Transcript of Episode #140 Featuring Lexi Noel! Prioritizing REAL FOOD! Exposing the harmful food industry, REAL vs. Processed Foods, Food as Medicine, God's GUIDANCE, FAITH and more!

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Go to qualialife.com/dylan for 50% off and use my code Dylan for an additional 15% off. That's qualia qualia.com/dylan and use my code Dylan. Thank you to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. All right everybody, welcome back to the Dylan Gemelli Podcast. So I have a treat today. My guest flew in from Alabama to see me and she does some absolutely amazing work that I am really excited to get into cuz I love, love, love to talk about food. I love to talk about nutrition, all of the problems going on, and she has been involved into so many different key aspects of food and helping people. And so we're going to have a lot of fun today and we're going to talk about some problems that her and I both share that we've went through together, how we deal with them, overcome, and try to provide some inspiration to people along the way through the, the teachings that we're going to provide. So she is a 20-year-old wellness creator and she's a speaker and she's an advocate for real food living. She was diagnosed with anorexia at 13 years old, and she was told that recovery meant relying on ultra-processed foods.

So we're going to have a field day with that, I can tell you right now. But she chose a different path, which I absolutely love, and it was rooted in whole nourishing foods. But the, the part I love about this most is the deepening faith and reliance in Jesus. So we're going to talk a great deal about that today as well, because that is my favorite topic of discussion. So My friends, welcome Lexi Noel.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Thank you for coming and seeing me, Lexi. I have never made it a secret about the eating disorder battle. Um, started when I was 11 and it can make or break you, as you know. Now, I started at a young age. You started dealing with it at a young age. When did that really, really become an issue for you with like body image? Because it's not just food, it's body image.

You know, I think back to the time when I was 13, and before then when I was 12, and I always try to think what exactly caused it. But I had an amazing childhood growing up. I mean, my family is amazing. At growing up, I had no trauma. It was perfect. And then I do remember sitting in youth group, and they were doing a series like every Wednesday night of young adults who are about my age now telling their story about how they grew in their faith and how they went through battles that tested their relationship with God. And I remember sitting there being like, man, I have like no story. My life has been great. My life has been so good. And then like 2 months later, I kind of immediately went down the path of just, you know, Satan getting into your head and just saying, you know, you're not worthy, you, you look awful in the mirror when you look at yourself. And then quickly I started losing a lot of weight, and that's kind of when my eating disorder started.

When you say you started to lose a lot of weight, were you starving yourself, or were you terrified of food? Like, what was going on?

I did just stop eating. It started off of just like, you know, skipping breakfast and then skipping lunch and then having a super small dinner. And it, you know, started to send me down the path.

The unhealthy fasting.

Absolutely. Yeah.

What kind of things go on in your mind, like inside your mind, when you're going through that? Are you, are you seeing something in the mirror? Are you feeling a certain way? Did somebody say something to you that triggered something?

When I was going through it, I don't remember ever looking in the mirror and seeing that I was overweight, or— but I definitely didn't see myself as super thin and unhealthy, which I was, but I didn't see it at the time. Um, apparently I thought that I could just keep losing and losing weight, which I did, but I don't remember anybody telling me anything specific, just, you know, Satan in my head telling me.

Yeah, see, for me it was like I was overweight and then it was the fear of going back to that, but you don't have that going on, right? It was more like, I'll sit there sometimes— I don't do it anymore, but I'd say I wish I was a kid again so I didn't have anything to worry about. And in reality, it's just a different kind of stress.

Absolutely.

Because you're just finding yourself. So 13 years old, how long did this persist?

So my parents caught on fairly quickly.

I'm sure.

I would say it started in— I started losing weight in about March, and then they caught on. My mom caught on in April, which I did lose a lot of weight during that time period, and then I kept losing until about July, August. And, um, and then we did go see a registered dietitian about, I want to say, August. And that's kind of when she told me how to eat the ultra-processed junk food. And then I decided I wasn't going to do that. I was gonna eat real food.

What year was this that this was happening, where you were talking to the dietitian?

This was 2019.

Okay, so what kind of foods were they recommending you to eat?

So they were— I remember one time she brought my whole family, or my mom, my dad, and my brother and we all had to go to her office and eat Chick-fil-A in front of her. So, and then she was like asking my brother questions about like, what do you think is going on in your sister's mind as she's going through this? And that was just like a really traumatizing experience. I don't understand the goal in that. I don't think it helped. It was just very, um—

so the answer to somebody that's struggling is go make them eat something that's going to make them gain unwanted weight, apparently. Well, don't mind me asking, where's this lady located?

She's in Alabama, my hometown.

All right, we'll leave that alone for a private conversation.

All right.

So how long did you see the dietitian?

My memory is blurred, dude. Like when you're not eating food, it's like kind of a blur. But from my best memory, I wanna say about 2 months, a month, 2 months. Maybe more.

