Health Optimization for High Performers: Playbook for More Energy, Better Sleep, & Real Longevity

Welcome to Inside the Speakeasy Mastermind Podcast, the private room where today's sharpest founders, innovators, and renegade thinkers come to trade the ideas that move industries. This show is brought to you by HighLevel, the AI-driven business operating system trusted by over 2 million businesses to help automate, scale, and create real leverage. HighLevel isn't just a tool, it's the engine behind some of the most agile and high-performing teams on the planet. If you're ready to streamline everything, amplify your reach, and actually build a business that works for you, you're in the right place. Visit www.gohighlevel.com/speakeasy-mastermind-promo to get an exclusive 30-day trial for being a listener of the Inside the Speakeasy podcast. Enjoy the show. Welcome to Inside the Speakeasy podcast. And today we're going deep, deep on health optimization, biohacking, and I tell you, as an entrepreneur, we spend a lot of time focusing our business, but we are not spending enough time working on our health. And today's episode, I'm going to bring in Deepak, one of our premium, incredible members on the health side, all the way out from Calgary. And we are going to cover about 20 different hacks, tips, cheats, systems. I wouldn't even call them cheats, just things we could all be doing immediately to start focusing on optimizing our health. I mean, gosh, if we just spend 4 to 5 hours a week optimizing our biology, We're going to be so much more productive and Deepak is going to show us why. Deepak, welcome to the show.

Yeah, thanks, Erica. It's a pleasure to be here. I'm really looking forward to our conversation.

Yeah, no, I'm stoked because, you know, we talk obviously a lot about scaling our businesses and business growth and all that. And, you know, I mean, I love this concept of just the ROI on ourselves and being more productive because we tend to ignore, I know I do, I mean, all those crazy entrepreneurs, go, go, go, go, go. And we all understand the value of health, but gee, it's easy to get caught in the entrepreneurial hamster wheel and just, you know, not necessarily do the things we could do, but we're not functioning at our peaks. I mean, is that— tell me a little bit of background. What are you seeing out there from us entrepreneurs? And let's get into it.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm going to talk broad strokes here, but, you know, and maybe not to pick on men, but, you know, men are even worse than women entrepreneurs, right? Like they're not even going to the doctor to, you know, like they have to be like on their deathbed or whatever. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but even go to the doctor and, you know, it's not where their wives are dragging them, but, you know, speaking entrepreneurs right? Like we're so, myself included, right? We're so busy. We're doing this. We're leading our teams. We're going to events. We're, you know, business building. And it's like, oh, where's the time? And where does it usually, where do we take it, the time from? We take it from our sleep. We take it from our own self-care, whatever that looks like for you, exercise, nutrition, and our families, right? The time with our families and our personal relationships. I'll get to that. I'll get to that. You know, and I see this with CEOs, corporations too. They don't have to be entrepreneurs. We rob from ourselves and are the ones closest to us to build the thing that we think is going to give back to them. And it does, but sometimes the priorities are a little mismatched. That's right.

Along the way, we're sort of missing things.

I feel it.

I think about it all the time. So we're going to get into today. You got some really cool tips for, for all of us, 3 or 4 kind of life hacks, things we should all be doing on a regular, consistent basis. And obviously I know you teach so much more. I mean, to even get there, I mean, you and I have talked a few times. I've really enjoyed our conversations. You're such a great member in our community. You're always there to help serve others.

Others.

But life wasn't so easy for you. I know back in the day, I remember you telling me some crazy stories of, you know, you were in the big corporate world and you had a massive autoimmune condition. You, I mean, you're such a skinny guy now. You look so healthy. You were obese. You had back injuries. I mean, give me a little of the backstory.

I'd like to think I'm well-toned, Eric. I don't know if I'm just skinny or well-toned, but I was always chronically sick as a kid, chronic bronchitis, ear infections, the whole deal. I get sick for 3 or 4, 3 to 4 times per year for weeks at a time. That's no way to live. That's certainly no way to grow up and certainly not no way to hard to raise your family and like try and build your career in the corporate world. Again, I was always a chubby kid. By 18 years old, I'd been classified as morbidly obese, 100 pounds heavier than I am now. So that was joint pain, aches, and all that sort of thing. But in 2014, when my youngest daughter was just a baby, I hurt my back. I had no flexion. I couldn't bend over at the waist. So I couldn't do like anything, even putting on my shoes and socks. It's painful getting in and out of a chair, which includes the toilet. That was painful. That was finally the impetus for me to like try and figure things out. Wait, when'd you say this was? You were how old?

24.

2014.

So, oh, in 2014.

Okay. Yeah. So I'm like in my mid-thirties, we're starting our family. You know, I have a 3-year-old and a baby at home. I could barely get to work and it was super painful, but you know, couldn't be the father, couldn't be the husband that I wanted to be. So yeah, I live up here in Canada, you know, you like said Calgary chapter. I like to say the Western medical system did me no favors, certainly not here where I live. So I took matters into my own hands, found an alternative modality to heal my back. That's all I was trying to do was heal my back so I could play with my kids. Wow. But in conjunction with that, I made some lifestyle changes, you know, nutrition. I was always doing a ton of exercising and actually overtraining was actually part of the reason I hurt my back in the first place. But primarily through nutrition and other lifestyle factors, proper sleep, you know, hydrating that, you know, proper sunlight, all these types of things. The last 60 of the 100 pounds I lost melted away in just a matter of like 5, 6 months. And I never really looked back. So, you know, they diagnosed me with degenerative disc disease, but through using PRP that helped my back and the weight went away. And lo and behold, that autoimmune condition Undiagnosed. The last thing they thought I had was leukemia. Thankfully I didn't have that, but there was a part of me, and maybe some people can relate, you're actually hoping they have an answer for you cuz then at least you can put a label on it and you're like, you have something. And anyway, they never did diagnose me, but lo and behold, it just went into remission. I essentially haven't been sick for 10 years. That's all through COVID and everything just by making these lifestyle changes. And that was my kind of aha moment. And then colleagues and business associates started asking me for advice and guiding them. And I was like, I kind of, I think I have a bigger purpose here to serve a mission. So that eventually led me to doing what I'm today to make the story a little bit shorter. Yeah.

