Farm health series #3: Nutrition

Shay

Foulk: And it all comes down to this. Two on, two out, bottom of the ninth. The Farmers lead by one. Full count, here comes the play at the plate, and it's the Ag View Pitch! Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ag View Pitch, and you have Shay Foulk here today with Chris Barron. How we doing tonight, Chris?

Chris

Barron: Doing awesome, how you doing?

Shay

Foulk: Can't complain. I was just yawning here a minute ago and kind of joking as we get through this health series, you know, that We started it off with sleep, and I've actually been doing really well with sleep during this quarantine time period. Seems like I've had time to get a little bit more and working out. And, you know, today's discussion, we're going to gear it towards nutrition a little bit. And, you know, how we base this to start off with, we looked at 4 or 5 different key topics that we thought were important for farmers and ag producers and those just in agribusiness in general. To focus on some of these key principles, and it's even more important as we go through the pandemic and the virus and the lasting impacts that this is going to have. So today, as we jump into nutrition, I know you and I have talked, you know, 4 or 5, 6 different things to focus on.

Maybe you just want to give us a kind of a brief introduction to your thoughts on nutrition.

Chris

Barron: Will do. Yeah, so there's really, you know, kind of the way I look at it. I have what I consider kind of my 5 principles of nutrition and I guess, you know, I've always been pretty faithful at working out. You know, we talked in the exercise podcast and— but, you know, you go to work out and you think, well, that's gonna help me lose weight, it's gonna make my midsection leaner. Well, 85% of the results that you get are really gonna come from nutrition more so than the exercise. And so really, over the years, I've kinda learned these 5 kinda key things and we can dive into 'em, but the first one is just water intake and I'm not gonna sit here and say that, you know, "Oh, I'm perfect at all this and I do all this." It's just things that I've learned over the years and obviously not an expert. I'm not a nutritionist.

But, you know, things that I've learned and water is the key thing is just trying to make sure you get, you know, water throughout the day. The second one is just a low— a little bit lower carbohydrates. I'm not saying, you know, don't, you know, you gotta completely eliminate carbs and you can't be eating, you know, cereal and oatmeal and all that kind of stuff. I'm just saying that, you know, you kinda watch the carbs and the timing and we can talk about that. The third one is just eating more often. So, you know, it's, it's having smaller meals and not having, you know, one great big huge meal because your body can only metabolize so much and we can get into that one. The fourth one is just managing portion size. That's one thing I think that a lot of us have probably figured out now that we're in this quarantine type thing.

You go to a restaurant and the, and the, they give you enough french fries for 5 people in one serving, you know, you can't eat all those and and, you know, or you get a steak and it's, you know, it's a 20-ounce steak and, you know, 4 or 5 ounces is, you know, is really a serving size of meat. And, you know, and then the last one is really learning what works for you. You know, so I'm gonna sit here and have this conversation with you, Shay, on nutrition, and we're gonna lay out some principles like these, these 5 principles, and one of these principles is doing what works for you because everybody's different, you know, as far as what works. And so it's really all about figuring out, you know, I'm going to be disciplined first of all, but I'm going to figure out what works for me and, and, and stick to that. So yeah, those are kind of the 5 things, right?

Shay

Foulk: And that's a, that's a really good outline, I think, of the discussion here. And so to jump back to water, I wanted to give a brief overview. When you look at it from a anatomy standpoint of why water is so important. As most people know, I mean, we're 90-some percent water that occupies our body, and the purpose of it is to help filter out nutrients, you know, to move resources, and our system completely depends on it. And humans have this innate ability to operate on low amounts of water intake, and we see that, you know, with diet sodas and teas and energy drinks, we're still getting that water, but we're not getting kind of the straight water that our body really needs to thrive.

And so when we look at working out and eating right, that water is so important combined with both of those things to help process that food, digest and move those nutrients to where they need to be, and then even more importantly, to rid our bodies of the toxins, not only from the food if we do find ourselves accidentally eating a couple donuts or some licorice at night, but also of the waste products that are, you know, created from working out. Because like you said, you can't outwork a bad diet, right? And so if you have an intense workout that day and you don't have enough water in your body, and then you happen to accidentally eat a cheeseburger or, you know, a Whopper and some fries after that, your body just can't handle all that influx of stuff and it needs that water to help move it out.

