774. "Nobody has taken your value from you. You're worthless because you are not doing anything of worth." Foodways Coaching Jon Katz

All right folks, let's get it.I'm always interested in diving into personal stories of change and resilience and triumph.Because these are tales that will inspire, motivate each and every one of us to reach higher and strive for the life that we dream of.I often say what is is not all there is.And today my guest lives that very mantra.Today I welcome John Katz.Cool cats.I like to call him.He's an online mindset and nutrition coach, and I've really gotten to know him over the last year and we have a special bond because he lived many years in New Orleans and now lives back in his home state of New York.And his path is much of one that we can all identify with, get outta high school, go away to college, and things just sometimes just turn awry.And you'll hear in today's episode on how John nearly destroyed his life.He was on the brink of self-destruction and today is a beacon of inspiration.It's nothing short of remarkable.His transformation from being obese,unhealthy, and now he has learned to master not only his mental state,but also his physical state as well.His story underlines that internal validation outweighs external recognition and no achievement is beyond our reach if we commit fully and truly.So sit back, tune in, and get ready to discover the courage and determination it takes to transform oneself and redefine the odds.You're the odds maker, not the odds taker.Don't take what life has handed you, transform it.This is a conversation you don't wanna miss because who knows, it might be the catalyst you need for your own transformation.You can connect with John Katz,that's K A T z, Foodways Coaching right there on Instagram.So with that, Enjoy today's conversation with John Katz.Big Marsh, can you hear me?All right, I got you now, bro.What's happening?Oh, we're chilling.Pleasure to be here.Yes sir.Man, glad to finally meet you in person.Almost in person at least.The closest thing to it, man.Yeah.I mean, there's so many people in this space, but there are so few Louisiana cats.It's, it's great to connect with, with one of the rare few, I mean, I'm in New York City, born, raised, diehard,but in terms of states, Louisiana is my favorite state by far as a whole.Yeah.Diversity and like everything going on across the state, it's just mind blowing.And, and folks are unaware.Like I lived in, in New Orleans,Louisiana for about half my life.Uh, 14, 15 years.And so during that time I was able to travel across the state and I just have so much love for Louisiana.It's great to connect with Louisiana on here.Yeah, definitely, man.Definitely.So, so you were, you're born in New York.Born and raised in New York City and looking to get out.After high school went to Tulane University in New Orleans.And like a lot of, a lot of folks that got a taste of the big easy, like it's not a joke.That name is well deserved.One can exert a minimal effort for a certain type of lifestyle there, and it's very seductive.So I was there post-graduation for another decade, so I did my four years back and forth to New York and then another 10years of living full-time in New Orleans.What did you, uh, what did you go to Tulane for?I got a liberal arts degree.You know, more, it's very much my abstract part of my life, you know, before,many, many years before I got focused on actually learning, uh, you know, real.Applicable knowledge, things that were gonna help me survive the world.Uh, I was very into history, so I studied Latin American history and I got a piece of paper that certified me to do absolutely nothing with it.And it spent, I spent four years,I swear marsh, this is, this is for my lips to God's ears.The first time I did a pull-up unassisted was a greater sense of accomplishment than when I received my degree from Tulane.And that's my word.Dude, I heard you say that, um, I was listening to, uh, to one of your,one of your podcasts that you did,and, you know, talk about that, man.Why, why is that, why is that so,uh, distinguishable against, uh, or verses I can totally relate to it, but what, why does it mean so much to you?Internal, uh, validation versus external validation.A degree is something that an external party grants you upon completion of a certain number of tasks.Uh, pull up is something that you have granted yourself upon completion of a certain number of tasks.And your boy was, I believe I was clinically obese.I, I need to run the numbers,but I was either at the precipice of being clinically obese or actually clinically obese.My, my BMI was so high and I had so little muscle, so the actions that I had to take in order to give myself a pull up.Were far different than the actions I had to take to get certified by,by a university that I had to, you know, receive this piece of paper.Um, and you know, it's, you, you can bullshit your way around a university.You can't bullshit your way around getting, promoting yourself in life.I think that's an interesting, no, that's it.That's, that's even, that's even more on point than, than the way I put it.That's exactly it.Oh shit.I bullshitted a ton of things.I was not, I was like, you know, the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.So I was living a certain type of way and I was doing certain things in school.You can definitely get through not really coming.Correct.The classes that I loved, I poured myself and my love into it.And the classes that I didn't, I poured everything else into it and you know, and yeah, a hundred percent you can trick, lie, cheats, steal.Plagiarized do all types of stuff.I stayed away from most of that, but I definitely didn't give it my all.In order to go from clinically obese to doing pull-ups, you have to give it your all.There's no way.No way around it.Yeah, because it's just you in the bar.I mean, there's nothing else.Facts.Facts.And I know so much sketchy stuff like pay for play and like.Students trying to hook up with teachers and just like New Orleans is a wild place and, and the university structure, they call it a bubble.It's an uptown bubble, uh, with a lot of northerners and a lot of money, which are two things that New Orleans doesn't really have.Um, it creates this kind of false reality.But people are still, but New Orleans in and of itself is an extremely corrupt, extremely beautiful, extremely diverse, somewhat dirty place,and a lot of that seeped into it.So especially in, nor in at Tulane where I went a lot of like.Pretty unfortunate things were going down.Like a lot of my classmates died.Like people need to understand that New Orleans is a wild place.In my first year, there were multiple notifications, and I'm not trying to come off like going to school as hard or like I had went through anything, but you know,to be in a place where 18, 19 year olds are dying from a degenerate lifestyle,from binge drinking and just like this culture of death was, was interesting.I mean, I was