848: Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Mastering Mindset With Drew Canole

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Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Mastering Mindset With Drew Canole
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848: Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Mastering Mindset With Drew Canole
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I am back today with Drew Canole, and this time, we’re talking about building muscle, losing fat, mastering mindset, and dialing in sleep. Drew is, among many things, a new dad to a nine-month-old. He’s also the founder of FitLife TV and the co-founder of Organifi, a company I’ve loved for years. Drew is so well-researched in so many areas, and we delve into a lot of these today.

Today, he shares practical, actionable, and, best of all, entirely free advice that can be a game changer for your health. I took so many notes on this episode! We go deep into the importance of sun and protein, how to work on your mindset with a simple ritual, and tips for improving sleep.

I know you’ll love this conversation with Drew. Thanks for listening today.

Episode Highlights With Drew Canole

  • The real story of how to build muscle, lose fat, and get healthier as we age
  • “Whydentity” process — the why that makes you cry and how to find yours
  • Feeling creates your reality and how to start here
  • How to create a ritual around mindset and healthy habits
  • When you change your unconscious mind, you change your reality 
  • Why he recommends 1 g of protein per pound of ideal body weight for moms
  • Hormone and sleep benefits of sun exposure and how to optimize this
  • Sunlight is the most underrated nutrition we have as human beings 
  • Why many people eat too much of the wrong food and don’t get enough micronutrients and sunlight
  • Melanin is one of the greatest substances in our body
  • A reason to really focus on protein and how getting enough can change your life
  • His best sleep tips and ways to improve your sleep drastically 
  • Tips for improving HRV
  • Creating an optimal sleep environment in your home
  • A random reason he sometimes has two golden kiwis at night

Resources We Mention

More From Wellness Mama

Read Transcript

Child: Welcome to my Mommy’s podcast.

This podcast is sponsored by Hiya Health. It’s a company that I love for my younger kids because typical children’s vitamins are basically candy and disguised. They’re filled with up to two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals, or other gummy junk that I personally don’t want my kids to ever eat. And that’s why Hiya was created. It’s a pediatrician approved superpower chewable vitamin. Now, while most children’s vitamins contain sugar and they contribute to a variety of health issues, Hiya is made with zero sugar, zero gummy junk, doesn’t have the artificial colors, flavors, additives that we don’t know where they came from, but it tastes great and it’s perfect even for picky eaters.

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This podcast is brought to you by Our Place. And I absolutely love this company. And I feel like they are a tremendous resource for moms because we are hearing a lot right now about Forever Chemicals or PFAS. And how, as the name suggests, these chemicals can stay in the body for a really long time. And how they’re present in a lot of places we might not expect from our clothing to our kitchenware and so much more. And for years, once I started understanding Forever Chemicals that are present in things like most nonstick coatings, I avoided them entirely and had intense frustration with my cookware because every single time, everything was getting stuck and dishes got really, really difficult, which is why I was so excited to find Our Place.

They’re a mission-driven, female-founded brand that makes beautiful kitchen products that are effective as well as healthy and sustainable. Their products are made without Forever Chemicals or PFAS and without PTFE or Teflon. So in comparison to most of today’s nonstick pans, they do not contain these chemicals that are coming under global scrutiny right now for their potential far-ranging health problems. A lot of cookware companies still use these chemicals because they’re low cost. And we’re seeing some kind of mislabeling advertising trying to avoid disclosing that. But I feel like companies like Our Place are really leading the charge and creating PFAS-free, durable, non-toxic ceramic coating that let you cook without the frustration and without the toxins. So they have all kinds of amazing products. I first got introduced to them years ago, and I’ve been using their products for years. And right now they are offering a site-wide discount just for listeners of this podcast. So go to fromourplace.com. Make sure to use the code WellnessMama10 to save 10% site-wide. They also offer a 100-day free trial with pre-shipping in return, so trying them is risk-free.

Katie: Hello and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast. I’m Katie from wellnessmama.com and I am back today with Drew Canole who I’m so excited to share with you once again. This time we’re talking about building muscle, losing fat, mastering mindset, and really dialing in sleep. And these are all areas that he is an expert in, and he gives so much practical, actionable, and a lot of it entirely free advice that can be a game changer for your health.

