#123 – Being a role model for my family and the next generation (Gabe Mendoza & Ben Grynol)

Lifestyle change doesn’t happen instantaneously. It’s built up one decision at a time. In this episode, Levels Head of Growth Ben Grynol follows up with CrossFit trainer, creator of the Mendoza Program, and one of our earliest Levels members, Gabe Mendoza. They dive into how Gabe has been focused on optimizing his fitness through diet and lifestyle choices with the help of his CGM. Gabe also discusses how this insight has helped him be a role model for his family’s health and so many people around him.

08:03 – People have to opt in

Ben said you can’t make healthy decisions for other people, you have to wait for them to make that choice themselves.

It’s a hard thing because people have to opt in themselves to making change and you want to support, like if you’re support infrastructure, but you can’t push people and be like, “Hey, do this thing because I want you to,” that’s just projecting onto others what you want for them. But as soon as there’s the cue of like, “I think now is the right time,” that’s where things can really start to evolve as far as a new journey.

10:26 – Focus on small changes

Gabe said living a healthier life doesn’t mean you have to make a ton of drastic changes. Sometimes a few smaller changes are all you need.

I try to focus on little changes, just make tweaks. And that’s all it was for me. I mean, that’s why I keep that picture around because unfortunately in this day and age, when we look at the Instagram accounts, it’s like, oh man, this guy was just born this way with a lucky physique, genetics, this and that. And you have to keep that in your back pocket like no, this isn’t a gift. I mean, it is a gift to have the knowledge and committing, but it’s a process. And once you’re in the process and appreciate the process and see the length of time it may take, then you really start to see the change.

15:07 – Overcoming the American diet

Gabe said the standard American diet needs to be challenged. Just a because a way of eating is typical doesn’t make it healthy.

Forget fueling and fitness and all that, just the daily prescription of breakfast, like what does that plate look like in America? And it’s the cereals, the juices, the pastries, the syrups, and that, and why do we crash at lunch? Oh, well it must be because we don’t have enough coffee in our system. All right, so let’s grab some coffee or an energy drink. I mean, we just see that a lot of stuff that we’re, like you said, prescribed, or that’s just dogma at this point could potentially be challenged. I mean, myself as an auditor, I’m always ‘trust but verify’ I guess, it’s just in my nature. So having this tool on my arm, I could really see for me and how the general direction of my health was going that those decisions were probably not the best. And we could see on a broader landscape from the Levels community, and those that have been on this same similar journey that it really does work.

19:18 – Look at your patterns

Gabe said you can still enjoy the things you love to eat, you just have to look at your own patterns and choose the best time for you to eat them.

One of my favorite go-to breakfasts is Greek yogurt topped with honey and berries. And it’s pretty much having like old school fro-yo for breakfast. And they’re like, it’s a nine, a 10, solid every time. And the only time I eat it is after a fasted resistance training session. And you got to think there, okay, well you were going to eat honey and that’s a bad food, like you said, but I said, hold on a second. It’s a great food in the absence of glycogen in your muscles, and that’s where you want to put it. So look I don’t get a spike because probably as soon as I eat it I’ve got the storage capacity. And like, we try to create that mindset of, okay, let’s look at our patterns, the when and how more so than the what. That’s how we need to start looking at it.

21:13 – Your body craves homeostasis

Gabe said some diets can work really well for acute issues or as a short-term lifestyle, but they aren’t always best long-term.

I’m fortunate enough to have been in the program for so long and having so many rounds with this that I came in with the mindset of okay, glucose spike bad, eliminate all of them. Well I went down the rabbit hole, I went low carb, high fat to keto, and eventually I was doing carnivore. And we know your body craves homeostasis, it works very well. I think those diets are great as a prescription for maybe curing some acute issues. But long term, you can start to see how your body doesn’t like to be in those states. It’s a stressful state. So I mean, even down at the carnivore level, I mean zero carbs, I was seeing my fasting glucose on this thing at the 110, 120. I would wake up in the morning and it’s like, whoa, what is going on here? So glycogen sparing, I was seeing issues that way. So it was like making sure everything’s in context. I mean, I could have beautiful numbers on the CGM, but are you sacrificing health? Are you sacrificing social stuff? So even in a broader context than that is important to keep in mind.

25:59 – Control your environment

Gabe said being mindful and intentional about prioritizing your family relationships is important for overall wellbeing.

We have the kids go down to bed around 8:00, from 8:00 to 9:00 is our time and making sure that you’re present, you’re always checking in. Actually apologies to the Levels community on the Facebook and Instagram side, but the past month I’ve kind of taken that stuff off my phone and just focused more on checking in on those relationships that I prioritize. So instead of sitting there scrolling, I’ll be thinking about someone and send that text and making sure that… It could be my wife and just, hey, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you. We’re both CPAs so we’re just in the grid iron right now going through tax season. But we’ll check in and make sure that presence is there. And just at every opportunity, making sure that you’re committed to what’s in front of you and doing everything with intention.

