Food Addiction Is Real: Here’s How to Fight Back

hey Arch Justin here thanks so much for taking the time to tune in this episode I talked with John Higginbotham a health coach and we discuss a range of topics when it comes to food addiction and making healthier choices for our life we get addicted to that and literally their scientific evidence out there that it literally Compares sugar to cocaine I really want to encourage you to tune in on this conversation this was such a powerful discussion really about some of the struggles with food addiction addiction is no it's no joke and food is no different it really isn't so I think that's where people get stuck is They Don't Really treat it as serious as the addictions that we think of and it's tough to do you got to break the cycle you gotta break you got to break the Flesh and how we can position ourselves to make better choices that'll help us be healthy for the lifetime I want to be there to play ball like in a big way with like my grandkids friends if and when you don't have grandkids you just have kids I was like man I just want to get through raising my kids but there is life after that and feeling better and feeling well and being able to be a good influence and example I think this world is far too dangerous right now to not have us all be in the best shape that we can be if you're watching on YouTube please take a moment and hit the Subscribe button down below if you're watching on Facebook please leave a comment or follow the page and let us know what you enjoyed out of this conversation now here's my conversation with John so John how are you today man I'm doing good buddy how about yourself I'm doing well just enjoying my morning had a few cups of espresso and got a little water on the desk and yeah just getting rolling nice yeah well thanks so much for jumping on John I know we've on connected through some mutual friends and all that good stuff and the coaching group that we're both a part of and it's been great to get to know you and hearing a little bit about your journey to becoming a health coach and on your emphasis and focus on living a healthy lifestyle and I thought that would be a good topic to jump into in the conversation I think a lot of times I tend to go more toward biblical topics and Christian topics and I think sometimes in the biblical and Christian space the issue of physical health and treating our temples with respect and all that sometimes gets overlooked it's like a third rail if you will that we shouldn't touch it and we start challenging people and eating and health habits and all of that and it it gets difficult and I know just from personal experience I've rolled the rode the roller coaster if you will of on living super healthy for a short season and then rolling through holidays or family vacations and overeating and then just struggling to get back on the horse if you will and so I felt like that would be a great conversation for us to have really just talking about living a healthy lifestyle and really the biblical foundation for it but then also practical steps on how people can maybe adjust some of their behaviors and dieting and exercises and all that to be able to live healthier lifestyles yeah man that's man I really I didn't start my journey thinking about thinking about the temple necessarily but man that's it's definitely where I ended up and you probably have heard some of my story about the little Swan Dive I took off of Raven's Roost in 2008 and that was literally it was definitely a spiritual event it did it led me to the end of myself and they told me I would I might not ever walk again or I might not ever walk right and that I might have some other neurological issues and to be able to get your health back and focus man I tell I had nothing left there's nothing left of me I hate to be graphic but I literally couldn't wipe my own tail yeah so it's I had a back injury a low back injury and so anyway I'll just leave it at that but so that fall off of ravens Roost how long of a fall was that you fell 60 feet wow okay yeah and so you and I talked about this a little bit offline so were you in shape and health-wise before that event happened or well round is a shape right yeah I got that one well I had worked out a little I was all ever since I was about 12 years old I've been this like I wanted to be I don't know an Arnold Schwarzenegger or somebody but as a kid you just look up to that but yeah it definitely I was a I was in shape I think underneath the Cutting but I literally it I was a good 25 pounds heavier than I am now and I've yeah so I was a good 40 pounds overweight yeah awesome so after your experience you said you weren't the doctors were concerned that you'd never walk again I imagine you went through a pretty long recovery process to get back to just what felt like normal I know that had to be difficult and so I guess how did you end up wrapping your mind around that not only the recovery process but then starting to make healthy lifestyle choices afterwards to begin to get into the shape that you are today wow I didn't really have a lot of I didn't have a lot of well I didn't really have much else to do except for focus on recovery and so yeah I spent a fair amount of time just trying to learn what it would take and how could I be lean I had a good friend of mine I said I we did these low-fat diets and things and she said fat doesn't really