Drew is among many things. He’s also a new dad to a nine-month-old. He is a published author. He’s the founder of FitLife TV and the co-founder of Organifi, which is a company I have loved for years. I order their products all the time. My kids love them as well. I actually most love them for my kids because they make products that are absolutely packed with micronutrients and beneficial ingredients and that my kids actually like. So there is zero fight there on getting them to consume these products. But Drew also is so well-researched in so many areas and we delve into, a lot of these today. I would say I probably took more notes for the show notes in this and my last episode with Drew than I have in almost any other podcast ever. So many, so many action steps in this podcast. I know that you will love this conversation. So let’s jump in. Drew, welcome back.

Drew: Hey, thanks for having me back, Katie.

Katie: Oh, absolute pleasure to have you here. If you guys missed our first episode, there are so many key takeaways in that. I’ve made possibly my longest list in the show notes ever of action steps that Drew gave us. And I am equally excited to dive into this episode with you. I feel like the topics we’re going to talk about are going to be even more relevant to moms, which are really dialing in things like building muscle, losing fat, the mindset piece, and then a deep dive on sleep. Because I feel like these are all areas where we know, for instance, as we get older maintaining lean muscle mass is extremely correlated with longevity. This is extremely important. It also can get difficult, especially for women, especially after menopause. There’s some variables that come into play that can make it tougher. So I know that’s a broad topic, but I would love to start broad with how can we dial in diet lifestyle for things like reducing excess body fat, building lean muscle, and just supporting our whole body as we get older.

Drew: 100%. And before, there’s a before step that I’ve done for 14 years. I started FitLife TV 14 years ago, which is wild to me. But the first thing I did with any client, and I would travel into people’s homes, you know, they’d pay me $10,000 to $25,000 for a few days of teaching them about their genetics, looking at their blood, showing them how to work out to build muscle, maintain metabolism and energy, cognitive health throughout the years. And the thing that I would always have the person start with was the why-dentity process. So a why that makes you cry. And I think you have to have purpose.

So what is the purpose behind me wanting this muscle mass in the first place? What is the purpose behind me wanting more mitochondrial energy and mitochondrial health? So what’s the why look like? What’s the vision? If you don’t have a vision, then it’s just going to fall away over the years to come. What does it feel like in the body now? Like, what does your ideal body feel like? Do you remember? Was it five years ago? Was it 10 years ago? Like what happened in your life so that that started to fade away or fall out? And can we get back to that feeling now? Because feeling creates your reality. We know this, right? So how can I feel that way now? How can I see it?

And what do I want to hear from my lover, my husband, the people closest to me, my best friends? When I walk into a room with them, what are they saying three months from now about my new body that I’ve taken on through this transformative process of just being committed to myself as a mom? Taking time out of the day to nourish me first because I know when my cup is full, I can give to the saucer, not from the cup, but from the saucer underneath, I can give to every single person in my life. So you’ve got to get clear on your why. A why that makes you cry. I’ve written a book on it. I’ve written 12 books. This was one. And I think that that’s really supportive for putting yourself in the feeling place of having it now.

And then how do you create a ritual around it? What are we doing every day to build muscle mass or lose weight or whatever the goal is for you? For me, I want to see pictures. I’m a very visual person, so I create vision boards. I create vision movies, and I put emotional music behind it. I watch it every day, a three-minute movie. What is my life going to look like in 10 years? And I will watch this vision movie. I got a Estas Tonne, who’s a really good guitarist, playing in the background with vivid images of where I want to live, what I want my body to look like, what I want to feel like.

And then I don’t just look at it. I take action on it. Because when you can change your unconscious mind, I know I’m jumping ahead talking about mindset, you change your reality. It’s not about your conscious mind. It’s about your unconscious. In the book, The Kybalion, the first law is everything is mental. How many people have we talked to, especially moms. I have a lot of really good mom friends. And as they age, you know, they tell me, they share their hearts, and they’re like, hey, I’m starting to feel invisible. Nobody sees me. And I’m like, well, what is it? You know, let’s dig into that. Where were you not seen? You know, and we do all the child stuff to work through that. But how can you see yourself more in this moment? How do you see yourself? And I let them know that they’re the most beautiful human I’ve ever seen. And many of them are.

And that I’m pro-aging. I think when we try to do all the anti-aging stuff, it just doesn’t turn out well. Let’s age gracefully. Let’s age with more beauty because I believe somebody’s soul is much more attractive than even the physical meet suit. Like we’ve all met those people that are in their 70s and 80s and they walk into a room and they’re just so attractive because they’re just beaming with life force. Like don’t you want to be that?

