Lewis Bertus was following medical best practices as a physician's assistant when his wife's illness forced him to take a hard look at the limitations of the healthcare industry.

The drugs weren't helping her type 2 diabetes, no matter how much her doctors insisted that the pharma route was the only responsible one.

So Lewis "did his own research," which can go in all sorts of directions, some of them pretty horrifying.

Fortunately, with his grounding in medicine and his deep spiritual faith, he struck gold.

Once he learned that a whole food, plant-based diet can reverse type 2 diabetes, he devoted himself to spreading the word. And empowering people with the ability to get that diet off the pages of books and the frames of videos into their kitchens, onto their forks, and into their mouths.

In our conversation, we talk about his work as a health coach specializing in diabetes reversal.

We look at various barriers to change: cultural, biochemical, and habitual.

We dive into the primacy of mindfulness as a tool for managing cravings and reducing stress.

We explore the intersection of mindfulness and spiritual practices, and how the "STOP" process can tap into religious beliefs in the service of health.

We also talk about the challenges of addressing health disparities in historically marginalized communities, and the urgent need for diversity in healthcare — patients can see healthcare professionals who "look like them" and have credibility talking about their lives.

Enjoy!

Links

LewisBertus.com

Lewis Bertus knew that he always wanted to work in healthcare, to help people heal.

2

And as a physician's assistant, he was basically following the medical mainstream.

3

But then his wife developed type 2 diabetes, and it forced him to take a hard look at the

limitations of the healthcare industry.

4

because the drugs weren't helping, but her doctors kept insisting that the pharmaceutical

route was the only responsible path to take.

5

So Lewis decided to do his own research, which is a phrase that is pretty fraught these

days, could go into all sorts of directions.

6

And some of them are frankly pretty horrifying.

7

But fortunately, perhaps due to his grounding in medical science and perhaps due to his

strong spiritual faith,

8

He struck gold.

9

And once he learned that a whole food plant based diet can actually reverse type two

diabetes, he devoted himself to spreading the word and empowering people with the ability

10

to get that diet off the pages of books and off the frames of videos and into their

kitchens, onto their forks and into their mouths.

11

So in our conversation, we talk about Lewis's work as a health coach specializing in

diabetes reversal.

12

We look at various barriers to change cultural biochemical habitual, and we dive into the

primacy of mindfulness as a tool for managing cravings and reducing stress, both as a

13

secular tool, but also one.

14

If you have a religious faith that you can bring your religion into it and through a

process that he calls stop which we go over into in the podcast and how that process can

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tap into religious beliefs.

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or simply affirmations in the service of improving and maintaining good health.

17

And we also talk about the challenges of addressing health disparities in historically

marginalized communities and the urgent need for diversity in health care, that is, health

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care providers who look like their patients and who have credibility talking about their

lives.

19

Hope you enjoy.

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without further ado.

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Lewis Bertus, welcome to the Plant Yourself Podcast.

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Thanks for having me.

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Yeah, we we're talking about a bunch of stuff, but I'd love for you to start just

introducing yourself.

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Sure, So, okay, my name is Lewis Bertus.

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I'm a physician assistant and diabetes reversal health coach.

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And I've been a PA for about going on six years, a health coach for two.

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And yeah, just always been excited about teaching people about health and reversing

chronic conditions, you know.

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huh.

29

So, sorry.

30

Yeah, well, yeah, we're going to end up having a consultation.

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I've been sick for like two weeks.

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I'm still I still cough in my sleep and.

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But I'll try.

34

is, yeah.

35

I would say it's probably that change of weather, right?

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I know North Carolina here, man.

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It's brutal.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Anyway, I'll try to keep the coughing to a minimum, even see if I can, you know, mute

myself if I am dexterous enough.

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But.

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problem.

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So you've been a PA for six years and I know you're we're going to talk about like the

work you do coaching people to reverse diabetes.

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And there's there's a bunch of people listening to this who are like, huh, those two words

don't go together.

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That's like, you know, reverse demolition or like I didn't know that was possible.

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There's a lot of people who are like, yeah, yeah, we we know we get it.

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How did you come to be a

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PA, I'm looking at you.

48

assume you're not in your 20s anymore.

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You've had some sort of career already.

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tell us here.

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usually tell me I look like I'm in my 20s, man.

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Like, I'll just play.

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I got you.

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Good catch.

55

Okay.

56

Awesome.

57

Awesome.

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Good to hear, Well, yeah.

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So it's been an interesting journey.

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I think right out of high school, I knew I was going to go into medical field.

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But I, you know, I have a very spiritual background.

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My family grew up in a very conservative church, Seventh-day Adventist Church.

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And I always felt a spiritual calling too.

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So I ended up studying theology actually in my undergrad with the idea of becoming a

pastor.

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I always thought I liked the idea of being also able to help people in practical ways.

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know, like obviously Jesus was known as a great physician.

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So that's why even at studying theology, I always thought, well, maybe I'll get become a

medical missionary, you know, get training in medicine.

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upon graduating I felt more more convicted about going into medicine and so long story

short, I just felt like a divine path to becoming a PA.

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was a lot of, lot went into that but yeah, I found out that even with a theology

bachelor's, I could get a physician assistant master's.

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It's a great way to get into medical fields because it accepts all backgrounds.

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So, got into PA school.

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And yeah, I did find out pretty quick how quickly physicians get burned out in our medical

system, which is what inspired me to transition to a health coach.

73

huh.

74

So you were feeling that as a PA?

75

Yeah, big time man.

76

Because another thing, being 70 or better, I don't know if you know much about that faith,

but they're very into holistic living.

77

So my parent, my dad was like a pescatarian, mom vegetarian for a while.

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I became vegetarian in my college years, went back and forth.

79

So seeing my wife have diabetes and going through the medicines, I'm encouraging her to

take the medicines and she can't stand them.

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I'm telling them they work, they're gonna work.

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Eight years later, medicines aren't controlling her blood sugar levels.

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Insulin isn't working.

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Her diabetes is getting worse.

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Her symptoms are getting worse.

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And I'm like, well, if medicine's not doing it, there has to be a natural way.

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So.

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It was interesting because I saw the same thing happening in my patients, you know, with

not just diabetes, you know, but many chronic illnesses, they only get worse with time and

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medicines seem like a bandaid.

89

Usually physicians like me, they think that it's because the patient's not taking the

medicine or they're not being compliant with the diet recommendations, but she's following

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the low carb diet recommendations.

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She's taking the medicines and I'm seeing a patient, like a perfect example of all my

patients at home.

