Ep 156 – Personal Growth To Learn About Yourself

Dani:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of vegan proteins muscles by Brussels Radio. My name is Dani. And I’m Giacomo, and this is episode 156.

Giacomo:

Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode. Hope y’all are doing well. As per your requests you ask, and we responded. We are doing these episodes, recording them right before they air, more or less, because you get to find out more about what we’re thinking and what we’re doing. We just got back from the LA fit expo about a week or two ago. I don’t remember. I lose track of time, but it was pretty. Well, I don’t know. LA was miserable, honestly, the rain and.

Dani:

What. What’s wrong with you? Don’t be one of them.

Giacomo:

No.

Dani:

Miserable. It was like a drizzle.

Giacomo:

I was happy, but it seemed like everyone in LA was unhappy about the.

Dani:

Yes, that is more accurate that La people were very upset by the weather. But it will never not confuse me when we’re there. In fact, one of our teammates was like, danny, you don’t understand. The streets get dangerous here when it rains. And I was like, what are you talking about? It is drizzling, my friend. At worst, it was a light rain. He was like, there’s no drainage like you guys have back east.

I was like, there is not drainage everywhere here, either. Like, do you mean it’s dangerous because

people don’t know how to drive in the rain? He was like, yeah. And I was like, I don’t even think you have to drive differently in the rain. Like, turn on your windshield wipers. That’s the difference, right?

Giacomo:

More or less. Come on.

Dani:

I don’t know. But otherwise, LA was a blast. Got to hang out with some cool people. I recorded a what I eat in a day video while we were there. Alice recorded a what I eat in a day video while we were there. That one’s not live yet, but she’s also on prep and was, like, two weeks out. So, you know, two different situations in these videos.

Giacomo:

Only in LA will you find a gym that has a professional DJ.

Dani:

Yes, we did find a very cool gym called speakeasy that literally was like a nightclub.

Giacomo:

I love it.

Dani:

Dark, with crazy lights and intense nightclub music.

Giacomo:

I don’t know how I feel about the way you’re looking at me. Did you actually enjoy this? Were you?

Dani:

A little.

Giacomo:

Yeah.

Dani:

Yeah, I liked it. It was very, very different. I did hurt myself, though, there the day before. Well, the day we flew back, yeah, they had, like, a suitcase squat machine, and we needed a hack squat, but they were all taken and I didn’t want to wait around. We had a flight to catch and I was like, oh, they have this suitcase squat machine. Let me test it out with no weight on that sucker whatsoever.

But because you had to put your feet in just so of a place. And I had never used it before. Just doing a few reps of it. It didn’t hurt right away. It was one of those things that as the minutes passed, I was like, oh, something has occurred in my low back, but it’s okay. Cause we just had a six hour flight immediately after that. It was no big.

Giacomo:

Yeah. One of my favorite. And I’ll stop because we could go on and on and on. One of my favorite highlights was the emcee now at the healthy living pavilion. I think. I thought he was hysterical. He did such a good job promoting that area. It’s hard because although these events are high traffic, everyone’s there just running around booth to booth to booth.

And so there’s these stages where people are. You could be like the biggest celebrity or the most well known or the most sought after person presenting, but there’d be like three people in the audience.

Dani:

Yeah.

Giacomo:

So you, like, literally have to pull people away because they’re just paying attention to everything all over the place. But we had a decent showing for our cooking demos and our talks. And it was because the MC, I thought, personally, I thought he was hysterical.

Dani:

He was hysterical. Why can’t I remember his first name right now?

Giacomo:

I don’t know.

Dani:

It’s escaping me. But he’s austrian, so he. And he’s a big muscle guy. And it sounds like Arnold is, you know, emceeing for you.

Giacomo:

Yep.

Dani:

Ronald Rowand.

Giacomo:

That sounds familiar.

Dani:

Something like that.

Giacomo:

I remember him from his work and whatnot. But it was fun. It was a good event. It was a good turnout. I think it was a good showing for vegan strong and veganism in general. And hopefully we’ll be doing it again next year.

Dani:

Yeah. And the vegan strong team will be at the Arnold at the beginning of March. We will not be because the vegan cruise is at the same time as the Arnold. So it’s gonna be a different team out there for the Arnold, which is the biggest show vegan strong does in the whole year. So that should be interesting if you haven’t seen us go out and support those guys. Cause it’s a totally different crew.

Giacomo:

Yeah, we’ll be everywhere, but that’s not where we’re at right now. What are we actually looking to talk

about today, Dani?

Dani:

Today we are. So this was supposed to air next week, so I should give you a heads up on what is actually coming out next week. If I say it, then it has to happen. That Netflix documentary, you are what you eat, that’s what we were supposed to be recording. Today was, like, our reaction to that, but I still haven’t seen the whole thing, and neither has Giacomo.

So figured we should probably watch it in its entirety before we talked about what we thought about it to you guys, but I know that’s been highly requested. So that will be coming next Tuesday. We are watching it tonight and tomorrow night for sure, with notebooks to give my thoughts.

Giacomo:

Oh, yeah.

