We often eat on the go during the work week because we are crunched for time. A lot of times eating at a fast food restaurant is also driven by financial convenience. In this episode, we want to lay out all of the convenient fast food establishments in your area and talk about which ones to stay away from and which ones are okay, as well as which options are healthiest at these select establishments. If you don’t have these places accessible to you during the work day, we are also going to give you practical and easy food ideas to grab on the go daily that are healthy.

Today we skim the surface on how we get our energy in our day to day lives. Obviously, getting energy the “natural” way is always the way to go, but that isn’t always practical, convenient, or realistic. With countless caffeine options to choose from, we share the truth about what to stay away from completely and what can be a healthier and more effective solution for daily use. We hope you enjoy it. Stay energized!

We all know that we should be getting plenty of water each day, but we may not know why its so important and even if we do, we don’t know how much water is enough and when the best time to drink water is. Furthermore, is the type of water we are drinking more harmful than good?

Today we tackle all of these questions and more, while providing practical solutions for you to start living healthier today in order to live a longer life.

In summary it is important to track how much water you drink and its source. Today our sources of fresh water are contaminated and contain organic and inorganic chemicals that can be extremely harmful at certain levels but even trace levels can bioaccumulate and lead to negative side affects. We suggest avoiding bottled water, determining contaminants in your tap water, and selecting a filter that specifically treats those contaminates.  

A great list of water filters can be found here: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/water-filters.htm

While we tried to summarize, there is so much to learn about water and we implore you as always to do your own due diligence. Some of our favorite sources of water information are from Heal Thyself, Hydrate, and Darin Olien podcasts. 

Today we have a very insightful and energized conversation with Alex Judd, the founder and CEO of Path for Growth. Path for Growth exists to help impact-driven leaders step in to who they were created to be so that others may benefit and God may be glorified. 

During our talk, we unpack the importance of working backward to create action steps through goal setting, having a good balance between order and chaos, and touch on some amazing tools and resources to help us all form long lasting habits in order to achieve our goals. Check out pathforgrowth.com or @juddontherun to learn about what Alex and his team do to impact leaders and professionals across the country. 

In this episode I have a discussion with Tania Lopez on physical fitness. Tania is a personal trainer and group fitness instructor at QNTM Fit Life in downtown Nashville. She also recently started an app for private training on fitness and nutrition. Although fairly new to the industry, she has been recognize for her talent by being voted Nashville Fit Magazine's Best Group Fitness Instructor for the second year in a row. In this episode we discuss her fitness journey, successful clients, healthy habits, diet, fascia, posture, and movement. If you want to hear more from Tania you can follow her on Instagram where she regularly posts fitness tips and motivational messages. Her handle is @tanyesworkoutplan. If you are local or visiting Nashville I encourage you to take one of her classes at QNTM Fit Life.

In this episode of Building Blue Zones, we uncover the basic biology of COVID-19, the immunology for fighting COVID-19, who is the most at risk population for the virus, a side by side comparison of the vaccines that will be available to the public, and our take on how to boost your immune system, whether that be by natural sources or the vaccine. The goal of this episode is to uncover the why behind how we as a country have addressed the pandemic and to inform you of the necessary precautions and options for mitigating infection and mortality. Sources are listed below. Enjoy!

This podcast defines sustainability. The human race has impacted the earth in a not so positive way and the results are becoming more evident. When we consider modern sustainability we have to consider humans as part of the biome. We must include the health of environment, social progress, and economic development. A difficult trinity to manage that may require systematic change. First we discuss some of our unsustainable practices. Then we discuss some things the induvial can do to reduce there impact on the planet and make positive change. 

1. You should try to reduce your pollution as much as possible; weather that is municipal, chemical, or electrical waste. Reduction is the most important of the RRRs you heard in grade school. 

2. Be a smart consumer. We get constant advertisements that tell us we are consumers. We make constant purchases that are not necessary and contribute waste. We buy from companies that do not produce sustainable products. We can use our money to make companies change their business model to be better for the environment.

