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Health and Wealth - The Power of a "Bigger Yes" | Phil Pearlman - E122

November 26, 2025 / 47:44

This episode covers health and wealth, holiday eating habits, and personal finance strategies with guest Phil Pearlman. Jesse Kramer discusses the importance of nutrition, exercise, sleep, and community for overall well-being.

Phil Pearlman, an expert in behavioral finance and personal health, shares insights on the unhealthy trends during the holiday season, emphasizing that many Americans gain weight during this period. He highlights the importance of making conscious health choices.

Jesse and Phil discuss the concept of a "deeper yes," encouraging listeners to reflect on their spending and health decisions. They suggest that knowing what truly matters can help individuals make better choices.

Phil outlines practical tips for maintaining health during the holidays, including limiting alcohol consumption and starting meals with nutritious foods. He emphasizes that small, consistent changes can lead to significant improvements over time.

The episode concludes with Phil encouraging listeners to focus on one manageable New Year's resolution to improve their health, reinforcing the idea that health is wealth.

TL;DR

Phil Pearlman discusses health and wealth, holiday eating habits, and practical tips for maintaining well-being during the festive season.

Video

00:00:00
Welcome to personal finance for
00:00:02
long-term investors, where we believe
00:00:04
Benjamin Franklin's advice that an
00:00:06
investment in knowledge pays the best
00:00:08
interest both in finances [music] and in
00:00:10
your life. Every episode teaches you
00:00:12
personal finance and long-term investing
00:00:14
in simple terms. Now, here's your host,
00:00:18
Jesse Kramer. Welcome to Personal
00:00:20
Finance for Long-Term Investors, episode
00:00:22
122. I'm Jesse Kramer. By day, I work at
00:00:24
a fiduciary wealth management firm
00:00:25
helping clients nationwide. You can
00:00:27
learn more at bestinterest.blog/work.
00:00:28
[music]
00:00:28
blog back/work. The link is in the show
00:00:30
notes. By night, I write the best
00:00:32
interest blog and I host this podcast. I
00:00:34
also put out a weekly email newsletter,
00:00:35
all of which help busy professionals and
00:00:37
retirees avoid mistakes and grow wealth
00:00:39
by simplifying their investing, their
00:00:41
taxes, and their retirement planning.
00:00:43
And happy holidays to you listening. You
00:00:45
might be listening to this on the
00:00:46
Wednesday of Thanksgiving Eve, or maybe
00:00:49
on Thanksgiving itself as you drive to
00:00:51
your uncle Rick's house. Or heck, maybe
00:00:53
my voice has already put you to sleep
00:00:54
and you're enjoying your well-deserved
00:00:56
post turkey nap. Today I'm welcoming
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Phil Pearlman back to the podcast to
00:01:00
remind us that health and wealth are two
00:01:02
sides of the very same coin and that
00:01:04
these next five weeks, yes, these next
00:01:06
five weeks are certainly full of mirth,
00:01:08
full of friendship and family, but they
00:01:10
also happen to be, at least here in
00:01:12
America, the unhealthiest period of our
00:01:14
entire years. And Phil will share some
00:01:16
pretty compelling data on that front.
00:01:19
And because long-term health and
00:01:20
long-term investing and long-term
00:01:22
finances have so many parallels, I
00:01:24
wanted to spend some time today talking
00:01:26
specifically about health. But first, a
00:01:28
quick review of the week from Sou Falls,
00:01:31
who said, "Jesse is a rock star.
00:01:33
Recently, I listened to Jesse's
00:01:35
explanation on Bitcoin, and for the
00:01:36
first time, I feel like I'm getting to
00:01:38
understand it. Not that I wanted to
00:01:39
invest in it, lol. But the way he
00:01:41
explains the various topics of personal
00:01:43
finance and goals and how to achieve
00:01:45
those goals gives me huge motivation.
00:01:47
Thank you, sir." Well, Sou Falls finest,
00:01:50
you know the drill. Thank you very much
00:01:51
for the kind words. I'd be happy to send
00:01:52
you a supersoft podcast t-shirt. So,
00:01:54
please drop me an email to jesse@b
00:01:56
bestinterest.blog so I can get that sent
00:01:58
out to you. Before Phil joins us, I
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wanted to give you some inspirational
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willpower to say no to that third slice
00:02:04
of peon pie today or tomorrow or
00:02:06
whenever you're listening to this. This
00:02:07
is an article I've read here on the
00:02:08
podcast before, but it feels right to
00:02:10
read it again. And the article is
00:02:12
called, "Do you have a deeper yes?" And
00:02:14
it comes from a podcast that I was
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listening to from Michael Kitsis and
00:02:17
Carl Richards, two fantastic financial
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planners who who kind of share some
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wisdom on their podcast about kind of
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what it's like to be a financial
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planner, what it's like to be working
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with clients, and I always learn
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something new from them. And Carl on one
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episode asked a very compelling
00:02:30
question. And the question is pretty
00:02:32
simple. What's one thing that you do
00:02:34
regularly that you'd like to stop doing?
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And I'd almost pause and put this on you
00:02:39
listeners right now. What's one thing
00:02:40
that you do regularly that you'd like to
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stop doing? And each of our answers will
00:02:45
vary. It could be a destructive habit, a
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simple bad unhealthy behavior, maybe
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just wasting time, right? Lots of us
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have bad habits where we waste time that
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we wish we could stop doing it. And as I
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listened to their conversation, Carl
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eventually he posited that in a very
00:03:00
effective strategy of saying no, that it
00:03:03
becomes much easier to say no, I should
00:03:05
say, when you have a deeper yes. Saying
00:03:08
no becomes much easier when you have a
00:03:10
deeper yes. And Carl used the example of
00:03:12
a client of his who chose not to pay for
00:03:14
an expensive parking spot at work cuz
00:03:17
you know he he could park close to work
00:03:19
and he'd have to pay for that. So
00:03:20
instead of paying for that expensive
00:03:22
parking spot, he took the would-be
00:03:24
parking money and he parked it. Get it?
00:03:27
He parked it into a bank account. And
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then every few months those monies would
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grow enough that he would pay for a
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family dinner at a nice restaurant. And
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for him, family meals at that nice
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restaurant were a much deeper yes than
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the parking pass. It made saying no to
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parking pretty easy in that case. And
00:03:44
Kitsus, Michael Kitsus and Carl
00:03:45
Richards, they're both these celebrity
00:03:46
financial planners as I mentioned. So,
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their message is certainly tailored to
00:03:50
other financial planners like me. Early
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on in most planners careers, we're
00:03:54
incredibly excited by the opportunity to
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work with any clients. And I felt this
00:03:58
acutely potentially because I'm a
00:04:00
latecomer to the industry and a career
00:04:01
changer. But like all good businesses
00:04:03
and all good business owners, we need to
00:04:05
ask, what does my ideal client look
00:04:07
like? For me, it's an individual or
00:04:09
family who needs my help, right? They
00:04:11
want to delegate their financial
00:04:12
planning to an expert, regain more time
00:04:14
in their own lives. They value my help.
00:04:16
They understand the benefit of getting
00:04:18
this stuff right and the cost of getting
00:04:19
