0:00

And if you've got a little bit of hope in that , you can do something

0:02

different and better that keeps you

0:04

going forward . But when you lose hope , you

0:06

go backwards . And law enforcement

0:08

man . This is the truth . People need to listen to this

0:10

right now . You are gifted . You're

0:13

gifted because you've faced life

0:15

in all kinds of circumstances . You've

0:17

seen the best and the

0:19

worst of humanity .

0:23

Welcome to Courageous Leadership with Travis

0:25

Yates , where leaders find the insights

0:27

, advice and encouragement they

0:29

need to lead courageously .

0:33

Welcome back to the show . I'm so honored

0:36

you've decided to listen to

0:38

us today and spend a few minutes with

0:40

us . If you weren't aware

0:42

, you can get all of our episodes at www . YatesL eadership . com

0:45

and I know many of you are listening on your

0:48

own platforms , whether that be Spotify

0:50

or Apple , but that website

0:52

has collected all of the reviews that

0:54

have been coming in for the podcast

0:56

. I'm so thankful for them , so

0:59

it's a great place to sort of really quickly

1:01

see all of our episodes and all the

1:03

great men and women that we've been talking

1:05

to , and today is no

1:07

exception . On today's

1:09

show we have Dr Mark Sherwood

1:12

. He's a retired police sergeant from the

1:14

Tulsa Police Department . He dedicated

1:17

24 years of service to his community in

1:19

a variety of capacities , including SWAT

1:21

, training and patrol . He

1:23

revolutionized the wellness section of the agency

1:25

and was in charge of that section when he retired

1:28

. Mark is a former Oklahoma

1:30

State and regional bodybuilding champion

1:32

, professional baseball player and

1:34

traveled the world for over 10 years

1:36

with the world famous power team . He's

1:39

completed training and certifications in age

1:41

management , nutrigenetics , nutrigenomics

1:44

, peptide therapy , hormone therapy

1:46

, stress management , gi health and

1:49

immunology . He's

1:51

a dynamic , motivational speaker whose presentations

1:54

are sought by audiences nationwide and

1:56

currently works with his wife , Dr . Michelle

1:59

Neil , at their clinic , the Functional

2:01

Medical Institute in Tulsa , Oklahoma

2:04

, and they serve patients nationwide

2:06

. Along with his wife , they have authored

2:08

multiple books and produced and acted in multiple

2:11

movies , including the popular documentary

2:13

Fork your Life . You

2:15

can find this and a lot more at

2:18

www . Sherwood . tv .

2:27

Man , I'm doing well .

2:31

Well , I appreciate it .

2:32

I appreciate it Absolutely .

2:34

Yeah , man , I've been looking forward to doing this and

2:37

it was just time . You know , it

2:39

seems the further , the further we go down this

2:41

road called life , the sicker and

2:44

sicker people are getting , especially

2:46

in the law enforcement profession , and

2:48

you have just excelled

2:51

in that area for many , many years . Of

2:53

course , you've helped me out tremendously

2:55

in that area , as well as other people , and

2:58

I just wanted to start off with obviously

3:01

, you were in law enforcement for 24 years

3:03

but specifically , what got you

3:05

interested in the fitness and wellness space ?

3:09

Well , I think , probably as a kid , you

3:11

know , I wasn't the most fit person , but I always

3:13

had the drive to achieve things

3:15

and I always admired , you know

3:17

, fit people . And I wasn't

3:20

necessarily fit , I was more fat

3:22

than fit . And then

3:24

, when I got in the police department , well

3:26

, actually back up a little bit , I was a

3:28

baseball player , and professionally

3:30

, and I was living in Australia , Travis , and

3:32

I was all alone , I had nothing to do in the day

3:34

. This was before cell phones and before computers

3:37

. I know people are listening right now . Really

3:39

, there was such a day as that . Yes , there was

3:41

, and I lived in it and so did

3:43

you probably somewhat . But

3:46

I started to go into a gym , you know , during

3:48

the day , and when

3:50

I came back after living abroad

3:53

for a year , my whole body had changed

3:55

and people saw me differently , they

3:57

related to me differently and

4:00

I realized that , you know , fitness was something

4:02

that could affect me in a positive way and

4:05

could help myself as a team , and that was

4:07

kind of how it started . And then , when I got in the police

4:09

department , being on the SWAT team , you had to kind of be

4:11

in a level of shape and , as you know

4:13

, I was given the opportunity to teach a few

4:15

classes while

4:17

employed at the Tulsa Police Department , and

4:20

that got me looking at statistics

4:22

, and this really got me going . I

4:25

saw the statistic that's well known to law

4:27

enforcement . That was an FBI

4:29

study back in the 70s

4:31

, as I recall , but the average life expectancy

4:34

for the male police officer who served

4:36

20 years was 66 years of age , and

4:39

so this was back in the early

4:42

2000s when

4:44

I was put in charge of the wellness

4:47

program development for the Tulsa Police

4:49

Department . I started digging into

4:51

those same statistics and I thought , well , golly

4:53

, what is it for Oklahoma ? What is it for Tulsa

4:55

and Travis ? I found out it

4:57

was the same 64

4:59

and 66 years of age respectively

5:02

. And that kind of broke

5:04

my heart because I thought people work really hard

5:07

in law enforcement and the officer

5:09

is certainly under the

5:11

gun a lot with stress and the

5:13

way they serve and protect our communities their heroes

5:15

, in my opinion . And

5:18

they're not getting to enjoy

5:20

that retirement at all . And

5:22

then we brag about the pension systems

5:24

being so healthy . Well , that's because the officers are

5:26

so unhealthy . It's kind

5:29

of an obvious , and

5:31

I kind of made an omission to that point to

5:33

go figure out why . And that got me into

5:35

studying about health and learning

5:37

about health , and that's now

5:40

24 years ago and

5:43

I haven't stopped yet . I realize that

5:46

people are probably too

5:49

sick right now , more

5:51

sick than they should be . We're increasing sick

5:53

span and decreasing life span

5:56

and there are unscrupulous people

5:58

in our world that are profiting off

6:00

of sick people and specifically with law enforcement

6:03

, I have always thought , always

6:05

thought and still absolutely am convinced

6:07

that officer wellness is

6:10

officer safety and it is not

6:12

looked at nearly enough at

6:15

all in regard to those areas . So that

6:17

got me started . My passion hasn't changed

6:19

at all . I'm still serving and protecting

6:21

as best I know how .

