Is Your Health Holding Back Your Real Estate Business? Functional Medicine with Ryan Kennedy

Ryan (00:00)
all of these things are not normal and they can be fixed. And it’s not terribly difficult either. You know, people tend to build it up in their minds is this monumental task that’s incredibly challenging and time consuming and it doesn’t have to be. And that’s really where I would say it’s been the biggest unlock for me is understanding that the simple

things that you do day in and day out have such a tremendous impact on how you feel every minute of every day. And when you’re just operating, I energy is the currency of life.

Quentin (02:03)
Hello everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I’m excited to be here today. And if you follow me, you know what excites me is the chance to get to learn about other people and what they do, what they’re proficient at, create a space for us to learn from other people’s experience. And today is definitely one of those days. I have an incredible guest here. And today we’re going to talk about functional medicine. That’s what we’re going to talk about, amongst other things.

Yeah, he does some real estate. Yeah. But we’re definitely going to talk about probably a broader topic than most of us probably are familiar with talking about here. And I’m excited about it because guess what? It applies to every last one of us. So I’m really, really excited. So I want to introduce you all to Mr. Ryan Kennedy. Mr. Ryan, how you doing today, Absolutely, man. So glad to have you on today, sir. And listen, I am a type. I like to dive right in.

Ryan (02:55)
Excellent,

Quentin (03:03)
And so I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in, and then tell them a part of the world you’re in. People love to know what people are geographically. And so your main focus, your origin story, and where you are. Mr. Ryan, sir, you have the floor.

Ryan (03:22)
Based in San Diego, California and got interested in health and wellness field in an early age man. So a bit of a pain to purpose story. I don’t come from the healthiest family. And so by the time I was in the fourth grade, I had lost all of my grandparents to chronic disease, primarily cancer. And back in 2008, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and she was relatively young at the time. And I thought as a young dude, her

Doctors will help her, they’ll give her the proper treatment, she’ll be okay. And I watched her go through this grueling journey, what a lot of people in the industry call slash poison burn, Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. And I watched her get sicker through these treatments and her oncologists tell her, you know, what you eat doesn’t matter, no natural therapies will help you, like this is your only choice. And at the time, my mom didn’t know any better, she listened and unfortunately, man, she passed away in 2010.

in large part because of this misinformation she received, not just with the treatment options, but for years and years leading up to that with terrible food guide pyramid and horrible public health information to swap out butter with margarine and eat lots of whole grains and all the nonsense that has been poured into the overarching knowledge base of the public when it comes to health and nutrition. And I think that’s a big reason why she developed cancer in the first place.

And so this really, as a young guy, put a whole new perspective in my mind of like, man, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. Watching my mom go through this journey, she didn’t care about what car she was driving or any career business goals or any of that stuff, man. She just wanted to survive and be around for her family. And so I really got interested in understanding why people get sick, how to avoid it, how to fix it.

you know, inputs, what lifestyle choices, what practices either generate health or generate disease in our biology. And so I studied kinesiology in my undergrad, was going more towards the physical therapy, biomechanics route. And as I was working in a physical therapy clinic after school, I realized, man, the physical stuff is great. But if you’re not working on your gut health, your hormones, your sleep, your stress management, all these other areas of your wellness,

the physical is only going to take you so far, right? And so I went back to school, I studied naturopathic and functional medicine in grad school. And that brings us to where we are today, where I run a global practice helping patients from all walks of life get dialed in with all these areas of their health by running comprehensive labs, understanding what imbalances, deficiencies and issues are present and then correcting them with natural health protocols. And so we work with a lot of real estate investors, a lot of business owners, lot of individuals that understands

the value of feeling and performing your best day to day, right? Because longevity is great, right? We all want to live a long, healthy life and be around to see our grandkids and our great grandkids, and that’s all fine and good, but it’s not as useful if you’re in pain, if you’ve got brain fog, if you’re fatigued, if you’re anxious, if you’re depressed, if you’re feeling lousy, all those extra years don’t really matter that much, right? We want to feel our best in the here and now and have high levels of vitality to go out and do the things we want in this world.

And so that’s really where we focus in the functional medicine space for people that might be tuning in that aren’t as familiar. ⁓ You know, the conventional care model is very much so centered around reactivity, right? It’s traditional medicine typically looks at very basic labs. They see your symptoms and they manage it with pharmaceutical drugs. And in functional medicine,

we seek to identify what’s the root cause of these symptoms and how do we fix that? You don’t just want to put a bandaid over your symptoms. If you come in to me and you said, hey Ryan, I’ve got headaches on a regular basis, rather than just giving you some pain meds to manage those headaches, I’m going to say, why do you have headaches? Is it a magnesium deficiency? Are you lacking hydration? Is there some environmental toxin causing it? And how do we optimize and fix that? So it’s more of a systems-based approach, understanding the body.

and all these organ systems all operate in synergy. And so ⁓ that’s really where I focus and where I operate today.

