How to Avoid the Consequences of Your Scary Blood Test | Jason Gabrieli | Better Man Podcast Ep. 179

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man Podcast. This episode is for all the young dads out there. So I got to have this conversation with a guy who is about 40 years old. He’s got three kids, very similar to where I am in life right now. And we talk about how he had some kind of oh shit moments with his health, playing around on the ground with his kids, realizing it was so hard to get up, and then having a scary blood test result coming back and realizing he needed to make some changes.

Dean Pohlman: So we talk about how he got into working out consistently, how he started making simple improvements in his nutrition. We also talk about how he was really able to zero in on what his why is, and having a really strong why to wanting for wanting to do the things that lead into living a healthier lifestyle. So his why is very simple.

Dean Pohlman: I need to live. He truly believed he was not going to live for a long time if he didn’t make changes. And he stuck to that. Why? And he made changes. And I liked this conversation because for many reasons. But I also like that we get to have conversations with the young dads out there. That’s where I am in life right now.

Dean Pohlman: So if you feel like, you know, a lot of our a lot of our content really focuses on guys who are in their 50s and 60s. So being able to have a conversation with someone else in their their late 30s, kind of early 40s, letting you guys know, hey, like, I see you guys, I know you’re out there.

Dean Pohlman: So being able to have that conversation here was was really great for me. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope inspires you to be a better man and I hope you enjoy this story. Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome back to the Better Man Podcast. Today’s episode I’ve got Jason G here. Even though you are a podcast yourself though, so I could probably use your last name.

Dean Pohlman:.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, I’m a public figure.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that’s fine. We don’t we don’t need as much anonymity. And this is this is exciting. You’ve got a you’ve got a great microphone as well. So I’ll be able to hear everything. Everyone will be able to hear everything. So, Yeah. So thanks for joining me for the conversation, Jason.

Jason Gabrieli: Hey, it’s my pleasure. It’s definitely a little it’s a little surreal, like having you break the fourth wall after two years of watching you right now, having you break the fourth wall and talk back to me was a little surreal. I like it, yeah, I like it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. It’s always a weird experience and I have I’ve recently had the the opposite experience myself, where I talk with someone who I watch on YouTube and I’m like, oh, look at you, you’re real. And what other people feel like when they talk to you. Yes, definitely.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, definitely.

Dean Pohlman: And, you know, I and I the reason why I wanted to do this interview, I sent out an email a few weeks ago and you responded. And we got to having little conversation. And you mentioned that this has been life changing for you, that it’s helped with. Yeah, I think you mentioned losing 20 pounds or something, something like that, and just doing the workouts consistently for two years.

Dean Pohlman: I’m like, that’s a great conversation. Let’s have one. And yeah, I just kind of wanted to bring you on and get to know your story. And then you came on and I’m like, oh wow, these got like a better podcast setup than I do.

Jason Gabrieli: He must.

Dean Pohlman: He must.

Jason Gabrieli: Do these. I’m in the basement and you could see what’s above and behind. You’d be like, it looks like a prison, but it looks good from this angle. And that’s what it’s all about.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Yeah. Exactly. What do you think of this? I mean, you’re probably going to be nice to me anyways, but what do you think of like this as the podcast like setting? How does it look video wise?

Jason Gabrieli: I like it because you have some depth. I’m realizing even with us, like we need to adjust. So I bought on Amazon some wood paneling, which I intend to put is the you know, I’m looking I’m like that blue is just like reflecting the light. It’s not really we put some stuff up in frames. I don’t love that.

Jason Gabrieli: So I think depth is important and you definitely have that. Yeah. Man I think you’re you’re you’re looking good. And you always keep the set and wherever you’re at. Pretty neat and tidy, which is always something that we, we, you know, we refrain from doing these in our offices because you never know what that’s going to look like.

Jason Gabrieli: I’m a pretty tidy guy, but, you know, we need we need our own space.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. If I yeah, if I flip the camera around to what my desk looked like. So it would be a be a lot mess, it’d be a lot messier. But anyways, so, you know, when did you. You know, I always, like, start this off. When was the first kind of oh, shit moment. You had.

Jason Gabrieli: A good question. So I would say that, you know, I have always been a bigger guy. You know, weight wise I’m about six foot, but at my height, which is about 12 years ago now, I was almost 70, after having gone through high school around 225. But then college wasn’t very active, worked at a bar, just steadily got heavier and heavier.

Jason Gabrieli: And so right after college, I was probably 24, 25 pizza like 270. And I’d always done dieting, get on a diet. I always say eat less shit. I didn’t eat better. I just ate less of the junk that I was eating. That would work for 7 or 8 months. I would lose weight, and then I would slowly revert and I would end up somewhere in the middle.

Jason Gabrieli: So for most of the last, maybe ten years, I’ve been around two 3235. And it was just getting like now I had three kids, six, four and one. And I’m realizing for the one year old, I’m not going to be I’m not quite a young dad for the six year old, but for the one year old, I’m totally different story.

Jason Gabrieli: So I’m like, I gotta, I gotta do this now. More, less about vanity. And so years past, I’ve been, like I said, dieting on and off for 20 years. But it was always, I want to look better. My pants are getting tight, but so that meaning is a little bit less. It hits a little less hard. But now in the last two years and what really caused me to find the amplitude was like, I need to change what I’m doing, not just to look a little bit better.

Jason Gabrieli: I need to do it because if I’m going to be around and if I want to be there for my kids in good shape, then I got to make changes. And so that was the big was right about, I can tell you, it was the end of 2023, okay. Just about two years ago now.

Dean Pohlman: And how how old were you at that point?

Jason Gabrieli: I’m 39 now on its 2026. So I’m going to say that I was I was 37. I just turned 37.

