Essential Amino Acids for Fat Loss & Energy with Angelo Keely

BCAA's on their own are a waste of money, do not buy them or take them. And the science is very conclusive. Welcome to the Empower Podcast, where wellness meets real life and empowerment becomes your way of being. I'm your host Sam. Welcome back to the Empower Podcast. All right, today's guest, Angelo is the co-founder and CEO of Kion and active lifestyle supplement and functional food company dedicated to helping people fully experience a fun and active life by providing pure energy and hand-thin solutions. We talk so much around the importance of protein and amino acids for building muscle, losing weight and staying toned. Not only is he super knowledgeable, you guys about the science, but he's going to make it really easy to understand. So let's dig into it. Angelo, welcome. Sam, thanks for having me. So excited that you're here today. I know that we got to grab some lunch before this and get to know each other a little bit better. And I just want to say your story is incredible. I mean, how old are you? I'm 41, 41 for just being 41 years old. I feel like you've lived so much life, which I know probably bring so much passion into what you're doing now. You have Kion, your brand supplement brand. You guys have some amazing products. Your here products are obviously your amino and protein, but want to hear a little bit more about where do that start as far as your passion to wanting to start this brand and develop these products? Yeah, I think like a lot of things in life, like there's all these different threads that come together, right? That said, I think like my mom, like really like, I remember my mom as a little kid giving me amino acids. So I was raised in a family that was very, I was just telling you at lunch, like briefly, but very holistic, very hippie. Which I love and appreciate so much. I was born at home outside Austin, Texas. Then we moved to Austin when I was like one. Actually, it's like my dad was a partner in like an early version of like a whole foods restaurant business. So they were like very into natural foods and, um, yeah, just like supplements and things like that. And my parents were pescatarians, meaning they were mostly vegetarian, but we ate some fish. And my mom would give me aminos. Like literally she would give me these amino acids because she was also a master swimmer. So she was really into swimming. Okay. You know, like my mom would take me to the gym, like almost every single day. She'd take a me know she'd give me these aminos and I didn't like totally get what it was, but I knew that it was part of this overall protein thing. And it's like, I older, they would talk to me more and more about how important protein was. And because we were pescatarians, and oftentimes we didn't have meat at every meal, you really needed to combine certain plant proteins, et cetera. And that, you know, over time that change, I eat lots of meat now. But like, I think like really like that's like the core nugget, like my mom, my mom taught me about aminos, which is crazy. So she was giving you aminos where they like powder form capsule, either like these, this kind of like liquid form of it or it was, uh, powders. Okay. And then how do you always kept up with like health and wellness and supplements throughout like your childhood and into your adulthood? Like were you always passionate about that since you were little and brought up in that environment? Yeah, I think like for many people probably it's like you get brought up maybe in like what your family says is right and true and correct. And then at some point you kind of have to like explore and break it down. So it was like a kid. I mean, it's eight with my parents gave me. So like we, you know, we didn't need artificial foods or flavors or things like that. And but as I got older, I think by the time I was like fourth grade, it's like, I want to have a hamburger and I'm like, cool, you can do it. And so I start eating meat and I like to, but then as I like got into like middle school and high school, I think another part of my family is, you know, they were entrepreneurs and definitely more eccentric kind of like manic types, like not a very typical like kind of buttoned up suburban family. And like the culture of our family was you got to experiment. You got to like argue your points. You got it. It was very intense in that way. And so I think when I got into high school, it's like I explored everything on my own and and broke all the rules. They told me and there was even junk food, but also just like got into like partying and drugs and alcohol and stuff and I briefly was telling you this story. But when I was 16, I had a very bad LSD trip and I was in the wrong part of town. And I unintentionally provoked a fight with like these much more hardcore people. And they stabbed me multiple times twice in the back. So I have a huge scar in my abdomen, like for emergency abdominal surgery. Stab me in the knee, severed my patellar tendon and then just beat me like really badly. And I woke up in the hospital week later and that was like at 16, kind of like the beginning of adulthood in a very dramatic distinct way where it was like my parents can't protect me. My parents can't like teach me everything. You know, like the decisions I make or I don't make will have an implication on the whole rest of my life. And it wasn't, you know, like an immediate transformation. But that really kick started this desire to be more intentional. So that was more intentional around what I ate, how I exercised and not just like because I want to play sports. But like I want to be like I want to recover my knee or I want to recover my mind. And I want to be fit and strong. And right now I was going to say that I mean, I'm thinking of like the recovery. First off, like I can't imagine going through that at 16 years old and that's so traumatic. I feel like for your family too, the recovery with that though, how long was that recovery process? I mean, being young, I think can go faster physically, right? So like I think within probably a year of it, I was like running again, maybe even sooner, maybe like nine months. I could like run, but I think it was like within a year, I was like, it must have been shorter. I think probably like nine months, I was running. You know, six months after that kind of bounce back, I mean, I was, I was, you know, I must have, you know, as a kid, I wasn't like fat or weight. I must have lost like 25 pounds of like just muscle and like general, you know, and that's what I was thinking too, like the muscle and I luckily knock on wood. And so I think we'll have never been in like a near death experience like that before. I can only imagine what that would do just to the way you view life. So did you come out of that situation just looking at life completely different? Again, I think it was like more like an emerging principle of looking at life completely differently. Like for sure, when it happened, I was like, whoa, actually these, uh, friends of some of some parents of one of my friends giving this book creative visualization, which was this book about like how to envision what you want your life to be. And then like kind of manifest your life in that way. And that definitely like clicked. And so I started thinking about what, who do I really want to be? What do I want to be? Not just like kind of go along with whatever's going on with my friends or the high school or, you know, these scenes that I'm part of. And so there was that distinct change. But I would say more like over the next couple of years, I became and not of, I'm like cautious to use this word, I came more empowered because I wasn't trying to like set it up and use it. I mean, it is my brand. But no, I love that though. Like I think I became more empowered inside myself to actually like claim it, like to claim what I really wanted to claim. Like these, these, uh, you know, changes in health that I wanted to, uh, you know, I definitely had PTSD. So it was like really engaging in therapy, really engaging in a lot of different kinds of alternative modalities, like acupuncture. And, um, but it was a lot of diet. It honestly was a lot of like protein and a lot of like walking and swimming and running and yoga and meditation. I got into it. And yeah. So I think like all of that started developing. And I, I would say, you know, it's been 41 now. It's been like a 25 year journey of, you know, I think you're still evolving. Like you're still growing. Yeah. But those were really deep seeds that were planted. You know, and maybe that's the way of thinking about it rather than this kind of super painful trauma that broke me. It's more like seeds part of your journey, part of your story. Yeah. That I've like evolved from and through. And so, yeah. And I, I mean, I love that you brought up being empowered because that is why I chose that to be the name of my brand in a sense of, I feel like anyone in their own health, I'm honest and fitness journey, whatever that may look like. There are certain things that happen that over time and goal to be empowered with their decision making and little decisions. They make every single day to better their health and wellness. And to your point, like that could be up until where you're at now, your age, you know, 20, 25 year journey. And I think we're all like that. And I feel like anybody that, that I come across that I'm like, okay, you're prioritizing your health, you're prioritizing your fitness, you know, they all have certain moments in their own story that was one of those situations where they are forced to look at life a little bit differently to make better choices for themselves. So, I mean, that story that