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where medicine and conventional dietary recommendations are failing her.

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So I went into a deep dive research for about two years, reading nutritional articles and

research on diabetes and nutrition, knowing they gotta be away naturally.

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I felt really deeply convicted about it.

95

And I found that very quickly that a low fat,

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whole food plant-based diet can reverse diabetes and it's been done and it's been known

for about a hundred years and known.

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It is not mainstream knowledge.

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I'm like, this is crazy.

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Like this is something people have known.

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It's nothing new.

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You know, I'm not discovering the wheel.

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so yeah, I quickly had my wife adopt that and six weeks, my friend, she was off medicine.

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Six weeks after eight years of struggling.

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I was like,

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I gotta let my people know so obviously it transitioned to everything I knew and thought

about medicine.

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So that's so interesting that you're like pushing the party line of, know, the drugs are

going to work and if they're not working, it's it's your fault as the patient.

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Like you're not doing something right.

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And then to be to kind of pull back the curtain in your own home and see that boy that

blaming the patient first of all doesn't seem accurate.

109

Yeah, it does.

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even if we're accurate, like even if it's true, like, they're not taking like, you know, I

know the compliance rate for like a lot of drugs is like under 50 percent, especially

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like, you know, high blood pressure drugs or diabetes drugs or, you know, blood, you know,

high blood pressure, all that stuff.

112

But but still like.

113

The medical profession basically has a superiority complex around like they're stupid or

they're lazy or they're they're irresponsible and not really asking like, why are you not

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like, what's the experience you're having and really not trusting people?

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it's sad.

116

mean, there's been surveys that shouldn't be shocking, where doctors and nurses have said

that when someone's obese or diabetic, they judge them negatively.

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Those for a lot of physicians are the most frustrating patients, in their opinion.

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And some physicians, you know,

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Yeah, there's just a lot of judgment.

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Just a lot of judgment.

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You think that the medicine is going to work and if it's not working, it's your fault.

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But in their defense, right, I did not know anything.

123

I wasn't taught about nutrition in school.

124

You know, we didn't have much nutrition courses in my program.

125

So all we are taught for all our years, obviously, if you're a PA for the two or three

years of your master's program or a doctor for your six, seven years of education, all

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you're taught is medicine.

127

So

128

It kind of makes sense that they think that way.

129

Unfortunately, I don't give them too much rope because the research is out there.

130

It's just a quick Google search and you could find a lot of information on lifestyle and

disease prevention and reversal.

131

Yeah.

132

So can you talk about your wife's experience over those few weeks?

133

yeah, sure.

134

So she was actually coming off a keto diet.

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And it was interesting because it was like the last draw.

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Like we were vegetarian, vegan, I should say.

137

And the only thing that was controlling her medicine was extra low carb, going down to 20

to 40 carbs a day.

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And the rest of her nutrients coming from meat, dairy, eggs, cheese.

139

So she was finally keeping her blood sugars under control.

140

We knew that this is not going to be sustainable because with the blood sugars dropping,

inflammation, the signs of the inflammation started showing up in the lab work.

141

Her cholesterol levels started to rise.

142

We knew that keto or low carb diets, they may control your blood sugar, but it comes at a

sacrifice long term.

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when she transitioned, she was really excited.

144

She was really happy to go back to eating, trying out again.

145

you know, because in previous times vegetarian wasn't enough.

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Because a lot of people think, well, I'm a vegetarian.

147

Why is my blood sugar, why am I, you know, my blood pressure high?

148

Why is my blood sugar high?

149

And a lot of times it's the fat percentage.

150

So that's what we focused on during those six weeks, measuring her fat intake with, while

being plant-based and eliminating processed foods.

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And keeping it at 10 to 15 % was ideal percentage for my research.

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So.

153

Yeah, it was not hard for her, you know, as I'm sure it's been hard for lot of my clients

who have never been vegetarian.

154

It wasn't hard for her.

155

She made the switch like that.

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Interesting enough, some clients I have, it just takes days or weeks.

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But for her, I had to encourage her because it's three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, and

sugars are still not controlled.

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And she's like, Lewis, this is not working, right?

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I said, just keep up, baby, it's going to work, persist.

160

Some people it takes time.

161

You've had diabetes for eight whole years.

162

It's not gonna go away overnight.

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And that's the thing that you have to be patient with the change in lifestyle.

164

It doesn't happen quickly.

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So yeah, six weeks later, she started seeing perfect blood sugars.

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She had dropped her meds, mean, I think even before the six weeks, but her sugars were

finally within normal range in that six week mark.

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That's when we knew this is it.

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And how long ago was that?

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So that was actually the start of our business.

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So the two years, about two years ago.

171

Uh-huh.

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And so she's she's if you looked at her today, you like you looked at her labs and like,

does it look like she has diabetes that's under control or that she just doesn't doesn't

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have it anymore?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Looking at her lab work, even her physical appearances, she lost a lot of weight.

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That's another big part of it, is getting exercise regularly, getting that energy back.

177

She was able to go into the gym regularly.

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Her transformation physically and biologically has been a 180, really.

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So so in some ways, it's it's easy.

180

It's easier to work with, you know, your life partner.

181

But in some ways, it's harder like, you know, it's harder to coach your your family.

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You know, you've got skin in the game.

183

They wonder like, what are your motives here or who you know, who are you to tell me or,

you know, like, how did you discover that you wanted to do coaching as opposed to medical?

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the medical model you've been trained in.

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Yeah, it's interesting you say that because yeah, my wife doesn't listen to me.

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She always does better.

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I'm the one who listens to her, you know.

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you know, yeah, of course, family could be the hardest to work with and it was definitely

tough.

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it's always, you know, it's, but it's interesting because I...

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I felt really like I was saying in beginning, unfulfilled.

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I think there's a survey that says over 50 % of physicians are burned out.

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Right?

193

I remember, I remember during my preceptor, my rotations, I had a preceptor that, you

know, we're going through the rounds and listening to our heart rate, you know, and using

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our stethoscope to listen to patients, you know, and coming out of the patient's room, I

asked her, did you notice that patient had a slight murmur?

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And she's like, you know, honestly, Lewis, I don't even listen anymore.

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So like, you know, there's a lot of physicians, you know, I think the reason why it's easy

to transition to being for me is because I know I'm doing something that's going to work.

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You know, it's, it's, hard because a lot of people get into medicine wanting to make a

change.

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want to see transfer.

199

They don't want to, they want to save lives, transform people's life, long, you know, give

people longevity and to see that it's not happening.