And then today, just as a quick overview, let's talk about real fast what you do today. And then I want to get into, you know, some of, some of the tactics we can strategies.

Yeah, absolutely. So I've developed a methodology. It's called TIIME, T-I-I-M-E. This community will appreciate that the M stands for mastermind. And that's a very cool component, but essentially I work with entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. Really deep dive into their health. It starts with testing, inner game work, really get into the emotional root cause of so many things. And clearing that up early on in the process also helps anything tactically we do. The implementation, which is the second I, we're gonna, we optimize nutrition, sleep, you know, nervous system, everything in your environment, in your home, in your business place, optimize everything. And then we, you know, there's a Mastermind component. We do some really cool advanced things that we may talk about today, like peptides or stem cells and exosomes, these types of things. And then, we reevaluate. And, you know, you do the work, you follow the process, follow the methodology, you know, you'll be at least 10 years younger biologically because we test that as well at the end of the year. I love it.

Okay. So, it's a great system. You go through all that. I know your clients because I've heard stories. They do, you know, they love the program, the stuff you're doing. So, for those of us listening and hopping in, I mean, I'm just putting my own sort of entrepreneur hat. Like, again, intuitively, I get it. Trying to get, get my exercise in, trying to eat right. So hard back to the juggling and you got the family, all that. What are some of the biggest sort of, what are the most common mistakes, common things that you're seeing with most of your clients that are just like, all right, everybody's doing this one thing that maybe here's the first thing you would sort of think about doing it. Is it the testing or, you know, back to your time or? Yeah.

So I like to start with the testing because, you know, like test, don't guess. One of the big mistakes I see with entrepreneurs, you know, again, we are typically, you know, A-type, we're in charge, right? We got into the doing or running our business or starting business because we wanted to be in control of our own destiny. And we were also well aware of like where we need help and deficiencies, right? So how that typically looks like is, you know, an entrepreneur knows there's something off, there's something's not quite right. I can't put a finger on it. And either A, I'm just going to like trust my gut because it's gotten me where it's gotten me in business. And you can't really always rely on your gut, that gut feel per se. And typically it is your gut that is an issue for a lot of people. Because you just don't know. And we've been, you know, this, you know, mass psychosis of society with, you know, all these myths of about health and this influencer saying this and something we read or our doctor says something that's, you know, 20 years outdated, you know. So we can't really rely on our gut instincts with all that filter and all that noise. Or we go to a regular GP who's actually not trained in any of this type of stuff. They're like, I'll be honest, they're just, you know, write a prescription is really what they're trained. Very few go that next level to get a functional medicine doctor. And we have some great, great people in our community who, you know, who do do these types of, things. But like really either the big mistake is leaning too heavy into the current medical system and we all understand the flaws of that, or I'm just gonna rely on myself 'cause I just have this feeling, but they don't actually know because if you don't actually get real data, the people, entrepreneurs in this community or otherwise, like you're looking at your Facebook ad spend, your return on this, your return on that and these metrics and other, but you never look at that way at your health or most people don't.

So what, I mean, what do you recommend? Like what are the first test markers that, you know, you want your clients and people to go through?

Yeah. Like, so if someone works with me, we do DNA, microbiome, metabolites, biological age, and then your comprehensive blood work. That's what we're going to be— I've— someone's just starting out on their own, at least get your blood work done. And many people don't even do that, right? Again, like I said earlier, their wives are dragging them to the doctor. At least get that done. And at least gives you a rough idea.

So now again, so let's just say I'm the average listener here running around. I go get my blood work done. And the old school way or the common way is you go, you get your annual physical, they do the typical blood write-up and they say, hey, your cholesterol, here's your this, you're fine, you're not fine. They look at your PSAs for, you know, any kind of issues. And then that's it. And like, I remember last time I did physical, I even hinted at like, hey, I'm going to go more advanced test. And it's like almost like she was annoyed that I was even bringing it up. Like, oh, that, why are you even doing that? Like, like they're so like thinking they're the only way. And I feel like subconsciously they're probably getting frustrated with this functional medicine world because it sort of undoes what they've been taught in school. Like, is that what you're kind of sensing and feeling?

I think one, if you're looking for a doctor and they play a role, don't get me wrong, right? No, you want to know someone who's open to being, you know, questioned and challenged with like new ideas and, hey, I did this research. So that, that's one thing. But yeah, you're absolutely right, Eric. A lot of doctors, I see this, I have friends that are doctors. I know people I went to high school with, they're doctors now. We still, You know, they have this, that doctor's, you know, complex, you know, like I am the authority. And many of them go and get other trainings in, you know, functional medicine or anti-aging and all these different things they can get. And that's fantastic, but most don't. And so we do need to be the best advocate for our own health or for our families as well. And I love that, like, hey, you know, this is great. I'm gonna go get some more. Or, hey, you need to be on a statin or whatever that they prescribe. It's like, whoa, whoa, wait, wait. I'm just, I'm gonna do a little bit more research and get maybe a second opinion. You know, that sort of thing is a huge next step that one could do. Because the blood work is, again, it's just, it's like a snapshot in time and it's, gives us some ideas of just some questions to ask, where should we go next?

Okay, got it. So, I mean, what I'm hearing, and I don't know if it's different in Canada and US, I know US physical, they have their basic set of stuff that the insurance will cover and pay for on the blood. They look at it and you're done. So one, take a look at it and you're saying, do your own analysis. Number one, don't just trust, you know, what they say, which is a hard thing because we're You know, we're brought up to assume you go to the doctor, they know what's best. Why are you questioning the doctor? And then number 2, are you suggesting that we all maybe go invest in a functional health med— in a doctor of some sort to do a deeper blood analysis? That it's just not good enough what you get at your annual physicals?

