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did you know that your personal health

can affect your bottom line

I'm excited to introduce you to Gerald Castica

he is from Florida Blue

and he is going to help us figure out how our health

can affect our bottom line

and how we can keep that as good as possible

so Gerald thank you so much for joining us today

oh thank you for having me

it's a privilege to be here with you

well we're excited because why don't you get involved

and doing what you do

tells us a little bit about your background

and then your passion for helping business

owners with their healthy lifestyles

I'm excited to learn more about that

fantastic so I

I currently work with Florida Blue

if you're not familiar with Florida Blue

it's the largest health insurance company in

state of Florida I'm

I'm a sales agent so I

I'm a licensed sales agent for

in the state of Florida I guess my real passion when it

comes to the aspect of health and wellness

actually stems back many many years

almost two decades

I got involved in the water industry of all things

and it was alkaline water

something different that at first when I first saw it

I thought it was a lot of Kumbaya stuff

I really did that's a bad thing but I was like

that's not my thing and once I actually

kind of looked into it a little bit more

I started learning about the importance of things

like hydration and proper hydration

I also started getting really introduced to the aspect

of personal responsibility

when it comes to your health and wellness

and that at the end of the day

no one is gonna care more

and nor should they care more

about your health than you do

your doctor does not care more about your health than

you do and they're not going to

so

that was one of the things that kind of struck me as

a very important aspect of

especially when you're thinking about business

because in the business world

I think we all know that if you're not in 100%

you're at zero you really are if you think about it

so because of the

exposure that I had to this water industry

what it actually kind of brought out

was a lot of people that were in the natural

healing industry a lot of natural paths

just anybody and everybody

you can think that would be connected in that world

I got exposed to and I started discovering

things that I had never even heard of before

and I consider myself pretty well rounded person

but so when I started taking a blood type diet

sounds like real fat but I started researching

that's one of the other things too

when I like being the smartest guy in the room

I just do but not so I can flex my mental muscle

I just like being the smartest guy in the room

and so when I'm presented with something

that I'm not familiar with

I like to familiarize myself with

I think it's an important thing

and so I Learned more about hydration

I was I did that for

I mean about 15 years

and then I realized I

I personally had a huge gap in my understanding

that was on the aspect of nutrition

and so I took it upon myself

but I became a certified nutritional therapist

with no intention of practicing that as a career

it was more so

I have a better understanding of

the overall aspect of health

and so now I've written several books about health

I went through a weight loss journey myself

that was actually inspired

as a result of a pretty negative health situation

and I think that's

one of the things we also have to start looking at as

as people is when we are being faced with something

we have to realize that

it really is our personal responsibility

to try to dig ourselves out of it

because the reality is in most cases

when it comes to bad health

a lot of it is because of our own choices

and if you're it's almost like

admitting that you have a problem

is the first step of cure

of solving that problem

if you can admit to yourself that the

that nine sodas that you drink a day and the four

the four

or five trips you take to McDonald's every week

and even eat that muffin at Starbucks

that you do daily if you don't realize that

those are actually having

negative impact on your health

that's something that

you're gonna have to come to groups with

and then ask yourself

if your life is actually in balance

because I

I think most people's lives are so out of balance

but they either don't wanna admit it to themselves

or they don't wanna admit that they are the reason

and it does take a lot and it's not easy

you have to really

be able to look yourself in the mirror

and be object

and really say look yeah

I know you're the best person in the world in my eyes

because I'm looking at me

but the reality is I have to be the one

that's going to elicit any type of change

that happens within me and

anybody expecting change to happen

from an outside source you're gonna be waiting

a long time and you're gonna be

you're probably gonna be very sorely disappointed in

in the results so

that would probably be the first thing I would say

right off the bat when it comes to good health

understand you have so much more power in that

in regards to being in good health

that if you aren't again

probably 99 times out of 100

it's choices that the individual is making

that kind of LED them there

what I do feel like

business owners are really motivated to be healthy

because we really can't afford not to be healthy

do you need that kind of joke

cause you know business partners

somehow we managed to not get colds at the same time

or the flu at the same time

it's kind of like a running joke

but though I had kind of an emergency last year

was in the hospital off and off about two months

and when I wasn't in the hospital

I was at home with an IV so yeah

your health really is your most important wealth

if you don't have your health

if I didn't have a business partner

that could have really devastated the business

so absolutely

when you're thinking about a business owner

one of the things that you talk about is that

if you're not healthy

and you don't have any good energy

and all of those things

that you're losing money in your business

let's talk a little bit about that well

you you bring up a great point

and that is if you are not feeling well

really just think about it

