Watch the full interview below or listen to the full episode on your iPhone HERE.
Stu: This week I’m excited to welcome Martin Silva back to the podcast. Martin is a transformation coach, award-winning fitness model, public speaker, and podcaster. His focus and commitment with a holistic approach to long-term health sets him apart from his peers. In this episode, we talk about the latest nutritional trends, including daily protein intake, supplements, fasting and meal timing. Over to Martin.
Audio Version
Some questions asked during this episode:
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How are you currently eating and why + what have you tried and dismissed?
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Your thoughts on daily protein intake (amount/type/timing)
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Do you consume supplements for health/longevity?
Get more of Martin Silva:
- https://www.instagram.com/martinsilvafitness/
- https://www.facebook.com/Martinsilvafitness/
- https://www.optimiseyourbody.com
- Optimise Your Body With Martin Silva Podcast
If you enjoyed this, then we think you’ll enjoy this interview
Rory Bland – 30 Days on the Carnivore Diet
Darin Olien – The Superfood Mindset
Dr Dan Plews – Maximising Athletic Performance
The views expressed on this podcast are the personal views of the host and guest speakers and not the views of Bega Cheese Limited or 180 Nutrition Pty Ltd. In addition, the views expressed should not be taken or relied upon as medical advice. Listeners should speak to their doctor to obtain medical advice.
Disclaimer: The transcript below has not been proofread and some words may be mis-transcribed.
Full Transcript
Stu
(00:03)
Hey, this is Stu from 180 Nutrition, and welcome to another episode of the Health Sessions. It’s here that we connect with the world’s best experts in health, wellness, and human performance in an attempt to cut through the confusion around what it actually takes to achieve long-lasting health. Now, I’m sure that’s something that we all strive to have. I certainly do.
(00:23)
Before we get into the show today, you might not know that we make products too. That’s right. We’re into whole food nutrition and have a range of superfoods and natural supplements to help support your day. If you are curious, want to find out more, just jump over to our website, that is 180nutrition.com.au, and take a look. Okay, back to the show.
(00:44)
This week I’m excited to welcome Martin Silva back to the podcast. Martin is a transformation coach, award-winning fitness model, public speaker, and podcaster. His focus and commitment with a holistic approach to long-term health sets him apart from his peers. In this episode, we talk about the latest nutritional trends, including daily protein intake, supplements, fasting, and meal timing. Over to Martin.
(01:12)
Hey guys, this is Stu from 180 Nutrition, and I am delighted to welcome Martin Silva back to the podcast. Martin, mate, how are you?
Martin
(01:19)
I’m really good, thanks, my man. How are you?
Stu
(01:22)
Yeah, very good. Very good. It’s been too long, so really, really keen to tap into some of your wisdom today. But first up, for any of our listeners that may not be familiar with you or your work, haven’t listened to any of… I think we’ve done two or three previous episodes, which have been packed full of the most amazing information on body transformation, health and wellness, all of that stuff. I’d love it if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself please.
Martin
(01:48)
Sure, yeah. Thanks again for having me on, Stu. Really, really appreciate it. [inaudible 00:01:51] just set off here then. I’m sure I’ve been on this podcast more than Stu, this is like my fifth time or something. Awesome. Yeah, a little bit more about myself. As some of the audience might know, I’m huge… Health and fitness is my life essentially, so I live, breathe, and eat a healthy lifestyle, and I’ve built a career out of that as well. And I’ve been within the fitness industry for 15, 16 years now. It sounds crazy, but I still feel like I’m in my early twenties, but I’m actually coming up to 36 now. And I was a qualified personal trainer from the age of 20, and always played sports from a young age, and I’ve always been just so passionate about fitness.
(02:28)
And now it’s got to the point where I always say to people, something might start off as your passion, but then it becomes your purpose. Now it’s literally, it’s my purpose, and what I’m doing now, obviously with the transformation program and everything else… Because I was a personal trainer face-to-face for about 13 years, and then I built an online transformation program, actually just before COVID happened, about three years ago, and I’m having a much bigger impact this way as well. Because as we talked about before, and we’ll talk about today, really helping people change their mindset, really upgrade the way they think, and just basically think at a better level, and change their relationship with food and alcohol, which we all know, the stuff outside of the gym… A lot of my clients love the gym part. You know what I mean? That’s the fun part. But the stuff outside of the gym, some of them have had more struggles than others in terms of behavior change and everything else.
(03:19)
But a bit more about myself. I moved over to Oz just like Stu did quite a few years ago. I haven’t been here as long as Stu, but I’ve been here for six years now. So moved over to Oz, came over here for a year from Wales in the UK, and fast-forward six years, I’m still here, permanent resident now, and living in Sydney, living the dream. And Stu’s living even more of the dream up there in Byron Bay, you know what I mean? So we can’t complain, mate.
Stu
(03:46)
Come up and see me. Come up and see me. Now, I will… Just preference, it’ll frame this for our listeners as well. And I’ve said this before on one of our last recordings, but for all of those that are in front of the computer right now, or listening on the phone, just google Martin Silva fitness and have a look at who you are, what you’ve done, how you look, what you do to achieve your look. So very much sports, fitness, healthy lifestyle, but you have taken most people’s ideal dream and you’ve made it your reality for a very long time, and irrespective of whether you’re traveling or you’ve got heavy load, you stick to your principles and stick to your guns, and you get the results that you want and you get the results for your clients as well. So, kudos to you for being able to [inaudible 00:04:42].
Martin
(04:41)
Thanks [inaudible 00:04:42] randomly earlier, I remembered actually, so I remember you said on one or two episodes before, “Just type in Martin Silva now.” And your voice popped into my head. It was like, “Just type in…” I don’t know why, earlier on. So I typed it in on Google. So apologies for the listeners. There’s going to be some raunchy photos there, man. A couple of them from the bodybuilding days, I was like, “Oh, okay. All right, then.”
Stu
(05:02)
On your head be it.
Martin
(05:03)
“Hope [inaudible 00:05:03] kids later down the line won’t see that one.”
Stu
(05:06)
That’s right. Exactly right.
Martin
(05:08)
I was doing a conversation with my friend [inaudible 00:05:09] and he was like, “You should start an OnlyFans, mate,” joking around. You know what I’m saying? I’m like, bloody hell, make an absolutely killing. Nah, I’d never do that [inaudible 00:05:19].
Stu
(05:18)
You walk the walk, talk the talk, whatever the saying is. But you have what people want, and hopefully this conversation will help them realign some of their values and just areas of their life that just need a little bit of adjustment. And I thought that we’d probably just jump into nutrition, which is just the biggest topic. It’s a religion in its own mind. But instead of listing out what your philosophy is on eating, et cetera, because our listeners can go back in time and listen where we’ve covered that extensively, I’m intrigued to hear as to how you’re currently eating right now and why, but what you’ve tried in the past and then dismissed. And it might be, “You know what? I wanted to nourish my gut, so I ate a truckload of fruits and vegetables and probiotic fiber, and all this stuff didn’t work and changed it.” Because like science, we constantly evolve, and we’re tweaking, and we’re finding new things, and our body changes as well. So what are you doing from a nutritional standpoint right now?