it wrong. It's someone who's enjoyable
00:04:21
to be around, right? I don't want to
00:04:22
work with jerks, and I hope my clients
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share that value with me. And last, it's
00:04:26
someone who can pay for my help. The
00:04:28
Best Interest blog, this podcast,
00:04:30
personal finance for long-term
00:04:31
investors, there will always be free
00:04:32
resources. My goal is to keep these
00:04:34
totally free resources, and I love the
00:04:36
fact that they're free, but they survive
00:04:38
because paying clients who meet all the
00:04:40
criteria I just listed out. They seek me
00:04:43
out. When readers or listeners refer
00:04:45
people in your lives to come work with
00:04:47
me, when people like you listening refer
00:04:49
your friends and family to come work
00:04:50
with me, you're making this whole
00:04:52
enterprise possible. So, I really do. I
00:04:54
have a a ven diagram. I'll link it in
00:04:56
the show notes. I have a ven diagram of
00:04:58
these four intersecting circles. needs
00:05:00
my help, values my help, can pay for my
00:05:03
help and enjoyable to be around. And at
00:05:05
the middle of that intersection is an
00:05:07
ideal client. And my my time and my
00:05:09
bandwidth are finite. So if I say yes to
00:05:12
a non ideal client, someone outside of
00:05:15
the center intersection, I'm exhausting
00:05:17
my limited bandwidth and I'll eventually
00:05:19
run out of that bandwidth completely and
00:05:21
eventually I will be forced to say no to
00:05:24
people even when they are my perfect
00:05:26
ideal client. So, my deeper yes for me
00:05:30
in this case is my truly ideal clients.
00:05:33
They are out there and they're worth
00:05:34
waiting for. And while it's certainly
00:05:36
hard to say no to people who want my
00:05:38
help right now, it's easier to say no if
00:05:41
I know there's a deeper yes out there.
00:05:43
If I know that there's an ideal client
00:05:44
out there waiting. Plus, I can refer
00:05:46
those nos to other fiduciary fee only
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adviserss who have a different deeper
00:05:51
yes than my own. And listening to Kits
00:05:54
and Carl and at least for me too, we're
00:05:56
applying this deeper yes idea to
00:05:58
financial planning and to our clients.
00:05:59
We should also apply this idea to our
00:06:02
personal finances and I would advocate
00:06:04
in the spirit of today's episode to our
00:06:06
our health decisions. So, pivoting now
00:06:08
to to your deeper yes, one of the great
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common frustrations in personal finance
00:06:13
sounds something like, "I wish I had
00:06:15
more money for travel, but I guess I did
00:06:17
spend, you know, $17,000 on that jet ski
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last year." You know, spending money is
00:06:22
a constant and and an alluring tease.
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But I think it becomes easier to say no
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to overspending when you have a deeper
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yes. And we can apply some sort of
00:06:30
biodal spending to our lives and to our
00:06:32
mindset. There we either have spending
00:06:34
that totally lights us on fire and it's
00:06:36
the best money we could spend in the
00:06:38
world or we try hard not to spend it.
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It's just like we're spending money, I
00:06:42
should say, maybe on the barebones
00:06:43
essentials that just keeps life
00:06:45
functioning. We pay for our our living
00:06:47
space. We pay for food. We pay for
00:06:49
transportation. the basics or we're
00:06:51
spending money on the the most amazing
00:06:52
things possible. And I would say there's
00:06:54
nothing wrong with spending that money
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on the jet ski like in the example I
00:06:58
just uh gave. But do you have a deeper
00:07:00
yes that might steer you away from that
00:07:02
spending? And if you don't know that
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deeper yes, I think we should try to
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discover it right now. To discover your
00:07:08
most meaningful spending, I would say
00:07:09
that you ask yourself the following
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questions. And some of these questions
00:07:12
are going to resonate a lot. Some might
00:07:13
not resonate at all with you. And you
00:07:15
can build your own list and and
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eventually even build a ven diagram like
00:07:18
the one that I mentioned to see which of
00:07:21
your spending decisions and maybe which
00:07:23
of your health decisions fall into your
00:07:25
ideal intersection where these circles
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overlap. So I'll get going on the
00:07:29
questions now. Number one, what are your
00:07:30
core values? Number two, which
00:07:32
expenditures align with those values?
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Number three, which purchases bring you
00:07:36
the most joy or satisfaction? Number
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four, what spending do you most regret?
00:07:41
Five, which expenses contribute to your
00:07:44
long-term goals? Six, how do these
00:07:47
expenditures improve your quality of
00:07:48
life? Seven, what are your essential
00:07:51
expenses? Eight, are there any
00:07:53
non-essential purchases that still hold
00:07:56
significant meaning to you? Nine, what
00:07:58
are you sacrificing to make certain
00:08:00
purchases? 10, would reallocating funds
00:08:03
to other areas better align with your
00:08:04
values and goals? 11, do you value
00:08:07
experiences over material goods or vice
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versa? 12. What experiences have been
00:08:12
most memorable and fulfilling? 13. How
00:08:15
does your spending affect your
00:08:16
relationships? 14. Does your spending
00:08:19
contribute to causes that you care
00:08:20
about? 15. Which purchases do you
00:08:23
consistently make? 16. Have your
00:08:25
spending patterns changed over time? 17.
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How does your spending support your
00:08:30
personal growth? And 18. What purchases
00:08:32
have had a lasting impact on your own
00:08:34
personal development? Now, if you want
00:08:36
all 18 of those questions, again, I
00:08:38
suggest you check out the show notes,
00:08:39
bestinest.blog. blog/do have a deeper
00:08:42
yes. We'll put the link there if you
00:08:43
want to read the article for yourself.
00:08:45
Because I would submit that once you
00:08:47
discover your deeper yes, it becomes
00:08:48
easier to say no to other spending. It
00:08:51
would sound something like I can't buy
00:08:52
the jet ski because I'm taking my family
00:08:54
to Portugal next summer and that is a
00:08:57
deeper yes for us. It's like that Henry
00:08:59
David Throw quote from Walden that if
00:09:02
you didn't already know it, the movie
00:09:04
Dead Poet Society made it pretty famous.
00:09:06
I went to the woods because I wished to
00:09:07
live deliberately to front only the
00:09:09
essential facts of life and see if I
00:09:11
could not learn what it had to teach and
00:09:12
not when I came to die discover that I
00:09:14
had not lived. I did not wish to live
00:09:16
what was not life living it so dear. Nor
00:09:19
did I wish to practice resignation
00:09:20
unless it was quite necessary. I wanted
00:09:22
to live deep and suck out all the marrow
00:09:24
of life to live so sturdily and
00:09:26
spartanlike as to put route to all that
00:09:28
was not life to cut a broad swath and
00:09:30
shade close. to drive life into a corner
00:09:33
and reduce it to its lowest terms. And
00:09:35
if it proved to be mean, why then to get
00:09:37
the whole and genuine meanness of it and
00:09:39
publish its meanness to the world? Or if
00:09:41
it were sublime, to know it by
00:09:43
experience and be able to give a true
00:09:45
account of it in my next excursion. The
00:09:47
part that most people think of is that I
00:09:49
wish to live deliberately, to suck out
00:09:51
all the marrow of life and and to not
00:09:53
when I came to die discover that I had
00:09:55
not lived. That's the part of the poem
00:09:56
that most people remember. And and the
00:09:58
idea there is to in our case spend
00:10:01
deliberately or eat deliberately, make
00:10:03
choices deliberately, to put route to
00:10:05
all the nos or the negatives in your
00:10:07
life and to look for the deeper yeses.
00:10:10
And if that plan proves to be mean, as
00:10:12
thorough would say, then report back
00:10:14
about that meanness. But I predict that
00:10:15
you'll find it sublime and you'll be