Okay. So like for me, and I want you to relate this, I started to like really read food labels, you know, 11, 12 years old, really not understanding what I'm reading, but figuring it out myself. And honestly, I did figure it out myself. There's no internet to go look up at my time when I'm looking at this or anybody to really talk to you about it. You know, now it's different. You can go look up whatever you want. But I started to study, and at the time we were told that fat would make you fat and it would kill you. So I was looking for the lowest fat foods, not understanding the sugar part, or I only understood percentages and started to do the math. For you, did you start to think, man, this doesn't seem right, or what? Like what they were recommending, what triggered you to start looking into your own way?

Yeah, similarly. So when I was going through my eating disorder, you know, trying to be healthy, like the whole goal when I started was to be healthy, but obviously I did it in a complete opposite way. I was looking at calories, trying to eat the lowest amount of calories, and that was my only goal, was just low calorie. And then, um, I did— when I was recommended to eat ultra-processed junk food in order to heal, that's kind of when I went down the rabbit hole of eating, nourishing my body with real, whole, nutrient-rich foods.

So you— how long in total do you think you were kind of battling this before you just said, okay, enough is enough? I'm taking control.

I thankfully didn't have to go through it as long as, you know, a lot of people struggle. I would say about maybe 8 months.

Oh, okay.

Wow. So, but it was like a whole year just kind of like the journey. And, you know, I still struggled up until high school, I'd say, just trying to, you know, find what was actually true with the real whole foods.

Let's talk about what your diet kind of turned into. As— and walk me through the process of, did you like kind of try things and ease yourself into it, or did you go full-blown in? Like, what was your process of trying to figure out what worked best for you?

Yeah, so when I had either, you know, the choice of going to inpatient care or eating this ultra-processed junk food, I chose the route of actually eating, starting to eat. But I was like, I'm not going to eat this ultra-processed junk food that you're suggesting. I'm going to eat real whole foods. And so that's kind of when I went down the journey, and I realized that you know, God intended us to eat the food that he created, real whole foods. And I would read my Bible and write down every food that it talked about, and it never mentioned Pop-Tarts or Oreos or anything like the registered dietitian was recommending. So I would eat the whole real foods, but I was still restricting a lot up until high school because I was still reading that red meat's bad for you, eggs are bad for you, dairy. So I wouldn't have— I would have like the plant-based cheese and only chicken and turkey, no red meat. And then I started to run in high school, I started to run, and I kind of used that as like free therapy. And it was— it helped a lot. I would just run for miles and miles and miles, and I loved it.

I enjoyed it so much. And then after a few years of running, I woke up one morning, and I was running about 7 miles at a 7-minute pace every single day for a couple years. And that was my routine. I would wake up before school, like 5 AM, and do my morning run, every— the same route every day. And then one morning I woke up and I couldn't run 2 miles at a 10-minute pace. And it was the most bizarre feeling, like my legs felt like bricks, and it was just crazy to me. And then the next morning I didn't wake up to run, and my mom was like, oh well, you, you don't— you always wake up to run, so we're gonna go to the doctor. So we went to the hospital and I got my iron levels checked, and I had severe anemia. Like, my hemoglobin was on the floor. I had nothing. And then they offered me an iron supplement and it had Red 40 in it. And I had already done my research on like, you know, I was doing the no refined sugar, no artificial dyes, artificial sweeteners. So I knew that that wasn't good.

So I was like, okay, well, I'm not going to take the supplement with Red 40. So then that led me on my journey to research even more, like, oh, maybe I should start questioning my diet even more and what I'm restricting and not eating or eating. And so I came across Weston A. Price's research. And I learned about beef liver and raw milk and how nutrient-rich beef liver is and how it's like one of the super— it's a superfood basically. And you know, I was not eating red meat. I was like, oh, maybe I should be. So then I started eating beef liver like every single day. I was eating about 8 ounces every single day after I was diagnosed with anemia. And it was— I was craving it. It tasted so good to me. I would look forward to it every single day. And then my iron levels, they level out, and the iron— the beef liver stopped tasting as good to me. Like, I wasn't craving it, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so cool how my body just knew what it needed. And then I— my iron levels leveled out, and I didn't crave it as much.

So I did continue to eat, you know, red meat and like steak and ground beef, and of course the raw milk and everything. I added dairy back, real sources of dairy, and that's kind of how it evolved.

So you've said real foods several times over. Can you just tell people what that actually means? 'Cause I don't like— you and I know what that means, but I think some people, you say that and they think any food is a real food. So, right. Just describe what is real and what isn't.

Real foods as in whole single ingredient, unprocessed foods, meat, fruit, eggs, vegetables. Those are all have one ingredient.

If your peanut butter has 75 different ingredients, it, or even 4 or 5, it's not peanut butter. It's not, it's filled with who knows what. It can say salt, that's fine. But if you start seeing all these fillers and all this things, talk about the dangers of consuming that stuff daily over and over and over. Things like hydrogenated oils and seed oils and all of these refined sugars and all of this trash that they put in everything. What, what does that do to a person?

