Take Control of Your Health: A Leader's Guide to Finishing Strong

Only 2% of Christian leaders make it to their finish line with their families, faith, and calling intact — and Doug Smith believes your health is one of the biggest reasons why. 

In this powerful talk, Doug shares his personal journey from "Fat Dougie" to fit at 40, the wake-up call he got from his dad's triple bypass surgery, and the practical steps every leader can take to extend their life, energy, and impact.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why only 2% of Christian leaders make it to their finish line — and how to be one of them
• The two questions every leader needs to answer about their health vision
• Doug's transformation story from overweight kid to fit at 40 (and what finally clicked)
• Why nutrition is 80% of the battle — and the simple food swaps that make the biggest difference
• How to use ChatGPT as a free, world-class nutrition and health coach
• The "one system away" principle and how to find workouts you'll actually do
• What Function Health blood testing revealed about Doug's heart — and why every leader over 40 should "look under the hood"
• The hidden home toxins (mold and radon) that could be silently destroying your health
• Why lipoprotein(a) is the genetic biomarker most doctors don't test for — but should
• How day-to-day intensity and week-to-week consistency build champions

Resources & Links Mentioned

Health Testing & Biomarkers

• Function Health 
• Outlive by Peter Attia 
• Dr. Mark Hyman 

Workouts & Fitness

• Beachbody / BODi 
• Peloton 

Nutrition & Tracking

• MyFitnessPal 
• Yuka App 
• ChatGPT 

Wearables & Recovery

• Bevel app 

Books & Influences

• Today Matters by John Maxwell
• Global Leadership Summit 

Book Doug for your next conference or event: DougSmithLive.com

⏱️ Episode Breakdown

00:00 – Why health matters for leaders
02:00 – The “2%” vision: finishing well
04:00 – Creating a vision for your health
05:00 – Where your current habits are leading
07:00 – Defining health and fitness
08:00 – Longevity, legacy, and stewardship
11:00 – Doug’s weight-loss and fitness journey
14:00 – Discovering P90X
16:00 – The hard conversation that changed everything
17:00 – Why nutrition matters
19:00 – Tracking food and using ChatGPT for accountability
20:00 – Rethinking alcohol and drinks
21:00 – Finding workouts you’ll actually do
23:00 – Consistency and daily habits
24:00 – Why accountability partners help
26:00 – Health scares, anxiety, and unexpected weight gain
27:00 – Discovering mold exposure
28:00 – Looking under the hood with bloodwork
30:00 – Genetic risks and heart health
31:00 – Medicine 2.0 vs. Medicine 3.0
32:00 – Radon, toxins, and environmental health
34:00 – Tools and resources for long-term health
36:00 – Start now and create a new ending
37:00 – Final challenge: Don’t leave your health to chance