Chris

Barron: Right, and that's, that's the thing, you know, you just mentioned, you know, you don't— it doesn't take a lot of calories of intake, you know, you can eat a Snickers bar for example and take in, you know, 300 to 400 calories and you get on the treadmill and look at how much exertion it takes to, to burn that. That 400 calories is— it takes a lot. And, and, you know, like I said, if you don't have the water there to kind of keep things flowing, that's definitely an impact.

Shay

Foulk: And, you know, one other thing too, as we have this general overview, you know, you pointed out, and I know you're going to hit it on here later in this podcast, but what is your goal with fitness? You know, is it to, to lean out that midsection? Is it just so that you have healthier heart, you know, better cholesterol, maybe put yourself at a lower risk for diabetes. Whatever your goal is, water can help achieve any one of those things. And for instance, with weight loss, when we talk about the diet and nutrition side of these things, not only can you not outwork a bad diet, but there's some very simple principles that just hold true over time. And that is, you know, for weight loss, if you want weight loss, what you truly need is a calorie deficit.

And if that's your goal, in order to facilitate that, you need to curb some of those hunger cravings that you have, curb some of those— oh, not, not addictions, but, you know, the things that you want and enjoy in your life. You need to find a way to move away from that. So water not only helps to serve that purpose, but also to fill your stomach, make you feel fuller longer, and help with that calorie deficit or whatever your intended program is.

Chris

Barron: Yeah. And that's one thing with water too. You get all these recommendations and it goes back to that fifth, you know, principle we have about knowing yourself. You know, you, you hear some people saying, oh, you need to drink a gallon of water a day, or you need to drink a half gallon of water a day. I think you need to know yourself and understand, you know, What, what is the right amount of water for you? You know, and I think for everybody it's different, you know, kind of a funny one, you know, Benjamin Franklin's quote, you know, in wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria. And that it's, it's kind of funny, you know, it's, it's, it's, uh, that there is water in everything you drink too. So it's not saying that, that, you know, everything you drink has to be water.

It can be Gatorade, it can be— it probably shouldn't be all wine and all beer, but you need to know yourself and that's really the key thing, I think, and just make sure you got good clean water source throughout the day.

Shay

Foulk: And depending on the time of year too, Chris, because right now, I find myself able to drink a lot more water. I'm probably on that higher end closer to a gallon. And today, sitting in the office, cool day, not really doing a whole lot of work, I drank almost a gallon of water, and it keeps you energized and focused because you're up going to the bathroom every, you know, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, whatever it is. But if it's something in the heat of summer, you know, you're out picking up rocks or whatever it may be, that summer heat is even more crucial for you to have that in conjunction with, uh, you know, working out and everything else that you have going on. And like you said too, with where you're getting your water from. I've been guilty in the past of drinking anywhere from 4 to 12 cups of coffee a day and literally drinking over a pot of coffee a day.

And you are getting that water, but within that you have the caffeine that also serves as a diuretic, right? So making you go to the bathroom more, make those more frequent trips, and your body's just not able to retain that So being cognizant of where you're getting your water from, what form it comes in, and then how that affects your health overall, I think is really important.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, for sure.

Shay

Foulk: Well, should we move into, you know, some simple carbs? You made a note of that. Why don't you, uh, why don't you lead off that part of the discussion?

Chris

Barron: Yes. Well, yeah, I think, you know, one of the things is, is with carbohydrates, you know, I'm as guilty as anybody. It's funny you made the comment about eating licorice and ice cream and popcorn at night. I'm I'm probably as guilty of that as anybody or more so probably, especially with the licorice. But— Yeah. You know, it's looking at, you know, what time of day are you taking in carbohydrates and are they the simple carbs or are they more complex. And the, you know, the complex carbohydrates would be the greens, you know, your salads, your green beans, spinach, Brussels sprouts, you know, broccoli, those kinda things are really, you know, more of a complex carbohydrate. Your body's not gonna turn those instantly into sugar like it might with, you know, a candy bar or baked goods or bread. Those kind of things really, you know, are the simple carbohydrates.