make you fat and I was like nah it's bull crap anyway turns out she was right and so it led me on this journey to figure out what the truth was about about health and wellness and getting my I always felt like I had my health and I felt like the lord gave me my health back he allowed me to live so I could get after it and so that's what I felt like I needed to do I was out of work for five and a half months yeah I was in rehab it was during the credit crisis which was terrible in the mortgage world so so Not only was the economy terrible I was out of work so it was devastating from a couple of different angles for sure yeah absolutely so it sounds like you didn't have a whole lot else to do but really just focus on yourself right and self-growth in that season yeah so let's talk about the struggles so like let me I'll just throw myself under the bus here for a few minutes right so I go through these roller coasters with my personal health and workouts get really excited for a season and I'll do some workout program or whatnot we'll do our best to keep every everything in the fridge and as I mentioned at the beginning of the call yeah we go through this up and down cycle and I think for me it's like I know what I need to do right but I think sometimes I can't get past the space in between my ears the mindset and convincing myself so do you have any thoughts on the mindset behind it like how have you disciplined your mind to be able to make these proper choices consistently and have your health where it needs to be well yeah what I've said this a lot in at least in the health coaching field the things we eat make us want to eat the things that we eat when you eat a donut they're so good yeah they are I call them fat pills but they you get this you get an insulin Spike you get a dopamine rush and these are we just get this just this flurry of hormonal releases and we get addicted to that and literally their scientific evidence out there that it literally Compares sugar to cocaine wow so it's an addictive process and so when somebody says I just can't I know that's a negative affirmation but man it's it's it they really you really don't feel like you can you have this crazy urge to eat another donut the problem is that to get the same dopamine Spike next time you need two Donuts yeah so it's it's this it's it really is an addictive process and I know that you have some knowledge of those things and know of people that do as well and addiction is no there's no joke and food is no different it really isn't so I think that's where people get stuck is They Don't Really treat it as serious as a as the addictions that we think of and it's tough to do you got to break the cycle you gotta break you got to break the flesh so let me ask you let me let's go on that vein a little bit more so why do you think it is that food addictions aren't taken as seriously right it seems like almost gluttony and that's an extreme point right using that term but it is the appropriate term to use but it almost seems like it's celebrated and a degree and we don't take it as seriously if we start to talk about food choices and whatnot people tend to clench up and not comparing that back to addiction to substances like when people came after I was a meth addict right for years and when people came after my math man I know what I'm saying like I knew it was terrible for me I knew it was destroying my life but like there was this dependence on it and so on do you what do you think contributes to that in culture a lot with the food yeah I well because see if you're not as I don't think you're you're there's not as much public there's not just terrible stigma of food addictions you think about drug addictions and those are like oh gosh that's taboo right yeah but it's a lot of Americans have food addictions it's like 70 some percent of people are either obese either overweight or obese or morbidly obese 70 and so it's but it's more it's it's just food so to survive you don't need meth to survive right well you might think you might feel like it sometimes right yeah that's yeah no that's really the deal I think it's it's food man it's it's hey it's like hey I'm just I'm gonna eat a little something and so it's it's not that bad well it's it's that slight Edge man it's it's bad or good habits daily stacked one upon the other it's like you're either building a house of Doom or a house of health and muscle and vitality yeah for sure so do you think some of that like the marketing food's been so well marketed and there's so much there's a lot of I've read some stuff about some of the garbage that's in our food these days and I even think I saw a YouTube video a while back where somebody was dissecting the food pyramid and how that wasn't really good for us I don't know all the details around that but the food pyramid I remember that was pushed a lot when I was a kid it was on everything and on so how I guess how much does what we eat right like being intentional about processed foods and some of that garbage that's out there that we're really feeding to ourselves how much does that like impact us and set us back in this journey it's so huge everything is we want to be in a hurry we want to be convenient but typically anything in a bag or a box anything that has more than one ingredient is typically not that well it's potentially not that good for you and so things that I like a good steak so number