Dean Pohlman: All right. So you’re you’re 37. You already have a six year old a four year old. Now you have a one year old and you’re you’re realizing, okay, it’s really it was just hard to get down on the ground or like, what was what?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, exactly. So it was. Yeah. It was, you know, I was doing some work. I played football in high school. I always worked out through. But it was always like weight training. And as I got older, I would try something for a couple of months, stop, take a couple of months off. So yeah, that’s I end up getting it to 70.

Jason Gabrieli: Right. But this last, you know, like I said, two years ago at that time we had a I was a four and a two year old and I was like, I’m on the ground. I could sit there for five minutes if I’m lucky. My hips are locking up, my lower back is killing me. I gotta put my I’m like, I’m a mess and I’m trying to get up and I’m like, this is that 37?

Jason Gabrieli: I’m like, what? What’s going to happen ten years from now? I’m not trending the right way. I’m not at all.

Dean Pohlman: What was your, was your dad like, what’s your dad’s house like?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, that’s a that’s that’s kind of interesting. So my dad knock on wood healthy dude. But he was always skinny, grown up. So he was always he was always a beam pole. Now he’s in his 60s. He’s got a little bit of a belly, but he I actually got him on man. So he might be listening. He did this.

Jason Gabrieli: Oh cool. I sent him the package with the his name and the his dad’s. Frank. His name’s Frank Gabrielli.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, cool.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah. Awesome. Check him out, but make sure he’s doing them. All right? Let me know. He’s sent me a little report on his. We just.

Dean Pohlman: We just put something in that that that pings you if you don’t do your workout. So that sends you, sends you an email like, hey, what’s going on? You haven’t lost a lot.

Jason Gabrieli: You need that. Oh, he’s been playing a lot of pickleball and I’m like 55. And I’m like, that’s great, dad. But so you don’t get hurt playing pickleball. You got to still do your man, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah that’s awesome. So all right. And I asked because, you know, that’s one of the big reasons why people do start to, you know, just take their health more seriously as they look at their dads. So they look at their uncles and their mom and they’re like, wow, you can’t even move anymore. But it sounds like your dad is active.

Jason Gabrieli: My dad was good. It was really honestly, there’s a lot of diabetes in my family. And so that is something that in the back of my mind was always like, that’s the worst thing that could happen for me in my head. And so as a guy, Italian from new Jersey, like a lot of pasta, a lot of bread my whole life.

Dean Pohlman: I just, I just made chicken parm last night.

Jason Gabrieli: It’s the good stuff. Proud of me. It’s it’s awesome I love that. So that was you know, I was not a vegetable fruit guy at all for most of my life. And it showed. And so realizing that like the reality started and said, I’m in a I’m a business owner and I have a lot of buddies who are also business owners, who are in different types of coaching organizations.

Jason Gabrieli: And everybody gets on these health kicks and starts doing quarterly testing on their blood. And so, like I started doing some of that stuff, right. And I started doing, you know, annual blood work with my doctor, even though I’m at the time 36 or 37, whatever it was. And I started to see I was getting pre-diabetic. And I’m like, this is no good.

Jason Gabrieli: I was like, the red flag. I could put it off long enough, but now I’m like, now it’s not just about vanity. It’s not just about how I look. I’m not, you know, I’m feeling like crap. Sit on the floor. I’m not in any good shape. Plus, I’m starting to see markers that I maybe end up with something that I can’t turn back.

Jason Gabrieli: And it was like, you got to change something, dude.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So it sounds like those, those other, you know, indicators of health were much more motivating than the vanity aspect.

Jason Gabrieli: That was the biggest difference maker. That was what made me stick with it for so long, because like, you just decide one day, like I’m and I, I’m no Adonis today, but you just decide that I got to make a change. If not, I’m going to have nobody to blame by myself ten years from now. It’s not like I didn’t know.

Dean Pohlman: All right, so what did you. What were some of the first things you did in response to, you know, this, the back, the back pain being on the ground, the pre-diabetic blood test results?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah. It was like I said, I’ve been weight training for years off and on, a lot of bad form in my early years. So I had bad shoulder, bad knee that were starting to act up also. And I’m like, I don’t think more weight training is the answer. I think that, you know, I don’t I don’t think I could just go right to that.

Jason Gabrieli: I got to find something else and I can’t remember exactly how I found you probably googling, you know, something to improve flexibility and and mobility and it probably a man flow yoga. And I’m doing my going through your website, going through your materials. And I’m like, this is what I because I needed. So I remember having the distinct thought that I just need to feel better all over, like that was my metric in my brain is like, I need something to just address all this stuff, because what I’ve done in the past is clearly not working, and doing more of that is not going to help anything.

Jason Gabrieli: It’s not going to get me past this. I just need to feel better all over. That was the goal. And you know, I remember going through your stuff. I’m like, checks that box, checks that box. Like, let’s give this a go. And all right along the same signs right on at the same time. I found out I forgot about this.

Jason Gabrieli: Until now. I had also noticed I was I was developing a lot of unhealthy habits. Just my kids again, were were foreign to at the time then. And I was losing my patience and my, my temper. And I was feeling very agitated because I was building my business. And up until having kids, I was all about getting into the office at seven, getting my stuff knocked out.

Jason Gabrieli: Everybody else comes in at nine, have a long day, get home at six. Well, I had a big reality check that right. If I want to be around with the kids and have meaningful like, you can’t do that. And so my way to compensate was, okay, well, I’ll be home in the morning, I’ll help, and then I’ll put the kids to bed and I’ll work from 9 to 11.