Transcript

Doug Smith 0:00

Hey leader, and welcome to another episode of the L3 Leadership Podcast, where we are obsessed with helping you grow to your maximum potential and to maximize the impact of your leadership. My name is Doug Smith and I am your host, and we recorded this episode live from our Burgo Realty Studios. In today's episode, you're going to hear a talk I gave at a conference recently called Take Control of Your Health. And here's what I know, leader, that if you're going to be a leader that's going to make it to their finish line, then it's absolutely essential that you focus on your health. And so you're going to hear me share about my health journey as well as many practical tips for your health and wellness. I actually gave this talk and had so many people come up to me afterwards and just talk to me about the changes that they were going to make. And actually it's been several months since the talk, and uh people are already seeing incredible results. So I'm really excited. If health and fitness are a priority to you, then you need to listen to this. I think it'll really make a difference. And as always, if your organization is ever looking for a keynote speaker or for a conference, I'd love to be considered. You can learn more about my speaking at DougsmithLive.com. Again, that's DougsmithLive.com. And with that being said, let's dive right in. Here's my talk on taking control of your health. So I want to talk to you about the subject taking control of your health today. And this is an extremely important uh subject to me. And I'm horrible with slides, putting slides together. I mean, look, so I'm like, I used AI on Canva, I'm like, make me a cool slideshow, but I had to put a picture. I'm like, what do I put on the title? So I just put a picture of me having coffee, right? Look at those biceps. I just wanted to prove my credibility for this talk. Um so now that you're aware that I have you know credibility on this talk, let's dive in. But anytime I speak, honestly, my heart is if I could sit down with each of you and have a cup of coffee and we were talking about health, this is what I would share with you. And so for me, when I was a young leader, I was 20 years old, my spiritual father, John Nuzo, uh, pastor of Victory Family Church, he made the statement and he said, Doug, I think only about 2% of Christian leaders make it to their finish line intact, their families intact, fully fulfilling the call that God had on their life. 2%. Now, I don't know if there's data to that. I doubt there is, but if it's not 2%, I can tell you it's not very much higher. 2% of Christian leaders make it to their finish line, their marriage still intact, their family still intact, their actual ability to fulfill what God called them to do. And I have not been able to get that statistic out of my head ever since. In fact, part of the reason I feel like God put me on the planet is because I want to take a whole bunch of leaders with me and ensure that we make our finish line. Every leader I interact with, including the ones in this room, like I want us all in that 2%. I want to be back here at Teach Passion Summit, 2065, and be 80 years old, and that be a picture of me and my grandkids and my great-great-grandkids, and say, guys, we made it. We made it. We were faithful, and in a few breaths, we're gonna get to hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. That's that's my vision for health and fitness. That's my vision for going to the finish line. But here's what I know if we're gonna get to our 2%, you're not gonna get there unless you focus and prioritize your health. How many leaders do you know that haven't gotten to their finish line because of their health? Their season, their life ended far too early. God had so much more for them, but they neglected their health, and as a result, they never made it to their finish line. They never got to see their grandchildren, they never got to meet their grand great-grandchildren. And it does not have to be that way. But so many times in the name of leadership, we neglect our health to our detriment. So we're gonna focus on this, and and I just want to say this here's kind of the key theme here today. Unless you're very lucky with the genes you have, you will not get to your finish line without great health. You know, I look at Donald Trump, I mean, the dude, what is he 78 years old, eats McDonald's every day, has a button on his desk for Coca-Cola, which has like 46 grams of sugar per can in it, and sleeps four hours a night. Like, that is not the model of health, right? But for whatever reason, he he passes like all the physical exams with perfect health. That's not you and I, that's not the normal person, right? And if you are, God bless you. I wish I was you. But for the majority of us, we're gonna have to focus on this thing called health and fitness. So let me start today by just asking you a few minutes, a few questions. Do you have a vision for your health and fitness journey? Do you have a vision? I can tell you what a vision isn't. A vision isn't, oh, I need to drop a few pounds this year. That's not a vision. Oh, I I someday uh I probably need to focus on my health. I probably need to get a physical. That is not a vision for your health and fitness journey. The vision is the two percent. That's what drives me. What's gonna drive me to work out and to focus on my health and do what I need to do? It's that. It's my five children. Man, I want to see them become the men and women God called them to become. Do you have a vision? And if you don't, I hope by the end of this talk you start to get one. What do you want to be able to say about the way you stewarded your body and health while you were here? The Bible says our bodies are a temple. And God, I forget who said it yesterday. God talks a whole lot about stewardship in the Bible. But we rarely think about it the way we steward our body. And can I just tell you, I don't believe that God has ordained every single thing that you put in your mouth, Greg? Right? Like you can't tell me God ordained for you to eat an entire chocolate pie last night, not just one slice. Right? Like you had a choice in that. At least that's what I believe. But what do you want to be able to say about what you stewarded? You know, I'm really big on, like Andrew said, life plans. A life plan is just what do you want the end of your life to look like. I want