in the, I was in the thick of it at the time, so it didn't really phase me, but in hindsight, like that should have shown me exactly what New Orleans is.What, what in what ways did New Orleans prepare you for, um, for life?You know, because I, I know there are,there, there, there's always the bad in, in so many things and especially,you know, new Orleans is times 1000.Um, but also I do believe in, in what you have, what one has gone through.Um, is actually a, a great preparation for things to come.So in, in seeing and experiencing the,the death, um, and the oppression and just the, you know, just the, the wildness of it all, undisciplined, wildness of it all.In what ways did New Orleans help you as you've gotten older?I mean, it created such a good anchor,such a good focal point for me to reflect back upon from like a formerly.Pretty degenerate style of living.This real taking and taking, and taking,and it's a good way to motivate myself forward now and knowing what not to do.I moved back to New York and continued a lot of those behaviors,but New Orleans like encourages it.It like engenders it.You can drink on the street.The bars don't close.The bars don't close.People talk about New York City being the city that never sleeps.That's bullshit.New Yorkers are babies compared to the the party people in New Orleans.I mean, the places don't closed ever.Like there are bars that are open 24 7.I'm pretty sure that's illegal in New York City, actually, I'm certain of it.New York there is like drug couriers.You can essentially get anything delivered to your door.But New Orleans is, alcohol is everywhere.It's a culture of alcoholism and it's been totally normalized.One of the things I, I say all the time is that, Something that has been normalized doesn't mean that it's normal In New Orleans, the normalization of alcoholism is just part of the cultural fabric.Every single event has alcohol in it, at alcohol, at it,no matter what time of day.It's a famous restaurant,commander's Palace.I know you know it.Oh yeah.People listening, I'm sure they had,and I'm pretty sure they still do.They have a 25 cent martini lunch.I mean, this.Wow.For people to go to and then go back to doing whatever they were doing before.It's not just a place for alcoholics to go and then you know, fuck off the rest of the day.There's 25 cent lunch at this very high end restaurant, and then you go back to doing whatever your normal life is.I get that's what it prepared me for.New orleans's prepared me to live a completely different way by showing me that it's so easy to fall into these negative behavior thought patterns in a city like New Orleans where everything's been normalized.I like the word that you use is, is normalized one of the things I always say is who's pissing in your fish tank or who's swimming in your fish tank., because the people who are swimming in your fish tank are also taking a shit in your fish tank as well.Um, so you know, And I find it interesting that it's so normalization is so elusive because you know, you what first is like totally and for good or bad, but what, what, what you step into, let's just use New Orleans as a backdrop.Not to, not to hate on New Orleans cuz there's some great things about it, but.It's interesting.It is definitely an interesting place,but you know, people step into an environment like that at first and it seems so outlandish, but then all of a sudden it just becomes, uh, a way of life.So in what ways, what are some ways that, that you have pushed against or,or put some guardrails against to make sure that you don't slip back into.Um, some of those old ways, John.I refuse to spend time with people that engaged in the acts that.That create that sort of way of life.I mean, my circle in New Orleans,as we both know, your, your network is your net worth.Proximity is power.The five people you spend the most amount of time with is gonna be the people that influence you the most.And I was living a service industry lifestyle.It's the best way to describe it.So I, in order to pay my bills, I would work various service industry jobs.And I was around service industry people, casual laborers, waiters,bartenders, people that worked in around alcohol and food.And so that became my life, you know,working for relatively low wages.Spending all my time either at a bar,restaurant as a worker, or at a bar,restaurant, or concert venue as a patron.And all of those things created a mindset around PLE pleasure and hedonism and all of that.So what I'm doing now, I don't do any of those things with any of those people, and thus I don't have any of those problems.I mean, I really had limited myself.My last job in New Orleans, I was managing a restaurant in the French Quarter and the money I was making there.I wouldn't get out of bed.I wouldn't wash my hands for that type of money now, but the mindset I had, I had degraded myself to a level through my actions, through my conduct of just being a lowlife, a broke lowlife, that I was willing to accept these wages that were befitting of a broke lowlife, because I just spent my time with broke lowlife.Have you ever worked in a restaurant?Yes.Uh, yeah.Mm-hmm.So you about exactly what I'm about service industry too.Yeah.Mm-hmm.You know exactly what I'm, by the way,I wanna take a moment to remark on how ripped you are right now that, that those, those bicep veins are like, can I can see, I just, I have to take a step back since we're talking about.Food.You know, I, I too, you've been, you've been, you've been hitting those macros.But yeah, man, like it was a trip.And speaking of food, I was managing a restaurant and, uh, one of the so-called perks of the, of the job was I received a manager meal.This is a old line, uh, Creole restaurant, extremely heavy food.So every night at the end of the shift, I would eat a massive steak and butter sauce and entire fried fish.Uh, Like a plate of lobster in, in garlic butter, uh, escargo in butter.Like all this all at once.Well, no, I mean, I, I could choose, I could choose what to say.Damn, which, whichever, and I was so lost that I thought, oh, I, I can do this, so I should do this.And that's the New Orleans mentality.Ah, let the good, let the good times roll, but.Also, yeah, I can do this.Well, I should, I can drink all day every day.Well, I'm, I might as well, you know, there, there's a f We're in festival season right now.The heart of festival season as we speak.There is, uh, it kicked off with Mardi Gras and it runs all the way through the summer.There's French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest.There's a, a festival around tomatoes.There's a festival around Merton.There's a festival every week.It feels, because the weather is so nice in the city, is so beautiful.Yeah.But the New Orleans idea of festivities are just overeating and overdrinking.So we can do it, so we might as well.The city is very beautiful.There's old architecture you only live once, nor is is the ultimate.You only live once and.It's