And we as people typically eat a lot of that stuff because it's more convenient. If you go into, you know, into a Casey's or into any kind of a, a quick stop or whatever, the most convenient stuff to grab most often, you know, are baked type of goods or Twinkies or the stuff that's in wrappers that's just quick and easy to eat. Probably the worst type of, you know, stuff we can do to ourselves for, you know, to eventually develop diabetes and that kinda— those kinda things. And so it's really about, you know, if you're gonna take in some simple carbs, the thing that I've learned over the years is that you know, the simple carbs are better earlier in the day. So if it's, you know, cereal or whatever, those kind of things.

But, you know, after about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, if you can switch over to, you know, more complex carbs like the green beans, the spinach, the Brussels sprouts, the broccoli, those kind of things. And, you know, and not, not have a big baked potato at, you know, 10 o'clock at night. You know, instead, you know, have you know, have those simple carbs earlier in the day. And then in some instances, it's maybe even shutting the carbs off after 4 o'clock in the afternoon if in fact, you know, weight loss is one of the things you're looking for and just kind of measure what those are. But— and then just switching over to protein, you know, if you're not gonna eat carbs, then what are you gonna eat? Well, there's lots of alternatives that are pretty easy to have around like nuts and you know, meat sticks. I've seen you when we're traveling around going and see clients and stuff.

A lot of times we stop at the Quick Stop and you come out with, you know, meat sticks and beef jerky and that kind of stuff. And those are really good alternatives. And, you know, cottage cheese and tuna and those types of things are just— are good alternatives.

Shay

Foulk: Right. And with the carbohydrate in general, to give a historical perspective on that, on evolutionarily why we developed this taste and this liking for these highly concentrated, high caloric intake foods is the yummy— survival standpoint, right? The yummy stuff, the stuff that has sugar and the Twinkies and the Ho Hos and, and the donuts, everything, because you have that high calorie, high density foods that were key to survival over time. And our bodies were built to crave those sorts of things, you know, the salty, the sweet, the sour, all your senses that you have there. Our bodies were built to crave those separate things and desire that high calorie intake because that meant survival. It's how our bodies operate.

And the way evolution works as far as, you know, changing, changing those patterns over time is we just have not had the complexity long enough in our lives in order to gear away from that. And so we always have these natural desires, these natural cravings to go towards those foods. And so it really takes a lot of discipline not only to, to not eat those foods, like you said, when it has the long shelf life, it's in the packaging that is, is really easy and convenient. You can store it in the truck or store it in the house for a long time, not having to make as many trips to the grocery store to get the fresh food, or, you know, even the meat sticks. And from a, from a price standpoint, it is much cheaper to buy, you know, 2 packages of Ho-Hos and get twice the calories as it is to buy a package of beef jerky for $8.99.

And so these challenges, you know, come in in more than just the nutrition, but the foundation of how our bodies operate. And then also from a monetary standpoint, which we haven't really addressed here in the nutrition, there's just a lot There's a lot at play there.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, if you wanna eat clean, in other words, you wanna eat lower carbohydrates and more protein, higher quality food in other words, you're gonna pay more. I mean, you get what you pay for. Yes. And that's— that's very true. I mean, if all of a sudden in your household you decide, "Okay, we're gonna cut out a bunch of the carbohydrates," and if you keep track of the dollars and cents that you're spending on some junk, that's pretty cheap, you know, sure, you know, the sugar stuff, sugary stuff's not that expensive in comparison to the, to the meats and the, and the nuts and, and, you know, tuna and some of those, um, you know, clean dairy products and stuff like that, that, you know, the, the leaner, you know, the lower fat cheeses and some of those things, you know, you're going to spend a little bit more money on that stuff.

Shay

Foulk: The one thing I will say though is there's probably a difference between going into the convenience store, you know, if you're in the farm truck headed down to, to a meeting or to get fuel or you're in between fields or whatever, there is a difference between there and buying those foods at the grocery store. I was very regimented on my diet going through my, my college years, 2 of my college years, and that's for 2 reasons. One, because I was working out a lot and wanted to stay really fit, and two, because I didn't have a whole lot of money And so I could survive on $28 a week in groceries is what I figured. And then buy me a whole lot of chicken, big bag of rice, and either Brussels sprouts or broccoli. And I tried to have some diversity in there, but generally I was still eating pretty healthy and still having a good diet, some good nutrition associated with that.