So, I know I’ve jumped around a lot here. And for the purpose of this, the muscle mass stuff. Muscle is the most important organ in the body. And most moms are chronically undernourished when it comes to protein and when it comes to micronutrients. They’re eating things just to eat. There’s not a lot of intentionality behind eating for most people. And I know your audience is different. You probably have the moms that are very selective in nutrient uptake and eating the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. That’s what I try to do for my wife. I love to cook, so I’m always making things that are higher in nutrients and trying to sneak them into things that maybe she would eat in a pattern just to eat so that she has more time and space. Because let’s face it, new moms do not have a lot of time. So I’m just trying to get her stuff to feel better in her body. Protein-rich foods. We’re nose to tail as a family. You know, we buy food from local farms, grass-fed farms around us. So we’re lucky to have that. You can also do, I think you’re, are you Butcher Box or something like that as well?

Katie: Yeah, there’s several great online resources, but I’m with you, whenever possible, local ranchers are an awesome option.

Drew: Yeah, 100%. So making that kind of food, prepping in advance, meal prep, we’re big fans of making sure she’s getting at least 130 grams of protein a day. I do believe one gram of protein per pound as a mom. And also working out, you know, even 20 to 30 minutes. Whether you’re going to a gym or doing a workout program in front of the TV, just to build strength is so key, not just for muscle, but for neurochemicals. Like your happy hormones, serotonin and oxytocin and neuroepinephrine and all the neurochemicals that we get from just the body expending energy.

The more you do it, the more energy you have. So when moms come to me and they’re like, I don’t have energy and I definitely don’t have time. One of my best friends, she’s a high-powered attorney at a huge media company. She’s like, I do not have time to work out, and I don’t have energy, which is funny because the more you work out, the more energy you have. And the more energy you have, you find the more time you have. It’s backwards. Most people are so confused when it comes to this.

So getting enough hydration, like we talked about in the last episode, 32 ounces of water, filling your water with micronutrients like Green or Red or even Gold at night, flooding your body with all of these plant botanicals and adaptogens, you’re going to notice your body starts to rev up. You just have more energy, more mental focus. And you can use it wiser because your mind’s working better. Your mind’s operating better. So I’m headed in a lot of directions, Katie. But this is good, you know?

Katie: Yeah, I think that you touched on so many important points and especially the idea like, statistically most women and especially moms are not still consuming enough protein and your body has an increased need for protein during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I know on my own journey, this was an area when I was working through thyroid issues, when I was fatigued as a new mom, it was so easy to accidentally under eat. And I did that chronically for years. And it took me years to heal my metabolism and signal to my body that it was safe and getting enough protein and micronutrients. I feel like we’re key variables in that for me.

I also love that you talk about being pro-aging, because I think this is an area where that idea that what we chase, resist us and what we resist chases us is very relevant and true. And I’m with you. I would rather age with grace, but not avoid aging, especially artificially. I’m proud of my laugh lines and my smile lines and all of the expression lines that my children have given me. And I don’t want to trade those.

I know an area when we talk about aging, one that comes up that can be a little controversial, and I would guess we’re on the same page about is the importance of sunlight. And I feel like in the modern world, this is overlooked in its importance for human biology, for circadian biology, for sleep, for so many other things. Even when we’re talking about muscle, light is actually an important signaling mechanism sort of across the body. And I feel like we’ve reduced it to simply vitamin D and we’ve become afraid of it because of skin cancer. I’m very pro sunlight. But I would love to hear your take on light exposure, sunlight, and all of the ways that that interacts with our biology.

Drew: Yeah, for me, same here. I’ve been a big student of sun gazing for the past two decades at least. Waking up first thing in the morning with the first sun, 15 to 30 minutes, I’m doing Tai Chi, staring into the sun. When I first started out, I was only doing this for like 10 to 15 seconds, so. I’m not a vision doctor, I have to preface that, like don’t blind yourself out there, but I’ve noticed a lot of benefits from it. I start to notice that I’m more than a five-sense organism, that I have a subtle energy body. And I think the light codes that we get from the sun are super crucial. I know hormonally I feel better, and I have more energy when my feet are bare on the earth and I’m looking into the sun first thing in the morning. There’s a big difference in my ability to connect and be present with the people that I love when I’m getting sun. I think it’s the most underrated nutrition that we have as human beings. We get sun food. Literally, you’re absorbing the sun’s energy. I think most people probably eat way too much of the wrong food. And they’re not getting enough things like light food, the sun.

