125 Master Your Health and Become 20 Pounds Younger with Michele Promaulayko

"All the same things that affect your waistline also affect your appearance." - Michele Promaulayko If you enjoyed this episode, find show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/125. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 125 with Michelle Promalaco.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  What's up everyone? Thanks so much for joining me today. And this episode is brought to you by Onnit.com. If you're looking to take your health and your life to the next level, make sure to check out Onnit.com. And you get 10% off when you use the checkout code GREATNESS on all supplements. Check it out over at Onnit.com. Thanks everyone for joining me today. Very excited about this one. It's with my good friend, Michelle Promalaco. And for those that do not know Michelle, she is a extremely intelligent, wise, loving individual, and is the editor in chief of Yahoo Health and former vice president and editor in chief of Women's Health Magazine,

• 1:16Lewis Howes?

  which is an award-winning magazine. And as a dedicated health journalist, she empowers women to live their best lives by bringing them the latest information and advice in all areas of wellness, fitness, and nutrition. And I got to sit down with Michelle today and talk about how to really live 20 pounds younger. And that's the title of her new book, The Life Transformation Plan for a Fitter, Sexier You. And she is basically just like me in a way where she has access to the most intelligent fitness and health and lifestyle minds and experts in the world.

• 1:56Lewis Howes?

  And she's connected with them, broken down their systems, learned all the tricks of the trade to figure out really how to live your best life and have the best health you can have. She is an expert at this and has been doing it for a number of years and has been testing things herself. And we got to dive into this on our conversation today. And I'm very excited to bring you her message, her gifts, and her wisdom. In this episode, so without further ado, let me introduce you to the one and only Michelle Promaulayko.

• 2:36Lewis Howes?

  All right, welcome back to the School of Greatness podcast. I'm with my friend Michelle Promaulayko. Good to see you.

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Good to see you.

• 2:44Lewis Howes?

  I'm very excited. We met four years ago at the place where I have these boots right now, Summit Series.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 2:50Lewis Howes?

  On a ship on the way to Bahamas?

• 2:54Speaker 01

  Tahoe.

• 2:55Lewis Howes?

  Oh, it's Tahoe. I thought we met on the ship. No? Oh, man.

• 2:59Speaker 01

  They wouldn't have given you those on a ship.

• 3:00Lewis Howes?

  That's right. The year after that, I'm getting them all mixed up.

• 3:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 3:03Lewis Howes?

  We met in Tahoe.

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Right, at an incredible event.

• 3:07Lewis Howes?

  Incredible event, and...

• 3:09Speaker 01

  There was no snow on the mountain, so we couldn't go snowboarding. We had to just go to sessions and hang out and talk to people, which turned out to be way more awesome.

• 3:17Lewis Howes?

  But you were one of the most interesting people I met there and someone that I was like, I need to follow up with consistently. And I've been following up with you ever since.

• 3:25Speaker 01

  That's a huge compliment. Thank you.

• 3:26Lewis Howes?

  There's a lot of inspiring people there, but something about your energy is so, it's like so grounded.

• 3:33Speaker 01

  Oh, thank you.

• 3:34Lewis Howes?

  And I don't know where that comes from, but...

• 3:37Speaker 01

  I don't know either.

• 3:38Lewis Howes?

  But it's so like, it's just enjoyable to be around you. And so I'm so glad we get to spend some time together.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 3:45Lewis Howes?

  And talk about everything that you've been up to, but also your new book, which is called 20 Pounds Younger, not 20 Pounds Lighter, but 20 Pounds Younger.

• 3:53Speaker 01

  Right, there's a little twist there.

• 3:54Lewis Howes?

  So why, why this book? You're former editor in chief of Women's Health Magazine. Before that, you worked at Cosmo, right?

• 4:03Speaker 01

  I was the executive editor of Cosmo for eight or nine years before I made the leap to Women's Health. So, yeah, but you know, health and fitness has always been a deep passion of mine. So when I had the opportunity to go to Women's Health, I grabbed it.

• 4:15Lewis Howes?

  Okay, now why was it?

• 4:16Speaker 01

  And by the way, I just want to say, I'm a podcast virgin, so you need to be gentle with me.

• 4:22Lewis Howes?

  I would touch you lightly.

• 4:25Speaker 01

  See, you can, you can take the girl out of Cosmo, but you can't take Cosmo out of the girl.

• 4:29Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Now, why are you so passionate about fitness and health and?

• 4:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, so, well, one of the reasons that I wanted to do 20 pounds younger is that as I entered my 40s, I wasn't, you know, I wasn't going to give into that supposed inevitability of, you know, being less fit, less healthy, less energetic. I mean, you hear people say all the time, "Oh, my metabolism slowed down," or "this happened," or "that happened," and I was like, "That's not gonna happen. It doesn't have to happen." I mean, certainly, you go through changes, but they don't have to, you know, impact you in such dramatic ways.

• 5:03Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha.

• 5:04Speaker 01

  So, I wanted to explore, you know, what are the tenants of health that can keep me feeling good, hopefully looking good, and share those.

• 5:13Lewis Howes?

  Now, how long have you been in the city for?

• 5:15Speaker 01

  Almost 20 years.

• 5:16Lewis Howes?

  20 years. You do not look like you're in your 40s for a woman who's been living in the city for that long.

• 5:21Speaker 01

  Thank you for that. Thank you for that.

• 5:22Lewis Howes?

  So, whatever is, you know, for people that can't see you, make sure to get this book because it's, it's working.

• 5:29Speaker 01

  Aw, thank you, Lewis. You know, the thing is, I feel fortunate that as a health editor, I've been able to access the greatest minds in fitness, nutrition, mental health, you know, sleep experts. So, I think of myself in many ways as a conduit, you know, to these experts, and I wanted to, you know, share that exposure that I've been able to have. Because I've, I've benefited professionally, certainly, but personally as well.

• 5:53Lewis Howes?

  So, we're, I feel like we're basically the same person because I do the same thing on School of Greatness. I try to bring the brightest minds in sports and business and, you know, everything, and doctors. So, you have a lot of information to share with people. And I want to talk about first is why 20 pounds younger, though? Like, why not 20 pounds lighter?

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Right, exactly. Well, because...

• 6:14Lewis Howes?

  It's catchy, so why?

• 6:15Speaker 01

  It's catchy as a marketer, you know that, for a couple of reasons. I mean, 20, that target number happens to be what most Americans target as their weight loss goal.

• 6:25Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  But all the same things that affect your waistline also affect your appearance. So, your level of stress, you know, what you eat, your level of physical activity.

• 6:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  All of those things age you, both outwardly and inwardly. And when you lose 20 pounds, and not everybody, obviously, needs to lose 20, some people need to lose more, some less, but when you lose 20 pounds, that's a critical benchmark at which things improve dramatically.

• 6:52Lewis Howes?

  In the way you look.

• 6:53Speaker 01

  In the way that you look and your energy level in, in just a bunch of health metrics, cardiovascularly and other things. And so 20 seems to be this, this pivotal number.

• 7:04Lewis Howes?