Yeah, absolutely. I always say if you don't buy anything with refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, artificial dyes, or seed oils, that'll remove 90% of the grocery store for you, and then you're left with whole real food. So I mean, eating the seed oils, they're high in omega-6 fatty acids, which will throw our omega-6 omega-3 fatty acid ratio out of balance, creating inflammation and oxidative stress into our body, which we don't want. It'll accelerate aging. And also, we've overcomplicated real food and over convenience, ultra-processed foods, so much where if people— if we say like don't buy anything in a box and colorful packaging, people don't know what to buy. They don't know what to eat. But we just need to get back to the basics of real food.

So it's like with the grocery store, you need to get out this way and stay out of the middle parts because it just gets worse and worse and worse as you come into the middle. I normally walk— well, I normally don't go to a regular grocery store too often, but when I do, because I do at times, it's but it's a perimeter, right? All the way around. Seafood counter, meat counter. I generally don't hit those. I like the Whole Foods meat counters and Sprouts is, I don't want to get into their seafood. I don't like it. But anyway, the point is, is that everything seems to get crunched in the middle and it gets worse. All of the cakes and the cookies and the chips and all the BS. When did you make it like a thing for you to really start studying food in general and really start to learn about it?

I would say about 15. Yeah, that's— I mean, it's been a process. When I was 13, I was researching, but I was researching the wrong things.

Was it shocking to you to come to some of the conclusions that you found and came to when you researched meats and, you know, grass-fed butter and the, the joys of life?

Yes, absolutely. I mean, I was scared of real dairy and red meat for a while, you know. I would say I didn't like red meat, but it actually just kind of the fear that was ingrained in my head.

I don't live in regret, so to speak, but I do get— I tell my wife, I, you know how pissed I am I didn't eat grass-fed butter and cooking it for years and eat all these things that I eat now. And, you know, like I was telling you, when I was a kid, and in the '90s especially, and I look back now at some of the things, you were terrified of eating anything with fat in it. And I mean terrified. I would pick up something, and if it had more than 2 or 3 grams of fat, I just put it back down and just write it off. Now I don't want anything that doesn't have less than 5 or 6. Very rarely, you know, it's so weird and it's strange, but you see, as long as you're eating the right kinds, you just see like the leanness and the skin and everything just comes together, and the clarity, the focus.

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, our brains are made of fat. When I was going through my eating disorder, I didn't eat any fat, and my brain was just like not functioning at all.

It was fried, right? How hard was it for you to stay focused?

Very hard. You know, my thoughts were just constantly on food.

And yeah. And did you feel like easily irritable?

Oh, for sure. I mean, the relationship that I put— like, I think back and it's just like the relationship strain I put on my family. And me and my mom would fight like there was no tomorrow. And, you know, go through that and I think, oh my gosh, our relationship, like, it's never going to be the same because Growing up was great. And then we were going through that and we would just fight every single day and it was not good.

It's like your body and your nervous system and your brain are trying to tell you something. I mean, I was pissed about being pissed, right? You know, like, seriously. And when you— and when you— all you think about is food. I don't think people realize, like, me and my wife would go do all these fun things and all these amazing things that I talk about. But in, in my inside, I was struggling because I was just thinking about, I'm so hungry all the time. And I can't eat anything. I bring a protein bar and that does good for like 2 seconds. Today's episode is brought to you by my great friends at Jinfinity. One thing that I've learned over the years is that the highest performers do not rely on assumptions. They rely on data. And that's especially true when it comes to NAD+. Everyone is talking about boosting NAD+ levels, but very few people actually know where their levels are to begin with, whether they're protocol is working or how much they even need. And that's what makes GINFINITY different, which is why I am thrilled to announce that I have teamed up with GINFINITY to offer the new Dylan Gemelli NAD Optimization Protocol powered by GINFINITY.

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Yeah, like, like you said, they're tools. I did carnivore for a month because I was working on healing, but, um, and then, you know, keto is a tool. But I think the whole goal is to be able to fit all whole real foods into your diet. Like, you should have a variety of real food, and that's what I do today. I don't— if it's a whole real food, I don't restrict it. And I, you know, I eat all the healthy fats now that help my brain function. And you know, they really do put you in a better mood. Um, and healthy sources of carbs, like real sourdough is so good. I make homemade sourdough. I eat lots of that. Eggs are my favorite food in the world, so love lots of eggs. Of course, red meat, I eat that on a weekly basis. And I do love seafood and just fruits and vegetables. So I do eat a wide variety of real whole foods.

You know that, and there's people that I really respect highly and they'll come out and start trashing certain foods and I'm just like, brother, like, I get it. Like, here, here's an example. The spinach, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. If you eat pounds of spinach a day, you will get an oxalate problem.

Yeah.

But then what about these slew of benefits if you just cook it and eat a good amount? What are some of the foods that you think that get demonized or polarized that don't— that shouldn't be? Are there any on your list?

I think there's a lot. I mean, fruit being too high in sugar— I think fruit is an amazing source of carbs. I mean, pre-workout, a banana with some honey, like, that, that's like a perfect little boost of energy when you need it. Um, I'm not saying like eat pounds of fruit, but have some fruit with some steak and avocado, and that's like a perfect meal.

