Looking at the beginning of Insyde Out Fitness; way, way back in my early YouTube beginnings – I was creating videos about my inward journey as it pertained to my sobriety and helping others. The other inward portion was mostly about SARMs, Prohormones, Research chemicals and the occasional supplement or herbs. I really had no plan to ever diet properly and do the work necessary to achieve the physique that I wanted. I was very lazy about my diet and ate far too much junk food; just as much as ever! I quit the booze but really hadn’t quit some things that were keeping me fat and unhappy.

I really hadn’t made the changes on the Inside that were necessary to change the Outside of me.

Fast forward to January, 2021. When I married and moved to Oregon, I found a fantastic gym! There were lots of powerlifters, bodybuilders, and people that I could tell took things VERY seriously. (plus I didn’t have to wear a mask to work out) 😉 Some people would be nervous in that place but I found new motivation! This was my Mecca so to speak. It was time to make some changes to be serious as well.

I decided that at first I would put on some size (20 lbs should do) Next I would cut down and be bigger right? Well, that was old me. I had to change my diet and exercise plan for real this time. No more being lazy eating 4,000 calories per day of junk food and no more skipping workouts! This along with my usual hiking sprinkled in was a good place to start.

I stuck pretty good to this routine and did put on those 20 lbs. I didn’t miss many (if at all) gym days. I changed up my workouts and even added an extra day in so that I could focus more on any lagging body parts. The next parts kind of happened organically so to speak…

I had added more protein in with my diet, mostly from beef and chicken. Carbs were mostly from rice and potatoes. I didn’t count calories or worry if I was meeting a certain percentage of this from that and blah, blah, blah. I’m not trying to shred down to 6% bodyfat so that’s fine if you’re starting out but it becomes very bothersome very quickly counting calories. I could see and feel the difference in my physique and that was all that I needed to continue on with this style of eating for life. See, I don’t want to just do this for a short time and then ever get lazy about it again. I’ve wasted enough time already.

For most of my adult life I have been overweight. I was in very good shape in my mid 20’s then just let myself go. I started eating all of those fun foods that we find in our grocery stores. I ate whatever, whenever. I had depression, ups and downs, low T, were those things caused by eating foods that fed my body but also stripped it of the nourishment that it needed?

Back to present day. I don’t remember when I started to think about beef liver capsules (who actually thinks about beef liver capsules?) but I started to do some research to see if they were really healthy or not and I was amazed at what I found with a quick search on the internet! Liver is a great source of B vitamins, C, A, Folate, Riboflavin, Niacin and minerals Iron, Potassium, Phosphorus, and Copper just to name a few! Liver is one of the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet, period. Throw in there that these nutrients in animal foods are FAR more usable to our bodies vs. those found in plants or your local health food store (which I will explain in future posts) and I just had to get me some!

I looked to my favorite shopping place (Amazon) and found a good deal from a company that I like which has grass-fed products and added to my cart. Two days later my products arrived and I was excited to try them as always! I love buying new supplements; I must admit that it is my kryptonite to peruse through my favorite health food store for hours Lol

Fast forward a good 3 weeks, (as with any new supplement I like to give it some time before an up-or-down vote) and I will say that my digestion seemed a lot better. I had really wrecked my guts with energy drinks and NSAIDS over the years so I was happy with the improvements. I decided to try an organ blend with spleen, heart, kidney, liver and pancreas. Also added to my cart beef tallow softgels and as usual they arrived a few days later.

I will say that I have NEVER, EVER noticed a supplement taking effect on the first day, not ever! But with the beef tallow capsules I could literally feel a change in my skin! I felt warmer body-temperature wise and it was like I could feel my skin hydrating! On day two my wife was looking for white heads and black heads (gross I know but she enjoys it LOL) and she couldn’t find that many at all! She even commented on how soft my skin had become and at that point I was hooked. I bought a male formula with testicles and prostate. (yes you read that right) thyroid and beef brain! These are all freeze dried and encapsulated, I don’t think I could stomach eating beef organs just yet…

With each and every new item, I definitely find if it’s something that I benefit from or not so much. With the testicles and prostate I very much love those items (so does my wife) 😉 the beef brain I didn’t noticed much (I’d like to think I’m already super smart) hehe

My wife has even taken tallow and thyroid. Baby steps as she was raised vegetarian; she realized that she was needing something added to her diet since she can’t have dairy. She had similar effects with the skin as she was in the mirror on day 2 in disbelief! Her skin was glowing! So proud of her for giving this a chance as this is no small matter for a vegetarian to undertake. 🙂

I’m even getting our animals in on this by switching them to grain free dog foods and adding in some chicken livers with dinner! The dogs are loving it and our smallest has been much calmer and even put on some healthy pounds. My cat was already grain free and has benefitted from it. All of their coats are very shiny and soft.

I drink raw milk as much as I can (8 oz per day) started with cod liver oil and my aim is to MOSTLY eat meat and potatoes, rice with a protein shake per day to round out my protein intake. I am not keto or carnivore fully, just eating what my body feels good with. I eat a little more than 1 gram per lb of bodyweight protein which at this time equates to 220 grams of protein.

I eat some vegetables but not really that much; vegetables make my stomach upset and in a later article I will expand on possibly why. For right now I am happy to not have to worry about eating all my veggies! Fats is a different story, bring on the fats! Most times we have cut off and thrown away the fats or looked for a leaner cut but I look for some good fat in my meat now. I love getting some organic grass fed beef with a good fat content now; don’t be afraid of the fats!!

Let’s go back to the beginning of man; when looking at the actual fossil record of early man we find that they had fairly robust health. Nice straight teeth, dense bones, a larger brain when they ate meat. Not only were our ancestors meat eaters, they ate a LOT of it! Even consuming the organs, marrow and grinding the bones up to eat too! Organs were often prized and eaten first. Since hunting was hard and animals were sometimes hard to come by, they learned not to waste anything. And by consuming the whole animal, they were healthier than we are today comparatively. There are naysayers who will bring up that they didn’t live long compared to us but look at the modern conveniences that we have today! If they had cars, guns, grocery stores and other conveniences they may have rivaled our lifespans yet lived BETTER.

When man became more agricultural – living in towns, cities and planting crops, the fossil record shows a decline in health! Bones less dense, teeth are becoming worse at this time and man just isn’t as healthy. Even brain size gets smaller to about the size that we have today. This isn’t me with an axe to grind against vegetables, just the facts…look it up for yourself!

So this is what I want to do; I want to live BETTER by eating more Primal. The thing is, I’m not ready to eat a lot of organ meats. My modern palette is still trying to adapt to eating less junk food so one thing at a time! That is what my glandular supplements are for; so that I can get a little bit of organs daily to nourish my body. I want to MOVE my body daily, burning calories, not just walking to and from the refrigerator but getting out to hike which I LOVE! I want to incorporate healthy habits into my life to get the best sleep possible. I want to be healthy for my children and my wife, not depressed and out of shape like I used to be.

So for me right now that means taking a step backwards to propel forward. Looking back to when the earth was younger, more Primal so to speak. A time when we didn’t have grocery stores packed with junk foods empty of nutrition. When animals were ALL considered Organic; we didn’t have any pesticides, herbicides, or antibiotics making us sick. We can all take steps to do this, incorporate as much as you like into your life but if you’re like me and you notice a change in your health – you may just want to go a bit farther to see what’s around the corner for you!

Look back to a Primal Earth and a new vigor for life.

God bless,

Ryan