 This connects us to people throughout history who have had to deal with suffering and adversity and really difficult times and and for me It's it's a very comforting thing to think that within me as a human being. I already have All of the tools that I need in order to do this You're listening to barbell logic brought to you by barbell logic online coaching where each week We take a systematic walk through strength training and the refining power of voluntary hardship Welcome to the barbell logic podcast. I am Matt Reynolds and I have a special guest here today. We have dr. Krista Scott Dixon Krista you said I could call you Krista instead of dr. Dixon Thank you for being on the show first of all you are with precision nutrition and you are really one of the curriculum directors for precision nutrition You are you are Very heavy on the education side for precision nutrition. Is that is that fair? Yeah, I mean that is really there our main business We we coach clients a little bit, but honestly our main focus is educating nutrition coaches. How long have you been with PN? I Have been with PN not quite since the beginning but very close and so it's probably I joined them in 2008 But I knew them before then. So yeah, it's been over 12 years. Yeah I remember uh bararty writing for like the old, you know team ag team at what is team nation now years and years ago And uh, he was really one of the first guys that came on strong in the nutrition field and really Broke away from the bro science. I think that that most people knew about and so you guys have an excellent reputation for being a company that's grounded in in good science and expert coaches and and it's been really cool because you guys Educate and certify nutrition coaches and I probably a lot of people don't know this that our listeners of barba logic But all of our nutrition coaches are either precision nutrition certified or are currently in the process of being certified So we align very well from a philosophical standpoint with your new nutrition philosophy And so the reason I want to have you on the show today and the reason again most of our listeners know We don't do a ton of interviews But I want to talk a little bit about nutrition and crisis because times are weird and really everyone Who's listening to this is going through some some pretty major changes And we've had lots of conversations with our nutrition coaches and our our lead coach jillian mord has done a tremendous job of supporting our Our clients our clients are they're all over the place, right? So people aren't They're struggling with tracking if they're if they're tracking macros if they're they're one of the people Those people that do that Lot there is lots of anxiety out there about what the future looks like There are food shortages on certainly where we are we have a hard time getting meat right now Kind of proteins are hard to come by you can buy ribs Nobody knows how to make ribs, but everybody's you buy ribs anywhere But to get some basic, you know steak or chicken or ground beef is is difficult And and of course there are there are lots of worries about if If they're going to get sick if a family member is going to get sick If they're going to get laid off or furloughed from their job and so So really most of everyone who listens to this is in some form of crisis mode right now So I just wanted to bring you on and and talk through that and have some empathy for our people and and encourage them And and have some real real nice practical takeaways for what we do in the midst of crisis Yeah, it's a good frame and I you just said the word empathy And I think that's just something that's so important right now is to have empathy for ourselves and for other people And honestly for the rest of the world who's going through this very difficult time Yeah, I I think one of the things that's often absent in the In the gym world in the fitness world in the personal training world in the in the bro world Is this idea of empathy and For us it has become it is really a driving force behind what we do in our coaching And so I know that the coaches that work for us are expert coaches And they're great at breaking down the form and the x's and o's, you know Like all of that stuff is there, but I think without the development of the relationship with the client Um, it is not long lasting It is it is short and fleeting and so with nutrition our experience is that it's that much more important It's not an issue of just uh breaking down form and you know Are you staying on your heels and the x's and the o's and those sorts of things that empathy is sort of everything And and what we found is that for our coaches that Made those emotional deposits into our clients 401ks and those not this month But six months ago a year ago over the past 12 months They're the clients that that have been able to sort of weather this storm better because I've got a great relationship and open communication with their With their coach and so how as you as you think again I consider precision nutrition and what you all do very similar to what we do in the barbell world You are the you are the subject matter experts. You're deep into the science But how much does that compassion and empathy play out in what you're doing? And and then do you have a way to teach coaches? Is that part of the curriculum that you're teaching right now? Yeah, it absolutely is and I think with you know, we before we got on this call we were talking about how precision nutrition had kind of evolved over the years and we really have moved from Maybe 15 years ago thinking our job was to provide people sports nutrition information in a very prescriptive way to you know, I've Now that I've been part of the curriculum development over the years I've really tried to progress us towards a more Compassion-based curriculum, which I think people listen to that might just think like blah That's so soft and fluffy and that's not what we do because we're serious weight lifters and performers or whatever But in fact what we know from neuroscience research is that human beings grow And progress and make their optimum performance when they are situated within webs of affirming and supportive relationships Or when they see you know when they feel seen or heard or validated So You know, if you want high performance, you have to offer high support There is no performer that can achieve what they do with no Support and if you look behind the scenes of the highest performers, you will see they have a very well developed roster Of people and things and systems, um, you know, helping them do what they do So for me, compassion and empathy Has always been at the core of everything and some years ago I think John Verardi described me as the heart of pn and what he meant by that was that at that time He was the very cerebral cognitive voice of pn and I was the sort of feelings voice and it's interesting over the years because You know, you sort of it's like a marriage you become much more like the people that you're with and so He's now talking about compassion and I'm now a little bit more cognitive, but you know, it fundamentally Being able to take the perspective of other people and to empathize And not get caught up in it but to understand the suffering and the experiences that they're going through Is crucial for any coach and if we even just want to take it into the realm of barbell training I mean as soon as your athlete walks in the door You should be able to intuitively know where that athlete is at today. Are they having a