Episode 131: Health = Wealth (ft. Aaron Brendel & Paul Smith)

Entering middle age isn’t just another milestone — it’s an opportunity to take a closer look at your health and make intentional choices that shape the years ahead.

For many men, the 40s bring significant changes as the risk of silent, chronic conditions increases and shifts in hormones, metabolism, and overall wellness begin to take hold. The good news? Paying attention early and taking action can make all the difference in maintaining strength, energy, and quality of life for years to come.

This week, we sit down with Aaron Brendel and Paul Smith to explore the powerful, positive impact of prioritizing your health — not just for today, but for the long term. Together, they discuss the importance of taking that first step and how small changes can lead to lasting transformation.

Whether you’re approaching your 40s or already navigating life beyond them, this episode offers encouragement, insight, and practical perspective on investing in the most important thing you have: your health.

Transcript

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Health is wealth. Taking care of yourself is important. What good can you do in this world if you feel like garbage all the time? Or if you lack the physical and moral strength to be of good to anyone? We are on this planet for a short amount of time, but if we practice bad habits, we let our urges run wild, we will surely shorten time. This was a daily email I receive, and the final line said, "That's not stoic, that's stupid." Is health wealth, in your opinion? As I've gotten older, I'd look at it and say yes, that it is. Um, I mean- What changed? big thing that changed for me was I actually had... I- it- it was a number of small things, and I don't, I don't know if others would think that, but it was a number of small things that led up to one thing that finally made me decide, "Well, let's go to the doctor and get some things checked out." It was just, "Well, let's see where we're at." Were you experiencing symptoms of some kind? Did you not... Did you feel off, or what was the catalyst? N- no, it was... It, d- The one thing that really started it was, was a friend of mine and I planned on taking a motorcycle trip, and one of the things she'd said to me is, "When we're here, I wanna go hiking." And a year ago from today, I'd be lucky if I could walk a quarter mile without having to take a break. Which a year later, a mile's not a problem. So and that was really the one thing that, that started me on that path to figure out how to become better, how to become more well, how to lose the weight. Which, which that was my biggest hurdle, is losing weight. Yeah, for me, I, you know, to answer the question directly, is it wealth? Y- yeah, it absolutely is. I mean, we all get paid in life by our experiences, the things that we do. You know, time with our family, friends, um, you know, just everything we do is, is our fulfillment of life. And, and if your health is stopping you from doing the things you wanna do, you're not getting paid, so to speak. So I'd, I'd say absolutely. Um, my story's a little different. Uh, I did have that, that, that, you know, event that gave me that, uh, uh-oh, um, kind of feeling, right? it was back in October. I was on a work trip. I was in Chicago, and I'm like, "Man, I'm just not feeling very good." I was... Body was kind of run down. I was sweating like crazy. Um, a- and I, and I would- always been someone who sweats putting on my socks, right? Like, like that, that, that in and of itself wasn't that big of a deal, but combined with these other things, and I, I just didn't feel all that great. And my wife and I, when I got home from Chicago- ago we had a, a trip planned, and we were up in Canada just on a road trip, and the whole time that weekend was just not feeling great. And, uh, you know, I, I started googling, you know, all my symptoms and, you know, like, h- how long do I got left to live kinda thing, right, is what I'm googling. We, we always self-diagnose- Yeah. on WebMD- Of course and think, "Okay, I'm, I'm gonna die right now." Yeah. Well, I got a week. Exactly. E- exactly. And, uh, you know, it was, it was pretty obvious that everything I was googling was diabetes. didn't surprise me based on, on my weight and eating habits. I, I've got a sweet tooth. I, I love all things sugar and, and carbs. And so, you know, I wasn't shocked, but, um, but I, I knew that's what it was. So I immediately, uh, you know, went cold turkey on, on carbs and sugar and, I had two weeks of just absolute misery. I mean, I, I was so dehydrated. my brain wouldn't think straight. I, I'm in sales, and I have meetings with customers, and I had to cancel all my morning meetings. I couldn't think straight in the morning. Um- What do you think, what was behind that? Uh, it was a massive high blood sugar. and, and when I say massive, it was, it was very high. Uh, I m- I made an appointment, and, you know, I'm, I'm like a lotta guys, a lotta brothers, uh, I didn't like going to the doctor. not that I really was, like, afraid, I just, it's, uh, I didn't, I didn't like the lecture. I didn't like the realization that, you know, they're telling me things I already knew, and I just- It just kinda was one of those things I'm just not gonna do, so. Yeah, who has time for that, right? Yep. So I didn't have one of those, you know, what do they call it? Primary care physician. You know, you always see that on the form. I'm like, "I don't know. I don't have one of those." Um, so I had to make an appointment, and I, and I didn't have a, a person to make an appointment