00:00

With with supplements, if you're taking something that it has a huge and noticeable, you know, impact on your performance, or your mood, probably there's going to be some sort of crash. So think of high dose caffeine, or thinking of dopamine precursors to take an excess, things like that. And so basically, our thesis is to combine these things in appropriate dose ranges that are sustainable and repeatable over the long run. And basically synergistic combos that that nudge you in the right direction, so you feel noticeably better, but in a way that's basically created by raising your baseline. So it's not like we're biasing the system, pushing it above some threshold and you're noticing this huge performance, you know, a spike and then dip. It's more like you're supporting all the systems that contribute to healthy performance. And because you're doing that, in a way it's synergistic and holistic then you get this natural performance boost that increases over time.

Bridget Moroney  00:56

Welcome to the performance arcs podcast the ultimate destination for anyone who wants to perform better in the gym and live a better life outside it. Whether you're just starting your journey, or you're a seasoned pro. This show covers a wide range of topics to help you reach your potential and live your best life. Each week on this podcast. I'll be bringing you expert interviews, personal stories and actionable advice to inspire, educate and empower you to reach your goals. So hit follow. Grab your headphones and get ready to take your health and performance to the next level. Hey everyone. Welcome to today's episode of the performance RX podcast powered by aspire to coaching. I'm your host Bridget Moroney, and today my guest is Zach Schreier. In January of 2021, Zach Schreier in his childhood best friend stepped into chicken costumes for an appearance on Shark Tank seeking support for their startup quail boasts a brand of healthy egg white based chips that are low carb and high protein they walked away with both a $200,000 investment and $200,000 line of credit for 10% equity from Daniel Libecki, the founder of kind snacks while most of us wouldn't bat an eye at snacking on a few Doritos during lunch, or going for that second slice of cake at a birthday party. Zach's early diagnosis of type one diabetes forced him to be vigilant of foods and its effects from a young age. he co founded Cuevas as a freshman in college, and in 2019 opened the doors to life stacks, a fitness forward company that capitalizes on nutraceuticals and other super foods to support intermittent fasters in their daily pursuit of well being and elite performance. Hey, really quick, I want to let you all know about something that I've been using for my own hydration and health and wellness routine. And that is liquid IV. So liquid IV is a category winning hydration brand that fuels your well being and I'm telling you, the hydration multiplier is the one product that you're missing in your daily routine, especially right now it's starting to get warm, we're starting to sweat more, you're losing electrolytes, you need to be hydrated. And with liquid IV in just one stick, you're going to get five essential vitamins, and it's going to be two times faster and hydrating you than water alone. So you can use it first thing in the morning, you can use it before your workout after your workout. When you feel rundown after a long night out if you know what I mean. And on long flights. Speaking of travel, one of the things that I love about it is the fact that it has very, very convenient packaging. So like I said, it comes in these like little sticks here, I throw it in my backpack, I throw it in my gym bag and my carry on, I'm able to take it out, I'm able to pour it into my water and get that hydration that I need. There's no mess. It's not messing around with these big clunky bags or anything else like that. Super simple, super tasty. With all the different flavors they have strawberry lemonade is probably one of my favorites there. I'm addicted to it. And you know beyond that, if you know me, then you know that I'm all about companies that stand for something and are trying to make the world a better place. And that is one thing that liquid IV does. So they believe that equitable access to clean and abundant water is the foundation of a healthier world. So liquid IV partners with leading organizations for innovative solutions to help communities protect both their water and their future. And to date liquid IV has donated over 39 million servings in over 50 countries around the world. So one thing that I want to offer to you as a listener for the performance RX podcast is 20% off so you can get 20% off when you go to liquid iv.com and use code performance RX at checkout. That's 20% off anything you order when you shop for better hydration today using promo code performance RX at liquid iv.com. So check it out, get some hydration going. Now back to the conversation. Welcome, Zack, it is such a pleasure to have you on the show today. How are you doing?

05:26

Doing? Great. Super excited to be with you. Yeah. Likewise,

Bridget Moroney  05:29

we were just chatting for a few seconds before I hit record. And I'm very excited about this conversation we're about to have I think, you know, as I, as I said, I guess to just, you know, kind of say point blank, very much looking forward to Turner to nerding out with you, if you will about some of these topics. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I guess, you know, to kind of just begin, of course, you know, we did a little bit of an introduction, before the conversation started with your bio, and a lot of people probably recognize you from the show Shark Tank. But I guess, you know, beyond that, is there anything else that you would want to share with my audience or with the listeners about yourself? And really about, I guess, kind of what got you on to what you're doing now, as an entrepreneur in the health and fitness space and your own health journey?

06:29

Yeah, sure thing? Well, for members, the audience that saw the shark kick episode, I was on that show, pitching Cuevas, which are chips made from egg whites, and really created that product because I'm a type one diabetic. And so low carb stacks are really, you know, pretty ideal for people like me. But actually, today, I love to talk to you some about my my new venture. Actually, it's a couple years in the making, but we're really just hitting the market over the last few months with our latest offering. And basically, what we do at life stacks is create supplements that are delicious, energizing, and support long term, long term health, wellness. So we've got a whole set of philosophies around each of those elements. And then specifically, I think, could be interested in talking about the way that that plays into the fasting lifestyle. So we've specifically designed our supplements to support intermittent fasting, we saw that there was sort of a gap there in the market, where there was not a lot of products that were actually helping, you know, that lifestyle work even better. And as a vaster myself, it was very interesting to me to design products with that in mind,

Bridget Moroney  07:29

and I liked that you you brought up, you know, your whole philosophy around fasting, or around supplements there. Because I think I think that's an important thing that a lot of people don't take into account when they consider supplements. Because, and, and I don't know, I don't know what your opinion is. And, you know, we would love to, you know, hear your thoughts on it. But it's like, supplements can definitely be one of those topics that is a little controversial, I guess, if you will, it seems like, you know, at least, you know, on my kind of like the surface level, there are a lot of people who are absolute advocates for it, and they, they see the value, and then there's a lot of people who completely dismiss it, and especially coming from my my world, and in the world of fitness and nutrition, especially there's people that are like, Oh, don't take supplements there, you know, there's no need to just focus on whole foods, you know, a pill is not going to solve everything. And I'm, I'm definitely one of those people where I'm in between, like, certainly, you need to have that foundation of lifestyle habits of good nutrition of solid sleep. But just given the way our world is like our food is not as nutritious as it was, you know, when our grandparents were our age, and so on, so forth. So there is a lot of value in supplements. But the point that I'm trying to drill down to which I again, I like about your your approach to supplementing is it does need to be part of a lifestyle. In other words, like, you're not just going to take vitamin D one day and have it resolve all of you know, the issues or, you know, optimize your body the way it needs to it needs to be a consistent thing. And so if someone isn't enjoying the process, or doesn't have a way to integrate supplementing into their life, it's not going to be successful.

