This week’s guest on the Mag Life Podcast is a near superhuman! Erin Blevins is a professional nutritionist, former Crossfit competitor, chef, and fitness expert. Her clients have included ultra-marathoners, MLB players from the Atlanta Braves, Navy SEALs, weight lifters, and even Superman himself, Henry Cavill.

She joins our host Daniel Shaw as they discuss the importance of nutrition, healthy dietary habits, body image, and seeking self-improvement.

https://media.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/content.blubrry.com/gunfightercast/188-Erin_Blevins_Eating_with_Intent.mp3

Host: Daniel Shaw

Guest: Erin Blevins

Introduction/Timeline: Eric Huh

4:00 Body image and Refusing to Improve

Both Daniel and Erin have taken notice of the “body positivity” movement and by extension, the unwillingness of many Americans to want to do anything to improve their lifestyles or health. In many cases, individuals get defensive the second they are told they’re unhealthy. Daniel notes that much of our current societal conditions encourage this kind of behavior.

“I mean, nutrition in itself is a touchy, taboo subject. You say you’re vegan and you get attacked by the other side. You say you’re a carnivore and you get attacked by the vegans. It’s almost like a terrorist mindset, you know? And you say something like ‘Hey I’m worried about you, I think that you’re too heavy.’ Or … ‘I think you should start walking 30 minutes a day.’ And all of a sudden it’s like you’re throwing warfare at someone.”

Erin Blevins has dedicated her life to providing the best possible dietary advice for anyone looking to improve their health, physical performance, or body image.

Erin believes that at its core, there is nothing wrong with people feeling positive about themselves. However, there comes a point where too much false affirmation can be unhealthy as it simply encourages self-destructive habits (the body positivity movement is instrumental in this). She emphasizes that people can feel good about themselves even as they are in the process of changing their physical being. She admits that despite being a professional fitness and nutrition coach, she is always seeking to improve her abilities and her image.

Erin speaks from personal experience as a nutritionist that specific foods and supplements can fundamentally change one’s life for the better. She has witnessed emotional instability and sleeping disorders become alieved from a proper diet.

12:49 Nutrition and Human Performance

Daniel observes that much of the education regarding nutrition in the school systems vary greatly from state to state. As such, he asks Erin about her personal experiences in today’s dietary trends, such as the vegan diet.

Erin reveals that she had been through several kinds of diets, including going vegan for 10years. While in the first few years, Erin felt incredible about her body, she later started losing energy and felt lethargic. Later, her doctor revealed that her hormones were unbalanced, triglycerides were all over the place, and that she was pre-menopausal. Immediately she knew she had to make changes to her lifestyle. She began to consume animal products and her body leveled out over time.

Her main takeaway from these dietary practices was that they taught her to be more cognizant of what she puts into her body, regardless if it was a paleo, vegan, or carnivore diet. Something as simple as reading the ingredients and calorie count on a food label automatically makes a person more aware of what they’re eating. On the whole, Erin does not believe for the most part that people simply inherit bad eating habits.

“I don’t believe that obesity is genetic. I think it’s environmental… Your environment will change your outcome, right? So if I’m hanging out with friends that go and drink and eat pizza every night and eat burgers, they don’t train, they don’t do anything physical... I will eventually be a version of that... I’m human,