with. And well, these doctors, they oftentimes don't have appointments right away if you don't already see them. And so it took three, almost four weeks before I got into the doctor after this. And you scheduled just a regular physical? Just a... Yep, regular physical. Labs? Okay. Yep. And, and I get in, and, you know, they do all my lab work, and it comes back, and, um, this is... Remember, this is four weeks after no sugar. My, my blood sugar was over 350. Wow. Which is crazy high, and that's, that's four weeks of no sugar, right? And it was still that high. Uh, my A1C was 12 and a half. And my doctor said, "I don't know how you weren't in a coma." She's like, "I, I really don't understand how you, you, were conscious through all of that." the other, the other big thing during that time is, uh, I was driving one day, and I had my hands on the steering wheel, and I kinda looked at my wrists and went, "Something's weird." Like, what's going on with my hands, my arms? What, what is... Something's weird. And I just... At first, I couldn't quite figure it out, and then it dawned on me, they were way skinnier than they used to be. Uh, so when I got home, I, I got on the scale, and I realized in two weeks' time I'd dropped 35 pounds. Um- it was all muscle. Um, the body, when it's dehydrated, that's what it does. It, it, uh, takes what it can to, to survive, and it was literally eating my muscle away. So yeah, I lost a lot of weight and, and, um, got to the doctor, though, and I, I fortunately was able to pick a, a doctor that I actually really like now. Um, so I, I enjoy going to the doctor now. It's kinda funny. Um, uh- Well, and it's... And that's one of the key things, too, is finding a physician. Mm-hmm. Like, I got a nurse practitioner, and her... And she- My approach when I first told her is, "I'm not gonna treat a symptom. We're gonna treat the problem and fix the problem versus the symptom." Because I said I'm f- 'cause for me, I'm not on any medications. Mm-hmm. So I don't wanna have to start any. and like my numbers when I went in were half yours. And s- and so that's where I kinda get where you look at Aaron and I, both were different people and here's our different stories where he was on that spectrum. Mine when I first went in was 6.4. Mm. So I was just into the pre-diabetic- Mm-hmm stage, and then my glucose was 137. our approach, which like you said- Mm-hmm I didn't get the lectures from her, and she said, "Well, yeah, let's do this. I think if you can lose the weight and that your numbers will steadily come down." Well, good on you to say, "Let's go to the, the root of the problem"- Yeah and not just... Question for both of you, how old were you when you had your... Was this your first general physical over the age of 40? Have you been to the doctor for labs or anything like this in the last decade? I, I had, because I had, um, y- you would've thought I might've learned a lesson about 10 years ago. Um, at 42 I had a heart attack. and, and that was not enough evidently to, um, kick me in the butt hard enough to, to make, uh, the right changes. I mean, I did immediately, like right after the heart attack at 42 I made some changes, but they weren't long-lived. I didn't, I didn't keep those changes. Um, so yeah, I'd, I'd seen a doctor and I'd, uh, but not regularly, not- Okay not enough. See, and I'd, uh, I think- The last time where I actually had a real full-blown physical was probably close to 25 years ago when my son was born, which was to kinda get an idea where I was at then. and the ironic thing is, is all my numbers from back then are very similar to what they were today. So it's, so coming from a health-wise, I'm actually in reasonably health, although just a bit too heavy. and with that comes the other little complications here and there is what we're trying to take care of. 'Cause I'd always had, over the course of a 30-year span in dri- in truck driving, I've always had two ye- every year, every two years, a DOT physical done, which is basically pulse, blood pressure, that kind of stuff. Are those easy, basically? Or how in-depth is a DOT physical? DOT physical, I mean, in the industry, we jokingly laugh about that. If you got a pulse- Yeah, it's pass and, yeah. You're, if you got a pulse- You're good and blood pressure's low and, and you can stand and touch your toes and other things, and you're, you're good to go. But now as you see it, as you're getting older, those physicals also beco- start becoming harder. And then now it's, you gotta list off what medications you're taking. like with me with diabetes, with the, which I've got the pre-diabetic co- the tag. So if I go in there, I mark it on the sheet, and this is one of the other things, a lot of guys won't divulge what they're doing. Because it's not your primary care physician. But if you slip up and check a box where you shouldn't have checked a box, next thing you know, you're redoing everything in a whole bunch of different paperwork. so that's where I just kinda was like, "Oh, they say I'm good, so I'm good." So I mean, it floated along like that for 30 years. I realize to our listeners this sounds like three older dudes talking about health, but it is a conversation that needs to be had. We have way too many wives and significant others that are concerned about their men over 40 that aren't going to the doctor. Aaron, you mentioned that. Well, who has t- who has time to go to the doctor? W- well, I'm, I feel fine. We could talk all day long about blood pressure is a silent killer and, well, the prostate situation is, I think most men don't realize today that that, that's part of your lab