In this episode, we discuss how Dan got cupped and poked. We also review some of the products purchased for our "Self-Care Go Bag". Then we discuss which diet supplements are actually worth the money, and how thinking that something is good for us, *might* make it good for us, through "the placebo effect". If you like, love, hate, or merely tolerate our podcast, please follow/subscribe on your chosen podcast app!
In this episode, we discuss how Dan got cupped and poked. We also review some of the products purchased for our "Self-Care Go Bag". Then we discuss which diet supplements are actually worth the money, and how thinking that something is good for us, *might* make it good for us, through "the placebo effect". If you like, love, hate, or merely tolerate our podcast, please follow/subscribe on your chosen podcast app!
Happy Saturday, Charles. How are you?
Charles:I'm doing well, dan. Thank you, how are you? I am well. I see you've got some marks. Have you been abused?
Dan:Yes, actually by. You can kind of see here in the videos here I did some fire cupping, fire cupping, fire cupping, so it's the tradition. So apparently I didn't realize that there was a number of different modalities for cupping and one of them I had done years ago. Basically, it's this huge machine and these big suction cups that the therapist would put on your back. It just would vacuum and that pressure is what would cause the blood to come to the surface and the idea is that it basically helps with detoxifying and pulling the, getting the blood flowing to that area. So I've got some tennis elbow issues.
Charles:I look like a little bit of a giraffe here.
Dan:And when he was doing it I went to. He's an acupuncturist and he's a traditional Chinese medicine, so one of the things that he used was fire cupping, where they basically put a little bit of alcohol, something flammable, inside these specially shaped cups, lighted on fire and then, as soon as it goes out, they put it on different parts of your body to help, kind of there's a vacuum. That happens when the fire goes out. So basically these jars stick to you, to your skin, as part of this therapy. How?
Charles:long do the marks last?
Dan:Well, I got this. Let's see it's Saturday, so I got this on Thursday and then I'm going to go every Monday and Thursday for the next four weeks. Wow, okay, yeah, to kind of help resolve the clicking and the the weakness. I have a little bit of pain I've got in my forearm and elbow, so what he diagnosed it with was that a lot of it was from overly tightened tricep on this side.
Charles:But also what a bad problem to have, dan, with your huge, overly tightened he didn't say it was huge.
Dan:It's not huge yet.
Dan:That's my editorial Right yeah, but it's funny because when I was doing exercises I felt like burning a little bit in my elbow and I was like, well, I got to finish the set, of course, and of course, and yeah, that wasn't the move. Any pain stop immediately when it comes to lifting. That's what I realized. I'm lucky. That's all this was. But this has been nagging me for like six to eight months. So every time I'm trying to fill my burky water pitcher, you know, and I pull up the half gallon of water, that's where I just feel everything kind of just click and sharp pains. So, yeah, the acupuncture was interesting because it felt like the beginning of a Charlie horse. So if you've ever, yeah, but in like micro spots. So I felt the needle go in for sure and it started to feel like the whole area was going to cramp up like a Charlie horse. But then it didn't. It stopped immediately, but it was a little uncomfortable.
Dan:Yeah, yeah but he let me lie there for 20 minutes with those things in and then a little electromagnetic, electromagnetic stimulation pads he had, and so like my muscles were twitching and stuff like that, as Okay, yeah, so he basically hooked me up to everything, so you found it positive and helpful so far, absolutely, because when I got out of there, I felt relief immediately, okay, yeah, as soon as it was done, and it already feels better.
Dan:In addition to that, he showed me a few stretches to do at home and between the sessions. And, yeah, so it's called Recupery and it's right here in Lake.
Charles:Merrie.
Dan:Right next to Crumble Cookie. So well, you can do my language it's funny.
Charles:This week one of my goals on my to-do list was inbox zero, and so for me it's not just. I mean, I like the idea of the phrase of I don't know if you've heard it declaring inbox bankruptcy. Yeah, you just mark everything as red and archive everything without looking at it. It's just like if it's important, they'll send me another email.
Charles:That's good point I cannot do that, though, so I actually go through and I review everything and I unsubscribe to stuff that's newsletters that I don't want to keep having to do this again and again, and I finally unsubscribe from Crumble. I'm no longer on their. Why would you do that? Because what's in it for me. I mean, if I want to look them up on Instagram and see what their flavors of the week are, I can certainly do that, but why do I have to have it delivered? Shove it in your face. Yeah, it's just dangled in front of my face.
Dan:These are the new flavors? Good for you, man, that's a step.
Charles:It's a big step. Yeah, addiction. Yeah, I don't need to have this push to me. If I want to go seek out that information and tempt myself, then fine, I'll do that, but I don't need it to be blasted in my face.
Dan:Dude 100%, because I used to think I'm weak. Because you see some of these fitness professionals and just the amount of how great a shape they're in and you know that most of that is actually diet right and it's discipline around that. Yes, you're going to the gym, but for me anyway, the diet is much more difficult. We talked about that the other day. For you it's the other way around. Going to the gym is a little bit more difficult than diet.
Charles:Yeah For short-term dieting. I can get dialed in. And I can handle three or four weeks of strictness to see a temporary result.
Dan:What made me feel better was, you know, after talking to some people, realizing that it's not that these people are gods in terms of willpower and that we're weak. They just set up their environments to be a lot more conducive to their goals, and that means eliminating those temptations, those pictures from Crumble Cookie about their latest special in your inbox and for me it's keeping peanut butter out of the house, or imagining a joke that you told at Mathers the other night about chunky peanut butter and Santa Claus beards that I'm not going to repeat on the podcast.
Charles:I appreciate that.
Dan:But it really made my stomach turn enough to the point of I'm not craving the peanut butter quite as much anymore. Yet another business I never thought that would happen.
Charles:That I need to explore. Yeah, what's interesting, what I was thinking about the other day is, you know, I'm also my ex-girlfriend still works for the Disney food blog and writes about all the snacks and treats they have there, and I still enjoy following that blog and seeing their Instagram with all the new treats. And it's easy for me because currently I live in New Smyrna Beach, which is a solid hour and a half, I would say, from New Smyrna to like actually getting into a Disney park, at least an hour and a half.