I would 100% say it's not good enough what you're getting. Right. If you really want to optimize. Again, functional medicine doctors, anti-aging doc, you know, all these clinics. Again, there's members in our community here. That's one avenue, you know, someone like myself who's— I'm not a doctor, full disclosure, right? But like, you know, been trained in this as more of a coach, let's say, or, you know, there's a lot of third-party companies that are just selling tests and they provide analysis and those analysis is a good directional as well. They're not always as comprehensive as what maybe someone actually needs, but you know, you know, just even going and get one of these tests, you know, off the shelf, so to speak yourself, even that is like moving you further and further along on the journey to optimization.

Yeah. And I'm sort of saying this and leading the conversation to where like I've done that. And I've become a big believer the last 2, 3 years just on the data I've learned from my deeper blood tests and a few tests. And I'm just blown away. And I think we are entering this very interesting time where we are undoing the habits, you know, like I think we've all opened our eyes a little bit to, you know, follow the money, right? And the money goes to the pharmaceuticals who are, you know, who are, you know, behind the scenes, the doctors who the doctors can only say so much and they're going to only get what the healthcare, what the insurances are going to cover. And, you know, who's paying who. And you tell me, but my gut says to some degree, you know, my opinion is there's such a hold on where the dollars and purse strings, there's a lot of control on what's going on out there on what we can or can't do. And now I think there's this movement of people out there questioning health, questioning what's out there. And I think it's exciting because the people are getting more data out there and starting to realize that, like you said, it's not just what you, you know, it's not exactly what you think it is, or it might be a lot more.

Yeah. You know, Eric, can I share a quick story? I think this kind of hits the point home. So this is, this was during 2020 COVID, you know, the, the vaccine started to roll out. You know, I did my own research, which many people did. I'm sure many in this community did, but I had data on myself. I had my DNA data and everything. So I actually, you know, booked a call with my GP. And again, he's someone who's a little bit more advanced, a little bit more open-minded, didn't mind the back and forth and the challenge. So I, again, look for someone like that if you can. And I said, hey, you know, like based on what I'm seeing, based on my genetics, If I get the vaccine, this could harm me on these factors. Alternatively, if I don't get the vaccine and I should get COVID or one of the serious strains of COVID because of these other genetic factors, this might harm me. So I'm like, I don't know where, you know, I'm getting conflicting data here. Like what, you know, I was looking for recommendation and he's like, Deepak, you have way more knowledge in this area than I do. Like, I can't really advise you. I'm like, wow. Okay. Well, I appreciate the honesty. That was refreshing, but you can really help me. So, okay, great. So I'll have to kind of go figure it out on my own. So, you know, I think that just goes to the limitations that many doctors have, even ones that are really open and that do a lot of continuing education. But yeah, there's absolutely, you know, the system has been built and designed a certain way. That's right. You could say follow the money, but yeah, that's, it's been designed a certain way.

And there's guidelines and boxes they have to play into, which is interesting. Okay. And you just have another analogy I'm going to bring up because I think it was really interesting the way you send it. You know, as business owners, it's funny how sometimes we hesitate to spend money on certain health things. When you wouldn't even blink to spend, let's say, to spend $500 on a custom blood test. You're like, but look at all the data you're going to get, which can, you know, lead to X, Y, and Z. And you would drop $500 to run an ads test on a program to sell a product just to see if you're going to break even. And when you actually put it in that context, you're like, what the hell are we thinking? Like that goes away in a second, a test on a marketing campaign versus your health. You can learn one little thing that can add X number of years to your life. I mean, I mean, you put it in that context.

X years to your life, faster reaction time. Better decision-making, all these sorts of things. And you know, here's another crazy thing, Eric. I get this with my clients all the time. Like, oh, that's deductible. Like, I'm not giving tax advice here. I was a CPA before. I'm not giving advice, but like, this is a business expense. I'm like, oh, I can write this off. Yes, absolutely. Just like a bunch of other stuff that you're, like you said, are spending money on. So I think I'm surprised like more people don't understand this.

Well, because I think we're so used to the health insurance covers it, therefore no big deal. Oh my God, I got to go out of pocket for something. There's that immediate hesitancy that insurance won't cover it. Therefore, I just, I'll not do it. And it's weird when you put it in that context, because we've been so trained to think about, you know, insurance covering, therefore, you know, it's just interesting when you really think about, and I love how you painted that business analogy picture. Again, it's not like insurance is covering your, your $500 paid media campaign that I mentioned. You know, you're not getting that back. There's no coverage and you're just getting data. Let's get some real data that matters. Okay. So let's dig in a little bit more. So you talk first about the testing of, you know, a lot of things, blood, biome, all the other kind of stuff, you know, those markers to get the data. What else do you see as sort of top things we need to do or pivots or major changes we should be considering to get back optimized?

I think one thing that the data gives us, many people have a notion of, you know, again, through media or, you know, just experience and, you know, some people did elimination diets or whatever, or they're just following the latest thing like, oh, keto, like that's, I see people online losing, my friend lost weight on keto, whatever, and all these sorts of things. And that, that's great. I'm all about experimentation and trying to move your life in a better direction. That's all great. But sometimes when you actually get the data, it's like, look, this thing and like, yeah, maybe you lost some weight. I'm just gonna pick on weight. Maybe you lost some weight doing this thing or following this diet, but the data is actually showing this is actually harming your gut. This is actually going against your genetics. There's a different approach. So yeah, you've lost weight as one metric and it can happen. We're all gonna have our own choices and what goals, but, but you know, for me it's not necessarily about weight. I mean, that's part of being healthy and longevity is like having the right body composition and lean muscle mass and all that. But like, I also wanna live a long time and be healthy for a long time. So I don't wanna be going against my genetics because I'm eating spinach and kale. I'll just use myself as an example. I am super sensitive to oxalates, which are very high in raw spinach and raw kale. So like, and I used to do the, the green smoothies and the big salads and still I got the data. I was like, Oh, maybe that's why I'm running to the bathroom 4 times. And then no matter what I try and do for my microbiome, I'm still running to the bathroom 4 times a day. Oh, okay, let's get rid of that. Oh, lo and behold, that and a few other little tweaks made a difference. So I think we can get really nuanced with the testing. Where are we deficient? I never would, I'll use myself as an example. So I've been very open about this. Nothing to hide here. I have one of the variants of the APOE gene that makes me about, you know, 10, 15% more susceptible to Alzheimer's. I have Alzheimer's in my family. I have family members that passed. This is a concern to me. Many of my decisions are based on that. The last time I did my metabolites test, I realized my body is not producing GABA, key neurotransmitter. Lack of GABA or deficiency in GABA is related to Parkinson's. Now, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, two different diseases, but they're on that same spectrum here. Okay. Well, I have a higher risk for this. I know this from data and family history. I need to optimize for this. So, while I'm trying to figure out my gut issues to produce GABA endogenously, I'm gonna supplement with GABA. I would never know this if I didn't do these testing. So I'm working on something that's hopefully 40 years out in the future, but I have hard data, so I'm gonna do it now.