one thing in that net steak it's like it's got some fat and some protein and that thing but a little bit pepper and you're good that's it yeah so yeah it's it's those multi-ingredient things or anything that comes in a package or a box right yeah I think about that a lot like I chuckle at one time I went to McDonald's and I ordered a Big Mac and a fries to the drive-through and then I laughed at myself because I added a Diet Coke and I'm like at this point is it really even making a difference and so yeah go ahead I was gonna say that'll get me off on another tangent with these fake sugars that actually still your body still reacts just like sugar yeah so a lot of these sugar-free things aren't aren't they have the same overall effect on your body that sugar does so it's tough so let's talk about that physically speaking first back at sugar right and how that impacts the body so I know we talked about food and some of the dopamine and those responses that really food addiction presents itself a lot like other substance addictions in our body and whatnot but sugar specifically what are some of the dangers like what does sugar do to a human body why should we avoid sugars in our diet and our choices well I don't want to vilify all sugars I think there's I'm keto carnivorous but I also do I do eat fruit so there is some there are some fructose in that classifies as a sugar I think it's it's how much do we eat and how often do we Spike insulin the Salk Institute in California a couple of years ago directly linked what they call insulinemic responses with aging okay and to me that was just fascinating and so we don't what we don't want to do is we don't want to spike insulin we've heard for years how we eat six small meals a day that's that's hogwash yeah so what you're doing is you're not trying to keep insulin levels level you're trying to keep them low and what ends up happening is we eat too many sugars especially processed sugars we become insulin resistant so insulin is the master hormone it literally is the storage hormone it helps us store energy for survival so it's not bad we just don't want to spike it all the time and the issue is that we typically are eating multiple meals a day and a lot of times they're high carbohydrate meals and that I think that's that's what leads to the insulin resistance and then overall just a highly reduced insulin sensitivity and we just need to be metabolically flexible and be able to burn multiple sources of energy protein carbohydrate sometimes fat right and so this on the conversation around insulin so my assumption is that ultimately when that's not in order that's what leads to some of the diseases like diabetes and others that we see people 100 yeah so it's it's preventable right it's it's something one of those things that we can keep an eye out on and prevent from coming into it yeah I tell you one thing that I wanted to touch on is that insulin a lot of times when we go to the doctor and our insulin is normal or I'm sorry our blood sugar is normal we already have high insulin so what I do recommend that people do when you go to the doctor you get your blood work and they do a fasting blood sugar fasting glucose is that you also ask your doctor to do a fasting insulin okay because a lot of times we have normal insulin because our pancreas is making plenty of insulin and it's keeping our blood sugar in check and when we get that out of whack or we have high insulin levels we're we're probably pretty that not probably we are pre-diabetic before we look like it on a blood test wow yeah it's insane it's we our pancreas cranks out a ton of insulin and then eventually those beta cells that are in your pancreas they start to give way and they start to wear out and then you need you mentioned fasting right in that so when you mention fasting and that like for the purpose of keeping our insulin levels in checks so you're talking basic fasting right just going without food firstly can you delve into that a little bit more I know biblically we talk about fasting a lot for Spiritual reasons but I think as we read through the scripture we see a lot of things that are meant for our spiritual benefit also have real world impact on our health right and they go hand in hand and so I'd like to dive into that a little bit about the fasting part of it and I know it makes me anxious just talking about I think we may not be so on resistant if we knew some of the benefits that we could get not only spiritually through fasting but also physically through making a decision to fast yeah another 100 fasting I'll be honest with you is my superpower it we like I said you or you mentioned that we know the spiritual benefits but it was put here for more than just for our spiritual health it literally was here it's here that we take a time to clean out when we go through long periods of fasting our body goes into this state called autophagy which meant literally means like self-eating it helps us take out the trash and our cells clean out and that's really what happens in the end our cells get all gunked up and we never have a period where we get to take out the trash and so what happens is the mitochondria in the cells they stop functioning well and we get six cells sometimes they're referred to as what's called senescent cells or cells that don't function properly and the mitochondria can't they can't function normally and use both fuel