Balancing Nutrition and Mental Clarity

Hosts: Lindsay Hiken and Mike Ergo

Episode Highlights:

Weekend Adventures: Mike shares his paddleboarding experience at Donner Lake and Lindsay recounts a humorous paddleboard story from Tahoe. Mental Health Check-In: Both hosts discuss their current mental health and the impact of missing workouts. Nutrition and Mental Clarity: A deep dive into how different foods affect mental clarity, including the benefits of omega-3s and the pitfalls of refined sugars. Dietary Struggles: Lindsay opens up about her journey with food and the challenges of restrictive diets. Practical Tips: Mike shares a tip from his grandfather about "crowding out" less healthy foods with better options.

Links mentioned in the show:

Monch Monch- Supplement for Calorie Absorption and Gut Health

Key Takeaway: Balance is key. It's important to enjoy foods that bring joy while maintaining a diet that supports mental clarity.

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Hashtags: #Nutrition #MentalHealth #Podcast

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Transcript

Lindsay Hiken (00:01.518)
Hi there, welcome to the Ginger and Chocolate podcast. I'm Lindsay and I'm here along with my co-host Mike. How's it going, Mike?

Mike Ergo (00:11.461)
it's going well, Lindsay. Just having a good morning, had a great weekend, and so I'm excited to be here with you today.

Lindsay Hiken (00:18.84)
What'd you do this weekend?

Mike Ergo (00:21.453)
I was up in Tahoe, I spent the weekend up there. Yeah. Went paddle boarding in Donner Lake. We did the ropes course in Tahoe City and just spent time hanging out with the family. So it was nice.

Lindsay Hiken (00:24.163)
Lindsay Hiken (00:27.604)
Lucky.

Lindsay Hiken (00:34.059)
Cool.

Lindsay Hiken (00:39.158)
I do love to paddleboard in Donner. It's such a nice place to do that.

Mike Ergo (00:45.242)
yeah, it's nice.

Lindsay Hiken (00:48.748)
I have kind of a funny paddleboard story from Tahoe. So a few times we so there's a place that has these like it's a beach, but not very many people go there. It's it's not sand. It's like these sort of smooth rocks like these pebbles. And it's not that one with the big that there's pictures of like the big smooth rocks. These are like more like pebbles that are on the beach. And so we like to go to this beach and

Mike Ergo (00:52.353)
let's hear it.

Mike Ergo (01:08.324)
Huh?

Lindsay Hiken (01:18.306)
lay out and swim and stuff. And a few times that we've been there, there's been this creepy dude on a paddle board and he's got on gloves and really dark glasses and a, you know, like a swim shirt and longboard shorts, which is fine, and little water shoes. And he'll paddle like kind of along and he'll go out by where the boats are and stuff. And then he'll come in. But what he does is he paddles really fast.

towards the beach, like while staring at you, like coming directly at you. He'll paddle really, really hard coming directly at you. And then right before he gets to the beach, he'll like pull up and turn. I don't know what he's doing. We're like, are you, are we supposed to applaud or like it's the creepiest. And this has been like over the course of like five, six years. It is, it is such a weird.

Mike Ergo (01:55.983)
That's fun.

Mike Ergo (02:09.861)
Maybe it's his Viking roots just coming through. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (02:16.864)
I can't even describe how hard this guy is paddling directly at us. And he does it to other people too. So he'll go down the beach like sprint pace, like on his. At first I was like, maybe this, when I saw him down the beach, I'm like, maybe he's races and he's thinking about, he's trying to practice racing. But then I realized he was going at people sitting on the beach and then he kind of came down the line and did us too. So he's definitely doing it on purpose. Just a weirdo.

Mike Ergo (02:22.011)
sprint pace.

Mike Ergo (02:41.829)
Hmm. Yeah, sounds like it. Sometimes even when you get the answer, it's still weird. So.

Lindsay Hiken (02:49.23)
We didn't ask them because we didn't want to engage. Okay, so let's check in a little bit. How is your mental health going right now?

Mike Ergo (02:54.349)
Yeah, exactly.

Mike Ergo (03:03.835)
Pretty good. although I've been slacking on my training, I've missed a few days. The last week, this weekend, my wife got sick, so I wasn't able to get off from my long run. was supposed to run around Donner. the, yeah, last week I just was so exhausted. I didn't even wake up for time for my training run. So I've lost a week of training. it happens. Get back on it this week.

Lindsay Hiken (03:19.278)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (03:30.432)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (03:33.359)
But mentally I'm doing pretty well. I know I'm just I'm sleeping well. I'm making sure to hydrate a lot. I'm eating pretty well. I'm working out even if it's not, you know, my my runs. So feeling pretty good. Help yourself.

