0:01

So if you're a busy professional

0:03

look I get it the issue is

0:06

our health often takes a back

0:08

seat and it can be hard

0:10

to start to prioritize it but

0:13

even small consistent steps fit into

0:15

any schedule so I want to

0:18

get this through to you because

0:20

it's so important because I

0:22

care so much about you I

0:24

want you to look and feel

0:27

your best impulse to avoid these

0:29

you know, terrible things that we

0:32

have watched our parents go through.

0:34

Welcome to The legendary Life

0:36

podcast, where it's all about

0:38

taking control of your health,

0:40

losing fat, transforming your body,

0:43

and living the life you

0:45

deserve with celebrity fitness trainer

0:47

and longevity enthusiast Ted Rice.

0:49

So you probably know that

0:51

heart disease is the number one

0:54

killer in the United States and

0:56

even worldwide. But what if I

0:58

told you there's a simple non-invasive

1:00

test that could give you a

1:02

crystal clear picture of your heart

1:04

disease risk? And what if most people,

1:06

especially those over 40, don't even know

1:09

about it. So in this episode today,

1:11

I'm going to be sharing a test

1:13

that I had recently. It's called

1:15

a CT angiogram. And in the process

1:17

of getting that in and I'll talk

1:20

about what that is and what the

1:22

coronary calcium score is and what the

1:24

difference is, but I got a score of...

1:26

the amount of hard plaque that I have

1:28

in my arteries. It was zero. So that's

1:31

a good thing. But what I learned

1:33

from the test might surprise you, and

1:35

more importantly, it can help you make

1:37

better health decisions. So in today's episode,

1:39

we're going to be talking about that.

1:42

I'm going to be sharing my experience

1:44

and why you need to know about

1:46

this test, what it is, why it matters,

1:48

and whether you should get one or not.

1:50

So the first thing is, what is the

1:53

coronary calcium score? The coronary

1:55

calcium score or CAC,

1:57

it measures calcium deposits.

1:59

in your coronary artery, so

2:01

the ones that are in your

2:03

heart. And it's really simple. If

2:06

you have calcium buildup, it equals

2:08

advanced arthro sclerosis. That's hard to

2:10

say, that words are to say

2:12

sometimes, which increases your risk of

2:14

heart attacks and strokes, right? So

2:17

the higher your score, the greater

2:19

your risk, and the good thing

2:21

about it, it's quick, non-invasive, and

2:23

it can give you this score,

2:25

your CAC number, your CAC score.

2:28

And. you should care about this

2:30

because heart disease doesn't happen overnight,

2:32

it develops over decades. In fact,

2:34

what we're learning now, it's about

2:36

lifetime exposure to, oh gosh, I'm

2:39

gonna say it, it might rub

2:41

some of you the wrong way,

2:43

but high AB levels or high

2:45

LDL cholesterol levels, if you have

2:47

high levels over time, you start

2:50

to build up plaque in your

2:52

arteries. Okay, we know, by the

2:54

way, that's the number one thing

2:56

that causes black buildup. It's high

2:59

cholesterol that gets deposited in your

3:01

arteries. And a lot of people,

3:03

I've got to say this, but

3:05

a lot of people say, no,

3:07

it's inflammation. It's metabolic syndrome. So

3:10

look, inflammation plays a role and

3:12

metabolic syndrome definitely plays a role.

3:14

By the way, most people. who

3:16

have one of the signs of

3:18

having poor metabolic health or insulin

3:21

resistance is cholesterol issues or blood

3:23

lipid issues. It shows up on

3:25

a test. So look, again, heart

3:27

disease doesn't happen overnight. It develops

3:29

over decades. And many people think

3:32

they're fine because they don't have

3:34

symptoms, but plaque can silently be

3:36

building up. In fact, I had

3:38

a client who Lost a ton

3:40

of weight with me. He has

3:43

heart disease in his family, but

3:45

over the course of year he

3:47

lost something like 45 pounds, completely

3:49

changed his lifestyle, completely changed his

3:51

body, and not only did he

3:54

lose 45 pounds of that, he

3:56

built muscle as well. And he

3:58

started seeing a doctor because he

4:00

had not been to the doctor

4:03

in a while, and he wanted

4:05

to see what his heart disease

4:07

risk was because he has heart

4:09

disease in his family. The doctor

4:11

didn't want to do extensive testing.