true.I know a lot of people that lost their lives.I know multiple two of the servers that I had managed during my time,my last run at the restaurant died during my time in New Orleans.One was bludgeoned to death and one OD'ed on heroin.So these are the stakes that people play with in New Orleans.It's kind of a, like a catch base in the drain.Like a lot of people that are in trouble or not really interested in progressing, filter down to New Orleans where alcoholism and drug use has been normalized.Being lazy was a normalized,that's why I was there.Cause I could be extremely lazy and overweight and all of my behaviors were okay.But the price people pay for that is quite high and a lot of people pay with their lives.It is one of the highest murder rates in the country.And, uh, rates of attrition and death in the service industry.And, and just in the French Quarter in general, in New Orleans in general,it's, it's a, it's a very high stakes place, but people are very loose with their lives and their, and their energy and it just, it's just crazy.Yeah.I, I, and I think, I think too, um,John that, that people tend to think that they can be the exception,um, that they can beat the odds.Uh, yeah, that's everybody else, but not me.Um, and I think that's where things begin to spiral out of control because you always think that, you know, it's funny, we don't, we don't think on the,on the, on the positive side, we don't think we can beat the odds of overcoming.Uh, adversity, uncertainty,uh, complacency.We, we don't think we can do that.But on the negative side,we always think that we can.We've just got that one extra card we can play.Um, and one day, man, if you don't make decisions, it, you know,it's, it's, it's gonna run out.Uh, you, you, you, you said that people don't respond to change until,There's an ultimatum that is in play.What was the ultimatum for you and how can one, if, if they're not surrounded by someone that will give them an ultimatum, what is the way that they can begin to put ultimatums in their own lives to begin the change?You have to realize that what you're pursuing is a, is a respite disaster.It's the only way.Until I brought myself so close to self-destruction, like to the verge of self-destruction, only then was I able to see what I was doing for what it was and not what I thought it was.Which was what, what was that moment before you move on, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna put a button on that.What, what was that moment that.Because we've all had that rock bottom moment.Mine was October 16th of uh, 2022.And you know, I had lost a lot of weight over the years and I was gradually getting back to, uh, you know, I was going back to my old tendencies.I say tendencies are destructive habits.Um, and, and so I was beginning to pacify myself.I, you know, started off as one beer,then it was a little four pack, and then before you know it, I'm coming home.And I'm drinking, you know, every day.And it was just the, the lines begin the blur.And it wasn't until we both reached out to, to the same coach that we have.And it was like, that was the day that I, I, I, I paid the play and I poured out the Malibu rum I was drinking.And I, you know, and I started on this new path and I, I've never been, You know,never been in a better place in my life.But what was the ultimatum for you that, that was that rock bottom line in the sand that you said This is it.I mean, I, I just, the negative choices reached critical mass in January of 2021, like I was, oh, I was drinking multiple times a week.I was using every weekend, and the real greatest amount of pain was brought into my life from my hooking up in my pursuit of women.At Infinitum.I had gone through a breakups some months before, and in typical fashion,you know, the whole rebound bullshit,the normalization of hookup culture,the normalization of overdoing,everything just flooded into my life.I had always been pretty loose with my habits, but I typically had girlfriends.Actually the, my last partner was my fiance.I had, I typically had someone in my life that I would either engage in these negative debaucherous.Bullshit things with, or that they were okay with me just being a degenerate for whatever reason, maybe to have absolved themselves of something in their past.And my final, my last relationship ended in the late summer, early fall of 2020, and for the next several months, I went all in on pleasure.I moved back to New York by this time, and when you do a bunch of negative shit every day, it is impossible to not feel negative inside.Mm-hmm.I was feeling extremely negative inside.You know, I'd, I would wake up after a night out and have these anxiety,panic attacks, couldn't get outta bed.Then during the day, I would be totally depressed about my past,present, future, and then I would go in to try to numb that pain.I would just go overeat over,drink, overuse, try to hook up,and the cycle repeated itself.And in no short order.I was feeling like my life was worthless because I had done a lot of worthless things.People don't realize that if you have low self-worth, it's because you have taken worth away from you.Nobody has taken the worth,your value away from you.You are worthless because you are not doing anything of worth.You feel valueless because you are not doing anything of value.I felt negative because I was just engaging in negative acts.How the fuck was I supposed to feel positive when I was taking from.10 people or 20 people or a hundred people and not giving anyone an anything, not giving myself anything, least of all.So I'm really sensitive if, if you guys can't, you all can't tell for my content and just.My persona, I'm extremely sensitive and I'm really sensitive to my own conduct.I'm sensitive to energy around me and I'm sensitive to what I do,which is why I love this personal development process because now I'm so sensitive to living right?I'm like, whoa, I can do all this and like feel this way and never have to deal with any of the bullshit.I used to hang around my neck and speaking of hang around my neck,I mean in, in January of 2021, I was actively considering suicide.Like that was my rock bottom.You know, I.We speak of addiction in the space all the time.If I was addicted to anything,if I am a, cuz an addict is never, never, not an addict.If I am addicted to anything, it is negativity.And I believe very fully that it's possible to be a negativity addict.And that's what I was, I, I'm not addicted to it anymore, but in being so sensitive and being so drawn to extreme feelings, the extreme feelings that I was drawn to were ones of negativity, which I created in myself through these negative behaviors.And eventually negativity swallowed me up.And I was thinking about Macon.The last exit, you know, really taking that plunge and just saying, fuck it, because I'm in so much pain, I feel so worthless.What's the point of me being around?And that's when I reached out to Wes, our, you know, our mutual coach, and he