09:22

That's for sure. Yes. Well, I'm a frameworks guy. So I really like to kind of understand, make basically, in the broadest strokes, why something makes sense to do or why it doesn't, and then zoom in on the specific details. So yeah, with supplements, we've thought a lot about really, why we should have them and I should say this is thinking and reading and kind of being a node in this network of of health information, and synthesizing what we're hearing from other experts in the frontier. So that's really where we come in, sort of like, like anybody else trying to make excellent products, learning as much as we can about you know, what's what's available. Right now, what makes sense to do based on the latest information in biology and overall nutrition and health? So yeah, I mean, we're definitely interested in frameworks. And I think that can actually be pretty informative for helping people guide their choice of supplements and the lifestyle around it. So, you know, specifically, well, I love that your podcast, you know, is long, and it gives us some room to talk about things in detail. So I'll share a framework that is sort of my overarching framework for addressing a lot of different areas of of life and health, which is basically that function is the flow of energy through structure. So I can unpack that some, but as we think about, you know, our health, what is health, it's really the ability to live well, so add capacity, meaning, you know, to be able to do things to be able to, you know, engage meaningfully in the world to feel good, all these things are sort of the the function that that comes from, from having a body and a healthy body. And so how's that function created, it's really the flow of energy through the structure that is the body. So that's basically metabolism through structure equals outcomes, or equals function. And basically, as we think about supplements, there's basically interventions at each of these points that different supplements essentially allow. So for structure, your body is made of stuff. And so the supplements that contribute to that structure sometimes can basically help us keep our tissues healthy for longer. So for example, if you don't have enough of the recommended daily allowances of different vitamins and minerals, you'll definitely show signs of deficiency. And so that's degradation of the structure due to not having these necessary components. But then there's also basically optimization that can happen on the metabolism side of things. So that would be basically having compounds like carnitine, or even creatine, or certain nitric oxide boosters, things like that, that basically enable metabolism to operate better and more cleanly, and all that leads to better functioning. So that sort of those, that's the broad strokes, set of ideas that we'd like to think about, with in the context of supplementation.

Bridget Moroney  12:02

Again, I like that you emphasize the whole optimal thing, because of course, this is a conversation that gets brought up quite a bit throughout the health and fitness industry, but it's like, you go to the doctor, you get your blood work done for a lot of different things. But you even including some certain vitamins and minerals, and as you pointed out, there's there's a certain threshold where it's like, you're either deficient, or you're within range. And you know, as people have made comments on, like, the whole range in our world is like, it's very broad. And a lot of times people think that, Oh, I'm not deficient. So I'm okay, I'm, you know, healthy again, what is health versus like, Well, no, you actually want to start trending towards that more optimal side of things. I'll use myself as an example. Having also myself an autoimmune disease, I have Hashimotos, thyroid, itis, it's such a tricky thing. Because if you look at, and this was a conversation I had with several doctors, but when I first got diagnosed, my thyroid was, quote, unquote, a little bit out of range. And well, if you looked at the bloodwork, it's actually quite a bit out of range. But again, like what's that, you know, sick versus optimal? And so it was a little bit where it was like, I wasn't completely sick, I guess. But again, was I optimal? Absolutely not. And as far as the autoimmune side of it, this was the conversation I had with the doctor is like, Well, what about, you know, Hashimotos and the potential of an autoimmune disorder. And she's like, well, that point doesn't matter. And so anyway, long story short, that's kind of the tricky part here. I think, going back to like supplements, especially thinking about like vitamin D. That's something where you have the RDA, but again, deficient versus optimal, is those are two entirely different stories. For sure.

13:53

Yeah, this reminds me of in high school, I asked an anatomy teacher, basically, you know, how would the how a caveman have gotten their RDA A's for all these vitamins? Like, how could this be really essential, given, you know, the idea of, of nutrient density and in the diet, and the variety diets across time, basically said, there's a huge difference between surviving and thriving. And so, you know, you can survive but sub optimally and have your health degrade faster than it should. But thriving might entail actually having having, you know, really, truly adequate amounts of these different things. There's also something pretty helpful to keep in mind, which is that when it comes to nutrient concentration, it's definitely not binary. So even if, let's say, you've got this range of, you know, 30 to 100 nanograms per deciliter for concentration of d3 in the blood, I think I got that, right. You know, what's the difference between 28 and 32? One is in range, the other is out of range, but it's a continuum. And, you know, keep in mind, the way that physiology works, which is it's, these are not serial processes, where the body takes one thing and then another And since you've set the range and combines them in the appropriate route, and you're healthy, it's, um, you know, these interactions are diffusion based. So, you know, all these things are just at some concentration inside of your blood or inside of your cells. And then there's these incidental interactions between the components. And that leads to the creation of new compounds, for example, and so having a higher concentration will lead to a higher, you know, basically, greater number of interactions between these parts. And so, you know, that and that could go to excess. So if, for example, if you were to have too high levels of B vitamins in your blood, that could actually support the growth of cancer, for example. And so, you know, it's not binary, I guess, is the main point here.

Bridget Moroney  15:41

Yeah, no, absolutely agree. Um, yeah, I mean, just like with anything, it's, it is possible to, to, to overdo, you know, kind of going back your diagnosis with type one diabetes can basically sent you like, well, it was really the catalyst for just, I would say, your entire life and where you are now, and I have to just really quick, just, just say, I applaud you, because, you know, kind of knowing a little bit about your story and knowing like, you know, the trajectory of, of, you know, what you've gone through to where you are now, like, it seemed like you used that, that diagnosis there as, as an opportunity to take control of your life. And I appreciate that, because that's something that I often talk about with, with clients, and people, it's just like, the whole idea of empowerment. So, you know, we go to we go to coaches, like myself, we go to doctors and everything. And, of course, you know, there's, there's a lot of guidance and everything that they give us, but at the end of the day, we are all in control of our lives, and we have to take a certain amount of responsibility. So yeah, we'd love to hear more about kind of your journey in that way.

16:52

Sure. Well, I love that you mentioned empowerment, that's definitely a key piece of the framework that we use for thinking about what we're doing with supplements and other lifestyle interventions. It's also sort of how I view like being alive actually, like, you have this resource, which is like, you've got your time, got your body, you've got whatever sort of social capital and physical capital and monetary capital available to you and your net worth and all that. And then it's just like, how do you use that to get the outcomes that matter? I think it's really important to actually realize that, you know, well, this endowment that we have is not in our control. So we didn't, you know, I didn't choose the body that resulted in type one diabetes, or whatever it is, the actions that I take, you know, starting right now, are under my control to some extent. So that's really the, that's the, that's the room we've got to play with. Like, that's the sort of value being a decision maker and a thinker, is that you actually do get to shape your trajectory through the world. So yeah, I think, you know, I think over time, the type one diabetes has sort of become its source of, of empowerment. For me, it's really just sort of put health front and center, which, you know, it's implicitly at the center of everything for everybody. But making it explicit actually allows me to sort of act on that, you know, maybe with a little more resolved than then most people tend to. So I think that that you're right, that that has sort of catalyzed these different businesses.

