Manage your IBS as a senior warrant officer, I think you meant to say RSM, to lead and manage over 600 soldiers and multi-millions of dollars worth of equipment, including vehicles, weapons, etc., in this probably what sounds like a stressful environment. Okay, so first and foremost, let's unpack it. Because, and that's a really good question. That is a really good question, and I'm going to break that down into bite-sized chunks so everybody can take a piece of it. Will definitely be helpful to if you're watching this at varying different levels. And the reason I like that is obviously it's difficult. So let's talk about the rubbish, the the shit to start with, no pun intended, of IBS. And I've had bad days, even when I've had no, I know all my symptoms, sorry, triggers and what causes my IBS. I still have blips every now and again. We all do, there's no cure out there. So anybody that tells you they can cure your IBS or get your IBS gone forever, permanently, is talking out of their hoop. They really are. And I'm telling you that as a friend, as a veteran, as a you know, ex-RSA man now entrepreneur, they are talking shite. Don't listen to them. There is no cure. And there isn't a some miracle solution or supplement or anything that can just eliminate IBS all the time. So I have blips every now and again. And IBS, here's the thing could be caused by different stuff, can't it? You hopefully know that. The majority of it is caused by food or ingredients, different foods, maybe drink, maybe caffeine, alcohol. I'm not gonna go all through a whole list of foods that can cause IBS. And the other element to it is stress, isn't it? Trauma, PTSD, different kinds of trauma, uh, anxiety, depression. You know, so if you start to have all this stuff going on inside, without, again, I'm not gonna go into the science of it, I'll leave that to Charlie, to see, it calls Charlie J CJ. I'll leave that to CJ, my wife, my business partner. But it it all has an effect, and I'm speaking from experience as well with that. Now, what I didn't what I've shared before, what I'll share now, is I I worked with CJ back in Limey. I'm going back a while now. I I'll tell you what, I was a staff sergeant, so I was a senior non-commissioned officer in Warminster. And I was at the time I was an instructor, I was teaching fire support groups for the lads going out to Afghanistan. So I was teaching FSG, which is heavy machine gun, grenade machine gun, javelin uh missile, and general purpose machine guns, so all machine guns. I was teaching that, so it was a very busy, tiring job, always in classrooms, out on the area, doing this, that, the other. And at that time, I was I'd gone through a divorce, horrible, horrific divorce. If you've been through one, you know where I'm coming from. And I've got three children, they're grown up now, to my previous wife. So I was trying to see them on the weekends, trying to do this really busy, full-on job in the the cat badge that I was in at the time, the small arm school corps. And it was crazy. And I was single, I was single at the time, so obviously I'd not quite met CJ at this stage, and my symptoms were all over the place. I tried everything in the past, and you know, bloating. Normally have a six-pack then, not now, but I used to have a had a you know quite shreddered. But half that time, I just looked like I had a swollen stomach. You know where I'm coming from? Like it bloating, and not massive, but mild bloating, and it just it was horrible. So it was really, really difficult in terms of trying to do my lesson preparation, manage the soldiers, you know, leadership, as you will, going out on fitness, on battle PT, when you've got all this like I had mine's at IBS diarrhea predominant, so I had IBSD. So when you feel like you're gonna fart and follow through, and you're on a run with the lads, and you're meant to be their commander, it's freaking awful. And I've had come close. Well, I've had a few accidents, but I've come close a few times at that stage. So when I met CJ and she pretty much said, we got talking, got to know each other, I think you've got IBS. Have you had a diagnosis? And I hadn't. So clearly, she's like saying, You gotta be careful because it could be IBD. And she started listing all this stuff because she dietitian of what it could be. And obviously, the big C was up there. So I thought, I'm not messing around, I've got three kids. So I went and got a diagnosis, and then thereafter, I think dogs have given me fleas. Thereafter, she helped me and said, Look, do you want me to help you get this squared away? I can't cube it, but with my help, you can understand your triggers, trigger identification, know what's causing these symptoms, and and you should, if you put the work in and put the effort in and listen to me and act on what I'm saying, be coachable. You should be able to feel good most of the time. Because I'm all in. So that's just a side note, just to give you some context. Because I wasn't always, and I never have been always on form in the army. I've struggled with IBS to do things with when it comes to managing and leadership. And I've tried my heart, you know, I've still got there and I've climbed up the ranks and got to highest ranks. So it's been it's been challenging, even more challenging than somebody else that hasn't got IBS. So if you're like me, whether you're in the military or you are in a high-profile job, I've been entrepreneur, or you've got a business to run and you've got meetings and stuff, and you've got IBS in the background like a dark cloud, I get it. It's freaking hard work. So good, you know, good for you for grizzing on and getting getting on with it and trying to do what you do with all that going on. And Benjamin, if you're listening to that, it is it's it's it's flipping nails. Now, the good news is coming on to the I mean, first and foremost, and before we move on, as you can probably tell and I'm alluding to, is you it's it's investing in yourself, investing in yourself. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay any, I didn't pay any money to CJ because she was my girlfriend, and then we ended up getting engaged and married. But and had that not been my girlfriend, knowing what I know now, and she'd have said it was somebody I wasn't in a relationship with, and they were going to help me with this, I would have paid. Now, I've I've paid as a side note, I've paid tens of thousands of dollars invested in myself, whether it's skills in marketing, sales, different types of entrepreneurial stuff, whether it's in my personal training, my fitness, I've had fitness coaching. So I'm I'm not shy to investing in myself, and you shouldn't be either. And I and again, I'm not telling you that to sell you anything. I'm I'm passing on an amazing mindset to have. And if you're an entrepreneur, you get where I'm coming from. You are your biggest investment. Not saving money in the bank, not stocks and shares or frigging Bitcoin or Ethereum or whatever it's called, cryptocurrency, or anything else out there, you are your biggest investment. And obviously, the second biggest investment, if you've got one, is your business. But again, you've got to look after yourself. So invest in yourself, whether it's you know, you're watching content, reading books, applying the knowledge what's being given to you, and getting yourself sorted out, getting yourself to that next level. So that's what I did. That said, I wasn't sorted all the time. Circling all the way back to trauma, PTSD crept its sneaky head up from Iraq. Remember, I said I had IBS from Iraq. Now I've done several tours, handful of tours, and one was Kosovo, where I was visiting mass graves, because obviously the Serbians were slaughtering the Albanians and everything else out there. So I was visiting mass graves. I see I was based across from a school, a primary school, where someone had been in and shot all the teachers and children. So there was dried blood and gunshot holes everywhere. I saw arms, legs, heads, you know, all this stuff. If you screamish, you're like, I'm turning this off. So I had all I used to get nightmares from that. And they didn't bother me at first. And then stuff that happened in Iraq, I saw a little girl burning to death in Iraq. Well, she didn't, I don't know if she died, but she was on fire and like with phosphorus, like melting, and oh so, and she's running towards me. I couldn't do anything about it, you know, screaming, help me, holding this phosphorus grid in it was just burning. And anyway, so that's again, I've shared this before, and it's it's shared in our book that's coming out soon, men's IBS secrets. But later down the line, because I suppress that, as you do as a man, yeah, I'll be all right, just get on with it. Then later down the line, that came out. I was getting nightmares, disturbing my sleep, being a bit angry, a bit irritated, and it got worse and worse. And I got help with it. I've been C psychologist, CBT, again, investing in yourself. I paid thousands for psychologist treatment and CBT investment. Put that into practice, what they said. PTSD now is managed. Do you know what I mean? IBS symptoms back to normal. Because they're true, they were my symptoms were coming back. And I said to CJ, I said, why are my symptoms going back? I've I you know I understand what causes IBS symptoms. It's not just food and drink, it's stress as well. So what's going on up there, as well as what's going on down there? So just as a side note, all that said, and again, I do apologize for going off on a tangent because I'm trying to help you understand this if you're watching it, so you so you get it. Um that said, how did I, and certainly back to Ben's question, Benjamin, if you don't Ben, if you don't mind me calling it, how did you manage your IBS as that senior warrant officer? Well, first and foremost, I'd already invested in myself and my time and my, you know, in terms of my time with with CJ. And I knew my blueprint. I knew what foods to avoid or how to make meals and swap ingredients around so I didn't get any IBS symptoms. So my IBS was under control pretty much all of the time. So that's the first thing. So I would be, I'm not gonna lie to you and say I was this RSM and I was juggling IBS nightmare with managing 600 people because I wasn't. But that said, not many years before that, I was, and it's a journey. And so I'm gonna, because I think where you're at, Benjamin, if I'm not wrong, because you're asking me that question, is you're kind of asking me, maybe you are in a similar position where you are managing and trying to lead men and women in a business or whatever, and it's quite stressful, there's quite a lot of pressure going on. So let's talk about that. And that was me as well, before CJ helped me. How did I manage it? Well, first it first and foremost, I had a really solid morning routine, which I stumbled across it because back then I didn't read self-development books. So I'd not read