I just got over‑excited like a little kid on Christmas. I
over‑indulged in my new energy reserves.
I never was never able to do plyometric workouts,
like really good box jumps and stuff like that. I had
so much arthritis and pain in my knee. I could put
up with a lot of pain. I’ m a tough chick, but I couldn’t
physically do it. It was always embarrassing. I would
go to these boot camp classes. I couldn’t do the
jumps. The instructors would always roll their eyes
or yell at me. I just felt even worse and more horrible
about myself. I was like, “God, why won’t my body
jump? What’s wrong with my muscles?” Now, I can do
it, progressively. It’s the most wonderful, joyous thing.
I feel like a little kid running through the sand on the
beach. You just are limitless. It’s so amazing.
G: Now you have a podcast on CBS Sports, “Live Like
an Athlete.” How did that happen?
Sure, CBS Sports, “Live Like an Athlete,” podcast
is my baby of my own creation. I have wanted to do
that for years and years. From even before I started in
sports television.
I think I even tried to pitch it. I had a whole show
concept lined up. But, I didn’t have access to the major
networks before I was on television and I had an agent.
Once I was on TV and had an agent, it just wasn’t
something that anyone seemed either interested in, or
ready to accept, or maybe I wasn’t ready. Who knows?
The universe aligns things in the right ways at the
right times. When I got to CBS, I had the platform
available. I presented the whole thing. I said, “Can
I do this? I realize it won’t be a televised show but
let’s make it a podcast. I can produce the whole thing
myself. I won’t take any of your resources except to
put it on the platform.”
They said, “Sure, if it works and as long as you still
have time to do your other work, go ahead. Do it.” It’s
just been so exciting because the response has been
great because there’s really not anything like it in the
major sports network.
G: Oh, not at all. It’s very unique.
It seemed to me, I have this personal interest in
wellness, and health, and nutrition, and how to just live
a better and healthier life. Then, I work in sports. Why
do people watch sports? They watch sports because
it’s entertaining but you also care about particular
athletes and teams because you’re emulating them.
I thought well, “Forget wearing Beats by Dre
headphones,” which are cool. Forget buying nice
sneakers. Why don’t you just find out how these
athletes are living and then re‑appropriate that in a
more, I don’t know, a way for the mere mortals. In a
way that we can implement it in our daily lives.
I thought, I had access to these incredible human
beings, who I’m fortunate enough to talk to in
my job in sports broadcasting. Athletes, trainers,
coaches, team owners, doctors, you name it. I mean
everybody. It’s really exciting because it’s something
that I truly believe in. I think it’s important information
for people to have. I hope it continues to grow.
8 July 2014 eNewsletter
G: With that, what has been the response for CBS as a
big, mainstream station. That’s what blew me away is to
see someone who has a podcast that ventures into the
Primal/Paleo lifestyle and tied into sports which got my
interest right away.
I don’t know. I can’t speak for the network,
obviously. I can’t really answer that question directly.
What I can say is that my team at CBS Sports and
my bosses, who gave me the go ahead, the green
light to that allowed me to have this on the platform,
are really open‑minded, forward‑thinking people, who
said, “Hey, let’s try it. Why not? It sounds like a good
idea. If it works, great. If it doesn’t. Then it doesn’t,
then we do something else but at least try it.”
To be able to have something that’s on that
platform, to me, I’m really honored and thankful to
them. Hopefully, people will listen and subscribe.
Then, I can continue to do it.
Gary: It’s nice to see something in mainstream that
relates to some of my teachings. You talk with trainers
and athletes who are actually implementing that type of
lifestyle on top of it. It’s encouraging too for all the other
people out there to realize that it’s not some strange cult.
Most people think we just eat nuts and raw meat,
working out with rocks in caves [laughing]. Kobe’s pretty
well known for living and eating a Primal lifestyle now,
with his conversion about two years ago, if I remember
right. I can see people are hungry for this more primitive
type of lifestyle.
Yeah, it’s coming. Part of the reason that I wanted
to do the podcast was not, I didn’t do it with Primal/
Paleo in mind, I did with wellness in mind. It’s just a
way to allow people to have access to information,
to learn, to hear what makes the most sense to them
for their lifestyle. Then they can try it. Like I said, I
tried so many different things before I settled on this.
I truly think that the thing that works the most for most
people, is the thing that will win out in the end. The
cream rises to the top.
That being said, it’s also important to look at
what people may or may not be doing in addition to
that and how we can learn from those other things
because I learned a lot of things from attempting to be
vegan [laughs] for six months that I probably wouldn’t
have otherwise known. There’s some pretty good
takeaways. Things I should and should not do. I think
everything in concert makes the end result better.
G: Totally agree with that. That’s how I am. It’s different
strokes for different folks. Everyone’s a little bit different. I
give them the baseline and then they have to tweak from
there. That’s the best way to do it.
With that being said, I appreciate you taking the time to
talk to me and going over some of this. I really wish you
the best success over at CBS Sports and hope to hear
from you on updates as it goes along.
Thank you so much. For anybody who’s reading, I
just want to tell them that fat is good.
G: That’s a great message to leave with. I’m going to go
eat a big slab of bacon right now.