Martin
(06:30)
Yeah, so thanks to Stu really, I switched over to eating more of an animal-based diet a couple of years ago. We actually jumped… I think it was the last podcast we’ve done. And I’ll go back, but I want to just touch on this first, because over the last two years I’ve definitely been eating an animal-based diet, and I’ve gone more and more carnivore if you like. However, we can always label things. We can label it keto, carnivore, paleo. And to answer your question, I’ve tried every single one. So I think this is a fantastic question, because I’ve been here, there, and everywhere when it comes to different approaches with nutrition, behaviors of food, binge eating. Go down the list, because obviously with bodybuilding that I used to do back in the day, I went through some struggles there in terms of relationship with food and everything else.
(07:12)
But in terms of what I’ve dismissed, one of them is definitely the plant-based one. I’ve got to hold my hands up now. And obviously the thing with nutrition and diet is, there’s so much individual variance from person to person. So someone listening back to this, you might be thriving on a plant-based diet, and that’s the complex, almost amazing thing about nutrition and behaviors and the human body, is everyone is so different, especially with nutrition.
(07:37)
So I started off with… Let’s just go back a bit. So when I really started getting more aware… Because to be honest, I was a trainer for probably around about 10 years before I even started to crack the code, so to speak. Not 10 years, sorry, more like five or six years, before I really started honing in on nutrition in terms of eating more whole foods, being more aware of these things. Because I was in great shape in my early twenties anyway, I was in fantastic… Even since I was 18 years old, I was in fantastic shape. Because I started lifting at a young age, genetics, and everything else, and it was only when I really started paying attention to, actually I don’t feel too good when I eat crap food… I think I must’ve got to about 23, 24 until I started connecting the dots with that. And then I naturally just started eating more meat and cooking my own meals and just naturally just being more aware.
(08:27)
And I was about 24, 25 then, and actually I started getting to a good place, because I was eating just more whole foods, like we always talk about. I guess when I look back, I was nowhere near… I didn’t have the knowledge to be honest back then. When I look back, I was actually eating single ingredient foods primarily. I started off doing that, and it was like, eating more salmon, meats, veggies, et cetera. Started feeling better, started performing better. As a byproduct, started looking better. And then I discovered bodybuilding.
(08:53)
So, cut a long story short, I got into bodybuilding then, got to the high level with that, got to the pro level, competed nine times in total. Obviously I don’t compete any more. And then that went from really getting to a good place with my relationship with food, naturally wanted to eat more whole foods, to getting to a point where it was like extreme measures, didn’t know what I was doing, just jumped on stage on a whim, had an old school bodybuilder give me a diet plan, which was treacherous, very restricted. The same story really, chicken and broccoli, everyone’s heard the typical cliché bodybuilding stories in terms of eating eight meals a day and eating turkey and asparagus. I’m not exaggerating, either. Literally eight meals a day at one point, and turkey and asparagus every single meal.
(09:32)
And I ended up, no shit… Excuse the French, sorry. No wonder I actually ended up getting a poor relationship with food, and being overly restricted when I was getting on stage was leading to overeating when I got off the stage. It’s what I like to call a symptom eruption. And you can relate this just to anyone listening back, it’s not just bodybuilding. When you try and restrict, you might be trying to drop weight, trying to drop weight, trying to lose fat, and then what you’re doing is you start restricting foods and restricting calories, and then you can become overly restrictive. And what happens then is you’ll get a symptom eruption. You get to the weekend, you try to suppress all those symptoms, in terms of emotional eating and essentially just restricting the foods you enjoy, and then you end up just overeating and bingeing. Well, that’s what I was doing after each comp. And then because of the impact, it’s different when it comes to bodybuilding, because it’s just not healthy for the body. So you end up having a negative impact on your hormones and everything else.
(10:22)
So whatever was going on, some of it was physiological, a lot of it was psychological. I ended up then having a struggle with food. So even when I wasn’t competing, I would be just over-eating on the weekends, and trapped in that cycle of essentially restricted in the week… Because another thing was, without going off too much, is I got really attached to how I looked. And I’m sure the audience can resonate with this. I got so attached with how I looked physically, and I don’t think a lot of guys talk about this, but when you do bodybuilding, naturally you’re getting critiqued against other athletes on stage. So you start then looking at, what body parts do we need to improve on? You’ve been absolutely shredded. Again, I’m sure people can identify with this when you’ve got really lean. My clients say this to me as well, “I want get back to where I was.” And it’s like, we’re going to reinvent yourself now. Yes, you’re going to get back to how you were feeling, but we’re going to get you to the next level. But you’re always going back and looking back at how you looked and everything else.
(11:12)
So then I was constantly trying to, almost in that diet mindset, and even when I wasn’t competing, because in the week I’d be eating the foods that I ate pretty much for bodybuilding, similar. Chicken, potatoes, asparagus, the usual stuff, very restrictive. And then I would get to a Friday, I would have that symptom eruption that I talked about. But then after that, then I had to fix it really. So again, cut a long story short, I then started getting lots of gut issues, and mentally obviously wasn’t feeling the best when I was doing that every weekend. So I had to really change. And for me it was that pain that was driving change.
(11:44)
And I talked to my clients about this as well, and this is what’s enabled me to be an even better coach. I’ve got the wisdom, I’ve got the 15 years of experience and thousands of hours or wherever it is, but it’s more a case of the experience that I… Well, not more a case of, because there’s loads of different levels to this, but the being down to the trenches with this stuff enables me to have more compassion for my clients and actually be able to help them better.
(12:07)
So I got to that point then where it was just so much pain, and when you’re in enough pain, you can either go two ways. You can keep going down that slippery slope, which by the way, I know a lot of bodybuilders which did. I know a lot of bodybuilders now, back when I was doing this 10 years ago, in the same position, doing the same thing they were doing, poor relationship with food, taking selfies, you know what I mean? Spray tan. That used to be me. But I evolved, luckily, and I got to the point where it was just a nightmare. So I thought, I need to start fixing this again.
(12:35)
So now it was more of a conscious thing. This is not working. I’m eating 5,000 calories in Domino’s pizza and Ben and Jerry’s twice on the weekends, then I’m restricting, then I’m punishing myself in the gym. So then I started just honing in on just fixing my gut, because I was getting gut issues and everything else, and then I took more of a paleo approach then. So I started removing… Rather than having that mindset of removing things, I know I’ve talked about this extensively before, but I always had this approach with clients as well, and I think I really want to reinforce this point. I wasn’t thinking about what I needed to cut out. All I was thinking about is, what do I need to add in? How can I fix this problem? I need to improve my gut. Let’s add in more vegetables, let’s add in more protein to blunt my appetite more. Let’s not be too restrictive. Let’s have more complete meals. Let’s stop eating chicken breasts and potato, you’re not really getting the fats that you need and the micronutrients that you need, so let’s add in more vegetables. Let’s have a more variety, maybe switch up the meat sources and everything else.
