How to Feel Healthier Every Day with a Holistic Approach to Eating, Breathing and Exercising with Whitney Stefko Dover | Ep. 88 | Body Podcast

Summary

Whitney Stefko Dover is a renaissance woman.

She’s a recovering litigator turned entrepreneur, Mom, wife, digital nomad and certified health coach.

Today we’re talking holistic health and how it’s not as hard as people think to live a healthier life.

Tune in to tune up your body. 

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Brandon: 

Hello, friends. Welcome to the show. 

We have a really cool episode for you today with Whitney Steph Co. Dover, who appeared in Episode three of Our Podcast when she told her story of how she went from a corporate litigating attorney to a digital nomad. 

And we caught up with her in Mexico and since she’s had a human, as she says, and she’s really a Renaissance woman, she’s done all sorts of things, and she’s also a certified health coach. 

And today we go over holistic health. 

So what does that mean? It’s a three sixty approach to staying healthy. We talk about eating right. 

What are the right foods to eat? What are the wrong foods to eat and really, how you tailor that for your own personal needs? We talk about breathing. What’s the right way to breathe? How can you do a few exercises that we talk about and we talk about inflammation in ice baths. Her husband actually beat cancer by changing his diet and doing some healthy things, and Whitney has an incredible comeback from having a human and is back in shape, feeling great. 

We talk about caffeine, talk about a whole bunch of things. So tune in to this episode. You’re gonna love it. Whitney, step go Dover on holistic health. 

Welcome to build the business success secrets. The only podcast that provides straight talk for entrepreneurs. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, starting with an idea or growing your business, this show is for you. We’ll teach you how to build a strong mindset, powerful body and profitable business so you can achieve success. And here’s your host, Brandon. See White. 

Hey, Whitney. 

Whitney: 

Hey, Brandon. How are you? 

Brandon: 

Never better. 

Whitney: 

Good. 

Brandon: 

I feel a little silly because we’re about to have this whole podcast on health. 

Whitney: 

And I’m on the tail end of what was a very gnarly cold. Luckily, not Corona, but a gnarly cold, no less. 

Brandon: 

You get, you get colds in Arizona. 

Whitney: 

Um, I have not had a cold in any location in probably five plus years. But when you have little ones running around, they are Petri dishes of just germs and sicknesses and all of the things. So I acquired this for my kid. 

Brandon: 

Well, I feel like, um I feel like we didn’t talk for I was looking. 

Whitney: 

I think it was over a year ago um, but on Instagram, I keep up with everything so feels Feels like we’ve we’ve talked, but a lot has happened in the last year, huh? 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Whitney: 

I mean, the world shut down. 

Brandon: 

We had a human. 

Whitney: 

You’re still riding the bike and having amazing barbecue on the weekend. 

Whitney: 

We had a human. 

Brandon: 

How did having the human go for you and Chris? 

Brandon: 

It was good. 

Whitney: 

I mean, we kind of kind of count ourselves lucky that we actually got to have him during a pandemic because it, like, surprisingly, allowed us to slow down and not have to go. 

Brandon: 

A bunch of places did not have to see a bunch of people we didn’t want to see. Um, it’s sort of kind of resolved. I think a lot of the stresses that come with, you know, having a whole new person in your family and a newborn. 

Brandon: 

Um, we actually, you know, kind of laugh that were a little bit grateful that we didn’t have to, you know, tell our family not to come and no, no, like, no need to come visit us. You can stay there. We didn’t have to have any of those conversations, So we’re getting a little cabin, Devery. Now, just, you know, I think everybody is, but, you know, to kind of get out and start doing real life again with him. Especially, uh, he is. 

Brandon: 

He’s almost want most A year in April, he’ll be a year. 

Brandon: 

So the texture right, Dexter? 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Brandon: 

Its exterior. 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Brandon: 

Wow. Well, how is I’m curious All our listeners out there, I need to look up the episode that you want on, but, um, you really or a digital nomad that became a I don’t know where they caught when you transition back to regular life and and which was prompted by having a human. 

Whitney: 

But, um how how? 

Whitney: 

How are you and Chris? 

Whitney: 

Are you okay with that? 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Whitney: 

I think there again. 

Brandon: 

Kind of a necessary gratitude for we posted up in Arizona in January. And then everything shut down. What? In march? I think so. 

Brandon: 

January just for everybody. January twenty, twenty January twenty twenty. 

Whitney: 

Yes. So January twenty twenty, we posted up, found a house, started furnishing, and then end of February, beginning of march, I think kind of everything. 

Brandon: 

Shut down. So good timing for us because we got stuck in a location? A We wanted to be be That was a home of our own and see was, you know, all of our own things, as opposed to, like, Airbnb furniture and mattresses and all that. Good stuff. 

Brandon: 

Um, but we certainly have taken advantage of the time being home homebound. Um, not only from having, you know, a new baby, but also, just from a business perspective, we really decided to lean in this last year on. 

Brandon: 

Okay, How are we going to evolve? How are we going to level up? We aren’t traveling. We have more time available. Now, um, you know that we’re not spending the Dexter. 

Brandon: 

That is. 

Brandon: 

So, you know, the time that we’re not traveling, how can we utilize that? In a way, um, you know, to kind of spend the time to build, um And so we’ve just been so busy with business to that, you know, it’s it’s kind of alleviated some of that gripe of not being able to travel, But we’re here in the place of getting ready. 

Brandon: 

We’re chomping at the bit to get out there and start no matting round again. 

Brandon: 

You’re going to do that again. 

Brandon: 

We’re thinking so, yeah, I don’t know. 

Whitney: 

I don’t know that we’ll ever do it in a way where we don’t have a home base. I think it’s really challenging not to have a home base. And as you know, the last time we talked, we didn’t. We also acquired a lot of crap in the meantime. So, you know, I keep looking at all these rooms that I I think last time we talked to you are really grateful that you didn’t have all this stuff. 

Brandon: 

And then, uh, it started with a living room. 

Whitney: 

If I remember where you do your exercise. And then there was a sofa, then I noticed some things on the wall, and then I I recently which we can talk about later. 

Whitney: 

It’s all a freezer, which pretty much means you are a deep freezer. That pretty much means you’re probably going to stay in that spot for a minute. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, we are. We’re full on doing the domestic home situation. Like like we’re here. We’re landed. Were grounded. Um, yes, the deep freezer, which is not being used to freeze any meats but probably does align quite nicely with the topic of our conversation today is something we’re actually using for recovery. 

Brandon: 

So, Chris, my husband took some time to feel all the holes and all the portions on the bottom that could potentially weak. And we’re using it for ice baths at this point. 

Brandon: 

Yeah, that’s so today. Yeah, we’re going to talk about holistic health and your journey, and you used to coach it, which I was thinking. I don’t have a cold bath yet. 

Whitney: 

Um, but I take a cold shower at the end, just to be clear, Um, as long as I can do. And I was thinking today I was I was saying, Well, Whitney is really a Renaissance woman because you’re like this corporate lawyer, right? 

Whitney: 

And then you ditch this whole corporate thing somewhere between there you did coaching for health and holistic stuff, Then I don’t even know what you and we can talk about. 

Whitney: 

I don’t even know what you and Chris we’ve been doing for business Now. 

Whitney: 

Um, then you have this human. 

Whitney: 

You went on another fitness journey. 

Whitney: 

Then you tell me Chris sort of adjusted his nutrition, and, you know, I don’t want to say it beat cancer, but you can tell me that or not. 

Whitney: 

And then, um, yeah, it’s like you’re a real Renaissance woman. 

Whitney: 

I appreciate you thinking that, um I mean, I think you’re making it sound a little more exciting than it is. 

Whitney: 

I think it’s really just us trying to live our best lives. 

Whitney: 

Figure out how to do that, you know? 

Brandon: 

What does it look like in terms of financing? What does it look like in terms of location? What does it look like in terms of our mindset body, You know, general health and wellness. 

Brandon: 

Um, and then kind of all the elements of adding in a pandemic a new baby, new businesses. Right. All of those things layered on top of one another. So, um, yeah, you summarized it greatly. 

Brandon: 

Went from being litigator to Okay, I’m never touching that with a ten foot pole. Let’s try on health and wellness. That was something that really suffered when I was litigating. So let’s try and health and Wellness for a second. I got my holistic nutrition sort of vacation and was doing some coaching for that for a while. 

Brandon: 

Um, that felt great, but I kind of was missing that, um I guess what I would say more of, like, a higher level thinking kind of element to that, um so got pulled back in kind of kicking and screaming into legal, but through the technology lens, uh, started this consulting business. 

Brandon: 

Um, and that’s really what’s taken off now. So we’re I’m full time in that. You know, this consulting business has also sort of turned into, um, you know, just kind of general legal technology advice and advisory positions and, you know, data and AI and how all of those kind of intersect at the area of law Chris is still doing, you know, everything he has been doing with finance so that not much of that has changed. 

Brandon: 

Um, he has become more obsessed with bio hacking, which great term from Dave Asprey, Um, which, you know, kind of has then been precipice for Let’s get a freezer that I can, you know, quite literally chillin at whatever interval that I want to be, um, and just really trying to elevate his body and mind so that he can be around and energized for as long as possible. 

Brandon: 

We’ll look like you lost some weight. 

Brandon: 

I mean, from having a baby for sure. 

Whitney: 

You lost some weight, for sure. 

Brandon: 

I think he lost some weight too, didn’t he? 

Whitney: 

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s a constant, like, I think evolution, right and constant ebb and flow. And as your body is changing as we’re getting older, your hormones are changing. So it’s a bit of a moving target. 

Brandon: 

Um, you know, with just what that looks and sounds like and what feels good for your body? 

Brandon: 

Um, I think I’ve shared with you before, but Chris used to own a CrossFit gym in Sochi. 

Brandon: 

Competed in that space, was very, very active, almost to the point of a little bit too much, and it sort of feels like that pendulum is actually swung the other way. 

Brandon: 

Now you know he does ten or fifteen minute workouts and nothing more. It is optimizing for, you know, how can I make sure that I’m acquiring the muscle density that I want losing fat? But how can I also ensure that I’m getting enough recovery? What does that look like in terms of sleep in terms of diet, um, in terms of actual recovery mechanisms of things like the ice baths and breathing, and you know, all that good stuff. 

