour of the 3 day experience, there's just, like, one amazing speaker after the other.
Speaker 1:So for us, we were like kids in the candy shop because we got to listen to a lot of speakers. And then the networking of your conferences are so valuable that I think we legitimately got probably close to 30 podcast guests just from that alone. So 2022 is amazing. And then last year, we were fortunate to come back, and then I was able to be a part of the healing panel that you did. And then Harry and I were also able to lead that regenerative agriculture panel.
Speaker 1:So we wanna just have you back on the show because you've just rebranded from Keto Con to hack your health. Mhmm. It will be late May. What what are the dates in May that it's gonna be?
Speaker 2:May 31st or June 2nd.
Speaker 1:Awesome. And we just wanted to have you back on the show because I think in person events are just so valuable, especially as we continue to go more and more digital. I think people are really just craving that in person connection. And luckily, there's people like you that are putting in the really, really hard work to make these in person experiences happen because I know it's not easy. And I've gotten a little bit of insight into all the behind the scenes leg work.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, I just wanted to have you back on just to I would love to just for the listener, just to learn a little bit more about your backstory. I know you have a great journey of, like, improving your own personal health and nutrition, and then we'll get into the the founding story behind your health and ketocon too. Sure.
Speaker 2:Well, it is a backstory. It's a long backstory, but I'm gonna do my best
Speaker 1:to keep you short. Yeah. You go as long as you want.
Speaker 2:I, I struggled the majority of my young life until I was in my early forties with depression, food addiction, in and out of, like, intense exercise. I had PCOS. I had real my HbA 1c was super high, but no one ever no one ever balked at it. But I just kind of flowed in and out of I was either dieting or not dieting. And when I wasn't dieting, I was binging.
Speaker 2:And so I had, like, serious food issues. And I was just always looking for the solution.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, I discovered low carb in when I was in my forties. And it took me several years of going in and out, in in and out because I couldn't I couldn't stand up to the social pressures at the time, eating differently than everybody else. So in my family, it kind of became like, what's Robin doing this week? What's Robin? What's she won't eat?
Speaker 2:What? So, but I was finding success with low carb. And then, eventually, it became more of a lifestyle to me. Mhmm. But once I found the ketogenic diet, the difference was when I was eating low carb, I was also eating very low fat.
Speaker 1:Got it.
Speaker 2:But once I found the ketogenic diet and added the fat back in, like, everything's changed. So I immediately lost weight. The symptoms that I was having that were a result of insulin resistance that I didn't realize at the time were disappearing.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And I knew that I had come I found something important.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:At the time, I was a corporate banker. I was working for Bank of America, traveling 3 weeks out of the month, very high pressure, high stress job. I was managing a large team of people, and I really wanted to get out. But I didn't know how to translate my skill set. I I didn't know how to, like, take all the things that I knew how to do and translate it into something that I could feel more passionate about.
Speaker 2:I was in a Facebook group, about the ketogenic diet. Someone posted about needing a project manager. I had no idea what it was, but I was so curious. I answered this. I responded to the post, and I met the owner of Keyed Evangelist.
Speaker 2:And 30 days later, I quit Bank of America after 20 something years. No promise of compensation, but I felt really, enthusiastic about getting involved in something where I could really learn new skills, dig my teeth into it, help build something, be part of something bigger than me. So I started working with Keyt Evangelist, and we built all these different business lines. At the time, Brian had 4 different podcasts that were all very successful.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Multiple Facebook groups with over half a 1000000 people in all the different social media accounts and mostly Facebook at the time. And we decided, let's do a live event. Because in those days, this was 2016, you couldn't even you couldn't go to a restaurant and order something without fries or a burger without people looking at you like you were crazy.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:So, we thought you know, we all feel kinda isolated in this. Let's bring all these people together and do a live event. It'd be kind of like everybody can learn, everybody can, support each other, celebrate, you know, what we've learned, and continue to help each other along the way. Brian knew all these people from his podcast because he had been interviewing these people. So we did the first live event in, 2017.
Speaker 2:500 plus attendees and 40 vendors. Those are round numbers. I never get it straight. 2017, 2018, 2019. And then by 2019, we had 3,000 people there and a 120 vendors.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So it just exploded, and it became everything that I did. So, I mean, we had all these other business lines. We had certification platform for food product manufacturers, coaching division where we have independent contractors, coaches that work for us under our branding Mhmm. A retail brand that is not really retail in the true sense of the word. It's an ecommerce brand, ballistic keto.
Speaker 2:So everything was going really, really well. Of course, by then, I was making money, and we were doing great. And then COVID happened.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And, Brian came to me, and he said, we've got 90 days, and I'm gonna have to shut everything down. Because literally overnight,
Speaker 1:all
Speaker 2:revenue stopped.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And, we had to make some decisions about the event. The event was paid for, but there's no more revenue coming in. We can't do the event. Mhmm. So, Brian and I talked it out, and I just decided, you know, I'm not ready to quit.
Speaker 2:I feel like there's so much more work to do. And I don't want to go back to what I was doing before. I wanna find a way to make this work. There's so many people that need help. So, Brian and I drew up a contract, and I acquired everything from him.
Speaker 2:-Mm. -Uh, and that was right before lockdown.
Speaker 1:-Yeah.
Speaker 2:I would not advise anybody else to do the same things that I've done, but maybe I mean, it worked out, but So, lockdown happened, and we had to cancel the event. And so for people who don't understand event planning, when you sign a contract for an event, they have language in the contract that says, if you cancel, then you forfeit everything you've paid them.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:If they cancel, they can honor your investment for the following year. Well, the city of Austin wasn't making a move, and it was March. Our event was supposed to be in June. And I had thousands of ticket holders and, you know, a 120 vendors all wanting answers. And I did the only thing I knew how to do or the only thing I felt I could do, I canceled the event.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. So that left me in a bad situation with the Palmer Center. But everybody else was paid, including the Palmer Center. The only problem was is that we had a no refund policy, and people do not like no refund policies.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:So, we couldn't refund the ticket sales. We couldn't refund the vendor sales. And by the way, none of that money came to me anyway. It went to the previous owner of the company who had paid everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I I just had to figure out a way to keep moving. So we held off on the event. Obviously, we couldn't do it live. We did it virtually that year, which is a whole another podcast conversation. And then we started, you know, rebranding all the other business lines waiting until we could do the event again.
Speaker 2:We couldn't do it in 2021. Too many restrictions. People were doing events, but, like, we had to keep the vendors 6 feet apart. People had to be 12 feet apart. It was just no way to do a large event.
Speaker 2:So we punted again to 2022. In 2,022, we brought back all the ticket holders and all the sponsors. Everybody who had made an investment in the event was honored. And this is the the part that I this is the part I would never recommend that people do. I felt like my name was all over this.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. This is my event. The people who have signed up and bought tickets and the vendors, they all know me. They've worked with me. So I honor their investment, but how do I do that?
Speaker 2:Because they haven't paid me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And this is this event costs over half a $1,000,000 to do. So, I cashed out part of my 401 k,
Speaker 1:and I
Speaker 2:made it happen. And that's how 22,022 happened. We had we honored all the ticket sales. And if people couldn't come in 2022, we honored it for for 2023. We honored all the investments made by the vendors.
Speaker 2:And so, everybody that was there, and new ticket sales, of course, and new vendor sales happened, was really excited about being there. So you were there in 2022. You saw it. People were just so excited about being together again.
Speaker 1:People it was like this, like, breath of fresh air.
Speaker 2:It really was.
Speaker 1:It was
Speaker 2:like a it was like a family reunion.
Speaker 1:It was like a reunion.
Speaker 2:Yeah. For people who, people who have been coming year after year, people who we haven't seen in 2 years, you know, people who you only know online. And the one thing about the I think this is what keeps me going all year is that when you walk in that door at this event, you the energy of thousands of people who are passionate about being well, it's it's electrical.
Speaker 1:It's electric. I was literally gonna say that's the only way to describe it. When you walk through that conference center and you see the 100 plus vendors and the speakers and the attendees in the center stage where all the the main stage is, like, it truly is like a bolt of energy.