Jason Gabrieli: And now I’m decompressing and now it’s 12, 1230. I’m going to sleep trying to wake up at six. And I’m like, and I was resenting that 9 to 11 work and I was dreading it. So I was in a bad place with kids and with bedtime routine and with I was, you know, getting agitated and getting like, this whole all this on top of what I’ve shared with you physically.

Jason Gabrieli: So I’m like, yeah, this all needs to change. So I got myself. It would have been January. It was my New Year’s Resolution 2024. Right? I was like, we’re hitting, you know, the skids a little bit by the end of 2023. And I’m like, I got to make a change, I found you. I said, I got to change how I’m doing things.

Jason Gabrieli: So I forced myself. I was always a night owl. Forced myself to start going to bed at 1030 so I could wake up at five so I could do something good for myself. May have. So I could do a little meditation, get showered, get dressed, work for an hour in the morning when I have full energy and food, and then put it away and I could be there for the kids all day and no more working at night.

Jason Gabrieli: I did that solid for like a year and a half, and that changed a lot for that whole routine was like a game changer for me. And again, it was just like kind of hitting rock bottom a little bit of like, I could change something about a lot of things, or I’m really not going to like what I’m becoming or what I’m doing.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, I just I really sympathize with that because I’ve definitely had those moments when I’ve been upstairs with the kids. And, you know, I’m thinking about I’m worried about work stuff. I’m worried about finances. You know, I’m worried about what are we going to do next, just kind of thing. And, you know, I’m holding my daughter, who’s this beautiful, you know, little one two year old.

Dean Pohlman: And I’m like, I just want this to be done so I can put you down and go downstairs and, like, process all these thoughts that I’m having. But, like, I couldn’t be present in that moment. And I mean, I years that went by that I lost because of I mean, it makes me really sad thinking about it. Just like thinking of all that, all that enjoyment that I could have had, all of those memories that I could, could really have been present and happy during.

Dean Pohlman: But like so much of that, I just remember being upset that, like, I’m here and I have to hold you because, you know, I just, I need to, but like, I don’t want to because I have all these other things that seem so much more pressing in my mind that I need to solve. Yeah. I mean, I just I just sympathize with that.

Dean Pohlman: I think that’s really tough.

Jason Gabrieli: So you try to get to it all and it’s like I’m a big I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book essentialism.

Dean Pohlman: I have.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah. Like McEwan I listen to it and I it really it was right around the same time. It was probably the first time I was to it. It just the idea of intentional trade offs because my whole life I’ve been making it work, you know, and I’ve been I can make I could do that. I could do that.

Jason Gabrieli: Like you’re always. Until you start to realize that it’s affecting things you can’t change. And like, you’re, it’s affecting somebody besides you. You’re like, oh, that really landed that time. And I was like, I need to start making intentional trade offs with how I’m spending my time, because if not, I might have some regrets.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, intentional trade offs. I’m writing these things. I love taking notes.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, yeah. And trade offs is a big concept that I needed to hear many, many times before it sank in. I still have to be reminded, like.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Jason Gabrieli: Should I be making a hard choice here? Am I avoiding making a hard choice by trying to do everything right?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So I want to go back to your New Year’s 2024 resolution. You mentioned you started you started forcing yourself to go to bed early. What did that. What did that look like? Like, how did you make yourself go to bed early? What were you deciding against doing and going to bed instead?

Jason Gabrieli: I remember well, I did some of your exercises and the first one I’m going to butcher it. I’m sorry, was, in essence, coming up with your motivation of why you’re doing this.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Seven weeks. Yes, yes.

Jason Gabrieli: And I, in my brain, I kind of simplified it to, like, you know, future Jason is going to have a great life, and he’s going to be really pissed at you if you don’t put him in the right space to be in the right physical condition to to enjoy it, physical and mental condition. And that was like my and it was, you know, it was everything feeding from wanting to be a good role model for my boys.

Jason Gabrieli: At the time, I only had boys. You know, I’m wanting to make sure that I could be active with them all the way through. It was all these things and that kind of summarized it and just honestly, just putting that on my mirror and just constantly reminding myself that this for the first time, was something I was doing for my body and, and all that, that that was just not the result of wanting to look a little better or wanting to fit my clothes better.

Jason Gabrieli: It was I made this big choice and I just needed constant reminder of that. And so that’s really what I was like, I this is irreversible. I started setting alarms like, all right, I’m going to go to bed at this time. I’m going to get up like it was.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Jason Gabrieli: I will say this. It was so much easier to stick to it. It was hard at first, but it was easier to stick to it because the why was so strong. Like it was like, oh yeah. 502 like, God. What? Oh, remember, remember feeling like crap on the floor. I remember feeling like that’s you got to do it.

Jason Gabrieli: And it was so much more motivating than, yeah, I’ll just get this work. I’ll do it tomorrow. Like.

Dean Pohlman: Right. No, that’s that’s where people struggle. Like, people really struggle with remembering the why in those situations. So I’m really glad that you first off, I’m glad that you followed instructions.

Jason Gabrieli: Yes. Hey, man, I’m a doer. I’m a I’m a give me the way will follow.

Dean Pohlman: That’s like the hardest part is getting people to follow instructions. So I’m glad you did that and that it was beneficial for you. Did your did you did you have a conversation with your partner about this or like how did she. How did she handle you know.

Jason Gabrieli: Well, I’ll say this. She. Yes. My wife has always been way more into, like, physical fitness and eating. Right. And I kid that if anything, I dragged her down a little bit when we got back with eating right. With right. She tried to improve me. She tried, but I did. I, you know, she was starting to notice.

