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0 (1s): Coming up on the get lean, eat clean podcast. 1 (4s): I always say there's four pillars to health. There's there's fitness, there's nutrition, but then there's also sleep and stress. And to your point, I think sleep is the foundation of health. I think oftentimes we look at fitness, like I worked out today. Cool. You got six hours of sleep. You're stressed at your job and you ate garbage. You know, if, if you had to pick one of those four to get rid of, I would actually pick the working out. Oh, you know, there's you feel good? You need muscle on cetera. But if you're not doing the other three, the working out is significantly diminished. 0 (39s): Hello and welcome to the get lean, eat clean podcast. I'm Brian grin. And I'm here to give you actionable tips to get your body back to what it wants was five, 10, even 15 years ago. Each week. I'll give you an in-depth interview with a health expert from around the world to cut through the fluff and get you long-term sustainable results. This week I interviewed Jason Ackerman of own. Your eating. Jason is a three-time CrossFit affiliate owner with over 25 years experience in health and fitness. We discussed many topics around nutrition, mindset and sleep. We also touched on his six week nutrition reset keys to making lifestyle changes, sleeping tips, his carnivore, eating reasons to stop dairy and his one tip to get your body back to what it once was. 0 (1m 29s): I really enjoyed my interview with Jason. I know you will too. And thanks so much for listening and enjoy the interview. All right. Welcome to the get lean clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I have a special guest, Jason Ackerman of own your eating. Welcome to the show. 1 (1m 48s): Do you call all of your guests special or 0 (1m 52s): Just, you're probably like the third person I've done that too. 1 (1m 57s): I know. I know I do that whenever I have someone, we have a special guests. I'm like, well, if everyone's special, who is actually special, 0 (2m 3s): They're all special. You're all special. So yeah. Welcome to the show. I'm excited to have you on note, I've known Jason for a while. We did, we were part of a mastermind group back a few years back and we've retouched and rekindled our little relationship here and we're ready to go. So maybe tell the audience what your background is. And yeah, I know you're an obviously in health and wellness and I know you do a lot of nutrition coaching and so on and so forth. So tell us, 1 (2m 32s): Ooh, I've been responsible for my own introduction. You know, it's funny. Cause I always tell people I've been involved in the fitness industry for over 25 years, which a just makes you a little bit older, but I did start relatively young. I'm 42 and it's coming up on probably closer to like 28, 29 years. It was my first job. And pretty much my only job has been inside the walls of gyms from personal training to CrossFit affiliates to now really I suppose, outside of the walls virtually, I mean, everyone's kind of shifted to that virtual sub category and yeah, like you mentioned, I own own, you're eating with my wife, Roz, our nutrition company. 1 (3m 17s): And then I also have another company called best hour of their day where we focus on coaches development, specifically CrossFit coaching. 0 (3m 26s): Hmm. And with own your eating, I know you have a bunch of programs out there. First one that hit me was a, you have a six week nutrition reset. Maybe tell us a little bit about that. 1 (3m 40s): Yeah, that's really Roz's brainchild. She started this six week reset as most people, you know, I don't know when this will go up over recording it relatively early in the year. And what would you say about 99% of the us population makes some sort of resolution? And I would say of those 99%, 99% are health and fitness related. And as you know, based on the name of the podcast, you know, nutrition is the foundation. So that reset is really just, you know, you've been through the holidays, maybe 20, 20 got away from you on many different levels, but nutrition and health and fitness included in the six weeks is, Hey, let's dial it back in. 1 (4m 28s): It starts off with really a big focus on, like you say, eating clean quality foods. And then as people are having success with that, we start to add the component of weighing and measuring. So a little more macro based there. 0 (4m 44s): Gotcha. Okay. And you know, as far as nutrition is concerned, is it, do you just preach mainly whole foods or what can I, you know, I know there's different camps of, of individuals and, and not to say that you have to be in one. Right. But what, what, what's your blueprint when it comes to eating foods and yeah, 1 (5m 5s):| You said whole foods, you know, there's a few different ways to describe it in the CrossFit world. We'd say eat meats, vegetables, nuts, seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar, which is the whole food variety. And I was like to joke, not whole food like the store, but whole foods like, Hey, if you send this piece of food back in a time machine, many generations, your relatives, you know, our ancestors would be like, cool, this is food. I'm going to eat it. You know, you send some broccoli or a piece of raw meat back. They'd be like, cool. Let's, you know, maybe there's fire, we'll cook this thing up. You send the Twinkie back in a time machine and they'd probably sniff it, throw it around a little bit, then maybe one brave caveman as they would take a bite out of it. 1 (5m 50s): But you know, the other, the other analogy I'm sure you've used is the perimeter of the supermarket, but there's one important thing to add to that, you know, which help people shop on the perimeter. However, at least where we live right now in that perimeter is the bakery. So don't skip the bakery, you know, pass by the black and white cookies and, you know, give it to give it to the rest of the perimeter, 0 (6m 18s): Black and white. So wait, where are you based out of New York? 1 (6m 21s): Well, I'm from New York, my entire life moved to Florida when you and I were talking more often, I was in Florida and now we're in Colorado. 