Keto Kamp Founder Ben Azadi Unveils Ancient Healing Strategies and the Power of Mindset

One of my favorite interviews ever was talking to Ben Azadi, founder of Keto Kamp. Ben's personal transformation is inspiring. Moreover, he shares our focus on the importance of a positive mindset and gratitude.

This impactful interview is not to be missed! Make sure to stay tuned until the end, where Ben gives his simple steps for getting started and shares a keto tip that the KETO-SIStas had never heard of before!

Read the transcript of our interview below, or watch it on our YouTube Channel!

Transcript:

Bridgette Campbell [00:00:27]:

Hey. Welcome to our radio show. Really excited to be here today with Ben Azadi. He has agreed to be on our show, which is a really big deal because Ben has done a whole lot with the keto movement. He is reaching so many people with his message. He is a, functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner. I've been nervous about saying that because that's a lot of big words right there.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:00:51]:

He knows his stuff, basically.

Bridgette Campbell [00:00:53]:

He knows his stuff. He's a best selling author and the founder of Keto Kamp. So he has a lot of knowledge to bring us. If you're not familiar with Keto Kamp,

Rebecca Hannifan [00:01:02]:

Why don't we just let him tell

Bridgette Campbell [00:01:03]:

about Keto Kamp? That's a good idea.

Ben Azadi [00:01:06]:

Yeah. So I'm gonna go ahead and say yeah. So Keto Kamp is my company. We are on a mission to educate and to inspire one billion people, and we do that through teaching them these ancient healing strategies like Keto, ketosis, and fasting and other tools that we have in our shed.

Bridgette Campbell [00:01:20]:

Mhmm. And so besides, keto and fasting, do you have other things that you focus on with the ancient healing strategies. What else does that involve?

Ben Azadi [00:01:19]:

Yeah. It involves also things like the carnivore diet. It also involves, of course, sleep and looking at the foundations of health. But these are all, I call them ancient healing strategies because they've been around since humans have existed, and we kind of have just forgotten about them and they become popular, and we think they're trending or fads, but they're they've been around forever. So we wanna bring awareness that we have access to that, and let's use that, and the body will heal when we use these tools.

Bridgette Campbell [00:01:51]:

Isn't that so fascinating how we have it so backward? You know, we think that we're so evolved and we have all these modern things, but really if we just go back to the basics, it's incredible what our ancestors knew that we have kind of butchered, honestly.

Ben Azadi [00:02:02]:

Oh, so true. Yeah. We we butchered it a lot. A lot of money behind covering up a lot of the stuff that we had access to for for millions of years, and ketosis and fasting being 2 of those tools.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:01:50]:

Yeah. And when when we talk to people sometimes about ketosis or fasting, they're like, that's not natural. That's, that's a fad. That's so weird. That's not healthy. You know? Meanwhile, they're sipping on their big gulp or their packaged, "food" that they eat without question, right, just because it's been around them for their whole lives. They don't think about that, but they think fasting is odd Mhmm.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:02:33]:

Or strange or new.

Ben Azadi [00:02:35]:

Oh, it's so true. And and people, you know, when that's the biggest secret when it comes to keto, for example. Keto is technically not even a diet. It's a metabolic process that has been around since humans have existed. Every single one of our ancestors did keto. They were all in ketosis because their environment determined whether or not they were in ketosis. So we have the luxury, and we're so blessed to live in America where we have access to food. It's readily available to us.

Ben Azadi [00:02:58]:

Sometimes it's Frankenfood. And I always say that, I always say that humans are the only species that are smart enough to actually create their own food, but also the dumbest species that actually eat that food. Mhmm. So if we could just stick to real food and just mimic what our ancestors did, ketosis being one of them and using it as a tool, the body will heal because that's the way that we're hardwired to be in every single one of ourselves.

Bridgette Campbell [00:03:22]:

Yeah. That's fantastic. So how did you get started on this. Have you done this for years? Tell us a little bit about your background.

