What’s good out there?

Liquid Trucking.

Welcome into episode 15 of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Very happy to have you here and I just wanna right off the top here.

Uh Send out a huge thanks to everyone that has been downloading this podcast.

We have seen some numbers that we never expected out of the Liquid Trucking Podcast and it’s not to say that we can’t be even bigger than what we already are.

So if you’re out there,

click and download,

if you’ve clicked,

subscribe,

uh maybe you’re hitting up Liquid trucking.com and listening to the episodes there.

You’ve got it on your Spotify or your Apple uh podcast app.

All of it helps us and uh if you are so gracious and would do this for us,

leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.

We got real drivers out there listening,

telling other drivers.

Hey,

this is a legit podcast.

You should check it out.

Uh That type of thing would just warm my heart and help us to produce even better episodes for you going into the future.

So again,

to everyone out there that supported this podcast in its 1st 15 episodes.

Thank you you are all the reason that we do exactly what we do here.

Uh And thank you to my team as well.

I know I say this from time to time and you guys might think I’m getting a little bit mushy here,

but I have a team of professionals around me that helps me produce this podcast and there is no way that I would be able to do it without them.

So thank you to all the listeners and thank you to the team.

This podcast has been so much fun in only 15 episodes and uh I can’t wait to see what the future holds because we’re here to stay.

So expect a lot more greatness out of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way,

what’s going on on this episode.

Well,

we’re gonna talk about staying fit on the road.

Uh Some of you drivers are out there otr for a long time.

Some of you were just out for a week at a time or maybe a few days,

but they all experienced the exact same hardships with trying to stay healthy,

trying to eat healthy,

trying to get a little bit of activity in.

So you’re moving the body a little bit.

You know,

that dot Card is a real important piece of this job.

And if you don’t pass your physical,

they’re not gonna let you drive and we all know that we all understand that.

So let’s talk about how to stay healthy and how to pass that physical and not worry about it as much.

And I’ve got some great guests on the podcast today.

We’re going to talk to uh Eric Washkuhn and Doctor Nutter from integrated care.

Some of you might recognize that name,

integrated care.

Those guys uh help you out with getting those dot Physicals.

Uh Doctor Nutter is,

is a fantastic doctor and I’ll tell you right now,

I saw him on camera before we recorded the interview.

The guy is absolutely chiseled out of stone,

listen to him because he has this Adonis body.

I mean,

it looked like that uh that polo shirt that he was wearing was just painted on.

And I mean,

uh you wanna listen to a guy like that,

that’s able to keep himself in such good shape.

He will help you stay in shape as well and we’re gonna talk to him a little bit later.

I’ve also got Doctor Mark Manera from off shift and off shift helps drivers prevent disease,

ok.

Uh They work directly with you to help prevent things like diabetes and heart disease and hypertension,

all of these things that are preventable and even more so they might even be reversible.

We’re gonna talk to Doctor Mark Manera about that coming up a little bit later on here in the episode as well.

And I’ve also got Liquid Driver,

Alex Shevchuk coming back on the podcast to share yet another one of his fantastic healthy recipes that will keep you eating for an entire week on a budget.

And uh I also think that Alex has some very special news to share with us,

but I don’t want to spoil that.

So let’s just kill all the intro stuff here.

Let’s get on because we’ve got so much good content in this episode.

I can’t wait for y’all to hear it.

Welcome to the Gold Standard of podcast for the Gold standard of Drivers.

This is the Liquid Trucking Podcast with your host,

Marcus Bridges.

Very excited about our next segment here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

I’ve got three people with me,

which is one more than normal and I’m really excited about it.

Uh I’ve got Jason Eisenman here,

of course,

uh VP of Hr and Safety over at Liquid Trucking.

How are you doing,

Jason?

Good.

Thanks Marcus.

No problem.

And also joining us here today from integrated care LLC in Omaha.

I’ve got uh Eric Washkuhn,

Eric.

Thank you for being here,

Marcus.

Thanks for having me and I’ve also got Doctor Nutter from integrated care as well.

Doctor.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Thanks for having me.

If you want to check out uh everything that integrated care has got to offer,

you can hit up their website over at integrated care llc.com.

But since I’ve got uh the guys right here that can tell us all about it let’s just start there,

Eric,

talk to me about integrated care.

What do you guys offer?

All right,

I’d love to.

Thanks for uh thanks again for having us so integrated care.

We were talking before the podcast,

uh been around.

This is our 11th year.

Uh we started out the company uh 11 years ago thinking that we were going to offer uh physical therapy and chiropractic integrated into the same treatment plan.

And that is still sort of true today,

but it certainly evolved and pivoted and the business plan has sort of evolved into helping um employers with their employees keep their uh employees safe and healthy.

And uh part of that is uh providing preemployment,

post accident,

random reasonable suspicion testing,

drug testing,

physical exams,

which include dot physical exams.

So we have great relationships with trucking companies like liquid trucking and uh we’ve enjoyed working with uh Jason and Liquid Trucking for,

I’d say probably 11 years now.

Wow,

that’s awesome for nine years,

nine years.

Yeah.

Either way it still 11 or nine years,

I say six of one half a dozen the other.

That’s a great long term working relationship.

And,

and Jason,

can you speak to uh the relationship that Liquid trucking has with uh integrated care?

So,

just a quick story,

you know,

if you’re a driver of liquid now and you’ve been hired recently and went through integrated care and then some of our older drivers that never did,

you know,

if you were hired on 1314 years ago,

the story,

then you would have went to multiple spots.

So during orientation,

you go to one spot for your dot Physical,

you’d go to another location for your uh your physical capacity profile or it’s a physical exam and you,

you’d go somewhere else for a drug test and,

and Eric and I’m not sure how Eric and I got connected,

but what was great about uh integrated was their willingness to combine all the services and kind of mold their business plan and,

and bring all of these different things into one clinic.

So our employees that are hired today can go to one clinic,

kind of a one stop shop for that onboarding process.

And then like Eric said,

you know,

for continued dot compliance,

you got the,

the,

the random drug testing,

the reasonable suspicion,

drug testing,

any like post uh accident analysis and then injury,

you know,

if we have someone that gets hurt,

they can also go there to a certain degree,

right?

You know,

if it’s bad enough,

they still have to go get a greater level of care.

But that’s kind of a,

you know,

a brief snippet on,

on uh how things evolved with us over time.

That’s great.

Now,

I,

I want to turn to you here,

Doctor Nutter because I kind of wanna talk about dot Tests,

uh or dot Physical exams right now on,

on average.

Would you say most drivers pass their dot Physical exams,

would you say some,

uh,

what,

what’s,

what is your,

I guess your pass fail rate look like for,

uh,

drivers at large.

Mine has honestly been pretty good.

The companies that we primarily work with,

a lot of those drivers are pretty healthy.

I have,

uh,

I have a couple of companies where they give me a couple of them that are,

uh,

that are a little harder to work with on average.

Like,

you know,

I’m not trying to fail anybody.

It’s not my goal to fail anybody.

But at the same time I’m still trying to make sure the drivers are safe on the road.

So I’ve had it a number of times where I’ve given shorter term med cards for whatever health reasons.

But the most part,

a lot of the drivers are ceo compliant with the stuff that they’re supposed to be doing,

taking their medications,

doing their follow ups and everything.