6:23

And no , I mean you're exactly right . I mean you look

6:25

at professional sports teams . They treat

6:27

their employees , their athletes , like athletes

6:30

. You know they don't just stop when they get hired

6:32

and don't pay attention to their fitness

6:34

anymore . And in law enforcement , as we all know

6:36

, that's pretty much what happens . You got to

6:38

get in really good shape before you get to the academy

6:41

. They keep you in shape in the academy , then they just forget

6:43

about you and the

6:45

rest is history and you just describe the statistics

6:47

. And one thing I want to make sure our audience knows , mark

6:49

, is obviously you were

6:51

an expert in the profession

6:54

, in law enforcement , in this area , but you

6:56

lived it . I worked with you for a year on graveyard

6:59

and you know when you've been on

7:01

, I retired for 30 years and there's not a whole

7:03

lot of things that are ingrained in your mind . After all

7:05

, that time is sort of culminated together

7:07

. But the one thing I always remember is

7:09

is we'd be on graveyard I think you

7:11

were a sergeant and I was a corporal working for

7:13

you and all the guys or gals would

7:15

be going to the Denny's or

7:17

the IHOP or the breakfast place it's almost

7:20

a social gathering , right and you would

7:22

come because you're a nice guy and

7:24

we would all be eating whatever crazy

7:27

thing we would eat and you'd bring your chicken or

7:29

you'd bring your little packaged meal

7:31

and I , you know , and you were the only person I ever

7:33

knew that did that and you never

7:36

missed a beat . I can remember being with you one

7:38

day and I was just begging you to eat a piece of pizza

7:40

and you just wouldn't do it . I just from whether

7:42

you know it or not , that's inspiring . And

7:45

you obviously took wellness

7:47

to a different level on the job

7:49

. But you've done more

7:51

than that . I've spoken to you

7:53

about mindset and motivation a lot

7:56

and your accomplishments away

7:58

from the job , what you're doing now . They go far

8:00

beyond just a general interest or

8:03

even a business . I mean , a lot of those

8:05

in law enforcement today are suffering

8:07

from what I call an imposter syndrome

8:09

, meaning that many of them just

8:11

don't believe they have the skills

8:14

and talents to do things outside of

8:16

that profession . But you clearly are

8:18

a unicorn mark . I mean you have excelled

8:20

, in my opinion , much more

8:22

away from the police department and what you're doing

8:24

now than even when you were in the police department

8:27

, because regardless of how expert

8:29

you were , you were still constrained by

8:32

the rules , or who you work for , or

8:34

your assignments and whatever else may be

8:36

. Tell us why you

8:38

think you're so different and what

8:40

people in the profession now can learn from that .

8:43

Well , I think that I just have

8:46

, and I've always had , the

8:48

desire to

8:51

sort of think and work outside the box

8:53

, to believe in this thing called hope

8:55

. The hope is what drives

8:57

the system and drives the body

8:59

and drives our life and drives our motivation

9:02

. If you got a little bit of hope in that you can do something

9:04

different and better , that keeps you

9:06

going forward . But when you lose hope , you

9:08

go backwards . And law enforcement

9:11

man , this is the truth . People need to listen to this

9:13

right now . You are gifted . You're

9:15

gifted because you've faced life

9:18

in all kinds of circumstances . You've

9:20

seen the best and the

9:22

worst of humanity and you

9:24

face it head on . You see it , you have a wide

9:26

range of experience and you can relate . You

9:29

also realize with law enforcement that

9:31

only by the grace of God is

9:33

that you are not capable of anything

9:35

goofy and also anything good

9:37

. And it's kept me in track . And

9:40

through that process I realized

9:42

that what I learned in law enforcement

9:45

was something that I could share

9:47

with the world in an area of creativity

9:49

. That was what reflected of me yes

9:51

, fitness , yes , health

9:53

, but I was able to sort of keep

9:56

learning and go back and become a

9:58

naturopathic doctor and really become

10:00

this , that we became this thing

10:02

, my wife and I , that we represent

10:04

hope now in health for

10:06

12,000 people

10:08

around the world . I would have never

10:11

seen that coming , but now that I look back

10:13

on it , the law enforcement

10:15

experience set the tone for that , travis

10:17

, and it really . It inspired

10:20

me and it trained me and it worked

10:22

on me until it helped me become

10:25

who I am today , and there's

10:27

not a person out there that

10:29

has served in law enforcement that doesn't have the same capabilities

10:32

. It's not doing the same thing , but

10:34

it's going beyond who you think you can be . I've

10:36

watched too many cops that are

10:38

just broken down and beat down that can't

10:40

get rid of the gun because they don't think they can

10:42

do something else . I'm not saying that guns are bad

10:44

. I'm saying just all you know

10:46

. You think all you got is security . You retire

10:49

and all you got is security . It's hard

10:51

to stop . No , you don't . You've

10:53

got more protection and service to do . Find

10:56

the areas of protection and service

10:58

that motivate you and go for it

11:00

. You , if people have served

11:03

in law enforcement and have been

11:05

successful or still alive , come

11:07

on , man , there's nothing you can't achieve .

11:11

Yeah , I mean I watched it firsthand

11:13

and for those listening , I mean I watched

11:15

Mark Sherwood when he goes , I think I'm going to learn

11:17

Spanish . Then he just goes out and next thing you

11:19

know he's no Spanish . And then you

11:21

retire , mark , and within just a matter of a few

11:23

years you've got your

11:26

doctoral , yeah , and . And you just start

11:28

doing all this amazing stuff and

11:30

, as you said , helping thousands of people across

11:33

the world . And it's not about money , because I know

11:35

plenty of people , included myself , that have easy

11:37

access to you for you to help , and you don't ask

11:39

for a dime , and it's so

11:42

you take , you've taken that service that

11:44

you had in law enforcement , but you're

11:46

still in service , just

11:48

in a different capacity , and I can't think of any

11:51

better advice . And so

11:53

you and your wife , you specialize

11:55

in functional medicine . I want

11:57

you to kind of explain to our audience , because I talk

12:00

to people all the time about this and

12:02

they think whatever their doctor

12:04

tells them , whatever their insurance tells

12:07

them , is always in the best

12:09

interest of them . But here's the problem with your doctor

12:11

. Your doctor is trained

12:13

to solve , to , to

12:15

, to , to wait till you're

12:17

sick , right they ? And then they . They're

12:19

not always trained in how to prevent the sickness . It's

12:22

just to maybe put a bandage

12:24

, so to speak , on the sickness , and so there's

12:26

a huge difference with a medical

12:28

, medical philosophy . And some of you listening

12:31

maybe familiar with some of the biohackers out there

12:33

or maybe watch some of the YouTube folks

12:35

out there , but there's a whole different world

12:37

of medicine that very few people in

12:39

law enforcement , in the general public are

12:41

exposed to because it's not

12:43

part of the health care system , or should I

12:45

say the sick care system , and

12:47

so kind of explain to us what you do there at

12:50

the Functional Medical Institute and why that is

12:52

so important .