gave me the blueprint to become addicted to positivity.And it's been, it's been off to the races.Yeah, it's, you know, it's, it's been ever upward since, and it's, I'm just ever grateful, uh, to be able to do it and define that this path.When I was living negative, I was obsessed with what other people thought about me, and now that I'm doing this, the only thing I think about is how I feel about myself.Are you bringing yourself what you need?I used to try to perform this role for others.I used to try to, yeah, I was,I was obsessed with fronting and putting on this front.If I hook up with these people,then I will be performing this role as a, you know, a valuable man.If I go to this party and use these drugs and hang around these people, then I will be perceived as the cool guy by others.But where does that leave the way we perceive ourselves?So naturally, I perceive myself as a low level scumbag, cuz that's who I was to myself.Yeah.Yeah.And, and coming from that place of extreme negativity of being interested in self-destructing for good, that's something else.Like my time in New Orleans, it anchored me to, that's what keeps me honest now.I don't want to answer to myself.I don't ever want to go back to feeling that way, so I know exactly what I have to do.The same thing you do to not feel that way.Yeah.The, uh, there, there's a, it,it's gotta be an inside out game.And you, you know, you were externally validated or trying to be externally validated.Um, my hand's both raised on that.So there's that external validation,but nothing, it, it just becomes this vicious Hampshire on a wheel you'll never get out of it, um, until you become internally motivated.Um, and validated.And then however the world perceives you is how, and trust me, if you do the work and you do the internal validation, the world has no choice but to accept you.But the way they accept you is going to be on a way higher level than if you're seeking.The external validation, uh, on that.So back to the, uh, back to the ultimatum part, what are some, what are some ways, because there's, there's so much condemnation, John, that.That, you know, we are, we're living in two different time zones.Either there are those people who are living in the past,perpetually living in the past,and they really do want to change.They just don't change.And then there's people that are living in the future thinking that one day,the eighth day of the week, someday,Will, you know, they'll, they'll get things together and it always seems to be every Monday and then, and then,and then Monday commitments break.So what are some, what are some ways that someone can begin to put an ultimatum in their life and work toward.Positive, consistent change.I mean, this is kind of brutal, but I honestly think that most people that who are going to change for the long term need to put themselves in a worse situation first.A lot of people that are interested,interested in changing, that's where that's where the line is drawn.They're interested.They want to talk about it.Maybe they even want to think about it, but they don't really want to change because if they really wanted to change, they really would change.You know, who really wants to change the man at his wit's end?Yeah.The man who cannot stand the way that his people look at them, like my, I,my family would be like on edge, like.Which John are we gonna get?Like that was really what they were thinking.Which version of this man in his thirties are we going to get because he's so unstable, so quick to fly off the handle.And I had to drive myself to an extreme point to give myself that ultimatum.I I.And I hate that.I absolutely hate that, that most people that when, who are willing to change,have to give themselves are only able to give themselves that ultimatum.Once they drive themselves to a particularly dark place, and that's why I'm on one every day on my channel, because I don't want anyone to have to reach the point that I did.In order to reach an ultimatum point for yourself, you have to decide that what you desire for your people and your future is more important than what you desire for yourself and your present.In this moment, that's what makes you give an ultimatum.I, that's what I needed.I needed to be there for my people in the long term.So I had to take away all the bullshit for myself in the present.And that was, that's what drove me to do it.And I hope that there is a, a change in, in the way people conceive of what they're able to do with their lives.But really, most people that are committed to change have to reach a point of drinking every day.Like that's extremely grim.What the, the picture you're painting, drinking every day and,and, and overeating and whatnot.That's very grim.And it's just, it's such a shame that people are not more motivated to give themselves ultimatums more frequently, but it it comes from an extreme way of being.Yeah.Yeah.And I, I think, I think too that I, I, I believe that when you, one thing that I use social media for is, To hold myself accountable.So many, uh, uh, you know, some people use social media to hide behind and display that they've got it going on.I actually use it to hold myself accountable.I have way in Wednesdays that I'm stepping on the scale, uh, and, and filming it.So that way Yeah.You know where I'm at.I have show up Sundays where I take a progress photo picture of where I'm at.It's not for, for bragging rights, it's saying I'm still putting in the work.And, you know, your post consists of those things too.Where you are, you, you're very relatable in the sense that,look, I've been where you're at.But I'm not there anymore and you shouldn't be either.Um, and you know, I, I just, I just find that, I find that so liberating that, that we, we stay outta that condemnation zone and we just,we're just putting in the work.I think sometimes, John, that,that people, and, and I want you to speak to this, I think sometimes people think that they haven't put in enough work to be begin to.Um, say it to others, um, and, and speak to that a little bit as far as when, when should someone, and, and this is an elusive trap because I think when you think that you gotta be perfect and, and then I get to this,and then I'll start telling people or showing people what to do, um, what,what's the timeframe for you, uh,to ask it in a, in a different way?Every project, every successful project begins before the project manager is ready.We never begin when we're ready in beginning, we become ready.I started speaking on social media so far before I was ready to do so because I was commanded to do so.You know, I, I had something to say and I was told that I needed to say it.Or fuck off.Mm-hmm.So if you have something to say and you don't say it, you are extremely, extremely selfish.If you know something that can help someone else and you are not willing to speak on it, you are extremely selfish.And if you think it's because you aren't confident, you aren't worthy, well that is