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Training for Life (Literally) with D Anthony Evans: PYP 270

D Anthony Evans found out at age six that he had a rare disorder (Neurofibromatosis) that caused painful tumors to emerge at random all over his body. And things just got worse from there.

His doctors explained that this disease generally leads to a highly aggressive form of cancer, MPNST (Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors). So he spent his youth wondering when and where the cancer would strike.

Tumors grew all over his body, with sensations that D Anthony described as “like bee stings, all the time.” He rejected the standard painkilling cocktails that took away his energy and focus, and instead distracted himself with sports.

His mom died at the beginning of his junior year of high school. Fatherless, he floated around with other relatives until he became homeless and found his way into a gang.

D Anthony discovered power lifting, and embraced not only pumping iron, but the high-animal-protein diet thought to be required for success in that endeavor.

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In 2012, he was diagnosed with the dreaded MPNST, and was given six months to live. After 11 operations and the removal of about 385 tumors, he began the road to recovery.

I met D Anthony at the Wellness Forum Health conference this past November, where we trained together early in the morning at the hotel gym. He helped me achieve my first honest-to-goodness pullup (and not those namby-pamby chinups I had been doing). As it turned out, I could have met him in the gym pretty much any time of the day, as D Anthony trains for hours a day to keep the cancer from recurring.

Our Skype conversation turned into the longest podcast episode I've ever released. This episode will require two hours of your attention. And I may be so bold to suggest that it's worth it. D Anthony is one of the most impressive, inspirational, unlikely, and wise people I've ever met. His approach to life can benefit us all.

In our conversation, we covered:

  • how his tumors were coded as preexisting cosmetic lesions rather than a conduit to a rare and usually fatal sarcoma
  • finding out that his mother was dying of AIDS while watching Magic Johnson on TV
  • feeling betrayed by a doctor who minimized the severity of surgery
  • losing his spot on the basketball team
  • “my father chose substance abuse over giving me a place to live”
  • getting strapped to a board at a mental institution following his suicide attempt
  • hiding from the pain of losing his mother, and finding distraction and acceptance in gang life in Chicago
  • the 2.5 years studying art and music at Columbia
  • creating a media company to place local ads for CBS and Clear Channel
  • “from the day I knew who I was, I knew I was a problem”
  • getting turned on to power lifting at Serenity House
  • going from 160 pounds to a 315-pound power lifter
  • creating sustainability concerts and having it all embezzled away by trusted partners
  • discovering Master Vegan Chef David Choi
  • “I can save you, but you have to give up everything you love”
  • meat, dairy, yeast, and sugar – “everything I get up for in the morning”
  • resigning from the American Cancer Society
  • eating hundreds of dollars worth of pine nuts each week
  • needing 1-3 surgeries a year for the rest of his life
  • the three keys: nutrition, fitness, and spirituality
  • and much more…

Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Email D Anthony for his starter kit: da************@gm***.com

Chef David Choi on Facebook

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Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons
– Kim Harrison
– Lynn McLellan
– Anthony Dissen
– Brittany Porter
– Dominic Marro
– Barbara Whitney
– Tammy Black
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– The Inscrutable Harry R
– Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan
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for your generous support of the podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive amazon gift certificates from your actions on such links.

Dr Howie Jacobson

This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).

My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.

Here are three gigs that I do:

1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation

I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high  performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.

At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.

My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.

2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance

I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.

We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.

The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.

3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams

I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.

So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.

You CAN Change Other People!

Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.

What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.

Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.

 

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive compensation from your actions on such links. It don't cost you a dime, tho.

1 comment on “Training for Life (Literally) with D Anthony Evans: PYP 270”

  1. ANTHONY BOWMAN says:
    September 21, 2023 at 5:58 pm

    Simply Great!

    Please send me contact info to get started on Plant Journey and turn around health issues

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Howard Jacobson, host of the Plant Yourself Podcast, co-author of You Can Change Other People and Sick to Fit, and co-founder of WellStart Health Coach Academy.

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