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it can be very frustrating.

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So when I found out that not only can I just maintain, but I can actually reverse

diseases, it's all I'm about.

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And so not just in my practice, but also in my business, I'm able to give people the

advice they need, but not just that.

203

When you're in a health coaching setting, you're getting to know your patient intimately.

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You're getting to see them weekly instead of every three months or six months, right?

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You go from having a 15 minute visit to a 45 minute visit.

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There's so much more you can do as a coach that physicians are limited in their ability to

do because they just don't have the time.

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Knowing and doing is two different things.

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So you can tell people what to do, but showing them and guiding them through the process,

that's powerful.

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Yeah.

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Now, one thing that you can say about.

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the mainstream traditional medical care is if the person just saying, well, you have this

condition, you know, it's probably genetic or we don't know why it happens.

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But here's the meds.

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There's a way in which that can feel like it's it's kind of neutral.

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You're not blaming the person.

215

You're not saying, you know, like, but when you come around and you say, actually, it's

the food like you're telling people you can change it.

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People can also hear it's my fault.

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Right.

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How do you how do you how do you come across saying, you know, there is power here in a

way that people don't feel judged or start feeling like, my God, you know, what have I

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been doing to myself or or getting even getting angry?

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Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, man.

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I never thought of it that way, but I guess the approach I take to help with that feeling

of self-judgment is to, and I can't remember who coined the phrase, but I tell my patients

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and clients that we live in a toxic food environment.

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It is not your fault.

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It is the environment we live in.

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We are over-saturating calories.

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Processed foods are cheaper than healthy foods.

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because of course corporate interests, know, we're not given the proper education on how

to eat healthy, you know.

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And so it is not your fault.

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It's the environment we live in.

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so it's very, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol is very normal in this

society, you know, because of this environment, again, this toxic food environment we're

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living in.

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So we're reestablishing a new norm.

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And so I think my patients, they tend to accept that a lot readily than, yeah, this is

your fault and you're just be eating bad.

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And when you think about it, it's like, I'm not eating any different than anyone else is

eating.

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And it's unfortunate, yeah, genetics does load the gun, as they say, but lifestyle pulls

the trigger.

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And some people's genetics, they're...

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not as friendly towards this normal way of living in our society today.

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So, you when people get that, I think it's easier for them to not feel so bad about

themselves, not feel so judged, you know, when they realize, okay, wow, this is something

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that happens to many people and I'm not any different than anyone else.

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So did you have to kind of become a bit of a revolutionary or, you know, like once you

burst this bubble, like, you American capitalism.

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Great.

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We have all this food.

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It's the best in the world.

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It's all consumer driven choice.

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And then you start, you know, use some of the things you mentioned like.

246

processed food is cheaper than the food, the same food before it's processed.

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Like like like there's some fix here.

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Like did you was there a point at which you're like, what the what the heck, you know,

what kind of world do I live in?

249

it's education, it's knowledge.

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It's the knowledge we need.

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And the more I read, the more I start thinking about things.

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I think people are realizing this, though.

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You have a conversation with anyone in the street, and they get it.

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They're like, yeah, that these corporations, this big food, big pharma, has a lot of

influence.

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And obviously, they're in it for the money.

256

mean, of course, you can't wrong them, really.

257

And so, unfortunately, like the Bible says, the love of money is the root of everything

evil.

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So you follow the money, you're gonna find the evil.

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so, yeah, I think it's, I do have to be, that's exciting part.

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I do see myself as a revolutionary, telling people that we need to change things.

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We really need to change things in America.

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And unfortunately, it's being influenced by many places in the world.

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One thing that's really sad, I tell people is,

264

We spend more money in healthcare than any country in the world.

265

And yet healthcare is a third leading cause, I think actually the fourth leading cause of

death in America, third or fourth.

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People don't know that.

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So we're spending all this money.

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And then on top of that, when we look at our healthcare qualities, we're not top.

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We're somewhere in the 38th or 40th in the world.

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We're in the bottom.

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of developed countries are on the bottom.

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So why are we spending more money than any country in the world, yet we're on the bottom

of the list in quality and our methods are not working.

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So something's gotta change.

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As Martin Luther King says, we gotta be the change we wish to see in the world.

275

So it starts with me, it starts with you, it starts with all of us saying, okay, I can't

change you or I got a neighbor or my friend or my family, but I can change myself.

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So we need to all be revolutionaries in a sense.

277

Yeah, I love that.

278

Yeah.

279

Now, you whoever you work with, if they if they have a connection to a culture, they're

going to have resistance.

280

Right.

281

Because the you know, the food culture of every ethnic group, you know, like celebrates

some kind of decadent cake or meat or cheese dishes.

282

And it can feel like, you know, someone's trying to, you know, like, you know, what are

you trying to give me, you know, quinoa and broccoli?

283

Like, that's not culturally

284

appropriate, it doesn't fill me, it doesn't provide me with comfort.

285

There's no associations with family and grandma.

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Do you find that in your work?

287

I, yes and no, because like, I do find a lot of cultures outside of American culture, lot

of ethnicities, you know, they do tend to have a lot more plant-based foods in their diet.

288

So I think the most, hardest ones are like kind of like the, you know, traditional

Southern, you know, culture, you know, but ethnic, as far as when you leave America,

289

there's a lot more plants in there and other ethnic.

290

cultural foods.

291

But even there, you're right.

292

know, when you know, when you're talking to any any culture, there's going to be some

foods that have to change that are they're familiar with that bring that feeling of home.

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But so what I encourage them is that you you can still enjoy those foods in moderation,

right?

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It's not an all or nothing thing.

295

That's the one thing that scares people.

296

They feel like, well, if I don't do it 100 percent, then

297

It's not gonna work, but no, it's not an all or nothing thing.

298

The closer you can get to a whole food plant-based diet, the better, right?

299

But it's not all or nothing.

300

It's not like, you you can never enjoy those favorite foods again.

301

But what you wanna learn to do is not need them.

302

You wanna get to the point where, you know, you're making a conscious choice to have them,

not a biological drive, right?

303

You wanna remove the addiction.

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Who wants to be addicted to anything, right?

305

So with time, with patience, you could cut the cord of addiction.

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And then now I choose to have chicken on Thanksgiving.

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It's not because I must, you know?

308

So that's part of it.

309

But also, there's so many alternatives.

310

There's so many ways to enjoy some of your favorite pastries and make them vegan, you

know?

311

And some of your favorite foods and just transition them slightly.

