Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 319 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! Whats goin on? How is life treating you? Are you living your best every single day?
Eric and I don’t watch tv at home, it’s just something neither of us did when we met so we obviously weren’t going to start once we were together. We do watch movies and documentaries but not just normal tv so we never see tv ads. but when we are in an airport or at a Super Bowl party and we see commercials and it always cracks us up because its usually something like this…..really beautiful healthy people bonding over a great meal at McDonald’s. Or a bunch of thin healthy looking happy people sharing a coke and a smile. Or best yet a healthy looking vibrant man or woman saying the only way they get good sleep is by taking this medication. They are always healthy looking happy people. One that stands out to me is the commercial where JLO was going through the drive through of Dunkin donuts, come on, does anyone believe she eats donuts? or how about the ad for antacids where it says you don’t have to give up your favorite gut bomb food, just take this antacid and you’ll be fine.
These ads are always framed like they are helping us be happier and healthier. Every other ad is a pharmaceutical company telling you how much better off you’ll be if you take this medicine, like it’s just the most normal thing to do and everybody should be doing it.
I have heard so many people say well Im just getting old, putting on weight, being on all this medication, or being in pain every day is just normal, that’s just how it is. But does it have to be? Or is that just the path that of least resistance? Has it become so normal to be overweight and on at least one medication that we don’t even think the alternative is an option. Commercials feed into that.
A majority of what we consume on tv and social media regularly tells us that life is short live how you want. Being overweight is healthy. Everyone watches tv a lot chill out. If you don’t pay attention to Washington you’re sticking your head in the sand. You see ads for food as being healthy, when they simply aren’t. Orange juice, yogurt, white bread, diet coke. I mean at least with McDonalds and Dunkin donuts you know you’re eating something that’s not good for you but when you drink Orange juice they tell you it’s healthy, what they don’t tell you that one 12 oz glass comes with 9 teaspoons of sugar, as much as a coke.
I can remember before I really started paying attention to what I eat and how it affects my body I would start my day with a chai tea latte and a cinnamon scone from Starbucks, that was just a snack. And then when they started putting the calories on things, which is actually one good thing the government did do, I realized my snack was adding 700 calories to my day. I had no idea, I mean it was a tea and a scone how bad could it be, right? I wondered why I was putting on weight.
There’s so much information out there that is misleading about our American lifestyle. And I love this country so much, Americans are the friendliest people, they really are. Ive been all over the world and people are nice of course but Americans are just nicer. But we’ve allowed our ability to make decisions on our food and our lifestyle in general to be hijacked by big corporations.
They know we’re busy. They know we’re tired. They know we are stressed and they are targeting us for that. They have the shortcut to good sleep, you can still drink and eat whatever you want and this will get you to sleep anyway, never mind the side effects and here’s the shortcut to losing weight, but wait, being obese is healthy so you shouldn’t even want to lose weight, you’re healthy too. In the name of not hurting anyones feelings they are doing huge damage to the American public even though we all know the truth, it’s sad.
They want you to think destructive behavior like overeating and over drinking alcohol is normal. And maybe it is. In fact I know it is. It is normal to be overweight. Almost 75% of Americans are overweight and it’s getting worse.
I saw recently something Eddie Murphy did where he said average life is 75 years which when you really think about it, if you’re 45 you have 30 more summers, 30 more winters, 30 more springs. That’s it. It’s crazy when you think about it.
How do you want your life to play out? Do you want to be normal and feel proud that you’re just overweight not obese? I don’t. I want to be optimal. I want to be pain free, I don’t want joint pain from sugar and bread, I will take sore muscles from working out any day. I want to feel good in my clothes, I want to think clearly without brain fog. I want to have energy all day and I don’t want to join the “I’m just getting old” club where I take no responsibility for the things I put in my body. That can’t be your get out of jail free card, that you’re just getting old. There’s enough science to prove that doesn’t have to be the case. Now obviously there are exceptions, but you taking responsibility for every single thing you’re putting in your body, That’s the key. Yes it’s hard. Yes, it can be confusing, yes it can make you feel a bit isolated from people that think you’re a nut.
That’s why you have to think for yourself. You don’t have to argue with people over what’s healthy and what’s not. They don’t want your opinion, if they did, they would ask. This is what you have to do….You have to go ok, there’s a sign at my gym that says drink chocolate milk for your health. Someone somewhere thought that we would buy that. But Im not buying it and you don’t have to either. And you don’t have to rail against it. You can just say “I know better and I will absolutely not be drinking chocolate milk.” That’s the thing. You have to educate yourself for yourself. I’m measuring so much right now,Kevin my trainer said Im going to become a robot if I have anymore devices. I have a cgm on my arm, which measures my glucose so I can see what certain foods do to my body. I have my whoop which tells me how things affect my sleep, and I can tell you this, it’s already blowing my mind, the difference in my sleep on days I drink alcohol vs not drinking alcohol. I will be filling you guys in on all of it. I haven’t always been this way. I used to fight Kevin on every work out, I would scoff at anyone who talked about limiting or not drinking alcohol as boring, I would say I will never be someone who doesn’t eat bread. But I realized all of that was not working for me. I was spinning my wheels and I had no-one to blame but myself, as much as I wanted to blame my inherited traits and big bones, if any of you know me in person, you’ll laugh at that one. I didn’t want to hear that sugar caused joint pain and bread just simply turns into sugar in your body. I didn’t want to hear the truth so that I could be ok with my body feeling bloated and gaining weight because it wasn’t my fault but when I finally woke up I realized my mindset was a majority of the problem. This last week I lifted more than I did when I had more muscle pre covid, Kevin said that’s a testament to what the mind will do for you. I told him I quit trying to use my body to fix my brain. I decided to work on my mindset….which recalibrated my brain and now everything else is falling into place.
Dave Ramsey always says live like no-one else so you can live like no-one else.
You’re not average. Stop handing over your power to commercials and corporations. Because that’s why we are in this crisis where 75% of Americans are overweight. Our brains have been hijacked. Their job is to make money by making you think they care. Your job is to know better.
My challenge to you today is to be honest with where you are with your mindset about life. Are you willing to take responsibility for where you are? Are you able to think for yourself and realize that these corporations make money by selling you products that are damaging you and they frame it so you think its normal?
It’s not and somewhere deep down we all know it. We’ve just been too busy to see it. So what are you gonna do about it? If you’re serious about this, continue to listen here. And start allowing people into your world that understand nutrition, longevity and positive mindset. Bring that energy into your daily life so that that’s your new normal. Follow People like DrMarkhyman, MelRobbins, and drjamesdinic on instagram and Facebook , I’ll put these in the show notes. And share this with 3 people today, everyone needs to hear it, I love you guys, Ill talk to you in a few days.
