#1 Diet For Wrestlers and Top Athletes | Jon Chavez

I think where people get hung up is they they go keto for a month 2 months 3 months and you know they're still eating 20 carbs 30 carbs a day and they're just like confused like why am I gassing out like why don't I have like a high capacity for like quick short bursts and really it's just your metabolism hasn't had a chance to like switch over and like you haven't developed that metabolic capability to like run like a bunch of Sprints in a row like because you've always been relying on your whatever your hen stores so I I think it just takes some time to shift all right hello everyone and thanks for coming back to another episode of plant prmd I'm your host Dr Anthony chaffy and today I have a special guest uh good guy I've gotten to know over the past several months uh John J Chavez how are you doing John hey Dr cha I'm good thanks for having me on um I know we just got introducted a little bit here at the last few minutes but um yeah I'm I'm really excited to be here thanks yeah well well it's a pleasure to have you on man um i' I've really enjoyed talking to you and and hearing your story and hearing your improvements going on a carnivore diet um you have a pretty unique background you're Elite world class wrestler going to an Ivy League school um had some troubles and then found a carnivore diet and sort of used that to to to to pull yourself out of it and you showed me some several pictures of yourself you know of you know the months going on and you you went from out I wouldn't have known you were a wrestler before that then all of a sudden okay that dude shred it so um you know big big sort of improvements there so congratulations on that and um but you know for people uh that don't that don't know you but how can you tell us a bit about yourself and and your background and how you got into a carnivore diet yeah so uh I guess a little bit about me I uh I wrestled for Cornell University I was a D1 All-American in 2018 World team member um three time Fargo national champ in high school so you know pretty successful wrestler wrestled in the worlds uh like age division senior worlds and so yeah that was like a big part of my life and um all of that but um really I didn't go carnivore until maybe 5 years or let's see maybe four or five years after I stopped wrestling in 2018 so I I had a big chunk of time and so you know a lot of people might assume it was related to improving my athletic performance or um you know just trying to help me perform better at school but really it was more about combating like my own um symptoms of like mental illness depression anxiety and uh you know over time they got pretty severe and yeah you know I could totally explain more about that whole um process and how I came to get here so yeah that would be great so yeah so where were you at when you decided to go carnivore and what made you decide to hop into that yeah so I guess uh the reason I got into Carnival requires like a bit of a Prelude so I uh yeah so I left Cornell in the spring of 2019 and I left mid semester and I was just having all these issues with depression and anxiety and performance anxiety and there was just like so much pressure on me to perform and like at least self-imposed and um I really just wasn't making the cut and um so I I actually ended up withdrawing from the University in February uh maybe the middle late February and uh um like my coach told me like don't do it because you're going to get stuck with a huge bill and at this point I said I don't care like I'm just like going to leave so I left University and sure enough got this like massive bill that I got to pay before I go back and yeah so life went on and uh I did like an internship and and this and that and then I I kind of just you know I couldn't pay off my bill so I couldn't go back and um this is kind of like where things started to go south for me I think um so really like my mental health kind of took a nose dive from like that summer onward and I really had like really intense depression anxiety um like my anxiety was like so intense that I I had a hard time like going outside and really functioning as a human being uh I had like severe depression I I really isolated myself I I didn't make any friends and um at least like for for a little a while and you know my girlfriend broke up with me and I was just in a real bad spot and uh yeah so I um yeah I went through like I worked construction for a few years I uh work security and I finally like made enough money to like um like pay off my school Bill and like finally be able to go back but I had also like gotten on medication during this time and uh they put me on an anti psychotic called inega and I was on that medication starting in let's see it would have been April of 20 of 2020 and you can pretty much see the difference like immediately in like the like the chronology of the photos where I immediately gained like 20 pounds and it I you know I tried keep like keeping it off and um you know I was like running I was trying to eat a little bit healthier but really is like the years went on like I ended up weighing like at my most like maybe 235 lbs and I in college I wrestled 165 lbs and at the World Championships I wrestled 158 PBS so this is like a massive weight gain from this uh from this medication and you know I can't just blame it all on the meds like I ate like and you know I ate whatever made me feel good and um yeah you know it's another way to live um especially it's just like disappointing feeling like you're just wasting your potential and your Youth and you know but I really tried everything and I just like couldn't get out of this rut this mental rut that I was in and and it was like so many different things you know it's like my my self appearance and you know but most of all it's just just like this like huge anxiety and almost like a sort of paralysis so anyways I'm living life I'm suffering and I'm able to go back to Cornell in let's see fall of 2022 and I'm going to finish my senior year get my degree and so I go out there and I start like getting back into shape a little bit cuz I start coaching wrestling club and so I'm meeting people you know talking to people and it's it's it's pretty tough you know because last time I was there I was 22 years old and you know had a six pack and had all these friends on the wrestling team and I'm kind of starting back there like from scratch like everyone almost everyone I knew from the wrestling team had like graduated and there were a few guys but so start from scratch I'm fat I and so you know I really have to put myself out there and uh and I get through it you know it's uh I go to class I try and self sooth I do a lot of breath work um but you know I'm just miserable and it's during this time really I I'd heard of the carnivore diet um prior maybe but I really started to like set my intentions like in during the semester to like uh to like get on this diet but I don't feel like I'm able to really get on the diet like while I'm at school just because classes are difficult and I just don't know if I I didn't think I could take the transition so I made it through the semester and um go home for winter break and on December 6th of 2020 I started a carnivore diet and I followed it like to the tea like I think the one thing I had that wasn't on Carnivore in that month was I I would have tea and I would have I had a little bit of horseradish on Christmas and um so during that time from December 6th to um maybe the end of January I went from 220 lb to uh 187 lb so yeah I lost 33 lbs in two months and uh as a wrestler you know it's like all right four pounds a week good job bro but uh yeah so um got through it and I I I noticed that my mood like really improved significantly my self-image improved significantly um I actually felt like my emotions were returning and I also didn't mention I I got off the medication at the same time I uh I started carnivore so you know really just dove in with both feet you know and uh yeah much to yeah the gas of any psychiatrist anywhere but um yeah so uh yeah anyways things worked out all right and uh I went through the semester and I really just sell through that that whole uh semester There Was You Know made more friends uh people I could just I feel like people wanted to talk to me more uh I was healthier uh I started I started running again and and that was something I couldn't do while I was overweight like that like it would just destroy my ankles and um yeah and the semester it was honestly my easiest semester at Cornell like out of all eight semesters and yeah it was just a it was it was a great thing and um but I it wasn't like a f fairy tale because at the end of that uh semester I I was going to like walk the stage and my family was all out and we were going to we were going to you know celebrate and I wake up on the morning of graduation and I my my knee is locked at like a 45 degree angle and I can't walk so I've got to um get some crutches and like put my suit on and I crutched across the stage so it was a little bit of a I don't know Karma or whatever you want to call it irony poetic justice but uh yeah so got through it and it turned out I had like a this weird knee injury where my femur broke and um I couldn't like the the the chunk like locked my knee up so couple months later or like what I think maybe two two and a half weeks later I got knee surgery and yeah spent the summer recovering and really just dialing in my health and like working on some other protocols um as a wrestler you know like I really did a lot of research into like optimization and like how to be healthier and um it's just