A Holistic Approach to Wellness and Performance Training with Laird Hamilton [Episode 929]

Episode Summary: 

I am so excited for our guest today, the one and only amazing Laird Hamilton. He is best known as an American big wave surfer, but he is also an international fitness icon. He’s a New York Times bestselling author. He’s just an amazing, amazing person. In today’s interview, we talk about everything, connecting with nature, getting past fear so you do no want to miss this episode because Laird reveals…

About Laird Hamilton

Laird Hamilton is best known as an American big-wave surfer and pioneer in the world of action water sports. In addition to his affinity for the water, Laird is labeled as an inventor, author, stunt man, model, producer, TV host, fitness and nutrition expert, husband, father, and adrenaline junkie.

At 6’3” and 215 pounds, Laird is unique in the way that he balances flexibility and strength. A renowned innovator and guiding genius of crossover board sports including tow-in-surfing, stand-up paddle boarding, and hydrofoil boarding, Laird is the essential Water Man, continuously pushing the limits and expanding all possibilities.

Over the last decade, Laird has transcended from surfing to becoming an international fitness icon and nutrition expert. Many of today’s top professional athletes and celebrities look to Laird for training guidance, including instruction in his unique underwater resistance workouts. Partnering with his wife, professional volleyball player, and TV personality, Gabrielle Reece, Laird created Extreme Performance Training (XPT). XPT is a unique and powerful fitness training and lifestyle program featuring their unique water workouts, performance breathing, recovery methods, high-intensity and endurance training for people of all fitness levels and backgrounds.

In addition to the hands-on fitness teachings Laird offers, he released his first book in 2008, Force of Nature: Mind, Body, Soul, and, Of Course, Surfing (Rodale Books), which has become the go-to manual for those seeking inspiration for leading a healthy lifestyle; the book hit the New York Times Bestseller list within two weeks of publication. Laird is also a contributing editor for Men’s Journal, where he writes about his own fitness, health, and nutrition philosophies.

The entertainment industry has also called on Laird, appearing in a number of feature films and surfing documentaries including Radical Attitude (1992), Wake Up Call (1996), Step into Liquid, (2003), and Riding Giants (2004) where he also served as executive producer. He also performed as a stuntman and surfer in The Descendants (2014), Water World (1995), Die Another Day (2002), and Point Break (2015). In addition to his film work, Laird has appeared on numerous television shows such as Oprah’s Master Class, Charlie Rose, 60 Minutes, Chelsea Handler, Conan O’Brien, Steven Colbert, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

When Laird is not busy surfing the biggest waves in the world, inventing new water toys, and appearing in Hollywood features, Laird is a philanthropist. He has always had a great passion for helping others live a happy, healthy life, as exhibited through his work with non-profit organizations such as the Surfrider Foundation, Race Across America, Pipeline for a Cure for Cystic Fibrosis, Rain Catcher, Muscular Dystrophy and City of Hope.

As for his personal life, Laird, his wife Gabrielle Reece and their daughters split time living in residences in Hawaii and Malibu, California, chasing waves, staying in top shape, and continuing everyday adventures.

 

Guest Resources

Laird Hamilton Website 

 

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Episode Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Feel Good Podcast
01:28 Guest Introduction: Laird Hamilton
04:45 Fearlessness and Connection with Nature
09:31 The Importance of Sleep and Morning Routines
12:51 Breathwork and Extreme Performance Training
17:30 Exploring New Sports: Stand Up Paddleboarding
20:42 Overcoming Fear and Injury in Sports
25:17 The Role of Sleep in Holistic Health
38:32 Laird Superfood: A Journey of Nutrition
48:41 The Connection Between Food and Wellness

[RESOURCES / INFORMATION]

SOLLUNA PRODUCT LINKS

• Glowing Greens Powder™
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• Feel Good Detoxy
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KIMBERLY’S BOOKS

• The Hidden Power of the Five Heats 
• Chilla Gorilla & Lanky Lemur Journey to the Heart
• The Beauty Detox Solution
• Beauty Detox Foods
• Beauty Detox Power
• Radical Beauty
• Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life
• You Are More Than You Think You Are 

OTHER PODCASTS YOU MAY ENJOY!

• How to Believe in Your Self Worth with Jamie Kern Lima [Episode 907]
• How to Raise Your Standards In Your Love Life with Matthew Hussey [Episode 883]
• How to Eat to Beat Your Diet with New York Times best selling author Dr. William Li [Epsiode 913]
• The issues with consuming vegetable and seed oils with Dr. Catherine Shanahan [Episode #899]
• How the Power Foods Diet helps with Weight Loss with Dr. Neal Barnard [Episode #877]
• How Not to Age with New York Times best-selling author Dr. Michael Greger [Episode #873]
• How to eat to reduce anxiety with Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo [Episode #867]
• How to Optimize Your Metabolic Health with Dr. Casey Means [Episode 889]

 

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Transcript:

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:00.238)
Welcome to the Feel Good Podcast. Our goal is to empower you to live your most healthy, joyful, and abundant, highest potential of your unique life through our four cornerstone lifestyle, food, body, emotional well-being, and spiritual growth. My name is Kimberly Snyder, and I’m your host and friend who is so excited and honored to be here with you on your journey. I’m a New York Times bestselling author,

founder of Saluna, holistic wellness expert, nutritionist, and meditation teacher. And just like you, I’m also in the process of learning and have overcome great challenges. I cannot wait to share more with you and through the wisdom of our carefully curated guests right here on our show. Let’s get started.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (00:59.086)
So excited for our guest today, the one and only amazing Laird Hamilton. He is best known as an American big wave surfer, but he is also an international fitness icon. He’s a New York Times bestselling author. He’s just an amazing, amazing person. In today’s interview, we talk about everything, connecting with nature, getting past fear. You definitely do not want to miss this interview.