(13:32)
And then I started just enjoying my meals more, and it was more of a paleo approach though, when I look back, it was more like just literally meat, some vegetables, and that was pretty much it, and some fruit as well. That was the approach I took.
(13:44)
So I’ve tried paleo, I’ve tried all these different approaches, but it always came back. And even keto, I’ve dipped in with that, and we can talk about fasting and stuff now, which is something I don’t really even look at as fasting any more. I think that’s an important thing as well. People understand, when I’m talking about restriction, it’s the words you use mentally. When you say fasting, again, you’re taking away, you’re restricting. So when you even use that word, most people struggle with calorie restriction. They struggle to lose weight. So when you start adding in fasting, it’s taking away again, it’s restricting again, it’s going down that same slippery slope.
(14:18)
So for me, it’s just for the last six, seven years, I’ve been eating later in the day, because I feel better. I don’t even look at it… People say, “You fast, do you?” I’m like, “Yeah, actually I do.” I just tend to feel better and be more productive when I have one or two big meals a day, which is what we’ll talk about.
(14:32)
So to be honest, Stu, I’ve tried lots of different approaches really, but it wasn’t really necessarily a conscious thing in terms of keto, paleo. When I look back, I was definitely taking more of a paleo approach when I fixed this problem, and just removing… I just started having less dairy and I noticed I felt better, didn’t get the gut issues that I had, and just less processed foods in general. But where I’m at now, I do eat more of an animal-based diet. I eat meats and fruit primarily, and I’m [inaudible 00:14:59] right now, really. That was a very long-winded breakdown, but it’s a long story, Stu.
Stu
(15:04)
It’s good to hear. And I think it’s important to note as well that oftentimes society tells us, you’re going to have to eat more fruits and vegetables to be healthy. But of course we’re all at very different stages in our health journey. And you mentioned that you had some gut issues. I’ve had some gut issues as well, and I would say that 95% of the population probably could agree that they’ve had gut issues at some stage in their lives as well. And for me, and for many people that I’ve spoken to, increasing the amount of fiber when your gut is compromised doesn’t generally help, and oftentimes can make things worse.
(15:46)
And so trying to concentrate and fix whatever’s going on inside, and shifting to that more animal-based approach, irrespective of what you want to call it, is restrictive in as much as you’re just cutting out a lot of the stuff that would potentially cause issues with a compromised gut. And so I know I mentioned previously that collagen was great for me, it just seemed to help the gut tremendously, and just pulling back a little bit on a lot of these vegetables that used to make me feel bloated. And now I’m pushing them back in, just to try and hit all of those micro, macro-nutrients as well, without any issue.
(16:29)
So I’m with you, I think, on that… Definitely animal-based. For me, protein, fat, and micro-nutrients are really, really important. Nutrient density for me is the key. I just want to make sure that I’m getting all of the building blocks as I age, which leads me on to then… You’ll be the expert in the room on protein intake, coming from where you have, and being able to do what you’ve done with all of the protein that you were ingesting. Now, the more I’ve been listening and reading and researching, protein, super, super, super important as we age, and irrespective of where you are in life. It’s not something that we want to scrimp on, but a lot of people are confused. How much do I need? What type of protein do I take? When should I take it? So what are your thoughts on that?
Martin
(17:31)
So with protein, it’s funny you say that, because I do notice time and time again patterns with any clients that I’ve taken on in the past. Thankfully now I’m very selective with who I take on, and I need to make sure the person’s a good fit, so everyone gets results. But in the past, the patterns I’ve seen is, whenever people are under-eating, it depends on how much the person weighs in terms of how much they need, but rather than going into the [inaudible 00:17:54] grams and stuff like that, let’s talk about the behavioral thing, and also why it’s so critical that you actually have adequate protein.
(18:01)
When you’re under-eating protein, naturally what you do is you replace those calories with more fats and carbs, essentially. So you’re always going to be… When you’re hungry, you need to eat. Simple as that. And when you’re not being mindful of having a certain amount of protein each meal… This is a simple thing that I get clients to implement. And it doesn’t matter… There’s lots of research to show you need to eat a certain amount of protein in each meal to build muscle, for example, and for the anabolic window, and all that stuff, and mealtime, and eating frequently is key because it keeps your metabolism elevated. And none of that is actually true, basically, and this has been proven now in research.
(18:44)
So the key thing is, are you eating enough protein day to day? And if you have a day or two under where you’re not having adequate protein, it’s not really going to be a big issue, but adding more whole foods and single ingredient foods… So it is always going to come back to this as well, even when it comes to protein. How can I add… How can I get basically the best of both worlds? Just like Stu was saying then, micro-nutrients. So, are you having complete meals? I always say to my clients, especially when they feel like, “What can I have to snack?” I get this question. I don’t really get it as much now, because again, a lot of people I take on, they’re already at quite a good level, but a lot of them still do struggle with snacking and over-eating and stuff like that.
(19:17)
And it’s like, most of the time when you’re snacking, you’re just not having complete meals. And it’s a behavioral thing as well, it’s an emotional thing, and you’re eating based on emotions, or mistaking hunger for thirst, which is also a big one as well. Just simply not drinking enough water, or having enough salt. When we strip it all back, the person is just basically not eating enough protein either.
(19:40)
So really the key thing is having adequate protein each meal. So I always get my clients to try and have, say, one to two palm-sized amounts basically of meat with each meal. And when you have a red meat specifically, for example, meat from ruminant animals, whether that be cow, elk, deer, bison, those kind of things, but beef is going to be the most nutrient dense food you can eat anyway, so when you’re having more complete… You’re having fat and protein together in one, with those kinds of foods. And then you’re having, if you can… Again, we were talking about gut health and stuff like that. If you don’t have any issues with vegetables and plant-based foods, especially vegetables, including that on your plate as well, having that fiber and micro-nutrients from vegetables, having micronutrients [inaudible 00:20:27] a good balance of protein and fats as well on your plate.
(20:31)
And I say to my clients as well, having beef, or sometimes having chicken thighs instead of breasts, so you’re getting more fat from the meat then, which then tends to keep you more satiated as well, so having that balance of protein and fats. But just cut a long story short, really you want to be trying to aim to have protein with every single meal. And if you can get that through single ingredient foods, especially just simply beef, chicken, fish, eggs, single ingredient foods, especially eggs and beef, which are going to give you… Beef alone gives you pretty much all the essential nutrients you need. Not to say that I recommend that, in terms of thriving by just eating beef, but you’re going to get most of the balance of protein, fats, and micro-nutrients you need just from eating beef, essentially. So beef and eggs, an egg yolk is the perfect multivitamin.