like a little interesting to me how like I ended up like so far from like the picture of Health you know and here I am like after all of this and I feel like I'm like the healthiest I've ever been in my life even whenever uh I was competing like at a World level in wrestling and you know I'm I'm I'm like six weeks out of a surgery right now like in the gym like I feel stronger than ever faster and yeah it's uh it's pretty astounding and nice hey guys just want to take a second to thank our sponsor at carnivore bar I don't promote many products because honestly all you need to be healthy is to just eat meat for those times that you're out hiking road tripping or stuck at work and you want nutritious snack that is just meat fat and salt if you want it the carnivore bar is a great option so I like this product not because because it's just your meat but also because I want the carnivore Market to thrive as well and the more we support meaton only products the more meat only products there will be available in the mainstream so if this sounds like something you'd like to get behind check it out using my discount code Anthony to get 10% off which also applies to subscriptions giving you 25% off total all right thanks guys yeah that's fantastic have you have you you've been doing wrestling club sort of thing uh coaching that have you started wrestling again yourself so I'm just a little bit hesitant to start wrestling again I did the wrestling club um you know all of fall and spring semester and um I really pushed my knee that spring semester I I I started feeling the u a little bit of pain in it that first semester that second semester and um I just kind of pushed through it I would give it a few days off I'd go back and I just assumed I had like torn my Meniscus very early on and I just figured it was a partial hair and it was all good but it turned out it was this whole thing and so that's why I don't know I've I have not been back on the mat since uh well actually I I have been coaching the local high school team a little bit um you know a little bit like of armchair coaching well a little bit yeah they're good kids uh it's nice because uh sometimes I feel like you get in there in the high school room and the kids don't well okay so last time I was in the high school room I was like fat and you know didn't look like a wrestler you said but uh now it's like every every kid is like you know ten Hut like yes sir so it's it's kind of funny but uh yeah yeah so I think I'm just G to coach that high school team this year and uh uh it'll be you know help him out and that was my wrestling club from maybe fourth or maybe sixth and seventh grade I wrestled with that club mhm um but it it was just just the local place and nice um yeah so maybe I I I would love to like wrestle again but it's just uh in terms of GRE Roman wrestling it's opportunities to train are really far few between so yeah yeah I guess that's um be difficult outside you know after college and things like that yeah I don't I don't really know I suppose you have to have sort of a dedicated sort of training sort of facility on your own or with other I guess you could you know if you were going for like an Olympic spot you could train at you know the Olympic training centers and things like that yeah I spent a lot of time at the Olympic Training Center um over the years but it's just uh it is tough you know um because most guys who are doing that are either on a WAP program so they're getting sponsorship by the Army they're part of the army or they're uh they're getting like some sort of national team stien so they're on the national team and they're getting paid by USA Wrestling and um so it's it's it's a little difficult to do without funding um yeah and you know I could get a job and do all that but um it's uh yeah it is uh I have conflicting feelings I don't know it's uh something I would love to do but something I'm really a little scared of and yeah well it's also it's also early days after your surgery obviously you know you don't you don't want to come back too early and and mess that up again but you know once you're rehab if you felt good you know what are the opportunities apart from making a run at the Olympics what what are the opportunities for wrestling uh Post postgraduation Yeah so um I think if I were to like return to wrestling Olympics would be like I visualized it in my mind like what it would be like to to like go to that tournament and I know like yeah yeah right so the number one guy at 77 kilos his name's like Levi something another he's from Hungary and I remember I was wrestling with him um in 2018 and me and this dude were like toe to- toe and I was just like wow that dude is number one in the world right now and 4 years ago I was like his equal and I'm just like wow like that is is uh I don't know yeah that's a little tough but uh well but it's also encouraging you know you because you you know where you're at you know it's not like this is some some sort of unknown quantity and like this is the number one guy in the world like oh maybe I'm not good enough for him but you know you are you know you've been just right up with this guy you know so you know you get back in training and you you know you start working again and you're feeling good and like you say you're feeling healthier and stronger than you ever have in your life so you know you absolutely you know could get right back in there and maybe even have an advantage you never know no Absol like I'm just like you know I'm at the spot I never really feel like I committed and you know at least not 100% like there were stuff I wasn't doing that I could be doing like film and um that was that was a big thing was I really just didn't watch a lot of film and and then my diet was always inconsistent and um you know I wasn't coming in every day um being my best so and and you were still tot Toe with a guy yeah you were phoning in and you still with this dude and you know now you're in a different mindset you very different diet and you know if you did go back into it it wouldn't it wouldn't be to just half asset you know it would be because that's something that you're dedicated to and you really wanted to to do so I think that would be it would be a very different uh very different program there yeah that's part of it you know you don't want to half ass it because it hurts you know like you do you spend all this time and you put all this effort like even in wrestling half assing it takes a lot still you know like yeah so yeah and then and then you just end up getting your ass kicked and like that doesn't that doesn't feel good you work your ass and it's harder you know when you when you're not as good you're not as in shape you're not as as disciplined as the other guy it's harder it's hard to lose a wring back yes it takes more F Yeah Yeah well yeah you you know you you know you're you're to blame with that you know whenever you did everything you could like there's nothing else to say about it you know it's like yeah but yeah well so so speaking of that you know you're saying that you're feeling stronger you're feeling better you know how is it now training on a corner board diet versus training on your previous diet yeah so really I mean it's really hard to make a comparison almost just because of the massive weight difference um but comparing it's like training or even whenever I was around 22 yeah even when you're at your Peak yeah yeah so whenever I was like 22 at my Peak and really killing it um I feel like my testosterone is definitely High high on the carnivore diet U maybe I'm just a little bit older um that could be part of it but um you know so there's that and then my endurance is better like I can like at the gym now like I can just run sprints and it's like I don't get tired I don't know um there's there's other stuff too like like I feel like I move I'm moving better and that's maybe partly because like I've just been focusing on um training like doing functional training and but I feel like it's a little too soon to tell because I'm still like I kind of just like reached that precipice like not too long ago where it's like okay I'm starting to feel feel like I feel better than before but uh yeah I think there's one there's one exercise that really telling it's like like I could do like onelegged squats like incredibly easy now like I could just like like rep out like one leged squats I'm like I could never do this before like what is up with this and uh and then I can I can also like do like these one-handed handstands I don't know and then I'm back to like doing muscle ups and I don't know and like I've barely trained you know it's been like a month in the gym if that like let's see I started walking three weeks ago so I've been in the gym for like three weeks yeah I don't know yeah yeah no well that's great so well you know and and like you say it is early days you know as as you keep getting better and rehabbing your knee you're just going to be doing more and more and more and uh so interested to see how that goes how uh how does it feel so you're not using any carbs or anything like that isn't that is not possible you supposed to get tired and die oh no like so if I eat carbs um sometimes I'll get a little bit depressed or um I I won't feel like quite as strong if I like eat if I eat a little bit of carbs like this summer I was experimenting a little bit with like having like some berries and honey with like some cream and it tasted really good and it was like wow this is like amazing but I definitely like would wake up in the morning and i' like have like a stomach ache and maybe a little bit of a headache and my legs would