4:14

In other words, he didn't want

4:16

to do a calcium, a coronary

4:18

calcium score. The reason was, he's

4:20

like, well, you're not high risk,

4:22

you're, you're, like, in great shape.

4:25

But the issue is this, and

4:27

I want you to pay attention

4:29

to this, because this is super

4:31

important. The issue is that he

4:33

wasn't, he got, he was in

4:36

great shape for sure, but that

4:38

was in one year. That was

4:40

in one year. That was in

4:42

one year. That wasn't, he wasn't

4:44

in great shape, his whole life.

4:47

And so even though he got

4:49

his weight down, he was suspicious

4:51

or concerned, let's say that, you

4:53

know, he wanted to know, what

4:55

is my risk here? And he

4:58

ended up getting the calcium score

5:00

and it was high. It was

5:02

high, which makes sense because he

5:04

has a family history and if

5:06

you have a family history of

5:09

heart disease, you want to really

5:11

pay attention to this. This is

5:13

something that you need to get

5:15

ASAP. I mean, let's put it

5:18

like this. If you were my

5:20

friend. If you're my client, if

5:22

you're my friend, if I cared

5:24

a lot about you, I would

5:26

say, gosh, you know, you have

5:29

a history of heart disease in

5:31

your family, you need to get

5:33

this. All right? And here's the

5:35

thing. One of the ways that

5:37

you know that you have heart

5:40

disease, you have a heart attack.

5:42

A lot of people find out

5:44

that they have a heart attack.

5:46

I'm sorry, heart disease, because they

5:48

have a heart attack. It's not

5:51

what you want to wait for.

5:53

Health isn't how you feel. It's

5:55

part... partly how you feel. If

5:57

you feel good, fantastic. However, I

5:59

have a friend who drinks a

6:02

lot of alcohol and it doesn't

6:04

really affect him that much. Me,

6:06

I have a few drinks, I

6:08

feel like I'm wiped out the

6:10

next day. And my friend isn't

6:13

in good shape and I am.

6:15

This guy I'm talking about. So

6:17

health isn't how you feel, it's

6:19

the metrics, right? It's the metrics.

6:21

Just like in your business or

6:24

your financial life, it's like you

6:26

wouldn't say, no, I feel pretty

6:28

good about... how I'm doing financially,

6:30

how I'm managing my money. Okay,

6:33

cool, that's great that you feel

6:35

good, but what about the numbers?

6:37

What about the numbers? Because a

6:39

lot of us, we're not doing

6:41

that well. And it's only until

6:44

you get some hard numbers that

6:46

wake you up to the fact

6:48

that you have some issues and

6:50

you should take care of it

6:52

now. And with heart disease, let

6:55

me tell you. Do you really

6:57

want to find out that you

6:59

have an issue because you... had

7:01

ended up with a minor or

7:03

even major heart attack and ended

7:06

up in the ER, you don't

7:08

want that. Because the best thing

7:10

is there's things that you can

7:12

do. Now we're not going to

7:14

talk about that in this episode

7:17

today, but I will be doing

7:19

more and more episodes on heart

7:21

disease and how to test for

7:23

it, what's important, what to do

7:25

if you have an issue. So

7:28

how is this calcium score tested?