So I’ve noticed differences in, I used to have low testosterone and that was because I was working in an office, in a box, in a cubicle, in the blue light. I was driving 15 hours a day working in this office. I didn’t get any sun. One switch. My hormones started to regulate more effective. And I started to feel better. So I think the sun is so important. I’m definitely pro-sun. I don’t even wear sunscreen. I think if I was to wear sunscreen, it would probably be like, what is it, tallow and zinc or something like supernatural? I think a lot of the sunscreens, as you probably do, are BS that are on the market today. I talk to a lot of people that are freaking out about the sun, and then I see them at the beach with their orange cans, like, spraying this crap all over them. And I’m like, guys, you literally, this is the reason why your skin’s not healthy, not the sun. So don’t blame the sun for what sunscreen has caused. And a lot of the pollutants and toxins and everything that are in our environment.

Now, you want to be safe with this. I believe a lot of people are eating seed oils, and they’re eating a lot of inflammatory on the inside, omega-6s, a lot of microplastics and other things that your body’s trying to heal from the inside, and your skin is just a reflection of the inside. So the healthier we eat, for me, astaxanthin has been key for somebody who’s fair-skinned, light-eyed. Back in the day, I would easily burn. Both my parents are genetically redheads, so they’re gingers. So I have that going for me. But I’ve been able to defy that is what I’m saying because of these practices. I don’t think we’re set up to be limited biologically. I think we change our epigenetics based on what the inputs are. Astaxanthin, taking care of my sun to eye connection. People wear sunglasses. Your body can’t regulate, so you get burnt. Most people that wear sunglasses are constantly burning because the sun needs to go in your eyeballs in order for the liver to create hormones, for your skin to adjust and adapt and actually create melanin. Melanin is one of the greatest things in our body, especially when it comes to the, don’t get me started on this, but the pineal gland and traveling into different dimensions in dream time through the power of light medicine. That’s a whole other topic, though. We won’t go there today.

Katie: But hopefully a future episode to be continued. But to echo your point, I also grew up very fair skinned. My dad has red hair. When I was a kid, I would burn in five minutes in the sun. And I’ve noticed over time, as I’ve worked on inflammation and changed my diet, I now can, I live at the beach. I can be out for hours and not burn. It was not an overnight process. But I stopped wearing sunglasses. I never wear sunscreen. And I use as a tip an app called dminder, which lets you input your skin type, where you live, and your sun exposure. And it helps you not track just your vitamin D, but also help avoid sunburn, which I’m not an advocate for anyone to ever sunburn, but helps you find that safe window of getting the right amount of light without burning.

Also, the point I love to point out is that if we go outside, like you mentioned early morning when you first wake up, if we’re in outside outdoors without glasses, without a window in that sort of magic first hour of sunrise or the hour of sunset, it’s like natural red-light therapy. It’s all the same spectrum of light you would find in a red light with much more intensity, completely free from nature. And there’s some evidence that that actually helps reduce your risk of sunburn as well. Because you’re getting the right light signaling in your body to create the substances that protect you from sunburn.

Drew: 100%. And sunburn is literally just inflammation on your skin. So what other inflammation do you have in your body? Do you have achy joints, achy knees? Are you dealing with carpal tunnel? Like, there’s a whole gamut and list of things that your body’s probably had for years. And just by sitting in the sun and planting your feet on the earth, most of that could probably be gone. You know, 7.8 Schumann resonance, like go hang out in that field for a while, you’d be blown away at how good you feel.

Katie: Absolutely. 100% in agreement on that. You also touched on protein and you slipped in there that you recommend a gram of protein per pound of either body weight or ideal body weight. And I would love to talk about this a little bit more just because anytime I get to reiterate this point for moms, I think it’s so valuable. Also for our kids when they’re in growth phases, protein is so important. And I know this was a slow learned lesson for me and I feel so much better and have so much more energy now that I’m very conscious of getting enough protein every day. But can you explain a little bit about why this is so important and or any ways we can help sort of maximize our protein?

Drew: First of all, if you change your focus to just this, just for me, I have a lot going on, probably like everybody listening to this. If you just write down how much protein you’re getting at each meal or use an app, there’s tons of apps that can do this. I’m old school. I like just taking a pencil and writing it down on a piece of paper every day, how much protein I’m getting, meal one, meal two, snack, protein shake, whatever it is. I’m not tracking my macros in any other way, how many carbs I’m getting. I’m not tracking any of that. In fact, I’m not on any specific diet. All these yo-yo diets we see, the carnivore diet, the carb-free diet, the fat-free diet, the Dukan diet, all these things in the past. I am literally just looking at protein. And quality of protein every single day. How much am I getting? And then everything else just falls into place.