something you need to work on.You need to invest that time in yourself so you're able to share that message.When should people start speaking?When they believe that they're gonna back it up?What you say will be met with an equal and opposite reaction from the universe.So some months after I started talking,speaking very forcefully on my page about leadership, about consistency, about what other people thought about me, like very, very clear language, and, and I invite everyone watching and listening to scroll back on my page and check this out.My apartment burned down.I lost everything in a home fire.Shortly after I began speaking very, very forcely on my page.This is the universe saying, oh,you're gonna speak this loudly.Okay, well, here's a test to see if you actually are going to act in accordance to your words, or if you're gonna be like everyone else, just talking shit.And when things get tough,you go back to overeating and drinking and fucking around.And how far, how far from your, from your decision to change your ultimatum?From the time that you made that decision and then something as catastrophic as losing, as losing everything in a house fire, what was the, what was the, the timeframe difference?So, I started this program in January of 2021.I started making content in the summer of 2021, maybe spring, summer of 2021.I started coaching in about a year later, uh, in the summer of2022, and the apartment fire hit.Maybe a month or just a few weeks after I started coaching.Wow.And yeah, so it was, it was very clear.I asked the universe for this test.I told the universe,look, I'm a leader now.I'm going to coach people.I have the knowledge base and mindset training around dealing with adversity.I came from a place of darkness and will not break no matter what darkness is delivered to me.And the new verse said, all right,John, it's time to handle business.And my normal wake up time is four.And the morning after the fire, I got up at 2 45 and I still worked out.Mm-hmm.I did everything I needed to do to continue to be a, a solid individual because what got me out of the own,my own mental apartment, fire of suicidality, anxiety, depression, being obese, well as the program, so if a actual literal apartment fire hits.And I don't use the program.Not only am I saying that the other thing doesn't work, I'm just going back to being extremely negative.I knew what I was signing up for,what I would've been signing up for if I didn't continue programming,and that's why I also post.I'm not as regimented to you as you in much respect for using social media as an accountability tools on point.I post my wake up, my workout,and my food and all that.But it's why I continue to post pictures of my body and, and to see,to show folks where I'm at physically,to show that this isn't just about getting the initial physical result.Like I got a six pack within, I don't know, seven or eight months or whatever of my initial program, but it's about showing that this program keeps you strong in times of darkness.It keeps you adherent to your word,and the social media thing is so, Rad.I love what you're, what you do, you post those weekly things and people can see, wow.Marsh isn't just talking about it.He isn't just showing us the result.He's showing us that he's continuing.Cuz you could stop right now.You're in phenomenal shape,but you continue to do it.I continue to do it.We continue to walk this path because it is the path.It's not the physical fitness necessarily.Mm-hmm.It's everything that it takes to get that.Mm-hmm.I was able to elevate in every area.And I know you, cause I hear you're talking about money and business all the time.I know that you have ascended in similar areas as well.Due to the discipline, it's not the actual end result that matters is what it took to get there.It's a lifestyle.You know, the, the difference in when I lost the weight, you know,I lost 60, 70 pounds back, um, I don't know, eight, nine years ago.That was a goal.This is a lifestyle.And October 16th, 2022,that became a lifestyle.So I, I, I flew past.The goal and just was like, wait a minute, what else is possible?And isn't it freeing to know that when we, when we do the internal work ourselves early in the morning, isn't it, isn't it liberating, John, that you can sit down at life's table, sit down in front of others,and know that they're already beat?They've lost.The game is over.I mean, sun Zu said the battle is, the battle is won.When it's not fought.You've al we have already won.We don't have, there are no more battles.I need, like the battles.I used to fight these like awful.You know what I'm talking about?That if you can't win,that battle is unwinnable.Yeah.But it, you, it only has to be fought if you sleep in and eat like shit.Like we, that's dude, that's so accurate.You, and it's actually harder.It's harder people.People have it completely backwards until you make it a lifestyle.It's going to, it's so counterintuitive,but it's actually easier to live on a process, working a process, and so much harder to spend your physical,mental, emotional, spiritual, and anything else that ends in all.Currency on trying to figure out what time am I going to bed?What time am I waking up?What about my creatives?Uh, who am I gonna spend time with today?What am I going to eat today?Am I gonna go to the gym?What am I gonna wear?I mean, the list goes on and I don't, I spend zero time, it's so process driven that I just, boom.I have six checkpoints I gotta get through every day.Six.And if I wasn't, if I didn't have a podcast, it'd be five, because I believe you should keep three to five things that you just hit these checkpoints every single day, and the results will be what the results are, and you'll be very pleased with what they are.Do you have some similar processes that you hit throughout the day that you're non-negotiables, that a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.A hundred percent.Yeah, and I love that.First of all, I, and after I listen mine, I want to hear yours, although I'm, I'm sure they're pretty similar.There's a non-negotiable wakeup time.There's non-negotiable posting, there's non-negotiable food consumption.There's non-negotiable posi,well generation, I mean the real non-negotiable cadence.Wake up time, certain set number of meals, social media posting.Those, those are all nongo and the physical fitness, of course, um, those four are, are non-negotiable and I fit everything else in around that.And I say this all the time.If, if you, if one does not have a system, you're just gonna do what the system wants you to do, which is just a path of self-destruction.They want you drinking their booze,they want you using their drugs, they want you using their dating apps.They want you.Eating their food.And they want you a slave.They want you a mental slave to their process.So no, we create our own process and the questions you asked were great.What am I gonna do?Uh, are, are you a hybrid worker?Do you go into the office