sources both fat or fatty acids and glucose and when you get that when you get to that state that's when cells tend to mutate and mutated cells are roughly cancer cells in most cases right so man fasting is just it's man it's it's the thing I know we talk about intermittent fasting in the world these days that works for about 30 to 90 days and then after that actually is just like calorie restriction so I think it's really good to at least start to practice taking a day and not eating So when you say fasting is your superpower what is your routine your Rhythm look like with that how do you deploy that on a practical level in your life well so I've been going through this process for the last 14 years so this probably isn't something that people want to try like right out of the gate so for me I'm a little bit I treat myself as a guinea pig I like to try to see what works and what doesn't so much and so a lot of times like on a Sunday night I'll stop eating at sundown on Sunday and then I want to eat again until Wednesday evening or Thursday lunch I'll take like a two or three day fast so I don't always do that but man if I really want to charge my cells and really continue to improve what I mentioned a little bit ago metabolic flexibility being able to turn off the sugar burning switch and turn on the fat burning switch and I know a lot of people want to do that and I'm telling you the fastest way to do that is literally just to go for a while without eating and there's some easy ways that we can talk about to get into that yeah but my schedule is a couple of days without eating and then and I do a lot of like high intensity interval training more reps less weight so I'm not trying to really kill myself all right I do a little bit of cardio what they call zone two training and then and then from there and then during the end of the week it's a weekend right so we all want to eat so I'll go ahead and just load up like high protein good complex carbs maybe and really go through a building phase I really believe that we're supposed to go through these periods of feast and famine and I think we were designed by our creator to be able to go through things like that and actually none of us are going to starve to death but if we can go through periods of time purposely of going without food none of us are going to starve there's a Food Lion right down the street right yeah so we don't have the same problems but if you if we can do that and create that metabolic flexibility to be able to just take out the trash switch to burning a different fuel source burning some fat and then go through a period of building phase and even when the Bible what is it I'm trying to was it Matthew I think it's Matthew 17 where they talk about the kid that somebody brought to the disciples to heal because he had he was having these seizures yeah and so Jesus says I got this boom you're healed right but he said Master why could we not heal him and he said this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting and man I'm telling you what I don't think that's an accident I think that man if you looked at the research there's a thing called the what is it the Charlie Foundation I'm sorry that I can't remember but it's this kid whose father was a producer in Hollywood but anyway he they put him on a ketogenic diet and put him on a low carb diet and literally cured this kid of having seizures wow that's amazing to me so it's it shows that we have cellular dysfunction and that's what causes most all dis eases it's it really is wow yeah that's powerful yeah it's amazing how God is almost like built healing into our bodies not almost I cut myself open and just watching the process of it healing itself over days and it's amazing to see that happens also at a cellular level too when we make the decision to fast and so I'm a novice John on or anybody else listening out there right that may be a novice in this whole fasting thing and you're you're you just shared your journey and you said 14 years into this thing you're not going to start where I'm starting right there's no way and so how does somebody start this journey like where's a good starting point and then are there any things they need to be aware of like people that maybe have medical issues that might be listening I don't want to send somebody off to make a decision that could impact them what I'm saying yeah and the check with your doctor first yeah 100 yeah it doing what we're typically addicted to are the insulin spikes in the dopamine so if we can at least start by not eating things that tend to spike insulin and it's real easy do a Google search of glycemic index of foods and you can look at all of the foods and what they specifically do to blood glucose and you just eat like a diabetic you eat things that tend to like I tend to eat maybe apples over a banana right that thing because it's got more fiber it doesn't tend to it and because it has more fiber it doesn't Spike insulin as quickly or as much so if you can just start by cutting out the things that tend to spike insulin you'll start to feel less hungry and then if you can put some time restricted feeding in there some people call it intermittent fasting I like to call it time restricted feeding because I know I'm going to eat again and I think I feel better about thinking of eating somebody said hack yeah right yeah for sure so let me ask you cold turkey or this was