STOP Eating Like This Immediately - The ONE Mistake That Is Killing Your Digestion and Energy - with Dr. Len Lopez

Dr. Len Lopez has been a licensed chiropractor and natural medicine specialist for over 30 years. He's the guy who coined the phrase “eating right and training smart,” and he’s sharing how that’s expanded into a whole philosophy for success in every area of life.

We start by diving into what "healthy" really means, especially for those of us navigating our 40s, 50s, and beyond.

Dr. Len dropped some serious wisdom about digestion that was a total lightbulb moment for me. He explained that, just because you ate something doesn't mean your body absorbed the nutrients!

We get into the crucial role your gut plays, and how eating how you eat (not just what you eat) can literally turn your digestive system off. Think less "warrior on a horse with a turkey leg" and more "sit, eat, and relax."

But the conversation really takes off when we talk about his "Five Steps a Day" app, which helps you build success from the inside out. 

He breaks down the acronym S.T.E.P.S. and how tracking these small, daily actions for your body, mind, and spirit can create massive change. It’s all about those tiny, actionable steps that fill up your bucket and move you out of negative self-talk and into a virtuous cycle of life.

This conversation is simple, clear, and powerful, and it’s going to give you the perfect actionable next step for wherever you are in your journey.

I loved what Dr. Len said about knowing your "Land of Milk and Honey" - your goals - because if you don't know where you're going, don't be surprised if you land in the land of headaches and heartaches. 

This is a must-listen for anyone who wants to take charge of their well-being and mindset!

To connect with Dr. Len Lopez and check out the Five Steps a Day app, you can find more information here:

• Website: www.DrLenOnline.com
• Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/drlenlopez/

Thank you for spending time with me today on the Thrive After 45™ podcast! If this episode spoke to you, be sure to hit that follow button so you never miss one.

November 2026, I will be hosting a live, in-person experience called IGNITE: The Inner Uprising™.

It is a two-day immersive gathering for 1,200 women in midlife — women who feel the quiet pull toward something more truthful, more embodied, more fully their own.

IGNITE is an extension of these conversations.

It’s where reflection becomes embodiment.

Where insight becomes integration.

Where women who have held so much for others gather to stand fully in their own sovereignty.

If something in today’s conversation stirred you — if your body leaned in — that is NOT accidental.

The waitlist is now open.

If IGNITE feels like something your future self would thank you for, I invite you to add your name here. 

https://ignite2026.lovable.app

There is a place for us to gather.

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Your journey doesn’t stop here - let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with me at denisedrinkwalter.com, and follow ...

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Hello, and welcome to today's episode of Thrive after 45. I'm Denise Drink Walter heart whisperer, midlife, mentor, and mirror. Every week I am honored to share energy and space with inspiring guests whose stories reflect so many possibilities of thriving beyond 45. Together we'll uncover the whispers of the heart. The power of midlife transformation the wisdom that fuels expansion. Have you ever wondered truly separates people who talk about health and fitness from those who actually live it, mind, body, and spirit? Today's guest has spent nearly three decades showing the world that eating right and training smart. Isn't just a slogan, it's a lifestyle presence, preparation, and purpose. Dr. Len Lopez, affectionately known as they call me, Dr. Len, brings more than. 30 years of wisdom as a licensed chiropractor, natural medicine specialist, author, and trusted media voice in holistic health and personal development. You may recognize him from Good Morning, Texas, or other national broadcasts where his blend of expertise and authenticity has inspired thousands to take charge of their wellbeing. Dr. Len's journey began with a simple vow to never, and this is his quotes, look like an idiot when speaking about health. A spark that ignited a lifelong passion for mastering the connection between nutrition, movement, mindset, and high performance through his in-office work, radio, and television appearances, and now five steps a day app. A portable pull-up bar and workhorse fitness system. Dr. Len has empowered over a thousand people to recalibrate their energy, resilience, and results from the inside out. We're gonna explore not only how he teaches people to eat right and train smart, but also how his work has expanded beyond health and fitness into helping others develop mindset and habits that sustain success in every arena of life. Welcome to our show today, Dr. Lynn. It's a pleasure to have you.

Speaker 2 2:24

Great. Thank you so much for the invite, Denise. I'm just excited to be here and looking forward to chatting with you and your audience.

Speaker 2:30

So I ha I have to start by asking, you've been in this field for a long time, 30 years plus. How has your understanding of what healthy means evolved, especially for those of us in our 40 fifties and beyond?