Jason Gabrieli: I mean, you know, like you’re you’re things that should be insignificant that are like kids not listening. Whatever. Like all of a sudden I’m yelling instead of like, she knew that something like, something’s got to change. And I think for my many, many, many, many flaws. Right. My one thing that I, I am very fortunate that I have is that I feel like I’m pretty self-aware, like I try to be very reflective and be very like, what can I get better at?

Jason Gabrieli: What can I improve, what can I? So that was a real so I yeah, I kind of brought her into the conversation. I was like, look, this is what, because you’re both night owls. So I’m like, I’m going to start going to bed at 1030 and start waking up for five. And this is why. And she was super happy to hear that, because I think the change was almost instant over the course of just a couple of weeks, because I was not doing that nighttime working anymore.

Jason Gabrieli: I wasn’t sure like taking that out was just so much better and knocking it out when I actually had the mental energy to do it first thing in the morning before the kids get up.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Got it. Yeah. That’s great. I’m glad that you had that. So that support from from your wife. When did when did you guys get married?

Jason Gabrieli: 2017 August 19th. Yeah, man. We’re coming up on nine years okay.

Dean Pohlman: 2017. Okay. Yeah. So I’m like, I’m like three years behind you in life if or two years, 2 or 3 years behind you in life. Yeah. I’ve got a, I’ve got a two and a no, I have a three and a five year old soon to be a six year old. Okay.

Jason Gabrieli: So nice. You guys done?

Dean Pohlman: Publicly? Yes. Yes. We’re we’re we’re we’re shit. I don’t know anybody. We’re we’re done. Ish. Yeah.

Jason Gabrieli: So I get it, man, I get it. It’s not easy. It’s it’s it is the single. Probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, but obviously the most rewarding. But yeah, having to I might have even bigger podcast. I don’t remember what I was listening to recently, but it was about how like your, your your mindset when it’s when all of a sudden, you know, when you’re I think it was you when you’re at work and you’re the boss and you do a pretty good job at everybody, you want to be there because everybody’s always telling you, you want to hear for the most part.

Jason Gabrieli: Oh yeah. And like things are going well, but it’s like at home now. You throw these little people in the mix and they have their own emotions they have there. And you’re like.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Jason Gabrieli: What is happening? Things were so easy. I had this line of work.

Dean Pohlman: Everyone work, thinks I’m great. And then I go home and I’m like, getting yelled. I’m like, screw you guys, right?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, it’s a change. You’re like, oh, this is now. I’m on their now. I’m on their time, their schedule and their mental wherever they’re at times, whatever I’m doing in my head could be a little explosive. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. All right. So it’s it’s it’s it’s new year 2024. You’re going to bed earlier. You’re starting to wake up earlier. You’re doing your workouts. What’s what’s some of the first changes that you notice.

Jason Gabrieli: Well, I would say without doubt that it did not take long to start feeling better and feeling more mobile and less less achy and less just pain. That was within the first couple of weeks of doing, and I followed the, you know, I did the beginners plan for whatever prescribed six weeks or eight weeks, whatever it was.

Jason Gabrieli: And then I did the beginner fundamentals and all that stuff. And just in those first couple of weeks, I remember thinking that this was the right this is the thing for me. I just have to keep doing it and I can’t, I can’t flake, I have to just keep doing it. It will put me in the condition that I want to be in to add back weight training, all that stuff, which I want to do.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, but I need to fix all these problems first. And also this. It also helped with the breathing to calm me down, to be a little de-stressing more. And I don’t think I, I don’t think I originally intended for that. I was an ancillary benefit, but that was very helpful.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. So when did you like like pain wise, what did you first notice like that getting better or just moving around or.

Jason Gabrieli: I noticed a lot I noticed that I had a lot of lower back issues, you know, and stretching the core and the hips and the quads and the hamstrings out. Just the first couple times, I’m like, this is game changer. Like, I’ve been doing the wrong thing here. I always thought, you know, it’s stretched the back, lay down on the floor.

Jason Gabrieli: In reality, it’s all these other things that I really had no clue. We’re all connected. That was almost immediate. I mean, I would do that, you know, 2 or 3 times, three times a week. And it was like, this is this is making a big change. And then over time, I would say the shoulder, the knee really got a lot better with a lot of load.

Jason Gabrieli: I’ll call them like load stances where you’re, you’re in like playa holding yourself like, yeah, that helped my knee a lot because doing the old squats, it wasn’t making anything better. It’s making it worse. So that helps a lot.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah okay. So all right. Awesome. That’s that’s great. So did you. Is that been your that’s been your workout. Have you like what was the next iteration. Like what was the next level of.

Jason Gabrieli: Well like everything I do I got like really I was up to up to like five days a week, just straight yoga and I’m like, all right, I need to add some other stuff. Yeah. And so I started doing like, I gotta get some steps in. So I would do like alternate, like I’m going to go for a walk around the neighborhood this day, two days maybe.

Jason Gabrieli: And then I’m going to do yoga three days. And then I got about a year into it. So it would have been, it would have been like winner of last year. So it’s 2020 for about a year and feel way better. But I’m like, I promised myself I would get back to weights and get back to, you know, a real workout of sorts beyond the beyond the yoga.

Jason Gabrieli: And so it’s okay. So I am the type of person that can, will not just go to the gym. So I need to like I need somebody to tell me what to do. I need some a process systems guy. So if I don’t have the system or process, I need somebody who does. And so I kind of I’ll say I took a little leap of faith, spent way more money than I would ever spend.

Jason Gabrieli: Somebody who came very heavily recommended was more of a functional trainer. I would say, you know, perfectly in line with with what you teach with, with man flow yoga and all that kind of very restorative, very kind of rehab plus weight training. And I did some private stuff with him two days a week. Started doing that about a year and change ago.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, that was like the next level of art. Feeling really good, starting to build a little bit more muscle back. That was like a little more definition things. I wasn’t hitting with the yoga. But the big thing that came next really for me was diet. Diet had still lagged a little bit. And the beginning of last year, after a year of doing my man flow yoga, my morning routine, my stuff, like I still wasn’t eating better stuff.

