Apr 25, 2023
Your business requires you to be at your peak performance. You make decisions, serve clients and manage a team - isn’t it time that you felt better while doing it?
Ollie Matthews is Rachel Gogos’ Health Coach. Today on The Business of You, Ollie helps us uncover some of the lifestyle changes that are holding us back, and what we can do about them.
Ollie is a Health Coach, Nutritionist and Functional Medicine Doctor living in the UK. He works with stressed-out high-achieving entrepreneurs to help them revitalize their lives from the inside out! Ollie works with clients virtually and in-person.
Ollie Matthews has over 17 years experience in health working with clients in 27 different countries - from the busiest entrepreneurs and parents to professional athletes including Tour de France riders and Olympic athletes. He is known for a very nontraditional method: He moves in with his clients! In a lot of cases, Ollie quite literally lives with his clients to help assess their lifestyle and help them break harmful patterns that are preventing them from living their most optimal lives.
Ollie is the Founder of OJay health. He hosts OJay Talk Radio, a monthly podcast about reaching optimal health. On the podcast he discusses hot topics such as insomnia, early-onset menopause and hormone balance, burnout and ADHD.
It started with a loss
Ollie was just a young teenager when his dad passed away. It was an event that changed his life forever. Ollie idolized his father and missed him terribly. It was also a time of great confusion. Ollie’s dad seemed perfectly healthy! He wasn’t overweight, he didn’t have any obvious signs of poor health…except for nagging migraines.
The loss of his father at such a young age set Ollie off on a lifelong journey to understand health. But it also triggered Ollie’s anxiety, sadness and a desire for control. After struggling with his weight after his father’s passing, Ollie fought to gain control of his health, but wound up developing an eating disorder. On the outside, he was winning bodybuilding competitions left and right - but he wasn’t healthy. Now, Ollie shares that his loss of control in life led to his need for control in his own body. He discovered functional medicine, quit competing and found balance.
Ollie encourages us to approach lifestyle changes with curiosity and a desire to reset your foundation…not an obsession with perfection! Instead of selling supplements or presenting a fix-all solution, he trains his clients to start where it matters: Deep within.
Doing the work starts with you
Sure, you could take supplements and drink protein shakes! But Ollie Matthews is here to get to the root of it all.
After quitting the bodybuilding world and leaving corporate jobs behind, Ollie began exploring the world of functional medicine more seriously. Accredited as a Doctor of Functional Medicine, he empowers his patients to start at the root cause of their problems.
When working intimately with his clients, he asks the foundational questions: What does your sleep schedule, nutrition, exercise, stress management and home environment look like? Are you taking care of yourself mentally and managing your stress? Ollie wants to help his clients avoid “masking” or avoidance techniques. Just like his own struggles were a manifestation of grief and trauma - what are you running away from that needs to be dealt with before you can move forward?
Ollie Matthews once helped Taylor Swift’s Manager. Frustrated and desperate for change, he hired Ollie to come to Nashville and support him - with the ultimate gift of giving his wife back the man she married over a decade before. At the end of their time together, his family was in tears thanking Ollie for his gifts. The stress of touring and managing a popular artist was wearing him down and affecting his entire life. Once he learned to manage his stress and make holistic changes, he became a better version of himself!
What does your foundation look like?
As a busy entrepreneur, it might seem overwhelming to focus on your health. So you might be wondering - where should you begin?
Ollie starts with two things: Nutrition and exercise. Beginning with those two areas affects the most change. He encourages you to work with a nutritionist to figure out whether you’re getting enough protein, so that your brain can reach peak performance. He also recommends exercising every day in order to boost your immune system, clear out arterial plaque and stimulate a better mood.
Start with how you’re fueling and energizing your body, and watch your life-and your business-begin to transform.
Quotes
“I thought having muscles would give me that confidence. But it brought up a lot of demons. I couldn’t control my dad passing away, or losing people. But I could control my food. So I became obsessed…and developed an eating disorder.”
“A lot of people are going through stuff…but they don’t realize, this is going to help your life in a positive way.”
“It’s not about the money for me…it’s about seeing that impact.”
“I want to look at your foundation first. Unless you’re sleeping okay, getting good nutrition and managing stress, nothing works.”
“Your gut health talks to your brain. When people can’t focus, I look at the body from a top-down perspective. What is the actual underlying cause?”
“If we get our heart rate up and get our blood pumping, it helps with arterial clearance. It has a better chance of getting to the brain. It gives you much more energy for the rest of the day.”
“I’m persistent, and if I don’t know the answer to something, I want to go out and try to find it. I’m driven to find out more so I can help more people.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
Check out Ollie Matthews’ website at www.ojayhealth.com
Listen to Ollie’s podcast, OJay Health Radio, at https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ojay-health-radio-health-optimization-for-the-worlds/id988469529?mt=2
Subscribe to Ollie’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCKkHLbH09IgCyNoVc_XLLA?reload=9
Connect with Ollie Matthews on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-matthews-78460199/
Follow Ollie on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ojaymatthews