12:54

Well , certainly , what we do is kind of a cross

12:56

between functional medicine , conventional

12:58

medicine and biohacking . But

13:00

to really get into understanding

13:03

the point you're making is , health

13:06

care is one of the biggest

13:08

conjobs that has

13:10

get this . I'm going to say something strong

13:12

hurt and killed more

13:15

cops than any bad guy on

13:17

the street ever could . Here's why Because

13:20

police officers are trained

13:22

, go to the academy , you prepare , you

13:24

prepare , you prepare . You go through annual

13:26

in-services , you prepare , prepare , prepare . You

13:28

have trainings , you prepare , prepare , prepare . We have

13:30

these mandatory in-services

13:33

of preparation , preparations

13:36

of mindset . Except in one area , health

13:39

. We don't prepare at all

13:41

. We are trained to react . Conventional

13:44

health system is not health

13:46

at all , it's sick care system . We

13:48

have an expectation of

13:50

a medically trained doctor to

13:53

know what to do to keep you healthy

13:55

. That is not what they're

13:57

trained in Travis and I'm not knocking

13:59

, there's some of the most brilliant people

14:01

around but they're trained like this If

14:04

you go in and you present or

14:06

you show up with certain symptoms , the

14:08

symptoms are a cough , stuffy

14:10

nose , maybe watery eyes

14:13

they assess that symptom

14:15

algorithm formula

14:17

to prescribe a medication

14:19

. The medication is a pharmaceutical

14:21

drug that's designed to either stop

14:24

or mitigate the symptoms

14:26

. It never goes into what

14:29

created that presentation of those

14:31

symptoms . It is downstream

14:33

philosophy only . It's like

14:35

this Pretend that

14:37

you and I are people that

14:39

live next to a river , and this is the

14:42

illustration what people catch . When

14:44

the water comes up and you live near

14:46

the river and it's flooding , it's over the river , over

14:48

the flood stage , it's getting up near your front door . That's

14:51

like your life . When you get sick , you go to the doctor

14:53

. The doctor gives you a medication

14:56

that's synonymous with giving you a sandbag . Well

14:59

, the water keeps coming . You go back

15:01

and get another pill slash sandbag . So

15:04

what happens is nobody

15:06

ever determines why the water came up . Eventually

15:09

, you're gonna run out of sandbags and the water's gonna

15:11

flood out your house . You're gonna die . That's

15:13

what happens , law enforcement officers . But I

15:15

wanna know what created

15:17

the flood . So if you go back to that

15:19

analogy , I go back upstream and

15:22

I see a big dam up there . Well , the dam is my

15:25

genes , or my genetics , and we

15:27

check that . I wanna know how my dam genes

15:29

work , if you get the analogy

15:31

. And above that , I wanna know

15:33

what the reservoir looks like

15:35

. The environment and I know the cop environment

15:38

is tough . So you get that reservoir

15:40

, dam , river

15:42

analogy in your head . So to

15:45

really get to the root cause of disease

15:47

, you have to go back and understand

15:50

what was the origination

15:52

of the issues that led

15:54

to the imbalances that led to the symptoms

15:56

, that led to the medication . We

15:59

look at it differently . We're

16:01

not we are experts at the symptom treatment

16:03

, but I also wanna know what caused

16:06

it . So upstream , we look

16:08

at genetics , environment

16:10

, lifestyle , et cetera . We remediate

16:13

or fix the cause . Therefore

16:15

, the symptoms go away . Therefore

16:18

, disease then becomes irrelevant

16:20

, and so this

16:22

is a healing mentality . The

16:25

conventional system manages

16:27

diseases . The functional

16:29

medicine , biohacking , et cetera prevents

16:32

diseases . We

16:34

need to have the option today to

16:37

pick which side we're on , and I've not

16:39

seen a police department yet not

16:41

one in all of my years that

16:43

took what I just said seriously and did anything

16:45

about it .

16:47

No , we very much have to understand

16:49

that , while we may have trust in doctors

16:51

, we have to understand who

16:54

we're trusting and I agree , some of the smartest

16:56

human beings we have on this planet . But

16:58

the fact is doctors

17:00

get less than a day of nutrition classes in

17:02

medical school , and the fact is that

17:05

whatever they graduate with the knowledge

17:07

of medical school is they go out through their career

17:09

and work in the healthcare system where they're

17:11

getting more 20 , 30 patients a

17:13

day with hardly no time to talk to any of them . They're

17:16

not getting retrained , they have to choose

17:18

to do that and so that's

17:20

why when I go to a doctor that's maybe

17:22

67 years old , this guy's talking old

17:24

school to me , because I have gone out there

17:26

and looked for myself and people

17:28

don't want to hear that , because they just want an easy

17:31

solution and easy answer . They want to get a pill , but

17:33

that whole system is broken . If

17:35

you care about your health , you must

17:37

listen to what Dr Mark is talking about

17:39

, and it's interesting . You talk about the

17:41

research you did , mark , because I was with you when you pulled

17:44

the pension data from the state

17:46

of Oklahoma and found that 64

17:48

number and how it had not changed in 20

17:50

years . Well , the same is happening to

17:52

the civilians in America . Our

17:54

life expectancy is actually

17:57

going down . It's one of the few

17:59

, you know , not

18:02

a third world . It's one of the few major countries on the

18:04

planet where our life expectancy is not growing

18:06

. It's actually going down , which kind

18:08

of defies logic in a technology

18:11

savvy country as we are , and it's

18:13

because the system that's designed

18:15

to give that longevity is completely

18:18

broken .