So by lunch, I know for me as a 220-pound male, if I have at least 100 grams of protein, it’s a good day. And there’s easy ways to do that. I use, you know, being close to other farms, there’s raw yogurt, you know, that I can take, like sheepskin, like that kind of stuff. There’s chicken, like even ground chicken, which is low in fat. One pack of that’s 88 grams of protein, which blows me away. You can find some good spices or something to add to it. It’s so easy to hide protein into things that actually taste great. So that works for me, 100 grams of protein by lunch. I think as a mom, you’re probably you know, half your body weight by lunch at least. And then throughout the day, just track it.

And pay attention to how much better you feel energetically. Because I think a lot of people think they’re eating healthy, but it’s the furthest thing from healthy. You know, this is the same type of person, oh yeah, I hardly ever have any sweets. And then you go look in their fridge and it’s, oh, they just bought ten things of Haagen-Dazs. You know, last week it’s in the freezer. Or it’s all this bread and cookies and all these other things that they say they only eat every once in a while.

But as you know, it’s an insulin job. Like, insulin is weight gain. So if you can control your insulin, I was wearing a Levels blood monitor for a while, the CGMs that you can just wear on your body. You’ve probably done that too. And you just track. You see what things you’re a little bit allergic to or which things your body doesn’t like. You track your blood sugar. And over time, you begin to understand that you have vastly more energy when your blood sugar is below 100 all day long. And if you can just keep it there with protein, eating these things that are of high nutritional value, not only will you age better because those erratic sugar spikes are probably the cause of aging. And what we talked about earlier, the sunburns that you’re getting are from the insulin spikes as well. It’s all related. Thyroid issues. So many things disguise themselves as gluten, like all these cassava flour wraps and everything else. It’s like they say it’s good for you just because it’s gluten-free. You’re probably getting an insulin spike from it. So not to mention autoimmune issues and everything else, but if you just track protein, the main point, and you hammer this, one gram of protein per pound of body weight that you weigh, pay attention to how much better you feel within the next 30 days.

Katie: Absolutely. And if you’re new to that, I will say I had to like that actually became the most difficult part of getting stronger for me was not the working out. It was learning to eat enough protein because like you talked about when I started tracking, I was eating a lot less protein than I would have guessed. When I actually started paying attention to it and learning how to actually eat enough protein took me a while, but the energy from that is phenomenal.

And I feel with kids is also, I mean, they’re building their skeletal muscle foundation for life, depending on what age they are, really getting them enough protein makes a huge difference I find in their sleep quality, in their recovery, in their attitude and their mental focus throughout the day. So I use as a tip, an app called Real Plans that lets me plan meals around protein content and also work in other nutrient-dense foods. But that’s simplified things for me because with six of them, I am cooking a lot of protein all the time in my house, for sure.

Drew: I’m taking a mental note. What was the name of that app again?

Katie: Real Plans. It’s awesome. And it can work with stuff you have in your house, in your pantry, and you can even plan around, I want to hit this much protein per meal as the target, and it will bring up recipes that do that.

Drew: Oh my God. I need that.

Katie: So it’s super helpful.

Drew: Dial in protein, you’ve got it made.

Katie: Exactly. I love that. I feel like another fall down point that we touched on a little bit in our first episode, but I want to go deep on in this episode is sleep because this is certainly elusive for moms. I know you have a relatively young baby still, and probably sleep has been a little bit different for you in the last nine months than it was before that, but sleep can be elusive for moms, especially. I know I’ve been using the Gold that you guys have for years and it really, really helps with sleep, but there’s so much more we can do to really dial in our sleep. And I think this is an area certainly of 80-20 when it comes to health, that any way that we can improve our sleep, especially through habits or adjustments to our sleep environment that give us benefit while we’re sleeping without any additional effort or just a really high ROI area to focus on. So I would love to hear kind of a deep dive into how you address sleep, maybe how your wife is handling sleep with a newborn, and any ways that we as moms especially can improve our sleep.

Drew: Number one, being the social media people that we are, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all these apps that we have that pull us into the blue light continuously. Most people go to bed and they’re on their apps. Scroll holes, right? The scroll doom hole of death. Like you just sit there for minutes on end. So what I’ve done and what I encourage everybody to do is delete all those apps. Once a day, even delete it at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. And just have a time tomorrow to open that back up. So you’re not going on. I think that’s crucial because you’re going to be pulled to it. It’s very addictive. And these big companies, these media companies, have literally scientifically figured out how to pull you back into these apps. So you’re on Instagram in the middle of the night or in the morning when you wake up and you have all these thoughts, and that just throws your circadian rhythm out even more. So that would be number one.