Bridget Moroney  18:19

Speaking of your businesses, let's kind of go back to So you mentioned, you know, so, again, you you started with with huevos Ahmed, that's how a lot of people may know you, but you're actually as you mentioned, the beginning of this episode, your I guess it's launched now, live Stax your current venture? Yes. Launch. Yeah,

18:35

we, we did a, so basically, I'll talk about the product a little bit. So basically, a couple years back, we started looking into the supplement industry and just thinking about what sorts of things you know, we could take that would add value to our days. And pretty quickly, we realized that supplements, stacks, would would go farther than individual supplements. So stacks are just comp combinations. And part of the thinking there is that typically, if you're going to get a huge impact from one compound, it's going to be fairly unsustainable. So think of, you know, think of this whole class of things like drugs, drugs, basically shift the system in such a way that you can notice these pretty immediate impacts. And then there's a deregulation that happens, and then you end up being worse off for having for having, you know, introduced this roller coaster of peak and valley where, you know, better probably just to stay away and, and not much like this isn't that way, because it's gonna create these deficits in the long run. With with supplements, if you're taking something that it has a huge and noticeable impact on your performance, or your mood, probably there's going to be some sort of crash. So think of high dose caffeine, or thinking of dopamine precursors to take it access, things like that. And so, basically, our thesis is to combine these things in appropriate dose ranges that are sustainable and repeatable over the long run and and basically synergistic combos that that nudge you in the right direction. So you feel noticeably better, but in a way that's basically created by raising your baseline. So it's not like we're biasing the system, pushing it above some threshold, and you're noticing this huge performance, you know, a spike and then dip, it's more like you're supporting all the systems that contribute to healthy performance. And because you're doing that in a way that synergistic and holistic, then you get this sort of natural and natural performance boost that increases over time. So that was sort of the, that's, you know, how we came up with life stacks, and how we started to formulate our products. And then we realized that most people don't want to add pills to their day. You know, if you're gonna, if you're gonna be a zealous selling consumer right now, you're probably sourcing your own powders and weighing them out doing your own research. And we realized that we wanted to basically invite more people to benefit from supplements without them having to go through that sort of hassle of sourcing their own stuff and doing their own research. And the easiest way to get people to adopt something like that, is to offer it in delicious and intuitive formats. So our thinking was basically to take an energizing supplement stack and add it to coffee. So we created an added coffee product that's MCT based, that basically just provides all the energy in a sustainable way. And then the last piece of evolution, or evolution here was basically the realization that, as I mentioned earlier, that that fasting is pretty under supported from a product standpoint. And you know, as pastors ourselves, myself and my, my co founder, Vincent, we wanted products that were synergistic with that lifestyle. So we chose MCT as the base of our edit coffee product. MCT is a healthy fat that is ketogenic. So it just, it basically allows the body to burn more fat more quickly. And then the software stack is delivered on that base of MCT. And of course, it's all delicious and tasty, so that your coffee ritual is upgraded.

Bridget Moroney  21:59

So much done pack, there are so much I want to unpack there and just make comment on just kind of talking a little bit more about the the supplement part there because I think you brought some really great points. And then I want to get into the the intermittent fasting part because, again, as I mentioned, or as you and I were talking before I press play on this, this episode, as a nutrition coach, I would say I probably use intermittent fasting more as a tool to you know, for body composition, outcomes and and goals and things like that, which there, you know, that's one of the reasons why people get interested, but you mentioned it as a lifestyle. And and that is I and you know that, again, going back to your whole inspiration behind lifestyle stacks, like it is something that I think a lot of people want to adopt as a lifestyle, but it's, you know, it can be very difficult to do intermittent fasting, just without any sort of like support there. Like you said, it's very underrepresented. I mean, there's, there's a couple of companies out there, and you know, you mentioned MCT oils, but again, like that whole stack, you know, the synergistic ability, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So just going back, there's people like myself, and then like yourself, that, you know, we'll go off and we'll do our own experiments and on ourselves, and we'll explore this supplement and that supplement, and we'll do the research. But I think for the for the majority of the population, they may not be as keen on that. So kind of recognizing the thought, or the idea that anybody, a lot of us can and do benefit from some sort of supplement routine. But it's not just one right, a lot of them do work synergistically. So I love that idea. And I love the idea that you said, because my wife is one of those people, they don't want to take a bunch of a bunch of pills, again, I make my own supplements, stacks and all just, you know, down a handful of pills every morning, but the majority of people aren't like that. So I love that approach there. Because, as I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, like it's not going to happen just from one day of taking these supplements or even one week or it's it really is a lifestyle. So definitely, you know, I gotta appreciate and really like that, that that's your approach with life stacks there. And then yeah, the whole delicious thing. So I'll use a quick example. And I won't mention the brand's name. But um, there's a so another another supplement that's gotten a lot of interest lately is collagen right? A lot of people put collagen in their their coffee every morning. And you know, again, it's it's one of those things where it's like, I think it kind of, for me, it kind of has all of those elements you're talking about, like it definitely has a long term heartfelt health health effects, which I'm interested in. And then also it's just like that in the moment. Like it's just something nice to put into my coffee and enhances the flavor of it. I enjoy it. I digested easily, et cetera, et cetera. So the point I'm trying to make here or is that there's obviously, again, dozens of collagen supplements out there. But the one particular one that I enjoy, I do it again for all of the health benefits. But really, it's because I enjoy the taste. And I enjoy how it mixes and mixes really well. And, and that's it. So again, I, I guess just kind of like commenting on that making it more accessible to people.

25:24

For sure. Yeah, I think that's why some, maybe I won't mention the brands. But if you think of some popular greens at this point, you know that that's a, that's, I think a lot of what the success is just like, enjoyable and convenience, ways to cover these bases. That's actually a main part of the message for certain companies like that. So yeah, that's something that's very important to us, like, we really do care about the customer experience. You know, if you think about all your habits, there are things that you have to do at some point in time, which means like, your physical body and mind have to be actually like attending to that thing that you're doing. And like, you know, whether it's enjoyable or dreadful. And then, of course, there's like the immediate impacts and the long term impacts. So I'd like snacks, we really do care about each of those prongs. And we've optimized consumption experience, the way you feel and the long term health impacts of Curacao mentioned, you know, taking a handful of supplements in the morning. I'm curious what you're taking at this point. And why