0 (6m 29s): Okay. Yeah. Cause black and white isn't that from New York. Is that 1 (6m 32s): That's yeah, that's a, that's an, I mean, I think it's a nationwide thing, but I think it probably was made famous in the bakeries of Brooklyn. 0 (6m 42s): Yeah. Okay. And yeah, as far as like challenges, I also noticed you have a 30 day transformation challenge. I like to look for different challenges cause I have a 21 day challenge. What's the 30 day transformation challenge. All about 1 (6m 59s): 30 days was just a little more aggressive, you know, right away diving into the macros as well. You know, I think people, you know, I think the reality of all the challenges are, Hey, this has to become something that's sustainable. Whether it's your 21 days, 30 days, 60 days, challenges are great. They're usually a kick in the butt for a lot of people, the catalyst for some bigger, better, broader changes, but a challenge will only take you so far, you know, and unless you're looking to peak or unless you're looking to, you know, show up on a specific day, the goal is, Hey, after these 21 days what it is 22 or what today's days 31 or 61 look like. 1 (7m 44s): So I'd say the shorter, the challenge, probably the more aggressive it is for people also to know, Hey, I can make it through 21 days or I can make up through 30 where the differences with that 60 day challenges, we're trying to also build some really good lifelong sustainable habits. 0 (8m 3s): Right? Right. Exactly. Like it's all about making, like we always say like it's a lifestyle change. It's not a diet. What are some keys to make it a lifestyle change? Do you think that, you know, you ha you know, I have challenges. You have challenges to get past those 30 days and then keep going with it. What are some of the keys for that? 1 (8m 22s): I think two major keys are give your members, your athletes, you know, your, the clientele that are signing up small wins, you know, small wins such as, Hey, you drank a glass of water on day one. You're winning. You know, that was, that was all you were expected to do, you know, in a 21 or even 30 day challenge, you probably need to give them more than that. If they actually want to see the results, but compounding wins, I think that's one. And then two would be setting them up for success when real life happens. You know, you can live in a bubble 21, even six. I mean, we've lived in a bubble for nearly a year at this point, but you know, you, you need to set them up for success. 1 (9m 3s): Like, what does it look like when, you know, you take your significant other out to dinner? What does it look like when your kid has a birthday party? And there's a cake there and you don't want to be the weirdo dad. Who's like, no, I don't celebrate. You know, we need, we need to figure out what real life looks like. 0 (9m 20s): Yeah. That's a good point. It reminds me with like, I have two dogs and it's like, yeah, you can do a lot of great stuff in the house. You can take them for walks in the house and work on stuff in like a bubble, like you said, but when you bring them outside, like how do they perform when there's, you know, landscapers another dog and you know, who knows being it as a distraction? I think the same thing runs true for humans. Right. We w you know, you're driving, you getting distracted every day by, you know, a Starbucks or McDonald's on every corner. So how do you, you know, how do you perform when you're outside of your own little bubble? I think that's a good point. Yeah. 1 (9m 57s): In this day and age, you're literally a text away from having, you know, cookies and cake delivered to your house. So it's, it's, it's gotten, you know, back in the day, if you wanted to get a tree, you had to actually leave your house and drive to the supermarket or the deli or wherever you're going, we're now, you know, Instacart or prime or whatever you used within 30 minutes. You can, you can have it. 0 (10m 22s): Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I think McDonald's ran something, not that long ago. Cause I remember listening on the radio, they were giving away free food. All you had to do is download their app and just like go through their app because obviously they want people using their app and getting used to that. So yeah, they were literally giving away free food, just if you downloaded their app. So yeah. Who doesn't want a big Mac? Yeah. Convenience. Right? I mean, it's all about convenience. Let's talk a little bit about mindset. This keeps coming up. I think it's so important. I think it's something that maybe, you know, I like to start with with a lot of people, because if you don't have the right mindset, it's tough to make any other changes. What type of things do you work on with people with mindset? 