30:11 – Create routines

Ben said if you have routines and habits for making healthy meals, it’s a lot easier to stick to your plans.

By creating that as a routine or habit, you outsource the decision making, so you don’t have to decide like, hey, what are we going to do on this day? And that’s where the slippery slope can begin. Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to eat and what can I make? And then it’s just like, you default so easily to like, okay, DoorDash, getting Dominoes or whatever. It’s just so easy to fall into that trap and you do it over and over and over, you find the wiggle room. But when you outsource the decision of like, I know what we’re making hypothetically, I know we’re doing tacos on Tuesday, so that’s what we do. Then your choice architecture is a lot narrower. Do we have beef or do we have chicken? Like, you’re not really making hard decisions at that point. You’re just making minor ones. And that allows you to go cool, I don’t even need to think about it and it allows you to stay on that routine.

32:38 – Influence the people closest to you

Gabe said laws and taxes won’t change people’s habits as much as the influence of people who are close to them.

The biggest thing that can change is influencing the five closest people around you. Our community has the power in its own hands. As much as I would love to see sweeping legal changes, let’s put a tax on this, let’s make sure there’s a cap on sugar, this and that. All that stuff is great, but the most change I’ve seen my in my life personally, I’ve touched the two closest people in my life, my parents, my dad’s down 60 pounds since the pandemic started, my mom’s in the gym lifting weights. They walk like six miles a day. My mom’s never put a CGM on, but she has seen through the model and my change and modeling that change and just asking the questions and being ready to explain to someone what you’ve done will cause the biggest change.

33:27 – You can change your community

Gabe said if enough people make health changes, it can influence change in the community as a whole.

If enough people influence those around them, those small communities start to gain traction. And then the consumer demand in that community changes. Right now, the local grocery store says, whoa, all these people are fitness junkies, we need to get healthier options. And then the restaurants around the areas start changing. Like you see, you know when we use the healthiest, putting up the very healthiest states in America, going to Colorado, the food options in the mountain areas and those communities are much different than those options in unfortunately the unhealthier communities. Yes, of course there’s socioeconomic issues and stuff we get right there and I’m no expert, but I would recommend one book that anyone read is Food Fix by Mark Hyman. He’s got it all laid out there. But from what can I do, me, Ben do? We need to just continue to model and influence either the next generation to our kids, our family members, our coworkers. Like my journey, it got started by a coworker. It wasn’t some sweeping change, no one knocked a burger out of my hand at Burger King. It was, I saw what I wanted, I was ready to change, and so I did it. And then being that source for those 10 people, 12 people around you, I mean then having those 12 touch another 5 or 12, I mean, that’s what’s really going to cause this thing to change.

36:25 – Change is a long-term endeavor

Ben said people expect change to affect them instantly like a haircut, but true change is a slow, intentional process.

You almost have this expectation, sometimes it comes up in conversation where people will start a program, a health and wellness journey, let’s say that. And they expect it to be like a haircut. Like they go and get their haircut and they look in the mirror and they look entirely different. And it’s like, the feeling of the change takes time. The look of the change takes time. Like you said, you can’t get the six pack by the weekend by just starting to do some sit ups and all of a sudden you’ve got a pool party and there’s your six pack. Like that’s not the way this works, but it’s such a long game that we’re playing. Meanwhile, we have this irrational expectation that we’ll be able to go get some change that looks like a haircut. Hey, I’m entirely different. And it’s like, it’s not the way this works. What you have to focus on is the long game of saying, how does my healthspan and my lifespan change over time if I start to make the right choices now?

Gabe Mendoza (00:06):

Forget fueling and fitness and all that, just the daily prescription of breakfast. What does that plate look like in America? And it’s the cereals, the juices, the pastries, the syrups and that, and then why do we crash at lunch? Oh, well it must be because we don’t have enough coffee in our system. All right, so let’s grab some coffee or an energy drink. I mean, we just see that a lot of stuff that we’re prescribed or that’s just dogma at this point could potentially be challenged. So having this tool on my arm, I could really see for me and how the general direction of my health was going that those decisions were probably not the best. And we could see on a broader landscape from the Levels community and those that been on our similar journey, that it really does work.

Ben Grynol (00:58):

I’m Ben Grynol, part of the early startup team here at Levels. We’re building tech that helps people to understand their metabolic health. And this is your front row seat to everything we do. This is a whole new level.