There's some that I would agree, like, you can overconsume really easy. Like, grapes are lovely, but you got to be very careful. Like, it's too much, right? Berries, and the ones with the high antioxidants. Grapefruits, like, satiating fiber. Those are good for weight loss, for sure. Pears. Like, there are so many good options, and I see these people just bashing them, and I'm like, man, we've lost the plot. Yeah, you lost me a long time ago, man. I have fruit every single day. I just don't have pounds of it, like you said.

Yeah, for sure. Me too.

It's just insane. Anything else that you find, like oatmeal's a polarizing one, you know, and I'm not a fan anymore. I think I overate it and I, I feel better without it. But are there any others that stick out to you at all that you've—

Yeah, when I was running, I would eat oatmeal every single day. So I think I did burn myself out a little bit too on oatmeal. But every now and then I think it's a good, good source of carbs. Get some like organic ones without you know, all the glyphosate. And then, um, I think it's a good source of carbs.

You know, you got to be careful because you bash the oatmeal and the oatmeal mafia is out to get everybody, because man, there's a like a clan of oatmeal lovers that just want to kill you if you talk bad about it. Are there any foods that you got your eyes open to that we were told were good for you that are certainly not? Anything on your list or anything that you recommend to kind of steer clear of?

So like I said, no real foods are off limits, but I think just the ultra-processed the items that are in boxes that say high protein, low fat, zero sugar, they— the front of the boxes are literally billboards trying to sell you a product. You've got to flip it over and read the ingredients to literally everything if it's in a box.

Deli meats are one of those ones, right? You always thought were so good for you. Yeah, it's like, man, I learned a lot there. Yeah, I always say if I got stranded on an island and I could only have one food, I was given one, I'd pay— I'd take eggs because you could consistently enjoy it every single day.

Absolutely.

How many do you have a day?

I mean, I was, I was talking to my mom earlier. I was like, I have made it— the max I've had a day is 12. And yes, I've tried to, uh, beat it. I'm working on getting to 14 at least, but, um, usually anywhere from at least 2, bare minimum 2.

So one of the favorite things that I do is like the egg, and I like them over easy on the avocados, of course. Like, it's the best. Literally the best.

Eggs and avocado.

Avocado. So for me, all my top 5 foods now are things I just started eating, aside from eggs that I just started eating for the first time, like, in the past 2 years.

Yeah.

And I would only eat egg whites, by the way. Miserable.

I know, the yolk's the best part.

I know, I know. I just wanted to be miserable, right? So, okay, I want to talk to you about something else, and I know this from doing it so long, and I know this because I, of course, anybody that comes on here, I look into and I see good, bad, and different on what they're going through. I know you get attacked by people for having a loud voice. Since when are you a disruptor for doing something good? Have we gotten that screwed up that you're considered a disruptor for doing something positive? What's it like for you when people try to attack you or say things to you and What are some of the reasons they do it?

I mean, it's an everyday occurrence. Oh, I know you understand. And I just get a lot of comments about how what we're doing, or what I'm doing, is just unnecessary. Like, we're all gonna die anyway, so there's no point of taking care of your body. Which I respond, I'm like, you only get one body. God gave you one body and you should take care of it. He says our body is a temple and we should treat it that way. You can't order a new one off Amazon. So we should treat it with utmost respect.

That really bugs me that people say that and they don't realize that you were given a gift from God, and to devalue that gift and to throw it back in his face is literally, to me, one of the worst, if not one of the gravest sins, aside from not worshiping him and not loving people. When did faith become the biggest part of your life?

Yeah, so thankfully I've always grown up in church. Like, my family, my Parents have taken me to church every Sunday since I've grown up. And then definitely when I was going through my eating disorder, it definitely strengthened my relationship with God because like I said, when I was sitting in youth church, I was like, I have no story that has tested my faith until I went through that. And it really just, um, it just tested it and made it stronger. And I do believe that God always puts us through things to bring us out stronger.

You know, I'm very, very, very bold in what I say and do, and I always will be, and I only get bolder by the day. Part of me wonders when I say I'm bold, or somebody says that, are you really being bold by speaking the truth? But I'll take it because I understand why people say that, because so many people are scared to. Do you feel compelled, Holy Spirit driven, when you talk about your faith?

I think so, for sure. I mean, every single day I'll write down something I'm grateful for and a prayer request for that day. And I want to— I want everyone to see Jesus through me, like in every action that I do. I want people to see it when I— every single post that I post on the internet, I want people to see him through me. And I ask him You know, give me the words to speak.

It's beautiful. I always pray for— because like, you know, I spend so much time in conversation and then praying for others, but when I get to myself, I'm not praying for shit like a bunch of stuff or fame or anything. I'm praying for virtues that are going to help me to be a better person for my family, my loved ones, and everybody, right? And I think that for me, if I had to rank things of importance to be happy and healthy and to start, I think it starts with gratitude. What do you feel about the importance of having gratitude in everything that you do?

