Aidan:

Hello and welcome back to episode five of the Ideal Nutrition podcast. I am one of your hosts, Aidan Muir, and I am once again joined by my co-host, Leah Higl. And today we’re going to talk about, or we’re just going to do a getting to know us kind of episode because we’re five episodes in, we haven’t really talked much about our lives, why we do what we do, how we got here and everything like that. So I think it’s time that we do an episode on that really, just a bit on our background story. So did you want to kick things off Leah and just share your background story and why you care about nutrition?

Leah:

Yeah, totally. So in preparation for this specific podcast, we were laughing because I really couldn’t figure out what my background story was getting into nutrition. And it’s something that I still, I mean, I’m not so positive of why I started to care about nutrition, but I have, I guess a theory. So growing up, my mom was a bodybuilder. She only competed a couple of times, but her life was very much based around like strength training and she always had a six pack. So nutrition was huge.

I mean, I remember like weighing out and tracking like weighing out my food and tracking my macros from like the age of 14. Which is ridiculous. I would not advise that for a teenager. So unfortunately I feel like my passion for nutrition started in maybe not the best place in that it did come from this kind of point of disordered eating, unfortunately, which a lot of teenage girls experience. And that was within my household and it wasn’t super healthy. But in saying that, as I became a strength athlete and I started powerlifting, my relationship with food became a lot better. I appreciated nutrition as a science and that’s realistically why I care about it now. So very different to what I started out as. But how about you?

Aidan:

Yeah, so it’s interesting because I still care about it for a lot of the reasons I started caring about it. But there is a few changes along the way as well. I suppose starting with the background stuff, it’s hard because I’ve told this story so many times and so many different podcasts and stuff like that. But the basic summary is that I was very skinny as a kid. I didn’t have any form of disorder eating or anything like that.

I wasn’t bullied or anything like that. I just had a, like, I was pretty happy. But I liked sports and outside of that, like, I thought getting jacked was going to solve a lot of problems. Like, I didn’t really have problems, but like, was like, I’ll just be so much more confident if I’m like muscular or whatever. And I come from a pretty strict household in that like from a food perspective, it was fine. I think my parents did a great job from a relationship with food perspective. Like there was no dieting or anything that was going on.

Never, they didn’t talk about food negatively or anything like that very much. But I had a strict household in that I wasn’t allowed to go to the gym. It’s a of a weird, bit of a weird rule.

Leah:

That’s interesting.

Aidan:

Yeah. But like I was always too young. And then when I, by the time I turned 17, my parents were really big on HSC and they were kind of like. If you get injured and you can’t do your HSC. Like that’s gonna affect your future. So they were basically like, you can’t play sport or go to the gym for a year. Like I was not allowed to play sport in case I like broke my wrist or something like that. And like that, like that, I don’t know, that triggered me. That frustrated me a lot. It still frustrates me honestly to this day.

But like basically I wasn’t allowed to go to the gym. And a lot of things I do in my life, even now, I feel like stem from stuff I wasn’t allowed to do as a kid. Like I still play guitar every single day pretty much. And my parents like set limits on how much I could play guitar. I play basketball, I love basketball and they stopped me from playing basketball when I was 12 years old for a couple of reasons. I don’t want to go too much into it, but they stopped me from playing basketball. That made me want to do it.

They didn’t let me go to the gym. So I started to fall in love with the gym because it something I was held back from doing. And I started sneaking out when I was 17 years old to go to go to the gym? Yeah, it’s so funny. I’d have a free period at school at the end of the day and I wouldn’t tell my parents about it. So I’d go to the gym, start lifting weights and stuff like that. I started a program called Starting Strength, which is a solid beginner program. As you know, I was very skinny, I was 67 kilos and I lost weight when I started lifting. And everybody else gets newbie gains in life.

Leah:

Yeah, that’s when gain the most muscle.

Aidan:

Yeah, and I didn’t, my strength was going nowhere, all those kind of things. And that really bothered me. So I started learning about nutrition and I started just Googling and I had a mate who just got into the gym at the same time and he basically, like he asked me one day, just like sent me a message like, hey man, what’s your program?

And I told him, I was like, I benched for five sets of the style of the workout. And then I do like a hundred sets of arms. And then I benched at the end of my workout for another set. And he sent me a program from bodybuilding.com. And that set me down the rabbit hole of bodybuilding.com and that’s how I learnt about nutrition. And because it was always hard for me to gain size, gain muscle, and even to some degree, like stay lean while gaining muscle once I figured it out, it wasn’t a great ratio. That’s why I started learning as much as could about nutrition.