you shared is just incredible. And I know that you had a second near death experience. You were sharing with me earlier when you were in India. So I'm sure like I can only imagine having that experience of the first near death. And then your second, like, did that, I know this might sound weird, but like, did that equip you to handle the situation in a different way you think? I think it totally did, you know, surprisingly. So a brief synopsis of the second story is, so that was, that happened when I was 16. The stabbing experience, I kind of really get my act together. I end up going to college, you know, on the regular timeline. I'm very successful in college. I end up studying religious studies, which is weird because it seems like it has nothing to do with the supplement world I'm in now, but it was very cool. And it got me into wanting to do more service work and wanting to get me into traveling, etc. And so I went to India, volunteered at this ashram. I volunteered at an orphanage for like a month and then studied yoga at this ashram in the north for about a month. And then I was in this bus accident where my bus and another bus collided on a cliff in the foothills of the Himalayas. And the other bus went off the cliff. And basically there's not really able-bodied people there that are available to go help. And so So, and there's not like ambulances that come. So, me and a few other guys climb down this cliff and we spend based the whole day rescuing the people that we could five out of 31 survived. And it was a very distinctly different than I think, you know, this experience of being 16 and kind of like, almost like taking too much of a drug and getting myself in this crazy situation that I clearly couldn't handle, you know? Whereas in this other one, like maybe I provoked a situation by like putting myself in, you know, I'm in India. I'm in the foothills, you know, but it's like, I didn't like create the situation. And it was still this very traumatic thing where I'm looking at other people's mortality and other people's vulnerability and just kind of the gore of the situation. And, you know, at the end of the day, I finally am like kind of done helping people up and I hitchhike back to the ashram I was at. And I went and I lay down in the bed and I just started to like shake. And I just trusted it. Like in the moment, I'm just like weird. Like there's some like exorcism, you know, I'm just like shaking. And many years later, so many years later and I'm working in behavioral health, I learned that like that's actually the natural trauma response. - To shake. - Yeah, like if you see an animal get hit by a car or have some kind of, you know, traumatic experience happen, you'll notice they'll shake afterwards. And it's actually a natural response to kind of, and I'm not enough familiar with all the signs behind this, but basically to kind of integrate the trauma, the nervous system shakes. And I was just like shaking. And I think that there were maybe intuitive things I had learned from the experience of the prior kind of traumatic experience, doing meditation and prayer, and yoga and exercising all these things and kind of come to a sense of trusting my own intuition around how to heal myself and how to pursue, you know, just wholeness in myself. That like in that moment, then rather than being super scared and kind of in this victimized place or, you know, just terrified, I just kind of trusted what my body was wanting to do. And it was that. And I would say that like, you know, I think, it's certainly, I mean, that was again, like very difficult for me and I know, I know kind of played out, what's interesting is I think, after that experience, what came out of that was less of this kind of like personal and development phase. When that happened, I was 21, suddenly I became like, I wanna be really successful. And I wanna be a businessman. And I like, I had this whole other kind of transformation in my life of becoming, not more like materialistic, but more world success driven versus like personal fulfillment driven. - And it's so interesting that you say that because I feel like, okay, one near death experience is enough, right? Then you have a second one. I feel like I would look at that situation, be like, okay, this is crazy. This has happened twice to me. Like what am I meant to do with this? Like what is the, why did this happen the second time? Like where's my story leading? I would probably be asking myself a lot of questions, which sounds like you did, which led you to that more business minded. - Yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it was like deep thought that like, - Yeah. - I think it was more-- - Something as part of it. - It didn't have like, I think I felt the fragility of life again and I felt kind of, and it maybe timed like being your 20s and a male, like accomplish and do things. But I guess what's interesting is I'm speaking to two sides of it. One was that from the prior trauma, I probably was more prepared. - Right. - And more comfortable myself and knew how to kind of heal myself. And at the same time, still there was this like really dramatic intense death related thing. And in it, it sparked this, I think somewhat kind of unconscious drive actually to like want to be successful and win and be recognized that is not a bad thing. It's just like one of the things in life. Like sometimes in life we want to be successful and we want to win and we want to be recognized as good and we want to make money or do whatever those things are. - Absolutely. - And it kind of kicked off that drive. And yet, you know, it's like through my whole journey of life, I think I swung back around later and realized, maybe this is jumping more to current times. It's like that took me on this whole journey of wanting to be super successful. And it took me to try and start my career in France. We were talking, I lived in France for several years. And then India again and was in business and was in this relationship with this woman who is now my wife and the mother of my kids. And but that whole time I was kind of on this like very, I think it was more self-centered success driven vision that I was really impassioned with. That I think there was kind of a breaking point when that bus accident in India happened. And yet there was a thread through that whole thing. We're like, I attracted this awesome woman into my life and she was then willing to go on these adventures and these other parts of the world with me. And then finally when I'm like 28, 29 it clicks, it's like, hey, just commit to her, commit to carry, move back to the States, you know, get married, have kids. - Right, slow down a little bit. - Yeah, and it's like that whole journey, I do think, I don't know like how it all fits together, but somehow that story and those threads in my life like created all those beautiful things to happen. And I mean, whatever happened when I was 16, helped me when I was 21, I was 21, I was 21, pushed me to the next phase. Maybe that wasn't like the perfect phase, you know? And then it's like, yeah, and then even when I got to, we moved to Boulder, had a family, I worked in behavioral health care for a few years. And then it was only in 2016 where I stopped that, 2017, I kind of came back to my roots and made this company. Like, joke, it's almost like the company my mom would want, like little three-year-old and- - Right, is your parents still living? - They're still living, yeah. - Okay, so I bet they're so proud of you though. - Oh, she loves it. - Oh my goodness, yeah, especially being brought up in that environment, just being more holistic-based. Okay ladies, you know that hormones and hormone changes can be wild, whether it's postpartum, going through a stressful season or just navigating the natural shifts that happen, as we move through those different stages of life. 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So when I was recovering from getting stabbed, I was like, really into supplements to try to just, you know, rebuild muscle mass and get healthy again. - Yeah, feel. - Yeah, and then in playing sports in college, I was a runner at that time, and so like, it was really into it. And then I think, you know, it's like in France, there was less, right? In India, it was kind of more again, and then when I moved back to the States, I got back into it again, like living in Boulder again. So I think it's kind of where the resources are available and what you're into. And it wasn't so much that like, "Hey, there's something really fundamentally wrong "with the supplement market, "and I wanna make my own supplements." Or, I really wanna try to make this like, cutting edge, you know, breakthrough product. It was really like, what are the most tried and true supplements that are worth my time, like worth me actually putting in my body that I'd wanna give to my mom, that I'd wanna give to my kids that like, actually matter, and can I build a life with my family and with people I love and care about and bolder and make a company where we can make good products that Actually help people and they're really premium and we do it the right way and we take care of everyone in our company And like it was more like a vision of the life I wanted to have then trying to do something better than Yeah, like a business idea and knock it out of the park kind of an aspect. Yeah, yeah, it was like and I feel like Live a good life. Well, and that's the thing what I've seen personally is with so many businesses out there when it Is built from a place of like passion and just wanting to help people I feel like sometimes it's more successful that way. I truly do so. I mean, I'm such a believer in just like Passion being the center of it