Join Blake Burnard and Steve Suthers on this exciting episode of 'How to Eat Healthy During a Holiday' as they reveal the secrets to maintaining a healthy lifestyle during major holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas and Thanksgiving. From conquering holiday food temptations to strategically planning cheat meals, they share practical strategies to help you stay on track. Explore the cultural significance of holiday meals and the joy of spending time with loved ones. Gain insights into intuitive eating, nutrition, and the challenges faced by competitive bodybuilders. Get inspired by personal stories and expert advice on achieving a balanced diet and finding the perfect harmony between indulgence and discipline.
[00:00:00] Tips for staying lean during holidays.
[00:03:50] Wait until after the holidays to start dieting and avoid cheat meals.
[00:07:23] Obsessive points in life, ruined Thanksgiving.
[00:10:00] Advice for achieving fitness goals: front load protein, be sensible with food choices, one indulgent meal won't ruin progress.
[00:13:39] Obsession with food and bodybuilding.
[00:17:11] Competitive bodybuilder consumes massive amounts of food.
[00:20:42] Summary: Former competitive eater discusses his journey and understanding of food.
[00:22:54] Prepare for holiday meals: sleep, hydrate, protein.
[00:26:02] "Eat slowly, listen to your body."
[00:29:38] Summary: Gym closed, confusion about seasoning. Stay clean over holidays. Bucking social media trends.
____
Help promote FAITH, FAMILY, & FREEDOM at
https://www.dailyfreedom.org
Love us and want to get notified of new videos? SUBSCRIBE and hit the BELL notification!
LUNCH BREAK SHOW
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg2T_LMqhdrom6NyEX1-0Vg?sub_confirmation=1
AUDIO ONLY
https://open.spotify.com/show/0eAnUyEIjCPwBfj9RJAHes?si=bebe72ccb1524840
MLH PRODUCTIONS
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOWA3bojb8JShmDtl20P5w?sub_confirmation=1
DAILY 511
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3aHtZ_SdlVZWQWdDuJUjtw?sub_confirmation=1
Check out our PLAYLISTS if you want to binge!
Lunch Breaks!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg73iPz26XdDLdeO5twytXtXMK8HChE3I
Relevant Rants!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg73iPz26XdB1-7n9FLMUaM2vzUf9kEXt
Vlogs!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkYyDKtA_xXhPtyD0tsxARL_sHbfKHcfs
Video Production Tips and Tricks!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkYyDKtA_xXgtEVpciMuwIY1Fa9kst0wt
Heroes of the Holy Land
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6GJ_eLZJZKpD1-t-mU5gqgLQzgSw_ViI
Follow us on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to stay in touch with us!
https://www.facebook.com/thereallunchbreakshow
https://www.instagram.com/thereallunchbreakshow/
Have a great day and GOD BLESS!
Speaker Blake Burnard: I wanna leave you guys with some actionable advice that has really helped me in this regard. Three things are super big, and I never hear them get. Talked about by the people on the interwebs.
Speaker Tom Touchstone: Wow. We're gonna never believe that we're on Spotify. We're on Apple. We're on Google. Go out there and listen to us. So we're excited about it. We're glad you're excited about it too.
Speaker Blake Burnard: What's up guys? We're live. This is muscle matters. I'm Blake Bernard. That's Steve Suthers. And tonight, we're gonna talk about staying clean over the holidays. We're gonna talk about how you guys and really our best practices we've found over the years to keep our clients, our loved ones, and ourselves, maybe, out of harm's way. During the holidays. When it comes to, you know, we're surrounded by grandma's cooking. We're surrounded by all kinds of candy canes and sweet treats laying around, Blake, literally every, cabinet, every countertop, every I go to the doctor's office. They want me to be healthier, and I just see a bunch of sugar on their counter
Speaker Steve Suthers: I left one of my heart doctor, and there's a candy on my still have to take a blood pressure test.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Seriously. Seriously. And in the, in the world of, like every holiday, we have a new, Reese's candy in the shape of something festive, we all need help, staying lean over the holidays. Steve, where do you start, dude?