good day? Are they having a bad day? Are they full of energy? Are they not that they just break up with their partner? Like what is happening with them and in the movements and the way they express the movements You should be able to on some level read them and their inner state So I mean compassion and empathy gets this kind of tag is like, uh, it's fluffy and it's not what serious people do But it is one of the most powerful tools in your coaching toolbox And it's also a much quicker route To getting an athlete to do what they need to do You know, and I I'm sure every Coach who has sat ring side or pool side or field side or wherever whatever side they're sitting on And has had that rapport with the athlete knows That the athlete will respond much more effectively if you have that connection You're able to just give them super simple instructions Go out do this do that and boom they get it the connections immediately It saves you so much coaching time and energy If you have that connection. So it really does operate on all fronts. Yeah, absolutely. I love that I've thought often about that. Compassion and empathy doesn't make it so that we constantly forgive Or make it okay To cheat or to do the wrong thing over and over and over again, right? But instead I think it it makes it safe to be honest about it to have self honesty and honesty with your coach And it often says like it's okay to not be okay today But it's not okay to stay that way We have to make progress through this stuff and that and so it's not again I think you're exactly right I think a lot of people think of that empathy and and compassion is oh, they just like let anything go or let anything slide Well, like no, we're still ultimately we're about performance Like we have to increase performance Both in the weight room or in the sport or in nutrition and the nutrition fuels that performance Those things are all incredibly important But but if you are you take such a hard line with your clients that they're not able to be Honest with you Then you've you've lost out. You don't have that relationship with them So I think that's that's a huge piece of this for sure Well and fundamentally just to add on to what you're saying Compassion requires honesty. That's right. Like some of the most painful honesty there is That that is I think the piece like people think of compassion is like Choosing to ignore damaging things or problems But compassion is like I really see you and I really get you and I understand what it's like to not me I understand but like I I can somehow align with what it's like to be you and I suffer along with you in some way or another but To recognize that we have to be incredibly honest about it and the analogy I would use for barbell training is You know We've all been scared Getting under a heavy barbell quickly, right? I mean, Charles daily used to say if you if you hold a heavy weight over your head and you're not afraid You're probably mentally ill. That's right. I always thought that was a really good line Right, so we can relate with our empathy to oh this athlete is cheating their catch or whatever because they're scared Okay, let's have that conversation, right? That's what empathy allows you it allows you much greater insight and an analytical possibilities That's the thing that that I think Jillian our lead nutrition coach has done so well. She's so Genuinely empathetic. I think that's a lot of it too. Like there has to be it has to be genuine, right? You can't fake it Certainly, maybe you can fake it for a short period of time But people are going to see through that and so she does a tremendous job of that I want to turn towards towards the client themselves And talk a little bit about actual like how does the client approach? Or just the individual that's listening to this like maybe they don't have an nutrition coach And they're just doing the best they can to weather the storm with nutrition and eating and I don't have I have Suboptimal equipment at home. And what do I do? Where's a great place for them to start or where are you all starting with your clients? Who are struggling right now in the midst of the crisis and they're like, man, I can't you know I know that precision nutrition doesn't take a hard line approach on any one specific nutrition program We do the same we try to we want to find the thing that's going to work And the thing that that the client is going to be compliant to so but Again, what we found is often the ones who are a little more Push into that sort of macro tracking a little more rigid are struggling right now. It's hard to macro track And and even for people who are looking at Portions or major macronutrient type foods. I need to eat a protein and a carb at this meal or protein and fat That's a struggle. And so where are you? How are you approaching that with clients and for our listeners? What what's a good takeaway there for them? Well, I think the first thing to remember is that clients will have a range of responses Uh, and it's interesting because I've been doing a lot more like video calls with my clients Just to see like where they at which I don't normally do and and what's fascinating is that there's a complete range of responses And some people are saying I can't believe it. I feel so much more focused so much more on point Somehow junk food just doesn't appeal to me. It just doesn't feel important or relevant right now I have this deep urge to care for myself or Wasting food seems so much more difficult right now So I'm really cooking in ways that amplify the use of the resources that I have So some clients are actually really thriving In this situation and it seems to be the clients that have put the most effort into what we might call the inner game Right self regulation knowing your emotions mental skills all that kind of stuff Intrinsic motivations aligning with your deeper values. So those are the ones that seem to be doing a little bit better um And then of course you have the other end of the spectrum with the clients just saying you know my life is Now a series of distractions my kids are home. I can't focus Everything is crazy. I'm worried about my parents. Uh, you know, like whatever It's just it just feels like everything is collapsed and I can't find my sense of stability and order And again, this tends to be clients more who have relied on external structures For that and it's not wrong to rely on external structures. It's just contingent Because those external structures are not always entirely dependable and I think uh, what a lot of people are coming to terms with honestly in north america Is a reality that first of all many people in north america cope with But second of all many countries have coped with for a long long time food shortages are a very common experience for other people And other regions of the world and so the fact that We can have our macro tracking And and very limited food selection disrupted Is actually an incredible privilege that we have enjoyed up to this time in north america For those of us who are affluent and can't afford it, right? So I think one of the things that's helping clients reframe a little bit is to say listen Human beings are incredibly resilient We can survive like look around the world. We can survive and even thrive in all manner of environments But it does take time to adjust to a new normal And so if we think about everything as a skill set What are the skills that you think you might need now to adapt to this new situation that you find yourself in? And that's kind of where we start