Ben Azadi [00:03:28]:

Yeah. So I was somebody who grew up here in in Miami Beach, Florida. We were talking about that off air. And I was actually obese for most of my life. I was, my mom worked 3 jobs. She was my superhero. She is still is my superhero. And I was pretty much left to my own devices growing up, so I hung out with the wrong crowd. I ate a standard American diet.

Ben Azadi [00:03:46]:

My mom was actually the manager at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Speaking of which, Kentucky. And, and she would actually bring home, you know, fried chicken all the time, doing the best she can with her resources, and I ate that. And so I did the wrong, hung, hung out with the wrong crowd, ate the wrong foods. I was addicted to to video games, and it really showed in my appearance physically and both mentally where I found myself. As an adult now back in 2008, being a obese man at 250 pounds, 24 years old, lost in life. Never really focused on health, never focused on fitness, didn't really know what nutrition was, and I I hit rock bottom. And at this point, it really forced me when I hit rock bottom to get my act together, and this is the first time of my in my life that I actually started to read books. Like, you see the books behind me, I was introduced to books from authors like Wayne Dyer and and Bob Proctor and Lisa Nichols, Earl Nightingale, these legends that have done some great things in their life, and it really inspired me. But most importantly, it it really forced me to, it forced me to create ... what's the word I'm looking for? Ownership.

Ben Azadi [00:04:50]:

It forced me to take ownership over my health because at that point, I was blaming everybody. I had the victim mindset, And I said, enough. You know? Everything that I've gotten in my life is a result of of me. I am responsible, and I actually said those words, I am responsible. And fast forward 9 months from taking responsibility, I went from 250 pounds all the way down to 170 pounds.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:05:11]:

In 9 months?

Ben Azadi [00:05:12]:

In 9 months. Yep.

Bridgette Campbell [00:05:13]:

Wow.

Ben Azadi [00:05:13]:

I I went down from, 34% body fat down to 6% body fat. And finally, I carved out this this physical 6 pack at that time, but the most important stat was that I carved out a mental 6 pack. I started to think better thoughts, and that's what got me started in the in the health journey. I became a personal trainer. I opened up a CrossFit gym here in Miami, ended up selling the CrossFit gym, became a certified health coach, and then I started working with some of the greatest health educators in the world. And, it wasn't until 2013 that I actually discovered health versus fat loss and and actually true cellular health, and that's when I discovered keto and fasting. And that's ... it was just a game changer for my health, and now I'm just screaming it all over the place that, you know, we could use these tools the right way, and your body will will heal, and weight loss will be a side effect of that healing.

Bridgette Campbell [00:05:57]:

Mhmm. Yeah. That's, we say that all the time. Like, you're gonna be amazed ... so many people start the keto diet or the keto lifestyle for weight loss. I'm like, you're gonna be amazed at how great you're gonna feel. It's so much more than just than just weight loss, and it just, it'll change your life if you let it. But it's hard to even, I think appreciate how bad we feel until we realize how good we feel once we start making the shift, and realize how our bodies are designed to feel versus with just what we know is normal that's not a good way to live.

Ben Azadi [00:06:27]:

So true. Yeah. That's well said because it wasn't until I started to get healthy that I realized how sick I was and how bad I did feel. And, you know, we're not designed for that. I believe we were designed to thrive. I believe that we were created to to live way past 100 years old, to be disease free, to be doing jumping jacks with our great grandkids, but, unfortunately, that's not the case for a lot of people. We have disease. We have obesity.

Ben Azadi [00:06:49]:

We have diabetes, and that's not the way we were designed to be. If we could identify the interference, what is interfering with the body from healing? Number 1, identify the interference. Number 2, remove the interference, then the body heals, and then a side effect of the healing is that the symptoms go away. And one of those symptoms is being overweight because nobody has a weight problem. They have a weight symptom. So we focus on health. We focus on reducing inflammation, specifically cellular inflammation, then the symptoms start to go away. And that's, that's the a powerful message because it should empower every single person listening and watching that you could overcome whatever health challenges you're going through.