Lindsay Hiken (03:45.848)
Cut.

and

Does it affect you at all mentally if you miss a week of working out or training for whatever you're training for? Are you able to pretty much put it into perspective and just move on?

Mike Ergo (04:05.283)
It doesn't mess with me too much mentally in terms of being worried about the event, but it messes with me a little bit. I just don't feel the same zest for life. I don't feel the same vitality if I'm not training regularly. So I think that's the difference.

Lindsay Hiken (04:17.966)
Thank

Lindsay Hiken (04:22.414)
Okay, yep, can relate to that. Definitely. As for me, let's see, I think my mental health is pretty stable right now. I, I definitely

was feeling a little bit out of sorts, coming back from Tahoe. So last week was my first week back and you know, the reentry is a little bit difficult. I was like, why do I have to work? I just want to hang out and ride my bike and chill. And, you know, it's just kind of that transition mentally is a little bit tough. Plus, like that week we were in Tahoe, it's so much fun. It was amazing. But we did not.

Mike Ergo (04:44.229)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (05:08.622)
go to meetings. And I go to about five meetings a week usually. And so I went to zero. And I don't need to go to five to not drink. That's, that's not really an issue at this point. I'm almost 22 years in. But it's more like there's a little bit of angst and depression that can creep in if I'm not actively working on my program. And so I, you know, I had a little bit of

Mike Ergo (05:33.115)
Mmm.

Lindsay Hiken (05:37.037)
a little bit of that going coming back in. But I went to my five meetings last week and so I feel like that's all cleared up and and I'm doing well from from that perspective and training wise. You know what happened is I've been missing trail running and you've been talking about running and I've been like jealous. And then last week's episode with Liz who was a fantastic

person to talk to about, isn't she great? She's just full of energy. talking with her about ultra running and she was saying, you can do it. And I'm like, I don't know about that. But she's like, you just need to get on the horse and start going. And so I'm just I mean, I've just started run walking a little bit and been out on the trails a little bit, just kind of.

Mike Ergo (06:07.023)
Yeah, she was great.

Mike Ergo (06:11.033)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (06:33.376)
lightly jogging, doing a lot of hiking because I don't want to injure myself again. I want to start really slow. But so I put a couple trail races on my calendar. The Woodside Ramble, which is on December 20th. It's in it's in Hunter Park. Highly recommend if you are near the peninsula Bay Area. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good one. Mm hmm. Yeah, you should come down and do it.

Mike Ergo (06:50.866)
cool.

Lindsay Hiken (06:57.684)
it's on the 20th and they've got every distance between like a 10k and a 50k.

Yeah, got some long some long distance if you want to go long.

Mike Ergo (07:11.503)
Well, that reminds me, I have an update too then. So I'm doing, I'm doing a five K with my daughter who is 11. It'll be her first official race. So yeah, we're going to do that together. September 14th down in San Rafael. It'll be nice trail race to just a five K and we did a train run last week and she was

Lindsay Hiken (07:15.732)
Okay, what is it?

Lindsay Hiken (07:26.238)
That's so cute.

Lindsay Hiken (07:30.73)
okay. huh.

Mike Ergo (07:39.963)
fine the entire time, not out of breath, not fatigued at all. And we're like, OK, I think you got this. And I think the next step after that will be doing a 10k because I think she'll be ready.

Lindsay Hiken (07:46.11)
one.

Lindsay Hiken (07:51.855)
That is so sweet. so happy for you. I've done a couple with my daughter. She was older than your daughter for sure. it's so fun. It's so fun to watch them cross the finish line. it's just a really great experience. In fact, Jillian did this Woodside Rumble with me years and years ago. I mean, she's...

Mike Ergo (07:54.007)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (08:05.936)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (08:16.854)
She's turning 30 in a couple weeks and she was probably 18 when we did this 18 or 19. And. We were each she was we were each just going to run our own race, right? So she was going to walk jog and I was going to run it. And so I was waiting for her at the finish line and I had bought her this new little run outfit. She was all excited about it and it was cute, you know, and.

Mike Ergo (08:32.176)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (08:41.359)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (08:44.822)
She comes in and she's got dirt all over her. The, the outfit is ripped. She's got a bloody knee and, and I was, and she looked pissed off and I was like, what happened? Well, it turns out coming down the hill back towards the finish line, some woman ran past her and just bumped into her and knocked her off the trail. And I'm like,

Mike Ergo (09:06.459)
That's a rough way to be.