So the majority of my drivers end up passing and I feel like I try,

I feel like I do a pretty decent job,

but at least explaining to them why I’m giving them the car that I do what as well as giving them some tips to,

you know,

be able to help out and be able to further answer compliance.

We have to help one,

keep themselves safe and kill and then on top of that,

keep everybody else safe since,

you know,

driving a big truck like that can be a very big hazard if you allow it to be.

Absolutely.

And,

and it can also,

the job itself can be a bit of a hazard to your health as you know,

you’re sitting down for a long time and I know that some drivers struggle with trying to stay healthy,

eat healthy,

get enough exercise while they’re out there on the road.

Um,

would you say that that exercise point or the eating healthy point,

either one of those or two of the major concerns when it comes to drivers being able to stay healthy while they’re out there on the road doctor.

Um,

is there a better way to say yes on this podcast?

That’s,

that’s,

that’s honestly one of the biggest things being,

but that,

but that’s already,

that’s not a problem with truckers in general.

That’s just a problem with the general population and truckers,

truckers can end up getting the blunt of that because especially anybody that’s driving over the road when you’re on the road for however many hours in a day,

driving across country,

driving across state,

your food options are very limited.

Your activity options are pretty limited sometimes,

especially if you’re on a time crunch there,

which I completely understand that.

Unfortunately,

I have had a couple of drivers that have shown me some of the,

uh,

routines that they developed and some of their eating habits that they’ve developed on the road So I’ve had plenty of them show me that it’s possible,

it just takes a lot more time and a lot more effort to do it.

But when,

for the sake of convenience,

a lot of people take the,

take the other route because it is convenient.

It is more,

you know,

affordable,

at least at the time.

Um,

yeah,

but that definitely would,

I would definitely say that exercise and diet are one of the biggest things that truckers can kind of fall into just because those two stem into so many of the health issues that we see in drivers or that we see the general population as it is.

What’s the health tip that you find yourself repeating the most often get active and drink water?

Gosh,

I,

ok,

can I go?

I’m just gonna record that and that’s gonna be my new ring tone because I,

I definitely need uh,

the motivation for that.

It’s hard.

I mean,

some days I’ll look down,

it’ll be four o’clock,

I’ll be up here in the studio working and I haven’t had more than maybe a sip of water all day long and I don’t work nearly as involved of a job as what these drivers do.

So I understand how tough it is.

But,

um,

I,

I love to hear you echo that because it is all,

it’s tough,

but it’s also very simple when you think about it.

If you can just keep that in the forefront of your mind,

man,

a couple laps around the truck and a nice fat glass of water every now and then.

Really helps.

Yeah,

because one of the big tips that I try to get a lot of drivers,

especially if they’re working over the road,

is that like,

whenever they come to a stop or anything like that,

I’ll have a handful and tell me that.

Yeah,

we park in the back of the parking lot so we’re getting extra steps and I’ll just try to make sure and tell them it’s like if you wanna add something else that’s gonna be able to help,

be able to absolutely help you in a great way is just take a dedicated,

you know,

1520 minutes,

whether it’s taking las around the truck,

walking around the parking lot,

just that dedicated 15 to 20 minutes,

not including your time.

It takes to,

you know,

go into the rest stop going to the store or anything like that.

Just taking that dedicated 15 to 20 minutes and just simply walking cause even doing that 3 to 5 times a week can make some pretty drastic changes over time.

I mean,

with,

I mean,

if you want to talk about,

you know,

health in general,

everybody wants to try and have that quick fix to make it feel better.

But the reality is whether like whether you’re a trucker on the road,

whether you’re just part of the general population,

just those slow,

steady changes,

give those consistent changes over time and that’s how you’re gonna see the best results over time as well.

One push up today,

two push ups tomorrow.

That kind of thing.

Right.

Just keep building and building from there.

Got it,

got it.

There’s an employer side of that,

you know,

and doctor Nutter,

you might agree or disagree.

But,

you know,

blood pressure seems to be like the number one question thing on our side when our drivers need to get a renewal,

they’re,

it’s kind of like,

uh,

they call it white coat fever or,

you know,

they’re,

they come into the office,

they’re like my dot Physicals due and boy,

I’m worried about passing,

you know,

I’ve got this going on and that going on and,

and,

you know,

some of the tips we’re giving them are make sure you’re not drinking a bunch of caffeine,

make sure you’re drinking lots of extra water,

try to watch what you eat.

Um,

and,

and then,

you know,

don’t go in there and just stress yourself out over it.

Uh,

we ask them,

do you have blood pressure medication?

Are you taking it?

You know,

we’re trying to do our best to coach them up and get them to think about all the little things because they’re really,

you know,

worried about it.

It’s a big appointment for some guys and not,

you know,

and,

and for some it’s not.

But,

uh,

it’s a question we get a lot on our side.

I absolutely agree with that.

I have a lot of drivers that have a handful of them that typically they don’t have problems.

Like,

I remember one driver in particular,

uh,

he would always,

you know,

keep track of his blood pressure when he was at home.

He was showing me some of the readings because he had one of those electronic ones that he used at home and his readings were good consistently,

like,

well,

like pretty well within normal range.

But then whenever I took his blood pressure,

it was just skyrocketed and he even said,

right,

like you can tell,

you know,

in his demeanor that he was nervous,

he was anxious and it’s just,

you know,

a lot of those guys have psych themselves out.

So,

like,

even me,

but I can’t,

like,

I hate wearing a white coat if Eric would tell me to wear a white coat to work.

I,

I tell him to choose otherwise.

And I,

like,

I feel like I’m pretty personal when I try and talk to some of the drivers because I understand absolutely that,

you know,

just having it,

like having a gentle and welcoming presence can do it can do wonders for help.

Be able to calm some of those guys down when they’re already psyching themselves out anyways.

And there’s no need for me to do anything to exacerbate that to make that worse because then that just makes it it makes it worse for them and it looks bad on me as well if I’m trying to,

you know,

egg that on.

I mean,

like I said,

I’m not trying to fail drivers.

I want these guys to pass,

but I want to make sure that if they’re passing,

they’re also,

they’re also good to be passed.

They should be passing.

Sure.

No,

it’s,

it’s funny that you guys bring that up because I had,

uh,

a minorly traumatic experience at the orthodontist when I was like 14 years old and my blood pressure will be routinely 20 points,

10 points elevated on both ends.

Uh,

whenever I go to a doctor’s office or a dentist or anything like that.

And it’s not,

I don’t think about it.

It’s not something that I’m constantly worried about dreading.

Oh,

I have to go.

It’s once I get there that,

that traumatic experience kind of creeps up in the back of my mind.

And even though it affected me,

not at all for the rest of my life,

it didn’t do any lasting damage.

That’s the one thing that I’ve got is a lot of anxiety when I sit down at a doctor’s office.

And,

um,

and that makes me feel better and,

and I hope it makes a lot of the drivers listening that might struggle with the same thing feel better because I wasn’t aware that it was that common.

I thought I was AAA giant outlier in that Yeah,

we,

we call that White Coat syndrome and it is very common and,

um,

it makes sense though if you think about it,

it’s these guys livelihoods.

I mean,

if,

if your,

if your job was on the line,

your blood pressure would probably be a little elevated as well.

Especially some of these guys,

you know,

they’ve done it their whole life.

5,

1020 years.

Um,

they don’t wanna,

they don’t wanna stay in.