to be able to look back and say, this is what I did with my health and fitness, and I'll get into that. And then here's the real challenging question for all of you. If you had to predict whether or not you'll make it to your finish line based on your current health habits, what would your prediction be? If you had to predict whether or not you'll make it to your finish line based on your current health habits, what would your prediction be? When Greg put his obituary up, I've done a lot of urine planning, I've always thought about what the end of mine, but I've never actually written out my obituary. It was a great exercise. But when I saw yours, and and the fact I don't know where you came up with 45, but I'm like 45. Like, man, that would be so devastating. And it just got me thinking about that. Like, man, what if if I keep going the way I'm going with my health habits, I may only have a few years left. You know, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the way you look at it, I've had a lot of loss in my life. I lost my mom when I was 17 years old, she was 55. My mother-in-law died two years later, she was 47. Uh, I had a younger sister who died of a heroin overdose in 2019, she was 32. You know, if I only get as many years as my mom, I have 15 years left. That's it. If I only get as many days as my mother-in-law had, I have seven years left. If I only get as many days as my sister got, I'm already living on borrowed time. We're not promised tomorrow. But what I can promise you is there are things that you can do within your control. And the point of this talk isn't to say, hey, if you follow these things and get healthy and fit that you'll never ever experience health issues and that you're gonna live to 120 years old. I can't promise you that. But I can promise you there's a lot of things you can do within your control. And if you'll do your part, you need to trust God with his part. And trust God to hold his hand. But far too many people just want to say, oh, I'll just trust God, what it'll be will be. And man, I feel like that's a mistake. Yes, God will carry you and he'll watch you, but we have a part to play in our health and fitness. So for me, definitions, uh, for me, I'm very, very simple, just like Matt was saying earlier. For me, I don't I have two definitions, one for health and one for fitness. My definition for health is the ability to live as long as I'm able to live. I mean, for me, that's it. Everyone always says that health is the new wealth, but it's all about longevity. I want to be here as long as I can, do everything that God called me to do. I was recently uh I went to the Global Leadership Summit last year, and John Maxwell was speaking. Most influential leader, probably in my lifetime, in my life, and he was sharing a story about his dad. His dad was his hero. His dad was 94 years old, I think, when he passed. And literally to the day he died, that man was making a difference. Like, even when he got in his nursing home and his wife died, like he's like he would call his son John and say, John, man, I'm leading this and that at the nursing home. I'm making a difference. We're lifting up people's lives. These people need Jesus, they all need to eat till the day he died. And he was on his deathbed, and and they knew it was uh, you know, gonna be the end. And John went to the doctors and nurses and said, Please don't come in the room. I just need some time with my dad. And for five hours, John, the son, shared 29 lessons with his dad that his dad taught him. And he said, Dad, these are the 29 things that have enabled me to become the person you've called me or I've become and to do what God's called me to do. And so much of it is because of your influence. You want to talk about a way to go out? And then a few breaths later, hear, well done, my good and faithful. I mean, that is a life well lived. And so often in the Bible, my some of my favorite scriptures when you read genealogies or what's happening in a leader's life, and it says, They died of a ripe old age. That sounds a lot better than me falling off dead over this platform. Right? Like I want there was my pastor John's spiritual father, died. I think he was 89 years old. The dude just collapsed in a bowl of strawberry cornflakes. Like, hey, that's not too bad. I could do that, I could face down milk, cornflakes, let's go. But I say I like to just say longevity. Like, I that's what I want. I want to be surrounded by my children and my grandchildren, and to hear them say, Dad, mom, this was the impact that you made in my life. That's a well life well lived. I define fitness by the my definition of fitness is the ability to be able to do anything I'd like to do. So, so simple. But hey, I'm 40 years old. I want to be able to bike, hike, play frisbee in the yard with Greg, right? And not just at 40, at 60, at 70, at 80. Like I want to be able to do those things. My dad is kind of my the person I look up to here. He's 78 years old. And he is, he's an eight-year-old, really, and a 78-year-old body. He is, he still sled rides with my kids. At 78 years old, we went to Disney World two weeks ago. We spent one day in the Magic Kingdom before we went on a cruise, and literally 14 hours straight. Now, at this point, he actually did say I overdid it, but at 78 years old, for 14 hours straight, we rode rides. Like the man did not stop. We rode Tiana's like princess thing on the, it's like a roller coaster on the water, like 20 times. Like that, if I could do that, man, thank you, Jesus. Rather than, man, I can't move, I can't really do anything. I hope I can sit here and to have a small conversation with my grandchildren. Like, I I don't know about your vision. That's not my vision. I want to be able to do what I want when I want, and that is possible. But do you know I know 40-year-olds that can't do that? I know 30-year-olds that can't do what my dad does with my kids because they don't take care of themselves, and it's so sad, and it does not have to be that way. So what I want to do today is I want to share, and Greg kind of already introduced this, but I basically want to share two pivotal moments in my life that helped me prioritize my health and fitness journey and just share some of the lessons along the way. I'm obviously not a doctor, I'm not a nutritional expert, I'm just someone with a journey and a story and a lot of resources that I think will help you.