Lindsay Hiken (09:08.686)
Yeah, Jillian looks very young, so she looked like a child at that point. So I was like, why would you knock a child off the trail? And by the way, you're coming in 35th place. You know what I mean? It's not like they were going for the podium or something. So it was a weird little experience. It was a weird little experience for her and there's a love. Yeah, go ahead.

Mike Ergo (09:14.926)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (09:25.293)
Right. He doesn't.

Mike Ergo (09:31.289)
No, your kick doesn't really matter at that point because you're not going to podium.

Lindsay Hiken (09:37.09)
so far from podium that, yeah, and just shoved my kid over, but there's a picture of me with my arm around her all proud and she has the most mean mug on her face. She's so pissed off about her new little outfit. So.

I'm doing that one. then the other one I signed up for is Brazen Racing New Year's Day race. So I'm going to go kick off 2026 with a half marathon trail.

Mike Ergo (10:06.299)
That's perfect. I love them. They're such a great company for racing here in the Bay area. They just, put on the great race. have great aid stations, great post-race food. The culture is great. Everybody's nice and supportive of each other. I can't say enough good things about brazen.

Lindsay Hiken (10:20.78)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, me neither. definitely have loved every one of their races that I've done. then Liz was talking about doing like she's done the challenges where you do all of their races in a year. That's one of the challenges that they have. And yeah, I know. So she's she's really into brazen too. And I was like, you know what? I love those. I'm going to sign up. So that's basically my check in. What are we talking about this week?

Mike Ergo (10:35.227)
Yeah, that's insane. I love it.

Mike Ergo (10:51.695)
talking about nutrition, mental clarity while training, things we eat that may or may not contribute to.

good mental health and perhaps a good gut and digestive system.

Lindsay Hiken (11:01.268)
Yeah.

That's right. So I don't know if you've ever experienced like brain fog. If you've been eating like a bunch of garbage, have you experienced like a little bit of brain fog?

Mike Ergo (11:20.643)
yeah, awful. And it's just, it's not quite a hangover, but it's, it's in the same family. It feels like it's a close cousin to the hangover and it's just, I just kind of wanted around doing nothing, doing nothing, right. Doing things clumsy and not being able to think clearly. Yeah. It's annoying.

Lindsay Hiken (11:28.75)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (11:34.99)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (11:42.433)
It's annoying and it's also like, it's hard for me when I have that to motivate to do anything, know, so my work, so if I eat a bunch of garbage, not only am I like mentally fuzzy, so work is a little bit of a struggle and, but also just motivating to go work out or, you know, do those kinds of things is a problem as well. I have to say,

that my journey with food has been and continues to be a long one. I've shared on the show before that I've struggled with eating stuff. A lot of calorie restriction and then a lot of, I think there's a term for it now, I can't remember what they're calling it.

like orthorexia or something along those lines where you're not anorexic and you're not bulimic but and you're not exercise bulimic but what you do is you try all these different like types of eating and you restrict your food intake based on those types of eating and I kind of have that issue it's like I'm only eating vegan now I'm only eating no grains no sugar now I'm eating you know like

Mike Ergo (12:54.043)
Mmm.

Lindsay Hiken (13:03.512)
fill in the blank, know, a low carb diet, there's a million diets out there and they're all on Instagram, for example, and I've followed them all and not had good results really from any of them. But what's happened with me taking the GLP-1 besides losing weight, which I did, I lost weight and my A1C went down way down below the

Mike Ergo (13:06.075)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (13:13.264)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (13:32.267)
the pre-diabetic numbers that I was in. So that's a big win. But I could basically eat anything and still lose weight because you're not really interested in eating a lot. And in general, with the tersepid, your sort of compulsive eating is is tamped down. So you're not going to eat a bag of chips. If you eat chips, you're just going to eat a few chips.

Mike Ergo (13:43.859)
wow.

Lindsay Hiken (14:01.798)
And so I began eating like a child, like a child who has parents that aren't good food, basically. Because I it was like the first time in my life that I could let myself eat whatever I felt like without feeling like being freaked out that I was going to gain a pound or something. And. So for the first like.

Mike Ergo (14:25.615)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (14:29.144)
several months that I was on this, was eating like, I'd have like a little bit of chips and a banana for lunch. And then I'd have, you know, like a dinner, but it would be a small dinner. And then I'd have a bowl of ice cream. And then I'd have, you know, I went to McDonald's once, which I haven't done in, literally, I don't know the last time I went to McDonald's, probably.

Mike Ergo (14:56.175)
you look around the corner like I hope no one sees me.

Lindsay Hiken (15:00.078)
totally. And then I drove my car to like another parking lot and ate in my car like a freak. I was like, I hope no one sees me, you know. But also I had a filet of fish sandwich is what I ate and.