Brandon: 

So, yeah, he’s looking good. 

Brandon: 

He’s trying to avoid the dad bod, I think, at this point in time, so just for the listeners, you don’t give me exact, but can you give me decade ages here so that we know. 

Brandon: 

So people understand that, um, you look like you’re in your twenties. 

Whitney: 

But I know you know, you’re not in your twenties, so that twenty year old, because it’s different, right? So what are the decades we got going here? 

Whitney: 

Yeah, sure. So I’m thirty six or I’ll be thirty six. I’ll be thirty six this year. I had to wait. Wait. How old am I? I don’t feel thirty six, but I’ll be thirty six this year. 

Brandon: 

So I had Dexter when I was thirty five. Um, know how, Dexter when I was thirty four. 

Brandon: 

So, yeah, I was definitely on the older end for having Children, and we’re planning to have one more. 

Brandon: 

Um, not anytime soon, but, you know, at some point in the future, So there is some incentive to, you know, keep the body and hormones and, you know, things operating in a way that fosters our ability to do that. 

Brandon: 

And Chris is, Did he just turn forty seven or is he still forty? 

Brandon: 

Yeah, I think he turned forty eight this year. So he just turned forty thirties and forties. 

Brandon: 

And, uh, I’m in my late forties to the things change in your late thirties. 

Whitney: 

I think you get really smart, actually, because you’ve seen two cycles of the world. Whether that’s a market or life or whatever that is in your forties, I really did feel smarter in my forties. 

Whitney: 

Um, I got to say that I actually think your body sort of settles in and you you can be in the best shape of your life. 

Whitney: 

Um, you know, you’re faster and probably more agile in your in your twenties, but, um, as it relates to, you know, just your body settling in and being what it’s being before. 

Whitney: 

Maybe it starts to disintegrate a little bit. Um, but I’ve seen plenty of sixty kinda. Guy passed me on the hill sixty, like, five or seven years old, this big hill out here and I was like, Man, that’s that’s good news, But, um, so let’s talk about some holistic health I’m excited for both of you. And you both look happy and you walk into all this stuff. Let’s talk about this. I’m interested in your clearly I know I’ve done a ton of research and you have a certification. And what is this? So ice bath isn’t new, right? I mean, I remember doing icing your knees and your ankles and all this stuff, and I don’t want to say, Whitney that I feel like it’s become a trend. 

Whitney: 

But maybe it’s revived itself. 

Whitney: 

I don’t know what what is the science and what prompt prompted you guys to do it? And is it working? 

Whitney: 

Sure, I should qualify all of this. That a certification is just a certification of someone deemed that I have not enough material to actually have a stamp next to my name that says you’re certified in something? 

Brandon: 

Well, yeah, we’ll just say I was also thinking in the shower today. I was like, This is going to be the greatest episode in the world and give all the health advice and I got a lawyer right here. 

Whitney: 

So you know, there’s you should consult whatever and I talk about you should consult your own physician or coach or a physician, I guess, um, on anything we say so there. 

Brandon: 

And I think that’s actually a great starting place for, you know, kind of delving into recovery and ice bathing. 

Whitney: 

And you know what benefits there are from that? 

Brandon: 

I think that we all have, on any given day, such a customized version of what is happening inside our bodies. 

Whitney: 

And it is so easy to look at. 

Whitney: 

You know what someone else is doing or read a book about. 

Whitney: 

You know what, someone’s advices about holistic health and wellness and think, Oh, well, if it works for them is absolutely going to work for me. 

Brandon: 

It doesn’t It is such a our bodies are so unique and our minds are so unique and you know our tolerances for things are so unique. 

Brandon: 

And as I said at the beginning, it’s a bit of a moving target because as our bodies are changing, as our environment is changing, as our hormones are changing, all of those inputs are different and may alter. 

Brandon: 

You know what it is that you need to be doing for your body in any given moment or space? 

Brandon: 

Um, the ice meeting actually sort of started. 

Brandon: 

So Chris was an athlete. Um, he played, um I played football and, you know, then moved on to CrossFit and has always just been a really active person. 

Brandon: 

So, you know, a lot of professional athletes and and high intensity trainers. Um I know marathoners. I’m sure Brandon for you, even sometimes after a long by grade. Um, you know, ice baths have been around for a long time as a means of recovery for muscles, joints, swelling, inflammation. All of those good things. 

Brandon: 

Um, I think more recently, I’m sure this has been common knowledge among among the folks who have been, you know, big proponents of it. But I think more recently it has become more publicized and available for public consumption that ice bathing on a cellular level really helps. 

Brandon: 

Um, we generate and create new cells and heal damage cells and, you know, kind of push everything to those center organs to make sure that you’re keeping a lot keeping yourself alive. 

Brandon: 

Um, which really allows your body to focus less on all of the other processes that are going on at any given moment and really does allow them that true recovery on more than just a muscular or skeletal level, but actually on a cellular level. 

Brandon: 

Um, and so we kind of started leaning into, you know, ice bathing. 

Brandon: 

I say we I’m a much in frequent user of the ice fast than Chris’s, um, primarily because mindset wise, I’m a little bit different in that I hate the cold. Chris likes extremes. That’s he lives for that stuff. 

Brandon: 

It takes a lot for me to talk myself into wanting to get that cold. 

Brandon: 

Um, but you know, it goes along nicely with breath work as well and and and kind of figuring out a way in your mind to get to a meditative place so that you’re feeling less of the cold and able to stay in there longer to get the true benefits on a cellular level. And a lot of that is done, you know, through breath work and I think can be accomplished similar goals if you’re using breath work in the right way. 

Brandon: 

So maybe that’s a good segue into more breathing and more breath work focused. 

Brandon: 

But I’m not ready to move on to that yet, because this whole thing there’s a science those. 

Whitney: 

So here’s what I wonder, would need a lot of people do the ice bath. 

Whitney: 

And I think maybe all that’s true, right? 

Whitney: 

I mean, it sure does feel better, whether it’s because I’m not gonna afterwards I have no idea. 

Whitney: 

Um, and it always has for me in that way. 

Whitney: 

But here’s what I wonder I was reading and I’m I’m a fan. 

Whitney: 

I have no like stock interest or anything other than I like you have tested way too many things, experimented with my body, so to speak, to sort of figure out what works and, um, just, uh, I text you it on Instagram. 

Whitney: 

I think it’s plant paradox by this guy. Dr Gundy. I don’t know if he’s real. I don’t know if he’s a wacko. I don’t know if he’s a science like the science is real. 

Whitney: 

He sure does look young for a guy who’s whatever sixty or seven years old, but here’s what I do know. I did experiment on that, and I actually reduced my bike riding and all I did because at least in my life, when you find like when you try to do five things right you’re trying to build a business you’re trying to turn must reduce your body fat. 

Whitney: 

You’re trying to ride a hundred miles or two hundred miles a week and then daily life like I don’t know about any oh, and weight lift. 

Whitney: 

It’s like, for me, it’s really freaking hard. 

Whitney: 

Um, so I said, I’m just going to try this thing that he says and his whole. 

Whitney: 

His whole idea is that there’s lecterns in foods and these elections cause all sorts of problems, including inflammation and things like that. 

Whitney: 

And where I’m going with it is, is that I did follow it and my information was definitely down. 

Whitney: 

I was sharper. 

Whitney: 

I was. I mean, I weighed less than I did in high school. I got down to one hundred and forty three. I was, you know, very low body fat. 

Whitney: 

And I was able to stay that way, which was the interesting part. 

Whitney: 

I didn’t I didn’t go up or down. 

Whitney: 

I just I kept going. So here’s going back to this iPad as, uh, ice bath thing. If there’s anything to this select in theory, which, at least for me, it seems there is, which means you know, no corn, no soy, no. Uh, you know, tomatoes, things like that. It’s not this, like, all vegetables are good for you. 

Whitney: 

It’s not that they’re bad for you, but I wonder if you could just control this by doing your diet. 

Whitney: 

So I think there’s two really important things here. 

Whitney: 

One. 

Whitney: 

There is an amazing new book out by a gentleman gentleman named Shawn Stevenson. 

Brandon: 

It’s called It’s Murder. 

Brandon: 

Um, Sean was a I talked about him like I know him. I don’t I don’t know this guy. I I think very highly of him. I follow. He’s got a podcast called the Model Health Show. He you feel like you know these people because because you read them, you see them, you listen to them, right? 

Brandon: 

Like so? 

Whitney: 

Absolutely. Um So Sean wrote a book several years ago called Sleep Smarter. Um, which I think is a fabulous book. I recommend it to anyone who is not a big proponent of making sure they’re getting enough sleep every night. Um, he wrote this new book called Eat Smarter. He’s been a clinician in the nutrition space for ten plus years. 

Brandon: 

Um, he himself was able to heal himself through a variety of different approaches to nutrition. And he talks a lot in this new book about the biggest pandemic that we are not addressing in today’s culture is brain inflammation and how much that really impacts gut how much it impacts. I mean, of course, brain function, memory, Alzheimer’s dementia. 

Brandon: 

You know things later in life, but really, how much that actually impacts the body to write and how that really, that inflammation transcends pass the blood brain barrier and impacts everything. 

Brandon: 

Um, And so when I think when we’re talking about inflammation, it’s really important to acknowledge that inflammation starts in the gut starts in the brain, you know, communicates between the two is always going back and forth between the two, and so anything you can do to reduce inflammation, inflammation can be a good thing. 

Brandon: 

It is a sign that your body is healing. 

Brandon: 

It is helpful in many, many ways, but unnecessary inflammation. Food caused inflammation. 

Brandon: 

Um, any inflammation that is longstanding is not something that you want to play your body with. 

Brandon: 

And I think something that we as just a human culture need to be more focused on, um in terms of healing, you know, our minds and our bodies. So off my soapbox about that for now. How I think how I think that plays into what you’re talking about. And the ice bathing is that we all have different ways that our body is impacted by inflammation, right? Some people externally look the same, whether or not they’re inflamed. 

Brandon: 

But internally, their organs may be quite literally shutting down. Right? Um and this is the bad kind of inflammation, right? This is the inflammation that is long standing that, you know, we can’t get rid of that is, you know, not doing our body good. It’s doing our body harm. There is good inflammation, too. So I’m not talking about that. 

