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EP: 70 Elie Abirached - From Entrepreneur to Wellness Advocate: The Journey to Health and Longevity

• Sophia Delavari • Season 1 • Episode 70

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After teaching third-grade students and molding young minds as a university professor, Illy took an unexpected turn into the world of global entrepreneurship with her education business, Eton. Despite its success, Illy found herself unfulfilled and decided to embark on a journey of personal exploration and wellness. From scaling mountains to mastering yoga, her story is one of transformation and the pursuit of passion beyond financial success.

Our conversation takes a flavorful twist as we explore how Illy's Lebanese roots have shaped her commitment to a healthy lifestyle through traditional Mediterranean practices. We discuss the art of seasonal eating and the value of integrating spices and traditional foods into daily meals. As she transitions from a demanding business world to ventures more aligned with her values, Illy underscores the importance of sustainable food choices and the impact of a fresh produce-friendly environment.

Elie shares valuable insights into biohacking and the multifaceted journey of optimizing life through nutrition, exercise, and mindful living. We tackle myths about muscle building at different ages and emphasize the role of resistance training and mindful eating in longevity. The episode also touches on the challenges and rewards of maintaining a health-focused lifestyle within family dynamics, and the balance between social media's reach and its distractions. Join us for a conversation rich with personal stories and practical advice designed to inspire you to prioritize health and well-being.

Find Elie on Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/elie.truth?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Please feel free to reach out to me on instagram if you have any questions :
https://www.instagram.com/sophiadelavari/

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Speaker 1:

welcome on today's podcast, on the detached podcast today I have illy, illy, am I pronouncing that?

Speaker 2:

it's perfect. It's perfect.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for having me thank you for coming on today. I just want to get down to the nitty-gritty first and understand who you are as a person. And where does that root come from? Where does Illy come from?

Speaker 2:

yeah, um, wow. It's a. Most people find it interesting. For me it just seems like a natural progression of things um so um to.

Speaker 2:

From a career perspective, I started off as a teacher, as a like a third grade teacher, and then moved all the way up to a university professor, where I had my PhD in education and I was really into I've always been into academia and I've always been into learning as much as possible. I'm still a geek at heart, so I love always kind of to absorb as much as possible and all of that. But throughout my life, my true calling has always been in fitness and has always been in tweaking what I'm able to do since the age maybe of 13 or 14 or something like that. So along my entrepreneurial journey, what I did as parallel to that is like mountain climbing, triathlons, marathons, like I tried to get into as many of these challenging scenarios or events as I could and at some stage, at some point, and throughout that journey also, I was always aware of what is happening in my body, naturally, and I was always aware of the things that would impact me one way or another, no matter what the environment is.

Speaker 2:

So at some point I began to feel it physically, because obviously at some point all of us, as we progress in life, there is a point where you feel to yourself, like what else can I do?

Speaker 2:

Like you know, how can I tweak this a little bit better, how can I make my sleep a little bit better, et cetera. And then you start going down these rabbit holes like one after the other, and at the time, I mean there was no such thing as biohacking as a term, you know, so I didn't even know it existed or there is a term to what I do, so naturally progressed into that. And then, about seven or eight years ago, I sold my business that I set up here in Dubai in 2006 and was related to education. We were doing corporate training, cultural awareness and and other related topics like that and then I then went into like a proper search into who I am and what do I really want to do, because I felt at that time from a career perspective is that this is how. Why did I spend so many years doing this while I could be doing something that I truly enjoy?

Speaker 1:

Why did you sell your company?

Speaker 2:

So I reached a point where I didn't feel I was giving it as much as I, I wasn't enjoying it as well. The excitement is gone and I felt that my attention was somewhere else. So I would be one week at. I mean, we've grown exponentially. We were in Singapore and New York and London and Vienna, like quite a few places, and we were doing incredibly well. What?

Speaker 1:

was it called Eton and we were doing incredibly well, what was it called Eton?

Speaker 2:

So I felt that I'm not deserving of this. Like there's someone else should be at the helm of this because it has so much potential. While I am not excited about it anymore, I mean, I'm super proud of it and it still exists and they're doing great and all of that. So, and meanwhile, what I would do is that, like I would be one week in one place, in one of the locations, and then one week would be in Kilimanjaro and then another week would be somewhere else, like you know. So that's really my passion, that's what I would look forward to.

Speaker 1:

So how long was it when your excitement had dried up, like how long was that period that you realized?

Speaker 2:

I think once, maybe about 10 years, oh, 10 years with no excitement.

Speaker 2:

No, no, no, I mean at the 10 year marker. At the 10 year marker because we've done so much and I felt like I mean it's not about the money, for me it's always about, like, the impact. That's why I went into education from the beginning and there was no satisfaction in it, there was no reward. I didn't feel I was useful, if you know what I mean, because I think the fundamental aspect for all of us is feeling useful. If you're able to achieve that, I feel happiness follows right after, at least for me. So I wasn't feeling as useful as I can be or contributing to my environment, to myself, to my family, as much as I can Not from a financial perspective, I'm talking about the real stuff to my family as much as I can, not from a financial perspective, I'm talking about the real stuff.