Mike Ergo (15:04.923)
Ha

Yep.

Mike Ergo (15:16.859)
Ooh, that's a bold choice.

Lindsay Hiken (15:20.078)
I used to love those. tasted really good for about half of it. And then the second half, was like, I don't know what this thing is made out of. It's disgusting, but.

Mike Ergo (15:28.483)
Yeah, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (15:30.668)
Eating like a child has been good for me in the sense that, just eating whatever I wanted, in the sense that I haven't let myself do that in so long. You know, probably since I was a teenager, I haven't been able to be like, I want to eat this thing, I'm going to let myself eat this thing. So that's been good for me mentally to just like let that go. But the backlash on the mental clarity has been pretty gnarly.

Mike Ergo (15:59.353)
It seems like you'd want to be able to do that for just a spell and then come back to baseline and eating things that are relatively good, you know, but the, need something like that to let loose, to, to, break free from it's almost like cult like thinking, right? When, cause I can get invested in this certain kind of diets. did that with paleo for awhile. I did that with a ketogenic diet it and, I wouldn't, I wouldn't stick with it long enough. I guess. I don't know.

Lindsay Hiken (16:05.902)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (16:29.231)
but I didn't get great results. The paleo is probably the closest I came, but the, the, getting good results. But the problem was that it got in the way of social situations, got in the way of, you know, functioning with my family. Like, all right, what's the weird thing you can't eat or have to eat now. So a lot of barriers are put up.

Lindsay Hiken (16:47.854)
Mm hmm. hmm. Mm hmm. Absolutely. I can relate. I've had family members, if I'm coming to visit, what is it you can eat or can't eat? then Josh's sister, every time she invites us over for dinner, like, Lindsay, what can you eat? And I realize, like, my issues have really spread. You know what I mean? Everyone knows Lindsay has food, like there's going to be some crap. So.

Mike Ergo (17:10.875)
Heh.

Lindsay Hiken (17:14.634)
Lately, I've just been like, I'll eat whatever, I'll eat whatever, which feels really good. when I was pounding a bowl of ice cream every single night, my sleep was really bad. And because I would do it right before bed, right? And so my sleep was really bad. And that would lead to this like fog, just exhausted, like brain fog, feeling a little hungover. And

Mike Ergo (17:14.714)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (17:28.944)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (17:44.183)
It took me a minute to realize it was the food, though. I was like, why do I feel why am I sleeping so shitty? Why do I feel so bad? Meanwhile, like every night, I'm like giant bowl of ice cream. Such an addict way of thinking, alcoholic way of thinking, like it can't possibly be the thing that I'm enjoying, like doing to excess, can it? It can't possibly be that right. Yeah, so. I'm getting back on the beam, just.

Mike Ergo (17:55.726)
Hahaha

Mike Ergo (18:05.679)
Red.

Lindsay Hiken (18:13.44)
eating healthier and but I'm also not trying to be crazy about it like restricting like saying, yeah. How's your eating currently? You'd mentioned earlier the top of the show that you are doing pretty well with your diet.

Mike Ergo (18:18.853)
Yeah, there's a balance, right?

Mike Ergo (18:30.959)
I think so. There's always improvements to be made, but what I'm trying to do is not, not, hold myself to a standard of perfection, which I just don't think is attainable and leads to disappointment and, know, restricting then binging, you know, but I think that ultimately trying to find out ways to solve boredom or distress instead of eating because

Lindsay Hiken (18:47.0)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (18:58.252)
Hmm.

Mike Ergo (19:00.547)
when that comes up and I'm eating to solve emotional problems and not because I'm hungry, you know, it's where the weight gain and, you know, feeling crappy kind of kicks in. So it's helped with working out because I don't, have more of a buffer now. know, you have regular workouts have more of a buffer for mental distress since I'm getting the energy out and running or lifting. And I think,

Lindsay Hiken (19:17.186)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (19:23.661)
Right.

Mike Ergo (19:30.299)
If I were to do anything to improve, it would be just to check in a little bit more with how I am, do a self check here and there, a little more throughout the day, instead of just wandering to opening up a cabinet and looking at something to solve my emotional problem.

Lindsay Hiken (19:39.06)
Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (19:49.615)
I'm sure I'm sure everybody can relate to emotional eating. I don't know a single person who doesn't fall prey to that sometimes. It's interesting, right? The connection between your mental and emotional state and what you're going to put in your mouth. don't you know, I'm not a doctor, but you just mentioned, you know, like midday, if you're bored.