Dan:And also I don't live anywhere near there either, so Crumbles are on the corner from my place.
Charles:There's a lot of crumbles.
Dan:Oh is there?
Charles:Oh boy, they're crumbling all over the place, the next town over for me. But yeah, I was thinking, boy, you know, when I, when you and I, move our RVs from New Smyrna to Winter Garden. One of the things that's so great about Winter Garden is the proximity to downtown Orlando and to Disney. You just hop on a toll road and, boom, you can be there. So we'll see how long my following of Disney food blog lasts. Yeah, the first time you know I'm getting antsy at eight or nine o'clock at night. I'm like I could. I could use a little, a little sweet treat, and I don't go to Wawa for some apples and peanut butter and I drive my ass over to the Riviera hotel to go to their little coffee shop where they have all the pastries. It's like the first time I do that. It's going to be okay. I can't follow this account anymore either, because I just don't have the.
Charles:I'm just be setting myself up for failure by constantly seeing all the wonderful treats that Disney has, and also I've lowered the bar for how much work it takes to get there. So we'll see. We'll see if I can handle that or if I can't. I don't know. It's going to be interesting. So we, yeah, last night I went to, I went to sushi and Mathers and Trivia and that, don't worry about that, we're. We already covered some of the official topics. So I feel, I feel, like our, our intro will be slightly less indulgent than it has been in the past. We did sushi, we did a little bit of Mathers, which that place looks beautiful at Christmas time If you're in the Orlando area, you got to check out Mathers social gathering.
Charles:It's a really cool little speakeasy in downtown. It's not that little. It plays us huge in downtown Orlando and they make it real pretty for the holidays, so very festive. I participated in the guess how many nutcrackers competition. I did as well.
Dan:I did as well.
Charles:I do. In retrospect, I may have gone a little high with my, with my guess, which, let's see, this could, this could air before Christmas. So I'm not going to say what I guessed, okay, but I think I might have gone on the high side, yeah, and, but we'll see, we'll see. I wonder if it's is it price is right, style where it's closest, without going over, or just closest. We'll think of so many people they'll probably get the exact number guessed by somebody. I think so, but yeah, so we went there. Then we went to trivia and had some difficult questions suffered from. I'm going to blame the Gen Z folks in our group.
Charles:Their lack of their, I mean when it comes to participation, when it comes to pop culture on, like movies, like elf, they should Well. Number one, number one we didn't have. I think we had one girl there and then two other girls showed up, but they couldn't answer anything. Because you know, the rule is on the third round, if you're not seated there when the round starts, you don't get to yeah, pretty strict.
Dan:No, no, going to the bathroom.
Charles:I'm sorry. Yeah, I like that rule. Yeah, I like that guy. He knows how to run a tight ship. Yeah, yeah, I got all three word jumbles last night too, which those were. Those are usually challenging for me, but I had a good night with those Anyway. So we got fourth place because the last round things fell off and, yeah, we need, we need, we need a more feminine presence, I think, at trivia, because there's there's some blind spots that we ran into last night.
Dan:This is the first time I've actually been in the Falcon. I've walked by a few times or like when I was there for like running around in Thorne Park and stuff, and that's a cute little spot. It's definitely unique with the the local artwork on the wall and it's not it's not a commonly seen type of setup.
Charles:Yeah, they had an art show there last week that I I was interested in going to. Just the scheduling didn't work out. Where they'll like, bring in a bunch of local art and you can buy what you like, and nothing's more than $100. Oh, that's great.
Charles:So, yeah, you can if you're looking to actually you can actually buy right If you're looking to furnish a space and add, add a little bit of decor. I thought, oh, you know, maybe I'll pick up something If I can find something the right size, because I don't have a lot of wall space in my camper. Yeah Well, not this camper, but the next one. I'll have plenty of wall space in which we'll talk about that on a future episode. There's a new. A new floor plan just got released for 2024 that they've never made before by another company not the one that I currently own and, man, I'm feeling pretty excited about moving on up. So, okay, let's, let's.
Charles:Before we get into the book, I went on a bit of a spending spree, got some of the self care pieces that it talks about for bringing in your car with you in your little go bag. Yeah, so this is a bottle of melatonin, dual spectrum, which means there is instant release and extended release. I've never tried. I've never tried melatonin ever to help me sleep, and I will give it a shot. Maybe tonight We'll see.
Dan:Yeah, let me know how it goes.
Charles:So I've got this little roller of lavender essential oil, which it really is. For me, that is a extremely relaxing smell. Yeah, because whenever I get a massage or a or straight razor shave at art, or is the scent that I asked them to use.
Charles:Oh nice. And so just smelling it takes me back to either beat on a massage table or get a straight razor shave Excellent. So yeah, big fan of the lavender essential oil. Let's see, we got a couple of kinds of creams. We've got the Neutrogena Norwegian formula hand cream. That and all this came from Amazon. I'll drop some links so if you guys are interested in trying this stuff out, glycerin rich and fragrance free I'm not used any of this, but I'm going to put some on my hand right now. See how it is.
Dan:Yeah, Let me grease me up. I want a little of that too. It's like a my hand's definitely a try at night it's like a clearish looks all like Neosporin. It does look like Neosporin. This is interesting. Okay, feels good. Yeah, no, no real strong smell, but it's basically like rubbing your hands of Vaseline guys. I don't know how well this is going to rub in here, yeah, Creamy might creamy.
Charles:your might have been better.
Dan:Yeah, but yeah, so I use it every night. I use gold bond. It's a, it's a. It's basically it's like a diabetic foot cream, but you can use it anywhere. Really, I use it on my hands. It, it does the job and it it doesn't leave like a greasy feel to your hands either.
Charles:It's feeling. It's feeling like it's rubbing in. Pretty well, I'm not feeling super sticky.
Dan:I feel like I'm working.
Charles:Yeah, working for this, okay, a little too much.
Dan:Well, I probably put on a little too much.
Charles:Yeah, gotta look excited with that, oh, I'm at a little too much work to actually get it to not be greasy.