Number two, dark environment, of course. I’m a big candle guy. So turning off all the lights or having red light at night. Not LED, but something that gives you the red lights so that it’s not tricking out your mitochondria, thinking that your cortisol spikes need to be up. And it’s so simple when you look at it because babies have cortisol spikes too. And if you can watch them self-regulate based on what’s on in the environment, you can start to shift your sleep environment like that.

So dark windows, cold environment. I like to have it at least probably 65, 68 degrees in the room and baby sleeps better too. Tested it. So cooler is better. I use a little Ooler pad. I don’t know if that company’s around anymore, but it used to be Chili Pad or something like that, but just a cool mattress. No light in the room whatsoever. Like I said, I cut food out at two or three o’clock in the afternoon, which I know is crazy for some people because they’re like, well, what about dinner? You just have dinner earlier. And that works for me because my body’s not spending the night trying to regulate my digestion and pulling energy to heal. I’ve noticed my heart rate, which would probably normally be at night, my resting heart rate, maybe around 52 to 54 if I have a big meal. And when I don’t, I’m down to 46 to 48. Like it’s crazy. And with all that, you’re getting more REM sleep, you’re getting more delta, which is the slow wave recovery sleep that we need.

As we age, people get less and less deep sleep. I shoot for two hours of deep sleep every night, three hours of REM, which is normally what I get. I’ve gotten 100 sleep scores multiple times on like Aura and Whoop and stuff, and people are like, how did you do that? I also drink the Gold. The Organifi Gold helps when it comes to lowering heart rate, when it comes to digestion with the ginger, the beta-glucans to help me relax. That’s been helpful for sleep.

And then if there’s anything I haven’t done, and I know you’re probably like me with this, Katie, is if I’m holding on to any emotional thing that I need to forgive somebody for or reach out to somebody that wronged me or even a task at work that I said I was going to do that I didn’t do, having integrity with my word as a man is super important. So if I go to bed without doing those things, I notice my sleep isn’t as sound. And my heart rate variability is actually lower. So I am fanatical about getting things done the day that I say I’m going to do it, honoring my word, my intention, making sure there’s no word left unsaid, especially with kids. I make sure I have more than enough present quality time with my baby girl so that I know I can smile. When I go to bed, I’m smiling in ecstasy because of the joy that we were able to have as a family. And I think that helps us sleep better. That’s a big thing.

Katie: Absolutely. And as we talked about before we hit record today, my oldest is going to turn 18 in a couple of months. And it is mind blowing to me how rapidly that went by. And I realized so much that those are the moments we look back on are those moments with our family and the quality time spent together. And if anything, I wish I could just go back and maximize that even more, figure out a way to work even less, because those are the moments that I feel like really stick with us.

I love that you, so I am totally in alignment with you on if you’re going to do intermittent fasting, shift that window earlier, eat high protein breakfast soon after waking, and then start fasting earlier in the evening. I think especially for women, skipping breakfast, drinking coffee on an empty stomach, and then pushing food later in the day, it drastically messes up my sleep. And I notice a huge difference. I’m not quite as dialed in as you are. I usually stop eating at four or five, but even just shifting that much earlier makes a big difference. And so if you guys haven’t tried that, that’s a free tip, just moving around when you’re eating, that might make a huge difference in your sleep.

But you also touched on HRV. Are there any other HRV needle movers? Because I get a lot of questions about this, and it seems like for moms especially, HRV can be lower than they’d like. Are there any other tips you have for playing with HRV and improving it?

Drew: The big one is, like I said before, purpose. When you feel like you’re, as a mom, you have purpose in your children and you’re supportive and you’re doing things to fill your own cup up, I think that’s going to raise your HRV more than anything. I think a lot of moms breathe from their upper chest. A lot of women in general. Like, planet Earth can be a pretty scary place. And when you breathe with your belly, your whole diaphragmic breathing, it allows you to come back to your heart and HRV, heart rate variability. When we’re in our hearts, then we feel safe, we feel home, we feel at peace. But when we’re in our heads, I think that’s when things can get a little chaotic.