Ben Azadi [00:07:24]:

I believe that we're all Masterpieces because we are all pieces of the Master. So we just gotta identify interference, remove interference, and your body will heal.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:07:34]:

Oh my gosh. That's amazing. Uh-huh.

Bridgette Campbell [00:07:35]:

I love how you said that.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:07:36]:

Yeah. So what are some of the interferences that you've identified and that you help people eliminate or reduce?

Ben Azadi [00:07:33]:

Well, that's a great question. It's a loaded question. Right? Because there's a lot of, a lot of hits that we're taking. The biggest one is is for sure, eating too many processed foods, eating high carbohydrate foods, and eating too often. So it's not just what you eat. It's the the timing of those meals. So we'll start with with the, you know, eating too many carbs. Carbs are delicious.

Ben Azadi [00:08:01]:

I mean, sugar is addicting. They're found everywhere. You know, if you think about it, carbohydrates, sugar specifically: It lights up the same part of the brain that would light up when somebody has a drug addiction. Right? It's the same region of the brain that lights up, making it as addicting as a drug addiction in this in this comparison. And we don't have drug dealers like selling drugs at the corner, you know, in in trucks going along neighborhoods, but we do have people selling sugar items and high processed items. So there's essentially drug dealers everywhere at gas stations, in supermarkets, online, and we have to this drug all the time, and we get these dopamine hits, and we just want more and more and more. So it becomes an addiction. And I, I personally was a carboholic.

Ben Azadi [00:08:41]:

I was addicted to food. So that's a big interference because if you are eating carbohydrates, you're spiking your glucose and insulin the entire day, and we're not designed for the spikes. We're gonna wear out the pancreas. The pancreas actually is designed to produce insulin, a maximum of twice per day. And there was, I have a colleague. His name is Dr Don Klum. I was interviewing him. He did a survey on his patients, and the average, patient.

Ben Azadi [00:09:07]:

So the average American, because it was American population, he wanted to know how many times throughout the day they raised glucose and insulin. Right? Meaning, how many times did they eat throughout the day? And the average American, according to the survey, ate 17 to 23 times per day.

Bridgette Campbell [00:09:21]:

Oh my gosh. They gave me a cold chill.

Ben Azadi [00:09:23]:

Isn't that insane?

Ben Azadi [00:09:24]:

So if you think

Ben Azadi [00:09:25]:

about it, I'm not saying they're sitting down at a table 17 to 23 times a day eating.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:09:29]:

They're grazing.

Ben Azadi [00:09:30]:

They're grazing. Exactly, Bridget, they are grabbing the handful of almonds. Look. It could be almonds. It could be cashews. It could be carrots with hummus or kombucha or a yogurt or - it's usually, not those healthy snacks. But even if it is a healthy snack, you're still telling your body to start the storing fat process to raise glucose and insulin.

Ben Azadi [00:09:46]:

So if we could start limiting those hits and start eating less. And then when we are eating, we eat more healthy fats because fats do not touch the dial on glucose and insulin. If we just had 100% fat, it would not give us glucose spike. So more protein, more fat, less carbs, that's a big hit right there. If we could just start off, like, if your audience just wants to know, where do I start? Just have your 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Have more protein and fat with those meals, less carbs, and don't snack in between those meals. That right there is a great start, and then you could start building some momentum from that.

Bridgette Campbell [00:10:19]:

That's fantastic. That's a really good strategy because I think sometimes if people go from the standard American diet, which I love that the, an acronym for that is SAD. Right? It's SAD. If people go from the SAD diet and then look at keto, and it's so extreme, and it can be overwhelming to look at. I think it's so nice to give a nice little bite sized chunks. Like, hey. Just, you know, go to 3 meals a day.