So I would say uh doc you can back me up on this.

But uh blood pressure probably number one,

diabetes probably number two.

Uh anxiety is probably number three.

But uh yeah,

a lot of that all goes back to or could be controlled with,

you know,

diet and exercise for sure.

Eric,

how do uh trucking companies differ from some of your other clients?

Uh I know that you’re not only working with trucking companies over at integrated care.

So what kind of differences do you see?

Well,

yeah,

we,

we help a lot of different industries.

Trucking is probably number one or number two,

but we also work in the construction area.

Manufacturing.

We,

we have two locations in Omaha and the one in South Omaha,

we have some with some meat packing plants.

So that’s interesting.

So you have some,

some unique injuries associated with that and then probably the last one is health care sector,

you know,

nursing and uh techs and stuff like that.

So yeah,

there’s definitely trends and uh similarities in the different industries.

But drivers,

I would say,

how would,

how would they be different than say the construction guys or the manufacturing?

Um I would say that they are uh typically a seasoned driver is well aware of what their requirements are.

So if this guy is coming in for his annual or bi annual uh dot exam renewal,

he probably already knows what his health issues are.

He already knows that he might have some pre-existing things.

Um,

and just let me,

and let me talk about that a little bit more,

a healthy driver.

It’s two year car,

you know,

you have no,

nothing going on.

But,

uh,

if there are some outlying health concerns then it drops to maybe a year.

So you have a guy that comes in every year and let’s just say it’s typically high blood pressure,

diabetes,

maybe some medications that they have to take and sleep apnea.

You might want to put that in there too.

Maybe that’s worth,

is that right?

Yeah,

that’s a pain.

But,

um,

but again,

can be controlled with,

you know,

diet and exercise typically.

But so I would say,

um,

I’d say that drivers kind of come in.

They know the routine,

uh,

most of the time they know what’s gonna happen if every once in a while we might surprise them if their,

if their,

uh,

health issues have,

uh,

let’s say changed,

maybe gotten worse.

There are scenarios where sometimes we’ll give them what’s called a three month card.

And that’s where,

that’s where Doctor Nutter will say something like uh I need you to go to your doctor.

I need you to get some more documentation.

I need you to go get some,

you know,

some further testing.

I need you to bring back a release.

And then that,

that,

that,

that can uh that actually can uh be kind of an adventure.

But um I’d say that’s the biggest difference in,

in the trucking industry versus um just somebody coming in from manufacturing for a preemployment physical exam or something like that.

That’s great stuff.

I appreciate it.

Now.

Uh Sometimes I,

I wonder,

you know,

with,

with the general health of,

of the American population,

I don’t even wanna concentrate on drivers here,

but just our,

our American diet,

the things that are constantly rubbed in our faces,

you know,

high sugar sodas,

everything like that.

We already talked about the one thing,

Doctor Nutter or the,

I guess two things that you would say,

hey,

diet and exercise,

like get active,

watch what you eat.

Uh My one question here is about sleep though because you mentioned sleep apnea and I know a bunch of people that had struggled with sleep apnea in my life.

And um I mean,

I,

I heard a doctor one time tell my dad who suffers from sleep apnea that a normal person’s oxygen level is here.

And for those of you that aren’t seeing this on video.

He had his hand kind of up by his forehead.

He said a dead person’s is down here and he had to put his hand down by his chin.

And he said,

you Marcus’s dad,

your oxygen level is just right above that dead person when you’re asleep.

Uh sleep apnea is,

is rampant out there.

What does getting enough sleep do for your health overall doctor?

Not just give me a 30,000 ft view of this here.

Uh If you want a 30,000 ft view is what doesn’t it do for you?

I like that.

Perfect is that I have a pretty big health and fitness background.

I do like I do competitive power lifting,

as we said before,

I’m a chiropractor as well.

Uh So I have a fairly good understanding of the health and fitness and even in that realm,

they talk about the importance of sleep getting,

you know,

like everybody always says you need to get eight hours of sleep,

but even if you’re getting a good consistent 6789 hours of sleep,

the wonders that it does for you are just gastronomical when it helps.

So like it just help,

it’s able to help with your digestion of everything.

Um,

lets your body actually be able to recover.

So that way when you wake up,

you’re able to be more focused,

you’re able to be more alert,

actually able to be awake,

not having a significant dependence on caffeine and having to ingest almost a gram of caffeine a day.

You couldn’t go on enough about the benefits of actually getting quality sufficient sleep.

And the people,

what you run into with these people that have sleep apnea is that they may be getting that,

you know,

6 to 8 hours of sleep.

But the amount of sleep that they’re getting is not a quality amount of sleep.

They’re not falling into that deep sleep that they need to be able to get into.

In order to be able to let all those processes happen to be able to recover,

better,

be able to get sufficient rest while they’re doing that.

And I remember I had one driver telling me the story.

I remember because it’s the best way that I can kind of explain it.

This driver was telling me he doesn’t fall like he can’t stay asleep because he has to keep waking up to go to the bathroom.

Essentially.

I had to like I had to have a good conversation with this guy and say,

like brother,

the reason though you happen to get up every hour to go to the bathroom is because you’re not falling into a deep enough sleep because you can’t breathe.

Keep in mind I’m listening to this guy talk and he sounded like he was just congested as be normally.

That was his normal speech.

Neck about 19 inches around bit a big boy,

of course,

and he’s trying to tell me that he can’t say it like he denying that he has sleep apnea when you can just look at him and listen to him for five seconds and tell him that he does and just denying it,

denying it.

And I told him like,

the reason that you’re not that you’re waking up so frequently to go to the bathroom is because you’re not falling into a deep enough sleep.

Because when you fall into that deep enough sleep,

like th like those systems are basically on standby.

Like the only reason you’re getting up to have to go to the bathroom if you’re in a deep enough sleep is if it’s very,

very urgent,

like you have to make moves very quick,

otherwise you’re gonna be having an accident.

So the fact that you’re waking up this frequently tells me that you’re not sleeping sufficiently enough.

Most likely because you can’t breathe because of the obstructive sleep apnea that you have lo and be hold you.

We got a test,

very severe obstructive sleep apnea through on a CPAP very quickly.

Oh,

those machines are amazing and they turn people’s lives around almost instantly.

Iii I actually have a buddy who’s only about 40 years old who has had sleep apnea since he was in his mid twenties.

And he used to be a real grumpy jerk a lot of the time until he got that sleep apnea.

Machine.

And the only reason he’s grumpy and a jerk now is because we make fun of the way he looks when he has it on.

But,

uh,

he’s in a much better mood and,

uh,

just life changing technology there.

The,

let’s say we’re,

since we’re on the topic of sleep apnea,

especially a lot of the truckers when they,

like when they first get their diagnosis of sleep apnea.

It’s,

but that,

apparently there’s a big negative connotation to it.

So you have a lot of them that are very,

very stubborn,

especially in the older ones that have kind of let their wake get up there.

They’re very stubborn about it.

Say that they hate it all this other,

there are all these other things,

I mean,

Eric can attest to this.

He’s listened to some of the conversations I’ve had with drivers and they just say everything and they hate it and,

but the problem is if they keep that,

they hate it and they don’t use it,

they’re not being compliant with it because if you have sleep apnea and you’re a dot Driver,

you’re a CD L driver,

you have to maintain your compliance with that.