7:30

Well, it's a CT scan of

7:32

your heart. So in other words,

7:34

what you do, you make an

7:36

appointment, you've got to go through

7:39

your doctor and, you know, jump

7:41

through. Look, I did it in

7:43

Brazil, and I still needed to

7:45

get, I went and got a

7:48

cardiologist, check up with a cardiologist,

7:50

a very well-known cardiologist in Brazil,

7:52

who works with all the politicians,

7:54

you know, he's a high level

7:56

cardiologist, went and saw him, had

7:59

a whole workup on a bunch

8:01

of different tests. And I asked

8:03

him because it's not standard to

8:05

give a coronary calcium score to

8:07

someone like me. I don't have

8:10

a history of heart disease in

8:12

my family, although, you know, my

8:14

mom died kind of young and

8:16

my dad never had a heart

8:18

attack, but he was on medication

8:21

to keep his, he was on

8:23

medication, he had some bunch of

8:25

issues. So I ended up asking

8:27

the doctor, hey, listen, I really

8:29

want to know this number, is,

8:32

can you help me arrange that?

8:34

And he was, and he helped

8:36

me, right. I had to pay

8:38

for it and everything, but he

8:40

helped me do it. So. It's

8:43

a quick scan. Now I got

8:45

a CT angio scan. So what

8:47

they do differently there is number

8:49

one, CT angio gram, sorry, not

8:51

angio scan, but angio gram. They

8:54

inject you with contrast, which is

8:56

a dye, they inject into your

8:58

veins, and they take a picture

9:00

of your heart to see not

9:03

just hard plaque, which is what

9:05

your calcium score measures, but also

9:07

soft plaque, because I really wanted

9:09

to know us. I've had some

9:11

problems. I don't want to say

9:14

with my heart, but with anxiety.

9:16

I've had panic attacks. I thought

9:18

it was having a heart attack.

9:20

So I really wanted to rule

9:22

out heart disease as much as

9:25

possible. Thankfully, I did the calcium

9:27

score. It's zero. And even the

9:29

CT angiogram showed no stenosis or

9:31

narrowing of any of my arteries.

9:33

So that's great news. I have

9:36

no measurable heart disease at all.

9:38

48 years old. Well, I was

9:40

47 when I got it tested,

9:42

but I'm 48 now. It was

9:44

a few months ago. So, the

9:47

results come for, so, so, CT,

9:49

angiogram, it's more expensive, it's more

9:51

in-depth, and for me, I got

9:53

really sick from the contrast, I

9:55

don't want to say really sick,

9:58

but I felt like I was

10:00

motion sick, I felt horrible for

10:02

the next day. So it's a

10:04

little bit more of an investment

10:06

financially and time-wise to do it.

10:09

And, uh, Yeah, it set me

10:11

back for a day. But if

10:13

you do it, just the calcium

10:15

score, it's fast. It's not invasive,

10:18

you don't get injected with anything

10:20

and the results are super straightforward.

10:22

They come in a form of

10:24

a number. So zero is what

10:26

you want, no detectable calcified plaque

10:29

or hard plaque, which is great,

10:31

or it's not zero, which starts

10:33

putting you depending on how high

10:35

it is, increased risk of heart

10:37

attack or stroke. So look, this

10:40

is really important because I've had,

10:42

what does a zero calcium score

10:44

mean? because I've had clients, I

10:46

had one client in particular, it

10:48

was bad shape, dude was way

10:51

over way, he got a score

10:53

of zero, which is good, but

10:55

we'll talk about this in a

10:57

second because yeah, my score was

10:59

zero two, but I also got

11:02

a picture of the arteries and

11:04

there's no stenosis, no blockages. So

11:06

my score was zero, no visible

11:08

calcified plaque, but here's the key

11:10

lesson. a zero score doesn't mean

11:13

you can ignore your health. And

11:15

the older you are, the more

11:17

meaningful a zero score is, but

11:19

the younger you are, the less

11:21

meaningful it is, right? And if

11:24

you have other risk factors like

11:26

high apobee or apolep or protein

11:28

B, or if you haven't measured

11:30

that, LDL cholesterol, heart disease could

11:33

still be developing. I'm a big

11:35

proponent of prevention. I've learned too

11:37

many times. the hard way that

11:39

once you wait until the damage

11:41

is visible, yes, you get super

11:44

motivated to do something about it,

11:46

but you're you're in damage control

11:48

mode. You are reactive. You're not

11:50

being proactive. So let's talk about

11:52

why age matters. And I already

11:55

referenced this. So if you're under

11:57

50, a positive coronary calcium score

11:59

is a big warning sign. So

12:01

if you have a number that's

12:03

above zero, that means even a

12:06

little calcium at this means serious

12:08

disease risk. You should have a

12:10

score of zero. Now, if you're

12:12

over 60, a positive score is

12:14

more common. So at this stage,

12:17

looking at apobee and cholesterol may

12:19

be more important than just the

12:21

calcium score alone. It's more common.