work. That's not the old-fashioned way, When you're over 40, you need to have your prostate numbers, your A1C, your cholesterol, and your overall lab screening to know what is going on inside none of us are 25 anymore, and we can't eat and behave and beat up our bodies like we once could, and deprive ourselves of sleep, where do we start this conversation for our friends and brothers or family members who think, "Ah, I don't need to go to the doctor"? Well, I, I think it's important to remember that from the day we were born, our bodies are working towards that final day. And, and things are going to d- It's not a matter of if they're going to deteriorate. Your, your body is going to, um, age, and it's gonna happen. And that manifests different in everybody, right? Some people have the, the diabetes thing. Some have the heart thing. Some have, you know, it could be anything. And some don't even know what, yeah, what the thing is. E- exactly. And, and so when you accept that your body's aging, and, and the closer and the further along you get, the more important that becomes. And so you don't wanna wait until your doctor says, "I can't believe you weren't in a coma," um, because that's too close. That's, that's really close. why not get in there and take care of that earlier and, and you don't have that risk? What went through your mind when you heard that? When the doctor looked at you and said, "M- dude, I can't believe you aren't prone right now." Yeah. No, I mean, it, it was a, it was an aha moment. Um, I k- I kinda already knew it, 'cause again, uh, you know, I can Google. Um, but, uh, I, I realized how high that, um, I was probably at based on the, the symptoms I was having. But having her tell me that and, and kinda reinforce that, this was n- not just a minor thing. This, this was something extremely serious. Um, of course she got on my case for, for, uh, you know, not coming in for three or four weeks. Uh, and I said, "But I couldn't make an appointment." She's like, "Yeah, we have an emergency room. You could've went there." That's true. "You probably should've." Yeah. Um, so that was, I guess, another thing I would say is, you know, d- d- don't, don't let a calendar or a scheduling system delay something, right? If, if it truly is that serious and, and you know what it is. You know. Yeah. Like, I, I knew. I, I knew. I maybe didn't wanna accept it, but I knew. I, I probably should've went in. Well, and meet in the middle perhaps. If it doesn't feel like an emergency room situa- go to urgent care- Sure and say, "Listen, I, I, I can't get in for a month." And, and w- like you said, you know when you feel that terrible. When you feel like hot garbage, it's time to go- Yeah to go in and see. I follow a guy named Dan Go. He's a coach. I don't know if he's a nutritionist, influencer type of guy. He recently posted the three red flags for men: having a big belly, having man boobs, and as he wrote it, having a pancake ass. Now, we're not trying to be funny with this. We'll have a little fun with this, but- So I got two out of three. All right. Yeah, yeah. A big belly is a sign that your visceral fat is out of control. This is the fat stored deep around your organs. It's directly linked to insulin resistance, heart disease, and early death. a waistline above 40 inches in men is a clinical marker for metabolic syndrome This one is the most serious of all the red flags The man boob situation, a sign that your testosterone to estrogen ratio is off. Fat tissue converts testosterone into estrogen. The more fat you carry, the worse your hormonal environment gets, hence the labs are an important one. Low testosterone accelerates muscle loss, kills drive, and tanks your mood. And the old pancake backside is a sign that your glutes have shut down. Your lower body is weak. The glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in your body. When they stop working, your lower back and knees pick up the slack. The result is chronic pain, poor posture, and a body that breaks down faster than it should. The good news," he writes, "is that all three are fixable. They share the same root cause: being metabolically unhealthy." He writes, "Lift heavy, eat enough protein, get your sleep, manage your stress, and get your body fat down to healthy levels. The body responds faster than most people think. You just gotta put in the effort." I don't think this means you have to go out and run a marathon. You don't have to go bench press your weight like you're joining the NFL at our age, but activity is really the first step, is it not? Oh, God, yes. I mean, most of mine came from... Like I said, one of the things that w- that we started doing at work was, 'cause I work, I work with a, in a, within trucking, so we got a big warehouse, and I'll usually do two or three laps a day when I can to try and just add in a little bit of exercise. And, and like we were going back before with going to get labs, those are a fantastic thing to get because now you got target areas that you- Yeah maybe need to work. And, like, for one of mine, and I don't know if Aaron ran across it, but is CO2 levels in you. Well, if your CO2 level's high, that's because you're not exercising enough to get enough air transfer in and out and, and those kind of things. And- When you started walking at work, were people saying, "Hey, what are you doing?" No, not real- I mean, that, that's where I've been fortunate is 'cause I had one of my former bosses who, he still kinda is one of my supervisors. when I ended up getting into the office was he kinda pulled me into the office and, and part of that was was because I was having