18:20

It is broken and I believe it's beyond

18:22

repair because , as you

18:24

also know , I'm

18:27

very politically savvy , having ran

18:29

a campaign at one time . Well

18:31

, how did that ?

18:32

not make it into bio Mark ? Sure would ran

18:34

for the governor . I don't know how

18:36

I left that out .

18:38

Well , it is fine , but I learned a lot

18:40

. I learned about lobby . So

18:42

Big Pharma is one of the most powerful lobbyists

18:44

. Most politicians take money

18:46

from Big Pharma Travis

18:49

. We are one of two countries in the whole

18:51

world Us and New Zealand that

18:54

allow Big Pharma to advertise directly

18:56

on public television to

18:59

our people . How twisted

19:02

and sick is that ? We are

19:04

? Absolutely , and I'm glad you shared that . About life

19:06

expectancy it has declined

19:09

the last couple of years for

19:11

the first time in the last five

19:14

decades and it's been primarily

19:16

because of what you talked about . We

19:18

are looking for a pill for an ill

19:21

. We are taught that the Big

19:23

Pharma , big Medicine , big Government

19:25

is here to help you . But , as

19:27

we all know , using the police analogy

19:29

, when you're out on the street man , you gotta

19:31

know how to take care of yourself or you're gonna get

19:33

killed . This is the same thing

19:36

people need to do with the healthcare . That thing

19:38

is an enemy of itself . Not

19:41

that we don't need pills sometimes

19:43

, not that we don't need the acute

19:45

emergency care , because we've got

19:47

some good ones out there , but

19:49

our preventive care is

19:51

horrible . We spend more

19:53

money per person on

19:55

this fictitious healthcare than

19:57

any other country in the world and we're near

19:59

the bottom of return

20:01

, or near the bottom of health of all the industrialized

20:04

nations in that same world . So

20:07

look at that , I'm like that's not

20:09

working . And if it's not

20:11

working and it hasn't worked in 75

20:13

years , it's probably time

20:15

to start embracing what I would

20:17

consider more traditional care , as

20:20

what my wife and I do , more care

20:22

that's been around for the last thousands of years , and

20:25

really support systems like that

20:27

so that more of them will come up . Because , as

20:29

you know , we're kinda out there a

20:32

lot doing what we do by ourselves a lot of the time

20:34

. Now we're starting to get some traction , but , man , it's been

20:36

a hard road .

20:37

Yeah , and I applaud you for it , because going

20:39

down that narrative path the

20:42

way we've always done it path that's easy

20:44

and that's what we talk about in courageous leadership . That

20:47

is not helping us , and you and

20:49

your wife have been extremely courageous , because

20:51

that is not only a difficult path , it doesn't always

20:53

pay as well as the other path , and so

20:55

you guys truly believe in this . I don't wanna

20:57

go too far down this rabbit hole , but I want the audience

20:59

to understand how broken

21:02

everything is . One of my wife and I's

21:04

passions is when we listen , we watch

21:06

television and we hear . See the pharmaceuticals commercials

21:08

. We wait to the very end and

21:11

we hear all of the

21:13

potential side effects and they say them

21:15

really quick . But it is outstanding

21:18

and crazy when you hear that . But people

21:20

need to understand the studies that

21:22

you have to produce to the FDA to get a drug

21:25

approved are studies financed

21:27

by the same drug

21:29

manufacturer , and then you have many of

21:31

the people that approve these pills

21:34

or medicines , for people then

21:36

get jobs when they leave the FDA

21:38

with the pharmaceutical companies

21:40

. We have similar things in law enforcement the police

21:42

chiefs that are down with the DOJ end up getting

21:44

jobs as DOJ consultants and it's

21:46

all about the money , but it is a twisted

21:49

system that our own government is

21:51

permitting , and when you've made that

21:53

statement early on that this is actually killing

21:56

us more than any bad guy ever could . That

21:58

is why Because the system

22:00

is set up to harm you . And

22:03

if anybody has any question about this

22:05

, watch some of those documentaries

22:07

on OxyCotin . Oxycotin

22:10

, I mean I think Hulu's got some , netflix

22:12

has some but it shows you that

22:14

it was our own government that

22:16

said this was not addictive

22:18

. And now we're losing over 100,000

22:21

people a year in overdose

22:23

deaths because of what our own government

22:26

approved and it's

22:28

, I think a lot of people mark

22:30

they don't want to know this because they don't want

22:32

to believe this . But if you don't

22:34

understand this and you don't study this , you

22:37

are risking your health , are you not ?

22:39

Yeah , you really are , and people need to understand

22:42

that . And I think it's kind of

22:44

comical but also very sad when you

22:46

play those commercials , that

22:49

at the end of those they always talk about

22:51

these side effects . But side effects

22:53

are not unknown side effects . Those

22:55

are noted in the studies , noted

22:58

in the studies , so much so that they tell

23:00

you that that these should

23:02

be expected . Well , a lot of people

23:04

don't understand this statistic I'm getting ready to say

23:06

the third leading cause of death , depending

23:09

on what database you look at , is

23:11

properly prescribed medication and

23:14

properly done procedures . Now

23:16

, come on , does that even make any sense

23:18

? Now , most

23:20

of law enforcement . I'm just going to use a simple little

23:23

analogy that I use . When law

23:25

enforcement officers work , shift work and all that

23:27

, they end up getting on about three medications

23:29

before they've been on about ten years Blood

23:31

pressure medication , blood

23:33

sugar medication and probably antidepressant . So

23:36

you know , when I look at my database

23:38

and I go , okay , what nutrients

23:41

does that pull out ? Nutrients is what drives the

23:43

system right , and so if

23:45

I put in those three drugs into my system

23:47

, get this . I get pulled out

23:49

zinc , which is important

23:52

for immune system . We pull out

23:54

folic acid , b12 , which is important

23:56

for blood health , brain health , energy and

23:59

we pull out sodium , which is important for heart

24:01

. Okay , so when you take drugs

24:03

you actually can get nutrient pullouts that

24:06

actually create more harm

24:08

. Wouldn't it be better to go back and say how can

24:10

we fix blood pressure , how can we fix blood sugar

24:13

, how can we fix our mindset ? We

24:15

need to put drugs in the right category

24:17

, travis , use them appropriately

24:19

, but one of our mission statements here at

24:22

our clinic is to avoid

24:24

all unnecessary

24:26

uses of medication . The other

24:28

one we have is to reverse

24:30

or eradicate all self-imposed

24:32

, choice-driven diseases . When

24:35

I say it's bad , I mean I

24:37

don't even think that word even

24:39

comes close to the criteria of how bad

24:42

it is . People have been completely

24:44

conned and they're in bondage right

24:46

now to a system that has them

24:48

enslaved .