12:23

Again, start earlier, make sure you're

12:25

taking care of business. If you

12:28

have, you know, get your blood

12:30

work done, if you have issues

12:32

with metabolic health. In other words,

12:34

if you have fasting, high fasting

12:36

glucose or high fasting or high

12:39

fasting insulin or see peptide, or

12:41

if you have hemoglobin A1C, all

12:43

these biomarkers that are elevated, that's

12:45

a sign that you have some

12:48

metabolic resistance either starting or you've

12:50

had it for a while. Also,

12:52

get your Apple B and or

12:54

LDL cholesterol. Make sure you're on

12:56

top of your blood work. Don't

12:59

be the person who waits five

13:01

years to get your blood work

13:03

done thinking that, well, I feel

13:05

okay. Because your goal should be

13:07

prevention and risk reduction. Because if

13:10

you're saving money for retirement, you're

13:12

like, no, I gotta save money

13:14

for retirement. You may be spending

13:16

your money on medical bills. Okay?

13:18

Because... you're going to have, it

13:21

becomes a full-time job to take

13:23

care of failing health. It becomes

13:25

another job. Trust me, you don't

13:27

want it. I've seen that with

13:29

my dad. My dad died in

13:32

2020, not from COVID, from poor

13:34

health, but part of what caused

13:36

him to deteriorate was he had

13:38

poor health during that time and

13:40

was super stressful as we all

13:43

remember. So again, your goal should

13:45

be prevention and risk reduction. This

13:47

stuff... Heart disease is preventable to

13:49

a large extent. If you've got

13:51

something building up, you want to

13:54

know about it. Don't stick your

13:56

head in the sand. It does

13:58

not change anything especially. If you

14:00

have kids, especially if you have

14:03

people relying on you, don't be the

14:05

person, look, I'm saying this out of

14:07

love, okay? Don't be the person who

14:09

gets into trouble and then because you

14:11

stuck your head in the sand.

14:14

So listen, I want to talk

14:16

about the full picture here, what

14:18

calcium score doesn't tell you. So

14:20

calcium score, and this is why I

14:22

had the CT angiogram. Calcium score

14:25

only detects calcified plaque. it

14:27

doesn't measure soft plaque which

14:29

can also be dangerous and

14:32

that's why you would get the

14:34

CT angiogram. Again doctors don't like doing

14:36

it. I asked the cardiologist in Brazil

14:39

to give it to me after telling

14:41

him what I did for work and

14:43

you know that I was concerned and

14:46

that I didn't know the risk on

14:48

my mother's side because she died in

14:50

a car accident and you know in her

14:52

40s I wanted to know and so I

14:55

ended up getting it. So that's why

14:57

that calcium score test it

14:59

should be used alongside other risk

15:01

markers like again Apple B or

15:03

Apple Lippa protein B by

15:05

the way I haven't said

15:08

this but Apple Lippa protein

15:10

B is a better marker

15:12

for cardiovascular risk than LDL

15:14

cholesterol I don't want to get

15:16

into that I'll do a separate

15:18

episode and maybe talk about the

15:20

calcium score and talk about this

15:23

later but a lot of we run with

15:25

our blood panels, we run

15:27

apple-lipper protein B. We also

15:29

run LDL cholesterol, but with our

15:31

clients we look at apple-lipper protein

15:33

B. We also look at L.P.

15:35

Little A, which is a topic

15:38

for another time, but it's a

15:40

separate risk factor, even if you

15:42

have low cholesterol or low apple-lipper

15:45

protein B, which we just said

15:47

is a better marker for cardiovascular

15:49

risk, according to the research.