I think it's so crucial. I mean, be grateful for everything. I have an amazing life and people have— some days are hard, you know, things are tough and life gets hard, but we should find gratitude in everything, in every situation. Like I said, I write down— I think I'm on a 2-year streak of writing down something I'm grateful for every single day. And it really just starts your day off on the right foot too.

You know, I tell this a lot. I'll tell you while you're sitting here with me. I spent so many years chasing money and stuff and recognition and lost all self-awareness. All I cared about was what other people thought. And I would wonder why I was so miserable. And I had all kinds of money and beautiful home, beautiful wife, beautiful cars, beautiful everything I ever wanted. Kept buying more stuff and just kept feeling worse and worse and worse and worse. Empty, empty, empty. And then I realized what it was finally. And when I made everything God first, made it about everybody else, I was the richest man alive and still am because of that. What do you say to people that feel sad, lonely, whatever? What's the answer?

Prayer, faith in Jesus, and trusting him that he has a reason for everything and like a purpose for you.

Everybody's got a purpose, and I think if people actually took the time to find it— everybody's purpose is different, right? When do you feel like you've found yours, or do you think you have yet?

I think it's an ongoing journey. I think he put me through my eating disorder to give me a story to tell and point people towards him. So, but I think it's— my journey is not over yet. It's still going. It's just starting.

What do you think about like the state of what we see right now in terms of overall health and where do you see it going?

I think we are— I think for the most part people are taking steps in the right direction, at least I hope. You know, I do get the same comments every day that kind of make me question like, are we going in the right direction? Because a lot of people still think that, you know, taking care of their health just doesn't matter. Eating real food doesn't matter. But I think it does. And then those hate comments that I do get, I'm like, try real food and Jesus, because I think that real food and Jesus can change your life. They have changed my life. It's definitely not going to stop me. In the beginning, it definitely got to me, just kind of, you know, because I don't know, it does— Satan gets in your head. But right now, I feel very confident. Nothing can stop me. And I have a goal to help people, and to— yeah, I won't stop.

So you do some, some stuff at the grocery stores and Costco and stuff. Talk about it because it's very fun to watch. What, what is it?

Yeah, so I guess I'm known for buy or bye. So B-Y or B-Y-E. So I'll walk you through the grocery store and help you navigate. Is this healthy? So it's a B-Y. Or is it unhealthy? B-Y-E. And if it has like, you know, the artificial sweeteners or fine sugars, seed oils, or artificial dyes, it would be the DIY.

So do you kind of break down why it's a goodbye when you have to do that, or why it's a buy to buy it? You kind of give people insight as to your feeling as to why? Yeah. Do you get a lot of questions or requests from people on stuff to do?

I do, I do.

Because how do you pick what to do?

I mean, I'll walk in the grocery store and be like, oh, this is— that's a good one, that's a good one. Then a lot of people will ask it, can you do this product, can you do that product? So they give me a lot of inspo in 2.

How many do you do a week of that?

Um, I would say I try to film, go to the grocery store once a week and batch film. Yeah, a bunch of videos. So I would probably, if I go to the grocery store once a week, I'll try to film about 4 of, uh, 8 videos.

Let's say, do they ever give you a hard time in there when you're in there? Does any— has anybody ever tried to stop you or question you about filming?

I've only gotten asked to stop filming once at a Trader Joe's. Really? Yeah, they have a lot of workers there, so it's kind of Scary territory.

Dr. Pompa was here and I said, man, you got balls of steel, brother. Like, some of the stuff he does— I mean, he was standing in front of the, like, the rotisserie chicken, was just talking crazy right in front of the guys and telling people they're eating plastic and stuff. I love those. I mean, it's important though to get in the store and show people.

People don't know.

No, no, no, no, they don't at all. What are, what are some of your other foods that you like that maybe are obscure or different? Or what, what's some of your, like, walk us through a typical, like, week of— do Do you do the same things every day? Do you mix it up? And like, do you have, how do you stay metabolically flexible?

Yeah, so I'd say like when I'm at home, it's pretty similar. You know, I'd have like pre-workout, maybe cottage cheese with fruit and honey for a pre-workout. Post-workout will be eggs, a type of meat, and more fruit. And then I would say for lunch, I like to do snack plates with like olives or feta, avocado. Um, and then dinner, I usually have a different type of meat, red meat, um, whichever I'm in the mood for. And then I do like roasted vegetables with olive oil or avocado oil, or sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes, one of my favorite foods as well. And then for dessert, I usually make like a homemade recipe that week and I'll have that. I've been doing marshmallows. I've been meal prepping marshmallows like every week with a grass-fed beef gelatin, and they're like a great source of collagen. So that's kind of typical.

I mix whey protein and like beef protein isolate, but the majority of it's beef protein isolate. Do you have a preference when it comes to like protein powders and stuff that you take?

I do use beef protein a lot.

I like it. I do too. I, there's value in whey, but I, I tend to stick to more animal proteins and fats. I was wondering your thoughts on the animal proteins versus other types of proteins.