Dan:Yeah, well, that, and I probably put too much, too much on.
Charles:All right. The next one we got is the Cetaphil Healing Ointment Skin Protectant for Dry Chapter, irritated Skin. Let's see. Oh, this one's still sealed, but I want to. I'm curious to see if the, if the consistency is a lot different from the last one we used, and I don't know that the book went out of its way to say both of them get a hand cream and get a, like, skin repair cream as well, okay, I don't know.
Dan:Yeah, something that I'm not great about is moisturizing. You know, like elbows and, yeah, me neither and you know dry patches like on my arms and stuff it's about, it feels like about the same.
Charles:Oh wow, you want to try that. Let's see what this is.
Dan:Oh, it looks like almost exactly the same. Yeah Huh, all right. Well, I does have a little bit of a smell, but yeah, not too bad, yeah, Not too strong, yeah, so yeah, it does rub in a little bit better. I feel like I don't know.
Charles:I mean, I'll be honest, I can't see myself ever using either of these on a consistent basis. I mean, I use, I use a moisturizer with SPF on my face and then I also have some eye cream for tightening up the old baggy bags, and that's about is the extent that I've got that. I use that tea tree leave in moisturizer which moisturizes both skin and hair. Okay, I put that in my in my hair. Usually that's the only product I mean. I've got pomade, I've got forming cream, stuff like that, but I rarely use them. I usually just put some of that moisturizer in my hair and call it a day. So upping the number of products that I use.
Dan:Yeah.
Charles:To feel like I'll be improving myself care. It's like there has to be a real benefit for me to feel like, okay, this is, this is worth adding another step or another purchase.
Dan:Yeah, so I've. I discovered from an ex actually at the ordinarycom and they, if you go to that website, it'll it's like no name, just basically there's no branding, it's just ingredients, and they will actually give you a little short little quiz about like kind of skin you've got, okay, like oily or dry, or you've got you know, acne or whatever that is, and then don't recommend a little bit of a protocol for you. But each of the things are like I mean anywhere from like $10 to $15 are not crazy expensive for like a like a good 30 day supply of stuff and some of it is, you know, just kind of like a light acid, to kind of you know, so you need to get.
Dan:You have a little bit of blotchy skin or whatever you know you can get an acid and kind of help, kind of peel away some of the dead skin. And then there's like another moisturizer you put on top of it and stuff and it's reasonable, it's reasonably priced, it's nothing crazy.
Charles:And it works pretty well. Yeah, we'll talk a little bit more about the areas that I do use some products in and what I what I use for body wash, face wash, shampoo and stuff later. But yeah, again, I try to like like everything else, you try to keep it simple enough that you'll actually do it. Yeah, where you know it's like you do, you do 20% of the work to get 80% of the benefit and then you got to do 80% of the work to get that last 20% of the benefit. So I try to minimize things as much as I can and keep them simple, all right. Last thing, this is a moisturizing face spray and I've never I've never used one of these.
Dan:This is by Clinique and I'm going to sure that's not pepper spraying, which makes sure it's still still check it.
Charles:Go ahead and give myself a blast to see what this feels like.
Dan:Yeah, blast yourself in the face. That's it there you go. Harder.
Charles:Stop it If you keep talking. I'm doing this. I'm gonna talk and do this. Oh, that's right, here we go. I don't know, it just feels like I sprayed myself with water.
Dan:Yeah, that's usually you need to do it now too.
Charles:Oh, I have to do it Absolutely and remember to talk while you do it.
Dan:I got to talk while I'm doing it. Okay, talking, talking, yeah, pretty much like water, yep.
Charles:And that looks like we've both been sweating, like we've been running or working hard. Well, we have been. This podcast runs, that's true. Yeah, it doesn't have runs, it runs us down.
Charles:Okay, so the one that. Oh, here's one more thing. I ordered a little three pack of Cologne dispensers, which are pretty cool. I like these. These are. These are of a type that I've not had fail on me yet, so hopefully they won't. But I like this because you just turn it and then the little top pops out and spray area and then you can also to fill it. You pull that out and there's little glass vial that's attached to the spray pump part and yeah, you got to pour the you got to pour the liquid in.
Dan:Well, it did come with a couple of tools.
Charles:Oh God I came with a little funnel like an eyedropper where you can suck the, suck it out of your perfume or Cologne bottle into here and then squirt it into into this thing. Oh.
Dan:God, or there's a funnel as well, all right.
Charles:So there's a couple ways for you to get it in other than that. Yeah, you showed me your kind that, and again I think I figured out why yours is working for you and mine wasn't okay little import the little port to go in on the ones I had tried. That was just exposed to the outside, where yours is sort of a hybrid between what I had before and this new one.
Dan:Yeah so.
Charles:I think that I think I understand why yours is working, and I think these are going to work for me as well.
Dan:Nice, I'm excited about that. Keep us posted.
Charles:And then the last thing to talk about is I got these Neutrogena Hydra Boost, hydrating, hydra Gel Masks that you cover your face for 15 to 30 minutes, which I'm not going to do, but I am going to keep these in my car. Nice, because sometimes, you know, if I'm fighting a long, long trip from St Petersburg back to Neutrogena Beach and the traffic's a hassle and I'm dog tired, sometimes I will take advantage of some of the state's beautiful rest areas and I'm thinking, boy, wouldn't it be nice to just put on a podcast, put one of these on my face and then just chill for a half hour, set my alarm and just kind of that is some good self care, Charles.
Charles:I think it would be, so that's something that I will consider trying here in the very near future. Ok, so that's some of the products we're trying out. I will probably not share the links for the stuff that we're not really that impressed by, but I will share the stuff that we bought, and I liked the face spray. I don't know, I could see how that could feel energizing and refreshing.
Dan:Like after a flight is great.
Charles:Yeah, something like that.
Dan:Yeah, but the or even halfway through a long flight somewhere.
Charles:Both of the hand creams are the the hand cream and the healing ointment. I don't think I'm using either of those ever again.
Dan:No, I don't see the Basically like Vaseline.