like Al L. Rod's miracle morning or Mark Wahlberg's 3am club or anything like that. I naturally got up at 5am, sometimes a bit earlier if I had something on because of the army. So I start work at 8am in the army normally, eight o'clock. So you start early, it's not nine like civilians. Sometimes it's earlier. So I always used to get up at 5am and knowing then I had that window of opportunity of what's that, five, six, seven, eight, three hours, three hours where I can do stuff before work wants to suck my time out of me. And obviously IBS. So obviously, I'd get up in the morning and I'd feel okay. I go to toilet, and I used to drink loads of water, maybe half a litre, three quarters of a litre of water. I'm okay with caffeine. I don't know if you are, so something to check, but for me, I'm fine with black coffee. So I'd have a really, really strong cold brewed black coffee caffeine hit after about 20 minutes of waking up. And then I'd get my uh fitness kit on, I'd have it all laid out the night before. And I'd either I'd either, if it's not raining, go for a run, five, seven kilometre run. Nice, either a fast run or a steady state of zone two run. Again, I'm not going into the science of like it's not a personal training fitness lesson. So I'd do my fitness, then I'd come back and I'm doing that fasted. All I've had is water and coffee. So and then come back from that run, nice cold shower, stretch off, obviously, first, cold shower, and you feel good, don't you? Especially fasted. For me, I love training in the morning fasted. If it's not a huge session, if it's a huge session, you need fuel. But that's just what works for me. It might not work for you again. I'm not promoting fasted training. Because if you don't listen to this and go, I'm just going to train faster and do a marathon because you'll probably collapse. You need fuel. So this is for short, this is short runs. Oh, if it was if it was really raining badly outside or freezing cold, i say, I'd go to the gym and do a faster session in the gym, strength, or some cardio. Happy with that? And I'd I'd always do at least three strength sessions a week and a couple of runs. Keeping myself fit, you've got to keep yourself fit, whether you're in the military or not, as a man, resilience, mental fitness, physical fitness. Key. Key for anything. If you're leading your family, you know, your wife, your kids, you've got to lead by example. And yeah, so always doing that. Right. So that's having a good morning routine. You've got to set yourself up for success. Setting yourself up for success, that's what it is to win the day. Because IBS is going to come in it at some point. It might come in the morning. So again, you've got to play around with this. If you get up in the morning and I've got up in the morning, and your IBS is crazy, or you just don't, if you feel rubbish, you've got stomach pain and bloating, and you're like, oh, as if I'm going for a run today feeling like this, I've only just managed to scrape myself off the toilet. And I've been there. The thing there to do is once you can get off the toilet, maybe you've had some bus capan or whatever you need, still fasted. I would do exercise, even if it's just yoga or light stretching, I would do something, movement. You've got to move your body in in the comfort and security and away from everybody in the house for 40 minutes. Yeah. And now you can put YouTube on. Watch this. After this, put a YouTube video on of indoor fitness and just go crazy and do a circuit inside. And then you close the toilet so you don't need to dive in a bush. Do you know what I mean? But set yourself up, get that fitness done in the morning. Because you need to do fitness. And if you've got IBS constipation, IBS C, moving is the best thing you can do because it'll get everything moving around. And then your toilet's next if you're in the house, you can go and dash and have a and have a number two. Happy that set yourself up. That doesn't end there. So you've done the fitness, you've done the shower, you've done the stretching. Then I would after that eat breakfast. Now, breakfast, again, you've got to understand this way. You need to know what causes your triggers. Hopefully, if you're watching this, you've got a bit of an idea. A bit of an idea. For me, and you can use this as a protocol if you want, it works for me. I would have 50 grams of overnight soaked oats, porridge oats, because it's loads of carbs. Amazing for energy. And you've got the fibre in there, a bit of protein, and various other bits and pieces. So I would soak 50 grams in a pot, yep, with almond milk or oat milk. Not I'm alright with dairy, but I just use that because it's, I guess, healthier, less fat. And I would chuck in 20 grams of almonds or walnuts for fats. So I've got my carbs, my fats, a bit of calcium in the milk, and then I would have that with the protein shake. Yep. 40 grams of protein in a 100% whey protein. Not the rubbish that you get that's like vanilla and chocolate cookie crumble and rhubarb, this, that, the other rubbish, because they're full of UP, you know, ultra processed, and they're full of sweetness and stuff. I mean, protein powder is processed anyway. But if you get that, for me, I used to, and I still do now, I get just the whey protein powder. And I'm okay with that. You might not be if you've got um, maybe you've got some dairy intolerance or whatever, but if you've been tested for it, fine. If you haven't, go get tested. Uh, so it's playing