Got it.

These are the kind of the nuanced decisions we can make once we have the data.

Got it. And then, so I'm gonna jump back in blood, blood testing is one. What would be your second, you know, what's sort of the next most important or just as important if you're only gonna do one thing?

Get your blood test.

Okay.

For sure. That's pretty, pretty simple. Most people are going to have that covered regardless of where you live, at least some level of that. The additional tests I do, microbiome, probably number 1 or number 2, 1A, 1B, microbiome and metabolites. The metabolites is the end process of everything that you've eaten, drinking, your supplements, your medications, alcohol, food, what's left in your bloodstream after. And that's where I found out like I'm deficient in GABA. So no matter what I'm eating, do nothing prior to that point, I wasn't supplementing at that point, I'm not making GABA. There's no GABA showing up in the end process. So metabolites and/or microbiome, again, it's gonna depend on the symptoms that somebody has, would be 1A, 1B. I really like throwing DNA on top of that. And we're not talking heredity and what, what's my family ancestor? We're talking like, what is it passed down to you for generations from your family that you should, and again, whatever shows up, You have this gene, you have that gene, that's not a life sentence. It just influences, you know, our lifestyle decisions to turn those, you know, those switches on or off, so to speak. So that, that's like right number 2 behind biological age is cool to know. And you learn some data from that as well. That's a little bit less important. That's maybe a little bit more of a vanity metric, but it is something that I use again, because you can track it and we can actually improve that through implementation of lifestyle factors. So yes, basic blood work, if that's the only thing you're going to do, if you're going to do a little bit more microbiome or metabolites as a 1A, 1B. Got it.

I recently did some kind of a cellular assay test to help me understand my antioxidants and other types of minerals and all that stuff. And my personal experience, one of my favorite stories I share is that it must've been the metabolite test that I took that actually informed me. And I never knew this, that there's about, you know, 40 or 50 antioxidants that work in our body. And everybody assumes, you know, the big heroes tend to be, is it vitamin C, echinacea, açaí berry, you know, blueberry, and my score and all those were, those didn't really do much for my body. What did well for my body. And it was 4 that scored off the charts. Grape seed, moringa, androphilus, or some weird, you know, simple plant stuff. Like nothing that, that's exciting. That's literally like a $20 supplement on Amazon. Ever since, and I've been taking these for 2 years now, these supplements every like morning and night. Ever since then, like if I even have an inkling of a cold coming on, it doesn't last. It's gone within like, I rarely got sick and I used to get sick all the time. And so like, I guess I'm just sort of validating what you've said, you know, a combination of me having taken a blood test and some antioxidant and other of these things. I've now supplemented just on that. And before having kids, I'd get colds all the time. Like maybe like you, I mean, not to the level you were talking about easily, you know, 3, 4 times a year I'd be down for 3, 4 days. I can't remember the last time, and I got 2 little kids that are running home, coming back, getting sick all the time. And I'm now the healthiest in the family, which is just weird. And it's because of simple little things like you just said. So I'm just validating what you're— Yeah.

They didn't drop that much. When you have that data, you might be like, hey, I'm a, I'm just going to make something up. Someone's a huge vitamin C proponent, which is great. I love vitamin C, but you know, the test might show like, that's great, but actually like glutathione would be a better bang for your buck or acai berry or whatever that is, is actually okay. And then you can make the conscious decision to swap it up or in addition to. You know, I don't mind having very expensive pee, right? So it's like, if like I'm gonna take my, what I'm gonna take, and that's changed over time as well. And if my body doesn't need it, it comes out my urine if it's, you know, water soluble and that's fine, right? But again, I'd rather not be on my ass like I used to be for weeks at a time before.

Let's talk about the weight loss. And first I wanna hear, and I know obviously it's different for everybody as you alluded to earlier, what was the thing you did that you dropped weight? So it's gonna be a two-part question. What'd you do to drop the weight? And obviously, I want to get into the GLP-1 discussions and your thoughts behind all that since, you know, from your perspective.

Yeah. So, for me, I mean, the first 40 pounds that I lost took like, I don't know, 20 years or something. No, not that long, 15 years of, you know, and that was like a roller coaster ride as well, slowly, slowly down, right? Just blunt force work, right, type of thing. The last 60 was all almost, I'm going to attribute all, I mean, there was other lifestyle things like sleep and stuff like I mentioned earlier, but mostly all nutrition. And it was really not even changing the amount of calories. Like I'm not one to super diligent, maybe my calorie consumption went down a little bit, but it was really the composition, right? So stop eating the crappy foods like, you know, alcohols, you know, and there's, and alcohol has a role and has a place for sure. But like just overall consumption that went down, anything deep fried, you know, all anything that's, you were getting these industrial seed oils, vegetable oils, canola oil, that sort of thing. Drop down more fruits and vegetables, you know, having the big ass salad like I mentioned earlier, although that caused other problems, right? Having the raw kale and spinach. So over, you know, over time that got refined and just being more mindful, being more, you know, and I think we can't discount this as just, you know, not hurrying. You know, sometimes as entrepreneurs, you just like eat on the go or whatever, you know, we're working or like eating our sandwich or hamburger or, you know, ruling our worlds, you know, the type of thing. Just being intentional with our food and taking the time and chewing properly, you know, all these sorts of things. We can't discount those things as well. So, but it was really just changing up the composition of what I was eating that really brought the weight loss down. It was so funny 'cause it came so fast and always being someone who struggled with weight and never really wanting to step on the scale. Yeah, I would once in a while, but it really came, this is a funny story, really came to a head. You know, you had a young family, well I still do, but even younger at that time, get a little behind on the doing the laundry, that sort of thing. God, geez, I need a pair of pants. You grab, you know, so really your C pair of pants outta the back of the closet type of thing and like, oh, These are really big. And I go to my wife, I'm like, I think I might've lost some weight. These pants are really big. She's like, are you an idiot? Like you can tell in your face and everything you've lost weight. And I was like, oh, okay. You know, get the scale outta the back of the closet and you know, blow the dust off of it cuz it's been a while. Step on like, holy crap, I did lose a bunch of weight. You know, we're just, sometimes we're just in our own, you know, we have this own fantasy of what our body looks like or doesn't look like type of thing to you till you actually, you know, concrete can happen. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah. So really I just contributed mostly all to nutrition changes.