(21:09)
So if you include those kinds of foods into your food regime every single day, it’s hard to go wrong. But aiming for those single ingredient foods to get your protein intake is always going to be the best bet. And then if you’re really struggling with that, obviously having a supplement then. So I do get a lot of my clients to have a protein supplement to make up for the protein they haven’t got, and make sure they’re having adequate protein. But I would definitely just say, trying to focus on never having any meals where you’re not having at least 30 to 40 grams of protein. So that’s like a palm to two palm-sized amounts of meat. And if you’re having… Let’s say you have a smoothie in the mornings. Simply add a serving or two of good quality protein to that as well, and just get into the habit of doing that, because then what happens is it blunts your appetite.
(21:53)
And not to mention as well, when it comes to… If we talk about fat loss for example, there’s research to show now, they split two groups up, they have one group having… They have the same calories, both groups. One group had really high protein, the other group had moderate to low protein, and the high protein group actually lost more fat over even… It was only like an eight-week period, and they lost a significant amount more of body fat and weight, just from having more protein, because of the thermic effect from protein, and fiber as well, but fiber nowhere near as much in terms of the thermic effect.
(22:20)
So 10% of your daily calories, essentially, are going to come from… The output is going to come from the thermic effect of food. So it’s really important, I would say, for anyone in kilos to aim for, at a bare minimum, I would say 1.8 grams of protein per kilo of your body weight. We could just round it off to 2 to make it easy. So if you’re a woman that weighs 60 kilos, you want to be aiming for around about 120… I would say if we take that down to about even 1.5, 1.5 grams of protein as a bare minimum per kilo of your weight, that is going to be… Because even if you say for someone now, for a woman, the average person, you weigh 60 kilos, if I asked you to eat 120 grams of protein, for the most part, that’s going to be a major struggle.
(23:01)
Which is why a lot of my clients I take on, they’re grossly under-eating protein, and that’s been one of the main contributors, if not the number one contributor to them not actually getting results. Obviously gym as well, but not getting results of not losing fat and gaining weight, because they’re overeating calories, but also the metabolism is not… It’s like you want to get your body to automatically burn as many calories as you can by itself. That’s the key thing here. So eating protein is going to, number one, blunt your appetite, so it’s essentially going to have a way lower chance of overeating, and also it’s going to really speed up that metabolic rate. And for me, I just noticed that I have 300 grams of protein a day, sometimes even more, and it’s just impossible for me to overeat, because I eat pretty much all single ingredient foods. If I’m eating fruit, it’s avocado, it’s [inaudible 00:23:49] it’s banana, it’s single ingredient foods.
(23:52)
And that simple thing there, it sounds very simple, it’s not easy though. If you can eat just single ingredient foods, and you can have, say, 2 grams of protein per kilo of your body weight, which is going to be challenging for most people, but I always say to start slow as well. So there’s so much value to you in just tracking, for anyone listening to this, just to track for one week, just protein. Don’t even have to track all your calories, use MyFitnessPal and just track the meat and the protein that you’re having, and see how much you have. And if you’re having 60 grams, then try and have one meal [inaudible 00:24:19] or try have more protein for breakfast.
(24:20)
Because that’s a big problem I see with people, is they don’t have enough protein for breakfast. So again, something that Stu mentioned before in one of his blogs is simply having what you would have for dinner for breakfast. I get my clients to sometimes have some leftover meat from the night before, some beef mince with their eggs and their avocado in the morning, and it’s an absolute game-changer then. So then they hit the protein target, because they’re already having a decent amount of lunch and dinner anyway, and it’s job done, but it does come down to really implementing those habits and being consistent. You just notice your energy level flies up as well, when you have more protein.
Stu
(24:48)
That’s right. And if breakfast looks like a conventional breakfast, then I think you’re in trouble. If you’re toast and juice or coffee and toast or bagel or whatever it might be, bowl of cereal, you’re in trouble. And one thing that I’ve noticed as well, and it’s a good talking point that you mentioned snacking before, what shall I have for a snack? Well, the first question might be, why do you need to snack? If you have a good breakfast… I’ll have my breakfast about 7:00 in the morning, big breakfast, but then I’ll eat lunch at 2:00. There’s no need to snack. No need to snack. And I’ll have my evening meal, maybe 5:30. Again, no need to snack, because I’m concentrating on my protein, I’ve got my mix, I’ve got my fats in there, I’ve got slow burning carbohydrates, there’s some fiber in there, so you’ve got the whole package. It’s all whole food-based. Plenty of protein, hit all of my targets.
(25:43)
And I’m not really one to track food, but I do keep an eye on protein. I go for that 2 grams per kilo of bodyweight. I’m just over 70 kilos, so I try and make sure that I get at least 50 grams of protein in every single meal. It’s often more, because I like to mix in the occasional collagen as well directly after a meal. But in terms of people that… You mentioned that you eat later on in the day, and yes, that could be considered fasting, probably 16/8. How easy will it be for people to consume the appropriate amount of calories, hit their macros for protein, if they’re into fasting, they don’t have that much of an appetite, but they want to improve their body composition, they want to improve their energy levels, they want to improve all of the other areas in their health, in their life? Things like sleep, cognition, overall feeling of happiness. How can you do that, do you think, if you’re infatuated on fasting is going to take me there, when it’s more than likely going to take you into maybe a protein deficit for the day?
Martin
(27:01)
It comes down to the why again, doesn’t it? Like you said then about emotional eating. And I’m actually going to do a coaching call on a Tuesday night and I’m going to chat to my clients about this, and I’m always reinforcing the same things really, but just coming from a different angle. And it’s like, most people really don’t know what true hunger is to start with. So that was actually a really valuable thing that I learned. Obviously I learned this from competing as well, from essentially being [inaudible 00:27:25] but fasting as well really taught me what true hunger was. Because I used to eat because I thought I had to eat, I would eat every couple of hours or whatever. It was just a habit. It just becomes that habit, eating, and you become less aware of why you’re eating.
(27:38)
But with fasting, I would just answer it this way. From all the people that I’ve coached and everything else, most people… I can count on one hand the amount of people right now that I have implementing fasting. It’s way later down the line. It’s a tool you can use in your toolbox. If anyone listening back is wanting to try it, because I know there’s a lot of research on this, so I understand totally why people would want to do it, and there’s lots of research to say the benefits, and we can talk about that forever. But you’ve got to ask yourself, are you trying to do it purely from a health standpoint? Because if you’re trying to do it because for me it’s convenient, and then I just happen to get all the other benefits, and I’ll tell you how I do it now, but most people really need to focus on that food quality first, and focus on really being aware of how much protein you have on a daily basis.
