048 Get ALL DAY ENERGY, FAST with Yuri Elkaim

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Welcome to the Earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author.

Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves. Get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the earn your happy podcast and I'm so excited for you to meet Yuri Elkaim. And he is not only a New York Times best selling author, but he has helped 500,000 people reach their goals. And truly, Yuri's superpower is making healthy and fit simple so people can cut through the noise and confusion and finally have clarity about how to improve their health. And I can tell you that our conversation is going to give you so much many effective, simple tips. And I just really love his approach to wellness, nutrition, and of course you know that if you listen to this, that it is all about our mindset and how we view food and how we view our body. And he is absolutely brilliant and he's been on shows like Dr. Oz and the Doctors and I just know that you are going to love this conversation. So let's get started. Yuri, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I'm so thrilled to have you.

You're welcome. Thanks for having me, Laurie.

Absolutely. Okay, so I got to read a bit on your website and I'm just really, really excited to hear about your story and I really think that people are gonna benefit from it. So I know that you're an amazing, New York Times bestselling author and I can't wait to dig into the topics on your book because they're so good. The all day energy diet and the all day fat burning diet. But before that, I would love where your passion for helping people comes from and what your story is.

I think my passion for helping others get healthy and live a really kind of active, vibrant life is just from the fact that I spend most of my life, even to this day, doing that. And I grew up really active playing sports. I don't even remember going to school, really, just playing road hockey and soccer and all that stuff that kids do. And at an early age, I decided that I wanted to become a professional soccer player. So I spent most of my teenage years playing and competing at the highest level I could, and I was able to do that professionally in my early 20s, which was an amazing experience. So I just really. I'm like, well, this is. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to be healthy and active. It's just such a great way of living. But I didn't realize this until later, that because I was so active and fit when I was young, it kind of masked a lot of the health issues that I had going on that I wasn't even aware of. So I had eczema, asthma, digestive issues, really low energy to the point of falling asleep in class and having to sleep 10 hours a night type of stuff. And I didn't really pay attention to that because I didn't know any better at the time. And I was eating a lot of just junk foods, like a lot of processed dinners and very few vegetables and fruits and a lot of inflammatory foods like gluten and dairy and lots of sugar. And, I mean, in retrospect, now it's obviously, it's like, wow, you know, no kidding. But when I was 17, I started losing my hair. And in the space of six weeks, I lost all of my hair to an autoimmune condition called alopecia. And unfortunately, in the medical community, my doctors, all the specialists, had no solutions other than to inject my head with cortisone. And I said, you guys are crazy. That's not going to happen. So that kind of led me into a journey of trying to figure out what was going on. And during that time, I decided to pursue studies in kinesiology and health sciences. So I did that at the University of Toronto for four years. Then I pursued playing professional soccer. And then I came back from that when I decided that that's not what I really wanted to do with my life. And I came back to school to study holistic nutrition. And that really changed my life because in the first day I was like, wow, I've pretty clueless when it comes to nutrition. And I was just learning things that I had never learned going through university. And I was like, this is incredible stuff. I'm like, if I didn't know, if I don't know this stuff, considering the fact that I, like, I have this background in kinesiology and health sciences. I played pro soccer up until that point. I also was working as a personal trainer to get more practical experience for what I was learning in school and still had was. Was Very clueless on the nutrition front. So I started making changes in my diet and cleaning things up. And I kind of saw the lights very quickly, how much more energy I had. All of my issues really went away, the eczema, the asthma, the digestive issues. And I started to regrow my hair and that was like, it was unbelievable. So that was a really, really big eye opening experience for me. And at the same time, I was really spending a lot of time training clients and working with nutrition clients and spending 10 to 12 hours a day doing that. And I just got to the point I was like, this is great. I like helping people, but I just don't, I don't see myself doing this one on one. I really want to help a lot of people, like millions. And so that's kind of how the whole, you know, the Internet came about in the early mid 2000s, and that's kind of how we started online. But, you know, my passion for really helping others, I guess, you know, for most people in the health space, comes from their own challenges. And, and the same is for me. Like, I had my own challenges and I'm grateful that I had them because they gave me very unique experiences and perspectives and drive to really solve my own issues and then obviously use that as a platform to help others solve their issues and really elevate their health. So that's kind of where it all stems from.

Thank you for sharing that. And at 17, you said that can be pretty, I mean, traumatic when you don't have any answers either and you're, you know, forced to search for your own answers. And I think that's where I can totally relate to that, just because that's where a lot of my passion came from too. Just not feeling good at a young age and trying to figure out what that was. And once you figure it out for yourself, it's like, wow, wait a minute, there's so many other people who feel this exact same way. So when you figure that out and you're like, wow, I can't even, you know, keep this to myself. Just by these simple switches that I made, I feel so much better. What were some of the first, first steps that you took to start making yourself feel better?

