Chad Davis – Health and Lifestyle Improvement for Better Living

Hi and welcome to another episode of Outsource Accelerator Podcast. My name is Derek Gallimore. And today I’m really excited about our guest Chad Davis of Primed for your life. Chad has been living in the Philippines over 17 years now and he is a fitness and lifestyle coach. And he is on a mission to improve the health and lifestyles of Filipinos. He works with individuals he works with the rich and the poor and teams and corporates alike. So, this is a little bit left field in terms of outsourcing. But if anyone does have a team over here and if anyone is interested in generally health or lifestyle or improving the health of their team then I really encourage you listening to Chad. I hope you enjoy this. And if you want any of the show notes or to get in touch with Chad please go to outsourceaccelerator.com/59.

Derek: Today, I’m really excited about our guest it’s Chad Davis. Hi Chad.

Chad: Hi Derek.

Derek: Chad, I personally really support and share your mission and I am on a kind of lifestyle and diet belief that is maybe less common to most people and so I’m super excited about your mission and the incredible things that you’re achieving doing that. So, really, I suppose would initially it would be great if you could introduce yourself and the mission you’re on.

Chad: Great, great, thank a lot. I guess yeah well, you’re right. I’m very passionate about what I’m doing. I really believe people fundamentally deserve to be healthy and happy. Earn an income. But then use that income to help themselves. Help their family. And at the moment we’ve gotten away from that. So, you know I’ve got lots of friends in the outsourcing industry. I love the Philippines, the Filipino but absolutely I’m passionate about trying to I guess help elevate themselves whether to be get a better job or just to live a better lifestyle so that they can really enjoy life more. You know fundamentally life is about having energy and we need that energy to work. But we also need that energy to enjoy ourselves to be more productive at work but be productive at home. So, and to be healthy and happy. So, I guess that’s really my passion. And I’ve got lots of clients worldwide but lots of them in the outsourcing industry as well because that’s one we can talk about that later. That’s one industry that’s under assault health-wise. They’ve got a lot of incidences of hypertension, obesity. And they’re earning the money and they’re doing well seemingly for their family but ultimately, they’re not as healthy as they wish to be. And it’s very, very achievable that they can be.

Derek: So just give it the contextual background the Philippines has always been an underdeveloped country. And they were colonized by the Spanish and then they were colonized by the Americans effectively and I think potentially they have maybe picked up a few of the bad habits of the Americans, the American diet, the American fast food and that’s been kind of an aspirational thing.

Chad: Even the materialism.

Derek: Yeah, the materialism. And then there’s been an influx well, the BPOs have come in which is great for the economy and great for their wallets but it brings them into an office environment. There’s a lot of kind of negative elements in terms of that. So, because of the food, the diet, the sort of fast embracing of the Western work environment it’s really taken a toll on their health.

Chad: It has. I mean I guess what happens is you can earn more money. But if you’re spending more on healthcare and you’re spending that money unwisely. Then did you really earn more money. So again, that’s I guess it’s my passion. You know I want people to be healthy and if you’re going to earn that money well use your money on a holiday. Not hospitals. Instead of buying drugs or supporting a food company that doesn’t deserve support. Because they make low quality food. But with Filipino that’s earning good money they just redirect their income to local producers that have good products like coconut oil the host and table. They can buy better quality food so they don’t have to waste their money later on. And that’s really a shame. And what I’ve seen because I’ve been here 17 years I’ve seen a lot of people earn good money but then they die very abruptly or they earn their money but then they had to spend a lot on their mom and dad being sick. And it’s also an emotional toll. Besides the financial. So, it’s really, I really feel sorry for them. And I just don’t think it’s fair. I mean there’s an easy solution.

Derek: How much of it is an educational piece because I, you know stuck my head the madman TV series where they were affluent New Yorkers but they were smoking and drinking while pregnant. And you know. There is an aspect of if you don’t know better. Then is kind of not your fault. How do you compare the level of insight and awareness of the Filipinos versus the average whatever Western or Australian?