Yeah, definitely animal forward. That's my go-to.

Yeah, me too, for sure. So do you have any kind of like staple supplements that you take and that you would recommend to others?

Yeah. So I take like the 3 C's is what I call them. Creatine, colostrum, and creatine, colostrum, and collagen are like my go-tos. So that's like—

What about like vitamins or minerals that you like? I always give my top 5 staples like you, you need to get these every single day and prioritize them. Magnesium being one, you know, stuff like that. So what are some of yours that you want people to make sure that they're, they're taken care of?

Yeah, magnesium. I literally do not get to sleep without having my magnesium before bed. I always have it whether I'm traveling or not. Um, I think vitamin D is also crucial. Of course, getting sunlight, like, first thing non-negotiable for me is getting sunlight. So that's the best source of vitamin D, but then it's really hard to get it enough from sun. So I do think that vitamin D you should supplement, and it's basically a hormone, so it's very crucial.

Definitely. But you mentioned the sunlight. I am the biggest advocate on sunlight every morning, 15 minutes at least, right? 15, 20 minutes. What about walking? What do you think about that?

Oh yes, I walk. I think walking is another non-negotiable. Walking and the sunlight are my two, like, non-negotiables every single day.

I think breathwork needs to start fitting into more people because we all kind of have the same belief sets. Like, a lot of people in our like realm or industry, whatever you want to call it. And we always talk about good stuff. I mean, you know, I always bring up prayer first and then walking, sunlight, but I don't hear enough people talking about breathwork. Some people, but I think that needs to be fitting into the equation a lot more because I think that's playing a significant role in really everything health-related. Do you do any type of breathwork or work on it?

So I definitely should more because I do pray every day, but breathwork is something I probably should you should.

I just went through this like drastic, and I mean hardcore nervous system reset with Dr. Shawn Drake Friday, and he shut down his whole office for me. God bless him. And one of the things was like the most intense breathwork, and I'm telling you, just opened up a whole new world for me. I wasn't prioritizing it at all. And I'm a, I'm an hour and a half a day cardio person minimum. And you think, you know, I'm in such great shape and my breathing was horrible. So I think that would open up— it doesn't just open up like health-wise, but mental. It puts you in a way better, better place. I don't think people understand how much your mind plays a role into the overall well-being. I argue it actually is the control of it. I'm coming to understand that. How do you feel about like the neurological side of, of health?

Yeah, I, I mean, I'm super passionate about the gut-brain connection. I mean, over 90% of serotonin, your feel-good hormone, is made in your gut. So I love the gut-brain connection, but I do think it's super fascinating.

What do you do? Because I think there's a much bigger understanding now than ever the past, I don't know, 2, 3 years about the gut health and how important it is. What do you do for yourself or tell others to do with that in terms of how we take care of it and how we kind of even discover if there's a problem there?

Yeah, so eating real food, it's crucial. Eating real food, it makes you a better person mentally and physically. And that's like a firm reason why I believe that so many eating disorder patients, they go into the inpatient care, they are force-fed the ultra-processed junk food, seed oils with Ensure that is basically seed oils and high fructose corn syrup. They gain the weight, gain the weight, and they are kicked out and they relapse because they never heal their mindset, which is crucial when you're going through a mental disorder. And So I think you really have to heal your mindset, and you have to do that eating real food. Like I said, over 90% of serotonin is made in your gut. If you eat bad food, you're going to feel bad mentally and physically.

Well, there's a strong connection with your immune system and your gut too. And when you start to eat those kind of foods, it degrades your immune system, and then you're so susceptible to illness, which then correlates into more gut problems, which then leads to disease, and then leads a wretched life, right? So It's a constant struggle. Do you go to school or do you have any plans to go to school or anything? Because I see you as like this brilliant dietitian or someone that's going to study and be certified multi-ways over. What, what is your plan?

Well, thank you. Right out of high school, I got my Primal, you know, Mark Sisson, I do it as Primal Health Coaching certification. So I'm a certified health coach. I don't coach one-on-one, just kind of got it as the background. And since then I've just been doing, you know, social media, uh, but I would love to learn more about nutrition and maybe like integrative health and stuff like that.

Yeah, integrative health practitioner, something I'm going through right now.

Really?

Yeah, that's with Dr. Cabral. Oh yeah, Stephen Cabral. But there's a lot of ways you could get certified or be like a— even an actual like registered dietitian. I, I don't know if the— I have problems with curriculums all over the place, and that's, you know, part of the problem is you don't even know if what you're getting taught is right.

Exactly.

What do you think about the Food Guide Pyramid now?

I am full support. I mean, I've been preaching the eat real food for forever. So what I saw got flipped, and then they changed it to eatrealfood.gov. I was like, oh my goodness, yes, this is what we've been wanting.

Talk about it top to bottom now. Explain it to people that don't know. When you say it got flipped, what was it like before, and what's it look like now priority-wise?