for anybody who's watching this right now

when you don't feel good how does it affect you

does it make you if you're if you're feeling sick

whatever that sickness might be

and realizing that there are

varying degrees of thickness

you could have the sniffles

you could have cancer

and there's everything in between okay

so there's varying degrees

but if you're not feeling well

you're not feeling well you're not in 100%

you're not going to produce at 100%

so if you're in business

especially if you're a small business owner

you're it you've got that hat rack

that has more hats than you can count

and I I know a lot of people been in that vote

when you are in that situation

if you're not doing well it is going to affect you

it's going to it's gonna affect your bottom line why

cause you don't have the

energy to be able to get as much done

matter of fact it's really funny

I I did some deep research into some statistics

and I'm shocked

I I wasn't surprised by the information

I was surprised by the scope

and basically

based on statistics from places like the CD

Department of Labour and statistic all that good

all those all those great different places

it's projected that in just the United States

that's another thing too just the United States

loss to employers when it comes to being sick

whether that being absent from your job

being present

but not really doing the work that you're supposed to

because you're not feeling very well

all those different pieces

annual cost to see the trillion dollars

that does not really does it

what would surprised me is the actual amount

so employers are spending over $1 trillion a year

for employees to be sick so my

my take would be

it would be in your best interest to make sure that

not only you but all of your employees

are as well and healthy as possible why

because your product your production

and productivity is gonna be much greater

a loss of hours

if somebody sitting in front of the computer

for eight hours

and they actually do four hours of work

as an employer

you just lost four hours of pay that you just did

you just paid somebody four hours for doing nothing

and that adds up and

I don't think

most employers are in the position to be able to

just throw that money away

and it's not to say that someone who's ill

shouldn't be able to take care of themselves

my position is

let's try not to get ill in the first place because and

and if you do that with

maybe like a wellness program within your and

and who does it have to start with

if you're the boss start a business owner yeah

absolutely yeah

I think for small business owners

what happens is it's the time thing right

I don't have enough time I don't have enough time

you know and again

corporations they pay for gym memberships

they pay for all kinds of things

because they do know they're losing money

but they can't force the employee to do that

they can't force the employee to eat well

or anything like that so they have no control over that

but as business owners we do have control over it

do you have the opportunity to get up early

and work out or go to the

make good choices with the food that we eat

and I think the payoff I think

which is interesting

is the payoff for small business owners is exponential

because not only are you more productive

but you're more creative

and that creativity fuels your business

but if you're always exhausted and tired

and you're just not feeling well

and can't kind of get your thoughts together

because that's how I felt when I was sick

like I just couldn't get it together

I mean after my surgery

I was like oh my God

I had no idea how bad I felt for so long

and so like

your health is so important to your productivity

and your creativity

so what would be some of the steps that you would have

small business owners maybe entrepreneurs

what do you think they could do to

improve their lifestyle and improve their business

great question first and foremost

their own priorities you have to prioritize health

it is not something that just happened

when you go to the restaurant

you have to order the salad instead of the dessert

I mean that shit

you have to start making choices because it's funny

they call them lifestyle choices

and most people forget that those are choices right

which means you can choose to do something different

to give you a case in point

when I have got involved in the water industry

I was exposed to exactly how acidic and bad for you

sodas are okay

I know for most people

so there's a staple of their life

they probably if you take 99 people out of 100

you go to the refrigerator

open up there will be some sort of beverage in there

that goes when you open it yeah

okay I haven't had a soda in 18 years

but I came up with a little reminder of why

and I hope that I'll share this with everybody else

and I hope you keep this one in mind

cause I think this would be a

if you implement this it will have a positive effect

okay if it's got bubbles

it leads to troubles very simple

but if you think about that

if it's got bubbles it leads to troubles

those bubbles are created by carbonic acid

we have enough acids in our body anyway

and that's the we've all heard the buzz term acidosis

that's an over abundance of acidic

not acid that burns to a table or something

but it's something that is acidic on the pH scale

that is something that does not drive well with

the human body so realize this

and if you guys ever seen the

the hacks

where you take Coca Cola and you pour it in the toilet

to clean the toilet and then drink it

haha it's a little bit common sense too okay

so those lifestyle choices

really identify them as choices that'd be make

make your health a priority

and also realize that yes

it's important for business

but business a person is in business

they also have a personal life

and they might have kids

they might have a spouse that depends on them

they might have other people

that their actions actually influence

and if that's the case then realize

a lot of times

when you're doing something good for you

you're doing something good for other people as well

you're not

the only person that benefits from good things in

your life the other people that are part of your life

