BE ALL IN

We have more information about health, nutrition, and wellness than ever before. So why does staying healthy still feel so difficult?

In this episode of BE ALL IN with Raul Flores, I sit down with Angela Jenkins, RD/LD, a registered dietitian with over 30 years of experience and founder of Health Is Local.

Angela shares how her own unexpected health challenges changed the way she approaches nutrition and what it means to truly take care of ourselves.

We explore the hidden costs of modern convenience, our relationship with processed foods, the challenges of eating healthy on a budget, and the role our environment and communities play in our well-being.

We also discuss GLP-1 medications, environmental exposures, changing nutritional advice, and why there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach to health.

But this conversation goes beyond food. It's about personal responsibility, questioning what we've been taught, and finding a healthier way to live in a world that doesn't always make it easy.

Have we made life more convenient at the expense of our health?

Join us for an honest, thought-provoking conversation about food, health, and the choices that shape our lives.

Connect with Angela Jenkins

Health Is Local: https://www.healthislocal.com

Schedule a Discovery Call: https://www.healthislocal.com/cellular-detox-discovery-call

About BE ALL IN

BE ALL IN with Raul Flores explores life, the experiences that shape us, and who we become along the way. Through honest conversations with people from different backgrounds, we discover the lessons and perspectives that make us human.

Follow the podcast and share this episode with someone who might enjoy the conversation.

Disclaimer: This episode is for informational purposes only. Guest opinions are their own and should not replace professional medical advice.

lost two jobs in one day. Then my car broke down.

I was in my early twenties, broke, angry, embarrassed, and walking five miles through the Texas heat toward an apartment I wasn't sure I could afford anymore.

Somewhere during that walk, the way I looked at life began to change.

This episode isn't about pretending everything happens for a reason—or repeating the cliché that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Sometimes terrible things happen. Sometimes we create our own problems. And sometimes both happen on the same day.

It's about what happens after adversity arrives.

I share that five-mile walk, my family's immigration story, my dad's cancer, lessons from working as a paramedic, and why I've become more careful about what we call “resilience.”

Maybe adversity itself isn't the gift.

Maybe the question is what we choose to carry forward from it.

Because once you've already paid for the lesson, it would be a terrible thing to leave it behind.

This is BE ALL IN.

There’s a chapter in life where you’ve outgrown who you used to be, but you haven’t yet become who you’re trying to become.

That in-between season can feel lonely.

In this episode of BE ALL IN, I talk about what that looks like in my own life while building this podcast, working long hours in EMS, raising a family, and trying to create something that could eventually give me more freedom and control over my time.

This isn’t a “never quit” episode.

It’s about doing the work before there’s proof. It’s about ambition being bigger than your evidence. It’s about learning the difference between courage and recklessness, staying responsible to the people who matter most, and continuing to take the next honest step even when you don’t know how the story ends.

I also share what losing my identity in EMS taught me, why I no longer tie my worth to my profession or this podcast, and what I hope my daughters learn from watching me try.

If you’re in your own version of the lonely chapter right now, this episode is for you.

You are not alone.

We’ve made life easier, faster, and more convenient than ever before.

But what are we giving up in exchange for all that convenience?

In this episode of BE ALL IN, I sat down with Dr. Robert “Rob” Carter III, PhD, MPH, for a conversation about human performance, resilience, stress, intentional discomfort, modern convenience, and what happens when technology begins doing too much of the work for us.

Dr. Carter is a U.S. Army officer, researcher, and expert in human physiology and performance. He holds a doctorate in biomedical sciences and medical physiology and a Master of Public Health in chronic disease epidemiology. His academic background includes work in emergency medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts, and technical reports, and his research has been covered by outlets including The Washington Post, Fox News, and USA Today.

But what interested me most wasn’t the résumé.

It was the question underneath much of Rob’s work:

What keeps a human being capable in a world designed to make everything easier?

We explore why simply doing hard things doesn’t necessarily build resilience, the difference between productive discomfort and unnecessary suffering, how stress and recovery drive adaptation, and why some amount of friction may be necessary for us to remain physically and mentally capable.

We also get into convenience versus dependence.

GPS. Smartphones. AI. Automation.

At what point does a useful tool begin replacing a capability we should have maintained ourselves?

And as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into everyday life, how do we take advantage of what it can do without outsourcing our ability to think, learn, navigate, struggle, and solve problems for ourselves?

Rob is the coauthor, with Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter, of The Morning Mind: Use Your Brain to Master Your Day and Supercharge Your Life.

Their upcoming book, The Convenience Trap: How to Regain Control in a World of Instant Gratification, explores the consequences of increasingly frictionless living and the idea of intentionally preserving useful forms of difficulty rather than eliminating every inconvenience from our lives.

This conversation ultimately isn’t about rejecting comfort or technology.

It’s about learning to use both without allowing them to quietly reduce our capacity.

The Morning Mind — Official Website

The Convenience Trap — Simon & Schuster

Dr. Robert Carter III — Author Profile

BE ALL IN explores what pressure, responsibility, identity, discipline, recovery, and modern life do to us over time—and how we can build lives strong enough to carry that weight without sacrificing our health, relationships, or integrity.

Denny LaVé built a successful business, raised six sons, found his faith, and from the outside appeared to have built the life he was chasing. But success didn’t protect him from reaching one of the darkest moments of his life.

In this episode of BE ALL IN, Denny joins Raul Flores for an honest conversation about childhood hardship, identity, entrepreneurship, fatherhood, faith, mental health, and the pressure men often carry without telling anyone.