ever?Oh yeah.No, I have to go in every day.Every day.So I'm sure you probably experience this.How much time do your coworkers spend.Talking about lunch, the, the lunch discussion begins at like 10 45.Yes, yes.There's 40.There's 45 minutes.45 minutes of what should we get for lunch?Then there's 45 minutes of getting lunch.Then there's 45 minutes of eating lunch,and then there's 45 minutes of self-hating because you just ate a bunch of bullshit at the most important time of the day.Yes.I do not eat heavy in the middle of the day.That's awful.That is awful.If I eat heavy Everetts at the end of the night because the extra calories and.Fat will help me go to sleep, but the office lunch culture is so real.It's like two and a half hours for something that you could spend25 minutes preparing all of your lunches for the whole week and never have to think about it.Yeah, and, and I'm big on simplicity.I, there are three things that I believe any person should get is an air fryer,uh, a microwave and canned chicken.So, uh, you know, I mean, it's just, I,I, I am so all of my meals, they take dude, like five to 10 minutes to make, I mean, they take no time and I stagger it.Um, where like when I'm heading out to the gym in the morning, I'm putting the, the steamable broccoli in the microwave for six minutes.I put my tilapia in the air fryer for, uh, eight, nine minutes.And so all of that is cooking and I'm off to the gym.So when I get back, lunch is already made.I just put it in the, in the container.And, you know, then a, a couple of the other meals that are just, you know, put together and I'm done and I walk into the office with my lunch pa.My day is already won.I've worked out, I've written, I've read,uh, my meals are planned and these guys are sitting there trying to figure out.Well, what am I gonna, and I'm, I'm just like, and you compound that over time,you save two and let's say two hours over these guys, it's 10 hours a week.Over the course of the year, you're,you already have the 10,000 hour plan after two years of this one act.This one act is getting you the10,000 hours that these other people, I guarantee you, in Westland,Louisiana, I'm sure the vast majority of your coworkers are enormous.Enormous, yeah.That.That's the way it goes.And it shows like that.When you look at someone, you can tell what their decision making capacity is.When I see someone smoking a cigarette on the streets of New York, I can understand what their decision making capacity is.When I see someone engaging in extreme negative behaviors, I know exactly what they're doing.But yeah, when you just laid out, that's how we think.It's an efficiency mindset around how can we maximize the positive time,and who gives a shit about lunch?Really?I've had the richest food in the world.You know, I had all those managers meals in the French Quarter.What am I missing?I used to travel when I was running for myself.I used to travel.I've eaten this gourmet dish in this city and this, what did that do for me?It left me obese and depressed like this.This is, it's absurd.It's crazy.It's a signal of complacency, you know?Absolutely.And, and I, you, you can eat to fuel or eat to fuel, boom.Um, and when you eat to feel.Then that is a way that you are feeding the complacency, literally feeding the complacency when you smoke, it's a feeling when you drink, it's a feeling.It's letting yourself off the hook.When you over-indulge in food, big,lavish meals, appetizers, sauces,all those things, combine it all,it's your, you're, you're, you're feeling, you're feeding your feelings.And what it's doing is it's just you're just going down this vicious cycle that you'll never get out of until you begin to fuel yourself.There it is.You cannot, there's none of that stuff will ever give you anything other than a temporary rush and a very long-lived fall.That that's all it is, all that stuff.It's, it's just, it's chasing something that isn't there.The, the feeling departs.The other thing about feelings,they depart as soon as they arrive.That's why I do my best, despite how sensitive I am and you know,how into things I get, I do my best to not feel extreme positive.Like not even positivity.I feel almost like.It's the best way of saying this,that even something like happiness can have, uh, an equal low.That the goal is to remain even keeled in positive action.It's not to have a massive upswing in, in any sort of way.Mm-hmm.Like a celebration.Right.How do people celebrate?They go out to eat mm-hmm.And drink.Mm-hmm.Like, it's wild to me.That's what a celebration is.That's how you're gonna celebrate what you did, right?Mm-hmm.So you do a bunch of stuff to do wrong.So the food thing is, is the most,it's just the most easily accessible.Drug to numb ourselves to what we're actually, you know, trying to run from,which is whatever happened, whatever the trauma is, whatever the negativity is.So let's talk about that as we,as we wind up today's episode.So your, your handle is, is n y C food ways.So what is, what is the handle signify,and, um, what do you, what is your,what is your mission today in life?So as an online coach, as a personal coach, as someone that helps others,I know firmly that our relationship with food is the fundamental flaw.That's the issue.That's where we've broken from other earth.It's where we've broken from society and a food way is a cultural pathway through food.So foodways coaching,what I do is I build that.Internal strength in concert with food and training mindset.The same program that, that you and I run with a focus on holistic eating, like eating in a sane manner.Um, initially when I started the creative project of NYC Foodways,it was more looking at food and culture from a societal perspective and the way that food and culture has influenced society and where way society has influenced food and culture.But the deeper I.Delved into it, and actually the fire really catalyzed this.I realized that talking about food and culture and cultural pathways through food is interesting from maybe an academic.Or a cultural perspective, but from a real spiritual perspective or required a greater amount of pressure.So it shifted from these more analytic long takes to very intentional, intense,short takes on what are we doing with our lives in relation to our bodies?What are do we doing with our lives in relation to food?What are we doing with our lives in relation to health?And that's what my coaching program is.It's understanding that.All of us are essentially walking the same path.It's the willingness that we have to be honest about where on the path that we are that differentiates us, and that's what I'm doing every day, is to be as honest as I can be about where I am at in order to help others advance on the path.You mentioned a lot about the, the, the food waste.Um, also talk, talk a little bit about that.Something I do, I would say in my spare time, but there it really is no spare time.It's just some part of who I am is I run a number of food rescue