160 – Happiness, Steps and Big Stomachs – Microdose U

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Welcome to David Madow Radio! I’m Dr. Dave, the “Vaygan”, and this is The David Madow Lifestyle Show. Thank you so much for being with me! It’s going to be a great show today.

Be sure to follow my LIVE daily broadcasts on Periscope at www.periscope.tv/davidmadow.

I am in my outside studio today as usual and I welcome you. If you’re a brand new listener, thanks so much for being with me. You’re going to become addicted! I promise you! If you’re not new to me, if you’ve been around for quite some time, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Big Stomachs

Let’s get right into it! I’ve got something special to share with you today. A new project. It’s going to be coming out in 2017. Long awaited. It’s something that I think is going to help many many people all over the world. It’s called FLAT FREAKING STOMACH. When you go out and look around, I don’t know maybe when you look in the mirror, you might see yourself or many other people with a big stomach. Bigger than you want it to be. And I’ve got to tell you something, it’s one of the most difficult things to be flat. It’s very very tough. And there are all kinds of experts out there that will tell you how to do it and that it’s easy. And let me tell you something it’s not easy! It is not easy at all!

It’s starting off as a book. I’ll be releasing this in 2017 and if you want to get on my early reader’s list I welcome you! And by the way if you get on my early reader’s list, I am going to select 100 PEOPLE to get an autographed copy of my book mailed to them. It’s very simple to do. Just go to www.flatfreakingstomach.com and you’ll be on your way to achieving a FLAT FREAKING STOMACH.

Steps

So I want to talk to you about something today. I know I have talked to you about this before. It’s something that I bought several months ago that has helped me in my life immensely. It’s the Fitbit. I got it just before Hippie Road Trip #1 and I wear it everyday without fail. I held off for years. But it’s changed my life and I wouldn’t be without it. If I lost this one today, I would be on Amazon or going to the store to replace it today. I even just bought one for Yoko. Yoko saw how I was enjoying mine so I bought Yoko a Fitbit as well.

So what’s so good about a Fitbit? Well, I wear it and it tracks a lot of things. Probably the most common thing that I check on all the time is the number of steps I have taken in a day. You can set it to any default that you want. So for example, I think mine is 10,000 steps. But I set mine to 16,000. That’s my goal. That’s my minimum goal every single day. I want to take 16,000 steps which is roughly equivalent, for my stride, to about 8 miles. So by the end of the day, I know if my Fitbit says 16,000 or more, I’ve walked the equivalent of at least 8 miles every day. I start off every day doing the Magic 4. That is walking 4 (or 5) miles right off the bat every morning. I’m already up to almost 10,000 steps.

This is why I love the Fitbit. I’ll give you an example. I’m at my office today and I went to lunch. It’s about a 3-4 minute drive down the road to go to this place that I love to go for lunch. But it’s a nice day and I said to myself that I wasn’t going to drive today, I was going to walk today. Because I know if I walk, I am going to get a lot more steps in. It was about a 20 minute walk. I had my lunch and did a lot of work since I had my laptop with me. I got my stuff and walked back. The Fitbit helps me make these types of decisions. Before the Fitbit days or B.F. (before Fitbit 😉 ), I probably would have just gotten in my car and drove off.

The Fitbit makes me a lot more aware of what I’m doing every second of the day and not only that but I truly believe that the most powerful exercise that you can do in your life is walking. No matter how old you are. No matter how young you are. No matter what shape you are in. You can pretty much get out there and walk. Not everybody but almost everyone. You can pretty much get out there and do some walking. I truly believe that it is the best exercise that human beings can do. Sure I run marathons, and half marathons, I ski a lot, I backpack, and I do all kinds of crazy things. But I still believe that the best exercise known to man is walking. Just putting one foot in front of the other at a decent pace and walking. It’s great!

One of the things that I have been doing for a long time is that when I go to a shopping center or wherever it may be and they have a large parking lot, I park really really far away. People that drive with me think I’m crazy. They say, “Dave, why are you parking so far away? We can park so much closer.” Well number 1 is that God gave me legs for a reason. Why do I need to park so flipping close that people ding up my car doors and there’s just so much congestion? I drive a 2005 Volvo XE90. If you saw it, you would think the thing is brand new. And the reason is that not only do I take care of it because I’m just a neat person but since 2005 I’ve learned to park it far away. And not get my doors dinged up, and not get people bumping into me, and not doing all kinds of crazy things with it. And more than 11 years later, it could pass for a new car. Not only that but think of all the walking I’ve had to do over the past 11 years parking this car far away as opposed to close.

What else do I do? I never take an escalator. Well, if the escalator is the only option, I will always walk or run up the escalator steps. And it gets me really irritated when somebody is in front of me on the escalator and they don’t let me go by. That just irritates me because I want to keep moving my body. And I will not take elevators unless I am on the 21st floor or something like that. It’s not that easy to run up 21 flights up steps although I have been known to do it. Let’s say I am in a hotel on the 6 th floor, I will take the steps. It’s just so much better for me. I don’t need to get into a lift or something electronically up several floors because my body doesn’t want me to do that. My body wants me to move, so I move.

My Fitbit tracks all of that. It tracks the number of steps taken in a day, it tracks how many actual stairs I’ve climbed, it tracks my heart rate while I’m exercising, it tracks my heart rate when I am sleeping. It only cost me just under $200 but I only wish I would have bought one several years ago. I only wish. It’s helping my life.