Speaker 1:

Do you think that was more inside your own mind than anything else, of feeling useless? If you're not feeling useful in that situation?

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely, I mean, it's always what's inside our mind right, I mean the way we're viewed, our perspective, all of that. But, yeah, definitely it was me, it was all about me. Everyone around me me, the team, people that were involved in the business didn't feel the same way, like they felt I am, you know, truly contributing and like you know all of that.

Speaker 2:

Well, I didn't feel it, and even when I was contributing, I was contributing wholeheartedly, if you know what I mean yeah and that's really important to me, like I can't do stuff halfway and I can't do stuff pretending to like and things like that. And I was fortunate enough that I was able to do that, so it was a happy thing for me that I exited and then it led me into having a little more time to explore so many other things, you know, to becoming a yoga instructor, becoming a PT, you know, taking all sorts of courses from osteopathy to meditation to breath work, everything I could get my hands on. At the time I was living in Connecticut in the US and I was traveling all over the country trying to learn as much as possible, east to west coast.

Speaker 1:

What age were you at that point?

Speaker 2:

That was six years ago, seven years ago. So this is when this is happening and I quickly realized how many things I was already applying into my life, like being mindful of the type of food that I'm eating, the structure of my day, the way I would synchronize my sleep with light, the amount of time I spend outside, and so many other things. So when you go to or you go through any of the learning of what we do, um, if you really like, bring them down to distill them. They're basically these things, you know, it's sleep, it's eating well, it's, you know, supplementing what your body needs, uh, keeping mental clarity, skeletal muscle and so on and so on. But but at the end of the day, it's not that complicated.

Speaker 1:

Before you went into that, though, what were your habits like when you were with your old company?

Speaker 2:

They were actually pretty good too. Oh, okay, so that's what I'm saying is that it felt extremely natural for me.

Speaker 2:

So I've always been as fit as I can be. I have never been away from a gym in you know the the 40 odd years that I've been going to the gym. Um, so, and then all of the other stuff that I've peppered in and I was always pushing myself. 40 plus 40 I don't know what the number now for for the marathons that I've done, um and uh. So I've, I've always, and so I've always pushed myself. So I've always been prioritizing sleep. I was never overweight.

Speaker 2:

There were times where I could have put on a little bit more weight because of other stressors that you kind of become aware of and then you try to deal with, especially when you're running a business that is really, really thriving and many moving parts and things like that. And that was perhaps another reason is that I didn't want to be running a business that with many, many moving parts. I would rather run something smaller that has greater impact, that is directly resonates with who I am and what I do, and it's more of that. It's more of who I am and less about me doing something you know as a job and I've talked about that before where you know people talk about, like a day off or I have to go to work, and the terminology that we use with certain things that we don't necessarily enjoy, even though we don't say it out loud. But the terminology that we use if you apply it into anything else, when you use the word I have to or I need to take a day off it becomes.

Speaker 2:

You know, it becomes something that you don't really enjoy and you shouldn't be doing. Um, for me, these don't align. So this is I, I. There is no for me that I time off from what, like. I love this, this is, this is who I am. I don't take time off from eating healthy. I don't, you know. It's, it's just who I am.

Speaker 1:

Um, so um with this being said, with who you are, you've been very health conscious. Was this learned from your childhood? Did you grow up in a family where it was very health orientated, or where did you pick this from?

Speaker 2:

well, I mean, we were just a regular Middle Eastern family, so I'm originally from Lebanon and Mediterranean. You know lots of mountains, we grew up where, and and now so many of the things that I used to hear at the time makes so much sense. And it fits perfectly with my biohacking journey too, because biohacking is always considered as something that is almost sci-fi, like there has to be some cool gadget that you have to be doing or you have to go to extremes when it comes to chemicals or this or that or whatever. Um, weird diets and whatever. But really a lot of it in my in my opinion, maybe 80 of it is based in the wisdom of the ages, stuff that you've learned from the past. So I remember my mom would say we, we would eat stuff that are only in season and for me, me, I would say like you know, they have cucumbers now, Like, why would we have to do, you know, wait for the time where you know?

Speaker 2:

And it was just like she didn't know the answer to that. It's just embedded in her that you know, if you eat seasonally, it's going to be more nutritious, it's going to be, you know, and so on, so many other things. She would get stuff and it would be pickled during the winter so we could do that, and then it's so important to include pickles always on the dinner table and then later realize how important it is for your microbiome and so many other things. It was naturally ingrained in me all sorts of things Like I don't know, like it would be things such as pomegranate, for example. Whenever it was in season it was always there and I I hated it because it had so many seeds, but she would make sure that we would have pomegranate, and now we realize the value of pomegranate and what it does for us and so many things like that that I grew up instinctively kind of including in what I do.