And if you do not,

then you don’t get your med card renewed.

So it’s either you use your CPAP or you’re gonna have to find another job,

right?

And like you said,

I don’t want to fail you.

So snorkel up,

you know,

put that thing on Yep.

And I think everybody hates it initially.

I think everybody hates it.

It feels weird.

They’re not used to it.

It feels like something’s breathing for you.

But I don’t know how,

maybe it’s a month,

maybe it’s three months,

then it’s a requirement and then they love it.

Like you said,

your friend,

he’s a different guy.

So,

you know,

we try to be as encouraging as possible and just say,

look,

give it a,

you know,

give it 3090 days and eventually it will be a requirement and it will feel better.

Jason.

Uh,

I definitely want to give you a chance here if you have any questions to crack out at these two before we let them go.

Uh,

we’re up against the clock a little bit,

but we’ve still got some time here.

So,

uh,

if there’s anything else that you want to chat about the floor is yours my friend.

No,

I agree.

100% over close to two decades ago.

My wife talked me into getting a test for sleep apnea and,

you know,

it changed my life.

So when I talk with drivers,

if they come to me and it becomes a discussion,

uh,

you know,

and to add to that,

you’ve talked with Dave Blotzer,

our safety director.

When I,

when I started working at Liquid Trucking,

he was nodding off at his desk and I said,

Dave,

you’ve,

uh,

you know,

you might wanna get that checked out and he,

and,

and he did and,

and he ended up getting a CPAP probably eight years ago and he,

he’ll be the second person in the office to tell you,

like,

you know,

you know,

and if you think it’s yours,

you know,

if it’s,

if it’s a problem of yours,

it’s life changing.

And,

and he,

uh,

Dave’s not overweight.

Dave was a good shape football player,

but it was a,

it was a problem for him and it changed his life.

So,

you know,

if you’re a driver listening today,

whether you work for lo the trucking or not,

there are a lot of options.

There are in-home tests,

there are mobile machines,

the tech technology come a long way.

Um,

yes,

it has like,

uh and Eric and Doctor Nutter said there is a definite huge,

like mountain size negative connotation on the topic in the industry.

But there’s like,

uh,

like a lot of things in life.

There’s no,

you know,

restart do over that.

You know,

life doesn’t come with an endless amount of opportunities to start over.

So this is an opportunity to stack years on your life because it’ll wear your heart out and a whole lot of other things,

a lot faster when you’re not able to breathe.

Yeah.

Well,

said,

I mean,

I think all of us that grew up playing video games would love a few more continues at the end of this life.

But,

uh,

I don’t think they’re coming any time soon.

I mean,

I don’t know,

I can ask you,

Doctor Nutter,

is that something that we’re we see on the horizon or is there any advancements we might?

But uh as far as right now,

no,

uh we still got,

we still got with the uh the YOLO mantra as the kids say these days.

Yes,

sir.

Absolutely.

Well,

uh Doctor Notor,

Eric Washkuhn from integrated care.

I want to thank you guys so much for coming on.

This has been a great conversation.

We’ll definitely get you guys back on here again to talk about this stuff in the future.

Once again,

you want to check out their website head on over to integrated care llc.com,

gentlemen.

Thank you so much for the time.

Thanks Marcus.

Thank you very excited about our next guest here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

He’s joined us on other podcasts before,

but it is his first foray into the world of Liquid uh for us anyway.

And uh please welcome to the program,

Doctor Mark Manera from off shift doctor.

Thank you so much for being here today,

Marcus.

Thank you so much for having me.

Please call me Mark.

Please call me Mark.

I appreciate it.

But yeah,

I always enjoy talking to you and uh excited to be on the podcast.

I set you up for that one because I am familiar uh with you,

the fact that you like to be called Mark instead of Doctor Mark or Doctor Manera.

I,

you know,

I think that’s very cool.

It’s,

it’s very personable to me and,

and I,

but I have wondered in the past,

is there a philosophy behind that?

Is there a reason,

does it just make you uncomfortable or is it something you want to kind of ditch the formality and just be a little bit more casual?

Why is it that you just like to go by Mark?

I,

I don’t call you podcaster Marcus,

right?

Uh You know,

it’s,

it’s not my identity.

It’s just that what I went to school for when and,

and part of what I do for a living,

right?

Uh So drivers out there aren’t called the cruck or Dan or whatever it is,

right?

Maybe on social media or tiktok.

But uh but not in real life.

So I know just,

just Mark is cool to me.

All right.

That’s great.

Well,

Mark,

tell me a little bit about off shift.

What do you got going on with that?

Yeah.

So off shift is a chronic disease prevention and management company built for truck drivers.

So at the end of the day,

we are helping drivers prevent chronic diseases like diabetes,

obesity and heart disease,

which unfortunately for this industry is something that is,

is pretty common and,

you know,

I don’t know if a lot of drivers know this,

but actually truck drivers have the highest rates of obesity,

diabetes,

uh compared to any other occupation in the United States.

And,

you know,

I think there’s a lot of really,

really unique barriers that drivers face being out on the road,

especially OTR drivers.

But honestly,

drivers who are home pretty often uh face very similar challenges and honestly,

they have to go home after a long day of driving and,

and uh you know,

deal with is a really hard word to say,

but they have to go and,

and have responsibilities of at home,

kids spouses and at home things.

So,

you know,

they have a lot of uh a lack of time as well and,

you know,

potentially have some easier access to healthier options.

But a lot of drivers really struggle with that and we come in and speak their language,

understand the lifestyle and provide,

you know,

a personal crosser help coach that pairs with each driver and they work,

you know,

honestly,

for the driver to help them live a healthier,

happier life out on the road.

That’s great.

And uh obviously,

you’ve,

you’ve seen some success over your time working with drivers.

Um Can you tell me maybe just generally what uh one of the most effective strategies is for staying fit,

staying healthy,

preventing those diseases otr uh that you’ve seen drivers apply over the years Mark,

I always look at it like the hierarchy of needs and really when we look at it from,

from our programming and,

and when we work with people uh at off shift is there’s really three big categories and when you think about it,

the hierarchy of needs,

right?

It’s like one of those things that like you have to hit the baseline before you can start moving up to like the more advanced things.

And some of the way that I think of it is like,

you know,

so many people get so caught up in thinking about,

you know,

this deep scientific,

like I gotta eat X at X time only X meal,

blah,

blah,

blah.

And you’re like,

when you’re,

you’re trying to write a paragraph before you even know the ABC S,

right?

And so many drivers can just focus on these small changes that you do on a consistent basis and literally change their whole life and,

and the whole trajectory of their health.

And so from the start,

we help every single driver,

uh,

we call it primary care,

but help every single driver find a primary care doctor that they love.

Trust and see at least once a year for an annual physical blood work and preventative screenings.

That whole thing started because 50% of truck drivers don’t even have a primary care doctor.

And I can,

you know,

you can go out,

run,

you know,

laps around your truck,

you can eat salads and,

and you know,

lean protein and all this other stuff.

But if you’re not going to the doctor and on a recurring basis,

getting you know,

having a conversation with someone who can catch things really early when they’re really easy to still treat.

You’re,

you’re setting yourself up for some really hard conversations later down the road when,

you know,

maybe you haven’t gone to the doctor in 1015 years and,

you know,

something’s feeling a little weird and you’re like,

ok,

I need to go versus you getting in the routine of it.