Speaker 2 2:53

Well, you know, it's funny because as we were chatting earlier, just the people's information. Information is everything. And, uh, over the last 30, 40, 50 years, we've gotten more information and I share a story with you. I didn't share this with you before, and, uh, but it's like, uh, you know, I started out in medicine and everything and I was gonna go in that path, and then I, then I said, okay, I met a gentleman on an airplane. I was flying back from Houston to San Antonio. To see, you know, mom and dad and everything. And I have an immediate, uh, he was an investigative reporter and we just started chatting and everything. I know, like my early twenties. And he was just telling me how that, you know, in, in medicine that what we call alternative natural medicine here in other parts of the world, that's considered medicine. The, our, what we call tradition, our, our our medicine net today. Yes. That's called the alternative medicine, other countries. And it really got me thinking about how other countries use herbs and, and mm-hmm. And, and flowers and, and various things to help heal their body. And it got me to start scratching my head a bit. And I remember when I was a kid, my aunt, she was what, in, in the, the term is called aera. Which is the Spanish word for, for healer. And, and, and my dad would say, which doctor? But, but, but she was a, she was a, and people would come to her and, and, and know formal educational training as we would think in the medicine as, but, but she was learning with herbs and flowers and chanting and, and various things. People came to her. We, I got to see her, you know, sitting behind the couch. Me and my brothers were watching her. Do what she was doing. It was kinda like an old episode of, of mash, you know, when, when the, when the Korean, uh, voodoo doctors, witch doctors would come in. But yes, it got me scratching my head and so that kind of got me to evolving my thinking and, and at that time I, I was also doing a lot of. Um, I, I, I shouldn't say bodybuilding. Just weightlift to try to just get the, I I was a skinny s squatty little 18, uh, the kid getting my, getting sand kicked in the space and everything.

Speaker 4:57

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:58

But, so I was reading lots of books on health and fitness and nutrition and stuff like that, so it really got me. So this got me to start pivoting in my thinking, and that's how I ended up here. You know, as far as just doing how does the body function? How do we nourish the body? What are we doing that's interfering with the normal process? And that's what I've really been able to make a living off of, I guess.

Speaker 5:19

I, I love that. And thank heavens that you are because. I want you to impact more than the thousands you've impacted. We have tens of hundreds of thousands, millions of women in midlife years who are going through so many physical changes in their bodies, and it. It changes not only our bodies, but our minds and how we feel about ourselves. How do we begin to understand through the lens of eating health and being smart and being fit, whatever that may be for someone, how do we be begin that journey with everything that's happening in ourselves?

Speaker 2 6:04

I always tell everybody the, the whole everything begins with eating right and training smart. And there's three basic principles that I've outlined for my, that I've seen with my patients over the years, and I'll tell everybody, the first two are really important. The first rule of eating right is do no harm to your tummy. I say that because when patients would fill out my health questionnaire, you know, and, and they were kind of sectioned off into various systems of the body and, and the one section that was always filled out the most was that, that, um, digestive function, digestive filling. Just because you ate it doesn't mean your body absorbed it, of you get bloated, gassy, poopy, burpy, sleepy after you eat. That's a sign your body didn't dig what you put in there. And you're not gonna really be able to really extract the nutrients that you need to really run the nervous system, the mental capacity, the hormonal system in your body. And so, and, and I say that because most of the patients I always saw that had, I mean, yeah, I, I can, I had those that came in, hurt their shoulder, hurt their ankle, sure, hurt their knee, hurt their back. But that was, you know, we were just more on the physical aspect. But I had a lot of, the, most of my, were were something else that it was just, you know, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, some of the, some of the, um, the, the idio path, the Ms. Lupus Crohn's that people weren't getting the results from. And they said, I gotta, I don't wanna just keep taking the more medication. And they would say, you know, they never talked to me about, about my diet. They said, it really doesn't matter, doc, just, you know, take this medication and that'll help you. Guys, just because you ate it doesn't mean your body absorbed it. If it, if your tummy explodes on you, whether in the first 20 minutes or an hour and a half later, you know, we'll talk later at another time about whether it's an upper GI or a lower GI or both, that needs to be remedied. But you know, you have, you have to take care of that. And then the, the second part of number one is just, you know, what's causing your distress because is it. Is it, well, what you eat, you're eating all the wrong stuff, or is it how you eat on the go? On the run in the car? Because when you eat like that, you're literally turning your digestive system down and not allowing it to do its job, which is to produce all the necessary. Enzymes and acid to break down your protein. And so many people, because they're going through the drive through, they're trying to race to the office in the morning, trying to race back from lunch to get back in time that they're just on the go and they're turning their, their, I don't know if you, they can see me or not, but they're turning down their, their digestive system and they're cranking up what's called the sympathetic system. They're fight or flight system. Mm-hmm. And, and it just, when you eat, you're supposed to let it work the other way. And I would tell everybody we've known for thousands of years, you should. Sit, eat and relax. You know, unfortunately there's not a pill you can take for that. But if you, as I, I like to joke, if, if you watch any old classic movie Braveheart, uh, gladiator, you don't see, you don't see them racing down the heel on the horse swinging a sword in one hand on the way to work with a Turkey leg in the other, you know, that's what we live our life now. And so you know, when it's time to eat. Sit, eat and relax. Enjoy your food because maybe that's why you're having all this explosion in your tummy is because you're eating on the go, on the run in the car. You're not giving your digestive system and the opportunity it needs to produce those necessary, uh, enzymes and acid to break down the protein and the fact that everybody's eating, or I shouldn't say everybody, a lot of more people are eating more protein. Guys, you need acid to break down protein. No acid. There's no protein digestion that's gonna further create that explosion inside your body. And so it, it's, you know, it, it's not just what you eat, but it's also how eat. So those are the first thing because you get those first dom in line. And I say it that way because so many ill health problems and, and I, and, and I know most of your audiences are, are female. Right. But most of having a tummy ache, getting bloated, getting gassy, you know, that's kind of, you know, people are more than happy, in my opinion, to tell you their hormones are out of bound, their sinuses are going crazy, but they're not going to tell you how gassy and poopy they are. That's just not Right. Right, right. And, and so it's, they don't deal with that, but, but that's really the first domino that fall, and then fifth or seventh domino down there. Oh, my immune system is, is, is, is, is attacking itself. Those are those idiopathic problems that we're talking about, that people that have. And so you have to get back to the real cause. And so I, I always tell everybody, you have to learn to eat right and train smart to, to get what you're, where you're trying to achieve.