Ben Grynol (01:11):

If you’ve spent any time in the Levels community, that be our private Facebook group, you’ve probably heard the name Gabe Mendoza before. Well, Gabe is one of the earliest Levels members, having joined back in 2020. Gabe has been focused on health wellness and fitness and diet for many years prior to joining Levels as a member. And so when he started exploring how to get a continuous glucose monitor prior to Levels even being founded, he immediately reached out to Josh Clementi and said, “Hey, can I get into the beta? What do I have to do to get my hands on a CGM?” Since then, Gabe has been really focused on optimizing his own fitness routine through things like diet and lifestyle choices.

Ben Grynol (02:06):

And by having all this data and all these insights, he started to make changes in the way that he thinks about things like fueling, the way that he thinks about diet as a father of two, and the way that he thinks about all the other lifestyle factors that go into optimizing his metabolic health. That being things like sleep, cortisol levels or stress, even cold exposure, sunlight. He takes all these factors into account and he continues to think of himself as an experiment of one. He really likes seeing all the data. Anyway, it was a great opportunity to do another episode with a Levels community member. Here’s the conversation with Gabe.

Ben Grynol (02:48):

So let’s take things back, man. You have been a Levels member for a long, long time. Probably one of our members with the most tenure, if you want to call it that, but why don’t we take it back to high school, take us back to where your journey with health and wellness started, because I think it’s an interesting story that leads into this foundation for metabolic health and your mindset and outlook on health and wellness now based on everything you practice.

Gabe Mendoza (03:16):

Absolutely, yeah. So high school was a journey, high school I mean, I think everyone is in their prime there. I was an athlete playing baseball. I’m now 33. I think at that age, you’re kind of resilient to any and all metabolic complications for the most part. As far as health was concerned, I think it was all about aesthetics and performance with regard to baseball. Of course, your body’s changing so much and you’re just going after the latest bodybuilding.com article at that point. So that’s where my health concern was. I don’t have any, thank goodness, health complications in the past, relatively active kid growing up. My parents did a good job of keeping processed foods and such out of the household.

Gabe Mendoza (04:02):

But yeah, at high school it was pretty much easy riding. Actually I was taking lunch to school, I used to pack it every day. So I wasn’t actually subject to the poor food choices that could have hurt my health at that time. But yeah, again, I was just focused on performing on the baseball field and I actually wasn’t too concerned about health. I was going at it day by day, I guess.

Gabe Mendoza (04:28):

That then evolved, we go to college and I stopped playing. And I guess that’s where I get introduced to the health decline, studying long hours and then of course the partying, drinking, social scene pretty much compromised everything I had built up to that point. Nothing too major, but I could tell health definitely wasn’t a priority at that point, either. Just kind of riding the wave of college events and going to school. And then I guess it was probably junior year of college where it all kind of went, okay, we got to do something about this. I remember stepping on the scale and seeing 215 I think or 220ish was probably my heaviest. And it was quite the wake up call for me.

Ben Grynol (05:14):

Was that one of those points where it was… If you’re reflecting back on it and you’re looking in the mirror, was that the point, if you think back of like, wow, things changed? The reason I ask is like, sometimes it’s progressive where people don’t always know. They’re like, I just sort of came into this thing. I eventually became interested and other people have this revelation or this moment when they think back and they’re like, I remember it was so visceral in the way that whatever it was that opened up your eyes. Was that one of those key moments?

Gabe Mendoza (05:50):

I actually do have a moment. In our family we have like a little tradition of our first day of school or first day of work, or first day of anything, we kind of create this sign and take that cheesy picture that you set your kids up with. And I actually have it still from my first day of my professional career as a CPA. And that picture, I went, wait a second, something has to change because I had lost really all the vision of that athlete and even the person geared towards health or taking care of myself. So I used many times that picture as my starting point on that journey.

Ben Grynol (06:29):

I think I know which picture you’re referring to as well. Is it the one you post on online often?

Gabe Mendoza (06:35):

Yes, yes, that is it. Yep.

Ben Grynol (06:37):

So funny how that happens like, we have these moments in life where you think you’re looking in the mirror, the accountability mirror, and the reflection you see back is the vision or view of yourself. And sometimes that reflection back, it’s almost like a funny house, a fun house mirror, and you’re looking back and there’s this distorted image of the person that you think you are or thought you were versus what you’re seeing. And it can be one of those things where you’re like, that’s not me. I’m not the fun house mirror guy, I’m Gabe Mendoza. And it can become when used correctly, like that can become fuel for changing behavior over a long period of time.

Gabe Mendoza (07:17):

Oh, absolutely. And I have to give credit. I mean, I was working alongside an individual who was already crushing it health wise and he was the telltale 6’3″ jacked, whatever. And he kind of said, he didn’t push it on me, but I was working with him side by side and he kind of waited until I was ready. He knew I was an ex-athlete, we had a lot of common ground and he was like, I always had gotten a sense to this day, we’re still in contact, and he’s always says, “I was just waiting for the right moment to kind of introduce you to this stuff.” And I give him credit to all of it for that.