First and foremost, really just understanding that my body was a toxic wasteland. And so getting rid of a lot of the allergenic foods I talked about, like the gluten and dairy sugar, definitely cutting that down and really adopting more of a plant based diet. Now I'm not a vegan, not a vegetarian, but just really Encouraging myself as well as others to just eat a lot more plants, because that's really the holy grail of pretty much all health. And so that was kind of where it all started. And then I started really finding a lot of benefit from adding more raw foods into my diet. So again, without becoming a raw foodist, but just really getting more fresh food into my diet with a big focus on green juices and smoothies and just really good, fresh food. And it's not rocket science. I mean, it's really simple stuff. And for me, it was a huge contrast because I was eating so much junk up until that point. And that's what I say for most people. I'm like, listen, there's no secret sauce. There's no magic pill that you've never heard of before. It's just the same old boring stuff. But that's kind of the reality of what works. And those are the simple changes that really made a huge difference for me. So really eliminating those allergenic foods, getting in more fresh foods, and that made a big, big difference for me.

I love that. And I think people don't realize the impact that just even adding. You know, I love that word, adding instead of really pulling things out. Because when you add a lot more of great nutrition in your body, I just started finding that I didn't want some of the other things. So I always try to get people to focus on remembering that they're gonna have more energy or this is going to do something for them. What do you have people focus on? Because I'm. Okay, so I'm originally from the Midwest, and trying to get people to eat better sometimes was one of the most challenging things that I've ever done. Because, you know, in most places in the country, it's like, we show love through food. Everything is based around food. Our events, our celebrations, our morning, everything. So what are some things that you do to get people to kind of, maybe, you know, stop focusing on having food be our feelings, be our celebrations, be all of those things?

Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge foodie myself, so I consider myself a healthy foodie because I enjoy, you know, food trucks and all that great stuff. And, you know, I've gotten to a point where, like, I mean, I've really said everything I can say about nutrition. And my. My focus is really, like, if you were to, you know, boil it down, would be to eat more plants, more of them in their raw state, and really just love your food, don't be fanatical about stuff and get rid of the shame and guilt. Because the reality is that the guilt and the shame and the obsessing and all that nonsense that happens with food is worse than the food that we're eating. And I really believe that there's a really strong energetic component that can't be measured through calories and weighing food and stuff. But when you're sitting down and having whatever you're having, whether it's quote, unquote healthy or not, your perspective of that meal is probably more important than the food itself. If you're having a salad and you think it's not healthy enough because the lettuce may not be organic, that's a very negative type of energetic experience, that your body is not going to resonate well with that food. And, you know, I really believe that food is part of our culture. It's part of what brings us together, as you mentioned. And. And I tell people, I'm like, listen, if you're having Thanksgiving dinner, have the damn Thanksgiving dinner. If you want a piece of pie, have the pie. It's all good. Maybe just have some digestive enzymes with your food to help your body a bit. But I've really moved away, I'd say, where I was maybe 15 years ago to where I am today. I'm much more liberal with my point of view on food because in my own life, I've got three young boys, we're not Nazis, with them about their food. Obviously, we try to keep it as clean as possible. But listen, that's part of life. Like, it's like, we don't want to bring them up in a way where they're fearful of eating certain foods because they've been told that this food is bad for them, you know, and that's kind of the way I approach things. And I think it's really giving. It's. It's. We call it the food freedom. Yeah, basically, food freedom, which is just giving people a sense of freedom with their food again, to, you know, to understand that in general, we're doing our best to eat as healthy as we can. But hey, if you want to have the occasional chocolate lava cake for dessert, hey, have it, enjoy it, and then just move on. Don't just derail yourself because you had one thing, just get back on the healthy path and then just enjoy life. And that's pretty much the way I approach things and really try to get people to understand that it's. We're so obsessed with being perfect, whatever that means. Right. So it's like if you're on a diet and you slip. It's like, oh, forget about it. I'm not even going to bother. I've got to start at, you know, ground zero again. And it's not about that. It's just like you slip. Even if. Let's just call it a slip. Even if it's not, you just get up and you just keep going like it doesn't really matter. It's not really going to make that big of a difference in the long run. If you're on a gluten free diet and you have a piece of bread, who cares? Just get back on the bandwagon and just do your best, right? So that's what it's all about.

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I love that you're saying this so much. I literally found myself going, gosh, I wish I had this recorded. So thank God it's recorded. But really, that is. That's so huge. I've spen many years and I'll probably be on that journey for the rest of my life. Because when I was young, I was an overweight kid and then I went to learning about nutrition and then all of a sudden food became bad to me and it was like I'd go travel somewhere and I was like, this is bad, this is bad. I'd put on weight, I'd be like, I feel terrible. And now it's releasing myself of that and really enjoying food because I travel too much and my husband and I love food and I love good champagne and I love dessert and.

Exactly. As part of life, right?