1 (11m 6s): The first thing I really tried to dive into is understanding the why behind what they're doing. So many people. I think it's pretty just standard and expected these days. Like I want to be healthy. And unless you actually have a reason for wanting to be healthy cookies will Trump that idea of healthiness. And so we, we try to dive into people's why through their values and understanding, okay, these are your values. You know, for me, for example, my, my values, you know, we do our top five and they go health, family, meaningful work, excellence, and wealth. 1 (11m 50s): Those are my five values. So for me, when I look at something every day, I will choose a healthier option because health is my priority over something else. Or what that really looks like for me is if I have the choice between working out and work, I will work out. No, you know, and obviously there's a balance there because meaningful work and wealth is, is part of our, part of my values as well. But health is the number one. And that means that if I don't work out, if I don't eat right today, none of the other things matter. So understanding what people's values are. Cause I think a lot of people and I've had this conversation, Hey, I see health is your number one, number two, you know, number five value. 1 (12m 33s): Maybe it really isn't and that's okay. That's okay if it's not, but let's understand what that means to you. And you know, most people, when they think about their why, and it comes down to their family, they want to be there for their significant other, their kids, their grandkids, et cetera. And it's that reminder, like it's not about the scale it's can you squat down and pick up your kids, 0 (12m 56s): Right? Yeah. No, I love how you bring up, you know, your top five values. I would probably put health up there. I feel like it's always top of mind, you know, it's always a priority. Another big priority that I always try to focus people on is sleep. Do you find that that comes up a lot and w w what kind of tips do you give around getting quality sleep? 1 (13m 19s): Yeah. You know, when we think about health, we often think of working out. That's what most people think about. And then secondly, I think people understand the importance of nutrition. I always say there's four pillars to health. There's, there's fitness, there's nutrition, but then there's also sleep and stress. And to your point, I think sleep is the foundation of health. I think oftentimes we look at fitness. Like I worked out today. Cool. You got six hours of sleep, your stress, that your job, and you ate garbage. You know, if, if, if you had to pick one of those four to get rid of, I would actually pick the working out, Oh, you know, there's you feel good? You need muscle on cetera. 1 (14m 0s): But if you're not doing the other three, the working out is significantly diminished. So, you know, something I focus on and in my I've shifted over that, you know, I used to, we used to watch Netflix in bed. We used to have a TV in the bedroom, since we moved here, there's no TV in the bedroom. You know, we, we bring our device in for a Kindle. Like we allow ourselves to read in bed, but no television, we just try to get to bed earlier. You know, we're in bed, ideally lights out by 10 you're. Neither of us have to set an alarm right now. But you know, we're typically up by six 37 at the latest. So I think it's really just eliminating those distractions, which for most of us are your phones or your iPads or computers, and then creating a routine of, okay, I get to bed no, by nine 30, I read for 30 minutes and I'd fall asleep. 1 (14m 56s): Yeah. Less stuff going on in the bedroom. And then, you know, our dogs do not sleep in the bedroom with us. I know a lot of people allow that that's always been something I've my dogs snore like crazy. So it would keep me up, you know, they move around. So once we're in bed, it's like, Hey, let's try to get the best quality sleep. We, we both wear earplugs. We both have iron masks when it starts to get bright. So little things like that actually go quite a long way. 0 (15m 25s): Yeah. I love what you bring up. Like a sleep routine. People think about routines. They, they, you know, they think about other things they don't necessarily think about, you know, having like a sleep routine. And I love how no TV in the bed. I was lucky all growing up. I never had a TV in the bed. I've never, I don't think I've ever had a TV in a bed, which is great. I am moving and there will be a TV, but I think I'm so used to not having one that I won't, I won't be. I'll try not to turn that on. What about, can you talk about your dogs as well? So your dogs don't sleep in the bed and they sleep in another room, right? 1 (16m 2s): Yeah. We, we, you know, we have three dogs. One of them who's sleeping on nine feet right now. I don't know if they're going to pick up his snoring is a French bulldog. He snores like crazy, you know? And the other two would just be moving around. So they sleep in the mudroom behind a gate and their own little space. They each have their own bed and they probably they're probably like, Hey, we don't let him human sleep with us. Right. You know, it works both ways. I was, whenever someone tells me their dogs, which I would get them, part of me wishes. We let them sleep with us. We love our dogs, but I'm like my sleep again. It goes back to health and then family, my dogs or my family. Well, my health is my prayer. 