I love it. And just, I mean, yeah, just fundamental stuff, the things we all kind of know, but back to the I, I think the inner game, a lot of it was mentally saying, I'm going to make a decision here. And they say pain and pleasure, right? You know, you want to, you said, okay, I'm gonna have more pain going down this path. I have to make a change here. So I'm going to do the, what initially probably was painful of saying, okay, less fried food, less donuts, less sugar, you know, the simple things we all know. You're saying you just did that and stuck to it. Yeah.

So Eric, I'm glad you brought up the I, because I did it through, you know, let's call it blunt force, you know, the exercise, the discipline for the nutrition, you know, and that all plays a role. But when I started doing this work early on, again, I was, I started working with people who were like me, weight loss, back pain. That's, you know, and it's evolved obviously over time. But why do some people have that success and why do so many people like fall off? It took me years to figure out that, you know, like they're not disciplined or they're not following the plan. You know, I fall in the same trap that many people, you know, personal trainers, online gurus, influencers, whatever, until I like realized it's like, no, many of us, myself included, we have these deep-rooted, you know, and I don't want to throw the word lightly around traumas, whatever that is for someone. Some people have, you know, much more severe things than I ever had. But until you get to those root causes and release those negative emotions, those limiting beliefs we have around those issues, then it's like, what anything we do tactically afterwards, health or otherwise, works so much better. Now, that's why I said earlier, it's upfront. We do testing and while we're waiting for the test results, we work on that inner game. Got it.

That's me.

Negative emotions. So then anything we do tactically, once we have the data, works so much better. We don't have these chains waiting around our neck of these negative emotions and limiting beliefs.

That's really profound. I mean, you're right. Some of it is you just unlock one part of the inner game and everything just changes off of that. You wouldn't even think that was what it was.

And now all of a sudden, You're free to go down that path. Love it.

What about the GLP-1s? What's your take on all that? The shortcut, the cheat, the whatever you want to call it.

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of literature out there and it's becoming more and more so. I think any medication drug, you know, has a role to play for some people. Now, going back to, you know, genetics, some people genetically, like a GLP-1 will be perfect for them. Other people, it's, yeah, you'll lose weight, but there's gonna be other consequences. And we're starting to see that now in some of the data, right? Loss of bone density, loss of muscle mass. You know, I have a family member who was on one and the last time, not this past Christmas before, he was one of the early adopters, at least here in Canada, of being on those type of drugs. And it was like a shell of himself and like, yeah, you lost the weight, but you don't, you hardly look healthy. Droopy skin, pale skin, like lack of energy and, you know, barely avid golfer. Like I bet if he was honest with himself, he'd rather go back to being overweight and like loving golfing, you know, 6 rounds a week versus like having to like psych himself up and be mentally and physically just to get through 2 or 3 rounds a week. Like he probably would swap back if he could, if he was really honest with himself. So they play a role, but I think we need to be, and our doctors in conjunction with our doctors, we need to ask more pointed questions of is this truly right for us? Is this actually the best decision? And I think there's a lot of things people can do, weight loss or otherwise, that should be looked at before taking the cheat, so to speak. Got it.

Or, and I assume again, this is probably different for everybody. If you are going down that path, there's probably something else you might want to take to help, you know, ensure you are balancing. And whether it's making sure you're doing a workout routine, building muscle backbones, whatever, some kind of something in there to make it work. While we're on that topic, what about peptides in general? The whole revolution coming out there.

What's your— Yeah, it's fascinating. I haven't used every single one, but you know, for my purposes, you know, BPC-157 was the very first one. You know, obviously for someone with the back, I was well past my back injury, but like as a maintenance type of thing, as a making sure we don't go back there. I think it's revolutionary, very powerful stuff amongst, you know, stem cells, exosomes, everything. The one big caution, I was just talking to someone earlier this week who's like, prescribe me some peptides, Deepak. I'm like, well, first of all, I don't prescribe anything. I'm not, I'm not a doctor. I can help you with sourcing, but that's the most important thing. Sourcing, like anything else, like vitamin C or any, anything else, right? There's quality and then there's like somebody trying to make a quick buck. So I would just caution anyone to really, you know, know the sourcing. Not everyone's gonna be Deepak who's gonna like insist on, you know, talking to, you know, the founding chemist or the CEO of the company. You know, I'll usually get them on my podcast as a way to like get an introduction or whatever, you know, type of thing. No one's gonna go to that extreme, but like find the people that you can trust, whether they actually be the influencers or the, you know, the leaders of the industry or your coach or your doctor, whoever that is that you trust and see what do they recommend. Sourcing is very important. Anything that's new, and we've had peptides for a while, but it is like you said, Eric, just blowing up. When things tend to blow up, shortcuts tend to happen with new entrants and people just trying to make a quick buck. So yeah, just be careful is what I'm saying.

That's what I'm hearing as well from, you know, we have some, you know, yourself and a few others that are really cutting edge in our community and others is just, that's exactly it is, is like any other business, everybody's going to go out there and try to make quick buck and sell their version of something. Is it cut the same way? And definitely they're not, they're all different. So you want to make sure you're going to get the good stuff. Talk to the right people, but yeah, no, I'm a believer as well. I've been playing and testing and doing different things there, and I've enjoyed the benefits so far. All right. So we talked a little about weight loss. We talked a little bit about the blood work, the different testing. You know, what else are you seeing as major sort of, I mean, let's hit the, I mean, the obvious category is sleep. You hear how important that is from your perspective. How important is it? What happens if we're not getting sleep? How much sleep should we have?