Speaker 2:It really is. And so there's really nothing like it. There's when you go someplace where everyone there is passionate about the same thing and it's positive, it's not a there's no negative. There's no negativity there. It's like it's it just lifts you up.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So, anyway, that's 2022 was awesome for that reason. It wasn't profitable. I mean, obviously, because I had to cash out my 401 k part of it to make it happen, but, we did it. Then we came back again last year. But what happened in 2022, is I realized I needed to rebrand if I was going to throw a wider net because I mean, there were about 25100 people there that year.
Speaker 2:If I want this event to bring in more people and I wanna bring in more companies that have more value to bring to the consumers, the health seekers, how am I gonna do that? Because the word keto was limiting me. I had companies telling me, you know, my product isn't keto. I don't really think your community is a good fit for me. And then I had people, you know, attendees saying, well, I don't really follow a ketogenic diet.
Speaker 2:This is not the right event for me. So Ryan and I were on a road trip with my daughter-in-law. Ryan is my son. Sorry. You know Ryan.
Speaker 2:I didn't say this. So Ryan
Speaker 1:business with your son.
Speaker 2:Yeah. My son Ryan runs the exhibitor sales, and he runs the expo hall floor during the event and the team that works for him during the event. So Ryan and I were on a road trip between Florida and North Carolina with him, my daughter-in-law, and my granddaughter. And we're all thinking, what can we rebrand what can we rename this event? And we're just, like, throwing names out in the air.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. And Ryan spits out hack your health. And it was like, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's the name.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'm on my cell phone on I 75 going on GoDaddy buying the URL.
Speaker 1:And
Speaker 2:that's what we did. So we didn't wanna I I felt like it was important to not lose traction with the KetoCon branding. I wanted to find a way to maintain what we had built but continue to expand. So rather than completely rebranding, 2023, we changed only changed our tagline. So it was KetoCon, the science and stories of keto to KetoCon, hack your health.
Speaker 2:And then I just started peppering in hack your health hashtags, hack your health into the marketing, hack your health into our messaging. And then this year, we've rebranded fully to hack your health by KetoCon. And that's just I mean, that's enabled us to maintain our social media presence, our YouTube presence, all that kind of stuff. And now we'll after this year, we'll completely do the switchover. But I just I was really afraid of losing the base and starting over.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so that's kinda where we are right now. What I what I didn't expect was and this was naivete on my part. The word hack in the name has just brought on a whole new meaning to the event. So we're just drawing in a lot of people who are interested in biohacking. And so that brings a problem into itself, like I shared with you earlier.
Speaker 2:I I think that there's a misconception that biohacking is only for the privileged because, they don't understand that you you don't need, like, a $15,000 coal plunge to be a biohacker Definitely. Or to biohack your health. And so I really don't look at this as a biohacking event. We still have our our main foundation is really nutrition. I still have a banned ingredient list.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. We
Speaker 2:have a lot more food products there now, though. I mean, because the food products that are low carb and in the keto space have so many crappy ingredients that we won't let them in.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:There's only a select few that we will let in. And, I mean, we like to have, like, holy cow beef, and they're cooking meat on the floor and Mhmm. Patterson's and that kind of stuff. And the so we'll still have all of those things, but we're bringing in a lot more, like, experiential stuff too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Supplements, cold plunge, sauna, red light therapy.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We're gonna be doing some, like, body weight movement classes this year on the on the expo hall floor. We've got this an area to set aside for that kind of stuff. So, well, I just took what's your story to a whole new level, didn't I?
Speaker 1:No. It's a this is what this is what people wanna learn too. And I and I think too to comment on the name change as someone that's been there for the last 2 years. I think the name change makes so much sense because there's always been a really strong nutritional emphasis at the conference. But at the same time, it has felt more of like a general alternative health conference where people are learning about sauna and cold plunge exposure for the first time, and they're getting IV drips.
Speaker 1:And I think the name just allows you to cast a much wider net like you were saying. And I think people actually thought you were gonna go more in the carnivore direction just because the carnivore panels that you do are amazing because you're getting all the biggest carnivores at this conference. But at the same time, if you win the car if you just want the pure carnivore route, that really pigeonholes what you're trying to do, or you wanna branch in, like, all these different alternative health modalities too. And I'm sure it's also just so exciting to have gone from 2 years of not being able to do this thing in person. Now you're actually able to, like, evolve the brand and expand and do all the things that you probably dreamed of back in 2017 when you started the conference to begin with.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's true. Yeah. Definitely are.
Speaker 1:How would you, like, explain your passion to someone that's like, maybe they hear your story and they're like, but, Robin, you could've just stayed in your job at, like, Bank of America, and you didn't have to sell your 401 k. And I know that this movement has has had such a big impact on who you are. And you mentioned, like, the depression and the PCOS and wanting to lose weight. Like, how would you explain your passion for this movement and maybe doing something that doesn't logically make sense to someone that's, like, working a corporate job?
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's a tough one. So the passion behind this is there's a lot of there's a lot of reasons. First of all, I like I I wasn't I was underplaying the word struggle when I said I struggled a lot. I was I struggle is is a is not a strong enough word.
Speaker 2:So I when I look back on those years, if I had known what I know now, I could've my I could've had a completely different experience. Now, I mean yeah. I experienced what I needed to experience to get me where I am and all things are meant to be and all that kind of stuff. But, there are a lot of people in my shoes that were my that are currently the age that I was that could benefit from learning these things now.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So like I've shared with you before, your generation, understanding the importance of nutrition now, you will be a completely different person at 60
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Than you would have been if you didn't know this. So I I just feel like it's so important. And I've watched in my own personal family, I've watched people get sick and die because of their poor nutrition. Yeah. I told you my dad had MS.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. He struggled with food addiction his entire life, and I'm sure that that behavior was witnessed by me and I fell into it and all that. But when my dad was diagnosed with MS, he did not he didn't change his diet, and the doctors didn't tell him to change his diet. And the last year of my dad's life, I watched him lay in a bed and eat nursing home food because that was all he had left. And I wasn't allowed to have a voice and to say what he was gonna eat.
Speaker 2:So the feedback that I got from my family was he's 80. He's gonna die. Just let him eat what he wants to eat.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So, I'm I don't wanna get emotional about this, but I'm going to. So my dad passed away last year. He was 82. He passed away just a couple days after his birthday. And, it was what he was eating that killed him and not the MS.
Speaker 2:Because he started he wouldn't stop eating. He started, aspirating. The food got into his lungs. He got an infection. That's what killed him.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So if if he had, changed his diet when with his diagnosis, he may have died at 82, but he wouldn't have been sick the whole time. I have cousins within 10 years of my age younger. So I'm just gonna be 62 in August. So they're in their fifties with colon cancer, ovarian cancer, brain cancer. I mean, it's deep in my family, and I don't I don't wanna go down that road.
Speaker 2:And I don't wanna see other people go down that road, and it can be prevented with lifestyle changes. Mhmm. So that's what keeps me doing this.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It it's so much more than money. It's about, like, spreading this fundamental information where, like, you think about if your dad had access to it or these different members of your family. And I know one of the coolest things is seeing you always kick off the conference with your granddaughter too, and I know that's super motivating and that you just had a grandson. Congrats.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Like, being able to be there with them for hopefully 20, 30 plus Hacker Health Conferences in the future. And there's there's nothing more motivating than that too.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And you also just think back to, you know, had you not made these changes, like, you could have been down the same route that a lot of other member family members, the route that they're that they're going down right now to. Yeah. And most people have the ability to take control of their own health. But it's like you said about your dad. His doctors aren't talking him about this.
Speaker 1:And in Western medicine, we have this. It's almost like the doctor has how all the control, and we blanket follow exactly what they tell us. So if no one's talking to us about nutrition and lifestyle habits, obviously, the patient isn't gonna listen to it as
Speaker 2:well. Right.
Speaker 1:So it's just it's powerful. I I think about that a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Well, having my granddaughter on the stage with me
Speaker 1:It's the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I love doing that for a couple of reasons. One, because the energy and the angst leading up to opening the show and all the things that have to happen, you know, to make all of the production just like, okay. We're on. It causes it causes a lot of I can't meditate my way through that.