(28:25)
Because I wouldn’t say everyone needs to track, but for most people listening back to this, there’s so much value in just tracking to see how much protein you eat on a daily basis. Because a lot of people on the weekends as well, I have people say, “I eat plenty of protein,” and then when we shine a light on what they’re doing on the weekend, they’re grossly under-eating on the weekend.
(28:43)
So going back to fasting though, it’s challenging. For me, I’m an anomaly, I guess, because I can eat one meal, like today I had one meal. So probably about three, four times a week I’ll have just one meal in a day, because I find I can just get more done in the mornings, and then I enjoy having a big meal, but I’ll have one or two big meals a day. And for me, it’s no problem. I really enjoy eating meat, I don’t get any digestion issues, so I can eat what most people eat in two to three days in one meal. But most people are not going to be able to do that.
(29:11)
So what I would say, I would focus first and foremost before you even look at fasting, I would focus on, are you consistently hitting protein? It depends on what your goal is as well. If you want to improve the way your body looks, and you want to just be healthier and more energetic, and you want to really improve metabolic health and those kind of things, eating adequate protein is going to be key. So focus on that first, and if you’re struggling to get your target just through your normal eating habits, then obviously throwing in fasting is just going to basically throw a spanner in the work, because that means then you’ve got to try and get an even bigger amount into, say, one or two meals.
(29:44)
But I do have clients doing it, and the answer to this really is just simply eating more meats with each meal. And if you can do that and you don’t get any digestion issues, if you’re thinking of just eating, say, two meals a day, as long as you’re hitting that target we talked about, just to give a generic number, say 2 grams of protein per kilo of body weight, and you can do that in two meals, then fantastic. But the average person is not going to be able to have even 60 grams of protein each meal consistently. They’re just not going to be able to do it.
(30:11)
So I would definitely focus on the order of priorities and go, what’s the quality of food like I’m eating? Am I actually getting results? If you want to improve the way your body looks and stuff, you are actually getting leaner, you’re seeing your body respond. Because If you’re not, then obviously something’s gone wrong there. And for the most part, if you struggle to lose fat, obviously you’re over-eating calories, and if you’re over-eating calories, you’re definitely eating too much ultra-processed food, 100%, even if you don’t think you are. A lot of people say, “I eat healthy,” and they’re just not educated enough in terms of what whole foods are. Because everything’s marketed nowadays. Protein is like a magical… I’ve said this before, it’s like a magical macro-nutrient now. You see protein on all the wrappers.
(30:48)
So the reality is you want to be focusing on eating single ingredient foods, whole foods, at least 80%, 90% of the time first, then hitting that protein target. And then if you’re fasting and you’re doing both of those things, as long as you’re getting that big amount of protein onto your two or three meals, and you’re being really diligent with that, then you’re not going to have any issues. But going back to what I said, even with protein, I would really focus, because everyone, when they hear the word protein, and a lot of people… Most people don’t know what high protein is either. That’s another thing. Because people say, I’ve taken on clients before, “I eat quite high protein.” Then you look and they’ve had a piece of cheese, a few nuts, and maybe a protein shake. And you’re like, “You’re grossly under-eating protein.” A lot of people don’t know what high protein is.
(31:27)
So if you try doing that, if you try eating 60 grams of protein… 60 grams of protein in one meal, for example, what does that look like? That looks like around about 300 grams, maybe 350 grams even of steak, for example, each meal. Or 350 grams of chicken one meal, 350 grams, maybe even 400 grams of beef on the other meal. Some people can do that, but a lot of people are not going to do that consistently day in, day out. So you’ve got to be mindful of those days where you’re likely to grossly under-eat protein, which a lot of the times is on the weekend, when people are socializing and stuff.
(31:54)
So just to summarize, number one thing, food quality, whole foods. Number two, are you hitting that protein target that we mentioned? And are you getting that ideally from single ingredient foods? Use protein powder if you’re struggling to hit that number by all means. And then the third thing then is, obviously you can bring the fasting in there as a tool, and just see how that fits into your life. Because what you got to look at with fasting is, it’s that sustainability. 95% of people, they say to me, “Yeah, I’m going to start fasting.” It’s like… I’ll ever say to them outright, “You might want to reconsider doing that” because you’ve gone from eating…
(32:27)
And the average person eats eight times a day, by the way. So again, a lot of people are not mindful enough to know, but when they actually done a proper research on this, they found that people were just eating mindlessly all the time. So the average person actually eats eight times a day, with snacking and stuff like that. And then that same person, if we’re talking to the average person… Well, people listening to this are not average, they’re very growth-minded. So if we just look at the average person, eight times a day, and then they’re going to go straight to fasting. Or OMAD, everyone’s talking about OMAD, one meal a day. It’s like, no, no, no. You’ve got no place doing that. Essentially you’re using it for the wrong reasons. A lot of people use fasting to lose weight, and it’s a terrible approach, because then you’re trying to restrict again. So that’s what I would say really, is again, another long, in-depth answer, but I would say that’s the priorities.
Stu
(33:09)
I completely agree. From the analogy of a car, it’s almost like fasting is tuning, but if the engine needs an overhaul, then you probably wouldn’t tune a knackered engine. Let’s fix that engine first, let’s get it back to its working order, let’s get it working on all cylinders, and then we can start to think about tuning it.
Martin
(33:28)
|
[inaudible 00:33:30]
Stu
(33:31)
So protein, fat, carbohydrates. Often considered the fourth macro-nutrient, alcohol, in its own right. Where does that sit with you nowadays? Because with alcohol comes… It’s a little bit like in the olden days… I watched a movie called The Gremlins, and they said, “With gremlin comes responsibility.” You treat it very carefully, otherwise it’s going to grow out of control, and the whole fiasco is going to start, and that was the basis of the movie, of things going wrong very quickly. Alcohol can lead to overeating, of course. All of our guard comes down. It’s another way of consuming calories very quickly. It can disrupt the liver, and the liver’s got a good job to do. It can also disrupt sleep, and sleep is really important if you want to hit all your health goals. Where do you sit on that? Because I would imagine you would’ve come from being like party boy Martin Silva, all the way through to, I know a lot more now and I’ve got longevity in mind. Do you still drink alcohol? If you do, how much, and what are your thoughts on it?
Martin
(34:43)
Very occasionally. So I’m drinking less and less and less. So for example, last year… So I’ll be honest, unlike Stu, because I know Stu you have no desire to drink. You’ve never enjoyed it, right?
Stu
(34:54)
No.
Martin
(34:54)
I actually enjoy it. I thoroughly enjoy having a few drinks. It makes me feel incredible. You know what I’m saying? Even my girlfriend prefers me when I have a few drinks, because I’m less… What’s it called? I’m more relaxed or whatever it is. But no, I rarely drink now, so I drink less and less. Last year I said, I wouldn’t drink for six months of the year. So last year I didn’t drink at all for six months. Even when I drink now, I never drink excessively. It’s very, very rare that I’ll drink excessively. It’s just a few drinks.