Dani:

But. So this was supposed to come out next week, which is February and February we’re gonna be talking about, like, self care and, you know, loving oneself. So today we’re gonna be talking about personal growth and trying to sort of learn about yourself via different modalities. And unfortunately, most of the modalities on the list are things I don’t actually do, but Giacomo does.

So I think Giacomo is going to be the one to lead this discussion, and I have to apologize to everybody before we get into it. I’m not sick anymore, but I have, like, phlegm that has just decided it’s going to just camp out in the back of my throat, so there will be so much throat clearing. Also, apologies to Christina in the spirit.

Giacomo:

Of this episode, and I’ll talk about it in a little bit. But as a little teaser, I like going to float. Float tank places.

Dani:

Explain what that is, because a lot of people aren’t gonna know.

Giacomo:

Well, but in response to what you just said about the whole. What were you saying? The yawning thing

or the tired or whatever it is you got going on there.

Dani:

Phlegm. I said phlegm.

Giacomo:

Phlegm.

Dani:

Not yawning.

Giacomo:

Yeah. Well, you probably don’t know this, but my ears are still clogged from being in the float tank. So, like, if I look a little weird, it’s because I literally can’t pop my ears right now, which is kind of annoying.

Dani:

Is that why you look a little weird?

Giacomo:

One of the many reasons, actually.

Dani:

Sounds fun. Tell us about floating. Let’s start there, since you brought it up.

Giacomo:

And that doesn’t usually happen, by the way, but basically it’s a sensory deprivation tank.

Dani:

Sounds fun.

Giacomo:

I will explain that.

Dani:

Sorry. I’m in a mood today, guys.

Giacomo:

Come at me. I could take it. Don’t worry about it. So I would love to basically get a response from one person that tells me the world isn’t too noisy of a place these days, especially compared to the. The way it used to be before it got incredibly tech heavy, before we created a digital world that is, in some ways, overtaking the world outside of the digital world, in my opinion, I think we spend more of our lives there than we do living and breathing off screen. Right. And so, in my

opinion, what you wind up having is just a little too much noise, a little too much sensory overload. Right. Even if you’re nothing prone to being overloaded by whatever. So I like going on floats, right. Which is basically just hopping on into a tank that is meant to block out all of your senses. And here’s how. It’s pitch black in there. You can’t see a damn thing. It is sealed. Well, there are different kinds, but the one I like to go into is pitch black.

Dani:

Looks like an alien pod, spaceship type of a thing. But it’s basically like a bathtub with a cover.

Giacomo:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Dani:

It’s bigger than that. That sounds terrifying.

Giacomo:

It’s taller than that, so it’s pitch black. You open your eyes, and you shut your eyes, and it’s like you never open or shut your eyes. Your eyes are always shut, and you can’t see anything outside of your eyelids except your eyes are wide open. That’s how dark it is. Just to describe that, then you don’t really.

You have a feeling of weightlessness because there’s so much buoyancy in the water because it’s so salted that you’re floating. Right. So you’re not really getting that same feeling of whatever, like touching whatever.

Dani:

And the water is supposed to be like body temperature?

Giacomo:

Yes.

Dani:

So it’s not warm or cold.

Giacomo:

You also can’t hear anything. It’s soundproof. So, essentially, in my opinion, you go in there and it’s just. It gives your mind and your body a little bit of a breather from being hyper stimulated all the time. And I purposely schedule these things after times where I am hyper stimulated, like going to an event where it’s sensory overload.

Look, I am extroverted through and through in so many ways. I get charged up by these events, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t get tired from them. I love them. I gain energy from talking to people and hanging out. But I also need to take a little bit of a break from my body and my mind. So whether you’re an introvert, an extrovert, whatever it is, in my opinion, it’s a really nice way, especially if you have access to one.

Go check it out. To just give your body and mind a break, and you could just sit with yourself silently with your thoughts or thoughtless, really, and just relax. And it is honestly one of the most relaxing things and is part of one of the things that I do to take care of myself.

Dani:

How long are you in there?

Giacomo:

It depends. You could do a longer float for, like, 90 minutes, but the average float is about 60.

Dani:

Okay. And do you, like, meditate while you’re in there?

Giacomo:

I do. The very first thing I do is I go through my typical meditation sequences. I pick a couple sequences and I act them out on my own, and that shuts me down. And then I wind up just sitting with whatever thoughts are popping up or whatever. I go in there intentionally wanting to focus on. And then after the fact, I do a little bit of breath work and a little bit of stretching, because I find that once my body’s able to relax that much, I’m able to stretch a little better.

Dani:

You stretch in the tank?

Giacomo:

I sure do. Well, think about it. If your body’s always tense because you’re sitting at your desk or, like, you’re anxious throughout the day or worried about whatever, you’re tense, it’s harder to loosen up your body. By the time you’re, like, ready to not be tense, you can’t. You’re done. So when I go in there, my whole body’s relaxed. Now, when I stretch, everything loosens up.

Dani:

So you’re like stretching lying down in the water?

Giacomo:

Sometimes I sit up.

Dani:

That is so weird to me. I mean, everybody, you do whatever you want to do. You just took me by surprise there with that little bit.