so rather than any particular plan Like you should do this or stop snacking or whatever we sort of look at each situation and say Okay, what's going on for you? What is the most disruptive to your plan? Where are you finding and where are you doing? Well, like where are you having those surprising moments of I don't know creativity or resilience or whatever And from there Let's start saying. Okay. What's a tiny change that you can make? I mean, we just had An interview that we did with bj fog where he talks about his tiny habits method And as he says tiny is mighty So what's a really tiny thing that you can do in your daily life to start feeling? Empowered again because I think so for so many people this situation is so disempowering sure many of us Like I said, I've never experienced food shortages before like our brain just can't compute them Or you know losing our jobs or whatever So we want to start to shift people from a sense of disempowerment to empowerment And of course if we can't take big sweeping actions, we can take tiny things We can do tiny actions So what is the smallest action that you can take to act on your own behalf? In this situation as it is right now So not in some like imaginary wonderful place where you have all the foods that you want But like in this craziness right now, what is the one small thing you can do? And so that's where we begin and I think that's that's something that is a good across the board principle But also allows for clients individual responses to a given situation. Yeah, I love that Yeah, I you know, I think it's a it's a a lot of it's just about bringing order to the chaos, right? Like there's so much of this chaos that we cannot control right now We have no control over and those tiny habits we can control those There are little things that we can do and it it becomes very overwhelming when we think about the situation as a whole And all the things that need to be done and all the things that we have to Think about and do and check off the list and so and so to start with that that Individual habit. What is the thing that you can do today? Especially if you look back over your Over your your lifestyle your habits your nutrition your training over say the last two weeks So we're not looking at the past six months because four months ago wasn't anything like what it was two weeks ago The last two weeks has been different. So we look at well What's the last two weeks look like and what are what is one habit that we can make this week that we can Make our own that we can have control over because it allows us to feel like we've got some order in the chaos So even in the midst of the chaos I did a I did a podcast interview with one of our favorite psychiatrist yesterday morning and he was talking about There are some great books. There's a there's a an author Victor Frankl who talks about the the things that he went through in the holocaust, right and to and and how people found Value and worth in their life even in the midst of the worst possible situation right these these ideas of You know think little things that they would do like things that where they would help their neighbor They would give their neighbor bread. They would make sure that their shoes were tied They were little things like that and that was it brought order to the most chaotic thing that maybe anyone has ever gone through ever Um, and that's not to belittle what we're going through but we can look at situations like that go look This is people have gone through crisis before this is not the first crisis in human history And we'll be okay, but it has to start with so he talked about little things even outside the nutrition world things like the that idea of Um making your bed or cleaning a room or making sure that you know, you you don't have to literally completely organize your entire house today That's overwhelming But there's something about even though you know No one's coming over to the house today because we're not really allowed to have people over to your house You can still Make sure the dishes are done right like there doesn't have to be chaos in the sink Or there doesn't have to be chaos and you're you can make your bed. And so I think that's it's really a similar idea Well, I agree and I think that victor frankl's man's search for meaning That's what the book should be required reading for everyone In this moment because it's such a it's such a beautiful And it's just it's just a little book and it's very easy to read And but it's such a beautiful illustration not only of this philosophy that we're describing But very practical examples Of like what you could do in these moments and what people have done and I I liked how you said just now that this connects us To people throughout history who have had to deal with suffering and adversity and really difficult times and for me That's something that I take real comfort in I think about my grandmother who is still alive at 93 And you know lived through the great depression and growing up in rural canada, which sucked. Let me tell you 20 30 and 40s and you know lived in a cabin up north with no running water and no electricity and That was just life for them And I and I think about the skills that people who live through these things have built And for me, it's it's a very comforting Thing to think that within me as a human being I already have All of the tools that I need in order to do this I might not have all the knowledge and you know again At precision instruction, we focus a lot on skill building so I might need to learn some new skills But I mean people who are thrust into Situations like the Holocaust You can't prepare for that like there's no course for that right so everyone In those situations is flying blind and trying to figure it out as they go and something I love about that example is It really is You know, and you do witness incredible acts of heroism But in general it's the heroics are in the banality Of things those little everyday acts and you give someone a little bit of bread or whatever To me that's just where the beauty Of everything lies and to circle back around to your other question I think like one of our roles as coaches is to help clients see the magic in the fundamentals and the essentials and there's great parallels in in barbell lifts because You know you passed a certain point. You can't really do anything super crazy with the barbell Like the basics are where the focus is and refining those absolute basics But you could squat every day of your life and still be learning about it or still Use it as some kind of uh practice to gain knowledge about yourself. So You know as coaches we want to keep circling our clients back to those beautiful essentials of daily life And use the word compliance earlier We actually use the word consistency now because that reflects much more of what we're seeking That people are practicing and practicing and practicing and practicing and seeing that really as a lifelong project or a lifelong journey Yeah, I love that. I think that we we think a lot about Those things that bring us value versus the things that sort of rob us of value and and beyond Beyond the giant things right like my wife and my kids bring me value But like duh right they they should they better But there are other things in my life that bring me value They're much smaller and there are things in my life that rob me of value like little things like things If I stay up too late that robs me of value. That's not a big deal And there's not there's nothing immoral about staying