General,  Lifestyle,  Podcast

Transcript – Momentum, Strength and Wellness: Rethinking Nutrition & Exercise

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*MSW – Momentum, Strength and Wellness
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LLAFIT: “In this recording, I’m speaking to Elise and Dan of Momentum, Strength and Wellness, based out of Los Angeles, California, which offers holistic lifestyle and nutrition coaching in person online and on an app, so you can access their services from virtually anywhere. Elise and Dan have dedicated their lives to the study exploration practice and application of all things wellness doing so through continued physical mental and spiritual growth and well-being.

So, first I’d like to thank you both for accepting my invite for this interview.”

Momentum, Strength and Wellness
Photo credit: @kevin_olds

MSW:  “Absolutely. We’re happy to be here. Thank you for inviting us.”

LLAFIT: “Through looking at your Instagram and also your website: momentumstrengthwellness.com, your dedication to practical lifelong fitness – it’s an important message to spread, so that’s why I reached out and tried to contact you both. So, firstly, Elise, you’re a nutritionist. How long have you been helping people with their nutrition?”

MSW – Elise: “Oh, gosh, probably about two years now, formally. When I got my certification, it had been something I had done for years because I had been so enthralled with food and just curiosity, and I wanted to gain as much knowledge and information for my own health and wellness. I started talking and just giving advice to friends and family, and then I just found it so so much is a passion of mine that I wanted to actually become certified so that I could help people because there’s just so much misinformation and almost an overload of information, you know, what do people believe what do people not believe; what’s right; what’s wrong. So, I hope that I’m, you know, a vehicle of information, where I can take the guessing and the questions out for a lot of people. So that’s how I got started with it.”

LLAFIT: “And, uh, Dan . . .  so, you’re a personal trainer and a Chek Certified Holistic Coach. Can you explain what a Chek Holistic Coach is?”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, so, I guess for listeners, if they’re not familiar with Paul Chek and his work, I think that it’s something everybody should be looking into. He’s been in the holistic living and, you know, exercise game for a very long time. He’s such a wealth of knowledge. But I, about a year ago, became certified as a level one holistic lifestyle coach through the Chek institute. Holistic lifestyle coaching is, you know, kind of what we’re all about. So, it’s obviously the exercise and the food, but it’s everything else tied in as well. So, you know, how you’re breathing, how you’re sleeping, how you’re thinking – every aspect of your lifestyle and how it can all – is all intertwined and related to everything else.”

LLAFIT: “Okay, so you mentioned breathing, eating, exercising, and you do have a 7 Daily Habits link on your website. So, does that tie in with both the nutrition and training aspect?”

MSW – Dan: “Absolutely, yeah. The 7 Daily Habits is something we came up with as basically just sort of an idea, like, a simple little checklist of things that if you can do these seven things every day that’s a good day you’re going to be healthy you’re going to feel good and it’s really simple things it’s you know getting eight hours of sleep going for a walk breathing eating real food yeah eating real food exercising spending time in nature spending time in nature and meditating I think we got them all there. It’s out of order, so . . .”

LLAFIT: “When it’s your lifestyle, it’s kind of a part of you, and it’s kind of hard to break it all down. Is that . . .”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, definitely, absolutely.”

MSW – Elise: “And, you know, seven does seem like a lot of things to do in a day, but the coaching that we do with our clients and people we work with . . . we implement them in stages. We do not throw people to the wolves; we set people up for success. So it’s. . . we don’t tell people to do these things immediately. We give them . . .  guidance and instructions on how to incorporate, basically, one [habit] at a time until it’s seamless, where the seven is just, like you said, a part of your everyday life. So that’s really what we’re coaching people to do.”

MSW – Dan: “That’s the idea of momentum. That’s why our name is what it is; momentum being one small step and then building off that to build another step and another step, and you’ll notice as it starts to become your lifestyle . . . those things, basically, they snowball, and it grows and grows gets really big really fast just doing little things.”

LLAFIT: “I understand. So do you think your approach is different than what’s offered out there? I do like the small steps, and I think . . . I honestly think your approach is very thoughtful because it does seem like a lot of programs want you to adopt everything at once. So did you see that need to allow people to take baby steps?”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, I think, absolutely, because . . . . We think . . . keep saying lifestyle, but that’s what it is . . . there is no finish line when it comes to being healthy or just kind of well-being in general. It’s a lifelong thing, so it needs to be sustainable. And if you do everything at once, not only is it not sustainable, like, you’re going to burn out, but, also, you don’t know then what do you do next. So, we – if you can just break it down into one thing today and then do it again tomorrow, but add something and then . . . add something next week over time you’ll get really good at the things that you’ve been doing and then it’s easier to add something else like you’re saying before like once it’s part of your lifestyle you don’t really need to think about it yeah then then you can experiment a little bit you can try new things and see what works because you have that foundation in place. So, I think building that foundation is really important.”