Speaker 2:I can't get the I can't, like, calm myself. Having her with me calms me down. So I bring her up on the stage for two reasons. 1, because she's frickin' adorable.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And she loves to say welcome to KetoCon. But also because it calms me. So having her on the stage just kind of, like, distracts me from the fact that I've got a 1,000 people looking at me and, you know, wanting answers. And I'll bring her back on the stage again this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah. We have to. It's true. It's tradition. Right?
Speaker 1:And people don't understand as well. Like, I've done we've done very, very small events. Like, we've done a couple 100 person events. And even for that, there are just so many unforeseen logistics, like, behind the scenes that people don't know to the point where I think I was talking to you last year about, you know, congratulations. This was so amazing.
Speaker 1:Like, the next day, you and Ryan are already planning for the next year's event. Like you said, it cost half a $1,000,000 to do this. There's so many moving parts. $1,000,000. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then when you it's not even, like, when you kick off the event, you can just sit back and relax. Like, there's things going on for all 3 days too. Yeah. So I'm sure having your granddaughter up there is a nice little, like, sigh of relief just to take your take your mind off of everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It really is. Yeah. There's always, like, last minute things like emergencies that, you know, need to be addressed. I mean, you experienced that with Noble.
Speaker 2:Just setting up a booth for a vendor, there's just there's there's always last minute things. Then the all the there's so many moving parts.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But I think your original question was, you know, what motivates me to keep doing this if it's not profitable?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It makes me feel like I'm making a difference.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Really. I mean, I'm like, I told you, I'm I'm in my I'm in my early sixties. I'm not ready to stop working. Mm-mm. I feel like I have a lot more to do, a lot more to give.
Speaker 2:And for me, at this point in my life, if I'm not making a difference, then there's really no need for me to be doing it.
Speaker 1:There's no
Speaker 2:purpose in me in me doing it.
Speaker 1:We need a mission. Yeah. And I think the cool one of the really cool things about hack your health as well is the different demographic of people that attend. It's like you'll see people like Michael Coomer who is ripped has, like it's probably, like, 6% body fat. And then you'll also see a mom who's maybe literally £50 overweight, and she's going there because she just wants answers and doesn't really know anything about nutrition.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And she's there, like, front of the stage, like, just taking notes and listening and learning. So I think it's so cool how you're able to attract these different demographics that want to attend.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's always that's always interested me too. So, I mean, our average age range is, like, between 3555. But I see people much younger than that bring and bringing kids, and I see people my age as well. So I really feel good about the fact that no matter where someone is in their health journey, that they can find some value in participating in something like this.
Speaker 2:The networking for 1.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Meeting people that you know online in person. Meeting the owners of companies. So for the attendee to see Noble Mhmm. On the Internet is one thing. But when they walk up to your booth and they meet you and they know who you are now, that's a totally different customer.
Speaker 2:A 100%. Different experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah. There's, like, the aspect of, like, from the attendee, you're able to learn so much information, and then also you get such amazing a list speakers that you're able to connect with these people that that you've kinda, like, idolized from afar and learn from. So there's that benefit. And then also from just the attendee perspective, like, I I firmly believe that you can grow businesses, like, one handshake at a time. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And a lot of relationships that we made when because Noble literally launched a KetoCon, which was so cool. Like, we just we literally got product in time the day before KetoCon. Like, God's timing was perfect with that. And a lot of the customers that we've met there who's who we shook their hands, they'd heard us speak. They've been purchasing on subscription since then.
Speaker 1:So our business has made, like, tens of 1,000 of dollars just just from actually connecting with customers, even like the I don't know if you know Josh Kriefols and his wife. They have a big nutrition coaching business online. They were I think they just went as attendees. Mhmm. We connected with them.
Speaker 1:They're one of our biggest affiliates for Noble because we met with the KetoCon, and they got to hear us speak. So there's, like, all this serendipity from conferences and events that you can't really quantify. You just have to, like, purchase a ticket and trust it and just see what happens.
Speaker 2:That's interesting that you say that. So, I mean, we work with a lot of different people online to help us promote the event. And so I I think that they would consider themselves in cons consider themselves influencers. So they come to the event for that reason
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To meet companies like Noble.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Because I and I think I think brands get it wrong where I think the initial reaction for a sponsorship is like, well, why do I need to go to an event when I can just run paid ads and do, like, 1,000 of dollars a day? Well, number 1, I actually did the calculations because we didn't have enough product to sell.
Speaker 1:But based on the customer emails and people that wanted to purchase, we sold over $10,000 of product from that one weekend, let alone all the people that started listening to the podcast and started purchasing on subscriptions. So number 1, I think those events are super popular. And, also, it's so much more than just sales. It's about actually, like, connecting with your customers and, like, making an impact through that connection too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. People love to meet the owners of companies.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yeah. It's just, what what do you think it is about in person events that are making a resurgence? Because I felt like, obviously, with COVID, things started to die down. And now I just you know, with with millennials and beyond, I think people are really trying to find their communities and try and find people that are like minded, especially I know for me when I first went carnival in New York City, it was very difficult.
Speaker 1:I was, like, the only freak that was chopping up a pound of rib eye and bring it into the office. It was very hard to find people to connect with. But I guess that's what's beautiful about these events is, like, you're able to find a lot of, like, like minded people, kinda build your tribe and build in personal relationships.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, so there's so many there's so many things that go into this. First of all, someone who has dialed in their nutrition is working on themselves. They're looking to improve things. They when you don't have the fog of poor nutrition in your brain, you're thinking more clearly, you're relating more you're relating to people better, you're more intentional.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. So when you get a bunch of people like that in the same space, like we talked about before, it's it's electric.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I think that there's a lot happening online. People are on their devices or on their computers a lot. And they're missing 1 on 1 connection.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:The same reason why a better podcast is one where you and I sit and have a conversation eye to eye instead of on Zoom.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:It's just connecting with other people. And you can't Zoom doesn't replace that. The Internet doesn't replace that. Your phone doesn't replace it. I mean, I could get quirky about it.
Speaker 2:I mean, it has a lot to do with energy, of
Speaker 1:course. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So I just feel that people are desperate for that. There's a lot of a lot of negativity coming at people from all different directions. I feel it. You must feel it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean, the political climate, the world events, all this it's it can really drag you down.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But when you're 1 on 1 with people who at least you have that in common, you'd find that you have a lot more in common with them because they're looking to uplevel their lives. Yeah. And they understand that this is the foundation for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like, you can basically assume that every single person that is attending Hacker Health, they just wanna put their life in a better spot. Maybe it's nutritional nutritionally, maybe it's learning a new health and wellness practice. But, like, you can assume that everyone is there because they wanna get better. So you have that shared belief in common, and then you'll find that you can make really amazing friendships and relationships because you all have that commonality as humans too.
Speaker 1:Like, I think I told you, you know, we've probably gotten 20 to 30 podcast guests from from hack your health attending over the last 2 years, but we've also made a lot of amazing friends too. So, like, that in itself is priceless.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I agree.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. It's, it's
Speaker 2:named all the reasons I keep doing it.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And that's why when there's probably that part of your rational brain that's saying, am I really gonna solve chunk of my 401 k? You're like, I this is so much bigger than anything. Yeah. Money can ever do for me.
Speaker 1:It's about making an impact.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I you know, I was just thinking when I worked for Bank of America, I was I was making well over $200,000 a year.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And, I could not imagine ever not making that kind of money. I had built a lifestyle that that money supported.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I make a fraction of that now. And I have to say, I'm a lot happier.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:All the things that I thought I needed, I didn't really need.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:My life is much less complicated. I have far fewer belongings. My wardrobe is a fraction of the price.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I'm not at Starbucks every day.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:I don't color my hair anymore.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:My nails aren't done. I mean, those are all things that, I don't have a car payment. So all of those things were things that I thought I needed and that that big income supported.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But when I walked away from it and started, like, dwindling down all like, not dwindling down. It's like kind of shaving away all those outer layers. I realized I needed a lot less to be happy.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so why do I how can I afford to keep doing this year after year if it's not profitable? It's profitable enough to pay the people who work for me, to pay for the event, and to pay for me living a very simple life.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And that alone is very fulfilling to me. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:That's why they say more money, more problems. Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. More money, more stuff, more problems, more payments.