Speaker Steve Suthers: Well, Steve, I I have massive, massive experiences with the, staying clean over the holidays. My first three body building shows I did during the Thanksgiving Blake dumb as dumb can be. What good are abs when it's thirty two degrees outside? And I remember sitting at the table and crying because I could eat I'm a foodie. I'm a I am an obese person at heart. I'm I if if there's reincarnation, I'm coming back at the Buddhist Steve. Just wanna be fat and happy, just eat. But, I remember, sitting at the table, and it's a weird thing because everybody will tell you what you can actually eat that is actually healthy. And they have no idea.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Oh, tell me about it.
Speaker Steve Suthers: And I'd be dieting for these shows and the amount of food and things I could eat were just, like, slim than none. And, oh, you can eat this. Oh, you can eat this. This is healthy for you. And I'm like, no, it's not. Oh, it's not. They're trying to put sweet potatoes in front of me with brown sugar and marshmallows, but it's sweet potatoes. So I would just tell you, avoid the family cook out if you're dying.
Speaker Blake Burnard: There's no way. Okay. Let's let's be a little bit more realistic. I mean, you can't say no during the holidays. This the holiday cheer. You wanna share that with your family. Let's just say, for instance, you're talking to somebody who Heller High Water. They know their traditions. They're going to this person's house on Christmas Eve. They're doing this thing Christmas morning. And maybe if you're like my family got something else, maybe Suthers household to be at Christmas Day. Right? Like, I'm getting triple maybe I'm just pure personal experience. Steve helped me.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Oh, no. No. I had a I had houses that I had houses that go by and pick up plates.
Speaker Blake Burnard: I have three run ins with what I feel like is destiny. Okay. How do I avoid, looking like a beluga whale at the end of that?
Speaker Steve Suthers: Well, you know, I would honestly, if you're dieting, we have this, you know, depending on who you're who would would what you follow, I like to call them refeeds. Most people call them a cheat meal. I would definitely say, you know, people wanna have their cheat meal on Sunday. For whatever reason, universally, every person you walk to, talk to, they want a cheat mail on Sunday. It doesn't have to be Sunday. It can be any day. And you don't have to always have it on the same day. So with Thanksgiving being a big holiday that is a that I mean, let's face it. There are other holidays, but Thanksgiving is the food holiday, like, you know, what's that song beans, potatoes, greens, you know? Yes.
Speaker Blake Burnard: So you
Speaker Steve Suthers: yeah. Yeah. I I wish I knew the words because all I was gonna do is hongering. We're gonna have to end the show early because I gotta go and eat dinner. So I would honestly say if you're going to do that, Blake the food holiday. Move your cheat day to the food holiday. And really, and most people get confused when you why I like to call them refeeds. I don't like to call them a cheat day. I like to call it a refeed. You sit down and eat into your belly button pops through your jeans. I mean, and then go for a walk and you're good.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Granted someone's earned the right to a refeed. Right? Because if we're talking about somebody who hasn't even Blake started yet, and we're already planning the the refeed, the reload. It's not gonna end pretty. And and in my practice, I'm talking to people and they're when do I get my cheat meal? I'm like, we're not talking about that. We're not even uttering that word yet. Right?
Speaker Steve Suthers: I I hit that one all. So what's the cheat bill? You haven't made it two weeks yet. Let's out. Let's go two weeks before you Your body still has gunk in its system. And I I normally tell people, like when the you and it's all you it's a good thing to start your diet on the on after the holidays if you're going fresh. I I will say that. If you're going fresh into it and you're looking to diet during during the during sweater season, it's a little bit better to start fresh on the new year because then you don't avoid the temptations. You avoid the pitfalls because a lot of times people will make this pitfall and do experience. How many times have you seen somebody make a drop and then they're just done? Within the first couple of weeks, they go eat, and then just never hear from again.
Speaker Blake Burnard: What was me? I'll never recover. It wasn't worth doing.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Yes.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Absolutely.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Yeah. So I it's a little bit better to wait through the New Year's, enjoy the holidays. I, you know, and when I made that joke about just don't go. I was being serious. If you're that Oh, how would I say this? If you're that
Speaker Blake Burnard: I feel like you're coming from the place of a competitor, though. Right?
Speaker Steve Suthers: And that's what I mean. If you're if you're that much, meticulous that it has to be, brown rice, spinach broccoli, and tilapia.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Feel like you're setting yourself up for failure or just a miserable day. Yeah.