Giacomo:

Yeah, absolutely. So you don’t have to get all spiritual about it. You don’t have to get all of whatever.

This is super therapeutic. It could just be as simple as, like, I’m going in there, I’m relaxing my body. I’m just focusing on having an hour of inner peace, if you will. And now my body’s nice and relaxed, and I’m just going to stretch it a little bit, and I come out of there, Dani, and I swear to you, I am relaxed physically from head to toe. It is one of the best feelings ever.

Dani:

So interesting to me. So I’ve actually done this. I’ve done it twice, I think, in my life many years ago, like over ten years ago, but I think I remember. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Didn’t you have a complete and utter freak out the first time you were.

Giacomo:

In one that was you?

Dani:

No, no, no, no. I had, like, a weird out of body experience that felt like I was on drugs or something. I was under the impression Jacama was doing one in the room next to me. I thought we were, like, communicating telepathically. No, I was not actually on drugs, but I was like, what is happening? I didn’t freak out. I thought it was kind of cool. And then I. I realized, like, oh, I was basically, like, mentally hallucinating or something.

Giacomo:

Yeah.

Dani:

I don’t know. Just. I didn’t dislike it, but I was like, this is really expensive to lie in a bathtub. But, you know, lots of other people have gained much from this situation.

Giacomo:

Like, would you go into a sauna? Would you go into a steam room?

Dani:

Yeah, but I wouldn’t pay dollar 60 an hour to do either of those things.

Giacomo:

But it’s like, that puts your own private room, and it’s super, super duper quiet.

Dani:

I don’t know, man.

Giacomo:

Give it a shot again. It’s been a while.

Dani:

I don’t know. Maybe I’d rather get it if I’m gonna pay that kinda. I just want a massage personally. Like, that would be my version of that. There is almost nothing in the world that I enjoy more than a massage in there, so good for you. And same thing. As soon as I leave, I feel like a bajillion bucks.

Giacomo:

Well, I’ll tell you this. In a world where I feel like you wind up having a hard time controlling your thoughts and not overthinking, you go into a room like that with the right kind of intention and the right kind of quiet space for yourself, and you’d be surprised what kinds of things that you can work on and focus on, because there’s no distractions around you. It’s just you and you.

Dani:

Well, here’s my question. Since we’re having this podcast about sort of, like, self discovery, discovery in all of these different modalities, to possibly do that, have you found that to be true? Like, have you had any kind of, like, epiphanies in there?

Giacomo:

Yeah.

Dani:

Okay, well, I won’t ask you what they are, because that’s probably pretty personal, but okay, that’s interesting. That’s very, very interesting.

Giacomo:

The stuff that I’ve been able to focus on and work on when I want to, when it’s not just me going in there and just relaxing, I feel like it would be hard to replicate that outside of a tank like that. Maybe if I was, like, hiking in the middle of nowhere or something like that, I suppose it would be the same. But that’s a pretty comfortable atmosphere, and it’s, like, right there, you know, and it’s like, just simple, whatever.

But that’s one of the things in the spirit of this episode when it comes to meditation, where I feel like it’s actually really valuable, as opposed to just being like, we’ll just meditate for five minutes here and 15 minutes there.

Dani:

Well, talk about that, because meditating is also something that you do that I do not do.

Giacomo:

Yeah. I feel like meditation can be life changing, honestly. It’s not going to take away your problems. It’s not going to necessarily change your perspective, but it is going to give you a chance to be able to accurately gauge how you’re feeling and what your thoughts are doing to affect your. You, your state of mind, really.

It gives you a chance to just become a little more aware of or create a space to be a little more aware of where you’re at. I meditate for all kinds of reasons. When my father passed last year, I immediately meditated for 30 days straight. And I thought, I felt that it would help me better connect to my grief.

Dani:

God damn, that is so intense. That is so intense. You guys can’t see me, but my eyes just bugged out of my head because I didn’t even know that Jakima wakes up before me. So there’s lots of the stuff he does before I’m even awake. I cannot even fathom meditating my way through, like, intense grief like that.

Giacomo:

Yeah, I don’t know.

Dani:

Maybe you’re just a lot tougher than me, but that. I don’t think in that state, I would be very good to

just sit there with my thoughts. I think I’d want to claw out.

Giacomo:

Of my skin by myself at home. And then when I went on vacation in Cozumel, and then I carried it through during a snowboarding, eventual with my friends. I would wake up in the morning before we went to go hang out and snowboard and then back home. And I worked through a lot, actually. And I feel like it. It helps you to create a place where you can find out a little more about yourself and what your actual.

What your actual needs are. So that’s an acute experience where you could just look back and be like, this grief is going to pass eventually. It’s going to have its way with me, or you could find a way to better process it. And even when it’s having its way with you, you could be like, you know what? But I was here. I meditated. But then you could do more simple things.

Like right now, I’m meditating on how to be a more creative person, for example, to try to, like, open up my mindset a little bit. And other times, I wind up just meditating on simple stuff, like just putting a joyful message out into the world. So hopefully it comes back to me that way, for example, or whatever. You know, just focusing on competing or whatever.