just feel a little bit wobbly and I just feel like so much more I don't know stable with like out the carbs and my endurance is like no problem and I think where people get hung up is they they go keto for a month 2 months 3 months and you know they're still eating 20 carbs 30 carbs a day and they're just like confused like why am I gassing out like why don't I have like a high capacity for like um you know like quick short bursts and really it's just your metabolism hasn't had a chance to like switch over I don't think um and like you haven't developed that metabolic capability to like run like a bunch of Sprints in a row um like because you've always been relying on your whatever your glycogen source so um um I I think it just takes some time to shift and really is there like a difference between like like what's the so like what what's like the major difference between like a ketone for example and like a glycogen store in terms of like metabolic processes so yeah I mean that's a good question and we we don't have have perfect information on this so I mean the you know the traditional argument is that you know a lot of cells will run on carbohydrates or ketones they can run on ketones and that goes into the mitochondria and that generates ATP and then some people will say and it's traditionally thought that your muscles will run on glycogen they need that quick energy you know it takes too long to get the the ketones up there but if you have ketones in your blood all the time that's not necessarily the case um the the other side of the argument is that um people like Dr Kilts and a number of other um people that I've spoken to and I've I've seen uh you know papers on is they argue that your your cells never run on carbohydrates at all that they get converted into ketones first and then they get run as ketones or into fats and things like that so it's always running on fats it's just how efficient are you at running on fats and how available are those fats and so so if you're on a keto diet or a carnivore diet you know that could be why people have more energy and they're and they just don't get tired from sprinting or lifting weights and they recover nearly instantly um there was uh there was one paper I think in 2004 that um that I was just discussing with someone previously and that argued that or showed a bit of evidence that would suggest that after a couple months on a ketogenic or carnivore diet that you really just run on ketones then you don't really need to run on any glycogen at all um now I do remember as well there was a study with Wolves back in 1981 that looked at glycogen levels and blood sugar levels because they were like well you need carbs to burn carbs and wolves don't carbo load before they chase Caribou for 10 hours so you know you know do they have blood sugar do they have glycogen they found that yes they do and they are Rock Solid they don't change they're just right here now the thought there was that they were constantly just perfectly replenishing their glycogen and blood sugar no matter what how hard they work they perfectly maintain that um and and that could be the case with us I think practically it doesn't really matter either we are replacing our glycogen and blood sugar basically instantly as you know as fast as we can burn it our body is making it and the only thing that is really holding us back at is our oxygen debt and building up lactic acid because you go into an anerobic um metabolism as opposed to aerobic metabolism and so you have your oxygen debt and you just get sore and worn down and you have to breathe heavily and and uh cycle through all that lactic acid before you can go again um but that the glycogen just being replenished constantly and you're not going to run out of that or you're just running on your ketones and you're not going to run out of you're definitely not going to run out of that either way way the end result is the same you have Boundless Energy and you don't tank out and so it's it's um you know it's it's interesting and and I think it'd be great to find that out but I think practically you know the the results are the same we're either replenishing our glycogen right away or we're just running on ketones there are two different camps on that I'm I'm a bit agnostic for that I I don't really care I'm just happy with the the Practical as aspect got butload of energy and I and I yeah that's that's what's important right like what is the end result like for most people like unless you're making drugs I guess so yeah exactly yeah um but yeah I mean yeah the application is like useful for so many different like camps of athletes um I feel like because and not a carnivore diet natur really lends itself to like a low percentage body fat high endurance and um like increased like hormonal imbalance and strength and um I I feel like the combination of those things really just makes can make any athlete better unless you're like a sumo wrestler maybe I don't know but like you think gymnast like Runner whatever um football player like I don't know it's like you're doing more with less almost like so yeah and that's uh that sort of raises a question you know your Co coaching you're coaching kids now obviously you're coaching in wrestling but do you talk to them about about diet and things like that um it's only been like uh let's see it's only been about 3 weeks now but I have mentioned that like so like in wrestling the the culture on cutting weight is so toxic and like especially in high school like CU these kids they've never cut weight before they don't know what's going on and whatever like especially my freshman in sophomore year like I went through it you know I I was I was out there eating like a protein bar for dinner and like trying to make it through this practice and I just felt like the king of suck you know it was just like like barely drag my feet through this workout and it was just tough and uh I know my Junior and Senior year I started to change the way I cut weight and I would like go more keto and I would be low carb and I still cut a lot of weight but um I recovered better post weighin um I had more energy during the weight cut I didn't feel like depressed during the weight cut which would be like a common thing while I was like eating all these carbs and it also has the benefit other benefits like each gram of carbohydrate holds on like three grams of water four grams of water or something uh so whenever you eliminate those carbs I don't know and fiber so whenever you eliminate that stuff like like most college wrestlers know you know don't don't eat fiber and carbs before weigh-ins or and salt um but uh yeah so carnivore I mean for wrestling could really be a solid thing I know Seth gross I I saw a podcast with him and Sean Baker he he was a I think a a world medalist in Freestyle Wrestling and he was a carnivore and uh yeah he uh pretty pretty solid wrestler I think he wrestled for North Dakota State he was a D1 national champ for them but nice uh yeah but yeah he was solid and so actually saw his his post that podcast while I was like doing the carnivore um in in December and January initially and it was uh it was a little inspiring you know seeing a fellow wrestler out there and you know of course have dreams and visions of my own so yeah well I mean look dude you you're already D1 you know national champ you know I mean like you you you've already hit the dream of nearly every wrestler in the world you know I'm not a national champ I'm an allamerican all American sorry yeah and still pretty pretty D that's right I know a lot of national champs and yeah they don't seem so different from me yeah well except in the ways they count I guess yeah well well allamerican yeah soorry but I mean like you know being an all you know collegial American is is massive you know I mean that that's a it amazing you know I really uh yeah I really appreciate the opportunity and you know you you see something like that and you think oh that person is just so amazing but really it's like there were so many people in my corner and like I couldn't have done it without those people and yeah uh and yeah it took it took work and a lot of a lot of grinding and but you know I accomplished that and you know it was something yeah yeah I mean I I I wrestled that was one of my first main sports and I I really liked it but I I wasn't I didn't have that that Killer Instinct when I was in in high school it wasn't until um you know I finished up and I I started playing rugby and uh and was an All-American in rugby that that that sort of around that time well some things happened in my personal life um it is bit you know my my brother will prob probably watch this and he'll be embarrassed by it but I'll tell it anyway but like so we would we we a lot when were kids and he um he was older than me he was always a lot bigger than me and um and so you know we just as brothers do you know we fought a lot and you know I was always sort of in his shadow as far as that was concerned and but you know I wrestled and I I was lucky enough my wrestling coach I had there was a there was um you know all we had an All-American coach who just finished up he was he was been like 23 24 something like that uh Matt Thompson if I remember correctly really nice guy great wrestler and then Matt Hume who was a fantastic wrestler and also one of the top MMA fighters and certainly top trainer in the world and uh we just had these great great coaches and uh and so I you know I did MMA and then got into rugby and all that sort of stuff but there was just one point my brother and I just just sort of had out I always had this sort of mental block I just could never I