0 (16m 39s): No, that's smart. I mean, I have two dogs. I just got another dog and he's two years old and we, he has his own bed. They both sleep in their beds next to our, our bed, but he's been sneaking up and he's so small. You don't even know he's in there. I'll wake up at like four in the mornings curled up and next to me. It's I go, gosh. 1 (16m 57s): Yeah. You know, I recently in September I had to travel and I drove and I brought the little guy with me and that was fun. I let him sleep in the bed with me in the hotel. I was like, yeah, vacation. But yeah, he would wake me up. He would constantly be burrowing underneath me, snore. I would be pushing him away. Cause he'd be snoring so loud. It's amazing. When a little 20 pound dog. Yeah. The amount of noise that can make in the middle of the night. 0 (17m 24s): Yeah. And so also regarding routines, we talk about sleep routine. What's your morning routine. I'm a big morning ritual guy. I like to ask my guests this. So what is your morning routine? 1 (17m 35s): Yeah. And you know, and, and I'll talk to you about it. But I do think, like you said, so many people put such an emphasis on their morning routine and no emphasis on their evening routine. So I do think, I do believe they're equally important because the evening routine sets you up for success in the morning. So yeah, in the morning for me, the short, quick things that kind of start my day, I go to the bathroom, I always weigh myself and I weigh myself just a, it gives me an idea of where my body's at and, and what the foods I ate the day before, how they've impacted me. And I think for a lot of people, simple, simply the act of stepping on the scale can reign them in. When I see that number creeping up, if I've been a little too lenient with my diet, it's a reminder of that day. 1 (18m 20s): Hey, bring it back in. So I always step on the scale in the morning. And then I go into the kitchen and speaking of the dogs, I fill up their water bowls. I give them fresh water every day, but then I drink about 32 ounces of water myself. So I fill up, I have a Yeti bottle that I fill up and I, and I don't really do anything else until the deal. It takes 30 seconds, but I take that down. And then my new routine, since the holidays, cause my wife got me an awesome president's pour over coffee. So super hipster. Right? Like, and it's just a little meditative routine, but I look forward to my morning coffee. And then I usually sit down with, with Rocky, the Frenchie on my lap and read for, you know, 20 to 30 minutes while I sit that coffee. 1 (19m 8s): And from there, depending on the day I like to journal. So I might journal at that point and ultimately leading to my, to my workout in the morning. So about an hour an hour, really the first hour of my day is pretty chill. I do my best to avoid my phone, my computer, any of that stuff. And because once you do that, you're just in defense. 0 (19m 36s): Right, right. Yeah, exactly. Those devices will just reign you in. I do the same thing. I actually get up. And do you take them? Well, I take my dogs for walks. First thing that they're used to going for a morning walk. And then, so you normally have coffee workout after about an hour. Right. And then you, so you're doing some type of, obviously we all do fasting to some degree. Right. Cause we don't need overnight, but do you, do you incorporate some type of fasting in your routine? 1 (20m 7s): Yes and no, I don't eat before I work out. So I wind up typically not eating my first meal until 10 30, 11, you know, I'll work out, you know, get, gets to get a few things done. Maybe I also then like to take the dogs for a walk depending on the weather. And you know, they'll probably eat at 11 and I'd probably most nights stop eating at around eight. So, you know, 15 hour faster. So, but there are definitely days where I've got calls that start at that point and I'm not afraid to fast. I just don't purposely do it in the past. I've fasted every day. And I think it's a great thing. I just, now I'd say probably twice a week, do I extend beyond 16 hours? 1 (20m 51s): And then relying on all my experience fasting it's I'm never upset about it. I just, you know, you realize when you fast and often enough, like you'll be fine. Right? 0 (21m 5s): Yeah. I mean, I always say fasting is like a great tool to just have in the toolbox. Right. If you've never done it, you should try it. It doesn't mean you have to do it every day, per se. I like to, I enjoy it. Sometimes I do longer ones. If I don't feel like doing long ones, I do shorter ones, but yeah, it's just a tool to have. And what would you say typical meals are? Like, I know you talked about a lot about macros. Are there certain, you know, sort of like macro counts that you're looking for for you or even fines? Yeah, 1 (21m 35s): I would say right now I'm a little different than my clients. Since about July. I've been doing carnivore. So you familiar with carnivore? Yeah. So I've been super, I wouldn't say strict isn't the right word. Cause I never feel like it's, I want to deviate, but I've been pretty much 100% carnivores since just a random day in July. We were having breakfast, my wife and I, and I was eating bacon and eggs. And she had heard me talking about carnivores since probably that January, January is world carnivore month. And I had seen people like Joe Rogan and Mark Bell and then ultimately Dr. Paul Saladino, who I started talking to discussing carnivore. 