But before we get started, I just wanna take a moment to call out our fan of the week. And our fan is Carrie Pez with two Zs. And she writes, I have never listened to a podcast regularly, but I truly cannot get enough of Beauty Inside Out. I read the Beauty Detox Solution three years ago and it completely changed my outlook on food and wellness. And after reading Radical Beauty a few months ago,

I have recommitted to the beauty detox solution in a way that inspires me every single day. Thank you, Kimberly, for all of the proven and relevant health and wellness information you provide every week. And I’m so excited to hear you speak live at the Well and Good event in New York City this October. So, Carrie, thank you so much for being in our community, sending you so much love. I’m excited to meet you in person as well.

And yeah, just huge hugs. Thank you so much for being our fan of the week. And so YouTube Beauty, for your chance to be a fan of the week, just take two minutes out of your day and leave us a review on iTunes. Super quick to do, and it’s an amazing way to spread the light and the love, the information on the podcast. You can also just take a screenshot of the podcast right now on your phone and maybe text it to a friend or family member you think would benefit or post it on your Instagram stories.

or your Facebook, wherever you hang out. And that’s another great way to spread the love as well. All right, that being said, let’s get going with our interview today with Laird Hamilton. Hey, beauties, welcome back. I am so excited for our interview today. We have Laird Hamilton, who is a world renowned big wave surfer and pioneer of action water sports, such as toe and surfing, stand up paddle boarding and hydrofoil boarding.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (03:21.558)
Over the last decade, Laird has transcended from surfing and has created Extreme Performance Training, XBT, a unique and powerful fitness training and lifestyle program. He also has a line called Laird Superfood, which are premium convenient products, which are, I might add, very excited to say they’re all vegan and non-GMO. His book, Force of Nature, has become a go-to manual for those seeking inspiration for leading a healthy lifestyle.

Wow, I could go on and on, but Laird, thank you so much for being here with us today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. So Laird, I was just reading about you before we came on. I was watching some of your surf clips. And I have to say, there’s all these amazing businesses you’re going into. But first, I have to ask you about riding waves up to 70 feet. And here, I wrote it down.

Moving at speeds in excess of 30 miles an hour. I mean when you see these videos it just looks insane Have you always just been totally fearless? Where does this come from? I? Think I had the unique opportunity to be kind of both you know in the right place in the right time and then have the right personality you know I I from what I hear from parents and friends. I think I always had a little recklessness about me and I try to

I know, try to streamline that a little bit more these days just because, you know, kids and responsibility and all those things. But no, I think that I’m kind of predisposed to be a little bit kind of a risk taker. I think I passed one of those genes down to one of my daughters. She has it. And then the right place, being raised in Hawaii and…

and being raised in a real aggressive ocean. think the combination of both those really helped lead me to want to be in those extreme environments. When did you start surfing? When did you actually paddle out? I mean, could surf before I could even remember. think they were pushing me on waves when I was probably two or three years old. And I had my first surfboard when I was about five.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (05:40.75)
could swim at a very, very young age, could swim at three. so I just, before I can really, really have good recollection, but I surf, I’ve been surfing for as long as my memory. Wow. I’m working. Well, Elise on our team who lives in San Diego is a huge fan and she was like, you have to ask him what he thinks about when he drops into a big wave. And I said, he’s probably not thinking,

he was thinking he’d probably get the hell out of there. Do you think, do you feel like you’re in flow, you’re one of the ocean? How does it feel to you? It’s something hardly any of us are ever going to experience. Words to describe it are definitely flow, definitely living in the moment, being present. It has such demand on your focus that it’s all-consuming. There’s an all-consuming aspect of it that

It has a kind of an addiction aspect to it. Like you want to go and experience that again. There is an interesting phenomenon that I just kind of, you know, started to learn scientifically about how when you’re in fight or flight or when you’re in those extreme focus moments, you really don’t have a lot of recollection. The memory memory kind of gets turned off because it’s a little bit. It’s almost like a handicap. So memory really impairs your ability to do the right thing.

because it’s not important for you succeeding. Sometimes your recollection isn’t a lot, but I feel like I just get consumed by it and I become part of it. You don’t really have a separation of self. You kind of lose self and become selfless. You kind of just become part of this bigger thing. And then it’s like an improv game. it’s understanding what to do to survive. And it pops up and you have to, it’s a very,

a very intense game of improv because obviously when you do when you make mistakes and you pay severely Yeah, to say the least yeah, anyway beauties you guys listening to you have to just google layered serve video and you will You will lose your mind if you’ve never seen some of the ways you served I was just my heart was starting to be like So anyways, god god bless you for doing it so we can live vicariously through you but

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (08:08.61)
You know, talking about wellness and you’re in all these different aspects of wellness, being such an adrenaline junkie and having these huge waves and all these parts of your life, do you, how is your sleep? I’m just curious. Are you able to come down and rest? I mean, listen, I, I’m, first of all, I am a very good sleeper and have been, have been for forever and really cherish, cherish sleep and,

You know, I have a, I want to make it sure that but lately, you know, my, latest kind of mantra has been, you know, nine to five, like nine to five and not 9am to 5pm, but 9pm to 5am. Wow. You go to bed at nine? Absolutely. Absolutely. you want, well, because I’m going to wake up at five anyway. So if you keep me up to midnight, I’m still waking up at five. Yeah, I get that too.

So yeah, so I kind of get, that being said, think since, you know, I have three daughters and since kind of I’ve had the little girls around, that’s definitely put a little hampering on my sleep because, you know, they want attention. I get it. I have a two year old, Laird, and I know all about sleep getting altered when you start having kids. It’s a different sleep deprivation than when you do.

when you really are, when you’re doing something stupid and staying up late. And you know, I just really like feeling good. I really cherish feeling rested. I understand how important sleep is for your recovery. it’s that’s, I mean, you don’t do it a third of your life because it’s not something important. mean, and if you, you know, if you stay up at all, like in the last two years, I’ve done some pretty long endurance. did the Baja 1000 last year. What is that? Is that an Ironman?

