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Coming up on the get lean, eat clean podcast.
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Our body is more sensitive to food at high sunlight. And so our digestive system, our enzymes, our gut bacteria, our metabolism, our insulin sensitivity is all higher. As the sun reaches its highest point, meaning that it's going to be better for your system to eat your largest meals earlier in the day. And then as the day progresses to start fasting. So that's a difference between intermittent fasting and circadian fasting is it just adds another layer of there's a time to eat and a time to rest. But the time to eat is with high sun. And the time to rest is when the sun goes down.
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Hello, and welcome to the get clean eat clean podcast. I'm Brian grin, and I'm here to give you actionable tips to get your body back to what it once was five, 10, even 15 years ago each week. I'll give you an in-depth interview with a health expert from around the world to cut through the fluff and get you long-term sustainable results. This week I interviewed nutritionist podcast, host and founder of the living well, Alexa Sherm, we talked about Alexis health mission, the importance of mindset when losing weight, creating energy flow to help avoid temptations along with circadian fasting, the value of meditation and her one tip to get your body back to what it once was.
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This was a great interview with Alexa. We talked about a lot of different topics that you might not hear a lot when it comes to losing weight and feeling better. So I hope you really enjoy this interview and thanks so much for listening. All right. Welcome to the get lean deep clean podcast. My name is Brian grin and I have a guest nutritionist health coach podcast hosts, Alexa, Sherm watch. Welcome to the show.
1 (1m 49s):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be
0 (1m 51s):
Here. Yeah, it's been a long time in the works, but we got it together and yeah. Well, thanks for coming on. I know we have a lot in common and we're going to touch on a bunch today, but maybe before we get into, you know, what you do and how you help people, how did you get into health? And did you do something before that? I'm just curious your journey.
1 (2m 17s):
Yeah. So I got into health right away when I went to college. So I went for nutrition, dietetics actually. And honestly, my mission was I had watched so many people in my life diet. Like it was kind of like growing up in the nineties, everyone was on a diet and doing the next day. And you know, it was very much as people know, living in the nineties, it was like margarine and diet pop and rice cakes. And just like all of these very specific diet foods. And I just remember growing up and thinking everyone that I know is doing this as in like mother figures, grand grandparents, and yet it didn't ever seem to really pay off.
1 (2m 59s):
So I think I had this just big overarching question of why are we investing so much of our life and so much of our attention and so much of our happiness into something that doesn't seem to be working and why isn't it working? So I kind of had these big questions going into college of like, okay, what is the body, what is it doing and why does it seem to be such a fight? And so I kind of got into the health space. I was originally going as biology and research, but then I got into nutrition and really just wanted to learn more about that aspect of the body. So I've really been in it since the beginning of my college education. Since then, I graduated with a very traditional view of health.
1 (3m 39s):
You know, it was very food, food, pyramid based. It was all of that stuff. And it just didn't settle with me. Like I just couldn't quite get the hang of that. Like I couldn't quite believe it. I even remember on one of my final exams as a senior in college thinking there's something wrong with what I'm learning like this isn't all adding up as my professors are, you know, slugging back their diet. Pop's telling us what we can and can't say as a dietician. And so I kind of rebelled against my college education a little bit and I decided to take a deeper dive. And so in the process of that, I opened a gym as doing my own quote unquote research. I know that sounds really bad, but it was really like a way for me to start to see people in action, start to see these people who wanted to invest in their health, wanting to change and start to ask the question of what was it gonna take to really help people see that.
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And so over the last 12 or 15 years, since I've been out of college, we'll just leave it a number and arrange. Cause I feel like it doesn't seem like it's been that long, but I've really started to learn about the body and to see the body in a new way and really start to understand it for what I believe is how our body was designed and created to try to end this body war that it's us against our body and start to work together with our bodies, start to understand it and understand what it needs, because I believe if we understand what it needs, then we know how to provide that and create a state of thriving.