Brandon: 

Um, there are other people when they get inflamed myself as a great example, where when my body is inflamed, I see it on the scale pretty immediately, Meaning if I’ve eaten something that my body has not agreed with or that I’m sensitive to, it is something that I can identify on the scale. And so that’s something that I use as a metric for. 

Brandon: 

I’m not obsessed with what that number is, but it is a metric of what is happening inside my body. Right? Is what did I drink? Enough water yesterday. Did I get enough sleep? Did I eat properly like what is happening in terms of inflammation in my body? And when it gets really bad, not only do I see it on the scales, but my fingers tend to get really swollen. It’s kind of the first place that I notice it. Right. 

Brandon: 

So, um, I think that there are a variety of ways that we can identify. Inflammation is happening in our bodies and look to try to reduce that The Doctor Gondry and the plant paradox. 

Brandon: 

Yes, I know lots of people who’ve had success, you know, utilizing his system. The idea being that lecterns is those particular plants have some sort of defence mechanism from being eaten right? It is how they survive. And so lecterns are the plant toxin that they’re that they’re admitting in order to prevent their predators from coming and consuming them. 

Brandon: 

I don’t believe that everybody has a response to elections, which is why I don’t believe that there is a one stop. 

Brandon: 

You know, follow the plant. Paradox in your body will be never inflamed again. I personally don’t have a big reaction to elect and Rich Foods. It’s not something that is a trigger for my body now. Do I have a reaction to other foods? Certainly. I have a really high reaction to high acidic foods like coffee. 

Brandon: 

Um, so for me, that’s not something that I know, that if I consume too much coffee or a coffee that is not well processed or is just too acidic, that my body is going to become inflamed and it sort of has the contrary, a factor after a few days, instead of feeling energized by that, it makes me feel more fatigued, Um, which I identify as a sign of inflammation. 

Brandon: 

So I think that we all need to be cognizant of the information that we’re gathering and, you know, the people that are certified or experts or telling us information, irrespective of whether or not they have MD or, you know, whatever other certification behind their name. We need to be so much more conscientious about how certain things are making our body, our bodies feel, and how that changes over time and really be honed in on, you know, different steps that we know work for our body in a given season. 

Brandon: 

So for me, I know walking is a great recovery exercise. 

Brandon: 

It’s You know why you see us doing it so much on on my instagram. Um, for Chris, it’s ice skating right for him. He knows that the lowering of his heart rate, which actually does happen. It’s kind of crazy. He gets into that ice bath and he times it. 

Brandon: 

You know what? I forget what level he goes to, but he likes to get his heart rate down to a certain level because that identifies for him that internally, the blood is going to his heart slowing down all of the other, you know, parasympathetic symptoms that are systems that are ongoing in his body. 

Brandon: 

And so for him, it’s a heart rate monitoring. And once he gets to a certain heart rate, he likes to keep it there for however many minutes. And that to him, is his recovery right? That is what’s lowering his levels of inflammation. 

Brandon: 

I don’t think that ice bathing is the only way you can do that. I think you can also do that through diet. I think you can also do that through, you know, low impact, high or low heart rate activities like walking. I think you can do that through having a great conversation with a friend, even right, like there’s so many different ways that we can look at inflammation and talk about lowering it, that I don’t think it’s a one size fits all, and that we as humans, need to do a better job of educating ourselves and what works for our bodies and leaning into those processes. 

Brandon: 

Are you still? Are you still eating according to the lectern, Free or reduced Lichten type dietary restrictions? 

Brandon: 

I I have tried. 

Brandon: 

I thought that I was, um, invincible. 

Whitney: 

I always that. 

Whitney: 

But I looked at the scale. I use a Fitbit only because everything everything that I do, I try to make easy because like recording your food and recording your sleep and then writing your weight and put in a spreadsheet I just found over all these years, Whatever. 

Whitney: 

I’ve been doing this since I was in high school, maybe even elementary school. 

Whitney: 

Um, I just it makes it hard. 

Whitney: 

So I went back and looked at this. I’m not answering your question I know directly. Um, the answer is no in general, but I did look at the scale, and I was like, What the hell happened? You know, I work from home. I’ve been lucky for the most part of my entire career. Work from home. It’s not new. He bet. And I generally always work from home. 

Whitney: 

Um, you know, I’m not when I I like the I like the attention of being in groups, but it wears me out because I’m an introvert. 

Whitney: 

So it’s in general, not It’s something that I like, because I get reward from it, and I but I don’t get energy from it, so I don’t always seek that out. 

Whitney: 

So I thought that, you know, I was like, No, I’m fine. My dentist said, you know, like, Brandon, you’ve been built for this your whole life, like nothing’s changed. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, but I looked and, you know, we did go off of it, and I just think it it happened. 

Whitney: 

So I am back on it currently. 

Whitney: 

Um, but, you know, it has been my wife and I have an interesting relationship with food with both of us. 

Whitney: 

Um, yeah, we’re not heavy. Were but we both definitely gained some weight. Even you can’t. You can’t out exercise a bad diet. Um, so, um, we have this thing like, I don’t know what it is. 

Whitney: 

We both What do we say? 

Whitney: 

Sooth each other like yesterday? 

Whitney: 

I am not so strict that I won’t eat sour dough bread because this place makes great. Great Try to. I was like, I’m not gonna I’m not going to give that up right away, because also, I don’t believe this. 

Whitney: 

Like, just go off the cliff. Anything that you do extreme. Although I am extreme, it doesn’t work for me like you will break. 

Whitney: 

Right. 

Whitney: 

So, um, but then yesterday you go get to my point. 

Whitney: 

Uh, I see the cookie. 

Whitney: 

I was like, Why did you buy the cookies? You’re like, Oh, I felt so bad for you when we went by the newly thing. And you really wanted that cookie. And it’s a kind thing, right? But it’s this. It’s this thing that is a habit between us and we We recognize it. Um, but I am going back on it, uh or or I’m moving towards it. I have lost some body fat. 

Whitney: 

We are getting the deck scan, which is pretty much they say the de facto thing. 

Whitney: 

I’m gonna get my vo two done again and I am having a so during the pandemic, I must have just started drinking shit ton of caffeine. 

Whitney: 

And I liked caffeine, right. 

Whitney: 

But I was listening to a podcast that just reminded me It’s not that I don’t know this and I was like, Yeah, it really does put you in fight or flight But I liked it because it just dials me in so intense. 

Whitney: 

But I’m worn out. So I am on two cups a day down from I’d be embarrassed to admit it. 

Whitney: 

It’s t so it’s not coffee. 

Whitney: 

But I think Whitney has that five cuts. 

Whitney: 

Um, and this week has been f and hard, like I saw myself shaking the other day and I was like, What the hell is going on? 

Whitney: 

So next week is one cup, We’ll see. 

Whitney: 

But it was a long answer to your for me. 

Whitney: 

That diet works like nothing I’ve It’s not a diet. 

Whitney: 

First of all, I don’t even like that word. You can comment on that, but, um, it works like for me like nothing I’ve ever seen. 

Whitney: 

And I I worry when you sent me that text about Chris and cancer, which we talk about in a minute. 

Whitney: 

But I was like, You know what? 

Whitney: 

You know, I could be late forties is when I’ve had friends die from all sorts of things. 

Whitney: 

So maybe going on this diet, like a defense that keeps it away, that I didn’t even know I have it. So I’m motivated, and I’m going to do it. 

Whitney: 

Um, I think so. 

Whitney: 

I mentioned I have a question for you. 

Whitney: 

I wanted to answer your question, that long winded way? Not really. But I do want to answer your question before I asked, What’s the temperature of the water that Chris is getting into? 

Whitney: 

Um, I believe is it’s sitting right now at fifty two degrees chili. 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Brandon: 

So the interesting part as I was listening to you, I started surfing during the pandemic, which, like every good surfers, pissed at people like me and I totally get it. But I was like, I live in Northern California. Mavericks wave was like one of the most three biggest big waves. Not that I’m gonna surf that um, but there’s great surfing. 

Whitney: 

I mean, Santa Cruz, right down the coast. And so I was like, I’ll start surfing. And I got to tell you, the water here is generally always fifty six to fifty eight, and, uh, I feel incredible even, you know, in the wet suit, your warmer. 

Whitney: 

But, um really, there’s something, something to that. 

Whitney: 

Have you ever monitored your heart rate while you’re in the water? 

Whitney: 

Even in the wet suit? 

Brandon: 

Well, to be quite honest with you, most of the time, I’ve been scared of shit. Uh, you know, we have great white sharks here. Um, I took surfing lessons, and so and I’m not saying I’m something special, but at my age, you like I look fit. 

Whitney: 

I mean, you know, you take your shirt off, you can tell. 

Whitney: 

I mean, some guy has a six pack. 

Whitney: 

Probably fit. So this this is a famous surfer guy down in Santa Cruz. 

Whitney: 

I was like, Hey, I’m gonna take these lessons. Three lessons in he’s like, Oh, you could output. 

Whitney: 

He’s like you’ll paddle for anyway. If you’re in more in shape than ninety percent of these people out, you’re more in shape than some of the, you know, semi pro surfers out here has, like, don’t mistake what I look like for my surfing fitness, right? 

Whitney: 

I mean, it can be deceiving. 

Whitney: 

I understand. 

Whitney: 

I Maybe I’m strong, but I gotta tell you, like I’m so sore from paddling. 

Whitney: 

Um, so he takes me out to this freaking one day I get in, and he doesn’t go to the normal place, which we’ve been surfing at this place called Jackson. 

Whitney: 

We go to this other spot of special swell all this crap. 

Whitney: 

Wait. 

Whitney: 

Now I’m walking down this cliff and I’m looking I’m like, that is freaking big out there. 

Whitney: 

I was like, Hey, man, not really feeling like this is the right thing. 

Whitney: 

He’s like, you’re ready. 

Whitney: 

I was like, Dude, you have not even really I’m not even good at some of these skills, like, you know, uh, for the I’m riding along board. 

Whitney: 

So I can’t go under a wave. 

Whitney: 

Really? 

Whitney: 

It really efficiently. 