all and Sounds like that's really what you built So what would be the number one supplement that you would recommend for anyone and everyone to take? I would challenge the question that like there's one right thing for everyone because everyone could mean, you know Or all by all means it could be like my my ten year old daughter versus my you know 48 year old wife versus You know, you like we're all in different stages of life And so I think it could be different and depend sure what I would say is the read I could say what are you know What the most important product that I found I've to I've to the most amount of my time to is essential amino acids And the reason for that is because I think that protein nutrition is so important and Essential amino acids and kind of the shortest way I can say it is Hyper-concentrated hyper-effective protein in a way. It's it's not technically protein But it does what protein does to a way greater degree and for anyone that is in a few different I think main groups one Be like you are trying to lose fat But you want to maintain muscle and you want to have really good healthy sustainable weight loss and body composition and Be swinging up and down and it's it's not just about like what the scale says It's actually about what your body is made up of like it's a core supplement. I would say the most important one I would say it's the most important supplement for weight loss. Okay And then do you believe everyone should be taking that if you're trying to lose weight or no just generalize public like everyone Be gone and you know, I don't think everyone I'd like to talk more about like I could say like I'd say if you're a 23 year old moderately active person who eats a super clean diet of like all of Whole Foods Gets in all their protein and is not really trying to be like a super athlete of some kind I don't know that it's probably not worth your time. Okay, but if you add to that 23 year old athlete person like oh They really want to be a very competitive athlete or they really want to have improved body composition by losing fat But maintaining their muscle then yes, you should okay What I would say is like if you're trying to if you have you know body composition goals in terms of losing losing fat and maintaining or building muscle It's the number one supplement and in terms of aging so dealing with the impacts of aging I would say that it's you know one the most important, you know, supplement Omega would also be I'd say pretty critical, but essential amino acids prove themselves more cutely and long term And then I think the third thing would just be like in terms of Yeah, I'm trying to be a good athlete if that's a goal then I think that's whether for it's endurance or strength training So my question to you is what are amino acids and what is the difference between that and protein? amino acids are the Building blocks of protein. So protein is actually made up of amino acids So when you eat like you know a piece of chicken You're getting the 20 amino acids in it and it's just in the unique mix of like what that protein source is made of But if you were to take say an amino acid supplement you can actually choose the amount of each amino acid that you're getting in that unique supplement I automatically think about just my community Because I truly think that a lot of my community is women and myself included like we want to build lean muscle mass and reduce body fat Right, but we want to do it in a healthy way and that's what I've seen is a lot of the trouble in the road blocks is Maybe not everyone meetings to not do it in a healthy way, but You know a lot of the time they're losing a lot of that muscle mass along with body fat So what would you recommend for somebody that's listening to this right now that is like okay Aminos I've never explored that how can I implement into my diet? How would they go about doing that and why should they like what let's start first with What is what are the aminos doing inside the body? Okay to help with that process of building lean muscle mass but reducing body fat great first question So I'm gonna even take a step back and just like describe what is protein doing? What is amino acid? Sure what are amino acids doing because I think it's it's fundamental To just understand like generally how our bodies work right but I can do it in a way I think we're like all listeners will get understand kindergarten level. We like that. Yeah, we're like six grade like you're we can all be good Smart six grade biology students. There are three main macronutrients carbohydrates fat and protein Protein is fundamentally different from carbohydrates and fat Carbohydrates and fat are energy sources. That's their primary role I mean fat does some other things like you know building cells etc But it's really like energy. So if you think about your body is like a house To run your house to run the dishwasher and the lights and the AC whatever you need energy So you buy energy from the grid or you can have solar panels or you could you know Like if you had a tornado and the electricity went out your Nashville maybe run a generator Those are all different sources of getting energy into your house. That's what carbohydrates and fat do fundamentally you consume them and you use them to beat your heart and to move around and to breathe like they get converted into this thing called ATP in your body That's what they do protein is completely different It can be used as an energy source but much much lesser degree like less than 10% of its utilization is going to be for that Rather what it is is it actually builds your house so your house your body is made up of proteins Over half of all your physical mass So half of your bone is made up of proteins all your muscle your vital organs your eyes your hair your skin your nails And even things like enzymes and hormones like hormones are made up of proteins And the way that these proteins work and so just think about like in your house You know like the sheet rock the The wood flooring the ceiling fan like all these things are like they're all made up of the substance right Um So the way it works though in your body is that proteins don't last forever though they get old and they actually degrade They're no longer as functional and they have to break down And then you Piece them out You actually break protein gets old like if I just think about my skin like right now it's made up of millions of proteins and right now Some of these proteins are old and degraded and they're breaking down right now And when they break down they're made up of these little things called amino acids and some of them are old And I'm gonna pee him out and some of them are gonna stay in my blood and they can be used to help rebuild that skin So similar idea might be like if you want to remodel your house and you're looking at your bathroom and you're like gosh it's like The vanity just sucks, you know But like the wood floor is actually pretty cool. So it's like I got to strip out the vanity But I'm gonna leave the wood floor In a similar way it's like so that can can stay you're gonna take out the vanity But the wood floor can actually stay and get reused maybe maybe even rip it up But they put it down again, right? So in a similar way like this protein breaks down some of the amino acids you have to just get rid of thrombid of the dump and some get to stay So what you immediately notice though, and this is happening your whole body your heart tissue Your liver your kidneys your muscle all of this these proteins are breaking down right now in your body and everyone's body who's listening to this And so you're losing some of these amino acids and you have to rebuild your skin You have to rebuild your heart you have to rebuild your kidneys You have to rebuild these hormones and the only way that you can do that is by consuming protein And the amino acids that are in that protein and when you do that whether it's chicken breast or keen wall Or a way protein powder or whatever you digest that protein the amino acids go into your blood and they get distributed throughout your body to help rebuild All these different proteins within your body. It's not just your muscle. It's like your whole body How many essential amino acids are there in the protein? Nine okay, so in dietary protein that we eat and that our body uses there's 20 amino acids and nine of them are essential Okay, the core difference between essential and non essential is two part But I'm gonna emphasize the second part is the way more important part that does not get talked about the first part is That they're called essential because you must eat them so like in a central nutrient means if you don't eat it you will die So there are essential fatty acids. There are essential amino acids And the reason why you have to eat it or you'll die is because your body can't make it Your body can actually take essential amino acids and via the liver and the kidneys synthesize other ones it's like you have like a factory and there can actually make new amino acids So the nine essential amino acids you're saying your body cannot make on its own exactly But the other remaining 11 yes, it can yeah, and that doesn't mean you want to force your It doesn't mean you like want to only consume essential amino acids and force your body to make them right? It's like good like you know like gluteumatic acid is in you know steak or something It's good for you. It's not like you you need to force but you use way less of it than you actually consume So like say a piece of chicken or steak are you getting all those nine essential amino acids in that just maybe not at a certain dose that would make an impact Like you know what I mean like every