00:10:17
able to give a true account of such wise
00:10:19
spending to the rest of us. And I would
00:10:22
also submit that when it comes to the
00:10:23
the health choices in our life, we can
00:10:26
put route and we can make easier nos. We
00:10:28
can make the decision to say no easier
00:10:30
if we have a deeper yes. And by cutting
00:10:32
out all the things that we want to say
00:10:34
no to, by putting route to them, right?
00:10:36
Then then we will have a more deliberate
00:10:38
healthconscious life. Here's a quick ad
00:10:40
and then we'll get back to the show. I
00:10:42
send a free weekly email to thousands of
00:10:44
readers that shares two simple things,
00:10:46
just two. The first are my new articles
00:10:48
and podcasts, so you'll never miss when
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I publish new content. And the second is
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my favorite financial content from other
00:10:54
corners of the internet, so you can see
00:10:55
what's been helping me the most. But
00:10:57
Jesse, I don't want another email.
00:10:59
>> I hear you. I make this newsletter
00:11:01
short, sweet, and full of essential
00:11:03
information, and readers enjoy that.
00:11:05
About 85% of newsletter subscribers are
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engaging with the newsletter more than
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free on the homepage at
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free white paper to help you plan for
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retirement, and you can sign up for free
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at bestinterest.blog.
00:11:30
With that, I think we should kick things
00:11:31
over to Phil Pearlman. Phil has a
00:11:33
doctorate in psychology. He used his
00:11:34
knowledge to spend most of his career in
00:11:36
the behavioral finance world of Wall
00:11:38
Street. But more recently, he created
00:11:40
the Pearl Institute and he's dedicated
00:11:41
his life to helping people optimize
00:11:43
their well-being. That is his calling.
00:11:45
Phil's an expert in the areas of
00:11:46
personal health and effective processes
00:11:48
of change and as you'll hear today, a
00:11:50
true teacher by nature. So, without any
00:11:52
further ado, here is Phil Pearl.
00:11:55
[music]
00:12:00
Well, Phil, last time you were here,
00:12:01
episode 79, we learned all about some of
00:12:03
the cool overlaps between investing and
00:12:06
health. And I'm sure we're going to talk
00:12:07
about that again today. But because this
00:12:09
is December now, I thought we would have
00:12:11
a little bit of a holiday twist to
00:12:14
today's topic, today's conversation. But
00:12:17
maybe we can rewind the clock a little
00:12:19
bit and start with some of the basics
00:12:21
because one of the things I remember
00:12:22
from working with you, I remember these
00:12:25
four pillars that you kind of think
00:12:28
about and focus on when it comes to our
00:12:30
health journeys. A lot of people I think
00:12:32
diet and exercise. I know you added two
00:12:34
more in there, but do you mind just
00:12:35
starting there with kind of these four
00:12:37
main focus areas that that you focus on
00:12:39
in this simple health concept?
00:12:41
>> First of all, Jesse, let me just say
00:12:43
it's great to see you. Really nice to
00:12:45
talk to you. It's always a pleasure.
00:12:47
>> I wish that I had Jesse's girl,
00:12:49
>> the whole thing. It's It's beautiful.
00:12:51
So, let me just tell you. So, you know,
00:12:53
the Greeks had four elements of the
00:12:57
physical universe, right? And now we
00:12:59
look back at that as being so quaint and
00:13:01
simple. They had earth, wind, fire,
00:13:04
water, right? Four elements. Now we have
00:13:07
like, you know, all these different
00:13:09
Californian and, you know, like these
00:13:12
different all these elements. We know
00:13:13
the periodic table, but back then they
00:13:16
had four elements. And you know, unless
00:13:17
you're unless you are a chemist, those
00:13:20
four elements go a very long way. And
00:13:24
there are four elements of good health,
00:13:26
too. And you can read all the books you
00:13:28
want. There's like 10 million blog
00:13:29
posts. There's a thousand book 10,000
00:13:32
books. But really, if you understand the
00:13:36
four elements of health and just have a
00:13:38
really a basic idea, you can get
00:13:40
yourself very healthy. And those include
00:13:43
nutrition, the food that you put into
00:13:45
the only body that you're ever issued.
00:13:48
That's number one. Number two is
00:13:50
exercise, movement, moving your body,
00:13:54
working up a sweat sometime, lifting
00:13:56
things that are heavy sometimes, and
00:13:58
building your muscles up. Number three
00:14:01
is sleep and rest. That's how we
00:14:05
rejuvenate our body. That's how we
00:14:08
rebuild after we've spent ourselves,
00:14:11
after we've run around, maybe we've gone
00:14:13
for a jog, maybe we've done some
00:14:15
weightlifting. That's how we rejuvenate.
00:14:17
And also our brain, it's how we rest and
00:14:19
rejuvenate our brain. And then the last
00:14:21
one nobody ever talks about and that is
00:14:25
love and community and belonging. Family
00:14:28
and those types of elements are
00:14:30
incredibly important to our thriving and
00:14:35
our health span. Staying healthy for a
00:14:37
long time. You get those four going. And
00:14:40
if you're just starting out or you're
00:14:42
not in shape or you're not feeling
00:14:43
great, even if you just start with one
00:14:46
and you just say, "Hey, you know what?
00:14:47
I'm going to start I'm going to start
00:14:49
walking in the morning and then I'm
00:14:50
going to go for a jog. And then what
00:14:52
happens is is they compound and they
00:14:55
begin to you know the more you start
00:14:57
exercising well the better you start
00:14:59
sleeping right and then the better
00:15:00
you're sleeping and the better and the
00:15:02
more you're exercising the more your
00:15:04
body is craving nutritious foods and you
00:15:06
start learning about that. So there
00:15:08
really is a sort of a compounding effect
00:15:10
or a cumulative effect. But really if
00:15:13
you just focus on those four things,
00:15:16
nutrition, body movement, exercise,
00:15:18
sleep and rest, and love and family and
00:15:21
community, you really can get yourself
00:15:23
super healthy without having to learn
00:15:26
big words like mitochondria and V2 max
00:15:30
and isomeir and telomeres and all those
00:15:33
kinds of things. I fell over the other
00:15:35
day and I think I actually twisted my
00:15:36
telomeres, but maybe not. No. Uh, it
00:15:39
strikes me though when you're talking
00:15:40
about the cumulative effect of these uh
00:15:43
of these four pillars that maybe I
00:15:45
should rewind the clock a little bit and
00:15:46
I mean you've got a really interesting
00:15:48
health story of your own, right? I mean,
00:15:50
I remember you telling me about like
00:15:53
maybe it's like where you found yourself
00:15:55
health-wise in like that 40 to 45 year
00:15:57
old age range, something like that. And
00:16:00
then you've you've been on this health
00:16:01
journey ever since. But I mean could you
00:16:02
remind me of of those details?
00:16:04
>> Yeah, you know we have an epidemic in
00:16:06
this country. We have a health epidemic.
00:16:10
People don't take good care of
00:16:12
themselves. We have huge amount of
00:16:15
highly processed foods. An incredibly
00:16:18
high percentage of the average person's
00:16:22
the average US adults diet is super
00:16:25
processed foods. We don't get enough
00:16:27
protein. We eat way too many processed
00:16:30
and carbohydrate high carbohydrate foods
00:16:33
and we're as a result we are not only
00:16:36
obese in the aggregate but we have high
00:16:39
blood pressure we have high blood sugar
00:16:41
levels we have all types of signs of
00:16:45
poor metabolic health and so myself when
00:16:50
I was a kid I was an athlete when I was
00:16:52
young I was an athlete and the older I
00:16:54
got the further and further away I got
00:16:58
from that the less exercise, the more
00:17:02
crap I put into my body, including and
00:17:04
in my case, including alcohol and drugs.
00:17:08
And so, I'm just such an addict. It's a
00:17:11
comedy. Like, if there was a if there
00:17:13
was an addict scale, you could just like
00:17:15
plug in a thing and get a reader, I
00:17:17
would be like, you know, like super high
00:17:20
on the addict thing. And for years and
00:17:22
years, pot, alcohol, cigarettes, sweet
00:17:26
foods, cookies, cakes, all kinds of
00:17:30
things. And I was big and I was in very
00:17:33
poor shape. I was probably, you know,
00:17:35
50, 60 lbs heavier. And I was struggling
00:17:39
to get healthy, but I really didn't have
00:17:41