So I think it's having that dedication, that discipline, meal planning can be huge, especially when it comes to field environments. Not only on the types of foods that you're eating, but also how frequently you're eating and portion size, which is a couple areas that we're gonna get into here next that I think is important.

Chris

Barron: Yeah. Real quick, you said rice. There is definitely a big difference between white rice and brown rice too, as far as, you know— Yes. You know, how, how you're going to metabolize that as well.

Shay

Foulk: Right. No, that's a good point. Um, yeah. So let's move on to, you know, the frequency of eating, what that looks like, and, you know, how we can facilitate that in ag as well. Yeah.

Chris

Barron: Well, the, the best example I can give that I think our agricultural farmer listeners are going to get is really, you know, when you're out in the field and you load your lunchbox, what do you put in it? You know, for during the day. And that's when you can really start looking at, okay, what would it be like if I spend, you know, 16 hours out in the tractor planting and I stock my cooler with nutritious food and I get to eat all day long? You know, um, it's funny because, you know, if you, if you eat more often and eat all the time, your metabolism is constantly moving.

And so, you know, there's a ton of different things like yogurt, almonds, peanut butter, you know, tuna, chicken, and I mean, a lot of times, you know, Alyssa and I will grill some steaks or some chicken breasts or pork loins or something and you can cut those up into strips kinda like— kinda like cheese strips and I throw those in a baggie and then just eat those throughout the day. You know, just little, you know, finger food type stuff in the tractor. And, you know, you can have cheese slices and celery with peanut butter and that kind of stuff, and beef jerky and meat sticks and all those things we talked about. I mean, the list goes on and on of, of nutritious good stuff that you can put in there. But the cool part is if you eat about every 2 hours or so, that really keeps your metabolism going. And it's not about eating a whole bunch.

And sitting down and having 3, you know, real hearty meals, um, you know, your body can only metabolize so much protein at one time or so many carbohydrates at one time, so much fat at one time. So it's really, you know, your body is good at keeping that metabolism going, having that food. And the reason I bring this up is it's a great time to start trying— just to try it out, you know, when you're in the field. And you're out there for 16 hours at a time, take that cooler, put nutritious food in it, and, and watch how you can eat all day long. As long as it's not packed with, you know, gummy bears and licorice and, and Snickers and all the, the quote-unquote good stuff, you know, you gotta take that stuff out of the cooler.

Shay

Foulk: Right. And I, I think it's pretty easy for myself as far as that eating pattern. Is breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. And if you are out there for that extended period of time, it's, uh, it's pretty easy to make that work. And of course, everything doesn't have to go in your cooler if you're stuffing it full of food. But, uh, I know the ag businesses out there like to give some coolers away, so I'm sure some of these guys can come along them.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, exactly.

Shay

Foulk: So let's move on to, uh, to portion size. And I know, you know, one of the things that can be confusing, and not to insult anybody's intelligence, but truly it's a big point of contention in the industry and with dietitians and food companies out there of what portion size is, what it really means, and how you make that an effective resource for the consumer. So some recent changes that have been made in the industry here in the last few years. For instance, is like soda. Instead of having it as 8 fluid ounces as a serving size, they started to move towards, you know, one can or one bottle as a serving size. Because I don't know about you, but I've never opened a Mountain Dew and only drank 8 ounces and put the rest of it back into the fridge for later.

And so even just that, that clarity in what it is that you're eating or drinking or consuming can have a big difference, but it's certainly something you need to pay attention to.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, one of them that's really funny to me always is cereal. You know, people will pour a bowl of cereal, and if you look at the serving size, typically it's 3/4 of a cup. It might even be 1/2 cup for some cereals. You know, whether they're healthy or not healthy ones, usually those serving sizes are a cup, 1/2 cup, 3/4, whatever. And people don't pay attention to that, so you end up taking like 5 serving sizes or 4 serving sizes, you know, of stuff. And it's the same thing, you know, like if you look at, you know, a serving size of green beans or spinach or Brussels sprouts or any of the healthy stuff, typically it's 3/4 of a cup or a cup, you know, and if you measure that out, you'll be pretty surprised. Or like meat, for example, a typical serving size is about 4 ounces. But that 4 ounces is a little bit relative.

