WELCOME TO APEX PACK + TRIBE

I’m a firm believer that we are a product of our experiences. Good or bad, our experiences sculpt us into who we are. In moments of brightness, choices seem clear and opportunities appear boundless. Conversely, in moments of darkness, we are faced with two distinct paths: surrender to disparity or persist in the pursuit of light. I believe that in our darkest moments, even a glimmer of light is enough to show us the way. For me, APEX is that glimmer of light in an otherwise seemingly endless darkness. I hope it will be yours too.

MY ORIGIN STORY

When most people think about their favorite superheros, they think about all the awesome superpowers they have. Superhuman strength, impenetrable skin, flight, and the ability to disguise themselves by doing nothing more than putting on a tie, slicking their hair back, and throwing on a pair of black-framed glasses. For me, something else comes to mind. The origin story. The story of the average guy who was just a nobody until, by some strange series of unfortunate events, he wasn't. I wish I could tell you I have bones of adamantium or that I yanked the Master Sword out of that rock in The Temple of Time but the truth is, I'm no superhero. I'm just that average guy who, by some strange series of unfortunate events, acquired superpowers.

Throughout my childhood I was always the skinny kid. It didn’t matter how much I ate; I simply could not gain weight. Looking back, my diet was a perfect model of the American Dietary Guidelines. I had an old-fashioned family who grew and provided their own food and a mother who used that food to provide our family with three “balanced”, home-cooked meals per day. Snacks, junk food, and eating out were a rarity and considered a treat, but honestly, we never craved anything other than the food provided to us.

As a teenager and into my early twenties I transitioned away from that, primarily due to college, and began eating what I could afford, with meals consisting of cereal, boxed dinners, ramen, sandwiches, and microwavable burritos doused in pints of Frank's Red Hot.

At age 20 I started down a path that naturally led me to be more health conscious. A dear friend introduced me to weight training and from the moment I started, I was hooked. I had taken a stab at this before during my junior year in high school. I enrolled in a strength and conditioning class but was discouraged when by the end of the year I still lifted less than every single person in the class, including the girls. This time would be different; I had started a career path that I was passionate about, I was saving up to move out on my own, and I felt dedicated and empowered.

For the next 11 years I stuck with it, training 5 or more days per week, often twice a day. I learned a great deal about exercising, weightlifting, bodybuilding, nutrition, bulking, cutting, and had gained a significant amount of muscle in the process. I was no longer the 145-pound skinny kid, I was now the 230-pound bodybuilder who everyone would come to for advice. My advice was always the same and revolved around eating a standard bodybuilding-type of diet. Since I was considered a hard-gainer (meaning it was very difficult for me to gain weight), I discovered 7 to 9 meals per day was the sweet spot for gaining and maintaining muscle.

I was very strict with my diet throughout the week, eating only "clean" food and tracking everything I consumed down to the microgram. Brown & white rice, steel cut & rolled oats, sweet potatoes, eggs, milk, Greek yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, chicken breast, occasional red meat (lean), salmon, cod, almonds, walnuts, asparagus, green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, fruit, and leafy greens were staple foods. I followed the standard 1-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight, complex carbs, plenty of fiber, and low fat (which was usually a macronutrient ratio of around 55%-60% carbohydrate, 25%-30% protein, and 15%-20% fat). Supplementing with whey protein, creatine, high-quality multi-vitamins, and BCAA's were a must. On the weekends I would occasionally allow myself one or two cheat days where I would devour a couple large pizzas and some Oreos and ice cream, but those were welcome treats after being so strict with my diet and eating so “clean” and “healthy” all week. This is the advice I would give because after all, it worked so well for me! Right?

While on a business trip to South Korea in December 2017, everything changed. Looking back, there were definite indicators trying to tell me something was wrong. I couldn’t weight train without getting severely out of breath or light headed, I had constant heart palpitations, I would go through bouts of acne (which I never had before), I would get reoccurring sinus infections, severe muscle cramps, and got fungal/yeast infections such as jock itch and thrush. One night I left the hotel, walked across the street to my favorite gym, and that was the end of the 230-pound bodybuilder version of myself.

During my training session my heart entered supraventricular tachycardia (extremely rapid and inefficient heartbeats) and landed me in the hospital shortly thereafter. For the next 6 months, my health spiraled out of control. I was in and out of doctor’s offices, hospitals, referred to specialist after specialist, prescribed numerous medications, forking out tens of thousands of dollars of my own money. Within 6 months I had lost every ounce of muscle I worked so hard to gain and had reverted back to the 145-pound skinny-kid version of myself. What started out as lightheadedness and a heart condition had quickly morphed into a vast spectrum of ailments including extreme anxiety and panic attacks, bouts of depression, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, colitis, constipation, bloating, candida overgrowth, thrush, persistent yeast and fungal infections, histamine intolerance, new and unexplained allergies, autoimmune conditions, heartburn, leaky gut, severe muscle cramping, twitching, nutrient malabsorption, vitiligo (on my forehead only), hypertension, potassium deficiency, elevated liver enzymes, and rapid weight loss. No doctor was able to pinpoint the problem, and no doctor fixed the problem. My health continued to deteriorate and no amount of medication was going to stop it.