all the pieces together. I was like
00:17:43
fighting myself. Like I was would do
00:17:45
like healthy things and then I would do
00:17:47
like unhealthy things. And I was really
00:17:50
fighting myself. And finally it really
00:17:53
sort of came to a head. Literally I was
00:17:55
in this mode where I was fight I was
00:17:57
kind of fight. As a matter of fact I I
00:17:58
ran my first half marathon when I was
00:18:01
still using and there's a there's an old
00:18:04
photo from like eight years ago where I
00:18:07
was with my kid. My kid was a runner and
00:18:09
I was I did not look that healthy but I
00:18:12
just plowed through the half marathon
00:18:14
slowly. Now 8 years later I'm 58. I can
00:18:18
run it much faster, more than a minute a
00:18:20
mile faster
00:18:22
>> than I could then. But I was just
00:18:24
battling the battling. And then I was
00:18:26
really trying to quit. I was trying to
00:18:27
get healthy. It was like back three
00:18:29
steps forward, two steps back, five
00:18:31
steps forward, seven steps back. And
00:18:33
finally, I went out one night. I don't
00:18:35
know if I ever even told you this story.
00:18:37
>> I I didn't know about it. I know the
00:18:38
story because you wrote a great little
00:18:40
post about it. That was the first time I
00:18:42
heard this story. Yeah. Right.
00:18:44
>> Right. On my sixth. And you know what?
00:18:47
What I'm trying to do now is I'm trying
00:18:48
to help people and so I try to do
00:18:51
whatever I can to get people to to
00:18:55
motivate people to inspire people to so
00:18:57
I wrote this post on my sixth
00:18:59
anniversary of being sober from alcohol
00:19:02
and pot. I wrote a story about I I went
00:19:04
out one night with a buddy of mine who
00:19:05
lives in Brooklyn was going to crash at
00:19:08
his place. He lives he moved since but
00:19:10
lived in Brooklyn with his wife and his
00:19:12
dog and we went out to some to see
00:19:15
Shabbaka Hutchkins which some like
00:19:17
avantguard British jazz music wild. We
00:19:22
just partying from early in the evening
00:19:25
and we were just wrecked. Get back to
00:19:27
his place. We go up on the roof and
00:19:30
we're still drinking and and smoking and
00:19:33
I just fell on my head, hit my head,
00:19:36
passed out. Boom. And the next thing I
00:19:38
remember, I'm sitting on his couch and
00:19:41
there's like paramedics there and
00:19:43
they're like trying to get me to go to
00:19:46
the hospital or whatever. And I'm like,
00:19:48
"No, man. I'm all right. I'm good." I
00:19:50
was like, I was ready for a bong hit,
00:19:52
you know? And it was like, "No, I didn't
00:19:55
go." And that was the last time that I
00:19:58
ever partied. Like, I got with my wife,
00:20:00
I had a great doctor, got with him, and
00:20:03
I just quit at that point. It was like a
00:20:06
light bulb went off and instead of me
00:20:09
fighting myself, I just sort of gave up.
00:20:12
Like I just sort of let go of all of a
00:20:16
lot of crap. A lot of like, hey, I got
00:20:20
to do this. Keep up with the Joneses.
00:20:22
Party one more time. It's always that
00:20:24
one more party. And I just gave it up. I
00:20:27
was just like, you know what? I'm done.
00:20:29
And I just started doing a lot of a lot
00:20:32
of things for myself and my family that
00:20:34
were that were healthier and and I just
00:20:36
started eating good foods, started
00:20:39
moving my body. That part of me that was
00:20:41
an athlete came back to me, you know,
00:20:44
like I was an athlete. Like that's who I
00:20:46
was. And you know what? It's who I still
00:20:48
am.
00:20:49
>> And it really came back to me. And I
00:20:51
like I feel closer to the 12year-old
00:20:54
Phil than I've ever felt before cuz it's
00:20:56
like that 12-year-old Phil who like go
00:20:59
out and go up to the schoolyard and race
00:21:01
his buddies that that's still inside me.
00:21:04
That's like still who I am. Well, no.
00:21:06
Thanks. Thanks for sharing, Phil. And uh
00:21:09
it sucks that you had to go through that
00:21:11
rock bottom moment in a way, right? But
00:21:14
at the same time, there's this silver
00:21:16
lining because I'm looking at you now
00:21:18
and and how healthy you are now. Oh, and
00:21:20
of course there's a silver lining to
00:21:21
that rock bottom just like you know for
00:21:23
some of the conversations with listeners
00:21:24
who have a rock bottom in their finances
00:21:26
before turning things around or just
00:21:28
other aspects of life. And so you were
00:21:31
able to quit using cold turkey. And not
00:21:34
to make light of the moment, but
00:21:35
speaking of turkey, I think we can pivot
00:21:37
back to the holiday conversation now
00:21:39
because I hear story.
00:21:42
>> Well done.
00:21:42
>> The four pillars.
00:21:44
>> And I think when most people think of
00:21:46
health around the holidays, immediately
00:21:48
they think diet, right? That is the
00:21:50
pillar that they think of. Maybe that's
00:21:52
my own bias. And so I'm I'm just
00:21:54
curious, you know, when in the
00:21:55
conversations you have even in your own
00:21:57
personal life when it comes to health
00:21:58
around the holidays, is diet the thing
00:22:00
that you're focusing most on or just
00:22:02
give us maybe some of your general
00:22:03
thoughts about health around the
00:22:04
holidays to start?
00:22:06
>> Okay. So to set the context, we all know
00:22:10
and I'm assuming that we have sort of an
00:22:13
advisor financey crowd here. And so I
00:22:17
would think that most of us are pretty
00:22:19
familiar with seasonality in markets,
00:22:23
selling May and go away, Jeff Hirs and
00:22:26
the stock traders almanac and that whole
00:22:29
thing. And there's different months of
00:22:30
the year that are stronger than others.
00:22:33
There's different seasons of the year
00:22:35
that are, you know, and even taking into
00:22:38
account the election cycles. And there's
00:22:41
a whole science to that. And Hersh is
00:22:44
kind of the the man on that. But there's
00:22:46
a lot of people doing a lot of great
00:22:48
work there. And there's also a
00:22:51
seasonality to metabolic health and a
00:22:54
seasonality to weight gain. And as it
00:22:56
turns out, and this makes such intuitive
00:23:00
sense, and I'll go into a couple of the
00:23:01
reasons or what we think are the
00:23:04
reasons, but from about the week of
00:23:08
Thanksgiving to the week of New Year's
00:23:12
Day, we gain all of the weight that we
00:23:15
gain during the year during that window
00:23:19
from, you know, like mid late November,
00:23:22
November 20th, whenever, depending on
00:23:24
when Thanksgiving is to like Jan 1, Jan
00:23:27
2, we gain not only all of the weight
00:23:31
that we gain for the year, we gain more
00:23:34
weight than we gain all year. So in
00:23:36
other words, from January, November, we
00:23:38
have a tendency to drop a little bit of
00:23:40
weight, but we gain so much weight
00:23:42
during this window that as a tendency up
00:23:46
until the time we're about 60 65. As
00:23:50
adults, we tend to gain on average and
00:23:53
this is these are means, these are not
00:23:55
individuals, every individual is
00:23:57
different.
00:23:57
>> We tend to gain about 1 to two pounds a
00:23:59
year as adults in America, which is
00:24:02
profound. like over 10 years, right,
00:24:04
that's 15 20 pounds that you gain and
00:24:06
over 20 years it could be 30 40 pounds
00:24:09
that you gain
00:24:10
>> during this period. And so what Jeff
00:24:13
Hirs would say is that, you know,
00:24:15
seasonality a lot of times is not that
00:24:18
big a deal if the market is just doing
00:24:21
what it usually does during the seasons.
00:24:24
Like if September is a wonky month and
00:24:26
it's choppy and maybe it's down a little
00:24:29
bit, it doesn't give you that much
00:24:30
information because September is usually
00:24:33
a wonky month. And if December is a
00:24:35
strong month and November is a strong,
00:24:38
you know, November, December are strong
00:24:40
months, well, they tend to be strong
00:24:42
months, so it's not that big a deal.
00:24:45
What when you have a period of the year
00:24:48
in the market when it goes against the
00:24:50
seasonality
00:24:52
that's you know what Jeff Hurst would
00:24:54
tell you is that signal that's when
00:24:56
you're getting information like we just
00:24:58
had a strong September and we've had a
00:25:03
strong year and now we're having a
00:25:05
strong and we're taping this a little
00:25:06
bit earlier so if we crash I'm taking a
00:25:09
mulligan on this conversation but I'm
00:25:12
assuming we're not going to crash. I'm
00:25:13
assuming we're I'm going to take the
00:25:15
risk that I'm assuming we're going to
00:25:16
have a strong into the end of the year.
00:25:18
And what that September that was a
00:25:20
stronger September than usual was
00:25:22
telling you was that hey, this market's