(35:18)
But this year, for example, again, I didn’t drink for the first few months of the year, and I’m going to call this out now, I’m going to aim for eight months of no drinking. It’s a weird target. It’s not all at once, so I just break it up now. So this year I won’t drink for eight months, and I’m just drinking less and less, because I’m becoming more and more aware of the damage it does. And I know you use the Oura Ring to track your sleep, right, Stu?
Stu
(35:41)
Yes.
Martin
(35:42)
And I started using that. And the last time I drank, I did that jiu-jitsu [inaudible 00:35:45] back in April, and I had a couple of drinks after that and I timed it, so I’m like, I’ll have a few in the daytime so it doesn’t impact my sleep. Ruined my sleep, even drinking in the daytime, ruined it. And I was like, okay, that’s enough. Cut it out again now.
(35:58)
So we’re going to Bali at the end of July, and I might have a few drinks there, I will have a few drinks in Bali, but it [inaudible 00:36:03] just be a few. I’m trying to do [inaudible 00:36:05] one of the biggest things, one of the biggest problems, there’s so many different things here, but I would say the main things that have caused clients to come undone in the past, or what will be a big hindrance for you if you’re looking to improve your health, get in better shape, it’s going to be the inhibitions first and foremost, exactly what Stu said. It’s the decision-making.
(36:21)
So it’s not always the out alcohol itself that is a problem. That is a massive problem, but it’s going to be the decision-making that you make when you drink. You get sloppy. So many people get sloppy when they drink in terms of food choices. And those behaviors which you haven’t essentially fully repaired, so to speak, or haven’t changed certain behaviors with food, you might have certain foods you enjoy eating. For example, my girlfriend Janine, she doesn’t drink, which is great. That’s another thing that really attracted me to her massively, is that she doesn’t drink at all. And it’s awesome because your environment is key. So when I’m with her, she never drinks, so it’s great. So there’s no temptation there for me. And I always say for anyone listening, if you struggle and you drink a bit too much, it’s always better to avoid temptation than it is to resist it.
(37:06)
So who you spend your time with and who you’re around, willpower is like a muscle. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s like a muscle. It’s going to get fatigued and tired if you have to try and rely on it all the time. Willpower does not work as a long-term approach, so changing your environment is key. So that’s been a game-changer for me, just not having people around me. And I purposely… I don’t really spend time with anyone that drinks nowadays anyway. And it’s not that I can’t, I’ve been out with people and I do this a lot, I go out and I don’t drink. But if I’m with certain people, I’ll still get tempted, or in certain environments.
(37:35)
So that’s number one. It’s changing your environment, and it’s decision-making. So you’re going to make poor decisions, whether that be with your food, or whether that be… We all know the stuff we do on alcohol. But the big one is, you’re just going to let your guard down with food. We all know what it’s like. Some people are different. You’re either going to drink too much and just drink excessively, and then the next day you feel like crap, and the next day you’re writing it off and you’re eating a load of crap. Or at the time you [inaudible 00:38:00] a few drinks, and that’s why my ex-girlfriend stopped drinking, because she was literally… She stopped drinking a few years ago. She’d never really liked drinking anyway, but she just used to be around friends, again, going back to environment. And what she would do is she would drink and then she would just go to Woolworths and Coles here in Australia, like 11:00 at night, and just buy ice cream, just completely lose her shit basically. And she was like, “I’ve got to stop this now because it’s getting way out of hand.”
(38:20)
And that’s an extreme example, but it’s the decision-making. It’s also the sleep is a big one. And it’s funny when people say to me, “No, I sleep fine.” People say, “I can have a double espresso, or I can drink three drinks, and I sleep fine. In fact, it helps me drink alcohol.” It doesn’t. You’re lying to yourself. It’s simple. Most people are aware of the fact that it’s going to wake you up, you’re going to get fragmented sleep, where you just wake up more often and stuff like that. But sometimes you’re semi-conscious when that’s happening anyway, so you’re not aware of it. So the sleep is a massive one. And to be honest, the Oura Ring has really shined a light on that for me, and it’s like that’s helped me a lot, because I’m thinking to myself, do I really want take this hit, just for the sake of a few drinks? It’s not worth it. So that’s the big one.
(39:02)
But then it’s going to come down to dehydration as well. So you’re poisoning your body… We can talk about the negative physiological effects. There’s never any physiological… People talk about red wine and polyphenols. When you look at the trade-off, essentially you’re poisoning your body and there’s never going to be any value from it. Now, there can be a social value from it, though. It can be socially cleansing. It can help you relax, if you can do it in moderation, and if you haven’t got that thing just like Stu was saying where… Because I have alcoholism in my family as well, so I do notice, if I have a few drinks or whatever, the next day I’m like, “I fancy a few drinks again.” I’m sure people can relate, you don’t have to have alcoholism in your genes to relate to that. You have a few drinks, the next day, it might be a Sunday or a Saturday, it’s sunny, people are drinking, you might [inaudible 00:39:42] have a few more drinks. And it’s that knock-on effect you get then, the potential negative impact from the decisions you’re making with food, the dehydration as well.
(39:41)
So that’s a big one. If you can simply just drink a pint of water in between each drink, because when you look at a hangover, it’s like 90% dehydration, and you’re also depleted of electrolytes as well, salt and stuff like that, so the next day you’re craving.
(40:04)
But just to answer that question, they’re the three things that I would say to really be aware of with alcohol, and it’s more a case of… You’ve got to ask yourself as well, I don’t want to go too deep on this, but you have got to ask yourself, what are you escaping? I just say to clients straight up now, “What are you escaping?” Just straight up. Because people deny that, and they’ve never been asked that question before. When you’re drinking alcohol… And I’ll say this myself. I ask myself this now. If I’m having with Janine for example, what am I escaping? Even if I go to Bali, it’s like, I want to relax, but do I need to drink alcohol to relax and be… No, I don’t need it. So I just ask myself, what am I escaping?
(40:36)
Maybe I just want to… Maybe it’s boredom. Maybe it’s like, it could be for anyone else, it could be loneliness, it could be anything at all, you can go down the list, stress, anxiety, you’ve had an anxious day at work, I’ll have a glass of wine. That can become a pattern then every day, you have that cue. I get home from work, I’m looking for that stress release. And most people do drink in the week as well, and then you drink alcohol to calm you down.
(40:58)
So the key thing though, I just want to finish this with, is to replace the feeling. So I always say this to clients, number one, figure out what you’re escaping. Especially if it’s excessive drinking. What are you escaping? “To be honest, man, I’m escaping work. My work is stressing me out so much that it helps me escape and just switch off from work.” And that’s something that I picked up on, is what am I escaping? And it’s not switching off from work. That’s something I’m sure you can relate to this, Stu, being an entrepreneur. It’s very hard to switch your mind off. But it’s like, I don’t need it, but it does… Every now and then [inaudible 00:41:32] just switch off and relax more when I’m around Janine. But I don’t need it, it doesn’t make any difference in terms of how I communicate with her or anything like that. It’s just a thing I have in my mind, essentially. And that’s the same for anything else.