0 (5m 8s):
Yeah, that's great. I mean, it's interesting. I've always thought that like your education with nutrition that you got at school that, you know, traditional like nutrition degree, the message, there is a lot different than like maybe what you would learn outside of that. It maybe if you could just go to like a health school or something, what were the, what were the biggest differences I'm assuming you don't use or you're not using that education per well, per se now, right? You've, you've created your own opinion around health, right?
1 (5m 39s):
Yeah. I mean, we learn things like the Krebs cycle, which is obviously pretty standard and, you know, biological functions, understanding that was really important, but the disconnect for me was, okay, this is what they're telling us our body is doing. But the things that we're supposed to be telling people that work, I mean, why aren't they working? Right? Like there was a disconnect between what we were supposed to be telling people to do and how their body was actually working. And it just didn't align with me. And so, yeah, I mean, like I learned about the human body and the Krebs cycle and, you know, chemical reactions and all that kind of stuff inside the system, which was helpful. But I think one of the big missing components in my traditional college degree of health was there was no minds at work and it was strictly what we do to our body influences our biology, but we left out probably one of the most important and critical elements in health and that's, but our thoughts are actually the thing that are controlling our biology.
1 (6m 40s):
It's the thing that changes our control panel, which changes every chemical reaction inside of our system, even outside of what we eat. Right. We know that how we think about what we eat, changes, what our body does with that. And so that was like, to me, what I've learned going through all of this. And even when I first started counseling people, people would sit in my office and it would be like, okay, this is not a food problem. Right? Like we, as humans know what's right. And I, a lot of people would still argue with me and say, no, we want to be told what to eat. And I'm like, but really at the end of the day, if I lead in a piece of an apple down in a cookie down and ask you which one was healthier, I mean, almost everyone would tell me an apple, right.
1 (7m 25s):
Like we do know what's right. It's how do we do what we know we should? And it's a really big mindset component. And I think we w we, we like to miss that message because it feels hard and it feels personal and it feels vulnerable. And we like to just go back to, okay, let's just keep trying new things. Let's just keep doing things. But in the process of doing that, we're still missing the very center of all of your biology, which is your, your mind.
0 (7m 59s):
Yeah. That's a great point. And probably something that doesn't get talked enough about, because, you know, I just think about coaching people in general. It's like, you're right. I mean, most people really, they do know what the right thing to do is, but they've just have these ingrained habits and they just, you know, it's just, they don't want to dig deep and really understand, you know, why these habits keep creeping up because you know, you see it all the time with like, yo-yo dieting people do great for a week, but then they end up just going right back to where they were. How do you, yeah. How do you sort of, how do you work with someone with mindset and get them thinking the right way in order to help them, you know, affect their health?
1 (8m 42s):
Yeah. I mean, I think it's partly just understanding how the mind and the biology work together. And I think a lot of this is, is just that we don't have a, you know, in general, in the health space, we're not really teaching how it's all working together. Like we have the psychology space, that's talking about the mind and how our thoughts are being processed, but, and then we have the nutrition space or the biology space, which is trying to understand chemical reactions inside the body and how we're reacting to life around us. But we're not really putting it together to say like, okay, you're having this thought and this is how this thought is being built. But also this is how this thought is changing your hormones. It's changing your enzymes, it's changing your digestive process, changing your metabolism, it changing your immune system.
1 (9m 27s):
So I like to show people like from the start of it all, this is how this, this whole process is happening inside your body. And I've kind of summed it up into one, eat what I believe is an easier component to understand, and that's just energy flow. And I know that can sound really woo to a lot of people, but really all of life is working off of energy. Every single cell in the system is working based off of energy and to your brain. The control panel is, is, is basically changing the messaging system throughout the body based off of whether you have plenty of energy or whether you are in a threat of energy. And I think when we start to understand energy from that, we can see that foods have energy.