So taking a time out at least every two to three hours and just deep breathing five minutes. And just being here. I was tortured and I had a lot of trauma as a kid from zero to five, physically. My dad would put cigarettes out on my forehead if I couldn’t tie my shoes fast enough. Like, it was, no human should do this to their child. So I was adopted at five, thankfully. But I had to learn a lot of techniques to remove the trauma from my body. And one of those things is breathing, and TRE, trauma release exercises. So Peter Levine talks about this in his book called, I think, Chasing the Tiger. And it’s just the analogy for getting the trauma out of your body using this tremor experience. It’s free. It literally takes five minutes. I’ve done a video on this before. You have your legs shake, and you actively release the trauma in your body, which we all have. Every human being has trauma on planet Earth, especially in 2024. It’s getting a little crazy out there. So you just shake it.

And what I’ve noticed doing this for the past eight years, five minutes a day, and I don’t do it every day. I’m not that rigid. Even with my sleep, I’m not as rigid as I say I am, you know. Maybe it sounds like I am, I should say, because eating at 2 or 3 o’clock every day, there are days when I eat late, 7, 8 o’clock, and I’m not hard on myself. I think a lot of people are too hard on themselves. But with HRV, you do the trauma release exercises. And that’s super supportive for flushing trauma and getting rid of grief. Or shame that we can hold in our liver, like we talked about earlier, or our stomachs if we’re having digestion issues, things of that nature. So that’s been super powerful.

I’m a big fan of cold showers. I have a couple cold plunges at the farm. I would rather just take a five-minute cold shower. Jump in that. I’ve noticed the sauna actually lowers my heart rate variability, but then it raises it later on. So I do love the sauna. I was doing it every day for a while, and I think that’s a little too much for your minerals. You deplete a lot of minerals in the process.

I played around with a ton of supplements. Happy Drops is a big mover of HRV with the saffron and lowering cortisol. I played around with methylene blue as well. Riboflavin is electron donors, so just giving you energy with other supplements. Vitamin C gives your body energy without creating energy. It’s pretty wild. I believe people have far less vitamin C than what they need. If I am going to eat something at night, and I noticed a difference with heart rate variability as well, I’ll have two golden kiwis, which I know sounds crazy. It’s like a weird hack. First of all, kiwis are my favorite fruit. They taste amazing. But there’s something about the nutrients, maybe the aminos and the vitamin structure of the kiwi that actually helps us heal at night and restore DNA. I’ve read a little bit about it. But yeah, try kiwis before you go to bed at night too.

Katie: I love that. I will give that a try. And I’m really glad you brought up also that you are not as rigid as it may sound when I ask you just your daily routine and you give us an example of, I have a big believer also in not doing anything every single day. So even I don’t eat some days, I don’t take supplements some days, I vary it. And like you, I try to stop eating early and go to bed early. And there’s also times when social capital wins and time with people I love is worth staying up late or worth having a later dinner. I think being easy on yourself in those instances is an important concept as well.

I also love that from someone who’s done so much research, dialed in so much, tried everything that you really brought to center the points today that are largely very inexpensive or free as the foundation, things like sunlight and sleep and breath and hydration and mindset. I think even if you’re going to do the fancy biohacking things or expensive therapies or whatever it is, getting those dialed in makes everything else have the ability to be much more effective in your life. And then I also love that you’ve created tools and products for people once they get those steps dialed in that can really be needle movers for health and that are a huge part of my routine as well.

So as we get toward the end, I would love to hear kind of two part. First of all, being any suggested starting points, especially with Organifi products that you would recommend for moms specifically if they’re new to Organifi and any sort of last message or parting words you want to give to these moms specifically today.

Drew: Yeah, so starting place, like I had talked about before, the Sunrise to Sunset bundle has moms covered. We also have kids, too. So kids, easy greens. I get a lot of testimonials and messages from moms and dads alike, that their kids are now drinking this green juice that tastes like apple juice. And it’s one of my favorite Organifi products because it literally does taste like the best organic apple juice, but it’s got moringa and chlorella and all the good greens in there that the little growing bodies need.

And then Organifi Protect, which is another kid’s drink, which has tons of anti-inflammatory stuff in it, good for the immune response, super powerful. The Organifi Protect for kids. And then gummies. You know, if you’re a gummy person and you know it and you like something that’s easy to take, then I would say the Happy Drops improve your mood. The shilajit for minerals and energy. It’s pretty much like choose your own adventure. And depending on where you are in the process, I would say that that’s where I would start as a mom.