00:25:24
stronger than it usually is. So, it's
00:25:27
when we're not conforming to the
00:25:29
seasonality of markets that you're
00:25:31
getting important information. The same
00:25:35
exact thing is true in our in terms of
00:25:39
our health. So, how do we go through
00:25:42
this time of year right now, December?
00:25:46
We're you're we're watching this in
00:25:47
December. How do we go through right now
00:25:50
going the other way, maybe losing a
00:25:53
pound or two, maybe staying very
00:25:56
healthy? I'm going to get into that in
00:25:57
one second. There was just one more
00:25:59
thing. You asked about nutrition and
00:26:02
what are the factors and I gave the four
00:26:04
elements and they're all very important
00:26:06
and they all go together. But if you put
00:26:08
a gun to my head and I had to choose
00:26:11
one, it would be nutrition. There's no
00:26:14
doubt about it. Nutrition is so
00:26:16
critical. Is that in general, Phil? Or
00:26:19
you're saying especially during this
00:26:20
time of year?
00:26:21
>> It's always, always, always. It's it's
00:26:24
you can't exercise your way out of a bad
00:26:26
diet. I mean, unless you're like serious
00:26:28
marathoner. I mean, a guy like Kip Chigi
00:26:31
can eat whatever he wants, but guess
00:26:33
what? He's running 100 miles a week.
00:26:36
Doesn't matter. It's all he's burning
00:26:38
everything, right? But me and you and
00:26:41
even people, you know, like I'm running
00:26:42
a good amount a week, 25 miles a week,
00:26:44
20 25 miles a week. But even me, if I go
00:26:48
on a bender, even a day or two, I notice
00:26:51
it and I'm very sensitive to it, but I
00:26:53
notice it. But people, if they're not
00:26:56
eating well, even if they're exercising.
00:26:58
So, let's put nutrition at the top. And
00:27:01
if we were to assume, we don't know for
00:27:04
a fact fact, but we can make some
00:27:06
assumptions about why people gain
00:27:09
weight. Well, there's all kinds of
00:27:11
parties. There's office party, there's
00:27:13
Christmas parties, there's Thanksgiving
00:27:15
is ridiculous. You know, your aunt
00:27:17
Dolores brings over, you have an apple
00:27:20
pie, you have a pumpkin pie, you have
00:27:23
peacon pie with the ice cream,
00:27:25
>> pie, baby.
00:27:26
>> And then your aunt Dolores brings over a
00:27:28
peacon pie. So there's two pon pot
00:27:30
glorious but it's gluttonous at the same
00:27:33
time. It's glorious and gluttonous.
00:27:35
>> And so we just eat and then we drink
00:27:38
more than we usually do and we drink
00:27:41
rich wintry drinks. That's one reason
00:27:45
why it's just obvious that it's one
00:27:49
thing. And then the second thing is more
00:27:51
of an evolutionary thing and that is
00:27:54
that it gets cold in the winter. And so
00:27:56
our bodies, you know, we have this sort
00:27:58
of natural tendency to want to to want
00:28:00
to just plump up a little bit during the
00:28:03
colder months as a layer of protection
00:28:06
from the cold. Put in insulation in your
00:28:09
house, you're like insulating yourself.
00:28:11
So that's a kind of possible causal
00:28:13
rationale. But anyway, the tendency is
00:28:16
so if we can go against the seasonality
00:28:19
of weight gain, if we can stay steady or
00:28:22
maybe lose a pound or two during this
00:28:25
traditional weight gaining period,
00:28:28
we are really making that is signal that
00:28:31
is telling us that we may be on to
00:28:33
something. We may be on to a set of
00:28:36
habits or a system or a lifestyle or a
00:28:41
self-concept
00:28:43
that runs counter towards
00:28:46
this obesogenic culture that I described
00:28:49
before that you know 70% of the people
00:28:52
over 70% of the people in this country
00:28:54
are either overweight or obese and
00:28:57
metabolic illness is running rampant and
00:29:00
there are some good new drugs out there
00:29:03
ompic and so forth Earth, but they don't
00:29:05
agree with everybody and they have side
00:29:07
effects and they're expensive and so you
00:29:10
just can't you just can't say, "Hey,
00:29:12
just go take a pill or go take a shot in
00:29:13
this case." And so there are things you
00:29:15
go so to your point before you start
00:29:18
with what you put in the only body that
00:29:21
you ever get. You get this one body when
00:29:23
it's all used up. Guess what? I'm sorry.
00:29:26
There's no mulligans when it comes to
00:29:28
your life. There's no mulligans. You
00:29:29
know, it's used up. You're done. You're
00:29:31
dead, Jack. We all go sometime. and you
00:29:33
want to go as far out into the future as
00:29:36
possible and you want to be as healthy
00:29:37
for as long as possible. Here's a quick
00:29:40
ad and then we'll get back to the show.
00:29:43
Serious question. Why do podcasters
00:29:45
constantly ask for ratings and reviews?
00:29:48
Yes, they do help highlight our shows to
00:29:50
new listeners. They help strangers find
00:29:52
us on Apple Podcast and Spotify. It's
00:29:54
totally true and a good reason to ask
00:29:56
for ratings and reviews. But I have
00:29:58
something more important, at least more
00:30:00
important to me. I want to know if you
00:30:02
like this stuff. I want to know if you
00:30:04
like my podcast episodes, my monologues,
00:30:06
my guests, the information I share with
00:30:08
you and the stories I tell. I want to
00:30:10
improve and make your listening more
00:30:12
enjoyable in the process. So yeah, I
00:30:14
would love to read your reviews. And
00:30:16
sure, if you throw a rating in there,
00:30:18
too, that's great. If you like what I'm
00:30:20
doing, please share it with me. It's
00:30:22
such a great feeling to read your
00:30:24
feedback. I'd love to read your review
00:30:26
or see a rating on Apple Podcast or
00:30:29
Spotify. Thank you. when we were kind of
00:30:32
working together and and talking more
00:30:33
frequently, I was having a pretty good
00:30:35
uh I was on a good streak, right? I was
00:30:37
building some pretty good habits into my
00:30:38
life and I called you because I was
00:30:41
flying out to Palm Springs, California
00:30:43
to one of my friends bachelor parties
00:30:45
and I was like, "Hey, man. I've got all
00:30:47
these good things going. and I'm
00:30:48
building up some really good habits and
00:30:50
I'm about to go into a weekend of snack
00:30:52
food and ordering pizza and beers
00:30:55
available at 10:00 a.m. And I I just
00:30:58
remember thinking to myself like kind of
00:30:59
had a couple questions for you at the
00:31:01
time and and they're related in a way.
00:31:03
And the first one was
00:31:05
do you have wiggle room for cheating in
00:31:08
your health structure as in like a a
00:31:10
cheat meal or you know something like
00:31:13
that some sort of flexibility. But then
00:31:15
the second one, and maybe this is what
00:31:16
we can focus on right now, is I was
00:31:18
thinking to myself, what can I
00:31:20
proactively think about doing? What can
00:31:21
I plan ahead of this trip? What can I
00:31:24
commit to that allows me to feel like
00:31:27
I'm partaking but still keeps my health
00:31:30
a priority? And so, as we go into the
00:31:32
holidays, it's my question for you right
00:31:34
now is we don't want people to say, I
00:31:36
know it's after Thanksgiving when this
00:31:37
comes out, but we don't want people to
00:31:39
say, "Hey, you got to skip Thanksgiving
00:31:40
dinner. Sorry, man." We want people to
00:31:43
feel like they're partaking, but at the
00:31:45
same time, you know, what's a good
00:31:47
framework for setting some limits or
00:31:50
just proactively thinking about keeping
00:31:52
our health top of mind? This is a
00:31:56
process and a journey for each person.
00:31:59
And we are all
00:32:01
scientists and we are all the subjects
00:32:05
of the scientific experiment. We are
00:32:07
chief scientists and the sole subject of
00:32:10
an important scientific experiment. So
00:32:12
we learn more and more about our about
00:32:14
ourselves as we go along. It's not just
00:32:17
one day, one event, one Thanksgiving,
00:32:19
one New Year's Eve. And so it may take
00:32:23
some time to get to a place where
00:32:26
habitually you're behaving in a way that
00:32:29
promotes your good health rather than
00:32:32
detracts from your good health. And I
00:32:35
say that to say small steps in the right
00:32:38
direction are great. You know, we're not
00:32:41
going all or none necessarily. Some
00:32:43
people do. Some people come to me and
00:32:46
will walk through it and they go, "Oh,
00:32:49
okay." And they start doing those
00:32:50
things. But those are the fraction of
00:32:53
people. Usually people have baggage.
00:32:56
They have a history. they have issues
00:32:59
with their body or with their the way
00:33:01
that they perceive themselves and it
00:33:04
becomes a journey. Rare cases it's not
00:33:07
it's just like this. And by the way,
00:33:09
