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Episode 5: The Five Pillars of Health: How the Body Works as a Whole System
11 Plays20 days ago
In this episode of the Body Evolution Podcast, we break down how health actually works in the body — not as isolated habits, but as a connected system. Building on our previous conversations about habits, consistency, and identity, this episode introduces the Five Pillars of Health. We explain why focusing on just one area often leads to frustration, stalled progress, or confusing symptoms. Rather than offering rules or rigid plans, this conversation provides a framework for understanding how different inputs interact, influence one another, and shape how the body adapts over time. The goal is not perfection, but support — helping the body feel safe enough to change. In this episode, we explore: - Why health breaks down when we isolate habits - The Five Pillars framework and how each pillar supports the others - The difference between daily movement and structured exercise - Why nutrition is about nutrients and signals, not just calories - How sleep and recovery drive growth, repair, and resilience - Why stress and mindset influence every physical system - The role of breathing in nervous system regulation - How environment and daily rhythm shape behavior automatically - Why connection supports consistency and emotional health - How small actions in one pillar create ripple effects in others - Practical ways to start without overwhelming the body This episode is an invitation to stop trying to “fix” your life and start supporting your body. When health is approached as a system — not a checklist — consistency becomes easier, adaptation becomes natural, and progress becomes sustainable.
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Transcript
Introduction to Body Evolution Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to a space for movement, mindset, and sustainable rhythm. This is Body Evolution.
00:00:14
Speaker
Welcome again to the Body Evolution Podcast, where health becomes simple, sustainable, and human. Hi, I'm Corey Repp. And I'm Elie Berenguer, and we break down fitness, nutrition, habits,
00:00:28
Speaker
and energy through one lens, what actually works in real life. Let's do this.
Recap of Willpower and Consistency
00:00:36
Speaker
So in the last episode, we were talking about the willpower, and consistency and about discipline and how to start. And we were talking about small actions and why pushing harder is not the best solution.
00:00:53
Speaker
And a we wanted to talk about a little bit of identity and we talked these different things, but today, And today we're going to the next step of that conversation, right?
The Five Pillars of Holistic Health
00:01:05
Speaker
And this is, this episode's more detailed about how health actually works in your body. yeah And so when you stop isolating just one area or one little habit here and there and start supporting this whole system and how that really works together. going to break that down into a frame that we framework that we've created called the five pillars.
00:01:27
Speaker
And this is not as like rules to follow, but areas of support that make your consistency feel natural and incorporated into your life more wholly. This is not to say that we have to cover all five pillars at all times, as we talked about before.
00:01:44
Speaker
Simplicity is best, so start small. But these are the areas where you want to grab onto something to grow in all these areas because they work together.
Holistic Support vs. Single Focus
00:01:54
Speaker
Exactly. and And that's important to understand because sometimes some people is only focused on one area, no? Like ah some people focus only in the fitness.
00:02:06
Speaker
Other people only focus on nutrition. Oh, I'm eating healthy, so I'm healthy. Other people is, no, I sleep well, so that's all. ah But yes, each one of them are super important.
00:02:19
Speaker
But we are a whole. We we need our our bodies. that If we compare to machine, you cannot only focus in a car. You cannot only change the wheels from time to time and take care of the wheels or only the motor or not. You have to take care of the whole system so it works correctly. So when we focus too much in one point, that point is perfect, is good, but the other ones can collapse and then they can affect even the one you're doing right. if um
00:02:52
Speaker
It ain't right why I'm getting sick or why I'm having this because we need these different areas. Our body needs, is we need, there are all intersections and each one affects the other one. So at the beginning, start with one is good, but don't stay there. now Like we need to advance and to begin to focus on different areas too and begin to,
00:03:19
Speaker
improve in the different areas. Right, right. So yeah, we'll get into how all of these things do interact, taking one one little starting thing and letting that carry on to to more and and bigger things.
In-depth on Five Pillars
00:03:31
Speaker
But if we only do that in one area, like you said, if it's just fitness and I only worry about that part and it's like, oh, I'm going to start with this small step and it's going to build into something great, but I don't look at these other areas of life, then you're going to not get the results you want because your body needs to be supported in a holistic way so what are what are these five areas of of our life our health so we've come into elliot the the ira the areas are what we call the five pillars uh they are all intersected and they're important but we separate it is not the only areas of health. There is more things, but these are very foundational for our health. So we have movement, we have nutrition, we have a sleep and recovery that goes together. We have mindset and the stress on the body and mentally too. And then we have what is daily rhythm, the environment and connections.
00:04:32
Speaker
So these are the five areas that is important and each one have a specific benefit and each one interacts with the other ones.
00:04:43
Speaker
And we're going to jump to explain a little bit how these different areas work. We don't need to be perfect in them. We don't need to have everything working perfectly, but we want to put signals in these different areas to begin to improve them.
00:05:01
Speaker
So... Why we don't start with movement, for example?
Daily Movement vs. Workouts
00:05:06
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, okay, so as far as movement goes, movement, obviously, we all know that what working out does for your body, right, in terms of getting your shape and in the way you want it to be, but it burns the extra calories, but it it it improves in your whole health, in your whole life, your energy, your mood, your confidence.