could never win a fight with him and there was just like one day I just like had up I'm like yep that's it you know I've been wrestling I've been fighting like I'm taking this dude down and we and and I won the fight and it was just that was just this break open Moment like it was just like the you know the floodgates opened and just all this like just emotion and baggage of you know all this stuff came out and I was just a different person after that and um and so that's when I that's when I got my sort of my killer my Killer Instinct back and I I was player the next year um unfortunately bit late for my wrestling career but but I absolutely loved wrestling it it was an absolute grind it was so much work that goes into it and um but you know I really liked that and I really enjoyed it I was I was um yeah I I really enjoyed that and then like the next year after that coming back after I was an allamerican I was back wrestling with all the guys you know that were still there and they're all getting ready for state championships and things like that and these guys that that um you know I would have struggled with the year before man I was just cleaning up with them it's like just a total different yeah just like yeah your uh yeah your perception of yourself changed and yeah and yeah so it's massive but you know it's um it's an ABS it is an absolute grind and I I love the sport um but yeah I I I thought about that too you know like you're you're coming from an All-American you know background and you're uh coaching these high school kids like they they are just going to like idolize you like Jesus Christ you know this guy is just got newpl you know it's my first time coaching kids uh so they're good kids and uh it was funny I I was on like the way to a giant skate I didn't even mean to like get into like this whole coaching thing it was just kind of the way it worked but I was on the way to a Giants game and I was going to meet my friends there and we're going to have a good time and this was like last month and I don't know some kid he's looking a little lost in the Giants Jersey he's like just this train go to San Francisco and I'm like oh yeah man so he's looking lost so I'd like tell him how to get there and talk to him on the platform and apparently he's like a wrestler at this local high school that I like wrestled at as a kid and you know I was like well you know I've been looking to get into wrestling coaching all that so I'll do what I can and uh yeah so um I've been uh I've been showing them the basics and you know where we're going with that so yeah well I'm sure they appreciate that and you know obviously you know diet is a huge part of that and they'll listen right right right that's that's the thing I told them like you can stunt your growth cutting weight wrong in high school um you can make yourself real miserable and you're just not going to perform your best anyways so like why are you doing it this way if it's uh you know so yeah um and you know and then I heard back from the kids they're all telling me their weight cutting horror stories and you know how much weight they cut and I get it you know it's like a badge honor but you know I think I should probably be like two inches taller than I am but I cut so much weight in high school yeah yeah well my little brother cut you know he wrestled and he and you know he had some of those stupid stories where you know he would cut like you know you know 20 30 pounds in you know a week or something like that and um yeah it was just bad and uh that was a difference like you know I I I so I never did that I was sort of I was on the bubble I was probably like you know 193 194 something like that and then so like you know easily cut down to 190 obviously but I really could have cut down maybe like be like a lean 178 um and um or sorry one Yeah 178 and um probably could have done that so I was like I was like slimming down to do that but then it was just like no actually we don't have anybody at 215 like we need you to go up and right okay so then I was and so then I was like trying to put on weight so that I could like you know stack up but I you know 20 pounds um under what everybody else was and things like that because we just did we we didn't have anyone to fill that that Gap and so I was I was sort of the closest one there do it y and I I did the opposite I did the opposite whenever I was a junior uh I weighed like 165 maybe 163 and I was pretty lean I think and so it was like 160 152 and 145 were the weights and so I was I wasn't in to go 160 because I weighed 160 but the 152 pounder was like I don't know like he couldn't wrestle 160 cuz he wasn't big enough he couldn't wrestle 145 I don't know for some reason they roped me into like wrestling 145 lbs that year yeah and like it was miserable it was so bad but I I think I ended up like I think I was maybe ranked I don't know if I was ranked in the country before then maybe I was ranked number 20 I don't know but after that year I think I was ranked like number two three in the country wrestling 145 so I really made a big jump and uh yeah yeah but man that was a horrible weight cut dude like I I would like I would make weight and then like i' get home at after the tournament and I'd weigh like 161 like a day and a half later it's like like how like I don't know yeah so but yeah that was always my problem was just like the weight and uh you know if I had known about carnivore back then like I don't think it would have been a problem like I would have just known how much I could cut and I would have done it and I okay so I I did so I had one weight cut where I was like pretty keto adapted I think I'd like been doing a lot of fasting in 2018 and this is when of I wrestled 158 and I I was like lean uh wrestling 158 like maybe 5% body fat um hitting that weight and uh but I'd been doing fasting and for this weight cut um I like just I I didn't really know about carnivore at the time but I knew about like about MCT oil and like I had like some Greek yogurt and I did this I did this workout and I lost like 6 and 12 PBS in like an hour just like jogging and that was like all the weight I needed to lose and it was like the easiest weight cut of the year and it was my first time down at 158 so I don't know you know like if you like yeah so it's not all just about cutting the weight you know it's like what you put in your body how you're fueling it like um yeah so absolutely yeah I was I was just thinking too when you said you you probably be two inches taller probably you know I'm I'm 63 I never really had made major weight Cuts you know maybe just a few pounds or something like that never major uh my little brother did and you know he's 5'10 I'm 6'3 my brother's 64 that's hilarious you know my dad and his brothers are like mid to Upper 6 foot their dad like their dad and and his brothers like born in like the you know turn of the 19 you know hundreds uh those bastards were like pushing seven foot you know so we got tall jeans and 510 I wrestled 215 but I was really 195 I don't need to know this man I I don't need any more regrets like my brother's 511 or yeah he's 5'11 and I'm 58 yeah but some did just like insult me for saying that they're like oh you you're you say you're 5'8 and I'm like I am 5'8 I mean 57 and a half you know you round up obviously 57 and 34 57 and 34 take right anyways so you know yeah well you know my younger brother too though you know he cut a lot of weight but he also had a had a pretty hor diet too he just ate white rice with tempora sauce like that's just all he loved so it was just like you know like sugar soy sauce and carbs that's what he that's what he ate most growing up and he was much shorter and smaller than we were and like he like I wrestled in the 2115 but I weighed 195 and but he wrestled like 148 right you know senior year right yeah that's and so you know big difference and but yeah he ate at yeah just a lot of rice not a lot of meat you know not not good so why how how was he eating like he was just doing that for wrestling weight cutting or like uh that was just preference he was always a real picky eater so my mom couldn't get him to eat so she just gave him whatever he wanted but you know that's why you don't negotiate with terrorists you know because they're going to keep you know demand making demands you know just be like no this is what you're eating you're going to do it you know because it's healthy I certainly got that you know my my terrorist demands of not wanting to eat you know vegetables and squashed not listen to like I had I absolutely had to eat that garbage you know but he was um you know he was allowed to just eat eat that crap unfortunately well yeah I mean yeah I'm not picky so I can't relate you know like but it was uh it's it is a little tough though making that transition from like a standard American diet to carnivore um you know I mean anybody who like thinks about it they're like wow that doesn't sound that fun only eating meat or you know but the thing I learned like I I heard about it and it's like oh you know they say the Inuits they only eat meat and some explorers like the more I eat like only meat the better it tastes sort of thing so you get acclimated to like the diet and the food to taste better and that's true and it really seems restrictive at first but I mean food starts to taste better like I get more satisfaction out of the meals that I have um and you know there really is like a good amount of variety uh if you aren't like on the lion diet or whatever you know you can have like seafood and um pork chicken and like there's so many different ways and then if you like colorate spices and all that