Yeah, great question. I'm really big, you know, if it's not apparent on quantification, and I don't think we have to do it like the nth degree for the rest of our lives. On any metric, but I think it is important to quantify certain things. So whether it be an Oura Ring or a Whoop or even your Apple Watch, like the algorithms are getting better. And even if they're like not, you know, 20% off of what a clinical study would be for like, let's say sleep we're talking about here, at least directionally it's going to be right, right? Track for some period of time, get to know how different variables. So no one has to do what Deepak does. I tracked using an Oura Ring 4 years of every variable tracker are you using and how do you use it?

But so keep going. Yeah.

So Oura Ring, I don't wear it anymore. I feel like I have that data. I use the Oura Ring, you know, cannabis use, you know, high THC or more CBD, you know, red wine, white wine, beer, spirits, 2 glasses, 1 glass, you know, how many hours of sleep? Did I have a heavy meal? Maybe, you know, you're on the go and you do have that pizza, you know, the type of meal, the type of the composition of the meal, timing of the last meal in relation to when I went to sleep, all these variables. And, you know, basically what I found and how many, you know, how much sleep and I was tracking deep sleep, you know, all the data gave me deep sleep, REM sleep, how many times I was awake or, you know, had a disturbance in my sleep, all these variables. What I came to realize is for me to be optimal from a time in, this is actual sleep, not time in bed. Those are two different things. 6 hours and 45 minutes to 7 hours and 15 minutes was my sweet spot. Any less than that, it affected me. Any more than that, it affected me. So if you need more sleep and is your baseline or that you're ready for, That probably is an indicator that something is not right. Maybe a cold is coming on or something like that. I know a lot of trackers do this now. I know the Oura does, does your body temperature. That was like without fail, 100% accurate as that started my baseline, as my temperature started to go up by 0.1, 0.2 degree above my baseline, something's coming on. You gotta pop the extra vitamin C, you gotta dial back the workout this today. HRV, super important. So I love it.

So, so let's keep going deeper because for a lot of us that are on these trackers, self-included, I'm only, let's say, 4 months into the Oura Ring and I'm looking at the sleep. How do we use these trackers in a way that makes sense? So one is find the sleep pattern that's optimal. How do you know what the optimal pattern is? How'd you know it was 6:45 to 7:15 for you?

I knew that because that was the amount of time that I was actually asleep. So that takes in, you know, total sleep time, takes all the disturbance, everything. So the actual, again, in, you know, the tracker either gives you that or I calculate that. I can't remember now. So that was the actual window when I had the highest, you know, HRV, you know, body temperature was good. The recovery score. I mean, that's just an algorithm, but you know, all the, whatever variables you choose and it's like to optimize these, this is the time that I need and, you know, just got it. So you kind of, this is just a big spreadsheet, basically a big spreadsheet, right? To like, and then you just, you know, build some formulas in there and you like calculate it. All right.

So trying to dummy it down for some of us that aren't gonna be that sophisticated. HRV, remind me of that again. That's heart rate variability.

The variation between successive heart beats. When we're like on sync, that's actually our body saying we are under stress. We, the proverbial tiger might jump out anytime and we need to be ready to run. We want, actually want a greater HRV. We want, you know, 0.89 per a beat. Then the next successive beat is 1.01. Like we want a greater variation that actually shows that our nervous system, both parts of our nervous system, our parasympathetic and our sympathetic nervous system are in balance, particularly our parasympathetic, our rest and digest. So HRV or optimizing for a higher HRV is one way to—

So you want more variation between your HRV, you want a bigger spread, is that what you're saying?

We want a bigger spread between successive heartbeats. So as a score, as most trackers are going to give you just a score, you want a higher score. Higher score. Okay.

So that's a data point. Like if you're to look at 2 or 3 data points of whatever device, sleep score, HRV, any other ones that you think are the top ones?

I mean, recovery score to some degree, it's going to depend on the device and the algorithm, but I think as a good gauge recovery scores. Like, okay, I was going to do a heavy leg day. Oh geez, my recovery score is crap. What happened? Oh yeah, I was out at a client meeting or something and I had an extra glass of wine, whatever. It's like, you know what, maybe I don't do, maybe I just do some walking today or I do yoga or I will do legs, but I'm not going to go for a new max on squats today. You can intuitively gauge some of these things.

Got it. So, that's like next day. So, if you have a crappy recovery score today, you're saying tomorrow, I may go a little bit lighter.

Well, or just typically you're checking that morning, right? Like, you know, if you're wearing your wearable at night, you're checking, okay, where it's basically a gauge of what happened yesterday. So how am I feeling today based on what happened yesterday? Oh, my recovery score is low, or I had poor sleep or whatever metric you're choosing. HRV is really low. Hey, it was leg day. I'm gonna choose to do yoga today or something, or dial it back a little bit. Got it. Okay.

That's helpful. See, like, I mean, that's, I appreciate, cause I don't even, I'm just the dude that got the ring and I'm like, oh, I'll just play around with the data, but I don't really know how to leverage, you know, use the data appropriately. What about this? I see a lot of people talking about the VO2 max. What is it? VO2 something?

Yeah. VO2 max, like your capacity for using oxygen in your lungs and everything. That's a little bit more tricky. That is a very important metric for longevity. That's a little bit harder to get. I honestly think, and happy to anyone to disagree with me, I think any VO2 max score you get off of a wearable. Is algorithmic based and is just a best guess. I think to really get a true VO2 max score, you literally need to be doing exercise with a mask on your face, exhaling and inhaling through that to get like proper data. So that means you're gonna have to go to a clinic or, you know, some, some physical location to get that done, to really get a sense. Anything that's come up wearable is directionally good. You know, if you're doing improvements, I'm gonna start doing more things and you're seeing an improvement, that's awesome. But to like really get a real score, I don't think we're quite there yet with wearables.