You know, it’s it’s it’s I mean, I’ve been I’ve paddled for 22 hours and and I’ve done a bunch of those kind of things, but I stayed up for almost 52 hours in this like doombuggy race. And that was bad. Like that’s bad. Like when you stay up for like that long a time, you hallucinate. I mean, you realize that like that. How do you how does your body keep moving? Well, if you want to torture somebody, you just keep, know, keep them up and they’ll they’ll they’ll admit to anything. So but sleep is, you know, can’t do without it.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (10:29.24)
So I find that a lot of successful people in athletics and otherwise have a really strong morning routine. And so you mentioned you get up at five. Can you share with us a little bit about how your morning routine looks when you get up, things you eat, things you do? Yeah, well, it’s kind of funny. But I like, I usually organize the kitchen when I get up. You mean like you clean it up? I mean, I put everything away and make it tight.

And so, and I like it tight. And I think that that makes that also, I heard an interesting, I heard a general speaking at a graduation, a military general, and he said, the reason why we make people make their beds is so that it’s called task completion. So you started- Yes. I really get like, if I can have dishwashers full of dishes and dishes out and stuff to do, put, definitely am ritualistic in, okay, the tidy the kitchen.

You know, I always drink a couple big glasses of water with some salt in them and some lemon or something like that and some minerals just because dehydration at night. Yes. You know, and then I have, of course, I’m a big coffee fan, so I usually get, even though I’m an amped and very revved up person, I like to get revved up more already, I guess. It’s almost, I think it has a lot to do with the ritual of it. And then the training starts, but.

But I’m always, know, that initial stage sets the tone of the day. But the first thing in the morning is going to be an activity. I’m awake and I’ve done a task and I’ve hydrated and maybe caffeinated, then I’m going to do something. Then I’m going to either go in the ocean if the conditions are good, or I’m going to go train, pool in the gym, do something. But that sets the day. But the mornings usually when I do things,

stressful. Like I usually it’s the best time to do anything stressful actually. So why is that? Because the your cortisol level just the your hormonal levels are much better suited for doing stressful things in the morning. Like you’re really your body’s your body’s designed to do stressful things. And so I mean, that’s the that’s the you know, that’s the optimum time to put stress on your system, no matter what that looks like, you know.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (12:51.282)
or some sort of, you your taxes or whatever, you know, whatever you want to consider stressful to the system. I noticed in your extreme performance training, there’s an aspect of breathwork. Are you, is that like yogic pranayama or what kind of breathwork is it and how did you happen upon including that? You know, I have a tendency to kind of make things my own. When I, in all of my training, I really like hybrids. I really, I really kind of variation because I really,

As much as I’m, as I like routine, I hate monotony. You know, it’s between routine and monotony. And so I don’t like it. This is the same training and the same food and the that’ll do kill me. If you’re going to do it, just put me down at that point. I’m also the breathwork stuff that I do ultimately has a lot of variation. I’ll incorporate it within training. I’ll do hypoxia training. I’ll do, you know, I’ll do, I’ll do, you know, apnea, pranayama.

variations of TUMO, I’ll do Wim Hof, I’ll do Hypoxia, I’ll do Allotropic, I’ll do comedy, all of those. I’ll dance. I always like to say I’m jack of all trades, master of none, right? Or trying to master some or however you want to describe that. But I like breath work a lot. I respect breath work to the point where I give it the time and the effort that I think it deserves. It’s a little bit like sleep.

You know, these are important things. Breathing is, you know, without breath, you’re, you don’t exist and, and you can’t survive very long without air. And so air, I give air a lot of, a lot of respect and a lot of work, you know, know, we, most of our, you know, the focus of our breath work really has been based on all the research done on nose breathing and just how important nose breathing is. And, you know, and, using that as kind of the foundation of anything we do, we are always incorporating that and the combination of, of trying to.

become more CO2 tolerant, which is your ability to handle high levels of CO2, which is the result of, you know, if you’re working out or, and one of the big issues I think most people, have, or just people in general is chronic mouth breathing, which shrubs their CO2 and keeps their CO2 levels down and which ultimately results in less oxygen absorption. And it’s a little bit like water that doesn’t have the right.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (15:15.63)
You know, you drink the water that doesn’t have salt minerals in it, then you don’t really absorb it. You just drink it and you pee it out. Well, lot of the air we’re breathing, we’re just breathing, but we’re not absorbing. So, Is there ever a time to breathe through your mouth or do you think anytime we should be breathing through the nose? Talking. Talking. talking. then when you’re at such high levels of CO2 that you have to, you know, you’re on it, you’re in a sprint and you’re starting to get a buildup, then you can use that way to exhale the bad air.

or if you’re going to do some kind of breathing pattern where we’re going to use our mouth to create high volume. But usually, mouth breathing, if you look at a dog, you’ll only see a dog open his mouth and breathe when he’s exasperated. At the end of a run, he’ll go, Yeah, or if it’s like 100 degrees now. Yeah, but for a minute only. They only do it for a second, and then they’ll go back to nose breathing.