Speaker 2:

You know there wasn't daily meat on our table. It was always at least two days per week, if not more, where it will be meat-free. But I mean that's helpful when you're growing up in a Mediterranean diet anyway the olive oils, the garlics, the beautiful spices that come along with it. And then you learn to integrate that Like, even if you're making your eggs in the morning you would put something on as sumac, for example Incredible for you, you know, antioxidant, et cetera, et cetera. But we used to put it because it's a spice. It just makes it a little more tangy and it adds something to the, to the, to the eggs.

Speaker 1:

Um, lebanese food is incredible it's so incredible honestly speaking, in between here and lebanon.

Speaker 2:

So did you grow up in lebanon, then you're only for for like my um, teenage years, okay, and then after that I was in the uk and then in vienna, and then the Vienna, and then the US, and then here and then in Cyprus for a couple of years.

Speaker 1:

So I've been around do you still have family there?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I have one or two. Yes, I do is everyone okay? Yeah, everyone's fine yeah, um.

Speaker 1:

So, with that being said, then, transitioning to Lebanon, to Dubai, how do you find the fresh produce over here?

Speaker 2:

so that's an interesting question um when?

Speaker 1:

we talk about seasons and things being in. I mean, it's not just here, to be honest, it's everywhere really.

Speaker 2:

I mean you cannot go to a supermarket and not find cucumbers or strawberries or whatever anywhere in the world at any time of the year, um.

Speaker 2:

So it's, it's part of us wanting everything at our fingertips all year round and it's part of the mentality that I kind of try to avoid or move away from, that continuous, relentless seeking of comfort of if I want it, if I want avocado, I want avocado, I want it now, if I want this, it's okay to kind of go through this.

Speaker 2:

But to answer your question, I mean you definitely feel the lack of nutritional aspect when it comes to produce that is done here. But I still like produce that is closer to you than produce that it's spent weeks traveling from one place to another or refrigerated or whatever. So I like the way it makes me feel, I like the, the learning around the fact that if your food is close to you, um is simply better for you, you know. So I like that and I generally apply a few rules like that, like colors on my plate, um, how close the food is. If it is a local fish, I focus on that fish rather than to get something. That is, if I can get smaller fish, I love that more than a bigger fish.

Speaker 1:

And why is that? The smaller fish over the bigger fish?

Speaker 2:

um, so mainly because of heavy metals and unfortunately there's just like everything that we do around us. And again because of comfort, because we want fish continuously in our supermarkets, at any time that we wish to want fish is has to be available and has to be there. Because of communities, because of commerce, because of all of these things that sometimes are inevitable and sometimes they could be perhaps done in a different way. I'm not an expert in that, so I prefer smaller fish because of what we're doing to our seas and you know what we dump in them and all of that, so the fish is less exposed to what is happening in our oceans and seas, unfortunately, so biohacking it's a term that maybe some of the listeners might know mightn't know what biohacking actually means, so what does it mean for you?

Speaker 2:

It means for me personally? It means something like daily life, like it doesn't it doesn't carry any extra, like I would have to change something in order for me to be living or or experiencing biohacking. Um, it's just normal life for me. So when it then had a term and people were asking about it, then it kind of like made sense for me and people would ask me continuously this question like what is it? What you know, what's it like, etc. And if there is perhaps one answer that resonates for me, it's about the past, the present and the future.

Speaker 2:

That's what biohacking is, and it's about the, the us, understanding that we are the product of our environment, whatever that environment is it could be internal environment, it could be external environment and then finding ways to optimize those environments, because if you optimize them, that means you optimize yourself and therefore you could just live a healthier, happier life.

Speaker 2:

Everything comes together, because when people think of biohacking, they think of very specific, almost medicine-related hacks, and I think, for me at least, that's not the case at all, because it could be simple things such as mental health even though it's not that simple, but simple things in mental health that can transform your approach to working out, or just waking up early to go to the gym in the morning, or sort of prioritizing things that are truly our priorities and not all of the fluff around them, and having confidence in that a little bit.

Speaker 2:

So biohacking for me is understanding what the past teaches us and so much to learn. Understanding where you are right now Because if you're able to measure, you're able to hack the two go hand in hand and understanding how can you influence your future, because you've had the data you're able to make tweaks, to make your microbiome a little bit better, to better understand your mental health and do something about it. Understand the stuff that directly influence these things Better skin, better hair, better nails, better bones, everything you know. So and I love that little challenge and I think most human do at some level is just either having the opportunity or being exposed to certain aspects of that in order for them to do it and to pursue it and be excited about it.

Speaker 1:

Why is your microbiome important?

Speaker 2:

I love that. So in my opinion, I well for me personally. Let me approach it this way For me, I focus on three things, three pillars that I build everything around One is my nutrition, the other is my sleep and the third is my skeletal muscle. If I'm able to get these in line, generally everything else starts to fit around it, including my mental health, including my posture, including my relationship with people, and people kind of get confused with that, like what does this have? What does your gut have to do with people? But when was the last time that you were what's the term? Hangry?

Speaker 1:

Hangry. Yeah, I always get hangry.

Speaker 2:

Right, so it has a lot to do.