Quentin (08:32)
Yeah. Yeah. Ryan, thank you, sir. And man, thank you for sharing the journey, telling us where you are today. It’s interesting. I’m really glad you’re here. I’m like almost emotionally glad you’re here because I’m a turn 44 in this past December, December 16th. And I said I was going to give a gift to myself.

And the day before I started my routine of getting back, working out, you know, working out four to five times a week. ⁓ I’ve lost over a hundred pounds twice in my life. And I, yep. And I’ve been back to it because of a bad mindset. Let’s just call it what it is. Right. Just a bad mindset. would lose it, gain it back, bad mindset, lose it, gain it back. And I, I am there now just retraining my whole brain around everything.

Ryan (09:06)
Incredible.

Quentin (09:23)
And so for my birthday, I started working out at, you know, going up, I’m down. I haven’t weighed myself when I’m down like two shirt sizes. I’m watching my body transform and I’m watching what I put in my body. And so one of the things that I tried to intentionally cut out was dairy. Intentionally cut out dairy. And I do a great job, but it’s dairy and so many different things that sometimes you don’t realize. It’s, it’s, it’s crazy. So I think I’m doing a good job. And so.

selling my wife literally yesterday, I decided earlier this week to eat an ice cream sandwich. And man, what it did to my system, it didn’t feel good. It just didn’t feel good. And I told my wife, all these years, I’ve been consuming dairy. And when I try to get it out of my system, when I implement it back, not implement, I’m not going use that word. But when I made a decision to do that, the

the difference that I feel. So I’m just saying, man, everything you’re talking about, I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad we’re talking about it. Gut health, I’m starting to take more seriously. Cleansing, know, cleansing, getting parasites, I’m starting to take all this stuff more seriously now. But so we’re gonna get there, because I want you to spell more, but I want to do with you what I do with so many other people that come on. I heard what you were saying. was actively listening. I was actually writing some things down.

And so I want to regurgitate some things back to you because I want to make a statement and ask you a question. I’m going to absolutely love asking you this question. And so you got into health and wellness. You was interested in it early. Chronic illness ran in your family. Your mom got diagnosed with cancer. She got sick. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2010 because of just misinformation. You talked about the full pyramid, which is, I mean, a total farce.

⁓ and it just gave you just a whole new perspective on health and wellness. And, know, you was working at a physical therapy office after school, but the wheels was turning like they gotta be more. And you just kind of transform and morph to the practice that you win because just all the things that’s just, kind of, you know, amalgamated. Right. And so Mr. Ryan, I often make this statement. Destiny has no wasted moments. Meaning no matter what we’re going through in life, momentum is building.

And we’re borrowing from the moments. We’re borrowing from moments our whole life that reshape our mindset, give us our why, give us our passion, give us our drive. Ultimately, sometimes pushes us into the careers or fields or professions that we’re in. So I would love to know, Mr. Ryan, throughout this journey, what has the journey, what has the moments taught you about yourself? Has it taught you discipline, resilience? Obviously, it literally rewired your brain to see things differently.

And so I just want to know a little bit more about what has the journey taught you about yourself?

Ryan (12:51)
Yeah, it’s really taught me that your quality of life is entirely in your hands. And so many people have this victim mindset and they’re feeling in flames, they’re feeling anxious, they’re feeling foggy, they’ve got maybe some depression, maybe just chronic stress, whatever it might be, it’s all become so normalized, dude, and that it’s common, right? You talk to 10 people, six or seven of those 10 probably have some of these same problems and same symptoms.

Quentin (12:57)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Ryan (13:21)
And what this journey has taught me, not only personally by practicing what I preach, but also seeing it over the course of thousands of people we’ve helped

is that all of these things are not normal and they can be fixed. And it’s not terribly difficult either. You know, people tend to build it up in their minds is this monumental task that’s incredibly challenging and time consuming and it doesn’t have to be. And that’s really where I would say it’s been the biggest unlock for me is understanding that the simple

things that you do day in and day out have such a tremendous impact on how you feel every minute of every day. And when you’re just operating, I energy is the currency of life.

And when you’re operating at a higher level of vitality, everything in life gets easier. It’s easier to get your work done. It’s easier to hit the gym. It’s easier to make good choices with your food. It’s easier to have great relationships. It’s easier to do all the things that really make this human experience so amazing. When you’re pouring from an empty cup, all those things become an uphill battle.

