MindForce: Mental Fitness & Life Stories!
Join Nate on MindForce, a podcast exploring the intersection of love, life, and learning. Through authentic conversations and personal stories, we dive into the complexities of mental fitness, self-care, and personal growth. With a focus on empathy, resilience, and inspiration, MindForce is a safe space for listeners to reflect, learn, and connect with others. Tune in for thought-provoking discussions, heartfelt stories, and practical insights to help you navigate life's challenges and cultivate a stronger, wiser you!
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***The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individual(s) involved and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other agency of the United States Government.***
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MindForce: Mental Fitness & Life Stories!
Nurturing Change: Josh Nolan on Regenerative Agriculture, Low-Carb Living, and Self-Publishing Insights
Our conversation with Joshua Nolan delves into regenerative agriculture, the benefits of low-carb diets, and the importance of cooking with whole foods. We explore how these elements contribute to a healthier lifestyle and environment while providing practical tips and insights for listeners to improve their own dietary choices.
• Regenerative agriculture improves soil health and biodiversity
• Low-carb eating helps stabilize energy and reduce health issues
• Whole foods provide essential nutrients and avoid harmful additives
• Transitioning to healthier diets can be both budget-friendly and simple
• Personal stories highlight the importance of mental health in food choices
• The episode encourages conscious consumerism and mindful eating practices
Grab your copy of Joshua Nolan’s free Portable Protein Solutions guide on his website!
Thank you. Hi everyone, I'm Nate Shearer and this is MindForce. Join me as we explore love, life and learning, because your mind is what matters most. Today we have Josh Nolan. We'll be talking about regenerative agricultural, the power of eating low-carb and cooking with whole foods. So, josh, I want to give you the who, what, why. Who are you, what do you do and why are you here?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm Joshua D Nolan. I'm a food educator, an author and a chef, and I'm here to talk to you about, like you said, regenerative agriculture, mental health. Of course, I've got my new cookbook coming out December 2nd, so I'm excited about that. And, yeah, I grew up in Southern California and I still live here. And yeah, I grew up cooking. My dad had a catering company since I was two years old and I was in the kitchen with him as young as eight, and so I've always enjoyed cooking. But in the last five years or so, I've really changed my diet and my lifestyle and I was able to lose over 80 pounds and keep it off, so I'm trying to help as many people as I can with their health struggles off.
Speaker 1:So I'm trying to help as many people as I can with their health struggles. So, since you were in the kitchen with your dad always uh, you know cooking stuff up and things like that, did you? Did you always know you were going to write a cookbook?
Speaker 2:I never thought I was going to write one book, let alone four books.
Speaker 2:The cookbook is going to be the fourth book, so it's it's crazy, you know life takes you in a certain direction and if you don't go with it, you're fighting the flow, and you know things happen for a reason. So I'm really glad they did. It was a lot of work, but these are recipes that I've been making for years and I usually, um, just you know, put a little bit of this, a little bit of that and I make it up, but for the cook, I had to go back and remake everything and measure everything. So it was, it was a labor of love, and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Uh, I think I lost you, nate. Let's see if it can reconnect.
Speaker 1:Oh, there it goes. Maybe have you frozen oh, are you back?
Speaker 2:oh yeah back.
Speaker 1:Okay, I lost you for a second there. Where did I cut off? Oh, just at the beginning. So, uh, you said, uh, you're writing the books. Uh, so it's pretty far back. So uh, you said, uh, you're writing the books. Uh, so it was pretty far back he said uh kind of follow the journey.
Speaker 1:you know when the call um calls you, you got to go after it. I was going to try to jump in and ask a question about book writing, cause I've always, I've always wanted to um, it always just feels like a very big, daunting task. So if anyone is going to write a book, what are your thoughts on like how you get your thoughts together, make an outline? I'm sure there's like some aspect of consistency just doing it every day, or how does the book actually come together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, it's all about just getting everything that's in your brain just out, just getting everything that's in your brain just out just onto the paper, onto the computer. Just start typing and, like you said, just being consistent, working on it a little bit every day is a great way to go about it. And once you have everything out on paper, you can go back and you can massage it and you can fine-tune and edit and make it, you know, really nice. There's an analogy of you know, just pouring all the sand out and then going back and make it into a beautiful sandcastle, and so you know, with the technology, these days it's really easy to to publish your own book.
Speaker 2:You know, amazon, kdp, you can upload your book for free and using fiverr or other like gig services, you can have people help you with the editing, the proofreading, formatting the graphics and all that.