Bridgette Campbell [00:10:40]:

Maybe start widening your fasting window. Just little tidbits like that, I think, can make such a big difference for people. You touched a little bit about mindset. Tell us more about what had to happen in your mindset to make the shift that you did.

Ben Azadi [00:10:54]:

Yeah. My mindset is my favorite subject to speak about, even more so than keto and fasting, believe it or not, because we could be doing everything perfectly. You know? We could be doing keto the right way, clean keto. We could doing doing fasting the right way, exercise the right way. But if we don't have the right mindset, the right thoughts, we're not gonna get the results that we want. We're gonna be sabotaging ourselves. It's like having a foot on the gas and a foot on the brake at the same time, and you're wondering why am I just not getting the results in life, in all areas, not just health. Because the the average human thinks about 60,000 thoughts every single day.

Ben Azadi [00:11:26]:

Those are a lot of thoughts, and about 90% of those thoughts are the same thoughts from the day before. They are learned behaviors, meaning nobody really thinks original thoughts. They're it's it's a paradigm that's created, and it's usually the 1st 7 years of our life that dictate our thoughts as a, as an adult, which is it sounds crazy, but we get programmed. We get this software uploaded into us, and it's very difficult To start creating new thoughts unless we're intentional with it. So if we start if we're thinking negative thoughts because we're watching, you know, whatever it is, mainstream news or any kind of negativity or or Facebook feeds that we see negativity, it's it's going into our subconscious mind. And those are creating our thoughts, and it's creating our future. So, there's a universal law that states whatever we feed energy to expands, good or bad. So if we're feeding energy to those negative thoughts, we're gonna get more negative things in our life.

Ben Azadi [00:12:15]:

And even if somebody doesn't believe in that universal law, well, gravity is also a universal law. And if you jump off a balcony, it doesn't matter if you believe in in gravity or not. Gravity will will take over. So the biggest thing is to be very intentional with the thoughts, and and it's sneaky because it's when you are brushing your teeth, those thoughts that you're thinking, Washing dishes, walking your dog. So for me, personally, I've become very, very aware of my thoughts. And time I I have a negative thought or a self limiting belief, I see it, and then I let it pass, then I'll choose a better thought. So I use affirmations. I use intentional thinking throughout the day.

Ben Azadi [00:12:49]:

And, you know, I get better results in life as a result, not just with my health. So we can really get and fine tune those thoughts, then the keto, the fasting, and everything else will be upgraded as a result, and we'll stop getting in our way, and we'll pave the the road for for some greatness.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:13:05]:

Woah. You've given us so much think about we're gonna take a short break. I can't wait to come back and hear more because we love mindset as well. So we'll be right back.

Bridgette Campbell [00:13:19]:

Alright. We hated to stop for the break because this is a subject that Rebecca and I talk about all the time. You know, we like to tell people that 4 5 years ago before we started this, we were in such a different place with our mind, and it's kinda all gone together where we haven't focused on our you know, being more intentional with our health and with our mindset. And it just kinda starts this awesome snowball where you're thinking more positive thoughts and you're able to accomplish more with your body, and it just keeps, like, pushing you toward better and better health a holistic health. So we hated to stop you because we love this topic too, Ben. So tell us a little bit more about how did you even discover, you know, when you were when you were overweight and starting to take ownership of your life when you were in your mid twenties. How did you start to realize how important mindset was and start making the changes to where you analyze your thoughts and, you know, take them and take ownership over them.

Ben Azadi [00:14:09]:

Yeah, Rebecca. Great great look. Beautiful question because it's such a, you know, once you understand how the mind works, it really empowers the person. So for me, it was reading reading books from these authors. One of them specifically, Wayne Dyer. Wayne Dyer always talks about, you know, you change the way you you look at things, and the thing you look at changes. And if you could change your thoughts, you could change your life.