Ben Grynol (07:57):

Yeah, that’s one of those things, when surrounded with people… It’s a hard thing because people have to opt in themselves to making change and you want to support, like if you’re support infrastructure, but you can’t push people and be like, “Hey, do this thing because I want you to,” that’s just projecting onto others what you want for them. But as soon as there’s the cue of like, I think now is the right time, that’s where things can really start to evolve as far as a new journey.

Gabe Mendoza (08:27):

I couldn’t agree more. I think throughout this whole experience, it was pre-CGM, including CGM, my blog, not blog posting all that, I really had to learn to be that patient. You have to wait in the wings and just be a model for those that are closest to you and then just be ready when others are. You kind of get the questions daily being the fit guy in the room, you’ll get what are you eating, how do you do this, how do you do that? But for people to really make the commitment, they have to be ready, like just like I had to be ready. So I think that’s a huge, huge, huge point.

Ben Grynol (09:03):

Totally. And I mean, it’s such an interesting thing that you do. It’s what you do right now and you do so well is you’re super active in the community, in the Levels community, whether it’s through the Facebook group or whether it’s through DMs, your own platform, but in general, it’s this idea of supporting people with knowledge. Because you’ve gone so deep into fitness and CGM and diet and how all of these factors play into each other, but when people ask for input, you’re super good about not being overly prescriptive. You’re like, hey, this is what works for me. This is what I’ve tried. Here are the results. This is what I’ve learned.

Ben Grynol (09:42):

And then giving people that foundation so they can start to use those as levers to make change themselves. Because like the wrong approach is just like, hey, I did this. Here’s what the results were so you have to go do it too. It’s like, that might not work for so many reasons which we don’t need to get into. But I think that’s one of the challenges where sometimes health and wellness can feel inaccessible because people just get exhausted by the like, here’s the only way to do it. And it’s like, no there’s a lot of ways to do it. You just have to find what works for you.

Gabe Mendoza (10:13):

No, absolutely. And they’ll find what works. I always kind of put it on the person that wants to commit. Like you said, it’s like, there’s millions of reasons why, but you never know availability, what’s going on in their life, stress, everything else. So I try to focus on little changes, just make tweaks. And that’s all it was for me. I mean, that’s why I keep that picture around because unfortunately in this day and age, when we look at the Instagram accounts, it’s like, oh man, this guy was just born this way with a lucky physique, genetics, this and that. And you kind of have to keep that in your back pocket like no, this isn’t a gift. I mean, it is a gift to have the knowledge and committing, but it’s a process. And once you’re in the process and appreciate the process and see the length of time it may take, then you really see start to see the change.

Ben Grynol (11:00):

That’s exactly it. Let’s go deep into this idea of when you first discovered CGM and when you first discovered Levels, walk us through that.

Gabe Mendoza (11:11):

Yeah, for sure. So on my health journey, I’d say around 2011, it started and I started with articles, Mark’s Daily Apple was one. And then I started stumbling around the doctors, Robert Lustig was one. And I found Peter Attia who in this space, if you know, is just completely technical, will go down every rabbit hole. He himself is an N of 1 experimenter. It was a podcast that he said, it was insulin resistance or it was something about diabetes and he mentioned he was wearing a CGM. And I was like, why would someone without diabetes want to wear a CGM? And in that episode he went down just literally having the real time feedback loop of his daily sleep, exercise, and food and how it would influence his ability to clear glucose. And I think at the time he was doing it because I think he was biking and he loves testing his lactate threshold and his energy demand.

Gabe Mendoza (12:11):

So he was trying to gauge kind of like a fuel tank of when he would bonk or not during training. And I was actually running half marathons during the time. And I was doing the old goos and carbohydrate loads at the time. And I said, whoa he’s onto something here. That in conjunction with, I think Tim Noakes had come out with the Lore of Running at the time. And he was talking about how he even developed type two diabetes as a champion marathon runner. And you’re like, whoa, how does that happen? So I think it was a combination of those two sources and then trying to get my hands on the CGM. So that was another journey through Instagram and just knowing I had some doctors and family and everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

Gabe Mendoza (12:57):

Why would you want one, what you need it for, that’s for diabetics. I even wrote a letter to my insurance provider just to see how do you do this? And thank goodness for social media, I think either Levels was pushed to me or it may have been the original Ben Greenfield podcast that Josh was on. Somehow Josh’s name came up and I DMed him immediately. And I said, “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” And I think I still have the email, I wrote him like all these sources and I came off probably as a crazy person.

Gabe Mendoza (13:32):

But I was like, if there’s anything you can do to get me into this beta testing, like I’m in. And we hit it off. And I guess we had this commonality of resources, a similar journey, and he was corporate America working over at SpaceX and kind of had that crash issues. I was having the same stuff at work and not to mention just the general interest in health. So that’s kind of what catapulted and everything. And then it really was a one on one just discussion with Josh at the beginning that got me into the program.