Bridget Moroney  26:19

trying to think off the top of my head now. So I take I take a a co Q 10 and PQ Q combo pill. So again, kind of one of those like, yeah, and it's interesting that you bring up like, you know, short term or in the moment performance versus like long term performance, because again, like that's one of my own, the way I see things like caffeine example, like you take caffeine take a high dose of caffeine thinking about like the fitness industry, which, you know, I had a whole conversation with this with, with another podcast guests, just it's it can be very detrimental to your health. So going back to like what you said, like, you know, some of these, the supplements that we take are good for us. Some of them aren't so great for us. But I'm talking about CO q 10. And P QQ. For people who are not familiar with those supplements. Those are there are supplements that contribute to our mitochondrial health and our cognitive function. And so I like to make the argument that those are performance enhancing supplements, because again, thinking about my long term performance, like, how am I going to perform like, Okay, so maybe it's not going to give me the jolt that caffeine would to go to the gym today, but 1015 20 years from now, when my mitochondria health and everything is still online, and I have that sustainable energy to go about and do like, that's what I'm, I'm all about there. So so definitely take that every morning. You know, I mentioned the beginning of the episode d3, you know, I live in Colorado, it's pretty sunny here, but we're getting into the winter months. So it's definitely an important supplement. But as I as I also mentioned, you know, having an autoimmune disease, you know, being able to keep my immune system online, and working properly is super important to me. So that's something I take throughout the year just kind of fluctuate with the dosages there. Obviously side note to anyone listening, this is just what works for me, I work with my doctors, I get my blood test and everything else like that. So another supplement, and it kind of depends on the season. If it's like cold and flu season versus the summer, I'll kind of go back and forth. But glutathione is one and again, that's a tricky one that you want to find like a good high quality supplement for but that's one that I'm taking currently because I was just coming off of getting sick and it is cold and flu season. So just trying to keep my immune system robust, but for the other majority of the time I'll take an acetyl cysteine. So NAC there, which is the precursor to glutathione Oh, magnesium, of course. Yeah, magnesium is always a great one. You know, again, that's something where you could get tested but that's something just like vitamin D were like the majority of our population and our food is very deficient in it and anyone can benefit from it. I mean, from everything from your heart rhythm to muscle contractions to deep restful sleep. It's it's a super important one. Yeah, I mean those are those are the big ones melatonin so my so talking about sleep stacks are talking about supplement stacks, that's one opportunity where I will use supplements stacks to kind of get the most out of it. So as I already mentioned, magnesium is great for restful sleep. Melatonin is also a supplement that works effectively for me and so I'll take certain sleep stacks that have those supplements in them the melatonin and the magnesium but then they'll also have other things like was it like holy basil or was it tyrosine I think tryptophan and everything else like that. I I kind of like go back and forth between certain formulas there but um, yeah, those are those are probably the big ones I would say thanks for asking now.

30:00

Yes. Yeah, for sure. A few thoughts. The first is actually PQ, Q and CO q 10. We're in our very first product flow. And for reason you mentioned like the mitochondrial biogenesis. I'm definitely hoping to didn't include them in the in the creamer because the creamer the MCT rather, is more of the of the sort of cognitive function sort of bright brain health side of things. And we're also, you know, limited by Saudi body and flavor, you know, when it comes to what we can include in an ad to coffee, of course, but I'm definitely interested in in formulating with Kochi, 10, and PQ and in the future, actually in combo with lipoic acid and carnitine as well. So yeah, definitely a fan of that sort of stack. Same here with that Newseum, like that's for the reasons you mentioned, like soil soil pollution, and you know, kind of just the modern lifestyle, just calls for more than than we tend to get in our diets. So I've actually used quite a few different forms magnesium, including malaise, citrate, have tried magnesium three, Nate, which I found really nice for, like, mental clarity. And people use that for sleep as well actually. And then recently, very recently started Oh, glisten eight, of course, which is, I think, the most common form and then recently started with sucrose Omeo magnesium, which is apparently a very, very available form. It's also very flavorless. So yeah, maybe in the future lifestance will have some magnesium and some of its products

Bridget Moroney  31:35

so awesome. Yeah, I'm interested or I'm I'm I'm glad you brought up three and eight because that is something that I would be curious to experience myself like you said like, first of all, just don't worry if you're new to magnesium. Just take it just don't don't worry about it. Because you know, any any form will will work and help with a lot of functions in your body. But for those who want to get a little bit more nuanced with their their magnesium consumption, their art like Zack was mentioning different forms. And there's there's certain ones that I guess are more prone to helping with like you mentioned, like the three and eight for cognitive function and things like that. So with that said, I was just making the comment that yeah, I'm interested to try to three na and I haven't yet because like I said, I usually try it for for sleep. But that's good to know that it also aided in your sleep, I usually just use the glycinate

32:30

Yeah, that makes sense. People are injured Superman recommended magnesium three, Nate fimian and apigenin as a sort of sleep stack. So that's a good look into that, I guess I can, I've taken three night before that and had no issues. But when I take the during the day, it's it's kind of like a non stimulating clarity. Just kind of more even and calm. So goes well with work. It works for sleep to see all these different forms, like, you know, it's it's hard to go wrong with magnesium, because most almost all of us need more of it. The only thing that maybe you do want to watch out for is certain forms like citrate can cause some distress, gastric distress, and so you want to your dose, you know, start really minimal, and if you tolerate it, well, then you can increase.

Bridget Moroney  33:16

Totally, yeah. As Dave Asprey says disaster pants, there was some of them. So I guess, talking about the cognitive effects of magnesium. And you mentioned, you know, your first stack had the the PQ, Q and CO q 10. But you also mentioned that MCT oil basically takes care of that. And, you know, again, there's only so much that you can put into a product there. I'm curious, because, again, this is one of those things where I think the general public maybe isn't aware of, but there's there's different types of MCT oil. And there's even a big difference between MCT oil and coconut oil, I'll admit, like, many years ago, I thought there was no difference. So I would just like throw coconut oil in my coffee or coconut milk, and I'm like, I'm getting the same benefits. But that's not necessarily the case. And so I'm just curious if, if there if there aren't like, if there are specific forms of the MCT oil, like the capric acid or lauric acid, or you know, well, not lauric acid, that's not the one you want, but my point is, are there specific forms of MCT oil that you guys use for the lifestyle hacks and like what's your experience in their benefits or thoughts around their benefits?

34:40

Yeah, for sure. So I guess just for some background on this MCT is just stands for medium chain triglycerides. And so what you're talking about with these different forms is the different chain link that are all technically medium chain. So the popular MC T's are actually may be by definition, the only MCT is out Are seasick so like a six carbon chain like ca c 10, and 12 and C eight and C 10 are the most commonly used. C eight is the most ketogenic and C 10 has like some like, basically, antifungal antibacterial properties that basically help regulate the gut. So we use the agency tenant in our, our MCT product. But I think si si six and C 12 Have some benefits as well. They're just a little less potent. And so we're using the sort of pure most most beneficial, most studied FTTs. Cool.

Bridget Moroney  35:37

Yeah, I was just curious about that yet completely agree, I think the ca c 10. Like, as far as like, MCT oil products, they're like, the most potent, as you said, and you people can kind of get some other benefits from the other types of MCT chains. But it's, I think it for the most part, you're like, as I mentioned, you're probably at that point better off just consuming coconut oil or coconut milk, even, you know, really fatty coconut oil.