Will Host 11:27

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Doug Smith 12:28

And so let's dive right in. I want to introduce you to uh to fat Dougie. He's right there. So I don't I you probably don't know whether to laugh or just smile, but uh that's fat doggy. I grew up uh the heavy kid. Um I broke 100 pounds in kindergarten. I broke 200 pounds in fifth grade. Uh literally, that's me on a baseball team. They didn't have a jersey that fit me. Um, so that wasn't fun. And got made fun of like I had a lot of friends, but always got teased about being heavy. Uh my friends called me chunky D for a while. I went to, I still remember fifth grade, I had a crush on a girl named Abby Griffith, and I was going to a I'm calling her out. Uh I went to a swimming pool and I was with my buddies, and it was the first time I actually took my shirt off at the pool because I was always ashamed of my body. And so I walk out, and I didn't know she was there, and her head pops out of the water, kind of like a hippopotamus. Uh it was in slow motion, and she just looked at me and she goes, ah, he has bigger boobs than I do. And uh yeah, that was devastating. I actually went back into the locker room, put my shirt back on, turned the shower on, and cried in the shower for two hours. Devastating. And and I desperately, all throughout when I was overweight, I desperately wanted to be in shape. I desperately wanted to, but I just didn't know how. And I wrote no boundaries on there because I had no boundaries growing up. And as a, you know, when you're young, you think it's awesome. But when I say I had no boundaries, like if you've seen Home Alone and Macaulay Calkin eats that like mountain of ice cream, like that was my life like every day. Like Fat Dougie just went to town. I could eat whatever I want whenever I wanted and would just consume, consume, consume. My grandparents used to take me to the mall to those candy stores. I would get like three pounds of gummies and just down them. And so, but again, just desperately wanted to change. In high school, I was a drug addict, on my way to being an alcoholic, and uh man, just desperately wanted to, but never knew how. And eventually, what changed for me that was significant was in 2008. Someone gave me a burned copy of P90X. Who remembers P90X? Who has done P90X? Who started and finished P90X? Dave McGlennon, baby. That's the man who he should be up here talking about health. How are you 62? If I look like Dave at 62, and actually, I just want to give a shout out. And Dave Hartman, these two are the only two I saw at the gym at like 5 or 6 a.m. All right, so shout out to you guys for keeping your journey going while you're here at the conference. Um where did I how did I even get there? Oh, P90X. Who started P90X and never finished it? Everyone. All right. Well, for whatever reason, I popped the workout in and I love Tony Horton, love his personality, and it was the first time in my life where I felt like, wow, this workout like works. And and I actually know what to do. I don't have to make it up and go to the gym and pretend I know what I'm doing. And so I started getting results, or at least I thought I was getting results. So I do P90X, and I'm like, okay, I finally found the right workout, and I'm in the best shape of my life in my head. But my mentality at the time was, hey, I did P90X today, I can eat whatever I want, uh, which I found out wasn't good. But um, so I kept no boundaries, just eating whatever. Oh, I can eat even more because I could burn so many calories. Well, summer came, and at the time I'm dating Laura, it was four or five years before we got married. And again, I've always been kind of like nervous taking my shirt off at a pool. I've never been confident, that's for sure, but I was confident this time. No Abby Griffith popping out of the water this time. Like, Lara's gonna see me, she's gonna say, Look at those pecs, those lats, those deltoids, let's go. And my father-in-law would say, This is my son-in-law, and whom I'm well pleased. That was my expectation going into this. Um, so I take off my shirt at the pool, no one says anything. I sit there and read like a John Maxwell book, probably, and no one says anything. And I'm like, okay, I guess they didn't see how good of results I got. The next day we go to the Grove City outlets and we're shopping. Laura's off shopping at her stores, and my father-in-law is with me, and his armpits are super sweaty. And he's nervous. I'm like, something's off. And I was like, hey, are you okay? He's like, we need to talk. I'm like, okay, what do we need to talk about? He's like, well, you know how I've been mentoring you and telling you that you need boundaries in your life? He goes, Well, one area you need boundaries in is what you eat. Because if you think you look like Tony Horton, you don't. And you basically, he I don't even know what he said after that, but my translation was, you're fat, and you need to do something about it. And uh, and man, my heart sunk in my stomach. Have you ever, anyone else, ever received correction or input that they need to hear? But I knew I didn't know the phrase at the time, but I knew that the key to everything, Matt Keller, is to be teachable. And so, right, what do we do when truth comes? We all need places in which we're fully known, loved, and challenged. And I know I have that with my father-in-law. He fully knows me. He knows me, everything about me. He fully loves me, I know that. And so he was able to fully challenge me. And even though he told me something I didn't want to hear, I knew it was in my best interest. And so I went home and I said, okay, what do I need to learn from this? And what I learned, which this was so fascinating, and wait till you hear how smart I am. I thought, P90X comes with a nutrition guide. Like I wonder if they're I wonder why. Like, could it be that like nutrition plays a factor into this thing called health and fitness? And