Speaker 10:55

Love that. Thank you so much. For the concrete example, I am gonna see Braveheart very differently than I have in the past. I love that, that, that just, that just that took it home for me. I can remember when we were driving kids to events, never had enough time. So eating right was never about, it wasn't about the right, wasn't about. What I was consuming, it was about timing. I don't have enough time. We go through the drive through, oh, I'll get a bagel instead of a hamburger. That's better. I've made the better choice, probably is a bit better, but in reality, we're chewing away as we're driving and it's not slowing down everything. I also love what you say in terms of just because you're eating it doesn't mean you're gathering the benefits from it.

Speaker 2 11:53

That's, that's the biggest misconception that people have. Or, or, you know, when I, when I sit and talk with them, they, you know, the light bulb goes on. Yeah. But you had to push on it to get the light bulb to go on for a minute. But you don't really think about that. You say, oh, this is a good, this is a better choice. Look, it has a little, little heart symbol next to it. This must be good for me, even though I'm eating it on the run, on the go. And again, it, you know, what's causing your problem? Is it the food you're eating, you're eating lots of processed, cooked, you know, pre, you know, yes. Refined foods is one thing, right? Maybe it's a, you just, you need to do a better job of combining your foods appropriately, which is really important, especially if you have this, as I like to say, a twisted ankle of a tummy right now. But you know, it's how you eat eating on the go in the hurry in the car now. Yeah, I do that too. You know, I'll travel maybe once a week, once every other week or so, and I, I'm, I'm rushed for time also, so. I know when I'm gonna do that. There's ways to do it also, right? To where you lessen the lessen, any potential blow out there. But yeah, you have to just look at how you're eating. Just because you ate it doesn't mean your body absorbed it. Because the only thing you should feel after eating guys is just less hungry. If you're feeling, you know, burpee, um, uh, burpee, poopy, sleepy. Yeah. You know, any of that stuff, that's a sign you're, you're, and you're not gonna get the value of the nutrients. Because your body still has to break down and draw out the, the macronutrients, the micronutrients, the carbohydrates, the protein, the vitamin C, the vitamin D, the vitamin B to be utilized in this system, we call our human body, and so it just doesn't automatically have'em by just swallowing it. It's a whole new, the, the, the factory has to get to work.

Speaker 13:38

Love that. Such brilliance, and I've never had a conversation that's opened up that door of understanding before, so thank you for that. Oh,

Speaker 2 13:48

cool. Good.

Speaker 13:49

Wonderful. You started out as the health and fitness guy focusing on helping what you just talked about. How did that. Eating right and training smart. How did that evolve into guiding people into more personal development and mind stuff? Mindset work?