Speaker 1:So it's really attainable so I'm curious with amazon. I know my mom had wanted to write like a kid's book or something, but she she had heard you know some of the proceeds and how they divvy that up. How exactly does that work on, you know? Do they take a portion? Or how does Amazon work? Is that where you're at on Amazon?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I publish on Amazon. I also publish on IngramSpark, which is where libraries and bookstores can order copies from. Yeah, amazon takes a percentage. It really depends on what options you choose. If you're exclusive with Amazon, like for the e-book, I think you get a certain percentage versus if your e-book is other places. And I mean Amazon really has capitalized the market and I would recommend just be exclusive with amazon, at least for the ebook and then the, the paperback and hardcover. You can do other places, but yeah, they, um, you know they sell it on the website. You can do, uh, an ebook, a physical book or even an audiobook and, um, yeah, they'll, they'll send you you your royalties every month and it's really not a huge moneymaker. Maybe if you get like a number one bestselling book, you can make some good money, but it's really a labor of love and a way to tell your story and share with people and build some credibility.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Just giving back to the people. I know I get that a lot Like, oh, how's the podcast going? I'm like, ah, you know, I got like tens of listeners and I got to pay to host it and I got to pay for all these different services and sites. I'm like I'm definitely in the negative, but that's, you know, not the point, obviously just to take care of others and get that stuff out.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I did want to back up and ask you about the recipes, because that hits so close to home for me, because I'm just throwing stuff in there, I have no idea. So I'm curious, like did you have to go back and kind of slow down and figure out, like what the actual? Because if you ask me some of my favorites, like teaspoons or tablespoons, there's no way I'd be able to tell you, I'm just chunking some stuff in there, so how did you go back and recreate some of those?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly what I had to do. You know, I keep um notes I use like Evernote, and I keep notes of the recipes that I do and just you know I put this and that and whatever. And so I had to go back and I keep notes of the recipes that I do and just you know I put this and that and whatever. And so I had to go back and I had to. You know, look and see, okay, I put this much in and then I have to measure and see, like okay, how many tablespoons, teaspoons and whatever. And um, yeah, it was. It was quite a bit of work. It was more than I anticipated.
Speaker 2:But you know, me and my wife ate really well over the past. You know, six months getting to to eat all the recipes that I made and, um, you know it's, it's really fun. But yeah, I'm just like you, I just kind of eyeball a little bit of this, a little of that, see what I have in the pantry, kind of throw something in and and make it work. But that's awesome. Kind of throw something in and and make it work.
Speaker 1:But that's awesome. How to go back and fine tune it? Yeah, could you give us a quick like elevator speech two to three minutes or whatever of the four books? I'm curious the books and what they're about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. Uh, my first book, living the protein lifestyle that's my story of my health evolution, how I overcame depression, food addiction and lost the weight. That was really a lot for me to share, all that. But I was really passionate about it. I had found a lot of success and I just wanted to share it with as many people as I could to help help as many people as I could. And the second book is a workbook. It's a step-by-step guide to help people start living the protein lifestyle. And you know I just want to go back and touch the. You know, the protein lifestyle it's not just about protein, it's know, based on the three pillars of health, which are nutrition, fitness and recovery, which in recovery I include mental health and physical recovery. So it's it's way more than just about protein. But the workbook is a guide to help people start. You know. It's got you know information that you can use to learn about these different things. And it's got action steps and it's got you know questions to help you reflect on where you are and where you need to start.
Speaker 2:Um, and then I took a, I diverted from the protein lifestyle and wrote a book, um, about irritable bowel syndrome. It's called Irritable Bowel Syndrome Relief, and you know I wrote that because a few of my really close family members were struggling with IBS. You know, one of them was constipated, one of them had diarrhea, and so I really dove into it and did a lot of research and I realized that I too, at one point in my life had IBS, and when I had changed the way I was eating, it cleared up and it went away. And so it's really like a holistic look about IBS and other digestive disorders that people are dealing with and how they can cure them without medications and, you know, find long-term relief and eventually start eating the foods that they love. That might have bothered them at one point and then so you said that.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry.
Speaker 2:Well then, so naturally the the third book in the protein lifestyle series I thought would be a cookbook to share all these recipes that could be so vital in helping people regain their health nice.
Speaker 1:So you said you lost all that weight. Um, what would you say is like the core of the problem with most people and they're eating like if you had to boil it down to one thing. What do we do wrong?
Speaker 2:mental health, lots of things I mean. The most important thing is mental health. If you don't care about yourself, you don't love yourself, you're not going to be motivated to eat right, you're not going to be motivated to exercise, and that's. That's really what it all comes down to yeah, that that makes sense.
Speaker 1:But on the nutrition side, what would you say is, like the, the biggest problem we have? Is it too many carbs, the sauces? I feel like there's a lot of different things, but what would be that one nutritional problem?
Speaker 2:Ultra processed food product. It's crazy because it's not food. I mean, if you look up the definition of food in the dictionary, it's, you know, nutritious. You know things that people eat to get energy and to nourish their body. And these ultra-processed food products are devoid of nutrients and protein and it's a lot of carbs. You know carbs can be an issue, but you know whole carbs like, um fruit and vegetables. You know those are way better than processed carbs that come from, like bread and um you know other processed foods.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. I want to fire off a couple fun questions, get warmed up a little bit. So if you could master any skill not related to your current work, what would it be?