Mike Ergo (19:58.65)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (20:12.827)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (20:18.518)
or you're stressed, food is the original, is the, you know, go-to.

Mike Ergo (20:26.703)
Yeah, it's, and then, here's a big thing that I've tried doing. So I have a friend, another Marine Corps veteran who turned me onto something, both him and his, his mom has been involved. It's a, it's an Italian product called munch munch. And it's a, called a 3d fiber sponge. And so what it does is you drink a, and for the people who are familiar with something like psyllium husk, it turns kind of gelatinous.

Uh, you mix it up and what it does is it clings to, um, I'm going to mess this up. So we're to have a deep dive later on this so I can clarify it, but it essentially keeps your insulin from spiking at all, uh, for up to I think 30 or 40 carbohydrates, um, per serving. So, and then it helps you digest fiber. it feeds the fiber to your lower intestine so it can establish great, um,

Lindsay Hiken (21:10.495)
wow.

Lindsay Hiken (21:16.046)
Huh.

Lindsay Hiken (21:24.13)
Wow.

Mike Ergo (21:27.493)
gut biome. so it seems like it's, it's a win-win product and you can't just binge eat all, all the time and eat complete crap, but it helps mitigate a lot of what we do with insulin spikes. So, I'm feeling good. I've actually felt better just mentally since I've taken it because I don't feel the cravings as much. Maybe I'm more mindful of it or I don't, kind of give into it.

Lindsay Hiken (21:29.516)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (21:41.422)
you

Mike Ergo (21:57.561)
And then when I eat something that's higher, chiro hydrate or processed and would spike my insulin and help me retain weight, I guess, it mitigates a lot of that damage. it's something I, you know, we'll, we'll spend an episode on and at a certain point talking about it. Cause it's pretty dynamic product.

Lindsay Hiken (22:15.587)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we can put the name of it into the show notes so that people can look that up. That sounds really interesting. I've never heard of that before. But what a cool product to help keep the insulin spikes down, because that's such a such an issue for many of us. So I did look at. I did look up. On my friend, AI, about some some just comments about.

Mike Ergo (22:21.765)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (22:34.816)
yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (22:46.284)
nutrition and mental clarity, and you know, AI isn't that magical. I mean, it just came up with some of the things that we already know. But in terms of foods that don't help you, so obviously refined sugars and carbs. And I think that there's a lot of

like talk about like, don't eat carbs, I mean, vegetables are carbs. So that's not really what we're talking about, right? It's more of the like, high, highly processed foods. And those, you know, it says right here that poor concentration is something that...

Mike Ergo (23:21.114)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (23:29.637)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (23:41.295)
poor concentration, inflammation and memory issues have been found to be related to eating refined sugars and refined and highly processed carbs. So that's an interesting thing because my memory is not what it used to be. So I'm already working with a, at a deficit. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (23:53.722)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (24:01.499)
Slight deficit, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (24:06.764)
just wait Mike someday you're going to be in your 50s and you're be like, that's what she was talking about. The other day I took a shower and I was like, take going through my shower and I'm like, did I wash my hair? can't, I couldn't remember if I'd wash my hair or not wash my hair. Like I just couldn't. So I just washed it again. So I may have washed it twice. I don't know. I can't. And it was like 30 seconds before that. you know, so yikes. So this is going to be,

Mike Ergo (24:11.611)
I can't wait. Things to look forward to.

Mike Ergo (24:23.52)
Ha

Lindsay Hiken (24:36.334)
So what else? So we have trans fats, fried food, with partially hydrogenated oil. And so all of these, you can look at the label and kind of see what's on there. I've heard if it's got more than like four or five ingredients, it's probably got something in there you don't want in terms of eating whole foods that aren't highly processed, right? And again, that...

It's interesting because it's saying that the trans fats can also affect memory and contribute to inflammation. Inflammation is a big issue for athletes. think we our bodies, we get inflammation from the activity that we're doing. don't want to contribute to that by eating foods that are going to cause inflammation. So trans fats, refined sugars, carbs, and then high mercury fish. I didn't know what like

what's high mercury, what's not high mercury fish wise. But I found a couple. I want to know if you eat any of these. So King Mackerel. Have you had that before?

Mike Ergo (25:35.269)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (25:43.907)
Not I have, mostly when I was in Scandinavia, so years and years ago, I don't eat that regularly.

Lindsay Hiken (25:50.046)
okay.

Okay, and then shark. I don't eat that ever, but I've never had it.

Mike Ergo (25:57.42)
No, I'm not sure I've ever ate shark.

Lindsay Hiken (26:01.474)
That's good. And then the last one that I have had and I do like is swordfish.