single day to ping on how much you're taking in I think impact is a great is a great question So the other more important part I would say of the essential amino acids or equally important is that they're the active component of the protein What I mean by active is they do something the non essential amino acids They don't they get used like a building material So let's say you're going to redo your bathroom and you need some new sheet rock the non essential amino acids might be like the sheet rock But the worker that actually rips out the old sheet rock and puts in the new wall, those are the essential amino acids. They actually play this active role in helping to promote the breakdown of the old proteins and synthesis of the new proteins. And they're responsible for 100% of it. There is zero impact of the non-essential amino acids on actually promoting this new protein synthesis on telling the body, "Hey, rebuild that skin. Make new healthier skin. Hey, make new healthier muscle." The non-essential amino acids are only a building material. They are not a worker. So when you're trying to get good protein sources, you really want to find protein that is higher in those essential amino acids. And so here's my quick guide to protein. And this is very much relevant to women. I would also say it's relevant to everyone. So pass this tip over to your boyfriend or husband. Anyone in every way. Yeah, everyone. When you're looking at a good protein source, first you're asking yourself, well, how digestible is it? And it is the case that animal proteins, other than basically like soy and spirulina and pretty far after that like buckwheat, quinoa, animal proteins are much more digestible, meaning that you can break down the proteins and the amino acids can go into your blood and you can use them. Okay. So I'd say across the board, like eggs, dairy, meats, fishes, like these tend to be higher quality proteins in terms of their digestibility. But spirulina is like off the charts actually pretty digestible as well as honestly soy. So I think it's pretty bad rap. Like tofu is actually pretty. So I feel like a lot of people probably don't know what spirulina can explain that. Yeah, spirulina is pretty. Yeah, it's an algae. It's actually like an algae based powder. I like to put it in my kids. Like love that for blue smoothies. So I'll just add that. Yeah. So it's fine. But okay, very cool. I didn't realize that that would they have a lot of aminos to be honest. They actually do. It's a pretty high quality protein. But it's, I mean, who wants to eat that much spirulina? Like it's, it's like my kids. It's like my kids. You need like small doses. And then after that, it's like, okay, well, of how digestible is like how much of it is protein and how much of it is other things. And again, animal proteins tend to be more dense, specifically lean proteins, right? Like you get like a low fat milk or you get lean chicken breast. It is, it is more protein than it's not versus like if you consume like a really fatty steak or bacon, there's a lot more fat in it, right? So the total amount of protein is actually higher than that. But it's also truth plants. Like if you eat beans and rice, you're getting a ton of calories from these other carbohydrates etc. It's not as dense, right? Then the next question would be, okay, well, like what's the quality of that protein? How much of it is essential amino acids? And again, animal proteins tend to be the most dense. But this is what's kind of crazy, a steak, which like if you're just talking like just purely the impact of the steak for your body for protein synthesis, the steak is like pretty awesome. It's the protein is very digestible. It's very high in essential amino acids and it's, you know, it's relatively dense in protein. But even for a steak, a lot of it's water. So like only 25% of a steak's weight is actually protein. And then less than half of that is essential amino acids. Wow. So it's about like 12, 13% of a steak is essential amino acids. So when you start to think about like beans, rice, we're talking fractions. Like a few percent of the total mass is actually these essential amino acids. And so when you compare steak, now I'm going to give like a quick analysis of kind of like well, now we're this is really going to get to like wise when and how supplementing can make so much sense. I'm going to talk about vegans. You can be vegan and you can figure it out. It's just a lot more work. Yeah. Like a lot more. You're going to have to be strategic. Yeah, you got to be strategic. You got to spend a lot more time. You got to work at it because again, just the proteins are much less dense in protein per calories. And the quality of the proteins are lower. I would say if you're a vegan essential amino acids are your number one supplement. Just supplementing with that every day. Number one supplement for sure. Okay. And having a hard time getting your first protein powder. Yeah. And here's, and I'm going to get to it right now. So here's the deal. Protein powder, particularly way protein powder, which is the most studied protein powder. And honestly in terms of efficacy for stimulating protein synthesis, telling the body to replace the old proteins with new ones, it's the most effective versus weight isolate. No, weight isolate is more effective than weight. So we say way, way is a type of protein that comes from dairy from milk. It just gets separated out. Way isolate is when you do an additional round of cold filtration on that way protein. When you strip out all of the lactose, the carbohydrates and the fat and all you're left with is this like hyper isolated protein. Right. So way isolate is just a more concentrated form of protein. What stimulates protein synthesis, which tells your body to rebuild these proteins, to replace the hair, the skin, the nails, the muscle, is the amount of essential amino acids that get into your blood and hit a peak concentration. So just imagine if you put drops of a red dye or something into water, the more red dye that gets into the water and turns the water this dark red all at once, that's what's going to indicate how much protein synthesis gets stimulated. Gotcha. Okay. So the more essential amino acids you can get into your blood as quickly as possible, that's what's going to do it. So the better. So the better for replacing proteins without your body. Basically 30 grams of beef protein, which is like a six-hounds steak. It's more protein synthesis than twice that amount. 70 grams of beef protein, like over 12 ounce steak, if you eat that smaller piece of steak on its own. If you mix the larger serving of beef with potatoes and broccoli and things like that, it actually stimulates less protein synthesis in your body than half that serving of beef on its own. Why? Yeah. And I'm not trying to encourage people to get, you know, like. Just order meat. For you to eat meat all the time, but it's going to start to illustrate like how to think about this. I personally would encourage everyone like eat whole balance meals multiple times a day, but then when you supplement, this is where this idea will start to come out. So the reason for that is because the beef on its own without being mixed up with these other substances, you're able to digest that protein more quickly. The essential amino acids get released more easily and they enter the blood more quickly. So you get this higher concentration of the EAAs in the blood. It doesn't matter that you got more protein. The fact that the protein was able to be broken down and the EAAs got into the blood, sorry, EAAs are essential amino acids. Those amino acids get into the blood more quickly. So it's like, whoa. And again, maybe the thought here is if you really want to only eat whole foods and you're trying to fit in more protein rather than trying to eat whole like six meals a day, like maybe you're three meals, but like have just like a little snack of like meat. Right. Just to kind of have that. Just a Greek yogurt. So because it's like your body is dedicating all that time and effort into one thing. Versus breaking down the fats, the carbs and everything else. So but now if you compare that to protein powder, a way protein powder has three times the increase as an equal amount of beef, gram for gram on the blood. 