Jason Gabrieli: I was still just trying to eat less of the garbage. And the beginning of last year was where I was like, that first started getting the diabetes test results and all that stuff pre-diabetic. I’m like, this is it’s not still not training the right way. And so that’s when I, like, forced myself to start eating vegetables. And I never eat fruit before 37 years old.

Jason Gabrieli: Wow. It just never.

Dean Pohlman: Repeated something. Is an Italian thing.

Jason Gabrieli: No, no, I can’t even say it’s weird, man. I tell you this, I didn’t like cold food when I was little. I wouldn’t even eat ice cream. Like, I didn’t like cold food, okay? But I was lying. Same little thing going to my brain, like, I have to fix this. Not just to look better, not to not even to feel better, just to live and to be in decent shape for my kids.

Jason Gabrieli: And so it was that bigger meaning that bigger why was was really what was speaking to me. And I’m like, all right. So we had a nutritionist coming into the office for my team, but every two weeks he did a little great guy, did a presentation on us on, on macros and, and the things in the vitamin supplements to be on and what to take out of your diet.

Jason Gabrieli: So I learned about that over the course of the first eight weeks, 2024. And then it was just off to the I was like, I, I tried a smoothie for the first time, like a real full fruit. Smooth. And that’s still my go to every day. I still just pick up a piece of fruit. Haven’t got there yet, but I will.

Jason Gabrieli: I will have all my berries and all my stuff in a smoothie. And then just embracing the leafy green veggies and this starting to get really into putting better things in my body, not just less crap. And that.

Dean Pohlman: Was some of the difference. Yeah. Like what were some of those changes? Like just just like concrete changes and nutrition.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah I would say really just make sounds simple because this is how bad it was before. Just making it a point to make sure I’m eating a vegetable at every meal, like even breakfast, you know, that’s that’s low hanging fruit, you know, no pun intended, but I that’s how bad I was. I mean, I was definitely not not eating the right things at all.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. What’s the what’s the what’s a what’s a breakfast veggie. What can we eat for breakfast.

Jason Gabrieli: Well I would do a lot of I like green stuff. So that was what I realized. My veggie was going to be anything green, so I didn’t mind that. So working spinach into an omelet or having a little roasted asparagus with egg, like, just something to get more or more veggies in my body earlier on. Yeah. And I, I just learned that avocado is not a veggie.

Jason Gabrieli: That’s fruit. So I was doing a lot of avocado, but yeah. Yeah, it’s thrown out.

Dean Pohlman: I’m I’m going to still count my avocado as a veggie, even though I know it’s technically not. It’s berry, but still, I’m just so good. Yeah. It’s delicious. Yeah. So what did you. Are you the cook? Does your. Does your wife cook? Like, who cooks?

Jason Gabrieli: We. Yeah. So I’ve kind of fallen more into that I enjoy. Okay. As long as I get myself the time to actually do.

Dean Pohlman: It.

Jason Gabrieli: I enjoy it less when I have, like, 17 minutes to get the kids something. But when I have some time.

Dean Pohlman: And cheese.

Jason Gabrieli: Right. It was purdy. Nuggets are organic. It says it on the package, right? Yeah. I mean, it’s it it is usually me, I would say maybe 60, 70% of the time. So I like experimented with stuff. I like just kind of doing whatever. But now it’s been a new challenge because my doing whatever was always chicken cutlets, pasta of some type.

Jason Gabrieli: It’s like it was always for 15 years of my life. And now I was like, oh, I got to cook with some of that stuff. I don’t even really like some of those veggies and some of that stuff. But now I almost look forward to that, you know, more like trying to incorporate things that I wouldn’t have before, how to still feel like I’m full but cut out pasta or still, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah, that’s like my cooking. My, my wife, my wife and have traded cooking on and off over the years because when we first moved in together, it was me cooking. And then I forgot what happened. But she started doing most of the cooking. And then it started being me again. And it was her again. And now it’s me again.

Dean Pohlman: So right now I’m right now kind of our routine is I make dinner and she’s with the kids for the most part at home, which isn’t fun because, you know, like cooking and then cleaning up and making lunches is like an hour and a half, two hours. It’s an endeavor. So, like, my five until seven is just like dishes and, like, cooking.

Dean Pohlman: And then I sit down and I eat for like, eight minutes, and then I’m back to the. And then I’m back in the kitchen, like, just there’s, there’s more dishes and but I do enjoy the process of like I’ve started to get more experimental, you know, experiments a bit more. And you know, there’s also like, like things like ChatGPT or make it really easy to test out different things like, hey, I’ve got I’ve got peppers and ground beef and this like, what are some things like in this.

Dean Pohlman: Like here I’m like cool. So I make a lot of we could we cook peppers a lot, I do, I try to incorporate beans from mostly ground beef. We also do chicken breasts. But I’ve recently discovered the the the amazing ness that is an air fryer. And that.

Jason Gabrieli: Makes I got to go into this.

Dean Pohlman: It’s so easy. It makes it taste a lot better. And then you don’t have to heat up the whole house with the oven, which you know, in Texas is already hot enough. Anyways. So yeah. Anyways, I and I also like it, you know, going into the kind of the mental wellness conversation that you brought up. I also like it as kind of a transition activity, like it’s something that allows me to move from, okay, I’m stressed in thinking about work to, okay, now I’m present and I’m like making sure I don’t cut off my finger with this knife.