Speaker 1:And what is the also the price of, like, waking up to get out of bed being so excited? I know there's a lot of stress on what you do too, but way more than that is, like, you truly feel like you're making an impact because you are. You're affecting thousands of people's lives in a positive way. Like, just I don't think people understand that feeling of waking out of bed waking up and getting out of bed and truly loving what you do, what price that's actually it's priceless. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:It really is. So in comparison, I would get up at 5 in the morning, sometimes 4, to get to the gym, to get ready, to get on a plane, to fly somewhere, and while I'm travelling, doing the same thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Working till 7, 8 o'clock at night. I was making a difference in that I was helping the companies that I was working with, but it didn't feel very fulfilling.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Now, I naturally wake up by myself at 7.
Speaker 1:I don't I don't
Speaker 2:set an alarm anymore. I have time in the morning to do what I need to do to take care of myself. I work all day, sometimes into the night, but it doesn't feel like it. And I I don't have the that pending that feeling of pending doom that the axe is gonna drop and the management is the top layer and they're all you know, they always go first. That's gone.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And all the other little things that I got rid of that were part of my daily habit that cost so much money
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Are gone. So my life is just simple. And that also is very relatable for, like, nutrition. So when I was overweight and worrying about what I was eating, when I was eating, what I was gonna make, all that kind of stuff, it took a lot of my energy. I literally do not think about it anymore.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. That obsession is completely gone. That freedom is probably the biggest freedom even more so than leaving corporate America. So I I landed last night in Austin at 8 o'clock, got to my Airbnb, didn't have time to go to the grocery store and get any food, But it didn't matter because I could I can skip a meal easily. I'm not hungry.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I woke up this morning, went to a few meetings. It was noon. And I stopped over at H E B, got 2 things of ground beef and a couple of other things, went back to my Airbnb and cooked. And living like that in comparison to having to carry food in my bag, worrying about what, when, and where, complete freedom. I I I can't even I've never even sat down and tried to think about the hours that I've gained, but it is hours.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I think that's really why I have the capacity to work the long hours that I do now because all of that bullshit is out of
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not part of the picture anymore.
Speaker 1:And think about how many people that they're saying, oh, you know, she's 62. You just accepted 62. You're like, oh, my best years are behind me. I'm just gonna kinda ride off into the sunset. And you're like, no.
Speaker 1:You're you're building a startup that's, like, incredibly energy intensive and amazing and inspiring, like and a lot of that is because of the food that you choose to nourish your body with every day. And when you're metabolically flex flexible, you do build that freedom. It's almost like your body goes from where are the maximum calories I need to be effective to, like, what's the minimum viable dose of calories to feel really, really good, which is amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The maximum. I remember thinking, like, how much can I get away with? Yes. And now it's just like it's not part of my thinking anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And, especially, I don't think men, women men understand for women, like, just the body and self awareness or self esteem issues that they face. So even just, like, feeling so good about the way that you look, not happy think about all the hours you probably spent when you're overweight. Number 1, not feeling good. Number 2, like, thinking about that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was it was rough. Yeah. So I really wish that I had I really wish that I had known then what I know now, but I may not have taken the path and been here if I had. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's like this dichotomy of, you know, that God has, like, the perfect plan for you. So you wouldn't change anything because all that painting you experience makes you more relatable. It led to you doing hack your health. But at the same time, you think to yourself, well, if I knew this in my twenties or thirties, there's so much pain I could have avoided at the same time.
Speaker 1:And, like, if you're if you're a millennial, it's like, well, you can get ahead of this stuff now because all this information is so accessible. Yeah. So you said that so you tried going was it low carb in your forties or fifties?
Speaker 2:Forties.
Speaker 1:Was it Atkins?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was when the Atkins movement started getting more popular. Yep. But it was
Speaker 2:I remember people telling me you're gonna have a heart attack. You're gonna kill yourself.
Speaker 1:But the issue is that you weren't eating enough saturated fat. Right?
Speaker 2:Well, it depends on what diet I was on at the time. So when I was doing Atkins, it was plenty of fat. But, like I said, I didn't have the I didn't have the wherewithal and the confidence in what I was doing to withstand the social pressures against what I was doing. Mhmm. It was very fringe.
Speaker 2:And you know, how society looks at fringe.
Speaker 1:Especially at that time too. Yeah. So different now. Yeah. We're like keto and stuff.
Speaker 1:It's widely accepted, but that we're talking about the nineties. Right? Yeah. And everyone's drinking. You're traveling 3 out of 4 weeks out of the year.
Speaker 1:So if you're not drinking or you're just getting a steak at dinner, people are probably like, what the hell are you doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Where's your vegetables? Where's your yeah. Where's your potato? Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was it was interesting. So at one point, when I couldn't stay on Atkins and I did low carb and low fat, I lost quite a bit of weight. But I was, like, white knuckle.
Speaker 1:White knuckle.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So in those days I mean, I weigh a £125. In those days, I weighed anywhere from a 165 to a 185. And, it depends on what year it was and how much I had dieted or over exercised. And, you know, I was running marathons.
Speaker 2:I don't know if we ever talked about it because I used to run marathons. And I was overweight then. And I started running because I thought it would help me lose weight. But at the time, I was using, those GUZ?
Speaker 1:GUZ. Yeah. Which are pure carbs and sugar. Terrible for your gut.
Speaker 2:Gatorade and, all kinds of carbs. I remember one one running person used to carry a cooked baked potato chopped up into cubes in a ziplock bag on her belt. So, yeah, it was crazy times.
Speaker 1:Well, it's like that cliche statement. You really can't out exercise a bad diet. No. And here you are, like, a 165, 185. You're literally doing marathons, which is the hardest physical accomplishment you could do, and you're still struggling to lose weight because it's really it comes down to nutrition, not exercise with this stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So what, what was kind of that, like, light bulb moment of not caring about societal pressures or just feeling like everything was really working and you were losing weight and feeling good and not struggling with PCOS and mental health issues? What what were the biggest switches there that you made?
Speaker 2:You know, once I kind of balanced out the staying active, eating enough fat, but not too much, eating enough protein, but not too much because what when you're in nutritional ketosis, you're you're not eating high protein. It's moderate protein and higher fat. And utilizing that type of protocol helps you heal the damage that you've done prior. Yeah. All the other things that I had done.
Speaker 2:I think what basically happened is I stuck with it long enough that the switch kinda flipped. So I I was healing and losing weight slowly. I was regaining my energy. And all of a sudden, I realized that what I was doing was working. But it took a while.
Speaker 2:It took a while. It took months. I think just like, I found a way that I could kind of live Yes. Whether I lost the weight or not, and I just stuck with it. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And it worked.
Speaker 1:How did you were you able to get over the social pressure that you felt from work working at Bank of America, like, going out to dinners and stuff like that? Did you just decide to just, like, stop caring what other
Speaker 2:people thought?
Speaker 1:Because you've know how good you just leaned into how good you felt.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I stopped caring. And you know what else?
Speaker 2:I started seeing the reality of the environment I was in.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:When you go to these treasury management conferences, every 2 hours between sessions, they're serving food. Yeah. They're serving cookies. They're serving pastries. They're it's all high carb, and then everybody's tired after.
Speaker 2:You know? Everybody goes back into session. Everyone's exhausted except for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it makes you realize that you're doing something. I don't know if you ever feel like this. It's the because the world the space that we're in is is such a bubble because it's such a it's it is there. It feels like because we know so many people in the space, but it's still such a small fragment of the population that's doing this.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when I walk around places like airports, I don't have any other thought besides, like, we're literally just poisoning ourselves Yeah. As a society. Yeah. Like, if you go to the Austin airport, it's just convenience stores with candy and Snickers bars and premade sandwiches. Like, the only thing that that I could get that would be lower carb is I would I go to Taco Deli, and I get the salad with, like, extra steak.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that's the only thing I can get in the entire airport that's, like, somewhat Mhmm. On my
Speaker 2:diet. Yep. Airports are airports are if airports are are like a picture of what society is, we're in big trouble. You're right. It is a bubble.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about that the other day. Like, because I work in this space, pretty much everybody that I know
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Is of a similar mindset. But when I step outside of that space, there are a lot of people who just really either don't know or don't care.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And, the don't know part, I can deal with because I can help. But the don't care, those people are gonna suffer, and I can't help them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Airports I mean, I don't wanna I don't wanna say some of the things that I was thinking when I'm going through the airports. Airports, malls, and, gosh, just going to Target and Walmart. Walmart's the
Speaker 1:worst. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It it's it's pretty sad.