1 (10m 11s):
Everything we encounter in life has a form of energy, or is that at least changing our energy and our thoughts are too right. Like we know that if we're having fun, if we're happy, those things give us energy, like when you're laughing and you're out with your friends or, you know, you're celebrating something or you're in love, like all of those things, we know have a biological reaction that enhances our energy inside of our body. But on the flip side, like if you get into an argument with someone or someone cuts you off in traffic or right, like those things can make you mad. And, and, and when you're arguing with someone, it can take so much energy. We know our emotions create almost what research has found.
1 (10m 51s):
70% of our total energy levels come from our emotions alone, which then signifies to our brain, whether we're in a state of surviving or thriving, or if you want to get more scientific, it's in a state of parasympathetic, motor sympathetic mode, right? That's changing your autonomic autonomic nervous system. Your autonomic nervous system is changing your hormones. It's changing the way your, an inflammatory systems react or your immune system. It's changing your enzymes. It's changing the way your muscles respond to changing your digestive system. Like it changes everything about our biology. And I think we like to get so nitpicky with health and we like to zoom so far in onto specific systems that we miss that every single system is working together.
1 (11m 38s):
Like if we pull out a hormone outside of the body, it's worthless. Right. But we put it inside the body and it's all working together to create that. And so I really like to come back and say like, okay, what is this energetic flow based off of everything we experience and how are those experiences changing the inner, like the inner biology of our body, which then changes the outcome that we're trying so desperately to see a change in.
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Mm. Yeah. So like, I'll just ask you a question as far as, like, for example, like, let's say someone they're just like addicted to sugar. Right. Cause you know, obviously the, the goal would be to, to abstain from that, but how do they, how do they have like the correct mindset in order to do that? What's the first step. Yeah,
1 (12m 29s):
Yeah. Yeah. So I think when we have a lot of addictions in place, I think we just have a really bad flow of energy. And again, I'm going to probably use that a lot because I think it is one of the easier ways, or when I started to learn about this, it was kind of like that big aha for me. So, you know, I think we have a lot of these addictions, like a sugar addiction. Right. And we like to think like, okay, yeah, we know there's a mindset component to it, but people are truly addicted to it. So what is this cross link between that? Like how do we help someone walk through that? I think first we need to honor and understand that our cravings are not just out to get us. It's a biological biofeedback marker. That's trying to get you to awake to the reality that there's a problem inside your body.
1 (13m 9s):
Anytime we have a craving, anytime we have intense hunger, even though we've ate, anytime we feel thirsty or tired, right. Those things are not necessarily quote unquote symptoms. I think we're really fast to take these symptoms or these problems and try and come up with an external solution to them rather than like just saying like, okay, you're behavior modification is just get rid of all sugar. The problem with that is, is that the biological response that says, Hey, by the way, I don't have enough energy. And so the best way for your body to get energy, when you don't feel like you have enough of it is to eat it an eating energy, or when your body needs energy, it's going to crave the, basically the quickest forms of energy, which tend to be sugar, those high fat foods, all the things that we hate, but it's just a reaction that says, Hey, your body doesn't have enough energy.
1 (13m 59s):
Therefore it's going to send a biofeedback marker to make you want to get that in some form. And so you're going to eat it. So I think we have to come back and understand that your cravings are not just out to self-sabotage you and just eliminating the food in general, doesn't ever fix the energy problem. We have to go back in and ask, okay, why does it feel like I don't have enough energy? Where's my energy going? And how can I supply that without needing to crave that? And so it's really a fascinating thing. I mean, even if we get outside sugar, right, we see people are addicted to a lot of things. And most addictions actually come from a lack of energy because whatever they're addicted to is going to stimulate the brain chemicals that are going to trigger more of that stress response, the adrenaline, which is part of the stress response that actually mobilizes energy inside the body to give you that high.
1 (14m 53s):
And so it is an addiction because it creates a high flow of energy, but it's not sustainable. And therefore you keep coming back to it time and time and time again. So if we really want to look at addictions, we really have to go back in and understand, okay, why is there such an energy problem in the body? Where's all that energy going and how can we work to channel that energy in a healthy way so that you don't have those cravings anymore.