And so I really believe that our health is the ultimate force multiplier. know, it’s the greatest all the while you could ever make is in your own biology. And that’s what I’ve seen in my practice too, is this being a real estate business podcast. You you asked me before we jumped on here, like what are some of the big biggest bottlenecks in business? And for most people, I think it’s their often their biology, right? It’s how they feel every day. It’s feeling exhausted. It’s having trouble focusing.

It’s not recovering well, it’s all these things that really make it very difficult to execute on their goals and the things that are gonna get them to the outcomes they’re seeking.

Quentin (15:02)
So well said, So, so, so well said. ⁓ You know, one of my favorite books is Atomic Habits. Probably read about maybe two or three times. And, you know, building in habits. Because you’re telling people it’s not that hard. And it’s really not. It’s changing your routine, rewiring your brain, changing your habits. And so, you know, one of the things that Atomic Habits had taught me, like, hey, you know, if you’re to go eat something, if you want to treat yourself,

do some pushups maybe before you go treat yourself and building a habit that kind of counteracts what you want to do. And then eventually, as you do the pushups and you get more in a routine, like, know what? I don’t even want that anymore. You know, and I’m just, ⁓ again, I’m glad you’re here. know, and I don’t know we talk, you know, we look at people that’s addicted to different things, drugs, alcohol, different things. What I’ve found is even more addictive than those things is sugar.

When I started getting real about my health, I started realizing how massively addicted I was to sugar. And so, mean, it’s just, like you talk about, just these little changes that we can make that’s gonna build monumental impact over time. So again, I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re here talking about this. I would love to know what’s next for you with your business, with your practice, even maybe with a little real estate as well. Like what’s next with the practice and do you have any kind of real estate goals ahead as well?

Ryan (17:10)
Yeah, so what’s next for my practice? I mentioned to you before, I do a lot of keynote speaking around the country. And so being able to go to conferences, masterminds, corporate events, and share this stuff with people in person is always a joy and always a great opportunity to connect with people and get people aware of my work and, you know, get them ultimately ⁓ motivated and informed of what changes to make to improve their life. Right. So I’m very excited about that on the professional front.

⁓ On the real estate front, you know, I dabble in real estate. My wife’s a full-time real estate professional, so she does most of the management of ⁓ the portfolio. But building an ADU on a single-family home here, I’ve gotten San Diego and, you know, continuing to do mobile home parks across the country and ⁓ continuing to dabble in that, but it’s more on the investment side. I can’t say I’m as active in that as I am in the functional medicine side of things. ⁓

Quentin (18:07)
Yeah, absolutely.

Ryan (18:09)
But man, ⁓ honestly, I’m ⁓ pumped about life, man. As far as looking towards the future, I feel like there’s so many things to be grateful for and so many things to look forward to.

Quentin (18:13)
Okay.

Yeah, yeah, no, I absolutely love that. You mentioned the word grateful. My wife and I, have what we call a gratitude jar. And so, you know, we write things, things that we’re grateful for and we put it in the jar. And then at the beginning of the year, we bring in the year, reading the things that we’re grateful for about the year, you know, that does fast. And so I love that you’re pumped about life. I love that you’re grateful for the positions that you’re in. I often ask people this question. I would just want to get your organic take on the word relationship.

when hear the word relationship and this can be within business, this can just be within mentorship and groups and masterminds, but when you hear the word relationship, what comes to mind for you?

Ryan (19:02)
the single most important elements of a good life. That’s what comes to mind for me. think relationships are at the core, man. And that’s really what everything else is centered towards. If you don’t have ⁓ a good marriage, if you don’t have a good relationship with your kids, if you don’t have good friends and community around you, all the success in the professional realm feels quite empty. And when you just look at all of the…

Philosophers throughout time and you look at all the data and all the research and in psychology, you know, it all comes back to relationships. It really does. You know, and I think that’s a big, big area because, know, as connected as we are on, you know, with the internet, people are more disconnected than ever in real life. And so finding, finding people that you enjoy spending time with, that, you know, you lift each other up that.

Quentin (19:40)
Yeah. Yep.

Ryan (19:57)
you share common interests and hobbies with, it’s just such a big piece of the puzzle, to really be happy at the end of the day. And so that’s what I would say on the relationship piece is like it’s the number one.