programs in New York City and I've coordinated them across the country.I actually built a number of them in New Orleans, and a couple of them are still around, I think, or not.I think another big issue that this society has normalized is the wasting of food.So, Our traditional food ways,cultural pathways through food did not have a space for food waste.And food waste is very much part of the contemporary American food way.This country throws out a third of all food grown over a million.New Yorkers went hungry last year.I know hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana went hungry last year.This is absurd.This speaks to the fact that our food system is broken.Our bodies are broken.All these things are broken.So in healing the food system by rescuing food and redistributing it, I'm creating a new We are.Cuz there are a lot of people involved.We are creating new food ways and it's very powerful stuff.If anyone has ever rescued food and redistributed resources that would otherwise go to the landfill or go to waste, you understand what that show of love means.And it means that you are healing our mother Earth and you are feeding people in need at the same time.So that's a big part of what I do.I work in food, I work around food, uh, in my.So-called, you know, in one of the income generating projects I, I'm involved with and in my work in food,I always create rescue projects.And then when I work with my clients,I create a way of rescuing them through the way they interact with food.So tho that's NYC foodways in a nutshell.That's great.And, and you know, food is a large language for me.I love to eat.I just absolutely love to eat and I love how you've infused not only being able to help, um, in, in a worldwide,um, Situation, but also how you're able to, uh, infuse that with people.Cuz that's one of the biggest struggles.I I think food is kind of the gateway toward, um, it's the gateway to success, but it's also the gateway to destruction as well.And I like the fact that you are,that stop that says, Hey, let's,let's tweak a few things this way.And when we do that, substituting some different things.I can get you, um, I can get you back on track.That's it.We have to be in touch with what we eat.We have to understand how and why we eat, and we have to stop wasting food.All of these three things, all of these things are linked and it's,it's a link to our own health.Our mental health.When I was overweight and wasting a lot of my life, my mental health was shot.Now that I am in shape and not wasting any of my life and not wasting any food,then my mental health is, is strong.And it's really what it comes down to.Yeah.Yeah.So, so what are some, you know,I'm always a, a, a believer when.When leaving a an episode, I'm always a believer in something they can take away.So why don't you give the listeners a, a few things that they can at least get started on, John, that will start positioning them to head in a different direction that is more positive in their life.What's a few things that, that you would leave the listeners with?It requires a certain level of honesty.The, the thing I wanna leave folks with is to really think about how your decisions affect your life.This was very, very difficult for me,and this, this allowed me to make,give myself an ultimatum of change or else I finally was honest that the decisions I made typically at night.Very negatively affect affected my feelings during the day.Yeah.And I always thought it was the other way around.If I just make more of these decisions at night, then my next day will be better.I need to make more of these decisions at night.But when I finally acknowledged honestly that my nighttime secret private decisions were actually driving me towards the brink of death during the day, that's when I knew it was time to change.So I urge everyone listening to seriously examine the decisions you make and how it impacts your life.If you can honestly examine them,you will be able to move forward.And if you can't, if you're still living a lie, if you're still lying to yourself,then you will continue to be in pain.That's, that's great.And, and I totally, the nighttime go to bed, the, the nighttime,like, seriously set, set a time.If you, if you want to change something in your life, like set a time, nine o'clock, 8 30, 9 o'clock.Go to bed, anything After that you begin really getting into some gnarly negotiations with yourself.Some acts that you, you know, whether it be drinking, whether it be indulging in the refrigerator, uh, whether it be any other vices on top of that.It's just, nothing's good after that.And then you wake up condemning yourself,kicking the can down the road, and then it just, it just, it gets worse and worse and worse and worse and worse.So where can, uh, where can the listeners, uh, connect, uh, to you,John, and when they connect to you, what can they expect to, uh, get from you?Folks can find me on Instagram at NYC foodways.That's at NYC F O O D W A Y S.In connecting with me, I'll gladly help you out of whatever state you're in, understand that no state is permanent except for the state of death.And that is the state that we are trying to avoid.I can work with you on whatever issues you have around anxiety,depression, overeating, resentments.I held a ton of resentments against my family that this process has allowed me to release and I've never been on better terms with my people.And we can just help you move forward.You know, there's no reason for you to stay where you are.Life is progression if you're willing to, to progress with your habits.If you're not willing to progress with your habits, you're gonna stay in the same position you're in.And I progress every day, and that's what I'm here to help you with.Yeah.And John is one of those guys,uh, that is living his truth.He's, he's not only the example, and you'll see his before and after photos and videos, like he's, he, he, he shares it and he lays it on the line.This is where I was, this is where I'm at.And, um, just a true, true guy man,just through and through will do anything in the world to help you out.So, uh, I definitely urge the listeners to connect to 'em.You'll be glad and your life will be better, uh, when you do.So.Last question, man.When when's the cookbook coming out?It's gotta be soon.I, multiple people have all the stuff I've put forth, and I think it's because my time spent in the food world, in the service industry world, in the world of,you know, just holistic love for food,I've gotten so many positive hits on that.I'm gonna have to do an ebook.I'm gonna have to do an ebook soon and you will get a copy free of charge for review.Cause, uh, Yeah.You know, food waves are, you can't, you can't bake a cave without a recipe, right?You can't be guessing on your, on your shit.So, soon enough, let's say end of 2024, I like that.See book market folks, and now we're gonna be hauling his ass for 2024and that cookbook is coming out.Dude, if you want some simple.Healthy dude.Sometimes