If people are gonna take that step and go do an official, how often should they test for that?

Oh, once a year is probably more than enough. And unless you're an elite athlete and you're training, then you're probably doing this like monthly or quarterly. But if you, you know, the average entrepreneur, even if you're like really into physical exercise, once a year is probably more than enough.

Got it.

Okay.

And then is there any other key tracking things that you think as we're working on longevity we should be looking at?

Well, there's a lot of, you know, things, little things that are totally fly under the radar that people don't typically think about, like balance. How well is your balance? Can you stand on one leg and close your eyes for like a minute or 30 seconds? You know, grip strength, high correlation to longevity, grip strength, you know, farmer's carry, like, can you carry— a man should be able to carry their body weight between both hands for a minute. Most people can't do that. How long can you hang? So very simple things you can do in your gym as a gauge of like overall strength and longevity that they kind of correlate to, yeah, your overall health. You don't have to get all fancy with stuff. These are simple things we can just do at the gym.

I love it. Great segue right into sort of as we wind down. I mean, that, I was gonna say, what's a good routine for us to be thinking about for longevity? So you just said that. So exercises for grip strength, hanging, farmer's carry.

No one has to do what Deepak does. I spend more time, and again, keep in mind I came from, you know, back injury and so, you know, keeping, you know, my back healthy, my core healthy and limber and flexible and all, that's very important to me. I spend more time in a week doing balance work and flexibility and mobility if you wanna just call it mobility work than I spend strength training or cardio. I spend more time on doing that because my goals and considering my history, that's important for me.

Why is balance strong, more important than the others?

Well, when I'm saying balance and mobility, there's all kind of, for me in my mind, that's one. I mean, they are separate things. Balance, exercise, mobility, you know, like they're different things. I do it as one part of my routine at the end, all that together. So I view that as one balance, like falling, like number one cause of death for people over 65 is falls, right? So that balance comes in there and then also not having lean muscle mass, right? So they fall, they're brittle, then they get, you know, break their hip, then they go to the hospital and then they get some, some infection at the hospital. They get staph at the hospital and that's what actually kills 'em. But it was the fall that got them in the hospital in the first place. So, you know, we wanna have lean muscle mass, number one, that's is, you know, great metric for healthy aging. And we want to, you know, have balance. Like, I live here in Canada. Many of our members live in states that get snow. I do work specific, like a special— I can't demonstrate because I'm sitting here, but a specific exercise for balance. Because when you slip, you never just slip straight back. You slip and you twist, and you're trying to like get your balance before you actually fall. So I actually do a specific exercise that sort of works those body parts, you know, your obliques and everything, for that exact reason. Because yeah, like I fell last year on my drive, driving, running after my dog because Snowy out, right? So, wow, that's really cool.

So just adding a few of these small things at the end of your workouts or whatever you're doing.

Yeah. I mean, like I say this to people all the time, like I'm gonna assume you, Eric, and most of our members, we have high quality members here in the Speakeasy. So I'm sure everyone brushes their teeth at least once a day. Yeah. So stand on one leg and brush your top row and then stand on the other leg and brush your bottom. Simple. You're done. Like I do more than that obviously, but that's a simple way to get some balance into an activity you're already doing. I'm huge on habit stacking.

So, all right, so let's get, let's go down that path. So, so that's one habit. If nothing else, take away, you could do a small thing. What are other small little habits that are just easy for us to get momentum that you teach or you can share?

Yeah. You know, kind of things I do. So calls, meeting that are on the phone, walk around, get some movement. Hey, depending where you live, time of year, go outside and do that. Get some sunshine, get some fresh air. Oh, you're already on the grass, nice grass over, take your shoes off. Now, you're grounding yourself. You're grounding yourself, you're getting sunshine, you're getting fresh air, you're doing your business call, and you're moving. Look, we did 5 things at once doing one activity. I'm fortunate enough that I have a full-spectrum infrared sauna in my house. I do it every day that I'm home. I do my meditation there. I do my gratitude journal in there. Stacking 3 things at one time in that time that I'm in there. So, just find out, I encourage anyone, what are some of the things you're already doing that you could do something else at the same time. And you'll find if you really think about it, there's multitudes. They're coming in your life, in your day all the time. Love it. Implement walking meetings with your staff or with your team, or at least standing at least, right?

As much as possible. No, I love that as well. How many steps should we be hitting a day?

I think it depends on your goal. I used to track that like diligently. Again, you know, kind of my accounting background, spreadsheet background. I used to track that diligently for like probably 20 years. Like I was like early adopter on this step thing and you know, 10,000, that does actually doesn't really matter. That's all a marketing thing. But if I had to guess right now, just based on the amount of movement, it's gonna vary day to day. Today as an example, you know, a little bit more of a content creation doing this, you know, this interview with you, et cetera, more of a sitting day. I'll probably hit 10 if I'm lucky. Other days definitely get to take my dog for a longer walk. I'm doing more things. I'm probably hitting 15. So I'm in that 10 to 15, you know, and I would aim for people to, you know, try and get 10 plus, 10, 12. But wherever your baseline is, right? If you're at 2,000 now, you're like, hey, just try and get to 4, trying to survive and like work your way up. She's up at, love it.

See, last one I noticed you have the, is it the blue blocker glasses? The yellow lens? Tell me about that.