Charles:Yeah the fan. The only hand cream that I ever got really excited about was you know how Cracker Barrel used to sell all the Burt's B's products. Yeah, they had an almond milk hand cream that smelled amazing and it was a nice consistency and it rubbed in really nice. I don't know if Burt's B still makes that and I'm pretty sure they don't sell through Cracker Barrel anymore. But I can put my hat back on now that my face has been sprayed. So anyway, that's the only hand cream that I've used. Before that I thought, oh, this is pretty good, okay. And then I think I've used like a Vaseline hand cream where it wasn't just Vaseline, it was like a lotion made by Vaseline. That felt pretty good. And then I'm also a fan of the way that Johnson's Baby Lotion the one in the in the light pink bottle, the way that feels on your hands and the way it smells. Now again, I don't know if it's effective as a hand lotion or hand cream, but it just it smells like a new, clean baby and I like that smell. Yeah, I mean not, not, not enough to go around sniffing babies. I don't have political aspirations, seems that that's required but I do like the way new babies and new puppies. I like the way they both smell, agreed, okay. So let's, let's do a little bit of.
Charles:We're in the wellness section of this book, which is part two. Let's talk about supplements. So what do I? I don't do a lot as far as supplements. I mix in creatine and electrolytes with my keto chow shakes, which right now I'm not going through A ton of those and probably only having maybe one a day or even sometimes one every other day.
Charles:I'm not taking much in the way of vitamins. I do have a multivitamin. I like it's I think it's called orbit comes in a in a sphere and it is a yeah, like the bottle that it comes in is a sphere instead of like a regular bottle, like like one of these, and they have a men's health formula and it's like half fish oil and half extended release multivitamin. Okay, because I ran into a problem with multivitamin.
Charles:This has been a thing ever since I was a little kid where, unless I eat a big meal, if I just eat like a, a central multivitamin or something like that, if I just try to do that with water or even with coffee, I'll throw up. It makes me multivitamins, make me sick to my stomach unless I eat them with a significant meal. Oh, wow, yeah, so, but I never had that problem with these because, I guess, because there's like there's a capsule with the fish oil in it and these little balls, and those little balls, I guess, will dissolve in your tummy over time, okay, I've never had that nausea well up in me, like like the centrum or the Walgreens generic version of centrum that I took when I was younger.
Charles:Okay, you do any vitamins? I do, I do. So I mean, I know you do a lot of things, but let's start with a multivitamin. You do that every day.
Dan:So I kind of don't do a multi anymore.
Charles:You made your own like combination of stuff to yeah.
Dan:So I really I've been taking a lot of desiccated organs. So basically, like heart, liver, from.
Charles:So they like dried out, turn it into a powder, then put it in capsules, exactly Okay.
Dan:Yep, yep, I've been taking those and then an Omega-3 with that, some like a vitamin D. What else am I taking?
Dan:Let me think about that A biotin for hair skin and nails vitamin D for hormone health, dhea for hormone health, because that's what your body uses to create hormones. And then the? Yeah, trying to think what else? Yeah, an Omega-3. And then when I start to feel, if I'm traveling or if I start to feel sick, that's when I'll take a multivitamin and I'll take a primal. I'll take a damage, primal damage control, because it's a by Marxism.
Charles:Yeah, okay.
Dan:I'm from a primal kitchen yeah, our primal blueprint Both, both have it. So that's got. That's got a lot of micronutrients in there too, not just like the main nutrients, and that has served me pretty well in terms of stopping me from getting sick or just kind of being preventive for traveling and stuff like that.
Charles:Yep, okay, you doing anything in the realm of probiotics or prebiotics? I never have no experience whatsoever.
Dan:Yeah, I do a probiotic and includes prebiotic. It's called seed and they've got a lot of. There's so many different strains of bacteria out there that do different things, the ones that they put into seed. That was recommended to me from a trainer who works with the military and some some high end scientists and he basically he led me to seed and this company only puts in the bacteria strains that have been studied and have had some sort of scientific evidence for effectiveness.
Charles:Okay.
Dan:And ever since I started taking them, my poops have been much better.
Charles:Oh, I used to have. I used to have. I was concerned about their quality for a while.
Dan:Yeah, so, so right, and and you know that, just it's. The other thing that I learned was there's no such thing as really colonization, so you need to take probiotics multiple times, like I mean not multiple times a day, but at least once a day, because it doesn't there, it doesn't actually the bacteria that you're taking in from the probiotics, it's not like they start to form colonies, which a lot of people think they do. Okay, and you're in your gut, bacteria and your gut, so you need to take that. You need to take it every single day. Interesting Okay.
Dan:And then once in a while, when I do get sick and I've got you know the runs and or you know if I've been exercising a little extra hard, I will take it a second time and it basically settles everything down.
Charles:Interesting.
Dan:You know, making that nice S shape that you should be seeing in the toilet.
Charles:Yeah, there's. I forget what the name of that scale is. There's like a chart where you can look for different, like seven or eight different consistencies of your poo and decide many oh wow, like when you match up to okay how your digestive health is.
Dan:Yeah.
Charles:And, yeah, another, the Thompson girls podcast that he has with his wife, christina Pijotski. They they will frequently talk about their, their movements and you know what number it was on the scale and stuff, cause I like it. Yeah, not so much. Yeah, I mean, I'm okay when they move on to another topic.
Dan:So the other prebiotics I take sometimes are the. I'll take fermented foods, which kind of helps with probiotics, with the, with the. So sometimes some kimchi, sometimes some sauerkraut, kombucha, kombucha no, because there's usually a lot of sugar in the kombucha I mean delicious.
Charles:Yeah, we talked about that last time.
Dan:Yeah, but pickles I'll try like all natural pickles and they've got some spicy ones, grillo's pickles.
Charles:Those were yeah, they're I work with. Just had a jar of that at the office. They're delicious.
Dan:They've got a spicy one and they've got, like you know, thick dills, like slices, and they really helped me when I'm starving and it's like lunchtime and it's like, all right, I'm going to eat something I shouldn't be eating because I'm so hungry. A great way to slow me down is I just have a couple of pickles out of that, you know, out of the jar, and it's great.