Speaker Steve Suthers: No. Don't go because you're you're you're you're gonna be the jerk. Mhmm. Because everybody's gonna be eating it. Like I said, I would go to these things and everybody good intentions. They had good intentions of
Speaker Blake Burnard: feeding me,
Speaker Steve Suthers: whether it be
Speaker Blake Burnard: my daughter,
Speaker Steve Suthers: my sister, my mom, my grandma, They had good intentions of feeding me. And they were they're they're right. The food is clean. They're what's dirty about Turkey? Blake old turkey brother is nothing dirty about a plain old turkey breast. It's just turkey. There's nothing wrong with seasoning, salt, pepper, lemon, I mean, anything short of sugar, there's nothing wrong with seasoning. There's nothing wrong with that, but when you're in that mode, everything's wrong with it because your brain's telling you this is what I have to eat. This is I can't mess this up because I I gotta look a certain way. You get real
Speaker Blake Burnard: Well, high level operators are a little bit neurotic in that way. You have to be to be successful. You have to be. And so it comes to the turf. I agree totally with what what you're saying. It's Blake, if you know the likelihood of it it doesn't even have to be like you cheated, but just the stress, right? Blake, what if it well, how about just Blake elevated cortisol levels all day feeling like you're walking on eggshells? You know what I mean? I'm a fatty too, man. I mean, I got my weight to lose as well, but I'm just Blake, in my in my most neurotic, obsessive points in life. Thankfully, those were not around the holidays. You know? I can't imagine somebody who had a show coming up end of November beginning of September.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I mean, it sucked. I mean, it sucked. I mean, it sucked because, you know, you wanna spend the day with your family. That's what you wanna do. My family, we always got together, and it was a day. We spent the day, cousins from the time I was knee high to the grasshopper. It was we were together all day long.
Speaker Blake Burnard: And can we also admit it's cultural as well? Yes. So, like, it means a lot more in, like, Thai families, Hispanic families. You know what I mean?
Speaker Steve Suthers: Yes. We would be that we that was family. They'd be cooking in it. Oh, I remember that I ruined. I ruined, one of the Thanksgiving. You know, I'm I'm I'm of African American descent in Blake. Have you ever heard of chitterlings? Yes. Do you know what they actually are? Yeah. Have you ever walked in on somebody cleaning them? So, like I said, we're we're family. We get together. And, so my cousins and myself, we're all outside playing football.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Okay. You
Speaker Steve Suthers: know, we're not allowed in the house. Like, get out the house, we're cooking, stay out the house. You're gonna get hit upside the head, blah Blake. So I run-in the house to get something to drink. I'm immediately hit by the smell of kaka. Blake, it's just straight nose. Kaka, and I'm like, trying to struggle for breath. At 12:1Steve Suthers, you had to have a filter. I'm like, what is that? Now, Well, we're cleaning the chittelings and I'm like, you're cleaning them. And so my aunt, you know, that we I come from a no holds barred family where they just, bro. And she just said, yeah, we gotta get the pig feces out of, these things. And I was Blake, and I went outside and I told my cousins, We didn't need any of them.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Oh my goodness. I got
Speaker Steve Suthers: in so much trouble.
Speaker Blake Burnard: You wrecked it.