Dean Pohlman: And then and then I sit down and eat and like, like I kind of transitioned out of my stress working phase. And now I’m in my more present, like, okay, I can be with the family and not not hate my life face, which previously that’s that’s how it felt a lot of the time. I’m like, this just I just got other stuff going on.

Dean Pohlman: I can’t sit here and enjoy this, but.

Jason Gabrieli: Oh yeah, I have a buddy. We deal with a lot of a lot of business owners in the trades and home service world. And one of my buddies, he’s he’s a roofer. He sold his business, but he calls it taken off his boots, literally taking off his boots, but figuratively taking off his boots when he comes home from work.

Jason Gabrieli: And like just because he. Same thing. Little kids running to bed. He’s like I need to. So I actually think about that in my head when I come home, get out of my truck, go down. I got to take my boots off, just literally like, now I’m home. Work is done. And making that because it is. Otherwise you carry that stress and angst feeling into whatever the night has with the kids and it’s like.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, there’s got to be some form of I, I need some sort of time to myself in the morning, and I need some sort of time to myself, like before the, you know, the end of the workday. And if I don’t get those, you know, I can usually manage it on a weekday. But if it’s the if it’s the weekend and it just goes straight into I have no downtime until like like it was we had a long weekend, right?

Dean Pohlman: Like three days in a row and you’re like, did the last day? You’re like, I just this is over yet? Are we here yet?

Jason Gabrieli: What’s it? I’ll say I remember bodies of mine before I had my own kids talking about how hard it is to get through the weekend. And I was like, yeah, well, then you have them and you’re like, yeah, because you are on. Yeah. I mean, there are people who are built for that God love them, but I am I really got to try to be honest.

Dean Pohlman: I had this conversation. I had this conversation with my wife over the weekend. And, you know, the more that I’ve, the more that I’ve been, the more that I’ve been courageous on this podcast and like, really ask questions like, what is the difference between a man and a woman? And like, how do we behave differently? The more that I’ve, you know, started to believe, the more that I’ve started to believe more.

Dean Pohlman: And the idea that men are not, you know, men and women are not the same. And we are not as I don’t think I’m as I know I don’t I don’t want to have to make generalizations about all men and all women. But like, I know that for me, I’m not as nurturing as my wife. And I said, yeah, I just don’t think I think women are more nurturing than men.

Dean Pohlman: She’s like, oh, I think that’s misogynist. And I it wasn’t like it didn’t turn into like an argument or anything. It wasn’t like, you know, we just I’m like, oh, well, I just think that’s different. And we were back to there was never like any, you know, adjustment phase. We didn’t have to wait an hour to cool off before we got back into things.

Dean Pohlman: We just kept talking like, you know, it was fine, but it just I think it just I think it does bring up just this, the reality that, like, men and women are different and we parent different and we have different, different levels of capacity to parent. Like I think my, my wife, she can be with kids all day and you know, she’s definitely gonna want some time to herself.

Dean Pohlman: But like you put me in the same situation as she is, the amount of parenting that she does versus what I do. And I would go crazy, like, it’s just, you know.

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. I feel like it is, you know, my, my growing up, my my parents were more old school. I would say my mom stayed home for a while. She ended up actually starting her own business, very successful. But when we were little, she was home. My dad worked and he would put in, you know, 12 hours a day, and then he would come home and then, you know, he was travel time.

Jason Gabrieli: So like, we were mostly with mom on the weekends. He was, you know, he was he was there and he was he was always present, always came to everything, all that kind of stuff. But he was, you know, my mom was doing most of the childcare by far. And I’m like, I kept that because, again, like, I feel like whatever stress and anxiety comes with producing, be it business work, whatever you’re doing right for producing, I handle that even better than I handle the stress and anxiety that comes with my kids whining or my or, you know, you know, not listening.

Jason Gabrieli: Or like I have a very short fuze for that, whereas other people like, you know, probably have a much shorter fuze for dealing with stress and anxiety of having employees and having, you know, like, and having to find work and revenue and like, but that’s I’m better suited to that. It’s, it’s a challenge. It has been a challenge to, to recognize that and say, I’m going to make that part better.

Jason Gabrieli: Like, I know I’m not wired for that, but I can make it better.

Dean Pohlman: And yeah, I think the you know, for me, the biggest challenge was before kids, you’re able to just kind of sit with your thoughts and sit with the frustrations of the day and you just kind of just kind of stewing in your mind. And sometimes you bring it up and you talk about it, and other times you just kind of sit there and you’re like, you know, you’re you’re you’re in your own little world and you’re thinking about it and then, you know, and and you can you can do that with just if it’s just, you know, my, my then girlfriend slash fiance, like, I can just do that with her.

Dean Pohlman: And sometimes I’ll say what I’m thinking and sometimes I won’t. But like, you can just sit there and be with those thoughts. And then when there are kids present, they need more presence. You know, like, you just you can’t have those background thoughts running and be attentive as a parent. Otherwise you default to like, well, just do this.

Dean Pohlman: Like, what are you doing? Stop being dumb. And then you’re like, oh wait, you’re 18 months old. Of course you’re of course you’re dumb. You don’t know. You don’t know how to do anything yet. You know, so dumb. So like. Yeah, right. So no, my wife does that even now. Like, she’s like, look, Neela, you’re so dumb. I’m like Marissa.

Dean Pohlman: She’s three. Of course she’s dumb. You know.

Jason Gabrieli: It’s my. So I’ve also amongst my many my my self-improvement journey here over the last whatever two years, I started doing therapy here and there. And a lot of it is parenting based. A lot of it is like, hey, I run into this issue a lot, like, how should I deal with that? Or how should I? And that that is, is one of the things that my my therapist James very through talk space, by the way I love that because it was easy app on my phone didn’t have to find somebody, didn’t have to go like it was just get it done.

