Welcome to mind and body education and mastery!
Want to learn about why you may be at risk for diabetes, why you store extra weight, why you crave certain foods, or why you overeat or over drink? Learn about your mind and body in an entertaining, practical and easily-understandable format by browsing the collections below.
What are insulin resistance and diabetes, and how do you reverse them?
How and why do you store body fat, and how do you decrease how much fat you store?
What are urges, cravings and habits and how do you stop them?
What is emotional eating, and how do you stop doing it?
How does sugar and alcohol addiction happen, and how do you get over it?
Scroll through the posts to see what catches your eye!
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Do you sometimes feel out of control around food?
Do you sometimes feel out of control around food?
Did you know there is nothing at all wrong with you if that has happened? Your brain is just doing its normal job to keep you alive! Want to learn more? Schedule a free consultation with me and we’ll talk!
Apathy
Have you ever thought about what is in the way of making that initial commitment to healthy change?
It might be simple apathy!
And you know what? Apathy is a normal primitive brain, working normally. Finding it hard to commit to change has nothing to do with your quality of person, your willpower, your courage or anything else.
Want to learn how to overcome apathy?
Were they your opinions all along?
Is it useful to pretend to know what others are thinking?
When you consider it, you cannot possibly know what other people are thinking unless they flat out tell you. Otherwise, it is just a guess. And where did your “guess” come from? From how YOU are thinking.
Are you thinking judgmental thoughts about YOUR OWN body? Or your own eating habits or food choices? Are those judgments working for you? Are they creating an attitude of self-love, personal gratitude and growth, and a desire to give your body all the things that make it feel amazing?
Have a wonderful day, my friends. Give yourself a little love today.
Want to Confuse your Body?
What happens when you try intermittent fasting for the first time? The body is befuddled!
Why yes! Yes indeed you do!
If your body is used to a steady supply of glucose from what you’ve been feeding it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and likely several snacks, you will have a bit of a transition to look forward to when you switch to Intermittent Fasting!
Want to learn more?
Processed Food
What’s wrong with processed foods? And what are processed foods anyway?
What is it? Why should we care about it? How is it benefitting us? How is it hurting us?
So much to know! And so interesting to learn!
Over drinking
Want to know more about why we over drink? And why it is so difficult to stop over drinking? Learn what is happening with brain chemicals and psychology!
What happens in the brain when we regularly over drink alcohol?
First let me clarify: I am not against alcohol! I really enjoy a beautifully distilled high quality single malt scotch, with just a touch of fresh water added for re-hydration. I am of Scottish descent, so this is part of my genetic heritage. 😊
But it is very interesting to learn what is happening in the brain, particularly if you notice you are over-drinking, or you have friends or family members who do so.
Understanding is everything!
The Power of our Thoughts
Have you ever considered that it could be the thoughts that you are thinking that are ultimately creating your results?
Have you ever considered that the thoughts you are thinking have the power to change both your short-term and your long-term outcomes?
I “considered it,” but I also did not know how to affectively change my thoughts. They were “true”! How can you change “the truth”? I’m generally not an overly negative person, but I certainly saw no point in “thinking positive” when it felt entirely fake to do so. I’m no Pollyanna.
Life is made up of about 50% positive and 50% negative experiences.
Always. All life.
You can be rich, thin, healthy, beautiful, talented, gifted, and all the rest, but your life will still have about 50% negative emotions and experiences. They may be about different things, but the ratio remains about the same.
Learning to listen to our thoughts, and potentially change them, does NOT mean thinking only positive thoughts. You WANT to feel negative emotions when a loved-one dies, or you do something you regret. Plus, you can’t really enjoy the positive unless you have the contrast of the negative.
But what if I am creating MORE negativity by choosing thoughts that are leading to behaviors that are impacting my physical and mental health negatively?
Would you like to learn more about how this works and, most importantly, how to make it work FOR you?
I’m Hungry!
Are you afraid of being hungry? So was I! Until I changed my physiology and my mindset. You can do this too!
We are often afraid of hunger. I know I sure was.
I don’t mean true “hunger” where food is scarce and humans are starving. You are not that person if you are reading this right now.
I just mean the sensation of “being hungry” when food is in abundance.
In the past, if I were going to be without food for a while, I would eat, even though I wasn’t hungry, so that I wouldn’t get hungry later!
Pre-emptive eating.
When I wasn’t hungry.
So I would not get hungry.
Good Grief.
Hunger is a fantastic thing! As long as your body is working normally. Want to learn more?
Urges, Cravings and Habits!
What are urges, cravings and habits? How are the created? Can we do something about them?
What is an urge?
It is simply a compelling desire to take one action over another – eat sugar in spite of a previous plan to avoid sugar that day for instance.
A craving is the same thing, but more specific.
Crave for a donut, for instance. Or even a specific type of donut.