Speaker 2:and why Master a skill? That's a great question, nate. I thought it was pretty fun. I would say yeah, bow hunting.
Speaker 1:Nice, that would be really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've done some rifle hunting in my life, you know, a handful of times, and I really enjoyed that experience being out in nature and, you know, hunting my own food Definitely not for sport but for nutrition and you really feel you know a deep connection with that food when you're eating it and you really appreciate it. You're not, you know, just hiring, you know, someone else to dispatch an animal for you in spite of the market. You're out there and you're doing it yourself and I think the next level to that would be to use a bow and arrow and to go out. It's much more challenging, you have to be a lot closer and just to master that skill would be really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a lot of extra things that go with that right, like tracking and, like you said, you got to be a lot closer. You're sitting in the blinds for probably quite a while. Oh, I can't imagine. I mean I haven't done all that much hunting in general, but with the gun, yeah, you can be pretty far off with the scope and all that stuff, but she's with the bow and arrow.
Speaker 1:You got to be right there. You got to hit a pretty critical point, because there's not much to that that arrow yeah, you gotta get that vital.
Speaker 2:You know heart and lung area yeah, that's interesting yeah, yeah, when I was out in wyoming, um, I was hunting antelope and we were up on top of a ridge and the, the, the herd was on another ridge and I took the shot like from ridge to ridge, and, uh, luckily it was a good shot and it went down pretty quick and we were able. You know, it took like 20, 30 minutes to drive over there and um, but you definitely can't do that with a bow, geez just to get over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's wild. So do you? Uh, you know, butcher up and cut up your own, you know animal and things like that, part of that, making food and all that.
Speaker 2:I've been wanting to learn. I've helped, um, you know, with with skinning and kind of breaking down the, the, what do you call it? Just the, the bigger sections of the animal, but I haven't really had a lot of hands-on experience with butchering, but that's. That's another thing I'd love to learn how to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, take care of that. The other question I had related to food. Um was what is your go-to comfort food that you'd never like to admit the guilty pleasure, my go-to comfort food?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think it would have to be chocolate ice cream.
Speaker 1:That's a good one Do you have a favorite? Thanksgiving thing, since it's coming up.
Speaker 2:Favorite Thanksgiving thing since it's coming up. You know, for years I was making my meat lovers sourdough bread stuffing and that's, you know, ground beef. I use breakfast sausage and bacon and obviously sourdough, and you know other celery, garlic, onion, all the regular stuff and um toasted pecans that always comes out really good. But now that I'm doing more low carb this year, I'm going to be smoking a brisket.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, everyone's what kind of smoker do you?
Speaker 2:have? I got an offset smoker, nice gonna be using. Uh mesquite, lump charcoal with some oak, some oak wood.
Speaker 1:You got the electronic probes and all that no, well, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't usually use them on the smoker. I like to do like this is a big brisket I actually just picked it up earlier today and it's probably 15, 15, 20 pounds and so I'll do like four to five hours on the smoker and then I'll wrap it and finish it like in the oven at 250. Then I'll wrap it and finish it like in the oven at 250 and, um, I use the probe once I transfer it into the oven.
Speaker 1:But not really on the smoker, just trying to get that flavor in there, nice, nice. So, uh, I wanted to give you a chance to ask me a question, as long as it's, why not? Why I started the show? Because that is uh too common of a question but. I enjoy it, but I tried to answer it 10 different ways and it was tough.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I mean I asked you a bunch of questions when we spoke last on my podcast Health Unfiltered.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So now I'm just making it weird Right. Do you do any smoking or what kind of cookie do you enjoy?
Speaker 1:I don't do any smoking. It sounds really weird, but I don't like the smell in my clothes.
Speaker 1:I love the way the the food tastes I love the meat but to like, yeah, roast over it for four or five hours. It gets in all your clothes and you smell like a campfire, and even when you wash them it feels like it still smells like a campfire. Uh, so I love the idea. I want to transition probably into the pellet smoker, which I know a lot of people are like that's cheating but I feel like if I could set it, forget it and keep away from the smoke.
Speaker 1:I could, you know, soak up the benefits of the smoke without having to, like, sit in it all day, because maintaining some of those temperatures is tough. My mom got me the side by side my birthday a couple years ago and I tried. It was, uh, you know, pretty inexpensive one, so I think that might have been part of the problem. It leaked heat and probably should have sealed it up better. Yeah, but yeah, I wasn't in the the area to bust out like a big green egg for a thousand dollars or whatever they are oh yeah, maybe one of these days.