I've learned over the years is that, you know, if you take a person that say weighs 250 pounds and you look at your— the palm of your hand, a 250-pound person versus a 150-pound person, the size of their palm of their hand is gonna be quite a bit difference in size. Right. Well, that appropriate serving size of meat usually is about the size of the palm of your hand. So look at that, that size and say, okay, if I eat that much meat, you know, and, and the steak's twice that size, maybe I cut that steak in half, take the rest of it home and eat that other meal later, you know, instead of trying to take it in all at once. The amount of protein you take in during that point in time is just kind of astronomical and you can't metabolize all that at once.

And so if, you know, like you said, if, if nutrition is consideration and you look at how much your, your intake is from a portion perspective, it's pretty crazy how we all overeat when it comes to portion size and don't even recognize it. Because to, you know, to your point, even, I mean, it's, it's not something often that we look at, you know, what, what is a portion size of any type of food for that matter.

Shay

Foulk: And what I've done too is for the cereal, I'm glad you brought that up because the cereal that I eat day in and day out, the serving size is 2/3 of a cup. And so out of curiosity, one day when I was really watching my diet, I pulled out 2/3 of a cup, I poured it into a bowl, and then I measured out 8 ounces of milk and I poured that into the bowl. And so even just doing it once, you know what quote-unquote right looks like. And so having that visual, then you, you know that you're not— you're lying to yourself if you pour yourself a full bowl, but you also don't have to short yourself. It's just you know, getting pretty close to what you think is right and staying consistent. Because that's the other thing with the, the dieting and the nutrition side of things is you have to make it as easy as possible so it's simple to follow. It's like the working out and the getting sleep.

Getting sleep is easy, just shut down and go to bed. Working out is easy, just wake up and, and work out or find the time in your day when you need to work out. Well, it's the same with nutrition. You have to make it easy to make it effective. And, you know, another point too, looking at that portion size, another one I think is interesting is peanut butter. And I saw a picture on this one time, said peanut butter serving size is often 2 tablespoons. And I love peanut butter, so I'm guilty of just digging that knife in as deep as I can and just slathering on peanut butter. That's how I like my freaking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Well, when you look at the difference in that, if you do 2 tablespoons and what you like on your sandwich is 6 tablespoons. Peanut butter is such a highly dense caloric food.

Chris

Barron: Oh, it's huge.

Shay

Foulk: They can be good for you. It's definitely a good supplement for proteins and fats and some pretty good carbohydrates depending on the type of peanut butter you get, but you could have a 400-calorie difference just in one peanut butter and jelly sandwich or peanut butter sandwich without even hardly realizing it.

Chris

Barron: It. Exactly.

Shay

Foulk: Well, I think that pretty much covers, you know, the portion size and, you know, just some other things, you know, like you mentioned at the beginning, Chris. I think it's so important just for each person out there to find what works for them, you know, because everybody's— one, everybody's schedule is different. I think kids, you know, I don't have kids yet, but I know kids can make a huge difference in what your mornings look like, what your preparation looks like. Can you meal prep? Do your kids like what you're eating? Because if you, if you can't afford, which I don't know hardly anybody that can, to eat out all the time and, and have your kids, the kids have the flexibility to get what they think that they want or what they feel that they want.

If you're the one making the meals and putting on all this stuff, there needs to be some flexibility in this and finding what works for you.

Chris

Barron: Right. For sure. That, that kind of goes to the, you know, really learning what works for you. And that's really my— probably of the, of the 4 of water, lower carbohydrates, eating often, and managing portion size— probably the most important one really in my mind is just figuring out what works for you because it's, it's going to be slightly different for everybody. But I wrote 2 things down here, you know, one is, you know, like what you eat because if you try to force-feed yourself something that tastes like crap, good luck. You're gonna do that for a little while and you're like, "Screw this. This sucks. I'm not gonna eat this crap anymore." You know—

Shay

Foulk: My wife keeps trying to tell me that kale is good for me and I absolutely hate it. So you know what? I don't eat kale. Yeah.