Speaker 2:

So, it has a lot to do, and your microbiome is directly responsible to how healthy you are, your immunity, even your eyesight, your skin health, your oral health everything is related and your microbiome. Most people think of microbiome as something that is internal, but also your microbiome lives on your skin. So the way we wash ourselves, the stuff that we use, we consider ourselves a solid. We're very, very perforated. There's a lot of exchange with our environment in and out. You put something on your skin, it's going to be absorbed. If the molecule is small enough to go through your skin, it's going to go through your skin constantly detoxing itself with all sorts of things. So we communicate all the time with our environment and the microbiome that exists in our skin is responsible for our health. People don't realize how fragile it is for us not to have that um, internally and externally.

Speaker 1:

So so what do you do to keep a healthy microbiome?

Speaker 2:

um, again, it is not one thing, it's, that's the other thing I love that answer.

Speaker 1:

I absolutely love that answer, because when someone says I use these three things, you know? No, it's not true. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

They contribute.

Speaker 1:

Of course.

Speaker 2:

But everything is related to it, everything. So that's another thing about biohacking, because if I use red light, for example, that means, oh, I'm a biohacker. Yes, it's great that you use it and you're experiencing yourself, or you spend time in the morning outside in the early light Great, well done, amazing. But this is one of many, many things. It's a lifestyle. That's what I was trying to say earlier, I think. So you cannot just work on your microbiome, because it's a system that is intricate and beautiful and it works in an amazing way and capable of things that we can't even understand yet. I don't know if we ever will. So it's a combination of things that we can't even understand yet. I don't know if we ever will. So it's a combination of things.

Speaker 2:

Sleep contributes to a healthy microbiome. Eating the right food, healthy food, food that is wholesome, not overeating. Again, your mental health contributes to it and it contributes to mental health. The health of your muscles contributes to what your metabolism is doing and therefore accessing whatever your microbiome is doing. So they're all so integrated that you cannot just do one thing and not do the other. When you're making shifts, you're making shifts to everything about you, from you paying attention to your posture, to hydration, to what nutrition you put into your body, to how much you allow it to move, because we're we're born to move, not sit um unfortunately I haven't got a walking pad under you on this podcast.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know right, it would be nice if people are holding that. That's true yeah um, but obviously you have tons of tools also that will that you know can can support you on your journey. But these are only tools. They're as good as you.

Speaker 1:

You use them you mentioned overeating there when you were talking about microbiome and how that can impact your microbiome. What do you think influences people to overeat now in this modern world, because I know a lot of people are talking about overeating ozempic on the market. People are want to suppress their appetites, so what do you think is the most common reason for people to overeat in society?

Speaker 2:

I mean there's. There's perhaps the most obvious answer and there are perhaps less obvious answers to that. Um, so I think our, the stress of life is a major contributor to that, because most overeating habits I want to call them are caused us looking for some sort of comfort, so that's why they call it comfort food, and you know, so we get some sort of satisfaction from consuming something. We get some sort of satisfaction from consuming something, and then perhaps other answers when it comes to this, especially when it comes to me, is availability. Like you cannot be anywhere without having a shiny, colorful thing that has been offered to you, be it from a candy bar, to this, to that, and people don't realize the amount of energy that is within the small things that you eat, especially if it is something that is processed and all of the other stuff that needs to be added to it so it lasts a certain shelf life, so the marketer and the producer make it sustainable for them to make enough money. And so it's a complex ecosystem that we're in the center of. Where the targets and the victims of that wide availability of all these different things that have been marketed to us. Availability of all these different things that have been marketed to us, while the body truly needs very little. It's incredibly efficient at using energy, incredibly efficient, but we tend to think that the more we eat, even certain cultures are part of that. There are actually certain cultures, even in the Middle East.

Speaker 2:

There are sayings even where you say, if someone has a belly, that's a sign of health. And again, this comes from where we've come from as human beings, when we didn't know where our next meal is coming from, where we would have to go out and hunt for our food or forage or whatever. So that scarcity, you know, we're designed to make life easier for ourselves, but consistently we overdo it and we can't just have one type of biscuits. It needs to be literally thousands that have different whatever. And people don't realize that that accessibility is literally the death of us in one way or another, in one way or another, through disease or chronic illnesses or, you know, contributing to depression or killing certain systems in your body. There's so much really. I mean, there are rabbit holes after rabbit hole. It's just incredible the stuff that you can discover as you go through these things.

Speaker 1:

You just mentioned processed foods there, and what is your take and relationship with processed foods? Do you include it in your diet or are you someone who's very one ingredient fulfilled when it comes to eating?

Speaker 2:

yeah, no, I try. I try to avoid it as much as possible. I say I try because it's so around us that sometimes it's not always convenient to have whole food right there, but I do it. I can honestly say that it would be maybe two or three times a week rather than on a daily basis.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

So 99% of the time I eat at home food that is cooked at home, nine percent of the time I eat at home food that is cooked at home, um, I try not to uh, order anything or do stuff that is uh or pick some pick something up that is, uh, pre-cooked, handy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, uh, I try to plan my meals, so that's the only thing that I do, differently than perhaps most people is I plan because we all know that we're going to eat throughout the day. It's just we depend on the fact that we will find food somewhere, you know so, either at a gas station or at the supermarket, or this, or I can order something to be delivered, or whatever it is. So we never think about that, but if you give it a little bit of thought, the impact on your health is so amazing that I think it's really worth it.