LLAFIT:  “Can you tell me how you both teamed up and formed Momentum, Strength and Wellness?”

Origin of Momentum, Strength and Wellness

MSW – Elise: “Absolutely. We’ve been . . . been together for many many years. I think we’re on like 16 or 17 years, and so, we’ve kind of grown up together and been through this process – this wellness journey together. And, you know, we were not . . . super-super unhealthy when we were younger, but we just didn’t understand, you know, . . . that everything is everything and, um, as we got older, you know, in our in our late 20s early 30s, as we began implementing small changes, we could see the impact that it was having on our lives – when we began eating correctly and began moving correctly and began paying a lot of attention to our mindfulness and our breath work . . . it was like just light bulbs went off.

We want to share this with the world because we had been taught the complete opposite our entire lives. We had done things that, you know, the mainstream media was telling us, marketing companies were telling us, and it unfortunately was just so wrong. We want to be voices of reason and really inspire people to change in the most beneficial way for them to become the best version of themselves because we feel like we’re only getting better with age, and the narrative in society is, ‘oh, no, wait, once you hit a certain age, you’re gonna deteriorate. And just wait till you hit the other five-year mark, you know, you’re gonna deteriorate.’ But we’re almost like defying odds. I’ve never been in the shape I’ve been in, and I’m, you know, I just turned 34 last week . . . and to that point, you know, everyone said, ‘wait till you hit 30, it’s just gonna go downhill.’ But it’s not. I’m getting better, you know, so we feel like we’ve got a really great solution and want to help people and tell people, you know, age isn’t a life sentence. We can help you improve your quality of life very simply.”

LLAFIT: “Do you find that a lot of people have negative feelings toward maintaining a health and fitness lifestyle as if you have to be really disciplined and that it in the long run, you’re gonna hit a brick wall and it’s inevitable that you’re gonna end up you know out of shape and . . .”

MSW – Elise: “Totally, . . . yeah. Like, almost everybody gets nervous that they’re gonna hit that plateau right. yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “Absolutely. The fitness industry in general is kind of is like I think built in a way that you know it’s the idea of convincing people that they aren’t good enough and that the solution is you know buy this thing or buy this this workout program this gym membership this diet and that system doesn’t work. It’s basically like teaching people to punish themselves until they’re healthy or until they look the way they want to look. And I don’t you know neither of us think that . . . . You can’t punish yourself or like hate yourself into being the best version of yourself. Being healthy, whether it whether you know aesthetics is important to you or your focus is more on health I think the industry is kind of set up in a way that it’s you know selling you selling you a product that you probably don’t need and then it works for a little while and then it doesn’t work and then you know we’ve kind of normalized failure and dis-ease and aging and sort of like what is expected.”

LLAFIT:  “Yeah, I’ve definitely seen a lot of that in the industry. So, have either of you fallen into any of those traps, either with exercise or with nutrition?”

MSW:  “Oh, yeah, yeah.”

MSW – Elise: “We both I think went through phases of it, yeah. I definitely did firsthand. I mean, I jumped right on the Beachbody train when I was, gosh, this is maybe like 10 years ago, and I do need to commend them: they, they’re not a horrible company of course you know they do want to promote a healthy lifestyle for sure you know all of the programs that they offer either you know 30, 60, 90 days. And I did them I did several and again like had Dan mentioned they all have an end date so once that end date hit you know and I did you know the workouts they were wonderful I followed the nutrition kind of guidance that they had given in recipes but after that 90 days I was so lost I said to myself what do I do now and I would just repeat the program again and my body wouldn’t change if anything I probably gained a lot of the weight back because I had already done it my body was used to it I wasn’t challenging it more it wasn’t even giving it something new. So that’s kind of the plateau that everybody hits at some point. And you know we want to emphasize that it’s great to start off because I do think it’s a wonderful jumping off point, but I really don’t love end dates to things.”