Yes. And it's enjoying it. And now truly I can sit and have that food and feel amazing. And now I look at it and I'm like, this is going to be awesome fuel for my workout tomorrow.

Exactly.

So that's been super helpful. So what are some. You know, it's. I love that you bring in your kids because so many people are like, oh my goodness. You know, I'm trying to get my kids to eat right and I don't want them to have guilt or shame around their food. So when you say food, food Freedom, you just try to keep that. How do you teach them? How do you try to show them what foods are good for them, but also give them the awareness without bringing in that shame?

Yeah. I think with kids especially, the big thing is to try to get them to enjoy real food from an early age. Because if they're brought up on junk foods and high processed sugars and stuff like that, there's. It's a very tough road back. Right. You know, if they're eating, you know, high sugar foods, obviously vegetables are gonna taste like they're not even gonna wanna eat them. So if you can make it part of their upbringing where it's like, hey, this is just the way we eat, this is just the way things are. Right. Without being like, you know, crazy about it. And they're just having salads, they're having soups, they're introduced to smoothies and different stuff like that. That's just what they know. And I think getting your kids involved in the food prep process is really important because it gives them a sense of ownership and there's that positive connection with the parents and food and themselves and they just feel good. But obviously they're going to be exposed to ice cream and other things like that as part of growing up as a kid, I think it's really important to embrace those experiences and not be like, okay, you can't have any birthday cake because, you know, whatever. But as the gatekeeper, as the parents, I really believe your kids don't go to the grocery store and buy their own food. You know, like, not. My kids are five and a half and younger, so we are responsible for bringing the foods into our house. If you're bringing packaged and processed foods in the house, they, the kids eventually will have them. And once they start in those going down that path of engineered foods, then it's a bit tricky to get them back on the healthier path because now they've had a taste of the drug, if you will, and it's now their brain is like, hold on, I want more of that cracker or whatever that was. And so I think it's really about educating them about maybe not even educating them at a young age, but just really exposing them to delicious fresh foods. If you have a garden, getting them involved in gardening, just really connecting them to what food is, making it taste really good. And you don't even have to talk about the health benefits. If a 4 year old's having kale, you don't need to lecture him on why kale is important. It's just like, it's just part of, like, hey, this is just what we eat. And I think another thing is, you know, getting kids to recognize where food comes from. You know, a lot of kids don't even recognize that pineapple is. Doesn't actually. Pineapples don't actually. Are not grown in cans and cut up in chunks. So show what the, like, the real food looks like. And, you know, two of our boys are in Montessori, and one of the cool things they do there is they have like this see through transparent cup and they grow like a pea shoot. But the whole cup is just the soil. So they see the roots going down. They can visually see what's happening if we're planted in the soil, like in a garden. And it's just cool to have that connection because we're so disconnected from our food that we forget where our eggs come from. We forget where our meat comes from. We don't even know what half our foods look like when they're grown from the earth. So I think getting kids involved in that process is really, really helpful for that.

Oh, I love hearing that. Thank you. I don't have kids yet, but I'm like, these are fantastic tips. And I know we have so many listeners. So your book, the All Day Energy Diet. I'm so intrigued by the topic of energy because so many people forget that it comes from our food. I mean, it comes from a lot of different sources, but so much was swapping out foods for me. And I have to tell you that even when I was first on the journey of really learning about nutrition, I still was not eating. Right. Right. I was eating more for how I looked because, you know, I was being driven by that just wanting to lose weight than actual energy and realizing that I wasn't able to maybe complete my workouts or I didn't feel good or I was still getting crazy cravings. So I think when we address the food around energy, that those things can all switch to. Can you tell me your opinion and everything on that? Some tips to. To incorporate energy.