some people never go on the journey at
00:33:10
all. I'm sad to say some people just
00:33:13
maybe it's just me that I I'm not
00:33:15
perfect at helping people, but some
00:33:18
people just aren't going to get there.
00:33:20
Like I just re I hate to say it. I wish
00:33:23
it weren't true. Breaks my heart. But
00:33:25
anyway, most people have a journey.
00:33:27
Cake, for example, this coming holiday
00:33:30
season. There is lowhanging fruit.
00:33:32
There's places to begin, right? We don't
00:33:34
have to be militant. We can be, but we
00:33:37
don't have to be. But the really the
00:33:39
best place to start is alcohol
00:33:42
consumption because it's so bad. And a
00:33:47
lot of the our poor nutrition is
00:33:50
cultural. I remember being 9 years old.
00:33:53
I'm watching Saturday morning cartoons.
00:33:56
Tony the Tiger comes on. He's selling me
00:33:58
Frosted Flakes. He's like my freaking
00:34:01
dope dealer, you know? Like he's selling
00:34:03
me crack. Crack for 9year-olds is
00:34:06
frosted flakes. Boom. Right to my skull.
00:34:10
And I'm like, "Mom, I want Frosted
00:34:12
Flakes." And so the next day it's like,
00:34:15
"They're great." And I'm eating Frosted
00:34:17
Flakes. And if you look at Frosted
00:34:18
Flakes, it's poison. And I would go out
00:34:21
and run around and I would burn a lot of
00:34:22
it off. But the precedent that it was
00:34:24
setting, the habits that it was putting
00:34:26
into place was really, really bad. The
00:34:29
really the worst thing is the alcohol.
00:34:31
And alcohol is the same way. The
00:34:33
commercials for alcohol have just been
00:34:36
as bad. I mean, the one that I really,
00:34:38
really remember was Billy D. Williams
00:34:40
was like the coolest guy in the world.
00:34:42
I'm stamping my age on this. Billy D.
00:34:44
Williams, the coolest guy in the world.
00:34:46
And you know, he was doing like malt
00:34:48
liquor commercials and like the door,
00:34:51
you know, he would be standing at the
00:34:52
door and he's talking to the camera.
00:34:54
Yeah, I got malt liquor. And then this
00:34:58
gorgeous woman comes up behind him and
00:35:00
he like closes the door like, you know,
00:35:03
he's got the malt liquor. She's got the
00:35:04
malt liquor and he's about to get some,
00:35:06
right? He's about to get a little little
00:35:08
booty call. And it was like, what's
00:35:11
cooler than that? So we got we're
00:35:13
brainwashed. And so alcohol really is
00:35:16
not cool. Like I hate to say it, but
00:35:19
it's really not that cool. The
00:35:20
Clydesales are cool. Billy D. Williams
00:35:23
is cool. The tequila guy, right, the Van
00:35:26
Halen singer, the second singer for Van
00:35:28
Halen, you know, with people my age,
00:35:31
he's so cool. He's selling some fancy
00:35:33
tequila. And like people I know that are
00:35:35
my age that are well to do Cabo Wabo or
00:35:39
whatever his tequila is, people love to
00:35:41
drink that tequila cuz it's cool. But
00:35:42
it's not really that cool. It destroys
00:35:44
your brain. It makes you fat. It messes
00:35:48
with your internal organs. And it
00:35:51
destroys your metabolic health. And it
00:35:53
causes cancer, by the way. It affects
00:35:55
your sleep. I could go on and on the
00:35:57
negative effects. So, the place I would
00:35:59
start with would be alcohol consumption.
00:36:01
That would be number one. And, you know,
00:36:03
if you're not going to like cut it out
00:36:05
completely, you know, you just say,
00:36:07
"Hey, you know, this is Christmas Eve.
00:36:08
I'm going two drinks. I'm not going
00:36:11
seven. And that week I'm going five
00:36:14
drinks. I'm not going 15 or Katy bar the
00:36:17
door. Like I'm just going to limit it.
00:36:19
And by the way, as an aside, if you
00:36:22
can't limit it, you really got a
00:36:23
problem.
00:36:24
>> Yeah. Yeah. You might need to seek some
00:36:26
help.
00:36:26
>> You might want to see some help. Like if
00:36:27
you say, "Hey, I'm just going to have Q
00:36:28
tonight." You wind up having aid, you
00:36:30
got a problem there. I mean, I'm just
00:36:32
It's a slap. I'm slapping you in the
00:36:33
face. Just saying it, but I'm just
00:36:35
talking reality. That would be number
00:36:37
one. Number two, what I would recommend
00:36:40
is that you eat. I would call this the
00:36:42
right foot rule. Like you get off foot
00:36:44
in the right foot. So what I would do is
00:36:47
I would eat a lot of high protein
00:36:52
natural foods to start the evening.
00:36:56
>> I still think about this one, Phil. I
00:36:57
remember this one from us talking about
00:36:59
it.
00:37:00
>> It's so critical.
00:37:01
>> Like as a matter of fact, I've had one
00:37:03
meal so far today and that was six eggs.
00:37:07
>> And it's 5:30 p.m. as we speak right now
00:37:09
for for listeners. one one meal by 5:30
00:37:12
>> about about before we before I came on
00:37:14
about 4:30 about an hour ago before I
00:37:17
came on had a half dozen eggs that's 40
00:37:20
grams of protein and 400 calories give
00:37:24
or take you know all the healthiest fats
00:37:26
in the world and amino acids and
00:37:29
vitamins galore and I wasn't hung I'm
00:37:32
not hungry after I do that and then I'll
00:37:34
have a little dinner with my family and
00:37:36
I'll be good to go and I'll have animal
00:37:39
protein and vegetables for dinner and
00:37:41
that's that. And so if it's
00:37:43
Thanksgiving, before you start piling
00:37:46
into the stuffing, before you start
00:37:49
piling into those little rollup
00:37:51
biscuits, that's what we make. The
00:37:54
Pillsbury dis biscuits. They disappear.
00:37:57
They disappear in about 5 seconds, by
00:37:59
the way. We make them. Got to make them.
00:38:01
I'm having relatives over. But they
00:38:03
disappear in like two seconds. instead
00:38:05
of having starting with those, you just
00:38:07
get a big plate of turkey and you have a
00:38:09
bunch of bunch of turkey and that way at
00:38:11
least you started with something. So if
00:38:13
you go off a little bit off the rails,
00:38:15
you got a head start off on the right
00:38:17
foot. Those are two big recommendations.
00:38:19
Limit alcohol and get off on the right
00:38:22
foot. I like those two cuz they're
00:38:23
simple, right? It's it's not 10
00:38:25
different directions that are kind of
00:38:26
complex. It's two simple things that we
00:38:28
can all keep in mind. I'm kind of
00:38:30
thinking chronologically here. So, you
00:38:32
know, we get through after Thanksgiving.
00:38:34
Now, we've got that holiday party
00:38:36
season. Probably there's more
00:38:38
opportunities to drink. And then
00:38:39
eventually we get into what Christmas
00:38:41
cookie exchanges. I think in our office,
00:38:43
so many people bring in food to the
00:38:46
office. Our break room becomes a sugar
00:38:49
factory during that 3-week period
00:38:51
between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
00:38:54
Eventually though, we get to the tail
00:38:55
end of all this. It's now January 1st or
00:38:58
maybe it's December 31st and we're
00:39:00
thinking about potentially hopefully
00:39:02
we're not thinking about too many
00:39:03
unhealthy choices, but maybe we're
00:39:05
sitting there thinking I got to do
00:39:07
something and tomorrow is New Year's
00:39:09
Eve. So, I'm interested to hear your
00:39:11
thoughts on health related New Year's
00:39:14
resolutions. I I liked what you said a
00:39:16
few minutes ago about this is a journey.
00:39:18
It it isn't necessarily just one day the
00:39:20
light switch flips and you go go, but
00:39:23
either way, you know, to bring it home,
00:39:25
what does whether it's a New Year's
00:39:27
resolution or just in general a a
00:39:30
lifestyle change, a slow and steady
00:39:32
lifestyle change, what does that plan
00:39:34
look like going forward?
00:39:35
>> New Years are great. Like people will
00:39:38
sort of criticize them and say, "Well,
00:39:41
why don't why not just start today?"
00:39:43
They're great. The same way that round
00:39:46
numbers on the major averages are great.
00:39:49
Dow 40,000 means something. It meant
00:39:51
something when we crossed it. Dow 10,000
00:39:54
meant some meant something. You know, I
00:39:56
remember like Mark Haynes having the hat
00:39:58
back in the day on CNBC. Those round
00:40:00
numbers mean something because that's
00:40:02
the way our brains were. It's just as
00:40:04
simple as that. And so the moments mean
00:40:08
something. And birth and rebirth are
00:40:12
mythologies are archetypes for a really
00:40:14
good reason because that is important to
00:40:17
us too. And throughout history and
00:40:19
throughout stories I mean just look at
00:40:21
the Bible. You know we're talking about
00:40:23
Christmas right now. Well look think
00:40:25
about Easter. That's the rebirth of you
00:40:28
know he has risen right? It's a rebirth
00:40:30
of Christ. that is like it's built in
00:40:33