Quentin (20:11)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You said common interests, man. And so always equate relationships to community. And I think community is common unity. It’s people doing things, ⁓ different things, because unity is different from uniformity. Uniformity is everybody doing the same thing all at the same time. But unity is people doing different things with the same common goal. So we talking about that common part of it.

is everybody helping each other, supporting each other. Maybe do different things, maybe in different practices, different career paths, but the common unity is us supporting each other, building an ecosystem where you can thrive mentally, financially, healthy, physically, all because you share that common unity of, we’re gonna do this thing together. We’re gonna make sure we’re here for each other to do life with each other. And so, man, I absolutely love your perspective on relationship.

Mr. Ryan, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about? Like maybe you came in with a specific message on your brain or in your heart that you feel like our viewers would need to know. I just kind of want to create space for you to land that message if that exists.

Ryan (21:22)
If I were to pick one man, I mean, there’s a lot of directions we could go with this, but the number one, the first step when it comes to high performance health is lab testing. It’s understanding what’s going on under the hood. Most people are trying to solve complex problems blindfolded and they’ve got all this data and dashboards with their business and their finances and their goals in that sense. But when it comes to their health, they have no idea what’s going on. And so in my practice, we do a lot of

Quentin (21:35)
Mmm.

Ryan (21:51)
functional medicine labs, know, blood-based biomarkers, gut microbiome testing, nutrient deficiencies, toxins, understanding exactly what’s going on. And I’d love to use your example just as an anecdote because I have a lot of patients come to me that are trying to decrease body fat percentage, whether they’re trying to lose five pounds, 50 pounds or a hundred pounds. What I find oftentimes is you’ve got two sides of the equation. On one side, you’ve got the habits.

you know, the basic lifestyle principles everyone knows and understands, right? Move your body, eat real whole foods, not a lot of processed junk, like don’t eat ice cream at, you know, 11 p.m. at night as you’re watching Netflix, like the simple stuff. And I think that’s obviously the foundation. But beyond that, there’s the less simple stuff. And that’s looking at, hey, is there any issue with your thyroid that’s slowing down your metabolism?

Is there any issue with your gut health is causing excessive sugar cravings? Is there any problem with your sex hormones where maybe you’ve got too little testosterone and too much estrogen, which is making it harder to build muscle and burn fat. And these are things that we could fix that make your results faster. They make the process easier. They make the whole thing more sustainable because you’re actually fixing the train. You’re not just trying to willpower and discipline your way when there’s actual imbalances in your body that are causing

Quentin (22:49)
Mmm!

Ryan (23:16)
weight gain that are making weight loss much more difficult that are causing this weight loss resistance. And so if I were to send one message to people, I’d say, do some basic lab testing beyond what you get at ⁓ annual physical with your PCP, because that’s just very surface level stuff that doesn’t really paint a full picture. And by doing so, you’re going to understand so much more about what your body needs. I see so many people that see Instagram ads for this supplements or this, this, ⁓

or device and most of the time they don’t need that stuff. It’s really understanding what your body needs and that’s different for everyone. And the only way to know that is to test because otherwise you’re just guessing. So I think that’s a big one. We’ve got so much good technology when it comes to diagnostics and labs. And quite frankly, it’s not that expensive. You can get really comprehensive blood work for a few hundred bucks. And it’s gonna give you so much insight into what nutrition is gonna be best for you.

what changes need to be made for you to feel and perform your best.

Quentin (24:20)
So well said. Thank you, sir. Thank you for that message. And I really appreciate you being on today. ⁓ Listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you, Mr. Ryan?

Ryan (24:33)
website ryankennedyhealth.com. You know, you can send me a message on social media. You search my name. I’m on all the places.

Quentin (24:43)
Yeah. Well, sir, let me say three things to you sincerely. First, thank you for your time, because obviously time is our most precious commodity. You could have been doing anything with your time, but you gave us some of your time. So, Stephanie, thank you for your time. Thank you for your story, for your narrative, the things you talk about and your proficient in. I believe stories have a way of planting seeds in people. And you may never see the growth, but the seed is there. And so really believe you planted some seeds.

And I say this, but now I really mean this, that can literally course correct somebody’s life, literally change somebody’s life around. So definitely come, thank you for coming on and planting these seeds. Lastly, thank you for your mindset, the way you think that I’m sure you pay for with money, experience, time, but thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you being on today.

Ryan (25:34)
Thanks for the kind words, man. Really appreciate it.

Quentin (25:37)
Absolutely. Well, listen, y’all heard Mr. Ryan. Please look in the show notes, get in contact with him. Change your life, like one step at a time, one decision at a time. But definitely make sure you’re subscribed here, because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Mr. Ryan. Sir, thank you again. And everyone else, you’ll have a fantastic day.