Speaker 2 14:12

Uh, it, it's funny because, uh, I, when I got out of school, you know, back in the, the eighties, the early eighties, and I graduated and was, it was moving on, I realized, hey. Uh, they, they educated me on how to, how to think and, and how to fill out paperwork and do all that stuff. But it didn't get really, really helped me think about how to be successful, get to the next level. And, and I noticed over the years when I was in practice with my patients there, you know, they would sit there, they'd come to talk to me about health and fitness issues, so to speak. Right? And we'd be talking and as we created more of a. A relationship, friendship, and everything. They would share more. And, and I would hear some of the, uh, their concerns that they're not where they would like to be in their life, in their other venues of, of, of their success and careers and, and, and relationships, things like that. Right. And their spiritual right. And so I could, I would hear that, but I always felt like, okay, you know, they're here to talk about this. Mm-hmm. Lemme make sure I stay in my lane. And, you know, we would touch some of that a little bit as well. But, but it was, it was must have been. One day, not, not too long ago, I was being interviewed for Authority Magazine and they asked me a question about, uh, we did an article on health and fitness and they came back about a year later. They said, Hey Doc, we wanna do another one on health and fitness, but we wanna do it on. Body, mind and spirit. I don't know if that's within your realm or what you think that might be kind of for some people may make, you know, but they just kind of preface the question to me that way. Sure. And it, which made me feel okay. And I thought about, because I had created five steps a day, uh, years earlier. And so I thought about it and I said, let me share with them and everything. Mm-hmm. And so I sent it to'em the next morning, everything. And I was so, uh, I dunno what to say, jubilant, because they came and said, this is the coolest thing we've ever seen, doc. There's all kinds of, of techniques and journals and apps on how to, how to track your physical activity in journal. But this is kind of a unique thing where you just visually, in two minutes, like you say, you shade in this step. Of the action you took. And there's something about visually seeing your footsteps and the progress you're making or lack there of progress,

Speaker 16:25

right?

Speaker 2 16:25

That it really, that it, that it further anchors into you. And so after we did the article on that, it really got me thinking about, you know, maybe this might be the stepping stone that I can use to, to. Because, you know, we will talk here in a minute, hopefully about, about what the steps are. Yes. But that's kind of how it evolved because they saw it and that it got me to believe, you know, kinda like you tell your kids you can do it, you can get everything. And so they made me feel, oh. And so I, I kind of shared that with about another half dozen or, or close, intimate, you know, we all have our intimate circle, right.

Speaker 16:57

Sure.

Speaker 2 16:58

I shared it with them and, and the thing that really, really the good and the bad because they, they all came back and they read like the little, you know, one pager that I created for it. And they said, this is really cool doc. Or really, they wanna call me land And this is really cool. Uh, this, yeah, I really liked it and everything, but, uh, uh, yeah, no, it doesn't need to be a calendar. It needs to be an app. And two, can I, I need my kids to read this. And so it just really got me thinking about it. And it was kind of cool'cause then a, a another month later, uh, our, my student pastor at the church that we attend, they came back and said, Hey, doc. Hey Lynn. No, no. He, they call me Doc. He, we, we, we, we really dig that, that, that, that thing, that five steps of thing for that teen version that you created, we're doing a, um, a, uh, a weekend conference with, with all the teenagers and everything. We'd love to have you come in and share some of that. Mm. One thing that we never realized as, as I was writing out what I think are the concerns for a teen, and I'm the father of three teens. Right? Right. And is that, hey, you know, we, we, I always say, you know, we give our children, our kids full control of how they feed their mind by the time they start their second decade of life. I mean, we don't let them start driving a car until they're, you know, they're 16 years of age. But by the second decade of life, you know, they are making, they, they get to decide what they want to put into their mental shopping cart. Right? And I say, I use that analogy because my kids always say, dad, you know, why don't we buy, when you're old enough and you're buying stuff, you can decide what to put into the grocery sh into the shopping cart. Until then, mom and dad get to figure out that you know what that is. But as a teenager, and you know, you're 10, 11 years old. And I, I thought about it and I remember trying to encourage my kids to do A, B and C Oh, jump in the pool when they were two years of age. You know, you know, uh, there's that timidity in there that fear that negative.

Speaker 18:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:54

That negative self-talk that happened and then that expands to, ooh, I don't come, let's go say how to the new neighbor. Ah, no. No. Ah, right. You know, just a lot of that internal self talk starts going on, or, you know, you heard something. And so that's what steps is all about. Just trying to help. Are you feeding notches? Uh, are you doing the things you need to do just for your physical body? Are you counting, you're tracking your steps, but what are you doing for mind and spirit? And so

Speaker 19:20

love that. Tell us about the five steps. I'm pretty sure I see it right behind you. As I am looking, if you're watching this on YouTube, you will see the visual. There is a book behind Dr. Len saying Five steps a day. Share, share, share. I want to understand deeper, what's this about?