15:51

even if you have an elevated

15:53

LP little A or you still

15:55

need to be careful. And of course

15:58

lifestyle factors like diet, exercise,

16:00

and stress management, you really need

16:02

the full picture to assess your

16:05

true heart disease risk. So how

16:07

to protect your heart starting today?

16:09

Number one is don't wait for

16:11

symptoms or a high calcium score

16:13

to take action. Start now. Number

16:15

one thing, do you exercise regularly?

16:17

Do you also lift weights and

16:20

do cardio? How is your belly

16:22

fat? How is your body fat

16:24

levels? Especially your belly fat. Do

16:26

you have most of your weight

16:28

around your belly? That's something that

16:30

you want to get rid of,

16:33

and something you can get rid

16:35

of as well. Again, managing stress

16:37

is really important. Chronic stress can

16:39

affect your sleep quality. Don't want

16:41

to get into this, but high

16:43

sympathetic activation. In other words, if

16:46

you're walking around and fight or

16:48

flight all the time, it can

16:50

affect your heart health. It's not

16:52

as important as the other things

16:54

we've talked about. but it's still

16:56

important. And of course, track key

16:58

markers like apple, lip or protein,

17:01

B, L, cholesterol, and markers of

17:03

healthy blood sugar, like fasting glucose,

17:05

fasting insulin, C, peptide, hemoglobin A1C.

17:07

Those are all things that you

17:09

can get measured to give you

17:11

an insight into how you're doing

17:14

with your metabolic health and also

17:16

heart health. So if you're a

17:18

busy professional look, I get it.

17:20

The issue is our health often

17:22

takes a back seat and it

17:24

can be hard to start to

17:27

prioritize it, but even small consistent

17:29

steps fit into any schedule. So

17:31

I want to get this through

17:33

to you because it's so important

17:35

because I care so much about

17:37

you, I want you to look

17:39

and feel your best and also

17:42

to avoid these terrible things that

17:44

we have watched our parents go

17:46

through. So even 10 to 20

17:48

minutes of exercise. is better than

17:50

none. And if you have a

17:52

small amount of time to do

17:55

exercise, you don't want to a

17:57

walk. You want to push yourself

17:59

a little bit. Doing body weight,

18:01

squats and push-ups are going to

18:03

be much better for blood sugar

18:05

regulation, much better for helping your

18:07

heart health, let's say, than doing

18:10

a 10 or 20 minute walk.

18:12

You can also do a 10

18:14

or 20 minute high-intensity interval training

18:16

routine. If you have, if you're

18:18

short on time, you do want

18:20

to push it a little bit.

18:23

But again, you have to be

18:25

careful. if you're in great health

18:27

and you're just out of shape,

18:29

but there's no, I wouldn't call

18:31

that, wait a minute, let me,

18:33

what did I just say? If

18:36

you're in great health, but you're

18:38

out of shape? No, you're not

18:40

in great health if you're out

18:42

of shape, but let's say that

18:44

you have no, you don't have

18:46

diagnosed heart disease and no, you're

18:48

in great health if you're out

18:51

of shape, but let's say that

18:53

you don't have diagnosed those things,

18:55

but you're not quite exercise. pushing

18:57

yourself either doing a hit training

18:59

or doing body weight resistance exercises

19:01

or going to the gym and

19:04

lifting weights. Those are going to

19:06

be your best choices. Now look,

19:08

we all know that at least

19:10

if you've been listening to this

19:12

podcast that a cowery deficit is

19:14

key for losing body fat. You

19:17

can do that a lot of

19:19

ways. You can do a low

19:21

carb diet, high carb diet, low

19:23

fat diet. Look, you can do

19:25

a lot of things, but the

19:27

key thing is are you losing

19:29

weight slash body fat. Make sure

19:32

you adjust your diet so that

19:34

you're eating fewer calories, so you

19:36

start to lose that excess body

19:38

fat, especially if it's around your

19:40

waist. And also use data to

19:42

help you make smarter targeted health

19:45

decisions. Don't fly blind. It's one

19:47

of the things that our coaching

19:49

programs, we really push our clients

19:51

to do, is get this data

19:53

because it makes a difference. And

19:55

I've seen people go from not

19:57

really... from telling themselves a story.