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Traditional cultural dishes that can be vegan.

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very easily, you know, so and then having them actually try out the cultural recipes that

are transitioned to become vegan recipes and they see, I can enjoy, I can still have fun

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with my food, you know, and be plant-based, absolutely 100%.

315

If you're not enjoying the plant-based food or the diets that come with it, the recipes

that come with it, you're not doing it right.

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I'm big on you should be enjoying your food and you can, you know, you can.

317

Right on.

318

Yeah.

319

So I want to keep peppering you with the objections.

320

So the biggest objection I found for people who are tired of diabetes management the

medical way is that when you then say, you've got to eat like fruits and vegetables that

321

they're like, but I can't like that's going to make it worse.

322

Like everything I've been taught is low carb.

323

Yeah, that's a big one.

324

how do you help people break their addiction to, you know, adhering to this medical model

that even though it hasn't worked for them, still feels like it's too dangerous to give

325

up.

326

Yeah, yeah, so that is hard because there's a lot of re-education that has to happen, a

lot of re-education.

327

So I think the proof there's a lot of times is testimonials.

328

know, when you see people who have been plant-based and they're off their medicine, you

can't argue that like, wow, how come they're getting results and look at how all the carbs

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they're eating?

330

And anyone can research that online.

331

Look, there's so many testimonials, you know.

332

not just in my business, in others who are doing.

333

Mastering Diabetes is huge, I have a huge list.

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I love watching their videos.

335

People who are doing it, seeing is like almost 90, 100 % of believing, right?

336

So watch the stories of others who have turned plant-based and have better lab work than

you, and then tell me that low carb is the way, you know?

337

But...

338

So not just that, the second thing would be just the science behind it.

339

So I do get lot into the science of diabetes reversal.

340

And when you see it, it's very clear that it is saturated fats particularly, but high fat

diets that cause insulin resistance, which is keeping sugars trapped in your blood.

341

Once you drop that fat percentage, you could increase your tolerance for carbs.

342

you'll see that diabetics can eat more carbs than they ever had and have normal blood

sugar levels.

343

And there is a science behind it.

344

so it's a fat, you know.

345

What happens when someone takes insulin?

346

They gain weight.

347

Why?

348

Because the insulin is driving fat into the tissues, not designed to store it in excess

amounts.

349

So when you realize that, you realize, maybe it isn't the carbs, and it really isn't the

carbs.

350

And so yeah, it does take a lot of motivating through actual testimonials and a lot of

educating through helping them see the science, the biology behind insulin resistance,

351

what insulin does in the body, how high fat diets can drive and make it harder to respond

to it.

352

And that blood sugar levels being high is just a side effect.

353

It's not the cause, it's the side effects of diabetes.

354

So one of the problems, I think, is that there's a there's a lack of nuance in how the

popular media and influencers and even the medical profession and the mainstream media

355

talk about food in terms of low carb, low fat.

356

it puts it as like fat or sugar.

357

Which one is the enemy?

358

And carbs can mean anything from a fresh salad.

359

to a McDonald's Happy Meal.

360

So you're not a fan of sugar, right?

361

No, absolutely not.

362

Yeah.

363

So refined carbs are definitely not real food, whole food.

364

So that's why I love the term, whole food plant-based, because what you want, you want the

whole food, not the leftovers of the food.

365

I like to say you want to eat dollars, not coins.

366

So how I explain that is like, basically when you think of complex carbs, they're dollars,

right?

367

And the refined...

368

highly processed refined carbs or sugar is coins.

369

So if I were to ask you, to tell you that you could only hold a certain amount of weight

in currency every day, would you choose to hold dollars or coins?

370

This is no brainer, dollars.

371

Yeah, good, the paper is light, right?

372

In the sense that whole foods, complex carbs are full of fiber and nutrients that make it.

373

more fulfilling, right, more satisfying.

374

You're not gonna be as hungry.

375

They fill you up.

376

So it's light as far as caloric density.

377

It's not high in calories.

378

It's light.

379

Coins or sugar is heavy in the sense that it's full of, it's highly caloric, more likely

to lose weight, less likely to fill you, right?

380

So on top of the, so when you think about that, you you're going to lose weight.

381

You're going to reverse disease.

382

you're,

383

increasing the amount of dollars, complex carbs, and zeroing out the coins.

384

Eating food that's rich in nutrients while low in calories, the dollars, while eliminating

the food that's high in calories and low in nutrient value, right?

385

Coins don't go very far.

386

So I tell people, eat dollars, not coins.

387

And that's why I compare complex carbs and sugar.

388

I that.

389

love that.

390

What can you say about sugar?

391

Because I know a lot of people I know in the plant based or vegan community, like, we'll

give sugar like we would never touch a piece of fish.

392

like, you know, like, like here's a whole food plant based recipe.

393

It's a it's a it's a delicious carrot cake.

394

And it will have, you know, applesauce instead of oil.

395

But it'll have like three quarters of a cup of coconut sugar.

396

Yeah, sugar becomes like the replacement drug, you know.

397

But yeah, yeah, we need something to feel good, huh?

398

So why not sugar?

399

no, yeah, sugar definitely does deserve its, I call it, attention.

400

We need to pay attention to sugar.

401

because sugar can be a problem.

402

I don't care what anyone says, you eat enough sugar?

403

Yes, you can get fat from sugar.

404

Of course, fat is already fat, so fat's always gonna be fattening, more fattening, but

sugar can be a problem.

405

For example, as that study showed that if you overfeed somebody with sugar, like candy and

sodas, you can increase the percentage of liver fat by 33%.

406

But of course you take the same calories and fat and it can go up by 55%.

407

So yeah, fat versus sugar, fat is worse, yes.

408

As far as metabolically and of course all of the things and metabolic syndrome, fat's

gonna be worse.

409

But sugar does not help.

410

I would call, if anything, sugar is a smoldering fire or fat is a gasoline that makes it

worse.

411

They combust together.

412

Yeah, I guess most most of the sugar we consume is consumed with that.

413

Right.

414

Right.

415

So it becomes a kind of a metabolic priority thing where the sugar is our bodies will go,

sugar, we know how to do this.

416

Let's use that for energy.

417

And then the fat is just all left over.

418

Right.

419

away.

420

So that's why, you know, most of us are struggling to lose weight or, you know, come off

our meds because what you're doing is, you know, you're forcing your body to say, you know

421

what, this fat and sugar, you know, I'm gonna use the sugar now and I'll store the fat for

later because, you know, we could use the sugar right now.