knee and hip problems with arthritis from getting in and out of the truck all the time. so work-wise they've, they've always been very supportive. And so when they see, I've never been mocked by anybody here or, "What are you do- why are you doing that?" And I'm like, Well, there's two reasons. One is 'cause I need it. Two is just to get out of the office for a minute," 'cause transportation's chaotic enough- Yeah and every once in a while you just gotta step away. Yeah, and for me, I, I've done karate for quite a few years, so, uh, it was interesting because, you know, doing karate several times a week, you know, I, I, I felt like I was getting a fair amount of exercise, but yet I was still gaining weight, still got fairly large. but I was-- I felt strong underneath all of that, right? Like, I could do push-ups without much problem. I could do it. now that I've lost 80 pounds, um- You're down 80. I'm down 80. Congratulations, man. Yeah, thank you. Uh, I, um, karate is a whole different experience. I, I enjoyed it before. I enjoy it even more now. I'm, I'm faster, I'm quicker. oddly, I'm not stronger. Um, that weight, or that muscle rather, that I lost initially, I'm still trying to build back. and so I can't do as many push-ups as I could when I was heavier, which just kind of boggles my mind, but I, I get it. I lost a lot of muscle. Um, but doing the exercise is just so much more enjoyable, and I think that that's part of the problem. You know, when people don't do the exercise, and then they get larger, and it becomes harder, and they, they can't handle the cardio, they can't handle the weight, it, it basically is just something that's cyclical, cyclical. You know? I, I need to exercise, but it... I don't want to because it's not fun, and I can't enjoy it, and it's, you know, miserable. Um, so I'm not gonna do it, which means I need it even more you know? And- Right and it's a vicious cycle. Uh, I was, I was fortunate that to me, doing the exercise was already something I did, so I didn't have to add it. So how do you handle, though, the days when motivation might be low or discipline had to take over? What do you do to tell yourself, "I'm gonna do this anyway today"? Well, I don't know if I'm the right person to ask because I, I believe in, in giving yourself grace and that it, it's okay if you don't have to do it every day. But you run into danger if one day becomes two days, and two days- Yes becomes three days, right? So sure, take a day off. In fact, that's probably good. Um, just don't take a week off. Uh, and, and that's the important part. And, you know, look back to the, to the, the, the reason that you started in the first place, and has that changed? Generally not, so why not just get back and keep doing it? Well, and that's, and that's along on my end is I'm terrible at keeping it, that, that exercise habit going. So there's been stuff to where it's like doing the yard work and, and d- getting out and being more active and that stuff to where I'm at least getting some kind of activity in versus just sitting there watching TV and just snacking. Well, maybe we underestimate cutting the grass- Mm-hmm being outside. Just doing something physical and moving is obviously better- Yeah than nothing. Whole thing. It doesn't have to be a session at the gym- Yeah or a, a, a full formal type of a workout. You just mentioned the food factor. The same influencer, I'm gonna share another perspective of his. Society eats so much junk food that eating real food is considered dieting." Eating chicken, rice, vegetables, and fruit used to be called eating. Now people call it clean eating or being on a diet. We've normalized processed foods so much that the whole foods we eat look like deprivation. The average American gets more than sixty percent of their daily calories from ultra-processed foods. These foods are engineered to override your hunger signals, spike your dopamine, and keep you eating past the point of fullness. The modern food environment was designed to make us fat and addicted to food, in his opinion. The result is a population that is overfed and undernourished all at the same time. Plenty of calories, not enough protein, fiber, or micronutrients. Our body keeps sending hunger signals because it's still looking for what it actually needs He closes this with a simple rule to follow. If your great-grandma would recognize it as food, eat more of it. If she wouldn't, eat less of it. Eggs, meat, fruit, vegetables, rice, potatoes, those are foods. A neon orange chip that never goes stale is not. Where are you guys at with the food intake, the diet adjustments, and what was that like? I took a nutrition, a diabetes nutrition class. doctor said, "Hey, your insurance will cover this. You wanna take this?" I'm like, "Yeah, let's, let's do it." Another resource you probably didn't know about. That's right. Wow. Um, and I learned some great things, 'cause when, when I had, you know, that initial appointment and, and she, you know, told me I had diabetes and I said, "Man, this is gonna be hard. I really like cookies." And she's like, "Then have a cookie." And I, I was like, "Wait, what do you mean? Have a, y- w-" And it was a cookie. "I, I'm not supposed to have a cookie." That was the key. She's like, "Well, let's, let's get you in this class to teach you how to eat a cookie." I'm like, "I know how to eat a cookie, trust me." Um- I can eat a sleeve of these things. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And what I learned is, you know, if you eat, uh, sugars with proteins and fiber, the digestion of the, the sugar slows down completely. And so for those of us with Type 2 diabetes, our insulin doesn't work great, uh, but it's still there and it's still working. If we can slow it down with the fiber and the protein before we put the sugar in, then our body can handle that sugar easily. So she's like, "Have a cookie." She told me, she, she said very clearly, "I will not tell you any single thing that you can't have. You can have anything you want. I'm just gonna teach you how to eat them right and how to eat them in, in, in the, in the right frame of mind." When you did this, did you have a glucose monitor ever? I do. Yeah. Well, I mean, I didn't back then, but I, I do now. Yeah, I have. Yeah, I, I'm off and on on it. cause I went through the same classes, did a couple classes with it, too. And one of the things that, with that glucose monitor that was fascinating is you could see how it affects you. Mm-hmm. and you'd see if you had something, 'cause she was... She told me, she goes, "First week," she goes, "let it get settled in, and then eat normal." And I could see where this thing was spiking, dropping, spiking, dropping. Mm-hmm. So you'd, you'd hit that sugar and then you'd crash. And you'd hit the sugar and then you'd crash. Then she said, "Okay, the next..." Come in to, or sent, she just let me email her the results. So she said, "Okay, now adjust to this," which was eating more whole foods and that kind of stuff. And then you'd see the sugar spike come way up, and then over the course of two, three hours it would go back down. Yeah. And that was what- So it's not the peaks and valleys before. Yeah. Okay. You want just the nice, level- Yeah where, and that comes from eating the, the r- the whole foods. The, the vegetables, the actual proteins and... Yeah. I, I switched my snacking habits. Yeah. So, you know- Tell, tell us more about, that's a tough one. I, well, I work from home and it's very easy for me to just go and grab something. As I, you know, I, uh, 15 minutes between meetings I'll just go and grab something and, and snack on it, right? And before it was oftentimes, you know, bag of chips or it was a cookie or it was, you know, s- it was never anything good. now I, I keep, uh, cherry tomatoes in the fridge. It's one of my favorites. Uh, and so I'll open the fridge, grab a handful of cherry tomatoes. I keep blueberries. I, I needed something for the, the sweetness. I- Mm I have a sweet tooth. Blueberries are, are perfect for that. They're, they're sweet, but yet they're one of the lowest sugars of all the berries. they're super high in antioxidants, so they're really good for you. and so blueberries kind of tickle that, that, uh, sweetness itch that I need. Mm. So, and then, uh, you know, I do a lot of almonds or, uh, pistachios. Pistachios are great 'cause if you're getting the ones with the shell you're taking, taking your time- Give them some bangs to open them, right? So it's, kind of slows you down a little bit. those are my go-to snacks now. and again, like my doctor said, it's not like I can't have chips. I'll, I'll have chips on occasion. Um, I'll have cookies on occasion. the difference is I don't keep cookies in the house. if I'm at a place that has a cookie I'm gonna probably eat it. Um, so I don't have them in the house 'cause then I guarantee I'm gonna eat them. but yeah, just, just kind of changing, uh, they're, they're all things I like. I was fortunate I really like vegetables. I always have. And so, you know, eating more vegetables didn't have a, wasn't a problem for me. It didn't feel like a punishment. No, not at all. Same with protein. Heck yeah, meat, great. This sounds like a g- you know, not a problem. The surprise thing to me when you bring up the vegetables part was when you start eating better and, and healthier, all of a sudden it's like, "Oh, I really like this, I really like that. I like the broc- the steamed broccoli, the steamed- You forget how much you like. Yeah. And, and that you enjoy it and stuff, and you're, you were talking about snacks. My vice is ice cream. Yeah. Mm. Oh, who doesn't like a good ice cream? And sometimes that little pint feels like one serving. Let's be honest. It's hard, it's hard. Oh, I'll, I'll let you know. Yeah. That's, instead of me buying the gallon tub of it or whatever- Uh-huh throwing it in the house, I'll stop by QuikTrip and maybe every couple weeks, couple times a month maybe, I'll buy that one pint. And then that's generally all I'll have. and that's just one of those little changes. portions- Yep and what you're combining it with. That's the easy part. And these are little shortcuts that your doctors both gave you- Yeah easy guidance on. Didn't feel like deprivation. Nope. Didn't feel like you were cheating yourself out of enjoying something. I, I think a lot of people go on diets, they get on a fitness kick, and they deprive themselves so much over that time span. They reach their goal, and say, "Well, now what?" Yeah. "Okay, congratulations me, I lost X number of pounds. I feel great," but then they don't really know how to navigate from there. Bottom line is your diet doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be mostly real. And if we're aiming for 80%, like you guys talked about, whole foods, give yourself some room to be human. Perfection is not the goal, it's consistency. And you both discussed already some small upgrades over time that are beating the radical overhauls just in, in- Yeah you saw you felt better. You, you could see a difference almost immediately. Mm-hmm. like my biggest thing was to, to drop weight. And, and the funny thing is, is, look at Aaron, he's lost 80 pounds. Looks fabulous. I mean, I can tell you