A Habit is simply a neuropathway in the brain formed by repeatedly acting on those urges and cravings.
Behaviors and decisions are based on two primary parts of our brain: the prefrontal cortex and the primitive brain.
Once we understand how our brains create urges, cravings and habits, they can be changed to our advantage. Those that do not serve us can be eliminated and we can build healthy habits that serve our higher goals.
Interested in learning more?
Changing Our Relationship With Sugar!
Sugar! We love it. We hate it. We can’t live with it. We can’t live without it! Why is that?
Many of us have had trouble around sugar, myself included.
But you know what? This is completely normal! If you struggle with what feels like “sugar addiction,” it’s not. It’s just a normal brain doing its normal thing.
And you know what else? It is possible to change your attachment to it!
Desire is a LEARNED BEHAVIOR. And what does that mean? It can be UNLEARNED!
You were not born wanting to eat sugar. Yes, you were born with a brain that gets pleasure from eating sugar, but that is not the same as DESIRING sugar. You did not come out of the womb and immediately want a cookie.
But in order to change our relationship with sugar, we need to understand where it comes from and how it works.
“Intermittent Fasting is a FAD!”
If Intermittent Fasting is a fad, then we finally have a fad that makes biological sense!
Never thought you would try Intermittent Fasting?
I didn’t either, so I understand the reservations. I was in the exact same mindset a few years ago.
And 99 pounds ago.
Here are some of the things I either said to myself before trying IF, or heard others say:
If I don’t eat every few hours, I feel terrible – sweaty, lightheaded, shaky, headache, weak and grouchy. I could not possibly try intermittent fasting!
But you don’t understand! I am otherwise healthy without underlying health problems, but I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia by a doctor and I have to eat every 2 hours to keep my blood sugar up.
I take medication for my diabetes and the Diabetic Educator told me I had to eat 3 meals and two snacks daily in order to control my blood sugars.
I will be weak and tired if I skip a meal!
I thought breakfast was the most important meal of the day!
I’ve heard my metabolism will go down and I will lose muscle. I don’t want that.
People will judge me and say I shouldn’t do this and I will be embarrassed and won’t know what to say.
My doctor does not believe in intermittent fasting and tells me it is a “fad.”
These are all thoughts, and none of them are true.
Want the details? Read the entire article!
You may never look back.
What’s Wrong With Sugar?
What is “sugar” anyway? And how is it processed inside of our body? And why does that matter?
Lots.
We’ve been “had” by the food companies who don’t care that they are capitalizing on our ill health. Our government food guidelines are at the mercy of big business so we are misled.
Our brains and our bodies are naturally captivated.
We have lost control.
We think we are addicted.
But there is hope!
Once we understand what is happening inside our brains and bodies that influence our relationship with sugar, we can gain mastery and improve our health.
Want to learn more about sugar? I’ll teach you all about it.
You will never think about it in the same way as you do now.
Do we lose muscle when we lose weight?
Do you lose muscle when you lose weight? How can this be avoided?
You may have heard that with weight loss “diets” you use up your muscle tissue and that’s a bad thing?
It is indeed a bad thing!
When we have less muscle, our metabolic rates are slower, we are weaker, we have an increased risk of osteoporosis, and we are more susceptible to falls and injuries.
We want all the muscle we can get!
Intermittent fasting preserves muscle tissue. Want to know how that works?
What is Ketosis Anyway? And why do we care?
What is ketosis? Does it mean you have to avoid carbs?
Ketones are chemicals produced by the liver that are a bi-product of burning fat for fuel.
When the body has no external supply of glucose for the brain from food, the brain, heart and muscles MUST find another source of energy, and that energy source is ketones! The vital organs continue to function without a hitch as long as there is fat to burn and ketones to use.
Thank you Mother Nature (or whomever did the engineering) for the perfect plan to keep our vital organs working even in the absence of food!
Our bodies are amazing.
One way to get your body into ketosis is to be on a “Keto Diet,” an ultra-low-carb eating style. Eliminating carbs forces ketosis by restricting the major source of glucose from food.
Although some people thrive on a Keto Diet, what I have observed is that the vast majority of people are “on” the diet, and lose some weight, but the eating style is not sustainable for the long haul and they go “off” the diet and gain the weight back.
Another way to burn up fat stores and lose weight is to practice intermittent fasting.
Once you are “fat adapted,” during your daily fasting period you will be burning body fat and your vital organs will be happily using the bi-product of ketones for fuel.
This is why “hangry” never happens when you are fat adapted. Your body quickly switches from external glucose (food), to glycogen (liver stores), to ketones for energy as needed.
This ketogenic process has nothing to do with whether you are eating carbohydrates!
It has only to do with going a period of time without external food.
How easy is that?
Want to learn more about ketones and ketosis?
I’m here to help.