up too late. It's an amoral thing Just for me it robs me of value my next day isn't as good and so To focus in right now When we can't go eat I'll tell you another thing that brings me value is eating a great meal with great friends Over great conversation at a great restaurant. I can't do that right now I don't have access to the friends. I don't have access to the restaurant. It's okay But you know what else brings me value? Cooking dinner with my family which I can do and we've done it a lot more And so those things are being being I think just aware of and intentional About those little things that bring us value that then can can develop into habits I mean one of the one of the positive things for my family is that we are cooking together A minimum of two meals a day every single day and we eat it together in the dining room You know the room that no one uses in the north america. This is the pretty room right We eat in the dining room together And you know we we open a bottle of wine and we and we have good conversation and we talk about the day And so that's a great thing that has come out of this like we so often will Just go get food and go get or go to our restaurant somewhere or pick something up And so that's been that's been a positive for us that we've been able to do those things now Are we tracking right now? No, we're not tracking but It's not that difficult when you cook your meals at home Just sort of just make sure your portions are pretty close to right But that's not hard. That's a small thing for us And so those things are those things are things we're able to tackle on the on the small level It's been very helpful for us for sure well, I think you know in what you're saying too is Something that's been coming up for me is I think many of us are going to start to realize that elaborate plans and systems of scaffolded Like apparatuses that are supposed to motivate us to do things are actually not at all necessary sure and Like really to achieve whether that's the performance we want the body composition we want the health we want the Good life that we want actually requires far less than we have been led to believe and so like Millions of people right now are figuring out how to get a workout on a balcony or in a living room or in a Park if they're allowed to still go or or whatever with really minimal equipment for most of us and so It's really revealed. I think the facade that Oh, the only way to exercise is to do something extremely complicated You know and and you can't possibly be able to figure it out on your own You have to go and like work with a group of approved professionals and like I mean It's really given the lie to a lot of the things we believe to be true about health and fitness Now that being said, it's really interesting how Coaching has remained a vital role during this time. So even if we if we can't be with our clients in person We're somehow still like a really crucial link to sanity for them So I don't know what you folks have been doing online But certainly, you know, my mma gym has been running online classes And it's been great to just go and see my coaches like to just have that connection So I mean so on the one hand, you know, this time has really removed a lot of the fictions and the stories that we told ourselves about How exercise and nutrition are supposed to work But it's also I think Returned us to our roots in a way Of saying that human connection is really crucial sort of like what we talked about being being in its call Um certain movements remain crucial movement itself remains crucial I've never seen so many people outside as when they told us we couldn't go outside Like all of a sudden everyone who is like a former couch potato is like I have to get outside and take up running Like there's something about being constrained and prevented from movement that makes humans say I need to move I want to move and so out of this may also come more people's Realizations that Gosh movement is really part of what makes me a fulfilled human being and it didn't happen the way I thought it would happen or the way that I thought that it should happen But it's happening. It's like something inside of me that just needs to get out of the house and move Yeah, I love that Yeah, you you don't know this about us But one of our kind of primary tag lines is we say simple hard effective like the thing that's what we focus on and so Uh, you really see this you're exactly right and and and in everything like we focus it on training and barbell training and and nutrition often, but it really it it It spreads out to all of those other places like, you know, I mean we've got Your kids are in three different sports and you've got church two nights a week It's different things and you've got your fantasy football league and you get there, you know And it's like wow, this is actually really nice not having any of this stuff Yeah, it's very it's a return to simplicity. Like you said it's a return to our roots and and and I understand that there are a lot of people that Probably struggle with even trying to grasp that concept because they're in the middle of I don't know how much longer i'm getting a paycheck or maybe i'm not getting a paycheck anymore or So those you know, I certainly don't want to make our listeners who can't get there yet Um, force them in to try to think that way or or feel bad because they can't but I think that we're gonna look back And I definitely think that we're gonna hold on to some of the things that that we've changed about our lives I I listen my biggest hope is when I get to go have dinner with some of my some of my friends and family again That no one picks this goddamn thing up their cell phone and is on it that we We don't I like you said I crave human interaction, right? And so that's why it's interesting We've done the same thing for us. We we are constantly interacting with our clients and everything we do is online But um, we've done a lot more just sort of like webinars and AMAs and just live like, you know, happy hours Let's all just meet and have a drink together and you know at first. I'm like, ah, that's kind of cheesy It's crazy how many people show up for it Because they're stuck in their house and they crave human interaction and while zoom is certainly not exactly human interaction It's better than nothing and so for me I am craving that great conversation With a friend in person where no one picks up their cell phone for a solid hour We just talk and have good food and good drinks and enjoy each other And I think I think some of that will last I really do I hope that it will for sure I've got a lot of hope that that return to the roots Make us see what is important Well, and you know You mentioned some of these activities right and and I go back to asking myself like what is the point of any of this right? Like so if I'm doing on these activities What's the feeling that I'm trying to achieve by doing them, right? So for example, if I'm going to church or I'm going wherever like What is the feeling that's that I'm trying to generate in myself by doing this? and Remarkably, you know, isn't it true that in a lot of ways I can get these feelings by by Doing less of like, you know what? I mean like sure So for example, if I if I want to feel like a deepening of my connection to life, right? So like, you know one reason I go to church Let's say or a synagogue or wherever I go is I want to feel a deeper engagement with that spiritual existential dimension of myself Well, let me tell you everyone is confronting