Speaker Steve Suthers: You wrecked it? Yeah. I got in so much trouble because I told everybody what was
Speaker Blake Burnard: Hell has no fury. Like a woman. Yeah. Like a woman whose food didn't get eaten. Am I right? Dang, you
Speaker Steve Suthers: know, they're we used to tear those things up to this dash to warn you to this dash still won't hit him. I I walked in and it was just it just that that, like, it's it's feces smell, but then it's left because it's fresh. They they wouldn't got fresh and it was they were cleaning the feces out. So have you I mean, it's Blake day old poop.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Maybe this is the way to keep people out of trouble. Oh, completely. Yeah. Bottom
Speaker Steve Suthers: bottled to smell it.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Something, man. I don't know. Oh. So I think my advice to people who, who have goals. Maybe they're not competitors, because I'm gonna I'll be honest. I mean, like, we deal with athletes. Yes. Dude, I want my athletes eating. They don't eat enough. You didn't need to go pig out. And then the other half of my gym, are, busy working professionals just wanna have a banging body and feel confident and strong and capable. So I if I were to tell them, hey, guys, brief you. It's Blake, I'm at the whiteboard with the the pointer thing, you know, that I'm, like, the beginning of, top gun. You know, I'm Blake, guys, This is the mission. Right? First thing I would tell them is to, like, what's worked for me and I can only speak from personal uh-uh experience on this one. What what's worked for me really well is front loading my protein earlier in the day. I'm like, man, If I know I gotta hit my body weight, and right now I'm walking around Blake two sixty five. So, I'm gonna try to get in two hundred grams of protein. That's two pounds of meat. Before my first engagement. And that is not only gonna keep my mind off food, It's also going to make everything way more relaxed when all my calories have come from protein. I can dude, I can go straight to whatever I want later in the day.
Speaker Steve Suthers: It's it's called being, I mean, at that point, it's called just being sensible. I mean, you don't, you know, sit down and have yourself a good plate. Have a good plate of food. Be sensible. You don't get to have Blake three, four, and five like I did this Thursday.
Speaker Blake Burnard: You know, I haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet. A whole family was We're gonna do it this week.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Oh, I was gonna say it.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Later and bigger. The turkeys are on sale. Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker Steve Suthers: And so there's nothing wrong. Like you said, I I like the ideal protein. I mean, there's turkeys clean. You know, ham, I would tell them to shy away from the ham Turkey's clean. There's nothing wrong with Turkey. Eat as much of it as you want.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Well, we're heading toward Christmas now. By the time this thing airs, it's gonna be Christmas time. So, like, what are your Christmas? Is it the same? It's not
Speaker Steve Suthers: pretty much the same here. Turkey, Turkey helmet.
Speaker Blake Burnard: I there I feel like Christmas is way heavier on desserts, though. Yeah. Yeah. Chocolate, truffles.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Well, you I mean, you got the old man coming down the chimney and you gotta leave milk cookies for.
Speaker Blake Burnard: That's right.
Speaker Steve Suthers: So it it the holiday, starts off, jelly beans and gumdrops and candy canes. It's just all laid out. If there's such thing as an elf, they run on sugar. So Right.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Well, let's go to the other the other way. You guys have to understand that I'm always gonna come from a place of, like, sustainability. It's like, how can we do this with the least stress incurred on your life? You know what I mean? The very first thing we have to identify is, like, If you've been good all year, situated there, if you've been good, and you're on Santa's nice list. Guys, one meal is not going to throw off your ear and it's not going to trash your abs. In fact, have you ever noticed if you're insulin sensitive, like you wake up the next day shredded. Your body overcompensates from those refutes. Okay? Now right now, my body does not bounce back like that. I wake up the leaner. And it sounds counterintuitive, guys. Again, I'm I'm and I'm talking about at twelve percent body fat, not six. I still if you put in the work on the front end, you it allows you the ability your body remembers. You know what I mean? And that Tom and I talk about that. Blake, I've been lifting for eighteen years. The amount of effort I have to put in at thirty years old to maintain a physique I like is so minimal compared to when I was, you know.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I I would, you know, we my brother and aunt and I, we tell people because, you know, on the larger side of the lake, especially when we were younger. We had huge tree trunks, and people always ask us what you guys do and get a trash can and squat that we puked.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Do that for
Speaker Steve Suthers: about a year and a half guess, which you don't have to have to do again.
Speaker Blake Burnard: That's right.
Speaker Steve Suthers: The legs are Blake, they're there. They're not.
Speaker Blake Burnard: They don't
Speaker Steve Suthers: go anywhere.
Speaker Blake Burnard: And so in terms of the diet, it's just Blake, I think you you hit on it too. People get so bent out of shape about Blake the decisions they did or didn't make in the moment. And you can't go back and change that The best thing you can do is wake up the next day and get right back on your, I don't know what,
Speaker Steve Suthers: you know, you just don't feel I owe you leg wise. So many of the the Blake that that that lifestyle
Speaker Blake Burnard: You can PTSDs.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Oh, my goodness. And I remember standing above the trash can with slices of pie. And taking a long drawn out.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Oh, I've been there. Suck the food. I've sucked on chocolates. I know.