By the end of the year I felt like I was going to die, and in that moment, I wanted to. I was mentally and physically exhausted, was tired of bleeding money, being treated like a pincushion, and being prescribed medications that were dangerous and furthered the detriment to my health. So I stopped. I stopped going to the doctor, I came off all medications, and I took it upon myself to fix my problems. This is when my life changed forever.

I spent the next 8 months vigorously researching every intimate detail about my ailments. I wanted to find the root cause, and determine what natural treatment options were available. I learned quickly that nearly everything I was experiencing could be attributed to diet and nutrition. Auto-immune issues, fungal infections, irregular heart rhythm, gut disorders, nutrient deficiencies, unexplained weight loss, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, allergies, you name it. I had done some research prior to this and had mentioned diet and nutrition to my doctors but they balked at the idea that these things could influence my health, and it was quickly dismissed. In fact, I had done extensive research into magnesium and potassium therapy for the treatment of heart conditions and when I presented my research to my cardiologist I was told these things would have zero effect. Instead, they wanted to do an ablation (burn the nerves in my heart) or install a pacemaker. I was terrified, but now that I was armed with this new information, I began to feel empowered again and realized that I might be able to regain control of my life.

By April of 2019 I had tried and experimented with nearly every diet out there. Vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, fruitarian, extended fasting, plant based, low carb, paleo, Atkins, low FODMAP, you name it I tried it. Some of those diets were horrible and there were a couple that actually shifted my blood sugar levels into the range for pre-diabetes. Eventually I landed on keto. Keto made me feel better and I became functional again. I was able to start weight training again and began gaining some weight back, however, I still had severe digestion issues (from all the fiber, leafy greens, and other plants that are encouraged on a keto diet). I had resolved my fungal & candida issues with strategic use of various plants and supplements, and through that, found that I was riddled with parasites as well. I felt okay but my digestion was still sub-optimal; I still had bloating, IBS, colitis, intestinal bleeding, histamine intolerance, allergies, heart palpitations, my nails were still brittle, and I was still underweight.

One day in mid-April of 2019, after waking up with severe pain and bloating, I new I needed to make a drastic change. The one food that I knew I could tolerate with no ill side effects was meat. That day I went to the grocery and bought a week’s worth of steaks, this would be my sole source of nutrition for the next week. It was extreme and a shot in the dark, but something magical happened. By the end of that week I noticed drastic improvements in my health. In fact, I felt better than I had in over a year! So, in my mind, there was only one logical next step: Buy more meat and keep going! By the end of the month, I felt better than I had in 2 years eating only meat, salt, and water. After 6 months I felt better than I had in 3 years, and by the end of 2019, I felt better than I could even remember. I felt super human. My mind was clear, my depression and anxiety faded away, I began training at a higher intensity than I ever had, I gained muscle while staying lean (eating 1-2 meals per day instead of 7-9), I felt satiated, nourished, and the desire to eat every two hours had vanished. The most amazing thing? Every single ailment that had destroyed my life for the last year and a half faded into nothing, even my heart condition (with the help of magnesium & potassium therapy). I was alive, I was healed, and I was thriving.

I have continued this lifestyle since 2019, and throughout that time, have researched and learned about why this non-conventional way of eating worked for me. I dug deeper into the benefits of a meat-based diet and the detriment that the standard American diet has had on the general population. There was an endless list of people in my life struggling with symptoms of chronic illness that were so familiar to me. Meanwhile, something else started to become more and more apparent; the same chronic illnesses were increasingly prevalent in dogs as well. Seeing the correlation in dietary shifts to ultra-processed foods in both humans and dogs (dogs especially), i started to wonder if this animal-based way of eating would benefit canines in a similar way.

After witnessing so many of my friends and family members lose their livelihood (and in some instances, their lives) to obesity and various “common” illnesses, and so many more lose their beloved four-legged family members to things like diabetes and cancer, I decided to dedicate my life to sharing my story. I want to share what I have learned, and my experiences, to spread awareness in an effort to help others break away from the commercialized and industrialized food industries, break free from the never-ending matrix of the modern healthcare system, and help others through what could be the most difficult, yet most rewarding challenges they will ever face. Through the power of community we can break the chains that bind us and know what it is to truly live a happy, healthy, and freeing life.