so went home, I found the nutrition guide, and for the first time in my life, I dove into nutrition, and that was it for me. Like, nutrition really is like 80% of the battle. If you're wondering how to get in shape, it's not 80% nutrition. Working all that matters, but not nearly as much as food. And so I ended up getting into the best shape of my life. My peak was probably at my wedding, obviously. But um anyway. Um, but that I was in the best shape of my life, and I've been able to sustain that basically for 20 plus years now. Yes, thank you, thank you. And for those if you're curious, fat doggy still does exist. He came out last night, thanks, Greg. Fat doggy can't say no to a buffet. Or, you know, for me, my hard thing is I'm in the Enneagram 7, so like if if I feel like anything is a special occasion, which an Enneagram 7 thinks everything is a special occasion, I like want to dive in. So I've had to learn to be really disciplined, but uh yeah, he still comes out more than I want him to. But what are the lessons that I learned there that will actually be practical take-home for you? Let me just share a few things. Uh, number one, Tony Robbins, my favorite nutrition quote: nothing tastes as good as fit feels. Nothing tastes as good as fit feels. And if you've ever gotten into shape and actually felt that way, you know that that's true. Nothing tastes as good as fit feels. And the whole point here is the nutrition matters. You might be saying, well, like I have no idea what to do there, or I think I eat clean. I meet so many people who think they eat clean. And I always have them do this. It's similar to a time audit that Greg talked about. I have them do a food audit. Hey, for two weeks, I want you to record every single thing that God ordained you to put in your mouth or that you chose to. Uh, and I want you to write that down. And at the end of the two weeks, we're gonna review your journal and actually see what your diet's like. And it's actually it's it's crazy sometimes when I read what people eat. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is like the normal average American diet. Which is actually really, really sad. But what I found is that the substitutions that they need to make are so simple, and they can have just as much food or just as good food tasting-wise, with a few substitutions and make a huge difference to what they're actually consuming. And so a lot of times it's just substitutes. So, what I'd encourage you to do on the nutrition end is do that. And what's beautiful about the world we live in today is the greatest coach that I have in my life right now is ChatGPT. Now that never replaces one-on-one. You always need mentors, you always need coaches. So, like, I'm not saying just log into that, but I I still do this today. I log what I eat, I throw it into ChatGPT, and I say, Chat, pretend you're a world-class nutrition expert. Please coach me on this. How did I do eating today on a scale of A to F? And where did I miss it? Where can I continue to tighten up? And it it tells me exactly what to do. And you'll see how some of that plays into a later lesson that I share. But you'll be shocked what ChatGPT can do for your health and fitness. And if it's not ChatGPT, go to someone that you admire. I guarantee you know someone that takes care of their body. And if you don't know, look. Who's the most in-shaped person you know? Like you can usually tell if someone works out or not takes care of themselves. So nothing tastes as good as fit feels. Start to focus on that. And and I could do a whole lesson on this, but I would encourage you also, just as a small hack, evaluate your relationship with alcohol and drinks in general. You'd be shocked at how many people drink thousands of calories and they think nothing of it. Um, and just in general, and there's I feel like there's a whole movement now of people, in my opinion, I think it's a good thing. Quit drinking. And like I have so many leaders I've talked to who have stopped drinking alcohol and they feel so much better, they've lost weight, they work out better. And so just reevaluate your relationship to alcohol and drinks in general outside of water. Next lesson is the best workouts that the best workouts are the ones that you'll actually do. The best workouts are the ones you'll actually do. And this is different for everyone. But one of my favorite quotes is by a guy named Patrick by David, he said, You are one system away from changing everything. You're one system away. And this is true in business, this is true in your marriage, this is true with your kids. You're one system away from changing all of the results that you're getting. I love that. And for me, that's what P90X was. I needed a system, something that I fell in love with that could change everything for me. Now, for me, why did I love it? Because I could work out at home. So I had to get some equipment, I don't have to go to the gym and waste an hour commuting and all these different things. I could just work out at home and To get it done. Two, I didn't have to think through anything. All I have to do is show up and hit play. And the person tells me what to do. I still do beach body and Peloton workouts every day, like I did one this morning in the gym. Every day. I don't have to think about it and I look forward to it because I found a workout that I love. And you may, maybe you've been averse to exercise your whole life. I can promise you there's something that you love. You just have to find out what it is. Experiment. Go to a cycling class. Go to the gym. Lift weights. Now I will say I believe you need lifting and cardio in your life. Really, really important. It's looking like research is showing that the average person needs around 150 minutes of cardio a week, and then you know, two or three to four days of lifting as well. And again, it doesn't have to be, I'm not trying to overwhelm you, but you need both. But maybe it's going for a