Speaker 1:I love the love the flavor, for sure, um but yeah out in the uk. Uh, the ovens are a lot smaller, so that's a challenge. That's been really interesting. Um, we have like the trays that we brought from the us and I went to like slide the the baking sheet into it and only fit about like halfway I was like what are we gonna do?
Speaker 2:it's been, it's been interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's interesting. The, the kitchens in general are really odd because a lot of the things behind the cabinets aren't actually cabinets. So we did the walkthrough. We try to do our due diligence and open stuff up and walk around I thought we did a pretty decent job.
Speaker 1:But then when we came and we actually owned it or, you know, had the lease out and everything then we started to pop stuff open and one of the cabinets is the fridge, one's the freezer, one's the washing machine, one's the dishwasher, one's the boiler that gives you hot water, it's so once you open all of them there's no storage. Like where do we put everything? Like our pantry for all the food is actually a coat closet, so we just switched it to a pantry because we had to find some place to put something.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's been interesting cooking it's different, Definitely more options than Japan. Japan we were there a year ago and they don't have ovens at all. Their main cooking way is a drawer like thing that you put fish in.
Speaker 1:It's like a fish oven oh, interesting you pull out this little drawer, you put the fish in there and it's like a small oven. So I guess it is an oven, but really really small and only really, you know, is good for fish and things like that. So pretty interesting. A lot of things we had to get used to. We had those like first world problems.
Speaker 1:We didn't have a garbage disposal or dishwashers, we had like a drying rack and just you know things that are a little bit different, Can't throw everything down the drain and whatnot. Yeah, it's been good, sweet, yeah, but let's transition into the regenerative agriculture. So the first question I have for you is what is it and how does it differ from conventional farming?
Speaker 2:so let's get the foundation of what this is yeah, um, regenerative agriculture is, you know, managing animals in a way that you are, you are increasing the health of the land and not degrading it. You know there's a lot of different methods. There's rotational grazing, where you're putting animals in a spot for a little while, let them eat down the pasture and then you're moving them off somewhere else so that the pasture can regrow and it can utilize the manure from the animals. And it's sinking carbon into the soil, versus degrading the land. If you put a bunch of animals out and just let them eat whatever they want, they eat all the grass down and then you're left with dirt and dust and that erodes and it's a big problem.
Speaker 2:And then, as far as traditional agriculture, it's full of chemicals. They're using chemical fertilizers, chemical herbicides, pesticides, and the fertilizers are salt-based and so they build up in the ground and eventually there's it's, you know, really full of salt and it's hard to grow. And then, when they're killing the soil, they're killing the microbiome of the soil, which is actually what breaks down the organic matter and feeds the plants. And so you know the soil here in the United States, where they're doing you know the big agriculture operations, they're just degrading the soil more and more and more and they need more fertilizers. And it's a real shame, because the food is not as nutrient dense and the land is just getting degraded to such a state where, eventually, they're not going to be able to grow stuff on it anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. So for people that aren't farmers or have any awareness, could you give an example of like a crop that goes with a specific animal and how that kind of all comes together?
Speaker 2:animal and how that kind of all comes together. Yeah, I mean, crops and animals are kind of on separate sides of the coin. You know you can bring in animals to clean up crops after you've harvested it and they'll go through and eat all the the stalks and all the leftovers. And you know pigs are really good at rooting around and digging through the soil and cleaning it up and then they're leaving their, their manure around and, you know, enriching the soil with that. But, um, okay, yeah, you definitely don't want to put put your crops with your animals or they'll eat it all.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Are there certain crops that you know go with each other in a rotational basis that are pretty common, one after another.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean. So that's regenerative agriculture. You know, crop rotation is something that they do. Crop rotation is something that they do. They'll have one crop one season and then the next season they'll put in a different crop and they kind of work together to help rebalance the soil and not strip it of all the nutrients.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. So how does this particular agricultural method play into global warming and things like that?
Speaker 2:So I mean, when you're sinking carbon into the soil, you're not exposing it into the atmosphere and contributing to to global warming, um, but I am highly, you know, suspicious of how much, um, animal agriculture contributes to that. Just in general, I think the earth naturally goes through cycles of heating and cooling and I'm not sure if anything we're doing is really having too much effect. But I don't have any solid research to back that up. But it seems insignificant that cow farts are raising the temperature. I think the thing we really need to be worried about is global cooling. I mean, if we go into another ice age, we're really going to be struggling. But if it gets a little warmer and you have to move to a climate that used to be colder, it's not too big of a deal. But that cold is really what can get us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw a couple different articles on the cow farts. That's interesting. I guess I don't know enough about that, but I saw they were trying to put bags on their butts and I guess filter it or something that went along with that, yeah, it's wild, I mean I guess we can use it as a fuel or something, maybe. Maybe that's the next fuel. Because I want to go to electric. It's really just cow farts.