1 (22m 19s): And it was just a day in July. I said, you know, maybe next week or the week after I'm going to actually give it a go. And she said, just start, just do it. You're eating bacon and eggs. You're on it. And it was that moment. And since then, so now we're in January, it's been over six months. So my typical breakfast is four eggs, three slices of bacon, three sausages, three ounces of smoked salmon. So that's typically how I would break my fast in the morning. And then I know there's obviously different methods of fasting. Once I had that breakfast, I really don't eat again until dinner. So I, in the middle of my day, I go about seven or eight hours also without eating. And that, that breakfast is so satisfying and say shading, tons of fat in it. 1 (23m 3s): I feel great throughout the day. 0 (23m 5s): Okay. So when you say carnival, you know, some people might think, Oh, he's just eating meat, but you know, you're eating eggs and bacon and other things. What about organ meats? 1 (23m 15s): I do eat daily organ meats. So yeah, it's me. I would say the only deviation from me for me right now is eggs. Well, and let me make one other small caveat. I've incorporated a little bit of fruit into my diet as well. So for the first, maybe five months it was strict and I had cheese and then I was having a little bit of gut issues and I cut cheese out and realized my body was not. Yeah. My body was not tolerating cheese, little things too. I would get dry skin. None of that's happening anymore. So it's pretty amazing. The impact. Yeah. 0 (23m 49s): Yeah. You were getting dry skin from what, what do you think it was? I think it was the cheese. Okay. 1 (23m 54s): Any, any dairy? Really? I didn't have a lot of dairy, but I noticed when I would have, so I have a beard, but I would get like flaky skin under my beard. And you know, it's like basically it was like dandruff on your head, but under my beard and I would use like head and shoulders on my beard and it would go away. But then if I I'd have cheese, it would come back. And then when I kind of cheese out, I've not had that issue. And my stomach's been great. My stomach was having digestive issues now I no longer do. So you have eggs along with any meat. You know, like I said, the bacon, the sausage, I have steak or chicken wings. And, and then I incorporate liver and heart on a daily basis. 0 (24m 32s): Hm and ha you know, I just had heart, my wife prepared heart the other day and it was, it was actually good. It was like a, maybe like a tougher beef Tenderloin, I would say hardest, very state Gish. Yeah. Yeah. Just firmer. That was the one thing I got from it. But, but so are you making that, are you taking that through supplementation? 1 (24m 54s): I ordered months ago enough that I still have plenty. And I met probably once every five or six days. I opened one of the patties and they come individually wrapped the heart and the liver, I opened them up, slice it up, throw it on a pan. I'm not really doing it for the taste. I'm doing it for the nutrient nutrients and the fuel. And then I try to have like four ounces combined of the two organ meats per day. And it's actually probably what I'll eat after this. 0 (25m 24s): Well, with the liver. How do you prepare that? Do you soak that in milk and, well, obviously you're not soaking in milk. Cause dairy is not good for you, but, or no, you just saw Tang it. 1 (25m 35s): Yeah. Actually Ali, as I opened the new pack, I'll typically eat like two ounces. 0 (25m 42s): I don't know. Okay. 1 (25m 44s): Yeah. That was something I've learned from Dr. Paul. Saladino, he'd be a great guest. Happy to introduce you. And, and he wrote a book called the carnivore code and so I have like a small slice raw and then just, I usually cut it all into just cubes, mix it, stir fry it all in a pan with a little avocado spray and then just put it in a big, tough word and take, like I said, about four ounces out per day of the combination and I'm not eating it for taste. I'm not eating it really for, because I'm hungry. I'm literally only eating it because I know it's nutrition. 0 (26m 22s): Right? Yeah. I got to start trying that. And so raw. I was that raw. I'm just curious 1 (26m 29s): You again. You're not doing it because it tastes literally just like back. It's no different than doing a shot when you're 21. You're you're not doing it for the taste of the fireball. You're doing it to get drunk. It's just like, I'm not doing it for the taste of liver. I'm doing it for the nutritious value. Right. Like, you know, if someone's listening to this consult with your doctor, how about that? 0 (26m 54s): Yeah. Yeah. Maybe find a recipe start with that because there's plenty of recipes out there. I actually interviewed a woman who came out with the recipe book just for Oregon meets Ashley van Hooten. I don't know. 1 (27m 5s): Oh, look her up for sure. Yeah. You know, I, you know, growing up in New York, a Jewish grandma, I'd love to learn how to make chop liver. Maybe one day. I'll make 0 (27m 12s): Yeah, there you go. I know I've been ordering those liverwurst from us wellness meats. Have you tried those? 1 (27m 21s): No, I'm not as it just a cuts of meat. That's the liver. 