24:50

Yeah , I mean , you're right , I'll speak to like some

24:53

elderly folks that have sort of been inside the system

24:55

for so long and you just can't convince

24:57

them . Like , people are just so sold

24:59

out to these doctors and the pharmaceutical companies

25:01

. I'll give you one quick example . Obviously

25:04

, I do a lot of reading about this and I found some

25:06

studies on metformin and , by the way , we're

25:08

not giving medical advice here , but I found some studies on

25:10

metformin . Metformin is one of the most prescribed

25:12

drugs for diabetics

25:14

. It keeps your insulin down . Of course , insulin is a driver

25:17

for weight gain , and so there's some

25:19

studies out there that say , hey , the studies

25:21

show that people that weren't diabetic took metformin

25:24

. Their lives were actually extended

25:26

. They believe that the properties in

25:28

this particular drug actually

25:31

does , because it reduces the insulin

25:33

over a long period of time , that your life

25:35

is actually extended . So I'm at my regular

25:38

doctor , mark , and she's asking me she

25:40

made the mistake of saying is there anything

25:42

I can do for you ? And I say , well

25:44

, yeah , you know , I've been

25:46

reading these studies on metformin , I'm

25:49

kind of interested in trying that out . And she

25:51

says , well , you're not a diabetic . And I go , yeah

25:53

, but these studies say this . And she

25:55

tells me well , I know they say that

25:57

, but you're not a diabetic . And

26:00

unless you're a diabetic , I'm not going to

26:02

give you this drug . What's what's no

26:04

? Big deal . No big deal . We could . You know , there's

26:06

some supplements and other things like that that we could get into

26:08

that can do very similar things . But I

26:10

will say this let's talk about supplements

26:12

, because you talked about scams earlier and

26:15

I have been talking to law enforcement

26:17

and tell my head spins about the

26:20

stuff that they're buying . They think that's

26:22

in it . Every study I've ever seen

26:24

on the general supplements off the shelf , the

26:26

vast majority of them don't even have what

26:28

it says it has . Of course it's not . You

26:30

know , the supplements industry is a is a Wild

26:33

West . It's not . There's no oversight to

26:35

that , so to speak , and you can pretty much

26:37

guarantee that if a supplement is sitting on a Walmart shelf

26:39

, it probably doesn't work very well , or the pharmaceutical

26:41

company would have taken it over , because that's exactly what they

26:43

did with ozempic and some other ones , because those were around

26:46

in the peptide form long before

26:48

we heard this word ozempic . And so

26:50

give some advice to the

26:52

law enforcement officers , because law enforcement

26:54

does they gravitate to . I

26:57

mean , I think they understand that they want substances

26:59

, they want things to make them better , they understand

27:01

that athlete mindset , but they get

27:03

sent off in so many different directions

27:05

and you can't just go to Walmart and start

27:07

grabbing stuff off a shelf . How would

27:10

you tell ? What would you tell them

27:12

that they should do if

27:14

they're wanting to , you know , add

27:16

supplementation or add peptides or add

27:18

certain things to help them , as any athlete

27:21

should .

27:22

Well , I agree with you . They need today

27:24

supplementation . Peptide

27:26

use I don't look as an option . I look at it

27:28

as something we ought to be doing Everybody

27:31

. Now , having said that the sub

27:33

, just a couple of ground rules people need to keep in

27:35

mind . The supplement industry is a hundred and fifty nine

27:37

billion dollar industry as of last

27:39

year and it is completely

27:43

full of corruption . The

27:45

supplement industry is regulated

27:47

by the FDA . However , as

27:50

long as you don't say the

27:52

supplement treats , cures , mitigates , prevents

27:55

diseases , it's perfectly legal

27:57

to be on the market and that's a broad

27:59

thing you can do . So you could hire a hired

28:02

celebrity to

28:04

give you a testimonial . That's a lie . But

28:07

as long as he doesn't say that it treats

28:09

diseases and falls the criteria , it

28:11

sells a lot . The looseness

28:14

of the guidelines out there in

28:17

order to get something

28:19

specific , to get

28:22

it where it's actually pure , those

28:24

are all over the roadmap . You got to look for something

28:27

that's at least CGMP

28:31

certified . Certified good

28:33

manufacturing practices is what that stands

28:35

for , but CGMP is kind of what you're looking

28:37

for as a label of

28:40

professionalism . I

28:42

only deal with those companies that do that and

28:44

meet the levels and actually go through the labs . I'm that

28:46

crazy one that does that and people

28:49

didn't look for that . I would not

28:51

buy anything at

28:54

all from a grocery

28:56

store , from a supplement store . I

28:58

wouldn't do that , I wouldn't buy it online . I

29:01

would find somebody a

29:03

clinician hopefully that knows that

29:06

at least looks the part that they know

29:08

and ask them the question

29:11

and then have the clinician

29:13

get them or connect them

29:15

with the best sources at this point . Otherwise

29:18

they're going to get ripped off and

29:21

with peptides especially , those are able

29:23

. You can get those right now kind of on

29:25

the market out there . They say right on them

29:27

, not for human use

29:29

. You're setting yourself up for a potential

29:32

problem because there's no one that's

29:34

regulating that . It may be good , it may not be

29:36

good , but you got to know what you're putting

29:38

in your body . Just like you know how

29:40

to put the bullets in your gun . You want to make

29:43

sure they actually have a bullet in there . It's not just a casing

29:45

. Pay attention to that . Find

29:47

people that know what they're doing . Gravitate to those

29:50

. I see it all the time . Travis , and I'll conclude

29:52

that answer with this Know that

29:54

you cannot bill away , pray

29:57

away , hormone away , supplement

30:00

away or exercise away a bad diet

30:02

.