Speaker 1:Because that's, like, because the spay these central gathering points of what you're talking about of, like, large supermarkets, airports, grocery stores, that's that is the reflection of the US population. So I think the statistic is that 88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy, and then 70% of US adults are overweight or obese. So, you know, by that logic, 7 out of every 10 people that you're gonna see are fat. And if you go into the airport and you count off every 10 people, it's a 100% true. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you like you said, you don't wanna send sound callous or talk about the thoughts in your head, but it's like you you care about, you know, your fellow countrymen and countrywomen. And you know that there's this amazing solution that exists, yet it's a combination of just, like, not having access to the right information. And so many people are struggling. And the way that you talked about it almost felt like the light bulb went off when you nourish your body with the right foods and you have this amazing energy where you're waking up on your own at 7 without an alarm clock. You think, like, I wish you could understand how good that I actually feel, and it's accessible to you too.
Speaker 1:If you just made some of these very simple changes over a long enough time horizon. It's hard to see people go through that.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. It really is. I think that when I look out at people and their shopping habits, so when I go to the grocery store, I think people are even more addicted than I was. Maybe equally. Maybe I don't see it as well because I'm far removed from it now.
Speaker 2:But, people are not feeding themselves any nutrition at all. I mean, it's all food products. Yeah. And, I mean, I mean, we've had this discussion a 100 of times, you and I, about the the ingredients that are in food. And they're intentionally designed Yeah.
Speaker 2:These food products to keep people addicted.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:The stuff that's available to people today was not available when I was a kid. No. So that kinda scares me because I got addicted in the seventies when the worst thing you could get was, like, a bagel and maybe a TV dinner in an aluminum can at McDonald's.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's, like, nothing compared to what's on the shelves today.
Speaker 1:No. I I saw that Taco Bell just released a Mountain Dew Baja Blast pie for dessert. And I'm just like, how is this like, actually, how is this legal? It's it's insane.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's, and you're right. Probably even when even something like Coca Cola when you were a kid, it was probably sweetened with real cane sugar Mhmm. Not high fructose corn syrup.
Speaker 2:Like this big.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. It's like the, what is it? The the small size in the US is like a large size in Europe Right. In McDonald's.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's it's crazy it's crazy to think about. I mean, the statistic I've probably said a 1000 times on the show is that there's 40,000 products in the average grocery store, and they're really controlled by, like, 10
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Food conglomerates that are just really, like, artfully combining, you know, seed oils, refined sugar, refined grains into these hyper addictive things. Yeah. And I think a lot about what you said about the concept of a food like substance that's made in a laboratory that's designed to be highly addictive. It's like there's literally no nutrients and there's no life to this when you look at a really good piece of, like, grass finished meat that's ruby red and, you know, the rancher that grew it.
Speaker 2:It's like there's so much life and vitality to that, and most people are never even getting to
Speaker 1:experience it. Like, most vitality to that, and most people are never even getting to experience. Like, most people in the US have never eaten a grass finished pea like, a really good quality steak or, like, piece of chicken or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You're right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And it makes me just think about how much collective potential we're leaving on the table because there totally could have been this alternate universe where Robin just stayed in her, you know, treasury job, £185, not happy. And, like, you look at what
Speaker 2:I would be alive right now if I hadn't made those changes, honestly.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was miserable. I couldn't, like yeah. I don't think I'd be alive right now. Yeah. Either either physically, something would have gone wrong, or mentally, I would have broken down.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was tough. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Does your family, whether it's, like, Ryan or your husband, other people, do they ever comment on just, like, how different of a person you are now versus, like, 15 years ago?
Speaker 2:My kids, you know, my kids remember me trying to, be healthy when they were young. Mhmm. So, like, my other son, Sam, you I think you met Sam last year. He was at the event.
Speaker 1:I think I probably did. Yeah.
Speaker 2:He's very fit and has always eaten well. And he follows he follows a carnivore diet now. Mhmm. Ryan was always my difficult child. Like, he didn't like anything, so I had to sneak good things into his food.
Speaker 2:They don't I don't think they really remember me as fat. Like, I have to show them pictures so that we can remember it. So but my family my dad always was always asking me questions about what I was doing, but he never implemented anything. Yeah. My mother has become less critical and more supportive.
Speaker 2:I was recently at a dinner with her and my dad's brother.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And my dad's brother said to me, Robin, what why are you doing this? Why why won't you eat this? Why won't you eat that? And my mother looked at him, and she said, Fred, she doesn't wanna end up like you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now he has had several run-in run ins with cancer. He is probably £350. His feet are purple because he has no circulation, and he can't walk. He's huge. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Kinda hope he doesn't ever hear this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So my family is supportive. My sister thinks I'm a kook, but that's okay.
Speaker 1:That's okay. We'll take that. I don't care. Parents are definitely the hardest to work on too. And even even with my own parents, my mom is 60, so she grew up in, like, the low fat era.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So when I told her about wanting to go carnivore with when I was trying to heal ulcerative colitis, she thought I was out of my mind because it was it's counter to everything that she's been taught. And then as the years have gone on, she not that she she doesn't go carnivore because I think she still has those. I think the way she justifies it is, like, you're a young guy in their twenties, like, you can get away with this, which is why I'm excited to share this podcast episode with her because there's a woman of of, like, similar age that eats a lot of saturated fat and does amazing. But even her, I've noticed, like, you know, intentionally doesn't cook with seed oils, uses high quality olive oil, like, interested in buying ghee and things like that.
Speaker 1:So I think the best thing you can do, especially with a parent, is just try and be your own proof of work, and they will notice the changes in you. Whether it's, like, it sounds like your dad was curious of the things that you're doing and Yeah. Your mom has seen the positive effects that a good diet has
Speaker 2:had on you too. Yeah. She has. Yeah. You know, I think the one thing that we haven't talked about that I think is really interesting and also really beneficial for this journey.
Speaker 2:So when you when you stop the obsession with food and you're nourishing your body, you and you lose that, you know, always thinking about it, the one thing that we all have is in common is that the snacking goes away. Mhmm. When the snacking goes away, then your insulin levels come down Yes. And they stay down. And if you're not eating things that spike, you know, a glucose spike
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Your insulin levels will stay constant. And that's when the healing happens. That's when the food obsession goes away. And that's when the weight loss happens without thinking about it. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So when I said earlier that freedom, well, I don't really think about food anymore. I don't think about whether or not I'm eating high fat or or not. Yeah. I'm just eating. So I I I really think that the fasting piece and we don't have to formally call it fasting, but when you're not snacking, you're fasting between meals.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I really think that that's important. It has a huge impact on the success of what you're doing. Because even if you're following a carnivore diet, if you're eating meat and fruit every few hours
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:The fruit's gonna spike your insulin, obviously. But you're you're like, you're not getting that that time period between food intake where there's nothing and your body is utilizing what you've taken in and healing. Mhmm. So the fasting piece, I think, is really important.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I think it's a really helpful practice, especially in the beginning because I don't really count calories anymore because I and I'm sure you are too where, like, you have an intuitive sense of how calorically dense certain foods are, and you understand how many calories you're burning and what you need to eat to me. It'd be in a deficit or just continue to maintain the weight that you want. But I think it's a really helpful practice in the beginning for people to keep some type of a food journal and, like Yeah. Not even change your diet, but literally just keep note of how many things you're eating throughout the day and also the amount of calories.
Speaker 1:Because I think if people understood how many hidden calories are in a lot of the snack foods that you eat, you would stop eating them. Mhmm. Because your first response to someone that's going carnivores is, okay, you're telling me you're gonna eat these 2 huge rib eyes every single day, but those are the only 2 things I'm eating for the entire day. Maybe some eggs for breakfast. Those 2 steaks are maybe 2,000 calories absolute max.
Speaker 1:And I know if I'm working on, I'm burning 35 100 calories.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So I'm actually in a 1500 calorie deficit. I could eat more, but there's so much satiety from the fat and the protein that you don't have that desire to snack anymore. You don't feel wired to just, like, need the pastries or the cookies, like, at an arm's length at all times.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Like, just that desire just that ability of feeling full from your food is it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Do you find that, that there are times when, like, the cravings for those foods come back? Like, it's around you, it's holidays, or whatever. Do you find that that, those temptations visit you every once in a while that you have to consciously, like, put it away again? Yeah. We it's funny.