the spiritual dimension of themselves right now pretty friggin intensely, right? So like we are actually getting a lot of what we were seeking in the first place But we we're getting it in other Surprising ways, which I think is kind of nifty but to bring to take up your point about not romanticizing things I think that one of the The factors that will come out of this is I'm hoping for anyway that we will see how crucial Caregiving is in our society like the heroes on the front line are the health care workers obviously and also the essential workers the people that get us food and drive our buses and you know do all those invisible jobs And how crucial it is for us to care for each other during these times Which again is one of the roles of a coach is to be A support system for people. So I'm hoping that out of this will come just a revaluation of Communities of care, which can certainly include coaching communities. Yeah, I'm glad you said the word that's I was thinking the whole time You were saying about the word community That's the thing that I think we've really lost or that we're struggling with right now in this time that we can't We can't be around people and so and it's not community for the sake of being around people Which I think is what happens a lot of times when you go when you're part of these clubs or these social groups Or the t-ball practice or whatever and it's what I'm craving Is real authentic connection With other people with community and so for for us that that by the way We're an online coaching company and and almost everything you guys do is online and it's to me It's the single hardest thing that we have to overcome as an online coaching company is how do we connect? It's the very nature of online coaching is impersonal How do we make it personal and that's the thing that I think that has made us successful over the years is that While we know our coaches are experts What we really push into hard is connecting with your clients Because that's the thing that matters and so that's the thing that I miss I miss I I don't miss at church. I don't miss the songs or I don't miss the sermon necessarily like this I miss the community like the real community if there's authentic community. I don't miss the t-ball practices at all You know those sort of things like there's a lot of that stuff that I'm like man This is actually really nice not to have to you know We get up every morning and joke my wife and I like what's the plan for the day We're like same thing every day We you know we homeschool the kids and you're gonna work in your office and we're gonna make dinner together at night That's that's life right now and then there's something that's like strangely satisfying and comfortable about that for us It's like that's this is kind of nice and so Um, yeah, I think this this this is really important So as we wrap this up what I want to do is sort of rapid fire a little bit Some very practical take-homes for our clients. We've we've stayed in and this we do this a lot on this podcast We've stayed in sort of the philosophical and theoretical And I think it's good because our listeners like that and they're able often to Figure out the pragmatics and the practical out of those But I'd like to give them some a few examples of of some of those things that they can take away this week so In your own practice and maybe even in your own life What are some of these small habits that you're seeing develop that again? Not to pressure somebody to do those but to maybe trigger something in the mind be like Oh, I could do that or something like that What are some of those smaller habits that you're seeing your clients? Have success with or maybe even yourself have success with over the last several weeks That could be something that our clients could do or our listeners could do today or tomorrow To sort of start this process of bringing little tiny pieces of order to the chaos Yeah, great question. And um, I'll show you what my habit has been and I'll hold up I mean you can't see it, but what it is. It's a very tiny pad of paper. Yeah, notepad. Um a tiny little notepad on which I write My intent for the day my commitment for the day. I don't I don't even like to call it intention for the I like to call it commitment Like what am I going to prepare to be all in on? For today whether it happens or not But what I'm going to you know, what am I really going to shoot for today? And it's not just tasks it's it's how am I choosing my mindset today and That can be as simple as waking up and saying okay today I'm going to try to keep my head Here today. I'm going to try to reach out to someone today I'm going to try to be there for someone today. I'm going to try to um be optimistic today I'm you know, whatever it is you you would like to commit to as like a deliberate mental stance today That's something you can get up and do immediately and you might need to revise the plan halfway through the day It might be apparent that whatever your attention was is going off the rails So you can take a moment pause literally 10 seconds and say Okay, I instead I'm going to commit to Blah blah this mindset or that mindset so It sounds like you know setting intentions to me always has a little bit of a woo woo flavor to it But we know from positive psychology that it does make you More likely To end up the way that you want to end up So there's something about declaring our intentions and declaring our commitment It's like why do people get married right like they declare their commitment in front of other people and now it's real so There's something about a declaration That really does increase the probability of us You know getting the outcome that we seek. So that's a super simple one literally five seconds um And not to use it as an opportunity to beat yourself up like today. I'm going to be really good like That's meaningless But you know an intention that really aligns with who you want to be does make a difference the second thing that I would say is Developing a structure is really helpful And this is something I've learned from working at home for years and years in a knowledge profession Where there is no intrinsic structure like you're called upon to develop so much structure in this work for yourself So first of all recognizing this is this is a hard task so You know as a client you can ask yourself What is the one really small thing that I could do today? to create Some kind of structure for myself. It could be as simple as saying At 12 o'clock. I'm going to have lunch or whatever right? It's something really simple and then over the over the coming days Start to construct your routine Slowly one of the things I definitely recommend is thinking like a restaurant and having hours where the kitchen is just off limits And I don't mean in like a you know a bad like rule bound like oh kitchen is bad You know Restrictive way but just saying you know what? kitchens closed between this hour and that hour And that was something I learned for many years after working at home because there's something between 2 p.m. And 4 p.m For most people like no good snack decisions are made during that time. So over the years. I just learned Don't eat between two and four. It's only two hours. It's Not going to die, but there's something about that time where no good decisions get made. So let's just take it off the table So a related piece is kind of like eliminating decision fatigue. How can you Eliminate or pre decide? Yep, pre commit to something Beforehand and then construct things as much