Ben Grynol (14:02):

And so you started using it and it seems like you really adapted your approach, if you want to call it that to fitness and fueling. It’s something that you post about all the time, and like in the way that you approach things, it’s almost like N of 1 experiment. It’s always different ways of fueling based on the fitness, the amount, the quantity, the type, there’s so many different ways. And it’s back to this idea of like, you can’t be prescriptive and just be… It’s the reason why eating gummies as a fuel source for marathon running, like that can lead to poor outcomes.

Ben Grynol (14:42):

But the heuristic we have as a society is like, you do this thing because everybody has told you, it’s what you have to do or are supposed to do. And as soon as you figure out that it’s just like, that’s completely the wrong approach, like that can actually lead you down a very, very poor path very quickly. That’s where you have to get these personalized insights on your own.

Gabe Mendoza (15:05):

No, absolutely. I mean just even forget fueling and fitness and all that, just the daily prescription of breakfast, like what does that plate look like in America? And it’s the cereals, the juices, the pastries, the syrups, and that, and why do we crash at lunch? Oh, well it must be because we don’t have enough coffee in our system. All right, so let’s grab some coffee or an energy drink. I mean, we just see that a lot of stuff that we’re, like you said, prescribed, or that’s just dogma at this point could potentially be challenged. I mean, myself as an auditor, I’m always a trust but verify I guess, it’s just in my nature.

Gabe Mendoza (15:43):

So having this tool on my arm, I could really see for me and how the general direction of my health was going that those decisions were probably not the best. And we could see on a broader landscape from the Levels community, and those that have been on this same similar journey that it really does work.

Ben Grynol (16:02):

What were some of the key changes that you made given that you’re into fitness, you focus on diet, all of these things, but as soon as you saw data, I mean, it’s just like, the reason I ask is everyone has a different thing like air quotes thing that they’re like, yeah that never again and it used to be a daily thing. Especially when we think it’s healthy, right? Like I’ve had so many things that I thought were healthy. And I’m careful about positioning it because some of the things are actually healthy, they’re just not right for me. But there are things that like I would do every day example being, let’s say it was like some type of whole grain sourdough bread that it’s going to give you a different response than wonder bread, like objectively that’s better.

Ben Grynol (16:56):

But you have that in the morning just slammed with almond butter everywhere. And then you put the banana on top because bananas are healthy. And then you put honey on top because honey is healthy and it has certain biological properties that are good for you and help to boost your immune system. That was the word that I was searching the sky for. But all these things.

Ben Grynol (17:21):

And so I would have that for breakfast, but I wouldn’t have one, I’d have two. Because that’s what you do, you have two of these things. And you don’t realize you’re like, man, that was not working for me at all. Like for me, get rid of the honey, get rid of the banana, get rid of the bread. So now you just eat all almond butter. No, it’s more a matter of completely changing what you eat and when and it helps to optimize energy. So like what were some of the things that you saw immediately that you’re like, holy smokes, I can’t believe I was doing that forever?

Gabe Mendoza (17:55):

I’ll start food-specific first and I think you made a great point. So food-specific, sweet potatoes, those are the healthiest potatoes, right? You don’t eat white potatoes, you don’t eat red potatoes. If you’re going to eat a potato, it’s got to be a sweet potato. Loaded with beta carotene, loaded with much better fibers, all this. It’s a complex carb, go for it. And I would remember the day I had sweet potatoes I was pushing 180, almost 200. And I was like, wait a second. I mean, I used to eat these lunch, dinner, sometimes I would even like mash it up with some, like you said, a little oatmeal or something in the morning. But I mean, sweet potatoes were, there couldn’t possibly be an effect. Those are just blanket good for you. So for me, like that was food-specific wow, I was doing it all wrong.

Gabe Mendoza (18:44):

But what you said was huge. And I think what I gained more than food specificity, and I think what we’re trying to communicate in the Levels community is the context. So the sweet potato or the banana or the one that spiked you, forget the food absolutely. But look at the context in which you ate it. Was it right after potentially a carb meal? Have you not worked out in a couple days? Like are your glycogen stores potentially already topped off? You don’t need it. Or the other way, I mean, people were jealous, one of my favorite go-to breakfasts is Greek yogurt topped with honey and berries. And it’s pretty much having like old school fro-yo for breakfast. And they’re like, it’s a nine, a 10, solid every time. And the only time I eat it is after a fasted resistance training session.

Gabe Mendoza (19:36):

And you got to think there, okay, well you were going to eat honey and that’s a bad food, like you said, but I said, hold on a second. It’s a great food in the absence of glycogen in your muscles, and that’s where you want to put it. So look I don’t get a spike because probably as soon as I eat it I’ve got the storage capacity. And like, we try to create that mindset of, okay, let’s look at our patterns, the when and how more so than the what. That’s how we need to start looking at it.