Nutrition

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, prepare for all the . . . whole . . . the lifelong journey. Yeah, I was kind of the same way. I grew up playing sports, and was really into fitness from a young age, but I was also into all the products. I had all like my pre-workouts and all my vitamins and my protein shakes and anything that I thought was going to give me, like, a little edge or, like, you know . . . you look at the guy in the magazine article or the ad, and . . . he looks amazing. He must be drinking this protein, so I’d buy it; and I’d get it. And, you know, you don’t get those results, because guy’s clearly on something else. But, you know, for years, it was, like, yeah . . . spending – wasting, I’ll say, so much money on supplements and quick fixes and trying to find, sort of, the easy way out. And all I was getting for it was, like, bloated, and I said, wasting money and . . . not feeling well. And as we started to . . . like we alluded to earlier, like, kind of, cleaning up our diet, being more intentional in your lifestyle, you start to feel better and kind of realize that maybe those things aren’t what’s important.

It’s everything else. The other 23 hours of your day. And, you know, are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating whole foods? Are you breathing well? – Drinking enough water? Yeah, so we kind of – I personally made the shift. I remember one day just . . . I was so into like eating whole foods and . . . telling everybody . . . ‘don’t eat processed foods – only good stuff.’ And then I’d realize I’m rushing home from the gym to make a protein shake; it’s like that’s the most processed thing I could imagine. That’s so far from, like, a steak when you think about a source of protein. One day [I] cut that out and have never gone back. So, on the side of eating whole foods versus processed.”

Giving Up Processed Foods & Diet Forms

“Make sure you’re eating the best quality foods that you can.”

LLAFIT:  “One thing some people get confused with is, uh, if they give up eating meat, for example, and they adopt, like, veganism or vegetarianism, they lose weight quickly, but they also don’t realize that they also gave up the processed foods, which contributed, probably in large part, to their weight loss; so, you could still experience the same weight loss effects eating meat as long as you get rid of the processed foods. Elise or Dan, have you seen that with clients of yours . . . trying to emphasize the processed foods versus just eliminating a food group . . . or, how do you approach that?”

MSW – Elise: “Absolutely. And everybody is really different, too, and it’d be what we always say, . . . we we’re not prejudiced to anyone. You want to be . . . you want to eat carnivore, amazing. You want to be a vegan or vegetarian, amazing. You want to be a pescatarian, amazing.

The kind of blanket term that we use for everyone or kind of solution we try to give everyone no matter what your eating style is just make sure you’re eating the best quality foods that you can. So one of the first things that, yes, we do when we begin working with people is take a very deep look into their nutrition – basically have them do a food log and immediately have them cut out as much of the processed foods as they can. And we do find that it’s pretty easy when people begin to see the ingredients that they’re consuming in these packaged foods; how far they’ve come from their natural source. You know pea protein “quote” for, you know, vegans and vegetarians, is very different from actual peas. So, we try to make it as simple as that, you know, if you do have some sort of packaged food, really think about where it’s coming from and how it got into that package and what process it went through, because the process that it goes through from its natural source is modified – you’re genetically modifying food. And that’s what people aren’t told in this industry; they’re being sold the absolute opposite: ‘Oh, yeah, we’re just taking this meat or this vegetable and kind of forcing it to be this powder-like substance for you to still get it.’ And it’s very clear to Dan and I because we’ve been through so much research and stuff, but that’s what we try to teach people to really look at the aspects of food and nutrition in that way – how much has it been processed down and taken out of its natural form, because we want to eliminate those things as quickly as possible. Now, that might sound kind of scary to people, like, ‘oh, my gosh, I eat so much packaged food, this is going to be . . . what am I going to eat?’ Enter Dan and I. That’s what we’re here for. We’re going to teach you how to grocery shop and what to buy, and I’ll give healthier solutions to – okay, yeah, you want to have these, you know, chips, well, let me show you this recipe that I can give you that’s going to have whole foods that are going to be cooked in great oils and cooked with the right spices and salts and things like that . . . that is going to be more beneficial for you then, unfortunately, highly inflammatory processed foods.”

“So, you offer the critical thinking that a lot of people possibly . . . don’t have time to do when they’re choosing . . . a training program or a nutrition program.”

MSW – Dan: “Like Elise is saying, it’s teaching people to be intentional with what they’re doing, which I think helps with what you’re saying . . . . you can just decide you’re gonna be a vegan and the benefits that you’re getting aren’t from veganism they’re from not eating processed food. Yeah, . . . like you’re talking the Beachbody workouts before, you can jump on this program, get amazing results . . . you’re not necessarily getting those results because that was an amazing program, you’re getting them because you went from sitting on the couch to exercising. Yeah, so then, . . . let’s figure out what’s working. And let’s figure out how to do that in a long-term, sustainable way.”