  Got you. You basically become younger when you lose weight.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Right. So you can, as one of my friends says, grow younger and as I say in the book.

• 7:12Lewis Howes?

  I like it.

• 7:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, we're all about trying to grow younger.

• 7:14Lewis Howes?

  I like it. I interviewed Dr. Daniel Amen. I don't know if you're familiar with him, but he's a, a brain researcher, a brain expert. And he says that the heavier you are, the smaller your brain becomes.

• 7:27Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 7:28Lewis Howes?

  And therefore it takes, you know, time off of your life. So the lighter you are, the bigger your brain is, the more mental capacity you have.

• 7:34Speaker 01

  Totally. Well, you just.

• 7:36Lewis Howes?

  More energy, right?

• 7:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, you've just hit on one of the things that I would say as a health editor I've been most fascinated with, which is the relationship between cognition and nutrition. And it is so linked. And I think, you know, more and more science is coming out about that. It's like what you eat doesn't just affect your gene size, it affects your brain size.

• 7:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:57Speaker 01

  I mean, that's powerful.

• 7:58Lewis Howes?

  It's so powerful.

• 7:59Speaker 01

  If you don't care, you know, if you're not vain enough to care how you look, you know, in clothes, okay, but you should definitely care about how your brain operates.

• 8:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, interesting. Now, what about restrictive diets? Because I am a huge fan of sugar.

• 8:15Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 8:16Lewis Howes?

  I love sugar.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  Okay, we're gonna turn that around.

• 8:18Lewis Howes?

  It's my vice. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I've never been.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  I know you have so few vices.

• 8:23Lewis Howes?

  I've never been drunk in my life.

• 8:24Speaker 01

  You have so few vices, it's true.

• 8:26Lewis Howes?

  And, you know, I'm not perfect, that's for sure. I mean, I'm not like the perfect person, but, uh, sugar is one of the things that it's just like, mm.

• 8:33Speaker 01

  So, so restrictive diets don't work, okay? This, it's human nature. The second you tell somebody they can't have something, they want that thing, that exact thing.

• 8:42Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 8:43Speaker 01

  So I'm not a big proponent of restrictive diets. And for me, I think like you, I enjoy food, period. I call myself a hungry girl. I like to eat. I live in New York, I like to go out to dinner. And so for me to have, you know, every meal meticulously mapped out.

• 9:00Lewis Howes?

  Counting it and like weighing it.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  Going to work.

• 9:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 9:03Speaker 01

  So what I wanted to do in Twenty Pounds Younger was explore other ways to maintain weight or to lose weight if you need to. So there's a couple of things. One is called flexible restraint. And flexible restraint is really about focusing on the foods that you like rather than avoiding the foods you like. Focusing on the foods that you like rather than avoiding the foods you like.

• 9:26Lewis Howes?

  So like focusing on the amount that you can have of those foods that you like?

• 9:29Speaker 01

  Just more, spending more time thinking about the good for you foods rather than thinking about, oh, I like that thing, but I have to avoid it.

• 9:37Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  So flexible, yeah, flexible restraint is just saying, I don't eat, you know, I don't eat potato chips, not I can't eat potato chips. The second you say I can't. Yeah, it's a choice. It's an empowering phrase. So it's empowerment versus deprivation.

• 9:56Lewis Howes?

  Got you. I mean, I'm a big fan of Dante, Cafe Dante in Greenwich Village. They have the best gelato in the world.

• 10:02Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:03Lewis Howes?

  Every time I come to New York.

• 10:03Speaker 01

  I do like gelato too. Got to admit it.

• 10:05Lewis Howes?

  We have to go to Cafe Dante. It's amazing. And whenever I go there, I get two scoops of gelato. I get stracciatella and tiramisu. And then I always ask for a second round because it's amazing. So for someone like me.

• 10:18Speaker 01

  Right.

• 10:19Lewis Howes?

  Who loves gelato, what do I tell myself?

• 10:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:22Lewis Howes?

  I choose not to eat this gelato right now and choose to eat.

• 10:24Speaker 01

  No, it's not even that because what you just described to me, maybe save for the second helping, but what you first described to me was a conscious indulgence.

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  You made a decision. I really enjoy this. I'm not going to feel guilty about it. I'm going to just savor it. That right there makes a huge difference, your approach. So it's what's a mindful approach. So a lot of what's in Twenty Pounds Younger is all about mindful eating. And when people hear the term mindful eating or just mindful anything.

• 10:56Lewis Howes?

  Mindfulness.

• 10:56Speaker 01

  Mindfulness as applied to anything, they immediately think, what is this? Is this some, like, do I have to be some mantra spewing yogi?

• 11:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  To adhere to any mindful practices? And it's no, because mindfulness is really just. raising awareness and attention about experiences. And it's about, you know, decision making and considered thought. And not letting a thought, you know, have control over you and not placing judgments on that. So, back to your gelato example, if you, you know, enjoy that, then you should have it. Because the second that you judge yourself for having it, that's when it has power over you. And that's when you, you enter that, you get on that slippery slope.

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  Because you start feeling guilty, you start beating yourself up.

• 11:43Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 11:44Lewis Howes?

  And the stress that we create in ourselves is probably worse than actually eating bad foods, because the stress is what puts the weight on and what slows our metabolism, right?

• 11:53Speaker 01

  Absolutely. You just hit on such a key thing that I think is such an ignored concept when it comes to weight and to eating and nutrition and food and health, is that you're your worst enemy. You can be your worst enemy. So when you, that's self-induced stress. Self-induced stress then causes you to, you know, it, you know, increases those cortisol levels, right? What does that do? It triggers that hunger hormone that makes you then want to go seek bad-for-you foods, or supposedly bad-for-you foods. And then you feel guilty about it, right? What are we creating? A vicious cycle.

• 12:29Lewis Howes?

  Negative viral loop.

• 12:31Speaker 01

  Negative viral loop.

• 12:32Lewis Howes?

  Bad foods, and then you're beating yourself up for eating it, so you eat more bad foods to feel better. And then you keep beating yourself up.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  Right, exactly. So dispensing with the judgment is the best thing that you can do. The other thing about mindful eating is that many of us can't tell when we're actually hungry, because we're on this sort of autopilot. There are all these external and internal cues, right? An external cue would be like, what are other people doing? Or how much food is on my plate? If there's still food on my plate, I must still, I must still be hungry, right?

• 13:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, or I need to finish it.

• 13:07Speaker 01

  Right, right. But that's actually, that's mindless eating and not mindful eating.

• 13:12Lewis Howes?

  I've been a champion of mindless eating. As a kid growing up, I mean, I would eat all the time, everything.

• 13:18Speaker 01

  Okay, so here's a tip for you to become a more mindful eater and a less mindless eater. Is leave something on your plate, right? Just as an experiment, leave something on your plate. Because if you do that, over time, you start to realize that you don't need that empty or clean plate as the visual cue to tell you when you're hungry.

• 13:40Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 13:41Speaker 01

  You can actually tune into your body to be like, "Am I still hungry?" And then also, what I say in the book, put your food on display. So if you're eating a packaged food, take it out of the package. If it's in that package, you're gonna just keep eating it until it's all gone.