Whitney: 

Um, I certainly don’t have my swimming. 

Whitney: 

I’m an okay swimmer, but I don’t have my swimming skills like it wasn’t like I been paddling every day. 

Whitney: 

I’ve been riding my bike and then it comes to us, sir, for two hours and I go home. I mean, so then, yeah, I got held under for, like, three waves. 

Whitney: 

It must have been eight. Eight. Look, I don’t know, it was big, so I wrote a few waves scared to death. So back to your question, my heart rate has not been going down. My heart rate has been generally high. That day, I’m paddling into shore. 

Whitney: 

And because I was like, I had enough of this. I mean, and it was a if you were a good surfer, it was an epic day for sure. So I probably blew that. And most guys be like, what a jerk. But, um, I went in. 

Whitney: 

I was like, I gotta rest, man. I’ve been held down. Uh, this lady was on a paddleboard Whitney and she, you know, and you know, you know, when someone looks at you and you connect your eyes, you’ve never met him before, But you know that they know that you might be in trouble, right? 

Whitney: 

You know what I’m talking about? 

Whitney: 

Well, that’s the look she gave me because I was like, Yeah, I got to keep got held in this set, and I had to keep going down. 

Whitney: 

That’s the first time. I’ve Really Yeah, I watched it. See, all these pros do it. They make it look easy. Uh, and, um So anyway, I go in with me and I’m paddling in this cute little seal like pops up right next to me. 

Whitney: 

I think he’s just swimming with me. 

Whitney: 

And and and here on the northern California, that’s not uncommon. 

Whitney: 

But two weeks earlier, a guy got bit by a great white shark about two miles down south and died, and I’m a fisherman. 

Whitney: 

So where did these sharks, especially juveniles go? 

Whitney: 

They go right along the edge where these were these things go and eat. 

Whitney: 

And what do I look like freaking CEO? 

Whitney: 

So my heart rate has never gone down. 

Whitney: 

Probably under a hundred and fifty, and I’m generally scared. 

Whitney: 

Then he told me he was like, Look, if you’re gonna be scary sharks, uh, you might as well go back to riding your bike. 

Whitney: 

And I thought about that. 

Whitney: 

I was like, I’m gonna think about that more so in general, I’ve been in safe spots, but it’s still like all these things are in my head. 

Whitney: 

So it was a really long answer. 

Whitney: 

Maybe not the benefits of ice bathing. 

Whitney: 

I’m thinking I’m thinking, Yeah, like I’m thinking I gotta do this stupid thing when I got to get this freezer, which you probably don’t let me have. 

Whitney: 

Um, Or I guess you can. 

Brandon: 

You Do you think the shower works the same way? 

Whitney: 

I think the shower works the same way. 

Whitney: 

If you can get cold enough water out of your faucet, we do not have that benefit in the summers in Arizona, which was sort of the catalyst behind us getting this freezer at this point in time. 

Brandon: 

Um, I will say to that there is some evidence that you can get a similar, um, benefit of you know, the blood kind of going to your main organs and out of your extremities through breathwork. 

Brandon: 

Um, and being able to train your body to hold oxygen in, um, you know, not breathing as often. 

Brandon: 

Holding your breath is kind of what that looks like, um, and being able to get similar benefits that way as well. 

Brandon: 

So I think there are other ways that you can get your body to that recovery place without, you know, the deep freeze that your wife won’t let you have. 

Brandon: 

Um, but I think that, you know, fast, efficient way is definitely, you know, putting your relatively naked body into cold ice water. Um, yeah. 

Brandon: 

I don’t want to be, uh my wife’s a wonderful woman, and her feedback of me not having that is completely justified, considering the fifty bikes and surfboards and a bunch of machines. 

Whitney: 

But I just want to say that because I don’t like, I don’t like that whole thing with me where couples are always like, Oh, my wife, We don’t have that relationship. 

Whitney: 

It’s not like that. 

Brandon: 

You know, um, I don’t want to paint that picture, but here I have a another question. 

Whitney: 

I’m interested in your thoughts on breathwork because I read a book by Patrick McAllen. 

Whitney: 

I actually had him on the podcast, and that has made a huge change. 

Whitney: 

Can’t I didn’t think about the, um, organ thing, but it has made my fitness better. 

Whitney: 

Is what do you think about saunas? 

Whitney: 

About songs, saunas, saunas? 

Brandon: 

Um, well, that is next on Chris’s wish list for, you know, something to add to our garage recovery. 

Whitney: 

So I think there’s definite benefit to saunas. 

Brandon: 

Um, and I think it depends What kind of man as we’re talking about the dry heat, dry heat. 

Brandon: 

I’m looking at the, uh I got it up here because I’ve been saving my money. 

Whitney: 

Um, and it’s called the happy. 

Whitney: 

What is it called? Its, uh, I’ve been looking at this. 

Whitney: 

A bunch of big wave surfers Here is why I found out about it. Lived in my neighborhood. It’s called the What Is this? 

Whitney: 

It’s, uh, it’s a It’s a It’s a round, great type thing. 

Whitney: 

Almost heaven. 

Whitney: 

So I have to check it out. 

Whitney: 

Um, is it infrared or I don’t want to do infrared. 

Whitney: 

I want to do dry. 

Brandon: 

I enjoy dry heat, sauna, and then you can throw some water on them. And these are apparently designed to do that. Some of them aren’t so. If you’re listening out there and you go try something, just don’t throw water unless it’s says that. 

Whitney: 

So, you know, I really do feel good, but I’m wondering what I mean. Do you do all this research like, is it? 

Whitney: 

It doesn’t work. 

Whitney: 

So admittedly saunas or not my forte that is something we’re just getting into the space of. I will say that there is a ton of research out there about the benefits of specifically hot and cold together. 

Brandon: 

Um, so I think that it’s a good mix if you’re getting in the water without sharks and able to lower your heart rate, um, jumping from there into heat just even that systemic change is great for your body in terms of recovery, Um and yeah, anything that makes you feel good is gonna, you know, lower your cortisol levels. 

Brandon: 

So, on a hormonal level, I think there’s immense benefits to, you know, Sana as ways for recovery and health and happiness as well. So I can’t speak much more to it because admittedly, that has not been a focal point of my research lately. But I did want to come back to something that you mentioned about the sour dough and the cookies. 

Brandon: 

I wrote a downside I didn’t forget because it has been so interesting having a baby and getting to see what is nurture versus nature. 

Brandon: 

And I think that when we talk about diet culture, a word which I also try to stay away from, primarily because I think we have linked the word diet to something extremely negative. 

Brandon: 

That is not actually what it was intended to be. 

Brandon: 

But when we talk about food as a mechanism of soothing and a mechanism of just internal peace and happiness and the fact that we start off as humans as being unable to feed ourselves alone like it has to be a at least two person activity, Um, I think that there’s a really interesting concept that we tend to miss as adults because of how we’ve been trained and conditioned. 

Brandon: 

And you know what media has told us about diet. But I think we’ve been trained to believe that craving certain things or that eating the bread or having the cookie or doing whatever else is a bad thing and something that we should be all or nothing, um, you know, kind of in on in terms of mindset and and having Dexter and really kind of watching what he does and how much peace and happiness it brings him just to have. 

Brandon: 

It’s not even a bottle. 

Brandon: 

Now it’s mealtimes, even right, like it’s it’s such a level of satisfaction and just ability to kind of continue on. 

Brandon: 

I think that it’s a really great reminder for us that it’s okay to have those cravings. And it’s okay to use food to soothe, because it is an emotional right out of the womb. It is an emotional connection, and an emotional process of my body needs this and my emotions are tied to the connection of satisfying that physical need. 

Brandon: 

Um, you know, I’ve taken that a step too far every once in a while. 

Brandon: 

And do you guys have crumbled cookies up there? It’s a chain of Oh, man. Sugar is is my downfall. Um, I have a hard time with the sweet staff. Meaning once I start, I have a hard time stopping, Um, And there there’s this stupid cookie place. 

Brandon: 

I say stupid angrily because I can’t stop eating them now. But this delicious cookie place called crumbled cookies, um, that, you know, I find myself every so often, like oh, they deliver, which is also another problem during a pandemic, because they literally arrived just directly to my doorstep twenty minutes after I order it. 

Brandon: 

Um, but, you know, I’ve kind of had to reach this balance of you know it’s okay for me to have that craving and whether or not I am honoring that and having it at every time clicks in my brain is a different story. 

Brandon: 

But it’s okay to have that craving and to use food to some level to soothe that emotional, you know, whole that I’m needing to fill with whatever it is that I’m craving. So I hope you ate that cookie. I hope you have the sour dough bread with your tri tip or whatever it was that you had at the barbecue place, because I do think that on a very human level, that is a natural thing to want to do. 

Brandon: 

So yeah, the two things one is I absolutely event and whether the whether it’s conscious, we’re aware of it more so after I guess people have been married. 

Brandon: 

We’ve been together for like, twenty two years, so you start to figure out things with one another. 

Whitney: 

Uh, the real relationship begins right after a few decades, but, um, I absolutely, when she’s in a bad mood and she says she’s hungry. 

Whitney: 

Well, absolutely say let’s go out and eat because as soon as I do that I know she’s happy and she loves food. 

Whitney: 

Right? 

Whitney: 

Um, as we all do. But here’s what I want to say about this craving thing that you’ve mentioned. 

Whitney: 

Is it really okay to have that craving? Because here it’s a It’s like boiling the frog. You have the one, at least for me. Right? You have the one cookie, then the next day. Like if they delivered here in Half Moon Bay, I’d be a serious problem for me. Um, but you have that cookie, and then, you know, one night you’re like, Okay, well, we’re gonna do it one night a week and one night a week turns into two week. 

Whitney: 

And before you know what, you’re having cookies four nights a week and and here in my in my experience and reading things. 

Whitney: 

Now you’re addicted to the sugar, and now your gut is running your brain. 

Whitney: 

So now you actually don’t have the choice. 

Whitney: 

So how do you What do you think about keeping that balance? Like, how do you make sure you don’t cross over? Because you know that that gut is the guts almost probably controlling us more than our brain. They, at least from the research that I’ve read lately. 

Whitney: 

What do you think about that? 