So it used to be at the top, it was ultra-processed grains and rice cereal, Cheerios basically were like heart healthy, you know, they're at the top. Eggs and healthy fats are at the bottom. But now it's completely flipped. We've got red meat at the top, eggs are at the top, butter, vegetables, fruit, and then we've got the refined carbs at the bottom. But— or it's not even refined, it's, you know, sourdough, which is a real food carb. So it's great.

I just get so confused at the people who get so angry about it and start flipping It's like they're just doing it to do it because they don't like who did the changes. Because I bet if it was their own people that they did the changing, they'd love it, right? It just doesn't make sense to me. And I hate that. I can't stand groups in general. It's like, have your own belief set, man. Don't rely on others that flip-flop at the drop of a dime for whatever they get paid. I can't stand that. I mean, there's certain belief sets that you may align with, but the people change like this. It's about how much money they get. It's just so, you know, I, I know that we have the ability now to talk more, be more open about things, which I do love, but do you think that we're on the right path? Because for instance, one of the ones that really bothers me, I don't care what kind of explanations given, is the whole glyphosate thing and then trying to protect them. And I know there's ongoing things on that, but what did you ever feel about that?

What's opinion and thought.

Well, I recently went to the People Versus Poison rally to ban glyphosate, and, um, we talked about it, and, you know, it passed. We're getting it out, which I think is great. I mean, in other countries it's banned, so why do we— why is it different here?

The whole thing that I saw and understood was that they were protected from even being sued. I hope they were trying to put something through that gave them immunity from being sued. And that's when I got so pissed because I was like, what are you—

what?

I don't know enough about the whole Maha in general. I like the initial messaging, but I don't know that it's stuck to what it was supposed to be.

Right.

I was invited to get involved multiple times and declined because I don't— I just know. But you've been to a couple of things, haven't you? What did it seem like when you were there to you?

So I went to the New Food Guidelines Implementation rally, which is really exciting. That was back in January, so I was in full support of that. And I've gone to the one with Mike Tyson, yeah, to the HHS event for that. And then the recently the People Versus Poison rallies. So they're all exciting, they all excite me because I feel like we're going in the right direction with those. But you know, money is involved.

Yeah. So the Mike Tyson's the last one I got invited to, and I just, yeah, was gonna go and said no. Yeah, not a good feeling about it. I don't know why, but I just— I think that the, the fight's best won by all of us doing it together.

I think so too, you know.

I think trying to take it there, it's going to convolute it. I feel like our voices are being used as a, as a tool, but not in a good way. And I don't, I don't, I don't like it, right? And it's easy to manipulate and make us think that what we're doing is going to be used for right, and I just I don't know, man. Your voice is powerful. Mine is, and people's are, and I don't want it tied to anything but God. You know, I tell everybody I work for God, dude. I don't, I don't work for nobody else.

It's true.

It is the truth. Do you feel like, um, people give you a hard time about your faith?

For sure. I definitely get comments very frequently about how I'm just using religion to push my dietary values on people, which I'm not. I'm like, I'm, I'm separating them. Yes, I say like, oh, God didn't mention Pop-Tarts and Oreos in the Bible, but I do think he told us to treat our body as a temple. Our body is a temple. So I'm not, I'm not trying to force— I'm not trying to force my religion, I'm not trying to force my dietary values on people. They're different. And just like you can't, like, you can't force somebody to be a Christian because they're going to run the other way, you can't force somebody to eat healthy, they're going to want to do the exact opposite. But you can only lead by example.

That's it. I always tell everybody, I'm gonna give you the tools, I'm gonna tell you the facts, and I'm, I'm not your dad. Do whatever the hell you want. Yeah, you know, I want to save everybody, but I'm not gonna like stress or whatever if you're gonna fight me back on it. I just lay it out and it's like, you do you, my friend. Don't say I didn't tell you, right?

I know people, people would be like, just let me eat what I want. I'm like, I'm not stopping you. Yeah, I'm not at your house. You can eat whatever you want.

I was gonna say, we don't have video cameras in there, man. Like, people get so mad and it's like This is education and health. You take what you want, extrapolate it, and if you don't like it, spit it out the other end, right?

I don't want to force it.

No, I'm not losing sleep over it. I think people do that, and sometimes what I want you to remember is that sometimes people just— the best way they win is by getting a rise out of you. And when you just don't give them the time of day and don't respond and just let it sit it hurts them and it just kills them and they, they go away. Don't ever let anybody stop you from what you're doing, what your beliefs are, or get in the way of any relationship you have with God at any time. And don't question it. Just, okay, okay, that's your opinion. Stick to that and stick to yourself and be true and you'll be just fine with everything you're doing. I will tell you, I can tell you with certainty, if, if you keep God first, he'll take care of you no matter what. For sure. That's it. So what would you say your biggest messaging is to people like your age and under? When do you think they should really start like really taking this serious?

Yesterday. Like, um, I think everyone— you have the power to heal yourself. Don't let anyone tell you you can't, and don't listen to anyone blindly. Take everyone's information, apply it to yourself, do an n=1 experiment. But you have the power to heal yourself, and with Jesus and Jesus and real food, they change your life.