I know you're like pretty strict with it but um you know um I don't know how I feel yeah right yeah you go with how you feel on feel better without spices you know and you know like you say you know you find a taste for it and so now at this point I just really enjoy the taste of meat just the meat itself I don't even use salt anymore I've just I noticed myself slowly using less and less salt just just from preference and now I find that I just like the meat taste on its own without the salt so so I actually prefer without salt so you if you know we go to a restaurant or something like that and and there's a bit of seasoning on it like I'm not I'm not gonna stir up a fuss I just know that you know I might not feel you know I might have an itchy face I know you mean right or something like that that night it might be something a little off but you look it's not the end of the world and um you know when I get home you know I cook things the way I want to cook them but yeah I mean it's um you're right there's there are ways of doing it and I don't think that you know if you have to use spices and if you prefer that if you haven't gotten to the point where you really started preferring the taste of me appreciating it then yeah use some spices yeah I mean I think I could do it um I I don't think like I would like be like totally thrown off by like cutting out the spices um but you know I'm I'm still on the coffee you know I I I I have coffee almost every day with like a bunch of half and half and you know it's like almost like dessert to me at this point it's just like so like delicious like uh but you know I like if I think about like the day to day you know I'd probably feel a little better I don't know cutting some of that stuff out um also like you're going to hate this but like I'm like addicted to diet soda and like don't Still Still Still I know I know yeah you got over I know just wait until I lose my first tooth but uh yeah so you know yep I but like it hurts my stomach you know and like I know how do like I don't know I don't know I I know what you mean and I'm not perfect you know and uh yeah but I feel like you're at this point in your life where you can just like be like okay this doesn't serve me you know this like isn't something that is making my life better and like so many people aren't don't have that mentality like the 95% of people don't have that mentality I don't think and you know really to be able to like look at your actions objectively like from you know aside from how you feel like with your you know addiction or whatever you're like craving for something I don't know like it's like not like I feel like you have that really dialed in you know where you can cut a lot of that stuff out and I don't know I don't know if most people are there though yeah and true and but I think that it's also not everybody you know sort of sees it as as in the same way as I do you know I mean I look at these things and I've objectively looked at them and said okay that's that's harmful to me and I don't want that in my body because I don't I don't want to harm myself directly you know just like I don't want to you know take take opiates and different things like that you know when I when I would get injuries or surgery and I would I would you know have painkillers I would actually really enjoy them because you know you know playing High Lev Sports as you know your body hurts all the time and you don't even recognize it because it's just a constant and then so you have something that's hurt that's actually injured and you take a pill to help your knee or whatever and then the rest of your body and your back your neck go oh my God you know all that pain is gone and you you didn't even realized it was there until it was gone he like oh it's amazing and so you and so you know I would I would look at that and go like wow that that's really enjoyable I can see the appeal to this um but you know after a few days of that it's just like hey I gotta go I got to use my brain I've gotta do stuff I've gotta like get to the gym I've got to work out you I can't have this crap in my system I don't feel good you know this not helping me and so you know I thankfully I have that that sort of mentality but you know so I look at that and just be like this is not good for me I don't want this in my body might use it medically or you know something you know sometimes or whatever depending on the situation but in general if I find something that's harmful to me I don't want it you know and um and not everybody's but you know a lot of are if they understand it the way I do you know well that's just an attitude of like delaying gratification I feel like like um you know you look at like the long-term outcomes of things and you make your decision based on like um what that's going to look like at a Baseline and so I don't know like there there's like certain things you can do like steroids right and like you can get like super jacked and for a short amount of time but like you know you see people that get off steroids and they look like and like or you know they have other health is isues like enlarged heart and so you can like rev up the engine and you know really get things going but um it's just uh at the sacrifice of longevity and yeah you think of like you think of these other things and you think you can think of like an opiate or I don't know maybe like uh food is like your emotional crutch and so you're like trying to like maintain your emotional state like get a general sense of positivity and you're using these you know crutches like boost it and um you end up like with a lower base line right alcohol opiates whatever um so being able to like cut those things out that really and I I feel like people don't realize that like the Baseline could be like so much higher than what they expect uh at least that's my experience like I feel like my Baseline is better and I'm not perfect uh right now um you know but uh my Baseline is definitely higher and yeah so yeah this this is why I'm jealous of of people like yourself and others who are still in like that fighting age we actually can still go and compete at a like a you know world class level because I I mean obviously I got real lucky in my early 20s I just happened upon this and so I was doing carnivore for five years and just felt like a bloody superhero and was able to perform at a at a really high level um but then I slipped off of it I didn't realize it but now I'm back on it I know what I'm doing I really I really know how to do it right and uh um you know i' I'm I've got a freaking job got things yeah right you uh you're you're saving lives out here so well and um you know and then also you just I've just battered up my knees and so I have you know anytime I try to go run or Sprint or something like that I just get my knee swells up it's getting a fusion and so I'm trying to rehab that and I've had like surgery to sort of like clean up all the little Blake pieces and stuff like that now I'm trying to rehab it so maybe I can get back and I will tell you if I can get back to running and sprinting without my knee blowing up like I will be playing again and I will be crushing people and I was thinking about this too because I've been doing the the knees over toes guy routine and it's actually helping it's actually helped quite a lot great yeah yeah and um uh you know so people that have knee problems I I definitely recommend go going and checking him out but I just have this sort of fantasy in my head that I'm going to like be able to rehab my knees and then and go out and just start playing I'm just going to get like a video of me just absolutely crushing people and just being like you know like hey you know thanks Ben this is how old are you now like going to the hospital because of you thanks Buddy Jesus yeah I feel yeah what are you like so what are you like 40 40 what 43 43 dude whenever I saw that like I was like showing people around my house I'm like dude how old does this guy look and they' be like 35 and I'm like bro like 33 I don't know I could have sworn I was like they're like it was like a YouTube clip and it was like you'll never guess how old this person is I don't know and it was like you were like 43 and I was like holy like I guess and I was like 35 no more like no older and like I was like and then there's that lady you just posted um 60 years carnivore or something she's 82 yeah 65 years or something and she looks fantastic like she looks like she's 60 years old and she's 82 it's just like wow like what like how could we like oversee like such a you know amazing like you know Health protocol like I don't know well and she and she's pretty imp so she is really more than 65 years really pretty much lifelong because she was she was like me she hated vegetables and she just just refused to eat them but like her parents instead of being sadists like mine and forcing her to eat them they allow to eat meat and so they uh yeah so she just just basically ate meat most of her life and because they're like well you know she's skinny she's healthy you know just let her let her do her thing but then you know I put 65 because when she moved out of the house that's when she was just like another vegetable will never pass my lips you know that's so yeah wow she just yeah she just knew knew not to eat them yeah and I was think she raised six kids or had six kids unfortunately one one passed away so five five kids to adulthood um and then has has others through marriage and you know but but all our pregnancies were carnivore and these kids are all very tall like her daughter is like 5'10 5'11 her grandkids are all like 65 66 the boys or at