Speaker 1:Harry and I actually did a solo podcast episode. It was just the a general title of how to eat healthy. And one of the things that we talked about is identifying your own emotional relationship with food. And there's I'm sure that, you know, there's diet coaches out there that say, you know, one bad meal is not gonna kill you. It's you know, if you're eating 21 meals a week, that's one meal.
Speaker 1:And I and I think they're absolutely right, but I know my own relationship with food is, like, if I go back to New Jersey and I have pizza, it's not just gonna be that one meal. I just I'm someone that just kind of can go off the deep end. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So
Speaker 1:I either have to set I have to either have to say, like, look. I'm just gonna go back to Jersey, and I'm not gonna worry about this week. I'm just gonna enjoy my time with my family, have the Christmas cookies, the pizza, whatever. I'll probably put on, like, 5 to £10, and then I'll just come back to Austin to be really strict, or I just have to draw that line in the sand to say I'm not gonna have any of it. Because that's just my personal relationship with food is I have this, like, all in mentality.
Speaker 2:I do too. Yeah. I was just so the reason I asked you is because I've experienced this recently. So, I find that I find the behavior, the habit revisiting me sometimes. When I'm at home, and I'm, like, super stressed out about something related to the event, and I'm trying to maneuver all these different pieces, and I find myself getting up without even realizing what I'm doing and walking in the kitchen.
Speaker 2:Luckily for me, I don't have anything in there that I would Yeah. Would need anyway. But that so that, like, gut instinct, that habit of going to, like, solve a problem with food
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I still find it. I it still comes back once in a while. Yes. And there are times when I'm in a social situation, like at a birthday party or, you know, at a holiday, you know, whatever with my grand granddaughter, And that that well, you know, I'll just have one of those. And I have to, like, be really intentional about I've gotten much better at it, where I have to look at it and say, that could be 1, but there will be 20 tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or that could be 1, and you're gonna be out tonight looking for more of them Mhmm. Later. Or that could be 1. But when it snowballs into 2 more, you're gonna feel like crap.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:And, I don't like feeling like crap.
Speaker 1:No. Yeah. It's like you will never take nothing nothing tastes better than how good you feel
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Staying on this diet. Like, that piece of pizza, I know it's so pizza is my favorite food. I'm from New Jersey. I spent a lot of time in New York City. The pizza there is amazing.
Speaker 1:It doesn't taste better than how good I feel when I stay on the path. Right. And the weird thing is people think that it's unhealthy to talk like this, but I think what's unhealthy is not talking about your relationship with food. Like you mentioned, you had probably 30 plus years of kind of just eating ultra processed food because no one really talked about this stuff. So your relationship with food is, like, when things are going well, you probably eat something processed.
Speaker 1:When things are going bad, I'm gonna run towards processed food as well. Yep. So that's, like, 3 decades of being attached to that food. So no matter how good you feel, there's still gonna be some of that wiring in your brain. So I think it's a good thing to just draw a line in the sand
Speaker 2:and understand how you are. You know, that that attachment to food, when I was in my mid thirties, I went to an Overeaters
Speaker 1:Anonymous group.
Speaker 2:And I had never been to, like, an AA program or anything like that. I had always been so grateful that I didn't pick up alcohol, that it was food that I picked up because I don't know that I ever could've quit drinking.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But, I walked into this meeting, and the woman who introduced me to the concept sat me down and she said that in order to abstain in order to abstain and to, you know, rid yourself of this obsession with food, you had to give up flour and sugar, white flour and sugar. And I literally broke down into tears. My I my first answer was, so I could never eat bagels again?
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I was raised on bagels.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I could not believe the concept just completely was overwhelming to me.
Speaker 1:Because that's all you know at that point for food.
Speaker 2:That's how emotionally attached I mean, I literally broke down into tears. I was so upset. Mhmm. And now in retrospect, I mean, that's exactly what I do. And I have no emotional attachment to it anymore.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I was it was that addiction is is hard to fight.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:And I don't know I mean, I don't know if it ever truly goes away because we're just surrounded by it. Mhmm. Food is entertainment. It's let's meet for dinner. You know, it's celebration.
Speaker 2:It's at a funeral. It's it's everywhere. And so, changing your relationship to what you think is appropriate to put in your body or what you want to support yourself with with nutrition, it you have to be super intentional about it. I have to be super intentional.
Speaker 1:And I'm and I'm the same way. And I think it's a combination of, like, principles and also guardrails too. And, like, the principle is saying, hey. I'm gonna stick to this diet, and then the guardrails are things like you're talking about of I'm not gonna keep any crap in the house at all. Right.
Speaker 1:Because you know that when you're stressed out, when 9 o'clock, you're trying to book a vendor or something falls through and your response is I wanna go eat. Right. There's something bad in the house, no matter how much you know about nutrition or low carb, you're still gonna opt for that food because it's delicious and it's available at, like, an arm's reach.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then other things, I don't know if this is helpful for you too. Like, for for me, especially when I'm traveling, if I'm in an airport, just keeping really good quality snacks in my backpack as well. So, like, things like the carnivore bar, carnivore snacks, or different meat bars, or just having those things on hand where I know I can just, like, get because I know if I get, like, a quick protein fix or saturated fat, I'll feel good, and I won't wanna go off the rails. But for me, I just need to keep food on me a lot.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I know fasting has worked for you. Are you somewhere where you try to keep snacks on you as well when you're traveling?
Speaker 2:I go back and forth. I love all the brands that you just mentioned. I love carnivore snacks. My problem is I can't only eat 1 piece. I eat the whole bag.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I I I'm kinda like 6 of 1, half dozen of the other. So I like to have it with me. But for some reason, if it's with me, I'm eating it.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So for me, personally, I find that I'm better off not having anything with me
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And just, you know, bringing a bottle of water.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And electrolytes help with that too.
Speaker 1:They do.
Speaker 2:I yeah. I if if it's with me, I'm probably gonna eat it. Yeah. It's a combination of the stress of, like, the stress of travel, the boredom of waiting around, you know, that kind of stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I like to have it with me, but if it is with me, I'm probably gonna eat it. And unless it's mealtime, I really don't need it, you know, unless I'll eat when I'm not hungry if I have it with me.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I really hope, Farmer Bill's sponsors a booth this year because that it I think they're honestly I've had so many meat products, and I hope no brands get mad at me. But I think Farm Bill's is the best meat product I've ever had because it's it's Biltong. So it's like the South African beef jerky.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And, like, there are some bigger Biltong brands in the US that they're mass produced. But when you have really good built on because they dry age it, there's like it's very tender and very moist and flavorful, and he somehow is able to do that. It's like the best meat product I've ever had.
Speaker 2:That's great.
Speaker 1:It's so good. And there's, like, a lot of fat in it too, so you can eat a pack and actually feel satiated afterwards as well. So Right. If Mark's listening, I hope that he sponsors a booth. We'll get it.
Speaker 1:I'll push him. I'll we'll we'll get him too. So how many speakers are you gonna have this year at Hack Your Health?
Speaker 2:We've got, I said I wasn't gonna do it again, but we've got more than 60.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. Yeah. Sixty speakers over 3 days.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Now a lot of them probably 20 of them are only speaking on panels. There's 19 keynote speakers. 19 keynote speakers and 19 breakout sessions. And last year, we got a lot of feedback.
Speaker 2:Did we talk about this already? No. Not okay. Last year, we got a lot of feedback that we had, like, too many speakers, and too many things. Like, every hour on the hour, someone on 1 Yeah.
Speaker 2:All three of the stages. So I've knocked that down so we have one keynote and one breakout room happening at the same time.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure what we're gonna do with those other breakout rooms yet. We may just leave them empty. We may just let, you know, people have meetings in there or record podcasts in there or stuff like that. But, yeah, 70 some it it's gonna be close to seventies.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:The other thing is, like I mean, we have Francesca Martinez, who is local, who's gonna be doing, like, body movement classes. She's considered a speaker. Yeah. So, and we have someone coming in and doing breath work classes, breath work sessions. He's considered a speaker.