Yeah. So I tell people how you heal anything is how you heal everything. So the way to eat for more energy is also the same way to eat to lose weight, to prevent disease, to pretty much solve most of the issues. Right? Because it's like, it's so funny that there's, you know, there's so many diets out there and they pretty much most of them are good. I mean, some of them are kind of gimmicky because that's just the nature of the public publishing industry. But at the base, you have, at the base of most diets it's pretty much eat real foods. And then there's obviously a couple nuances here and there. So with the all day energy diet, the whole focus is really about understanding most people. Let me just back up a second. Most people talk about energy. The reason I wrote the book is because energy has really been my claim to fame since I've been doing this. Energy and fat loss are my two things that I do better than anyone else. And most people talk about energy in the sense of like have some protein for breakfast, have some nuts, you know, throughout the day. And you know, it's, it's really, I find it's a very superficial conversation. And there's those are obviously valid points. However, the approach that I've taken is really about giving people the understanding of why we don't have energy in the first place. And that energy is a warning sign, or sorry, low energy is a warning sign that something inside of you is not working properly. So when you're tired all the time, that is not a normal state of being. That's just, that's like your body's way of saying, so whatever else is energy in the body is a zero sum game. So you have, let's say you have 100 units of energy. If your body is dealing with stuff, it's going to use up a certain amount of those energy points and you're not going to have enough energy to work out or just be active or just, you know, stay awake in some cases. So two cases in point, when women are pregnant, they don't feel very energetic, right? And that's because they're growing another human being inside of them. So there's a huge metabolic process that's taking place. And again, if it takes up more of those energy units, the woman is not going to feel as pumped up to do other things. When we're sick, we don't feel very energized. And that's because our body is fighting something and it's using up those energy units to break down whatever is going on inside of our body. And when we look at things like Thanksgiving dinner, we have a huge dinner and most of us feel like taking a nap afterwards. And that's because food is a very labor intensive process for our body to deal with. Especially when you have this onslaught of food and that is very laborsome on the digestive system. So when you have foods in that quantity or that combination where for instance, you have a lot of like tough animal proteins that are really hard on the stomach to break down. That doesn't energize us. It requires more energy than it actually gives us. And ironically, the less you eat, the more energetic you're going to feel. And that's, again, it's a paradigm shift because we've been led to believe that food equals energy. And it does. But there's kind of the spectrum of if you have too little, obviously you're going to feel pretty tired. If you have too much, you're going to feel pretty tired as well. And what I try to get people to think about is, like, listen, you don't have to be eating all the time. Your metabolism is not going to shut down. And in fact, actually, if you don't eat for, let's say, a day, or if you kind of cut back on your caloric intake, you're actually going to feel more energized. So just kind of like as a, kind of a fundamental understanding there, that might be helpful for the way, or kind of a different perspective on the way some people view their food. But when we look at why we don't have energy in the first place, it really comes down to what's happening in our blood. And at the cellular level, each of the cells in our body produce energy by using oxygen and glucose. And basically what our body needs to do is it takes in oxygen and it distributes it to those cells so that our cells can use the oxygen to produce energy and do everything we have to do. Now, energy, or that oxygen is transported in our blood in these little taxi cabs called red blood cells. So just imagine you're sitting in New York City in a taxi cab and you're trying to go a couple blocks. Well, that could take an hour in some cases, based on the amount of traffic in the city. And that's what's happening in most people's bloodstreams, is that there's a traffic jam of these red blood cells, these taxicabs that are transporting this oxygen. And the reason for that is because their blood is slightly acidic. It's outside of its normal alkaline balance. And that happens as a result of eating pretty much the Western diet, which is processed foods. All the junk we have, lots of grains, lots of sugar, lots of animal proteins. And the reason for that is because when we eat foods, they can be broken down into more of an acidic ash or an alkaline ash. I talk about the kind of the science behind this in the book, but just understand that vegetables and fruit are more alkaline than dairy, animal products and grains. So in order to kind of resurrect our energy, it's really about purifying our blood. And the best way to do that, and the most effective way to do that is to eat more plants, especially more green vegetables, because they're the highest in terms of nutrient density, but also they're the highest source of alkaline minerals that help to restore the natural balance or the ph balance in our blood that is ideal for our red blood cells to function properly and distribute oxygen throughout our body. And sadly, you know, they're really, I mean, you have to look very hard to find the science for this stuff. And there's a lot of stuff in Europe and there's a lot of research in cancer spaces, alternative cancer spaces, on this stuff. But again, mainstream, you know, no one talks about this stuff. And I was on Dr. Oz, you know, for this very topic, and they had to cut some of the stuff out because their board of directors or advisors weren't comfortable talking about this. And I'm like, you guys are like, whatever, it's fine. But it's just, it's, you know, it's funny sometimes when, you know, there's no or there's little mainstream evidence for certain things, people think of it as kind of woo woo. But you know, when you see, I mean, we've helped tens of thousands of people resurrect themselves out of like literally out of the ground to feeling like a new person following these really simple principles in like a week. And you know, whether or not you understand it doesn't matter. Whether or not you believe it works or not doesn't matter. And I said to people, listen, I'm not going to convince you about stuff. All you have to do is try it. And when you feel the difference, then we can talk.

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Oh, I love hearing that. You're actually making me so excited for my kale salad tonight. But now I live in California and there's restaurants that are actually based on having alkaline diet. So it's just been such a shift. You know, it's not like that in any other part of the country that I lived in. And now just bringing that awareness, I can, I can't actually believe how quick you really can feel good. I mean, you can take somebody who's been eating terrible and in two to three days they can feel like, whoa, how was this even this energy possible? So what do you suggest, like to somebody who's Maybe living in the Midwest or somewhere where they can't get access to a ton of great food. Is there something that you like to do? Simple tips, like your green smoothie or something like that, just to get more vegetables in?