I mean, there’s so many different things you could do. You could do it an intentional way. You could do it in a way to just give your body and mind a break, etcetera, etcetera. And I personally prefer headspace. I like their meditation packs. I prefer guided meditation. I use it for sleep cycles, for example, right before I go to bed, I can, and at this point, I could do it on my own without a guide.

So it’s more personal preference. But I think it’s the closest thing to spiritualism that I personally feel is a valuable thing without actually being something that I think is spiritual. It’s just like you taking care of yourself.

Dani:

I mean, I don’t want to me saying, like, I don’t do it. I don’t want to make it sound to anybody like, oh, meditation is stupid. I don’t like it. All of the research is there. All of the research is there to support how good meditation is for us physically, mentally. It’s good for our immune system. There’s a lot of research to back this. I personally just have not had a lot of success with it.

I mean, I’ve had success with doing it, like, sitting. I mean, I’ve done it for, I think at some point, like 100 days in a row or something. But it just never felt like it was sort of translating to my real life or, or like I ever kind of got to that place that you’re talking about. Like, not even for a minute of that. It just felt like this chore. Like, it literally felt like a chore. It felt like work. Um, not that I’m afraid of doing work, obviously, but I don’t know. It just didn’t have the

same effect on me. It’s almost like I need to be doing more than just lying there or sitting there. So, I mean, I guess. I guess I go for a lot of walks, and that feels sort of meditative, depending on if I’m listening to something or talking to somebody or not. But, yeah, I don’t know. I just. I find this whole

thing very interesting. And, of course, a float would just, I assume, elevate it. Yeah. Amplify it. That but, yeah, neither one of them have really been my thing. I don’t know.

Giacomo:

Yeah. And I look back, I just pulled up my phone just because I forgot. It’s been over 10,000 minutes worth of me meditating since I began this journey. I’m probably, like, five years ago, so I don’t remember. The time doesn’t matter, but 10,000 minutes worth of it. I look at that and I’m. I think to myself, wow, I spent 10,000 minutes in silence, like, not doing anything.

And I could look at that existentially and be like, damn, did I waste my life? Did I waste my time? That’s a scary thought, right? I think about stuff like that. I also think about the times where I’m meditating. I’m like, but this is pointless, right? What am I doing? But then reality hits, and I realize that you literally create a healthy place for your mind to feel comfortable, like, with whatever’s going on in your world and how you show up in the world.

And to me, that’s invaluable. It’s priceless. And I’m happy about the time that I spend doing that because. And that’s why I’m a big fan of it, because you wind up just creating a healthier you, essentially. This is so many things you do for growth and work, working on yourself, like going to the gym. This is a way to train your mental health, essentially.

Dani:

No, I get what you’re saying. I do understand, like, intellectually, I understand everything you’re saying. It just has never, ever clicked for me. Like, yoga, yoga classes. Great. Love it. But I don’t know. It’s almost. I don’t know. I think my mind is just too busy, which probably is like, oh, well, you’re the exact person who needs to meditate. I’ve heard that many, many times. But it just.

Giacomo:

I don’t know.

Dani:

Just doesn’t click for me.

Giacomo:

Yeah, but you don’t need to sell something or send shade someone’s way just because there’s one thing that they might potentially benefit. There’s like, you’re mentioning many other ways to create some space for yourself, if you will. Like you said, like going on a walk, for example. What were your other examples?

Dani:

I said, doing yoga.

Giacomo:

Doing yoga. What are some other ideas on how you can quiet the mind and basically shut out the world for a minute.

Dani:

And, well, since we’re talking about, like, I don’t know, kind of learning something about ourselves and personal growth, I actually find conversation to be key for me. I have to talk I have to talk stuff out with people because, like I said, I have a thousand thoughts in my head all the time, and it’s hard sometimes for me to pick out what’s sort of, like, real or helpful and what is just like, stupid B’s chatter.

But when I have a conversation with somebody, they probably wouldn’t know that from talking to me because I think I’m able to articulate a lot of what I mean when I talk to somebody. So, you know, it’s got to be the right somebody. But that’s always really helpful for me. Actually going on a drive and just listening to music is one of my absolute favorite things to do. And I feel like, again, my brain sort of sorts itself out in those moments a lot. And I think it’s because. I actually

think it’s because I’m driving. So it’s almost like I have to be doing something else in order for my brain to sort of be quiet and make sense. Like, everything I just said, I’m doing something else. I’m walking, I’m doing yoga, I’m driving a car. And, like, then all of a sudden, I’m like, oh, that’s what I’m thinking. That’s what I actually want to do in this situation. So I don’t know, why does any of this even matter? Like, we’re a fitness podcast. Like, why does this matter?

Giacomo:

Well, think about it. Your emotional health, your mind, all of that affects how your body responds and reacts to your training, how your body processes and digests food. But, you know, it also affects, what am I thinking? I’m losing my thought here. It affects the choices that you make. If you’re an anxious person, if you’re a stressed out person, if you’re in a bad mood, if you’re highly reactive and it’s for all of these reasons, you wind up making the wrong choices, and it’s all

because you didn’t do the work to take better care of yourself. Well, then, duh, it doesn’t matter how hard you push. Yeah, you beat your head against the wall and you might make the wrong choices all the while.