00:05:25
Speaker
and And daily movement is really the the foundation of that, like general movement, just like joyous movement, taking a walk, going for a hike, swimming, dancing, all these things that we can find joy in doing and just to make those part of our daily life. And then then there's workouts.
00:05:41
Speaker
workouts are sort of the next level of sort of intentional movement to create specific changes in the body. So that's where movement does for the body. But again, that that gives us the shape, the confidence, the energy, the physical energy in our body. And it it does, enhance enhances our brain, our blood flow, our our mood and everything. So before we jump to the next one, I love what you were saying about the workouts. So people sometimes confuse the movement and functional movement with fitness, not like i have to do fitness. Now, first, the more foundational is we need our movement. We're built up to walk, not exactly to run all the time. We're built up to walk. We're built up to do, like you will say, squats, or not but to pick up things, to put things up, to push. to that So these are natural movements that we have to get used to through the day. And they are very important because they are the foundation.
00:06:40
Speaker
And then as you were saying, workout, fitness is to specific adaptations you are looking for. It can be building muscle. It can be gaining flexibility. It can be improving your cardiovascular system. So it's very important to do that two distinctions. and Hey, first movement, foundational, then adaptational.
00:07:08
Speaker
focus on the adaptation. So I wanted to add that because for me was a little bit, uh, a confusion for me. I always thought the first thing I needed to do is more fitness and workout.
00:07:22
Speaker
And then I realized that I needed this only to start walking more, being more active instead of being sedentary. That's the first rule, breaking out the sedentary.
00:07:33
Speaker
And in these days we sit down for hours, man. And it's funny when some people tell me, I go to the gym one hour. Okay, cool. How is the rest of the day?
00:07:45
Speaker
Oh, I'm sitting down in my work. ah To go to the work, I'm going to the car. Then I arrive home and I'm sitting down in the couch.
00:07:56
Speaker
So like, so you spend from the 16 hours you are awake, you spend almost 15 14 sitting down but you go one one hour to the gym.
00:08:09
Speaker
I would prefer to say to that person, hey, I prefer that you're active the whole day and skip that hour of gym, you know, in a way that that will bring you more health to longevity and put 15 minutes only in the gym, you know, but be more active the rest of the day. So I wanted to add this because it's a confusion for a lot of people. They think that they go one hour, half an hour to the gym.
Nutritional Fundamentals
00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah. That's all. yeah so i think I thank you, Elliot, and I want to make this general comment. You'll find that my personality is to bring things so much more concisely. So I'm just going to wrap it up in this nice little package.
00:08:48
Speaker
But Elliot's so much better. It's like, thanks, Elliot, for sort of expounding upon it. Let's give some examples. Let's let's give a ah broader explanation of the whole thing. So I appreciate that. Thanks for thanks for checking me on that. So yeah, that the movement, the the daily movement is certainly better than...
00:09:03
Speaker
certainly overshadows workouts in terms of your general health and in being being mobile for sure. Yes. Well, let me talk about nutrition. What you can bring about nutrition, what is important and how they they can interact with other areas.
00:09:18
Speaker
Oh, we didn't say that movement can help you to sleep better. Working out can help you. Yeah. i mean Interaction. All of these things are going to help each other. So yeah, the interaction between these things is is so vital. And like I said, the movement helps your mood, it helps your sleep, it helps your energy all the way around. And in in then workouts just sort of compound that if you add workouts to your movement. Don't, don't yeah like you said, be sedentary and then to say, I work out and then I'm sedentary more. It's movement and then the next level is working out. And nutrition ah gives us –
00:09:56
Speaker
the energy we need. And so we we want to balance that. And in the food we intake has to provide the energy we need to live in in work and work. But we also need to know that you know food isn't just about calories. Food is about so much more. And if we eat the right stuff in the in the right proportions, it gives us energy. It can can give us focus. It can be better for our brain health.
00:10:22
Speaker
um and we need to create ah new, an idea about our nutrition feeds our body and makes our body function in the right way. And not just in our brain, but in how our muscle work, how our energy actually is distributed and how, you know,
00:10:42
Speaker
we don't have these ups and downs in energy if we eat correctly. We don't have this, you know, and and less likely to get sick if we eat correctly. All the functions in our body are are working correctly. And so, and in if we eat in the right proportions in the right timing. it It has to do with our sleep and recovery. you know Eating in the right proportions and the right nutrients and the right timing help our fitness and workouts and and help support that recovery from those things and rebuilding. And so nutrition is a very...