Speaker 2:So that kind of stuff adds to the, like, the total head count. Mhmm. But actual speakers on the stage, around, like, 65.
Speaker 1:Wow. And it it was honestly a really good problem to have because it was more it was more so, like, I don't think most people I wouldn't say that I felt overwhelmed. It was more so I love both of these people that are speaking at the same time, and you have to, like, pick and choose who you wanna go to. Yeah. And I think you're better off having that versus, like, not having enough good speakers.
Speaker 2:I would agree with you, but, apparently, other people didn't feel that way. And the other thing is is that if if the breakout rooms and the main stage are full, then people aren't on the expo hall floor. And so that's kind of, like, a balance I have to find because when we we want the vendors and the sponsors to have, you know, foot traffic all day
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Every day. That's one of the reasons why we offer a one day ticket, but it's on Sunday only.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So Sunday is a shorter day. We close at 4 on Sunday, but, that's to, like, can drive more traffic on Sundays as well.
Speaker 1:Got it. Are there any speakers or panels that you're particularly excited for this year?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm super excited about the regenerative agriculture panel.
Speaker 1:I'm excited about that too since I will be co hosting it with Harry.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's gonna be great. You know, I really think that that's a topic that that unless you're in the circles that are talking about it, people are unaware.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I that's one of the things that I I'm really hoping to bring to this event is talking about things that are you're not gonna hear about every day. The the the movement towards regenerative agriculture is a grassroots movement
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:That needs more attention. And it will grow, but it's, I mean, the faster that the faster it grows, the better it's gonna be for all of us. And I just think that those people that we're talking about in the supermarkets, they have no idea.
Speaker 1:They have no idea. No. I think with a lot of this, to your point, I felt like I kinda went through 2 phases where the first phase was just understanding what are the right foods that I should be eating Right. Which is really for me just shopping at the outer aisle of the grocery store. Had no idea what grass fed versus grass finished, what regenerative even meant.
Speaker 1:I was like, I'm just gonna eat a lot of animal products, cut my carbs that healed my stomach. And then stage 2 is, like, where does my food actually come from? And I think if you just like, 2 of the the best hacks for your health are if you just meet your rancher directly and buy food for them and then you just cook your meals, regardless of macronutrients, you're still gonna be better off than, like, 99% of the population.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. So I'm excited. We're gonna have some some great panelists, you know, Nate Pontius, Shurtail Creek. It's gonna be the Weldon's from the Warrens from Holy Cow Beef.
Speaker 1:There that's gonna be that was so much fun last year. I think it's gonna be even better this year too. Any other panels or speakers that you're excited about? Because you've got some huge names coming.
Speaker 2:We really do. We're doing 2 carnivore panels this year. One to talk about the combination of using feasting and fasting on the carnivore plan. Another to talk about success stories and how to troubleshoot a carnivore diet. We've got we have a food addiction panel this year.
Speaker 2:That's gonna be in a breakout room.
Speaker 1:Very cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Balancing where to put these panels is sometimes hard for me because we wanna maximize the keynote space because it's our biggest expense. And so we want as many people in that for each of those sessions as possible. Let's see what other Max Lugavere is speaking this year. That's new for us.
Speaker 2:My my intention behind bringing Max in I mean, we share I we talked about the transition from a focus of the ketogenic diet to more of a well rounded wellness concept for the event. Max brings a very balanced perspective to nutrition. I would really like to see us move away from the diet camps. You know, I'm carnivore. You're not.
Speaker 2:I'm keto. You're not. You know, I'm vegan. You're not. I would really like to see us move away from that and just talk about individuality because everybody's different.
Speaker 2:What works for me may not work for you. Although in this case, it does.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And Max just brings this I think he his his audience is not as metabolically deranged as my audience has been.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So they don't need to cut out all the things that I cut out, or they are not ready to. But his balanced approach kind of gets rid of diet camps. You know? It's more about whole food. And his story with his mother and having Alzheimer's and nutrition, how all of that ties together, is really impactful.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:So I'm really excited to have him speaking this year. Let's see. Doctor Annette Bosworth is she's become a good friend of mine as well. She is such an incredible storyteller. When she gets on stage, she's captivating.
Speaker 2:And so she's gonna be talking about something this year that we've never addressed, and that's uric acid. And I don't even I'm not even familiar with her conversation or what this is gonna be about other than the topic. But knowing her background and how she treats her patients with the ketogenic diet and fasting, I'm sure that's all all gonna tie together.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:Gosh. There's so many.
Speaker 1:What about is Bill Schindler doing his cooking demo this year?
Speaker 2:Bill Schindler is not going to be there this year.
Speaker 1:But James from Pluck, James Barry will be.
Speaker 2:James Barry will be there. He's Pluck will have a booth, and James gonna be is going to be speaking in a breakout room, and he's also gonna be doing a cooking demo.
Speaker 1:I can't wait for that demo. He's he's brilliant. For anyone that doesn't know him, he's the founder of Pluck, so it's an organ based seasoning. And he was a very high level chef. Like, I think he worked with actors like Tom Cruise and, like, the a list of the a list, help me do meal prep for them too.
Speaker 1:And that's why he's so perfect for this product because so many people have issues with the pallet like, just the taste of organs.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so, like, every shake of pluck tastes so good, and then you're also getting, like, a micro dose of organs too. So I'm excited to see what he's gonna, whip out for that cooking demo as well.
Speaker 2:Now, do you know Courtney Luna?
Speaker 1:That name sounds very familiar.
Speaker 2:She just is in the process of publishing a book, a cookbook. She's gonna be doing a cook a cooking demo also. She's a carnivore. Maria Emerick is gonna be doing a cooking demo. And let's see.
Speaker 2:Benazzotti will be there again this year.
Speaker 1:That's great.
Speaker 2:He's gonna be doing not only speaking doing a keynote, but also doing a, book signing and a book giveaway. Annette Bosworth is also gonna be doing a book signing and book giveaway. And I think she's gonna be giving away a bunch of CGMs too.
Speaker 1:Oh, nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Sean Baker will be speaking. Ben is also doing a, like, fireside chat with, Michael Feldstein, who is the owner of Jasper.
Speaker 1:Oh, really?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So they're gonna be talking about, like, air quality in your home and that kind of stuff. Mhmm. Is,
Speaker 1:Chaffee's doctor Chaffee is he speaking to?
Speaker 2:Yes. Doctor Chaffee, doctor Kiltz, and and Sean Baker. Doctor Sean Baker, they're all gonna be part of that carnivore feasting and fasting panel.
Speaker 1:That is a high power panel between them.
Speaker 2:Powerful panel. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. What one of the things that I think a lot of people have noticed, whether it was KetoCon now rebranded hack your health, the carnivore speakers and panels in particular, it seemed like anytime there was something carnivore related, it was like you couldn't you couldn't find a seat. Why do you think that is, and why do you think the carnivore movement in general is is built up so much steam?
Speaker 2:I think it's twofold. 1, because diet camps.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But 2, because, I mean, a lot of people have to take it a step further than low carb and keto. They're metabolically damaged or they're physically damaged, and they need to do an elimination diet.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And like you and like myself have found significant healing by removing those things from our diet by keeping the meat. And, I mean, it it speaks for itself. It's just exploding because people are finding healing with it. -Yeah. -Um, I I don't know if I I don't I think it's too early to tell if this is gonna peak and drop like keto do.
Speaker 2:But I guess time will tell.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know? The reason why I I don't think it's gonna drop is that there are it's like when you look at just the rate of chronic disease or even autoimmunity, it's like it's skyrocketing every single year. And I just haven't come across a diet where you just see such drastic
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Healing case studies. And I think it as podcasting becomes bigger and bigger and we, like, lean into anecdote and personal healing journeys, more people are just gonna have these stories that they wanna share and it it exposes a different route to people that have just been on the medical merry-go-round for years. And they it's a it's just a it seems it's so it almost feels like you're cheating where you're saying yourself, all I'm gonna do is, like, eat red meat or animal products, and I can, you know, lose £50 and get off the meds. And it's like, yes. It really is that simple.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But then there's this weird I like how you said diet camp too because then there's this there's almost like this weird mental aversion to vegetables and fruits and some grains where they're like, so if I eat some vegetables, I'm not in on team carnivore. And it's like, I I do think after a certain period of time when you build good, like, intestinal intestinal permeability, you should experiment with some of these foods and see if they work for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What have you incorporated back into your diet?