And I was spending a couple hours a day on bodybuilding.com, another niche bodybuilding forum as well, which no longer really exists. And I was spending all my time, so was like, well, what am I going to study at university? To be honest, didn’t like, university is my way out of that strict household. Like I didn’t really have any passions, but I was like, if I go to uni, I get Centrelink. Like, if I go to uni, at least I’ve got

Leah:

What a reason.

Aidan:

Yeah. And it’s funny because I didn’t get a job for my first year at uni and I was so obsessed with saving so that I wouldn’t have to go back home. Sorry, shout out, I love my parents. If they ever listen to this, love you, mom and dad. But I was so obsessed with saving because I didn’t want to risk having to go back home that even on Centrelink, whatever the money was, like 10,000 or 13,000 or something like that for a year, I saved money. I made money only on that.

Leah:

You saved money on that?

Aidan:

Yeah. So anyway, university was my way out. And I’m like, well, I’m learning about nutrition and training and all this stuff anyway. Back to the strict parenting, I kind of wanted to do exercise science. My dad said no to that, he vetoed it. To get Centrelink, you gotta get your parent’s signature if you’re not divorced from your parents at that age. So I had to do something that would make them happy. And he’s like, there’s jobs in dietetics. And I’m like-

Leah:

So do that. That’s funny for us because there is not jobs in dietetics.

Aidan:

There is no jobs in dietetics. So I had my future kind of shaped a little bit in that way. It’s funny in hindsight, but like, anyway, I’m stoked with what I do now. And was like, I was spending all my time on nutrition and training anyway. So was like, might as well learn about nutrition. So that is how I got into university. Did you want to kind of talk about your next kind of steps in the nutrition journey, like going to uni and that kind of stuff?

Leah:

Yeah. So I went to QUT here in Brisbane and it was a four year bachelor’s degree. So bachelor of nutrition and dietetics. And then in the fourth year you do your honors research project, and then pretty much a full year of placement. So the first three years, pretty simple, very standard kind of bachelor’s degree. Obviously it was hard, not simple in that way, but simple in how it worked. And then the final year was majority placement.

I remember like living off baked beans and toast, because I couldn’t work and living in someone’s basement. So it was a rough year, but overall I did really, really enjoy my degree, even though there were several times in things like biochemistry, I’m like, can I actually do this? Can I pass these subjects in order to get through this degree? But finally got there in the end, did all four years. It did take me a couple of years kind of to get into working in dietetics, because unlike what they tell you at uni, there aren’t many jobs in this space and it is a really hard thing to get into. So I think the leap from uni to a career was the hardest part about it.

Aidan:

Yeah, with my education, pretty similar four year degree. Obviously the start of it not super nutrition based towards the end it is. Placement, I was lucky enough to work during placement. I developed my love of money around that time, more so than I’ve got now to be fair. And I would work 24 hours every weekend, so I’d work two back-to-back 12 hour shifts.

Leah:

During placement.

Aidan:

During placement.

Leah:

How did you not die?

Aidan:

Yeah, so like I actually did, like I think it’s only time I’ve ever gotten sick from like overwork and that kind of… Okay, so we just had some technical difficulties. So I’ve kind of lost where we’re up to. I think we’re talking about my education now, where I studied, all those kind of things. So I studied at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga and similarly to Leah’s like the first few years of uni weren’t really in nutrition focus, the last couple ones were.

Same kind of thing, placement for a year and everything like that. I was fortunate enough that I was able to work during placement though and it was around the time where my love of money kind of developed even though much more back then than it is now and I was working 24 hours every weekend as well. So like I do placement five days a week and I’d work 24 hours on the weekend. Learned that I’m at low risk of vitamin D deficiency because I barely saw the sun and I got a blood test and I’m still high on the levels for vitamin D. So that’s funny. Like I’m probably got like less than five minutes of sun per day for 20 weeks straight. But yeah, and I think that’s mostly it. Like I suppose you want to go with like the next kind of step in the career after university for you?