I look at John's stuff and when he posts I'm like, no way, man.No way.That's healthy.And then he lists what the contents are and the the, um, what the macros are, and I'm like, whoa.And I'm like, bookmark it.I'm DMing.I'm like, dude, you gotta send me some recipes, man.So I I, I totally look forward to it.And, and it's, it's just another way, man, that you are help elevating us, uh, to the next level.So, man, it's, it's, it's been real man talking to you.Look forward to more communications and, uh, and discussions like this in the future.Uh, to come.John, thanks so much for being a part of the Marsh Vice Podcast.I appreciate it.Much love from New York.Peace.All right, my brother.Good job, man.Oh, I was on point, dude.I stayed.Do you listen to Ozi?Have we talked about ww o z,the New Orleans Community Radio?No, I heard you mention that and I think I want to say ww O z.No, it was something else.Um, there was, um, It's the greatest station in the nation.It's, what is it?It's community.So there's no fucking ads.That's the craziest thing.It's community.All the hosts are volunteers.They have like a skeleton staff of engineers and nerds to run the place.But it's 90.7.Or you can, I just stay streaming it.I just say, Alexa, you know, I'm not gonna say it, but I tell the radio to play it and it is straight up New Orleans Community Radio.Traditional jazz, contemporary jazz,like they do weird shit at night.There's like weird trippy, I mean, not up for it anymore.Sunday nights, it's the spirits of Congo Square, so it's Pan-African.It's like the entire African diaspora from the Caribbean to Brazil to the southern US to New York.What is it?What's the ww o?Oh, it's ww, o z is the call sign.So if you tell your smart speaker to play it, uh, Sunday mornings it,Saturday mornings it's like Celtic music.Sunday mornings it's gospel, but then Sunday afternoons they hit, uh,traditional Cajun music, like, wow.Acadian, by the way, I don't know if you saw the map I, I bought this at, at a gallery.It's an 1855 print.Yeah, it's saw your map when you did that post.Yeah.Tell me about Straight up.Straight up from 1855 Map of Louisiana and antique.That's, yeah, I found it an old print shop in Midtown, but this whole radio station, they, it's straight Louisiana Pride, mad love for Acadian.They play these like wild Cajun musics.They stream all of the festivals there at Jazz Fest.Um, Wow.Daytime.There's like traditional like rag time jazz, like 1910.I don't know if you're into that type of shit.Yeah, I love that shit, man.Okay.Whenever you're want to hear some bomb shit and you can listen to it work too, it's ww o z and it's on point.I stay blasting it, it can, he keeps me connected to the city and yeah, tomorrow afternoon they, they'll be playing some gauger music, so it's on point.Your last name, is that French?I don't even know what it is, bro.Um, okay.Yeah.I have no idea.People ask me that.I'm like, I don't know.I've never done the.I've never investigated it into, in further, I, you know, I would, I would imagine it's probably German because, you know, it was probably vice at one time.Mm-hmm.Um, because it's, it's vice is how you pronounce it, but it looks like bu, I mean rights juice with a B in front.So I don't know.How long have your people been in Louisiana?Oh, forever.I'm from north Louisiana originally,um, from up there in Ruston, which is,uh, right around the Shreveport area.And, um, so yeah, my dad's from Georgia.My mom's from, uh,Hattiesburg, Mississippi.Um, and you know, they moved to, uh, Louisiana cuz my dad was teaching at Louisiana Tech.He was a history professor for like 28 years.Yeah.Buddy history.Yeah.Yeah, dude.And, uh, and I came down here in 91, you know, it's like a totally different state.North Louisiana.South Louisiana.Never heard of McNeese State University and was like, yeah, I'll go visit, but I'll never end up there.Never say never.And, uh, came down here in91, been here ever since, man.And, uh, I just love it.My dad and mom, uh, divorced, but they retired and, uh, they, they both live in,uh, in the Dallas area now, so nobody's,nobody's back home anymore anyway.Gangster.That's why I asked if it was French,because, and then I remembered,yeah, you were from Rusting.Cuz I told you I knew the Dixon family from, uh, from up there.Yeah.Yeah, that's, I that's fine.It was French.It was French, but it would make less sense if it was French from North Louisiana than South Louisiana.Mm-hmm.Well, shit, this has been rocking.Thank for having me on.Thank you man.Thanks for being a part of it and,uh, look forward to more, man.This is a great discussion and, and, uh,we'll just continue to elevate from there.It'll, uh, it will, we'll, uh,we'll, we'll put it out the first.Monday of June, uh, is when you'll roll out.So let me get you that.Um, so it'd be June 5th,when, we'll, uh, when perfect.When, uh, when I'll rock it out.So I'll get you the links and stuff and that way, uh, you can, and I'll send you the whole file if you want it.That way if you want to chop it up and,and splice up some videos, uh, for your own, um, share on that end, be glad to.Sounds good.If you're down to do some collab posts of some hot takes that we can do that as well.Sure.Yeah.I'm down for that man, so anything I can do for you, bro.No, I mean, look, be knowing that I was going to do this gave me so much more power in my workup,in, in my workout, in my wake up.Because like, it's like you said,when you sit down to life's table, if you're not preparing, you're fucked.But when two dudes, I know you trained this morning, I don't even need to cheat.Check your shit to know your train.It's glowing.Dude.Your bicep vein is glowing.Like that's why I find it interesting though, and I'm, and I was actually gonna bring that up in the podcast, but I find it interesting.That both of us worked out before we got on.I like was rolling in.When you made the post.I had just walked in the door from working out.Like I haven't even changed from working out.Dude, this is my workout shirt homie.I didn't, I didn't shower.I kept a doom hat on.Yeah, I just threw this on because it kind of matches, you know,it's like an earth tone and Yeah.I mean, Everyone else is intentionally fucking that if you can do something to have this and you don't, then you're a fucking idiot.I was a fucking idiot for34 years of my life, man.Me too, dude.Me too.Dude.I had the hottest, the hottest girlfriends that I only was only with because they validated my ex.They didn't even validate my existence.They validated me to other whack dudes.Yeah, I didn't love, I didn't really love, I could, like Wes says, you can only love others as much as you love yourself.So how could I love them?Is there any wonder I was cheating on them like, It's totally fucked.But now that, yeah.Wearing our workout,clothes handling business.You got the guns popping, dude.Much love a hop.What?Whatever you need.Shit.Hit me up anytime, you know?I got you.Appreciate it, man.Much love to you, bro.I'll see you on there.