• 13:56Lewis Howes?

  What do you mean, like a box of cookies?

• 13:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, or cookies or chips or whatever it is. I mean, it could be something.

• 14:01Lewis Howes?

  Are you saying put them out of the bag into a bowl?

• 14:03Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:04Lewis Howes?

  Eat what's in the bowl, not the whole bag, 'cause I'll finish the bag of chips.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Because then you're just, you know, it's just a hand-to-mouth thing.

• 14:10Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 14:10Speaker 01

  You know, and really appreciate your food. I mean, you don't have to sit there like savor, you know, closing your eyes and savoring every single bite, but if you spend the time to, you know, appreciate your food, you know, act like a food critic, like, "If I were a food critic, what would I be saying about this right now?"

• 14:27Lewis Howes?

  You'd be taking it very slowly, deliberately.

• 14:29Speaker 01

  Yeah. And in the beginning.

• 14:31Lewis Howes?

  Intentionally.

• 14:31Speaker 01

  Intentionally. And when, in the beginning, when you're trying to eat more mindfully, it is a little bit of a slower practice, but with practice, you get better at it, and then it becomes your default.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  You gotta form a new habit, because I'm, you know, as a kid, I was the youngest of four, so I was like just a scavenger of food on the plates, like just whatever I could get.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  If you didn't get it, there wasn't gonna be anything there.

• 14:53Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. So we gotta really train ourselves differently, our eating habits.

• 14:57Speaker 01

  Well, you totally hit on something, which is just the conditioning that we go through, and that also applies to the foods that we like or dislike, right? So I talk in the book about evolving your palate to like better-for-you foods. Because the fact is, what we're exposed to, what we eat most, what we ate as a kid, is the stuff that we crave.

• 15:17Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:18Speaker 01

  And... One of the things that I say in the book is if you think about kids in India, they're happy to eat spicy curries, whereas a kid here probably isn't going to do that or like it in the beginning because that's not what they've been exposed to.

• 15:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 15:32Speaker 01

  So, we can adapt our palates and evolve our palates to like things that are better for us. And I think a great example is chocolate.

• 15:41Lewis Howes?

  Love chocolate.

• 15:41Speaker 01

  So, right, chocolate's great. I love chocolate too. But I used to eat, you know, milk chocolate back in the day.

• 15:47Lewis Howes?

  Now it's dark chocolate.

• 15:48Speaker 01

  Now it's dark chocolate and I can now tolerate really dark chocolate and still it tastes sweet to me. Because over time, I've exposed myself to that. And now the milk chocolate is too sweet.

• 15:59Lewis Howes?

  Too rich.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  And actually isn't enjoyable. You know, the same can be said for, you know, green drinks and things like that. And it's not an overnight process. But the fact is exposure will, is more apt to make you like something.

• 16:12Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. You know, I was, when I moved to New York in 2010, I believe it was, I'm now in Los Angeles, but when I moved here originally, I was like 35 pounds heavier than I am now. And my sisters started calling me Fluous for Fat Louis.

• 16:26Speaker 01

  Aww.

• 16:27Lewis Howes?

  Because I had a little belly and my face was like a little chipmunk face, chubby.

• 16:32Speaker 01

  Right.

• 16:33Lewis Howes?

  And I was, I'm a tall guy, so I could like kind of wear it well, I guess, but it started to bother me.

• 16:37Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:38Lewis Howes?

  And a friend of mine, a buddy of mine, James Wedmore, started drinking green juice. And he was like, this is the new thing in Los Angeles. You've got to try it. Like, it's going to help you lose some weight.

• 16:46Speaker 01

  Right.

• 16:46Lewis Howes?

  Check out this movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, this documentary. I don't know if you've heard of it.

• 16:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, definitely.

• 16:51Lewis Howes?

  And I watched this movie and I started like, I was like, all right, I'm going to get in this green juice thing. And I started drinking a green juice over in Union Square, a little juice spot over there, every single day. And I'd have a few a day. And I lost 28 pounds in 28 days by eliminating all sugar, except I would have a little bit of natural sugar every day, but limiting all junk food and drinking green juice. And at first I did not like the green juice.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  Right. Who does? The first time they drank liquefied spinach.

• 17:19Lewis Howes?

  It was nasty.

• 17:21Speaker 01

  Right.

• 17:21Lewis Howes?

  But now it's like I crave green juice every single day.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  Isn't that amazing?

• 17:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:25Speaker 01

  Right. It's sort of, it's, you know, we are adaptive creatures because if we only, you know, historically chose to eat these three things and then those three things didn't become available, we would die of, you know,

• 17:38Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 17:39Speaker 01

  of hunger. So, we have to adapt. We're able to adapt. We're incredibly adaptive. And so that's just one of the ways that you can do it. So that's great.

• 17:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  That's great to hear.

• 17:49Lewis Howes?

  You talk about in the book, evolving your palate.

• 17:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:52Lewis Howes?

  And I am probably one of the pickiest eaters you'll ever meet. Like, literally, there are so many foods that I won't even touch. If it's touching one of my foods, I cannot have the whole plate.

• 18:01Speaker 01

  That's a whole other thing.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  I'm like-

• 18:02Speaker 01

  The food not touching thing is a whole other-

• 18:04Lewis Howes?

  I've gotten a-

• 18:05Speaker 01

  It's a whole other form of disordered eating.

• 18:08Lewis Howes?

  I've gotten a lot better. And actually, a chiropractor, a friend of mine, said that picky eating is actually a form of genius. And so I took that as a compliment.

• 18:18Speaker 01

  You ran with that one.

• 18:19Lewis Howes?

  I don't know if it's true or not, but I was like, I'll take it. And, um-

• 18:23Speaker 01

  Again, I think it's what we've been talking about. It goes back to exposure. So what I would say to you is to have a broader array of things that you eat, you have to start eating a broader array of things.

• 18:37Lewis Howes?

  I know.

• 18:37Speaker 01

  So you seem scared.

• 18:40Lewis Howes?

  I have like a five-year-old's palate.

• 18:41Speaker 01

  I know. Now I feel like you've issued a challenge. And I need to somehow-

• 18:47Lewis Howes?

  I'm getting better, though. Like, I don't eat salads.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 18:49Lewis Howes?

  I don't like-

• 18:50Speaker 01

  But if you eat green juice, at least you're getting your greens.

• 18:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, so I'm changing it up. I just don't like certain textures and smells. Like the salad dressings, like, I can't smell it. I don't know.

• 19:00Speaker 01

  I think those are, those sound like, I'm not a shrink, but those sound like-

• 19:04Lewis Howes?

  Some other issue, deeper issues.

• 19:06Speaker 01

  Like associations with something bad.

• 19:08Lewis Howes?

  It might be.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  We need to deprogram you.

• 19:10Lewis Howes?

  I think it's just because I grew up with, like, eating chicken fingers and pizza and peanut butter sandwiches. That was it.