Chad: Great. I think basically I think most of us and I was definitely like this. We’re clueless. There’s so many mixed messages. And we may have this bit right but we’ve got these five other bits wrong. So, I really, I have a saying that once you know better, you do better. So, it’s really that education and if once you eat better and you have a better environment your brain improves. And then you actually can make better decisions. So that’s really, I agree 100 percent. Let’s improve your, brain let’s improve the education. So that’s what I do. Actually, I help people long and it’s a process because your brain today will not be as good, will be better in a year from now and then you can absorb and understand more.

Derek: And we’ll go into the fundamentals of your prescription I suppose but you’re somewhat pushing against the incoming time because there are the common beliefs of low fat sort of the very standard American diet. You know these are the very powerful forces of marketing, the big food corporates but also, they’ve got the momentum of 20-30 years of status quo behind them. So how do you find trying to re-educate.

Chad: I find it easy. Because we’ve got we just have to look at maybe 100 years ago. To the Filipino in the province living a natural life and living to 100 that were doing very well. So, we have these role models but we became blinded to the right way. So, once you explain to people and you educate them then they really get it from a seven-year-old who says yeah, I understand you know I should get the sun I need to do this or that. You know I need to eat eggs instead of breakfast cereal. It’s not rocket science. But when did we become so un-intelligent that we thought a packet of sugar breakfast cereal was better than some eggs. It’s really ridiculous or we the Filipino that grew up with coconut oil and thrived and now we’re getting so sick with toxic vegetable oil. So, you’re right. But you know it’s really also it’s not just the food. I really rail against exercise. You know I enjoy exercise. I ran here to meet you but going to the gym and waking up early and having Gatorade it’s really not a smart thing to do. Get healthy first. And once you have the energy then you can spend it. Doing badminton or walking or if you choose to lift some weights you know but to do exercise to get healthy. That’s not the right way.

Derek: It’s about activities, isn’t it? It’s not about the concept of exercise to exhaustion like most people think is necessary.

Chad: For example, a simple way in the province 100 years ago. They don’t go to the gym or they didn’t go to the gym. They walked in the sun. They saw their friends. They were social and they enjoyed their life and they lived well. So again, now what we’re doing is we go and work in a call center. And then we’d think that we have to go to the gym afterwards and then we go and do some unhealthy food activities afterwards as well. Fast food or eating sandwiches. But it’s not enough energy that we need. So yeah, I just sit people once you explain to them and you put the framework down this is how to get more energy. This is how to stop losing energy. People really, they understand that because it’s their own body. And they listen to their body. So, yeah people with a very, very easily educated actually.

Derek: So, what are the key pillars of your framework, the transformation.

Chad: Well what I do is I’ve got to. I guess you could explain it this way. We need more energy. Life is about energy. So, the number one way to get energy is from the sun. Without the sun there is no life on Earth. So, the sun is really the key. Do not get sunburned but enjoy the sun. Expose your skin especially a Filipino who has brown skin. Their DNA and genetics are designed to be in the sun. So, and of course, we need to drink good quality water. If you’re going to sweat in the sun you need to be hydrated. I also believe exactly like you do to eat quality nutrition. I start with seafood, eggs, green vegetables, coconut oil, olive oil, kimchi, sea weeds but I avoid toxic manmade highly processed foods. These days that includes grains, bread, pasta, noodles. It’s been poisoned with glyphosate unfortunately. Sugar, sugar- juice, Gatorade, Fruit juice. We avoid this, soy which is genetically modified unfortunately and vegetable oil. So, what we’re really trying to do is concentrate on the good, the sun, drink water, go outside, get into nature eat good food. And we’re building our battery. You know we’ve got them we’ve got energy to work and to enjoy life. And then when we sleep and we prioritize our sleep then our energy goes into repair. So, all of the great food and great environment doesn’t help you if you don’t sleep. You need that to build your battery. And then that energy from the battery really fixes you or it takes you to the next level. Improves your health and your brain. So that’s as simple as that in a nutshell get into nature. Do what we have is what we’re designed to do. Move, help people you know and having gratitude and positivity are also very important.

Derek: And how did you start this journey then. You have you always been

Chad: Great, great.

Derek: This inclined.