Speaker 1:

It do you think someone who eats outside can still look after their health if they pay attention?

Speaker 2:

I do yeah, I do, yeah, so I don't think we need to, um, make it that difficult for ourselves. And because there's so many entrepreneurs out there and and um uh sort of thought leaders, when it comes to particular industries, that are aware of this and they want to make something available that fits within that lifestyle. So there is a major movement happening all over the world now into more conscious existence, which really resonates with biohacking in general. So there are definitely options out there. Where the food is prepared sustainably great sources, clean environment, people that are really aware of what they're doing and how they're doing it, there are definitely great options, especially in a place like Dubai.

Speaker 2:

However, at the end of the day, whatever meal that you're preparing is as good as its ingredients. So there are plus and minuses to wherever you live in this world. So, understanding that perhaps the nutritional level of certain things may be a little lower not by much, maybe it depends on what we're talking about and obviously I haven't done, you know, sort of lab testing on everything to understand it just makes sense to me because of soil, because of where this is done, etc. Because of weather, that the nutritional value of certain things will be a little bit lower. Nothing necessarily terrible about that, it's just being aware of it. It helps you to compensate in other ways. So I think people, and even when you're ordering, when you're eating outside, you can still do it consciously. You could do it consciously.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You could do a better choice. You know, like if you open an app now to order some food, there are literally thousands of options, but we go sometimes, because of convenience, to the first one cheapest one or the one that has the brightest colors or whatever it is.

Speaker 1:

So but yeah, yeah, you can so because you are very passionate about longevity. What can someone do in terms of looking after a longer life? What kind of things would you suggest to introduce into their life and what things would they remove out of their life to have a longer life? And a better quality of life.

Speaker 2:

That's a subject that I'm super, super passionate about, and all of it stems from resistance training. So you'll be shocked at again, in a city like Dubai, it's not necessarily representative of what happens all over the world, and even in in Dubai or the UAE as a whole, or even the region, um, there, you'll be shocked at the amount of people that still don't do resistance training. Um, we're creatures of habit. We stick to one thing and we do it like you. If I ask you what do you do to stay fit, you say I run. Do you do to stay fit? You say I run. Do you do anything else? No, I run like four or five times a week or whatever it is, and that's it. So that education of what it requires for our skeletal musculoskeletal system to be healthy is still not there, and that's there is no greater contributor to longevity than skeletal muscle.

Speaker 1:

Why is resistance training so important?

Speaker 2:

Because that's the language of muscles, right? So weightlifting, band training, pulling, tagging, pushing all of these things that's what the muscles were designed to do. So the key thing to longevity is having more muscle all over your body. I'm not talking about bodybuilding muscle, I'm not talking about extraordinary muscle, I'm just talking all over your skeletal, because there are muscle that you see and muscle that you don't, with over 200 muscles in the body that contribute to everything. And just as a tangent on this is that when you're doing something, let me give you an example.

Speaker 2:

Let's say gait cycle, actual, every step that you make. There's something like 18 different muscles that are involved in this. But let's say you're running, most people would focus on their hamstrings, on their glutes, on their calves, for example. So, but there are so many others that are involved in this. So therefore you're, if you're doing the same thing over and over again, you're contributing to certain muscles becoming, you know, better toned, stronger, etc. While you're ignoring others.

Speaker 2:

So when you're doing resistance training and you're doing a variety of it, and not just resistance training by itself, by the way so as part of a training routine, you would need about six days a week. That's my opinion, six days a week, and it's then peppered with all these different things, and at least two of them would be two or three of them actually would be related to resistance training. While one or two can be mainly based towards cardio, it doesn't mean that it won't include some sort of resistance training in it One for endurance, maybe, where you do HIIT exercises for your cardiovascular also strength and even your nervous system. So you need a variety to make sure that all of your 200 plus muscles in your body are getting a workout one way or another. And then that doesn't only contribute, as you know, to metabolism and hormone release and all these beautiful other things. It also contributes to you not depending on anyone later on in life.

Speaker 2:

For you standing straight when you're in your 60s and 70s, you getting up of a chair without making a noise as you get up you know so, um. Or putting your hands on your knees to to get up um, they're super important. The other thing that what I call a myth, I you know in my opinion, is that there seemed to be an age where people say, oh, it's too late. For me, it's never too late to build muscles.

Speaker 2:

Um, you could always do that and from a biological perspective I was reading a paper the other day we technically are designed. Even though the average age now we all live on is around 80 years old, we're technically designed to live 120. So our bodies are capable of doing that.

Speaker 1:

How is the quality at 100 years of age? Can you imagine Exactly?