they also do benefit

and so keep that in mind that when you're really

when you're thinking about your health

you should be thinking about your health

for everybody's sake not just yours

obviously for yours

but do you wanna set a good example for your kids

do you wanna show your spouse

how much you actually do care about them

because you're willing to not eat that donut

and you're willing to go take that walk

and it's like some people go well

that doesn't sound that much yeah

well it is though

if if you're not doing it

once you start and then once you start seeing the

the positive benefits from it

then you start realizing how wow

this actually can't have an impact on what I'm doing

so I would say that um really

about the choices and prioritizing your good health

and I'll get it I'll throw this one out there

because being a certified nutritional therapist

I did

learn some of the stuff about nutrition and aspects

in that regard so I'm gonna say two or three things

1 drink more water I already know you're not okay

if you can cut out the sodas

cut them out if it is so much worse

for you than you can even imagine okay

yeah drink more water

and the rule of thumb on that is half your body weight

announced this whole 8 glasses blah blah

that is dumb that's like saying that the

the gas tank on a semi is the same as

the gas tank on a convertible

they're not the same

you got a guy who weighs 400 pounds and he's 6 6

he's not gonna you know

he's gonna need a different water consumption then

you know somebody who's 5 feet tall always 98 pounds

okay so the rule thumb is half your weight in ounces

and I know people go oh my god

that sounds like a lot okay

if you weigh 200 pounds

that means you need to consume at least

100 ounces of water per day

now here's the thing to keep in mind

two super big gulps are 68 that's 128 ounces

two super big gulps so could a person

could they drink two super big gulps

in the course of 24 hours

I think most people who have ever drank one would go

oh yeah I'll drink five in that amount of time

so it's not the volume that's the problem

it's what it is which we consume

it's a psychological thing cause people are like

I don't wanna take my my I don't wanna drink water

I don't like water well

you know what the funny thing is

it's the second most important thing in life

on this planet when we send probes to other planets

we do not or to Mars or to the moon

they aren't looking for the Pepsi Springs

or the Coca Cola pools

they're looking for liquid water why

because without that

there's no reason for us to go right

because we die

that is one of the most important things for us

so I would say those are the things that

so stop drinking the sodas

drink more water and vitamin D3

that one I'm just gonna recommend for everybody why

because

vitamin d is one of the things that we used to get

primarily from the sun unfortunately

most of us are no longer doing our daily work

in sunlight

where these little caves that we call offices

right and the reality is

we will start to suffer not having enough

D&D3 is actually the the best form of that

it helps boost the immune system

it really is good for you

so I recommend

I mean I take 5,000 Ius of vitamin D3 every single day

when I'm if I start feeling a little bit uh

I'll take 25,000 which is usually like five pills

like they're 5,000 each

and it really does boost your immune system

so those would be the things I would recommend

right off the bat

would start feeling a little bit better

start taking some steps to show yourself that you care

as much as you say cause that's an important thing

so cut out the sodas

drink more water vitamin B3

we start with those three

I can almost guarantee you that

you'll start to see marked improvements

yeah it's interesting

I think that people as you get older

you understand the prioritization of your health

but I'd love to data our listeners who are younger

that this is a great habit to get into

is to just start implementing little things

and obviously for people older as well

but you know

just start getting in those habits

because I love that you said

it's not only impacting us

it's impacting

we know our business and how we feel about that

but it's also impacting our family and our friends

and all those people around you that you

that you impact on a daily basis

I agreed 100%

one of the other things that also keep in mind is

when you're not feeling good

that comes out in different ways I

you guys you guys know

that guy that just complains about freaking everything

right just whenever you see him hey how you doing

you're trying to be up mean hey how you doing

ah your back's causing me problems you know

what people have to understand is that

that's almost like studying poison

because what

you're doing is actually bringing somebody else down

you don't even realize that

most people are doing it on purpose

they don't realize how negative they're being

and that negativity actually does breed negativity

and ironically enough

being positive breeds more positive things you know

it's almost like that snowball effect

when things go bad they all go bad the range of pores

that's that's another thing too old adages

start learning them especially to the younger folks

an adage is old because it's true

it is stood the test of time okay

so when you hear this old adage and you just got like

wonder that even look it up

not sure what's up means

look it up and get familiar with it

what's that with your saying is that you get one life

make most of it yeah okay

there's another saying too bad habits are hard to break

yeah

Jay and I love the apple a day keeps the doctor away

and absolutely if you think about that

that's just a conscious thing that saying

if you take care of your health daily

you won't have to see the doctor often

well actually

if you really think about it

it in I think when that when that saying originated

that most people probably had no idea

why that apple a day would do anything

they didn't realize the importance of natural

items in our diet fruits

vegetables things of that nature

they just know they they knew by

by observation that when you saw people

that this person was eating more

in the way of fresh fruits and vegetables