00:11:13
Speaker
important i aspect and everybody knows, know, the diet, how you how you eat is a huge portion for your health. But so many people sort of undervalue it and say, okay, as long as I don't eat too much, I won't be overweight. But it's it's so much more than that.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yes. and And I love that you bring that because a lot of people is only focused on the energy. Now I need calories. That's all. But it's not true because from the food we eat, we need a lot of resources. So food are signals and it's information for the body. So we need different nutrients to build up all our hormones, to build up our bones, to build up our muscles, to keep our organs functioning correctly, to have the vitamins the body needs for our immune system, We need the minerals for our neurotransmitters. So if you only focus on calories, someone can easily say, hey, I can eat only chips and I will have energy. Yes, but you will get sick with time because your body is not having all the vitamins, all the minerals, the proteins, the fats and everything that it needs. And a lot of issues and sickness comes from not giving the body the nutrients. So This is the funny part. We talk about eating, but we're talking about nutrition. We need to give the nutrients to our body to function correctly.
00:12:41
Speaker
An example, a car, it only needs gasoline? No. You need oil and you need things and the different parts that you have so the brakes work correctly, the motor works correctly. So the fuel is energy, but we need other components that we have to give to the car. We have to put some water to... the If not, the machine stops working. Yes, you have gas. The car is full of gasoline, but it doesn't fucking start. it like It's blocked.
00:13:11
Speaker
It's not starting, but it has gasoline. So that's our body too. no like We need this building. like Talking about nutrients, we need different fats for our brain, for energy, but for other functions. We need proteins for hormones. We need proteins for our muscles, our tissues.
00:13:32
Speaker
We need the carbohydrates, of course. We need some levels of carbohydrates for different reasons too. Not only energy, so not only calories. is Where those calories are coming from is so vital. so important. And nutrition.
00:13:50
Speaker
If you do a lot of fitness, but you are only eating carbs, believe me, You're going why my muscle doesn't grow? Why do don't get stronger? What the hell is going on? I'm doing all this.
00:14:03
Speaker
Well, your body needs protein to build the muscle. ah Oh, I'm doing all this exercise. Why my bones are not good? Well, you need minerals to keep your the health of your bones correctly. So to improve your fitness or your movement, you need the adequate nutrition for what you're doing. And they're going to interact. But even to give the energy to the mitochondria, to give you need to a food that helps you rest, that helps your digestion. So it's easier. And it's funny because sometimes we forget that food is affecting all these areas, even your mood, even your memory, even how you
Fasting and Digestive Rest
00:14:51
Speaker
work. ah And the food that we need
00:14:56
Speaker
It's accordingly for the lifestyle we're having too. So if you're pushing hard in your body, you need to give some nutrients to your body. If you're pushing very hard mentally, you need some nutrients for your brain.
00:15:11
Speaker
It's very important and how they interact. and one other comment you've sort of triggered him like sort of the gasoline thing you need fuel in your tank to keep moving but you know we've got reserve tanks and that that is in our body fat and and our storage of we never we're never lacking for energy we're not none of us very very few of us at least anybody listen to this podcast is near starvation and so our energy reserves are there so to say i need this many calories in a day to keep moving No, you need to you need to master your metabolism to keep moving. when You need to be able to go you know into into using those fat reserves, ketosis, you know more readily. it says
00:15:52
Speaker
That's our metabolic flexibility. We'll get into those details in later episodes. But that is one thing we got to learn about nutrition is that we don't even need the extra, the calories, the those carbohydrates that are energy because we're not even close to out of energy.
00:16:09
Speaker
we just we So we do need the nutrients. So focus on the nutrients, not try to keep those calories from getting over too much because that leads to the you know the weight gain and everything else, obviously, when we're overeating calories.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yes, that's super important. I love that you bring that. It reminds me that fasting is part of this concept of nutrition. So fasting has two things. It's...
00:16:34
Speaker
ah stress is the billion. No, we need the stressors for the body. So for movement, we're stressing the body. For going to the the to the gym or doing fitness, we're stressing the body so it becomes more resilient. It grows.
00:16:47
Speaker
In nutrition, fasting is signals too. And sometimes we need the fasting to give some rest to our liver, to give some rest for our pancreas, to give some rest to our gut and everything, to have some resting time and we do it naturally when we sleep there is a period of eight hours more or less that we're not touching that and it's resting and they need those rest to do it other processes that only taking out toxins or processing and sometimes we need a little bit longer for the health of ourselves and everything so it's part of the nutrition too is
00:17:30
Speaker
stopping sometimes not eating all the time so i love what you say about the reserves because when you do fasting you can access those reserves but you are giving a little bit more a time to recover to different organs or different functions in your body that need that rest from always being eating all the time Yeah, exactly.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, we spent some time on nutrition, but it's this big chunk of it and and everybody knows that, right? And so that is a big area of focus and it it does have a big impact when you when you treat your nutrition, right?
Sleep and Recovery
00:18:07
Speaker
next The next section is sleep and recovery. And we talked about how how exercise and nutrition can affect our sleep, but when we concentrate on sleep and recovery, that branches out into so many areas of our body from from mood to energy to workout to motivation to ah you know, like you said, that mental emotional energy generally beyond motivation.