Mike Ergo (26:07.547)
Ooh, yeah, I've had a once or twice.

Lindsay Hiken (26:07.724)
And so.

Lindsay Hiken (26:11.466)
Yeah, I like a swordfish steak. So it said instead of those to opt for like something fatty, like a fatty fish instead and salmon, something you could eat, sardines, something you could eat. So high mercury fish is a no-no. And then this one you and I have down. So excessive alcohol.

Mike Ergo (26:23.643)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (26:36.11)
And it's funny because it's like, I was like, alcohol can impair cognitive function, affect decision making and slow reaction time, which that's a nice way of saying, you can ruin your life if you get drunk. And then the last one is artificial sweeteners, artificial. don't know what word I just said, but artificial sweeteners is what I meant to say. And.

Mike Ergo (26:36.9)
Yes.

Mike Ergo (27:01.999)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (27:05.942)
That's a hard one because some things that I intake a lot of like electrolyte powders, you know, I like to drink. We talked about it in our sort of like our episode about products that we liked. know, liquid IV, for example, has like 10 grams of sugar in each packet. So it's pretty high sugar content. But then if you go to

Mike Ergo (27:15.931)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (27:24.207)
Yes.

Mike Ergo (27:30.821)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (27:35.975)
sugar-free option it's got artificial some kind of artificial sweetener in it typically

Mike Ergo (27:45.796)
I think.

Lindsay Hiken (27:46.55)
I don't know which is worse.

Mike Ergo (27:49.307)
there's, there's a scale on which are worse for you than others in terms of artificial sweeteners. mean, that's a pretty vague statement, right? Cause there's all the different kinds. Like if you look at Splenda, Stivia, Truvia, all those other ones, I'm sure somewhere there, some are worse than others. So, but I'll tell you what's not good probably is all the diet cokes I like drinking. So that's probably not helping me out too much.

Lindsay Hiken (28:11.256)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (28:20.878)
Yes, Diet Coke is definitely on the list of. I will agree with that, it is pretty tasty. I think it was last year I went through a little phase where I couldn't stand coffee, but I needed a little kick in the morning, so I was on a diet coke kick as well. It's yummy. I just tried a new I'm just trying a new.

Mike Ergo (28:23.713)
Mm, mm, mm, so yummy.

Mike Ergo (28:40.623)
Yeah. yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (28:46.518)
electrolyte called Cure. And I have to say it's pretty good. It has some stevia in it, which isn't as I think stevia is on the on the artificial sweeteners, you know, spectrum stevia is pretty, pretty good. And then it has monk fruit is the other thing that it uses to sweeten them. And I think monk roots fine. It's really, really good. It tastes delicious. And it seems to have, you know,

Mike Ergo (28:49.328)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (29:14.36)
healthier ingredients to it. So highly recommend trying cure. Okay. So let's see. Do you drink an electrolyte powder regularly or just when you write? Uh-huh.

Mike Ergo (29:25.135)
Yeah, I started using element now, just when I run, I started using the element, the salted watermelon and it is awesome. Love it. Yeah. I'll do like a five mile loop, get some element beforehand and then after five miles and then do the rest of my run after, and it made a huge difference. I can tell what I've not had it. I came back just like trying to jam any kind of sugar into my mouth.

Lindsay Hiken (29:43.81)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (29:54.104)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (29:55.131)
couldn't get enough to where the element I just came back and I was tired and I was thirsty but it wasn't the same kind of desperation for like sugar that I had after that first run. So I can I literally told the difference I could tell the difference yeah it was cool.

Lindsay Hiken (30:05.095)
that's interesting.

Lindsay Hiken (30:13.262)
Well, I drink two electrolyte powders a day because with the GLP ones, one of the issues is dehydration and you need to replenish your electrolytes. So whether I'm working out or not working out. so one of those every day is an element. Usually the salted watermelon, which is my fave, but also the grapefruit's good. The orange is good, all of those. But then I don't want to drink two of those because it does have a thousand milligrams of sodium.

Mike Ergo (30:21.467)
Hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (30:42.478)
That's where I was doing the liquid IV and now the cure. So I'm pretty happy with that combination. So some good foods that we could eat are, like I already mentioned, fatty fish because they're rich in omega-3 fatty acids.

Mike Ergo (30:46.201)
I see, yeah.

Mike Ergo (30:58.043)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (31:02.57)
I don't know exactly what all of these, like why all of these things are good for us. And AI didn't tell us necessarily, but it does give us some examples. So like salmon, sardines, and trout are apparently crucial for brain health is what it says. I guess omega-3s, it says, are essential for building brain and nerve cells and have been linked to improved memory and a reduced risk of cognitive decline.