Speaker 2:

So without proper skeletal, muscular, skeletal health, imagine how terrible that would be. Of course, so, and again, that's one aspect, because once you're building your musculoskeletal, the next thing that you would need to do is feed it. So you need to eat healthy, because if you don't eat healthy, that's not going to support the growth of what you're doing. And then the third thing that you need to do I mean there are many, obviously again it's a one major system. The other thing you do you need to recover.

Speaker 2:

Well, because the body is incredible at recovering. We always underestimate it and we think we are helping it or we're doing something, even though we can. But the body is incredible. All it needs is sometimes a little bit of a push, like when you're feeling a little under the weather. Go to bed early, darken your room, switch off all the blue stuff, stuff, you know, before you go to bed for at least a couple of hours, don't eat late, cool your your room, um and so on, and then get into a proper deep sleep and see how you wake up in the morning. We've all had these, these you know mornings where we wake up and you think, oh, my god, I feel so alive, um when you mention a cold room.

Speaker 1:

How, what temperature do you sleep in? 18 19 yeah, I'm 18. I'm 18 and I love it I I literally love it.

Speaker 2:

I probably could sleep even in cooler yeah yeah, so now I am working with a product from the us that actually cools my mattress too.

Speaker 2:

Eight sleep yes, yeah, I love it, yeah, yeah so, um, uh, so that that that adds the whole level of of sleep, I believe. Yeah, so I'm really excited on on kind of doing some work with them here and and, uh, making sure that people understand how temperature, how important temperature is to almost everything that we do how important is a sleep routine prior before going to bed to you like is, do you have a ritual before going to bed?

Speaker 2:

I no longer call it a ritual, but yes and I think everyone should it's just a routine, it's just. I don't really think about it. You know it's not really that I think about, but it's. It's really important and my body's clock is synced to it now, so I no longer have to think about it. Like by six I just can't eat after that. Even if I haven't eaten, my body doesn't remind me that it needs to eat. I make sure that I do, but let's say, for whatever reason I don't, my stomach doesn't want to work after 6 pm. So my body knows that now I'm in bed by 8, 30 or 9, so and that's a fairly regular.

Speaker 2:

It makes me a little anti-social sometimes, but people understand, like even strangers now they they get in touch with me for the first time and they'll say I know that you sleep early, but so I love that. I love that people understand that I have a particular routine that works for me and I think it would work for anyone. Really, depending on you know what your lifestyle is, because one of my favorite things to do is to wake up early in the morning. So in order for me to do that, I need to sleep at a certain time. So for people that wake up a little later, then obviously they can sleep a little later. That's okay. So it's super important to get yourself into routine that works for you. But we know again from the wisdom of the ages, from other biohackers we all are biohackers from other people that certain things like you cannot have a heavy meal and sleep well.

Speaker 2:

We all know this but we still do it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, we get a little peckish at 10 pm, we order a pizza and then we try to sleep and then we don't, you know. So your body temperature rises, your stomach is working, is overworking, you start having little nightmares, you're breathing heavier, you're just not going into the right sleep that you need to go through. So if I know this, like wouldn't, I want to make sure. But then again, when it comes to people and psychology and as it was, you know, proven in economics for most of us want immediate gratification.

Speaker 2:

So, what is happening right now. Tomorrow morning is another day. They've offered people, let's say, I don't know the exact number, but they offered them $800 now or $1,200 in a year's time, and I think 90% of people took the $800 now because it's right here in front of me. I could take it. It's not like for later Now. Obviously it depends on many things and maybe people really desperately needed it or whatever, but in general, even those that didn't need it, they still took the lower amount now because it's available right now. So we have that tendency. It was there, you know I have it. Oh, I went with friends Everyone. It was there, you know I have it. Oh, I went with friends. Everyone was drinking, so I over drank. You know things like that, you know.

Speaker 2:

So we get into a moment, and it's really important that we understand that this is part of our humanity. This is who we are. It's just we just need to tweak it a little bit. Because if health is important for us and it should be it should be the number one priority for all of us. One of the main reasons is, for me, is that everything is built upon it. All you have to do is, you know, stomp your toe somewhere and then tell me how your day is and what happens to everything that is important in your life. Have a toothache and then tell me how life looks from that perspective. So everything is built on that foundation. If you're not prioritizing that, that means you are not doing it right. Simple as that.

Speaker 1:

Like I can be bold and say that because I don't think anything can be prioritized over over health I think you're stubborn with your own health, which is which is an amazing thing, I know stubborn can be seen as a very negative word but. I think we need to be stubborn when it comes to prioritizing our health. But you saying that you are sometimes antisocial, have you noticed, since you've been on this health journey, that some people just fall through the cracks because they can't adhere to your kind of lifestyle?

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's my lifestyle, is for me. It doesn't apply for everyone else.

Speaker 1:

And so when you mentioned that, actually I'm going to ask you a question Are you single?

Speaker 2:

No, I am not.

Speaker 1:

Are you married? Yes, and does she apply to?