Charles:Yeah, was it as I'm cooking? I think it might have been. This book that talked about having a little bit of pickle before you go to bed. Oh really, I didn't. Oh, maybe it was. I read somewhere the idea for good sleep health, so that you don't have to wake up to pee in the middle of the night. If you have a pickle or shot of pickle brine, then the salt will help your body hold on to water. So interesting Less chance that you'll have to get up and get a drink in the middle of the night or get up and pee in the middle of the night.
Dan:They've done studies on pickle juice and they've shown it to be just as effective or more effective than like Gatorade in terms of.
Charles:Oh, rehydrating.
Dan:Yeah, I'm rehydrating for athletes and a lot of athletes.
Charles:I like to paste them, and I'm not really that crazy about it. Yeah, I can take a couple of small sips, but I'm not Pickle juice, apple cider vinegar, normal water without bubbles All drinks for poor people. No, thank you. All right, I'm sure you probably know more about adaptogens than I do, because I know nothing. I've seen the word before, but I mean, basically it seems like anything that's good for you and reduces inflammation and adaptogen. Yeah, I mean I've not Like, is this a made up word? Is this like? Is this?
Dan:You can see it applies to a lot of different things. Yeah, so like ashwagandha, yeah, and then.
Dan:Lions so I've, I've dabbled with the mushroom stuff and I really haven't felt anything Dramatic from taking them. And that could be me. Maybe I just wasn't taking enough or to do it consistently enough. But when I take something like tyrosine or alpha GPC, I feel it within the next hour like, like almost immediately, and so For you know, for focus or relaxation, like theanine, I feel it like right away. So I don't really Dabble in with the mushrooms because I don't, I don't need it for anything at this point.
Charles:Yeah, yeah, yeah, the only mushrooms I'm interested in are the kind that turn clouds into skulls and dragons, and that's not what he's talking about here. And and we're not recommending those unless you do under the under the supervision of a Medical professional, because otherwise it would be illegal. And you know, I want to live in a society where the government tells you what plants you're allowed to put in your mouth, do you know? Okay, so adaptogens, collagen. I know that collagen is a supplement or is an ingredient in a lot of Mass building supplements which I, you know, when I first started my novice progression with starting strength I was, I was taking some mass builders and I'm pretty sure Collagen was one of the things that it contained it possibly.
Dan:I mean, it is a form of protein, it's not a complete protein. But what does that mean? So, basically, it doesn't have all of the amino acids that your body needs Okay, for All the functions that your body has to do so, whereas, like a protein powder or EAA is essential amino acids Okay, complete protein. Now, collagen is specific for hair, skin and nails and it's supposed to the amino acid profile there is supposed to kind of help with that kind of regeneration and preservation, also with joints, right, I've been taking it Every day for for years and I feel like you know, I mean, look, I, I don't, I don't think I.
Dan:Look, you know, like I'm in my 60s at my age, so don't look like you're your six. So I drink a lot of water, I also take my collagen and I also don't have children, so maybe all those things have helped. Yeah, keep, kept, and kept the gray hair off my head too. Yeah, but Collagen is definitely something that I've, I've taken every day, and it's it's what's actually in Jell-O, too, that is. It's it's made from right.
Dan:It's what makes Jell-O Jell-O right and, yeah, it's made from hooves and bones of animals. Delicious and there's such a wide variety in terms of pricing, so vital proteins is crazy expensive and you can get. You can get cheaper, cheaper versions that are, you know, just as good, I think from from Amazon.
Charles:Yeah, that reminds me he. He talks about you know how supplements are more than just protein powder, but then he doesn't really get into protein powder. Let's, let's talk about that for a second. Yeah, that's been a big one, for I mean, when I was reading the starting strength book for the first time he goes into Mark Repetite, goes into a little bit of detail with supplementation in that and his, his position is is basically most of what you walk into a GNC or something like that and could can buy is is a waste of money. I agree he. He basically says Buy way protein and by creatine. And for the most part he says and buy the cheapest one you can, the cheapest price per Per serving, per per pound, per ounce, whatever with creatine and protein powder. Just just get the cheapest of it that you can and then take it every day.
Dan:Yeah again if you want to gain weight. So I would say, if you're trying to lose weight, protein powder is not your friend because it's not going to Well.
Charles:I mean unless, unless you're I mean like with keto chow you can use it as a meal replacement.
Dan:Right. The difference is keto chow has other things in. That's true. It's not just protein powder and that fat in it too.
Dan:Right so you're getting full. That's what I was gonna go with it Got. You're just doing a straight protein powder with like water or maybe a little bit of milk For dairy no good. But second of all, it's not gonna make you feel full because it's pretty. It's almost like predigested. Your body does has to do no work Because it's already been processed. It's protein powder is a processed food, boys and girls. It's true, it really is super processed. It's like it's basically like you know anything else that you turn into powder sugar, cocaine, whatever that is.
Dan:Yeah, all that stuff is processed food, yeah and so the more your body needs to work. So if you eat real protein, like chicken or beef or whatever, your body even you know you even if you're chewing it, you you still have to expend calories and energy and you get a sense of fullness because your stomach needs to Digest those, those rather large trunks compared to right protein powder which is just micronized micronized. So don't do it to suppress appetite. If you're doing it because you just need the calories to gain weight, because you're trying to bulk up, okay I think that's fine, interesting.
Dan:But to be honest with you, if you're trying to lose weight, you don't need, you don't need to be taking protein powder because it's gonna be much. It's gonna unless unless you're one of these freaks who doesn't get hungry, which I wish I was. That I'm the exact office they get hungry for, you know. You know, just looking at an email right, or walking by crumble cookie. So I Would say avoid the protein powder if you're trying to lose weight. You real food as much as possible.
Dan:Okay, and unless that protein part powder is a part of a recipe of a meal replacement shake, correct, you shower, yeah, like some of the slim fast stuff you get at Walmart, where it's protein but it's other stuff, so that you can yeah, and the difference with, yeah, keto chow's got, it's got thickeners in there as well and that will kind of expand a lot of vitamins and and yeah and electrolytes, which a lot of protein powders don't have, and then you're also usually taking it with fat.