Ben Azadi [00:14:30]:

So and then I read another book, called Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on it. And it's a small little book. And I remember reading that book when I was going through some some bouts of depression, and it really just it changed my life. It's about creating affirmations. And being consistent with the affirmations. And it, it's, it was probably, like, less than an hour to read that book, and that book changed my life forever. So how do I practice these tools? I practice them, like I mentioned, when I'm walking my dog. I'm saying affirmations. I'm thinking positive thoughts.

Ben Azadi [00:14:58]:

I'm aware of negative thoughts. But also gratitude, gratitude journaling. I believe love and gratitude are 2 of the biggest healers that we have in this world, and they're superpowers, and not a lot of people use them. So when I say love, I first mean self love. You know? Loving yourself, practicing self love, whether that means something as silly as you know, somebody might say silly, but I think it's powerful. But looking in the mirror, looking at yourself in the eyes and say, thank you. I love you. Or or doing things to really, that that respect, that you respect yourself.

Ben Azadi [00:15:25]:

Right? You you you ... if you love yourself, then you wouldn't sabotage your health by, you know, eating the fried foods or eating the donuts. You would have more respect for your body and respect for yourself. I did for myself, and it helped. And then gratitude journaling is something that, it's an easy practice that you just right before bed, maybe you write down, what I do is I write down 10 things that I'm grateful for that happened during the day. And then in the morning, I write down another 10 things that I'm just grateful for in general. And I have notebooks, like notebooks, and notebooks like this, just filled with gratitude. I haven't missed a single day in in over 4 years, and that's the whole principle. Whatever we feed energy to, energy to, expands. So whatever we think about, whatever we think about, we bring about.

Ben Azadi [00:16:03]:

So let's be ... we have power over that. You know? And it, it, it's not gonna happen overnight, But the more we are consistent with it, the more it's gonna manifest. There's a, there's a part in the brain. I'll explain real quick, and then I'll close this. There's a part in the brain called the reticular activation system, RAS. So if any of your audience is listening and they want more of the science behind how this works, well, think about, let's say somebody wanted to buy a new car. Right? They're doing research for, like, a, a red Mustang. I wanna get that red Mustang.

Ben Azadi [00:16:29]:

So they finally get, they go to the car dealership. They buy this red Mustang. They're so excited. They're driving home their brand new red Mustang, and they start noticing something on the streets. They start noticing that there are several other people with the same red Mustang, and they're thinking, wait. Did everybody else buy a red Mustang? The Copycats. Yeah. Like, how dare they? I wanted to be original.

Ben Azadi [00:16:50]:

Well, the truth is the red Mustangs were always there, but now you have activated the RAS, the reticular activation system, to see all of the red red Mustangs in the streets. So you just have the awareness now. So think about that. If we start thinking healthy thoughts, abundant thoughts, now we're gonna see more opportunity instead of obstacles. So that's what I recommend. We, we take care of that fundamentals of health, and then everything else will upgrade.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:17:14]:

I mean, I love hearing this from a male perspective, especially, because we tend to work with a lot of women, and we know because we are women how women think. Like, we tend to have a lot of negative self talk, and we try to encourage women. Like, you wouldn't allow your daughter or your son to, to have a friend to talk to them the way that you talk to yourself. Mhmm. And so why why would you talk to yourself that way?

Ben Azadi [00:17:36]:

Mhmm.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:17:36]:

And people are like, oh, I've never really thought about my thoughts before, and that's something that we've been kind of on a journey on the last 4 years or so is being more particular about our thought and our mental diet as well as our physical diet.

Bridgette Campbell [00:17:49]:

Yeah. And we spend a lot of time together, and we now it used to be when we were first kinda starting, we would have a lot of negativity, and we got to the point that was a big step for us where we would say, Hey. Let's not focus on the negative. Let's focus on the positive. And now we don't even have to do that. It's just a natural when we say things, we naturally say, but I'm grateful for this. Like, we turn everything back over to gratitude. And we had a a tough situation happen a couple weeks ago, and I was like, let's get together.