Speaker 2:

Not really. She has her own style, okay. But, it's very similar to mine.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, so compliments so yeah, she wakes up later in the morning so she sleeps a little later in the evening. Actually, even my kids. We're all kind of in the same thing and I don't impose anything that I do on anyone else. I don't like shame or feel anyone guilty that they're. Why are you not doing this? It works for me, it should work for you. I just try to act as by an example.

Speaker 2:

So I do it and people see how I am um, I'm 52 years old, but my body's age is 37 like I'm doing something right. So people see that all the time and they see me at the gym and they see what I do and they see that I work out seven days a week. You know I run two, three businesses. I am always somewhere non-stop and I love it and I feel great and I don't remember the last time that I was sick and like all of these different things. So people get inspired by that, and including my own household. So my kids are the same. They eat healthy just by proxy and yeah, so I love that, I love that and I see it and I'm kind of like smiling inside and I'm not, don't make a big deal, but I I know that I'm making some sort of impact that way um what kind of advice would you give to a married couple and one is adhering to their health and wellness journey and the other one is not particularly complimenting them?

Speaker 1:

what kind of advice would you give that person?

Speaker 2:

Get to the root of it, understand where is that coming from, and I don't think it has to do with what you think it does. So we have certain needs, emotional states, mental states. It's always a little more complicated, or at least it's not what you think it is. There's this amazing saying is that we're never angry at the thing that we think we're angry at. It's always something else that is underlying. So, understand where that is coming from, because if the person sees the value, if the person understands all the moving part of it and there is no sort of I'm doing it, you should do it type situation is that they'll come to that realization on their own, because at the end of the day, you can show certain things, but people have to make that discovery for themselves. And I love it when I see that aha moment for people where they say, oh, my god, I've tried this and I feel so much better, whatever it may be, um and uh like. I'll give you a quick example. So I I work as part of my one of my programs, which is the Limitless Human program, with several people that you know. It's a biohacking, like a private biohacking program where we do with everything about their lives. So I get a lot of. So I deal with them directly and I get anything from. You know marital questions to like anything, right, so I deal with everything nutrition, sleep, all sorts of stuff like anything right, so I do, I deal with everything nutrition, sleep, and all sorts of stuff.

Speaker 2:

Um, so I had someone who's an executive, um, really like incredibly, um, uh, sort of high achieving, and he was away for a week in the uk and just came back two days ago and he, he got in touch with me today to say I didn't sleep well last.

Speaker 2:

Like he knows that how sleep is important, we've gone through that, he's optimized it, he's doing great with it, et cetera, all of that and he didn't sleep well. Why do you think that is so? That was his main question. And to understand like I ate well, I'm doing all the right things, et cetera, et cetera. And then I pointed out to him one point is that the fact that you were on an airplane and the, the radiation that you got exposed to, and the change of of weather cooler to warmer, like all of these different things, you know, they may be contorted. And it was like a little aha moment for him and it made sense and now he knows that tonight is going to sleep a little bit better because his body is already compensated for something, and sometimes setting someone up mentally or pointing out a certain point, it helps them to make the right decision naturally into certain things.

Speaker 1:

so do you think changing the narrative can have a slight placebo effect as well?

Speaker 2:

oh, 100, 100.

Speaker 2:

So I ran a program with six athletes over over the summer um where we we've taken already incredibly high achieving individuals and I was trying to take them to the next level.

Speaker 2:

What else can I do to make them even achieve more? Obviously, I had several tools at my disposal, and the base of which is that understand where they are right now, take snapshots of their blood, find out their DNA like all of the usual stuff, right. But I found out for the first 10 days, even as I didn't get all of the results from them, that they were already excelling at more things improving their personal best at the gyms and doing stuff like that and I couldn't find any other correlation than just simply giving them attention, motivation, than just simply giving them attention. Then the fact that they had access to me and someone reached out to them and said I'm gonna take care of you and you're gonna do better because of what I'm gonna tell you or the stuff that we're gonna be doing together. They immediately started doing better before I even did anything with them. So it the placebo effect is is an incredible uh power when you just mentioned attention there.

Speaker 1:

Do you think obviously in the modern world we're so attached to technology that do you think the human attention is more impactful than AI, for an example?

Speaker 2:

I don't actually. I think everything has its own usefulness if you like, but we as people, one of the key thing that makes us happy is connection to other human beings yeah it's a, it's a.

Speaker 1:

It's a fundamental thing because I feel like people now are starting to become more educated on a calorie deficit, on nutrition, all these things, but at the end of the day, they need support yeah and I think the human connection of human support is the thing that really changes people 100.

Speaker 2:

So each has its own usefulness, but there is nothing that will outstage that sort of connection. It could be something you could be the most confident person in the world and you could walk out of your elevator in the morning and someone says, oh, you look tired today and then you feel tired for the rest of the day.

Speaker 1:

I think that's the worst thing that you can say to anyone you look tired. You look tired today and you know I've had this before. I've stood in a lift before and someone said you look tired. And I often have said to them so do you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah I mean, I think, if they, if they really do, then yeah, that's fair um well, never look at one.