LLAFIT: “So, you offer the critical thinking that a lot of people possibly, you know, they don’t have time to do when they’re choosing a program . . . or a nutrition a training program or a nutrition program.”

MSW: “Yeah, that’s a great way to do it yeah perfect way to put it.”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, we try to be . . . very non-dogmatic and, you know, everybody’s different, so let’s figure out what works for you as an individual. So, yeah, critical thinking is exactly what that is.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah, so, Elise, you mentioned that prior to becoming a nutritionist that you had a relationship with food that might not have been as healthy. Is that correct?”

MSW – Elise: “Yeah, I definitely, definitely abused food as a comfort in a lot of ways, kind of like . . . as something that was missing, you know. It was always grabbing, you know, something sweet and . . . almost very unhealthy you know bags of chips and stuff all you know growing up and through college and you know years after kind of it was almost like a binge food type of unfortunate relationship with just because I didn’t realize how detrimental those types of foods were and almost feeding that into my body just kept wanting it more and more and more so it definitely was a struggle for many years for me just like a lot of people you know and I didn’t understand how big of an impact real whole quality food had on my body until I kind of shifted my mindset but like a lot of other people I had the mentality of eating poorly because I was told that way you know eat fat free things or oh calories don’t you know matter or types of foods that just were satisfying for only an hour so left me feeling so awful about myself; it was an endless cycle to keep feeding that because then I would get that rush of a good feeling for only a little bit. So, it was just a never-ending cycle that did take a little while to overcome, but you know that’s why I want to share my journey and share the experiences that I’ve gone through so others don’t need to do you know what I had to go through.”

LLAFIT: “So, for those who believe that eating healthfully every day is a sort of self-punishment and you know the ones who say things like you only live once so why not eat what you want can you explain uh the reality of day-to-day healthful eating to them and how it’s sustainable and not depriving or unenjoyable.”

MSW – Elise: “Absolutely. It’s a great question there’s I mean there’s absolutely a process to it you definitely need to um like we’ve been saying think very intentionally of what you’re eating and consuming and that’s what we’re here to help with but it’s funny because you know as we’ve worked with you know people and speak to anyone most people really don’t know how badly they feel because it’s been so normalized and they put in junk food processed foods highly inflammatory oils and not sustainable meats or vegetables so it’s very easy once you can shift your mindset and commit to eating right your quality of life is gonna be so much better and kind of like we were saying with these 7 Daily Habits, you know, we don’t implement the seven habits in day one this is gonna it is a process like we said you know we’ll cut back on a few junk foods here and there but you know we never want to deprive anyone of something that makes them feel really good. Do Dana and I eat you know cake and cookies yes very, very rarely because we’ve changed you know our taste buds and changed the gut microbiome within us. But that’s, you know, that’s a process. But once you begin that and start eliminating some of the sugars and cravings you know they’re gonna get less and less and what’s going to happen is that you’re going to have and feel so much better your energy levels are going to be up and it’s going to free you up to do other things as opposed to being on this kind of sugar roller coaster. The up and down never-ending cycle of sugar cravings, where you’re constantly feeling hungry and wanting more of something. The reason why people are constantly hungry and constantly wanting something is because you’re eating empty calories so when you’re constantly hungry that’s your body telling you something’s really wrong. something is not right I’m not getting what I need.”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, from like an evolutionary standpoint, we’re like hardwired to crave those sweet things like, you know, what would be fruit in nature or, like, that really rich like fatty feel and taste and now unfortunately we live in a society where you can just constantly have things that literally taste better than nature because they’ve been scientifically engineered to be hyper palatable but they’re devoid of nutrients. So, your body is getting really really excited for oh this is great we know this is going to be good because it tastes so sweet and delicious and then when the nutrients don’t come you have that crash from the from the sugar rush and your body’s still craving the nutrients that never got, so you’re constantly hungry and I think that’s why people are always snacking always eating late at night always want more and more sugar. If you can trust us to kind of commit to taking care of yourself and you know taking a kind of a long-term approach to it, you’ll think the complete opposite of like that “’you only live once like why not live a little and have this piece of cake’” . . .  completely the other way around, like “I only live once I don’t want to feel like I feel after I eat that.’”