as possible so that that occurs. Can you Change your environment to make that happen. Um, you know, there's lots of different ways to think about it Um, so applying structure to yourself and and also, um and other pieces using a feedback loop So every day take 30 seconds or a minute sit down drop some notes down whatever And just think what went well today And where did I struggle and don't dwell too much on the struggles? Um, but really focus on what went well And see if you can do more of that Tomorrow what was it about something that I did today that gave me a result that I appreciated Oh, it's because my kid helped out in the kitchen today And that made us, you know that that diminished the conflict level which then diminished my stress eating and we ended up eating Something healthy like you can almost like reverse engineer what went well So having a daily ritual where I called the book end ritual. So morning attention setting or commitment setting evening, uh You know recap Retrospective where you just look back and say what went well And how can I do more of that tomorrow? Super super simple. So using a feedback loop is really really helpful because it allows you to make To do like ongoing learning on the fly and if you're deliberate about this it dramatically increases your learning speed It's like if after every barbell lift you sat and you looked at footage of it and analyzed it You know, how much better you'd be even within a few trainings that's what we do Very very similar it works. Well. Yeah, it's it's it's funny. You know, we've we've um We've talked to a lot of people over the last couple weeks who are working from home You work from home. I've worked from home for almost, uh, let's see seven eight years now and Everyone that's successful at this does the same thing, right? And so it's not it's not about living on a schedule because You know, I'm trying to put myself in this like I'm trying to like line up this OCD Sort of I have to have every 15 minutes. So it's not that's not that at all It's that we get up at a certain time We go to bed at a certain time and I'm not going to tell you what your time is to get up or go to bed We eat at a certain time. We have certain, you know, we have just like you have the times where you say like kitchens are off Limit kitchens off limits. We're not going to snack. We're going to eat dinner here in a couple hours We want to have a good dinner and be hungry for that We do the same thing with electronics where this is a no electronic hour. We're not going to play on phones We're not going to have the tv on We have intentional conversations with our family that either occurs every day That's if it's a big day and there's a lot of things to do We'll sit down in the morning and it's almost like a staff meeting We sit down in the living room and we said, okay, what's the plan for the day? What's the schedule? Here we go and we kind of walk through it And then in the evenings we have intentional conversations about things that are going on We you know, we've talked a lot with our kiddos about about about covid-19 and what the world looks like right now And do they have anxiety and and what are they worried about and is everything okay? you know all those sorts of things let them ask questions and And man, that's brought a lot of value to our life to be able to do those things And so it really all stems from you come back to that schedule When we are intentional you talk about that intentionality about That being committed to Completing the things that we are dedicated to complete and I start with often because I'm a business guy and I get up early in the morning I do business I'm doing the things that are urgent and then urgent and important But if I do it well and I schedule it well It leaves me all of that time at the end of the day to do all of those important things that are never urgent The the cooking dinner with my family the having great conversation The those you know the reading the book for enjoyment not because I'm reading some nonfiction book that like helps the business because I need to Work on accounting or you know get the federal stimulus or you know, all those stressful things like I want to be able to spend more time doing the things that bring me value and schedule gives me freedom for that Not bondage to it. That's the key That often people think that those those sort of rules and regulations that you put on yourself That you don't have a boss that tells you like what time Nobody tells me that you have to get up and take a shower and not wear your pajamas But that's a rule in our house We all we homeschool our kids anyway Our kids are always homeschool and my wife's to stay at home mom and I work from home We get up and get dressed every day We're not going to sit around in our pajamas and so, um, you know, it's a sin That could be a simple habit tomorrow. I'm going to get up at x time I'm going to take a shower and put on real close And maybe that's the habit for tomorrow and so it's a it's a great place to start and food food for us works The same way right right now. It's more. I think about those bigger picture ideas And you were talking about more that that mental intrinsic Motivation the ones that I think often take a little longer to develop for people so People who are maybe struggling or often maybe less Further down the path of having a right relationship with food And so they still need a lot of those external motivations. Oh My fitness pal tells me I can only have another so many grams of carbs or whatever and that works great That discipline in the short term works great, but ultimately We have to develop the mental toughness and the intrinsic motivation To be able to do this on our own without all of that extracurricular stuff. And I think that's a great place to start Yeah, absolutely. And I think embedded in what you're saying too is the importance of what I would call like Values alignment, right? Like if you're questioning why you're doing something right now That's actually a really good conversation to be having with yourself because maybe it indicates that you're doing something That's not super aligned with your core values or the person you want to be or Maybe you're choosing a path to get to be that person that's not really working for you So if you are having like dark nights of the soul about whether you should be doing this or that or tracking your food Or eating your vegetables Like that's a good crucial conversation to be having with yourself And it could be that in this moment Some things become more important and some things become less important and whatever that is for you Like maybe tracking right now is the only thing keeping you sane Right. Maybe that is the one piece of like consistency about the world that feels like there's any certainty And that's a really productive practice for you for someone else. It might be like, oh, this is meaningless I don't even care anymore. Like so it really is less about saying this tool is the best tool and saying How are you when you are using this tool? What kind of person do you become? Is it energizing? Is it focusing? Do you feel like a better person and I don't mean like in a moralistic way But you feel like you've advanced the game of yourself in some way by using this tool Or do you feel more anxious more rigid more pushed on a path that doesn't seem to make any sense to you So, I mean, yeah, we've gotten pretty philosophical with this, but it's it's a very testable real world Hypothesis right like when I get up in the morning And