around with it and understanding what you're okay with. I'd have a banana and some fruit. So in the morning, yeah, pretty much what in a nutshell, porridge, protein, powder, and some fruit with nuts. And that would see me easily for three or four hours till I'm in work. And I'm and I wouldn't get any symptoms, no symptoms. And I'd go into work and I did this as RSM as well. So when I was RSM, I did exactly the same and it worked. And going to work in my office, sit down before I open that computer and all the freaking crazy emails are coming in. Off every everybody wants your attention in a in high-profile job, don't they? Everybody. They just want a piece here. And it's like, right, before any of that crazy stuff happens, I'm still looking at me, you know, I'm looking at my clock and I'm like, right, I've got about an hour left before the craziness starts. Yeah, guess what? I for me, I said before, Christian, I pray, do my prayers always to the man above, to the boss, meditate, and then during that meditation, I'll go ahead and go into that meditation, visualising for the day, the day ahead, being a good day, positive day. Really, really well. It's going really, really well. Everything's great. It might not go great, it might be drama, but I'd always set myself up for success. Do you see what I mean? And that you'd be surprised, even just doing breathing exercises, just do just doing some good breathing exercises, box breathing, and just get your mindset sorted out. Didn't your fitness physical done now? It's mental. And then yeah, journal. Write down goals, gratitude, all that sort of stuff. And then and only then, after I've got another coffee, the computer used to get opened. And then that's it, I'm into it. Okay. And then for lunch and you know, my other two meals at work, I would prepare my own food. I wouldn't eat rubbish from like takeaway shops and this, that, the other, because I get IBS symptoms, even when I knew what my triggers were. Always, always, and it's a top tip, it's best advice, and it's quicker as well. If you're into your fitness and you want to look good and you want to look shredded, which you should do if you're a man, you should want to look good and look after yourself, then it's always best. And it's probably financially better as well. It's take your food in. Or if you're like an entrepreneur and you can't be bothered prepping your own food, order it. Order it prepped and it comes in tubs and gets delivered and put them in your freezer and just take them out of the freezer and then at work, but you know, launch with microwave or have a cold. That's how I used to do it. That's exactly in terms of blueprint, you can steal that and rip it off. That used to set me up for success throughout the day. If I had any issues, and again, you've got to speak, you've got to speak to your boss. I was open with this about my boss from all the way back as a staff sergeant and a warrant officer. Every time I got um a new job in the army, the first thing I'd say, owner, you always have um an interview with your uh commander. And during that interview, I'd have notes, I'd write everything down, what I want what I want to cover. Clearly, it's about them as well, is my health. And I would always say, and be open with them, because it's it's integrity. And one of the army principles is integrity. You've got to be you've got to be integral with people. And I would say, sir, or ma'am, something you need to be aware of, and it's not a drama, something you need to be aware of. I've got irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea predominant. You can leave that bit out if you want. Have you heard of it, ma'am, sir? Because they might have heard of it, they might have it, they might be like, I'm something as well. Sorry, we both go toilet together. I mean, if they they're like, Yeah, I've heard of it. IBS, what's that? And just in a nutshell, just share what it is. Just share with them what it is. Listen, there's a great video I've done on explaining it to your boss, and I'll I'll put it in the link or whatever, but go check it out on our channel. It says have that discussion with your boss, tell your boss this, and it's a blueprint, it's a script on what to how to frame that. So I won't go into it now. So I'd always tell them, and that again, setting yourself up for success as a professional, integral part of that team, you know. So you are it leading from the front. Happy with that? What else? Oh, so we've mentioned morning routine, we've mentioned food throughout the day, uh sorting your meals out, um, keeping hydrated is key. Water, not freaking fizzy pop, not tanning coffee like all day, because as soon as you eat have too much caffeine, sorry, caffeine past midday, one o'clock, certainly in the later afternoon, it's gonna knack your sleep. It's gonna affect your sleep. So, and you don't want to be affecting your sleep because if you have poor sleep, that affects your IBS, stress, IBS, symptoms, food triggers, all this stuff. You see, this is why you need expert help. This is why you need expert consultations, this is why you need to invest in yourself. You can't just get everything from watching loads of videos or reading uh books and podcasts because it's too clinical. Even now, I'm listening I, as you may appreciate, like like you, I would like to think I'm an intelligent guy. Very, very focused and switched on. I've always been top whatever percent fitness and leading from the front. I've not always been