This cake makes me feel better!
Does eating cake REALLY “make you feel better”?
“Eating this cake makes me feel better.”
Did the cake really make you feel better?
Or did the thought about it make you feel better?
If you had to eat your cake in front of a large audience of people staring at you while you ate, would the cake still make you feel better?
No.
In fact, you would feel entirely different about eating it. I’m guessing it would NOT make you feel good to eat it.
And does your body feel fantastic AFTER eating cake? Full of energy and vigor? Highly satisfied and nourished?
Probably not.
So it’s not the cake that makes you feel better, it’s the fantasy attached to eating it.
Yes, you got your dopamine reward. Your brain chemicals got a “hit.”
But really what’s happening is that when you ate the cake you quit thinking about “x”.
That’s what made you feel better, not the cake.
Do you know what’s inside your GI tract?
Your gut biome is highly influential to your health, including obesity and diabetes!
No, not that stuff. The GOOD stuff!
And what’s this have to do with insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity??
Much more than you might have thought, actually.
Individual bodies react differently to the exact same foods, and now we know one major reason why: the tiny organisms that live in our GI tract called the “gut microbiome”!
Did you know that these tiny fellows (the good bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, and eukaryotes) are considered so important to our health that scientists consider them collectively as a separate “organ” with its own metabolic and immune functions?
And did you know that inside a HEALTHY gut there are about 100 trillion microbes, representing over 5000 different species, and they weigh about 4.5 POUNDS???
We are just beginning to understand what role our gut microbiome plays in fat storage, insulin resistance, and weight loss, but what we DO know is that a healthy microbiome is incredibly important to all those functions!
SPECIAL NOTE for those with IBS: checkout my sister-website all about IBS, what it is, what to do about it, and a TON of IBS-friendly recipes!
Do you credit lack of exercise for your weight or blood sugar problem?
How many times have you been told you HAVE to increase physical activity to lose weight? That’s a myth!
Think Again.
Weight loss, eliminating insulin resistance and reversing diabetes begins and ends with understanding and managing our physiology (see blog post on FAT for more information on that topic!).
Did you know that studies show exercise plays a very small role, or no role at all, in weight loss?
Weight loss and blood sugar control has EVERYTHING to do with the kitchen, and almost nothing to do with the gym.
What is Fat Even For?
What is stored fat and why should we LOVE it?
Ready for a brief physiology lesson about the awesome thing we call FAT?
I’m not kidding. Fat is fantastic!
Here is what your body is doing right now:
We eat food and it is ultimately broken down into components including glucose, which is the fuel for all of our body’s cells.
Glucose circulates in the blood stream.
Insulin opens the cell to accept this circulating glucose. Insulin is like the butler opening the door for the guest (glucose) and allowing it inside.
Insulin moves glucose into all cells that need fuel. Some cells, like muscle cells, store some extra glucose for quick energy whenever we need it.
When muscle cells are full of glucose, insulin facilitates filling our liver with glucose for the next level of energy storage. If muscle cells run out of glucose, glucose can be accessed quickly from the stores in the liver and sent to the muscles for energy. This is useful physiologically – we need to be able to run away from the tiger and not run out of fuel in the muscles too quickly!
When the liver is full, insulin helps the liver turn extra glucose into triglycerides and stores them away on our body in the form of body fat. If the stored glucose in the liver is used up, the stored body fat is mobilized for fuel.
What a fantastic system! As long as we have body fat, we won’t starve even when food is unavailable. We can access the fat on our body for fuel! And if we are trying to lose weight, this is actually our goal - promote a physiological environment in which we access our own body fat for fuel and use it up!
But what happens when there is just too much food coming in too often?
Insulin resistance, high blood sugar, diabetes…do you know what those words actually mean in your body?
What exactly is diabetes and how does it happen?
What exactly is “diabetes”?
And what is the difference between the types?
And how does your body develop diabetes?
And what can you do about it?
And, the MOST IMPORTANT question of all: HOW CAN YOU REVERSE IT????
If you want to know all the details in language you can understand, read the full article.
I’ll explain it all.
But that last question: how can you reverse it?
By eating in a way that makes your body’s physiology work properly! And no, I don’t mean “cut out the desserts.”
If you are curious, I invite you to read more!
And if you want my personal help with this, join my program. I’d LOVE to help you prevent this disease, or reverse it if you already have it. YES. This is entirely possible.
Your Body is your Lunchbox!
Did you know that you are no different than all other animals on the planet?
I NEVER considered fasting. Ever. Nope. Not happening. I do not skip meals.
“I feel terrible if I skip meals!”
That was 99 pounds and several years ago.
I wasted so much valuable time being so dang wrong. I think that is one of my biggest professional regrets as a Nurse Practitioner, that I did not do the research into our physiology a long time ago and find all the data that was hidden and suppressed.