Yeah, the easiest way to experience, you know, it's almost weird. Like, I mean, you know, beyond like her religious beliefs and stuff, it's almost like dying and seeing the other side, you know, when you experience this, because for most people, they have no idea how much better they can feel. And you can't experience that by reading a book or hearing somebody talk about it. You really have to experience it. And the good thing is you can experience it in like a day. So the best thing would be for somebody to at the very. Like, why do all these juice bars keep popping up? Like, why does everyone, like, why is, you know, the new thing and thankfully is really just people are getting into like, you know, fresh pressed juices and all these juice bars are popping around the country. And it's awesome because that's the easiest, most simplest way to feel like a new person in about a day or two. And that's because when you have a green juice, you're taking, you know, four, five, six servings of vegetables and you're running them through a juicer, you're extracting all the essential nutrients without the fiber. So those are really just, you know, directly infused, almost like an IV into your body. And you're giving your body, first of all the micronutrients that it's probably not getting already. You're getting a huge influx of alkalinity, you're getting more fluid, more water, which is obviously very good. And when you do that, you feel so much better. So I recommend for everyone there's three things really. You can have a green juice. When I say a green juice, I'm talking about fresh pressed vegetables and maybe like an apple for a little bit of sweetness, but really make the focus vegetables. You can't be juicing fruit because then you're essentially just having Coca Cola. It's the same thing. You're basically taking in the same amount of fructose as you would in a Coke. If you're juicing fruit, you're not getting the fiber in a juice. And there's a good and kind of pro and con to that. The pro is that you don't get the fiber, which means you have a very easy time of absorbing all those nutrients. If you're using smoothies again, you can get the benefit of a smoothie is that you're Getting the whole food, you're getting the fiber and everything. So there you can be a little more liberal with the fruit, you can add in some protein to the whole mix, you can add in some greens. And so what I like to suggest is get a green juice in, get a green smoothie in, have a salad with your meals. Just those three simple things, or one of those three on a daily basis can start to move you in the right direction. So even if you're just like a steak and potatoes kind of person or whatever it is you're eating, just add a salad to your meal, start your day with a green juice or a green smoothie. Little simple things like that can make a huge difference. And the biggest thing, and I'm like you, I'm a huge believer in like adding stuff in. But there's one thing I would say strongly recommend you remove if you want to have more energy. And that's caffeine. And that's ironic because most people rely on caffeine to feel alive. They get up in the morning and they're like, oh my God, I need my coffee to get my day started. That statement alone is problematic. You need coffee to start your day. For me, that's like, how does that even make sense? And that's just because there's so low in just vital energy and their body is so deprived of nutrients that they need a stimulant to artificially raise them up for a little bit before they crash again and then seek it out again and it becomes this up and down, yo, yo kind of roller coaster of energy all day long. Instead, when you're like, for instance, if you have a couple of juices in a day, you're going to feel so much better, you're going to readjust your palate so that you don't even want the coffee, you don't even want the sugar that much anymore. And you'll actually crave vegetables and really great tasting foods that are good for you. And again, there might be people listening to this being like, oh, whatever, whatever. And that's fine. You can't understand. It's like you can. There's a great saying that's. I can't remember where I heard it, but it's like, you have to understand. You can't explain. And the only way to understand this is to experience it. And that's it. You literally have to see the lights. And then you'll be like, oh, now I get it. So those are a couple simple tips.

I love that. And you know, coffee can become A mask. It can be like, yeah, but I had my coffee, now I feel good. So you're not going to grab that juice instead? You know, because instead of, oh, the juice is what makes me feel good. It's like, oh, this coffee is making me feel good. But then the effects afterward obviously can bring you back down. So some of the main things that I hear from people all the time, that I love to chat with you out is just they either have anxiety over something or they have anxiety because they're not sleeping. Or maybe certain foods they're eating are keeping them up. Or just a lot of different issues between anxiety and sleep and them being, I truly believe they're linked along with food. So can we talk about those two things? How do you feel about sleep? And then we'll also chat about anxiety.

Yeah, sleep is huge. I mean, we spend a third of our life sleeping. The majority of repair and regeneration and growth happens when you're in deep sleep. So the most important thing I think you can do from, I mean, probably arguably the most important thing you can do when it comes to lifestyle is go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Because what that's going to do is it's going to help reset your circadian rhythm to a very predictable pattern, which it likes, versus going to bed at 10 o' clock one night, waking up at 7, going to bed at 3 in the morning, the next day waking up at 10. You know, the kind of the college, college years, you know. So going to bed before 10:30 is very helpful as well because when you go to bed earlier, you actually spend more of your sleep time in deep sleep. And that's the slow wave sleep. That's where your body releases growth hormone. That's where all the repair happens. And that's really important, especially for people who are active, you know, and who are, you know, working out or athletes and stuff like that. And that's also when you feel more rejuvenated. So even if you're getting seven hours of sleep or you're going to bed at 2 in the morning, waking up at 9, you're not getting as much deep sleep. You're spending more of your time in rem, which is that rapid eye movement sleep. And it's not as rejuvenating. So going to bed before 10:30, waking up at the same time every day, really important. Seven to nine hours is very important. That seems to be the sweet spot and everyone's a little bit different. So it's, you know, for me it's about seven and a half hours. Other people might be eight and a half hours. But the research is pretty consistent that if you sleep less than seven hours or more than nine, that becomes a risk factor for obesity as well as early death. So, you know, you don't have to if you're sleeping 10 hours a day. So again, for me, when I was sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night when I was young, that's not normal, right? That was my body was saying, listen, dude, something like is going on. Something's brewing inside here. You know, there's a lot of inflammation and immune stuff going on. Like there's this war happening inside your body. We need this extra time to just deal with this. So that's why you're sleeping more. And when I started to change my diet, I was sleeping like five to seven hours a night, like jumping out of bed, no problem. So I'm not saying five hours is obviously the ideal, but it was just such a contrast. I was like, holy cow, I've never experienced this. This is pretty cool. And so sleep is huge. Those are some three simple, really, really important things to remember. So going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, seven to nine hours is best. And ideally, if you can go to sleep before 10:30, you're going to do your body a big service there.