Leah:

Yeah, so after university, I did go more into a retail product management position, just because at the time I had a lot of family stuff going on. It was just not the time to embark on a new career endeavor, particularly in something like dietetics, where it’s so hard to get paid work initially. There’s such a big thing where a lot of dietitians will just do internships and work for free for a long time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in that position.

But after a couple of years of kind of having a full-time job, setting myself up to finally embark on that endeavor, I was able to get some positions in dietetics. Currently, obviously, I’m working for Aidan here at Ideal Nutrition, which has been awesome. So that’s been since February? I think around then, Yeah, around February. So that’s been great. That’s mainly in a content creation role as I am doing more stuff with another company called Plant Nutrition and Wellness.

So that’s run by a lovely dietitian named Kia. She’s been the best. She’s kind of been my mentor ever since kind of I started trying to get into dietetics. She’s plant-based, I’m plant-based. So a lot of our values fit together. So it made sense for us to work together. I am in a private practice. I work predominantly online at the moment, but we do have a clinic which I do work out of as well. Practice mainly as a sports dietitian, so seeing athletes and then most of them are plant-based. So really in a very specific niche of kind of plant-based, vegan sports nutrition, which I found has really worked for me and is truly my passion. Work with a range of sporting backgrounds.

So powerlifting is definitely one. I compete in powerlifting something I’m super interested in strength sports in general. Although I do work with a of combat athletes, predominantly boxers and endurance athletes as well. So I do like having that full mix. Outside of that, so I do both of those simultaneously and then outside of that I do run a coaching program for Bikerbitty, who’s like an Instagram influencer, Page Mills and that’s just been an interesting add on recently.

Aidan:

Cool. So my kind of I guess background post university. I was pretty lucky in that directly after university, I was able to get a role in a gym and I didn’t really have ambitions of starting a business at the time. But to start that role, I needed to be a sole trader. I needed to have my own business. It was my business basically. It was just inside of a gym. And it was an interesting one because it was like a large gym in Wagga Wagga. So it had 3,000 members, which is, as Leah and I were speaking about earlier, it’s crazy because it’s a lot for a gym.

Yeah, it’s a lot for a gym and Wagga’s only got 60,000 people. like the guy who was running was like a bit of a savant when it comes to like business and gyms and stuff like that. It’s really shaped how I view my own business now as well a little bit. But yeah, pretty crazy. But like that was it was such a good opportunity because I was like, that’s always what I wanted to kind of do anyway. Like all those people on bodybuilding.com and stuff like that who I’d been following and learning about nutrition from, they’ll kind of be in that space.

And I was like, well, that’s what I want to do. It’s just lucky that I lucked into that role. So same business that I’ve got now, so it’s Ideal Nutrition. And I did that for like three or four months. And I had a bit of a lead into that period where I was just like working unpaid, but I was working as a receptionist at the gym to kind of like build relationships with people and stuff like that, set the business up, learn how to run a business, all those kinds of things before I actually started it. And I remember I had planned to kick things off in January of that year.

That was 2017, so was 2016 when I first started working there. And week one, nobody wanted to book in. Like one or two people booked in. I was like, my god. As I said, I liked money at that time. And I was like, not much coming in. And yeah, so it was pretty scary. And then I lucked into some, like I ran a competition on Facebook and it was basically like giving away a fruit basket in Wagga to just residents of Wagga like whoever won the it was like a like and tag your friend kind of thing and it just blew up like I boosted it for like 20 or 30 dollars on Facebook and it just like literally went out to 15 000 people in Wagga Wagga.

And everybody who commented on it I DM’d them like there’s a way to message on Facebook back then through the business being like hey, just to let you know, you’re the runner up of this competition. I’ll give you a discounted console at my actual price, which was an introductory offer. So I booked in like 20 or 30 people for like the next couple of weeks. But like it was pretty clear that like I needed more experience. I had been speaking to a few people who been in the dietetics game for quite some time. And like here in stores, like there’s some people who were saying stuff like, yeah, I saw 20 people per day when I was your level of experience. And I’ll sit in there being like, if I see four people in a week, I’m feeling good.

Leah:

Yeah, 20 is a lot at a day.

Aidan:

Yeah, now that I know that’s messed up, that’s too much. But I was kind of like, I could get better so much quicker. I was really ambitious at time. And I was like, I want to get good. So I went to work for a large dietetics organisation for about two and a half years. And during that time, I was working around 50 hours per week for that company, sometimes 60. But I kept the social media. I kept the social media stuff that I’d started when I started the business because I always saw potential in that. I didn’t think I was good at it. I struggled with it. I took a long time to build traction. actually took me three years to get a client through Instagram. I’d gotten a few through Facebook as I mentioned, but it took me three years to really figure out Instagram, which is now obviously my big thing.