30:03

Yeah , and what you said is so true

30:06

. And I know why cops do it because

30:08

they're cheap . We're cheap , our profession's cheap , we

30:10

want the cheapest stuff . But you're literally wasting

30:13

all your money . None of it's going to work and

30:15

I know you and I both know all the companies that are great

30:17

companies . Some of them are sold on Amazon

30:19

, but the easiest thing to do is go to your website

30:22

, Sherwoodtv . You guys actually

30:24

sell supplements . You don't got to buy them from Mark , but you'll

30:26

see these supplements companies that

30:28

they're using and maybe it's not

30:30

Mark , but maybe there's a functional doctor in your area

30:32

. If they're carrying supplements inside that

30:34

clinic , you can guarantee

30:37

if they're a legitimate functional doctor they're going to be

30:39

the ones you need to get

30:41

and they're not that much more expensive . And

30:43

plus , to know what you're getting is

30:46

worth what you're getting . And

30:48

there's a listen . It's

30:50

been a godsend for me , Mark , because I've been talking to you

30:52

for years and you've got me dialed in with the right

30:54

supplements . I just talked to you a few weeks ago

30:56

about grounding . I've been doing that . We're going to get back

30:58

to that hopefully by the end of the show . That's been

31:00

incredible , and so there's

31:02

so many things that doesn't

31:04

take a lot of time that you can really tune

31:07

in what you're doing and make

31:09

yourself feel amazing . I'm going

31:11

to link up an interview with Dana White

31:13

because he was a guy on his deathbed and

31:15

he tuned in some of these things that we're

31:17

talking about , things that you do in more Mark

31:19

, that literally , that you

31:21

can't even recognize a guy now . He looks so

31:24

much different and he's so much happier . And so

31:26

I do want to address this Mark , and sometimes

31:28

we address health and healthy

31:30

as well . I look fine , I

31:32

feel okay , but one thing that I

31:34

noticed after I left the job after 30 years

31:36

is I didn't know how bad I actually

31:38

felt . Stress induced

31:40

mainly , and you don't know if

31:43

you feel bad unless you feel good . So if you

31:45

feel bad for a long time , you

31:47

become used to that . That becomes the normal

31:49

. So let's say , an officer is listening to us right

31:51

now . They think they're doing everything right

31:53

. Their regular doctor did that much to say to

31:55

them they're never really sick that much . They

31:59

look tactical , cool in their uniform and maybe

32:01

even got some tightened up sleeves right . They're

32:03

looking good . They

32:05

lift a little weights . What would you tell them to do if they

32:07

, if they really truly want to make

32:09

sure that they are on that healthy path .

32:12

Well , they need to get a quality

32:15

blood work done , not your

32:18

general practitioner blood work , because

32:20

it's completely inadequate . In my opinion

32:22

, is antiquated with old data

32:24

and Mark , let me interrupt you .

32:26

That's important . Yeah , the

32:28

blood test that you get annually from your primary

32:30

care physician or your health insurance mandated

32:33

tells you literally nothing

32:35

. That's right , nothing . You've

32:37

got to get a legitimate

32:39

full panel blood work

32:42

done . I'll let you finish that .

32:44

Yeah , you know they'll tell you other things . Fine

32:46

, but just know the averages come

32:49

from this population of people in

32:51

our country and if you fall into an average

32:53

of that , they're basically saying you're

32:55

fine , slash , you're dying like everybody

32:58

else . You need to get a more

33:00

complex blood work panel done that

33:02

and do it annually , and

33:05

find a functional medicine doctor that does that

33:07

. I mean we actually . Our panel is

33:09

when we created , we run it through the Cleveland Heart

33:11

Lab that looks at a variety of a broad

33:13

based amount of markers so we can see where a person

33:15

is on disease processes , and

33:17

I see it all the time . You know , when people

33:19

do that they're like shocked . They have no idea

33:21

. That's one Number

33:24

. Two check your body fat percentage

33:26

. It's not about weight , it's about body

33:28

fat percentage . I like men somewhere

33:31

around 10 to about 18%

33:33

and ladies somewhere between 18

33:35

and about 26% . Health

33:38

cannot be equated to scale

33:40

weight anymore and that's been the case for a

33:42

number of years . Also

33:45

, you know , check your ability to sleep

33:47

. Sleeping is one that law enforcement officers

33:50

suffer with because , as time goes on

33:52

, shift work can take its toll on

33:54

you . A lot of people don't take inventory

33:56

of that and you just don't rest

33:58

well . And one thing I find about myself

34:00

. I found that I probably

34:03

became more cynical

34:06

and negative over

34:08

the course of time because you're in a negative

34:10

environment . You don't . People don't give

34:12

a call for service and say , hey , come , let me

34:14

buy you a cup of coffee . No

34:16

, no , it's always a negative thing . So that can

34:18

change you and you've got to kind of

34:20

find things that interest

34:23

you in other areas and challenge you in there

34:25

. So I mentioned I learned Spanish . I

34:27

look forward to my annual Mexico trip

34:30

because I want to go . You

34:32

don't have to go to Spain , you

34:34

know . I need to practice it more , you know , and

34:37

so I really think that learning

34:39

new things and skills like that officers

34:42

can do that and they should . So those are some

34:44

things that people need to do actively

34:47

speaking . And then , last thing

34:49

, build relationships with people that

34:52

are outside of your normal law enforcement

34:54

circle , because you you see that there's

34:56

a whole other world out there that that

34:59

makes , basically , you need and that

35:01

needs you .

35:03

Well , I know this mark . The last time I met with you

35:05

, you gave me that 10 to 18%

35:07

body fat range and you told me 15

35:09

. And I I tried to argue a little bit

35:12

because I know that the government

35:14

tells me that 20% is a healthy

35:16

percentage . And I was right around that and you

35:18

pretty much put me in my place because , as you just

35:21

said , they're comparing me to

35:23

the other sick population . So

35:25

I'm fighting hard , brother . So the next time

35:27

I see you you'll be happy with

35:29

me . But you're right , we put so much stock

35:31

into appearance and weight that

35:33

literally has nothing to do with it . We've

35:37

heard that term skinny fat or skinny

35:39

sick . It doesn't matter what

35:41

the appearance is , what's on the inside

35:43

. And the healthcare system is

35:45

just not set up to be accurate

35:47

and tell you that . Right , because

35:49

you go to the doctor , what do you do ? You get on a scale and

35:51

weigh . They don't take your body fat at the doctor's

35:54

office , they just weigh you and you're good .