always the discussion right in rehab book space do we call turkey or do we go to detox right when it comes to getting off drugs and I know that's a whole different world right but yeah it's the same right it really is good point so for the individuals transitioning that diet is it cold turkey or is there a yeah no I think whatever works for if you try to cold turkey and you fall off the wagon you then just go for a period after that where you don't eat or like for me if I'm gonna hang out with the fellas and have a couple pizzas I'm gonna be a group of guys that are into that pizza thing and which I love pizza if I know I'm gonna have that then I'll spend the day like literally not eating okay so that when I do eat that it literally initially has this effect where my body goes okay we're prepared to handle a certain load and just because you gave me an overload now I'm not feeling so bad yeah one of the things about addiction and breaking that and for those who may recognize that I think food can be a comfort for a lot of us when we're stressed out it's easy to eat when we're happy it's easy to eat when we're all these range of emotions and it's one of the jokes I think a lot of pastors have is like they the preacher belly is what they call it as you're longer you're in the ministry the larger the waistline gets because everything is around food and celebration all of it's all around food and so trying to walk through that journey of recognizing that I maybe have some unhealthy habits with food how big of a role does accountability and and play in that for somebody who may be struggling right like I've tried to go on the diet thing I find myself constantly running back to it how would accountability help in that type of environment that type of scenario well I think it depends maybe more on the individual but like I am definitely accountability guy I've got a I've got to enlist my friends and family into the changes that I want to make the things that I want to do and if I can be held accountable to put out put out content or get my work done or hey I don't want to eat these things so if you see me get ready to put this in my mouth give me a good rap on the beat yeah I think that's huge having accountability is huge but I think if we can just start by not spiking insulin man I really do think that we'll have an easier time with those Cravings just the Cravings I think we start to knock that out so let me ask you a question about eating I've heard things and I don't know how true this is on eating late at night so I'm a typical late night snacker so how does that impact I know we talked about the fast enough but how does that specifically impact our gut or our diet or all that good stuff well we need to keep in mind that we're more insulin sensitive in the mornings so a lot of people tend to if especially if they're doing some intermittent fasting or time restricted feeding we tend to like we just don't eat all day and then we eat at night and I think it's just good to keep in mind that we're more insulin sensitive earlier in the day so you're I think you're better off to eat eat breakfast like the prince lunch like a pauper and how does that saying go it's but anyway you literally don't eat in closer to the evening that's tough to do in families because every a lot of times or at least hopefully there's at least one meal that's focused around the family but see if you can make it breakfast I think that I don't know is that what you're asking yeah so a nice healthy breakfast but tapering down as we get closer to the evening not having a ton of stuff on us when we hit the bed well I tell you what too one thing that makes me think of is I used to tell people I used to I had this saying that said you can't out train a bad diet and I still believe that to be true but I do believe that you can mitigate a bad diet or not ideal diet yeah you can definitely you can mitigate that and by exercising and people need to understand and this is not well known but it's strong science that insulin resistance starts in the muscle and then it graduates to the liver and then it goes to things like your brain they're calling things like diabetes or I'm sorry Alzheimer's as type 3 diabetes now because there's so much glucose in the brain and there's an enzyme that's supposed to take all that excess insulin out of the brain and it can't when you say it starts and the muscles is that I'm more prone to it if I don't have as much muscle mass as that well a yeah that could be that could definitely contribute to it but if we're doing resistance training that contraction that flexing and that that stretching that contraction of the muscle releases these things called myocons that help mitigate things like cytokines like from viral loads I know we've we've heard of things that relate to that in the last couple years and so my yeah myokines though do help reduce cytokines and so that muscular activity does help it helps burn the glycogen that's in your muscle stores and then your body is okay with accepting the insulin that has the key to open the cell to let that glucose in so there's this exchange there's this burning of the glucose and there's this reception of the glucose that is so huge I think if I had anybody start anywhere I used to Advocate a diet was 80 it's the iceberg that you can it's but exercise is or exercise is the part of the iceberg you see that's above the water but and