Dani:

Yeah, I actually think it has a lot to do with, like, even before that. Like, did you even put any thought into what the hell the goal is that you’re trying to pursue right now? Like, do you even know what you’re going for? Do you even know what you want right now? Or do you just feel like you have to want something because you feel like that’s what you’re supposed to want, but you don’t actually want, like, that’s really important stuff to figure out, or you just are doing.

Doing all the time, but not actually moving anywhere closer to a place where you actually want to be. So that’s one reason I think this matters, is because so many people are chasing something that they’re not even sure what it is, but, boy, are they chasing it. Like they are playing whack a mole with a thousand things, trying to get to a place they haven’t even fully defined yet, you know?

And then if somebody does know where they’re trying to go. So I find myself in this situation a lot. I’ll have a goal. I know what I want. But, like, as I get into it, as I get into the thick of the work that needs to get me there, let’s say a contest prep, right? Or let’s say just a cut in general, as I get into the thick of it, we start to kind of lose the plot a little bit.

We start to kind of lose what exactly what it is we’re doing on a day to day basis. So we can’t very easily see what we’re doing well or what we’re doing poorly. And if we can’t see that, it’s very hard to analyze it and make the adjustments that you need to make. Now, having an outside source second set of eyes can be very helpful, but, yeah, like a coach.

But sometimes we don’t have have that. So we have to find it within ourselves. And I think finding a way that works for you to do that is key. And I guess what I’m saying is meditating is awesome, but it doesn’t have to be meditating or it doesn’t have to look the way we picture meditation to look for it to be effective.

Giacomo:

Totally. Absolutely. What about journaling? You mentioned that you and I don’t believe this. You mentioned that you aren’t into the things as much as I am that this particular topic is talking about. And one of the things that we mentioned before we started to get into this episode was journaling. But I don’t buy it. I feel like between the two of us, you are kind of a journal freak compared to me. I make for every page I fill. You fill half a book, in my opinion.

Dani:

But that’s more like planning and list making than like journaling.

Giacomo:

I’m still not buying it. I think you can categorize it and package it up as journaling when you really think about it, I think it’s just your joy to do it and you don’t really think about it. Cause it’s just a part of who you are and what you do. But if you were to really take a step back and think about it, I would. You’d bet your bottom dollar what you’re doing is journaling. So, well, fill me in and fill the audience in.

What exactly do you journal about, and why do you do it so vigorously?

Dani:

That’s very interesting. Cause I don’t think that I do, but I know that I have my life. If I have years and years and years of journals, like, traditional, exactly what you think of, dear diary, blah, blah, blah, pour my heart out type of journals. Whew. And when I go back and I read those, I sound like the most emo whiny little bitch on earth. And I have heard this sentiment from a lot of my clients when I suggest that they’re like, ugh, it just is so whiny and complainy.

And I think that that’s totally normal. Like, we don’t have the best day ever, and go, ugh, I need to pour this out onto the page that we only really do that when something tough is going on, when something dark is going on. So, unfortunately, when you look back, it looks like you just have a book. Like, you just look back and you’re like, oh, I’m the whiniest person on earth?

When that probably wasn’t true. You. This is. This is the collection of probably your worst days of the year. So a lot of people are driven away from journaling for that reason. I am simply driven away from reading those journals. I don’t. I’ve gone back a couple time to read them and just been like, ugh, gross.

But I don’t really journal like that anymore. Like, rarely do I journal in that way. I more so keep track of things than anything else. So that’s why I don’t feel like I journal, keep track of. I keep track of a lot of health metrics, what workout I did, what cardio I did, how much I ate, how many steps I got.

Giacomo:

Okay, what’s the purpose of all that? You do it?

Dani:

Well, that’s. There are a couple of other things I keep track of. I keep track of my win for the day. Every day, I write down something that I feel like was a win or something that I. It’s actually written as a brag. Like, what could I brag about for today? I don’t actually brag, but, you know, that’s the kind of thing that you could brag about if you wanted to. And then I also write down, like, improve. Like, what? What could I do better than I did today?

Giacomo:

That’s. That’s cool.

Dani:

And then I actually just write down, literally, it’s like. I mean, it’s like a two to three inch square that I fill in. That is just a synopsis of my day. What did I actually do that day?

Giacomo:

Oh, nice. Do you wind up auditing that stuff to think about how you want to do things differently as opposed to just being stuck in a routine?

Dani:

I don’t understand the question.

Giacomo:

Well, meaning, if that were me, I would want to look back over the course of, say, a couple weeks or a couple months and be like, how am I doing things? I wouldn’t want to feel like a hamster in a wheel. That felt accomplished because I kept turning and being in my routine. I would want to make sure that the patterns that I established were the right ones for me and for my goals.

Dani:

Well, yeah, mostly looking back at the improve. Actually, if it’s the same thing every time, then I don’t think I’m doing this very well. Like, I need to actually focus on it. But also, at the beginning of the year, I set all of these goals, right. So each week, I look back and see how the week went on the whole. Each month I look back at how the month went on the whole, am I doing the things that I need to be doing in order to reach these goals I set for the year or the quarter or whatever?