0 (27m 25s): There's more there's there's yeah, there. Yeah. There's Oregon meats in there. It's like a, it almost looks like salami, but it's a blended up organ meats in there. It's good. Cool. Yeah. Put it with that. 1 (27m 38s): Salami becomes my snack. So then, you know, you eat like any diet you want to satisfy your emotional cravings as well. Like, you know, we talked about going to bed early. We usually get on the couch and maybe eight o'clock watch something together or chill out together and I'll have some salami or some poor grinds, you know, some still getting, you know, a little bit of a snack before I go to bed. And yeah. It's, it's funny how you can change your, your palate and your taste buds. 0 (28m 7s): Yeah. No, that is true. You don't, you're not, or you do have any cravings for like anything sweet. Cause I like, you know, do you do any cheat foods on this car on a carnivore? 1 (28m 17s): I've I've not cheated once since starting, like I said, I've incorporated a little bit of fruit back into my diet about 200 grams of berries or mandarins. Just, just cause I think it it's probably okay to have, you know, Carmen, you know, I've tried to live as if a caveman would live and if they found a little bit of fruit every day, they would eat it, but they would eat primarily meat. So I'm trying to have some of that, but really 0 (28m 42s): Have you noticed a difference in your body, your energy, anything since you started doing this, 1 (28m 46s): It's the best I've ever felt? Yeah. It's truly the best. You know, while, while I say that this isn't for everybody, I've, I've hardly left my house since March. So it's easy to eat this way. The handful of times I've gone out to eat chicken wings or a five guys even, you know, just get the meat, the burgers, but I can tell you from a few different perspectives, a I'm happy with how I look and I've been lean in the past doing macros, doing other plans, but I find this to be low stress. I'm like, Hey, either it's meat or it's not, if it's me, I can eat it. And I don't really limit myself to how much I try to eat till I'm full and not overdo it. 1 (29m 31s): My performance I've trained CrossFit and my performance is great. And I have really sustained energy throughout the day. I would, I would equate it to like we were talking about earlier, fasting know people that fast, realize you get kind of this clarity, you get this extended energy. You don't have these dips and valleys like you do when you're eating throughout the day. And I think this is the closest I've been to that. And yeah, I'm just, I'm happy with it and I'm sleeping well. And like I said, it's, it's, it's low stress. So I'm really enjoying that. 0 (30m 3s): Yeah. Well, and you know, the simplicity of it too, it makes it easy to follow. Right. There's no meat and like eggs pretty much. Right. Just keep it, yeah. 1 (30m 14s): Keep it, you know, it's, I have a few clients that I've worked with on it and it's simple, not easy, you know, it's simple in a sense, you know, if you made one of those charges, like I said, is it meat? Yes. Eat it. No, don't eat it. But you know, I have a pregnant wife and she has food in the house. That's not me. And you asked if I have cravings. I, I, I don't want to say I never have cravings, but I will say I feel good enough that that overcomes the cravings. 0 (30m 47s): Yeah. You know, you know, I have a pregnant wife too. We have a lot in common here. When does she do? And the June, 1 (30m 54s): What'd you next month, February. 0 (30m 56s): Okay. And you're ready to go. 1 (30m 58s): And maybe that time, this is out. 0 (31m 1s): Yeah, probably. Well, yeah. That's yeah. You keep hearing, there's definitely a carnival movement going on. And I actually used to not have meat hardly at all. I was sort of like a pescatarian for a while. And then when the, when the quarantine hit, you know, I started lifting out at home, lifting at home more and then I always ate a lot at home, but I just started getting weight away from like the big salads and some of these veggie burgers. And, and I've just gotten more like carnival Irish, I would say, you know, I still have some things here and there, maybe some vegetables here and there, but yeah, I, my body changed. I got stronger and I could noticeably see a difference in the way I performed and felt. 0 (31m 47s): So it's been a good thing for me too. And then yeah, getting into Oregon meats, I use a little bit with ancestral supplements and every so often just to stay consistent, but I'll have to, I'll have to maybe give that a go a little, you know, try your loose heart and liver and just saute them then. 1 (32m 5s): Yeah. I'm by no means a good cook. So I literally just, like I said, cook it, throw some salt on it, eat it. 0 (32m 14s): And, and you're still doing CrossFit. I see. 1 (32m 18s): I am wearing a shirt. Yeah. Five mornings a week. I'd say weather in the garage here. We have a nice little setup or we go to a local affiliate down the road. Ralston Creek. Yeah. 9:00 AM ish every day. It's something. 0 (32m 34s): Yeah. And then what about your certification course? Maybe we'll just touch on that. I know you've had that since I've known you. Right. Has that changed or have you done anything differently with that course? 