00:18:35
Speaker
But just that feeling good about yourself and and obviously health and your your physical health, whether you get sick or not. So, you know, your your immune system requires that sleep and and and in physical repair from workouts, sleep and recovery. and specifically recovery where you have not just sleep but downtimes for from physical you know activity, downtimes from mental stressors, those things are what
00:19:08
Speaker
are ah part of this category of sleep and recovery. Sleep is ah probably the biggest chunk of it, but if you are really good at the recovery part of it when in other intentional ways, then maybe you don't need as much sleep. So it's all it's all in one big bag of that sleep and recovery, letting your body reset, letting your body heal, letting your body adapt to other changes you're making and and to grow into what you need to grow into.
00:19:34
Speaker
And I love that because it's true. It's the growth. is where all the growth happen. Like people, if you go to the gym or do hard exercise, you're not getting stronger, you're getting weaker in that moment. You are ripping out the fibers, your body is losing energy and it's a lot of things going on.
00:19:56
Speaker
So the sleep is where all this repairman occurs and where you can build the muscle when you recover, when you gain all the energy that you need. So sleep is super important but as you were saying recovery is not only about sleep. Look there's people sleeping correctly but trust me they are overstressed and they are getting sick anyway.
00:20:23
Speaker
What is happening there? They are not getting breaks for their mind. They are not getting breaks from a burnout of the body or of the mind. So we need things like meditation. We need things like going hiking we need to sit down with friends we need uh read a book slow down sometimes for our mind and other times we is super important to do things that are recovery but stressing the body at the same time in different ah actions like going to the sauna you hit some stressors in the body but it has a relaxation that
00:21:01
Speaker
benefits that come after a sauna is super important. are If you mix them, you do a strength training. After a strength training, you go to the sauna. It brings a lot of benefits. so That's my favorite. ah I love it. And it brings a lot of benefits and improves all the system. So recovery, but ah like like people only think about sleep, but recovery comes in so many ways.
00:21:28
Speaker
Even we have to understand that Some recovery is active. People think it's everything passive. Going to dance is a recovery moment mentally. The mood goes up. You enjoy the moment and you're moving. You are expanding. But it's recovering from the mental stress from the week. That's why everybody is waiting for the weekend. For what?
00:21:51
Speaker
To have some fun. Because that fun is recovery from the mental stress you have been pushing hard during the week. So not always recovery has to be being inactive and passive. Some recoveries are active.
00:22:07
Speaker
Even going to a release release your brain from the week, you go to do sport in the weekend and that part is recovery. So recovery has too many shapes, but we have to understand that there is recovery, physical recovery, like a massage, relaxing completely. A massage is physical and mental. It's like really one of those that really help in the two areas.
00:22:33
Speaker
But there are a lot of ways to recover your body, and we have to play with sleep and recovery. And sleep and recovery are essential for our nutrition and our movement.
00:22:48
Speaker
So they're are essential. We need that those hours of...
Mindset and Intention
00:22:51
Speaker
that A bad night's sleep makes harder that you eat healthier because your body like gave me energy and you're thinking like I need carbs and fats and you go for the lasagna, the pizza, whatever is rich.
00:23:04
Speaker
So the better you recover, less demand too is gonna be from your body to say, give me this. So it's a balance and they affect and interact one with the other all the time.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yep. Yeah, the signaling hormones that are, yeah, that the ghrelin and the leptin. Yeah, the the satiation versus hunger and that's that's totally affected by your sleep. And yeah, that that sort of leads right into because mindset and stress really overlaps with that sleep and recovery area because mindset and stress is that next area we wanted to cover. But obviously the recovery part, the mental recovery parts that you build into the sleep and recovery is blends right into this mindset and stress topic. And stress is like talking about our psychological load. Like how many things do we have to think about? How many things are worrying us? How many things, you know, in our life do we have to accomplish and what is, what is overloading us? And we've talked about it in previous episodes about what really hampers, you know, being able to adapt and, and change the way you want to change and, and to get new habits. When you're overly stressed, your body's in fight or flight. It's in retreat mode essentially and it will not branch out into new and different things. And so that's why mindset and stress also creates energy in your body.
00:24:31
Speaker
gives you access to your energy in in so many ways. is well yeah sort of opens up your mitochondria and in in in your intentional ways and your mindset. And there's even new studies on that we talked about recently.
00:24:43
Speaker
You and I personally, maybe we can get into some episodes about that. um And so your mindset and and stress is so much over your body. You would talk about the placebo effect or the nocebo effect in terms of giving your body what it needs just mentally.
00:25:00
Speaker
And in believing that your body can do the things that you want it to do. And in terms of healing, in terms of growing, in terms of fat burning, that mental attitude in the mindset is so important. And and so that taking care of that And it's so things. It's not only the recovery portion of that, which is important part of the mindset and stress, but but the intentionality, the thinking about things in the right way, thinking about your body in the right way, thinking about your accomplishments in the right way, this manifesting that a lot of people think is a little woo-woo.
00:25:40
Speaker
is just about being intentional and making things happen in your life. And whether that happens on this, you know, more ethereal quantum level or or not, whether it just happens through motivating yourself and changing your body chemistry, changing your, your, um,
00:25:58
Speaker
DNA epigenetics. you know that okay yes yeah Basically, your mindset affects how your body responds. yes Your mindset affects your DNA.