from a year ago, you look a lot better. Oh, yeah. You, you look a lot better. me, I've been at this for about a year now, and, and I'll admit right out of the cases, I'm on a GLP-1 to help me with this because that was always one of the big issues I had, was losing weight all throughout my life, and I'm down 70. And so you look at the differences where the 70 doesn't look as significant on me as the 80 does on Aaron. Now, now this is the man in us comparing going, "Well, the, why don't I have that result?" And- But it looks different in everybody, to your point. Exactly. Yeah. And that's where, that's where I always keep pointing out, like some of you guys, Aaron, you could probably both seen my Facebook posts- Yes of where I do the little victories. Mm-hmm. And those are the things that keep me motivated cause the first thing that, that my mindset had to change was it took me 30 years to put this all on. It's not coming off overnight, and we get too stuck in, like you said before, "Okay, I've lost the 30, 40 pounds. Now what?" Yeah. Well- Or it's not going fast enough. Exactly. Yeah. And now, so it's where I see things and it's all of a sudden older clothes are starting to fit. Oh, yeah. The clothes. Got a giant baggy shirt on right now, right? Like, I'm like, "That's awful big." What do you think a common misconception people have about making a pretty massive life change? That it's, well for, for massive life change, most people that are looking to do that are, have, have somehow gotten to that point, and there's been a lot of things in life that have- Mm that have made them do it, to where they're actually serious about making the change. Others, I think look at it and, and either are afraid to take the step to do it or, or are trying to hide it, or I mean, th- this is one of the things for my stuff, I've been very open about it, which seems kind of therapeutic to me as well, where I'm willing to share with others what I'm doing and what's helping me and what doesn't. And it's just, it's taking that first step, I think is the big scary part of it, isn't actually sticking to it. I don't feel like my diet changes are really that much different than it used to be. Again, smarter. Yep. Less. Um, you know, in the right ways. You got education. I did get the education. Yeah. And, and it's funny 'cause I, uh, I remember sitting through a lot of those classes. There were several of them, and they were like four hours long, and in the evening, you know, after work. I was like, and I remember thinking, you know, these, they're not telling me anything I don't know. like they're telling you, "Oh, and here's foods that have starches and carbs, and potatoes have a lot." And I'm thinking, well, of course, who doesn't know that? Right. And th- then that's what I'm thinking, but you know what? There was a guy in the class that went, "Oh, potatoes have a lot of carbs and sugars in them? I didn't know that." And I thought, how does someone not know that? That they're like, they're like sugar grenades, right? Like that's literally what, what they are. And but, but clearly not everybody knows that. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I took the education, and it, it made a big difference. and I, I think it doesn't have to be l- like, it doesn't have to be agonizing changes. Right. And I, I think that's the big misconception for so many, and especially for some of our brother Masons that we're close with. It feels like it's going to be a punishment. It, well, why would I stop eating this way when they look over at someone else and say, "You just sit over there and e- eat your salad and be sad." It's so much more than that. Th- that's not what it is. It's about taking our health seriously. Well, and, and the part is you don't have to eat the salad. But you also don't have to get the 22-ounce ribeye. Right. Or the baked potato with the sour cream, the, and the cheese and all the other stuff on it. Or the, the baked potato the size of a NERF football. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I mean, it, it, that's one of the things where I looked at being, and, and Aaron, you guys may be able to relate, Before I started all this, 20-ounce ribeye, get the giant baked potato, and of course macaroni- The- and cheese for the sides. I thought you were gonna say the bread with the- That too the, the- Yeah the sugar-filled butter. Yep. Oh, so good. And then now today it's, I might get a 12-ounce, steamed vegetables- I get a sweet potato, which is still, it's not great for you, but it's better than a regular one Yeah But then one of the keys I do with it is I want the sh- brown sugar and the butter on the side so that I can put how much on it I want. Mm-hmm. Do you find that you have to, I don't know how to say it- Keep up a bit of a boundary in social settings. Do the guys, the guys give you a hard time about that? "Oh, what are you... W- y- you're eating differently." Or is there any, is there the... You know that jokey banter? Yeah. That is, it's somewhat confounding because it's usually the most unhealthy guys that are giving the guy trying to make a healthy step in his life grief about it. That, that just drives me... I, I think I haven't had as much of that because I think people can see the weight loss, right? It, it's obvious, and so they're like, "Oh, okay. That, that makes some sense." I get, uh, some, some, uh, you know, ribbing if, like, I eat the cookie. Yeah. And they see, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Hang on. "You can't have that." I'm like, "Actually, I can. I, I've taken the cl- I, I, I just had the protein. I'm good. I can eat the cookie. I gotta monitor. I understand." like brothers at lodge will be like, "Oh, look, he's having a cookie." Or, or my, my mother. Oh my gosh, my mother. Um, you know, she instantly, "Well, what are you... You can't have that anymore." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, I can. I, I'm, I'm s- being smart about it." Hope I'm not dying, Mom. "It's, it's fine." Yeah. You know? And then the other aspect of it is, uh, significant others who don't necessarily need to do the same diet restrictions. my wife loves pasta and pizza and, you know, all things carbs, and so th- that's been a little bit of a challenge is how do, how do we eat together as a family, and still meet what she wants and, and is fine having and what I need to have and, and don't want that much of. Um, you know? So- How do you manage that? Well, things like, uh, spaghetti. Spaghetti's, uh, uh, one of her favorites, um, and that's like super carb with just a little bit of other stuff, right? Mm-hmm. So it's, it's... That's the 80/20 the wrong way. so for me, we, we tend not to do spaghetti, but if, if I'm gonna be gone, like traveling, uh, this week, so she'll probably have spaghetti while I'm gone. Uh, but I've just learned that whatever we're having, I'll adjust. it's easier for me to adjust than it is for her to, to completely have something she doesn't wanna have. So I can just have less, uh, and then maybe afterwards I go get a bowl of cottage cheese and, and tomatoes, right? Like, and, and I still get full that way. Um, but we... I don't have to not eat what she's having. I just eat less of it Do you feel short-changed when you do that, make those little tweaks for yourself? Not really. Even before all this, I didn't have as much love for like pasta and breads. I love more of the traditional sugars, not necessarily the, the bread sugars. Um, whereas that's her thing. So I don't- I don't really miss any of that, uh, again, 'cause I, I can still have it. Uh, I just have less. But I don't, I don't feel short-changed, no. So between the two of you, in separate life journeys, you've lost a combined 150 pounds. How much has your sleep been affected by that? Are you sleeping better? Do you, have you noticed a more quality, feeling more refreshed and rested in the morning? for me, I, I notice I sl- I sleep better. Um, I've never had issues, like sleep issues for the most part, but I feel more rested, and j- just feel better in general. Yeah, that's an interesting question 'cause I don't think I've, I've actually realized it. Um, and I might be, and it just haven't, hadn't dawned on me. Um, I will say that during my few weeks of when my diabetic incident was, you know, full on, um, that sleep was absolutely miserable. One of the, one of the symptoms is, uh, a lot of nerve issues in the legs, and I would get night cramps. Oh. And- Yeah and they were unbearable, and it would wake me up in the middle of the night, and I, it, it truly was unbearable. so not only those two weeks did I feel miserable, but I was also then getting horrible sleep and, um, it was interesting because all of those symptoms, the other, the other weird symptom that surprised me is my vision. Uh, diabetes is known to affect vision. Everyone kinda knows this. but what surprised me is during that two weeks when I was really sick, I use readers, you know, to, to read things, and I need it to look at my phone and, um, but during that two weeks, my vision was clear as could be. I could read my phone with no issues. Like, everything was just, like, perfectly clear. It went the opposite way, huh? Y- yeah, it did. Interesting. And then one day, and it was a, it was a Wednesday and, and I remember it very clearly. I woke up that morning feeling amazing. Like, you know, I'd had two weeks of feeling horrible, and I woke up that day and I went, "Wow, something's different. Something feels, like, crazy good." And I picked up my phone to look at it, and guess what? I couldn't see it anymore. It was- I was right back. Um, so I, you know, I talked to the doctor like, "Why was that?" And she's like, "Well, you crossed this threshold of where it's, you know, critical and not," and, um, she's like, "You were in the coma zone, and now you're not." but yeah, it, it, it was crazy. And so I, it wasn't so much sleep. It was all the other factors. But yeah. What is something you can do easily today that the version of you from just a few years ago could only dream of? I'd probably say, in all honesty, the, the, it would've been the, the walking, the ability to mo- I mean, going through a third degree, be lucky if I could stand up through the whole second half. And then we just did one, and I did most of the third base did- Did a lot of the work? Yeah did everything I needed to do. And, and I mean, even, and, and as I'm the secretary for Lebanon, it was even just a... It wasn't a pain, but it was... It but it just wasn't easy to just even stand up and deliver the secretary's report. From a year ago today, it's just, it's being able to move that much easier. How much does that motivate you to keep, keep on this journey, keep on the path you're on? Um, it does a lot. I mean, and, and one of the things is, is everybody knows it's around me, it, I love riding motorcycles. Yeah. It's, it's had one good side effect and one bad side effect, which the good side effect is I'm able to handle it more, I feel more focused. I f- I just fit on the bike better. Yeah. The bad side effect, it also made the bike faster. So, so there, there's always that aspect. So there's, there's, there's the goods and the bads, but, but in general, I mean, it, it's from, compared from a