I choose to have a healthy breakfast. That is a I feel it in myself It feels like a deliberate act of saying like not today satan, right? And it was funny because yesterday I saw a guy walking on the street In a in a blue baby blue satin bathrobe with fuzzy cuffs and collar and Like white socks and berkin socks sandals and a toke which is a hat with a pom-pom here in canada And and it was this is clearly a thing for him Like he clearly decided that this is how he was going to spend his day and I looked at him and I was like You know without and I was like on the one hand I'm like good for you for just embracing the zeitgeist of the moment But on the other hand, you know, did your great grandfather take nazi shrapnel in the face Like in the 40s so that you could do this during a time when your biggest job is just to stay inside and wash your hands That's right So I was just like, are you showing up the best you can for yourself right now? And maybe that is you know for him. Maybe maybe that was a really crucial act I don't know But it just I sort of looked at I was like, I don't know if that's how I want to face the apocalypse You know, hey, we all we all roll in our own way. But anyway to bring it back to The more banal concrete things, you know, to circle back around to an earlier theme You know, think about for yourself if you're listening what feels like an act of self preservation and self care, especially if you're thinking about the long game So if you if we are in this to win it, like, you know for several months What are the actions that will produce that longer term Outcome for yourself. Well, obviously acknowledging that you're experiencing some really messed up stuff We're all feeling sad and angry and confused and all of these, you know, extremely painful emotions That's important to honor as well and and be present with and then say, okay, but I'm still getting out of the bathroom You know, that's exactly right Yeah, I think I think one of the most practical and one of the funnest Funnest most fun conversations. I've ever had with my family is we actually Took the little notepad like you've got and we all actually spent time writing down the things that we do every day That bring us value or bring us joy, right? And when I again when I say value, I don't mean money I'm like again It's sort of advanced life value advance the cause bring us joy and the things that we do every day that Or that we could do that rob us of value And so, you know right now for for a lot of people I think spending too much time reading the news outlets or being on twitter Is a negative thing for a lot of people because it's just like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh Like how bad is this going to be maybe for some it's not that way and then and then you start to identify those things and again Almost all of the things that get written on on a piece of paper like that I think this is a great practical take home And it's a great conversation that you can have with your family or even just do it yourself That what you'll note is that almost all of those things are very much amoral things. They're not moral. They're not immoral They're just is reading news outlets immoral or no, no, no, no, it's just you have to recognize Does it bring me value and joy or does it rob me of value and joy, right? And so we and so we actually have lists and we've kept them for years And we talk about them all the time as a family like what are the things we do that That bring us joy and bring us value bring us closer together star our affections for each other But that's a that's another big thing like what are the things I can do this stir my affection for my wife or for my Daughters like that's important versus one of the things I do that sort of make me put up the wall And um identifying those are big. I think that's a big that would be a that would be a big First step, but I think it's a I think it's an enjoyable and it's a fun First step to do and a great conversation to have with people who are close to you with With significant others and family and friends for sure Yeah, gosh, I feel like I want to be part of your family now Maybe I maybe I could be it's not all perfect. Sometimes I have to be sometimes I gotta beat people. No, no No, it's it's it's it's it's good. My uh, no, it's it's been it's actually been we were joking the other day My wife and I think there was two nights ago I was like, have we had a family argument in like the last month since all this started She's like, I don't think we have right my daughters have had a couple little tiffs But for and that's not be listen that is way not because we're perfect But we've also done this a lot longer than most people we've been in a house together for years That's what we've learned how to live together and and The reality is is like not having all the extracurricular stuff that drives the stress Has made our household far less stressful. Am I stressed about this thing? Yeah, I don't I can't remember if you know this I was one of the first people in the state of Missouri to get covid So I've got it. My wife got it. We and we are recovered. So I am not that's right survivor I'm immune. I can walk around like a superhero I can we can we can walk around I need to get a shirt because I don't have to wear I don't need to wear gloves or masks anywhere And then everybody looks at me weird and I'm like, no, no, no, I'm I'm immune. I'm immune I can't give it to so you want me to sneeze on you. I don't know so So it's uh after that initial stress. We we're not dealing with the stress of What happens if we get sick because we were at sick? And so once we got rid of that it was sort of like, okay This is actually sort of life as usual for us Without all the extra trips to the restaurants and the sports and the church and the stuff that we We do all the time and it's actually been honestly and I actually kind of feel bad about this It's been A little bit de-stressing for us. Like it's kind of been nice And I feel like my family has been brought closer together over the last several weeks out of this Because we don't you know, we've we've done well. We've steward our money well at the business So I'm not you know, I'm not super worried about that kind of stuff We don't have these major and I understand I want to be incredibly empathetic for people who are very much worried about getting sick They have elderly parents who they're worried about they're struggling with their own finances I absolutely get it. I am I am stressed for my staff I am stressed for my clients that are struggling with those things and so I I want to be empathetic to those things But for us, it's actually been not that bad And so um, and I think a lot of it is because we we take enough time to think about those things that bring us value And rob us of value and and we try to purge our life as much as we can of the things that That make it not go well and we try to really push in on the things that do so and You know implied in what you're saying too is that you know at the end of this It sounds like there's a lot of gratitude and and realizing that the like there's so much richness Even in regular quote unquote life That like and I and I wonder if this is an opportunity to really recognize some of the things that we did take for granted Right, of an available food supply being able to eat whatever we want whenever we want it The the idea that there's sort of an infinite time to do whatever it is Like we feel like our days are shorter or potentially numbered it really does