Speaker Steve Suthers: You take another long one and this literally dropped the rest of the pie into the trash can. And at that point, I I'm not that much of a method that I'm gonna dig at the trash can with And it's just Blake It's like emasculated. Yeah. It's feeling my heart Blake. I'm looking in the trash can going, there's more pie. Dude. Oh, you know, it was horrible. My mother. My mother was absolutely horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, mom, you were horrible and tell her about this all the time. So anytime I get ready for a show, my mother will never call me and ask me out to But let me get ready for a show. Every single time she would call me and go, Hey, you wanna go have a Suzuki? Wanna grab a bazooka and go, mom. Momma do the show. I'm trying to it's my mom. I'm trying not to freak out.
Speaker Blake Burnard: That's probably You can almost expect that, like, a motherly instinct. Like, my bait is wasting away. I'm just safe here. You know? If if you guys see Steve. I don't know what the cameras give what's in the frame right now, but this guy's not not lacking any meals. Bro, so if you gotta be able to dodge those those relationships, I guess.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I I mean, without a fellow, she would never the whole year, but every time we sign for a show, go eat a bazooka? Like, mom, you'll call me out at all. Just randomly
Speaker Blake Burnard: do it. With the preemptive message? A, don't even ask.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Oh, I'm in my drove away on her one time. It was, cheat meal day. And, I had four burritos in a in a bag.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Can't I can't I I can't tell if you're a strong man or stupid driving away from your mom like that.
Speaker Steve Suthers: So, like, I'm sitting there until I'm sitting there listening or talking. I'm like, okay. Okay. Okay. I'm only think my brain is telling me food. We've got burritos. And, I thought she had stopped talking and I drove away. I wrote up the window and I drove away. She calls me on this cell phone. I go, what's that mom? She goes, boy, I wasn't done talking to you. I go, oh, well, you stopped. So, I'm headed home now to eat. Dang, dude. And you shouldn't be I mean, coming from a the proper place, you shouldn't be that obsessed with it. I mean, during that time period, it was an obsession because I had to get down and cross right it Blake blah blah blah blah Blake. If you are and that's what I mean when I say, if you're that obsessed and it's something like that that's going on in your life, you probably shouldn't be at the family event. Because you're just gonna be a debbie downer. Everybody's gonna be eating and you're gonna be grouchy, you're gonna be mad because somebody's gonna constantly be offering you a plate, especially if you've done any type of Blake, in the bodybuilding world. I I tell people all the time, my Blake, and they look at me Blake I'm crazy, but I I intake five pounds of meat a day. That wasn't including the potatoes, the rice, the eggs, the shakes, the post workout meals, Nothing like that counted. That was just the meat for the day. If I stopped over here and got another thing. So I was consuming large amounts of food, So when you come from that type of world and people are used to seeing you be an eater, they want to feed you.
Speaker Blake Burnard: That's a good point. And all of
Speaker Steve Suthers: a sudden, you're you're living on six ounces of white fish, and you're crying in between each meal.
Speaker Blake Burnard: No one hates you more than your hometown, you know. Feel Blake, come meet with us. Hey, it they're like a lot of pearls like addiction too. You know, like, coming
Speaker Steve Suthers: away from Yeah. There's not a big addiction. It's food. Man, my lord. I quit I quit drinking and cigarettes. Easier than I quit food. Like, I've never looked back for for a for a cigarette or or or liquor once I quit. But, man, as soon as that as that meal prep was over, I was first one to lie to McDonald's talking my horn. You move.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Tell me on it.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Like, walking to my mom in between, like, could you go get me, like, five in and out burgers real quick? Boy, you didn't get off the stage yet. I know. But I want five right now. So as soon as I get off there, like, I'm peeling him and throwing him back.
Speaker Blake Burnard: So, during back to, like, okay. I think the majority of our listeners are not competitive bodybuilders. Yes. So what are some tangible? I got two more I wanna touch on. I'm gonna blast through these really quick and you can add whatever whatever you feel as well. Because now, like, you've been out of that life for a while. You still look great, but I'm just saying, like, you know, I mean, maybe maybe the things you were focusing on We can go to Steve post bodybuilding career, but not quite back to sanity yet. Like, you still care. You know what I mean? I'm not saying you don't come. You get what I'm saying. You're going back to normal life.