least a couple of the boys uh that I met and you know very very healthy and you know she did it just just eating meat and the thing is that she looks great and she does but she moves like a healthy 30y old you know climbing up and down tractors farm equipment they have a sailboat that they're building and they're going to they're going to you know go sailing around the world with that and she was like climbing up the Mast and like grabbing things pulling it down she literally hopped over a fence into a cow patch with a bull with an actual Raging Bull sort of got into like the adjacent pen um or pasture with this other bull that had a you know had a herum of cows and like this big ass dominant bull wanted in there wanted to kill the other Bull and and and this was the largest bull I've ever seen in my entire life this guy was a monster it his name was Growler and he was really grumpy a massive massive big bull he was huge and she just goes literally just just without a thought just like h pops over like grow get over here like grabbing it you know SL come on you know and like I was like oh my God and it was like you you would never in your life think that this was this was an 82 year old woman you know I mean she you know she was cing up and down some of this equipment like better than I would you know was like like oh my back kind of hurts you know she was right up there you know and yeah it's I don't yeah there's a lot of like people people talk about like how the way people how to change the way you move but some people just have it you know they just like she's been moving right her whole life and she's kept moving and and you know all that stuff's related I feel like you know it's like your emotions your diet like your the way you move you know I don't know it's all related to your Health and Longevity and yeah but I bet she goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. every or 9:00 p.m. every night probably doesn't watch TV probably gets up doesn't watch TV they they apparently they've started watching some sailing videos now they're sort of getting ready to go sailing so they're sort of learning watch that on like YouTube uh but yeah it was um you we'd have well I stayed with them for you know five days you know my girlfriend ell and I did and you know lovely people they were up every morning and out with the cows at 5:00 am every yeah yeah I that used to be me whenever I was a kid uh I grew up on a ranch and you know some sometimes you wouldn't have a ranch hand you know available and so I'd be out there at whatever 600 5:30 shoveling the Stalls and you know you get it done yeah yeah luck we had power tools so yeah and um yeah so and then yeah so we'd have we'd have dinner and things like that in the evenings and probably around 9:00 was like yep 9 o00 I'm going to go to bed and um yeah then be up yeah five o'clock out the door that's important right circadian rhythm like it's just um yeah there's so much like stuff I wish I could like talk with you about you know I just feel like I've gone down a lot of rabbit holes but um yeah there's just so many cool so much cool stuff on the internet out there you know from movements Arcadian Rhythm like uh like meditation type stuff breath work uh diet and yeah I mean but really it's like if you want to solve the mystery like think about like what people did like 15,000 years ago 30,000 years ago and it's like all right you know before like everything got all messed up by all these systems and um people telling other people the way things should be um I don't know so yeah but yeah yeah I mean it should it should be pretty natural it should just happen on its own you know I mean that's how that's how the world is supposed to work we forget that you know because we grow up modern societ but you know we're designed for you know long before modern society existed so we're designed for something else and we're designed to live naturally with the world and we're not doing that and I think we're suffering as result I mean just because humans are whatever I don't know two million years old um I mean those humans had parents too and those parents had parents and I don't know so you know it's like we're I mean I don't know just because like we have these traits doesn't mean like we still aren't bound you know it's like Bound by like the laws of nature so just because we're intelligent we live in houses doesn't mean that we're not animals you know that those those physical laws don't apply to us they absolutely do and you know you forget that at your own Peril you you know it's it's the old old adage you know you're so sharp you'll cut yourself like we are there you know we think that we're just so brilliant so wonderful that we're just basically gods and and we can just do whatever we want and and physical laws uh and biological laws don't apply to us anymore and uh the you know if we because we're intelligent they think that well if we were intelligent you'd recognize that nope that's not the case and you can't you can't uh duck reality and you can't duck biology and what the smartest thing you could do would be is like you say look back 15,000 years 30,000 years 100,000 years what were they doing how were they living that's how we were designed to live at least how we're designed to eat and you know be in the Sun and be outside oh never go in the sun are we trites you we are we chugs right it's amazing right like that yeah what is with that why why is that the common opinion like it's just like who started saying that and you know I could go and all the stuff about why that's and I don't know you know but yeah uh it's uh I saw this video today and it was like some natural tribes people and I don't know it was just some some dude singing this song uh from like Papa nny or something and he's apparently it's the song they sing whenever they like walk home from returning from the forest and some dude had like he' like AC Capell it kind of so like he had like bun like harmonies and Reverb but it's just like the was beautiful like like harmonious resonant sound and it like almost brought tears to my eyes in this moment cuz it was like the song of like coming home or something you know and so it was just like this feeling of like being at peace and like being part of something and I just feel like that's like something that we lose miss out on being so disconnected from nature I don't know um just like with entertainment and school and uh you know hierarchies of like where we should be at this time it's just like I feel like these spiritual things that like people have to work so hard for it maybe they used to come a little more naturally I don't know yeah I think so and especially now with the internet you have so many things at your fingertips and that can be very useful but can also be very distracting and you end up just sort of caught on social media and the internet and all these sorts of things I I I I have trouble with it as well like I hate social media but unfortunately you know you need to use it because that's where that's where the people are and that's how you reach them and yeah I find myself you know getting distracted by things and and taking a lot of time and thinking like I have so many messages to answer so many things that I should do I always feel that I always that's always what I should be doing instead of like no I need to do this other thing now and I need to just put that to the side which was which was was actually nice the last few weeks when I I was traveling uh you know visiting Maggie and then I was at Yellowstone there was no service and so like I didn't even have an option to do that it was so nice I was just yeah it depends on who you ask though like I guess that maybe means you aren't that addicted you know like you know you're not like I don't know like for me I yeah right I mean I know whenever I was 18 I disconnected I went on like my first backpacking trip in the sawtooths and I went by myself and obviously no sell service I brought like a couple books and it was it was nice it was really good but I can't I would be lying if I said I didn't think about like checking my phone and like wanting like having like I don't know wanting to have Sal service and but yeah you know but so you're 43 I'm 27 so you had you kind of grew up without cell phones then and all of that like you didn't probably get a cell phone until you like 20 like five or something or 20 20 20 something early 20s like maybe 22 something like that yeah but I got my first cell phone yeah I think I was my first like smartphone I think I was 14 or so for smartphone um but yeah GNA get my kids that no don't please do not like um yeah I think uh I mean not only is it like addicting but apparently I don't know I heard this thing where kid like kids are like more susceptible to like like they're more like they're more easily addicted to devices than adults and it has something to do with their like physiology and like and like the light that's like being emitted like I don't know there it's like the light is addicting from the screens for some reason and so like I guess as you age you like develop a natural protection to this like light I don't know that's uh some podcast I also listening to couldn't give you the specifics but yeah maybe you just you know you're early on Jack Cruz yeah well Jack Jack Cruz is cool as hell so he said there's probably something behind it but yeah yeah that that that Hebrew podcast yeah so it could be that you know you're just more susceptible to stuff when you're a kid and then you become you know a bit you know I guess accustomed to it and and conditioned to using it and that's just what you're used to doing