20 grams of way protein has three times the impact of 20 grams of beef protein. Like a protein powder is actually more effective. A more effective than just trying to eat more steak. Alright, friends, let's talk hydration. Whether you're chasing toddlers, getting a workout in, soaking up the summer fun, or just trying to feel human during a typical week, hydration plays a way bigger role than most of us think. And I'm not talking about just drinking more water. I'm talking about getting the right electrolytes in because if you're feeling foggy, tired, craving something sweet mid afternoon, a lot of the time, you're not under fuel. You're actually under hydrated. That's why I've been loving element. It's a zero sugar electrolyte drink mix that you've probably heard about if you listen to a human lab or other health and wellness podcasts and it delivers exactly what your body actually needs. Sodium, magnesium, potassium without any of the artificial junk or sugar that most sports drinks sneak in. I personally like to add element to a big water bottle first thing in the morning, especially when I have a busy day of content, meetings, calls and client check-ins. Speaking of which, for my clients, prioritizing. Electronic has been huge for solving those mid afternoon cravings. A lot of them find that when they start hydrating with element, their energy and focus stays up and at that 3pm time, the pantry search fades away. And you guys, the flavors, honestly, I love every single one of them I've tried. I'm obsessed with the watermelon and citrus. I don't drink a lot of alcohol, but Ian and I will throw one into a sparkling water when we want something fun. Element was co-founded by Rob Wolff, a former biochemist who's worked with the Navy Seals on hydration strategies. So yes, they take this seriously. In right now, they're hooking up in power listeners with a free 8 count sample pack of their most popular flavors with any purchase. Just head to drinkelement.com/samsefit. Spelltlmnt to grab yours. That's drinkelement.com/samsefit. Try it out and stay salty, my friends. Okay, mama. Back to school is here and you know what that really means. Back to germs and back to the daily struggle of getting your kids to eat anything green. If you have picky eaters at home, you know the fight. You want to fuel them with something that actually supports their health, immune system, their digestion, focus. But most options out there are either loaded with sugar or missing the good stuff. I used to reach for gummy vitamins, trust me, they taste good, but until I looked at the label, so much sugar and most are totally missing key ingredients like probiotics and greens. That's why I'm so glad I found being kids and all in one super powder because now, instead of bribing my kids with broccoli, I just mix up a scoop of their chocolate milk and feel like a parenting genius. Beam kids is one scoop a day of 40 plus essential ingredients. ingredients including greens, probiotics, prebiotics, fruits, and vitamins, and it comes in kid-approved flavors. Chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookie. Our kids are obsessed. In fun fact, it was actually co-created by my good friend, a little bit gold medalist and mama Sean Johnson, so you know what's something you could trust. Since using beam kids, I finally feel like they're getting the nutrients they actually need without the sugar bomb. Beam kids has 13 times the vitamins of most kids' supplements and 87% less sugar than even the low sugar gummies out there. They make it simple, just one scoop with 8 ounces of milk, shake, stir, or froth. It fits seamlessly into any routine breakfast lunchbox snack time you name it. In all month long, beam is offering up to 50% off beam kids for back to school. When you go to shopbeam.com/samc and use code Samc at checkout. If you've been on the fence to try beam kids, there's never been a better time because this is the biggest discount beam has ever offered. And if you can't decide on a flavor, try the new Beam Kids Duo Pack to sample both chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookie, but our favorite is definitely chocolate milk. So head to shopbeam.com/samc and grab your 50% off. That's shopbam.com/samc and use code Samc for up to 50% off. Why do you think there's this stigma? It's like Whole Foods first, you know, staying away from protein powders. I feel like I have my thoughts, but would love to kind of hear like your thoughts on going about that utilizing both and balancing it all. I think it's just like a black and white, like, must be this or must be that. Whereas like even in the context of this conversation, what I'm saying is, it means it goes to like, is there a supplement everyone should take? I would say like, if you're in your teens or 20s and you're not like a competitive athlete, like learn how to eat, learn how to cook meals for yourself, learn what whole balance food looks like, maybe track your macros and calories just to learn about it and to see, you know, figure out which vegetables you like, learn how to make cooked meats if you're into that. If not, if you really want to be vegan, learn how to actually construct like wholesome meals. I would say that's a better investment of your time. If you're like 18, 19, 20 years old, whereas it's different if you are in a different state and it's like, no, I'm actually like 20 pounds overweight now. I need to lose this fat. Like supplements really could help you or you gave birth to a kid a few months ago and like you're really trying to get back in shape and it's like your body's not like it was when it was, you know, 18. You're 45 years old and your paramedic pauses are like, these are all very different states and rather than it being only this or only that. One size fits all. Yeah, what I would say is like, I would hope that here's, and here's my perspective. I'm not saying I'm right. I'm just saying like what I think, like, you know, like have good, awesome, healthy relationships with people you love and it's not easy, but like you try to do that. And part of that is having meals together, you know, like cook meals together, eat those meals together and make them well balanced and like then you're, you're this kind of healthy, happy life together. And on top of that, like find people maybe you want to like exercise with or they also like to exercise and go on walks, right? And maybe supplements also can work. Like maybe also like, you know, you want to hit higher protein targets or you want to train for a marathon or for high rocks or like you're trying, you know, there's other things going on in your life or again, you're trying to get back in shape after having a kid or you know, it's like, and it all changes depending on where you're at life. And that's the same approach with my clients. I try to find it as much as I can about where they're at their goals, their past, because supplements line up, even like the foods they're choosing is going to look different for everyone. We're all bio individual. I actually went to a holistic nutrition school and that they really taught me that, but it's also, it's also funny because as much as I'm like gungho about supplements in school, I was very much trained holistic when it comes to like food and like food is it like you want supplements, you get it from food where I feel like there is a balance where you can do both. You can choose the whole foods, but you can also supplement with protein powder and it me knows every single day as well. Again, I think it depends on the type of person you are. Maybe from something more performance based. If you're goal based in terms of like athletic performance or body composition, right? Like you're trying, you're trying, and we can get into this, I think it is a really interesting thing to get into in a second, but like in terms of like from trying to lose fat and maintain muscle. If you do not supplement, it's going to be almost impossible. Whereas if you supplement, you can literally lose only fat and lose no muscle. It's absolutely possible. Then I think the other case would be like with aging, you know, it's like after 30, it starts, but really at age, it starts at 30 and it progressively gets more serious at 40. You will not get the same benefit from proteins and from other foods that you eat that you used to get. Okay. So it's like that's not like, and again, that's what I'm saying. It's for just so you should just get it from your food. I'm like, well, it's different if you're four. The bigger your age. If you're 45, then if you're 25, like it's not the same thing. So like I was saying, way protein, three times the impact is the beef, like actually a steak. Essential amino acids have at least three times the impact as the way protein. So like if you kind of think about like a scale, it's like beef is part, like all, you know, whole food protein is part of like a meal. It's like some stimulus of protein synthesis, not that much. You eat the protein only on its own. A lot more, like twice as much as you would get from that beef protein as if you ate it on its own. Then if you were to do a protein powder that's isolated, three times the impact as the beef. And the essential amino acids way, way far on the other side of the description by spectrum, by far the greatest impact. It's three times as much as the way. So you're talking like eight, nine times as much as like the beef. The reason for that is because the beef and even the way protein is only about 45% essential amino acids. But these kind of free form powders, which by the way, they're actually vegan, they're fermented from plants. So it's safer vegans. They are only the essential amino acids and you can put them in these unique ratios that specifically stimulate protein synthesis better than even the way protein does. So the essential amino acids have way greater impact than the way. And then just quickly in the aging thing, as you get older, it's even a greater impact. So amino acids relative to a protein powder, by the time you're 60, it's six times the impact is the way protein powder. And that's because we age, our body simply develops this thing called anabolic resistance, meaning that we resist building and maintaining muscle. Right. So the older we get, the more we need to consider that, you know, as far as supplementing, because it can make a big impact like what you're saying. I mean, science does not lie. A number of some lie. Yeah. For example, my 78 year old dad, number one supplement, I want him taking that more. And we have like a creatine at Keon, which I think is a great product. Well, I want him taking essential amino acids before I want him taking creatine. Interesting. That's the one I have him on every single day. My 12 year old son who is a very competitive basketball player and is like training really hard, I'm having him take essential amino acids. My 10 year old daughter who's like taking a break from sports and hanging out and playing at it, she's not just taking amino acids. Right. I wanted to like eat the fish. Right. Exactly. Yeah. The protein sources we can get from food. Can you explain really quickly what protein synthesis is? So synthesis just