your diet is all everything below the water icebergs are much bigger below the surface than but I really do think that exercise can really help insulin sensitivity and then help you fight those Cravings on top of that so we need to eat mindfully we need to move get out of breath get good sleep then drink lots of water man those are the tenons of actually there's a company that I'm affiliated with called niora that talk about those five habits and they talk about those five things those five tenants that you really need to be in a healthy State yeah that's good I know on Covey his book habits of highly effective people he talks about starting with the end in mind and that's that's one of those habits right of a highly and you mentioned something on a call a mastermind call a few months ago I remember you saying that my goal was to be in the best shape of my life when I'm in my 80s and that stuck with me I remember you mentioning that in the call and and I'm like man that's such a powerful statement to make right to be able to sit and look at my life now be like I've won I'm in good shape now but I want to be in better shape when I'm 80 and I think sometimes we don't look at the long tail of our decisions and our choices it's a lot of times we're caught in the now and here and so that's just let's assume we're having a conversation and like I'm talking to Justin right that is wish wash about his health and wants to be in the best shape of his life when he's in his 80s and I don't I shouldn't refer to myself in the third person that's weird but but yeah how does that Journey begin right like to be able to get to that spot where I guess the mind is in order but then also making the Practical steps to know that could actually be a reality it's not just a pipe dream right it's something that really is gonna happen for John right that as you continue to move toward that yeah what in the the health coaching program that I've been going through there's really a lot of the end in mind thing but it's also it talks a lot about what your goals are and getting to your why so I want to be in the best shape of my life that's great but why do I want to be there I'm I want to be effective because I think I'm a lot more wise now than I was 20 years ago and so what am I gonna where what am I gonna do with all that wisdom if I'm I can't get out and make a difference in the world if I don't feel well or I'm tired and lethargic and if you look at I hate to use scientific terms but they what they call all calls mortality it usually has something to do with instability weakness lack of muscle mass and I think we all should strive to at least try to be in the best shape of our lives in the inner 80s because we're going to be a we're going to still probably die the same things but we're gonna We're Not Gonna suffer with them as long and we're gonna feel better longer and be more effective for my for many more years if we have muscle mass and strength and the stronger you can be as you get into your 80s I think you're going to start seeing I think you're going to start seeing people live you're going to start seeing more what they call centenarians people living to that hundred plus yeah and but there's there's a group of society that's really big into taking care of themselves and others that I think are a little bit discouraged because they know that they've slight edged themselves all the way to not being in great health they don't feel well and it just feels like it's just easier to stay where you are and I think people really need to get to the why is it your I want to be there to play ball like in a big way with like my grandkids it's and when you don't have grandkids and you just have kids I was like man I just want to get through raising my kids but there is life after that and feeling better and feeling well and being able to be a good influence and example I think this world is far too dangerous right now to not have us all be in the best shape that we can be and we can go back to the temple and we can guilt ourselves into doing the right thing but right I don't like to do things with guilt and shame I think the enemy loves guilt and shame right I think we just should go and sin no more yeah just start from today yeah girl and shame it motivates you only for so long right and it never out of a good place I think there are some reality checks that we deal with when we Face the realities in our life but there comes a point where like we've got to move on from the guilt and the mistakes of our past and say okay what am I going to do now to change the outcomes for tomorrow and that piece that you spoke John about the why that's such a powerful thing I think a lot of times it's like okay well I just want to lose a few pounds well great everybody does everybody wants to look a little thinner in the mirror but that only lasts for so long and so you don't care about it anymore but I'm gonna care about my children for a lifetime and I'm going to care about their children and being able to have the energy and I even feel that now at times when I'm not in the best shape like chasing one of my kids across the yard I get winded even now and I'm not in great shape but I'm not in terrible shape but like I feel that at times when I'm like okay what's this gonna feel like 20 years from now when there is a grandkid and I I don't make these adjustments and I've been thinking about this a lot