00:26:08
Speaker
It affects your body chemistry. It affects how your nervous system works. And so even if you're not believing in the manifesting and the woo-woo way of manifesting,
00:26:21
Speaker
Your intentions manifest in so many ways. So it's so important to think in the right way, to to align your mindset with who you want to be, how you want to change, how your body how you want your body to respond. And so that's why it's it's it's ah it's its own area of health, not just the de-stressing and recovery, which is important part of your mindset and stress, but to take care of your stress so that you can be intentional, so you can regulate. That's what we talk about, nervous system regulation. That's what that is all about.
00:26:50
Speaker
its And I love that you bring this and and you get more passionate about talking this topic because it's one of those forgotten parts of health.
00:27:02
Speaker
you know It's one of those parts that I have seen in so many ah books or podcasts or social media or webs and everything.
00:27:14
Speaker
They forget about how important is the mindset. Your self-talk. How would you talk to yourself. How do you you manage your ah relationship with yourself. So this part of identity, how you believe you are. And that says look, the power of the mind is is big. we We have seen the things like placebo effect, and everybody knows about this. The somatic experience with the body like, if you believe you're sick very much in something, you're going to get sick. If you believe you're... So you have that power.
00:27:49
Speaker
Okay, it's not woo-woo, it has these repercussions. And the activated reticular system, for example, how it works, well, where you put your focus, you see the opportunities. This part of manifestation, I always see it like a way of, hey, if you think you have bad luck,
00:28:11
Speaker
and I have these seen these experiments, I'm going to throw a bill of 100 down next to you, and you're not going to see it. Because you're not looking for those opportunities.
00:28:23
Speaker
And your brain, in what it focuses, it begins to see the patterns everywhere about that. If I tell you, oh, I'm going to buy a red car, now I go to the street and...
00:28:35
Speaker
oh, I never realized there were so many red cars. You're reinforcing what you're already thinking. Exactly. And you look for that evidence, yeah. Exactly. And that happens internally too.
00:28:47
Speaker
If you talk back to yourself and you're having, no because i your brain is always looking when you commit that mistake to say, you see, I'm like that.
00:28:59
Speaker
and ah So changing the way you talk to yourself, changing these are super important. And those are related with the stress. The worse you talk to yourself, the most stress you create when you are stressed.
00:29:14
Speaker
ah Stress is good. It's not a billion. a Stress is good. We need the stress to move in life. We need stress to go forward. The problem is not stress. The problem is a chronic stress.
00:29:25
Speaker
And that's the one we have in our actual culture is a lot of chronic stress. Too much a talking back to yourself. Too much things that like, oh, I don't have money for the end of the month. Oh, I don't have this. And and those stressors are daily there, there, there. And that we need to Lower down. The best way is breathing.
00:29:49
Speaker
Breathing is one of the best techniques to lower your stress levels and calm down your mind. and is And it's not meditation, it's breathing. First it's breathing. Then we can enter in meditation. But breathing is essential. And it's funny because I'm looking how we're talking and we went maybe from the most essential to the less essential.
Breathing for Stress Management
00:30:14
Speaker
It's true that we didn't take in nutrition the hydration because it's super important, keeping the water in the body. But look, you can live years without movement. It's not good.
00:30:27
Speaker
You're gonna get bad and weak and everything. But yes, you can live for a long time without eating. It's not the best, but you can pass weeks without eating.
00:30:39
Speaker
Without sleep, ah, it's days. There are some days, if you don't sleep in some several days, or you go crazy, or you die. like Simple as that.
00:30:51
Speaker
Water is the next point. If you don't drink water for a month of time, you are in danger. But the most important one is breathing.
00:31:02
Speaker
And breathing is forget. And breathing is the best way we can channel our mindset, our stress levels to calm down, to take better decisions, to rest. This is part of recovery too.
00:31:16
Speaker
So it's super important that we understand that mindset is affecting everything too. Because if I believe that i ah I'm not the guy who goes to the gym, I will not go to the gym. If I cannot eat healthy, I will not eat healthy.
00:31:33
Speaker
Like mindset is so important yeah and affecting those other areas because it's the first one that we need to create our habits, to create the purpose, to to move forward, you know? So is this is is, for me, one of the most important that is forgotten.
00:31:52
Speaker
Yes, exactly. and And that's why we focus so much in body evolution about the mindset and about identity and and how we are self-talking and in how we we own who we are and we we manifest how we think about ourselves. And And that's who we create in ourselves. And so and when we change how we think about ourselves. And I wanted to get back to you talked about breathing as being one of the biggest techniques. And it's obviously we we we all breathe. I'm breathing right now. I'm not even thinking about it. You don't have to think about breathing to breathe, but intentional breathing
00:32:29
Speaker
gives you that, that, and it's, and it's sort of metaphorical in some way, but it's, it's real in that it is your way. This is something that happens subconsciously, but it's your conscious mind overtaking that is representative of your conscious mind overtaking this, the unconscious to be more intentional in your life. And that's what, what actual breath work and actually conscious,
00:32:58
Speaker
focus on your breathing can do it it exercises your conscious mind overtaking your subconscious and that is so powerful yeah yes and and look there are sometimes when we're talking about mindset and everything we're stressed for so many things in life and one of the things that people should learn is that There are a lot of things that are dar not in your hands. You cannot control. You cannot control governments. You cannot control the weather. You cannot control a lot of situations going around.