Ben Grynol (20:06):

Yeah, that’s exactly it. And not taking food in isolation, not being prescriptive and extrapolating that to everyone. So like chickpeas, another great example where you eat chickpeas in isolation, like somebody might have a completely different response, but again, when are you eating them? What are you pairing those with? Are you eating them, are you doing roasted chickpeas slathered with olive oil and you’re eating them with like roasted broccoli? It’s like, that is probably going to be okay for some people and other people it might not.

Ben Grynol (20:38):

It might give some metabolic response, but totally different than just grabbing a huge can of chickpeas and putting some salt on them and being like, oh, it didn’t work for me. Like, you’re eating them naked. What do you think is going to happen? You’re eating carbohydrates naked. So it’s just a matter of continuing to experiment with things like fat, fiber, protein, pairing, timing, so many different factors and then figuring out what works for different people.

Gabe Mendoza (21:08):

And I think another great thing to look at is just pattern, right? And I mean, I’m fortunate enough to have been in the program for so long and having so many rounds with this that I came in with the mindset of okay, glucose spike, bad, eliminate all of them. Well I went down the rabbit hole, I went low carb, high fat to keto, and eventually I was doing carnivore. And we know your body craves homeostasis, it works very well. I think those diets are great as a prescription for maybe curing some acute issues. But long term, you can start to see how your body doesn’t like to be in those states. It’s a stressful state.

Gabe Mendoza (21:49):

So I mean, even down at the carnivore level, I mean zero carbs, I was seeing my fasting glucose on this thing at the 110, 120. I would wake up in the morning and it’s like, whoa, what is going on here? So glycogen sparing, I was seeing issues that way. So it was like making sure everything’s in context. I mean, I could have beautiful numbers on the CGM, but are you sacrificing health? Are you sacrificing social stuff? So even in a broader context than that is important to keep in mind.

Ben Grynol (22:20):

Let’s go into this idea of you’re a parent, you’ve got two young kids, five and three. And one of the things that comes up frequently with parents of young kids in general is this idea of time and time allocation. And it’s so easy to discount things, especially like you hyperbolically discount the short term versus the long term. But it’s like, oh, I’d love to eat better, but I don’t have time. I’d love to focus on fitness, but I don’t have time. So what are some of the things that you do to carve out that routine, like to really take time for yourself and still do all the other things, be a professional, be a husband, be a friend, keep going down the path. But some of the things that you do as a working professional and parent with young kids, so that you can still maintain this routine that you’ve been so rigorous about.

Gabe Mendoza (23:14):

So for me, it’s all about focusing on what you can control. You cannot control the way your kids are going to wake up. You don’t control the weather, you don’t control if someone’s going to be late to an event or whatever. So I know what I can control is my time to bed and my time of waking, I’ve always been an early riser. And when I started my health journey, I used to run at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. I used to work out at 5:00 in the morning. I was a typical 5:30 AM CrossFitter. So I’ve carved out that first hour of the day for me is where I prioritize before the kids get up, my workout.

Gabe Mendoza (23:53):

So I’m in the gym and thanks to COVID I built out a little home gym that I’ve been very happy with and now I’m probably going to permanently stay there. So when my gym is 10 steps from the bedroom, which is great. So I prioritize that time for me. And then the kids are up around 7:00. So that time is seven to 8:00ish, 8:30 is when they leave for school is their time and our time. So I know that’s a compartment for them, and that’s where we get food ready and eat breakfast as a family. And then I head off to work. I mean, I can’t say any other words. I’m blessed and grateful for my career path as well, currently working with my father-in-law at our own accounting practice. So as far as reporting to the man, I don’t have one of those types of jobs where I need to have myself in a seat by a certain time.

Gabe Mendoza (24:47):

However, I do need to maintain some professional hours and make sure I’m hitting all my to-dos, but at least that time is carved out. And I think, go back to control, is on the food choices and eating healthy and how you influence those and nudge yourself in the right direction is all about environment. So I just make sure that the shopping is done and our house. I mean, I’m a victim of the Costco membership card and I’ll just load the house and it’s healthy choices or better for you choices we’ll say. There’s fresh fruit available. If the kids need a snack, they’re free to grab anything in the pantry. I’m not worried about what they’re going to grab because they’re all choices I would give them.

Gabe Mendoza (25:28):

I subscribe to Butcher Box, no affiliation at all, but just having fresh meat delivered at your door. I’m a Misfits member, which is… You got to take advantage of these opportunities where we can have stuff just delivered. I know it comes with downside and I completely acknowledge that. But if in a busy lifestyle and you want to make this a priority, you got to find a little bit of a shortcut. So having the environment controlled is key on the food side. And then as far as the husband and wife, we have the kids go down to bed around 8:00, from 8:00 to 9:00 is our time and making sure that you’re present, you’re always checking in. Actually apologies to the Levels community on the Facebook and Instagram side, but the past month I’ve kind of taken that stuff off my phone and just focused more on checking in on those relationships that I prioritize.