• 19:14Speaker 01

  I think that it all eventually comes back down to how does it make you feel, right? And you're going to do things that make you feel good.

• 19:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:22Speaker 01

  And I also think the eating well, you know, it's a domino effect with everything else. If you're sleeping, you can't just eat well and then, you know, if you're not sleeping well or not, you know, moving or not having positive thoughts. Like, we are systemic creatures. We are not a collection of isolated parts.

• 19:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:40Speaker 01

  We are all, you know, it's all interwoven.

• 19:43Lewis Howes?

  It's a lifestyle. It's not just-

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, all cylinders need to be firing.

• 19:47Lewis Howes?

  If you're not getting sleep-

• 19:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:48Lewis Howes?

  Your body's gonna be, you know, 50 pounds older.

• 19:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  You know, or whatever.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Exactly. And I talk a lot about that exact stuff in the book. So-

• 19:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:56Speaker 01

  The goal was really to make it this, you know- Plan of transformation because you need to sort of address all of these issues. Not to make it sound arduous or labor intensive because I'm also a huge believer in micro actions, you know, adding up to big benefits.

• 20:14Lewis Howes?

  What's a micro action? What do you mean?

• 20:15Speaker 01

  Just a small action, something small, you know, a decision to go to bed thirty minutes earlier can have a huge impact on the way that you feel, look, you know, whether you work out the next morning, what you choose to eat for breakfast the next morning, it can have this, you know, this impact.

• 20:33Lewis Howes?

  What do you call it, micro actions?

• 20:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, a micro action, you know, or small, just a small shift.

• 20:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, okay.

• 20:38Speaker 01

  Can add up to a big benefit.

• 20:40Lewis Howes?

  I like that. So you've been in that health and fitness lifestyle business for how long?

• 20:46Speaker 01

  Well, I mean professionally, you know, just about seven years.

• 20:50Lewis Howes?

  Seven years.

• 20:50Speaker 01

  But before that, you know, I've been in the magazine industry for, you know, twenty years and before I was a health editor, I certainly cared about that stuff.

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  I wrote, I wrote about it and I obviously read about it, but I didn't dedicate myself to it until, you know, seven years ago.

• 21:06Lewis Howes?

  But for the last seven years, you've seen a lot of different books come out, a lot of different experts, fitness nutritionists.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:13Lewis Howes?

  Talk about different diets, different ways of eating, on how to lose weight, feel better, you know, everything. Why are there so many different opinions?

• 21:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:23Lewis Howes?

  When it comes to fitness and lifestyle and living a better life.

• 21:26Speaker 01

  It's a great question and I don't think that health and fitness is a one size fits all proposition and so clearly different, I mean, you have foundations, right?

• 21:37Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 21:37Speaker 01

  That apply to most people, but it's not a one size fits all thing. So people, some people do well with intermittent fasting.

• 21:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Have you ever done that?

• 21:45Speaker 01

  I'm not one of those people. I haven't done it. I mean, I've maybe, you know, dabbled in it like a tiny bit, but I haven't dedicated myself to trying it.

• 21:52Lewis Howes?

  You're like, I need to lose a couple pounds.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  Because again, back to the earlier quote, like, I'm a hungry girl.

• 21:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  So, you know, only eating in an eight hour window is probably not gonna work.

• 22:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. You're like my girlfriend, she could eat all day.

• 22:05Speaker 01

  But some people, it, it works for them.

• 22:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  They don't care that much about eating or the, you know, that eight hour window is enough for them. Whatever the reasons are. So, in one sense, I'm heartened that there are these options. In the other, you know, in another sense, I'm not because there's so much focus on quote unquote, "diet," right, and restriction. And I'm not really into the whole restriction thing. I mean, certainly, you could say, like, eating a high sodium, high sugar diet's not healthy. We know that. I'm here to express that. But the second you put your mind in that place of deprivation, you're setting yourself up for failure.

• 22:48Lewis Howes?

  So it's better to have the sugar as opposed to beating yourself up by not having it or restricting.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  In moderation, as a conscious indulgence. Not like, "I'm not tasting this, I'm not appreciating it, I'm just shoveling it in." I mean, clearly, it's not good for you. I mean, we kind of know a lot of, you know, the evils of sugar. But if you're having a little bit now and then, it's definitely healthier than beating yourself up.

• 23:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:10Speaker 01

  So, you know, it's also, I feel like flexibility needs to be built into any eating plan because, listen, you and I, we're busy, we travel, you know, we might get invited to something at the last minute.

• 23:21Lewis Howes?

  With great desserts.

• 23:22Speaker 01

  If you're so... You and the desserts.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  But if you're so tethered to this idea that, "Oh, my God, tonight, I have to eat this, like, grilled piece of fish and vegetables," or you're gonna get thrown for a loop the second something spontaneous comes up. That's not sustainable. So, my whole goal was to figure out and to talk to the best minds in mindfulness and in nutrition to find out what the most sustainable way to eat is.

• 23:51Lewis Howes?

  So what is it, like, you know, a cheat day once a week? Is it like a cheat meals?

• 23:55Speaker 01

  It's not even that. It's not even that.

• 23:57Lewis Howes?

  Restricting yourself that much.

• 23:58Speaker 01

  That's restrictive, right?

• 24:00Lewis Howes?

  Saying, "I can only have food on Saturday," right?

• 24:02Speaker 01

  One day. And I'm not saying that doesn't work.

• 24:04Lewis Howes?

  And then you just have all the donuts you can eat.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Right. And then it's just a binge. And are you gonna feel good after that binge? No.

• 24:11Lewis Howes?

  Well, maybe for a moment, but...

• 24:13Speaker 01

  A very fleeting moment.

• 24:15Lewis Howes?

  So that's restrictive in itself. So how does someone approach this then? How do you take on your intake?

• 24:21Speaker 01

  It's the flex, it's building in flexibility. So it's coming up with some guidelines for yourself that aren't these immovable posts. So you can operate within them. So it might be something as simple as, you know, I'm not going to eat aside from my three meals and my two snacks. Like those are going to be the times that I eat. You know, and it doesn't mean that snack's at 12 noon. And it doesn't mean that snack only consists of, you know, cut up vegetables. But it's just saying like, these are the guidelines I'm going to follow. And they're going to be different for different people. But it's just, the main thing is building some flexibility into how you go about eating. And in the book, I certainly talk about the things you should be eating.

• 25:04Speaker 01

  I'm not here to say, you know, gorge on, on high sodium, high processed, you know, carbs or something. That's, that's not, that wouldn't be wise advice.

• 25:15Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  I talk about, you know, eating healthy fats, you know, mood boosting nutrients. You know, the things that you should, that should make up the biggest part of your diet. So I, you know, I do, I do have, you know, things that I think are smarter to eat. But again, you first have to get the right mindset.

• 25:35Lewis Howes?

  Sure, yeah. You also cover, you know, I think being younger and looking younger and being younger, it takes working on your body as well. Not just eating the right things or having a flexible eating schedule. But you talk about strength training and strength conditioning as opposed to just cardio.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  Right.

• 25:50Lewis Howes?