Jason Gabrieli: Okay. But he always reminds me they, you know, your inclination is to think that these are little adults, like, they’re just little or adults than you. I think they think the same way. But their brain chemistry is literally different than yours. He’s like, they are not adults in kids bodies. They are totally different. Like, I always have to remind myself, like, they’re very narcissistic.

Jason Gabrieli: They’re very self-centered. He’s like that. That is by nature, you learn to be accepting of others and to include others about by nature. When you’re that old, you’re just thinking about yourself and it’s like, okay, they’re not little adults. They’re not adults.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, I think for me, parenting has been most revealing of, you know, my own. It’s been most revealing of my own crap. You know, my own my own patterns, my own, you know, attachment theory that I developed growing up. So, like, the most helpful things for me, for parenting wise and therapy have been, well, you know, why is that?

Dean Pohlman: Or does that go back to for you? You know, tactics are only so helpful. It’s been really about like getting into, well, what are the, you know, why is this triggering you and what does this bring up for you. And then getting into that and you being able to use parenting as a way to heal myself in the process.

Dean Pohlman: It’s been yeah, it’s I don’t know why I’m talking about this, but yeah, it’s it’s.

Jason Gabrieli: Well, it’s like a journey. It really is because it’s to your point, you can kind of hide from your like, it can always put your best face forward, but then you start to realize too, like when you’re responsible for other human beings 24 hours a day, like you can’t keep that face up forever. And so you start to realize, oh, no, I actually aren’t as patient as I thought I was.

Jason Gabrieli: Like, I’m actually not. And why is that? You know what? What is what is tweaking me about? And I’ve noticed the same things. Certain things that my kids will do will tweak me more than others. Yeah. It’s like any time they’re mean to each other, like, really mean to each other that like towards me, anytime they act the way I perceive to be spoiled or like that, just like gets in my brain.

Jason Gabrieli: But then I look back and I said, well, why is that? And it’s like, because that’s how I’ve learned. Like, I never wanted to be perceived as pretentious or like, so like it’s just the reflective of what I’m trying to avoid in them, you know?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah. Well, there’s a nice side conversation. I appreciate you appreciate you doing that with me. So where are you at now? With with with fitness. With with these, with this self-improvement journey you’re on?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, man. So I am happy to say that for the first time in probably 15 years, I am under 220 consistently. I’m right around like 211 to 12. Okay. And the the trainer that I’ve been working with for a year, he told me, I’m going to get you to 200. And this is when I was two, 22, 25.

Jason Gabrieli: And I’m like, I’m good. Let’s just keep trying. Like now, though, I’ve made some even deeper changes to avoid the diabetic issues. I’m I’m not I’m totally staying away from, like, white wheat flour, no beer. Like, that’s just since the beginning of this year. And that’s gotten me just doing that. Got me below 225 for the first time in a while.

Jason Gabrieli: Without, you know, not eating less, just not eating that stuff. And it’s like been a game changer. So now I see 200. I’m like, all right, I can do that by the end of the year. So that’s the goal. Yeah. Still dealing with little aches and pains here, but feeling way stronger. And I know what I need to do to fix it when it comes up.

Jason Gabrieli: And just feeling better all over, running around with the kids. All of a sudden I’m not winning it anymore. I’m not feeling that psychologically, you know, mentally feeling. We put a lot of things in place with our business to build myself out of it the day to day, a lot of it. So like having that stuff in place all kind of come together over the last years is like, okay, now I have the mental space to be just home with the kids and to go to the gym from 8 to 9, come home and then have my wife go to the gym from 930 to 1030.

Jason Gabrieli: I hang with the kids, then I’m in the office at 11. Like I’m able to do that now. Whereas before I was working, you know, trying to squeeze my 12 hours a day and it’s like, but it’s all been work, you know? I mean, it’s all been and it’s always a journey. I’m still trying to get better, but it’s been intentional trade offs.

Jason Gabrieli: It all comes back to that and I have to bring it full circle. But like intentional trade offs okay.

Dean Pohlman: All right. That’s our that’s our pitch to Ian is Ian McKellen. What’s his name.

Jason Gabrieli: You and I.

Dean Pohlman: Think Ewan. Yes okay. All right. Awesome. What’s what’s been what’s been some of your your external support systems that have helped you along with this.

Jason Gabrieli: Oh I would say, man, I am very, very, very fortunate that I have just fantastic support all the way around. A great business partner who’s a big, always trying to get better guy. I learned a lot from him that he was always trying to better himself, always trying to be self-aware. My parents are fantastic. I mean, they they they live close by.

Jason Gabrieli: They help out with our kids. My in-laws are closer. I have it all the way around. I, as I say, I have no excuse not to be in the best, in the best position and take advantage of those things. But you have to psychologically do it, because if you don’t, you’ll just keep grinding away on autopilot. You know, if you don’t say, I’m going to put myself in a position to actually take advantage of these, this great support system that I do have and better approach what I want to do.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, awesome. Great for rapid fire questions.

Jason Gabrieli: I bring them on, man.

Dean Pohlman: All right. What’s the one habit, belief or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Jason Gabrieli: Making that shift to I need to I need to live like that’s my fitness goal now. That’s my wellness goal is literally being in the I have this thing on my wall. At the time I said I mentioned it to that, just tying it back to that and getting away from vanity and all that stuff has changed everything.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. What’s one thing that you do for your health that is overlooked or undervalued by others?

Jason Gabrieli: Meditation. I think that is something that I try not a lot like five minutes a day. Yeah, but do you do Vipassana?