MSW – Elise: “Yeah, oh, gosh, yeah. And when we begin working with people we start to you know just cut back on some of the processed foods and I’ll give you a little kind of tidbit on what I do and how I begin my coaching with the nutrition clients I tell them to keep a food log one of the questions that I ask after every meal and I specifically say meal doesn’t matter whether it’s you know a ginormous breakfast or an apple; a meal is meal. Write down within 30 minutes to an hour how you feel how that made you feel because people don’t connect the dots you know we’re so entrenched with oh I just have to eat like I’m hungry but no one’s really paying attention to how they feel after once that mindset is shifted and people begin to think about how they feel now it’s like oh my gosh wait I really don’t feel great or yeah I’m completely hungry after I only had you know lettuce and cucumber for a lunch as opposed to adding you know some protein and carbs and fat in with it and so that’s something that you know we would also see like really be mindful of how you feel throughout the day and after each and every you know meal that you’re eating.”

MSW – Dan: “Elise says all the time food isn’t just calories food is information things that you’re bringing into your body are informing your DNA on how to how it should express.”

LLAFIT:  “Oh, and so, that kind of ties into the taste buds part. I think you mentioned that your taste buds change.”

MSW – Elise: “Absolutely yeah I couldn’t okay in in like we’re living proof of it I mean like I said we couldn’t I mean I loved all of those candies and ice cream remember when I was in college like I would just sit there and eat like bags of gummy bears and Swedish fish and like I would always have like half a pint of like ice cream you know in my in my early 20s and stuff just because I was feeding it you know you’re feeding there’s a whole mess of information that’s called your gut microbiome within your stomach and those are basically in little like information tools within there, but if you’re feeding them you know sugar and highly processed foods that are really palatable they’re going to crave that over and over and over, but once you start eliminating it and reprogramming kind of, like I said, your gut you’re gonna shift it they’re gonna die off it’s gonna be much less so you’re gonna have way less cravings and yes your taste buds are to absolutely shift and change I can’t even tell you the last time I had gummy bears and Swedish fish but um but, yeah, it’s in like you said it’s a process but an absolutely doable process.”

LLAFIT:  “Okay, so, when you do have cookies and cake which is rarely do you follow like a 90/10 rule, and also do you choose a healthier version because maybe you don’t crave really sugary cookies and cake.”

MSW – Elise: “Absolutely, I would definitely say yes and that’s just simply our preference yeah and even we kind of do like an 80/20 rule, you know, 80 of the time or at least 85 percent of the time you know, um, yes absolutely. And I would say for sweets you know it definitely depends we do try to get a healthier version or I’ll make a healthier version of you know a cake I’ll use you know almond flour something as opposed to you know regular wheat flour gluten where we’re pretty much gluten free and have been for many years and same thing with you know we’ll split a pint of you know Ben and Jerry’s or Tillamook or something where you know we’re not binge eating like I said that I used to have a serious problem with because I just know that it is going to unfortunately make us feel very uncomfortable the next day that’s unfortunately comes with the territory, but yeah . . . “

LLAFIT: “Because you only live once, and you want to feel good . . .”

MSW: “Exactly, by being healthy . . . exactly, exactly.”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah . . . . Having discipline in your life frees you up to do the things that you want to do so being disciplined enough to eat things that you know nourish our bodies yeah and you’re not asleep yeah, yeah, exactly. We’re not you’re not like Elise’s talking earlier about that sugar craving roller coaster where you’re starving then you eat something then your energy spikes and your jittery then you crash and you feel terrible and you want to nap again where if you have the discipline to you know get up and do your workout and eat something healthy and then you’re freed up to do all the other things you want to do because you have energy and you’re excited and you know you feel good. So, I would argue that we are living, and I think that the other going the other way, you know, maybe sleeking in and eating junk food and sitting on the couch all day that’s not living you mentioned that your time is freed up for other things.”

LLAFIT:  “So, it’s kind of like, once you get your fitness and nutrition in order, it’s one less thing to worry about in life.”

MSW – Elise: “Yeah. Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. Yeah, it because like I said you’re going to feel so much more energized when you’re breathing life into your body and you know this is we’re only given we’re this lifetime right now that we’re in you know these human suits that we’re wearing um you know take care of it you do want to respect the body that you’re in.”

LLAFIT:  “Yeah, so moving on to exercise it’s kind of along the same lines as you know people saying you only live once why don’t you do what you want some people don’t like exercise but it’s an inescapable truth that the human body requires regular exercise and daily movement for good health, so how would you help people get into the mode of exercising regularly, and would you say that it grows on people in your personal experience and from working with clients?”