So important. And how about I know that when I don't sleep, I am telling you, it is like I go straight to the cupboard. I'm like, do we have anything that's.

Carbs or crackers or anything?

And when I do sleep, it's such a massive appetite suppressant for me. And I wasn't sleeping when I was younger, so what do you think I did? I was just like a cold carb monster. I didn't want anything else. So can we talk about that? Because I feel like so many people don't realize that sleep is so associated to what we're actually even craving.

Yeah, that's a great point. Like sleep is when you sleep, you produce higher levels of leptin, which is your I'm full hormone. When you, when you're getting adequate sleep, you also produce less of the hormone ghrelin, which is the I'm hungry hormone. When you sleep deprived. So let's say you're in college and you're staying up late and doing all that studying stuff. When you're in that state of staying up all night, the opposite happens. So you have more ghrelin, less leptin, so now you're naturally hungrier and you're getting less of that I'm full signal. The other thing too is that when you sleep, your body goes through this conversion process in the brain of tryptophan to serotonin to melatonin. Those are three kind of hormones that are converted down that pathway. And melatonin is that hormone that tells us basically it's sleepy time. So if we're not sleeping properly, we're going to crave that same kind of pathway. And one of the best ways to increase serotonin is actually have more carbs. So if you're not getting enough sleep, your body could actually be craving carbs because it needs more serotonin to just kind of calm down and, and kind of shut down for a little bit. So that's part of the connection there. And that's also why I recommend people having more of their carbs later in the day, which is kind of counter to what a lot of people have been told for the years, over the years, which is like, don't have carbs later in the day because you're going to store them as fat. The research shows that that's nonsense. And what actually happens is when you have carbs later in the day, you actually create this process where your brain starts to take in more tryptophan, which is kind of an amino acid that's left around in the bloodstream because it doesn't get absorbed across different cellular mechanisms. But again, I won't go into the details. Anyways, carbs lead to this, an increased delivery of tryptophan to serotonin to melatonin, and it helps you sleep and it helps to reestablish or it helps to honor that natural circadian rhythm that we have. Because if you have carbs early in the day, you start to offset your cortisol rhythm, which is very important. It's basically the opposite of melatonin. So in the morning you have high cortisol, low melatonin, cortisol says, hey, wake up, it's time to go. At night, we have low cortisol, ideally, and high melatonin, if you eat your carbs. So for instance, one of the things that cortisol does is it breaks down stored energy to raise or maintain blood sugar. At night or later in the day, if you have more carbs, what you're doing is you're bringing more stuff or more carbohydrates into your body, which naturally raises your blood sugar, and that sends a signal to suppress cortisol. So that's part of the reason why it's actually really helpful for maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm. Because at night, when your cortisol is supposed to be low, that carbohydrate intake helps to keep keep it low. And that is all part of the process of keeping your circadian rhythm happy, which is basically your body's natural biological clock. And it just helps with sleep, and it helps with your metabolism and hormone function. And it's super powerful and important. Wow.

Really good stuff. So as far as people who are maybe anxious or anxiety, and this could also relate to different caffeine and things that they're having, different foods. Are there certain foods that can make you feel more anxious or certain foods that can make you feel less anxious?

I think other than caffeine and sugar, I think for the most part, anxiety is mentally derived. So there's things happening in your life that are making you feel anxious, and I would really encourage looking at what those things are. One of the things that I recommend for people who can't fall asleep because of anxiety or other worries is just write down everything that's on your head. Do a brain dump before you go to bed. Just get everything out of your head. And that helps kind of just to just get everything out of your thinking and onto paper so that you feel okay, that it's been documented somewhere. And the other thing too, with anxiety is like, it's really. I believe it's a belief system. If you believe that everything is going to be okay, then you can't be anxious. Right. Like anxious, anxiety and worry are kind of synonymous. And worry basically means that we are spending time thinking about the future in a way that is elusive or not favorable. Right. If you're thinking about the future in a way that's like, oh, my God, I can't wait until this happens. Like, it's eager and fun, that's a very different emotion. Right. But if we're worrying and we're anxious, we're fearing something in the future, which is the complete opposite of hopefulness and optimism. So a lot of times it's really about shifting our mindsets and really focusing on what we want, as opposed to focusing on the lack of what we want or focusing on something we don't want to happen. So I think really it is from the anxiety perspective, it's really kind of a mental shift that has to take place.