00:33:34
Speaker
We only really control ah few things and those are the ones you should be focused. not Please don't even try to control your emotions. Emotions, they just gonna arrive, but we can control is how we react and breathing can help in any of these occasions. So we can only control a few things and reactions and how we perceive and how we talk to o ourselves, those are under our control.
00:34:06
Speaker
The rest, we cannot control. We cannot control the rest of the world. We cannot control the other people. We cannot control those things. But when you control your breathing, You can control how you react, how you navigate your emotions, how you respond in life.
00:34:27
Speaker
And these are very important important aspects to building a strong identity and a resilient mind and to lower your ah stress levels.
00:34:39
Speaker
So for me, it's foundational. And I think that i if you want to add something else, but I think that these bring us to the fifth pillar that is your daily rhythm, your environment, and your connections. And we say they work together because your connections are part of your environment and the daily rhythm is part of that lifestyle you are bringing on and that is bringing all the situational.
00:35:10
Speaker
So your environment, hey, I can tell you, should, go to the gym. Maybe where you live, there is not a gym, you know? So, hey, you should eat this fruit. Maybe where you live, you don't have access to that fruit. So, environment is super important because it's part of how we move in the world and how we relate. And when we talk about environment, it's not only your house, it's not only where you work, it's not only the city. Environment is a little bit a lot of things going around you and how you interact with them is super important. It's part of epigenetics as you were talking before. and If it's a city that is very polluted, if you live in the countryside, look, if you live near the sea, it's so relaxing, it's so peaceful. If you don't have access to the sun, environment is important. We need that sun that heat does. We need the energy from the sun if in In the countries that is too much darkness, it's a lot of depression. It affects your mood. So environment have all these
Environment and Daily Rhythm
00:36:21
Speaker
aspects. And daily rhythm is ah related with the stress levels and everything, how you push. All these things are very important.
00:36:30
Speaker
But from all these connections, loneliness is one of the worst things that can happen. And connections is so important. And when we talk about connections, it's connections with other human beings, connections with nature and animals, and connection with your own self.
00:36:50
Speaker
What do you think about this? No, exactly. you're you're You're spot on. I think you explained it really well that how there's so many things um that shape our lifestyle.
00:37:02
Speaker
They're just part of part of our surroundings. And some of it we have control over, some of it we don't. but it is how we respond to it and how we sort of minimize those negative influences and accentuate the positive ones in our environment that help us create this healthy lifestyle that we want to lead. And and so that's why we include this as a pillar of health because it is a big chunk of it. It it affects everything else. It affects our mindset with the amount of light we get. It affects our sleep, how warm or cool our house is. It affects... Our access to diet, like in in, and like you said, the accessibility environment in my kitchen, how I set up where I put which foods, it it creates which foods are on top of my mind. So I'm going to, I'm going to the healthier things in front. You know, if we have the environment of it's easy for me to, to get a workout. And if I have, you know, things at my home to be able to be exercise, or if I have easy access in my town to, to a fitness center. then i can i can access those those things better. and so And so, shaping your life and your environment gives you that.
00:38:10
Speaker
that ability and the ease of living into that lifestyle and the the inputs into your body that are part of your environment, the light, the the pollutions, um the you know the the good the fresh air, the the water, all these things, the the access to these things and how it hits your body and how your body responds to them is important. And so, like I said, you accentuate in your environment what you can to enhance the lifestyle in the direction you want and to minimize the negative effects as much as you can.
00:38:42
Speaker
Exactly. And look, connections. What is other aspect super important of connections? It's easier to do exercise when you do it with a group of friends.
00:38:53
Speaker
It's easier to eat healthy when you go all together and you eat together and you cook together. and everything. i love when we were the last time in Mallorca together and we were with all of our friends doing these salads and these healthy and these meats and everything and we were eating amazingly and it was beautiful. So even connections can help you to take easier care of yourself.
Social Connections and Health
00:39:20
Speaker
Not all. We have friends that will push you, hey, let's have the beer. Hey, let's go for the pizza. It's true. But That's part of enjoyment and health too. It's not always repressing. No, like I cannot do this, I cannot do that. No, part two is to allow those situations to come more moderated, but we need those because it's part of joy. To favor those. That's part of the mental, the the mental emotional aspect of ah of your health. Exactly.
00:39:48
Speaker
In such a big way. And and again, it's it's undervalued. these um So many people that are health gurus will say, oh, you should never, ever drink alcohol. Well, maybe maybe you shouldn't. It's not the healthiest thing for sure.
00:40:02
Speaker
The more research they do on it, the more they say ah any amount alcohol is probably physically bad for your body. But the social elixir that it creates And the experiences you might have can balance that out. And and that's and that's the – those are the decisions you have to make. I'm not telling everybody, yeah, you have to go out and drink and drink and you know get drunk to be to be healthier. Corey said to you know drink more. No, that's not true. it is It is that you have to savor those extra moments that might not physically be technically healthy, but they nurture your soul.