Chris

Barron: I don't like it. If it sucks, you're not gonna— you're not gonna continue to do it. So figure out what healthy stuff you do like. And then just— and then, you know, eat that stuff and try to— try to use some spices and some different things to kind of add flavor. But, you know, another thing that I recommend people do just for a short period of time, and I was telling Duane Lowry this, you know, who our listeners know pretty well from the marketing side of things, and everybody knows how much he likes charts and analyzing stuff. And I was telling him, I, you know, it's like, write this down for like a week or two. And chart what you do, you would be flabbergasted at the amount of carbohydrates you take in that you don't even think you do. If you write it down for a week or two, you won't believe how much you eat.

You're just gonna— you're gonna grab those potato chips, you're gonna eat that banana, and then you grab a second one or whatever, you know, you grab the candy bar or the third or fourth candy bar or whatever it is, you know, or you're eating the peanut M&Ms and you just keep grabbing them. All that stuff really adds up to a lot. And, you know, so I really think it's about figuring out what works for you, but it's about just looking at when do you eat, you know, what are you eating, when are you eating it, you know, how much are you eating. And the very last one, probably the most important one in this understanding yourself is why are you eating? Is it emotional? Is it habitual? Is it just a habit? You know, I have a habit at night of wanting to eat licorice or ice cream or popcorn, you know.

It's as much of a habit as anything because it's like my mind just triggers me and says, "Hey, it's time to eat popcorn," you know, or whatever. And, you know, I'm not saying that's bad once in a while, but like every single night my mind tells me, "It's time for your sweets," or, "It's time for your," you know. And so you gotta figure out how do you combat that and how do you manage that, you know, better. And so those are just some things. And one other thing, quick thing I wanna mention too is You know, to measure how you're doing, a lot of people use the scale, and I think that's fine to a degree. You got to be really careful if you're using a scale to say, okay, I'm trying to lose weight, or I'm trying to manage something.

You know, the scale, if you're exercising and working out, or if it's in the springtime and you're starting to be a lot more physical than you were in, you know, during the wintertime, you are doing more stuff. You're handling some bags of seed, or you're, you know, running around and running equipment and working in the shop and doing stuff, you're actually gonna build a little bit of muscle if you start, you know, cutting back on the carbohydrates, increasing the protein. And one way I like to measure results is at your waist with the— with the tape. You know, just measure, okay, where's my waist at? And establish a baseline, and that's gonna tell you as much as anything, probably a lot more than the scale. Not saying that you don't use a scale, but I'm just saying It's kind of a combination of, of the two.

Shay

Foulk: Well, and I think where a scale is good, Chris, is on the food side. And with the meat in particular, you know, you mentioned that 4 ounces. So we bought a little $10 scale. I had one for about 3 years and it finally quit on me here the other day. So we bought a new one for $10 or $12 on Amazon. And it's so nice just to be able to measure out because there's such a difference between chicken and steak and fish and whatever it is. If you're shooting for that 4 to 6 ounces of lean meat per serving size or for your meal, it's nice to just be able to throw a plate on there, zero it out, and then just kind of add your food. So there's no guessing. And maybe you need a little bit more at night. There's times where I find myself, I didn't make it home to lunch, or I know that I didn't get the amount of food that I needed throughout the day.

That flexibility of being able to say, okay, I know I need a little bit more protein right now, or, you know, it's okay, it's, it's okay to be hungry and want a little bit more if you missed your snacks or if you missed those meals throughout the day. Just be cognizant of how much food you're eating in one sitting and how that kind of trains your body over time. So, you know, I have found the scale to, to be effective during during dinner time, I guess I'll say.

Chris

Barron: Right. And then the key thing with the scale too is whatever time of day you weigh yourself, do it— do it in the same manner all the time. Because, you know, if you are, you know, drinking more water and you're not consistent with things, your water weight can change it 2-3 pounds depending on your body weight. But, you know, it can change quite a bit from one day to the next just in water weight. You know, people say, "Oh, I lost 3 pounds in the last 3 days." Well, no, you didn't. You just Got less water. Yeah, no kidding. Right. You know, and it just, it always floors me when people, "I'm, I've lost." No, you haven't.