Dan:So difference in a keto chow meal versus, you know, regular we protein a way protein is gonna it's good, well, yeah, and it's gonna be like 120 calories versus like four, four to five hundred, yeah so that is true.
Charles:The isopure is the protein powder that I use when I'm trying to, you know, get my 200 grams a day or whatever, and, yeah, mixed with water it's only like 90 or 100.
Dan:Calories. It's not right, and you might be able to get by for like an hour or two after taking that, but you're gonna get hungry right after.
Charles:It's where, as a keto chow, you can go hours, I think yeah, yeah, I definitely swap out a meal with one of those shakes and Depending on how much fat I put in it, you know you can. Yeah, I could definitely see how people could do two keto chow shakes a day when they just bump up the, the butter or the cream or the Satisfy and yeah not feel like they're starving themselves. Yeah, okay, cool. Well, thanks for that digression sure creatine.
Charles:I think we talked about that before. That's that's something that Many people recommend for pretty much everybody, not just if you're lifting. Just the cognitive benefits and the what it does to your, your muscles, which is intramuscular Hydration, where some people worry about it making them, you know, bloaty. Oh, it's not, it doesn't do that. The way that it retains water is not the way that makes you look bloaty or feel bloaty. It. It puts more water in your muscles, which is good for the transmission of electric signals that your, your nervous system sends to your muscles when you have to use them to do things. And and I think there's also some aesthetic benefit to having muscles that are fuller with water than not. So I like, I like creatine and Protein powders like keto, chow or isopure that's the other company that I like, and I only.
Charles:Isopure is not cheap, so it doesn't go along with the buy the cheapest way you can, but it doesn't have any sugar. There are no carbs in isopure, at least the they have like a low sugar and a zero sugar, and so when there's so many levers that I'm trying to control with my diet, then it just makes sense to send a little more on a protein powder where I don't have to worry about sugar sneaking in, carb sneaking in to kick me out of ketosis. Okay, cool, let's talk about Omega 3 is a Usually found in fish and fish oils and it seems to be recommended for just about everything. I I know that it was prescribed to me when I had some cholesterol and triglyceride issues that were out of control. You know what worked, what worked for me my, my cholesterol and triglyceride issues fix themselves when I lost enough body fat.
Charles:Yeah, you, you're, you're not gonna. There's no, nothing you're gonna get in a bottle, whether it's omega 3s or statins, is going to do the same for your Cholesterol and and your Triglyceride levels as going from 30% body fat down to 18. Yeah, that's just. I mean it's not an easy path by any means, but it's there's any other benefits besides those numbers changing right to your life.
Charles:Yes, absolutely, and and that was that was how I I yeah, I fixed my triglyceride, cholesterol and sleep apnea issues by losing weight and and I also Got to enjoy a lot of long walks, listening to podcasts and seeing squirrels and rabbits and cows and donkeys and all sorts of things, when I was Going for long walks by my house in Deltona while you're on mushrooms Okay, no, no, they were. All those animals were actually there. Yeah, so omega 3s I did get a prescription for omega 3s or for fish oil, because apparently there's a difference in the refining process Between what you buy over the counter and what they sell behind the counter at the pharmacy. Okay, so the doctor obviously at the time was like no, you should get this super high-end stuff. It's better for you.
Charles:Then, and I think it did reduce the fish burps. I, okay, which can be a problem with fish oil you take a fish oil pill and then a little you know, a little bit later you have a burp and it tastes like fish oil, where I guess, with the highly refined stuff, you don't get that as bad.
Dan:And you know these days they've got a lot of supplements that you don't get the fish oil burps, okay. If they've got it, sometimes they've got it slightly like scented or flavored with like lemon or orange or whatever. Now we're talking and then you can actually get it outside of the pill. You can get like a bottle of it, like the liquid Omega-3s that have the lemon in there, okay, the orange flavor, and just put it on a spoon and down the hatch, a spoon. Or you put it on a salad, whatever it is oh, okay, you can cook with it, but you can put it on a plate.
Charles:Okay, because cook it and break down the Right. Okay, gotcha Interesting. Okay, how about Ginko Biloba? What do you know about that?
Charles:I haven't really messed with that. Yeah, I haven't much. I haven't really that little calming mix I believe that I've got of a Thayinine and Ashwagand. Okay, I think there might be some Ginko in there. That would make sense, sure. But yeah, usually if, if, if we're going out and I'm going to an environment where I feel some level of confidence and I'm going to be annoyed and tired, I will pop some of those and see if it makes me feel any better. And I don't know, I haven't really, I haven't really noticed it or journaled it or noted how that makes me feel. I mean, I've had some benefit to L Thayinine, certainly, and so anything that has that, I'm going to, I'm going to feel a little bit more chill on. But I can't say you know what part Ginko plays in that, in that mix.
Dan:I mean he's talking that. He's saying here that it's can give you a alertness without the aid of coffee. So I wasn't aware of it being some sort of brain focus, yeah, so.
Charles:I think I've heard that before.
Dan:Maybe we might need to try a little experiment and see how that goes.
Charles:Yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm taking it easy on coffee for a day or two because I've got a lot of control and we'll see. Maybe, maybe I'll supplement with a little Ginko, but I don't know Well, again, it's like I'm not going to just test everything and certainly I'm not going to stick with hardly anything, but I'm open to trying some stuff and making a note of it so I can pass it along. I tend to already talk a little bit about that. That's yeah, apparently, if you stick with it for a long time, it can help out a guy who is concerned about thinning or losing his hair, which you and I just had the conversation the other day.
Charles:I saw, I saw a picture of myself on a like a security monitor and I've got that little area on the crown where it's. It's still there, I mean you can't see scalp, but it's, it's definitely that's where it will start to go. When it starts to go, yeah, and I was telling you that you know, at some point in the coming years we might have to have the conversation of all. Right, you're going to have the conversation, you're, you're, you're holding, you're holding on to to some, to some hairstyles that aren't for you anymore. It's time to and and we we did an episode on baldness and I'm going gray a while ago and the idea is basically when it comes to attracting women, the women generally don't have any problem with gray hair and they don't have any problem with a bald head. What they have a problem with is guys who are trying to hold on to hair that they don't have anymore.