Speaker 2 19:39

Th that's the journal. Okay. Okay. That's just a written journal. That's because again, I first created it as a calendar, but all my, my, my confidants tell me. No, it needs to be an app. So we're just finishing the app right now. Love it. And, and, and the steps is just, it's just a, uh, it's just an acronym for sleep. Think. E Physical and spirit, body, mind and spirit. A lot of, a lot of your viewers here, I'm sure they're tracking their physical steps, right? Yeah. They, they, they do anything physical in mind. Did you do, uh, the letter p did you, did you do anything physical today? Did you carve out some time to be physical? I'm not a concerned about what kind of physical activity, but did you do take some kind of action if you did you shade in the letter P, right? Uh, did you eat right today? I'm not counting calories if it's organic or grass fed, or you had an extra, an extra serving. Did you have more good meals today? Then bad? Okay? Mm-hmm. And if you did shade in the e. That kind of covers your physical body. And again, you can see in less than two minutes you can shade in the steps Yeah. To see what you're doing. And there's something about visually seeing Yeah, kinda like the, the, the footprints in the sand that I think we've all seen those photos, right?

Speaker 20:50

Yes.

Speaker 2 20:51

And, and, and so lemme go back to the first two letters. Yes. S and the T sleep. Did you sleep and dream with a smile on your face? Did you fall asleep thinking about where you want to go in life? And as you dreamt about where you want to go. That smile came upon your face and you fed your, your subconscious mind the next seven, eight hours that way. Did you think better today if you did shade in thet? And I, and I said that because you know, we've learned biblical times and you know, the man is the man thinking, what kind of thoughts do right? Do we feed our mind? And I researchers say about 80% of the thoughts that we tell ourselves. Are negative Yes. Negative thoughts from yesterday. And so, you know, so that means maybe we're only putting 20% good thoughts in our minds to, to feed ourselves. But you know, you look at some of the most successful people out there, they may be at 25%. You know, they're, they still have that, some of that negative self-talk.

Speaker 21:48

Yes.

Speaker 2 21:49

But so many of us get wrapped up into be that ne negative mental mindset. Uh, I, you don't need to tell yourself a, a bazillion times, I feel great. I'm a winner. Stuff like that. But a minute here, a minute there. A minute there. Mm. You know, that could slowly start moving the needle. It's a drop in the bucket. And as my mom would say, you put more drops on that, on that. More drops. Keep on coming on that carpet. You're gonna make a big old stand and it's gonna be your rear end. You know? So it just, it just takes a little, a little, a little. And are you doing it? And yeah. And the last s is, is, yeah. Is, uh, spirit, did you work your spiritual muscles today? And I'm a big believer, you know, for me, I always say to, to neglect your spirit is to like, it is like skipping a meal. It leaves you empty. And, and, and I say it because when I, you know,'cause I've gone full circle in my walk and, and, and I used to sit there and, and, and I could always find time to exercise. To lift weights, to run, to go do this, and I could never find enough time to just open the book and read and, and be, yeah, just to, to strengthen my spiritual muscle. Then I realized, wow, there's different ways I can train to work my physical body. There's different ways Yes, to work my spiritual muscle other than just sitting and reading and you love that. I'm going. Back into the eighties when we had AM radios. And, and you could, you might hear somebody talking about, but you know, today we all, everybody's carrying a cell phone. Whether it's listening to a podcast, maybe you're gonna go fellowship with others, maybe you're gonna go serve. Yeah, maybe you're gonna attend. But there's other ways other than just. You know? Yeah. My 25 minutes of sitting down there and reading, which is great. Okay.

Speaker 23:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:22

But the days are gonna come when that's not going to happen.'cause you know it, what, what do they say? Spit happens. Right? Right. And so when it does, hey, there's, while I'm sitting in line in, in, on the, on the plane, on the tarmac, on the, on the bus or wherever, got nothing, you know, can I put something that's gonna be more. Possibly encouraging for me versus just the same old do not stuff.

Speaker 23:44

Yep. Absolutely. I love what you're saying because it's very, it's not only doable, it's actionable, it's it's concise. It doesn't have to be, I gotta carve out a ti an hour to go. Did I move my body today? Hello? Hi. Did I think. A positive thought about myself today. Those are golden. And what I find in this conversation is it's lighting me up because it's so imperative to make those tiny steps. And when you just, like you say, the drop in the bucket. It's going to be filled very quickly, quicker than we believe it can happen. Right.