But I saw the potential that I was like, if I figure this out, if I put effort into it, it will turn into something. I always had that as leverage. I was like, if I want to do my own thing down the line, at least I’ve got something set up. So I continued doing that, continued posting on it. Three years in, I think I had about like 3,000 followers or something like that. Three years of consistent posting. Which is crazy to me when I meet people who can get there so quickly. Anyway, so I was doing that for a while. And then I left that business for a variety of reasons.

I didn’t even have any ambitions, honestly, of starting my own business again. I was just kind of like, I was just done with that role. Funny, I don’t think I’ve ever said this to you, Leah, but when I was leaving that business, I was kind of like, I want to leave so badly that I’d rather get a job at Subway again.

Leah:

You’d just rather do anything except what you were doing.

Aidan:

Anything else. I was just done. Which is, it’s funny that it got to that point, because I’m pretty happy person. I really let things suck and just slide to the point that I just lost my passion for what I was doing. And I left there, but I like, I’ll go on Instagram and follow, I’ll put some feelers out there and just be like, hey, does anyone want to see me through my own business? And a couple of people said yes, because at this stage I was turning a little bit more cautious with like, I was a bit less ambitious at this space, because I like, I wouldn’t say burnt out, but I was just kind of, I was like, nah, money ain’t it. I don’t really care about money that much anymore. I’d rather a job that I enjoy.

So like, I was like, ready to just work like 20, 30 hours per week for a little bit, just figure out what I wanted to do. So I was like, I’ll just start the business just under that ambition, like not to actually build a business. And because I was cautious, I was like, I’ll get a part-time job on the side in dietetics. And I got a job, I named that company Bayside Health Nook, so they’re on the South side of Brisbane. And it was a really good job. It was like an allied health clinic. Everything was perfect. The boss was super, super nice. it was great, but I was just done. I was just done working for other people. Like if I like got a suggestion from this well-meaning boss, that had worked for the business previously, but I, for whatever reason, thought it wasn’t gonna work, it just frustrated me. And if I was like sat with a client who I didn’t really wanna see, it would frustrate me.

Because I’d always have in the back of my head, I’m like, it’s my business. Like, if I don’t really wanna see someone, it’s my call. And that just changes things, because I’ve never actually turned away a client in my own business, or I can’t remember doing that anytime recently. But at least the choice is there.

Leah:

It changes your perspective when you have some choice in who you’re seeing.

Aidan:

Yeah. So like I stayed in that job for about six months, but the moment I was in a position where I was like, hey, the business is good enough that it’s, I’d rather make, know, like whatever, the money in my mind, it was like $1,000 per week. That was my number. was like, if I make that number, I’m set, I’m happy. So once it was like clear that that was gonna be kind of consistent or like at some stage it looked like that was gonna be consistent, I was like, I’m just gonna do my own thing for a little bit. And then eventually after a little bit of time, I was like, okay, I’m gonna start taking this seriously. I decided to rent a room out of Valhalla Strength, which is where we both train. So it’s a powerlifting gym.

And obviously it’s like a bit full circle, because it’s kind of like, like it’s the place I want to be. Like it’s just like that first job I got straight out of uni. Like I’m doing what I want to do now. Like there’s the same thing. There’s no like real ambitions. It’s just like, just continue doing what I’m doing, just slightly larger. Like that’s really the goal. And yeah, pretty, pretty happy with things right now.

Leah:

Yeah, I remember you starting at Valhalla and the time’s gone really quickly.

Aidan:

Yeah, it’s been a while. Yeah. And it just fits like it was such a natural fit to me from my perspective.

Leah:

Yeah, it fits so well. You already work with a lot of people that we’re training there. Yeah. So just made a lot of logistical sense. Yeah, 100%. And obviously that’s how we met. So that was nice for me. Yeah. I got this gig out of that. So that’s good. So I guess we’ll kind of discuss a little bit about ourselves personally, like what we do outside of work. Because I think that can be interesting for people to know. Obviously both powerlifters. So I’ve been powerlifting for a few years now, but strength training, as I mentioned, like at the start of the podcast, since I was quite young. So I’ve always had an interest in strength sports and powerlifting has definitely become one of my main hobbies. Outside of that, to be honest, like work and powerlifting are the main things I do.