Oh, yes. I'm such a believer in that. And I find it's. You know, I find that eating healthy is such freedom to be able to get into that mindset so much easier because When I didn't, or when I wasn't sleeping or when I had more sugar, it was like, when I'm tired, I feel like I am so weak. Like, I am running at 30% of what you can do. And I have so much more willpower. And just even, you know, when I'm tired, even now, I notice even having that type of mindset where I'm like, this is what I feel, this is what I believe. I'm so positive. I'm this, I'm that. When I'm tired, I'm like, it's easy for me to get really overwhelmed. It's easy for me to make those bad choices. So I'm so highly aware of food and also sleep. So do you have like a mindset or mantra around keeping yourself healthy with your food and your workouts?

Well, I just have. I just have a couple of rules in my life. Like, so one of them, from a health perspective, one of them is that I work out or move my body for at least 30 minutes a day. So that has to happen every single day, no matter what. Whether that's like walking my dogs or working out, that's just like in 30 minutes is really on the low end. So. But that's just kind of like that has to happen. Second is, I have a liter of greens every day. So if that doesn't happen, I know that's probably the biggest needle mover for me, to have a lot more energy and to ensure I'm getting the nutrition my body needs. So that's really like, no matter what else, if I'm pigging out on pizza and ice cream, which I don't really do that often, but let's just say I did. Even if that did happen, as long as I have my liter of greens, I have that nutritional safety net. And the third thing is really doing my best to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. So those are the kind of the three things or the three rules that I do my best not to deviate from, because I know that's really when I thrive and that's when I feel my best. In terms of mantras, the big one for me is really, I think Gandhi said this, which is like, be the change you wish to see in the world. And I think that's really, for me, really true. Because everything I teach and talk about is stuff that I live and for it's really important to be congruent, at least for me, with my message. So, you know, if I'm not going to tell People, you have to do this and then not do that. Or, like, and if I slip, I'll let people. I'll be honest with people. I'll be like, hey, listen, you know, I'm going through. Had a little bit of a rough patch the last couple days, and this is kind of, you know, what happened. And I kind of didn't eat the best I should have, but again, I do so in a way where it's like, I'm allowing myself to be okay with that and letting people know that I'm not perfect. You don't have to be perfect either. And, you know, with that. With that in mind, just kind of do the best to inspire others to be a better version of themselves by you being the best version of yourself.

I love hearing that, just because I think there's so much out there that I remember when I first started really getting into health and nutrition, I felt like people weren't very transparent. And I feel like there is this big shift happening where a lot of the leaders in the industry are allowing themselves to really be seen and show up as humans, which has been really helpful because I was like, wait a minute, here I am slipping up over here. Or maybe I'm having cocktails on the weekend. This must be bad. I must not be as good as them, or I must not have the willpower that they have. And now I think it's so vital that we show. Of course this happens, but here's what you do to get back on, or here's why it happened, or it's okay for this to happen. And I also love that you just make sure that you get your liter of greens in, because I can't actually believe this is something that I want to get out there, because for a long time I had this misconception. I can't actually believe what foods we can have or the fact that we can have a little bit more or different things or varieties of food than I initially thought. If we are making sure that we're eating healthy for most of the day or getting those greens in or, you know, because I travel all the time, so honestly, there are so many times where maybe I'll have a cocktail every night for four or five nights. Do I feel good doing that? No. But it doesn't throw me off to the point where it's like, it's over.

I look terrible.

Like, you can't. I can't even tell the difference anymore as long as I come back home and clean it up. So for those people, I think that's Just, it's freedom, right, to be able to know that.

Yeah. The other thing too is really like, everything is momentum. You know, it's like Newton's first law. Objects at rest will stay at rest or at rest, and objects in motion will tend to stay in motion. And it's like, if you haven't worked out for several weeks, it's going to be tough to start working out again. But if you understand that's part of the process, then be like, okay, I understand this can be not something I'm looking forward to, but I'm going to do it anyways. If that's the mindset, that's fine. Just understand that. Like, that's fine. Fine, right? Like you're, you're breaking the momentum. You're kind of like stopping a freight train from moving, and that's tough. But once you've done the workout, you're a little bit more likely to do the next workout and then you just get back in the groove. And the same thing with healthy eating, right? If you go away and travel and you're having a couple of drinks, naturally you're going to kind of. You might be swayed off your schedule a little bit. So the momentum to get back into your normal habits might be a bit more different or a little bit more difficult. But if you just understand what's happening, you can just say, okay, listen, I understand this is happening. Let's just make today a quick pattern interrupt, a quick habit change to get back on the healthy course. And I think that can be really helpful, too.