Dan:Yeah, and that's that's when it gets a little cringy and people notice you and it all comes down to pretending you're something that you're not Correct, Right Like? I'll just cover this up.
Charles:Yeah, and trick all these people that I have hair Instead of instead of here I am look at, look at, you know this is right.
Dan:Yeah, yeah, it's not rocket science.
Charles:It's not. It's not, it's really. It's really. Just don't try to. Don't try to pull any hoaxes over on people, and you'll be far more attractive than guys that do 100%. And so, yeah, at some point and and I think the general progression is when, when you start and this is pretty much what our friend Rob did when, when he started losing his hair it's like you go from whatever normal hairstyle you enjoyed when you were younger and then you just start wearing it cropped very short and then after that you start shaving it.
Dan:Hey, um, you know what? You save a lot of money in hair gel and shampoo and conditioner, you know. I mean there are, there are some financial benefits there are.
Charles:No joke, um, okay, so uh, yeah, by a tin. If you want to use it to try to combat losing your hair or your hair thinning, the author does say stick with it for three months before you decide whether it's having any effect or not.
Dan:Yeah, what I've read is the studies, but I think 10,000 IU, but that's actually what they make most of the supplements in.
Charles:Okay, so a typical dose is every day for three months. Yeah, you'll either see a benefit or you won't, but I would say yeah, there's no reason to you know, feel like, oh, if I take this for 10 years, all my hair is going to grow back. That's probably not the situation. Yeah, I mean cause. Again, some of these supplements can overcome your genetic predispositions and some of them just won't.
Dan:Yeah, you know and he makes a point at the end here that most of this is to reduce stress. I mean just, you know the whole self care for men book, that's kind of what it's about, I feel like it's it's helping to reduce, uh, reduce stress. We have so many stressors all day long, uh, that we're dealing with and it's not because it's all day long. That's where it causes the problem. A little bit of stress here and there Our bodies are made to handle, but when it's all day long, persistent, right, that's when we get these negative side effects and that's why some of these supplements are helpful to combat all of the influx, of all of the pressure and all the stress that you know we we get and we put on ourselves.
Charles:Yeah and uh even. Even for some of us, just just the routine of knowing that we're taking these supplements every day to help ourselves out can be a source of of calm.
Dan:Yeah, I mean. Even so, there've been a lot of scientific studies on the placebo effect and how powerful that is. Yeah, um and so even if and I was watching a video late last night about raspberry ketones, if you remember- I've heard of those which are actually ketones. It's not like that. The ketone esters and things that are the ketone salts that people are selling nowadays, and it really has.
Dan:there's been no scientific uh effects of it. But the the guy who was running the video was saying you look on Amazon reviews and there's like hundreds of people saying giving five star reviews, hey, I lost weight taking the raspberry ketones. And he's like, well, it's, it could be a placebo effect. Yeah, that is. We have no idea really how powerful our mind is. So if we think something is working, we could be activating pathways and channels and things in our brain that connect to our body in some way, or it could also be making us make different subconscious decisions. So I'm taking these rabbit raspberry ketones that I spent, you know $100 on. I'm not going to have this Snickers bar, right, right, like. And so at that point, is it? Is it the actual ketones? Does it really matter whether they do anything or not, cause they are helping you make the the right decisions?
Charles:Yeah and and uh, yeah, 20 and 30 year old me probably would be throwing a BS flag on some of that stuff.
Dan:but I'm thinking, I'm thinking mindfully masculine supplement line and hair growth, whatever you know, making the MLM company oh yeah.
Charles:I was just uh. I was at Walmart the other day and I saw something with a uh some product that had a Star Wars marketing tie in that had nothing to do with. It wasn't a toy, it wasn't a, it wasn't anything space related it was. It was just something that it's like wow, they will put space balls the toilet paper? I don't know what it was, I can't remember, but I remember thinking, god, they, they Disney Lucas film, they will. They will slap their name on absolutely anything if there's a nickel to be made.
Dan:And that's why space balls, when it came out, killed me at how funny that was because it was just that. You know that they totally ran with that.
Charles:It's not just a Disney thing. I mean, lucas Lucas wasn't quite as crazy when he owned Lucasfilm. Oh, but what's Disney got?
Dan:Oh yeah, you're going to squeeze every drop from that.
Charles:I mean we, we, I, I it's hard to imagine and walking into an executive office saying, hey, we've got a great tie in for Star Wars or for Marvel or whatever. And here's the product, and we think it'd be great, if you know, we had packaging and names for it. And they're like, oh no, I don't think that. I don't think that matches up with our brand strategy. It's like that seems like something they just don't say yeah, that's, that's not a conversation. I've ever had.
Dan:So I I literally just bought lightsaber chopsticks as a gift for somebody.
Charles:So you're part of the problem.
Dan:Hey they were. They look cool. They were the red, blue, green and yellow ones. I was like, oh, this is great.
Charles:I think I see those before and yeah, yeah there. There are just some, some products, though, where it's like, wow, you, you really will put your logo on and in the, in the radio space uh, howard Stern used to make fun of Rush Limbaugh and, I think, bill O'Reilly, where they would they would have their talk show and then they would just brand anything with the logo of their talk show and then sell it to their listeners. It's like I could. I could never do it, though. I just yeah, people, I mean people will buy a lot of stuff, but I I don't want to be the one that makes a nickel off of just no pouring out your brand.
Dan:No, it's not about pouring out the brand. It's about providing value, right. So when we start pouring things out, it's going to be because there's actually value in them for for people, and not just because it has our logo on it, right it's?
Charles:yeah, that's the thing. There's got to be something more creative than just. You know. You can go buy a notebook at Walmart for 79 cents, or you can buy a notebook with our logo on our website for $10. It's like no, I'm well.
Dan:So I mean, here's the other thing, right? So if I'm going to please devil, devil's advocate here. So for these, for this that's how I roll right so but?