Speaker 2:That's great, you know there's something about collecting methane. They have, you know, methane collection systems where you're collecting methane from from trash or or manure, and that's, uh, definitely a resource that can be utilized, but I don't know, you know, if it would pay off in the, you know, efficiency equation.
Speaker 1:But so listeners oh go ahead.
Speaker 2:I was gonna to say the biggest thing for regenerative agriculture is the quality of the meat that you get from it. You know, when you're raising animals more naturally on pasture, they're healthier, they're getting sun, they're getting fresh air, they're eating their natural diet, as opposed to factory farming. When you keep them in confined areas and you feed them unnatural feeds, they get really big and fat and they are unhealthy and I feel like that's reflected when you eat it. If you're eating unhealthy things, I think you're going to be unhealthy, and you know it's. Sometimes higher quality meat can be more expensive, so I want to point out that it's important to get enough protein, even if it's not the highest quality protein. It's better to buy a steak at Walmart than to get a grass-fed steak from ButcherBox or from any of the other regenerative agriculture farms out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's another question I had On the consumer side. We kind of touched on farming and farmers in the last couple of questions. But for consumers, are there things? Do you have tips or tricks when you're looking? Are you looking for certain cuts, or what are you doing as you're going through the aisles of the meat section?
Speaker 2:I mean that's really the key is, when you go to the store, to stick on the outer edges of the supermarket, because that's where all the whole food is. You know, that's where the fruit and vegetables are, that's where the meat is, but in the center aisles is where all the processed foods are and that's, I think, what's really doing the most damage. As far as you know obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, all these common diseases that people are seeing these days. And as far as you know different cuts or different types of meat, it's really up to you what you can afford, what you like to eat. Some of the cheaper cuts can be really good. I mean you can do a lot with ground beef. You can do a lot with chuck roast really good. I mean you can do a lot with ground beef. You can do a lot with chuck roast.
Speaker 2:Recently got really into chuck steaks, which are really good. You just throw some salt on them and just grill them up and it's a. It's a delicious meal in itself. But I mean there's a lot of variety. You know pork, chicken, fish, lamb, it's all. It's all great. And people aren't getting enough protein or fat for that matter. I mean fat is an essential nutrient, and it got a bad rap back in the mid 1920s. The sugar industry funded research and they paid scientists to shift the blame towards fat and take it away from sugar, when reality, the sugar, was doing all the damage yeah, I remember, uh, in school we used to go over the food pyramid so hard you were supposed to eat all this grain and everything.
Speaker 1:And then come to find out when I was an adult the the study was funded by the grain industry, which was kind of comical. I'm like no wonder we were supposed to have seven to eleven servings of grain. I'm like that's way too much, like no wonder everyone's obese. Now it all makes sense that triangle or uh pyramid was all out of whack. We probably needed a little bit more of the fats and some other stuff, so but I guess that transitions More like a triangle of sadness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sadness, yeah, you're not happy, you don't like what you eat and it doesn't, you know, make you any smaller. But I think that transitions us into the low carb, which is the next section. So can you talk to us about how low carb diet can possibly impact your overall health and some of those energy levels?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean there are no essential carbohydrates. There's essential proteins, essential fats, but you do not need carbohydrates to survive. And, yes, your brain does run on glucose, which is converted. You know carbohydrates are converted into glucose, into sugar, in your body and for some people you know, athletes or people that are exercising a lot they might need more, you know, carbohydrates to thrive, but they're really not required. And you know your body can produce glucose on its own via gluconeogenesis, from protein and it's it's really, um, you know, detriment to society.
Speaker 2:All the carbohydrates that people are eating. It's, it's really way too much. And when you eat carbohydrates, they get converted to glucose, as mentioned, and that spikes insulin and you, um, the the sugar is stored as fat in your body. If you're not using it, it gets stored as fat. So, especially if you're trying to lose weight, you should try to cut down, as on, as much carbohydrates as possible, because if you're storing it and you're not burning it and it's really critical but also the constant release of the insulin, it contributes to the crash.
Speaker 2:If you eat lunch and then, like an hour later, you feel super sleepy and tired and you had carbohydrates, it's because your blood sugar spiked and then you crashed. Then your body is telling you, oh my God, I need more food, I'm hungry again. That leads to snacking and overeating. If you're eating more protein and more fat, you feel full. You feel fuller for longer, you don't get those crashes, you have more energy and you're getting all the nutrients and vitamins that are in those foods. I don't think people realize how critical fat is for so many different functions of the body. You take the sunlight and you take cholesterol and your body turns it into vitamin D and a lot of people are deficient in vitamin D and it shows up ina lot of different ways in people's health.
Speaker 1:Interesting. So people will say good fat and bad fat. Is that? Is that true? Um, I mean dietary fat, it's it's all good, all good, all good.