3. Be an advocate. Talk about the facts of what unsustainable practices do to the environment and how it ultimately impacts people. Suggest sustainable practices at work, to friends, and to groups. 

Today Nick talks with James Mitchell about forming health habits for the high performer. James Mitchell is a very high performer at work and with his family, but has noticed that his health and wellness has fallen to the wayside when his baby Jack was born. This episode uncovers wellness self awareness, goal setting, and adding more structure to a busy life.

For more information on how Nick or DeMarco can help with your health and wellness goals, reach out to nicholas_ryan28 or demarcogatti27.

Welcome, this is Episode 5 of Building Bluezones Podcast. In this episode we jump into the basics of nutrition. Americans have increasingly become unhealthy due to what they put in their mouth, largely because the food industry has processed our healthy whole foods into foods that are calorie dense, sugar dense, and fat dense, but not nutritionally dense. Your host DeMarco and Nick attempt to clear the air and simplify nutrition down to what is truly important. Nick studied nutrition in college for his undergrad and masters program and is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. After doing quite a bit of research we figured it was best to break down nutritional wellness into three categories: Caloric Density/Satiety, Food Quality, and When You Should Eat. Basically how much, what, and when. 

Essentially eating more whole foods that are higher in fiber will allow you to feel satisfied without over intaking calories. We also found that eating your larger meals earlier in the day and keeping your eating window with in 12 hours was beneficial to loosing weight and decreasing your risk for chronic disease or early mortality.

We found that the research we analyzed agreed mostly with Dr. Valter Longo's lifelong findings on diet and life expectancy.

We also found Dr. Michael Gregory to have an extremely helpful website with access to information he has compiled completely for free.

This is just one of the many episodes we will do on nutrition so please send in question you may have to [email protected] and we will do our best to answer them next time!

DeMarco and Nick are both high performers, and most days we just feel like we aren’t getting enough done. Usually our careers are of the highest priority. For most high performers, getting work done each day is actually the number one goal. Next, family falls in line if it's not the first priority. Health and wellness will often fall to the wayside unfortunately. We all make the excuse that if we weren't so busy, we would workout more, eat healthier, and take more time for spirituality. The truth is that we do have time for all of this in one day, but we need to take a strategic approach to get it all in. This episode will be about taking control of your life to become more efficient in your day to day while integrating more health and wellness.

Step 1: Realign your priorities

You need to be honest with what your main priorities are in life right now. List out what your average day looks like and compare it to what you want. Are the two lists congruent? Are they way off? Have you been lying to yourself about what your priorities are?

Step 2: What is your commitment level

Where does health and wellness fall in? How committed are you to sacrificing one of your priorities for health and wellness? How much time are you willing to spend on health and wellness each day? Is it every other day? Is it once a week?

Step 3: Map out a wellness initiative and get creative with your time

What do you want to work on first? Is it diet, exercise, meditation/prayer, a combination of all of them?

If its diet, can you find convenient healthy choices daily that are within budget and in a close proximity? Do you need to start cooking more? Maybe spend 1 or 2 days a week meal prepping so you don’t have to cook every day for lunch and dinner.

If its exercise, think about how you can maximize your time spent working out? Only have 30 minutes to spare? Try circuit training and prioritize what you want went stepping foot in the gym. Don’t have a gym? You can still workout in 30 minutes at home or outside. Don’t take breaks and push yourself! There are so many creative in home workouts you can look up on line. The biggest hurdle is starting, not doing.

For mental health, start with 10 minutes a day meditating/praying. That’s all it takes. Everyone has 10 minutes.

Step 4: Combine your wellness initiative with other priorities

Want to spend more time with your kids or family after work? Try cooking with them to create a fun and binding experience. Go outside and play a fun sport or recreational activity with them.

There are so many ways to get creative and combine priorities to maximize time each day.

We all waste time each day on things that don’t benefit us. Whether it's social media or netflix, we could all be better with sedentary consumption. Track your time spent on things that don’t fit into your everyday priorities. Are you willing to sacrifice 2 days a week of that for health and wellness?