because metaphorically rebirth is so
00:40:36
important to us and we can all be reborn
00:40:39
multiple times throughout our lives.
00:40:42
>> So what I would recommend for a New
00:40:44
Year's a New Year's resolution is I
00:40:46
would recommend that you not try to like
00:40:49
just do everything. Hey, I'm exercising.
00:40:53
I'm going to run a marathon. I'm going
00:40:55
to lose 50 pounds. I'm going to stop
00:40:57
eating ice cream. I'm gonna do, you
00:40:59
know, don't try to do it all. Just pick
00:41:02
one thing. Pick one thing that is
00:41:06
getting your goat. That might not even
00:41:08
have to be the biggest worst thing. Just
00:41:10
one thing and go after that. Hey, I'm
00:41:14
going to go for a walk five mornings a
00:41:16
week. By the way, going for a walk in
00:41:18
the morning outdoors is one of the
00:41:20
healthiest things you can do in in the
00:41:22
history of the world. It affects your
00:41:24
mood throughout the day. It gets your
00:41:26
blood flowing. It evens your metabolism.
00:41:30
It resets your circadian rhythm and
00:41:33
improves your sleep even though it's in
00:41:35
the morning. Multiple great effects. So
00:41:38
maybe the thing is that, hey, you know
00:41:39
what? I'm going to start going for a
00:41:41
walk. And maybe you go out and for
00:41:43
Christmas, you get yourself some warm
00:41:45
exercise clothes, like, you know, you
00:41:47
get a pair of like the lined leggings or
00:41:50
whatever. And, you know, a pair of
00:41:52
gloves that are like sleek but warm. and
00:41:56
you get out there and you just start
00:41:59
walking and maybe that's it. Maybe
00:42:01
that's it because we are all, you know,
00:42:03
we're all interconnected. Mind, body,
00:42:05
spirit is one word. We're all
00:42:07
inconnected. And once we start getting
00:42:10
ourselves moving in the right direction
00:42:11
once we do one thing, maybe it could be
00:42:14
to stop drinking. Like that could be one
00:42:16
thing. Like that's a tough one, but
00:42:18
maybe that could be that one thing. I
00:42:19
can't recommend it enough. When I did
00:42:21
it, it changed my whole life. So maybe
00:42:23
I'm just biased, but now I've done a lot
00:42:26
of research in that area and I know how
00:42:29
much it affects you. In fact, I have a I
00:42:31
have a pro bono client that I've been
00:42:34
working with. He reached out to me when
00:42:36
I wrote that article and I just said,
00:42:38
"Listen, we're going to talk. You know,
00:42:40
we're going to talk a couple times a
00:42:41
month for half an hour and he's not in a
00:42:44
position to pay me." and he's been I
00:42:47
talked to him today and he has been
00:42:50
sober for 3 months almost 3 months he's
00:42:54
like hey I'm my brain is clear getting
00:42:56
clearer during the day I'm not as foggy
00:42:59
and I'm be able to think a bit more it's
00:43:01
just having so it can be that like he'll
00:43:04
two years from now he'll still be having
00:43:07
effects like his body will still be
00:43:09
healing and he'll still be having
00:43:11
positive mood effects positive executive
00:43:14
functioning effects
00:43:15
positive energy effects, positively
00:43:18
positive metabolic health effects, and
00:43:20
body weight effects, positive body
00:43:22
weight effects. Drinking is another
00:43:24
great one. But just getting and walking
00:43:27
is a simple one. Hey, I'm going to walk
00:43:29
more days than not in the morning, get
00:43:32
out, get fresh air. Once you do it four
00:43:34
or five times, you're like, "Wow, I feel
00:43:36
great." You get back and you're like,
00:43:38
"Okay, can get really get some stuff
00:43:40
done." That That's what I would really
00:43:42
recommend. I would really recommend that
00:43:45
if you want to go hardcore, I would
00:43:47
definitely recommend another one would
00:43:50
be to begin to cut out carbohydrates and
00:43:54
especially processed carbohydrates
00:43:56
because those are one way of looking at
00:43:59
our obesity problem. A fancy term that
00:44:02
the fancymancy guys use is they use this
00:44:04
term called energy toxicity. And what
00:44:07
they mean by that is that we're just
00:44:09
taking in too much energy. And what do
00:44:11
we do? And carbohydrates are energy. Fat
00:44:13
is energy. Carbohydrates are energy. And
00:44:15
then protein is protein. That's the
00:44:17
really the two major classes, the two
00:44:20
major classes of macronutrients. When
00:44:22
you begin lowering your carbohydrates,
00:44:25
that energy toxicity, the excessive
00:44:27
amount of energy, because what happens
00:44:29
when we take in too much energy, our
00:44:31
bodies store it as fat. So that's how we
00:44:33
get fat. We take in way too much energy.
00:44:35
We have we live in this world of
00:44:36
abundance. We could go to a restaurant
00:44:39
and eat three pieces of bread before we
00:44:42
get a pizza. How much energy toxicity is
00:44:44
that right there in that one meal? Or
00:44:47
you have a uh you know, you have four
00:44:49
pieces of bread and chicken parmesan.
00:44:51
That's a lot of energy toxicity right
00:44:53
there. And so if you want to cut down,
00:44:56
you know, I would I would recommend
00:44:58
googling like low I'm not going to get
00:44:59
into details of it, but googling low
00:45:01
carbohydrate therapeutic diet would be
00:45:04
something that I would highly recommend.
00:45:06
So any one of those doesn't have to be
00:45:08
all three, but just pick one that like
00:45:10
resonates with you and do that one.
00:45:13
>> That's awesome, Phil. Our bodies are
00:45:15
temples and as you love to say, like we
00:45:16
only get one of them, right? We only get
00:45:18
one of them. And as much as we want to
00:45:21
go into this year end and celebrate this
00:45:23
holiday season, personally, I think
00:45:25
finding that balance is huge and health
00:45:27
is wealth, we know these things are
00:45:29
interconnected. So, thank you so much
00:45:31
for coming on today and and sharing your
00:45:33
wisdom with us. And uh I alluded earlier
00:45:35
to some of your blog posts and I know at
00:45:38
one time you were getting behind the
00:45:39
microphone a little bit. So I'm I'm just
00:45:41
not sure if you are still kind of
00:45:42
writing or recording anything or simply
00:45:45
just if if someone wants to reach out to
00:45:47
you to ask you a question or to follow
00:45:49
along with some of what you're doing.
00:45:51
How can people find you? Just go to
00:45:52
philpearlman.com.
00:45:54
I'm going to be cranking the blog back
00:45:56
up. I took some time off. I didn't
00:45:58
really have that much to say. Like
00:46:00
everything that I've said, everything
00:46:02
I've said today, I've already said
00:46:04
before. You know what I mean? Like I'm
00:46:05
putting it together in a beautiful way
00:46:07
and we're doing it in a really seasonal
00:46:09
way, which is very, very nice. But a lot
00:46:11
of these ideas for months, I've written
00:46:13
about it before and so I'm ready to
00:46:16
start up again. Like I had like I took a
00:46:18
little, you know, I consolidated in a
00:46:20
higher area and now I'm about ready to
00:46:22
break out again. So it's a great time to
00:46:25
go to philprin.com
00:46:27
and sign up. find the Prime Cuts blog
00:46:30
and sign up for that. And yes, you might
00:46:32
even see some videos from me as well.
00:46:34
>> That's awesome. We'll link it in the
00:46:36
show notes. I follow Prime Cuts so that
00:46:38
when you do write, I was going to say
00:46:39
it's been a little while, but when you
00:46:40
do write, it ends up in my inbox and uh
00:46:42
it's always worth reading.
00:46:44
>> I took the summer off. Like I just do,
00:46:46
you know, I'm just doing my thing now.
00:46:47
Like I'm just, you know, I could take
00:46:49
the summer off.
00:46:50
>> I totally get it, man. Good for you,
00:46:52
Phil. Well, hey, thank you again for
00:46:54
coming on Personal Finance for Long-Term
00:46:55
Investors.
00:46:56
>> Adios. Thank you for having me, Jesse.
00:46:59
Appreciate you.
00:46:59
>> Thanks for tuning in to this episode of
00:47:01
Personal Finance for Long-Term
00:47:03
Investors. If you have a question for
00:47:05
Jesse to answer on a future episode,
00:47:07
send him an email over at his blog, The
00:47:09
Bestinest. His email address is
00:47:14
Again, that's jessevestinterest.blog.
00:47:18
Did you enjoy the show? Subscribe, rate,
00:47:20
and review the podcast wherever you
00:47:22
listen. This helps others find the show
00:47:24
and invest in knowledge themselves. and
00:47:27
we really appreciate it. We'll catch you
00:47:29
on the next episode of Personal Finance
00:47:31
for Long-Term Investors. Personal
00:47:33
Finance for Long-Term Investors is a
00:47:35
personal podcast meant for education and
00:47:37
entertainment. It should not be taken as
00:47:40
financial advice and it's not
00:47:41
prescriptive of your financial
00:47:43
situation.