So my journaling is not so much about feelings anymore as much as it is about just, like, things, I guess. But I do keep track of stuff that I’m grateful for on my phone, and I also keep track of the highlights of my day. So, not a brag, but my highlights reel is usually more pictures than actual writing.

But I don’t know. I also feel like I’m just. I’m very in touch with my feelings, I think, so I don’t really keep track of them. Yeah, I don’t really feel the need to, like, write them down, but I actually think that’s probably a good sign. Probably in a pretty good place.

Giacomo:

Could be. You’re bringing me to the thing that I want to add to this conversation over here because I notice it in the spirit of journaling by tracking, as opposed to, like, writing out your life story. And I think this is more directly related to us and the people that we’re talking to right now. Right. More into, like, growth and improvement that I noticed in the health app in Apple.

They started to create a whole mental health section called state of mind, right. And I just started this. So I can’t really assess or analyze the data, but basically you go in and you go to, I’m scrolling through it right now. You go to log your emotions and you go to log your mood, right? So you log, and I have a little widget on the front of my phone, so I get to it right away.

See that log in emotion or mood, right. And I can express how I feel right now or how I felt overall for the day. And it has a series of words that can indicate negative and positive feelings, whatever. And you put them all out there and it plots them on a graph, and then it’s tied into all the other data that you’ve been logging on your phone.

So, like when I meditate, for example, or when I train, all that stuff that the phone automatically collects for me, it ties it into the graph. And now I can look for associations, right? So I could legit hack into my life and what I’m doing, because this data is pretty much automated.

Dani:

Kind of, kind of because there’s a lot of stuff that happens in life that the phone is not tracking.

Giacomo:

Sure. But again, it’s still interesting. It’s an interesting way to analyze what’s going on, right? So you can look at that, right? So I have my daily moods, my momentary emotions, and now I can go to associations and I, and I can see all the things that I’m listening for as far as reasonings. Okay, how my feelings connected to today, was it work, was it dating, was it family, was it health, etc. Etcetera.

Dani:

But are you like, learning something about yourself? Well, yeah, I mean, that’s, I guess, my question.

Giacomo:

You can wind up seeing what things are affecting what, and you can find out how to change what you’re doing based on how your mental health is responding to what you’re doing. Again, I’ve just started doing this for the past month, and so it’s a little new for me. I can’t really speak to what it’s going to do, but I’m super curious to see where the data takes me and as well as life factors, you know, again,

like meditation, sleep, et cetera, et cetera, how long, how much time I’m spending in daylight as opposed to being behind my screen. All these things are going to happen.

Dani:

I don’t know that. How does it know that you were in daylight?

Giacomo:

Everything.

Dani:

I don’t know how I feel about this.

Giacomo:

But anyways, that’s my little science experiment on myself with the data that my phone’s already collecting on me anyway.

Dani:

Yeah, I mean, I like collecting data. I think it’s very interesting. I have to write it down. Giacomo thinks this is probably what you mean when you say, I journal so much. This, that, or the other. Like, I am always writing stuff down, like with a pen. If I just type it in my phone, sometimes it’s not enough for me. I have to write it down for my brain to understand that this actually happened, if that makes sense. I know other people are like that, but Giacomo is. Not necessarily.

Giacomo:

Not necessarily. I did come from the generation where we didn’t have access to computers yet, and I wrote plenty down for at least ten years of my life, minimum, like, exclusively. So I do come from that generation. Not to date myself, but, yeah. And even if you were born in the computer age or the phone age, I still do feel like there’s something to be said about writing something out.

We do it with everyone that comes to us. We ask them to write out their goals on a piece of paper. Personally, I like to do a brain dump on paper. I just write everything out. It gets it out of my brain. And honestly, it’s kind of nice to take a break from screens and typing stuff out like that. So while I don’t necessarily favor paper over screen, I do feel like there’s something to be said for writing something out on a piece of paper.

You know, just looks different depending on the person. Right. And you’re more likely to do it when you write it out, however it is that you choose to write it out. Yeah. So journaling, meditation, we didn’t touch upon therapy.

Dani:

Go for it.

Giacomo:

Well, honestly, I was incredibly averse to it for quite some time, which is why it’s funny that you’re letting me lead this conversation, but it’s been. I don’t know, it’s probably been about, like five years worth of work on mental health and therapy, and I’ve definitely found it to be life changing for the better. Great way to experience personal growth, to understand more about what causes you to act and behave the way that you do, as opposed to just going through the motions

and being like, I’m going to do it this way because it’s how I want to do it. It’s because of how I should be doing it. It’s like, well, did you ever think about it? Did you ever stop to think about what’s causing you to act and behave the way that you do? Because if you did, you’d probably have a little more control and awareness over it and you’d be more likely to change it for the better. And I feel like that’s what therapy is all about.

Dani:

Interesting. I feel like I’ve talked about therapy so much on this podcast that I almost, like, kind of don’t know what to say right now. Like, yep, therapy. Good. You should try it.