Chad: I started this journey by being one of those really dumb guys who trained 25 hours a week. I’ve done four Ironman events, 20 marathons. And I tried to out exercise a bad diet so to speak or I exercised in the wrong environment and I ate the wrong food. And from my mistakes, I learned. And then I could apply these principles and the browner my skin gets. The healthier I become. The more quality food I eat and the more I prioritize sleep, I become healthier and it so happens that my clients also the same. Professional athlete Shawn Anthony is now top 10 in the Philippine Basketball League by adopting these principles. So, doctors, nurses, worldwide. It’s fairly simple principles but it works. But it’s structured to each individual.

Derek: Amazing. And so, it seems very sensible to me but do you how do people receive it initially. Is there resistance?

Chad: There’s not. And again, I always when I do seminars or talks I really welcome somebody to question me because I’m not saying that I’m an expert but I’m saying look I’ll give you a roadmap. And if you follow this template I believe it’s the right one. And when I explain about the people in the province living in the sun they live well. Well then, these people have their own role models that they’ve seen. And it’s I guess it’s opening their eyes a little bit and then they say oh yeah. That’s why I’m not so healthy. That’s why I lacked energy or why I was always hungry. So, and then it’s a matter of just changing habits. But the key to changing a habit is to know what to change to. So, if you can again just follow that template that you’re allowed to deviate, you’re allowed to make mistakes. But the point I guess pertinent to what we’re talking about if you work in the call center industry. You have less wiggle room. You really have to dial in your food. That’s very critical.

Derek: What is your take on rice. Because for the listeners out there is a bit of context. Rice is ingrained into the culture here and it’s so deeply ingrained into everything about them and there is actually within the labels or even an allowance for rice. You know like it’s so deep in their culture. What is your take on eating rice?

Chad: Okay great. I’ll answer it this way, I love green carbohydrates. I deplore and I detest glyphosate poisoned wheat grain carbohydrates because in my opinion that bread pasta noodle was poisoned. Rice, I believe is neutral. And it depends. So, it’s really about you’re context. If I have client have Davao farmers who are always in the sun. They’re in the soil. They go to bed early. The quality of the air in Davao is good. I don’t think they can actually eat rice and they maintain a healthy body. However, if I have a client who’s diabetic or has gout and they need to reverse that. Well Rice does not have the energy they need. They need to have more energy for more repair. So therefore, an egg will clearly be superior. A green vegetable carbohydrate with butter would be a superior thing to rice. But even if they then added onion garlic coconut oil to their rice then that would be superior again. So sometimes people can adjust slowly so you don’t have to just cut rice out 100 percent but make a better decision to add boiled eggs to your rice, coconut oil to your rice. So, a bit like bulletproof coffee. You know we added coffee. The beautiful part about the coffee is it’s got water. But then we added some butter which is fat for our brain but same with the rice. You could bulletproof your rice so to speak, you could grate a carrot or squash into the rice and that would already add nutrients and fat.

Derek: And do you find that people still eat their rice. Because I mean my parents are English and they really needed their potatoes because they’re brought up on potatoes. Do you still find that people cling on to their.

Chad: No. I mean some do some take maybe a month to get rid of the rice. My client I was saying to you this morning she’s lost seven kilograms in one month. Which is 16 or 17 pounds in one month. Mental clarity she feels fantastic.

Derek: And you’re not restricting food, you’re not restricting calories, you’re not telling them to do any vigorous exercise necessarily.

Chad: Yep. What we talked about. I said please walk in the sun. Prioritize eating high energy food that will help you more. So, she said well of course why would I eat rice when I could add egg which is actually more nutritious and more filling. So, and then once her brain improved and she felt better then she wants more of the good food. So, I didn’t say no rice but she found that she was able to do it.

Derek: Amazing. Thank you, Chad.

Chad: You’re welcome.

Did you enjoy that? And are you thinking about getting a little bit healthier yourself? Maybe if you enjoyed that please do let us know if you want to get in touch with Chad or any of the show notes. Please go to outsourceaccelerator.com/59. And if you want to ask us anything then please just e-mail us and [email protected].