Speaker Steve Suthers: When when I remember I still ate like a bodybuilder. I'll probably eat like a bodybuilder for the rest Agreed. I get up and go to the gym. They laugh at me at the gym because I've got a dozen eggs. I'm sitting there eating a dozen eggs every day, but there's a pop tart to go with it. So I get dozen eggs of pop tart and, some sort of caffeine. That's how I start my day and I do it every day at the gym. At the when I'm at the shop, I'm perfect at the shop. I've got Blake nine pounds of chicken in the refrigerator, and I'm eating chicken throughout the day. It's everything is perfect, but come the weekend? Man, I'm on first name basis with all my favorite restaurants. They'd know me on first name. I come in and the chef's like, Hey, what's up, bro? We getting that? Yes. We're getting I have a first name basis. One of my favorite places is Santos. I love Santos tacos. They I come in. I on the phone. And as soon as I started getting my order, they go, Steve, I go, yeah, they go, alright. Cool. They just hang up. They already know what I'm giving. So once I Steve being a competitive body builder, How, I can't even say that. I was so good before I found out about human growth hormone. I am not even gonna lie. HGH is like a giant race report. It it counters everything. That that dude right there was the up obsessive eating cans of tuna. Going out on a Saturday night with his friends, eating cans of tuna out of a can while everybody else sitting down eating that brutal. Back. But I did do the CT Fletcher thing. Post workout, I would get kicked out of Chinese buffets. I mean, Blake, legitimately, I've been kicked out. Like, here's your check. Get out. Like, I I used to go to this, sushi buffet. They would hide the menus from me. Oh, I was an eater. I was an eater, but I was
Speaker Blake Burnard: By reputation.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I I was trying at that time. I was my goal. I I I got as big as 0Steve Suthers:40 pounds, and I'm only 05:10 and a half. I I was I took up a lot of space. So that was my goal was to be Ronnie Coleman's eyes.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Bro, you could've, Blake, you might have had your own gravitational pull
Speaker Steve Suthers: at that point. I threw children in the air. They just floated around me. But I learned food, and I I I'm once I got sick is when I got really good with eating. And now I completely have a better understanding of food than when I was a competitor. When I was a competitor, I just ate. Being a non competitor and helping people out, I don't just eat. I have a reason for eating. I put things in certain places I'm not as a competitor. Man, I I remember I didn't eat cars for two and a half years. Two and a half years. No carbs. Jerk. Two and a half years. Complete jerk. So it just You just have to learn to understand food and there's no reason to be obsessive except for that small period of time. I normally tell, like, when I tell my clients, I normally tell them, I said, sit on eat. Miss Thanksgiving, sit on eat. Have a good plate. Don't think about anything. Even when they're even when Steve to my competitors, I sat down and tell them, I said, eat. Take that day to have your food. Don't get up for the table for the next two hours. And when you get up, go get on the treadmill and then you go back to life.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Yeah. That's that's kind of my thing too. I'm like, man, you can afford yourself a day. And if you're gonna do it, you know, I do know that there there is a percentage of people that also thrives on Blake organization, you know, and staying on top of things at being a little bit more dialed and intentional. And there are just some people who are just They're intense by nature, right? And they just want to go in with a plan. That's more like me. I'm extremely type a. So when I know a holiday is coming by or my this app is on a weekly basis at my house. Blake, right now, my dad does consulting work here in town Steve, but he lives in Dallas. He comes he flies in, stays with us Tuesday through Thursday every other week. And when he does that, our whole family gets together, and we have a big Wednesday night dinner. Now this is never clean food. K? We're white, but we get down. Okay? So here's the deal. I know that meal's coming. I prepare accordingly. I start my day front loading protein. There are a couple other things that I that it, like, little. I wanna leave you guys with some actionable advice that has really helped me in this regard. Three things are super big, and I never hear them get. Talked about by the people on the interwebs. Number one, get a great night's sleep. When you're underslept prior to a big holiday,
Speaker Steve Suthers: sugar
Speaker Blake Burnard: is the devil when you're under the the devil. But also your cravings are gonna be out of control. Yes. Okay. Just the way without getting into neuroscience, it is the way you're wired.