Giacomo:

Yeah, go talk somebody.

Dani:

Yeah, that’s, like, what I was saying. Like, it really helps me to talk something out sometimes with a therapist, sometimes, like, with my mom or with my friend or with you. I have to, like, sort through my mental taffy by sort of saying it out loud, and maybe sometimes the other person catches something I said that I would have missed or something.

Yeah, but, you know, therapists can also help you recognize shitty patterns in your behavior. They won’t frame it as such because they’re nicer than I am, but, you know, they can. If you’re doing something that is, like, kind of wrecking your life in one way or another over and over and over again, they will kind of steer you in that direction so that you can kind of figure it out on your own.

Although sometimes, I don’t know. How do you feel about this? Sometimes I just want to, like, shake my therapist and be like, tell me what I am doing wrong here. And I just want them to just, like, give me a straight answer, and they won’t. And sometimes that’s infuriating. Do you ever feel like that?

Giacomo:

No. Not even once. It’s very interesting how people are built quite differently, because I. No, I play the law. I play the long. I’m in it for the long haul. I don’t. It’s not even a game to me. I just. I hope that eventually it comes out, and I just keep an open mind, and I’m optimistic about it. But I hear what you’re saying, because if you don’t actually ask, how are you gonna get there?

Usually what happens with me is the other person’s like, nope. The other person in the profession’s like, nope, I’m not gonna do it. You have to answer it. I shouldn’t do it. And then they’re just, like, patiently waiting for you to get to where they already think you should be getting to. And it’s just like, if anything, they want to shake the crap out of you because, you know, it’s your thought process. They’re not there to tell you what to do.

They’re there to help you get to the answer that you’re honestly looking for. In my opinion. It’s kind of. It’s kind. Yeah, but every once in a while, they’ll come out and they’ll just say, like you said, they’ll steer you in that direction, even sometimes not so gently. Be like, it’s probably this. This is probably what you want to be saying that I can’t get you to say about yourself. Like, do you not see what’s happening right now?

Dani:

Yeah, it’s a. It’s a really interesting process. But I also think, like, it super, super, super depends on the person, because that’s, like, a lot of power you’re giving somebody, like, a lot of power, seriously. So you have to kind of be a little bit of a skeptic, for one, but also, like, feel it out. Trust your gut. If this doesn’t feel like the right person, it’s probably not for you. You should watch that show. What was it called? That the shrink next door.

Giacomo:

I knew it. That’s what I was thinking, too.

Dani:

The shrink next door. Based on a true story. Absolutely fascinating. I think. It’s on Apple TV, and it’s starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell. So, like, you can’t go wrong, but it’s based on a true story and illustrates why you should not give your therapist too much power, I guess.

Giacomo:

So, anyways, we could talk about this forever. This is literally what we do. We work with people one on one, and we get our hands into their lives and we help them grow. That’s the part of our coaching that is more lifestyle based. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a pro athlete who is looking to win and be at the top. Doesn’t matter if you’re someone who’s not even necessarily interested in performance or sports or even being super active, but you want to be healthier and more Fitzhe or

someone in between, it doesn’t matter. There’s always an opportunity to improve your lifestyle and improve your life by growing as a human with different kinds of things that aren’t you going into the gym and lifting weights and aren’t you eating a certain way to be healthier? And that’s what this episode is pretty much all about.

Dani:

It is a huge part of our coaching, and we probably should have started with that. Like, why does this matter? I know we kind of touched on it in the middle, but a lot of times when we’re working with somebody, they’re not having a hard time reaching their goals because they don’t know how to eat or they don’t know how to exercise. Like, they’ve read the books, they’ve listened to the podcast.

They know what they should be doing. They can’t do it. Why? Why can’t they do it? And that is one of the things that we try to help people figure out, because if we can find that thing and teach through it and get past it, hopefully they won’t have this problem again. Or they’ll have it to a much smaller degree. Or at least they’ll have, like, awareness about where it’s coming from. And we’re not mental health experts or anything.

You should still have one of those if you think it’s necessary. But, you know, some of this is just, like, lifestyle stuff that we can usually hash out a little bit of and help people get through. But it does definitely require, like, an openness to kind of learning stuff about yourself that maybe you don’t like that much. And that’s tough. Yeah.

Giacomo:

But that’s how you change. So if that’s something you’re interested in, you know. Exactly. To find this, we’ll be here.

Dani:

All right, moving on to our question and answer segment, which today they’re kind of simple, kind of fun. One of them is, what is your favorite pre packaged, store bought, high protein snacks?

Giacomo:

My favorite pre packaged, store bought, high protein snacks. Oh, I have a list of these. Well, I like nougo slim bars. I like orgain bars. I like unisoid jerky. I like. I could keep going.

Dani:

Please do.

Giacomo:

I like deli slices. I am a huge fan of deli slices. They.

Dani:

That was on my list, too.

Giacomo:

I love them. They’re the bomb. I like soy boy brand specifically, but I also like the soya brand, the tofu, that’s pre marinated and pre cooked to two squares. You have one square for a small snack or two if you’re really hungry. There are definitely more protein snacks. Why don’t you rattles them off?