36:05

Right? That's like a drum of the MCT. Yes. But yeah, we're using like yourself for for the most potent impact. And I guess just in terms of the functionality here, entities are shorter than your regular fats. So you know, many fats that we have, like, you know, 1820 22 chain length. And so they need to be digested more extensively than MC T's, MCs get pretty quickly absorbed, and then basically use pretty immediately as a as fat fuel. So it's like, if you want to basically support ketosis, MC teas are a great way to go. And as we're, you know, we're using MC teas or fasting for that reason, it's supporting the metabolic health benefits that we're looking for when we're fasting, including ketosis. And then, you know, the other thing is, like, as you mentioned, fasting can be difficult people have a hunger and you know, energy lag, and that sort of thing as they're getting into it. And so we think MCT is just a great way to bridge that gap, you know, give you give you the energy looking for give you a bit of fuel from those stats, but also support your body and burning the fat that it already has, which is, you know, a primary goal.

Bridget Moroney  37:14

Absolutely beautiful segue. So I was gonna say, let's talk some more about intermittent fasting there. So as you mentioned, consuming certain fats like MCT oils, and everything can help a body, a physical human body, or somebody a person stay in ketosis, which, you know, is one of the reasons why a lot of people are interested in intermittent fasting, but at the same time, so those ketones from the fats give you energy to sustain or extend that fast beyond the MCT oils, like what are how else could someone who who really wants to make this a lifestyle? How else could they support their fasting so that it's it's not so draining? Or, you know, not? Not as pleasurable as it as it could be? Yeah, sure.

38:04

So one thing that people use is is dietary fiber, and specifically soluble fiber, part of the reason for that is that the microbiome will, or certain bacteria in the microbiome will take that fiber, and even though our bodies can't digest it, these bacteria can. And so they use that soluble fiber as a fuel source. And as a byproduct, they create short chain fatty acids. So this is like, you know, MCT, but even shorter, and those short, acids end up being helpful in the body also, so that they're good fuel substrates for energy. And they also have certain health properties. So actually, uh, conveniently, our MCT is powderized. And it's powderized using an Acacia fiber, so you get some of those medium chain triglycerides and the short chain triglycerides as a byproduct of that, the metabolism of that fiber. And then other things that that can help with fasting, basically, you know, supplements that are going to increase satiety and increase willpower. Those are sort of where what we turn to. So in terms of satiety, caffeine is great, you know, I'm sure everybody's noticed caffeine is a is an appetite suppressant. And, you know, if you're going too fast, it's better not to have to exert as much willpower to do that, you know, if you, if you're spending your energy not eating, then what are you, you know, you're going to end up needing energy for other things that you're not going to have as much off. So the we really love that. When you get in the groove of fasting and take the right things, then it becomes not very effortful. So it's a great way to calorie restrict without feeling like you're restricting. So caffeine is great for that. Then in terms of other things that increase satiety and willpower, other dopaminergic activity and cholinergic activity can be good for that. So we use tyrosine and Silkolene. Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine. So if you take hydrazine you'll end up metabolizing that and having higher levels of dopamine in the brain, and then Sidda choline is actually a Cohen source. And it also up regulates dopamine receptors. So you have like this sort of twofold impact, like, have a little more motivation. But also calling is acetylcholine as learn neurotransmitter. And so by taking a choline precursor, you have more of that. So you're like, more cognitively flexible and fluid and your thought you're more motivated, you know, ready to get stuff done. And as a nice byproduct, you're not as intent on eating, and maybe you'll find yourself sort of working through the morning and not even thinking about food, which is kind of a

Bridget Moroney  40:25

couple of things. And I don't know if you know, I'm just curious. So you're talking about, you know, just with the choline, like the the dopamine precursors, Does that have an effect on the the amount of cortisol one fasting in your body? Yeah, that's a great

40:39

question. I've not seen any research on tyrosine at our doses impacting cortisol levels, but it's something good to look into. You know, one thing that helps with with overall stress to end well, you know, fasting is a stressor. And so if you're stacking fasting with other stressors, like working out, for example, or maybe just stress in your in your life, that it can get excessive, and you can feel worse. So you do want to regulate that and make sure that you've you're treating it like anything else, like you're you're taking an appropriate dose of fasting. So we use how taurine also our taurine I guess people as how they pronounce it in the creamer. And basically, taurine has been studied for a surgery with caffeine, it lowers blood pressure, it's also it's a conditionally essential non proteinogenic amino acid. So basically what that means is, it's something that your body makes some of but you also need some up in the diet. And it doesn't actually go into the creation of proteins, it actually has its own functions in the body as an independent amino acid is specifically useful for skeleton, the active tissue, so any tissue in the body, I'm sorry, electronically active tissue, so that's skeletal muscle. That's like the smooth muscle of the heart. It's the whole nervous system. And it basically it's it's inhibitory. So it calms hyperactivity in intellectual excitable muscle. So paired with caffeine like so many people have probably heard of the the caffeine theanine combo, which is theanine is relaxing. So it makes a really nice parent with caffeine for called focus. And taurine. Caffeine is quite similar. We find it's not as like a sedative. It's more like sort of like what I mentioned with my knees, and three, Nate kind of creates like the smooth, clarity and combine with caffeine. It's like you get to energy, but you also get this smoothness that lets you allocate that energy really reasonably. So you're not sitting there like shaking, you're kind of able to focus on the task at hand and bring that extra energy to it.

Bridget Moroney  42:43

I love that it's interesting, again, something that I'll have to kind of make note of and look into some more myself, but I love the fact that you bring up and that was the reason why I asked about the cortisol because, yes, fasting is is great. And people do it for multitude of reasons. And it can be very beneficial for people in their long term health. But like, as you mentioned, just like anything, it can be taken too far. And I guess I'm thinking specifically about women, and intermittent fasting, because I think just like so many things, when it comes to to health and biology, men tend to thrive better on fasting than women. And that's not to say that it's impossible, there's, there's, there's plenty of women out there who fast, and they do so very, very often and they're thriving, but then there's some women like myself, or you have to be careful, I have to be careful, especially as a woman who does a lot of intense training twos, like you mentioned, you know, when you start stacking all these stressors on top of each other, it can be overwhelming. And I guess my point is, you know, I think just biologically women, you know, we're a lot more sensitive to stress. And so maybe being cognizant of how you manage your, you know, these lifestyle habits here is a good approach. But also, you know, as you're mentioning, like having these other types of supplements or just strategies to support it, so it's not as overwhelming to your body, and then you completely crash and burn, because that's happened to me, for sure.

44:20

It's good that you're mentioning that I think maybe your name is Amy Shaw is she's intermittent fasting expert, who does the rounds on on podcasts, and she talks about fasting specifically as relates to women and multi cycles. So that's a good resource, you know, as a, as a guy, that's not something I have to think about. But, you know, many of our customers are women and they are fasting, and it's something that has to be conscientious about

Bridget Moroney  44:47

really quick. I'm going back to the fiber part. So that's something that I guess I just wasn't aware of like I've definitely well aware of like MCT oils and things like that as a way to support fasting and caffeine and everything, but the fiber is kind of a new, a new one to me. And it makes perfect sense, again, like increasing your satiety there. But I see a lot of commentary on the internet. And I see people like yourself that, you know, promote certain products, you know, for fasting, but then the, the criticism that comes back is like, while you're eating foods, so that's not really fasting there. So I guess I'm just curious to hear a little bit more about like, your thoughts around that. But then also like, yeah, the the whole fiber thing? Because again, that's kind of a new one to me. Yeah, sure.