00:40:38
Speaker
and And for that mental emotional state to be in a positive is so, so much and so undervalued and in its effect on your overall health.
00:40:49
Speaker
Yes. Just when we are super rigid and you have to use all the time your willpower and you go with a group of friends and no, I cannot do that. No, I cannot do that. Look. the The thing is to allow some time. It's not to be doing that all the time. It's not to be drinking beer all the day. It's not to drinking gin tonics all the day. It's not to be eating hamburgers all the day. But hey, I've been taking care of myself the whole week and I was fine and everything. And maybe on Saturday I see some friends and we're going eat some, I don't know, some pizza, some beer, and we're going to watch a movie or something like that. Enjoy that moment.
00:41:28
Speaker
Don't stay doing that all the time and don't do it super frequently because then it's going to be bad for your health. But having and allowing those moments from time to time are going to come to rest because if you are with your friends there and you are not enjoying the moment with your friends because you're saying, I cannot drink that, I cannot eat that, I cannot ah do that, they're creating stress.
00:41:50
Speaker
And believe me, that stress is maybe handing creating more harm and hurt to your body than eating that piece of pizza, that drinking that beer. So it's not about go get drunk. No, don't get drunk. Getting drunk is not that, but have a drink, celebrate. Oh, I win this one. You have a glass of champagne.
00:42:10
Speaker
You have a beer with a friend. Yes, allow those moments. So connections, those bonds are so important and they help you in all the other areas to go easier. So if you train together, it's easier. If you go to eat healthier, it's easier. Sometimes you put a challenge. If you can find someone to go with you, now you're not doing it only for you, but you want to respond to the other person. This pushes you too. This helps you. Like, I don't want to go to do this, but I tell my friend I'm going to do this, and you go. I tell my partner I'm going to be committed to this, and it helps you. to be more consistent, to start to create a new habit, it helps you a lot. So yes, this is very important in our life.
Implementing the Five Pillars
00:42:58
Speaker
Yeah, and so i've i love how this all comes together and and and i it's been a great conversation. And so let's how do we how does somebody actually use this?
00:43:10
Speaker
yeah We have these five pillars. And so how how do we how do we put this into into action? and And so we talked in the previous episode about just take these small chunks, make it easy to start, and don't over don't take on too many things at once or it's going to be overstressed in your body. You're going to reject it. So how do we use this framework to get started to to make our life healthier in a manageable way?
00:43:34
Speaker
So one of the things we did is we created a free guide. We create a free guide where we talk about these five pillars and in the one we give some tips, ideas.
00:43:47
Speaker
You can choose your own ideas that are going to be aligned with your lifestyle, aligned with your environment, aligned with the things you want, with your goals, and you choose what you want to apply. In this guide, we put three actions in each of these pillars as an example that you can apply. Some of them are extremely easy to do. Some of them need a little bit more effort. So it depends on what level you are. You don't have to choose one action or do the 15 actions.
00:44:17
Speaker
and You have to choose one in the area that you feel is gonna be better for you to start. Maybe you can choose, oh, I like these three areas and I'm gonna choose one action in each of these three areas. Or I want to improve this area and I choose three actions in this area. So the idea is at least pick one to start.
00:44:36
Speaker
Then we have ripple effects and then we can go deeper into others. But how they can apply? So example we have in nutrition, we have one of the actions. Hey, how do you build your plate? Eat 70% vegetables and the other 30% you divide with part of protein and part of fats.
00:44:55
Speaker
Okay, and from your vegetable, you're already getting your carbs. So you build the plate in a way that is giving all the nutrients to you. And that's easy, you don't have to really... but but You just have to eat more vegetables, that's all.
00:45:09
Speaker
Or maybe in exercising we were putting something about a little bit action of Tabata. Tabata is a very effective dose of exercise in a very small time. is With four minutes, it's good.
00:45:24
Speaker
You can do more, yes, but with four minutes, you're gonna elevate your heart rate, you're gonna train your body, it's gonna improve your cardiovascular, And at the same time, if you do it with exercises that are related with strength, like push-ups, like squats and everything, you are going to improve your muscles too at the same time. So with one small action, you are improving different areas and adaptations of the body.
00:45:47
Speaker
We have more actions. That's for people who are kind of used to the pushing their body a little bit. Tabata can be intense for very much beginners. But yeah, that's that's ah it's a good example. of ah It's a very small chunk of time you have to devote to to get a lot of effort a lot ah lot out of that. yeah Yes. We have others like Qigong.