Yes. Pattern interrupt. Right when I get home, I'm like, okay, what's going to make me feel so much better right now, this morning, today? And it's always going and moving and just making sure I get something healthy to eat. So I love hearing that. So is there anything that you want to share with every, everybody that, that maybe could help them or that we haven't shared yet before we wrap up?

I don't know. I mean, there's, there's so many things, but we've, we've covered. I don't know, I mean, we've covered a good amount. I would just say, like, understand that the human body is amazingly resilient. So no matter how far gone you think you are, no matter how healthy you are, there's always the next level. It doesn't matter how old you are, you can be healthier and look and feel better than you did 20 years ago. And all it takes is a decision and a belief in the amazing thing that is your body and understand that every single cell in your body is always renewing itself. So if you are the accumulation of all the cells that are renewing themselves, then you essentially become a new person physically in several years from now. And that physically is determined by the choices you make on a day to day basis. And so really it's just about like all change happens in a second. Right? It's just about making a decision to be like, all right, I'm going to do this and this is the way I'm going to be and that's it. So I think, you know, because a lot of the people that I help are, you know, women between the ages of 40 and 60 and you know, they're going through like hormonal changes and perimenopause and post menopause and, and a lot of them feel lost in their body. They don't feel like they used to. And I understand that. I mean that's challenging. And the same thing with a lot of men who go through andropause or there's a drop in testosterone levels and there's all this stuff that's happening. But never lose sight of the fact that don't fall into the belief system which is our culture, which says as you get older you should be falling apart. Right. As you get older, you should be relying on medication. As you get older, you'll end up in an old age home and just have terrible posture and all. I mean, those are all culturally derived norms. And sure, the human body maybe dwindles away a little bit over time, but there's countless examples of people that as they get older are stronger, fitter and better health than they were in their 20s and 30s. And it really is about surrounding yourself with the right environment, the right people, the right influences to help you, to help remind you of that and to not settle for the status quo. And yeah, so I think that's probably a really important message for anyone to remember.

Oh my goodness, I'm so glad you added that. Thank you so much. So inspiring. And where can we follow you? Where can we find you? Where can we find your books?

Yeah, I mean the best place is our blog. So urielkaim.com so that's y U R I E L K A I M. I'd be surprised if anyone could spell my full name like knowing how it's spelled. So yeah, we've got, we publish, you know, great content every single day there. And then from there obviously we've got links to our YouTube channel and Facebook and those are that's probably the hub, that's probably the best place to follow all of our stuff. We have, you know, tremendous articles on, you know, smart exercise, you know, amazing recipes every several times a week. Just really, really good stuff to make healthy and fit simple again. And the books, all the energy diet, all day fabricating diet, you can get those at any bookstore on Amazon. And yeah, awesome.

Before I ask my very last question, I just want to acknowledge you and thank you. I'm so grateful for your time and for you sharing this wealth of information for everybody.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so last question, because my podcast is all about happiness. So if you have a 30 second elevator ride with someone and they turn to you and they say, how can I make myself happy? What do you say?

Focus on what you want.

I love that. Simple.

It's so funny because all of these discussions can be boiled down to focus on what you want. Because when you focus on what you want, you can't feel sad. It's either you're focused on gratitude or you're stressed out. So you can be grateful for what you have, you can be grateful for what's to come, you can be excited for what's to come. And you know, if you're focusing, if you use your emotions as your gps, if you feel crummy, why is that? It's because you're focusing on things that make you feel crummy. So focus on what you want. Don't focus on the lack of what you want. If you want more money, focus on the fact that you're going to have more money or that you're excited to have more money, not the lack of the money that you currently have. And so it's a very simple idea, but in practice, you just have to practice it. And it's just a matter of being aware of your own feelings and your emotions and your emotions are there to guide you every single day. If you feel angry, why do you feel angry? Quickly, just shift. Be like, listen, I'm feeling like this, but I want to feel this way. So I'm going to focus on this instead. And it sounds simple, but I'm telling you, like, if you just, if you're aware of this and you're just mentally like focusing on the right things that you want, you cannot feel crummy. You will feel happy. And when you feel happy, you make better choices with your food, you make better choices with your lifestyle, you're more radiant, you're more confident, you attract the right people, you attract the right situations in your life. And it's just. It's awesome. So it's a decision and that's pretty much all it is.

Yes.

Yes.

I love it. Thank you so much. And you guys, if you loved this episode as much as I did, make sure that you share it with your friends, you tweet it out, and until next time, earn your happy by everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear. More of it would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye. Bye.