422

So sugar is obviously when it's refined.

423

Again, let's differentiate between sugar

424

and complex carbs, right?

425

So we're not talking about, when we say sugar, we're not talking about fruits.

426

We're not talking about whole grains, right?

427

We're talking about the highly processed leftovers from those processes, fruit cakes and

fruit pastries and fruit juices even, things that are left over from the original source

428

of the natural state of that food, sugar.

429

That goes straight to the liver, right?

430

It almost bypasses.

431

Everything else goes straight to the liver like a targeted bomb and now the liver has a

process of extra calories.

432

It's more likely to store it as fat if you have it in abundance.

433

And another thing with sugar is that it doesn't stimulate our appetite suppressing system.

434

So you can easily, that's why you think about it.

435

You could down a soda and you have all these calories but you're still hungry because the

sugar doesn't tell your brain to stop.

436

Sugar doesn't tell your brain that hey, you've had enough.

437

You so you load up on those calories, those coins, and you're not nutritionally full.

438

There's no value.

439

Hmm.

440

And is that true of sugar in solid form as well?

441

Because I know our body doesn't really register beverages as calories because.

442

Really?

443

Wow, I hadn't heard that.

444

That's cool.

445

the appetite suppressing, yeah.

446

So we've got clarity about what people should and shouldn't be eating.

447

And yet when people are under stress, it is really hard to not go for those addictions, to

not go for those comforts.

448

How do you help people deal with that?

449

That's the big one, know?

450

mean, whenever we're stressed, we wanna go to the things that make us feel good.

451

You we want that dopamine release that makes us feel good from eating sugar or fatty

foods.

452

I think, of course, it does take time.

453

Again, it's an addiction you're dealing with, so it's not gonna go there.

454

Those cravings and that go-to feeling, feeling like you have to go to that go-to is not

gonna go away overnight, but it takes time and patience, so.

455

What I what I try to do is teach people about mindfulness and mindfulness meditation is

huge Just the practice of not allowing stress to drive you to action too many times you go

456

from thinking to doing or We're ruminating on the past which causes stress or we're

worrying about the future which causes stress to eliminate that stress or minimize the

457

stress because you're not gonna eliminate stress, but

458

To minimize stress, need to all practice moments of mindfulness.

459

And it's very simple, just being in the present moment, learning to calm our minds and

just know the art of being still.

460

It's powerful what can happen or what cannot happen when you just pause for a moment, not

making a decision, not allowing your thoughts to dwell on judging yourself or others or

461

the situation and just be still, be present in the moment.

462

Recognize what you're feeling in your body in your mind.

463

How how are these emotions showing up?

464

Living it don't act on it.

465

Just live in it embrace it.

466

Don't fight it and Embrace and encourage people to embrace their emotions, right?

467

And very it's it's a it's powerful.

468

It's it's Amazing how quickly Pete those cravings lose their power They go away, right not

to say they're not gonna return another day, but you can you can it's one battle at a time

469

And you can learn a lot if you learn to practice the art of mindfulness meditation.

470

How do you teach people to engage in mindfulness meditation?

471

Yeah, so it's basically a principle that I learned from, can't remember the author, it all

comes to my mind maybe, but I call it stop.

472

So stop is an acronym that helps you kind of practice mindfulness at any moment.

473

So S in stop is obviously stop what you're doing.

474

Just whatever you, when you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed, just stop, right?

475

Take that moment to take a break, right?

476

The T in stop is take a break.

477

Right?

478

So take a break and take a breath.

479

Sorry, take a breath specifically.

480

And you just, you know, when you're practicing mindfulness, you're kind of centering your

mind on your breathing, starting with your breathing, because it kind of centers you on

481

what's going on in your body at the very present moment.

482

So taking a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.

483

And just feel that oxygenation of your lungs, right?

484

The A, acknowledge.

485

Acknowledge that this is a moment where you need to be mindful.

486

This is a moment that you're feeling overwhelmed.

487

This is a moment where you need to be aware of what is going on in your body.

488

So acknowledge and awareness is the A.

489

Sorry, I said A.

490

I'm mixing up acronyms, so it's observation.

491

into rain, right?

492

You're right, yeah, rain, yeah.

493

I'm mixing stop and rain, sorry.

494

So you know the book.

495

All right, so, yeah, so going from take a breath, I apologize.

496

O is, I'm going from stop to rain.

497

Yeah, rain is another way of explaining this, but O, okay, so we're on stop, not A, O, not

rain.

498

So O is observation, very similar to the A actually, it's almost the same.

499

So O is when you're observing, you're going to observation mode, right?

500

And so you're observing what's going on in your body.

501

You're trying to feel what the feeling is, right?

502

Is it, sometimes for me, I get tightness in my chest, right?

503

I allow myself to observe that.

504

What is that tightness, you know, feeling?

505

The butterflies in my stomach, I observe it.

506

I just sit there and I observe what is going on.

507

Anytime my mind's distracted, I go back to taking a breath.

508

Right, every time I feel my mind wandering, I take a breath and I go back to observing

again, where is the stress, where is the emotions going on in my body?

509

How is it showing up in my body?

510

Right?

511

And P, the P is basically proceed.

512

And proceed, like to, actually I add a little twist to it and say proceed with promise.

513

I think everyone should have a mantra, a go-to saying, right?

514

For me it's,

515

He makes all things beautiful in his time when I when I claim that promise right that I

believe so strongly in it Empowers me to replace that negative motion that negative energy

516

with something positive Right.

517

So proceed with promise so s stop right t take a breath Observe what's going on your body,

of course acknowledge?

518

That you and P proceed with promise take a mantra some people

519

For everyone it's different.

520

know what's one of my club my last recent client said it for his it's right thing right

now You know proceed with a promise and that's that's what mindfulness meditation You

521

could do that literally in five in ten seconds 30 seconds.

522

You can do it very fast So any moment of the day can call for a mindfulness moment

523

So do you have people sit in practice, like put in their calendar or beep?

524

Because I find like the irony is the moments that call for mindfulness are the moments

that I'm least likely to remember that there's such a thing as mindfulness meditation.

525

Trust me, mindfulness is a school you never graduate from, okay?

526

You don't forget to inform, yes, I am a mindfulness master.

527

You have to constantly remind yourself, right?

528

And you might find yourself, man, I should, this morning, what is the perfect moment to

practice it and I didn't.

529

So I mean, I think, you know, it might be great for people who wanna actually.

530

dedicate a moment in their day, usually early morning before they start the day to

meditation and practice mindfulness.