walk, maybe it is going to the gym because you like the social interaction. Whatever it is, find out what you love. And when you do, you'll actually look forward to it. My workouts are one of my favorite parts of my day. I literally cannot wait to it. On my rest days where I have to do yoga, I get I like yoga, but I'm so disappointed I can't like pump iron or get on the bike. So find the workouts that you love. It'll make things so much easier. You are one system away from changing everything. Next, consistency is key. I don't have to tell you that, but consistency really is key. When I was young, the most influential book I read was John Maxwell's book, Today Matters. And one of his main theses is the secret to your success is found in your daily agenda. The secret to your success, and that's true in every area of your life, the secret to your success will always be found in what you do daily. So what do you do daily? And you should have something for your at every area of your life, and today matters. He basically takes every area and says, here are things I do every single day in each area of my life. Here's what I do today for my finances. Here's today what I do for my marriage. Here's today what I do for my children. Here's today what I do for my health and fitness. So for me, it's like every day I try to get seven and a half hours of sleep. Every day I'm going to work out. Every day I'm going to track my calories so I know what went into my body. Every day I'm going to throw all that information into ChatGBT and see how I can get better tomorrow. Right? Every day, every day, every day, every day. And once you establish a habit, it's established. And it just becomes part of your life. One of Greg and I's favorite quotes ever came from my high school football coach. And he said this: he said, day-to-day intensity, week to week consistency, build your champions. Day-to-day intensity, week to week consistency, build your champions. Getting Finn healthy is not going to happen overnight, it's going to happen consistently, day after day after day after day after day. You have to be consistent. And then last lesson here is daily encouragement. Accountability helps. This is my friend TJ. I think has he been a faculty member? TJ's been a faculty member here as well. This is a picture of us on my 30th birthday, which was 10 years ago, hard to believe. But we worked out one of the only times I have done a workout with a friend, and we had a great time. And he said, Hey, what if we did, can you can we just text each other daily on our health journey and encourage each other? And it's been 11 years, and we text each other every day. Every day. And it's just, hey, here's the workout I did, or hey, I messed up last night. Greg put a buffet in front of me. I couldn't say no. Please help me, Jesus, to stay on track this week. But it's the daily encouragement. And he wrote me a long letter last year just saying, hey, I can't, and I didn't even know it had been 10 years. I can't believe it's been 10 years. Thank you so much for encouraging me daily. Thank you for even when I miss and drop the ball that you lift me up and you don't shame me and put me down. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But what if you had a workout buddy or someone that could hold you accountable to your health? And we're constantly challenging each other with some of the things that I'll share with you. So again, nothing tastes as good as fit feels. Nutrition matters. The best workouts are the ones that you'll actually do. Consistency is key, and accountability partners can help you go the distance. So those are the lessons I learned from my fat doggy stage. And I would say that was more just about me getting into shape every day. Like it was more about how can I get an optimal weight, uh, how can I feel good, how can I be physically active and do what I want to do. The next big moment in my life actually happened in 2024 and 2025. And in early 2024, actually, I think I met with Matt, I started getting all these physical symptoms and like over my body and to a point where I couldn't even do yoga without having an anxiety attack and my heart rate like going through the roof. And so I had to take six months off of working out. I felt like I was having breathing issues, my chest was tightening. Uh it was just really, really strange. And and I I didn't know what it was, and I thought, am I, you know, am I gonna be disabled? I mean, I had lots of fearful thoughts, like, am I never gonna be able to work out again? And so didn't know what to do with that. And then last June, uh, and I was trying to do a bunch of things, but really I just rested and took time off. In June, my dad, 78 years old, had triple bypass surgery um for the first time in his life, hopefully the only time. And I'm at the hospital with him before he's having the surgery, and I was like, Hey, have you always had like cholesterol issues or what? He's like, Oh, Doug, nonchalantly, this runs in our family. He's one of 12 kids, he's like, half my brothers and sisters like had heart issues, my mom had heart issues. I'm 40 years old, I'm like, what? Like, most of my family have lived like their 70s, 80s, 90s. I'm I'm thinking, I have good genes, I'm great, I'm gonna live forever. Um, but it's like, oh my gosh, I'm like, what? Why didn't you tell me this when I was 20 or younger? But I'm I'm glad I know at 40 and not 60 or 70 or 80. And so I thought, okay, I need to do something with that. And then the third thing that happened, uh, and I'll go into lessons with that, the third thing that happened was I found out that we had mold in our house. And uh, it turns out in my basement, we've been in our new house for four years, uh, the the hot water tank was eroding at the top, and so mold developed, and it was where I work out. And so literally, the guy that came to inspect our house for mold was like, brother, you've been breathing in like millions of mold