Bridgette Campbell [00:18:13]:

We'll let ourselves vent for 15 minutes, and then we'll focus on the positive and get a solution. And we got together, and we're like, we don't even need to talk about the negative. Like, we know it was bad. Now let's find a solution and focus on the positive and be grateful. And it like, the transition! And it is. It's all about what you put in your mind. We read a lot, you know, a lot of these same types of books, and start ... I I like, I love to start my day with a gratitude journal. We do, we both have written affirmations.

Bridgette Campbell [00:18:36]:

We say our affirmations. Like, it's it's so powerful. Have you read the book Psycho Cybernetics?

Ben Azadi [00:18:41]:

Yeah. Maxwell Maltz. Classic book. Yeah.

Bridgette Campbell [00:18:35]:

That's my, that's my one that I'm reading right now that I'm like, I have 4 teenagers. I just wanna make them all read this and, like, write a report on it because they just like ... I had no idea when I was their age. I'm like, oh, if I could have grasped this decades ago would have been such a help.

Ben Azadi [00:18:56]:

Can you imagine if if schools started to require that book as as recommended ... not recommended, but, like, required reading, that would change the lives of so many. Good job reading that book. It's phenomenal. It's, it's, it's really, deep. You probably, I mean, I had to read it several times to really understand it, but it's, it, it changed my life. That's a great book.

Bridgette Campbell [00:19:11]:

Yeah. My dad, it really, like, shifted his life dramatically. He was on a a real bad path, and then he, he read that, and he realized the power of what he could do. Really cool story.

Ben Azadi [00:19:23]:

Beautiful.

Bridgette Campbell [00:19:22]:

Okay. Oh, man. I could talk about this all day. This is, this is our favorite, too. But going back a little bit more toward keto, so you talked about fasting. Tell us a little bit, like, what your fasting looks like. You know, there are such so many different ways that you can do intermittent fasting. So kinda share what that looks like for you and what kind of extra benefits you've seen once you started with intermittent fasting.

Ben Azadi [00:19:42]:

Yeah. Fasting is, is nature's reset button. There's so many good things in the in the body. For for me, it helps me be productive. It turns my brain on. And, yeah, there's some fat loss there because you're getting healthy. You reduce inflammation. But, but fasting is my favorite tool in the health shed, up there with with ketosis because it helps your body start recycling damaged cells.

Ben Azadi [00:20:04]:

It helps your body to start repairing areas because the opposite of fasting is eating. Right? And when we eat, it takes massive amounts of energy and resources and blood flow to process food. Takes about 14 to 18 hours just to process a meal. Think about that. So for not fasting just, you know, for 16 hours daily at at a bare minimum, we create this backlog in our digestive system, which leads to acid reflux, bloating, And also fatigue because all that energy is being used for digestion instead of using it to crush your day. But when you practice fasting, you reset the gut. And now you have all of those resources. Instead of those resources being used for digestion, they're being used to crush your day.

Ben Azadi [00:20:40]:

They're being used like, right now, I'm, I'm fasted right now. They're being used for an interview. They're being used for whatever you wanna do. You wanna play with your kids. They're being used for that. So that's one reason. And then secondly is is the autophagy process that I'm sure your audience might be familiar with, but I'll explain what that is. Autophagy, the, the Greek definition of it means eat thyself, which sounds pretty funky and weird, but it's actually a really neat process.

Ben Azadi [00:21:02]:

The, the the body, the body, first of all, is the most complex, amazing, just creation that we have on planet Earth. It's, it's, it's amazing. And there's no pill. There's no surgery. There's no supplement that could replace what we already have within us, which is called the, this innate intelligence. So we wanna harness that innate intelligence, and fasting is a way to do that. Autophagy is the process of activating this innate intelligence. So the analogy that I give for autophagy that really connects with people is thinking about, let's think about the refrigerator that we all have inside of our kitchen.