Speaker 2:Okay, definitely those are excellent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, avocados are a great source, definitely okay, and then, uh, I was curious what are your thoughts on the carnivore diet, because we talked on this protein diet closely related same thing, um it's adjacent.
Speaker 2:so I I did the carnivore diet diet, um, in january of this this year, excuse me, as an experiment, um, just to try it out and see. And you know it was hard. It was hard at first. There wasn't like a lot of variety in the foods that I was eating and I had to get creative and that inspired some of the recipes in the book to get some, some variety with the meals, with only eating animal products. But it really served as an elimination diet for me. An elimination diet for me. You know, after the 30 days of doing that diet, my cravings for sweets and for starchy carbs really just went away and I was really just craving more, more meat and more animal protein and I actually had plateaued on my weight loss and my strength gain. But after doing that I started losing more weight again and you know, I just I just feel the best I ever have in my life. I mean, I turned 40 this year and it's incredible how good you can feel.
Speaker 1:What does a day look like Like if you had to summarize a day of carnivore. What does that look like?
Speaker 2:Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or is there snacks or Um, I mean, if you're hungry, you eat, so there there could be snacks, but normally there's not. Uh, for breakfast I had, um, my wife didn't finish her ribeye steak from the other night, so I had half a ribeye steak and and two fried eggs for breakfast, um, and then I had some coffee with some just straight up cream in it. Um, and then, after we get done here, I'm gonna grill up some chuck steak that I have ready and, um, let's see, for dinner I'm gonna make, um, some burgers, which are hamburgers that I like to mix in different stuff.
Speaker 2:I think today I'm going to mix in bacon and cheese, and so those are delicious, yeah, and to add some variety.
Speaker 1:I'm down for a burger.
Speaker 2:Right, come on over.
Speaker 1:Delish. So back to what you had mentioned about, like the plateau or not the plateau, because that was about the weight loss and whatnot but energy levels and things like that, like what were these benefits? You said the best you've ever felt. Can you expand on, like you've you know, energy levels and sleeping, and what did you see after the or, I guess, throughout the 30 days?
Speaker 2:right. Yeah, I mean, it's not all just about diet. You know, you definitely need to get sunlight, you need to get good sleep, um, but I think I got better quality sleep by not eating the carbohydrates. You know, if you eat carbohydrates with dinner, your insulin level spikes and then it messes with your sleep, and I think the biggest impact was was cutting out the cravings for all those other foods that weren't, you know, serving my body and just focusing on on the ones that did, and I think that's that's what did it, along with, you know, fitness and focusing on mental health, of course, yeah, I wanted to ask about the, the mental health.
Speaker 1:You, you know we're at a bad place. You're overweight, Like where was the transition? That's always like the most interesting thing to me, because I feel like as humans, we will continue, you know, kind of going down a road unless something changes. And so what was that like moment, what, what caused you to wake up Like I gotta, I gotta fix something. Cause you to wake up Like I gotta, I gotta fix something.
Speaker 2:Definitely that moment is is critical. I mean, you can try to help people as much as you want, but until they have that moment and they're ready to make a change, you can't really do much. So my moment was I was walking up the steps to my house and it was only a few steps, but I was out of breath and I just had had enough. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and I decided that I wanted to to make a change in my life. And so I started talking to a therapist and she recommended meditation. So I thought, oh man, this is like woo-woo stuff. How is that going to help me? But I was open to change because I was ready for something different, and so I tried it out. And it was hard at first. There was all these thoughts coming into my head and I had trouble focusing. But after about five minutes I was able to focus more on my breathing and after 10 minutes, when I was done, I felt better and I felt like I had accomplished something. I felt more clarity, I felt like I had more mental bandwidth to deal with the stuff that came up throughout the day, and so I think that I started meditating every day after that and I think that set me down the course, Um, cause I sort of shortly after that, I started working out.
Speaker 2:I started doing strength training a few days a week and, oh man, that was hard. I would be just huffing and puffing after a few reps. But I stuck with it and I got better, I got stronger, and then, you know, I was feeling a lot better, but I still with it. And I got better, I got stronger, and then, you know, I was feeling a lot better, but I still had a lot of weight to lose. And that's when I started changing how I ate. And it's, you know, it's different for everybody. It's um depends on what you need at at where you're at in life, If it's changing your diet or focusing on mental health or working on your physical fitness. You just got to figure out what you need at that time and start with that. Start slow, Start building upon you know these different techniques and just stick with it.
Speaker 1:And people will find success. Reminds me of that Navy. I think he was an admiral. The guy that wrote wrote the book like making your bed or whatever it is, you do that small thing. And people like, oh, why does that matter, it's just making your bed, does that even matter?