MSW – Dan: “Yes, I would say like from definitely from working with clients like I mentioned before I’ve always liked to work out so maybe I’m lucky in that sense but I think with most of the client I’ve trained a lot of people who had never worked out before never liked working out and I think once you do once you get into that routine just like we were saying with the food as you realize that your body feels better your low back and your knees don’t hurt anymore and you find that you’re a little more capable it’s a little easier to carry the groceries it’s a little easier to you know carry your suitcase when you’re traveling then you do kind of get excited for it and you can kind of look forward to doing it and to accomplishing things and feeling like you accomplish things so I would say definitely almost 100 I think when it comes to people I’ve trained who went from never working out and not liking working out to working out consistently it has definitely grown on them uh and I do I think it’s kind of a matter of just doing it almost like tearing the band-aid off and giving it a try committing to putting in the effort for a little while and . . .”

MSW – Elise: “Also finding what works for yourself personally like everybody’s different you know some people love to run or do triathlons and then other people really don’t all they want to do is like some bodyweight stuff and I mean that’s also why you know we’re here more specifically Dan because he’s going to evaluate and see what you like and do that I think that that’s why a lot of fitness programs fail and don’t work because people really don’t want to kill themselves in the gym and yeah you know be the bodybuilders that everybody’s telling you need to be well no like that’s okay let’s figure out what works for you that’s going to be sustainable and lifelong because it’s going to be exciting and it’s going to pique your interest to keep it that way.”

LLAFIT:  “Yeah, and do you find that even with yourselves that your interest in exercise might change over time; like maybe one method to stay fit for life is for now you’re interested in maybe doing more extreme stuff but, you know, mentally maybe later on you might try a sport you never tried before that might be a little bit more sustainable as far as energy output? You know, like, evolving over time in a different . . .”

MSW – Dan: “One hundred percent. I think that it I think it should change like everything in the world is constantly changing so it would be crazy to think you’re going to do you know one program for the rest of your life, but I think that like you know I would suggest that everybody try to find some way of physically expressing yourself that you love to do. And do it, and then, you can kind of, like, you know, whatever that is . . . if it’s dancing . . .  if it’s running . . . if it’s, you know, playing racquetball. Once you find something that you want to do consistently, then you can find maybe different ways to supplement it that will help improve. You know, if it’s racquetball, and then you can get into escape in the gym and notice that you’re playing racquetball better or whatever it is and then yeah as you get older maybe you don’t really maybe get bored of it and you want to try something different or – maybe like it’s a young man’s game, and you want to find something that suits you a little better, and you can find something that’s a little slower a little bit more your pace, and then, you know, just dive into that. And then you can also find ways to improve how you do that, so I think it’s, it should constantly be changing.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah, so basically just setting yourself up with future things that you maybe have always wanted to do.”

MSW:  “Yeah, yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “The same thing account we were saying before but like having that discipline allows you the options like it’s going to be easier to do that thing that you’ve always wanted to do if you have a foundation in place where you’re you know going for a walk and breathing and exercising. Then, you know, maybe if you want to learn how to surf or something you’re more equipped to do it and you’re more capable.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “We’re all about like kind of developing more capable humans.”

LLAFIT: “Okay, so, we were talking about the fitness industry earlier and primarily the nutrition aspect and how they promote products you might not need to get fit, such as like, protein shakes. What do you think about promoting just aesthetics primarily throughout the fitness industry uh like for example with celebrities you know they’ll show how celebrity got ripped for a (multi)million dollar movie and you know they have a short time frame to get in that get in that shape so they can make that (multi)million dollars you know celebrities have resources to achieve those goals and maybe some other things that they do to attain that shape what do you tell people who try to follow a celebrity training routine do you think it’s a realistic approach to kind of see what they’re doing and try to adopt it yourself and expect the same results?”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, I would I would say no I think that it’s a really interesting example because I think you see that all the time it’s like you know the celebrity like look at this simple workout that got this celebrity ripped but it’s you like that person is unique and everybody is different so first off like doing what works for somebody else isn’t necessarily going to work for you and then when you look at, you know, a celebrity it’s a very extreme example . . . . That person is basically putting on a, like, a costume of being fit it’s a short very short-sighted like they needed to rush and get into shape like you’re saying there’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes uh we don’t know what they’re taking they have their own you know chef and they’re working out three times a day but it’s also interesting that you know you see these articles like you know how whatever actor gained 30 pounds of muscle to play this role and then a year later it’s like superman 2 comes out and the same actor needs to put on all this weight again like that’s clearly not a sustainable thing if they need to keep doing it. Definitely keep that in mind as well.”

LLAFIT: “Mm-hmm.”