right but I as an adult have certainly found myself having difficulty like getting off my damn phone you know because I always think like there's something there I'm supposed to do because you know I'm I'm you know probably like you like there I need to be busy I need to have be doing things and so it's just like I I I always am busy so I always have things to do and so I'm constantly thinking like there's something I need to do something I need to do so because I do a lot of work and and stuff on my phone I'm constantly looking to my phone I should be doing something there's something here I'm missing there's something here that I I need to be doing and so I keep checking back and I keep thinking I'm like there's something I need to do in PH but I don't know what it is and it's and and it ends up being just nothing really and I just answering messages which I need to do but I get really distracted and I you know I Tried reading a book you know a while ago not a big book it was like a small book it was yeah um what was it the Lost World by uh s Arthur Conan Doyle not a big book very interesting I've been wanting to read this for a long time and my God I could I was getting like a few pages in I was just getting like there's something I have to do I have to check something I have to check a message it was absolute pain but I just I ground my way through it but it took a long time yeah yeah I think I'd have the same reaction to Sherlock Holmes myself but now that I've read I i' I've cracked it open and I'm like okay like I don't know I'm more of a Stephen King like you know well well this isn't isn't um Sherlock Holmes this is about like finding like dinosaurs and South America and things like that and it's like raised plate oh okay gotcha Goa it's like it's more exciting you know and U there's there's stuff going on but just reading anything I was just getting so distracted even like reading for work you know like I'd be reading you know uh you know like a paper or or like a textbook or something like that and I just get so distracted get like anxious I like there's something I'm missing and some of part of that has to do with work as well because we we we communicate through you know text and things like that on like what'sapp on like what's going on and who's covering surgeries and who's doing all this sort of stuff so I'm like you know you have to stay on top of those sorts of things so I'm a bit neurotic on that as well because I'm constantly having to check that so I'm reading this I'm like I should check something and it just really distracts me so that's something that uh didn't used to happen I used to like actually be able to uh you know sit down and actually read or study or work on a project even though I was a really bad procrastinator I could I could I could do it I get it done um now I find it's it's more of a struggle and I also I also recognize like you know my memories screwed up too this is something Vinnie torich uh pointed out something I've noticed as well he asked me in an interview he's like you know how many phone numbers do you know so I'll ask you how many phone numbers do you know oh man I I if I said three I think I would be lying like it might be two like I think I think I actually remember four they're all my either my cell phone address my parents phone number my childhood phone number and my like CH really like like California childhood phone number um and uh yeah and myself yeah so four that's what I got whereas before I had a cell phone and you didn't have this stuff in your phone like you had to just remember people's numbers and like I remember um every now and then I just sort of like had all these numbers in my in my head I was just like oh this is this person's number this person's number and I remember thinking like what if I just forget that and I'm not going to have this number I'm not gonna have any way of looking it up and so I just like wrote it down so I started like writing out all the numbers that I could remember it was like 15 like 150a yeah yeah and and and now I've got four right so right yeah so yeah I guess not everything sticks but no I had a philosophy Professor a lot like maybe it was 2017 it was ancient philosophy and his advice to us I don't know we were like some sophmores and he was just like you guys just need to work on your memory like that is so important like you always like if you like read things like try to memorize them and espe and I guess that's you know with like Greek philosophy and you know works of art like that like that can be a good thing I'm not going to say I took it to heart entirely but you know I've like memorized a couple poems I guess and but I wish there was more you know it's like yeah my mom and her side of the family like they they could just they just poems in particular yeah and songs they they just remember these things yeah the songs will run through my head but yeah yeah yeah well that's something anyway and I guess you could sort of do in the same way with poetry have it sort of that you know the the meter and pattern you know of of the poem yeah it's just whenever you get you have like a little portal in your pocket and you can kind of just like see the exact freaking thing you know you know speaking of ancient philosophy like the ancient philosophers um you know in Greece like they were a lot of them were against the written word they said that that was that was going to destroy people's memories so well if you can write something down then you don't need to remember everything was memorized and you know the ilad and the Odyssey these were complex epic poems that are thousands of pages long and that was all oral tradition that was that was that was written it was composed um in someone's brain and they just sort of and they just said this stuff and and it was perfect you know meter and and for thousands of pages and someone composed that in their head and never wrote it down then passed it down generation after Generation Um just through oral tradition Alexander solichin who wrote the GG archipelago he did something similar to that he was in he was in the ggs in Russia he was there for eight years and in his head he was writing a book that later became the gulag archipelago um that that was basically telling everybody how horrendous and evil this system was the the the Communist system was and he didn't have anything to write it down on and if he did write it down it would be confiscated or you'd be tortured and killed for having written it and so he wrote it in his head and he would just like repeat the lines to himself over and over again he had rosary beads and he would just be as he was out there and working he' just be clicking these rosary beads on on repeating his own chapters back to himself this book is 2700 pages long he composed it all in his head and then wrote it all out spent years writing this stuff out and then and then got it out there so you know that's what the brain is capable of that's what we are capable of we're capable of doing this and and I think we've we've gotten so much technology that we've really dumbed ourselves down because we we don't need to be smart anymore we don't need to have intelligence you know people think that we're so much more intelligent because we have all this technology well someone had to make the technology that's really smart you're not the one who made it right so you know you're just using it and then you're you don't have to develop your brain because this is such an easy crutch and right it has to do with like I don't know the way that schools designed you know it's like oh here's an assignment you and it's like I don't know like I don't know I guess that that's one way of going about it but it's also like if you're trying to be like an effective person like the world is so much more complex than this little prompt you know that you have for the assignment and I don't know like if you are able to have like that sort of I don't know that sort of wi knowledge in your head like at your disposal like that that changes the way you think and you know it's it it makes you more effective I don't know and I'm you know I'm just the normal whatever 27y old kid addicted to Instagram and Tik Tok and you know um it's uh but you know there visions of being better I guess yeah right and yeah yeah but um I was going to ask you too so what did well first of all congratulations on graduating you that's great that you were able to get back and do that so congratulations uh there um and uh what what did you end up uh graduating with and what do you what are you planning to do with that yeah so I graduated with uh a degree in APPL economics and management which is like business and it's it's a pretty good it's a really good program and it's really awesome um but I really struggle in office environments for some reason um I just uh don't have fun I've had a few like internships and uh that sort of thing so I'm actually just going to be like a substitute teacher this year I was going to be like an English teacher in high school but so I'm still like looking actively for that but um right now I'm just being a substitute and uh you know it's uh it's not like the most glamorous job and you know but I think helping kids is a good thing and it is um yeah so and it's something I think I'll enjoy and um yeah so well it also gives you gives you time to think about things you know and it may be that you really enjoy it and you want to go full-time in teaching you never know you know but it's you know education for Education sake is is a good thing and you know nothing you learn during that degree even if you don't go into business per se or economics you