45:35

I think this this sort of whole areas, I think often called Dirty fasting. So fasting, but taking things in? And so yeah, as you said, how is that fasting still, and basically, the way we look at it is that there's different kinds of fasts with different kinds of benefits. So if you're talking about like this pure gut reset, that, you know, basically, like, let the body you know, clean itself out and, you know, then you don't want to take anything in. So you don't want to have caffeine, you don't want to have fiber, fat, anything. Because obviously, anything you're gonna eat is going to have to pass with the gut. That said, you know, I don't think the idea of avoiding caffeine or coffee is that appealing to people, like, you know, if you're going to do something difficult, then you want the support that you can get. And, and the got reset is not the only point of fasting, there's, you know, on the other side of things, there's basically the overall metabolic benefits of fasting, which come down to calorie carb, and even protein restriction. And so that, that means you can take in fiber and fat and still preserve those benefits. You know, we don't view fasting as binary. So we think of it as basically an energy balance, and then the better metabolic pathways that respond to that energy balance. So it's, in a sense, it's a convenient way to structure consumption, so that your body has a chance to use its own stored fuel, fat, rather than, you know, be constantly taking in food, and then never have a chance to use that store fuel. So, you know, basically, using six rounds of MCT, and then a few grams of fiber, it's not going to be enough calories to, to, you know, basically allow your body to only use the calories it's ingesting, it's still going to have to basically use its own fat stores as fuel. And using the MCT is just going to have helped to catalyze that, that use of that as fuel. So yeah, basically comes down to what you're looking for. And if you're just looking for overall metabolic health and and to, you know, swing the energy balance in your favor, then that fasting, then dirty fasting can definitely be acceptable and helpful. Yeah, that's

Bridget Moroney  47:42

such a great point about you know, the, the amount of calories or, or even, you know, nutrients that you get from that little bit of fiber, that little bit of fat there isn't, it's, it's not much there. And, and I guess, like, you know, the my point, I just kind of bring it up there. And it's kind of true for a lot of things that you see on social media is people just people just like to cut other people down and nitpick and, and things like that, like, yes, technically, you are consuming food, but you know, you think about like, how that's impacting your, your metabolism or, you know, the the nature of the fast they're like, you know, come on?

48:16

Sure, yeah, actually, one thing that's popular in the fasting circles and keto circles, is talking about insulin levels. And so you know, as in Taiwan, I see this firsthand, most people just have to, you know, assume that certain things are going to impact their insulin levels in different ways. But, you know, for, for modern, for people having a modern diet across the developed world, basically, like excessive insulin from excessive carbon take, and a sedentary lifestyle leads to insulin desensitization. So, you know, high, costly, high levels of insulin will lead your cells to be less sensitive to that insulin, meaning you're gonna get glucose, pulling the blood for longer, you know, post meal. And you're also not going to be basically able to access utilize glucose for fuel as readily. And then there's, you know, type two diabetes and other cardiovascular issues that result from that. So, you know, part of what we're interested in in fasting is the way in which it lesser insulin levels come down. And so taking fat, taking fiber, those things won't spike insulin, they won't deposit a bunch of glucose in the blood that has to be responded to. So yeah, I get to see that firsthand like I can have, I can have a handful of things during my fasting window, and you know, still watch my insulin needs diminished over that time.

Bridget Moroney  49:32

Gosh, you brought up something or hearing you talk about that brought up something that I kind of want to ask it's a little bit off topic. But just the the, I guess, rise in popularity for the general public people like myself who don't have diabetes. In continuous glucose monitors. They're like you said you see firsthand. You know, being a diabetic like that's, that's part of your life is just is keeping an eye on hold those levels? And and again, it's one of those things where I think it's you know, people have their own opinions about there's one side where I think a lot of people it's it's a learning tool right like you said there's there's a lot of things that we can consume, including you mentioned protein a second ago like that's that's something that you don't really advocate for during fasting because it can potentially raise your your your insulin or your your your glucose levels there. But um, yeah, I guess the point with the, the glucose monitors is like for people who are otherwise healthy, and have no need to continuously monitor their glucose there, I feel like it's been a, it is a learning tool for them to learn a little bit more about how these foods and everything can affect their their bodies. But then, like I said, on the other side, there's the criticism of like, oh, it's, you know, it's pointless, like, you don't have diabetes, why are you spending your time worrying about this and everything? So I don't know. Like I said, if you have any thoughts, or Yeah, yeah,

51:07

do you have a thought? I thought about this, in the comments of the some of the lessons that people will take away from their CGM. Basically, there's been I heard more about this, maybe a year, year and a half ago, on like, some, you know, health podcasts and things like that. But people were basically a I talking about the glucose spike itself as this very damaging thing that had to be regulated and minimized. So people would watch their sugar spike to say 150 milligrams per deciliter post meal, and say, Oh, look at that, look how much damage I'm doing in this hour too, because my sugar is high. And that's going to create all these downstream consequences. And so this discussion about the toxicity of glucose and denatured, protein to the body and all that stuff. What I have to say to that is basically I think that's, that's, that's a, a symptom of rather, glucose spikes, post meal are a symptom of dysregulation, not a primary cause. So I think people were thinking of that as the thing that had to be avoided at all costs, I actually think that that's actually just a signal as to what's going on in the body. But it itself is not that damaging. And basically, I know this, because diabetics have extremely elevated a one C and have, you know, daily glucose spikes that are above the range that is, you know, normal for for non diabetic people. And, believe me, if 150 was was toxic, I would not be here, you know, the type ones get to 300, or 400. I tried to avoid having my sugar spike like that. But it's something that does happen. And many people even go months in a row averaging 300 milligrams per deciliter of blood sugar, so it's not lethal immediately, there will be damaging consequences of having chronically elevated glucose, but I don't think that's actually the thing that people have to worry about that or not, for the most part, it's rather that if your sugar spiking post meal, it means, you know, a combination of these two things that the foods you're having are high glycemic, AND, and OR that you're lacking insulin sensitivity or sufficient insulin production to take care of that glucose. So you know, have a Coke, watch a sugar spike, the thing to avoid is not sure a spike is to coke. And the sugar spike is just the is just a symptom of having done something that was, you know, less less than ideal. And so now, if you're, if you're having regular, you know, quantities of carbs, maybe you're having, say, a cup of tea or something like that, and your sugars gonna be elevated for a few hours afterward, that might mean that you're on your way to type two. So it might be a signal of, you know, pre diabetes or type two diabetes. But the thing to do there is, you know, not medicate the sugar spike, you know, it's not to take more insulin, for example. It's to basically modify your lifestyle so that you become more insulin sensitive. And do you can also to buffer the uptake of those carbs. So maybe it's more fiber and more protein.