So I think it’s, you you use it as a tool like that. So, but the more you can do everything with nose breath, the more efficient your cardiovascular system is. And so we just do a bunch of stuff to try to support that. Well, you know, when I was listing that, and it’s out by the way, you could, we could spend hours on breath work. But yeah, I love that. It’s part of your, your work, which is so,

there’s such a range to it. You’re incorporating so much into your lifestyle. And along the same lines, when I was talking about you’ve pioneered all these different sports like toe and surfing, which is crazy to me like you’re going into these big waves, but also stand up paddleboarding, which seems kind of chill. Like I’ve done it. And I know you are a huge pioneer in that seems very peaceful. Did you start getting into that because it was sort of the balance to your adrenaline huge waves? Or where did that

How did that fit in? Because it seems a little different than your other sports. Yeah. Well, I mean, I’ve taken stand up to extremes. So it’s not like I haven’t. right. That’s true. I saw that. Yeah. I’ve giant waves and we’ve I’ve paddled a bunch of channels. I mean, we’ve we’ve done a bunch of really long paddle like endurance stuff. And I’ve always liked endurance. And you’ve you’ve punched a punch if I’m using the right term, a peer, right? Of sorts. I went through the peer on my on my board. Yeah.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (17:30.19)
Yeah, okay. I served between during a big swell that people found that rather, I don’t know, entertaining, I would describe that. But stand up really, know, stand up came from a real organic, when I had my first daughter, I started wanting to put her on a board. And so I was writing these bigger boards to accommodate. I see. I want to put her and then I started standing up and kind of wanting to not lay down. And then before you know it, I started using it as really a training mechanism.

to create leg strength. And in the summer when the surf was flat, I’d be in California. And so I could go for these paddles and really build my leg strength, which normal conventional surf paddling, which is if you understand you’re on your stomach and you lay down and you paddle with your arms. And so I was able to use that as training. then I started, know, kind of, okay, I’m going to paddle the English Channel stand up. I’m going to paddle the Molokai. I’m going to paddle from Catalina to, you know, I’m just, you know, it’s a little bit my nature to just

take things and then kind of see where I can go with them. But stand up is it there is I mean, I’ve been down the Colorado River on them. I’ve done I mean, there’s a bunch of things you can do. But it is kind of, you know, and we’ve written giant waves with him too. But it’s just another discipline. think I think I kind of continue continually look for ways to kind of reinvent not myself, but the things I do to make it interesting. Because it you know, if you’ve been I’ve been surfing since I was three years old. So

You you’re looking at 50 something years, it’s kind of like, if I served on the same board in the same way, I’d be a little tired of it right now. And maybe I wouldn’t, you know, and maybe I wouldn’t serve and I’d be like, well, that would be really a bummer if I wasn’t in, if I still didn’t love to serve, I’d be like, that would be the worst thing that I could do, this thing I love, that I could do in life. And so I’ve been real conscious about trying to, know, continually make it new and interesting.

and it’s led me down all kinds of interesting path. And I can always circle back to the aspect of it that I’m proficient at, but there is something fun about being a student. I really like being a beginner. I really like that arc, that really steep curve, the learning curve where you just increase so quickly and gain these skills. then once you become kind of, once you get something somewhat mastered, then the increments of learning are very small. And that’s sometimes.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (19:52.174)
There’s a monotonous in that. I told somebody, you’ll become a better surfer by becoming more flexible than surfing more if you’ve surfed for 10,000 hours. Another hour on 10,000 hours, what’s that going to do? That’s 10,001? It’s like where if you became stronger or more flexible, then you’d have a chance of really improving much more. I think I like that aspect. I like the creative.

aspect of all of this stuff, know, whether it’s in nutrition, whether it’s in in in training, whether it’s in, you know, all of these different things. I like I like the creative aspect. I like the you know, that’s an interesting, you know, the interesting part of the process for you. Yeah. Yeah, it’s fun.

Well, know, one thing is not everybody’s going to ride these like enormous jaws in Hawaii and do some of the things you’ve done. But can you tell us about you? Everybody has experienced fear or trying something and then you mess up or you get hurt. And has there ever been a time where you got hurt from a big wave or something you tried? And how did you get past that to continue? Well, that’s a that’s a subject in itself. I think there’s a real.

Skill at that. I think that’s part of your book. I actually have another book of life writer coming out next year I’m working on a show right now that speaks on this subject and And and you know, I speak on it I think in in force of nature. I actually have a cookbook out to go fuel up it but But the new force, know force of nature is a few years old already. So we have the new one called life writer, but

This subject that you talk about, know, when you’ve been hurt or you’ve had failure, how do you, you know, they’ll get back on the horse. think that getting back on the horse, I think is very important in that process. I think if you’re able to, like I’ve been, you know, the physical representation of that is, you know, I’ve been severely hurt in the water and I’ll go ride another way, even with a, you know, broken collar bone or, you know, some hole in my face or some cut.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (22:06.934)
I’ll go back and catch another wave just to kind of end on a positive note and not finish kind of in failure and then have to recover and then go back against because the longer you wait, know, and I have friends, I mean, you think about this as a great example, know, something traumatic happens to you when you’re really young. Scary traumatic thing. You fall off a horse, you almost drown in a swimming pool and then you don’t go back, you don’t go and you don’t do it again.

Well, when you’re like 30 and 40 years old or four years old or 20 years old, you’re scared of horses or you don’t want to go near the water. Right. Because it’s grown, right? This whole thing, this fear has grown. And I think the sooner you can, you can kind of embrace it and come to it, the better. And, you know, that’s a process that you, start getting good at, good at it. And I’ve been hurt so many times where I wondered if I would be able to do what I do at the level I do it.

And yet I’ve been able to do it because I went through the process of recovering, having faith, believing I can, doing everything I can to heal and get strong. And once you do that once, twice, three times as you go, you find that you get confidence. You start to get confidence like, It doesn’t become like a habit almost. I’m just going to do it. I can redo it. And just like being a beginner.

It’s the same philosophy as being a beginner. You come in, you don’t know, you’re like, OK, I haven’t done this. I’m going to look funny. People laugh at me. mean, lot of my innovations that I’ve been in, a lot of the innovations I’ve been involved in, I had a lot of criticism along the way. People, that’s not good. That’s fake. That doesn’t count. And being able to ignore that, there was a woman that

a great entrepreneur and they asked her, what would you think is the most important thing when somebody has a really good idea? And she says, don’t tell anybody for a year because they’ll discourage you. you know who I think said that Sarah Blakely? Probably. Yeah, that’s a great thing. So you just let it build up. Yeah. Well, and you, but again, that’s a similar part of that process, right? So don’t be discouraged. You know, you’re only going to be a beginner for so long.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (24:26.456)
There’s a formulaic process about recovering from an injury and going back and succeeding as just like it is being a beginner. That’s a similar relationship between those. When you’re beginner at something, you don’t know how to do it. You come in kind of naive and you kind of, and then you, but you’re gonna, it’s gonna be hard and you’re gonna make mistakes and people are gonna laugh at you. But you just keep looking past that. And then before you know it, you’re good at it. And then you’re laughing at them because they realize how stupid it is and they wanna try it.