Gabe Mendoza (26:22):

So instead of sitting there scrolling, I’ll be thinking about someone and send that text and making sure that… It could be my wife and just, hey, how are you doing? I haven’t seen you. We’re both CPAs so we’re just in the grid iron right now going through tax season. But we’ll check in and make sure that presence is there. And just at every opportunity, making sure that you’re committed to what’s in front of you and doing everything with intention. I kind of rambled there, but it’s hard. And there’s no magic solution. There’s days that you can’t work out or you get a curve ball and you just got to make sure that you know okay, I couldn’t control that one, but I’ll get the next one. And that’s how you move forward.

Ben Grynol (27:01):

So as you’re creating this foundation for your kids too, one of the things that you are diligent about is not falling into the trap of not having a ton of time to prep things like school lunches and saying, well, the packaged and processed thing, like it’s the easier route. Like it’s a lot harder to make fresh lunches every day as a parent, because it just takes extra time. But it’s something that you’ve been so deeply focused on. So why don’t you walk through that idea of being an education resource for kids to provide them with that foundation, but also creating the right conditions for them to learn and make their own choices over time.

Gabe Mendoza (27:46):

Oh, absolutely. And I think one of the biggest things is getting them involved. I mean, you have your own kids and we all know those parents, like when you make a choice for a kid they’re never happy. It’s the dad said, I want to do literally the exact opposite. So like I said, if we have everything in the house is something I would give them at any point, having them get involved and say, “Hey bud, you want to pack your lunch today?” Yeah okay, pick a fruit, let’s pick, we have a cheese or a protein or a fat.

Gabe Mendoza (28:16):

I’m not trying to drill them now, there’s no good, there’s no bad. There’s no… But he kind of starts asking, the way I’ve framed him, my five year old that is, what does this food do for you? And he’s into it. Like okay, we talk about what does chicken do? Okay, that builds your muscles. What do raspberries do? Oh, they have polyphenols. And he loves hearing the big words. He yells at me constantly that he’s not in college yet, he doesn’t need the big words, but these are energy foods, these are muscle builders, these heal your wounds when you get to cut. He’s like, oh that’s right I have to eat xyz because it’ll help me heal my cut.

Gabe Mendoza (28:51):

So making that fun for them. And then when you’re in those situations, I mean nowadays, where kids are going to birthday parties every weekend, I’m going to let them be a kid. They need to have the sugar and need to have the thing. But if you have the base there, you’ll find it funny. I mean, they’ll lick the cupcake, it’s too sweet and toss it and they’re done. But there was nobody to tell them no, their own body told them no. I mean, you’ve built a foundation where their body can recognize real food and will crave what it wants. So I think I guess for parents, number one getting them involved, getting yourself committed. I know it’s hard. I know it’s extremely hard.

Gabe Mendoza (29:31):

And actually what I do is since I’m so type one, I know a schedule, like I know Mondays are turkey sandwiches, Tuesdays are tuna sandwiches. Wednesdays are like either a leftover grilled chicken or something. And they kind of know what’s coming up. And it’s okay to be a family, we always joke, like we have grilling Monday and taco Tuesday and pasta Wednesday, Thursday leftovers, and Friday we have a family dinner, another grill night. But having that structure and having them knowing what’s coming up, they actually thrive in it and they get excited about it. So it’s more just getting them involved early.

Ben Grynol (30:10):

Yeah, by creating that as a routine or habit, you outsource the decision making, so you don’t have to decide like, hey, what are we going to do on this day? And that’s where the slippery slope can begin. Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to eat and what can I make? And then it’s just like, you default so easily to like, okay, DoorDash, getting Dominoes or whatever. It’s just so easy to fall into that trap and you do it over and over and over, you find the wiggle room. But when you outsource the decision of like, I know what we’re making hypothetically, I know we’re doing tacos on Tuesday, so that’s what we do. Then your choice architecture is a lot narrower. Do we have beef or do we have chicken? Like, you’re not really making hard decisions at that point. You’re just making minor ones. And that allows you to go cool, I don’t even need to think about it and it allows you to stay on that routine.

Gabe Mendoza (31:08):

Yeah, don’t over complicate it either. There’s no reason you need to make the most Pinteresty taco Tuesday. I’ll tell you, we just do simple quesadillas with some ground beef and the kids make beans and that’s it. And then it’s making it simple, making it fun. And then one night a week we actually give the kids their choice to order. But they know in that space, they only know the neighborhood restaurants, there’s only two or three that we frequent anyways. So we already know what’s coming up. So they feel involved. They just feel involved all week. They don’t feel like it’s forced upon them, which is great.