Dean Pohlman: Like what’s your style like walk, walk it through for people who don’t know what meditation is.

Jason Gabrieli: I’ll plug another book. So I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Doug Brackman driven, but I definitely wanted to. I think you would love that. He probably come on the podcast. He’s, I’ll give it to you in three seconds. He’s a PhD driven. Is this idea that there’s a subset of people, high performers that still have, that are not, that evolved from the way we were when we were being hunted.

Jason Gabrieli: Right. So our brains are always looking for something. Yeah. Always looking for stimulus, always looking for a threat. And when we don’t have that, because obviously we’re not being hunted on the streets of Austin or Philadelphia or whatever, our brains fill it in with other things. They fill it with wary concern, stress, all these things. And people who are very high performing it can be a benefit, but it can be a detriment because a lot of times to just shut that voice down, they get into drinking and sex abuse, sex addiction, all these things happen to try to quiet those things down.

Jason Gabrieli: Well, his solution is what he calls insight meditation, which is different kind of meditation. Eyes open, focused more on stimulating what you need, stimulated to calm that voice down. So he calls it insight meditation. But that’s what I do.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, cool. Good. Now I have to read another book. Thanks, man.

Jason Gabrieli: Lots of homework for you, man. I’m glad I’m on this side of the mic.

Dean Pohlman: Oh. All right. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Jason Gabrieli: Stressful. Part of the day to day life, I would say, is probably that at bedtime.

Dean Pohlman: That time.

Jason Gabrieli: Expense, man, it is. That is the part I have to mentally prepare myself for.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, the kids go into bed. Are you.

Jason Gabrieli: Going to bed? No, them it’s kids going back because that’s when dad is lowest energy, lowest fuze. And when they are at zoomies. What? Want to go crazy? You want to wrestle each other? Want to? I’m like, isn’t it? I really got to put a lot of energy into making that go smoothly every night. Okay.

Dean Pohlman: And then what’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Jason Gabrieli: Get a picture of yourself that you want. So get a and not just a literal picture, but like, what would be the version of you that that would be ideal, right? And again, hopefully not just vanity stuff. Get the testing done to figure out what’s going on with you, even if you’re too young, quote unquote, to normally have that done.

Jason Gabrieli: Just pay the 150 bucks and get it done and get a baseline and say, right, this is where I am. This is where I want to be. And then what’s the why? Why do you want to be that guy three years from now? And be real clear on that? And I think the rest falls into place. And just be curious and be like, how can I improve this?

Jason Gabrieli: Set some time to reflect with yourself. You know, I do it every quarter. I go to a coaching organization in Chicago, and I use that time before that. I’m there in a hotel room by myself. What’s it called? Strategic coach.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, love.

Jason Gabrieli: That’s that’s out of happy to talk offline about that one. But that you know and I use that time to reflect before we have our session. You know, the day before the morning of just kind of go over all my priorities and make sure how a judge myself and square myself, am I doing good on that? Can I do better?

Jason Gabrieli: Okay. But that I kind of build it, I guess you would say.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that’s awesome. All right. Cool. Well, Jason, thanks for having the conversation with me. This is great.

Jason Gabrieli: Thanks, man. Good questions.

Dean Pohlman: Thank you. Yeah. Great conversation. And I don’t usually have to, you know, direct people to to learn more about you. But since you do have a podcast, I feel like I should ask you, like, what’s what’s your podcast? What do you what do you do tell people if they want to learn more about you?

Jason Gabrieli: Yeah, sure. So my name is Jason Gabrielli. Again, full name, not just the G. And my business is investment advisors. And we work with trades and home service business owners that are heading for an exit in the next five years. And so our podcast, Entrepreneurs Journey, is all about talking to owners who have exited what life is like before and after how they navigated their deals.

Jason Gabrieli: We talked to a lot of professionals who work in that world that help people through exits and get their information that might be helpful to somebody going through that show our focus.

Dean Pohlman: Cool, awesome. Well, great. Well, let’s again, thanks for thanks for joining me Jason. My pleasure man. Yeah it’s great. I’m glad you’re glad you’re still doing your mantle yoga three times a week. That’s awesome. Yeah. Well, guys, listening in, I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Inspires you to be a better man and I will see you on the next episode.

Jason Gabrieli: Awesome. Thanks, Steve.

Dean Pohlman: All right guys, I hope you enjoyed that interview with Jason Gabrielli. If you want to learn more about Jason, links below. He actually, I didn’t know that he had a podcast or a business of his own before he reached out to me. And this is this is this is really a member interview, but I wanted to mention his, you know, what he does anyways because he seems like a great dude and I’m sure he does a good job at what he does.

Dean Pohlman: If you’re enjoying this episode, please leave a review of the podcast. You can do that anywhere you listen to the podcast. We also have video versions on the Betterment Podcast G2 channel, as well as in the Manifold Yoga app and members area. If you want to learn more about our community, we do have a free seven day trial.

Dean Pohlman: You can sign up at join. Check us out! We’re cool, cool, supportive of men, and if you want to see what the workouts look like and you haven’t done them yet, go to.

Dean Pohlman: DC and you can check out a free seven day challenge, my Beginner’s Yoga for men challenge. And this is how lots of guys it’s probably most guys get started with yoga. Is that free seven day challenge. So give it a shot. All right guys I hope you’re enjoying this this podcast. Overall more of these member interviews on the way.

Dean Pohlman: I’ve also got some more expert interviews coming out as well. Always looking for new guest, always interviewing. I think we’ve been doing a really good job of keeping up with constant episodes for the last few months, and we’ll just keep them going. So thanks guys for listening. Thanks for being part of a part of the community, and I hope this inspires you to be a better man.

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