Speaker 2 24:29

And it's like one of the doctors that, that, that saw this and everything, he came and said, you know, Len, and, and he's a different kind of, he, he's the mind doctor. I'm more the physical body doctor. Sure. But he was saying, you know what's really cool about this, Len? He goes, you know that you are gonna get more of an endorphin hit when you see those steps. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And when you shade in that footstep. And, and so what's more, and and I, and I always look back to where, and I didn't get the idea from Seinfeld,'cause again, I wrote this 25 years ago. Yeah. But I heard, I heard Seinfeld say, uh, and I'm a huge fan of Seinfeld. Him say that, you know, what was attributing his success, he said when he was early in his career, he would get a calendar, a wall calendar. And he would say, if I know if I want to be successful in this career. And we all know he's become very, very successful. Goes. I need to write 10 jokes a day. That's gonna be my like, like doing 50 pushups a day, right? Yeah. He goes, I need to write 10 jokes a day. And if he did that, he would put an X on that day, a red X on there. And if he did it the next day, another red X and another red x. And then he really started to, he really started digging, looking at all the red Xs. He didn't wanna break the chain and see those Yeah, those white spots in there. And, and that's what we're, what I'm trying to do with steps is because not every one of us learns by reading and, and yes. And listening. Some of us are very visual. Some of us are very kinesthetic. And so when you can look on your, on the phone, uh, or on the, on the app or, or on the, on the journal, you can see how many steps you've created and it, it's kind of a pat on the back when you say, Hey. I'm doing better. Yeah. And if you look back over your shoulder, you'll say, Hey, yeah, I think I have been a little bit better. I've noticed some, my attitudes change here, here, there, and everywhere. And so it's, it's the little steps. Little steps. And, you know, the, the, uh, the journey of a thousand Mile begins with the first step and everything. And, and so many people are, as I like to say, are caught in this vicious cycle of life. You know, right. What, what, what are we trying to get out of? Can we move to that virtuous circle? And if you start looking how you feed body, how you feed mind, how you feed spirit, you know, you may realize that may, I'm not doing a really good job of feeding my spirit or my mind, my confidence, my internal talk, my internal, you know. The two guys on the side are, they're on the, they're both over here yelling, I'm doing things wrong. Well, you need to get one, the other guy to really help hump you up a little bit. And so. It just, it's just one of those deals. Uh, lemme say one thing about that because Yeah. You know, the World Series ended the other day, right. And the Dodgers won. Okay. It wasn't the Astro, so that's okay too. But, uh, you could say over my, or, or should say the Rangers also, but it, it was great hearing Mookie Wilson, you know, uh, the, the Allstar shortstop for the Dodgers. They asked him, you know, how did you feel when, you know, when there was nine? It was, it was the 11th. They needed two months to go, right? And he goes, what? He goes. Is this the guy who's been an all star for what, A dozen years, right? He goes, oh man. I was like, no, don't hit the balls to me. You know, I don't want, you know, but he goes, no, no, no. Again, no. Be nasty. Be nasty. That's his mental cue that he uses to kind of just change that emotional state that, yeah, we all have those times where, you know, we feel the water's coming over us and everything. Right. And you know, ninth end of the game, or 11th end of the game and everything. Yeah. Do you really want. All coming at you and risk, you know, creating the error up there. But as he said, you know, his, his, his go-to word is, you know, being asked, you know, that was his mental cue and everything. I, you know, everybody's gonna create their own for themselves, depending on their genre, who they are. And, and you know, there's, there's the other one I, I like. You know, there's a, he's, um, uh, the, the, uh, the, the, the, uh, professional soccer player, Mark Fisher. You know, his, you know, his is to clap his hands, you know, which makes me z like Mr. Miyagi, you know, we all know Mr. Miyagi. He does exactly. He's ready to do something, you know, so you find cues to help move that mental state sometimes, because if you keep staying in that quick sand of that mental negative right energy, you just take the 30 seconds, a minute or so and, and, and, and let me, let me finish that, the statement here, because that, uh, Denise, because. I've had people say, so you're telling me, doc, if I just tell myself I'm bigger, I'm better, I'm bolder. You know that's gonna make a difference. You know, that's gonna change things. I go, I'll tell you this, for that one minute that you're calling you, you're telling yourself you're bigger, better, bolder. That's one less minute. You're not kicking yourself in the rear, you know, and beating yourself down. Right? And so, I don't know what it's going to take. Everybody's different. And all, everybody, you know, you know, they say, how long does it take to, to, to improve your habit? You know, some people say 21 days, some people say 90 day. It depends how, how much effort you're gonna put into it to make it happen.

Speaker 29:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:17

You know, and everybody's different. And so it's just about, it's starting small steps. Take those first few steps and everything. And so I encourage your audience, you know, check out five steps a day. It's a, it's an app that's free to download and check it out. It's also just a regular to-do list. You can just, you know, track all the, the various to-dos you gotta do, but what are you doing? Uh, the, the main to-do's are feeding body, mind, and spirit. And then you can, in my opinion, the second level is getting the groceries, getting your dog to the cleaners, get in your car, wash, all those other things as well.

