Health is based on three pillars: sleep, nutrition and fitness. I chat with some of the most interesting people I know to discover more about their Health Stacks: the behaviors and products they use to stay healthy and fit.
Recently, I had an hour-long Zoom conversation with Justin Mares. Justin is the co-founder of Kettle & Fire, a bone broth company, and Perfect Keto, a goods and supplement company for ketogenic diets. We discuss Justin’s journey into health and wellness and his daily practices for sleep, diet, and stress management.
Highlights
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Justin began his health and wellness journey when he adopted a paleo diet almost a decade ago
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Physical activity, sleep, diet, and stress management are the foundational pillars of Justin’s health
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Bone broth and organ meats are staples in Justin’s diet
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Breath work is key for Justin’s overall health and wellbeing
How I started my journey into health and wellness
In college, I followed the standard fraternity diet of beers, subs, pierogies, and more. During this time, I was also beginning my entrepreneurial career. I thought that I could get less sleep in order to get everything done in the day, so I looked into polyphasic sleeping. In my attempt at polyphasic sleeping, I ruined my energy levels. It was one of the worst months of my life because I had no energy.
On the positive side, polyphasic sleep was my first exposure to biohacking and the community of people trying to influence their body, health, and wellness in a thoughtful and material way. I eventually came across Mark Sisson’s content, including his paleo diet, and started to try it for myself in 2011. Within about two weeks of starting a paleo diet, I felt a complete change in my body. My acne started to clear up, I became much leaner, I had more energy, I was sleeping better, and my digestion improved dramatically. I was shocked by the results. Since then, I’ve followed a mostly paleo diet. A few years ago, I began incorporating keto and intermittent fasting, as well.
In addition to cleaning up my diet, I began going to CrossFit to work on my physical strength. The more I explored health and wellness, and the more people I talked to in space, healthy living became a personal passion. After selling my first few companies to Rackspace, I knew that the health and fitness space was a natural progression for my next work opportunity, so I decided to start Kettle & Fire in 2015.
The things I prioritize to stay health
I focus on a few key areas in order to stay healthy. The first major area of health for me is physical activity. I lift weights 3-4 times a week and stretch almost everyday. I live in the Austin area, so I’ll also go on bike rides or swim at Barton Springs during my non-lifting days to make sure I’m still active.
Another important area of health for me is sleep, which I’m very strict about. I keep a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed around 11PM every night. I sleep on my Pod Pro, which is crucial for my sleep quality. In the mornings, I never use an alarm because I like to wake up naturally. I do this to make sure my body is getting as much sleep as it needs.
Diet is another key area for my health. I’ve been following a low-carb paleo diet for almost a decade. I eat a healthy amount of locally-raised red meat and fish. I also try to eat fermented foods one to two times a week. I am rigorous about what I eat, especially when it comes to the ingredients in my food. I buy everything organic, local, pasteurized, and grass-fed, and cook almost everything at home. There are a few things, such as vegetable oils, that I stay away from. Vegetable oils take up around 20% of the average American’s daily caloric intake and are terrible for your body. I’ve cut out vegetable oils completely from my diet over the last few years.
If you look at the average American diet today compared to our ancestral diet, one of the biggest things you will notice is that today, we eat almost no organ meat or other foods that have incredibly dense nutritional value and full spectrum amino acids. Consuming bone broth and organ meat are by far one of the biggest things you can do to improve your overall function and health. Bone broth has a high concentration of amino acids and collagen, which is the protein that makes up more than 30-40% of your body’s protein. Your gut lining, connective tissues and connective tendons in your joints are all made of collagen. The amino acids and collagen in bone broth are the building blocks of your body. Knowing this, I make sure to incorporate bone broth and organ meats into my diet regularly.
“Wherever you see the biggest gaps in our diet compared to our ancestors is where you can make the biggest strides and improvements in your health.”
Additionally, I do a 3-4 day fast at least once a quarter. Then, every other week, I’ll do a 24-36 hour fast. I found that intermittent fasting makes me feel better overall. With all my fasts, I try to get down into a sub-one GKI (Glucose Ketone Index) ratio. There is research that shows how a sub-one GKI ratio range is ideal for autophagy and anti-cancer prevention.
Finally, I focus on stress management. Meditation is a key component to reducing my stress. I follow the Wim Hof Method of breath work that’s similar to meditation. Breath work is something that I try to incorporate into my everyday life. I read James Nestor’s book, Breath, and I highly recommend it. Nestor discusses how breathing is one of the most essential parts of our health and wellbeing.
“Breathing correctly has a material impact on your health, wellness, immune system and energy levels.”
I started to incorporate more deep, slow nostril breathing throughout the day and also make sure I am conscious of my breath. I’ll do 10-20 minutes of breath work a day, which helps with my stress and energy levels.
My experience with psychedelic therapy
Some of my strongest internal growth experiences have been from the usage of psychedelic therapy. Every six-ish months, my girlfriend and I do MDMA therapy. After trying psychedelic therapy for the first time, we were blown away by how beneficial it was for our relationship. We had a profound, intense ability to connect and discuss intimate topics without any judgement. This is a specific benefit of MDMA therapy, and I would recommend it to almost anyone who wants to work on heart-opening and empathy. I think in a fairly rational, data-driven, business-