And I think that that’s something that has really helped me in my life to be able to continue to push and not be deterred from my goal.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (25:17.934)
Sleep is such a profoundly important part of our holistic lifestyle. We need to invest in good sleep because when we do, we will function better, we will be able to digest better, we will enjoy our lives better, we’ll be able to stay in more heart coherence. So many things. Now, I’m not one who is for a million different gadgets and products, but I have to say that the 8 Sleep, which is a cooling mattress that fits right over your current mattress,

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or even for yourself, really. There’s cooking, there’s cleaning, there’s sourcing, there’s so many different aspects. So this is one of the reasons that I love Hungry Root, which is the delivery service. It can give you recommendations if you put in that you’re plant-based or gluten-free or however you like your actual food preferences. And you can take the recommendations or choose your own. Now, I usually choose my own groceries, but with…

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (27:44.526)
Hungry Roots recommendations. found some amazing things like their chickpea cookie dough, certain bean salads, this jasmine rice dish that my kids love. So it really is so convenient and it makes healthy eating practical because we are all so busy. Now right now, if you go to hungryroot.com slash feel good, you will get 40 % off your first delivery.

and get your free veggies. Now this is an amazing offer and I really recommend you try this service to save time, to save your energy, so you can do other things in your life and still eat healthy. Once again, it’s hungryroot.com slash feel good to get 40 % off your first delivery and free veggies.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (28:43.502)
do it this way and you’ve created all these other sports. So you had to just kind of get in your own head and not let all the outside noise come in because you weren’t following anybody else. Well, and people don’t like that. People don’t like it when they see other people going off on their own path because then they have to ask themselves, how come I’m not doing that? Yeah. So they all discourage you along that. And so I think there’s an aspect to that. I think part of the way I was raised

you know, that little bit of the race, racial tension that I grew up in helped me be a little bit resilient to that. You know, I mean, being in Hawaii and not being, you know, being, being a guy, know, whatever, whatever your circumstances are, you know, like you’re green and everybody’s purple or you’re yellow and everybody’s red. mean, just being different. and, your differences can be, you know, it can be, you can just be

I mean, Gabby’s differences were that she was tall and that made me freak. You know, you’re a tall girl. Wow. You know, you can get, we all have our things and you know, I think some of that definitely helped me be able to push and drive and not be, and not be, and not fall victim to social pressure of like, hey, wanting to fit in and be accepted. So I’m not going to do, you know, something I really believe in or something I think is, you know, is important.

But because you got so good, did the local native people accept you eventually? I feel like there’s one thing that you’re able to earn respect. You might not like me, you respect. Yeah. And but but at the end of the day, you still can’t change the color of your skin. So, you know, no matter what I mean, will end this and I have I have some of my best friends are Hawaiians and I and I

And I have Hawaiians that told me I’m more Hawaiian than it’s Hawaiians. But at the end of the day, think what I like to do, what I’ve been fortunate to do is that could transcend that. And I just say, I’m a human from planet Earth. And if you’re something different, then we can talk about it. But otherwise, I mean, I’m a human from Earth, and so are you, and I don’t care. I love that.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (30:58.766)
No Larry, it’s so funny because I actually grew up in a really white place and I’m half Asian. So everybody would say to me, what are you? What are you? And I would say, I’m a human. Like I was so tired of that answer. Like what the F like, I’m a human. Yeah, exactly. But I’m just saying there’s always some, yeah, that we deal with and not, but those are the things that shape us too. So at the end of the day, you know, when you look at that, that those are the things that shape us and make us who we are. And, you know, going through them when you’re a kid and all that.

Sometimes it’s brutal and you’re like, when you’re in it, you’re like, this is like, you know, my life is over. Yeah. Some for the hell on earth kind of thing. But, but at the end, I think that, you know, it’s what makes us who we are. And I wouldn’t change. I wouldn’t change one of those things. So Larry, I’ve heard some surfers describe surfing, being in the water, almost like a spiritual meditation experience. Is that how it feels to you?

Do you also do a formal meditation or do you feel like that’s just you’re just molding melding in with everything like you said earlier I think that I’ve been into active meditation for a long time without really knowing it I think that that my relationship with the ocean and what I do in the ocean has an aspect especially in certain disciplines a very very Meditation, you know deep meditation aspect to it. I think the breath work lately has been a

has been a mechanized meditation that I find efficient and very, very, you know, successful. think it’s, I mean, I have friends that have done, you know, Transcendental for 30 years and we’ll do a breath, we’ll do a breathing pattern for, you know, an hour or 90 minutes and they’ll come out of it and say, that’s deeper and further away than anything I’ve ever done.