that will that will benefit you in everything that you do um is giving you that base of education and knowledge and that perspective that difference in perspective is going to be very unique and beneficial so yeah that's good man no it was really good I really appreciate you know everything I went through with all of that and um you know it's a it is a unique opportunity to get to go to a school like that and um so yeah it's I I visited there a couple times yeah I went to um his NBA there and uh so I I went up to iut was gorgeous like gorgeous this is on the woods it's unbelievable right you know the campus is like it's like something out of like a medieval you know City and like I just went like through the like the fraternity and sorority houses they're like castles these are like nner houses with like you know big castle blocks for building blocks is crazy yeah you'll get spoiled living out there you know it's like Winters are not so fun but you know you also have a sauna ice bath full wrestling room gym yeah and you know it's uh it's pretty special so yeah that's awesome but yeah we we actually have a few guys competing from Cornell um in the world championships oh nice in two weeks from now um Vito arua who was a national champ this last year his first national champ championship and then Kyle D he's down at Penn State now uh but he's a four-time World Champ going for his fifth world championship Jes he's also won of five um four-time D1 national champs uh Jesus yeah so he's super impressive and unfortunately there there's this other guy Yanni I'll mention him too because he's also a four-time national champion for Cornell and uh but he he didn't he lost in the the world team trials finals this year so but I'm sure he'll be there for the Olympics and yeah yeah so yeah presumably all those guys would be going for an Olympic spot too Absolut yeah I mean I that would just be like I don't know yeah I think they can all go for an Olympic spot their own weights so if they could all make it that would just be like ridiculous but yeah I I didn't realize Cornell had such a strong wrestling program actually that's pretty badass yeah no we always have some standouts and I it's hard to compete with like Penn State the way they are right now um but Cornell's pretty good um they've got the new coach in Mike gray I think he's doing a great job uh but uh yeah he I didn't wrestle under him though I I was under the old head coach so um but he was assistant coach while I was there so but seems like I wasn't sure how you know I was like I don't know like it's a big job but he killed it and yeah so oh that's really good well cool anyways what's that sorry I said anyways Cornell wrestling and all that had to throw the shout outs out there yeah no yeah oh that's cool they're doing so well yeah I I did not realize that they um you know were doing so well and had such such a good program but that's great you know especially because like you know you know if you if you're a good enough athlete and a scholar and you want to go to a school like Cornell you know sometimes you have to sacrifice your athletic dreams to to go to a school that's just you know a better academic school or or better school for other reasons it's just you know because it you know quite often different schools have better Sports programs they they put more of an onus on that and so being able to go to a school you know great school like Cornell um you know has a very high academic standard but also you know compete in your sport at a top level too I that's you know that's that's a win-win no yeah it's it's an opportunity and you know everything in life has tradeoffs like you put more energy into wrestling you're going to have less energy for school and and all that but uh you know you know you see it time like there's not really many people who are like 4.0 at Cornell and like allamerican you know it's like it's pretty tough to balance so yeah but yeah it's awesome I mean i' I'd recommend it and they have a need-based financial aid so even if like you know like I know I I had like a few teammates and you know they were on like full like need- based Aid and they weren't like the most amazing wrestlers and but they got to you know go to Cornell they didn't pay too much and so it's like a good thing you know like these these kids like they probably paid like less to go to Cornell and they went to like I don't know CSU Brock or whatever Brockport University out there in New York and like I don't know so yeah it's a good thing yeah yeah um I was going to ask you too you know we touched on your um your mental health stuff the anxiety and depression and things like that um how's that going now yeah so in terms of my so the anxiety is way less I think I don't know what your gauge on like my anxiety levels are I know they're not like you know dead side but they're definitely less than I think they were um like absolutely like I could also like my social anxiety is a lot lower so I I'm like a lot less self-conscious and more like outwardly directed and so I I don't know exactly like why but um it definitely has something to do with shifting my diet and being like more metabolically you know efficient or active whatever the terminology is and then maybe some lower inflammation and um but so there's that and then depression I mean you know I I have some tough days I I think I just I I went through a breakup recently so um that you know you you have some rough days but like I bounced back and like um and you know things are all right and and then before like you know I was just like in this rut and I couldn't get out like I don't know it was just like I couldn't lose weight like it was just like you know I was living life but was I like really living life I don't know so um you know overall it's just it just like feels like so much better to be in a healthy body and a healthier mind and um you know I feel like I feel like a lot of people know that you know they know that they'd feel better if they lost weight and they'd feel better if they you know had better mental health and but the general guideline it's like okay eat less and exercise more right that's like rule one and two and um I I feel like we've had enough time to see that that doesn't really work for most everyone um and so um you know my mom actually just recently started the carnivore diet she's 63 yes uh she she's not like she's kind of on the same boat as me she'll eat like um cheese still and um she'll eat like these keto yogurts which are like mostly cream I don't know so but you know she's uh but she's doing like you know ketovore type deal and uh yeah she she's definitely gotten healthier her skin is like more vibrant um she's uh I feel like her mood is generally better I feel like she's like walking better too and so you know I feel like anyways I guess my point is is that like no like it might sound kind of weird like do a carnivore diet to some people and like be a little off-putting but um there's like real benefit to be had and like um and yeah maybe maybe it doesn't work for everyone I don't know if I believe that but you know yeah so yeah well that's awesome man I'm glad to hear that and I'm glad to hear your mom's doing well too and U I'm sure that that'll get better so uh well John thank you so much for coming on man yeah no it was awesome um yeah for sure you're you're great you know I love all the content you put out there and uh it was really helpful too so thanks for all that and you know figuring out what I should do and then you know first two months um you know getting off medication all that um and being real strict on Carnivore that was like definitely instrumental because I'd done keto before and like I didn't have the same success I had this time for some reason and it was those two months of really strict carnivore that for some reason like made a difference later on when I switched like and you know I just I wasn't all in I wasn't all out but you know I did my best on like the school dining hall plan to eat mostly meat and you know stay like have low carb in take and um yeah so I got through the school year and now it's like it's not a chore to to eat this way so yeah good anyways so thanks again yeah no you're welcome man thank you very much and um and how do people get a hold of you what are some of your socials and things like that yeah my social media it's uh Instagram is johnj Chavez J N JY Chavez and um yeah that's my social and then my email is the same at gmail.com if you want to email me so cool awesome cool we we'll put those up and um you if people want to get a hold of you and and uh ask any questions they can they can do that there John thank you so much for coming on it's been a pleasure all right super great uh hopefully we can stay in touch absolutely man looking forward to it all right Dr cha hey guys thank you very much for taking the time out to listen to what I had to say if you like it then please like And subscribe to my YouTube channel and podcast and if you're on YouTube YouTube then please hit that little bell and subscribe and that'll let you know anytime I have a new video out which should be every week if not more and if you could share this with your friends that would help me get the word out and let me know that you like what I'm doing thanks again guys the the problem is is that with the tobacco companies for decades they lied say oh there's no evidence of that look at all these studies oh look at these nice studies all studies that they paid for and these studies say all great things well these studies say that you're full of it well but we just got these studies there's conflicting evidence who knows what's going on