Dan:but maybe they didn't have anything of value and the people they, they got entertainment or information value from these people and they just wanted a way to say thank you and just to pay them back. And so maybe they never used the notebook with you know O'Reilly's, you know name on it, but felt like, hey, I want to, I want to say thank you in some way, and this is the only way that you know I could do that exchange I could give you some money for, for this product, because that's the only thing you're offering. If he offered something different, maybe they go for something different.
Charles:So yeah, but I mean with, with the, with the model of you know, am radio. In this case it's like they're making a lot of money from the syndicators and the advertisers. It's like they they don't need, they don't need the money from. It's like send me an email and say thanks, I like your show. I mean again, not us.
Dan:Well, maybe that's what you like to say.
Charles:We will be selling stuff to people. It's just a matter of time. I want more than an email.
Dan:Yeah.
Charles:If there was, if there was a huge syndication network of radio stations paying our bills, then you know, the podcasting model is definitely different.
Dan:Who would say how much somebody needs in terms of?
Charles:money. I know I don't like counting other people's money, but it's also yeah, just when, when there's a model of you know, the radio stations pay you millions or billions of dollars Howard Stern's case over the last few years, last couple of decades, he's made billions of dollars. When, when they're, when you're providing the value to them and they're giving you millions or billions of dollars, then it's like ah yeah, but I'm leaving a little bit of money on the table by not selling Branded pens to my listeners.
Dan:I mean, maybe that's the thought. You know you're leaving money on the table. Maybe, yeah, but it could be somebody else's thought that he has no control over right. You sign all these contracts and things like that. So I mean there's just more to that. How?
Charles:ultimately, you're in control the contract and choose to sign.
Dan:Yeah, I mean, you know, I usually let your name, right like this, be used.
Charles:You know I mean I always just say no, I'd rather not have a radio show than sign this contract right, right.
Dan:And I mean you know, now you've got, you know some of these big names like Rogan, where it's like a half hour of commercials of sponsorship where Brogan's a good example.
Charles:He's not, he's not trying to sell Joe Rogan Brandon crap to his audience.
Dan:No, he's selling other people's crap to it, to the audience, correct, right. So what difference does it make what? Whose?
Charles:crap, it is.
Dan:Rogan still making money he's. He's still getting a nice hefty commission on that.
Charles:I see a difference between I'm gonna just slap my name on something that is there's no material difference between the version with my name and face on it and the version you could get for a tenth of the price. But I'm just gonna slap my name and face on it and then mark it up ten times and try to get you to buy it.
Dan:Well, you know? Yeah, I mean, I see your point, but also it's not like he's not done anything. He's provided a lot of entertainment and value, and so most these people who have reached this level of fame.
Charles:Yeah, they've done that.
Dan:They've got people that are into it and and and, and you know I mean people want Same thing. You know you wanted a BMW Z3 or you wanted a little BMW convertible versus a different. Well, you know BMW was used in a Bond film and so there's there's some. You know there's a little prestige and reputation behind it. It's because they know that value in the marketplace in some way correct. So I don't fault them, for you know, being able to capitalize on that and and and just Slap your name on something. You know people are gonna want to buy it. Let the market decide. Right, if people don't want to buy it, then they don't buy it. You know they don't.
Charles:Nobody's forcing them to buy agreed and nobody should say you know, I'm not. I'm not advocating for a rule that says, well, that's not a good taste, so you shouldn't be allowed to do it. Yeah, you should be allowed to do it, and people like me Should be able to be allowed to look at you, me, like that's all, all of it's allowed all of its loud.
Charles:Absolutely, and I would encourage you I would you know you should definitely look at people that are selling things that you don't believe Add value, and you should sneer at them and make fun of them.
Dan:But. But as humans, we like to be, we like to group things together like we want to like we part of tribes right and so. So, yeah, if we find somebody that we like or a group that we like, we want to be associated with them in some way, and so if that means you know we're wearing one of their labels, yeah and says hey, this is what I'm about. I'm you know, that's.
Charles:That idea. Yeah, I mean it's. It's moved a lot of red hats and a lot of blue flags in the last four years and yeah, yeah it's people. People want, people do want to buy things with someone else's name on it to show, hey, I'm a fan of this guy, just like you are, and we have something in common, so now we can connect over that and I just think, mm-hmm, some cases, you know, you're making one person rich who Doesn't really have any interest in connecting with you, just because you're buying the stuff with his name on it. You don't know that you can't say that for everybody, some people do, buddy.
Dan:I could say right, some though right, and those are the people that you don't, you're not gonna buy their shit from ever. You know, those are not, those are not your people. Right, those are yeah, whereas, like Adam, you know yeah our podcast coach. He's great.
Charles:Yeah, I buy his shit if he put out some. Yeah, I wouldn't. Yeah, I don't know if I buy, like I don't know if I buy a t-shirt that had hit the name of his company on it, or well.
Dan:Notebook well, I like the one he's talking about. My mom listens to your podcast, or yeah, your mom listens to my podcast. Yeah, I mean, mom jokes were big in in my college when I went back in the day.
Charles:I'm old, over than me, or three years older than me, but that's still lame.
Dan:Listen mom jokes. That was. That was the thing running running around at the time, so I think it's funny. Not sure I would necessarily buy it, but I thought that was it was funny.
Charles:Let me check and see where we are on our time to decide if we if we have time to get into the next chapter or not. Give me just a second here, all right, let's see. We are at. We're at 56 minutes, so I think we're gonna. We're gonna stop there and then we will pick up for a little home exercise, exercise for the couch potato, which is going to be about making the transition from you know, the identity of someone who doesn't exercise to someone who does. Well said, and we'll talk about that a little bit. And Then we'll also get into detoxes and what is what is a toxin and how does one Eliminate them. And we'll, we'll get into that. I think there's, there's, some space for some Rational discussion in an area that can can venture into woo-woo pretty quick. All right, dan, Thanks very much. Thanks for trying out these products with me. I'm still greasy, by the way. I am too. I I didn't. I'm not a fan either.
Dan:Yeah.
Charles:I might send him back to Amazon say as this too greasy, I don't like it. Yeah, the face spray I found refreshing and I like the lavender scent. So that's that's where we are on those things. All right, guys, we'll talk to you next time. Thanks, bye, bye, bye you.