Speaker 29:48

Yeah. Um. What's coming to mind is the big rocks. I don't know if you've seen that. I'm sure you have the analogy where they have the, the glass, let's say, and they say, now find your big rocks. What are most important to you? Start with your big rocks. And then when you put those in first, there's room for other stuff to go around it. If you don't look after those big rocks, and you've done such a fabulous job making it simple, clean, clear. Actionable. It's your decision, what you're going to do for the steps, what is going to be your spiritual path, what is going to be your thinking path, and I love what you're saying. What might be right for you will be not right for somebody else. It doesn't matter. It's not a comparison game. Right. I know through the work I've done. With me, by me because of me and with the work that I do and support my clients. The thing that I think is really imperative in everything that you're sharing is that there is the mind piece, and we play games with our mind all the time. What we say to ourselves. So I like how you're saying the space of the positivity isn't gonna make everything change overnight, but it cuts off the opportunity for us to think we can't. There's an a commercial on Ford right now, um, and it's like if you think you can. You will. If you think you can't, you won't. Whatever you think about will become true. So taking what you're thinking of and, and actually I feel that this five steps up will allow you to focus on it in a way you haven't before, which will bring new light of learning and understanding about what you do. Spend time thinking of right.

Speaker 2 31:40

Absolutely. And you mentioned, you said there was a commercial that, for the Ford talking about that as well.

Speaker 31:45

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 31:46

Well it was. It was, I believe it was Henry Ford who first came up with that. Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right to phrase it that way. Exactly.

Speaker 31:55

Same.

Speaker 2 31:56

Yeah, because I, I'm gonna, you go back to Gandhi, back to scripture. There there's been phrases like that you, uh, you know, I, your man is, as a man think it, but, but Henry Ford phrase it that way. Uh, what if you think you can or think you can't? You, you're right. And so, yeah. Yeah. Some, sometime we just, we, we don't realize that we've allowed so much negative talk Yeah. You get inside our head, but that, that's what happened, you know? Yeah. A lot of people like to call it stinking thinking. All we wanna do is just take a little bit, you know, a rock here and a rock here. Just a minute or two here, half a minute, whatever. But, and as I said, and there's no guarantee it's going to make it a big, big difference, but you know, it it, if you, it's, it's going to keep you from beating yourself up as much as you were. And maybe just one less step. Maybe if you get to, uh, 78, 22 instead of 80 20 as far as right, good and bad thinking. You, you don't know what's gonna be enough. That's gonna change the river flow Now. Exactly. And so, uh, it is just, it's just, uh, taking action. It's simple, it's easy. And as my dad said, would always say, Hey, you can quickly see if you, if you need to give yourself a pat on the back. Yeah. Or if you need to get a good, good kick in the butt to, to get yourself moving and everything. Absolutely. So many people. You know, I would see it in my office, you know, complaining and complaining and complaining. But it's like, what are you doing to see if you can make a change? Because right now, being the older guy, I didn't say old, the older guy with, with teenage kids. Yeah. Out there trying to, you know, teach them and see that they're, you know, they're about ready to step out into the cold, cold, cruel world. Yeah. You get out of life what you put into it.

Speaker 33:32

Yeah.

Speaker 2 33:33

And it's just hoping and expecting you're gonna get all this stuff here and there, you know, it just doesn't happen. It's gonna be those who rise to the top, who go raise their hand, ask questions, who take, take action and step forward. They're, they may get that attention, they may get that, that opportunity, they may get that promotion and so. They didn't call me. I don't know what to do.

Speaker 33:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2 33:52

You know, have to break out of that shell and everything and you know, the Yeah. The mik shell and inherit the earth and everything. But it's just one of those, those processes we're just trying to help you. And I, and I bring, come back to my kids. So they would always say, dad, you're, you're cooking stinks. Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna say that they're not true on that. Yep. Pretty Dad's a really good cook that cook everything in one pan. Still like a basket. Right. But, but, but yeah. I go, I go, Hey, you know you are what you eat. Yeah. You know, you get to decide Yeah. How you feed your body. Yep. How you feed your mind, how you feed your spirit. You don't need to share five tablet with anybody. You can if you want to and everything. Yeah. But you can just kind of say, Hey, I'm done. Good. And, and again, that, that was really helpful for me. And, and I'll share, you know, how I kind of, years ago, back in the eighties when I was, you know, as young and single and everything, I would kind of track on my, my wall calendar. Sure. Some of the things I was doing, because I was trying to, I was outta college, I was employed Now. Living by myself. I didn't have roommates all the time.

Speaker 34:57

Yep.

Speaker 2 34:57

It's like, okay. Uh, I wanted, you know, yeah. I like to be a better golfer. I like to be a better dancer. I like to be a better, uh, I like to be more limber. I wanna make sure I read x number of books, a, a week and month. Yep. And everything. Yep. So I would make notations on my calendar, and that's literally how. Five steps got started because I would of course, see at the end of the week, end of the month, I would see, you know, which, what, what letters I used and to help me keep track of what I was doing and everything. Yeah. And then I realized, ooh, I, I got the acronym of, you know, sleep thinking, uh, steps. You know? Yeah. It, it, it covers the whole body, mind, and spirit.