year ago to today, it's a vast difference If you could go back to the very beginning of this journey and whisper one piece of advice to yourself, what would it be? I would say it's the education piece of it. Um, 'cause like I said before, I didn't have to change... I, I didn't have to cut anything. I just have to be smarter about it. And I think if I, if I truly realized and recognized that, uh, earlier, it'd have made a lot of difference. and then I'll add maybe the second one would be don't, don't put off going to the doctor. Don't, you know... Let, let them recognize things before they become too far. Schedule a physical. Yeah. Yeah. Or, or at a minimum, get your blood work done. Yes. The blood work'll tell you a lot of things. I mean, a- and the most important's the A1C and your PSA. Yeah, PSA is big. Yeah. And it's, and it's labs. It's not the- Yep old-fashioned way anymore. Yeah. Yeah. The, the labs are far more accurate- Yep than doctors'... Yeah. That, that is- I mean, I was, I was truly amazed with the amount of information you can gain from them. Mm-hmm. And it, and it does, it gives you specific areas where, okay, this is low. Well, and then of course we hit the Google machine, and then we find out, "Oh yeah, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that, I'm not doing this. Okay, let's do that." And then all of a sudden, next time you do blood work, "Hey, that came up." Yeah. "You got it into a good area." the importance of water, uh, became very clear to me- Yep during my experience. Um, you know, my body got dehydrated, and I was drinking over two gallons of water a day. Wow. Um, and I was still massively dehydrated, right? Like it was, it was kind of crazy. And then when I got that blood work done and I saw, you know, every single category was in the red. You know, not just the blood sugar, but- Yeah everything. And I asked the doctor and she said, "Yeah, you're dehydrated, and when you're dehydrated, you know, all of that goes out the window." And so, um, water's so important. Drink a lot of water. It really is the energy drinks, those highly caffeinated process... Maybe a little bit of that, but man, we could all use more water in our lives. Mm-hmm. Well, and, and one of the other things, too, to where, to where you look at that, like I, I don't know about you, but I drink a lot of electrolyte mixed stuff. And it's one of those things to where that's where you look at and you start noticing the dehydration thing once stuff c- starts coming up. And you, you gotta drink water that... 'Cause a regular plain old bottle of water, you look at it, it isn't actually what it was- Yeah 20 years ago. Right. So you're basically just drinking a wet liquid. So it's, you gotta get more into it. Mm-hmm. That made me think of something that came up at a recent physical. I had my annual, and the doctor asked me, "W- When do you drink coffee in the morning?" Well, obviously right away. He highly recommended drinking a bottle, like the equivalent of an Ice Mountain bottle before the coffee- Yeah hits the system, 'cause the cortisol gets r- Things I never thought of as a younger man. Mm-hmm. It didn't matter back then. Yep. But it, it really is about being honest with ourselves and acknowledging our age. We are not 25 anymore, and when you're over 40, if you haven't been to the doctor- Go in and at least do the labs. Yeah. And it seems a little scary, but somebody said something that stuck in my head in life you have all sorts of problems, but when your health goes, then you have one problem. And at that point you, you don't wanna be looking back and thinking, "Why didn't I just go in- Mm-hmm and have a routine check just a little, just a few years ago?" It, we- Well- We can't put it off forever. And especially if you're, if you're one who feels you're in good health. Okay, why not just manage it? Find out for sure. Why not get the pat on the back, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's where I was at is, yeah, I'm, I'm overweight and all that kind of stuff, but as far as health-wise goes, I've always been healthy or been reasonably healthy. So it was let's just go get this done and see what it looks like The opposite of being proactive, is the come to Jesus moment. Yeah. You, you wanna avoid that, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's, that's the big thing with it. I mean, you gotta take care of yourself. Get stuff looked at. I look back at it and I, I always think how lucky I was that, you know, I didn't go into a coma, like the doctor was surprised I didn't. it very well could've been the other way around, and, and I could not be talking in this microphone right now. Mm-hmm. Paul Smith from Lebanon Lodge number 346 in Savage, and Aaron Brendel, Anoka Lodge number 30, thank you for sharing your story. This has been incredibly inspirational. Thanks for the invite. I mean, I was surprised. Like I said to Aaron when we sat down, "Hey, it feels like we kinda made the big time. We're on the podcast now." Well, I don't know about the big time, but you have a story that more of our friends and brothers need to not only hear, but perhaps take a little assessment of themselves. Yeah. Because this is really about that personal growth aspect of Freemasonry. Yeah. It's we, we care for each other. We are friends. We are brothers. We are like a second family. We don't need any more premature funerals or health challenges that could've been avoided otherwise. This is all about the brotherly love, and I hope you guys continue on this journey, and come back and, and visit again. Yeah, would love to. Yeah, I'll come back when I'm down another 80.