Ben Azadi [00:21:35]:

Right? We open up that refrigerator, and there's groceries in it with expiration dates. Now we wouldn't just let the groceries expire and kinda just throw them towards the back of the fridge and buy new groceries and put them in front of the old groceries. That, that wouldn't work. There would be mold. There would be bacteria. Disease will manifest if we don't get rid of those expired groceries. The human body is similar to that refrigerator because we have cells, we have mitochondria, we have fats and proteins that all have an expiration date on them. And out of the 70 trillion cells in the body, 70 billion of them are required to be recycled and regenerated every single day, and they're only recycled and regenerated through that process called autophagy.

Ben Azadi [00:22:14]:

And fasting, when you don't eat food, you're not getting food energy, so the body needs to get energy from somewhere. So that innate intelligence is activated to go look for damaged cells, these expired groceries, And it uses that for energy. So it's a great way to prevent disease. It's a great way, it's the the most powerful way to reset the body, And you only get it through fasting. You know, you could get it through exercise and some ingredients, but if you're eating all the time, it'll negate, that process. So, so it's important to go through periods of time where we activate this autophagy process. So how do I do it? I kinda do an 18/6 daily where I have an 18 hour fasting window, and I have a 6 hour eating window, and I have 2, you know, substantial meals within that 6 hour eating window.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:22:55]:

Mhmm. I love that analogy. I mean, it just makes so much sense.

Bridgette Campbell [00:22:54]:

Can you tell us - we're almost out of time, but just quickly kind of what a typical day might look like. You you said that you do the 18/6, and then what would your 2 meals maybe look like?

Ben Azadi [00:23:08]:

Yeah. I usually have a lot of protein and fat with my meals, and then I'll have some green leafy vegetables. So I'll break the fast with, maybe a piece of steak and some green leafy vegetables or, like, a keto smoothie. And then I'll have dinner a couple hours later or 3 hours later. And I'll have, some more steak or some, I don't know, some, some, like, chicken thighs with the skin on. Right? Organic grass, free range, and, of course, grass fed beef. So I have a lot of protein and fat, and then I do practice keto flexing. So I do have days where I have higher carbs, and I, and I take myself intentionally out of ketosis. But a typical day doesn't include that.

Ben Azadi [00:23:43]:

Typical day is is is the meals that I outlined for you. But I I do have coffee in the morning, and I have a little bit of some grass fed Ghee and some sea salt in the morning during my fast. I do have that. It helps me turn my brain on, and we should be really productive.

Bridgette Campbell [00:23:57]:

Right. Awesome.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:23:57]:

Yeah. And a lifestyle where you get to eat steak maybe twice a day. I mean, you're speaking my love language.

Ben Azadi [00:24:02]:

Sounds good. And it's, and it's good for you too as long as it's quality meat. Right? It's good for you too. So, oh, yeah. It's healing.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:24:08]:

Alright. Are we ready for a rapid fire?

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:10]:

Okay. So to to close us, I wanna ask you some questions quickly. So first, what is your favorite keto substitute?

Ben Azadi [00:24:18]:

Favorite keto substitute in terms of like a sweetener?

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:21]:

Or anything like pasta.

Ben Azadi [00:24:22]:

Got it, got it. It's going to be, gluten free pizza.

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:26]:

Oh, nice. Okay. What is your favorite benefit of ketosis?

Ben Azadi [00:24:29]:

The way my brain just turns right on.

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:31]:

Mhmm. Well, what do you miss the most?

Ben Azadi [00:24:35]:

And, and with keto or in general?

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:37]:

With, with doing the keto diet. Do you miss anything from preketo?

Ben Azadi [00:24:41]:

Oh, I mean, I really love ice cream, so I miss ice cream. Yeah.

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:45]:

What surprised you about keto?

Ben Azadi [00:24:48]:

Uh, what it did for my inflammatory levels, how it helped reduce inflammation.

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:51]:

Nice. What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have?

Ben Azadi [00:24:55]:

That it's a diet, but it's not. It's a metabolic process.