  And primarily, this is geared towards women, wouldn't you say?

• 25:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, I started the book when I was an editor in chief of women's health. And now I'm the editor in chief of Yahoo Health. And so I finished it when I was here. But I was, it's certainly for both genders. But I do talk a lot to women, about women and their specific needs. And strength training. Is

• 26:11Lewis Howes?

  Why is this so important for women?

• 26:12Speaker 01

  It's one of those things that I am really passionate about getting more women to strength train and absolutely more women are strength training. But of all the people who strength train, only a third are women, right? So not enough.

• 26:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:25Speaker 01

  And it's so important because it is, you know, I think, um, an underappreciated tenet of health, right? It's good for lean muscle building, which burns more calories all day long, even at rest.

• 26:38Lewis Howes?

  Your bones.

• 26:39Speaker 01

  It is great for bone density, it's great for joint mobility. You know, you're going to look more compact, leaner, firmer, all of these things. And I see a lot of women who will go to the gym and get on the treadmill and just run on it for an hour. And I know what their goal is, their goal is like, I want to be fit, I want to be in shape and I want to lose weight or whatever the deal is. And it's actually not the most effective way to do those things.

• 27:04Lewis Howes?

  You can burn more fat by doing 20 minute strength training, HIIT workout than running for a kilo.

• 27:09Speaker 01

  And that's a hard sell for some women, they just don't get it. And the reason that they might not

• 27:14Lewis Howes?

  Women just like to beat themselves up.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  I think that the sweat factor, not that you can absolutely sweat weight training, no doubt about it, but I think the sweat factor that you get from a cardio workout, running on the treadmill, somehow is this like instant gratification payoff, like I've done something, you know? And the fact is, you're really, it's mostly water weight that you're shedding in that moment. And so that time could be better spent strength training. And then that lean muscle that you build is going to burn calories all day long. When you get off that treadmill, you're done.

• 27:47Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Well, I definitely think there's a shift in strength training for women and you say, you know, strong is the new sexy. There's a huge shift from CrossFit, bringing awareness to it, although some women see like the extreme CrossFit women and they're like, I don't want to look like that, so I'm not going to lift.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Right.

• 28:03Lewis Howes?

  But there's a lot of women out there who are, you know, I talk about women as like skinny fat or like strong and lean. And lean and strong is like the way to go in my opinion, but the skinny, but it's like hanging fat, like it's no good.

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's not cute.

• 28:16Lewis Howes?

  Not cute. I mean, it may look okay from a distance.

• 28:18Speaker 01

  In clothes, in clothes, right? Um, my first book was called Look Better Naked, so it's all about how you look when the clothes come off.

• 28:25Lewis Howes?

  It's a great Cosmo headline.

• 28:27Speaker 01

  Right. I was at Women's Health all the time.

• 28:31Lewis Howes?

  So when did you start getting into strength training?

• 28:33Speaker 01

  You know, I actually started, I actually started a little bit back in high school, which was like way before anybody, any women were into it because my high school boyfriend was into strength training and his dad had gotten him into it and so it was either like stand around and watch or jump in and participate. And I was an athlete and you know, it helped my athletics, but it wasn't until probably college that I got, you know, sort of more focused on it.

• 28:58Lewis Howes?

  Wow, so you've been doing it for?

• 28:59Speaker 01

  Yes, I've been doing it for a long time and quite frankly, I just, I enjoy it more. I enjoy it way more than cardio workouts or I should say traditional cardio workouts, you know, which just bore me to death. But like you, I was super excited when the whole strong is the new sexy, you know, I don't know what you want to call it, you know, trend.

• 29:21Lewis Howes?

  Movement.

• 29:21Speaker 01

  Movement, movement's a good word. Happened, I was seeing all these things on Instagram and people were talking about it more.

• 29:26Lewis Howes?

  Tons of ripped girls now.

• 29:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, and there's, you know, way more, yeah, they look great and there's just way more excitement around it. There still isn't, there hasn't been enough of a conversion and I think part of it is what you touched on, right? There's what I call gym intimidation, so like people being intimidated by the weight room and then there's all the myths that still persist about like bulking up and you know, what's going to happen, but the fact of the matter is, is that most women don't have enough testosterone to super bulk up.

• 29:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:57Speaker 01

  And you know, I've heard women say, what's another one? Oh, like yeah, muscle will turn into fat. Muscle doesn't turn into fat. They're two different tissue types, right? What happens is if you stop lifting, you have less muscle, therefore that doesn't, your body isn't burning calories as efficiently anymore. And so, yeah, you might get quote unquote fatter. It's not the muscle turning into the fat.

• 30:23Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  So there are all these myths that I try to bust. You know, you're not gonna get huge and bulky. Um, the muscle's not gonna turn into fat. I'm trying to think what some of the other ones are. But it's amazing how ingrained some of these fears are.

• 30:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, from an early age, we just like believe this. What's the biggest lesson you learned about yourself through the process of writing this book?

• 30:46Speaker 01

  Hmm, I think one of the things um was just about how critical it is to control our stress levels. Because they can just destroy everything. And we all, we all have stress, it's a part of life. But it's about finding ways to mitigate it. And finding ways to decompress. And again, these can be like small things that you do, like taking, taking time out to do a mini meditation before you eat. Or, you know, just getting a dose of nature, which is pretty tough to do in the city. But there are a couple of green spaces.

• 31:22Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 31:22Speaker 01

  Um, I think realizing that I couldn't just be this type A personality that was just go, go, go all the time. And not have there be some fallout to that. There's going to be fallout to that.

• 31:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:34Speaker 01

  And that figuring out ways to decompress and to de-stress were just going to give me more of an edge.

• 31:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  Um, and like you, I'm pretty sure you're, you're a, you know, an endorser of meditation.

• 31:46Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  You know, that's one of the things that I've, I've learned to turn to.

• 31:49Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 31:49Speaker 01

  So I am trained.

• 31:51Lewis Howes?

  Have you been practicing with this?

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm not perfect and I'm the first to admit it.

• 31:54Lewis Howes?

  Me either, high five.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  There you go, high five. Um, but that's what's great. It's like, it's always there for you when you wanna go back to it.

• 32:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:02Speaker 01

  Right, it's there, it's immediately accessible as soon as you wanna go back to it. And I was trained in transcendental meditation, there's a lot of different.

• 32:10Lewis Howes?

  I keep hearing about that constantly.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Yes. And, well, the thing about transcendental meditation, it is a bit more of a time commitment because it's 20 minutes in the beginning of the day and 20 minutes at the end of the day. But it's the most studied, which is not to say it's the only one you should do or can do. But, me being me, and, you know, being an editor and wanting everything to be vetted and bona fide, I turned to that because I knew there was so much science backing it.

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  So it makes you, it makes you less reactive.

• 32:41Lewis Howes?

  Grounded.

• 32:41Speaker 01

  So you're, it makes you more grounded so that you're not, you just don't fall prey to, you know, impulses as easily. And it's just, it's good on a physiological level, right? Good for your body, good for your brain.