Speaker 1:it's like yeah, it does, you accomplish something, you feel good, and so I think that's a perfect alignment with the meditation like, oh, I feel better. You know, one minute turns into five minutes, turns into 10 minutes, but sometimes people want to, you know downplay like, oh, why does that even matter? Or whatnot, but that could be the turning point. Who knows? You know, make your bed, start your day and get rolling with something else, and then that rolls into workouts and you're feeling better about your workouts and things like that. But I did want to ask a few more questions about the low carb. What would you say is the most common?
Speaker 2:misconception about low carb dieting. I'd have to say that it's. You know, the most common misconception is that it's too hard, that it's too hard to do, and I mean it's.
Speaker 2:You know it's too hard, that it's too hard to do, and I mean it's. You know it's an addiction. It's like any other addiction. You know your, your body's craving those sugars, craving those carbs, and you, you have to fight it, um, but if you're eating things that you love, um, like steak, and it's a lot easier. But, um, you know it is difficult but it's, it's achievable. I mean, there's a lot of people that are doing low carb, keto, carnivore, they're all you know. They're all pretty similar, they're a little different, but, um, it's, it's achievable and it makes a big impact.
Speaker 2:I mean, I've heard so many different success stories. I I met a doctor in San Diego this past summer I was there for the symposium on metabolic health and she works with patients with Parkinson's and she's found that her Parkinson's patients get better when they're on a low-carb diet. And I mean you can reverse diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, even I mean there's just so many common lifestyle diseases that can be cured by cutting out carbs. It's really, you know, a panacea.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So for people that are like, oh, that is too hard, I don't know if I could do it. So for someone that's a new, you know, not just today cutting out rice and bread for the rest of your life what are some simple ways to to do that transition? Like, I don't think a lot of people are going to straight carnivore, but how do you go from where you are now?
Speaker 2:I would not. I would not recommend that. I wouldn't recommend going into anything like that, Just a hundred percent. You got to start slow, just like anything else, just like working out. You don't want to join the gym and go seven days a week. You know you're going to burn out, you're going to hurt yourself. And it's the same with changing your diet. You know, I think, just adding a little bit of protein to every meal and going like that slowly, you know it could be an extra egg for breakfast, it could be adding an extra hamburger patty to your hamburger. I mean just starting slow and slowly working up. It's a great way to get started, Because it's really go back, it's going to go back.
Speaker 2:It's unattainable when you try to go all in like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense. And I feel like that goes back to like caveman right, you had to like find the food and kill it and eat it. You weren't like finding the food and then putting a bun on the top and bottom of it.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You were just eating it. The last part of the show we're going to go into whole foods. So I know I was paleo for a while, which, uh, I felt massively better. But what are the benefits of cooking with whole foods compared to all this crazy process stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean whole foods. They, they have nutrients, you know, they've got minerals and vitamins and they, you know, it's really what they don't have is all the chemicals and all the processed junk that processed foods have, and it's, you know, whole food is anything that comes from nature. You know any animal, any plant that you eat, and you know, sometimes I I worry about eating too many. You know plants, um, just just for the fact that they, they can't defend themselves like animals can. They can't run away, they can't fight, they can't hide, but what they do is they use chemicals to protect themselves. Can't hide, but what they do is they use chemicals to protect themselves. You know, if you eat a spicy pepper, you get that reaction. You start sweating, you're like, oh man, that's spicy and that's the plant trying to say, hey, don't eat me. And so that's all they have. And so, you know, throughout history, people have prepared plants in certain ways to mitigate those reactions and I think we've really lost that.
Speaker 2:And for me, I try to avoid eating plants as much as possible.
Speaker 2:I do eat fruit, which I believe is the plants are encouraging you to eat fruit because of the colors and the sweetness, because they want to spread their seeds. But plants, I don't think they really want you eating the leaves and the stems and the roots the things that they need to survive. I think you got to be really careful about how much plants you're eating and how you prepare them. And, yeah, I really can't really help vegans too much. I think it's really really hard to get enough protein if you're vegan. I was talking to a chef the other day on her cooking show and she was saying how her daughter was vegan for so long and I told her it's hard to get protein when you're eating, when you're vegan, and she's like, oh well, broccoli has protein. And so I looked it up afterwards and for someone that's 200 pounds, they need to eat 75 cups of chopped broccoli to get enough protein for the day, and I think that would really mess you up if you tried to do that.
Speaker 1:I'm assuming the fiber that goes along with that would, uh, jack you up, isn't there fiber?
Speaker 2:There's, there's a lot of fiber, yeah and uh, you know it's interesting, some, some carnivore advocates, say you don't need fiber. Um, but when I did the carnivore diet, I I realized I need some fiber and you know, I got kind of backed up for a couple of days and so I started supplementing with some psyllium husk powder and, um, now I just eat the fruit you know, which has a ton of fiber in addition to all the nutrients and some carbs which you know are fine in in moderation. So that's that's kind of where I'm at now is mostly carnivore, adjacent with all the meat animal products and fruit, and then I mean I'm not strict 100% of the time.