MSW – Dan: “It’s exactly what we’re saying before about like it’s a 30-day or 60-day workout like if you’re not set up for what you’re gonna do on day 31 or on day 61 then you’re setting yourself up to failure and if it’s something really really extreme you’re going to need to balance out everything balances out so if you push really really hard for 30 days your body’s going to push back you’re going to get either injured or sore or tired you’re going to need some arrest so I think that those things aren’t sustainable and there’s a reason that people keep doing them over and over and over.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “So, I think an important question I always ask clients if they have something they want to get in shape for a wedding or for whatever it is it’s like do you want to be in shape for that or do you want to be in shape for the rest of your life like 120 pounds okay how long do you want to keep it off because it’s a fair question if all you’re doing is losing 20 pounds for a photo shoot or for a movie and then you’re happy to put that 20 pounds back on then go ahead and do that workout but if you want to lose 20 pounds and keep it off forever then you need to take a more sustainable lifelong approach.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah, that makes sense. So can you say that a high level of fitness can be achieved without a lot of resources can it be achieved affordably and do people need a gym with a lot of equipment and weights and do they need expensive nutrition programs.”

MSW – Elise:  “Yeah, well definitely not expensive nutrition programs if anything it’s cheaper I swear it really is to get people eating right and I simply just say that because maybe cheaper is not the right word but like I was saying like when you’re putting highly processed foods into your body that’s depriving you from the nutrients that are coming from whole real food you keep buying those packaged foods so you don’t even realize how much you’re spending on cookies crackers everything that comes in a package or pre-made things but if you eliminate all that and we’re telling you to buy bananas apples pears steaks fish chicken pork rice potatoes all organic yes I would have to say that yes unfortunately organic is a little bit more expensive but again think about how much you’re eliminating too and you’re just repurposing it with you know organic whole natural foods.”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, it’s like the most the most nutrient dense healthy foods are some of the cheapest stuff you can buy.”

MSW – Elise:  “Eggs”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, eggs. Eggs and, like, organ meat is probably the healthiest things you can eat and it’s going to be some of the cheapest stuff you can find in a grocery store like comparing that to like a 50-tub of protein powder that’s not going to be nearly as good for you it’s going to be a lot more expensive.”

Exercise

MSW – Elise: “Yeah and with the workouts it’s the same thing so you really don’t need anything no it actually just did not interrupt you but really especially this year like think about quarantine and COVID in the lockdown, we had to do more with less do you know what I mean like we weren’t able to go to gym they shut down so we especially us had to really figure out how to implement newer ways to you know get people to maintain the shape that they were in.”

MSW – Dan: “After yeah after for years of having well called the luxury of being able to use a gym it was all of a sudden as a year of no gems figure it out so it’s safe to take the few weights that you have and learn how do you make your workout more efficient how do you make things more difficult when you don’t always have it, so you know using sandbags and body weight and you know some dumbbells and kettlebells . . . . We were able to you know for both ourselves and for you know all our clients keep up with the workouts get great results with significantly less resources. So, yeah, argue that this this year even made it more clear that to get the best results you’re probably better off with less.”

MSW – Elise:  “Yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “It’s just . . . take away the confusion take away you know all the all the nonsense all the machines you see in the gym that kind of . . .”

LLAFIT: “Yeah.”

MSW – Dan: “Isolate one muscle that don’t really do anything uh and get your body get yourself moving your body in the ways that human bodies are supposed to move.”

LLAFIT: “Yeah.”

MSW – Elise: “And some people do like it you know they like the gym aspect they like to really they they’re certainly levels of gyms you know memberships can range up to 100 200 a month or they can be as cheap as 10 you know that that’s completely preferential depending on the person but you absolutely don’t need to spend that that membership whatsoever to get you know a tone body and results that you’re looking for it can be absolutely achieved in a less expensive way.”

LLAFIT:  “And, you know, working out in a natural environment, that’s the real test of fitness, isn’t it?”

MSW:  “Absolutely, absolutely.”

LLAFIT:  “Okay, so I’m I wish we had more time, but we do have to wrap it up and hopefully we could do another interview. I do you have some other questions. Do either of you have an important tip or piece of advice that you’d like to share with the general public or those who are struggling with health and fitness goals?”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, I mean, I think we have we have a few messages that we kind of always harp on number one and this is another one this this year should have made it more obvious than ever please take responsibility for your own health nobody’s gonna do it for you nobody you know I don’t care if they’re a doctor if they’re a politician if they’re a personal trainer nobody can take responsibility for your health except you.”