change things And so I'm I wonder if out of this there may be You know, not everyone is going to be like yay, so glad a pandemic happened Like that's not what i'm saying but more like a sense of Having survived right a sense of growth. I mean we talk about post-traumatic growth Right that is a thing and and we become stronger and more resilient And even if it beats the heck out of us during the process afterwards We can look back and say You know what like there's something about that experience that in some way Reoriented my story of myself in a way that was growth promoting and it sucked super bad at the time Because it always does. I mean that's the definition of trauma But um, but at the end of it, hopefully many of us will be experiencing Some sense of like, you know what this gave me an opportunity to do or feel or experience Something even if it's just I went through coveted and it was freaking horrible And I thought I was going to die and now I'm so glad that my lungs work. Oh my god. Lungs are amazing Like to me that would be what a tremendous realization that would be Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Hey, this has been a great conversation Dr Krista Scott Dixon so formal now. I feel like after talking through all this philosophy I I can truly call you Krista now. I was uncomfortable with it at the beginning of the show But now I feel like I can because uh precision nutrition has put together a coalition of health and fitness leaders And uh, tell us a little bit about that. It's super interesting what they're doing right now Yeah, I mean basically the gist of it was when all of this stuff started to happen And we started seeing the writing on the wall for a lot of trainers and coaches And our clients too You know, some of us got together and said, hey, we want to do something What is it that we can do and obviously we can't get into the lab and start making vaccines and you know We can't be frontline health care workers. Although some people were but you know, what can we do to help? That's really the main thing and as an industry As an industry, which is often competitive, how can we change that focus a little bit and be Collaborative how can we come together as everyone who has a common objective of wanting to promote The health and wellness and well-being of people in this field How can we come together and start producing resources for especially coaches and trainers? Who might be in very difficult places because of this? So I mean, there's some information that's useful for everyone that we're putting out in our in our first webinar We really tried to kind of cast a broad net But ultimately it's about saying how can we leverage What we know our experiences You know the the the insight that we've gathered over years and years of being in the business To help other people who are struggling right now whether that's, you know, trainerize offers A much longer trial period for their coaching software Or we put together a resource package from bj fog on tiny habits, right? How to use tiny habits to pivot your coaching business from in person to online or talking to michael dravet is about managing fear How do you manage fear and anxiety in the face of again transitioning to a new environment? so You know, we try to have interesting discussions fairly regularly Just on topics that people might be thinking about But also behind the scenes do a lot of partnering with organizations to see Can we get resources? That will actually help people right now. So for example bj fog, you know made a lot of his resources freely available. He's running free tiny habits Sessions for people especially like on topics that they might be wondering and worrying about So it's just been amazing to see how everyone's come together and been so incredibly generous with their time and their energy And and their products And just, you know collectively saying how can we help people maintain their livelihoods? And their occupations because I mean coaching and training now isn't just a job, right? It's it's like a career for people. So how can we help people maintain that? And respond in a very adaptive way during this time and also just to let people know man, we're all in this together You know, we are here for you and even just to give people the sense of like We're thinking about you sometimes is enough, you know, concrete stuff works much better than that too We we just joined that as well. So we're part of that part of that coalition leadership Group and we're trying to put out some some quality content there, especially from our academy and and some of that Some of our our deep sort of curriculum for for health and fitness leaders as well So, uh, where the url is where where do they go to find the information on that? Yeah, it's health and fitness coalition.com There you go long one word and if you and if you scroll down, I'm looking at it now I mean, there's quite a lot of organizations in it and again more joining every day So we're like putting it up on the on the website as fast as as we can There's some free webinars there. There's free downloads of resource packages So there's lots of stuff all right again And then we're hoping of course to increase the quantity of whatever is there awesome So if you are a fitness professional or I know a lot of our people that listen Want to potentially be a fitness professional in the future? They love geeking out on this stuff There's tons of phenomenal information and content there That's what I love about precision nutrition does a lot the way we do is that they they put out a lot of high-end Wonderful content because they know that the content will eventually drive people to be better coaches and and it works And so, uh, we can go to the coalition. Do you want to send them to precision nutrition as well? Where else do we want to send our listeners? Yeah, precision nutrition.com is another great place to go and we've also put out some free stuff on our website as well Blog articles and that kind of stuff. I mean, there's tons. There's always been tons of free content there So precision nutrition.com. I mean just just tons and tons of stuff We just did an interesting thing on a different way to think about training And we had Craig Weller are one of our exercise program design specialists You know write this article talking about just thinking about training differently because often, you know We think oh, I can only train if I'm in a gym for an hour my approved hour But he was like listen, you know, can you open up the way you think about this kind of stuff? And so, you know for listeners of of your podcast It might be a really interesting paradigmatic shift in how to keep training when the the rules have changed So there's anyway, there's tons of free articles infographics Like, you know, you can go and read it until until your eyeballs fall out basically Perfect. Dr. Christa Scott Dixon, thank you so much for being on the show today Thank you for this conversation about nutrition and crisis and we got all over the not just nutrition But life in Christ like in the middle of crisis mode and sort of how to weather the storm. This has been a wonderful conversation Thank you so much for being on the show Oh, thank you so much for having me we for the rest of you We will see you in a few days. We'd love to have a five star review at itunes If you love what we do if you hate what we do just, you know, don't tell anybody at all And so but if you love it, we'd love a five star review and we will see you in a couple days. See you guys soon