1 (32m 47s): No. So we do have the own, your reading certificate course and yeah, it's changed a little bit in the fact that Roz has made it significantly more robust, you know, we started off and it was great, you know, it has see use for NASM, AFA and CrossFit. And I think recently they were, they were bumped up because we've added so much to it, but yeah. Great, great course for people looking to either a, just learn more themselves or be become coaches, 0 (33m 15s): Right. Yeah. Which is becoming a big field. Right. A lot, a lot of health, a lot of health coaches. I feel like, you know, people are working from home more and more so. Yeah. And so I was going to ask you too. What about, let's talk about, I noticed on your website, seven nutrition, mistakes that people make. I figured that'd be a good topic that maybe touch on what what's some of the mistakes that you see and how can they can sort of correct them. 1 (33m 45s): You know, there's, there's, I think for a lot of people, just the, we grow up and we are bombarded with information on nutrition and it becomes kind of the gospel and our, you know, our parents, the generation that we grew up in, you know, as a kid of the eighties and nineties, really, for some reason, you know, thought they knew everything, your parents are big shifter of, of, of your nutrition, beliefs, and you're kind of prone to whatever they taught you. And, and a lot of that would be, you know, whether it's fat-free or carbs are bad for you. So I think one of the biggest inconsistencies people have is just the imbalance of, of what they're eating. 1 (34m 31s): So many people that we talk to, whether their macros are just way out of whack, like in that typically looks like very high carbs, very low protein or inconsistencies in their calories. You know, I, I listened to numerous radio shows and podcasts where, you know, the solution for most people, when it comes to losing weight is like a 700 calorie diet. You know, it goes back to those challenges, will that work for a day, two days a week. Sure. But at some point you're bingeing. So, you know, just finding that balance, other little things, our water intake, you know, people walk around in this state of dehydration and that's something I'm always, I've carried a gallon jug for like the last 30 years. 1 (35m 24s): Yeah. So just drinking on water, I've kind of, I've gotten a few new ones over the years. Okay. 0 (35m 32s): Yeah. You know, most people, most people think that they're hungry, but they're actually dehydrated. Right. And then that's a tip that 1 (35m 38s): I give to people, Hey, when you really feel hungry, like you want to, whether it's, I'm just hungry, I'm going to eat anything or be, I'm going to have a given to this craving drink at Talia. I'll have my bottle and I will drink that. And then wait five minutes. We still want it, consider it. But maybe you were just thirsty or maybe that, you know, it's no different. I heard somebody talking about quitting smoking and they said, you know, you have to kind of live in that suffering a little bit. And it's just, you know, when you want that cigarette or you want that, you know, sugary food, you know, sit with it for a minute. Cause if you're, you know, it's like having a baby, right. Every time it cries, are you trying to soothe it or are you letting it kind of, you know, figure this thing out? 1 (36m 23s): Like, Hey, what's going on? 0 (36m 26s): Yeah. I like that term, like sort of live living, living their suffering for a bit. I think that like, we have such, like, we want everything now. I remember like cravings or hunger. If I had an inkling in cleanup before I started doing fasting, if I had an inkling of hunger, I'd just grab a, I don't know, grab a kind bar, you know, right away. But now it's like, since I've been, you know, since I've incorporated fasting, it's like you get, you still get hunger pains or waves, but they come and go and they leave and you have to sort of be patient, let them go. Or like you said, water's great as well. A little bit of sea salt in there too, you know, just to get some minerals. 1 (37m 8s): I thought, yeah, there was some Himalayan, sea salt in my water. Yeah. That's great. Great little trip there. And I throw Apple cider vinegar in it when I'm drinking it with a meal. I don't know if that does anything, but not a lot of things that I just do. And people always ask what I do. And I'm like, that's what I do. I don't know that it works. Right. But I like it. 0 (37m 28s): Yeah. Well, you know, I think it's good to test things out on yourself and see what works for you and what does it it's like you said, like, you know, you're doing carnivores and that's not for everybody. And it's like the ultimate elimination diet, right. Per se, but dairy. Right. You, you know, your experiment with dairy. I mean, you know, if your digestion isn't working or you're getting dandruff on your beard, you know, then maybe you should, you know, try eliminating some things and see how, you know, it's like, if I ever have, you know, if I ever have gas, I'm like, well, what did I, you know, like I might've had onions or something or, you know, something might've set that off. 1 (38m 4s): Yeah. It's funny. You know, it depends on the value of it, but I've had this kind of itchy beard for years now. And I didn't know, I thought it was just my skin and it wasn't until I had gut issues. I had like for like two weeks, my stomach was really off. And I realized I was eating a lot more cheese than usual and it wasn't, you know, so for me it was like, Hey, Chandra for my beard, acceptable for cheese, you know, but my stomach hurting this much, not acceptable, you know? And so I cut it out for my stomach and then it wasn't until I did that, then I realized the other issues that it was causing. And, and you know, you're going back to your cravings question. 