Whitney: 

I think that there are. I think it starts before you even satisfy the craving right with a very preliminary question of why am I having this craving? Is it because I had cookies the last four nights? And so the sugar drug that is happening in my brain is actually creating, like a drug like feeding for, you know, this particular substance That is a very real situation and something that I think we discount a lot as a society because sugar has become so ingrained and all of the processed foods that we consume. 

Brandon: 

So I think that’s one. 

Brandon: 

I think when you’re evaluating why that craving is happening that often times it’s some other need that is not being filled. Is that sleep? Is it Water is an emotional connection? Is it, um, stress, like like what is what is actually the root of that craving? Because more times than not, it’s not actually the sugar that’s causing you to crave more sugar more times than not, it’s one of those other things that are causing maybe the initial like, let’s let’s call it you know the first taste of that. 

Brandon: 

Um, I think that there are very intentional ways that you can also consume those things. 

Brandon: 

And what I mean by that is if you’re having a craving for sugar, I think it’s a great idea to evaluate why you’re having that craving. 

Brandon: 

Okay, we’ve been through Step one, Step two. 

Brandon: 

I think surrounding yourself with people while you’re eating and satisfying that craving actually resolves a little bit of the like over doing it potential. 

Brandon: 

Um, and I say that in a way of if I’m going to sit down with a box of cookies and I’m going to do that in front of Chris versus by myself in my office, I’m gonna eat a whole lot more by myself in the office than I would with Chris, which it’s sort of that Catch twenty two. 

Brandon: 

In that cycle of now, I’ve consumed more sugar, and I’m craving more sugar as opposed to I have one cookie, and it feels a little bit more manageable for me to avoid the secondary cookie, and I feel satisfied by the one cookie. 

Brandon: 

It isn’t a matter of I need the whole box of cookies, but you know, I’ve kicked the craving with this one cookie that I’ve had. 

Brandon: 

I also think that there’s a lot of things you can do if you’re consuming something like sugar to kind of counteract the effects of that. 

Brandon: 

And what I mean by that is, you know, before I’m satisfying craving for something sugar based or something that might relate to more cravings is I always try to have, like, eight to sixteen ounces of water, the reason being that kind of satisfying that thirst first, am I actually hungry? Or is this like a hydration issue I think is a big factor. 

Brandon: 

And there’s things that you can do. Then, after you’re consuming things like sugar like I don’t know if you take activated charcoal at all as part of some of your protocols, I do not. 

Brandon: 

You have to tell me what that’s about. 

Whitney: 

Activated charcoal is an amazing substance to take. If you had anything that I would consider, um, you needed to like detox for your system. I’m not a big like cleanse person or a person who thinks that you should be like doing like juice fast or anything like that, but I think that if you’re having a moment where you’re satisfying cravings and where you’re leaning into, I’m consuming things that maybe my body is not accustomed to or something. 

Brandon: 

I know that my body is going to have an inflammatory response to if you have activated charcoal after that meal. 

Brandon: 

What that actually does is attached to those into those substances in your digestive system and helps your body clear that as kind of one lump sum as opposed to it being, you know, remnant in your gut and kind of lasting a little bit longer, um, in your body than than what would happen if you jump back. 

Brandon: 

I gotta ask, just being a I don’t know what the word is when they either sucker, um uh, consumer, romanticizing the belief that that this supplement is gonna make me grow, reduce my belly fat. 

Whitney: 

So is there a real science around the charcoal? 

Whitney: 

From what you found there is, I can’t speak to it directly. 

Whitney: 

I don’t have like, a link to tell you what the reason is there a real science behind that. 

Whitney: 

It’s not hokey, and I will say that you are going to need to experiment a little bit in your own body. 

Whitney: 

Um, for myself, I know that there’s a certain level of charcoal that I can take. 

Whitney: 

We get them in just capsules. 

Whitney: 

It’s just activated charcoal. 

Whitney: 

Nothing else in there. 

Brandon: 

Um, and I can’t take more than one, because if I take more than one, it actually has the adverse effect to totally backs me up. 

Brandon: 

Um, so I will say that there is some level of, like, personal experimentation that you need to undergo in order to understand how that interacting your body. But I do think that and there’s a variety of other supplements that you can take that probably are going to have, you know, similar or somewhat substantial effect as well. 

Brandon: 

I have found in like charcoal because it has nothing else in it. It is, quite literally, just charcoal, and I don’t have any other side effects are made. It doesn’t impact my body in other negative ways. 

Brandon: 

So I r I do think that there are ways, um, you know that you can operate with satisfying those cravings, being intentional about it, operating in a mindset of why am I having this? I’m having just this one. I’m doing with people to make sure I’m having just this one. And then after the fact after the fact, How is that impacting my body? And how can I ensure that it’s exiting my body in a way that I’m not going to be craving cookies for the next ten days? 

Brandon: 

So here’s another question for you, because because I wouldn’t say I get criticized. 

Brandon: 

I’d say I get feedback from people, Uh, which is everything you’ve said? 

Whitney: 

I think. I mean, it works. You and I both know it works, but here’s the reality, and you have Dexter now and probably compound itself when you have two kids. 

Whitney: 

But so here’s what people say to me, and and this is about a business or health or whatever. 

Whitney: 

Like Oh, of course, Brandon, because you don’t have kids and you control your schedule for the most part, and you can be intentional, right? 

Whitney: 

So how does the I don’t want to say a typical American family, but typical American family, especially during a pandemic? 

Whitney: 

It’s stressful. 

Whitney: 

Outside of a pandemic, you gotta get to make the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

Whitney: 

You gotta get the kid breakfast. 

Whitney: 

I’m talking to it like it’s like it’s a in Adam and you gotta I mean, I remember my mom trying to get my brother and I just out the door to get in the car to drive to school. 

Whitney: 

I mean, it was it was this mad rush every day, right? 

Whitney: 

So it’s very easy in that mad rush or at dinner. 

Whitney: 

You got to get these kids dinner. You got to get him showered. You gotta I don’t know what you gotta do. You gotta get their homework done. How do What is your thought, Hack? 

Whitney: 

Whatever it is for someone to be able to handle this in that craziness of the household that it is probably truly going on two fold one, start small. 

Whitney: 

And I’ll get into that in a minute to get help. 

Whitney: 

And I don’t mean help with your kids, although that is lovely and amazing. 

Whitney: 

If you can afford that or have you know resources in your community or family to do that like amazing, um, what I mean by and I’ll start with the latter first. 

Whitney: 

What I mean by get help is that I think that there is a requisite baseline understanding of how our bodies are operating. 

Brandon: 

And if you are starting this process of, you know whether it’s trying to get healthy trying to, you know, make healthier decisions for your kids. 

Brandon: 

Um, trying as a family to be more energized and, you know, disease free, whether it’s bio hacking, whether it’s actually like I want my brain to function at a different level, like whatever your goal is with all of this, you have to have some baseline understanding of what is happening inside your body before you even start making small hacks to that right? 

Brandon: 

And so I know that that sounds kind of like a cop out, because that can be a really big job. 

Brandon: 

But there are people who specialize, um, and companies who specialize in helping you gain a better understanding of what’s happening on a baseline level within your body. 

Brandon: 

So, um, there’s a lot of companies out there where you can get your food allergies tested. Um, and some of them are fairly cost efficient nowadays, too, like I think, for a hundred bucks ever really well, we use them. Several years ago, it was much more expensive than but I think they have like a baseline food allergy tests for a hundred bucks. 

Brandon: 

Um, I think that that is an amazing place to start. You spent in like, a tube. You mail it in like you don’t have to go anywhere. It’s all done very easy online, and they quite literally tell you like what your body is going to have responses to. 

Brandon: 

Now that’s a moving target. Because if you’re eating, um, like when we took it Christmas eating like a ridiculous amount of eggs every day. And so eggs turned up as like a highly sensitive food group for him because his body was having an inflammatory response to that because he was consuming so much of it on a regular basis. 

Brandon: 

That’s not an issue for him, but something to keep in mind. But I think getting a baseline of what am I consuming that could potentially be creating an issue in my body or baseline. 

Brandon: 

What are the things that maybe I should be looking to avoid? Our you know, just having that knowledge is important. So there’s areas that you can do that for not very much money and not very much time and convenient, like right to your doorstep on a food basis. 

Brandon: 

I think we also need to take a baseline evaluation of our environment. 

Brandon: 

Meaning? You know, have you ever had your water tested? Are you drinking tap water? Are you drinking filtered water? What does that look like? Because I also think that, um, our environment plays a really big role in what is happening on a baseline level with our bodies and our general health and wellness. 

Brandon: 

And there are some cost efficient ways that you can get access to that, right? 

Brandon: 

Like I think I think you’re in Scottsdale. I can log on and see, like what The most toxins are in our drinking water. And, you know, if I’m absorbing that through my skin when I’m showering, like, what does that look like in terms of just, like environmental, um, stuff. You know, if if you live in a house or an area where there’s a lot of moisture, do you have mold in your house? It might be we’re hiring someone to come out and take a quick air evaluation to determine if you’re inhaling that, right? 

Brandon: 

So it’s work, But I think that there are ways to acquire kind of that baseline of what our environment and our bodies are doing. 

Brandon: 

And I think that you kind of need to understand that you’re not going to be able to acquire all of that information yourself. You need to get help for that. 

Brandon: 

Um, I will also say, and this is a little bit tan gentle before I get back to how I think you can start small. 

Brandon: 

I did recently go see a natural path here in the Phoenix area. Um, just to kind of get a baseline of what my hormones are doing. Postpartum to write. I’m a bit older. Having a kid at any age is a traumatic experience for your body. And I mean that in the best of ways. But it is right. Like I I had a C section as well. So I had abdomen cut wide open organs moved around like there was a lot that goes on in that particular instance. 

Brandon: 

And then you’ve got several months of limited sleep, and you know, your hormones are going crazy. Crazy things. So, um, I was feeling not bad, but just not my best and thought, you know, it’s probably good for me to just go and have a panel of blood work done to figure out where my hormones are. 

Brandon: 

Um, I actually go next week to get my follow up, but this particular doctor thinks that my testosterone is a little bit off because of my age and because of, you know, having a baby at this age. So I didn’t know that by myself. 