35:57

Yeah , the the person is as old

35:59

as their vessels , right

36:01

? The whole idea of vascular

36:03

health has got to be looked at and

36:06

I think that you know we look at

36:08

the biological aging processes

36:10

and the biological

36:12

aging speed and actuality different than

36:15

we do the chronological age , and

36:17

we actually have tests and things

36:19

that we do that can actually slow down

36:21

, even reverse , if you

36:23

will , somewhat the biological aging processes

36:25

and speeds . So we can actually test that

36:28

, quantify that and move the needle in that . That's

36:30

a whole different way to look at it and that's what I would encourage

36:33

people listening to sort of get

36:35

their mind around that . We've been told

36:38

that this

36:40

is the way you do it you get sick , you

36:42

go to the doctor , you get a pill and move on . We've

36:45

been told that you retire and if you live

36:47

five years , that's good , if you live to 70 , you've had

36:49

a good life . Stop Hard

36:52

, stop . That is not the case at all

36:54

. I believe our organ systems

36:56

as a whole are

36:59

generally created , in all

37:01

things being equal , to live

37:03

and exist about 120 years . That doesn't

37:05

mean we're going to live that long , that's not the

37:07

point , travis but it means that

37:09

we need to start exhibiting

37:12

a higher quality of life in

37:14

the years , as opposed to a decline

37:17

of years in life

37:19

, and that's increasing six-span

37:21

. We don't need to do that anymore . We

37:23

need to increase the fullness of

37:25

lifespan .

37:28

Yeah , and you know , when I

37:30

read the Bible you'll read about people living for

37:32

hundreds of years , and there's some theologians

37:34

that will tell you that that's I

37:36

believe that . Let me tell you why I believe it , mark . Because

37:39

back then we didn't have what's in our water now we

37:42

didn't have what's in our food now , we

37:44

didn't have all the artificial lights and all

37:46

the things in the environment that

37:48

, literally , is killing us . We

37:50

didn't have any of that . And

37:53

you look what the generations have done

37:55

to the body . Because , I agree , I

37:57

think we are set up to live much longer

37:59

than what we're told , but it's almost like we

38:01

expect to live , to be in our 70s . That'd

38:04

be great , right , we're going

38:06

to get to 80 . But what you're saying is that's

38:08

not the case at all . But we have to

38:10

put some effort into it . Before I get to

38:12

this one question , I want to sort of preface the audience

38:14

here . You've got to change your mindset

38:17

about healthiness and wellness

38:19

, and here's how , because it took me a while to do

38:21

it . Once I did it , my life was forever

38:24

changed for the better . You're going

38:26

to have to spend money to be healthy . Your

38:28

health care system , where you pay your

38:30

deductible or you pay

38:32

$5 to see a doctor or you get your prescriptions

38:35

for $15 , that is not

38:37

set up to keep you healthy . So when

38:39

you start diving into these issues we're

38:41

talking about , you're going to have to understand

38:44

I'm going to spend some money , but what better

38:46

thing to spend money on than being

38:48

able to live a long , happy life

38:50

?

38:52

Yeah , Travis , the whole idea

38:54

of cost should

38:57

be analyzed into this microscope . It

38:59

is more expensive to

39:01

live sick than it is

39:04

expensive to live well . People

39:07

that end up having needless procedures

39:09

in the hospital . You know hospitals stay . Average

39:12

right now is over $5,000 per night

39:14

. Just wow

39:16

, how many vacations could you

39:18

take and stay at a five-star

39:20

resort ? You could stay at a $500

39:23

a night room for 10 days and

39:25

enjoy yourself with good food

39:27

, as opposed to spending a one night

39:29

in the hospital with a sterile

39:31

environment and the absolute poor food

39:34

that you could find . It's

39:36

like fast food on steroids . That

39:39

is not okay , and I think previously

39:41

you said something about what we're designed to do . People

39:44

need to know that , and we run genetics a lot

39:46

. The genes have changed 2% in 10,000

39:48

years . That's it . So if we

39:50

believe the creation theory and we believe

39:53

the earth was destroyed by water , that

39:55

would mean that you and I had pretty much

39:57

the same genes as Noah had when he stepped

39:59

off his boat . Now , if

40:01

that's true and I believe it is then

40:04

the diseases and sickness processes

40:06

we have today , such as type

40:09

2 diabetes , heart disease , cancers , autoimmune

40:12

autoimmune diseases , Alzheimer's

40:14

, dementia , osteoporosis , maybe

40:17

, just maybe we've

40:23

been conned to believe that those are normal , but

40:25

in reality there are diseases

40:28

of environmental force . The

40:30

environment that we have as law enforcement

40:32

officers and just people

40:34

in general needs to be checked all the

40:36

time . And on the last

40:38

thing about spending money , when

40:41

you're a law enforcement officer , you

40:43

want the best equipment To

40:45

protect you . You want the best

40:47

to pit equipment to protect you from a defensive

40:49

standpoint and an offensive standpoint . This

40:52

is no different , it's just more

40:54

important .

40:56

Yeah , and it's

40:59

so , so valid Mark . And , and

41:01

I know we have some officers listening

41:03

us right now that are thinking themselves

41:05

man , I'm in trouble . I know I need to sleep

41:07

better . I know I need to lose some weight . I

41:10

know I'm not feeling great because it affects

41:12

your entire life . I'm not just a job , it affects you at

41:14

home and everything else . I'm too tired when I get off

41:16

work to play with my kids . So if

41:18

and they and they're feeling overwhelmed because every

41:20

message they're hearing is is take a pill for this

41:22

, take a shot for this , what

41:25

would you tell that officer that , step

41:27

by step , to get a handle on that ? What advice

41:30

would you give them ?

