Thermo Diet Episode 38 - UMZU Ambassador Lawrence Taylor On Health Is Wealth

In this episode of The Thermo Diet Podcast Jayton Miller sits down with UMZU Ambassador Lawrence Taylor. Lawrence Taylor is an amazing father and business man, and has had an amazing health journey over the past year losing upwards of 80 pounds and leading his family down a path of optimal health. Check it out and let us know what you think!

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Full Transcript

Jayton Miller:
Welcome back to the Thermo Diet Podcast, I'm your host, Jayton Miller, and I am here with the one and only UMZU Ambassador Lawrence Taylor. How are you doing today?

Lawrence Taylor:
I'm doing well, Jayton. How about yourself?

Jayton Miller:
I'm doing well. So for those of you who don't know, Lawrence is part of the first round of ambassadors here at UMZU and he is an amazing father and businessman and today he's going to talk to us a little bit about his experience with health and how that has helped him through his journey.

Lawrence Taylor:
Absolutely. I'm a financial advisor by career, like you said, Jayton, a father, a boring father sometimes with boring dad jokes, but more so than anything, I'm realizing on my journey of life that health as wealth and the more focus that you have on your physical health, your diet, exercise, your mindset, all those things, not just one, really propels you to the life that you want.

Jayton Miller:
So first of all, what is your top dad joke that you have at the moment?

Lawrence Taylor:
My top dad joke that I have this moment? Oh, man, I really don't have one off the top of my head they just come to me in all of its corniness. If I see my kids doing something, I'll have a joke that's just kind of weird.

Jayton Miller:
I got a pretty good one. So did you know that diarrhea is hereditary?

Lawrence Taylor:
No?

Jayton Miller:
It runs in your genes.

Lawrence Taylor:
That is a dad joke. It runs in your jeans, okay I get it.

Jayton Miller:
So to take us back a little bit, what got you started on this health journey and what were some of the benefits that you started to experience?

Lawrence Taylor:
We all deal with self-control issues, right? We all have habitual things that we pick up. Sometimes we know where we get them from, sometimes we don't know where we get them from. But what I do know as I go through my maturation process in life is that self-control is the spice of life. I tried to, in my earlier years, be super spontaneous and just take life off the cuff, if you will, but what I do know is by having a controlled plan, it actually allows you to be more spontaneous because you actually know what you're doing and you can go from point A to point Z and then get back to point B if need be, you have more control over your life. So as I was looking to grow personally and professionally and all those things, I was definitely looking at the avenues of which I didn't have any control over my life and one of those biggest things was food and exercise. And mind you, as you know, Jayton, I'm a former college athlete, played inside linebacker so I beat my head up and my shoulders and my back and all that stuff.

Lawrence Taylor:
But even then I really didn't have self-control over my food and I look back at some of my accolades and I think to myself, "Man, what could I have been if I were to have more self-control in general?" So as those wheels started turning in my head and just on a quest of personal development, I'm a big believer in professional and personal development, I just really looked at why I was so tired, why I was so foggy in the morning getting into the office, why sometimes my conversations didn't go and sequence as I'm explaining things to my clients and things of that nature and I wanted to be more sharp and more crisp. And ultimately I've had a good amount of family members not make it out of their 30s and 40s and I have three young kids and a beautiful wife and I want to be around for them. And also, I want to do things for myself as well.

Lawrence Taylor:
I put on a pair of strength shoes. I don't know if you remember those Jayton, but some strength shoes back when I was young, that was things that were going to make you jump and run fast and all those things. So I had some from 18 years ago and I put on a pair yesterday after I got done having leg day and I just thought to myself, "I got five years before I hit 40, I'm not a tall guy, I'm only 5'10" but I used to be able to dunk in my younger years and I want to show my sons that I can still pound it above the rim, so all those things. Wanting to be better in life, wanting to have more self-control, wanting to take control over my life in a greater fashion really brought me to this journey of getting myself back together in a healthier fashion.

Jayton Miller:
From the beginning of your health journey up until where we're talking right now, you've lost roughly 100 pounds, somewhere around there.

Lawrence Taylor:
Oh man, it's about 80 now. It's getting close to the 100 mark, it's about 80. It's funny because me and a few of my friends, we would always make fun of people not in the 200-pound club, being big football guys and I haven't been under 200 pounds probably since I've been 15 years old or 16 years old. So now being under 200 pounds, my wife has kind of moving me around a little bit more, my kids can push me a little bit more, I'm losing in the wrestling battles so yeah, I'm up there.

Jayton Miller:
From a mindset perspective, what was the shift that initially allowed you to pull the trigger and begin to take your walk down this path?