Speaker Steve Suthers: You're probably looking for something to keep it awake.
Speaker Blake Burnard: One hundred percent. And sugar's just energy, guys. So Ultimately, getting a great night's sleep, getting your whole eight hours is gonna be the best thing you can do. Don't be underslept on a big holiday. Number two, Blake sure you are hydrated. K? And when we say hydrated, that's not just drinking your gallon of water. That's I I so sodium is my best friend. Sodium, magnesium, potassium, out the gills forty eight hours pre prior to that big holiday. The reason is your body confuses dehydration signals. And remember, you don't have to feel like you're falling over sick to technically be dehydrated. It confuses hydration signals for hunger cues. Okay? So ultimately, we can curb a lot of those by sim by, you know, just loading a little bit of sodium and some other essential, you know, Blake your cal mag, you know, religiously than two days before holiday. And the last one, This is, this has been a an absolutely massive one for me is, when I'm making that plate. I fill it with protein first and I go sit down. So I make my I get my turkey, I get my ham, I try I I I just kinda look at the plate and I'm, you know, you're shooting those, like, those dixie plates, right, with the the paper ones. And you know how big they are. The oval ones, and they're festive. They got a little turkey on them. And, and I grab that thing. I I put it on there. I do gravy, whatever. All the accoutrements, but I make sure it is It's meat. Okay? I sit down and I eat that meat, and I wait five minutes before getting up. Remember, like I said, I'm I'm type a. So I set my watch. Okay? The reason is simple. It takes your body about fifteen minutes to register, like basically to kick on your digestion and really start working through that food. It's not near completion, but what happens is it starts registering that you ate and that you were satiated fifteen minutes after your first bite. What a lot of people, like the like the the chunky chicken you're looking at, do is they wolf down their food back to my body building days, my amateur days. Man, I was I was eating for like it was a job. So I was trying to get through that can of tuna that chicken breast, that whatever as fast as I could, and it destroyed my hunger cues forever because now I don't get those and I willfully ignore them because eating was a job once upon a time. Now enough about me, you guys can leverage that that info to your advantage by simply eating slowly?
Speaker Steve Suthers: Yes. Yes.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Okay. That's a huge one. Yes. My thing is I eat my meat first. That's I'm already ten minutes in by the time I eat a pound of whatever. And then I wait five minutes. And then I don't want anything else because my body's already saying. Hey, dude. You're full. If the faster I eat though, I dude, you'd be astonished how much Steve how much Steven I could probably put back in ten minutes. Am I right?
Speaker Steve Suthers: You go now.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Yeah. Yeah. Hey. If I'm still hungry, am I gonna withhold, like, am I gonna no. But I guarantee I'm not gonna finish with the same calorie intake as I would have is if I would just Steve open season for the first twenty minutes.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Yeah. Yeah. No. I everything you say, Blake, it's I was gonna say eat slower. You take your time to eat, you chew your food, your body knows it's coming in, it gets Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Things I never learned how to do, though. I was a fatty since I was a cue.
Speaker Blake Burnard: I think I jacked myself up. Like, just, like, ignoring those cues forever. I have zero intuition. And that's one of the main main things we teach our clients is Blake, like, we've gotta slow down and start listening. Be be more intuitive about your eating. And, like, really listen to your body. Dude, I I'm, like, that's the number one thing I do as I say not as I do. I can't do it, Steve.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I've I literally have learned and I was a professional eater. I ate. I ate. I have learned just to put enough on my plate and call it good. Because if I don't just put enough on my Blake, I mean, I walk in. There's times I walk in, you know, my favorite little spot Sanchez. And, I'll I'll order two or three burritos and I eat them all right there. And they just look at me and I'm like, it's no big deal to me. This was this was this was a daily every two hours. I would consume this type of food. So I still can consume. I just have to tell myself there isn't a need to consume that type of food. I I still have a desire to No. To consume that type of food. My body Steve, if I go eat at a restaurant, So there's four of you eating? No, that's just my food, sir.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Brutal. Yeah. It it was a job, you know, and and there there there are not so many of us on this earth that we're literally Blake borderline paid to do what we did. But, you know, it teaches you a lot of lessons. And like you said, guys, if we had to boil this all down into some tactical, you know, Yeah. Peace but also know what you're eating. Blake, like, no understand basic nutrition at, like, okay. Water calories, their energy, Do I use enough energy during the day, you know, to warrant the calories and putting in? Guys, if you're doing the right stuff through the year, holidays don't matter so much, have fun with your families. Don't be neurotic about it. If you wanna if you're type a like me, things that have worked for us were staying hydrated, getting great Steve. And, front loading protein, giving yourself times digest.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Reminded me of the Suthers reason I hated holidays. The gym was closed.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Yeah. That's another one. Yeah.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I that our that our
Speaker Blake Burnard: our calisthenic did.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I just have to, like, that stairmaster lick in the window that twenty four hour fitness let be in the legs.