You having,

you know,

years and years of,

of blood work data and just other conversations in the relationship built with a doctor to then when something’s going wrong or when you know,

something’s not feeling right.

You know,

there’s some background history of,

you know,

I know what normal looks like,

you know,

both from like the lab results,

but also from your doctor talking to you and,

you know,

getting to know you as a person and it just helps everyone get ahead of things so much quicker and can turn a small thing,

you know,

from potentially trickling down to,

you know,

a major medical issue to getting ahead of it and not impacting the ability for you to stay behind the wheel,

you know,

keep a roof over your family’s head by earning money and,

you know,

driving miles every single day,

right.

The second thing we focus on is medication adherence.

So the crazy stat is that 50% of people do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctor,

which is crazy it’s really because obviously like,

a lot of times when you go to the doctor and you’ve got like seven minutes of your doctor doing all of these different screenings,

they’re talking to you half the time when they’re telling you what to do,

it’s like over their shoulder as they’re walking away from,

you know,

outside to the next patient and you know what,

we help,

a lot of drivers is close that gap and help them understand.

Ok,

let me like be the translator here of the medical system and help you make sure that you’re taking it as your doctor prescribed it.

If there’s anything weird happening from side effects or other issues,

like let’s get you back to the doctor so we can get that adjusted or change medications.

So that’s not the reason why you’re having it.

And then,

you know,

the other aspect is 20 to 30% of prescriptions that are given or written to someone by a doctor or never filled at a pharmacy.

And so we’re helping drivers,

you know,

find pharmacies wherever they’re driving or just help them,

you know,

nudge them a little bit to say,

hey,

did you get that filled?

Did you get a refill?

So that,

you know,

that is not the reason why they’re not taking their medication on a consistent basis.

And you know,

those two layers to me are some of the,

the things that you can do on a daily basis just to have a baseline feel of feeling good,

right?

You can like I said,

eat healthy,

do all these other things and I I want you to do that.

But at the end of the day,

the number one thing that you can do to feel good and decrease the likelihood of,

you know,

a medical condition impacting the safety behind the wheel or causing you to say I need to go to the emergency room or urgent care.

Today is just taking your medication as prescribed.

It’s gonna manage your conditions,

especially if you have diabetes or heart disease or,

or,

you know,

hypertension,

high blood pressure.

And then once you kind of have those two baselines,

then we can get into the fun stuff of,

you know,

nutritional habits and physical activity and we can dive deeper into that because I think that’s where a lot of drivers struggle on.

How do I actually implement this into my lifestyle when I’m behind the wheel for 1112 hours a day,

I’m mentally drained.

I’ve only got 10 hours,

you know,

between before I need to get back.

So I can maximize the amount of miles I’m driving today.

And the last thing I want to do is,

you know,

eat a salad and go for a run after a long day of driving.

Uh,

all I wanted to do is Veg out and watch Netflix,

right?

And so that’s,

that’s where that,

that personal coaching relationship comes in and,

you know,

uh,

where a lot of the drivers,

uh,

we help spark things that they never thought about.

I think that’s so important.

Uh,

as,

as somebody that had a little bit of a traumatic experience in a,

uh,

orthodontist chair when I was younger I have had,

um,

I,

I’ve heard it called White coat anxiety or,

or white coat fever.

I,

my blood pressure shoots through the roof when I go to a doctor’s office and I’ve just recently changed uh primary care doctors and found one that I really like.

He’s somebody that I can really relate to and talk to and feel like I’m comfortable when I’m sitting there with him.

And the reason I think that’s so important is because a lot of the things that you’re doing with off shift,

you know,

trying to prevent diabetes and heart disease and these types of diseases,

they are preventable.

But you’ve got to be comfortable with the person that you’re sitting there talking to and the person that’s getting you on,

uh figuring out these baselines that you were talking about.

So you can extend your health journey into the next step,

which might,

you know,

save your life down the road someday when it comes to things like heart disease and diabetes.

And II,

I really do understand that at a,

at a level that some people don’t because I have such anxiety when I go into a doctor’s office.

And if you’re out there listening right now and you’re like me where you just hate going to the doctor.

Not because you’re worried about what they’re gonna tell you,

but you’re worried just because,

you know,

like I sit down and at one time I sat down in the dentist chair and they took my blood pressure and they almost sent me to the emergency room and I had to tell them,

listen,

I know how this looks right now.

But let me tell you what happened.

I had a,

I had a,

uh,

uh form taken of my mouth in that putty that they put in and they make you bite down and some of it went down my throat and it took five minutes for that stuff to set.

And so I was gagging on that thing for five minutes.

And it’s one of the worst things that I’ve ever been through and that was when I was 14 Mark,

I’m pushing 40 and I still can’t get past that in my head.

So it’s very understandable that drivers might feel this way.

But it’s also very important to,

uh,

find somebody that you can actually go in and feel comfortable with if you want to get started on this journey to being fit and,

and,

uh,

you know,

getting the best out of the years that we’ve all got left,

you know,

the emotional and the mental side of a relationship with within the medical field is,

is almost as important as,

you know,

having someone who,

who knows what they’re talking about on the medical side of things and is doing the right test and screenings and all of that,

right.

If you don’t have a relationship with someone and can relate to them and,

you know,

that might be finding a doctor who’s a male or female because you just feel more comfortable with them or,

you know,

finding someone from a cultural or ethnic standpoint that,

you know,

you can relate to better or even a language standpoint,

maybe your English is not your first language and you want to find someone who can speak,

you know,

your primary language with you.

All of those things are a huge contributor to the likelihood of you go to the doctor for the first time,

but probably even more.

So you go into the 2nd,

3rd,

4th time,

you know,

a couple of years down the road and building that relationship and there’s something that you said there around like diabetes or,

you know,

hypertension,

heart disease,

they’re preventable,

but they’re also reversible.

And so I know there’s a lot of drivers out there listening to this,

who have these conditions and you know,

you can manage them.

You can cut down,

you can make changes that over time.

It’s not gonna happen like this.

It’s not gonna be a snap of the finger and you’re done for,

but you can reverse it and you can,

you know,

cut down the knee,

you know,

get off of medication or get off of being insulin dependent.

Um,

a lot of these different things that,

you know,

when someone has heart disease or diabetes,

um,

you know,

they’re really scared about,

especially because they’re lifelong conditions.

And,

you know,

the scary truth is around is that seven out of every 10 Americans die from a chronic disease,

uh,

which is really sad and one of the biggest reasons why,

you know,

when I talk to drivers is like,

you know,

let’s get ahead of it if you don’t have,

if you don’t have diabetes or,

or,

or heart disease.

But if you do,

let’s manage it.

Let’s not let that get out of control and impact your ability to pass a dot Physical or your ability to,

you know,

safely drive a truck and,

you know,

enjoy your time at home either for sure.

And I’m gonna level with you a little bit here.

Uh,

in my last trip to the doctor had some blood work done.

Uh,

hypertension was there?

Uh,

cholesterol was a little high.

Um,

liver enzymes were,

weren’t quite what doctor wanted to see.

Um,

you know,

just some things that I think a lot of people that are pushing 40 like me,

uh,

especially drivers,

people that live or work a sedentary job where they’re not moving around a lot,

those types of things show up a lot.