Lawrence Taylor:
Being a young man still, I ran into some health issues last year that really just overwhelmed me. They weren't what I would consider super serious, but can turn into something very serious. I'm sorry, that's my little girl screaming right now, her brothers must be doing something to her. But they weren't super serious, but they were enough to scare me to say, "Okay Lawrence, this isn't the life that you want, this isn't what your wife wants, this isn't what your kids want, you need to get it together." And no offense to anyone who gets in shape in their 40s and 50s plus, any time that you do it is the best time to do it, but I knew that I wanted to have a longer life of eating right, being in shape, and I didn't want to waste these years of me being young.

Lawrence Taylor:
I'm 35 years old, but I still consider myself real young. I want to make sure that I'm living life and as I'm playing and as you see my little girl screaming, I want to run around without being out of breath. I want to walk up the stairs without being out of breath and what I'm finding out now is getting back to my competition mindset with athletics, I want a six-pack. I want those things. I want to have a nice defined, lean body, I want to be confident taking off my shirt, all those types of things.

Jayton Miller:
So as a father and someone who has to form their schedule around their children, what are some of the habits that you've developed in order to create success in that?

Lawrence Taylor:
I get up early. To be honest with you, my alarm on my watch goes off about 4:45 and I get up and get after it. I want to make sure I'm working out now probably a good hour and a half, maybe two hours, five days a week and I want to make sure I get my workout in so I can sit down and talk to my kids and my wife when they get up. I don't want to do it in the evening or the night time, that's when I'm doing something else that I do. As I have a woodworking business on the side, I'm either at the wood shop or I'm spending time with the kids or I'm spending time with other family members or friends. It's just about creating those habits that are going to cause you to be successful.

Lawrence Taylor:
And as you know, Jayton, everybody can't get up at five o'clock in the morning. Some people can stay up late. I never could stay up late, I'm the guy that if we're hanging out and we're not doing anything by nine o'clock, I don't care if I was 18 or 35, I'm falling asleep on the couch. I just never could stay up late so, it's just finding that timeframe or whatever situation that works for you, but get up and get it in the morning. I fast, I go on 16:8, so I fast 16 hours over the 24 hour day and I eat eight hours of the day. I follow the principles of the Thermo Diet of not trying to go all the way keto and eliminate my carbs, but making sure that I have the right carbs to fuel my body and eating the things that are going to make sure that I get to have the energy to do my workouts, but also have the energy to fight and do everything that I need to do within my day as well.

Jayton Miller:
Definitely. So, for a lot of people, they're early birds, but they still struggled to get up and actually take that action in the morning. What are some of the things that go through your mind to allow you to pull back the covers, get dressed, and get after it?

Lawrence Taylor:
Sleep. First and foremost, you've got to get the sleep, you got to get to bed early. I'm good about it some nights, some nights I'm not good about it, I'll stay up a little too late but as I'm sitting there whether it be in the warmth of my blanket from wintertime or the warmth of my blanket for having the air conditioning blasting in the summertime, I think about my kids. We live in a crazy society as things are heating up in our world and I say crazy just because of some of the things happening, but ultimately I believe everyone in the world has a good place. But I think about when I'm trying to take my business to another level, am I just going to sleep in while everybody else is up moving?

Lawrence Taylor:
I think about the health issues that I'm experiencing and some hereditary things. Am I going to let that make me succumb to wanting to have a couple of extra hours of sleep? I think about if my children are in danger, being the protector of my family, I want to be able to make sure I have the stamina to protect them and how can I protect my family, protect my wife, if I'm out of breath or if I'm out of shape, those types of things? So I think about a whole bunch of things that just motivate me to get me up in the morning and like anything else, I think half the battle is just showing up. If I can get out of the bed and get my shoes on and just start to move, a lot of the days I may not have as good a time on my miles that I run, or I may not be able to lift the same amount of weight, but just showing up and being consistent over a period of time is going to fuel you and get you to the places that you want to go.

Jayton Miller:
Definitely. Along with that, what are some of the habits that you've created to remain consistent as far as the nutritional perspective, trying to work your way around feeding the family and also getting in the nutrition that you desire?

Lawrence Taylor:
My beautiful wife, she's been on this journey with me so, changing the eating habits of the house, wasn't that hard to do, just because of us both being former athletes and knowing the addictive nature of bad food, we've tried from a very young age of our children to just push the fruits, the vegetables, all those types of things so my kids have grown up eating those types of things. So, taking away an extra steak or cheeseburger one day for them hasn't been a big issue. We all generally try to eat pretty healthy. My oldest son probably still eats healthier than I do, he's always concerned that he wants to make sure he's eating healthy, not in a bad way, but just making sure that he's filling his body, with good vegetables or fruits and not fried foods and things like that, he really enjoys it.