00:46:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah. yeah Please explain a little bit Qigong for the people who don't know. Qigong is, qi or people call it qi, depending on your pronunciation, is your life energy, right? And so Qigong is working with your life energy and exercises to do that. it is... it is And people probably heard of it. it's It's related to Tai Chi. Tai Chi is more of the movements that are related to self-defense movements. But it's it's it's it's a very much related practice it's to to to do different motions. And it's great for mobility, blood flow and on a physical level. and then in you're working with your life energies and making your body more energized. Again, more centered, whether or not some people believe in life energies, we are made of energy. There's no denying we have life energy in us. So it is just what it is. but
00:47:02
Speaker
can argue those points in different in different times, but Qigong and and just elements of it, different exercises, picking things that work for you, just create a little morning routine, you know a tiny thing to get your body movement in the right directions with elements from Qigong or some jumping jacks or or just some stretches that you know, or yoga, all these things. Just put something together that works for you and and just do small steps. You don't have to do your whole hour of yoga every day. That's gonna be too much.
00:47:30
Speaker
And there other are other areas like the one of, a in the fifth pillar, now daily rhythm and everything like, hey, get some sun in the morning. Yeah. ah A little bit of the exposure in the morning, i aligning your circadian rhythms. So then you can go to rest better. You have the vitamin D that your body needs or go for a walk after some meals. So you improve your digestion. You do an exercise of breathing to relax your mind, to recover.
00:47:58
Speaker
When it comes to recovery, some hiking, maybe from now I'm gonna start walking more, I'm gonna fall for a a hiking. Or maybe you choose to go to the sauna one time a week and that's your new action and to relax the body or have a massage.
00:48:14
Speaker
Or to improve your bedroom. We have some actions like, hey, how to create a better environment to go to sleep and also turn off your legs one hour before, and get an action, a little routine before going to sleep that allows you to calm down the mind and this is stress.
00:48:34
Speaker
And so in each of these different areas we have different actions to be done. In the mindset we have meditation, breathing exercises. So you can check out the guide and you will understand. We try to explain the best way possible there. And if you download it, any doubt, just contact us, write us, and we'll try to guide you a little bit better with the guide. But,
00:49:00
Speaker
The idea is not to do everything perfect, to do all the actions. You can choose your own action that you know is good for you. You don't need to do exactly this.
00:49:12
Speaker
You can do the fasting. We talk a little bit about that, including fasting too in the guide. So it's to choose something. Choose a signal you want to send to your body.
00:49:23
Speaker
to create ah a new a resource of energy for your body, a new movement, a new recovery, a signal that is easy for you.
00:49:34
Speaker
If you can do more than one, perfect. But start with one at least. yes That's all. Yep, yep. And let that consistency, that you create that rhythm that you create, that builds your confidence to just keep moving in the right direction. And in all these areas, we're going to get deeper,
00:49:52
Speaker
These new episodes are coming and all the we just sort of touch very lightly on a lot of different things, but there's so, so many ways to dive deep in all of them. So hit us with questions or comments.
00:50:03
Speaker
You know, we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear, know, go, go deeper on any area that you'd love to. Good ideas. We can bring on different ah experts that we know in different, different sub areas of this stuff that, you know, to go deep and to, to really help you discover what's possible. and and what these things can do and what benefits you can get out of different different things. So, yeah. and And I like what you just said and it's
Engagement and Community Support
00:50:30
Speaker
true.
00:50:30
Speaker
Hey, comment us, tell us, hey, we would love to learn more about this. And we can bring these themes, we can bring experts and we can have those conversations to a bring more clarity and make it a bit bit more comprehensible and you understand them better, like things work. And to understand that there are so many ways to get to the same results. So we want to be open in this aspect. It's not only one, it's one system, one rigid, one diet, one exercise. No, there are so many ways.
00:51:03
Speaker
So we want you to invite you because in this journey of body evolution is to comprehend how the body works and understand all the ways that you can address in different aspects that suits more to your lifestyle. Because that's one of the most important things. It has to suit to you for your goals, for what you're looking for and what is good for you. I think we're pretty solid with this episode. I really like that we've covered all the five pillars and and give people a a hint on how to start.
00:51:35
Speaker
That's really what's so important. Again, the starting is always the biggest hump. And so if we if we give that easy start, on this whole journey. And so they can create the easy starts on the habits in their life and know which ones really affect their health. That's that's what I really wanted to do with this episode. And so we again, download that that guide if if it's interesting to you. Let us know what other topics are really interesting to you so we can follow up and and create some specialized deep dives into into sub these subtopics. But yeah, I really appreciate it.
00:52:11
Speaker
Okay, I just want to add, you don't have to fix your life. You don't have to fix your life. You only have to support your body. Support your body so your body allows you to express that lifestyle you want to have.
00:52:26
Speaker
And with this said, I just want to say if this conversation have bring you some clarity, some depth, if you have learned, you have spark something in you, please just follow us.
00:52:39
Speaker
It's very helpful to keep on growing and reach to more people. And if you know someone that will be beneficial to hear this episode, please share with them. If the whole podcast is important for them, share with them the whole podcast. So just we invite you to follow us and participate with us.
00:53:00
Speaker
Yeah. And again, there's many ways to go deeper with us. If you want to learn more about us and what we do, you can follow us on social media. You can check out our program and our coaching. It's all in the links below. So hope to hear from you.
00:53:18
Speaker
See you next episode. See you next episode. Thank you, Corey. Bye-bye.