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  And your body, your heart too.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, good for every system. And I think it's gaining in popularity, which really, you know, which makes me really happy.

• 33:04Lewis Howes?

  It is. I feel like, I was just talking with a friend earlier today, that what yoga was 10 years ago in taking over, you know, the country at least, and I'm assuming the world, I believe there's going to be meditation facilities and franchises.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  They're already, yeah, and they're already cropping up, yeah.

• 33:20Lewis Howes?

  I feel like it's gonna be like...

• 33:22Speaker 01

  In LA, of course.

• 33:23Lewis Howes?

  Of course, yeah. New York is happening too, it's so low.

• 33:26Speaker 01

  And it's so great, and I think there's just more adoption from people who never thought they'd be a meditator. I never thought I would be a meditator. No way.

• 33:36Lewis Howes?

  What did you experience once you started meditating about yourself?

• 33:39Speaker 01

  It is, it just feels good. I mean, it is almost like a euphoric feeling. You know, not that you're chasing some high, you know, that would be beside the point. But it just feels good, and you just feel, it's funny, it, like, I think I'm a nicer person.

• 33:56Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 33:57Speaker 01

  I hope I'm a nice person all the time.

• 33:59Lewis Howes?

  You are.

• 34:00Speaker 01

  Or, thank you, or, you know, at least the majority of the time. But I think when I'm in a regular meditation practice, I, I don't know, it... It breeds compassion. It makes you think about what you're about to say to somebody, you know, in that split second before you actually say it.

• 34:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and speaking into that, when I meditate, I recognize that I don't react to people. I don't get frustrated or angry as often.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 34:24Lewis Howes?

  Or like stressed out about it. You know, if something happens that's out of my control, I'm not just like getting mad at the person or whatever.

• 34:29Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 34:30Lewis Howes?

  All right, whatever.

• 34:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that applies to, you know, food and other temptations and other things too, so.

• 34:36Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 34:37Speaker 01

  So, yeah, so it's a big deal.

• 34:39Lewis Howes?

  What would you say is if people could only take one thing away from the book, obviously, there's a lot of things you cover and it's a holistic approach to the whole body and lifestyle. But if it's like add one element to your life that someone's not doing, if they're doing all the things wrong and they're 20 pounds older than they should be looking. You know, maybe they just need to lose 20 pounds, but they're stressed out, they're eating bad foods, they're not sleeping well, you know, they're whatever, doing all the things wrong.

• 35:08Speaker 01

  Right, well, what I would say is you can start today and start changing small things. And there's going to be a cumulative effect to that. And it's like a snowball rolling down a hill. You know, every little thing that you do starts adding up to, you know, to bigger changes. And also, and this is my big thing, is that being healthy and fit doesn't have to be a buzzkill. Like, this isn't a chore. This shouldn't be something.

• 35:35Lewis Howes?

  Awesome.

• 35:36Speaker 01

  I have so much fun. And I eat and I drink and.

• 35:40Lewis Howes?

  I see, I see your Instagram photos and you're, and I was gonna ask you about this. Have you been taking more kind of like breaks in the last year and a half since writing this book because of what you've learned about yourself?

• 35:52Speaker 01

  It's funny, I mean, I think that.

• 35:54Lewis Howes?

  Every Instagram photo is you on a vacation in some beach with wine.

• 35:57Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, I do. There's a couple of cocktails.

• 35:59Lewis Howes?

  Good food and wine.

• 36:00Speaker 01

  Definitely a couple of cocktail Instagrams in there. I do think taking time to unplug is huge. And now I'm in a digital world and so I can, I can work remotely, which is a great thing. It's an amazing thing. But absolutely, and whether it's a week or 10 days or two days. It matters. And I'm a huge travel buff. So for me, you know, getting somewhere, you know, not just because it's beautiful and it might be a beach and it might be relaxing, but just because it's new. And I think novelty and newness and being exposed to new people, new cultures, new foods, new sights like is so invigorating. And so inspiring that I just get so much out of it.

• 36:41Lewis Howes?

  I like it. So if people had to do, obviously talking about doing little, small things to get started to build into momentum. But if they had to start with one thing first.

• 36:50Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:50Lewis Howes?

  That you felt like would support them with everything else, would it be the daily meditation, would it be eating better foods? Strength training.

• 36:58Speaker 01

  It's so hard to pick one thing.

• 37:00Lewis Howes?

  What do you feel like you've noticed and experienced over, you know, this process and over seven years of being the conduit of the most highly sought after experts in health, people in the world.

• 37:12Speaker 01

  Right.

• 37:14Speaker 01

  I would say, you know, are, we both know Gabby Bernstein and she once said, you know, like, sleep is sacred. Sleep is a spiritual practice and I have really begun to realize how critical sleep is to health. And so I touched on it earlier, but, and believe me, I never thought I'd be saying this because I try to eke every moment out of every day. But now I realize like, go to bed a little earlier and your body's gonna thank you. That's just step one.

• 37:41Lewis Howes?

  Sure, of course, of course. There's a whole system and everything.

• 37:44Speaker 01

  And just, and just think more positively and optimistically about what you have the power to accomplish. I mean, this is such a theme, you know, in your, in your life, in your podcast and the people that you talk to is just, you know, starting with the right mindset is absolutely everything.

• 38:02Lewis Howes?

  Of course, very cool. How important do you think gratitude is in the process of living a healthy lifestyle?

• 38:09Speaker 01

  Wow, it's so critical and, you know, it's unfortunate that it often takes hearing someone's, you know, tragic story to have gratitude for your own wellbeing, right? For, for your own health status, but sometimes that's what it takes. We all encounter these stories about, you know, somebody passed away early or they're struggling with something and you realize, wow, like having, having this, you know, able body is an absolute gift and, you know, health is wealth and you can, you know, spout off all the, you know, Instagram mantras in the world, but, but they're true.

• 38:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 38:48Speaker 01

  And they resonate for a reason. They resonate because they're true. Um, so I think it's easy to let that perspective get away from you, but when you return to it and you're like, wow, I have, I have no problems because I have a healthy body.

• 39:05Lewis Howes?

  I can walk.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  And one of the, yeah, exactly. And, and one of the things that, um, one of the quotes that I often repeat is, you know, take care of your body because it's the only place you have to live.

• 39:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:16Speaker 01

  I say that a lot because to me, it's a great reminder to myself. Like, this is, this is it. This is your house.

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow, interesting.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  It's your mobile home right here.

• 39:25Lewis Howes?

  It's true. Were you always practicing gratitude before this process or?

• 39:30Speaker 01

  No, definitely not.

• 39:31Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 39:31Speaker 01

  Absolutely not. I mean, I just, I took health for granted. I took youth for granted. I took, you know, a lot of things for granted and I think entering my 40s definitely, you know, was for me a very pivotal time. Um, again, you know, part of what inspired the book was saying like, my life could very well be half over. You know, what do I want the second half to look like?

• 39:55Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy.

• 39:55Speaker 01

  Um, and, and I want to be as, I mean, listen, I hope it's a long, more than, you know, more than 40 more years away, but who knows? Um, and so, you know, what can, what can I do to reclaim some power and, you know, what, what the next half's gonna look like?