Speaker Blake Burnard: That's right.
Speaker Steve Suthers: But I think what I think one of the things that people confuse and this is I confuse this very much in my years of competitive, competing. The only seasoning is sugar. That's the only bad seasoning. Yeah. Everything else is fine. Cinnamon's fine. Cinnamon helps, curve the insulin. Cinnamon helps with digestion.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Process stuff. I mean, I'm not I'm not advocating for processed all the time. I'm a I'm a salt and pepper guy, but there's a lot of these that don't have any sugar in them. It tastes amazing. Yes. Susie Queues, you know, like the Santa Maria Steve,
Speaker Steve Suthers: all that. There's Blake you said, the only negative thing that would because your body doesn't know what to do with WiFi. When you eat that whole Marie calendar pie, your body has no idea what to do when I've done it. That's Blake insane.
Speaker Blake Burnard: It's very strange.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Your body has, like, Oh, man, Thursday. What were you doing? Oh, Thursday, we I I bought a chocolate mousse pie in between me and the little one we probably ate. It's you.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Thank you so.
Speaker Steve Suthers: I had about five slices deep before I went, oh, I'm gonna nap out so hard in a minute. Your body just doesn't know what to do with the sugar because it's a huge insulin spike. It's looking to toss out some type of energy and you're not gonna do anything but sit on the couch and watch the cowboys lose which they didn't darn it.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Or in the year of our lord twenty twenty three watch the packers lose, but we're not neither here nor there. So guys, hey, If you're looking for ways to stay clean over the holidays, I hope that this was this was val valuable to you. And if it was, Shame on you for not telling your buddies about it. Direct them to this pod. We're gonna be putting out a lot more educational content like this. A lot more stuff that really just provides you guys value and hopefully helps, you know, sift through a lot of the nonsense, the BS on the interwebs. From two guys coming from a different athletic backgrounds, differing experiences, but, you know, takeaways that have helped us maintain the physiques and the lifestyles that we want without losing our minds.
Speaker Steve Suthers: What do you think about doing an episode on bucking the trends of social media.
Speaker Blake Burnard: Let's come locked and loaded, guys. What have you guys been hearing on the interwebs lately? Comment down below. Tell us what you would like for us to work through on our next episode. Okay? Yeah. I think that's a great idea, honestly. But there are too many of them. That's why I need them
Speaker Steve Suthers: I was looking for the video to send you of the guy quarter squatting. Alright. He's he's a he's supposed to be an influencer. He he he does a dip with 04:05. I'm like, let's Steve. This is a big one four or five.
Speaker Blake Burnard: We'll do it.
Speaker Steve Suthers: And then he's got this whole thing on how you should eat, and it's giggle. It's just a giggle.
Speaker Blake Burnard: We'll do it. The
Speaker Steve Suthers: one is
Speaker Blake Burnard: We'll pull up TikTok. We'll we'll they'll work all the sci fi technology Steve, magic behind the scenes so we can get on the screen for our viewers. Okay? Guys, As always, there's been muscle matters. I'm Blake Bernard. If you wanna find me, grindhouse underscore s c, if you're looking for if you're a busy working professional, looking for nutrition help. Hit us up, shoot me a DM or, email me at blake at grindhouse gym dot com. Mister Steve Suthers, quickly find you.
Speaker Steve Suthers: Steve four two zero District Boulevard, West.