Lawrence Taylor:
So it hasn't been hard at all changing the way that I eat. One thing that I do which goes into the topic of wealth is health, is that I realize as well by me being on the go and my family being on the go, how much money I was spending out for convenience meals, something quick and easy that I can bring home to the family. And you know how some of those meals are prepared? Not all, but some of those meals are prepared in a fashion that are unhealthy how much that I was contributing to my bad eating habits, but also contributing to my pocketbook going down and my cashflow on a monthly basis, not being where it needs to be. So making those changes of going to the grocery store on a weekly basis, planning around what we're going to eat, all those types of things have really helped, and just staying away from the candy jar, I'm a candy fiend, man.

Lawrence Taylor:
I think I told you before Nerds are my things, Skittles, all this candy, that's horrible for your teeth and everything else, I love so, if I go to the gas station and my stomach is rumbling, I will definitely stay away from the candy aisle, just so I don't succumb. If I'm out of my eating hours of the day and I'm down by the pantry and the kid's chips start to call my name, I just go into a different room or try to go do a different activity. So I'm just trying to replace some of that habitual nature of me just eating, as we all do, we eat just because sometimes, and we eat just for the taste sometimes. I'm trying to change that with positive activities, going to read, going outside, playing with the kids, those types of things.

Jayton Miller:
You mentioned that your son mimics you eating healthy, are there any other habits that you've noticed that they follow behind?

Lawrence Taylor:
Sometimes they get loud. No, it's one of the craziest things about being a parent is that you know you got little eyes on you all the time, which is cool in a way, but also scary. I want them to be much better than me in life. But I tried a new workout yesterday, for example, Jayton and it was jumping rope, just trying to keep my body confused and my knees healthy, and as I was jumping rope, I was finishing up my hour of cardio and then my oldest comes outside and he has his little jump rope with him and he has his little determined face and he starts just jumping right beside me, and then when he messes up, he just keeps going and my other son, he loves squat day when I'm doing my squats, he'll come out and he'll squat with me, and my daughter, for some reason, she likes pushups so when I'm doing pushups, she'll come by me and she'll start doing her little pushups and whatnot.

Lawrence Taylor:
So that's huge and I'm so glad you asked me that question because, for the parents that are out there that know that they want their kids to have better habits than what maybe they were shown, it's just about doing it yourself. And if you do it yourself, they're going to pick up, they're going to see the joy in your face, they're going to see the confidence that you have. As I say, 50% of life is just showing up, I would say another 30% added on is a confidence that you bring once you show up. So just that confidence that you have, that you exuberate it in all facets of your life, that comes from feeling good about what you're putting in and what you look like on the outside, they see all that and it's been a very positive thing for my life.

Jayton Miller:
Along with this health journey, are there any cognitive benefits that you've experienced in your work or in your daily life that has helped you out a little bit?

Lawrence Taylor:
Absolutely, and candidly playing football for all the years that I played in the positions that I played, I am afraid of CTE. I can tell you with confidence that I know football has affected my cognitive ability. I've always been a highly intelligent individual, I always did really well in grades, but just how I go about learning now is a little bit different than what it was in the past, and it takes me a little longer than what it used to. So, that's something that I'll work on actively to make sure that I can improve. But just eating right has changed my cognitive ability just within itself so much. Waking up in that fog that you might experience from going on a candy binge late at night or having a greasy meal late at night. Just being able to not have that sit on you as you're going through your daily routine has been helpful.

Lawrence Taylor:
And then, a benefit of exercising that a lot of people who get bit by that workout bug experience is that determination level. Of course, cleaning out your body and sweating and all those things gives you those good endorphins that cause you to feel good and increases your ability for your neurons and all that stuff to fire, but just that ability to sit here and say, "Okay, today I ran a mile. What else can I do in my life that I didn't think I was going to be able to do?" When I started on my journey, I would walk and run. I went from being crazy athletic to starting out in a workout of just trying to walk and run for 20 minutes or so, then I added on a mile, then I added on two miles and throughout that whole process as I'm running and I've never been a long-distance runner, so this was like a challenge to myself to get up to running a few miles.

Lawrence Taylor:
But that whole process, I'm thinking, "If I can do this, what can I do on the side of being a better husband, being a better financial advisor, being a better father, being a better son, brother," all these aspects of my life just came pouring into me because I'm thinking, "If I can conquer this, then man, I could conquer some other things because there's people who can't even walk a mile."