And,

you know,

my doctor got me on,

uh,

a very light blood pressure medication,

which I’m happily taking once a day.

But another thing that he recommended to me,

which I’ve heard a lot about and I wanna pick your brain about is intermittent fasting.

He’s got me not eating in a 16 hour window and only eating in a,

I think whatever that math is eight hour window or,

or whatever the case may be there.

But really,

uh,

to be honest with you,

it was a bit of a bitch the first couple of days,

uh I was not comfortable,

but I’ve since pushed through that and,

uh,

in the last 10 days I’m down like £6 and I feel a lot better.

I’m,

I’m drinking more water,

uh,

in that morning window where I can’t eat,

I’m just pounding water.

Now,

how do you feel about intermittent fasting?

And what kind of successes have you seen over your work with drivers?

Yeah.

You know,

I,

I think that what’s the phrase there?

Like there’s a,

there’s a million ways to skin a cat or something like that.

Right.

So,

I think it’s an amazing tool.

I don’t think it’s an amazing tool for everyone,

but I think for certain people it can be a life changer and it can just,

it’s very simple and it’s very easy to understand it.

So I’ll die.

I’ll really quickly nerd out on just the science behind it and why you’ve lost £6 is basically what it is doing is it’s cutting down the time,

uh,

in your day,

uh,

of how often you eat.

Right.

So,

instead of going from eating at,

from 6 a.m. to,

to,

you know,

9 p.m. right?

However,

all day,

15 hours or however long you’re eating throughout the day.

Now,

you’re only eating for you a six hour window,

right.

And so the science or the theory behind it is that if you have less time that you’re eating throughout the day,

you’re going to consume less calories and consume less,

um,

you know,

food overall,

which is going to help you cut down,

um,

you know,

cut down in general your weight because your body is still burning the same amount of calories and you’re just not consuming as many.

So I love it.

I think it’s a great thing.

Uh,

personally,

for me,

I’ve tried it and it doesn’t,

my energy levels just suck throughout the day and I just need to eat something on.

I have to eat more.

I,

I mean,

I eat like three staple meals and maybe a little snack,

uh,

midway through the afternoon.

Um,

but that,

and that works better for me.

Um,

but I think it’s a amazing tool for drivers and if you haven’t tried it and it’s something you want to do,

um,

if you have diabetes,

I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s not great for,

you know,

you need to,

uh,

have a balanced blood glucose your glucose levels all day.

And so eating things uh can really help with that.

So fasting for an extended period of time is not the best approach.

I definitely would speak to your doctor,

especially if you have a medical condition um before trying it,

but I think it definitely is an amazing tool.

I’m super happy that it’s working well for you.

Yeah,

I mean,

I,

I that was the toughest part was the energy.

I felt like I had run a marathon for those first few days and really,

I hadn’t been doing anything other than just trying to come to work and get my work done and,

you know,

you sit there and watch the clock.

Uh,

that’s the other thing you can’t do.

I actually try.

I,

I made my,

my task bars on my computer so that they disappear.

So that,

that clock is not always constantly reminding me.

Uh,

but I,

I’ve,

I’ve really,

I,

I have enjoyed just having that challenge and trying to do something that I know is not gonna be easy because that’s the point behind all of this,

any of these changes that we’re going to make are never going to be easy because,

hey,

you know,

it’s easy.

Uh,

that half gallon of Tillamook ice cream that I ate at nine o’clock a couple of weeks before I went to the doctor and had him tell me not to do that.

That was easy.

Well,

and here’s you know,

here’s the thing though,

like,

and I think you brought up a really good point is like,

you know,

you probably didn’t need your doctor to tell you that,

that the half pint of ice cream was not great for you.

Right.

I think most people out there know what they should be and shouldn’t be eating,

they should be eating more fruits and vegetables and less Twinkies.

Right.

I,

I,

I think sometimes it does take like a scary lab result or a doctor,

like,

hey,

you need to try this to push the needle.

I think also sometimes you just need,

you know,

for us,

when we were working with a lot of people,

a lot of people just need someone in their life who can hold them accountable and giving them actionable advice and,

and building out a plan that’s specific to them.

Right.

And,

you know,

I think the other aspect talking about intermittent fasting is,

you know,

it’s working a combination of you cutting down the amount of calories you’re eating.

But also I’m sure you’ve also made some changes to your diet.

You know,

in that six hours you’re not pounding 12 Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a half pilot of ice cream.

Right.

You know,

you can still eat way too much in that six hours and it not really do much for you.

So,

I,

I think it’s like a,

you know,

it’s definitely a tool.

It’s,

it’s not the full answer for anyone.

Um,

but it,

it definitely can be there and,

and,

and really help out.

Absolutely.

Now I’ve actually shared uh a little story that you’ve shared with me in the past uh a couple of times and because it’s such a,

it,

it blows me away and,

and the incremental steps that you took to kind of help this driver solve his 24 pack of Pepsi a day habit.

Um,

and I love this story because you said,

look,

I just want you to do one zero sugar soda in that 24 and then you kind of incrementally work your way up to where he’s not taking in nearly that much sugar anymore.

Um Fantastic story of success there.

Have you had anything else like that that you can share with me about a driver finding a way and making it happen even though uh things aren’t looking up when,

when you uh first get in touch with them.

Well,

you know,

uh you don’t have crazy stories like that every single uh thank goodness I,

I don’t,

you know,

there’s,

there’s so many uh I can tell you one story of a,

of a driver that we’ve worked with and it,

it’s honestly one of,

you know,

uh the scarier stories of,

of just a 26 year old driver.

She one year into being an over the road driver went from £230 to £350 and got type two diabetes and hypertension and,

uh,

stage like stage two hypertension,

it was like,

really,

really bad and it was really,

really scary and,

you know,

£10 a month adds up really quickly.

Um,

and,

and,

you know,

it was just a huge lifestyle change from her going and she was,

she was working in like construction and then jumping into OTR and she just,

um,

that was a really tough learning curve for her.

And what we did is what we do with every single member of like,

start small.

You know,

you’re not going to,

you know,

Rome was not built in a day.

Uh,

they,

they sure as hell were trying to,

but they were,

they were laying bricks every single day.

Right?

And,

uh,

we really started just with 11 small thing.

And so she had a history of,

she likes going to the gym.

She used to like,

like lifting weights and so we didn’t even touch the diet to start.

All we did is started with,

let’s,

you know,

get in the habit of doing some physical activity.

We were doing some body weight exercises.

We sent her a resistance band.

She was doing resistance band exercises in the back of her truck.

Um,

three days a week for 20 minutes.

That’s all we did.

We started there.

Then all of a sudden this magic happens when someone starts doing something where all these other small changes happen in their life.

Because it just rolls into it up.

Well,

I’m doing this exercise,

I’m making this change,

you know,

I really wanna,

you know,

grab the large Coke as well.

Let me just,

uh,

I’m gonna get a medium or I’m gonna get a,

I’m gonna go with a diet Coke to cut down a bunch of sugar that I’m consuming and,

and we just started working on some basic habits,

you know,

she wasn’t eating any fruits and vegetables.

We started adding there.

We,

we started adding some protein and protein is one of the biggest things,

especially as drivers are getting older when it talks about quality of life and cutting down,

you know,

your,

you know,

so many drivers struggle with,

you know,

even just getting up into their cab on,

on the steps.