But outside of that, music is huge for me. So I’m like wearing a death shirt now. I love heavy metal. I love pop punk. So music is a huge part of my aesthetic and who I am. And I think everyone is pretty aware of that by now. How about you?

Aidan:

Yeah. So a few things, powerlifting, obviously the same. Like I was always interested in strength training, stuff like that. Before joining Valhalla, I joined Valhalla when I moved to Brisbane from Wagga. So that was about, I don’t know, like two years ago now, maybe a little bit over. I joined Valhalla because I was like, I just want to be surrounded by strong people. getting surrounded by strong people was really good because it opened my eyes and like I actually made the best progress in my life when I joined Valhalla. I don’t know, being surrounded by all these people who wanted to power lift made me want to power lift as well. So I started getting into that.

Obviously I love basketball as well. That’s something that I want to do for as long as I can. I want to keep playing when I’m 40 is the goal. I don’t know, I just enjoy it. It’s a different release as well. Like it’s kind of like, even though I don’t care about work as much or anything like that. Now, it’s kind of like, that’s the time when I’m not thinking about anything apart from the game. Like, it’s like, it’s I don’t know, 40 minutes are just like, pure joy. That’s way I describe it. So there’s that.

The other thing, as I said, like I think around my second year of uni, I started really like developing an interest in money. I kind of learned, I read this, it’s funny now, but like I read this book, Rich Dad Poor Dad. And like it’s funny because it’s like, it’s not even a real story. It’s some guy who’s like amalgamated multiple stories in his life to kind of like make a book but he made it off like it was like a real story but it’s funny that like he mentioned stuff about like passive income and like financial independence like games are plenty of enough money that you can like you don’t have to work you could choose to continue working but like you’ve got this passive incomes built up and I don’t know my thoughts on that now but like that got me into investing so even though I don’t care about money as much now I care about investing because it’s like a game like it’s just like a keeping score kind of thing

Leah:

You like stocks and crypto and stuff I find so confusing. But you’re super into it.

Aidan:

Yeah, so super into stocks super into crypto and a few other things like that So those are my other interests. I suppose the other things guitar like I don’t I play guitar most days I don’t care about getting good like I played since I was like 14 or something like that And that’s just like another hobby. That’s like not something where it’s like a competition to get good It’s just like just play when I feel like it so that’s cool as well. But yeah, the other thing we were to talk about I guess is current plans, I guess, if there’s any or like goals for the podcast. Is there anything you want to touch on that? you have goals for the podcast or is that more me?

Leah:

Goals for the podcast? I mean, I’m just here to learn new skills, you know, try to produce the best podcast we possibly can. It was interesting in setting up all the equipment because I know a lot more about tech now than I did two weeks ago. So that’s nice. But yeah, I guess the big goals for the podcast lie with you, man.

Aidan:

Yeah. So that’s the thing. There’s not really big goals, hey. Like I, Wwe were both just thinking about this earlier on today about it’s pretty intimidating to do a podcast. We both listened to some high level podcasts, like the one that, shout out Sigma Nutrition Radio. The best. Yeah, we were listening to Danny Lennon speak and we’re like, no, we can’t do that. There’s not a chance. And that’s kind of held me off from doing a podcast for ages. I’ve always been like, if I’m going to do a podcast, I’m going to do a podcast. But this is first time I’ve just been like, no, I don’t really care. All I want to achieve with this is like, trying to put out some quality nutrition information and an easy to consume format.

Just like there’s some like influencers or whatever on social media who I follow, but I don’t care. I don’t follow their Instagram. I don’t follow their other stuff. I don’t spend time consuming their content. But when I’m driving, I listen to their podcast and I enjoy it. And that’s basically all I’m trying to achieve here. Basically putting out something that’s easy to consume for whether you’re driving, training, walking, whatever. And if you like it, that’s sweet. And I’m stoked to contribute in some way. But that’s really the goal is no matter your ambitions. Yeah, anything you want to add.

Leah:

No, not really. Just happy to be here.

Aidan:

Happy to be here, that’s it. Well, once again, thank you for listening. If you could please rate and review us on iTunes, that would be really appreciated as well. And thank you for listening, I guess.