So that sounds like something that I should focus on as I age. mean, everybody should, everyone's aging. But now that I'm in my 50s, cognitive decline is something that I worry about.

Mike Ergo (31:38.203)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (31:42.96)
Done.

Mike Ergo (31:46.659)
It's a good thing to supplement with too. I've taken Omega-3 fish oil supplement every day. Even if I am eating lots of fish, I just have it every day. But if you have a fish-rich diet, then that's optimal. But for the rest of us, and it's not there all the time, yeah, you don't have access or the funds to get wild salmon, wild tuna, sardines all the time.

Lindsay Hiken (31:52.13)
Mmm.

Lindsay Hiken (32:14.894)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (32:15.415)
Supplements the next best thing.

Lindsay Hiken (32:17.646)
Josh has been buying this wild tuna, I mean, salmon in a can, know, canned salmon. And it's he's getting it from somewhere in Alaska. And I didn't realize it's like thirty dollars or something for like two cans. And ran out of good dog food the other day. I didn't have any idea. I was like, can't say. So I opened it.

Mike Ergo (32:24.859)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (32:35.641)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (32:41.643)
he gets pretty heated.

Lindsay Hiken (32:47.85)
Yes. He was like, why the fuck are you feeding our dogs like a $15 can of salmon? I'm like, I I didn't realize it was that expensive. But yeah, it actually tasted good. took a little taste for myself. OK, fatty fish, leafy greens and vegetables, especially some things like kale, spinach, broccoli, arugula.

Mike Ergo (33:01.029)
That's hilarious.

Mike Ergo (33:12.187)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (33:16.046)
They have antioxidants and vitamins. That seems pretty straightforward, everyone. I think pretty much most people know that you need to eat your veggies. And it says they are a great source of vitamin B. And it doesn't say which B, but it says vitamin B supports neurotransmitter production and helps improve blood circulation to the brain. So I take a supplement.

called bio boost and it is got a lot of various B vitamin B's in there B12 among and along with other things and it seems to be helping as well with some of the brain fog that you experience when you're you know in

Mike Ergo (33:52.463)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (34:05.74)
like a menopause phase or just an aging phase. Josh takes it too. It's a subcutaneous shot though. You got to be willing to give yourself a shot. But I, I notice I give you details after a few. Actually we had on the show Amy from reset wellness and that's who I get it from. And it's just a subcutaneous shot. So you don't need to like, you know, get into a muscle or a vein. think people always assume that when you're taking a shot, you have to get into like some

Mike Ergo (34:15.279)
Ooh, that sounds fun.

Mike Ergo (34:24.379)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (34:35.434)
muscle or something. It's just this tiny little needle. both Josh and I swear by it, we feel better overall, generally sleep better. you know, if you want details, you can check out Amy Reset Wellness and she can give you all the deets. know, fatty fish, leafy greens and berries. So this is a happy one for me because I love some berries. It just.

Mike Ergo (34:38.266)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (34:59.483)
Mmm.

Me too.

Lindsay Hiken (35:03.626)
It just says that they are high in flavonoids, which I don't know what that is. I suppose I could have looked that up, but I didn't. And antioxidants and those improve cognitive ability. Yeah, details, details. And again, with the blood flow to the brain and and protect against age related cognitive decline. And then the last couple of things, last fruitful things, I don't want to have to bore everybody with this list too much, but

Mike Ergo (35:28.027)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (35:33.081)
whole grains. So that's, think, where there's a danger zone for us because of the way our food system is. You know, eating a whole grain is important, but you could go to the store and find a highly processed loaf of bread that says whole grains on it. And it's because they've sprinkled some grain on the top. Mm Yeah. So

Mike Ergo (35:58.043)
That's true.

Lindsay Hiken (36:03.764)
it you want to look for one something that is just that just that product like just brown rice oats whole wheat pasta can be good as long as you watch out for that the highly processed and this is helpful with concentration and memory so i need that too and then the last couple are eggs and fermented foods do you eat any fermented foods like

Mike Ergo (36:28.827)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (36:30.766)
kefir, sauerkraut, yogurt, anything like that.

Mike Ergo (36:34.523)
kimchi kimchi. I love kimchi. I love yogurt, but their friend that I met the family through my son playing all star baseball. She sells kimchi up here in Sonoma County. Jeez, kimchi. I'll put a link to it in the show notes and we can talk to her at some point to an episode. But the fermented food is it's it's some people I think find it tough but

Lindsay Hiken (36:36.908)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (36:49.356)
Mm.