How can we learn about that? Is that the extreme performance training that we can live to? Is it like an online program you can do or is it only in person? No, no, we actually are building an app right now. that’s awesome. A breathing app. like I said, there’s an aspect. First of all, the spiritual aspect of being in the ocean is that’s another whole conversation because that really talks to

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (33:22.55)
First of all, what the ocean means to us. And there’s some physical things that happen when we’re in the ocean to us, as well as some spiritual things. So, you know, the ocean is the most conductive substance on Earth, right? Water is. And so it’s electronically charged with negative ions. And we have all kinds of, you know, absorption in our skin of the minerals. And I mean, there’s a bunch of physical compression on our bodies and all that. And then we’re in this

environment where we’re connected to nature. the ocean. Yeah, it’s magical. And yeah, it’s the shamans say, they call it grandmother ocean and it’s held by like the grandmother of the earth, the support for your life energy is the ocean. For sure. That’s why at the end of the day, it’s about a relationship with the ocean. You know what mean? Like people would surf and said, they’re like, people, a lot of people don’t even understand why they’re so obsessed with it. Like they wake up in the

middle of the night and look out and you know it’s like it’s going to be up and they’re all out there in the dark and you know and so I mean yeah I think there’s a combination of a spiritual thing that happens by being in the ocean I think there’s a meditation aspect that also connects you to the spiritual aspect that riding the wave itself the act of riding the wave I you know I always say that you know people go well I don’t surf I go well first of all everybody’s a surfer it’s just whether you’ve surfed or not every there’s not a human on earth who

who wouldn’t enjoy the sensation of gliding on a board on a weight. There’s just, it’s not. I told somebody it’s a little bit like being an alcoholic. Everybody’s an alcoholic, it’s just whether you drink or not. We’re predisposed to enjoy this activity called surfing, right? And so I don’t care if you’re from inland, if I take somebody from Siberia and I put them on a board and I shove them on a wave and they stand up, they’ll freak out. And they’ll be like, that’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. And so it’s a little bit like that. That’s what surfing represents. I think-

Because of, you know, because it’s multi-layered, think there’s a connection to the ocean, a spiritual aspect, a physical aspect. There’s all these, you know, there’s all these, a chemical. mean, there’s a lot, I think there’s a lot of stuff we just don’t completely. So you’re still out there almost every day, like you said, when the conditions are right. Are you on a short board sometimes, a long board, just having fun?

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (35:39.438)
You know, honestly, at this particular moment, my weapon of choice is a foil board. So it’s a hydrofoil surfboard that I spend most of my time on that. That’s the thing that I’m inspired by. OK. It’s a board that flies. And you can see that online too. It’s not like kite surfing. No, kiting’s with a kite. Yeah, this is like how is this? By the way, so you know, kiting is another sport that I was involved with at the conception of. we. So many.

Yeah, it’s ongoing. But foiling, kite, people kite foil, but we kite surf, which is, and so I would say I was probably the first person to ever kite foil because we were foiling first and then we were kiting, so we kite foiled. But we like waves, and so we’re wave riders, we’re surfers, and so we enjoy riding waves more than we enjoy being powered by.

I mean, that’s just a secondary when you don’t have surf. So we have, you know, we have ways to, you know, stay in the water by other activities, but foiling is a, it’s been around, but it’s really emerging right now. It’s kind of taking boards by storm. so you could I’m gonna watch it, yeah. I actually have a film out called Take Every Wave. And at the end of the film, the conclusion of the film, there’s a nice segment on foiling, but-

You can go online and see some incredible foiling right now. We’re foiling in big waves. We’re foiling in small waves. Yeah, there’s foiling. So foiling is something I went foiling today. went foiling yesterday. The day before. Will you go foiling in Hawaii some point? know you spent time there. Yeah, so I’ll go back in the winter. We foil in the big waves. So part of the reason why we use the foils is because we believe it’s one of the only ways you can ride these waves.

get too big to ride conventionally. So once waves become over probably 80 to 100 feet high, they move so quickly that you can’t really ride them on conventional boards. Anyway, it’s another subject, but it’s an ongoing, it’s like the ever elusive goal that you never get to, but you’re always chasing. So I’m a little bit like a bloodhound in that sense, doesn’t leave the trail. I can talk to you about surfing all day. This is awesome.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (38:02.888)
But first, I want to make sure we get to before we end about your superfood brand, which I’ve read all about. It looks amazing. I love that your creamer is based in coconut milk. And tell me the inspiration behind the brand. And again, we here in the community, a lot of us are mostly are all plant based. So we love that it’s vegan, non GMO. Tell us more. The original concept of the superfood. First of all, I grew up in Hawaii where we fished, hunted and farmed. Yes, was all from the land.

And I grew up at a time when there were still people that lived off of the land. Maybe they went and bought toilet paper and paper towels, but at the end of the day, they lived off the land. They farmed, they fished, they lived off the land. And so I grew up understanding that food was fuel. That food’s fuel. It’s not about pleasure. It’s not about taste. It’s about fuel and that it gives you energy and how powerful it is.

My relationship with food kind of has been based on that. And then, and, that’s kind of the pretense for Laird superfood. Now, as we go into the, as we, you know, when we came out with the first product, we really came out because first of all, I love coffee. So it’s, had two French habits. I used to go to France. I was in France for 20 years. Every couple of times a year, I a, I had a French sponsor, that was sponsored by for 22 years. And, and, and I snowboarded windsurfed and surfed for them.

for this company. But my two French habits were red wine and espresso. And the red wine, I decided that that was probably not the best habit for me if I want to continue to serve until I can’t breathe. So I stopped that. But my love for coffee continued on. so I would have beans sent from all over. then I started about 20 years ago, I started using heavy cream and some of these other kind of raw dairy creamers.

and in my coffee and then the bulletproof guy came out and was talking about, you know, how great coconut oil was. And I grew up in Hawaii with coconut oil. So I was like, yeah, of course, coconut oil. And so I started using coffee really as a, as a place to, to, to like a platform for me to, to, use for anti-inflammatory protein, like all these healthy fats. And I had a rest and I had a, I would concoct stuff because again,

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (40:26.424)
you know, my desire to innovate. I’m like, okay, well, let’s, what if I, you know, and how do I make this energy? How do I take this and make this a performance strength? And so that’s what it’s, so the original creamers came from a recipe that I had that was based on what I had been using. And so that’s the original creamer. I felt like because the stuff that people were putting in their coffee was so toxic that I was like, well, this is an opportunity because people do this every day.

that are putting a bunch of poison in themselves every day. This is a place where we can really get to them and then get them used to feeling good and feeling what it feels like when you have something that you eat that gives you energy and then start making other products as well. So the superfood line, have all these, have turmeric, creamer, cacao creamer, original. I have a matcha product. Matcha hydrate, so we have matcha hydrate, which is a caffeinated hydration.

because you can’t get fresh coconuts here. So I’m like, how do I get people good sports drink? Like most people are dehydrated. How do we do that? So all the hydration products are freeze dried coconut water combined with either B or matcha or turmeric. And I put calcified, I put this calcified C algae in- I saw that. Yeah. that has 70-

minerals and the most bioavailable minerals that you can consume anywhere because we are the ocean. we’re so amazing. Yeah. there’s a bunch of so it’s, know, and then and then and then we’ve been, mean, listen, I it’s been the company is going crazy right now because of the nature of how the people are responding to the product, the way that the product is, is, is, and you know, tastes good.