You know, you, you're, it's, it's all about, you know, your cells, you know, hold, you know, if you eat carbohydrates and you're low on water, your cells are gonna retain all that and, and, and then when you drink the water, you just, you bloat up and you're heavier and when you quit drinking it, you know, so Those are just all things again though, it still comes back to learning yourself and you gotta measure things. You can't improve what you can't measure, no different than on the financial stuff we talk about all the time is if you can't measure it, you can't improve it.

Shay

Foulk: Yep. The last thing that I wanna make a note on, Chris, that I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about, and I know you didn't say anything because you're cussing me because you're gonna have your two mandatory quarantine drinks, or how was it that you said that?

Chris

Barron: Well, yeah, it's ever since we've had this quarantine thing, you know, Alyssa and I made this agreement that we have a 2-drink minimum every night now. So, you know, yeah, and that's part of my water intake, you know. Um, Blue Moon has water in it, I think.

Shay

Foulk: Well, fun fact, alcohol is a diuretic too, so you'll be, you'll be peeing that out later. But it is, it is amazing too, because when you talk about labeling, you know, food labels and portion sizes and things like that. Alcohol is a completely different beast, and it doesn't matter whether you're drinking a Blue Moon or a Michelob White Ultra or a Quarantini or whatever your favorite cocktail is. There are calories there, and there's a huge difference between having 1 or 2 drinks a night or 4 to 6 drinks a night. And then how does that affect your eating too? You know, I mean, it's not just, you know, they joke marijuana gives you the munchies, right? Well, I know a lot of people that when you start drinking, it's really easy because you're in a social atmosphere. You grab the pretzels and the popcorn that are on the table. There's nothing wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself. Right. And what I found, you know, the last couple of months, I really cut back my alcohol intake and it wasn't anything high. I'd have a beer or two at night or a drink at night. And just the huge difference that I felt over a long period of time and not having the alcohol consumption, you don't really notice it until you move away from it. And again, this is not us trying to tell anybody how to live, but it is an important piece of that puzzle that if you're drinking 300 calories in beer a night and all of a sudden you cut that out, it's going to make a huge difference over that period of time on your overall, your health and, and your lifestyle and how that affects your diet and nutrition over time.

Chris

Barron: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And hey, and Shay, I want to, I want to make a comment too, and maybe you'll cut this out and throw it at the beginning. But, you know, people might be saying, so why are you having this conversation? You know, I mean, we're a, we're a financial and business consulting operation, and we work with farmers on business, you know, collaboration and business structure and all these things. But I think, you know, what we've been trying to do with this health series of talking about, you know, working out and, you know, nutrition and sleep and eventually stress management, just those, these things are also critically important to a better operation, to a better farm, to a better family, to a better life. And I just think, you know, we had a, a client reach out to us to, you know, to spend some time on these topics.

And I really appreciate that request because, you know, if we can just help, you know, a few people focus on some of this stuff because it still comes back to what I've said in the other two podcasts, the one on sleep and the one on exercise, is that the most important piece of machinery that we have on our farm is our body. And if we don't treat our body as well as we do our tractors and our combines and our vehicles, we're all in trouble, you know. And so, you know, we check the oil and we're religious about cleaning and taking care of stuff. And I think we need to be— that same focus needs to be on our bodies as well. Absolutely. That's my soapbox.

Shay

Foulk: I like that soapbox. I think that's a good place to end on. And hopefully those of you who are listening continue to get some, some good perspective and value added. That's the whole point of us doing the podcast. I guess, to what you said there, Chris, is we, we are focused on, on financials and cost of production, business structuring, all these things that are key to the operation. But we want to provide a bigger picture, continue to provide value, and we hope that we're doing that. So Chris, thanks for taking the time to have the conversation tonight. I really appreciate it.

Chris

Barron: You bet. It was a great conversation, and we just truly care about all of our clients and want them to be healthy, and that's That's what we're after.

Shay

Foulk: Absolutely. If any of you have additional information that you want to hear from us or want to reach out to us on a topic, we would love to hear from you. Thank you all for listening and we will catch you again next time on the Ag View Pitch. Thanks for joining us on today's episode of the Ag View Pitch. As always, you can reach out to us at cbarron@agviewsolutions.com. Solutions.com or duanel@netins.net. We'll catch you next time on the EggView Pitch.