spores for an hour a day for who knows how long. And I'm like, mold. I started looking into mold, and and I also didn't mention last year when I couldn't work out, I gained 25 pounds like out of nowhere. And I was like, what the like I couldn't usually I can shed weight or gain weight really easily, but this just seemed off to me. And um, I learned with mold, you can have rapid weight gain. You can have like all kinds of heart issues, lung issues. You could actually die. There's a Netflix documentary on it, uh, really, really interesting and scary. But there was mold in my house, and I was like, oh, maybe this is some of the underlying causes of some of the symptoms that I'm feeling. And so it caused me kind of, I'm at 40, kind of this halftime, like I need to really evaluate my health and man, how am I gonna be in that 2%? Because it feels like I'm not gonna make it for another year or two. And so a few things that happened, basically just two big lessons that I would share with you, uh, is number one, you need to take control of your health by looking under the hood. You need to take control of your health by looking under the hood. Literally, around the same time my dad's heart surgery was happening, um, I listened to this doctor, uh podcast, his name is Dr. Mark Hyman. And he did a podcast with The Rock. He's actually The Rock's doctor. And he basically said, he met The Rock, the Rock, someone introduced the Rock to him because The Rock was experiencing gut health issues, and the doctors were telling The Rock that basically, like, you need to be on medication for the rest of your life, all these different things. And so he ends up meeting with Dr. Mark Hyman, does blood work, and his his dad and grandfather both died of like the same cause, and he was super afraid that he was getting what his grandparents had. And so Hyman does all this blood work, ends up being like, You don't need to be on medication, just take basically just take this net, get this food in your system every day, and you'll be healed. And the ROC did it, he was fine, and he's been fine ever since. And this blood work, the rock just said, you know, hey, I it was scary for me to look knowing my family history, but I needed to look under the hood. And so I'm like, I'm in. So I sign up for for function health. I'll provide a QR code in a minute. But I get this blood work done, and it basically tests over 100 biomarkers, way more than your PCP will do. And I got the results back, and sure enough, I don't know if you could see up there, um, I had 87 biomarkers in range, but 12 out of range. And if you see in the middle there, most of the out-of-range biomarkers, heart. And it turns out there's a biomarker called lipoprotein that's a genetic. And what I love about the app is you can actually break down each of those and it'll give you a full breakdown of what is this, why is it important, what can you do about it. But lipoprotein is a genetic one where you only have to test for one time, and if it's high, you're already uh a high cardiovascular risk. And so that was me. And so I said, Oh man, like, oh, like I could be my dad in 30 years or who knows? And it said, uh, one of the descriptions under lipoprotein said, most people that have high lipoprotein don't know that they do until they either have a heart attack or a stroke. And so I went to my PCP and I said, hey, here's this blood work, like I have high lipoprotein, is that a big deal? And she said, Yeah, that's a really big deal. We need to focus on that. And I said, How come you didn't test me for that when I was like 10? And she said, That's a great question. And again, I'm not a doctor, but that's part of the problem. There's a great book called Outlive by Peter Attila. I I provide a link to it or a in a resource slide up ahead. But basically he said, right now we're moving from medicine 2.0 to 3.0. Medicine 2.0 is reactive. So it's basically like, hey, if you get symptoms, we're just gonna react to it. 3.0 is hey, you can get individualized information like really early and be really intentional up front about it, and it could change your life and actually save you from premature death. That sounds really good to me. So I get this tested, find out I have high lipoprotein, and basically took all that blood work and all the info, put it in ChatGPT, and said, coach me up. And for me, the changes that I need to make was I was realized I was eating so much saturated fat and what I thought was healthy food every day that it was blowing my levels out of the water. I was uh I was eating nuts, which again, in and of itself, healthy food, right? But it has a ton of saturated fat in it. I was cooking with coconut oil, eating bacon, cheese, like all of those things were I was probably eating 50 to 60 milligrams of um of saturated fats a day. Chat GPT is like, with what you have, it should be five to ten. And so I had to make some significant changes there. I also really focused on sleep and recovery. But all that to say is I had to look under the hood. And my challenge to you as a leader, look under the hood. Right? Like, could have I I would rather find out this way while I have time to do something about it than find out by having a heart attack or by having to go into triple bypass surgery like my dad did. Because watching that, that's no joke. They rip open your lub cage, uh rib cages, they collapse your lung, they take your heart out, like Indiana Jones. Like, I it's crazy. But I don't want that to happen to me. So, anyway, this has helped me be in extremely intentional. My wife is also doing this. Cancer runs in my wife's family. There's pre-cancer screenings. Man, look under the hood. Please, please, please, please, please, because it'll help you be intentional with your health. And the other lesson is just real simple. Check your house for toxins. This sounds so simple, but in Southwest PA specifically, there's this thing called radon. It's gas. And I didn't know what it