• 40:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:11Speaker 01

  But yeah, absolutely was not something that, you know, was front of mind before.

• 40:15Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. You think it's an important part of the?

• 40:18Speaker 01

  Such an important part.

• 40:19Lewis Howes?

  I preach about gratitude all the time and I, before I go to bed, I say three things I'm most grateful for to the last person I talked to on the phone or my girlfriend.

• 40:27Speaker 01

  So great.

• 40:28Lewis Howes?

  I try to write it down and I try to evoke from the last person I talked to, three things they're grateful for, just from the moment in the day.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  So that's an awesome practice. I mean, that's great. I'm gonna start doing that because.

• 40:39Lewis Howes?

  It's so powerful.

• 40:39Speaker 01

  It's so powerful and again, back to, you know, being, you know, the journalist that I am and always, you know, wanting things to be vetted, even though we know some things work that there isn't any science behind, but there is actually, you know, research behind gratitude.

• 40:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, there is. I don't know what it is, but I know there is, that it's really powerful and important for you. And it's actually for three years now, I think it is. If you ever call me and leave a message, I won't pick up next time. In order to leave a message for me to respond, you have to say what you're most grateful for that day. That's what my-

• 41:09Speaker 01

  I must have never gotten your voicemail.

• 41:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's what my voicemail says.

• 41:12Speaker 01

  Now be prepared.

• 41:13Lewis Howes?

  You know, thanks for calling, I'm not here. Leave a message with what you're most grateful for, and then tell me your message and I'll get back to you.

• 41:19Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 41:19Lewis Howes?

  It's amazing to hear what people say. They're like, wow, that's so thoughtful. They have what I'm most grateful for, and they take a moment to actually express it.

• 41:26Speaker 01

  They take a moment to think about it.

• 41:27Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  And some people may be able to access that immediately, and other people actually have to spend some time thinking about it. But the great thing is, is you get them thinking about it.

• 41:36Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 41:37Speaker 01

  And when you ta- I mean, there is research, when you take stock of what you have. I mean, listen, we all want things, we're all driven, nobody's saying that's gonna be eliminated. But when you stop and take stock of what you have, and if you have health, that's a huge one. You know, and for me, it's, it's, you know, I don't have the healthiest parents, and so that's stressful. They, you know, I think part of it was generational, and they just, it wasn't impressed upon them that they have to do things. And I think it's, you know, maybe one of the things that inspired me to go into this field. And it's the most frustrating thing, because your parents, like, they don't listen to you. And I'm like, but, but people, like, buy my products to hear what I have to say about these things, and you-

• 42:20Lewis Howes?

  And they don't.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  I'm giving it to you for free, you won't listen.

• 42:22Lewis Howes?

  It's the same thing with my family in business.

• 42:24Speaker 01

  It's so frustrating.

• 42:25Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 42:26Speaker 01

  It's so frustrating.

• 42:27Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 42:27Speaker 01

  You know, but they're, they're, you know, put in your path in that way, I guess, for a reason. To like, inspire you to craft the message, you know, more carefully, or in a way that will penetrate. Because, let me tell you, it's like, hard.

• 42:40Lewis Howes?

  I hear you, I hear you. Okay, well, couple of final questions. Speaking of gratitude, what are you most grateful for in your life recently?

• 42:48Speaker 01

  I am most grateful for the opportunities that have come my way. You know, I, I'm a bit of an experience junkie.

• 42:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you are.

• 42:57Speaker 01

  And I like doing new things, and meeting new people, and going to new places. I'm in a profession that, you know, encourages that journalists are curious people. And so I feel really grateful that, you know, in this, in this competitive, cutthroat city that, you know, I've been given the opportunity to work in media, to experience new things. And most importantly, you know, right now to stay in, in the health field because that, to me, is so incredible because then I get to, you know, pass it on and, and help other people.

• 43:30Lewis Howes?

  What's your mission in this role that you have? I mean, you have a, a high role at Yahoo Health. It reaches, I don't know how many millions of people every month, unique visitors. The message is getting out there. What is the message and what's your mission for why you work so hard in this industry?

• 43:47Speaker 01

  Right.

• 43:47Lewis Howes?

  What do you want people to actually achieve? Or what do you want to achieve in, you know, your career?

• 43:52Speaker 01

  I think it is so much about self empowerment, right? It's, you know, it isn't, health in particular, isn't something that's going to be handed to you.

• 44:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:02Speaker 01

  I always say, health is not a spectator sport. It's a participatory sport, right? You can't just sit on the sidelines and, you know, and watch it go by.

• 44:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:12Speaker 01

  Um, and, and hope that it's gonna, you know, it's going to impact you in a positive way. You actually have to participate, you know? Participate by moving, participate by, you know, making decisions that are in the benefit of your health.

• 44:25Lewis Howes?

  And you have a stand-up desk.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  Yes, I have a stand-up desk. And Yahoo has made that, you know, very easy. It's just an automated thing. Press a button and it goes up, press another button and it goes down. And it's, but, but again, like, that's just a micro action right there. Like deciding at a certain point in the day, just stand up, throw a little bit, stand up, get off your butt.

• 44:45Lewis Howes?

  I like it, yeah, because actually sitting in a chair all day is gonna...

• 44:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's not good. It's like, sitting is the new smoking, you know, sitting disease.

• 44:51Lewis Howes?

  Crazy, right? In the back and all these things, right?

• 44:53Speaker 01

  Shuts off those glutes.

• 44:55Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 44:55Speaker 01

  And who wants glutes that are sleeping? Come on, be serious.

• 45:00Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so.

• 45:01Speaker 01

  So yeah, self empowerment, I think, just proselytizing the fact that you can exert control over your destiny, right? So that theme can be, you know, is in a lot of what you talk about. But it's so true. But you first have to believe that you can exert control over your destiny.

• 45:19Lewis Howes?

  Sure, okay. So last couple of questions. At the end of the day, 80 years from now, when.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  Oh, God, these are tough questions.

• 45:26Lewis Howes?

  Time was up for you. 80 years, whoever knows how long, hopefully much longer.

• 45:31Speaker 01

  Are you trying to get me to cry?

• 45:32Lewis Howes?

  I'm not trying to get you to cry. I'm just curious, what, I want you to fill in the blank.

• 45:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:37Lewis Howes?

  At the end of the day, what happens for you to feel like your mission is complete? Like, what happens in the world with your life's work to feel like your mission is complete? Whether it's this field or whatever it may be, but fill in that blank.

• 45:51Speaker 01

  Oh, that's, yeah, it's like an enormous question. I think that, I know it's strange to say the meditation thing, but I think if meditation became a universally accepted, you know, practice, then it would have this incredible, you know, domino effect on, you know, the world, right? It breeds compassion. And I'm the least, like, most people will tell you, the least quote unquote woo-woo person in the whole world.

• 46:21Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 46:22Speaker 01

  Like, I'm not that girl.

• 46:23Lewis Howes?

  You're not.