Bridget Moroney  54:04

Yeah. Love that. Thanks for sharing your perspective on that. Like, yeah, I agree with a lot of it there. Like I think, as you mentioned, like the just the singular spike there is not like what people should freak out about or whatever. They're, it's what you say, as you said, it's the symptom, I think, right? Yeah. Not that not the underlying cause. Yeah. Great, great, great point there. And again, I think that's like, the critique from just a lot of just kind of just people in the middle is like, you know, as you mentioned, like for any of us, our blood sugars are gonna go up and it's, it's normal, it's natural, but it's like, is it chronic? And again, it's not the fact that your blood sugar is getting elevated. That's the issue. It's the fact that you drink a two liter of coke for lunch, which, that just, that just sounds like a bad idea in general. I don't know why I mentioned two liters of coke, but there there might be people out there who do that. So we've been talking about like intermittent fasting as a lifestyle there. And again, there's there's many, many reasons why people do it. But not but for people who are active, that is always something that I think there's there's always questions around like, how is this going to affect my performance? How? How can I because there are people who are physically active, but are also interested in intermittent fasting for a variety of reasons. And it does it, you know, as you mentioned, there is an impact, because they're both they're both stressors. Well, you yourself are a distance runner. And I know like, you know, kind of looking at some of the people who have tried your products you also work with, with different types of fitness enthusiast and athletes there. I guess I'm just curious around again, like, you know, your thoughts around approach to fasting for people who are physically active and seeking to also achieve, like, certain levels of athletic or physical performance there?

56:01

Yeah, sure thing. So definitely, if you're doing intense physical exercise that is going to end up brain glucose. And that means you're going to want to have some glycogen stores. And potentially, you always want to have glucose or sugar or carbs, you know, around that exercise to boost performance. So just as an example, if you're going to be running a marathon or an ultra marathon, you're definitely no matter what your lifestyle is, you're definitely carbs during that events, because you're going to you, you're going to burn them. And if you don't have that fuel substrate that your body is looking for, then your performance is gonna be suboptimal. So, you know, it's we're not like zealous avoiders of carbs, or, you know, food or on exercise, for sure. You know, I do think of fasted exercise as potentially a stimulus for training your body to burn fat at lower intensities. So even before really getting into fasting, doing certain long runs in a fasted state, that that was a stimulus that that I would use. And, but that said, they wouldn't be intense. So I wouldn't be going to try and do my hardest workout ever in a fasted state. As I've gotten more and more used to exercise while fasted, and now there's less of a discrepancy between, you know, my peak performance what's asked and when not. And actually, part of it for me is that I actually like to exercise on an empty stomach, just for just for like comfort, basically. And so I think that that actually helps the life ask a performance somewhat, and maybe offsets the lack of fuel. So yeah, I really did. I mean, it depends on what fuel you're burning, of course, because you know, you've got pretty much everybody will have enough body fat to get through an easy session. But then, for intense sessions, you're going to be relying on carbs. So it's, you know, it's important to, to be conscious of that.

Bridget Moroney  57:56

Yeah, great point. I mean, just like so many things, I often say, you know, it just depends, it depends on what your goals are, depends on what the actual activity is, you know, it's, yeah, like, there's, there's a very big difference between, like, as you mentioned, like a long, slow, you know, not super intense run versus something like a two or eight minute hit session there. And you brought up like, look like, you know, for people unfamiliar, it's, there's different energy pathways in our bodies, right. And there's, there's the glycolytic pathway, which is what uses sugar. So if you are doing something intense, you know, like I said, an eight minute hit session, or, you know, Olympic weightlifting. powerlifting, then yeah, having at least those stores in your muscles in your body are going to be what what matters, but yeah, I yeah, I mean, again, you could definitely get health and performance benefits from maybe doing certain type of low intensity exercises. While fasted, they're just Yeah, yeah. Beautiful.

59:08

For sure. I recently heard somebody I think it was, I think was Huberman basically say that how dumb a desire would be if evolution selectively destroyed our muscle for fuel. Instead of basically using the fat that we have available. It's like muscle is really hard to build and amino acids, poor substrate for fuel. And so you know, fasting not going to immediately start to burn up your muscle mass and something you know, your body's going to want to keep that on and use its other preferred fuel sources first. So yeah, I'm personally not worried about losing muscle mass with with acid exercise as you're mentioning, now, if you're gonna if you're starving yourself over the course many days then yes, you you can definitely start to lose muscle, but I think even even you know relatively longer fast like three days are your not liable to end up destroying your muscle tissue, you'll end up using your body's preferred fuel source first.

Bridget Moroney  1:00:05

Yeah, completely agree. Really quick. I don't I don't know if I mean, you mentioned, like, long, fast and then that's definitely something that people who are into the fasting lifestyle adopt is like these 24 hour 48 out like, Have you ever done any of those? I mean, I don't know if it would be

1:00:25

possible. Yeah, it's possible for you know, diabetics if they have to be careful, because over the course of a long, long, fast, insulin needs will drop really low. And so you don't want to be caught doing too much insulin in that situation, then you'll be forced to eat carbs. So but yes, I have done a three day fast. And the the key there was to preemptively lower my my insulin dose, in anticipation of those dropping needs. So yeah, I actually really enjoyed that I felt I felt really good. By the end of it. Day one was was challenging. This was actually much earlier in my fasting journey. So I wasn't even used to a 24 hour fast so that that first 24 hours was tougher. But by the end, I felt pretty smooth. It's definitely it's a popular. It's becoming a popular health intervention to occasionally do longer fasts, like three to five days. Part of this is fueled by Valter. Longo is research. He's the he's the scientist behind proline, which is the fasting mimicking diet. That's a pretty popular thing. And basically, there's a lot of research and in other animals showing some some benefits to overall like cancer risk and your lifetime, by even just a single extended fast. And in the primary mechanisms, there are like autophagy, and mitophagy. So it's basically like, the body is taking the crappy tissue that, you know that that's keeping around. And in that sort of starving condition, it's taking that tissue and breaking it apart using those components to create new tissue. So, yeah, autophagy is basically that that breakdown of of, of less often more tissue for use as fuel and building blocks, you might have to use the same thing, but for mitochondria. So yeah, that's it's a pretty potent intervention. That's that, you know, if you're gonna do it, definitely talk to a doctor. You know, do research beforehand. Be thoughtful. I'm not recommending that personally. Not to not say I'm recommending not to do it, but it's, but like the alleged Texas is more concerned with supporting the daily intermittent fasting habit. So and watch across the board. It's safe not to eat for 12 to 16 hours. There might be a few exceptions, but that's something we can say with with high confidence.

Bridget Moroney  1:02:42

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, some of these more extreme longer fasts. They're like, obviously, consult a doctor or health care professional. I never heard of the the Perlon diet though. I'll have to look more into it. But just really quick, have you it kind of makes me think of another type of I guess diet intervention, if you will. Have you ever heard of protein sparing modified fasts?