Well, I’ll also say I’m really impressed as far as it fits into my nutritional philosophy, too, where you’re not putting in a million different ingredients. They’re very pure. It’s just, you know, what needs to be there. And there isn’t filler and there isn’t 20 ingredients you can’t pronounce. And even in the creamer using coconut nectar, which is low glycemic, low fructose, like it’s just the best. sure. Listen, of the philosophy is, of all,

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (42:41.762)
you know, because Paul check, a friend of mine years ago said, you know, the three white devils are white flour, white sugar, and white milk. If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it. If it wasn’t here 10,000 years ago, don’t eat it. And the fact is, is that our in, in layer two, one of the philosophies is whole food ingredient, like food, not like, you know, extractions and, you know, concoct and stuff that you don’t even know what it is.

and then, and all this invisible stuff. And so that my objective behind the brand really is to make it so that, so that people can trust it. When you go there and you see my brand, go, you just grab, you just grab and know that we are going to vet the best sources, the best thing. Like it’s going to be super simple. You’re going to have what? Three ingredients, four ingredients.

That’s really, really great for your digestion because I see places in LA where people are making these smoothies with literally 30 different things and then you just get a small amount of each thing. I always say it’s better to have more beneficial ingredients of a few things. That’s how you’re going to get the benefit, like your products. Well, when you mix also too, when you put so many things in one…

The body doesn’t know what to digest. Exactly. It doesn’t work. Am I digesting this or that or this? so it ends up, you know, it’s like I tell somebody, you ever have a Thanksgiving dinner when you’re done, you eat so many things, you just go to sleep, you’re in a coma. Yeah, exactly. are we eating? And so, you know, I think simple, that’s one of the, that’s something that we’re staying true to is staying simple and being, you know, and being full disclosure. It’s like, I think at one point, because I really enjoyed this one oil called red palm oil.

And so people were going crazy about this, about orangutans and the thing. I go, well, first of all, we get this red palm oil from South America where there is no orangutans. And these farms have been there for the 90s. they’re like small farms that are protecting their, you know, there’s a couple of groups that we work with that are, know, I mean, listen, if you’re not non-GMO, if you’re not vegan, if you’re not, know,

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (44:48.418)
you know, taking care of the work, you know, fair trade, if you’re not environmentally friendly, you know, it’s like, I mean, you, to do anything in this world now, you, have some responsibilities. And so we’re just trying to be, be one of those companies that’s responsible and not make everything about, know, how can we just make money? Making money is important because you can spread the word. Like totally it’s profit is the energy of the planet.

Yeah, you can, you can, if I’m more, if the company is more successful, I can get it to more. Yes. like, we have a green drink right now that we’re, we’re, coming out with that I think is going to, it’s going to cost 75 cents a drink, right? But it’s going to be equivalent to what’s in an $8 bottle of green drink, which listen, who can, you know, how much of what percentage of the population can afford to give their three kids an $8 green drink? Yeah.

They can’t, right? So in a way, it’s kind of like it’s for the people. Yeah. And then how do we meet people with where they’re at? If you’re consuming, you know, soda pop and all this stuff every day, if I give you unsweetened, you know, raw cacao, you’re going to be like, yeah, no, this stuff sucks. No, saying so in a way it’s like a dance, right? It’s like, how do I get you to actually participate?

but then make you be able to evolve. And I think there’s something to that. think we’re on a track that is gonna allow us to do that. We’re gonna be able to kind of almost, it’s almost like with your kids where you disguise something really good for them as another thing and then they eat it they’re kind of like, hmm, okay, I like that. And before you know it, then it leads them on to some really great stuff. And that’s what I’m hoping that we can do, that we can lead people, first of all, by feeling good.

Okay, hey, it tastes good. Well, that tastes really good. Wow. It gives me energy. I feel really good. I have focus. wow. Let me try this other stuff and then you into wellness because you have to be led into wellness. You can’t go from completely sick to completely healthy. There’s a right experiential like, this tastes good and I feel good. And then you take steps. Exactly. And it’s a journey. No, it’s a journey. It’s a journey that’s going to take an army to, you know, and when you look at diabetes and you look at all these different

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (47:11.308)
these different things, these issues that we have. I mean, it’s a problem. Obesity, diabetes, these are issues. These are going to affect everybody and the amount of diseases and the amount of… And then just the fact that the way people’s minds are working. I’m just like, these people need nutrients. People need to be healthier and their brains would be clearer. And then we have less issues and we’d have less arguments and it would be easier to make…

I’m talking about government, I’m talking about corporate, I’m talking about in every aspect. I think if people were healthier, we wouldn’t all be fighting. We would be agreeing on a lot of things because it makes sense what the right thing was to do when you were healthy. But if you’re not healthy, yeah, okay there. So there you go. I love it. If you’re clogged, you’re clogged everywhere, Yeah. And then you’re going to make issues over things that don’t even make sense because you don’t even feel good. And if you don’t feel good, how can you think properly? It doesn’t work.