more recently and so John you're you're in the process of you're going through this Healthcare certification I know you're going to be starting a health coaching practice business here soon where you're helping people walk through this journey and so what does that look like for who is Health coaching for right the people that are that are in this phase of trying to figure this out right when would a health coach be appropriate and how would a health coach help them no well part of the reason I'm in the health coaching program I'm in is because it's it's a board-certified program and so that allows that's that allows us eventually to be able to bill for insurance and I think your family doctor and even your Specialists are limited they can tell you what to do but there's nobody to follow you home to do it there's nobody there to help you go over your Labs that your doctor ordered and say well here's the things like let's go through your pantry and let's look at let's go through your daily diet let's go through your whole life and your lifestyle and let's see so I think you could I think man I think getting a health coach it could be is for something that is minimal as just getting in better shape or tuning up your diet a bit all the way to the people that have type one diet I'm sorry type 2 diabetes and or they're pre-diabetic they've been told that it your doctor just can't take they can't follow you home they assume that you're probably not going to do what you're supposed to do so what do they write your prescription for metformin or some something like an ozympic or something like that's a sglt2 inhibitor that helps you burn sugar but ultimately I think it does come down to having some accountability and if I know that I'm you're coming over to my house as a house is my health coach and you're going to go over my diet with me and remind me of my whys and remind me how this is just it's just this it's just a it's a process it's one step today and one step tomorrow and yeah I don't think there's a bad time for a health coach people obviously later stages of Health are bad health I think needed need it more but I don't know that there's not a good like I said your doctors just can't follow you home they typically just want to write you a prescription because they want to fix they want to fix the problem in your blood work and so how do we get blood glucose down well you could do like my diet my dad's doctor did and he just prescribed Metformin and then more metformin and then something like a Glipizide or a zozymic or something and then ultimately your beta cells wear out and you're you don't have enough insulin supposedly and then they want to write your prescription my dad's on insulin and it's like his problem isn't insulin his problem is insulin sensitivity insulin resistance and if we just fix the root cause then we I don't know that's why you need a health coach because your doctor can't follow you home so for somebody like you said you're going through you went through a board-certified health coaching program and I think a lot of times when we talk about diet and food rightfully so people start to think about all the health issues they may have already and it's terrifying to consider changing the diet abruptly right because you're worried about how it may impact you but a coach like yourself is going to is really not in place of a doctor right you're working with the doctor you're looking at blood work and you're helping people make accurate decisions or making it on good decisions based off of what's going on with them already right is that a fair assessment 100 yeah that's definitely where it's at your doctor can't they want to fix your problem but they know that we're human and so change especially when it's an addiction it's they didn't hire are you an addiction specialist they they're just want to write a prescription and yeah and it's it's it's not necessarily their fault but it's like it's the only mechanism they have and so if you have the ability to be able to be referred to a health coach it just Andrew your insurance is going to pay for it and they're they're getting to that phase now so well we did that this was an issue in the rehab programs for years people would come through the recovery program spend time with us get their life together and they'd be in the best spiritual condition of their lives while in the program but the moment they hit the road and hit home none of the accountability none of the boundaries were there and without appropriate Aftercare people would ultimately fall flat on their face because it is real now you start to you're in the safety of a program and then now all those boundaries are gone and you've gotta like do it alone and that's difficult at times because then you have all the influences and I imagine like you said the doctor can't follow you home right Health coaching is that Aftercare it's that follow-up that accountability that helps somebody stay consistent yeah no that's that's definitely where it's at I think the doctors these days are a little bit overwhelmed and yeah it's I think diabetes itself especially type 2 is epidemic proportions yeah and that you definitely need people need help so that and the doctors need help they just really do they can't do it all they're they're doing the best they can but they need more treatment coordinators in the program and we're not we're we're living in a