1:03:05

Yeah, I'm not positive I've heard it term that like that. But I know you're talking about like, like grams of protein or less per day for a few days in a row. I'm actually

Bridget Moroney  1:03:15

know what other there are protein fasts? No, this is this is something that I came across last well early this year and experimented with myself but it's actually in it and it kind of goes back into what we were saying about like preserving your lean muscle tissue and it basically is fasting there's there's a little bit of fat, and there's it's there's basically virtually no carbs, but the protein sparing part of it is you eat enough protein to basically preserve your lean muscle tissue, but it's, it's it's, and it's actually it's medically studied and it's it's for a lot of people who go into bariatric surgery there it's I think in the medical community it's sometimes referred to as the last the last resort diet there it's like literally like your last chance to get rid of body fat before you know doing some of these extreme interventions. But I came across it because people who who do weight cloth weight class sports like powerlifting jujitsu again not advocating that anyone should try this it's I did it and it was it was pretty miserable but I did it under my own control and yeah it was you know obviously was safe and long isn't about it but people who are who are basically yeah weight class athletes here who need to cut extremes amount of extreme amounts of weight well we'll do it for like a one or two week period to like drop not just the whatever waterway there but their actual body fat to get into like a lower weight class but yeah, it's it was it was an interesting I guess, unlike your experience there with the the longer fastener I did not feel great. At the end of it is my point. to, again, you talk about like willpower there like it was it was tough. Yeah, for

1:05:05

sure. Well, yeah. So okay, I had it backwards. This is, this is kind of everything else besides the protein, which is interesting. Yes, yeah. So, well, this sort of, I guess two things. It's interesting that you can basically do interventions on either side of, of any given stimulus. So maybe, for example, like hot and cold, or restricting carbs from fat, you know, cutting out protein or, or having more of it, and how it looks like there's some kind of evidence on both sides, that these interactions are positive, like, even even going carnivore or going vegan can both can both have your immediate positive impacts. And so, you know, how does that how does that work? Exactly? I think part of it is that like, just, you just throw crap at the body that it has to adapt to. And as long as it's for a short enough period, that stressor is something that you can actually respond to. Now, what you run into trouble if you're doing something that ultimately isn't sustainable. So you know, it's a stressful intervention, you might actually feel good for a couple days as your as your cortisol and adrenaline are elevated. But then if it's depleting you slowly, then you're gonna be tired and in start to drag. So yeah, I think it's, you know, really, the body's really robust, like, it does just, you know, there isn't one diet, there isn't one lifestyle, you know, it's there's not one macronutrient max or anything like that, not even a source of of any given nutrient. That's, that's optimal. But the key thing is just to make sure that you, you know, the conditions for sustaining equilibrium over time are met. So if you're gonna restrict something, then make sure that you're not restricting that permanently in a way that's going to cause negative consequences.

Bridget Moroney  1:06:50

Love it, I feel like that was, that was a great way to kind of sum up like, yeah, there is no, like, perfect, one size fits all, solution to anything. And I think that's kind of what I appreciate, appreciate about people like you is like, you kind of take that to heart and you know, you've done you've had your own experience, and you're, you know, giving the world something that they can use there, but also like, encouraging that curiosity and open mindedness. And going back to what we said in the, in the beginning of their empowerment, they're like, We all can make decisions there. But, um, I guess anything else that you want to kind of just bring up or mention? Yeah,

1:07:29

well, we've covered a lot, a lot of ground here. So I also feel, you know, pretty, pretty solid about all these different tangents, and I guess, there's so many different things that I can bring up, but I don't want to take us down in another, another path here. Maybe back to empowerment and lifestyle, and sort of maybe a frameworks approach. You know, we've all heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, where we've got these basic things we need to meet and, and, you know, etc, up the hierarchy until we've got like, the deepest, most important things for people, you know, meaning meaningful social engagement, basically, I think, you know, basically what we're what we're doing at life stacks, and what I actually hope everybody takes away from, from this conversation and all the exploration into into sort of health and wellness is, we're ultimately looking to bring back habits, implement habits that we enjoy doing, that contribute positively to overall wellbeing in a way that supports our pursuit of meaningful engagement. So, you know, I think getting engaged, you know, feeling engaged by the haps themselves is really nice. And as a runner, I know that the fitness pursuit itself can be a big, you know, part of meaningful engagement. But and so, you know, it's not to say you have to do something grand or, you know, have have some really high, high paying high stress job or whatever, you know, you can definitely have projects that that sustain you. But, you know, I guess as we think about health in general and nutrition, specifically, really, I think the key is to look for habits that add energy to your days so that you can do what matters to you. And so if something is just draining, and hard to sustain that it's probably not the right habit for the long run. Yeah, I

Bridget Moroney  1:09:23

couldn't agree more. You know, I mean, life is life is very fragile, and very, very precious there. And yeah, if it's not bringing you any sort of fulfillment, or self actualization, I guess we could say kind of mentioning Maslow's mat as love there. Then yeah, don't don't do it. Find find something else that speaks to you is what I would say for sure. Awesome.

1:09:48

Yeah. On that note, oh, sorry. We are. Well, you know, we designed our MCT product and every product we do from here on out So to basically support support, daily functioning and willpower, make it easier to do what you love to do. So if you're interested, you can head over to lifestyles.com. We're doing a try before you buy it offer. So basically, you can add it to cart, it will ship you for free. And if you like it, you can keep it and then you pay. And if not, you set it back and are thinking there is basically we know people love the product when they have it. And so we want to make it really easy to try.

Bridget Moroney  1:10:23

Awesome. I love it. Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. As I obviously we've talked a lot about your, you know, livestocks itself and everything so perfect. I love that. And thank you for that, that offer there to my listeners. And I guess you know, so livestocks.com And then beyond that, um, as far as social media or any other ways, like if people want to learn more about yourself or live stacks, or just connect with you, like, where can they find you?

1:10:49

Yeah, so I you on Instagram, where life stacks performance? I personally don't have any sort of social media or post anywhere or anything like that, just for my own sanity. So, but if you know if you want you can email me at Zack. That's the case. JCK at lunch dax.com

Bridget Moroney  1:11:08

Yeah, good for you for staying away from social media there. Yeah. So awesome. Okay, so Well, Zach, thank you so much, again for being on the show today. And just like I said, nerding out with me about all things, supplements, fasting, nutrition, and all the other extra stuff that we got into it's it's been it's been a real pleasure. Yeah, thank

1:11:32

you for responding.

Bridget Moroney  1:11:38

Hey, really quick before you go, I need you to do one thing for me. If there was something in this episode that you think would be a value to someone else, please share it. For me. My goal is to empower as many people as possible on their health and fitness journeys and one of the best ways to do it is to share awesome information like what you heard in today's episode out with many others, so do me a favor, copy and paste that link, send it to one of your friends, your family or anyone who needs think we'd get some enjoyment and value out of this. I appreciate you for listening. I'll see you next time.