Brandon: 

I could have done all the online research about all the different hormonal things that could have happened, you know, postpartum. And maybe this isn’t a postpartum issue at all. Maybe this is just an age issue that has been initiated by, you know, a postpartum body situation. So I think it’s so imperative that we stopped trying to solve all our problems for ourselves and really lean on. You know, scientists and medical practitioners and companies who are doing testing of environments and food allergies and all those good things for us to kind of get a better understanding of what is happening and how we can start making these small tweaks now on to my next soapbox of how to start small. 

Brandon: 

I think the two greatest gifts that you can give to yourself immediately and on an ongoing basis, our sleep and water. 

Brandon: 

And I think it’s the two most underutilized tricks that we as humans take advantage of. 

Brandon: 

Um, I have a really good friend. Super high performer. Um, you know, big job. Really, really intelligent. Human has four Children, is doing all the things on the home front and the work front. And he said to me yesterday, He’s like, I’m just exhausted. I’m exhausted and, you know, I could hire a coach, but I know what to do. Like it isn’t a matter of I don’t know what to do. I know what to do. In this perspective, I just don’t have, like, the accountability to actually do it. 

Brandon: 

And I think that when we are biting off this idea of, I need to do a whole overhaul of my entire life, my entire health and wellness. You know, my kids can’t eat this anymore. We’re all going to get good sleep. We’re all going to drink fifty liters of water a day. We’re all going to go for a walk every day. That’s a lot to be managing in, like one big swoop. 

Brandon: 

So start small. What is one thing that you can focus on for the next seven days that you can put a calendar reminder in your calendar alarm in your phone something to kind of trigger for yourself. Okay? Yes, like, this is the one thing I’m focusing on this week, and that’s all I have to do. And I think the two best places you can start our sleep and water. 

Brandon: 

So, you know, maybe this week is I’m gonna go to bed half an hour earlier. 

Brandon: 

That’s my only goal for this week. I just I’m going to go to bed for half an hour earlier. I bet for most people, if they did that seven days a week and actually like, honored that and we’re committed to half an hour earlier, that’s a pretty life changing amount of sleep over the course of seven days, or I’m going to drink before every meal, eight to sixteen ounces of water as part of just before any food hits my lips. 

Brandon: 

That’s what I’m going to do for the next seven days. Anytime before I eat, I’m going to have a sip of water or, you know, a few ounces of water that in and of itself, will probably make you feel more energized and ready to tackle whatever is approaching in multitudes of amounts. 

Brandon: 

So I think that’s starting small and really hitting kind of those baseline efforts is the other great hack that we just so underutilized. 

Brandon: 

That was very long winded. I’m sure you have a million questions about all of that, but get help and start small. 

Brandon: 

What have you been talking to me that she turned? She turns me off from my questions at eleven. That’s why we started this at eight. Thirty today. 

Whitney: 

Um, I’m halfway joking, but not really. 

Whitney: 

Uh I seem to ask a lot of questions. The so I agree with everything. And it as you were talking, I got a bunch of notes to your So one is I agree your environment could be causing things that you believe is your fault. 

Whitney: 

That’s not We actually just had our water tested. The guy said, thank God we had a water leak last weekend. 

Whitney: 

Uh, like water all over the backyard because the people who had owned our house before we have a well here in Half Moon Bay have this. 

Whitney: 

I don’t know what to call it when he looks like a, uh, water filtration place that that’s making nuclear water good. 

Whitney: 

I mean, it’s like fifty things that we’ve never understood it quite candidly. 

Whitney: 

We just I was like, Now maybe it’s working. 

Whitney: 

And then we just put reverse osmosis in the kitchen and we’re like, Okay, well, whatever comes after, at least we’re safe and they tested it. And he’s like, You have the most incredible water coming out of your well, that we’ve we’ve seen. He’s like, I’d love to sell you a filtration system. So, uh, which sort of changed us? 

Whitney: 

Because we actually felt like our water wasn’t drinkable out of the tap. 

Whitney: 

And then we’re showering in it. So, like just that thought for the last eight years has gone, so I think that’s a good point. 

Whitney: 

I think that the one thing that when you’re talking about your your high performer friend is at some point in your life, you do. 

Whitney: 

You do know what you should do on basics. 

Whitney: 

And it was something that I was before we got on. 

Whitney: 

I would want to talk about because I think there’s all these marketing offers from marketers, but at the base of it. 

Whitney: 

It goes back to what you said. 

Whitney: 

Get some better sleep and drink some water and just see what happens there. 

Whitney: 

Right? 

Whitney: 

The mold and everything for sure, because you can’t control that. 

Whitney: 

So get that tested, but just the baseline. 

Whitney: 

But even I think you touched on something that is really important. 

Whitney: 

And actually, you’re gonna talk to tell me to shut up, because I tend to rant about this, which is, you know, this whole online course stuff. 

Whitney: 

And I sell an online course. 

Whitney: 

I’m not going to sell the course anymore. Um, and the reason I’m not going to sell the course anymore is because I think courses are offers and not success pathways. 

Whitney: 

Um, you know how many courses have anybody out there listening to this podcast? 

Whitney: 

Or you would name me me included, And you don’t do the whole course, but you do know that the secrets are in that quote secrets, right? 

Whitney: 

Uh, success secrets. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, Um is in there, but you don’t do the course now. 

Whitney: 

Why don’t you do the course, right? 

Whitney: 

Why doesn’t your high performing friend get more sleep and drink water when he knows? 

Whitney: 

I know you know, and it’s accountability. 

Whitney: 

And and I mean, there’s and And the other thing that I’ll say is, um I have a tendency to want to. 

Whitney: 

I I enjoy helping people. 

Whitney: 

A lot of people help me get to where I am that didn’t need to help me. 

Whitney: 

And I get satisfaction from that. 

Whitney: 

Like, I like people having success. 

Whitney: 

I mean, I get to brag about it. 

Whitney: 

I get to see them, their life changes. I mean, you know, you, you’ll change a generation generations by by changing someone. 

Whitney: 

So in general, I’d help anybody for free if I could, which I can and I have but anybody that help for free. 

Whitney: 

I haven’t had great success stories. 

Whitney: 

I’ve had friends that I’ve sort of given some advice to hear there, but not truly, like invested the people that I’ve invested the time for free. 

Whitney: 

I just haven’t seen, I think, because they’re not accountable. 

Whitney: 

So you know, people are listening. Maybe they go well, Brandon, you’re in business itself, you know yourself dealing or whatever the word is. But I think you have to pay. 

Whitney: 

You have to pay for something, because if I call you every Friday and say, Whitney, um, how’s the sleep going? 

Whitney: 

Or, you know, now you’re accountable. 

Whitney: 

I’m accountable to this stupid deck scan that’s happening on the twenty second. 

Whitney: 

You’re right there. 

Whitney: 

Uh, I don’t want you to choke Whitney’s on camera choking. 

Whitney: 

I don’t want to die on me on the podcast. 

Whitney: 

Um, you know, that would be you do a documentary. 

Whitney: 

People die seem to have a best seller, but I don’t want anybody dying on the podcast. 

Whitney: 

Kristol blame me. 

Whitney: 

Probably show up to my house. Kill me. 

Whitney: 

Apologies about that. No, I just hadn’t suck something back there. 

Brandon: 

I thought I thought you just having a visual reaction to my comments? 

Brandon: 

No. 

Whitney: 

Um, so I think accountability and I think that can come in a lot of different ways. I found it with the vet. We She got the peloton. I bought it for her birthday, like, four years ago, mainly because she really was going to the gym to ride the bike. And the bike really wasn’t good. And she likes spin classes. 

Whitney: 

And, uh, you would think that the Palatine like that was the magic answer, right? You got the class, you go. But it wasn’t she paid for online group that does these challenges every eight or twelve weeks and she’s accountable. 

Whitney: 

She has to post that thing in there. 

Whitney: 

I use drama which isn’t necessarily accountable. 

Whitney: 

But when your friends follow you, you’re sort of accountable. Because when you log on and you see that I see these people I’m like, Oh, my God, She wrote sixty miles today I’m done. 

Whitney: 

Shit, I gotta go put in thirty eight miles like there’s this thing and I pay for that premium, the premium version of that. But, uh and I don’t care how broke you are even paying twenty nine dollars a month or something, it holds you accountable and going back to the whole course thing. 

Whitney: 

The reason that the online courses aren’t successful is because there mainly and I say this lovingly because I know a lot of these people sold by marketers and what what they don’t have is accountability built in not as an Upsell, which one on one coaching will always be an Upsell. 

Whitney: 

You didn’t holistic coaching like there’s huge value. 

Whitney: 

Uh, when I’ve had one on one coaching, I’ve probably had the most results. 

Whitney: 

Uh, I could say, But I think there’s this level accountability. So even for the best performers. And isn’t it ironic that even Olympic athletes, uh, professional athletes, even the best ones have personal coaches? 

Whitney: 

And it’s not that, like Steph Curry doesn’t know what to do for the Golden State Warriors. 

Whitney: 

But it’s not that he doesn’t know how to eat. 

Whitney: 

It’s not that he doesn’t know how to train. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to do the cold bath, but he doesn’t. 

Whitney: 

If he if he didn’t have someone there to focus on him to make sure that he did it, it probably wouldn’t happen. 

Whitney: 

So, um, I think and I think that sort of goes back to, um, ways that we can structure accountability for ourselves based on how we all that’s also such a unique perspective of how accountability works for us, right? 

Whitney: 

For some people, Um, and this was a big learning experience for me in one on one coaching for some people daily check ins, accountability, right that that for some people is enough for them to feel like I can be successful in this. 

Whitney: 

Someone’s checking in on me. 

Brandon: 

I’m I’m accountable to that person because they’re spending the time to actually engage with me on this. 

Brandon: 

For other people, accountability is sometimes incentives. 

Brandon: 

Meaning, you know, what is what do I get at the end of this, Like the one on one? Accountability is not actually what drives me. But what drives me is like, I know if I do this for seven days that I get X at the end of this. You know, for Steph Curry, his accountability is the incentive of performance, right? Like I get, I get paid to perform here, and without all of these things, that incentive is not there. 