(41:41)
So ask yourself what you’re escaping, and then just look at how can you replace that feeling you get from it? So you might come home from work, have a glass of wine, it’s a habit, it helps you de-stress from work. What can you do to replace that feeling? Can you just distract yourself, listen to a good podcast, go for a walk? You’re going to feel more relaxed when you do that instantly. Or can you do some yoga? Can you do a little bit of exercise? Can you do a hobby that you enjoy? So you’re releasing your stress, but you’re doing it in a way which is going to serve your health better. So it is a case of replacing the feeling you get from alcohol as well.
Stu
(42:14)
Very, very good. Yeah, I like what you’re saying, and it’s really important to note that, when you have the ability to track some of these metrics as well, you mentioned the Oura Ring and sleep, when you can see those metrics in black and white, you can’t argue. You can’t argue. I know that I’ve had a drink of alcohol, and I looked at my deep sleep, and it didn’t happen that night. I just hit REM sleep and light sleep. Then we know that there’s a compromise, there’s a trade-off, at the end of the day. Do you track any other metrics? Do you recommend that there are any particular metrics that you keep an eye on, just with general health and longevity in mind?
Martin
(43:03)
To be honest, no. Literally the only thing I track right now is the Oura, and I was tempted to use one of those… I’m not sure if you use one of those blood glucose monitors.
Stu
(43:08)
I have used…
Martin
(43:08)
Have you used one?
Stu
(43:09)
I have, yeah.
Martin
(43:10)
Yeah. Was it interesting, or did you [inaudible 00:43:13]?
Stu
(43:13)
Yeah, it was. What I learned was that… Oftentimes we’re told, don’t eat white bread, don’t eat white rice, be careful of potatoes because they’re at the top of the glycemic index scale and they really push your blood sugar through the roof. But it’s very rare that any of us will have a slice of white bread in isolation. “I’m hungry, I’m going to have a lovely slice of white bread.” It doesn’t happen. If you put butter on that bread, then you’ve got fat. That changes the score. That changes how things work.
Martin
(43:44)
It changes [inaudible 00:43:45] as well. That’s what we’re looking for, that combination of carbs and fat, it’s like… [inaudible 00:43:49]
Stu
(43:50)
Exactly. That’s the bliss point. Whole foods for the win. Protein and fat, it blunts everything. I found that what I was eating, which essentially was an animal-based whole food diet, was pretty good. I found that walking after each meal was really good for glucose, and that really just… I think it just clarified as to exactly where… Or what I was thinking was the right approach to take for me personally was the right approach. [inaudible 00:44:25]
Martin
(44:24)
I’m glad you mentioned that. Sorry, continue, mate. Sorry.
Stu
(44:28)
No, that’s kind of it. Yes, great, I can understand that if I was going to do things perhaps from a standpoint of, I [inaudible 00:44:39] to listen to the powers that be, and in the morning I’m going to have my healthy bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice, I would’ve got a very different response from the glucose monitor.
Martin
(44:50)
100%. That was what I was thinking of using. But just in terms of metrics, just on an intuitive level, because the only thing I track in terms of data now really is my Oura Ring. Obviously I have tracked food in the past. I think we did that for about six years using MyFitnessPal, with all my bodybuilding stuff and everything else, but obviously I don’t do that any more.
(45:06)
And just what you mentioned there about going for a walk after eating, and this is a habit that I’ve cemented in. I’ve been doing this for about three years now, and there’s research to show even a two-minute walk can really balance and regulate your blood sugar levels. Just going for even two minutes, they found in research, helps you obviously then feel more satiated as well because of gravity, I guess, blood flow to the stomach and everything else as well. So that’s such a… When we talk about metrics, it’s not something I track, but that’s something that is just a non-negotiable for me, because I feel so… I have big meals as well, but it just is a non-negotiable, because it helps me with energy, productivity, going for a walk after my meals, and movement is medicine anyway. So that’s really, really a game-changer for me.
Stu
(45:47)
I think from a blood sugar perspective, there’s science to show that the glucose in your bloodstream gets utilized in the muscles if you go for a walk after a meal, and it impacts your insulin levels, which is good. I wasn’t into my activity monitor on the Oura Ring, but I’m into it now. I just keep tabs on that basically daily step count. Last year, I experimented. I did 365 days of 20,000 steps each day, and I just thought, I want to see what happens. Let’s just keep that to a day. And I’ve got a dog, so it’s easy, I can walk the dog on the beach and do whatever I want to do. But that was fascinating in terms of what that did for heart rate variability, deep sleep, body composition, overall energy, all of the above. I’ve… [inaudible 00:46:40]
Martin
(46:39)
For deep sleep as well [inaudible 00:46:41] more movement. So you said 20K a day, 20,000 steps a day for a year.
Stu
(46:47)
Yeah. I did 20,000 a day for 365 days, and it was profound. If I didn’t get 95% on Oura Ring each and every night, there’s a problem. And so that was the game-changer. I’ve dialed that back now and I typically do between 10 and 15,000 a day. 20 is a little bit too excessive.
Martin
(47:09)
It was excessive [inaudible 00:47:12] 100%. It’s heavy.
Stu
(47:14)
It was a personal experiment, but definitely that daily movement, just walking… And walking is so underrated. People are really transfixed on, what exercise is the best? Should I swing kettle bells? Should it be cardio versus CrossFit, F45, whatever it may be? You can just walk around the block. It’s so beneficial. [inaudible 00:47:33]
Martin
(47:36)
100%. And when you start attaching, you just start noticing. And that’s the thing, that’s the only way I get sustainable results with clients, is just getting them to pay attention to how they feel as well. It’s like, when you go for a walk, let’s say you’re stressed, something really bad happened, something’s going on, you’re overwhelmed, you never feel worse after a walk.
Stu
(47:47)
No.
Martin
(47:47)
When do you ever go for a walk and go, “I feel worse”? [inaudible 00:47:48] doesn’t happen.
Stu
(47:48)
No, exactly right. I’ll tell you what I did as well, when I was doing that 20,000 step, I made a conscious effort to not listen to anything. So I didn’t have my earphones in, there was no podcast, no music. I thought, what is it like if I can hit that step count and just use that time to think? And it was like a rebirth. It’s like, oh my God, you can think about all of the issues that you might have, you can work through them, you can come to solutions, without this constant chatter. Because social media in all of its forms, and the smartphones, et cetera, they’re continually interrupting thought. And it was a bliss point. It was like, go for a walk, and I would just think about stuff. And life seemed to get easier because I’d figured stuff out, and I’d run through scenarios about any potential problems or opportunities that I was facing, and I knew how to attack these. So it’s just interesting.