means like to make, to create. And so protein synthesis is literally making a new protein. Okay. So it just means like our skin looks like there's just like one solid mass, right? Or your muscle you feel your bicep, it's just this one solid thing. It's actually a chain of tons of these proteins. And what I really want people to understand though is the reason why aminos are so important is because in order for protein synthesis to take place, you have to have all 20 amino acids there, correct? No, you only have to take the nine essential ones. And those are the essential ones. Those are the essential ones. You actually don't, you do not, I mean, I would think like in a, I guess I would say in a cute, like right now, if I only took essential amino acids, it would stimulate this whole amount of protein synthesis. Like all these proteins would start getting remade in my body. And if I added a non-essential amino acids to it, there would be no additional amount of new protein synthesis because it's really about the amount of workers that are involved. That said, if I stopped eating all real food and only took essential amino acids, I don't know. I mean, I would never recommend that. Right. Like could your body like synthesize all of the non-essential ones like me? Yeah, that was my question. It was so interesting. But that seems like pretty disordered thinking like to like not eat any real food and only take that compliment. Okay. Okay. So really quickly, because there's this hyper on BCAAs and then there's also this hyper on EAAs. And I feel like the more studies that are coming out, it's saying that EAAs are actually the way we need to go, right? So what are your thoughts on just using BCAAs? I know we kind of touched about the importance of all nine essential amino's, but like, is there a place for only BCAAs versus all nine essential amino's? The simple answer is BCAAs on their own are a waste of money, do not buy them or take them. Why do companies make that then? And so here's more nuance I'll give to it. So the history of studying supplements, studying these kind of unique amino acids, protein powders, et cetera, and its relationship with industry, companies that make the products and then market them is like, it's a story. And so basically like 40 years ago, a lot more research comes out and we start to realize as a research community that like, hey, the branch chain amino acids, loose scene, isolucine and valine seem really important for the protein synthesis. We actually think that they're the only thing you need. You don't need all 20 amino acids, you only need these three. And what happened though over time and more refined studies, we realize that when you take these branch chain amino acids, it does generate this signal. It's like an ignition switch where you tell or maybe blow the whistle and be like, hey, Guys, let's start working, right? And everyone kind of starts working. But imagine you only have a crew of three guys. You only have three people for your football team, where you only have like, you know, three people for like your huge like dance group. It's like, you can't complete it, you can't do it. And so what happens is it gets this big stimulus and then immediately crashes. Since so BCAAs on their own have been very widely disproven and been shown actually, if anything, to be catabolic. Meaning that they stimulate the protein synthesis, but then there's not enough of the other six essential amino acids to help complete the work. And so it could potentially promote the breakdown of your muscle tissue to supply the amino acids in the blood, to help. So it almost like counteracts the process. It makes no sense to take on it. So it could be in a way harmful taking BCAAs more than helpful. Yes. And so I would say more like, it's just a waste of your money and it's not going to do anything good, but it could be harmful. And I wouldn't want to go like the degree. It is for everyone, right? Right. But what I would say is why do people keep doing it and selling it? Because companies start making a product and then there's general knowledge about it in the market and people think they want it and people buy it. So companies will make it. And I just kind of goes to the heart of like me talking about starting Kion and how I can do all these things. And I'm like, so is that what kind of led you to make these? No, I'm just saying, I already knew, I mean, I already knew about the essential amino acid thing, but it was more just like, I wouldn't want to make a product that like doesn't work. Right. That seems weird. It makes a bunch of money like that. From like an ethics standpoint. Yeah, why would you do that when the science shows it doesn't work? Which is a tricky thing in the supplement field and why, if you want to be in the supplement business, you need to work on like really making very, very, very tried and true things. Because if you're trying to make the new cutting edge product or make something different or have these differentiators, you can end up making something that's like bunk and doesn't even work. Sometimes it's nice just as sick to the basics. Okay, question for you. For the listeners, because I know they're out there that are saying, okay, I'm a mom, right? Or maybe your not a mom, it doesn't matter. Female, in my mid 30s, I'm trying to build lean muscle mass, reduce body fat. I feel like I'm eating right. I'm lifting at least four times a week, getting my steps in, nothing's happening. Like, what do I do? From my supplement and food source. So the first thing I'm going to say is like, be patient and keep going. Like, there's no, there's no, like, so true time is everything. There's no get rich, quick scheme, and there's no, like, immediately transform your body type thing, especially if you're busy with work or-- Kids, for a-- And you're being a mom, like everything. So it's like, just be patient and keep going, like, keep trying out. You will see the results, I believe you. I believe in you and your ability to do that. That said, I think, you know, from a total daily calorie intake perspective, like, are you, are you, and I'm not saying everyone needs to, but it's like, track maybe for a week, and just see, like, you can get a lot of insight from, like, whoa, that little dressing had that many more calories, you know? And it's like, and if you can just make decisions to not do that, or to have a piece of fruit, you know, instead of some other type of baked good, like, these things that you think are minor, they might be bigger than you think, from a core standpoint. That said, from the protein and amino acid standpoint, what I would say is hitting those daily higher protein numbers, like, you know, it gets advertised out there, like, you need a gram of protein per pound body weight. Do you believe that? I think that if you, in this-- and the woman that you're describing, you should aim for that. I think that probably, if you've already hit your target weight and you're happy with your body, and like, which I hope people can also just come to some acceptance with their bodies in general. But like, you get to that place, it's like, you could probably be doing, like, 0.7, 0.8, you know? Yeah, I agree with that. But as you get older, it gets harder. So I think once you're 40, I would, regardless, I'd be at one. By the time you're 50, I'd be trying to hit over one gram of protein per pound of body weight and/or supplement with essential amino acids. Because you could totally-- I would never-- I wouldn't encourage anyone to go below 0.6 grams. It would just mean if you weigh 100 pounds, that'd be 60 grams of protein. If you weigh 150 pounds, that'd be 90 grams of protein per, you know, per pound of body weight every day. So-- but if you take essential amino acids, because they're basically, like, this hyper-concentrated form of what you get from protein, you could just take one scoop every morning. And it's like the equivalent of-- you know, if you're in your 30s, it's somewhere between 15 and 20 grams of protein is what would be the equivalent of. So that's what I was going to ask you, OK, so one scoop of amino is equivalent of around 15 to what? 20 grams of protein in your 30s. In your-- In your 30s. It's about 20 in your 50s. It's about 25 in your 60s. It's about 30. And that is because, as we get older, our ability to utilize the protein source goes down. And a free-form essential amino acids continue to work. One side note I'd make here is this is all in the context of an appropriately formulated essential amino acid supplement. Because they're not all the same. They're not all the same. And so many quick-hide on that highlight on that, don't buy one that's proprietary formula. So if you look at an amino acid supplement, and it doesn't tell you the exact amount of losing-- Like the dose, milligrams. Yeah, instead it just says 5 grams. And it's like, got them all mixed, do not buy that product. Oh, good one. OK, good call. Devon into that. Second, you really want a certain formula. And my kind of cheat code is like, look at what the key on formula is. It's based off-- I was looking at your C other day. And IH. I know. I mean, it looks like such a good balanced blend, too. And obviously, with different amino, you're going to need different doses. Those are just-- Yes. And these doses have been studied by literally tens and tens of studies sponsored by the NIH, NASA, the Department of Defense. Like, these are not-- they don't need to be proprietary. They don't need to be hidden. And it's pretty clear what it is. It's basically amino acids as they are made in human skeletal muscle. And then increases of loosing, isolucine, valine, and lysine. To the percentages, you would see, like, in key on amino acids. So I would