I love that you said that. I tell people, shit, even question some of the things I say. At least ask questions. It tells you that you care. I don't know everything. And your thoughts, my thoughts, etc., you— if you're not asking questions and you're just doing things blindly, then I just, I worry about you. And it's nothing against anybody. Like I said, question me. I mean, you should always look in everything because something that you say or I say doesn't always apply to everybody. Before we get to the end, do you have any thoughts or opinions on peptides at all? Like, have you have any experience or thoughts, or do you, do you feel— because for me, I discovered them in 2012, and it's always the way that it's become now. It gives me hope for different kinds of therapies and medicines. What are your— do you have any feeling on them at all?

So I've listened to you speak about them on your, um, some of your podcasts, and I've recently been seeing a lot of other people talk about them. Now I feel like 2026 has been a huge topic, um, but personally, I haven't done enough research to confidently talk about them.

Good. That's a good answer. Some people try to talk when they don't know anything. And I love that you said that. That shows such maturity and trust. I value that. They are something that is giving you an alternative and a better way to take care of yourself where you're not so reliant on— I hate to say this— conventional medicine, because to me, conventional medicine is actually non-conventional. What do you— is there anything you worry about for people that they're just maybe worrying about too much that they shouldn't, or misunderstanding?

Yeah, I think— I mean, calories are huge because they're gonna pick up the 100-calorie protein bar versus the 300-calorie avocado and— or steak and think that the protein bar is better because it's less calories. But in reality, the whole real foods, they're going to satiate you more, they're going to keep you fuller longer, they're going to be more nourishing. So yeah, that's a huge problem that I think we need Reverse.

Oh, and that's the thing too, and I battled this with bodybuilders. Well, they become reliant on supplements or reliant on substitutes, and I always told everybody, get your stuff from food first and then utilize your tools to fill in the gaps if you have a busy day or if you're trying to gain weight for a show or whatever else. But I just see that, that is a big problem. And the other problem I see is people that don't understand the need and necessity for different nutrients. There's fats, there's carbs and proteins for a reason, cuz we need 'em.

Yeah.

Right. Do you have like anything that you follow? So for instance, for me, I do switch it, especially on like the heaviest, heaviest cardio days. I'll have a few more carbs, but do you, I still kind of, I still kind of lean at a 40, 40, 20, meaning 40, 40% of my food is fats, 40's protein and 20's carbs most days. I'll have heavier carb days some days and lower fats. Do you have a preference that you personally do for yourself?

Yeah, so I do prioritize protein. I think that I try to aim for, you know, like 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, and it comes easily because I like protein-rich foods like eggs and red meat. But, and then carbs, they just happen to fall pretty high because of my fruit intake. And then the healthy fats, of course, I just enjoy healthy fat foods like egg yolks and avocados. So I don't look specifically at the grams per se.

One question I had you brought up earlier is you mentioned the dyes. Can you tell everybody why those are dangerous? Because I completely forgot to ask you that when you mentioned it and something that they were trying to make you take before.

Yeah. So, I mean, artificial dyes, they can destroy your gut health. They're linked to ADHD and hyperactivity, so they can definitely worsen symptoms.

How many things are those actually in, do you think, that we would be unaware of?

Oh my goodness, a lot. I was making a video on this a few weeks ago. It's in— it's in thing— it's in yogurt, it's in, um, seasonings, it's in protein bars, it's in things you would not expect.

It's so easy to just pick stuff up and not realize it. Vitamins too. I just did a video on this and I was talking about the gel caps, and some of these you look at the caps and it's like it'll say other ingredients and it's like, what is all this stuff? It's all in the capsule. It's scary. So you're swallowing those every single day. We have to start teaching people to read more.

Absolutely.

I think undereducation is a lot of it. And then of course you're, you're set up for failure with the cost of things. Unfortunately, it does cost way more to eat healthy. And so people do say, well, I can't buy all of this and that. And my retort is, I get it. So you have to do your best. Where are you spending money on something that's not doing you any favors? It's taken away from your health. And if you are, stop it and prioritize your food. Well, I know that the time flew, but thank you for all that you're doing, your efforts. It's making a difference. And you have to continue to do that because we need people like you, especially younger people that can, that can pick up younger generations. You know, I keep it real, but a lot of people my age, they kind of start lecturing and it turns off. Younger people. You're never gonna get that shit from me, but we need people like you. So you're a beacon of light, and you're appreciated for vulnerability, sharing your story, and, and really trying to help people. So it's greatly appreciated from somebody like me.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

So tell everybody where to follow you and if you have a website or anything aside from social media.

Yeah, I'm basically on all social media platforms at Lexi Noeldi.

Okay, perfect. All right. You keep doing you, please. It's been a pleasure to talk with you and have you here, and thank you again for all of your effort.

Thank you so much. Right back at you.

Awesome. All right, everybody, that wraps up another one. Prioritize Whole Foods, please. I think that's the strongest message from this podcast. So stay tuned for plenty more to come. Dylan Gemelli signing off.