I talk about the scale and the scale is an instrument to measure your weight. Some experts out there say that you shouldn’t get on the scale and that you should go by how you feel. I can’t tell what I weigh. Maybe if I gained 40 pounds and nothing fit me. Yeah I would. But I like to use the scale as a measuring device so I know where I am. So I know if maybe I need to back off a little bit because I ate a little too much the past couple of days. Hopefully that won’t happen but I use it as a tool. As an instrument. And now the same thing with the Fitbit. I use it as a tool. Without it, I would be in the dark. I wouldn’t have any idea how I’m moving my body, how many steps I’ve taken, or what my pulse rate is everyday. It’s great! It’s truly changed my life.

I used to be one that looked at people that wore Fitbit and said what do you need that for? Why do you need to track everything? But now I see. Oh it’s nice. It makes all the difference in the world.

If you’re not sure which one to get, I’ve got a couple recommendations on my website. If you go there, you are not buying it from me and it is an affiliate link but you are buying it from Amazon. I just want to make it easy for you. I’ll be putting some more things up there but right now I’ve got a couple Fitbits up there and a vegan protein powder that I really like a lot. Anything you see there under products is what I’m actually using. I just try to share with you and help you. I do all the research and testing and then I share it with you. That’s what I do! I’m here for you! I just want to make your life better and easier and healthier. And did I say happier yet? Yeah, and happier too! You could be exercising all day every day but if you’re not happy what good is it? What are we living for?

Happiness

I’ve made all the mistake in my life. Trust me, I have made them all. [Dave laughs] A couple episodes ago you heard me talking about the toughest part of my life. I hope you heard it if not go back and listen to Episode #157: The Darkest Part of My Life. I share stuff with you that I’ve never really shared before. I had 10 years of my life that were really really difficult. Trust me, they were really tough. And I don’t want you to have to go through what I went through. I am over it now, it’s fine. And no I was not addicted to drugs, I was not addicted to alcohol, nothing like that. You won’t guess it unless you listen. I want you to listen to it because I truly believe that as much I am into eating right, and being plant based, and walking the “Magic 4” every day, and being financially responsible. As much I am into all that and that stuff is really important. It is uber important. But I want you to be happy in this life. That seems to be the underlying theme when I speak to a group, like when I speak at a Veg Fest or I speak anywhere, I look into the audience and I just want everybody to be living a good life. The lives of their dreams.

I know somebody that a few years ago sold his business for 30 million dollars. No that’s not a mistake. He earned 30 million dollars! Now you might think oh wow! If I earned 30 million dollars I would be set for life. I would be so happy. I wouldn’t have any worries and I would be fine. Well that’s what he thought. But here we are a few years later, after getting a check in the mail for 30 million dollars, and he’s having some serious life problems. I watch him and see what he posts on Facebook. And he’s admitted that he’s having some really tough problems. That’s why I don’t think money solves problems. Money is not the answer to everything. Now, being financially responsible, yes that’s really really important. But you could be making 440,000 a year and spending less money than you earn and not having any debt and be extremely happy with that. This guy is literally a multi-millionaire. 30 million dollars! I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to wake up one morning and have that number in my bank account. I cannot even imagine how that would feel. I guess it would feel pretty darn good knowing that I could do pretty much anything I want in my life. Well almost anything. But no he is troubled to the point where I hope he is ok and he gets the help that he needs.

That’s why sometimes I think that God or the universe or whatever you believe, has been really kind to me. You know what I mean by that? He has not given me 30 million dollars. I have to wake up and be really creative during the day. I have to work and I have to earn my money. I did not come from a wealthy family where I did not have to work and I have all this money sitting in an account somewhere. I’ve been through some tough things in my life especially my divorce. And because I had a tremendous amount of alimony that I had to pay. I am not super wealthy. Some people would look at my bank account and say oh he has nothing to worry about. People would say he is set for life. But you know it’s not that easy. Thank God that he (or the universe) gave me a certain amount. He didn’t want me to have too much. Because maybe, I am not sure if this is true or not, but maybe with too much comes more problems. I don’t know the answer.

I think I would be ok with 30 million. I think I would be the same person. It’s easy for me to say that now because I don’t have 3o million dollars sitting in my account but I think I would be the same person. But I think the universe just keeps that away from me to kind of keep me honest about life.

I’ve got a calling. My calling is to help other. To teach. To help you. I work hard for it. And maybe that’s the way it’s just supposed to be. And I’m totally fine with it. Again, don’t feel sorry for me as I said. I don’t have my friend’s 30 million dollars. Not even close! Not even close! But I am comfortable. I am comfortable to have enough. I need to work but I don’t feel the pressure that if I don’t make enough money in a month that I won’t be able to eat. Or that if I don’t make enough money in a year that I won’t be able to eat. I don’t feel that pressure at all. I am ok. I am pretty good. I have worked really hard for what I’ve got. Even with paying an obscene amount of alimony to my ex-wife and we got that finished up last year. I don’t want to throw her under the bus. She’s a good person. There are no bad feelings whatsoever. But that’s just the way it was. And my life is fabulous now! But I don’t have 30 million like my friend has. But if it would get me to turn out like him then I don’t think I want it. [Dave giggles] I don’t want it. Keep it away from me!

Hey, I’ll see you next week! I’m Dr. Dave

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