Denny shares his unconventional journey from blue-collar work to entrepreneurship, his time discerning religious life in a monastery in France, the personal cost of building a successful company, and the crisis that forced him to reconsider what strength actually means.

They also explore raising six sons, learning to ask for help, dealing with failure and disappointment, and why some of life's hardest seasons can fundamentally change how we understand success.

This isn't a conversation about having everything figured out.

It's about what happens when strength isn't enough—and how you keep going anyway.

🎙️ BE ALL IN with Raul Flores
Conversations about pressure, responsibility, identity, resilience, and building a life strong enough to carry the weight without losing yourself.

I flew to Rome chasing Marcus Aurelius — his column, his forum, the ground he walked. I thought being in those places would finally help me understand the man behind Meditations. It didn't. Not the way I expected.

What actually cracked it open was leaving the city. In the quiet of a small farm in Tuscany, a 5-mile walk for my daughter's birthday cake, and a lot of silence I'd been avoiding — I found something I wasn't looking for: a hard question about what I'm actually building, and who it's for.

This one's raw and unscripted, recorded on the road. It's about legacy, presence, ego, and the difference between reading philosophy and living it.

I came to Rome thinking I would find Marcus Aurelius in the monuments, the ruins, and the places where he once walked.

Instead, I found something else.

In this episode, I explore the streets of ancient Rome, visit places connected to one of history's greatest philosopher-emperors, and reflect on the timeless lessons his life still offers today. Along the way, I wrestle with questions about purpose, responsibility, leadership, legacy, and what it means to become a better person in a world full of distractions.

Marcus Aurelius never intended for Meditations to become one of the most influential books ever written. They were simply private reminders to himself—written by a man carrying the weight of an empire while trying to live with wisdom, humility, and integrity.

Two thousand years later, those same ideas still challenge us.

If you've ever wondered what kind of life is worth building, what will remain after you're gone, or how to stay grounded while carrying responsibility, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, we explore:

• Walking through the Rome of Marcus Aurelius
• The Column of Marcus Aurelius and the Pantheon
• Stoicism beyond the quotes
• Leadership under pressure
• Why legacy is built through character, not achievement
• The question every one of us eventually has to answer:
  What will be left of us when we're gone?

BE ALL IN is a podcast about resilience, identity, leadership, and living well while carrying the weight of modern life.

Hosted by Raul Flores.

Marcus Alon almost made a decision he couldn't take back.

Then his phone rang.

In this deeply honest conversation, Marcus shares the darkest season of his life, what stopped him from ending it, and how rebuilding himself led to a life centered on purpose, brotherhood, and service.

We talk about depression, identity, losing more than 250 pounds, fatherhood, faith, leadership, and why the strongest people are often the ones carrying the heaviest burdens.

This isn't a conversation about weight loss.

It's a conversation about becoming the person you were meant to be.

If you've ever questioned your purpose, struggled under the weight of responsibility, or wondered if life could be different, this episode is for you.

Topics Covered:

• The phone call that changed everything
• Depression and finding hope
• Identity beyond success
• Losing over 250 pounds
• Brotherhood and accountability
• Faith, purpose, and resilience
• Building a life that matters

BE ALL IN is a podcast for people carrying pressure, responsibility, and expectation—exploring resilience, leadership, identity, and how to build a life strong enough to sustain it.

What happens when the person who's spent years saving lives suddenly becomes the one who needs saving?

For years, Kim answered emergency calls as a paramedic, helping people through the worst moments of their lives. Then one ordinary day, without warning, her own heart stopped.

In this conversation, Kim shares what it's like to survive sudden cardiac arrest, the unimaginable experience of her mother performing CPR to save her life, and the emotional aftermath that no one prepares you for.

But this episode isn't just about surviving.

It's about identity, guilt, healing, therapy, and learning that even the people everyone depends on sometimes need help themselves.

If you've ever carried responsibility, struggled in silence, or wondered what it really means to get a second chance, this conversation is for you.

In this episode:

• Becoming the patient after years as a paramedic
• Surviving sudden cardiac arrest
• How trauma affects families differently
• Why first responders often avoid asking for help
• The power of therapy and healing
• Living with a second chance

BE ALL IN is a podcast about pressure, responsibility, resilience, and what it means to live well while carrying the weight of modern life.

What happens when the person everyone turns to for answers still wrestles with uncertainty?

In this episode of BE ALL IN, I sit down with Dr. Heidi Abraham—Emergency Medicine physician, EMS Medical Director, and one of the most respected leaders in Texas EMS—to talk about the realities of carrying responsibility over the long term.

But this conversation goes far beyond medicine.

We explore the hidden cost of leadership, the danger of letting a career become your identity, the pressure that reveals who we really are, and the role faith plays when the answers aren't always clear.

One of the most powerful moments came when Dr. Abraham admitted that despite years of experience, leadership, and responsibility, she still walks into difficult situations praying for wisdom and guidance.

This episode is about more than EMS.

It's about pressure.

It's about purpose.

It's about learning how to carry responsibility without losing yourself in the process.

Topics discussed:

• What pressure reveals about character
• Growing up in a large faith-centered family
• Why she chose emergency medicine and EMS
• When work becomes your identity
• Leadership and self-doubt
• Boundaries, burnout, and sustainability
• The sacrifices made by the people who love us
• Faith under pressure
• Building a life that can sustain responsibility over the long term

If you're carrying a lot right now—at work, at home, or in life—I think you'll find something in this conversation that resonates.

BE ALL IN is a podcast for people carrying responsibility who want to build clarity, resilience, and self-leadership without sacrificing their health, relationships, or integrity.