531

But not everyone has those moments.

532

it's something you have to just continually remind yourself daily.

533

Like anything, it gets better with practice.

534

The more often and more frequently you do it, right?

535

And that's why I encourage people to do it even when they're not emotional.

536

Okay.

537

You can do it when you're happy.

538

It doesn't have to be when you're upset or sad.

539

It could be when you're neutral, when you're not feeling, you could be feeling like, you

know, it's a pretty okay day and say, you know what, let me just practice mindfulness at

540

this moment, right?

541

You could do it while you're driving.

542

You could do it while you're exercising.

543

You could do it while you're walking.

544

You could do it at any moment of the day and the more frequently you're doing it, the more

likely you're gonna turn to it in moments of stress, because it's gonna be automatic,

545

more.

546

think that if you're only doing it when you're stressed, you're now associating it with a

negative.

547

So doing it when you're happy is probably a better way to kind of get it into your neural

settings.

548

Very powerful.

549

So I'm curious because you mentioned, you know, your mantra, which seems like it comes

from your your faith.

550

And, you know, know, like in the American sort of Christian tradition, meditation really

has been sort of.

551

viewed with suspicion, you know, I know there's, you know, there's contemplation, but the

idea of meditation was very much associated with, you know, Hindu gurus and and Buddhas

552

and Shiva's.

553

And I'm curious how your your faith tradition and your upbringing connects because

obviously you've connected it with the mindfulness meditation.

554

Do they have they supported each other?

555

Was there a point at which you kind of had to synthesize a little bit?

556

Yeah, absolutely.

557

And so there's so many scriptural supports for mindfulness.

558

I think a lot of Christians don't realize they support and they agree with the principles

of mindfulness and don't even know it.

559

It doesn't matter your religion, what creed, whatever you belong to, whatever you believe

in.

560

Mindfulness is something that you can practice.

561

The verse that I, my go-to verse is the Bible's verse.

562

The Bible says, be still, be still and know that I am God.

563

Hmm.

564

Be still, right?

565

And it's such a powerful phrase, you know, because that's what mindfulness is.

566

It's stealing the mind from the ruminating thoughts that are really literally destroying

us and reminding us that there is a power greater than ourselves, right?

567

That things are going to be okay.

568

That you survive this, you survive worse, you know?

569

And so...

570

It's something that there's so many scriptural supports to, you know, I always like to the

story of Elijah who was running for his life and ended up in a cave wanting to kill

571

himself.

572

He wanted to die.

573

you know, he heard the story goes that he heard the voice of God basically was telling him

that he was going to show up.

574

He was going to show up and show himself to Elijah.

575

Can you imagine, you know, this power?

576

Almighty God is going to show himself.

577

Man, my problems are really going to be solved now.

578

And the story goes that there was a great earthquake and Elijah looked for God.

579

He was not in the earthquake.

580

And there was a great fire and there was a great wind and God was not in the earthquake.

581

He was not in the fire.

582

He was not in the wind.

583

But the Bible says then there was a still small voice.

584

And that's where Elijah recognized the presence of God.

585

So a lot of times we think it's a revelation.

586

It's something powerful.

587

but God shows up in the small moments.

588

It's in the quiet moments of our life that we receive power.

589

And that's what mindfulness is giving us, it's getting us to still our minds, still the

world for a moment.

590

Be still.

591

And that's what mindfulness is.

592

It's very Christian, if anything.

593

gotcha, gotcha.

594

Yeah, I can't help but hear the the paradox in like you can't have a still voice.

595

You either have a voice or you have stillness.

596

so, the invitation to, know, a kind of inner knowing, you know, and I've come to

mindfulness.

597

I grew up Jewish and I come to mindfulness with a with more of an Eastern bent to it.

598

But I'm but I'm sort of seeing, you know,

599

If if, you know, if I am consciousness, you know, having, you know, creating a body out of

consciousness and everyone else is, too, then that's that's that kind of maps onto, think,

600

a very traditional Judeo-Christian view of God.

601

Sort of, you know, not not, you know, bearded guy in the sky, but kind of the universal

consciousness that we're all.

602

We're all part of and is part of us.

603

Yes, yes, that is true.

604

And so that's where you're connecting to that divine power.

605

So one of the other things that we had talked about talking about that I'm very curious

about is your experience with health care in terms of diversity and racism and what's

606

needed there.

607

So obviously we've talked about like health care needs to understand lifestyle and diet.

608

But there's also other issues that you've experienced firsthand.

609

You want to talk about that a little?

610

course, African Americans, and not only, but there are minorities in our country that are

neglected largely.

611

You see it in studies, the fact that when it comes to research, not as much is done in our

population.

612

But also very soberingly is that

613

there are many statistics and studies that show that even when it comes to medical

practice and medical decision making that the African American population can suffer.

614

Then you pile that on top of, you know, maybe disparities, you know, economically and, you

know, the food deserts that tend to be, I think it's like 8 % of lower income areas that

615

are, or African American areas, let's say, have actually a grocery store in their

neighborhood.

616

You know, so there's, it's a very neglected population.

617

I think that's something that we need to call attention to for sure.

618

Me being African-American myself, you know, it is nice that I can bring that diversity to

the medical field, you know, and encourage that conversation.

619

And it's amazing how often I can, I could sense the relief when I sit down and I see a

patient.

620

that's an African American and they see that they have an African American provider,

there's a relaxation like they say, wow, is, I can't describe it.

621

There's a peace and there's a calm to it, you know, because they're not used to seeing

people of my color sitting, wearing this jacket, right?

622

And so it's been nice to bring that diversity into this field and we need to see more of

it.

623

think, you know, especially in all medical fields and practices and specialties, but

especially in family medicine.

624

where you turn to someone to be your guide when it comes to health decisions.

625

yeah, diversity I think is something very important we need to see more of.

626

We need to talk about the disparities more and try to see how we can make changes

positively.

627

Yeah, I think I think representation feels so important because you talked about a lack of

representation in studies.

628

And part part of that is, I think, due to a longstanding and quite justified mistrust of

the medical profession in the African-American community.

629

know, I remember I was it was 1993.

630

So I was 28 when I first heard about the Tuskegee experiments.

631

Yeah.

632

And this was like AIDS had been going for a while and I was in grad school and I had

African-American classmates and they were like critical of the US policy.

633

I thought like AIDS might be a government plot.

634

And like, how can you possibly what can you fit?

635

And then I'm reading like, like there is a long history here that I had never been taught.