just look for someone who tells you exactly what's in it. And you want these enhanced amounts of these four amino acids, I just said. And then ideally, you don't want another junk in it. You don't want-- And that's what I do, like, what yours, too, is that you don't have all of those fillers that you've seen a lot of supplements, which everybody knows. I'm not a fan of that. Yeah, fillers. And even just other active ingredients that you don't need, but someone's like-- some marketer or some formulator in a company, they think, we got to add this thing so we can be different. Why just do it the research? Sometimes simple as best. Yeah, just do it works. You don't need to try to constantly put a bell or a whistle on it. You can just make the good right thing that actually serves people. So I would say, take that type of supplement. You take that one to two times a day. You are going to be stimulating that protein synthesis that many more times. And every time you do that, you rev up your metabolism because it takes energy to actually build the new proteins, to break down the old ones and build new ones. OK, let's talk showers for just a second. You guys know I'm all about cleaning gradients and a solids can care routine and taking care of my body from the inside out. But for the longest time, I didn't even think about the water I was showering in. If you live in a hard water area like I do, you've probably dealt with dry skin, breakouts that don't quite make sense or just hair that feels dull and brassy no matter what products you use. That was totally me until I started using the Vitaclean shower filter. It's a triple filter. Vitamin C infused shower head that removes chlorine, minerals and other stuff that can mess with your skin and hair. I immediately noticed how much softer my skin felt and my hair was way shinier and healthier. So right now I'm using the citrus shot, which literally turns your shower into a little aroma therapy moment and I'm eyeing the lavender one next. Another little hack I love, it has handheld options. So after a sweaty gym session, I can do a quick body rinse without getting my hair wet and that alone makes it worth it for me. An installation literally took less than a minute no tools. So if you're already investing in quality skin care, clean beauty and whole foods, this is such an easy way to level up your daily routine. Head to Vitaclean.co and use code SAMC Fit for 20% off their starter kits. Find a clean.co code SAMC Fit at checkout. You're going to feel the difference after your very first shower. Just trust me. Is there a certain time of day that you would recommend taking aminos? I always think the most important thing is like most things in life is adherence. We could get into like, take it this time or that time. It's like, when will you take it every day? Whenever you will take it. The compliance. It's compliance. It's important. Whenever you will take it every day, I'd start there. So for me, the easiest thing is first thing in the morning. Most people, it's like first thing in the morning. You do it. And then it becomes a tool that you can use. So like if you're eating a lower protein meal, take it with your meal. An additional serving. And you could take like, it's been shown the International Society of Sports Nutrition, which is the major academic body that reviews all the literature around all these different types of supplements. It says you can take up to 100 grams per day. That would be like 20 scoops of keon aminos. That's a lot. So I'm not saying to do that. I'm just saying that like, what about for the first thing in the morning, then you can take it with lunch if you're having a lower protein meal in the afternoon. It's like you're kind of like maybe want to snack, but not really. It's like, I promise you take these amino acids. It helps, it can help rebalance your neurotransmitters, help support your mood. All your neurotransmitters are made from amino acids. So it helps reset your mood. It kicks off the protein synthesis again. And then through that whole process, the more, the more rejuvenation of these proteins, not only you're getting healthier skin, hair, nails, your actual muscles are getting healthier, and you're getting more lean muscle relative to the rest of your body. And you burn more calories both at rest and when you exercise. So it's like, I think you just get in the habit of doing that. Is there a benefit taking it post workout? Because that's something that I tell a lot of my listeners communities. Yeah. It's like the benefit of fueling post workout, right? Yeah. So it's kind of old BCAA science that suggests after working out. You'll get the greatest benefit taking essential amino acids before you work out. Okay. Because what happens is when you take them, basically the blood flow from the exercise pushes it into the muscles. So you get way more protein synthesis, the rejuvenation of your muscles and all these proteins, then you would get on its own. Whether you took the amino acids on their own or you did the exercise, the combined effect to center just like-- And just saying, okay. There's a way greater impact. If you are an endurance athlete, again, you know, you've been training or you're going to train for a marathon, it can greatly-- It can greatly improve your overall muscular endurance because you don't only burn sugars and burn carbs when you run or if you're fat adapted, like keto, burnt fat. You also oxidize amino acids. The essential amino acids are used at the mitochondria. It's like the powerhouse of the cell that actually converts carbs and stuff. It's a key facilitator and it's-- You use all different functions, basically, for the muscles. You burn a lot of amino acids when you exercise. So you can actually bonk, which I don't know if your audience is familiar with that term, but it's like-- But bonking is like for endurance athletes, it's like when you run out of energy. Like you just-- Flatline in a sense. Flatline, you just can't do it. Yeah. Comes not only from carbohydrates, but can also come from amino acid depletion. So by supplementing with amino acids before endurance exercise and if it's really extended to-- Before race, before whatever. Yeah, like for a marathon, I would be taking a small dose every hour. You will see-- Before. Take it before and take a small dose. Enduring. Enduring. Interesting. Okay. You will see really incredible improvements. I can't tell you how many marathoners use-- You know, Keanu Minos for exactly this use case. Easy. And then afterwards is also good. It will help improve your recovery. It will overall continue to support more of like reducing the amount of protein breakdown and improving the protein synthesis. It's still good. It's not like a bad thing. And if that's when you prefer doing it, do it, but it's not as good. It's like 50% better to take it before. Right. So a lot of these supplements, I tell my community that it's not an overnight fix, kind of like what you said, right? You're not going to wake up the next day, maybe feel like it depends on the supplement, I guess. But a lot of this is for our long-term goals and long-term health. But if you work consistent with taking your amino's every single day, when would you start to notice a difference in how you feel, but also look-wise, like body composition of wanting to build that lean muscle mass and reduce body fat? So I think in terms of like mood, like taking it in the afternoon or taking it first thing in the morning, you could experience it pretty immediately. It could be the first day. Oh, wow. In terms of like exercise performance, like reducing your muscle fatigue and overall central nervous system fatigue, you could experience it the first time you train. In terms of body comp, it's more like typical body comp type changes. It's like more like two weeks. No, I think two weeks start to see it, but it could be a month. And here's an example for I think weight loss that's the most kind of amazing for people to understand. So when you cut calories, if you cut calories by 30%, meaning I, if I consumed two thousand calories a day with my current exercise regime and everything I'm doing, that's not me, but I'm trying to think of like a smaller woman. Hypothetical. Hypothetical. Yeah, it's easier math. If I cut 600 calories out of my diet, in a week, that's about 4,200 calories, right? That's a little more than a pound of fat that I would lose per week if I did that. But the thing is you don't just lose fat. When you do a 30% caloric reduction in your diet, you lose a great deal of muscle. You lose about 40% muscle. So if you try to lose 10 pounds on a 30% caloric deficit, meaning I want to lose 10 pounds over 10 weeks, four pounds of that will probably be muscle and six pounds will be fat. The reason for that is because even just a 30% caloric deficit, the very, very interesting recent studies, and that one, it's a series of studies actually done for the Department of Defense trying to look at like how to help soldiers and people in combat maintain muscle mass when they're like, when they need it. When they really need it. It's not even like. For aesthetic purposes. Yeah. This is for like performance-based people that need it. And I would say like very healthy adults. This is not like 35 year old, you know, I'm pretty healthy. This is like, you know, tip top shape, 22 year olds. A 30% caloric deficit requires three times the amount. So 300% increase in essential amino acids. Meaning you would need to eat a serving of protein that was three times the size that you used to eat. Wow. Like you're giving an example of this person in the mid 30s, they're trying to eat high protein, they're trying to work out, they're trying to, you know, be smart. If you're in a