Brandon: 

So I think at the heart of it is also identifying within yourself. What are the what? What does that accountability look like? And at what point in time in your life have you been very successful in maintaining habits or, you know, being accountable to yourself for things? Um, And if it is structuring, uh, you know, at the end of this week, if I do this for seven days, I’m going to allow myself to, you know, do X, or I’m gonna treat myself to whatever that is. 

Brandon: 

And it doesn’t need to be a monetary thing. Maybe it’s, you know, hey, husband. 

Brandon: 

And you have to watch the kids for half an hour, and I’m gonna go sit in the backyard and my bathing suit. You know, I’m undisturbed by whoever, right? Like, whatever that incentive is, you have to identify what that is. 

Brandon: 

Um, and, you know, kind of structure that accountability in a way so that it actually works for that purpose. Um, you know, with this friend, we agreed that we were going to check in with each other, not paid accountability. But it’s accountability in the time that we’re both spending to make sure the other person is doing what they said they were going to do, right? 

Brandon: 

I think there is, um, for for sure a good message in there. 

Whitney: 

Uh, I I think, um, also on the coaching or whoever you have, you need to pick someone that’s willing to hold you to the fire like some coaches will break down, right? 

Whitney: 

Like, oh, I don’t want to get fired. 

Whitney: 

You know, I don’t I’m trying to get fired. 

Whitney: 

I mean, and I think you have to have that that discipline. 

Whitney: 

Um, I think it’s hard with your spouse. I think it works. You and I have certainly done it together. And I know you and Chris at some level. Do it. I mean, I remember one post that you had and you were doing this work, uh, twelve week program or something. 

Whitney: 

And, you know, Chris wanted to join you, but he didn’t. But then he did, because, you know, guilt. 

Whitney: 

I don’t know what it is, but you’re in the living room doing this thing. He can hear it, and he knows you’re there. 

Whitney: 

So there’s there’s definitely a team element that that picking a partner that can work for you too. 

Whitney: 

So I think it is just that accountability. 

Whitney: 

I don’t want to end before we talk about, because you you planted to see it. 

Whitney: 

And I want to hear what your recent research and work is on breath. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, breathwork man, this is a topic I could talk about for days and days and days. Um, my king adventure into breathwork probably starts when I was a child. 

Brandon: 

Because it was something my mom always worked with me of, like, just breathe. Just breathe. Just breathe, right? Like that was always something for her. of like a calming technique. Um, even as early as like, I remember having temper tantrums and her telling me, Just breathe, Just breathe, like let’s just breathe it out. Let’s just breathe it out And so kind of thinking about it from that time frame. 

Brandon: 

I think in general that it has always been a technique for me to calm my nervous system with. Okay, take ten breaths and then, you know, do what you need to do or have the conversation you need to have or okay, you really heated. Let’s step away and just breathe for a minute, like what’s happening like, Let’s calm this down, slow it down, right? It kind of goes back to the the ice fast circumstance with lowering your heart rate and the ice bath too, right? 

Brandon: 

Like it’s the same methodology you’re lowering, lowering that response, lowering the heart rate, really calming kind of everything down. 

Brandon: 

Um, a few years ago, I got certified to teach yoga and well, it started. I was taking hot yoga. 

Brandon: 

Um, you know, as I do, kind of got obsessed with it and thought, I need to be certified in this because I’m a person who likes to collect all the certifications. And, you know, when I go down the rabbit hole, really go down deep. 

Brandon: 

Sounds like you might do something similar with your time to Brandon, but, um, so I was taking yoga. 

Brandon: 

Loved yoga. There’s so much of yoga that is based on prana breath, right? That’s that’s what the yogis call breath work. Um, And so during my yoga teacher training, we learned just so many different techniques of breathing and how you can do that from your belly. How you can do that from your chest, How you can do that from your whole body, different varietals of breathing, whether it was box breathing or, you know, breathing through one nostril or breathing through various math noises or, you know, you said singing earlier, which are, I think I I thought I misheard. 

Brandon: 

You say songs earlier, you said something else, but I thought that you were actually talking about breathwork in in that regard because there are some people who do chant as part of their breath work, you know, um, practices. 

Brandon: 

So there are so many ways that we breathe, and it’s such a mindless activity. 

Brandon: 

Most of the time, like I think the status like we take like twenty thousand breaths today or something ridiculous like it is such a high volume of breaths that we take, and we’re so unintentional about it for majority of that time. 

Brandon: 

But if we can actually lower our heart rate, reduce our stress like create a circumstance of calm and peace and tranquility just by being intentional about that, like what a powerful thing for something that our body does automatically anyways, Um, and so I have, like a whole blog post on this. 

Brandon: 

I’ll have to. 

Brandon: 

I’ll have to send it to you after, But it’s just it’s been such a transformative practice for me and just being able to control my own emotions and body and kind of what’s happening. 

Brandon: 

But learning how many ways there are to do that, Um, and then kind of leaning into that even further. 

Brandon: 

So all the breathwork that I learned about in this yoga teacher training then compounded We started doing some work with Wim Hoff, who I believe he’s a Dutch gentleman. 

Brandon: 

They call him the Ice Man. Um, he’s the guy who can hold his breath for I don’t know some ridiculous some of time, but his whole concept is really quick, deep breathing. 

Brandon: 

I’ve got this cold, so I don’t want to do it here because you’ll be seeing like meat coughing a bunch more trying to like over oxygenate. But his whole perspective is by doing this kind of quick breathing with very deep inhales in and quicker exhales out your oxygenating your blood in your body in such high volumes that your body is able to hold on to that. 

Brandon: 

And you should, in theory, be able to hold your breath for longer periods of time in between. 

Brandon: 

And and that it’s within that breath hole that your body is able to focus more on that cellular regeneration and lowering of heart rate and the blood going to those main organs, which allows your body to lower all of those like things down and actually recover. 

Brandon: 

Um, and so if you kind of look at it from that perspective, it’s a really fascinating superpower that we all have that we’re just not utilizing. 

Brandon: 

Um, and I think so much of it goes back to, you know, were unintentional and so much of our lives and what we’re doing. 

Brandon: 

And maybe that is because, you know, we’ve got kids, We’ve got jobs, we’ve got businesses. We’ve got a thousand things we’re trying to do all at the same time. But if we make small things more intentional with maybe just starting with, you know, I’m just gonna take ten intentional breaths every single day. Maybe that’s my thing. I do this week, right? 

Brandon: 

Um, that that that can be really life changing. And I think people get so caught up in this idea that it needs to be everything all at once instead of Oh, it can be just this really simple. I’m just breathing. I’m just being intentional about breathing, Um, and how transformational that really can be. 

Brandon: 

So, you know, anecdotally from our perspective, we’ve been doing Wim Hof now for. 

Brandon: 

I started doing it when I was pregnant, actually, and we’ve been doing it ever since then, and it is a notable difference. I do it first thing in the morning right after I wake up. That’s kind of how I like energized before feet hit the floor. And there is a notable difference for me and my energy levels, not just in the morning, but all day long. If I don’t take that, it’s a ten minute cycle. 

Brandon: 

Um, it’s a free thing on YouTube. Wim Hof actually directs it. It’s like a three three cycles of his breath with them. Three breath holds, Um, and there’s a noticeable difference for me and my energy levels and my brain clarity and all of those things just from having that extra oxygen in my body first thing in the morning. Do you do any breath work? Do you have a practice? 

Brandon: 

I do. I do. I want to ask you The thing was it called Hoff, uh, went off. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, I see in my phone on instagram, and I’ve seen a bunch of people out there. 

Whitney: 

So I think he breathes in through his mouth, doesn’t he? 

Whitney: 

Mhm. 

Whitney: 

Yeah. So I’m interested in your thoughts, so I actually have I’m open to all new things, but I will admittedly tell you that I have totally blown him off. 

Whitney: 

And here’s why. 

Whitney: 

Because if you at least the science that I’ve read and I and I admittedly have followed this Patrick McAllen’s idea through nose breathing, because I actually did it by mistake. 

Whitney: 

So when I used to race bikes and even even today when I ride on group rides that are that that can be really competitive. 

Whitney: 

Um, how you tell if someone is tired so that you pass them and leave them called. 

Whitney: 

Dropping them is when their mouth is open and people can’t control it right there. What’s called on the rivet? You’re on your redlined. You’re just trying to hang on with the group. 

Whitney: 

You can’t keep track of everything. You’re basically in fight or flight at that moment. Um, you’re you’re in the moment, regardless, because that’s what your brain puts you and you’ll see people their mouth of the open. So what I and people used to I rode in the early days with I’m really grateful with really experienced winning racers. 

Whitney: 

Uh, and I had rode with them, and they’re like they told me all the little things you look for, right? 

Whitney: 

I want the first thing is their mouth. They’ll hang their head. They’ll also you’ll move forward on your seat, and it’s almost it’s slight, but when you see it, you know they got a *** in the armor and you can attack them. 

Whitney: 

Um, so I started just before I did any breathwork. 

Whitney: 

This is like ten years ago. I just started breathing through my nose, winning. I was like, Okay, well, I’m just gonna keep my mouth shut. 

Whitney: 

And what happened was was I was able to stay on the front of the peloton, almost unbelief to myself, to the point where they were saying that I was on drugs, Really? 

Whitney: 

And I was like, Wow, this keeps working. 

Whitney: 

So I kept doing it. 

Whitney: 

Later on, I I read this book. 

Whitney: 

I don’t know where I saw it called, you know, the oxygen advantage with Patrick McAllen. 

Brandon: 

And I was like, Wow, you know, I had that experience. 

Whitney: 

So I’m telling you the story to admit that I had this thing that I discovered randomly because of something I read this book that explained why I was so strong and and why you should arguably never breathe through your mouth. 

Whitney: 

So when I saw the wind off a thing, you know, I’m admitting it. 

Whitney: 

I was like, now he breathed through his mouth like maybe you don’t have to take those deep breaths. 

Whitney: 

If you just breathe through your nose, you would be putting the air in through all of the things that are designed by whatever human thing or whatever happened that designed us humans. 

Whitney: 

And you’re gonna get all the oxygen you need, the breath holding. 

Whitney: 

I agree with you. 

Whitney: 

I do breath holding. 