636

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

637

I get why there is suspicion and it seems like, know, just.

638

us with syphilis.

639

I mean, come on.

640

How can you expect us not to be suspicious?

641

Right.

642

Well, I think I think they just I think what I I understood about it was that it was just

untreated and doing sham.

643

Like they hadn't they didn't actually give them syphilis, but they.

644

Right, not telling people they have syphilis and just like, this is cool.

645

Let's see when they go.

646

Like just awful.

647

let's see what let's see what happens Well, yeah, yeah, there's a lot of mistrust

648

know, and so for some for someone who looks like you to come in and say.

649

I'm your advocate.

650

I'm not here from big pharma.

651

Right.

652

Because there's also like all the people who discover what you've discovered about

lifestyle and diet.

653

Also, some part of their brain goes, wait, the pharmaceutical companies are taking

advantage of us.

654

They're the ones writing the medical curriculum, you know, supporting all the right.

655

So there's there's a there's there's huge amounts of mistrust and suspicion.

656

And it feels like really important for people like you to

657

be advocating back up to the ladder as opposed to just fulfilling the powers that be and

the models that we already have.

658

Yeah, and I think that's important because it's harder, I mean, it's harder for anyone to

accept the, especially, know, doctors don't get the respect that they used to, right?

659

You know, used to be that people used to laud a doctor's opinion or advice, but not so

much, and anyone, no matter your culture or your color, people don't tend to trust doctors

660

as much as they used to.

661

You know, let's say no one does.

662

But when it comes to African-American culture, yeah, they're even more mistrusting.

663

So I think they're probably more likely to be skeptical when you say this pill is going to

take away my blood pressure, it's going to lower my blood pressure.

664

This pill is going to help me with my sugars.

665

They'll accept it, but they'll be a little skeptical when it comes from, unfortunately, a

white face.

666

There's no other way to say it.

667

So yeah, mean, that's something that I feel is...

668

Definitely something I feel called to stay in medicine for.

669

I could always make the transition and leave medicine, but I want to stay here to be a

representative of my culture.

670

Yeah.

671

Yeah.

672

And I think there's also the issue of like just mirroring, like looking around and seeing

whatever you see around you feels normal.

673

Like I've had New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been on the podcast twice.

674

He's he's in he's in some hot water at the moment.

675

But, you know, I think his his heart is in the right place around health.

676

And he's talking about like growing up and just everybody in his family had diabetes.

677

Like it was there wasn't even a thought of like,

678

Is there something I can do?

679

It's like, you know, the way you the way you think about, there's I have old aunts in

their 70s.

680

Maybe one day I'll be in my 70s.

681

It was like that inevitable that, you know, that everyone gets diabetes.

682

And so this this idea, you know, you come in and say it doesn't have to be this way.

683

There must be, you know, a pretty a pretty high bar to clear just to get people to, you

know, to proceed with promise, as you said.

684

Yeah, Procedure, promise.

685

Yeah, that's right.

686

And so I think that's what's unfortunate when you're around.

687

When everyone has diabetes, it becomes normal.

688

When I get it, it's not a big deal because everyone has it.

689

Whenever around you has high blood pressures on medications, has a laundry list of

medications, it becomes a norm.

690

So breaking out of that when you see somebody in the family who's doing something

different, right?

691

Someone in your neighborhood, someone on your block.

692

then you realize, wow, there's a different way, you know?

693

So you realize I don't have to.

694

I love the eagle and chicken analogy.

695

You never heard that story?

696

Eagle and the chicken.

697

So, you know, there's an eagle that thought he was a chicken because he grew up with

chickens.

698

So he ate with the chickens, ran with the chickens, plucked like, you know, plucked like

the chickens.

699

And then one day he sees the eagle flying, right?

700

And he doesn't realize, you know, that that could be him until the eagle comes down and

shows him how to fly, right?

701

and you realize all this time he's been an eagle.

702

So, you I think we need to see people who are flying.

703

We need to see people who are doing it differently.

704

Then we realize, hey, why not me?

705

You know?

706

And so, you know, we equate ourselves with our environment.

707

So if everyone else is struggling, we're gonna struggle.

708

And unfortunately, that's what happens.

709

I think this is more about classism even than racism, really.

710

When you're in certain classes or certain areas, you know, that are struggling financially

and health-wise.

711

You just become, you think that's normal.

712

You think that's just, you just accept it.

713

You don't know any better.

714

But when you see somebody who looks like you, who is like you, and they're doing something

better, know, something different, and it's inspiring, you know, it teaches you that you

715

can fly, you know.

716

Yeah.

717

And I think it's so important as we started by talking about your role as a coach, all of

us, whether we're a FIIA or a coach or whatever, all of us who are living into this

718

healthy new reality, adopt a kind of a coaching mindset.

719

because it's easy to look at someone who's doing something right and go, that jerk.

720

Yeah.

721

You know, like, or, you know, like, they're so judgmental.

722

They're always telling me what to do or what a goody goody as opposed to like, how do we,

you know, embody and model this healthy way of being in a way that invites.

723

Right.

724

How do you be the second eagle that doesn't make the first eagle go?

725

Get out of here.

726

You know, don't give me ideas.

727

Yeah.

728

All right.

729

Yeah, so you know, I think that's the power of being a coach because you become more, you

become friends, right?

730

And someone's more likely to take the advice of a friend, I think even then even a

professional that you know, at times, at times, but you when when you when they see you

731

kind of come down to their level, you know, when you when you're a coach versus putting on

the white jacket, right?

732

As a coach, you're

733

Coaching is about coming alongside with you and walking with you and not just leading you,

right?

734

So a coach is gonna say, hey, yeah, I know, I've been there, you know, I've been through

that.

735

I know that struggle, right?

736

I think a coach can only be successful if he struggled the same way.

737

And I'm sure you know the struggle, you've been through that struggle yourself, right?

738

You know what it means to be overweight, to struggle with food cravings, to the back of

knowledge, you were there.

739

And so it becomes...

740

more you taking their hand and reassuring them that I was there and I was in your shoes

and I know it can be done.

741

Yeah.

742

Yeah.

743

And I think it's I've come to think it's more general than like I can coach people on

things that I have not struggled with as long as I come across as a vulnerable human

744

being.

745

Right.

746

So it's not necessarily that, I have to have weighed four hundred and twenty pounds.

747

Mm-hmm.

748

But like, yeah, I have I have been overweight.

749

have been addicted to junk food, but I can also coach someone on something else by saying,

yeah, this is like life is hard.