Dani:

Dry roasted edamame is a good one. I’m currently obsessed with the Owen shakes. Oh, yeah, those are fantastic. I want to touch upon the deli slices. Cause people are like, what? That’s not a snack. Anything’s a snack if you think about it.

Giacomo:

Right?

Dani:

But, no, if you were to watch the vegan strong team behind a booth, I’ll forget it. Like, all of us at one point, like, tear into a package of tofurky and just eat through it like it was. Like it was an apple or something.

Giacomo:

Karim was busting out the builder bars. Those are the OG. I was into those for a very long time, actually. I fell out of favor of being into those as of late, but I.

Dani:

There’s just better options now. They’re still good.

Giacomo:

Oh, they’re so good. They’re classic. What was Alice Munch on? Did she have any?

Dani:

I mean, she’s like, she’s super in prep. She had beautiful meals that she had to eat.

Giacomo:

Choco.

Dani:

Um, what else? Oh, the no cow bars. I really like the dipped no cow bars. I hated them at first, but now I like them.

Giacomo:

Yeah, I mean, there are so many more protein snacks, but those are a few of our favorites. This is one of my favorite questions. We’ve heard this one definitely more than once. But I like the way this question was just straight up asked. Dani, can I get a meal plan? Can I get a grocery list from you or something like that? Meal plan, grocery list. That’s pretty much all I need.

Dani:

Yeah. This actually wasn’t from one person. This one’s from a lot of people just over the years. Can I get a meal plan or can you give me a shopping list? And we don’t do that. We actually did do that when we very, very first started coaching. We would write people meal plans. They would take it off into the night and we’d never hear from them again.

And that just never sat right with me. I was like, to this day, he’s still eating that same meal plan. So we don’t do that. But what we do do is every single month, we write a brand new meal plan for all of our members. So it’s one meal plan that all the members get. We try to keep it seasonal. We try to keep it to, like, the holidays. And they’re anywhere from, like, 18 to 2000 calories.

1800 to 2000 calories with about 120 ish grams of protein in all of the meal plans. And what I really like about them is not only are there tips for how to pair this meal plan up or pair it down, because maybe you need more than 2000 calories. Maybe you need fewer than 1800 calories. There’s tips on how to do that in there, but there’s recipes for everything. And there’s also a shopping list to create a full week’s worth of the meal plans.

And the longer you are one of our clients or a member with us, the more meal plans you collect. So you can just rotate through them. And a lot of thought goes into these. And not to say, oh, everything in this meal plan is magic. It’s just these are great recipes that help you hit the bill for high protein vegan diet of, like, a pretty moderate calorie range. And you get a new one every month.

Giacomo:

Yeah, but more important than that, and yes, you could easily just be like, I don’t want to think. I don’t want to learn. I just want to do. I could just do this, this and this. I want to eat a little more, a little less. And I want these exact recipes. Sure. That sounds phenomenal. Love the idea. That being said, they’re so well crafted like that. And not to sound. It’s whatever, but it’s true. They’re so well crafted that without even having to think about it, you wind up intuitively

learning how to. Did you say pare up or pare down? Is that how you work? Right. So in other words, beef something up or trim it down, whatever. Add, remove foods. You learn how to add and remove portions and types of ingredients and swap portions with different kinds of foods and ingredients with things that you make on your own that are not, that don’t have anything to do with the recipes that are created for you here. So you actually learn how to do it, which is great.

Dani:

Yeah. You can also mix and match the recipes. Also, all of our clients in our app have access to nearly 200 recipes, most of them high protein vegan recipes. And they all have the macros, of course, listed. So, like, you know, our members and our fat loss challengers and our muscle building challengers and all of our one on one clients, they have access to a lot of resources that are not made public to everybody else.

Giacomo:

So definitely not to brag. We will take good care of those over here.

Dani:

I’ll brag.

Giacomo:

If you’re listening to this, you might as well.

Dani:

But actually, today was the first day, or is the first day we’re recording this on. Monday is the first day of our fat loss challenge intro week. So technically, the introduction week has started, but this is like the prep week for everybody to get their pictures and measurements and questionnaires and stuff in.

So if you’re hearing this on Tuesday and you want in on this, like, it has to be now, because next Monday, the fourth, or the 3 February, I forget the exact day. That’s when it starts, and then absolutely nobody can be taken after that point.

Giacomo:

Yeah. And we’re not going to run on the challenge for a while. And if for some reason you’re not interested in a challenge and you’re not ready for that, come be a member with us. And you still get access to a lot of these resources.

Dani:

Yeah, we have. We have several levels of coaching, depending on where somebody’s at, like, with their goals or financially. So, you know, reach out to us. We have options.

Giacomo:

All right, everybody, thanks so much. For tuning in to another episode of vegan proteins muscles by Brussels Radio. Stay in touch with us eganproteins and musclesbybrussels on the socials or shoot us an email by hitting the contact button on veganproteins.com. once again, my name is Giacomo and I’m Dani. We’ll talk to you soon.

Dani:

For queen it again close.