Whitney: 

I actually have that little thing I bought on Amazon that you can measure your oxygen level so that you know, and I do that when I’m sitting after a meal or something, just and it’s right there. 

Whitney: 

I make it really easy for myself. 

Whitney: 

Um, so I’ve dismissed this, but But I also I follow the big wave surfer guys and there, and I see them. 

Whitney: 

They all do that. 

Whitney: 

They all do that, uh, exercise in the morning before they go on a surfing on something that they’re going to get held down. 

Whitney: 

So, um, I let me ask you this What if you combined your closed mouth breathing, which I actually saw? 

Whitney: 

The gentleman you’re talking about that you interviewed? 

Whitney: 

Was he also on Tom Bill use podcast impact. 

Whitney: 

He’s gained. 

Brandon: 

He’s in a lot. 

Brandon: 

He just wrote another new book. He’s gained a lot of traction because it works. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, I’m quite sure I listened to his podcast. He’s the guy who talks all about how, like the shape of our face has actually changed because we have become mouth breathers and how like chewing food actually has impacted the amount. Yeah, amazing guys. Such a fascinating, fascinating topic, and I wholeheartedly agree. 

Brandon: 

But much like, um, food and environment and all of these things that we’re talking about are so customized for our bodies. 

Brandon: 

I also think that there is some level of customization in our breath work. And while Wim Hoff I can totally understand why you discounted him because he trains with open mouth breathing, I think using his techniques with a closed mouth perspective for you, maybe, like next level of what you’re doing, right? 

Brandon: 

So it may be that that technique with closed mouth, you don’t need to do it with open mouth. I’ve done it with closed and open, So it is not a technique where you can’t do it if your mouth is close. Um, I think the idea is you can get more oxygen in if you’re breathing. That’s Wim Hof methodology. You can get more oxygen, and if you’re breathing and actually your inhales actually through your nose. It’s the exhale that’s through the mouth. So his system is not in and out through the mouth. It’s in through the nose, out through the mouth. I think you could certainly do that both through the nose. Um, And what an interesting maybe up level that would be for you to customize his methodology of breathing for Brandon. You know, maybe that’s even the the best case scenario for everybody. 

Brandon: 

Um, and create kind of that additional level of them. Okay, this guy has a good technique I’ve created. Adopted it for what? I know to work best for my body because this is a very unique and customized approach that I need to take with everything. And here’s how that is kind of impacted my results. 

Brandon: 

Um, and I also think it’s not limited to Wim Hof is great for our practice, but it doesn’t need to be Wim Hof for ten minutes in the morning. Like maybe you do box breathing for ten minutes in the morning, which, for those of you who don’t know is just in for four, hold for four out for four, right? Like it’s just very like cyclical type breathing. 

Brandon: 

Um, so I think it doesn’t matter what the mechanism is. 

Brandon: 

And I think you need to explore all of those various things in order to figure out what works for Brandon and what works for Whitney. But you need to start small and actually start doing those things in order to figure out what that actually looks like for you. 

Brandon: 

Um, which kind of takes us back to what we talked about at the very beginning of this episode, which, if we’re looking to reduce our body inflammation, are negative inflammation in our body. How do we do that? You know, Is it environment is that ice bath is a breath work? Is it nutrition? Is that sleep? Is that water? Is it food allergies? Like there’s so many ways that you can tackle that, um, and it can feel very overwhelming, which is why, you know, ask for help, get help, rely on people in this space. 

Brandon: 

You’ve done some of the leg work for you and then just start small. 

Brandon: 

You know, pick a couple that you can focus on that you can, you know, kind of touch on, you know, practice with and and iterating on, you know, figure out what? 

Brandon: 

What, What? What works best for you and your body in whatever season you’re in. 

Brandon: 

I think that’s a great summary. And I know we’re getting to the top of the hour. You and I could probably talk for a really long time. 

Whitney: 

Um, I’m gonna drop three h p. T s at the end here. Last time you reminded me that I forgot, but I didn’t forget. Today I’ve gotten better. I think this will be episode. 

Whitney: 

This might be the episode. Eighties might even be ninety, uh, getting close to a hundred. 

Whitney: 

But I think what I’ve heard from you, you can disagree, which is start small sleep water and a bonuses breathwork. 

Brandon: 

If you just did that one to some combination, you’re probably going to have some level of success defined as a feeling better, more energy, potentially losing weight, Um, or something like that. 

Whitney: 

All of the things. 

Whitney: 

Yeah. 

Whitney: 

I mean, I think I think losing weight is almost a byproduct of what you should really be focusing on, Which is how do I feel? 

Whitney: 

Right? 

Whitney: 

Like if you feel good, it’s going to be a lot easier to adjust what your aesthetics look like. 

Whitney: 

If you feel like crap, it’s a lot harder to do that. 

Whitney: 

Um and really, if you’re losing weight and feeling like crap, how sustainable is that? 

Whitney: 

Right? 

Whitney: 

So I think the ultimate goal is how can I feel better every day? 

Brandon: 

Right? 

Brandon: 

And approaching things from that perspective is going to be, um, in my opinion, much more transformative than you know. I want to lose five pounds or, you know, I’m willing to, um, fit into these jeans at any cost. Um, I think that’s a lot more detrimental to your long term success. 

Brandon: 

Well, and I’ll add this to this because I know you do it, which I actually think is super brave. I do it, uh, occasionally, not as much as you have, but which is the scale to your point earlier in our discussion is a metric one of many. 

Whitney: 

It’s not the metric, but take a picture of yourself. 

Whitney: 

You you have a ton of pictures. 

Whitney: 

Um, which not a lot of women would do like being pregnant. 

Whitney: 

Uh, I mean, you’ve done this journey even before when you were a litigator, and I think I got a lot of stress and anxiety, which we talked about and that just causes weight gain. 

Whitney: 

But posting that before and after picture and what I do is I weigh myself and always take a picture in the mirror. 

Whitney: 

Only because what I really care about is what I look like. 

Whitney: 

Well, and I’ve seen, I think, Chris, you probably put him up to it. 

Whitney: 

But, uh, Chris did that too, right? 

Whitney: 

Yeah. I mean much to your point. 

Brandon: 

There’s so many metrics for what is happening inside our bodies. Um, and you I can visibly see information on my body. Sometimes the scale doesn’t move at all. Usually usually, that’s the first metric for me that my body is a little extra inflamed. But sometimes it doesn’t move at all. 

Brandon: 

And I’m feeling less inflamed. How come? How come that’s not showing on the scale if you’re taking photos and you’re visibly smaller, or better yet, even taking measurements if you don’t want to take voters to take like you know a measurement of your waist and track that right like you need to have some sort of metric to track yourself against because otherwise it’s just it goes back to that accountability. 

Brandon: 

Like, what are you basing any of your success based off of? 

Brandon: 

And I think it’s important to take an evaluation and maps the metrics for how you’re feeling too, right? 

Brandon: 

Like on a scale of one to ten. How is my energy level today? I mean, if my body looks the way I wanted to look, but I’m a level one. 

Brandon: 

I’m exhausted. Energy wise. I’m tired. I need to go back to bed like that. 

Brandon: 

That cost of what has come out for me to look a certain aesthetic way has not been worth what that energy level is to me. 

Brandon: 

Um, everybody has different metrics for you know, how they want to feel and how that equates to how they look. But for me, and if I’m not energized while doing it? 

Brandon: 

No, thanks. 

Brandon: 

I agree. Well, thank you so much for being generous with your time taking time out with Dexter. Thank Chris. Because I’m guessing he’s in the background somewhere watching him, and, uh, I want to have you back on to talk about how you actually have started your business. 

Whitney: 

I was talking to Joe Tianna the other day. Who I know we have mutual friend, Actually, how we met. 

Whitney: 

And, um actually, I asked him about you. 

Whitney: 

Which may be, uh, now your instagram post was one of the sparks. But, uh, what you might call it love to have you back and talk about how you It sounds like things are going great and you have effectively taking Well, you’re reinventing yourself is what you’re doing And creating a consulting company that’s advising technology Are you Are you just posting on the instagram? 

Whitney: 

I want to help in some way, Like people can follow you on instagram. 

Whitney: 

How can they find you on Instagram? 

Whitney: 

Yeah, absolutely. 

Whitney: 

I’ve been admittedly less active. They’re just because bandwidth, um you know, with a new baby and with how busy we’ve we’ve just been on the business front. 

Brandon: 

Um, you can follow me on Instagram. 

Brandon: 

I’m Whitney Steph Co Dover, which is a mouthful, but you’ll have that name I’m sure on on this episode in some way, shape or form Um, you can follow me on instagram. Um, that’s a great place to connect with me in general. Also on LinkedIn. So, you know, either place is kind of where I’m spending time but, um, yeah, just in general, loving, connecting with anybody who’s interested in kind of that betterment of, you know, life and longevity and living just more fulfilled. 

Brandon: 

You know, Life’s, I think, in general. 

Brandon: 

Okay, thanks a lot. 

Brandon: 

I’ll reach out to you. Tell Chris Thank you for Washington Texture. And I’ll be watching these cold inversions and trying to figure out how I’m going to get this bucket of water into my backyard somehow. 

Whitney: 

Sounds great. 

Whitney: 

You let us know if we need to have any sort of chats with the event about why she needs to get on board with this ice bath situation, too. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, I think that’s going to be an in person discussion, but we are gonna We’re gonna come to Arizona. 

Whitney: 

We’re gonna drive the RV. 

Brandon: 

Uh, I want to see Joe Tian. 

Whitney: 

Oh, you guys have incredible biking paths, like I’ve seen nowhere. 

Whitney: 

Can’t think of any many places in the world that I’ve ever seen, Especially Scottsdale has, um, just incredible place. 

Whitney: 

So we’ll be able to link up and, um, talk then. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, thanks so much. 

Whitney: 

Yeah, sounds great. 

Whitney: 

Great to connect with you, Brandon. 

Whitney: 

I’ll talk to you soon. 

Whitney: 

fine by thanks for being generous with your time and joining us for this episode of Build a business success secrets. 

Brandon: 

Before we go, let me ask you a quick question. 

Whitney: 

Are you the type of person who wants to get one hundred percent out of your time, talent and ideas? 

Whitney: 

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Whitney: 

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Whitney: 

Yeah, Mhm

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