and they seem to be healthy

and then you had this person that was

they were eating the cave

Cheetos and the things of that nature

and that then and they weren't doing as well

and so from from an observation standpoint

you step back and you go okay

well must be so I don't know why

but that apple that he eats each day is keeping the

the witch doctor away you know

so that's so that's and if going way back

but the bad habit thing um

it is it is harder to break a bad habit

than it is to create a good one

yes cause once you're setting your ways

that's enough see these little things set your ways

it's like those things are very difficult

because the one thing I will

I will admit that when it comes to human beings

we do not like change

we don't we are very adverse to change why

because we like to get into groove

we like things to be a certain way why

because then we can expect it to be that way

and we like expectations

we like being able to expect something

and have it come to fruition

in the way that we expected it

we don't like change

but if you do not like the condition that you are in

right this second

if you are not happy with the way you feel

do something about it I love that you got to yeah

it's interesting too because they talk about

we talk about we don't like change

but the reality is

our brain has formed neuropathways of how we do things

and there's neuropathways have to change as well

so we think about the science behind it

it it is hard to change so you have to well

we have to basically be willing to write our own code

a rewriter own code I mean

if you wanna

break it down into terms that the younger generation

can understand

you're right now you're coded with your life

everything you've done up to this point

has coded the way you

you feel about things the way that you react to things

although everything about you

has been coded

as a result of the experiences that you have had

and again if where you stand right now physically

emotionally mentally however you wanna look at it

if you are not 100% happy with with that

what that looks like

the the incredible part is

you have the ability to change it

the worst part is

it's your responsibility to make that change

that's that's the catch

you always say there's a catch well

that's the catch but I'll tell you this it's not easy

but it's worth it day

if you can always remember that in the

when it's the hardest cause

I can tell you man

when I when I jump back on the horse and I

and I decided I need to to reinvest in my

my health even my own mentality

it was hard it was hard

I'd force myself

I'd force myself to go out and go to that elliptical

for those 20 minutes when I first started

it was another old saying

it's like pulling teeth

it was it was like pulling teeth with myself

but I had to keep telling myself it's not easy

but it's worth it it's not easy

but it's worth it you know

I've got three kids I've got five grandkids

I've got a wife that I love very very much

and it's worth it if it's just because I get

to spend a little more time with all of them yeah

and I think I think

some people don't recognize how much their body are

happy shall we say

you know that they have inflammation and you know

they're not getting the rest that they need

so they may not even recognize that

that's why they're snapping at someone

or that's why they're grabbing those snacky things

because they want some quick

and so just to support your point is

you know if you can if you can um

change those little habits and start feeling better

you're gonna be surprised at how much more

energy you have

and how much everything else kind of falls into place

so chill ironically

real quick I just wanna say

it's really funny

when I first got into the water business

and I found that

once people started getting properly hydrated

how much better they felt

and I had so many people that said

oh my God I feel so good and I said no

you finally feel normal yeah right

this is the way you

this is the way you were supposed to feel

the entire time but unfortunately

here's the thing we are

we live in a society

where we hit ourselves in the head

with a hammer and complaint of our head

totally great Gerald

this has been fantastic

not only has it been informative

but it's been inspiring

and we are all going to try to drink less soda

get more water and I would throw sleep in there as well

cause that's always a big one

so Cheryl this has been fantastic

last question for you is if

people

are recognizing that they're gonna need some help

in this area and they want to reach out to you

what is the best way for them to do that

so the best way is skywriting normally kidding

there's a whole generation is going like

this world is skywriting

the easiest way is either via email or

believe it or not I'm like old school

people can actually call me and I'll talk to him

it's amazing like if you call my phone I answer it

it's amazing yeah

if anybody wants to reach out

I've done uh one on one coaching um

I know enough to where I can help somebody out

even if it's just kind of

point them in the right direction

and I'm more than happy to do that

I don't and then I hate that I don't do this

but I don't make a habit of

of charging too much or in some cases charging at all

because if you take 20 minutes of my time

and I help you figure out your stuff

let's just call it let's just call it good

my good deed for the day so

if there is anybody who has any questions

that they would like to toss my way

I would be happy to feel them and I can help

I definitely will that's so generous of you

we appreciate that so Gerald

thank you so much for being on our show today

and we're excited to to hear people's comments

so feel free to comment below

so thanks for joining us thanks for having me

I really appreciate it you ladies have a wonderful day

and to all the people out there

I hope you have a good one

and remember health is definitely wealth

so make sure that you're full of

everything that you need to get the most out of

your health and your efforts

especially your business set that example

thanks for listening to the 6 figure

Business Mastery podcast

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