If you’re not getting enough protein, the Organifi protein is amazing. It’s called Organifi Complete. It’s got vitamins, minerals, enzymes to help you digest a lot of the plant-based protein. Why I created this was because at the time in the marketplace, people that would try plant-based protein is they would have gas. And I’m like, we need to make something that goes down easy, doesn’t jack their digestion up, and they get 20 plus grams of protein in each serving. And we did. And it tastes awesome. And it’s got all the goodness in there as well.

We will focus more on kids in the future. I know you’ve brought up kids a handful of times on this podcast. It’s something I’m passionate about, obviously, having a nine-month-old baby girl. I’m working on kids’ gummies. I’m working on a kid’s chocolate milk with goat milk. And it’s going to have colostrum, it’s going to have collagen, it’s going to have all the things that the little growing bodies need as well. I’m really excited about that. And yeah, that’s where I would start as a mom. As far as something that I could share to what was the exact question again? The last one?

Katie: Sort of parting words or a message you really want to leave with the audience today.

Drew: Yeah, I think you said it earlier, and that is when we talk about all these influencers online and everybody follows and the podcasts that they listen to, it almost feels like a lot of work. And it almost feels like you have to do, you have to get an A-plus every day. And it’s not like that. As a mom, you know, you don’t have to be a perfectionist. You can truly let that go. You can be easier on yourself and more kind. And you’re actually going to get better results.

Because think about the you that went on a vacation recently. You know, maybe you went to Italy or maybe you went somewhere in America that you haven’t been or somewhere in the world. It doesn’t matter. But you were relaxed, and you were at ease. And you came back and you probably had more energy and you didn’t really gain any weight. That’s because your stress levels have gone down. And when you feel at peace with yourself and you know that your kids are taken care of and you don’t have to micromanage everything in your life, life’s going to get a lot easier.

And over time, you’re going to like this new person that you’re becoming. Things are going to start to get effortless. And there’s going to be greater ease in your life. And I know as a new dad, I can be so hard and sometimes so rigid. I don’t do this. I don’t do that. I’m hard on myself the next day. I just think we all need to let that go. I think if we can do that, we’ll feel better. So, thanks for putting all this delicious content out there, Katie. I’ve been following you for over 10 years. You’re great, and I love that you’re helping so many people with their health, feeling whole, feeling better in their bodies.

Katie: Well, thank you for being here. It’s truly a joy to finally get to record these. I hope that you will return again in the future for more episodes because I know there’s so many directions we haven’t even gotten to go yet. But for today, Drew, I’m deeply grateful for your time. So grateful for the products that you create, for you being here, and for all the work that you do. Thank you so much.

Drew: Thank you, my friend.

Katie: And thank you, as always, for listening and sharing your most valuable resources, your time, your energy, and your attention with us today. We’re both so grateful that you did. And I hope that you will join me again on the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast.

If you’re enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to leave a rating or review on iTunes for me? Doing this helps more people to find the podcast, which means even more moms and families could benefit from the information. I really appreciate your time, and thanks as always for listening.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

This podcast is sponsored by Hiya Health. It’s a company that I love for my younger kids because typical children’s vitamins are basically candy and disguised. They’re filled with up to two teaspoons of sugar, unhealthy chemicals, or other gummy junk that I personally don’t want my kids to ever eat. And that’s why Hiya was created. It’s a pediatrician approved superpower chewable vitamin. Now, while most children’s vitamins contain sugar and they contribute to a variety of health issues, Hiya is made with zero sugar, zero gummy junk, doesn’t have the artificial colors, flavors, additives that we don’t know where they came from, but it tastes great and it’s perfect even for picky eaters.

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This podcast is brought to you by Our Place. And I absolutely love this company. And I feel like they are a tremendous resource for moms because we are hearing a lot right now about Forever Chemicals or PFAS. And how, as the name suggests, these chemicals can stay in the body for a really long time. And how they’re present in a lot of places we might not expect from our clothing to our kitchenware and so much more. And for years, once I started understanding Forever Chemicals that are present in things like most nonstick coatings, I avoided them entirely and had intense frustration with my cookware because every single time, everything was getting stuck and dishes got really, really difficult, which is why I was so excited to find Our Place.

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Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

2 responses to “848: Building Muscle, Losing Fat, and Mastering Mindset With Drew Canole”

  1. Sarah Stuckel Avatar
    Sarah Stuckel

    I loved this episode. Do you have any texts or further episodes around sunlight/sun exposure and relationship with sunscreen/sunglasses/sun protection?

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