was, but I found out that's the second leading cause of lung cancer in the world. And turns out my mother-in-law had lung cancer that went to her brain and she never smoked or anything. And we don't have proof of it, but we do know they had high radon and never dealt with it at their house. And so we don't know. But Laura and I immediately checked our house for radon, got radon mitigation system. Same thing with mold. You can check mold in your house for free and get it. And if you need to get it remediated, but the the consequences of these things, they seem subtle. But again, it's like, what if radon took me out? Because I didn't even know it was in my house. What if mold took me out at 40 when I could have gotten remediated and lived home 80? You gotta look under the hood and you gotta be intentional. And so as we start to wrap up our time this morning, uh if you want a QR code for function health, I'll just give you a second. You can scan that right now, but it's also just functionhealth.com or just Google function health. And if it doesn't work, it's ChatGPT's fault. But as we wrap up, what I what I want to tell you about your health, regardless of where you are on that journey, is you can make significant changes over time. You can make whether you're trying to lose weight, whether you're trying to change your nutrition, or whether you're trying like I am right now to lower your biomarkers, you can make change over time. I took that first blood test in July, and the most important uh heart marker for me is APOB, apolipoprotein, and I need to get that as low as possible. You can see that it was above the range at 102. I just took February and I got it down to 88, praise God. Let's go. That's progress. I'm hoping that in July that's down even farther. But again, day-to-day intensity, week-to-week consistency over time creates significant change in your life. You got to do it every day. And so I want to leave you with some resources. I'll just walk through these quickly. Um, Body and Peloton, again, if you're looking for home workouts, these are fantastic. They have a library of more workouts than you'll ever be able to do. Try a bunch of them. See what works. Try a Peloton bike, try running, whatever. Uh, an Apple Watch. A lot of I see a lot of Apple Watches here. Uh there's an app. I was looking to get in a whoop or an Aura ring because they're great and have a lot of data, but then in my research, I found out that Apple actually, it's not Apple that makes it, but there's an app called Bevel, and it'll track your sleep, your recovery, your stress levels, your strain levels. And so, similar to Andrew's chart of how he maps his energy throughout the day, I can see my stress throughout the day. So it's I can actually look back in my day and say, like, oh, I was in that meeting. My man, my stress shot up. How do I be more calm in meetings like that? Super helpful. My fitness pal is what I use to track my meals. Yuka app is an app that you could scan any barcode of food and it'll grade it on a scale of one to a hundred. Don't put anything in your body that's under 65, and you'll start to feel a lot better. Chat GPT, I talked about Dr. Mark Hyman. And then I recently read a book. This guy just got in a bunch of trouble with Epstein email, so like I'm not promoting him as a person, but his book, his book, Outlive, is very, very good. Uh, it's all about longevity. And for me, there's a whole chapter on the heart and things you can do. So he basically talks about the four big killer, the four big horsemen, and what you can do to help um not get those. So those are some resources for you. Uh and as we close, one of my favorite quotes, I know I have a ton, but is although you cannot go back and have a brand new start, my friend, anyone can start from now and have a brand new end. Right? You can't go back to the past five years of what you ate and how you treated your body and what you did and didn't do, but you can't start today. You can start today. And my challenge for you as we end this talk is what's the one thing you're gonna do? I tend to people give people like a gallon of things they can do when they need a teaspoon, but my hope is that you can extract one thing that I shared today, one resource, and say, okay, I'm at least gonna try to start doing that. Maybe it's tracking your calories, maybe it's trying a different workout, maybe it's getting the blood work that I shared. But whatever it is, what's your one thing that you're gonna do to change? Because here's what I know don't leave it to chance leader. Don't leave your health and journey to chance. Do everything you can within your control and trust God for the rest. Because at the end of the day, man, I want to be here with you and I want to say, well done, a good and faithful servant. We are part of the 2%. We made it, our health is intact, our family is intact, our faculty is intact, our ministry and businesses are intact, and we lived the life that God called us to. Well, hey leaders, thank you so much for listening to my talk on taking control of your health. I hope that it impacted you, and more importantly, I hope that you'll do something with the information that you learned. I want to give a special thanks to our sponsor, Endosha Marketing Solutions. They are the producers of this podcast. And if your organization has any marketing needs, I wholeheartedly recommend their services. You can learn more about them at endosha.com. That's a n-v-o-cia.com. And as always, leader, I like to end every episode with a quote, and I'll quote Tony Robbins again because it's been such an impactful quote. And he said that he said, Nothing tastes as good as fit feels. Nothing taste as good as fit feels. Just keep that in your mind when you're tempted to eat for it. So that's going to wrap up today's episode. As always, leaders, remember this don't quit. Keep leading. The world desperately needs your leadership. We'll talk to you next episode.