Bridgette Campbell [00:24:58]:

And what do you see as the biggest pitfall when people start keto?

Ben Azadi [00:25:01]:

Dirty keto, bad fats.

Bridgette Campbell [00:25:04]:

Do you test your ketones?

Ben Azadi [00:25:06]:

Not anymore. I, I, I know when I'm in ketosis.

Bridgette Campbell [00:25:09]:

And what is your best piece of advice for beginners?

Ben Azadi [00:25:12]:

Do things to help your liver stimulate bile, so have more bitters with your keto meals.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:25:18]:

Oh, what what do you mean by bitters with your keto?

Ben Azadi [00:25:21]:

So bile is required to break down the fat. So if you could stimulate the liver with bitters like arugula, ginger, ginger tea, even apple cider vinegar, and, rosemary, thyme. These are bitter. Even coffee. It'll help you break down the fat better.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:25:33]:

That is one I've not heard.

Bridgette Campbell [00:25:34]:

I know. Nice. I'm glad I asked that question. Okay. And what do you wish that everyone knew about keto?

Ben Azadi [00:25:41]:

That there's not one way to do it. There's many ways to do it, and you got, you know, do it in in with with health at the forefront, not fat loss.

Bridgette Campbell [00:25:49]:

Awesome. Awesome.

Bridgette Campbell [00:25:50]:

This was so good, Ben. It's just it's so encouraging to talk to someone else who has the same, just kind of the same priorities and trying to just tell as many people as you can about what we've discovered.

Ben Azadi [00:26:00]:

Oh, I love that. A lot of synchronicity here, so thank you. Y'al,l y'all are too great. It was a great interview, so thank you so much.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:26:05]:

Yeah. And that it's so much more than, like, fat loss. I mean, people are always attracted to it for that, and I'm like, that can be a great side effect, but, like, just living your best life and optimizing your health, your existence, your whole existence. Like, isn't that more important than what size jeans you wear?

Ben Azadi [00:26:21]:

Amen. I agree with that.

Bridgette Campbell [00:26:22]:

So it's been a huge, a huge honor to have you on here for sure.

Ben Azadi [00:26:26]:

Thank you for your time. Thank, thank you for the invitation.

Bridgette Campbell [00:26:29]:

So if you're interested in learning more, you can go to real life keto.com. We have tons of resources there, all kinds of content and things that are gonna help you on your real life keto journey, help you to maximize what you're trying to do with your health.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:26:43]:

ASo we are not your medical professionals. In fact, we are not even medical professionals. We are just sharing our experience and opinions, so you should not take anything that we say as medical advice. In fact, you should always work with your medical provider to make any changes in your supplementation, your nutrition, your exercise, Whether or not you fast, just run all that by your medical provider. Also, any results we discuss may not be typical and are not guaranteed. Do you feel disclaimed?

Bridgette Campbell [00:27:18]:

If you made it this far, you would get along really well with Rebecca, but I would definitely make fun of you.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:27:32]:

Yeah. I mean, mindset is just ... without that, it doesn't matter. All the techniques in the world, it doesn't matter.

Ben Azadi [00:27:37]:

Mhmm. So true. And and that's not often spoken about in health in keto and health. Not not a lot of practitioners Speaking about the mindset. Mhmm. So it's it's changed my life, and I I preach that message often.

Bridgette Campbell [00:27:48]:

Mhmm.

Ben Azadi [00:27:48]:

And, I mean, you 2 were great. You're you're really a great host. You got great energy, Great dynamic. So, whatever I can do to support the mission, I'm always available. So thank you for reaching out to me, and I I had a pleasure. I really did. So thank you.

Rebecca Hannifan [00:27:59]:

Okay. We enjoyed it a lot.

Bridgette Campbell [00:28:00]:

Alright. Thanks, Ben. Have a great day.

Ben Azadi [00:28:02]:

You too. Have a great day. Bye.