Right. This is connected to here. The stomach is connected to the brain. Exactly. Well, I when you grew up, you were living off the land and know, things have changed. The population has exploded and people are eating larger portion sizes. So just now seeing what’s going on from an environmental standpoint, do you find yourself eating more plant based or more plant based meals? Because I see that in your products. Is that part of how you naturally eat yourself? Are you incorporating more? May or may not be all vegan, but do you find yourself

eating more plant-based meals, I guess. I find myself actually not eating as much, period. Like you don’t need as much when you’re healthy. If you’re breathing well and you have oxygen and you’re hydrated and you’re using the sun’s energy, you just don’t need as much food. And I think even more importantly is that, even more importantly is if you’re getting the proper nutrients,

you won’t be hungry. So that’s a big issue that people have is that the reason why they’re just eating profusely is because there’s nothing in the food. when food is empty, of course you got no, course you got no, you’re not getting satiated. Your brain’s going, hey, I still haven’t, I haven’t gotten what I need yet. So I think there’s a relationship with, with, with that. And, and definitely, you know, I’m definitely eating a lot more plant-based foods in general, but you know,

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (49:37.07)
And variety though, I think because there was the most variety in that. mean, listen, I love fertile eggs and I have, you know, I know, I know I gotta have some of that. But the fact is, that, you know, big car, a big car. It’s a lot of this car would need, this is a big car. This isn’t a little Nissan. This is like a big truck. gotta, I’m hauling like, I’m hauling cargo, you know, I gotta.

You know, mean, I mean, and I know that, listen, I noticed that directly, like my output is directly related to my appetite. When I’m, you know, if I’m in the ocean and I’m riding giant waves, spelling energy beyond energy, when I come in and it’s like, I don’t know if there is any, I don’t know if there is enough food to eat, you know what I mean? Like that kind of, but if I’m not, if I’m flying around in airplanes and not having to do,

the not getting to exert myself, then I just watch my appetite drop. And I call myself a flexitarian. I want to be able to eat what I eat to eat. it just starts to make, you just start, I think when you’re the healthier you are and the more nutrient stuff you’re getting, the more minerals, like our biggest issue is minerals. Because our food doesn’t have the minerals that it used to have in it. Because we’re not composting and we’re not,

Our plants aren’t absorbing minerals from the soil because the soil doesn’t have They’re over farming and yeah. Yeah, there’s no minerals. So then you guys, so then you’re just looking for anything you can anywhere. And that’s where I think a lot of it, mean, besides, and like I said, that’s why the healthy fats are so important too. Those healthy fats really will save me and that coconut oil and that. The matcha product. That nuts and cups. The matcha product you mentioned has the, it has the mineral based. Absolutely.

Well, the matcha is a hydrate with caffeine. So it’s a caffeinated hydrate, hydration, which is perfect. But all of them have aquamen in them. So they’re all, they all have aquamen and, and, you know, because that calcified C algae is so the minerals, absorption, you know, I mean, I use this deep sea water. I get these, this mineral that I use in my water in the morning, early in the morning, but you know, the, the, what people don’t realize is that dehydration probably is connected more to

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (52:02.328)
to low minerals than it really is to lack of water. That’s really interesting. You have a lot of water in your system, but the mineral thing is the thing. That’s why they give salt tablets to football players thinking that that’s gonna quench them, but it really has a lot to do with the minerals. And so if you can get those minerals, and the fact is that calcified CLG is, it’s like a clay from the bottom of the ocean.

you know, environmentally friendly, like you just eat some clay. Like that’s about what I’ve been saying. That’s about, it’s about like that. That’s about what it is, which is the irony of it, right? When you, when you really start looking at nature, you realize that the simplicity of the things that you need, it’s right there. It’s we’re trying. amazing. Complication. We’re making everything too complicated. We just look in and use it how it was designed to be used. Like that’s why. Yes.

Whole food stuff, look for own minerals. mean, the mineral, that calcified sea algae is from Iceland and they get it off the bottom of the ocean floor and literally it’s like sand. It’s like a fine sand that our body just is designed to absorb. Yeah, the powers and the simplicity, not taking a million different things like we said. It’s coming from nature. We want to make ourselves seem special. So we make it real complicated and actually what we do is mess it up. But I think you always use

You always use complication to disguise imperfection. And when things are simple and perfect, there’s nothing to do. just, yeah, here, just here they are. mean, and the fact is we can use technology to do things like freeze dry coconut water where we can capture the essence of it and then make it shelf stable. then now, because coconut water, like I drink coconuts every day in Hawaii during the winter when I live there. But if you put coconut water in a glass and you put it in the refrigerator, thing lasts two days at the most.

Yeah, and then it gets funky. So if you go buy coconut water somewhere here in a box, something happened to it. They did something to make it okay. So when you open it up and you drink that thing and then the weight of that, the carbon footprint to send that around, I mean, know, it’s like we’re like, one bag is like 30 bottles of coconut water. It’s like, so environmentally friendly. mean, you know, again, responsibility that we’re going to have to do, we’re to have to change certain things that we do, use technology.

Solluna By Kimberly Snyder (54:29.858)
to be responsible and but still take advantage of the way things were meant to be. there’s like a, there’s like, you know, we have both of that. We have both of those opportunities. That’s it’s amazing, Larry. I love how you’re approaching your whole line. It’s very much in alignment with, you know, the connection you obviously have with nature and the ocean. So thank you so much for all this amazing work you’re doing.

We’re gonna link to Laird’s line and also I know you have a new book coming out there but for now we’re linked to Force of Nature and your site. there’s another one fueled up. have a cookbook too. it’s not vegan so you might, you know, might be wrong. That’s okay. Not everyone in our community is vegan so it’s nice to have options. There’s avocado, chocolate, mousse though. Okay. Well there’s dessert or deli again. I know what it is. Yeah, you know where my sauce pot is.

Ulyr, thank you so much for being with us. Such a pleasure. We appreciate you so much. Aloha. Aloha. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Take care. Thank you so much, Beauties, for tuning in. Remember to check out the show notes and all of Ulyr’s links. And we will see you back here on Thursday for our Q &A show. Take care. Lots of love.