41:31

Well , first of all , I say you know , understand

41:34

where you are and know that You're

41:36

in a bad spot . To admit

41:38

that is is courage . To

41:41

admit that you need to change is courage , and to

41:43

actually make changes Is

41:45

even more courageous . I know you talk about that

41:47

in the idea of courageous

41:50

leadership , travis . It it means

41:52

that you're not gonna be like everybody else anymore man . You're

41:54

gonna do what you need to

41:56

do because it's the right thing to do , and

41:58

I think people should take inventory . They should immediately

42:01

seek out some help . Find

42:03

somebody like my wife and I that cares

42:06

about you , loves you and is wanting

42:08

to build a relationship with you in the teamwork

42:10

of your health care and

42:12

in truly health care and Interview

42:15

doctors , ask questions . If they don't

42:17

satisfy what you're looking for , go

42:19

somewhere else . Certainly

42:21

there's , there's a few out there . Find

42:24

somebody that respects and loves law enforcement I

42:26

mean Travis . When I see

42:28

somebody that comes in front of me that is

42:30

a former or Current law enforcement

42:32

officer , my eyes light up , my heart

42:35

goes bitter powder , because I appreciate

42:37

them so much and I want

42:39

to do everything I can To

42:41

not just keep them alive , but

42:44

truly keep them alive . So I

42:46

think that if you're out there right now and that's

42:48

you man . Seriously , there's hope

42:50

out there . Find somebody

42:53

that's doing it , that can help you

42:55

, that will and gravitate

42:57

and hang on to them with everything you

42:59

got , and that way you win

43:01

.

43:03

I've told this story multiple times . I told

43:05

it on one of your stages one night mark and the

43:08

importance of leadership in

43:11

law enforcement . When it comes to this issue

43:13

, you as leaders have a much

43:15

bigger role than just checking

43:17

the doc , checking the box and paperwork and

43:19

sending your officers of training and doing

43:22

the evaluations . I Was

43:25

about 240

43:27

pounds now I don't know how big I actually

43:29

was . That was just the last time I wait , and I

43:32

worked for a police chief at the time that kind of had

43:34

a six since the humor and he put

43:36

me over the wellness unit at the

43:38

training Academy and I was one of my assignments

43:40

. I had multiple signs , but one of them was the

43:43

wellness unit and you were my sergeant

43:45

at the time mark and I

43:47

felt compelled not

43:49

because I really understood any of this

43:52

at the time , but I felt compelled

43:54

to try to get in better shape from the leadership standpoint

43:56

because I'm the leader of

43:58

this unit and officers are Coming to these in

44:00

services of this phenomenal class . That mark

44:02

was teaching and here I was

44:05

and you know I was a little forced in

44:07

because I'm I'm almost six foot four . I held

44:09

my weight pretty well . People probably wouldn't believe

44:11

that I weighed that much , but I did and

44:13

I probably weighed more . I may have been

44:15

bucking 353 , 55

44:17

, whatever it was . I felt terrible and all the

44:19

things you talked about , from sleep apnea

44:22

To all the medicines . I was on

44:24

it all . And I was in the gym

44:26

one day , because it's hard to not go to the gym with the gyms

44:28

right down from your office and that's what your assignment

44:30

is . And I did what a lot of really

44:33

out of shape people did . I got on the elliptical

44:35

and I'll watch TV . Now , nothing wrong with that , do

44:37

something . But that's what I did , that was my

44:39

go-to and I'm in there one day and

44:41

I'm on the elliptical and Mark sure

44:44

would walks by me because , mark , when you see

44:46

mark and I'll have a photograph of mark

44:48

here in the show , in the show notes he

44:50

looks like he works out about ten hours a day , but Mark's

44:52

workout is actually less than an hour . Like you

44:54

don't work out that long , you just know what to do

44:57

and you eat right and it's pretty amazing

44:59

stuff . And you walk

45:01

by me and you said , travis , what are you

45:03

doing ? And I said I'll do a little elliptical work

45:05

. And all mark said to me was

45:08

now , just remember , travis , you were

45:10

an athlete . You were an athlete in high school

45:12

. You were an athlete in college . You

45:15

are still an athlete now . He

45:17

didn't know this at the time , but

45:19

those words were all it

45:21

took , mark . It's all it took , and

45:23

I lost , over the course of a couple years

45:25

, over a hundred pounds , and From

45:28

that day forward I've been on this health

45:30

journey , and there's no telling where

45:32

my life would be if I wouldn't even had

45:34

a life , if a leader

45:36

, a Sergeant in that department that , by the way

45:39

, I outranked him , but that's not what

45:41

leadership is about , has nothing to do with rank had

45:43

the courage to talk to his captain that

45:46

he worked for and gave me those

45:48

words of encouragement . And

45:50

so I just want to encourage

45:52

everyone out there listening that you are

45:54

responsible for this . You may

45:56

not realize that , but the people that

45:59

work for you rely on you to protect

46:01

them , not just on the calls but

46:03

in their life as well , and

46:05

I could never thank you enough , mark . I love telling

46:08

that story and , man , we have so much more

46:10

to cover , but we're not gonna do it now . We're gonna bring you

46:12

back and we're gonna get into all

46:14

sorts of stuff , and if you're listening , I'm gonna tell you

46:16

what we're gonna get into next time . We're gonna get into hormones

46:18

and we're gonna get into weights and cardio and the importance

46:20

of sleep and some of the things that you may be Hearing

46:23

about on YouTube , like red light therapy and grounding

46:25

all of these stuff that we have

46:27

interested . But before you get to all that

46:29

, before you get to hormones or testosterone

46:31

or all that stuff , you need

46:33

to think about what mark said

46:35

. The first thing you need to do

46:38

is to find the right doctor

46:40

, get on the right supplements

46:42

, get that blood work checked a real

46:44

blood panel check . Get your foundation

46:47

. In a few months You're gonna get the second part

46:49

of this interview . That's going to

46:51

blow your way . Dr Mark Sherwood , I

46:53

can't thank you enough . What you've done for law enforcement

46:56

, what you've done for me , what you continue

46:58

to do Serving thousands of people

47:00

nationwide . Thank you so much for being here .

47:02

Oh my gosh

47:04

, great honor . I was looking forward to this

47:06

and I look forward to coming back .

47:08

And if you've been listening , thank you . And

47:10

just remember , lead on and stay courageous

47:13

.

47:15

Thank you for listening to Courageous Leadership with

47:17

Travis Yates . We invite you

47:19

to join other courageous leaders at www

47:21

. Travis Yates . org .