And it’s because there’s this,

you know,

fancy scientific term called Circ Penia,

which basically means as you get older,

everyone loses muscle mass.

That’s why the 90 year old grandma really struggles to get off the toilet,

right?

Because she doesn’t have the strength in her legs to squat up and do it.

But,

you know,

one of the things that you can do and father time can be pushed back is by resistance training,

being physically active,

doing exercises and eating enough protein,

protein breaks down and builds up your muscle.

And it’s also an amazing tool for talking about,

you know,

cutting down the snacking and having to eat throughout the day of protein does this amazing thing that it just keeps you fuller for longer.

So if you’re eating,

you know,

a,

a bag of Doritos versus,

you know,

a,

a chicken breast,

you’re gonna stay fuller for a long on the chicken breast than you are the bag of Doritos because those are just kind of empty calories in a way if you want to put it that way.

Um And so those are the small things that we started working on and she’s still on her journey,

you know,

that doesn’t get reversed overnight.

Uh But she’s making a lot of headway and we’ve been really excited about it and you know what we found just in general from any driver,

if it’s someone who wants to lose £10 or someone who just wants to be able to enjoy their time with their kids or grandkids when they’re at home and have more energy is.

Most drivers are surprised at how big of an impact small changes that are done on a consistent basis can have.

And I think it’s one of the most underutilized approaches to changing your health because in our society as a whole,

all of diet culture,

everything you see on social media is make this 180 flip in your whole lifestyle.

And you know,

when you do that,

you’re setting yourself up for failure,

you’re setting yourself up on an unrealistic um standpoint and most people when they get into their thirties,

forties,

fifties have had 1015,

20 maybe 30 different attempts to be healthier.

And every time they set themselves up to fail and it just feels like a failure.

And then every time after that,

when they’re trying to make a change mentally,

you have like this larger wall or barrier that you have to crawl over because you’re like,

what is the point of this?

You know,

I’ve failed,

I’ve tried this,

like,

I’ve tried everything.

Well,

you probably haven’t tried everything,

but I just think so many people need to pump the brakes and start,

you know,

very small and just do it consistently and consistently might be every day.

It might be once a month,

it might be once a week that needs to be defined on your consistency chart,

not on,

you know,

who you see on Facebook or,

or Instagram,

right?

Mhm.

Absolutely.

Well,

well,

said there,

uh,

Mark and,

and thank you for that.

I am up against the clock here a little bit.

So I want you to tell me where I can find out more about off shift and what you guys have got going on over there.

Yeah,

go to offs shift dot A I,

that’s our website.

Or if you’re on linkedin or social media,

you can look us up at off shift or you can look up,

uh,

me on linkedin at,

uh,

Doctor Mark Manera.

And just because you open the floodgate,

I’m gonna call you that one more time.

Doctor Mark Manera.

Thank you so much for your time here today.

It’s always a pleasure having you on and I look forward to getting back in touch with you in the future.

Next up here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

We’ve got somebody that’s been with us a few times here in the recent past.

Liquid Driver.

Alex Shevchuk is on the line right now.

Alex.

How are you doing out there?

My friend,

staying warm.

Good,

good.

Because I hear it’s kind of cold.

Where are you at?

Right now?

I’m actually end up to be in Creston,

Iowa away from a snowstorm on the east coast.

Oh,

good.

So you missed the snowstorm.

Yep.

Good,

good.

Well,

we’ll keep our fingers crossed that you missed the next one too.

Uh,

because it seems like they’ve always got another one coming around the bend.

Now,

the reason,

uh,

well,

first before I really get into it,

you know,

you’ve been kind enough to share a lot of time with us here over the last few weeks and,

uh,

we’ve gotten to know you and your family a little bit and your story.

And one of the things we found out about you,

Alex is that you like to cook yourself some really good,

really healthy food out there on the road.

Um,

and I wanted to bring you on since we’re talking about staying fit on the road and I wanted to maybe have you share some of,

uh,

your tips and tricks or a recipe or two with us while we’ve got you.

So,

uh,

I know you’re prepared.

You have sent me so many pictures over the last hour or so.

And there are,

I mean,

my mouth is watering.

Alex.

Talk to me a little bit about what you got cooked up for us here.

Well,

we got the,

uh,

local store that I,

uh,

support in my community.

It’s uh North 11th Street and uh to retire Mauri Maureen Ova and uh works there.

He’s in the meat department and he always welcomed me,

my family.

I try to support him as well.

I know how hard it is these days after uh COVID hit to important to support these uh guys,

especially small,

small businesses and there’s a small market meet place.

So I come in and I grab um about £2 of uh loin and uh go through the grinder,

which is my mixing special attachment to it.

And uh get that the fresh uh uh auto grinder and prepare some onions,

uh chop some uh bell pepper,

whatever you have and um start grilling on the,

on the stove.

And that,

that thing,

you just uh meat fresh and um you usually separate in containers.

So if you grill a meat and uh onions and um peppers,

uh keep them separately,

then I and my instant bar when I’m taking from the truck and cooking home get one solid cup of uh so ingredient to be two cup of water and a little bit of salt and uh one cup of uh uh rice.

What I prepare and cook that separately as well.

Then you keep those in containers separately and I actually grab um it’s not very uh spicy,

but it’s a sweet,

sweet chili sauce that I’m using.

Uh I believe.

So I send you a picture if you guys like some uh very spicy stuff,

you can put it in chili in there and that will work as well.

But you gotta keep the meat,

uh pepper and onion separately from the rice.

Then you grab a tortilla with you uh chop some,

this size,

some uh fresh onion and some cucumbers if you like and fresh up with um fresh uh green stuff you like and then just roll them and eat them or you can just use them as a,

you know,

I,

I call it,

it’s a bow taco is a little,

little bit of squeezed onion and stuff and it’s working really good in the truck.

You don’t have to go anywhere and that’s,

it’s really delicious and simple meal.

I spent uh 1295 a piece of meat and the rice comes from home as free and um that’s it.

And I’m enjoying as I’m,

as I’m uh taking a lunch and actually end up to be taking the breakfast and the lunch as well.

So now uh with the,

what did you say you got about £2 of loin that you ground up there and a little bit of rice uh only spending what you spent.

That’s amazing to keep it under that kind of budget.

How long will,

what you just described to us normally last you while you’re out there on the road,

Alex uh full week.

So um I still have a half on the gradients and actually on top of that,

I just,

you know,

just make a combination.

I’m going to,

as we proceed in uh uh on the healthy meals on the road,

I actually experience uh it’s all uh European style.

They do uh bock weed.

So I create a buckwheat uh soup.

Uh And I was talking at the last uh conversation we have,

it was uh barley beef soup and then I,

I’m switching to buckwheat.

It is really healthy and the beneficial benefits from that is um cho cholesterol level.

Then I,

I,

you’ll get uh if you got the uh sugar issues that,

that,

that,

that thing is really good for your sugar level as well.

So you can cook some beef again from this £2 of beef.

You could just chop grill a little bit with onions if you like and then just uh um throw some vegetables.

So you got the b uh B soup uh buckwheat soup really delicious and healthy as well to this uh taco meal as well.

So for sure.

And I,

I love the idea that you’re storing everything separately.

You know,

one of the things that we should probably touch on a little bit is,

is food safety.