perfect, I've made loads of mistakes, loads of failures, and I've learned from them with an open mind. And I've got a photographic memory, I was gifted with a photographic memory, I can remember stupid stuff, it's crazy. But even with all that, I've tried before I met CJ loads of different stuff for IBS or for and I didn't even have a diagnosis, so it could have been anything. But thankfully, I was trying stuff for IBS, and I did end up having IBS, you could argue, that it is thankfully, and none of it worked. And I didn't think anything could be done. I thought that was it. I'm gonna live be living with symptoms all over the place forever. Do you know what I mean? Now, obviously, I had a few quick wins, things that I did find out, like what I mentioned about the oats and protein in the morning and faster training. So there were a few things that I knew, but most that Time. I used to get flare-ups and they're in the side of the face. Horrible flare-ups. On the couch, feeling rubbish. Gluted toilet, you know, late for work and this, that, the other. And again, late for work. That's why he mentioned it to your boss. So then they're like, IBS. Quick text. Boss, sorry, I'm I'm gluted Lou. I get it. Because you've already mentioned it to him. But if you just start saying it and you've not mentioned it to him, they think you're blagging, don't they? Yeah, he's pulling wool. He's been on the he's been out on the on the lash drinking with his mates and he's had a he's he's slept in and he's saying he's glued at toilet. Do you see what I mean? Whereas if you've planted that seed beforehand and you've you've set you're setting yourself up for success. I keep saying it, but it's so true. Right, that's that one in a nutshell. If there's any questions on that from Benjamin or anybody else, paste, put them in the comments and I'll and I read all the comments. I don't outsource it to AI or anything like that. I read all the comments and I will personally, when I've got time over the next few days, I'll get back to you and I'll chat to you. Okay? And that's that's the least I can do. And if you need any help, like I said before, if you want to speak further about what that looks like, again, just let me know. Again, this isn't a this this is today's not a hard sell. This is just helping you. Right, cool. Uh so next one then is we mentioned all that sort of stuff. And yes, just to finish off on that, make sure you get your sleep, darling. We say it all the time, sleep is critical to recovery and uh to everything. If you're a high-performing man, don't like say the word and right. So I've been the opposite of this. I've drank coffee all day till 5 pm, 6 pm coffee. Not good. And then I've gone to the gym in the evening, so you're even more wired because you've been training late, because you're like, I couldn't get it in through the day. This is going way back now. Still with IBS, and then just trying to. I've got maybe loads on at work, going through a divorce, loads of financial problems because of the divorce, debts, got to see my kids, but I don't know if I can see them because of IBS. Load life, basically, loads of life drama. And what happens then? And back then I didn't meditate, I didn't do breathing exercises, I didn't do any of that mindful mindfulness stuff. I always thought it was fluff. And you go to your room, I was in a room then in the sergeant's mess, and you'd sit there or you sit on your bed and you try and get to sleep. It's not happening, is it? You're like, can't sleep, can't sleep. That's happening. So you've got it, it's all it's all these little things that add up throughout the day that you know, small compounding effects, and over the week and the months, uh, it has a massive effect, positive effect. And again, if you don't wear a fitness device, I highly recommend uh wearing one. I wouldn't recommend a whoop, the rubbish. Uh, but again, that's leave that for another YouTube video potentially. If you want me to do a review on WHOP, then leave a comment, I'll do it for you. But other than that, I'm not wasting my time doing one. But um I used to wear, and I'm going back to it, Garmin Phoenix 7, Phoenix 8. They're amazing. But I do fitness as well, so use it for that. You might have Apple Watch, get a fitness device, get a fitness tracker. Honestly, game changer. If you've got one, you'll know what I'm talking about. Um, if you've got any recommendations, launch them in the comments for people watching this so they could think, right, I can maybe research that. What you think? I don't recommend Whoop and I don't recommend Apple Watch. My wife's got one. I love Apple, but for me, the battery life is rubbish. Uh, what is it, two days, if that. Uh whereas Garmin, Phoenix, a solar powered one, if you're out cycling and running, the battery lasts weeks. Uh, so that's why I like that one. But it could be any anything you might have. Uh Fitbit. I used to have Fitbit. I think they've been bought out by someone now. Going off on a tangent, we'll stop there. Right, so that's it. So that is how I used to set myself up for success and lead people. Did I still have symptoms throughout all of that there? Yes, because there's no cure for IBS. There may be nights where I didn't sleep too well, maybe stress, this, that, the other, and I'd get some symptoms. But because I knew my triggers and I had CJ, I could always ask her a question and pull it back in and get back on track really, really quickly, like that. Okay, so happy with that.