Episode Highlights

  • Discover Your Deeper Yes
    Understanding your deeper yes can help you make better financial and health decisions.
    @ 08m 47s
    November 26, 2025
  • The Four Elements of Good Health
    Phil Pearlman shares the four pillars of health: nutrition, exercise, sleep, and love.
    @ 13m 26s
    November 26, 2025
  • A Turning Point
    After a night of partying, I hit rock bottom and decided to quit for good.
    “That was the last time that I ever partied.”
    @ 19m 58s
    November 26, 2025
  • The Importance of Nutrition
    Nutrition is critical for health, especially during the holiday season.
    “You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet.”
    @ 26m 24s
    November 26, 2025
  • Facing Alcohol's Impact
    Alcohol consumption is detrimental to health and should be limited during the holidays.
    “Alcohol really is not cool.”
    @ 35m 16s
    November 26, 2025
  • Simple Health Tips
    Start your evening with high protein foods and limit alcohol for better health. 'Limit alcohol and get off on the right foot.'
    “Limit alcohol and get off on the right foot.”
    @ 38m 19s
    November 26, 2025
  • New Year's Resolutions
    New Year's resolutions can be a powerful motivator for change. 'New Years are great... they mean something.'
    “New Years are great. They mean something.”
    @ 39m 38s
    November 26, 2025
  • Walking for Health
    Walking outdoors in the morning can improve mood and metabolism. 'Going for a walk in the morning outdoors is one of the healthiest things you can do.'
    “Going for a walk in the morning outdoors is one of the healthiest things you can do.”
    @ 41m 18s
    November 26, 2025

Episode Quotes

Key Moments

  • Investment in Knowledge00:04
  • Four Elements of Health13:26
  • Rock Bottom Moment19:58
  • Nutrition Focus26:24
  • Health Tips36:40
  • New Year Reflections39:00
  • Lifestyle Changes39:30
  • Walking Benefits41:30

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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