20:00

Like, hey, I'm pretty good to,

20:02

oh, man, I'm not doing as

20:04

well as I thought. So let

20:06

me take some action here. Okay,

20:08

and if you're, if you're a

20:10

high performer and you're having some

20:13

trouble being consistent, taking care of

20:15

your health, this is a great

20:17

way, getting some blood work done

20:19

is a great way to, for

20:21

number one, to be honest about

20:23

your current health, about the risks

20:26

that you're facing. and also a

20:28

great way to motivate you to

20:30

do something about it. And don't

20:32

just get your blood work, but

20:34

I would highly recommend looking into

20:36

getting your coronary calcium score as

20:38

well. So what are the final

20:41

takeaways here? Look, the coronary calcium

20:43

score, it's a powerful tool, but

20:45

it's just one piece of the

20:47

puzzle. And look, if you're over

20:49

40, the best strategy isn't reactive,

20:51

it's proactive. Do not wait till

20:54

you have a problem, get on

20:56

it. your future health depends on

20:58

the choices that you make today.

21:00

So should you get a calcium

21:02

score test? Look, if you're curious

21:04

about your heart health and want

21:07

real data to guide your next

21:09

steps, I again, if you're my

21:11

friend or client, I would say

21:13

you need to get it ASAP.

21:15

But remember, it's not just about

21:17

a single test. It's about long-term

21:19

prevention because the best time to

21:22

take care of your heart was

21:24

when you're in your 20s. The

21:26

second best time was like. 10

21:28

or 20 years ago, but the

21:30

third best time is right now,

21:32

okay? I don't want to, if

21:35

you're in a situation where you're

21:37

like, oh man, you know, I

21:39

feel like really bad because I

21:41

haven't been taking care of myself

21:43

for like decades. Look, you can

21:45

still make a big change just

21:47

like my client did. He has

21:50

an elevated calcium score, but there

21:52

are a ton of things that

21:54

he can do to manage it

21:56

so that he has less risk

21:58

going forward so he can be

22:00

around. for his grandchildren. Okay? So

22:03

again, if you want to take

22:05

control... of your health, reach out

22:07

to me, go to legendary life

22:09

program.com/apply, that's legendary life program.com/apply and

22:11

apply to hop on a strategy

22:13

call with me. So on that

22:16

strategy call, we'll talk about where

22:18

you are with your health, what

22:20

you want to achieve and what's

22:22

in the way of you achieving

22:24

it. And if it makes sense

22:26

to talk about working together. We'll

22:28

cover that as well. And again,

22:31

this isn't for anyone. This is

22:33

for high performers. So if you

22:35

are running a company or if

22:37

you're an executive in a company

22:39

or if you've exited a company

22:41

or if you're a high performing

22:44

professional, I work with doctors and

22:46

lawyers and accountants and consultants. So

22:48

if you fit that bill, then

22:50

and you resonate with what I've

22:52

said here, you definitely want to.

22:54

Book a call and let's talk.

22:57

And of course, if you found

22:59

this episode helpful, share it with

23:01

someone who needs to hear it.

23:03

That's it for today. Hope you

23:05

learned a lot. Speak to you

23:07

on the next episode. Thank you

23:09

again for listening to the legendary

23:12

Life podcast. We have some amazing

23:14

episodes coming your way. So make

23:16

sure to hit that subscribe button

23:18

if you haven't already. If you're

23:20

already subscribed in today's episode hit

23:22

home for you, please share this

23:25

episode with someone who you know

23:27

would benefit from listening. Take care

23:29

and see you every Monday on

23:31

your favorite podcast app.