Ben Grynol (31:50):

Let’s go into this last thing here, which is a big can of worms to open up, and we could go down a deep rabbit hole with it. It’s the idea of what needs to change as a society to start to invoke a really wide behavior change? Because it doesn’t get solved overnight, it doesn’t get solved by writing that one additional blog post, it doesn’t get solved by having one person uses CGM once. Like it’s something that it has so many macro factors when you start to think about the processed food industry and big sugar and all of these things that we could rant about forever. But what are some of the things that you think need to change as a society if you’re thinking at the foundational level to start to invoke some of this behavior change?

Gabe Mendoza (32:38):

The biggest thing that can change is influencing the five closest people around you. Our community has the power in its own hands. As much as I would love to see sweeping legal changes, let’s put a tax on this, let’s make sure there’s a cap on sugar, this and that. All that stuff is great, but the most change I’ve seen my in my life personally, I’ve touched the two closest people in my life, my parents, my dad’s down 60 pounds since the pandemic started, my mom’s in the gym lifting weights. They walk like six miles a day. My mom’s never put a CGM on, but she has seen through the model and my change and modeling that change and just asking the questions and being ready to explain to someone what you’ve done will cause the biggest change.

Gabe Mendoza (33:26):

And we already see. So if enough people influence those around them, those small communities start to gain traction. And then the consumer demand in that community changes. Right now, the local grocery store says, whoa, all these people are fitness junkies, we need to get healthier options. And then the restaurants around the areas start changing. Like you see, you know when we use the healthiest, putting up the very healthiest states in America, going to Colorado, the food options in the mountain areas and those communities are much different than those options in unfortunately the unhealthier communities.

Gabe Mendoza (34:03):

Yes, of course there’s socioeconomic issues and stuff we get right there and I’m no expert, but I would recommend one book that anyone read is Food Fix by Mark Hyman. He’s got it all laid out there. But from what can I do, me, Ben do? We need to just continue to model and influence either the next generation to our kids, our family members, our coworkers. Like my journey, it got started by a coworker. It wasn’t some sweeping change, no one knocked a burger out of my hand at Burger King. It was, I saw what I wanted, I was ready to change, and so I did it. And then being that source for those 10 people, 12 people around you, I mean then having those 12 touch another five or 12, I mean, that’s what’s really going to cause this thing to change.

Ben Grynol (34:54):

That is such a good way of looking at it because it’s almost like getting into network theory where it’s like the strength of the notes and the network when you start to talk about distance and proximity, it’s like the shortest path between the two closest nodes. So it’s like the people around you, the influence and the conversations that can open up can lead to other behavior change. And then they can start to influence the nodes in their network. Like assume we’ve all got crossover nodes, everyone’s their own networks. So then your mom starts having conversations with her friends who have conversations with their friends. And over time, this behavior starts to change. But assuming that there’s one like prescriptive thing, you throw it out into the abyss and it’s like, everyone’s going to magically change their behavior. It’s like, that’s just not the way that this works.

Gabe Mendoza (35:48):

And I think we could, from a society point of view, get into our heads a little bit of more of a long term game view. We all want that quick fix. And I got to tell everybody that asks me, I can’t get you a six pack by next week your pool party. It’s just not going to happen. But if I could tell you that you’re going to be playing with your kids when you’re 75, and you’re going to be walking up and down with their bike, and you’re going to be able to lift them off the ground if they fall and they’re going to have all the confidence in the world that grandma’s going to be there, that’s something that would be life altering.

Ben Grynol (36:20):

Yeah. It’s so funny you say that because you almost have this expectation, sometimes it comes up in conversation where people will start a program, a health and wellness journey, let’s say that. And they expect it to be like a haircut. Like they go and get their haircut and they look in the mirror and they look entirely different. And it’s like, the feeling of the change takes time. The look of the change takes time. Like you said, you can’t get the six pack by the weekend by just starting to do some sit ups and all of a sudden you’ve got a pool party and there’s your six pack. Like that’s not the way this works, but it’s such a long game that we’re playing. Meanwhile, we have this irrational expectation that we’ll be able to go get some change that looks like a haircut. Hey, I’m entirely different. And it’s like, it’s not the way this works. What you have to focus on is the long game of saying, how does my healthspan and my lifespan change over time if I start to make the right choices now?

Gabe Mendoza (37:19):

Absolutely. And even short cutting it doesn’t leave you with the same satisfaction in my opinion. If you ask lottery winners, they’re not so happy once they get all this cash, they don’t even know what to do with it. But those that have earned it over time seem to be more rewarded and grateful for it. So you see, there’s easily cosmetic fixes, but like you said, your healthspan and lifespan may not be influenced there whereas those people that are working at it day to day might have a better outcome.