Dolce Diet Certification Review

As discussed on Episode 16 of the Wise Eats Podcast:

Why is Dolce trying to dress like me?

Becoming a Dolce Diet Certified Coach

In October 2019, I drove 10.5 hours from my home in Mount Clemens, Michigan to Belmar, NJ, for the 3-day Dolce Diet Certification. The purpose of the trip was two-fold. First, to meet one of my long-time mentors, Mike Dolce. Second, to become a Dolce Diet Certified Coach.

The Location

This was my first time to the east coast and I loved the area! Belmar, NJ is a beautiful beach town and I couldn’t resist jumping in the ocean even though it was freezing! Bradley Beach has a vast boardwalk where you can sip coffee and go for a nice, long walk on the beach. I absolutely took advantage of this!

Stay Gold Cafe

I packed a weekend’s worth of food to have on the trip so I didn’t eat out at all, but Dolce did treat the entire class to a lunch at the Stay Gold Café, which had amazing coffee and delicious, healthy food options. Shout out to Stay Gold!

How I Found Mike Dolce

I originally lost 90lbs back in 2009 and didn’t even know who Dolce was at that point. I simply found a fitness website, got off the junk food, started exercising, and calorie restricted myself down to 180lbs from 270. Long story short, I got super sick after that from eating junk food and yo-yo dieting. Eventually, I had to turn to real, natural foods to heal my body, finally start feeling good, and eventually start building muscle. Losing weight had mistakenly been my focus for too long. Now, it was time to start getting strong, healthy, and building a physique that I desired, and Mike Dolce was a huge part of that process.

I found the Dolce Diet years after my initial weight loss and it was a game changer. His philosophies are simple but spot on: Eat real food based on activity levels, get plenty of exercise, stop poisoning yourself, stay hydrated, etc. It’s all just simple stuff that you’re not gonna see sitting on a store shelf or advertised on TV. It’s the basic fundamentals that we should all be doing, and it’s the things that I try to preach with Wise Eats.

Dolce is the real deal. I believe in his philosophies wholeheartedly because they 100% worked for me and they will work for you too. He’s been an inspiration for me to start Wise Eats and try to help others, as well.

Meeting the Man

It was a thrill to meet Mike Dolce and taking his certification course. His mentorship has been very influential in my own health journey. Not only did his principles influence my diet habits, but he also created the workout program that got me to finally fall in love with exercise many years ago: UFC Fit.

Dolce’s philosophy is based on principles to increase longevity and prevent disease, and hisresults speak for themselves. He’s one of the most successful fitness coaches in the world. He knows his stuff and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s also a super nice guy, energetic, knowledgeable, and eager to help. Nothing but good things to say about Dolce. He’s the man!

Check out Mike Dolce’s YouTube channel here.

The Dolce Diet Certification

The class itself was run similar to a college-level nutrition course and Q&A with Dolce. Tons of amazing information. It covered nutrition, principles, business, branding, monetization, and more. Plenty of open and honest communication. He encouraged everyone to ask anything and everything.

As far my classmates, it was a very diverse group of about 14 individuals: gym owners, fighters, a podcast host, a lawyer, physical therapist, veterans, coffee barista, and even a pest control technician. All highly motivated and successful in their own respects.

The Dolce Diet Principles

Before I get to my biggest takeaways from the experience, I’ll just share with everyone, for those who don’t know, exactly what the Dolce Diet principles are. I’ve been following these myself as closely as possible for many years.

  1. Eat real foods in wide varieties from fresh and natural sources
  2. Eat every 2-4 hours based upon activity
  3. Eat until satisfied, not until full
  4. Drink mostly water, fresh brewed tea, and black coffee
  5. Exercise 30-60 minutes, 3-5 days per week doing something you enjoy
  6. Sleep 7.5-9 hours per night
  7. Minimize stress by simplifying your life and relations
  8. Laugh often with friends and family
  9. Love deeply and unconditionally
  10. Mind your neighbor’s space and help those in need

Biggest Takeaways

  1. Goal Setting

Dolce calls goal setting “the end to which all efforts are focused”. Time to eliminate distractions and put all effort into this one thing!

Mike Dolce’s “5Fs”: Fitness, Family, Finance, Future, For Me

Set goals in each of these categories every day and physically write them down.

I’ve kept a journal for the last 10 years, but about 6 months ago started a journal that is specifically geared toward goal setting.

My wife and I are now meeting each week to go over our 5F’s, compare, support one another, create joint goals, and get better together. This has already been a huge game changer in our relationship!

2. Networking

  • I made some terrific connections with people I hope to stay in contact with for a long time. I relish the opportunity to do more of this in the future. You’re the average of the people you surround yourself with!
  • Being surrounded by a group of like minded people was highly motivating and forced me to step my game up, think critically, and reflect on my own performance.

3. Integrity

  • Dolce preached that integrity is crucial to your success. Deliver results on time every single time. Over deliver whenever possible. And basically don’t be a scumbag, which I think I have nailed down already, I hope.
Mike declined a shirtless pose off, but I don’t blame him. Wouldn’t want to make him look bad on his home turf 🙂

Final Thoughts

  • I came away from the certification highly motivated and energized.
  • Day 1 was intense for me. Feeling lots of adrenaline. Meeting Dolce in his own gym, getting a feel for the course, meeting classmates.
  • Day 2 was absorbing information, Q&A, networking.
  • Day 3 was exam day, self-reflection, pictures, Q&A.
  • Attending this event developed a whole new sense of accountability within myself to get moving on my passions. I love to read books, listen to podcasts, write, create videos/articles, but I got something from this that you can’t get from doing any of that stuff. A truly unique event.
  • For anyone considering taking the course, I highly recommend it! It can help you further your business, but best of all, it will be an experience you’ll never forget!

Now, I’m a Dolce Diet Coach!

So, at the end of it all, I am officially a Dolce Diet certified coach! Does that mean that overnight I have become an expert in fitness and nutrition? No, it doesn’t. What it does mean, however, is that I now have the backing of a globally recognized, world class health and fitness brand and have put myself in a better position to help other people, which is exactly what my goal is.

If I can help someone change one thing about their life that improves their situation going forward, that’s amazing because their life will forever be transformed. Just like I was 90 pounds overweight and got my health in order and completely changed my life, maybe one little thing that someone sees or hears on this podcast could be the catalyst that gets them to make a positive change in their own life and that’s exactly why I’m doing it.

So, I’m here to help. If you’re interested in getting healthy and improving your physique, definitely send me your info and I’d be happy to share some tips and advice based on my personal experience. But if you’re really ready to make a serious commitment and have the backing of the world-class Dolce Diet team and me as your coach, we can look at putting you into the 8-week personalized diet program. If that’s something you’re interested in, hit me up at wiseeatspodcast@gmail.com and we’ll discuss further.

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the course:

“When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use; when diet is correct, medicine is of no need.” – Ayurvedic Medicine

Thanks for reading this article. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me below. Be good to yourself, be good to others, and make wise choices!