Jayton Miller:
Yeah, that's awesome. So, going from one end of the spectrum with exercise, physical activity, and constantly going, what are some of the things that you like to do to wind down and relax on the other end of the spectrum?

Lawrence Taylor:
That's something I need to be better about. Family time. As you guys and the subscribers can hear, my noisy little children in the background, I'm not one of the guys that is going to excessively apologize for that because that right there, hearing that noise is the reason I do all this. Hearing all those cries and screams and joys of laughter, that's the reason I do all this. So spending time with them and seeing their faces. Last night after dinner, I took them for some ice cream just to get them out of the house, especially since they've been dealing with this quarantine just as I have, to get them out of the house, give him some ice cream. I didn't get any ice cream myself, I was wanting some after I'd seen it, but I didn't get any.

Lawrence Taylor:
Just their smiles on their faces and the little dances that they do when they get to do something and they're learning how to swim and they have some swim lessons, being able to watch videos and attend that with them, to play tag out in the yard, that's what really gives me all my feels, to be able to really just see them grow, and see them comfortable, and see them flourish. Besides that, I like to read. I need to be better at it because a lot of days I'm so tired I opened the book and I'm asleep before I can read the first paragraph.

Lawrence Taylor:
But woodworking is something else. It was something that I utilize to calm me. Because of how it developed, it turned into a side business as well. So it's becoming a little more stressful, but it's something about working with your hands because what I do as a financial advisor is not tangible and a lot of the time the results have a timeframe attached to it, whether it be retirement, whether it be the sale of a business, on and on in that realm of the world, but when I'm working with my hands, I can actually see the completion of something coming together in a couple hours or a couple of days and that's fulfilling as well.

Lawrence Taylor:
And what I'm getting into here recently is meditating and I'm not good at it, I'll be the first to admit I try to get in my peaceful place, close my eyes and whatnot, and all the thoughts start just pounding me about what I need to get done, but I read somewhere, if you just take your time, like anything else, if it's five minutes, if it's 15 minutes, and you just build upon that, then you can get to a point where you can really start to meditate and really start to formulate and just cleanse yourself of all the mental negativity. So just really getting into my head and trying to squash negativity and get it out and all the evilness and bad stuff that's been put into me over the years, it really makes me feel peaceful.

Jayton Miller:
First of all, I appreciate your time for hopping on here. Is there anything that you would like to say, not only to the fathers but to the men out there that are listening to this?

Lawrence Taylor:
If you haven't started on your health journey, start. If you fell off the wagon, jump back on. Make sure you have a why that you're doing it for and be selfish about it too. This isn't just for the others around you, this is for you. And one thing that I did want to touch on today as we had this conversation, Jayton, is just that realize the effects of your health on all different aspects of your life, whether it be your finances, whether it be your marriage, whether it be your career, whether it be your business if you're a business owner, whether it be your external relationships between other loved ones, or children, or all that type of stuff, realize the effects that it has on your life. And right now, I think most of us are searching for a quality of life that we can be proud of and that we can find sustainable. And really taking that control over the things that you can control, which as one thing is your health, that gives you better control over how you respond to life's happenings.

Lawrence Taylor:
If you know that life is going to come punch you in your face, so you know that if you have control over how you respond to situations, you know that the outcome of whatever life brings to you is going to be positive. So just really look into yourselves and say, "Okay, it's time for me to make this decision." And I was talking to my wife yesterday, and we were just thinking out loud and not everybody wants to have a six-pack, not everybody wants to be ripped, or be huge, or be muscular or lean, or all those types of things, which is cool. Everybody doesn't have to be the same, that's what makes the world great.

Lawrence Taylor:
But really find out what you want to accomplish out of your life. There's a motivational speaker that I listened to who says, "You can't make me want what I don't want," and I don't think the UMZU Community wants to make you want what you don't want. But what they want and what we all want is what's best for you and what's best for us. And we know that a healthy lifestyle of looking at your mind health, body health, gut health, all those types of things are going to get you to wherever you want to go.

Jayton Miller:
I completely agree. So where can people find you as far as social media and stuff like that goes?

Lawrence Taylor:
So you can find me on Facebook, Lawrence Taylor. Just make sure you search for Lawrence Taylor in Indiana, or you'll get the former football player. And then on Instagram, you can find me at JustLT5, so that's JustLT5, And then on Twitter is JustLT51.

Jayton Miller:
Well, I really appreciate you hopping on here. For all those of you listening, please make sure to get into the UMZU Community, he's in there, absolutely killing it. Make sure to get into the Thermo Diet Community, we have people all over the world absolutely crushing it on the Thermo Diet. And if you haven't already, make sure to like and subscribe to this podcast and leave a comment down below if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes. Talk to you next time.