Speaker 1:I will do I will do I'll I'm still 90% meat based. I would say that it really just depends on my day. I have some days where I'll eat just straight red meat and animal products. I'll have some days where I'll do some berries that are a little bit lower glycemic. I'll throw in some white rice, some sweet potatoes.
Speaker 1:I tend to try and always keep my carbs, like, under a 100 grams. And just with, like, my genetics, I feel like the lower carb that I go, I just stay really lean, and my gut feels really good. Yeah. But I would say berries, white rice, sweet potatoes, basic stuff. But if I overdo it, I definitely notice it.
Speaker 2:Feel it. Right.
Speaker 1:But and it's so even something like rice is like, steak and rice is so good, but it's so ease I mean, a cup of rice has, like, 75 grams of carbs, so it's just so easy to over overdo it. Eat that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I can't do rice. It's rice was like, rice and butter was a comfort food for me as a kid, so I can't I can't do it. But, I eat, cucumbers occasionally, avocado, strawberries
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Blueberries, and, Greek yogurt.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Olive oil. Every few months, I'll buy asparagus and eat asparagus. I love asparagus.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But I don't do it often. I I in comparison to the days when I it was, like, a vegetarian
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Or when I was a raw vegan.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You're a raw vegan? I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I've done it all.
Speaker 1:You've done it. You've tried it all.
Speaker 2:Even the pills. I mean, I have done it all. Yeah. I I just find that I feel best just keeping it super simple.
Speaker 1:Super simple. Yeah. The unsexy things always work. Right? And just doing it for a you know, when you said that you were overweight, it's like it's thousands and thousands of iterations of the wrong food that gets you to that point.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then also, like, this diet, it's, like, thousands of iterations of the right thing will get you out of that that state
Speaker 2:too. Right.
Speaker 1:How about raw milk? Will you do anything like raw milk, or do you just find that the carbs and sugar aren't
Speaker 2:great? Haven't, but I would. Yeah. It's just not something that I've really felt called to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's gained huge traction, and it is super nutrient dense. And, I know Chaffee is not a huge fan of it because he's like, if I drink that, I'll just drink, like, a gallon of it, and then it's just way too many carbs and sugar. But a lot of people that that digest really well, it's super nutrient dense. But, again, like anything else, I think you can overdo it too.
Speaker 1:So it's kinda just figuring out what your relationship is to it and and stick to it. Yeah. Yeah. How about bone broth? Do you like bone broth?
Speaker 2:I love bone broth.
Speaker 1:So good.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I like to make my own the best.
Speaker 1:That's the best way to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But there's, there's a few brands that I like. There's going to be, this year, a new vendor for us, Beauty in the Broth. Look her up. She might be a great podcast guest for you too.
Speaker 1:That's a great name by the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:She's got a great story, and she's gonna be there, you know, serving bone broth. Yeah. I I really like bone broth. I like the soothing of bone broth. It feels very soothing.
Speaker 2:Sometimes if I'm not feeling well, I just have bone broth rather than anything else.
Speaker 1:Yeah. If you're fasting, that's, like, the perfect food to just sip on and incorporate that. Yeah. There are times where I felt like my stomach has been inflamed. I'll have, like, 2 cups of bone broth, and I swear my stomach feels way better afterwards.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But just like the amount of, like, gelatin and fat that you get making it in your own
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:The only, there's, like, 2 places I I can't wait to try. What is it? Beauty Beauty
Speaker 2:and the broth.
Speaker 1:Beauty and the broth. Fawn bone broth has, like, really good. It seems like they have a lot of gelatin in there. Yes. And their spices are delicious.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And then a perennial pastures, which is a farm in San Diego, they have a lot of gelatin in theirs too.
Speaker 2:I haven't tried that.
Speaker 1:But, but, like, I I love kettle and fire. I love the team, but it kinda seems more like beef water too. So it's just it's better to just make it on your own.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Yeah. I'd like to make it on my own.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So what are remind me the what are the dates of key of Hack Your Health this year? I almost slipped up. You hear me? I almost slipped up.
Speaker 1:I caught myself. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Do it too. It's May 31st through June 2nd.
Speaker 1:May 31st through June 2nd. So it's 3 days, 60 plus speakers, 100 plus vendors, amazing networking, and it's only 2.50 for a ticket. Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah. They're 2.49 right now. The ticket prices do go up March 1st. Mhmm. So it'll go up to 299.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I mean, that like, I remember hearing that for the first time when Harry and I were gonna buy tickets in 2022. I just remember thinking this is such a note. Like, that is such a fairly priced event for the amount of value you're packing, and I'm not just saying that because you're on the show. Like, it's such an affordable thing.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm trying to make it affordable to as many people as I possibly can.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that's the goal. Right? It's just trying to impact as many people as possible. That's why you're doing this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Exactly.
Speaker 1:And we do have a Meet Mafia discount code. Right? You. Yep. So it's literally just code Meet Mafia.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And then what is that what will that get?
Speaker 2:It will take $50 off the ticket. So it'll take $50 off of any of the ticket types. So we have a general admission ticket that's 249. We have a VIP ticket that's 999. We have a virtual replay pass, and we also have a one day pass for Sunday only.
Speaker 2:That's $99. So, you can purchase any of those tickets and use the code, and it will apply to the total.
Speaker 1:And the VIP experience is pretty amazing. I know it's a steeper price point, but it's definitely worth the experience.
Speaker 2:I hope so. I mean, we're trying every trying to pack as much of that into as much into that as we can. The VIPs, have we we set up a, a, VIP lounge in it's in the center of the expo hall, but that's where they go. You can get free coffee and, you know, it's not free because you're buying a VIP ticket. But VIP people have access to this refreshments.
Speaker 2:And then this year, we're doing something a little different. The one of the breakout rooms upstairs that we used to use for, VIP sessions with speakers were creating a relax and recharge room upstairs. So if VIP tech people want to get away from the, you know, the noise and the overwhelming stuff in the event they can go upstairs and relax upstairs, then, they get front row seating at all of the keynote presentations. They get a fully stacked, hard to carry home bag with stuff from all the sponsors. And they get a an event shirt, an event water bottle, and the VIP dinner on Friday night, which is gonna be held right down the street.
Speaker 2:Well, not right down the street from here, but it's at VUCA on Monroe.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, it's a catered event where there'll be food from Holy Cow Beef and from our caterer creating as much as we can there. We've got a comedian coming in, and I'm just in the process of finishing finalizing a contract with a band to play out there. So that space I was just there this morning meeting someone. They have an inside outside space. I've used that venue before, but we only use the inside.
Speaker 2:So this year, we're gonna spread out to the outside. It's huge back there. And so there'll be a band back there and, refreshments and
Speaker 1:You're doing it big.
Speaker 2:I'm trying. It's the
Speaker 1:only way to do it. It's the only way to do it.
Speaker 2:I I mean, if you're if you're gonna go to an event like this, it should be, like, a a positive experience. You should walk home not walk home. You should go home with new contacts, with new friends, and feeling like you have, like, absorbed information or gotten tools that you need to help improve your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that's why we were so excited to have you on the show. I think one of the coolest things about this whole space in general is, like and I know you feel this too. You just meet the best hearted people. And I think there's so many people that I met and maybe started working with from a business capacity that have been that have become, like, close personal friends.
Speaker 1:And I feel like that's the perfect example of who you and Ryan are to Harry and I. And, I mean, it's been a huge launching pad for our business. Like like I was saying, the number of podcast guests, being able to launch Noble there, the network, the community we've built, it's been a huge launch pad for our business. And above anything else, we just really, like, just love the heart and soul that you're putting into it and believe that you are changing people's lives, and we're just we're all in on what you're doing. And, obviously, you're a great friend now.
Speaker 1:So we just really appreciate you having the conversation and just thank you for all the amazing work that you're doing because we need people like you to really push this movement in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Thank you. That really makes me feel good to hear you say that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And I think a lot of other people would say that too.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:So thank you, Robin. Appreciate it.
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