750

Like this is this is not this.

751

This incarnation is not for sissies.

752

Like, yeah, I get like I'm not judging you.

753

I get it.

754

You know, your body and your mind has reasons for all the things you're doing that it

doesn't you think you shouldn't be doing like they're.

755

yup.

756

It's trying to protect you.

757

It's trying to keep you safe.

758

It's trying like if you're talking about like the meditation, like stop and feel this with

these butterflies.

759

Like I would rather eat chocolate than feel butterflies.

760

Right.

761

I don't need I got enough problems.

762

I don't need butterflies to.

763

Right?

764

Yeah, it's scary.

765

It's scary.

766

People having to pause and feel what they're feeling, it can be scary, you know?

767

But yeah, you're right.

768

I think that whenever you're thinking about the fact that you're human, it qualifies you.

769

I'm qualified to talk about this.

770

Why?

771

Because I'm human.

772

I struggle, we all struggle and we're you know being able to walk this path together you

know as the saying goes you know you want to go far you know so if you want to go fast go

773

alone if you want to go far go with someone else you know yeah it's it's it's so much

easier when you're someone you know

774

yeah.

775

Hey, how can people find you?

776

Who should reach out to you?

777

How if someone's listening and they're like, I'm not sure if Lewis can help me.

778

How do people think about that and how do they get in touch with you?

779

Sure, so diabetics of course, whether you're type one or type two and you're looking to

lower your medications or come off them completely, then yeah, I would be the person that

780

can help you do that.

781

But also anyone who is struggling with transitioning to a whole food plant-based diet for

weight loss or coming off of blood pressure medications, cholesterol medications.

782

I have worked with people who are on verge of dialysis, kidney failure.

783

What I love about this lifestyle, basically, it can reverse or prevent 95 % of chronic

illnesses.

784

So if you're looking to come off medicines, yeah, I'm the one.

785

But diabetes is I specialize specifically in, yeah.

786

with people in person or online?

787

Good question, all online.

788

So I have a virtual platform and we meet once a week for three months and with the

possibility to extend if people need to, but a minimum of three months that we work

789

together online.

790

Gotcha.

791

And how do people find you?

792

Alright, so you can find me on my website, LewisBirdes.com.

793

Yeah, that's probably, yeah.

794

That's true, that's true.

795

That Birdes is not the combination.

796

So Lewis spelled like the English L-E-W-I-S.

797

Last name is Birdes.

798

B-E-R-T-U-S.

799

B-E-R-T-U-S.

800

Lewis Spirdis and you could also find me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.

801

I'm on most of the platforms.

802

If anyone wants to reach out by email, it's simple too.

803

Lewis at lewisspirdis.com.

804

Lewis at lewisspirdis.com.

805

That's it.

806

So I'll drop this in the show notes as well.

807

So people want to want to click the link they can find you there.

808

Lewis, thank you so much for taking the time.

809

This has been a really fun conversation.

810

I find my I find my like jaws hurting a little bit because I feel like I've been smiling a

lot.

811

So it's like you you you transmitted some some great spirit to me.

812

I appreciate that, I appreciate that man.

813

So I just thank you for the opportunity to talk with you.

814

I don't know if I left you the link for the free recipes.

815

I don't know if I gave you that for people who want free recipes.

816

Should I give it to you in the chat here?

817

So on your website, there's an offer for like 280 free recipes.

818

Yeah, yeah, that's my Facebook page specifically.

819

If anyone wants free recipes, can look at it on my Facebook page.

820

So find me on there.

821

The name of the business is Diabetes 180.

822

right here.

823

But you could probably find me quicker with my name, first and last.

824

they can get free recipes if they're interested in.

825

And starting it off on their own.

826

Yeah.

827

Tease us with two or three of your favorite recipes, just what they're called.

828

yes, I love my chili bean soup.

829

man, that's one of my go-to's, especially in these cold times.

830

And then, man, there's so many that I like.

831

So for me, one thing I always go to, because I'm really pressed with time, is my tofu

salad.

832

my goodness, yeah, it's good.

833

Yeah.

834

cold?

835

Cold, yeah, I prefer cold, yeah, but you know, it's good, good in the morning.

836

It's getting cold outside, so I might want to stir fry the tofu first, yeah.

837

All right.

838

So chili beans.

839

Is it super stew?

840

All right.

841

So and tofu Sally, both they both sound very comforting and filling.

842

All right, Lewis, thank you so much for taking the time.

843

Thank you for all you do.

844

It's been great getting to know you.

845

Likewise, man.

846

Yes.

847

Thank you so much.

848

Peace.

849

And that's a wrap.

850

Show notes at PlantYourself.com slash six zero eight.

851

Good weekend.

852

had our Bravas Ultimate Tournament, the fundraising tournament for for the whole club

team, the Porro in Castelldefels Beach.

853

And people came from all over the world.

854

It was a hat tournament.

855

So your name got thrown into a hat, more or less.

856

And some people on my team were from Italy.

857

Germany, Czech Republic, Egypt, UK, France and me from the US and a couple from Spain.

858

And it was a lot of fun, a lot of games.

859

And we had that that DANA that I'm not sure what it stands for.

860

It's a Spanish term for this relentless rain that just keeps going and doesn't stop.

861

And we've seen in Valencia some of the tragic

862

consequences of that, we had that here, not nearly to the same extent.

863

was not.

864

I don't believe it was life threatening for anyone in the Barcelona area.

865

But today's Tuesday morning, I think there's still people who are trying to leave from

Barcelona Airport on Sunday afternoon and are still here because the runways were flooded,

866

flights delayed.

867

And anyway, we were out in the in the rain trying to play in that for a while.

868

But then lightning forced us all indoors.

869

And I felt kind of bad for the

870

families who are out for a quiet off season breakfast at a cafe on the beach and all of a

sudden to have, you know, 150 sweaty, dripping ultimate Frisbee players with their gear

871

all huddling and cramming in and talking very loudly.

872

But that's over.

873

Got some good exercise that in there.

874

They actually sprinted.

875

So I feel like the sprint training that I'm doing with Jay on the beach is paying off.

876

We're doing decreasing intervals between the runs.

877

So 30 seconds.

878

Catch my breath.

879

20 seconds, 10 seconds.

880

It's brutal and it seems to be working.

881

So I don't know when the next tournaments are going to be.

882

One in February in New Orleans.

883

Still thinking about.

884

And then there's a whole bunch coming up in winter and spring here in Spain.

885

That's it for this week, as always.

886

Be well, my friends.