Speaker 35:30

Yeah, it's perfect. It's perfect. Brilliant. Thank you so, so much for this conversation. Before we say our goodbyes, is there any final words you would love to share with our audience that you haven't actually hit on or deepen our understanding for, from something you've shared?

Speaker 2 35:52

Um, well, let, let me share this as far as, um. I always talk about to, to, I don't know if I wanna do the fitness stuff or go back to the stuff, but, but lemme say this, something about like, in in the, the sleep step, the step I always tell everybody, you know, what do, do you have a map? Why do, why do we use a map? You look at Columbus and everything, all the old sailors, you use a map to navigate yourself where you want to go. Unfortunately, people don't know where they want to go. Do you have any goals? Maybe you don't have a goal right now'cause you're not sure. You haven't really thought about it. But if you have a goal, which is like the map, it tells you what you want to achieve. I wanna have this vacation. You know, I'm, I'm planning for that. I wanna buy this new car. I wanna buy this new house. Yeah, I want this job. I want that corner office. I want to give, I wanna audition and get this spot here. I want to, you know, whatever it is. Yeah, you have to kind of know where you want to go. You need that map because to go back to what's the old expression, uh, we, we've all know, we've all heard of the proverbial land of milk and honey, whatever it is for you. You know, you know that's a great destination, the proverbial land of milk and honey now. So, so many people, because they don't know where their land of milk and honey is, they don't have the goals that they want. Uh, and if you don't know where your land of milk and honey is, don't complain. When you land in the headaches and you land in the land of headaches and heartaches. Yeah.'cause that's what the life's about.'cause a lot of people that. Don't know where they want to go, why they're waking up every morning to go to put their shoes on the go off to work somewhere if they don't know where they want to go with their life. You know, it's just, it's easy to get swayed and, and lose direction, the wind in your face. But if you have, yeah, that map, that goal, no kind of where you want to go. Whatever your land of milk and honey is, it gives you direction, something. Love that. And when you have that inside you, and this is according to research and not just, this is not just me. Sure,

Speaker 37:49

yeah.

Speaker 2 37:50

But, but they, but they'll say so many less than 80% of the population have any kind of goals or, or, or anything written out for themselves or what they want to see or do. If I can just encourage you, think about where it is you want to be and, and for the, for a lot of the health and fitness PE people I've worked, you know, hey, if, if I want to get to 130 pounds, I wanna lose 25 pounds, whatever that is. Or I want to go from 12 inch biceps to 15 inch bice, you know, you have to know what it is. I just wanna, I wanna start exercising. There has to be a reason for it. Yeah. Otherwise you, it's easier to fall off the path and so yes. Why do you want to get to that? To do whatever your land of milk and honey is. Love that. Whether it love that, be physical, spiritual, mental. You find to find it for yourself and when you do, it gives you direction in your life. It gets planted in your subconscious. When you go to bed at night, it's easy to see it in your mind. Right? Yeah. Again, that's kinda like what vision boards are for and things like that, so. Sure. Uh, sorry for going on and on. No, you got me started. Uh,

Speaker 38:48

that's okay. That's what we do here. We light the flame and we do this. You will do this listeners for you by you because of you not outside, but it's your journey, your work, your path. Of opportunity that's sitting waiting for you to begin that very next step. And in our show notes, we will have all the information that you need in order to access Dr. Len's brilliance that he's sharing with the world. It is such an honor to have shared this space and time with you today. I've learned so much and I'm gonna go look for five steps. Because it just, it resonates so much with me. I love seeing progress and I love being able to look back to see where I was once to see the growth that happens.'cause we get stuck in, I haven't done enough. And then when you have that. Print or that app showing you your history. It's amazing. It actually allows that compass to keep focusing forward. So thank you.

Speaker 2 39:55

You are welcome. Thank you. Yeah, that is because I, I have, I have journals and journals of stuff I've written, and I, I, I, I don't have hours to go back and read it, but I can look on my steps or two months ago, three months ago. Hey. Yeah, this was a good week, a good month. Oh man, that's good. So I can see Yes. Hey. Yeah, things have started coming a little bit better. Yeah. So it, it's, it's, uh, the reviewing your journal is always the hardest part. Writing it out isn't so, yeah. Difficult for some people. Going back and, and reflecting on it is right. And so what's really cool about steps. So you go back and real quickly see, are you doing what you need to be doing to get where you want to be going?

Speaker 40:30

Exactly. Thank you again for being here with us. It's been an honor and a privilege. If this has resonated with you, this conversation has lit something in you. Please make sure you follow, share, give a review and go and look for Dr. Len in the internet world. Take care of yourselves, everyone. Bye.

Speaker 2 40:53

Thank you.