MSW – Elise: “Yeah, yeah. Exactly . . . . Unfortunately . . . . It may sound scary, but, yes, that’s I couldn’t agree more. We definitely have to be our own kind of the light within ourselves we want people to be empowered and know how capable they are, and you know you don’t have to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to be the best version of yourself. Nature provides us with so much.”

MSW – Dan: “Yeah, take care of your health absolutely. And . . . along those same lines, it’s the other message that we really always come back to is you can’t hate yourself and punish yourself into being healthy you can’t punish yourself into like overall well-being and wellness but when you can kind of flip that around and you can love yourself and then treat yourself like somebody that you love, and do things, you know, move your body because you love your body eat good nutritious foods because you love yourself and you want to support yourself, it really changes everything it’s like that simple shift in mindset makes such a huge difference.”

MSW – Elise: “And, Dan, we talk about this too a lot like think about the people around you that are in shape or at least look in shape they’ve got this essence yeah like they look healthy they radiate energy they give out you know positivity when they’re doing it correct obviously someone who’s starving themselves who you know is doing in an unhealthy way that that’s not what I mean but . . .”

MSW – Dan: “You can feel that too. Yes, you feel that when you’re around somebody and like if you’re around somebody who’s like, oh, like they’re draining and you don’t really there maybe they’re probably not doing it right and then when you’re when you’re with those people that are just so full of life and vibrancy yes vibrant energy and you feel that like those are the healthy people look to what they’re doing look how they’re living greatness leaves clues and I think when you see when you see what you want that’s your path.”

LLAFIT:  “Yeah, that’s all great advice. Definitely anyone with experience with health and fitness over the years . . . I think we all come to the same conclusions in the long run. To make sure everyone knows how to get in contact with you, you do have a guide on your website momentumstrengthwellness.com you also have your 7 Daily Habits, and you also have an app. So, you’re not just local, correct? Not local to California only?”

MSW: “Yeah, so we are we’re in we’re in Los Angeles and we do work with some people in person but you know so the majority of our business is online and that’s stuff that everybody can access from anywhere um so exactly momentumstrengthwellness.com and we do have that guide on there so it’s yeah it’s free yes yeah is it affordable to work out do you need anything this freak it’s a free guide too there’s five uh body weight workouts on there so you can do them from anywhere and then there’s meal ideas for five days so.”

MSW – Elise: “And it’s not just five meals, it’s actually 15 breakfast lunches and dinner so yeah meals so yeah so there’s a lot there and it’s you know you can also get a sense of how we eat and how we approach eating for our clients again you’re gonna see all whole foods on there in there basically natural okay and all of these um workouts as well as the meals are under 25 minutes we want to have it be very accessible for people that you know you don’t have to spend an hour two hours in the gym and you also don’t need to spend an hour or two in the kitchen there’s again no outsmarting you know nature and how it is it doesn’t have to be too time consuming.”

MSW – Dan: “I was also gonna say, beyond that guy like we do also offer more in-depth coaching if that’s something people want and you mentioned the app we have the it’s a subscription app and you can get the link right on our website it’s $9.99 a month and there’s programs on there for everyone so there’s some there’s some bodyweight like beginner programs there’s some really intense bodyweight programs there’s stuff you can do in the gym with you know barbells dumbbells kettlebells if you’re trying to gain muscle if you’re trying to lose fat like there’s something for everybody on there’s also some guided meditations and some breathing exercises, so that’s a really good deal. I promise you’re getting a lot more $9.99.”

MSW – Elise:  “Yes, absolutely, yeah. And all of the workouts – if you don’t know anyone there’s a . . . the library is ginormous like if you don’t know how to do something all of the workouts are there everything it’s really a one-stop shop.”

LLAFIT: “Great, so it’s all-around holistic approach to fitness and lifelong health as well.”

MSW: “Absolutely.”

LLAFIT: “All right. Well, thank you for accepting this interview, and hopefully we could do another interview in the future.”

MSW – Elise: “Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having us and taking the time to listen to what we have to say, because we want to – we want to spread all the health and wellness that that we can.”

Closing Message

MSW: “If people take away anything, it’s to please take responsibility for your own health, and do it because you love yourself because you only get one body . . . in this time around; you’ve got one body, so don’t waste it. Don’t abuse it. Take care of it and love it.”

 

As an athlete for over 21 years and a broke single mom for most of that time, I created brokesinglemomfitness.com, now LLAFIT.com, to aid anyone who believes the road to fitness requires a lot of cash or time. In reality, the way to fitness is paved with knowledge and firm principles; teaching readers how to master both is the goal of this site. LLAFIT - Lifelong Applied Fitness

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