Speaker 1:

One piece of advice never tell a female she looks tired. No one, yes, of course, no, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Um, unless you follow it up with something like you know, hopefully you'll get some more rest today or like something you know, if it's, if it comes naturally and not from a bad place I never think it does come from a bad place, but nine times I said nobody, hold yourself yeah, hold back.

Speaker 2:

I would say hold back for sure. But what I'm trying to to say here is that it's so impactful because the other, the, the other side of this coin also like is just as powerful. Like if someone tells you oh my god, you look incredible today, you feel incredible today, you know, yeah, and all you've said is exchange noise, you know actual vibration, like something that we've moved and made noise a word, a thought, an indication and it made you change how you feel, what you do for the rest of the day. And then imagine the chain reaction of all of this. When someone tells you, oh, you look so tired today, your next interaction would be from a tired place, while when someone tells you how great you look today, your next interaction would be from how great I look today. You know your tone of voice is different. It's impactful the way you move, like everything changes. And then imagine the results of those conversations and then what happens after and the meetings and the calls and you know. So everything is kind of comes together. It's incredible.

Speaker 1:

So, because biohacking is your thing, I know ice baths fall under that, so tell me how important is a cold plunge?

Speaker 2:

Fairly important, but not as important as people have made it to be.

Speaker 1:

I know I feel like social media has really amplified it, so I would like to hear your views and your relationship with the yeah cold exposure.

Speaker 2:

It's not for everyone and it doesn't have to be something that you have to do. Um, it does help, it does have benefits. It's been proven in more than ways than one from an inflammatory perspective from your nervous system, other other things like that and it does release the happy hormone afterwards and you feel great, just like any hormesis or any mild stressor that you go through. You have a presentation, you're speaking in front of a huge public and you're nervous, but once you do it, that elation afterwards that you've done it I guess I'm speaking from my own experience, but there are many other things that apply to the same situation Job interview, whatever any stressful situation. So it does that, but it's not for everyone and there's very little education on it, unfortunately.

Speaker 2:

So I've made it my mission to kind of talk about it as much as possible and I and I talk about it anytime that I possibly can just something as small as the difference between man and woman, for example. When should you do it, how often, for how long, what temperature, etc. All of these different things. Um, but as a whole, it's pretty good for you. It's just overdoing it, not putting so much emphasis on doing it so much. There are many other things that are incredibly good for you too. If I had the choice between and I could only choose one ice bath or sauna, I would go to a sauna for example, you know.

Speaker 2:

So, even though it seems, oh sauna, you're just sitting there just sweating like what's so even though it seems oh sauna. You're just sitting there just sweating, like what's so cool about it? It doesn't look good in social media you know, so it's unfortunate.

Speaker 2:

But again, like people that are serious about their health, they know this and they listen, and these are the people that follow you and follow me and you know so. But education is key because still, kids are being drafted into this. They see something like oh, I haven't tried it, let me try it. You know that sort of thing. And once they do, oh, I do it five times, I do it six times. Oh, I do three degrees, only three degrees. I've done this before. You know, this is not what it's all about. And unfortunately, we add that sense of competitiveness and, instead of being temperate and put it part of a program and make it relatable to you, what's happening to you? How much have you worked out this week? What's going on in your life? When should you pepper it across other things that you do? Do you ground yourself? Are you outside? Do you walk? Do you spend time with people? Do you socialize? Are you sleeping well? Are you eating well? All of these?

Speaker 1:

And then a few times, here and there, you do some cold therapy. That's great. I really like your opinion on that, thank you. So, because it's called the detached podcast, what would you detach yourself away from? That's limiting you today?

Speaker 2:

um, what would I detach myself? That's a really. I've never been asked this before. I always go towards things that are sort of I'm excited about that. I don't. I try to think less about the stuff that are obstacles. But I would perhaps detach myself, if I could, from social media, because you know as much as I love the reach that it gives me and the the good that I do with it and um, and the ability to educate in a certain way and and be myself and and speak frankly and all of that, oh my god, it's just time consuming time, it's just not just time consuming is knocking and all of that, oh my.

Speaker 1:

God, it's just Time consuming.

Speaker 2:

It's just not just time consuming is knocking down all of the other stuff that are being done for the wrong reasons and so on. You know so. But as a whole, I think it's a good thing, but for me personally, the amount of time that it takes for me to make sure there is quality stuff that are coming out, and all of that is just. If it's one thing, that would be it, I think.

Speaker 1:

So where can people find you on social media then?

Speaker 2:

Pretty much in all as many places as I can be, but I'm active on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, like on all of the major ones.

Speaker 1:

Well, if people want to find out more about your opinions on everything biohacking, I'll supply it down in the show notes, but I just want to say thank you so much for today's conversation.

Speaker 2:

I loved it. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

I feel like I could have had you for more hours.

Speaker 2:

I'd love to be back and do this more often.

Speaker 1:

Thanks so much for today.

Speaker 2:

Thank.