Day Too where everybody thinks they're a Google search away from being an expert right and I love that we have access to information but man I never Google my medical issues I just I've avoided it because I'm it takes me down a rabbit hole like I talk to The Experts the people that can help me figure these things out appropriately because like there are plenty of things that Google and information is good but having somebody to help you decipher that information and apply it appropriately is where it just you end up Miles Ahead from inappropriately applying stuff and I think yeah man it's such a powerful thing so John let me on as we wrap up let me asked just a a parting question on and this is my my go-to at the end of my podcast I'm a huge Back to the Future fan that's one of my favorite trilogies of all time I've actually I need to get it back in the frame but I have a Lego DeLorean that lights up that I built over Christmas break and it's a part of my office and so I'm a car dude that's for sure the DeLoreans are nice I'd love to own one but because of Back to the Future they're so expensive but maybe one of these days but one of the things I always ask at the end of the conversation John today having all the wisdom John has going through this health Journey on getting to this place where he's confident that I'm I'm gonna be around I'm gonna have the energy to chase after my grand grandkids cops in the DeLorean and it works and flies back to John getting released from the hospital after that accident and trying to figure out his health Journey what does John today say to John then to help him on his path man I think I'd start with like you mentioned you can just Google anything is find the right truth there are a lot of things you can read about how you should be on like fruits and vegetables and I don't want to get into the meat thing because I know there's some people out there that don't don't eat meat or feel like you shouldn't but it's fine people that find the right truths find the people that are in the know and that's really been the big thing that has helped me is that I've I've found the right people to follow that look at science like from both sides they took they played The Devil's Advocate and they looked at both sides of the argument and they came out on another on one side or the other and so finding the right p and that's tough to do but I'm I'm healthy to pass along some of my resources for people to follow some of the people I follow I get I have paid subscriptions I listened to and they're they get super technical yeah so I don't know if most people want to do that I geek out over science like that but right but finding the right people to follow people that have done what you want to do or that you've seen that have led people to do what you want to do I think is Paramount it's like finding a a good pastor it's like wait a minute we're all trying to get to the same truth right but yeah that's good some people have a little bit more I don't know yeah there's more truth yeah connections are so vital it's just so we were never meant to do this life alone and connecting with people that can help God and direct us and lead us in life it's a strength it's not a weakness we all need that connection with other people that's how God created us so speaking of following how can people find you if they want to follow you oh well good old Facebook Instagram those or you can email me at Jon at metconrx.com metconrx.com metconrx.com all the links down below for people to be able to check those out too cool well it so metcon people that are in CrossFit have probably heard that but RX is my prescription and it's my prescription for metabolic conditioning and metabolic conditioning I believe and it says this I'm a metcon RX Instagram page is that metabolic conditioning really does start with what you put in your mouth I believe in what you eat fasting and training and I think if you have those three but so Instagram met counter X Facebook I'm gonna probably start a new Facebook group just to do some one-off coaching or a group thing but those are probably the best way best easiest ways awesome I appreciate it John there's been a wealth of information and for man for all of you watching I encourage you maybe go back find some sections that were relevant to you and give these things a read listen and just I think I take a lot of courage and even hearing you just share the encouragement like look I've been at this for 14 years you got to start somewhere right and I tend to be the the guy that wants to conquer the entire Mountain on day one but this is a journey it's a marathon it's not a Sprint and so find yourself connecting to folks like John who know about this stuff who have the experience and the wisdom and ultimately hopefully we can all begin to make better health choices and better life choices so I appreciate it John thanks so much for jumping on today man and I'm so thankful I appreciate you and I appreciate the all the ways we've been able to connect and you've just been a real blessing to me too so I appreciate you yeah absolutely man I enjoy enjoyed hearing some of your stories and just your journey back from fitness and health and as I said earlier I think that that statement I want to be in the like looking that far in the future I think just manage was so profound and I really do appreciate your wisdom so thank you buddy I appreciate you