I have clear ones. I have these ones and I have red ones. So it kind of depends on the time of day. I'm all, and most of us are, right? We have junk light in our homes, right? Because we all went to LEDs, certainly in our office buildings or any sort of industrial setting, the mall, et cetera. You can't even get incandescent anymore. So although they're making a resurgence, I think, but, and I'm always in front of a computer screen. Screen, all the apps. So I'm trying to protect, you know, my eyes with blue-blocking glasses. And again, I sometimes, I just wear the clear ones first thing in the morning though. There's important, you know, light and sun, they go together first thing in the morning. And again, it's gonna be, depend on time of year and where you live, try and get some natural sunlight in your eyes. So I will like literally go outside as soon as the sun comes up. I'm usually taking my dog out and I'll just like, you know, drop 'em down and make sure I get some sun in my eyes. Look at the sun, you know, do sun gazing, all these sorts of things. 'Cause we wanna set our circadian rhythm. Them. But every other time I'm pretty much in front of a computer, I wanna protect my eyes from blue light and, you know, and, and this device and everything, all these things giving blue light. So I wanna protect my eyes. It's funny, I've been wearing blue blocking glasses for like 8 years and I thought I was like kind of the crazy one. Only the biohackers, only the, you know, some of my mentors, the Ben Greenfields, the Dave Aspreys, they were the only people talking about it. I was like, well, I'm gonna try this 'cause I have a longevity goal. I go to my eye doctor and it's like, hey, like this is kind of what I heard. And Is this something you guys offer? She's like, oh yeah. Like if, when I'm not wearing my contacts, I have blue blocking glasses at home. Every single person at my eye doc, you know, they, 'cause they have the front, they, they have the retail store in the front and then like the, you know, the optometrist in the back. Every single person, even the people in the front all have blue light blocking glasses. I'm like, do you sell them here? Oh no, there's no demand for 'em so we don't sell 'em. I'm like, are you kidding me? Every single person who works at the optometrist office wears blue light blocking glasses at least some part of the day and you don't sell them? So I had to go.

Do you actually have prescription or you just wear 'em on top of your regular, your normal? No, these are actually prescription ones.

I have pretty terrible eyesight.

I got to get them. I've noticed personally, God, about 6 months ago, actually, I got some new glasses, new triple layer, whatever that bifocal. But when I come back in after playing with the kids and it's like the 8:30, 9:00, I'm getting back on to finish the day. About 30 minutes in, my eyes were so strained, like 30 minutes, an hour. And I've noticed that more so now than ever. And it's, you know, it's got to be attributed to that and other stuff. I mean, eye strain is killing me right now.

Yeah, I'll send you a link for this brand because they have tons of different styles and they do prescription as well. Love it.

Well, this has been awesome. God, we've almost 50 minutes in, just you've been dropping tons of nuggets and shares and hope everybody that's been listening has enjoyed. Anything I didn't ask that I should have asked?

One thing I just really quick, because I know this has come up in our community before, obviously very accomplished people, very smart people in this community. You know, some people will take, you know, just grab a bunch of test data. It's like, I'm going to throw it in ChatGPT and like, boom, that's my plan, go forward type of thing. I'm like, That's a great like step. I think that's more than most people are doing. So I totally encourage, and I, like I said earlier, to be a good advocate for yourself. That being said, I think there's still some limitations there. One being, I know I've shared this to you privately, Eric, is that if you're taking your, just use blood work, basic blood work as an example, and you have your reference ranges, your chat is just gonna go from the, you know, the data that's out there, the standard of care. Now, I wanna be an optimizer. Most of the people in this community wanna optimize at least their businesses. I hopefully their health as well. Yeah. You can't go with the standard of care or the standard reference range for many metrics. You know, cholesterol is one example. You know, blood sugar is another example. You don't wanna be average, right? These stand, these reference ranges are for average people. None of us wanna be average, right? So you need to optimize. And sometimes that means you need a higher number outside that reference range or a lower number depending on what we're, we're talking about here. So, and if you don't have that context, of to provide your chat, then you're actually missing, there's an opportunity missed there. Now you're ahead of many people, don't get me wrong. And that's fantastic. Right. But there, there is some, something that's a little bit missing there. And then the more data you aggregate and throw in with that same problem, you potentially could be heading down a wrong path. More than likely you're still in a better off than if you did nothing, but potentially there's also like, you're actually could be compounding a problem even faster. So I just want to make people be aware of like the, technology, AI can play a role in our health, but it's not the panacea yet out there.

Yeah, no, that's a good point. Don't assume that you've now gotten 100% stamp of approval. This is what your body needs. It's a good guide, but you definitely, if you really want to optimize, you know, people should come talk to you or, you know, others obviously that, you know, at your level.

Going back to like the testing we talked about earlier, you know, if you do the testing, like I see this in my clients all the time, they'll get like, because deficiencies are shown and it's like, well, here's like 40 things you should take. It's like, well, that's great. Not everyone's gonna take 40 things at once if they're taking nothing or they're taking 10 and to go to 40, you know, adherence and building a habit, right? So I rank them. I was like, look, I don't care. This is what the data says. You have the data too. My personal opinion based on what I know about you and that, you know, a vast huge intake process, these are the 5, 5, 4 or 5, whatever that you should take first. And once we become, you know, get into the habit of that, let's layer in these 2. And then this 3, because like most people are not going to do, go from 0 or 10 to 40 at once just because it was recommended.

That's such a great point. You're right. Here's a bunch of data, do this. You're like, okay, well, how much? How often? When, when a day, nighttime, daytime? Like there's so many different variables. And like you said, start with these, add more. That's a really good point on that. As I wind, I'm just going to change the subject real fast. Sort of last question. You know, Calgary's off, it's growing. I know we're doing it. We're adding some great additional people there. How have you enjoyed just Speakeasy Mastermind in general as a whole?

Oh yeah, no, it's been fantastic. I've slowly gotten through the community, mostly online at this point. I've got to meet some fantastic people in different chapters. I'm gonna, I don't know when this is gonna air, but I'm planning to visit personally some of the other chapters in the US at least. Can't wait to go. I would love that London just launched. I'm gonna be in London like next year, so I'm gonna reach out to them and see if we just can't, you know, maybe I can influence them when they have their meetings so I can drop into London. But yeah, the community's been fantastic. Obviously the local community, great people here. We hang out and yeah, I'm looking forward to the annual. Meeting even more people in person.

Yeah, great. Well, you've been a great member and thank you so much for dropping all your knowledge today and taking your time. And you and I stealing an hour of non-sunlight right now. So we both have to go make it up later in the day. At least I'm more motivated now to do so.

So I appreciate you. Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.

And that's a wrap from the Speakeasy Mastermind Podcast. If something sparked for you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it, review it, and pass it to the one person who needs to hear this us right now. Want in on the real mastermind? Tap the link in the show notes to apply. Until next time, keep scaling, stay sharp, and don't be the smartest one in the room.