Um you know,

stuff can go bad even if it’s in the fridge and storing a bunch of food together,

you know,

different foods like rice and beef and vegetables after they’ve been cooked,

uh can sometimes uh go awry on you because those uh different ingredients will have a tendency to age other ingredients faster.

So the idea behind keeping all of those separate is just to make sure that everything stays fresh as long as it does,

I assume.

Yeah.

And then what I did for the tacos as well,

I got two kinds of uh uh beans as well with uh uh uh you can just add a uh chili beans or uh your kidney or black beans that’s fine.

And then um using this sauce is just creating that bond is a really delicious little chili,

a little spicy.

I actually not a spicy guy but uh I picked up a chili beans,

kidney beans,

spicy chili sauce.

And I think I didn’t send it to you so I can just send it to you right now.

So you can have it on your next episode.

It’s a lot of things.

It’s really cheap.

Like I said,

it,

it will be this time it probably round up instead of spending 45.

I probably owned up.

I fit it in all 35 or 38 bucks.

That’s it.

That’s great.

And what are you gonna do with your extra 10 bucks?

I mean,

yeah,

you got,

you’re gonna go out and buy yourself something nice.

You’re gonna tuck that away and save it for a rainy day.

No,

I usually donate it to a liquid truck and I got,

uh,

committed to,

uh,

spend some,

uh,

extra up to 25 bucks on the road.

I usually end up to be buying,

buying uh some copies for free or if uh a little breakdown like hoses and stuff.

So I don’t,

I don’t charge,

charge uh liquid trucking.

So it goes back to liquid Trucking because they been spinning and working hard to provide for my family.

Basically.

Uh I gave something back to the company.

Oh,

that’s amazing,

Alex.

Not everybody has that same mindset.

And uh,

you can really tell every time I’ve talked to you on here how much you appreciate liquid trucking uh,

for being such a good employer.

And you know,

you always say that they’re working hard to support your family,

but I’ll,

I’ll go ahead and,

uh,

contradict that a little bit and say you’re out here working really hard for your family and it’s a joy to see.

Uh II I get this feeling from you that you like your job,

you like who you work for and you have fun out there on the road as best you can while still just working hard,

man.

And that is one of the things that,

you know,

in the future,

maybe we’ll get into uh dig into that mindset a little bit on why it is that you have so much appreciation for liquid trucking.

It’s,

it’s been really cool to listen to,

for sure.

Yeah.

And then recently just a minute uh of my uh time on the air is uh uh Elizabeth and,

uh,

my,

uh,

future,

um,

future son,

which is,

you know,

they just got engaged last night and my,

uh,

company doing everything is possible right now to get me back uh,

tonight for the dinner so I can spend with my kids.

And this is a great moment for my life.

My daughter get married and she just got engaged secretly last night.

So I’m,

I’m going out there tonight to have a dinner with them so they do everything’s possible and I really appreciate that those little things,

uh,

adds up.

That’s why I committed and dedicated to save a little bit of,

uh,

sources and mud if I could for the liquid trucking.

That’s great.

Alex.

Well,

what a fantastic story.

Congratulations on your daughter getting engaged.

That’s a big deal.

Uh,

I bet you were pretty excited when you heard that news down the pipe,

huh?

Oh,

yeah.

Sure.

And is there,

have they set a date yet?

Do they know,

uh,

when they’re going to uh have the nuptials or is that kind of all out in the future being?

It’s this early in the game,

it’s early in the game.

So uh they just got the girls.

Uh do you know how it goes?

Mom was funny because mom was in the bushes trying to take a video because they uh even didn’t let her do uh present,

they were so secret.

So Elizabeth will not find out.

They just took a uh sister’s uh photo and then run into this little uh Mahoney Park.

They create the lights and everything.

Surprise her so bad.

She was uh jumping on the air and I was,

I was really happy.

So that’s great.

And you just texted me a couple of pictures uh of your,

your beautiful daughter and your future son-in-law.

How cool Alex.

I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would come on and share uh these giant moments in your life here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

So hats off to you,

my friend.

Uh This is all just an awesome.

And uh II I was honest with you before we came on,

we don’t have a lot of time for this interview and it seems like we’ve only been talking for 30 seconds and here we’ve been on for more than 10 minutes already.

So I’m gonna let you get back to enjoying your break out there so that maybe you can end that break quicker.

Get back on the road and get back with your family for a celebratory dinner.

Thank you so much,

Marcus.

It was a pleasure to always be on the air.

No problem.

That’s Liquid Driver,

Alex Shevchuk.

If you want to know how to cook some uh fresh healthy meals out on the road,

this is the guy to get in touch with.

We’ll talk to you soon.

Alex.

Thank you,

Marcus.

See you later.

That’s gonna wrap up episode 15 of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Big thanks going out to the guys from integrated care,

Eric Washkuhn and Doctor Nutter.

And also because I did forget to mention him in the intro and I’m sorry for that uh VP of safety and Hr Jason Eisenman stopping by today uh to chat with the guys from integrated care.

I also want to say a big thanks to Doctor Mark Manera or as I know him,

just Mark uh he’s from off shift and they are doing some phenomenal things,

helping out drivers trying to keep them healthy and prevent disease out there on the road.

You can check them out over at offs shift dot A I.

And of course,

if you want to check out more about integrated care head over to integrated care,

llc.com uh plenty of information there.

And of course,

hats off to Alex Shevchuk,

my guy uh making my mouth water with that recipe and then absolutely melting my heart into a puddle when he told us the story about his daughter getting engaged.

Uh I am a huge sucker for special engagements like that surprise engagements.

You know,

it’s really cool when somebody gets engaged to the love of their life in any fashion.

Even if it’s like a,

you know,

a Jim Halpert in the office thing where you just end up asking at the time because that time seemed right.

Or you set up some big elaborate scheme.

I for one set up a well,

I was,

I didn’t set this up.

We were having family pictures taken and I thought,

man,

I really want to propose to this lady that I now call my wife 10 years later.

How should I do it?

Hey,

light bulb,

professional photographer already on the scene.

Let’s just wait until Ashley and I are getting our uh individual pictures taken.

I’ll take out the ring and pop the question.

Uh I have those memories forever.

So I,

I thought it was very special of Alex to share the story of his daughter getting engaged with us and a big shout out to him for doing so.

And uh also get in touch with that guy.

You want some of his recipes.

I know because of all the text messages that he sent me.

Uh he’s willing to share and it will only help you get along a little bit healthier and feel a little bit better at the end of the week because you’ll have some extra money in your pocket and you’ll also have some really damn good food to dine on.

Uh That’s what makes this podcast we get help from all over the place and uh all we want to do is get more good information out to you liquid drivers than anyone else that’s listening out there.

Uh So thanks again for being a listener of this podcast.

Make sure to click that subscribe button.

And anytime you see something shared on social media that has anything to do with the Liquid Trucking Podcast,

you can comment in the comment sections and uh somebody here and maybe even your boy will get back to you as soon as we can and don’t forget to check out Liquid trucking.com and click that learn more button where you see my big dumb face on the website.

Uh That’ll get you all the episodes short bios on the people that we’ve had on the show and uh where you can contact them and find other resources as well that does it for me.

I’m out of here.

We’ll see you next week for episode 16 of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Thanks for tuning in and being the gold standard of drivers on the road.

Be sure to like and subscribe to the channel and tune in next week for another episode of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.