Speaker 2:I think that's not attainable. I've been at this for a while now, and so I'm doing like a 90-10 meal plan, where 90% of the time I'm on plan and 10% I allow myself to flex. I call them flex meals, and so I eat, you know, whatever I want, but I still make sure to prioritize the protein when I'm eating like that.
Speaker 1:Hmm, yeah, that makes sense. I had a question for the people that are thinking about the whole foods. They know that's the right thing. It's the you know the transition they need to make, but their hesitation is it's too expensive, it takes too much time. What do you say to that? How do you transition?
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're sticking with meat and it meets a whole food, it's. It can be expensive but there are more economical cuts. But if you're eating meat, I mean you're going to be full and you're not going to need to eat as much. You know, by volume if you're including, um, you know breads and pastas and and rice and you know other things. So you know it can be expensive but it's, it's definitely moderated with the amount that you're eating. What was the other part of that question?
Speaker 1:oh, uh, just that people will say that it takes more time because you know a lot of things. I think are shortcuts.
Speaker 2:It's, you know, it's frozen it's packaged it's whatever I mean, if you have a grill or you know a cast iron pan you could grill up a steak in. You know, if you have like a one inch thick steak, you could grill that up in like six minutes and have a fresh, fresh steak and um you know I've also got included in the cookbook a recipe for making a steak in an air fryer, which you can make fresh or frozen.
Speaker 2:You could put a frozen steak in an air fryer and have it fully cooked under 20 minutes and it gets nice and you know, um charred on the outside and it'd have to be at least one inch thick or it'll get overdone. But um, yeah, just put a bunch of salt on there, throw it in the air fryer halfway through, you flip it and you're done.
Speaker 1:You're ready to go hmm, something I gotta try so. I wanna see if you can bring it all together. How does regenerative agricultural agriculture, cheese words are hard low carb eating and whole food cooking work together to create a sustainable and healthy lifestyle?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, if you are eating, you know regeneratively raised foods, you're helping the environment and you're helping yourself by getting the additional nutrition, nutrition. And if you're eating, you know low carb, you're you're helping yourself, you're healing your, your body, and it's um, yeah, it's just incredible the benefits that you get from that. Um and I forgot the last part of that, bringing it all together.
Speaker 1:Whole foods, low carb, and then the agriculture. So I think you touched on all of them, how it comes together. I did have one more question. I guess we're backtracking, but I'm kind of curious. On the carnivore, you said you had to make the adjustment of the fiber. Was there any other adjustments that you had to make throughout that process, or was that the one just switching over to fruit?
Speaker 2:you know what I did um cheat a little bit. I I ate uh blueberries.
Speaker 2:I would have blueberries at night because I had, uh, you know, a habit of snacking on sweets at night and it's it's something that is really hard to get over, and so I would eat some blueberries that night once in a while. And yeah, after I did the carnivore diet, I started reincorporating different foods back into my diet and it was incredible the difference that you would notice. You know, eating some rice I never really noticed before how sluggish it made me and how sleepy and like the brain fog and and all that. And so it really took doing that elimination diet to to realize the effect that these foods were having on my body.
Speaker 1:Oh that's, that's wild I'm. I'm going to try this for 30 days. I don't know when it's going to happen, but maybe after the holidays. I'm definitely not doing it before Thanksgiving or Christmas. Well, january is World.
Speaker 2:Carnivore Month, it's a perfect time to start. I'm going to do it again and I'm going to try to do the super strict level one. Carnivore which is just water, beef and salt, no coffee.
Speaker 1:I got to start with the eggs. No soda?
Speaker 2:No, nothing, just a lot of eggs, a lot of steak, a lot of, you know, ground beef, maybe some beef ribs. It sounds delicious.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, I'm excited for, uh, january. Well, josh, we talked about a lot of different things. If you had to summarize, what's the one message you have for the listeners as we depart?
Speaker 2:Start slow, you know. Figure out what you need to find success in your health and just prioritize protein. You know, anytime you're eating, eat protein first and then you can eat, you know, the other stuff and that's really going to make a big difference know the other stuff and that's really going to make a big difference.
Speaker 1:Good stuff. Well, thank you, josh, for coming out. Your feedback makes this podcast even better. Drop your thoughts or questions on instagram, facebook, tiktok, youtube, buzzsprout, and thank you for being a part of this mind force journey. I love you all. See ya? Yeah, so as we go to close out the show, josh is kind enough to have a free giveaway. Let's hear about the details.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got my portable protein solutions guide available on my website for you guys. It's a great resource to help you keep fueled up and stay full on protein while you're out of the house on the go, and you can get that on my website at joshnolandcom.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. Thanks for coming out. Definitely it's my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Nate.
Speaker 1:See ya Thank you.