Martin
(48:54)
It’s a great form of mindfulness, just not being distracted, headphones, just thinking clearly. It really, really helps with your thought process. And also just for anyone listening back as well, it’s like what you said. A lot of people, they say, “I train every day, I’m really consistent,” but then when you look at how much movement they’re doing, they’re hardly moving at all. So your total calorie output, 15% of your total calories burned… So you’ve got 60%, 70% is just your body burning calories to keep you alive, your basal metabolic rate. But then you’ve got 15% of the total calories burned, so in other words, your waking hours, the most calories you’re going to burn is from non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT as we call it, which is essentially just your movement day to day. And going for walks is great, but even if it’s just moving regular, so if you’re doing stuff around the house, just making sure whatever you do, you hit a certain amount of steps, it’s just going to have a night and day difference on fat loss as well. You’re burning thousands more calories over the space of a week. It’s significant. So, simple thing which is overlooked.
Stu
(49:52)
Yeah. And we can… Well, it’s at our disposable. We can do it if we want. Everybody’s got 15 minutes to wander round the block. And it’s so great for digestion and mindset and sleep, particularly. Yeah. All of the above.
Martin
(50:07)
Changes your state, as you said as well, it’s a great way to change your state. When you’re in any state, like for you for example, you might’ve had a few problems you have to solve, change your state, change your environment, game-changer. Especially if it’s out in nature as well, right?
Stu
(50:17)
100%. That’s right. And up in Byron Bay, I’m very, very lucky. We’ve got these long, endless stretches of beach. So it would just be shirt off, board shorts, getting the sunshine, just taking it all in, being immersed, grounded, vitamin D, all of the above. Unbelievable. Yeah.
Martin
(50:32)
Beautiful, beautiful. Perfect.
Stu
(50:34)
So good. So mate, we’re coming up on time. Just a closing question that I would like to ask you. Health and wellness space right now, what excites you in this space?
Martin
(50:45)
So, what excites me in this space right now? I would say it’s more, a bit nerdy really, but the research and everything coming out on neuroscience. I know it’s not technically health and fitness, but it relates into that, and all the research coming out on the human brain. And it’s something I’ve always been fascinated about, is just psychology and the human brain, and how that relates to fitness. And the stuff we were talking about as well in terms of just how technology is advancing now, with the continuous blood glucose monitor we just talked about, and those kind of things. And I do think, wow, with how everything’s accelerating so fast now, with AI and everything else, it’s really interesting now in terms of devices and tools that we’re able to bring into play to track things.
(51:30)
So the nerdy things, I guess, it’s definitely neuroscience and brain and all the behavioral stuff really, really fascinates me. But also it’s the stuff on metabolism, the tools we can use to track these things. Because when it comes to metabolic health, metabolic health is the most important thing. It’s been proven time and time again now in research, when it comes to any health ailments, in other words, not carrying excess body fat, especially around the midsection and on your internal organs and stuff, is key. So all that kind of stuff really, really fascinates me, really, just the tech and the human brain and metabolism really. A bit of a nerdy answer, but that’s what comes to mind, Stu.
Stu
(52:06)
No, it’s good. No doubt you would’ve probably listened to no end of Huberman then on the podcast. I mean, he’s definitely the king of neurobiology and all that stuff.
Martin
(52:13)
Andy Huberman?
Stu
(52:13)
Yes.
Martin
(52:14)
Yeah. Yeah, of course man. 100%. He’s the one that got me tuned in even more. I’m trying to think what else, though, but that’s the main things that come to mind for me, really.
Stu
(52:26)
Absolutely. Well, you mentioned metabolic health, and everything that we’ve spoken about today will impact that drastically. Moving away from ultra-processed foods and dropping the industrial seed oils, refined carbohydrates, over to a whole food approach, moving your body, getting sunshine, working on sleep, they’re game-changers.
Martin
(52:47)
Yeah, exactly. And it always comes down to those things, right Stu? And just to wrap this up, it’s going to come back to the same fundamentals, but it is a case of what you can take away from these podcasts. If you take one thing away and implement it, and just don’t get caught up with the shiny objects, whether that be fasting or whether that be any specific diet fad or whatever it is, it is going to take you away from where you want to go a lot of the times. And not only that, it can actually put you in a worse position, because just like Stu said, you’re not focusing on the priorities.
(53:19)
So when you come down, if you look at just drinking enough water, nutrition, training, sleep, which is obviously the big rock, your environment essentially, and they’re going to be the main things. And movement as we said, sorry, can’t leave movement out of there. If you think about those six things, and there’s any of those that you’re lacking or you’re not being consistent with, focus on one of them, and essentially be consistent with it.
(53:40)
But with my clients as well, I just wanted to say, with the clients that I help, I really help ambitious people normally who are type A personality. I do have just general population as well mainly, but a lot of them are really… They’re high achievers. And I’m sure people can relate to this now, where it’s the all-or-nothing mentality. A lot of people who come to me, they’ve got that all-or-nothing. And it can be a strength when it comes to business and what they’ve achieved in their life, but for anyone listening back, you can probably relate to it, because I used to have this as well, that can be your biggest weakness as well. So you’ve got to be… It takes more resilience and more discipline to just be consistent with one thing at a time, and actually then pay attention to what we were talking about in terms of the benefit those things add your life then.
(54:22)
So when you’re moving more, what benefits are you getting from that? You’re probably going to notice you’re less stressed, your digestion’s improving after your meals. Pay attention to those things. You notice that you’re thinking sharper, you’re more productive, when you pay attention to the health markers on each of those big rocks, that’s what’s the true game-changer.
Stu
(54:37)
Brilliant. Absolutely, mate. Couldn’t agree more. So for all of our listeners, mate, that want to find out more about you, they want to dial into perhaps some of your podcasts, have a look at the programs, follow your journey, where can we send them?
Martin
(54:54)
Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram, is I guess my main platform. So that’s just @MartinSilvaFitness, Silva obviously spelled S-I-L-V-A. And then my podcast as well, the audience will get a ton of value from my podcast, it’s Optimize Your Body, it’s called, Optimize Your Body. And that’s on all platforms, so definitely go check that out, and don’t forget to subscribe if you do as well, because then you get the updates. And also there’s another one, I guess I’m on TikTok as well now, for my sins, so @MartinSilvaFitness, so I might as well plug that one. And that’s the main platforms. We’re only just building the website, I don’t actually have a website at the moment, just building a new one. But everything’s going to be in my Instagram bio anyway.
Stu
(55:34)
Okay, mate. Fantastic. We’ll put all of those links in the show notes, but thank you so much for the opportunity to have a chat again. It has been a pleasure as always.
Martin
(55:43)
Mate, it was great to catch up, man. Always a pleasure to come on. Thanks, man.
Stu
(55:47)
Thank you. Bye-bye.