Mike Ergo (37:04.479)
but if you like that bite, if you like that taste of that, mean, like, especially like the carbonation, if you like a good seltzer or, or Sparkling water, a lot of times you like a kimchi or a sauerkraut or things like that.

Lindsay Hiken (37:08.92)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (37:21.504)
Mm-hmm. I love a sauerkraut.

Mike Ergo (37:24.109)
I used to make my own keeper, but haven't done that in a while.

Lindsay Hiken (37:27.726)
Wow, you did. Huh, that's impressive. How do you even do that? Maybe you don't have go into every detail, but what's the basics?

Mike Ergo (37:29.431)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Ergo (37:36.955)
you basically you have a friend who has a starter culture and then you basically pour it in with some milk or some coconut milk or almond milk. Even I think you have to recharge it with like regular, cows milk every like fourth or fifth batch at least, but you can do the coconut milk even. And, and then yeah, you just let it sit out.

Lindsay Hiken (37:55.694)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (38:00.335)
Mm.

Mike Ergo (38:05.435)
Think out of sunlight, but at room temperature for a few days.

Lindsay Hiken (38:06.168)
Huh.

Okay. Well,

Mike Ergo (38:11.54)
and creates it and it's delicious if you do it right.

Lindsay Hiken (38:15.918)
Oh yeah, I like kefir, but I've never had like a homemade version. It sounds yummy. I like to eat sauerkraut in the in the morning. I'll make like a little sausage, like a chicken sausage type of thing, and I'll eat it with sauerkraut. Mm It's a weird breakfast. Josh is like because you could smell it. You know, I was heating it up. He's like, what the fuck is the smell at six in the morning? But it's my sauerkraut.

Mike Ergo (38:32.79)
perfect.

Lindsay Hiken (38:46.218)
Okay, so I think we've gone over all of the key points about food. Nothing really too shocking here in terms of what you should eat and to help, you know, support good mental clarity. But I think that

One big takeaway I'd like to mention is just about what we talked about more towards the top of the show, which is there are foods that support mental clarity and there are foods that hinder it, but it's important to have a balanced approach towards eating. Like you can't just never eat any sugar, never eat anything processed. It's just not, it's not.

rational that's not healthy. you know, but just pick and choose that you've got like a well balanced diet and then you have these things that you eat that are, you know, maybe bring you joy like a bag of chips or something brings me joy. So I don't want to never have that.

Mike Ergo (39:35.813)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (39:48.667)
Exactly. Like Marie Kondo said, it sparks joy. one thing that, that, that I've tried that seemed to work better than elimination diets or just some wisdom my grandfather passed down to me is instead of trying to eliminate things, just think about crowding it out on the plate with other better options. So you don't necessarily get rid of something. You just start to crowd it out a little bit more with, you know, something high fiber or

Lindsay Hiken (40:11.276)
Hmm.

Mike Ergo (40:18.275)
Richard Omega three and you know, just the things we've been talking about on the show. And so the, the, stuff we're doing just gets less and less, but you're not just thinking about deprivation and elimination and, denying yourself. It's just, you start to move in the other direction a little bit more.

Lindsay Hiken (40:22.944)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (40:38.958)
That's a great thought to end on. love it because the elimination does tend to inflict a certain amount of mental trauma. If you slip up, then you feel bad about yourself. But the idea of crowding it out is a really good one.

Mike Ergo (40:52.143)
Yeah.

Mike Ergo (40:57.605)
Right. Because our brains are designed to think about the thing we're eliminating. you sell, if you tell yourself, deny yourself ice cream, all your brain hears is ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. And then you think about it the entire time and obsess over it. So instead just think of like, let's add a little more kale and avocado here. maybe some Swiss chard and some wild caught salmon. And you start thinking of what you're going to do rather than what you're going to eliminate or avoid.

Lindsay Hiken (41:08.652)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (41:16.771)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (41:26.222)
Mm hmm. Yeah. Awesome idea. I think we could end on that. What do you think? All right. OK, listeners, we really appreciate your support. We've the listenership has been growing a little bit, and I think that's partially attributed to you guys supporting us and sharing the show with others. So let's see what's one idea you could do.

Mike Ergo (41:31.075)
Mm-hmm. Sounds good to me.

Lindsay Hiken (41:52.162)
I think this week if you just take the link that you're from whatever podcast app you're using and just forward it to one, text it to one friend and you could text just an episode. So if you go back, it doesn't have to be this episode. It could be any episode that you really liked. Take that episode and share the link to it with one friend via text. And with that, we will see you next week. Bye.

Mike Ergo (42:13.168)
Mm-hmm.

Mike Ergo (42:18.383)
Bye bye y'all.