1 (38m 46s): It is the, you know, part of war is the ultimate really elimination diet. And I think that's part of the, the reason that for me, it's easy not to want to cheat because I'm truly concerned. Like if I have cookies, what will that do to my stomach? What will will I break out in a rash? So there is that in a good way. It's almost like freedom. Like I can have that stuff because I don't know the impact it will have on my body. 0 (39m 15s): Right. Yeah. And then when you mentioned dry skin, I was asking because I have some dry skin issues and I'm just curious what's what's it from, I mean, it only happens in the winter here in Chicago, so 1 (39m 26s): Yeah. Made him cold, cold. Chicago could do it as well. But I think for almost anyone I speak to when they're having skin issues, it's something, food-related, it's an allergy to something. I mean, dry skin. Cause you're out in a blistering cold windy city is one thing. But I was having this issue when I was in Florida. No different than when I was in Colorado. So I knew this was definitely your, you see eczema, you see things like that. And you're like, something you're eating is causing that. But for a lot of people, like I said, it's not worth it enough, like cool eczema, but I can eat cookies. Okay. For me, it's not until you realize eczema is one small thing, you know, it's a drug and the cheat, I wasn't eating pounds of cheese. 1 (40m 13s): I was having like three ounces, you know it, and that was on a bad day. So when you realize, Hey, just that small drip every day is what's contributing, 0 (40m 25s): Right? Yeah. It adds up over time. You know, this is a question I always ask my guests towards the end here. What would be one tip that you would give, you know, someone that's middle-aged forties, fifties, even sixties. 1 (40m 44s): My middle aged. 42. 0 (40m 48s): Okay. So I'm 40. We're both expecting kids. So 1 (40m 51s): Yeah. Is this your first? Yeah. Yeah. Same. Yeah. 0 (40m 54s): You have three dogs. I have two 1 (40m 57s): Very similar. We're both them called areas. 0 (40m 59s): Yeah. You're in Colorado. I love Colorado. Anyways. What would be one tip that you would give an individual looking to get their body back to maybe what it once was five, 10, 15 years ago. Cause you see that a lot. You know, middle-aged individuals, they just lose track of time with work and kids. What would be maybe one tip you'd give them, 1 (41m 24s): Ooh, there's so many want to give. I think, you know, obviously you would think about a little more to get to know this person more, but if I blanket statement yeah. Busy person, you and I, I would say get up 30 minutes earlier and do some activity. And you know, we talked about how activities and the primary thing, you know, really nutrition is what's going to solve your problem. But I believe if I can get you to get up earlier, create this new habit of the alarm goes off. I go to the garage and whether you have dumbbells kettlebells or nothing, when you move for those 30 minutes, I think it will translate into a first wind of the day. 1 (42m 6s): And it will be compounding to lots of little wins and you will naturally choose better food options throughout the day where I think if I would've just told you to eat better, you would have fallen off. You know? And, and hopefully if that 30 minutes, you know, that 30 minutes makes you wake up at five, you know, now you're going to bed earlier, which we, you know, which means you're thinking, you know, all of these little things. So if I can only give one piece of advice, wake up 30 minutes earlier and work out. 0 (42m 35s): Yeah. That's I love that because it's, you're trying to create some type of snowball effect, right? If you implement this one small habit, well then from there, maybe you'll want to watch what you're eating or, you know, eat better and go to sleep earlier and just be more productive throughout the day. But yeah, I agree. I mean, if I get so much accomplished, first thing in the morning that you know, getting up 30 minutes early for some type of routine can really sort of help the rest of your day. 1 (43m 2s): Yeah. I think it'd be a lot harder to swing by the McDonald's drive through after working out, then it would be, you know, otherwise. 0 (43m 13s): Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, you start taking care of your body and one way of doing that is working out. You're going to want to fuel it. Right. And hopefully fuel it. Right. Not make an excuse saying you just worked out now I can eat, eat junk, which some people do. But yes, I agree that that is a good first step. And like you said, small wins, right? It's all about small lines. Well, Jason, this was great. Tons of info. And where can people find you? 1 (43m 40s): Probably the best place to see everything would be on Instagram, coach, Jason Ackerman. Once you, once you find me there, you'll find everything else. You'll find there. Yeah. People still ask, we're going to find you it's Google, Google, Google. Somebody will find you. 0 (43m 55s): Yeah. Very true. Okay. Definitely on Instagram. I'll put some links in the show notes. Well, thanks, Jason. This was great. I appreciate you coming on. 1 (44m 4s): Well, thank you Brian. About to go have some liver and heart and look forward to catching up again. Yeah, 0 (44m 9s): Yeah, for sure. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the get lean eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member has looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.