• 46:24Speaker 01

  But I believe in the power and what it can do. So I talk a lot about meditation in the book. I've done a bunch of things on Yahoo Health about it. At Women's Health, I did a bunch of things. And I think the reason that I talk so much about it is because I was the biggest skeptic.

• 46:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:43Speaker 01

  So for me to have gone from skeptic to passionate endorser, I think.

• 46:50Speaker 01

  Says a lot about how deeply I believe in it. So I think maybe demystifying that and getting it to be a more embraced practice would be a worthy goal.

• 47:03Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 47:04Speaker 01

  At least one. I mean, it's hard to pick just one.

• 47:06Lewis Howes?

  Of course. Meditation. So kind of seeing it throughout the whole world as a

• 47:11Speaker 01

  I think getting people to real, I mean, I think what, if you take a broader view of what I just said, it's about seeing health in a very integrative way.

• 47:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 47:20Speaker 01

  To me, that's such a critical message, you know, that, again, back to the fact that we're systemic creatures, we're not isolated body parts, we're interconnected, interwoven. And how much we move, or how little we move, what we eat, the thoughts we think, they all impact our health. And I think, you know, I just was spending time with my nephew recently, and he's, you know, he's like a pre-teen or a teenager, he's 13, and he's an athlete, and he's an incredible athlete, and he eats terribly. And

• 47:49Lewis Howes?

  Just like I did.

• 47:49Speaker 01

  He, I was like, you know, I wasn't preaching to him at all, I was just like having a simple conversation with him and saying like, and I couldn't get him, because he's a teen.

• 47:59Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 47:59Speaker 01

  I couldn't get him to recognize that part of being a good athlete was fueling his body the right way. To him, those things were totally disconnected.

• 48:10Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 48:11Speaker 01

  And it sort of was like, okay, on the one hand, he's a pre-teen, and he's gonna think that way, and, you know, he can still, you know, be energetic and not eat as well, but that's his baseline. He doesn't know the difference. He doesn't know how much better he could feel.

• 48:22Lewis Howes?

  What could it be like if he did eat well?

• 48:23Speaker 01

  If he, if he ate better. And so for me, it was like, wow, there's still a lot of work to do to convince people that, you know, there's an integration here. Like, that it's not just you can do this thing and neglect this other thing.

• 48:37Lewis Howes?

  It wasn't until I was about 28 when I actually understood that principle. Because my whole life, I could eat whatever I wanted.

• 48:42Speaker 01

  Right.

• 48:43Lewis Howes?

  And I was, you know, looked good and felt good, and I was a great athlete. And, you know, did well, but I do remember though, in practice and in games that I would yawn a lot. I'd be in practice and it wasn't for me tired of like working out, it was like, my body was just like, didn't have the nutrients.

• 49:00Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:01Lewis Howes?

  To give me the fuel and I'd be yawning constantly.

• 49:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, and like trying to get an oxygen or whatever that.

• 49:06Lewis Howes?

  That's it. And I remember like certain um, seasons, we would just have like pasta before every game.

• 49:12Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:12Lewis Howes?

  And I would just eat everything I could because I was like, I gotta fuel up the tank. You know, and then it's just like.

• 49:17Speaker 01

  There was, there was a lot of misconceptions. Right, there's a lot of misconceptions. I mean, I fell prey to the fat free craze back in the day. And it was like carb loading and eating bagels and pasta and thinking that was a good thing and.

• 49:28Lewis Howes?

  That's what you.

• 49:29Speaker 01

  Fat was vilified and now we know fat's your friend and you know.

• 49:32Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy.

• 49:33Speaker 01

  You know, knowledge is power, right? So we have that. But you're lucky that you came to the epiphany at the young age of 28 to know like, whoa, you know, all of these things are working together. So.

• 49:44Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 49:44Speaker 01

  So meditation's one of it because it's, you know, it's integrating eastern and western modalities, but I think just getting people to realize that it all matters. You can't be this like high-powered, stressed-out executive who run, you know, runs marathons and maybe, you know, eats like the best grade organic food, but be completely stressed out all the time.

• 50:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:09Speaker 01

  And have the deteriorating effects of that.

• 50:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 50:12Speaker 01

  So I think getting people to get the integrative approach.

• 50:16Lewis Howes?

  I like it.

• 50:16Speaker 01

  Is a big mission and goal.

• 50:18Lewis Howes?

  I'm all for the message. I want people to check this out, 20 Pounds Younger by Michelle Promaulayko. I've got one question left for you. Before I do, I want to acknowledge you, Michelle, for being so grounded and for uh, being committed to this work. It's so refreshing to see when people are up to big things and they're committed to trying things out that maybe they are so against, like meditation and putting themselves in the fire to discover something new about themselves that is then gonna help everyone else in the world. So.

• 50:50Speaker 01

  Thank you. I take that as a huge compliment and um, it's my pleasure and my privilege. So thank you.

• 50:56Lewis Howes?

  Very cool. So final question, what's your definition of greatness?

• 51:00Speaker 01

  That is a really tough question. I think my definition of greatness would be finding the thing that you're passionate about and being brave enough to pursue that as your life's work, right? Because I think there are so many people who they kind of know what they want to do, but they think they need to do something else that's going to earn them more, this, that. And I'm such a big believer in passion breeding success. And, you know, we spend a lot of our life working. And so for me, greatness is figuring out what you're passionate about and being brave enough to do that thing.

• 51:39Lewis Howes?

  I love that, being brave enough. That's really cool. Thank you so much for coming on.

• 51:43Speaker 01

  Thank you, Lewis. Thanks so much. This is fun.

• 51:50Lewis Howes?

  Thanks again, guys, for joining me today. I had a blast chatting with Michelle and I hope you guys get a chance to go check out her book, 20 Pounds Younger by Michelle Promalaco. Also, go to the show notes over at lewishouse.com/125. Again, that's lewishouse.com/125 where you can get the links to her book. You can find out more about Michelle there. You can see all of her links to social media so you can connect with her online and on Instagram and all these other great places and see what she's up to over at Yahoo! Hell, she's doing big things, so make sure to check her out over there as well. lewishouse.com/125. Also, thank you guys so much for being a supporter of the show. Again, 125 episodes. We just reached 4 million downloads.

• 52:35Lewis Howes?

  You guys are insane. You're on fire. You're promoting it like crazy. You're leaving me amazing reviews. Thank you for that and for your feedback on how to make the show better. I appreciate you guys and I'm just so blessed to be able to be your host of your show, The School of Greatness, because this is all about you guys. This is, you know, a passion of mine to serve you and to bring you the brightest people in the world that I can to help you have a better life. That's what it's all about here on The School of Greatness. So, thank you guys so much for your support. Please keep sharing these out there with your friends. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend. LewisHowes.com/125, just post it on Twitter or Facebook, or email a friend or two who you think might benefit from listening to this message by Michelle.

• 53:20Lewis Howes?

  I think you'll really be good for that. Big guest coming up next. Very excited about this, so make sure to subscribe if you're not subscribed to this show yet, so you can stay tuned to all the big guests we have next and all the big content we've got. I appreciate you guys so much. You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.