caloric restriction, if you're eating less calories than you need to maintain your current weight, because you're actually trying to lose the fat, you need to eat way more protein than you think. Like way more. This goes past the one gram per pound of protein. Way past the one gram or supplement. With aminos. With aminos. Yeah. Like take, you know, maybe take two scoops like twice a day. During this phase, I wouldn't say like forever, you know, but like take at least two scoops like twice a day. And what you could see is 10 pounds of fat loss and zero muscle loss. And I've seen this on in body scans over and over again where people literally lose only fat and lose no muscle. By eating higher protein, a gram of protein per pound, a body weight, exercising, caloric restriction, and the supplementing with the essential amino acids. So I think it's a, and I would just say it's a pretty big difference. If you lose six pounds of fat and four pounds of muscle, you're going to be like, oh, I look like, you know, you can see, you can tell you look different. If you lose only 10 pounds of fat and maintain all your muscle. Nine days. It's like, and I've seen it. It is very different. In a caloric deficit, you have to be very careful because you can also lose that energy. So the aminos were going to help alongside the results of body comp, whatever, but also the energy. They're going to support you with your overall mood again because they're like under, because it's awesome. It's awesome. You're thinking about it. So I think it's a different thing. It's like people think, I drink coffee and it gives me energy. It really just changes, it changes your neurochemistry. So the amino acids do that in a similar way, but they don't like block receptors. They actually enable the creation of the neurotransmitters to be developed and support. So interesting. So so many, so many benefits. Why do you think like aminos? Because I feel like now they're just being talked about so much more. Are there more studies that have been done just in the recent years? I mean, I don't mean it's been around forever. I know. But why is it more like? It's just, so there was, there was the international society of sports nutrition released their position paper. I think two years ago, there was a review of all the literature and it's like 137 studies are quoted. Whereas like the prior creatine study had like 120. So we're talking creatine is one of the most studied supplements out there. Absolutely. Essentially amino acids are like right up there with it. But I think it's an interesting thing. Similar to creatine, no one was really talking about it for like women two or three years ago, right? Right. Bodybuilder or Jim Brothin. And I think what just happens is over time, there's just a certain time where people suddenly wake up to like, wow, like the literature and the research behind this supplement is actually really powerful and really potent and can really work. And you know, it just becomes more popularized and there's trends. Sometimes the trends are really good. Like it's around, I would just give an example. I think collagen is a fine supplement, but it's not that. The literature is very small relative to something like creatine and essential amino acids. Tiny, way less proven. Yet it's this gigantic industry now because it's a trend and it's like the way you market it. It became a trend and got marketed. Similar BCAA's got marketed and like now we realize that we're going to be. That was the big one I wanted to talk about because I mean, there's so many companies out there in brands that have the BCAA's when it's like, is it that effective? But no, I know. I'm really excited about the marathon training because I really am going to implement the aminos like probably a couple of times a day, I would say. And then the more miles I run, kind of like what you said, like the small doses and just see how I feel. Because I'm really my last marathon training. I do not think I fueled the way I should unknowingly. But now it's like the education's right there. So I'm excited. I'm excited for it. Yeah, I'll have to keep you up today. Yeah, I want to hear how it goes. Are you open to a little rapid fire? Let's do it. Let's go. Let's go. Question game. Okay. Water, creatine aminos espresso. Oh, I love that. That's like that in order. That's like that's the order. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. Coffee last. Is that a cortisol thing? No, I just like, I want to get in like the creatine and the aminos like first thing at the water. Yeah, I love it. I love it. What's one supplement you think is overrated? But I think collagen is pretty overrated. More than the BCAA's. BCAA's are for sure way overrated. Well, there's a lot of like the glow drinks for women's health that have like little bits in pieces. You know what I mean? I think there's a lot of like kind of these supplements that are basically you say like, oh, this woman audience wants to solve this specific problem. We're just going to brand this thing and then we're going to like dose it with a little bit of each of these things. But it's like, is it enough? But is it enough? Yeah. No, I'm totally on the same. Okay. Favorite guilty pleasure snack? I think it's like baguette. I think it's like bread. Oh, I love that. Well, you lived in France for a while. So I feel like that's a totally appropriate answer. Okay, if you were not running Keon, what would you be doing? Some kind of education. Like I really love. Like I really good at it. I really love these like podcasts just talking, helping people understand stuff. Like I think maybe like some kind of some kind of education. I love that. You're so good at it too. All right. What's your go-to mantra or mindset shift on the hard day? Breathe. Breath is everything. I think is that what I said you earlier today? Probably. I think so because we got here and it was like we had an issue with the studio and like I was like breathe or something. I know and I feel like your energy is just so calming. You've also been through so much. So just like I love that we were able to like get some lunch beforehand and talk. So I'm like okay, you brought me down. Last one. What's your favorite way to unwind at night? Hanging out with my family. Yeah. So I think like having dinner, we play games or cards or play game outside. Go for a walk just like being with my wife and kids. I love that. I feel like we've talked about so much in such a short time. or amount of time. Like there's so much good things here. And hopefully a lot of listeners that are listening right now can just feel empowered. Bringing that word back empowered. But to just like take ownership and fuel smarter in that sense and like have a better understanding of what protein is, what amino says because we hear about it, especially social media, like you know, we hear about it all the time and everybody has their own viewpoint on it. But you're spitting out facts, which I'm really excited in the science that goes along with those facts. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of the goodness. So tell us a little bit more about where people can find the aminos we're talking about Keon. And why your amino blend is different maybe from others. So Keon Amino's that can be found on our website. And I think we have a special link. Yes. I'll include that in the notes. Yeah. And then I think really just like the fundamental difference about you know, Keon Amino's. Again, I'd go back to like what you want to look for in a product rather than trying to like say like, we're the best, you know, and like I really, what I hope comes out of these types of conversations is more again, education, empowerment, like people being able to make decisions on their own and just like learn and feel capable, right, of being able to do this. So again, what I would look for that is based on the science for so many studies is where it's based on human skeletal muscle, the proportions like later if I were to do a biopsy of my own muscle, what would it be breaking down? What would be the amount of each of the amino acids in it? Increase the losing to 40% increase the isolucine and the valine to match those percentages, which I know no one's really tracking what I'm just admit. Like I know to track all these percentages is like kind of hard, but I'm trying to put it out there and then increase the lysine. And if you do that, you're going to have a formula that's going to really support exercise. It's going to support chloric restriction, the anabolic resistance that comes from when you don't get enough calories and you're trying to maintain muscle and supports the aging process. That's what you need. You don't need additional amino acids beyond those nine. You don't need what other fancy mumble jumbo people try to put in their marketing. You definitely don't want to buy only BCAAs. That's what you're looking for. And so that's what Keon does. We just follow what the research is and try to make a real product that actually works. Okay. Well, I'm going to put all the details to where our listeners can find everything about Keon, the Aminos and even a code to get a discount. So I'll put that in the notes. But thank you so much for coming on. Where can people find you guys on social media too? Keon, K-I-O-N, on all the channels. Yeah. So well, so nice to meet you and talk with you and thanks for everything that you're doing and sharing the good news. Thanks Sam. Okay. Hopefully that was so insightful for you guys and you'll really get educated. I know I learned even more about the importance of Aminos and protein. You all can find all of Keon's Aminos when you visit getkeon.com/Samantha for 20% off. Again, that's getkeon.com/Samantha for 20% off.