0 (15m 20s):
Yeah. To channel that energy in a healthy way, what would be an example? Would that be like, replacing it? Like, let's just say, you know, replacing it with something else. Cause you know, a lot of it, right. Is it sort of like, you're trying to just like trick the mind a little bit and get it out of this. You know, if you're always used to, after dinner, picking up a, an ice cream, you know, cookie and you just want to get rid of that habit. Is it good to replace it maybe with something else?
1 (15m 49s):
Yeah. That's a great question. So I think replacing it can also provide energy, but I don't think replacing it fixes the energy problem. So if we go back and like, look at the scope of what energy is, I mean, I'm not a physics bio at all, but like the first loft or Monday night stays that energy is neither created nor destroyed, which shows inside the body. We all have plenty of energy. So just to give you the, this lesson that hopefully will make all of this make sense is that we have energy. We all do like that's the state of the human body. We have an abundance of energy. And I think looking at kids is a great example of this because they tend to be our most pure form, right? Like we've kind of messed our bodies up as we've gotten older because we started to believe a lot of health things.
1 (16m 34s):
And so if we look at a kid, right, we look at them and think, wow, they have an abundance of energy. Like some people are like, they're off the wall. They they're going all the time. That is the design state of the bodies that we have an abundant flow. And then we hit that wall at night where we need to sleep, where we rejuvenate that and we wake up again. So energy is always there, which also means health is always there. So the problem is not necessarily that you don't have energy and we have to go in search of it. It's how is your body channeling that energy? So there's a set amount of energy inside of our body. And our body then is going to distinguish based on what is happening in your external environment, what you're doing, how you're living your lifestyle, where that energy is going to go.
1 (17m 19s):
Now, if your body channels energy into your hormonal system, right? Like during menstruation for a woman, right. That takes up more energy. So your body's going to channel that energy into that system. Now, when you're not supplying or supporting that energy flow, what happens a lot of times is that energy level is going to feel depleted. You're going to start to feel like there's a lack, which changes your body's energetic cravings, which creates like the quote unquote PMs symptoms, right? Like it makes women crave high sugar things. It makes them more tired. It can make them more moody. Not because that's a hormonal problem, but simply because that system of menstruation is taking up a lot of energy, it's hard work for the body.
1 (18m 1s):
And if we're not supporting that, then the body's going to go in search of that. It's going to create symptoms called PMs that are just a sign that your body is lacking energy. So yes, we could come in and we could say like, okay, you know, I'm going to eat that food or I'm having all these cravings or it's just my PMs. It's almost like we can just like, I don't want, I don't want to say excuse it, but in some way, just kind of excuse it, like cravings, okay. Like let's just replace those. Or like that's what the diet space has done. It's like, well, let's just find a better external solution. But really the, the bigger issue is know why doesn't your body have enough energy? Or how could you support the energy that's inside of your body so that while it's channeling it in that direction, you still have plenty of energy to give to your mind, to give to your system.
1 (18m 47s):
So it's not craving all of these things. So it always goes back to where's my energy going and how can I support that on the backside? Yes, you can support that with healthier foods, but there are a lot of other really great energy giving sources outside of food. Food is actually a really bad source of energy inside the body. It's a very quick source of energy, but it's not a long lasting source of energy. So we want to look outside of ourselves. And so some external sources of energy that can help support your system. Our honestly, our mindset, right? Like we know our emotions are a number one source of energy. So doing things that you enjoy, turning on, some music, deep breathing, getting a massage, being around people, you enjoy having healthy relationships, doing things that you like in life.
1 (19m 33s):
Those things are sometimes are bad, best source of energy. And if people you're like, no, this can't be honestly, those are the things that trigger the Vegas nerve inside of our system that actually helps us move into a parasympathetic state, which mobilizes energy. And so we know like deep breathing, singing laughter. Those are some of the best ways to stimulate the vagus nerve. Some of the best ways to relax. And if we can move ourselves more into a relaxed state, we'll automatically start to mobilize energy. That's already there. It's when we move ourselves into a stress response, that's when we start to see ourselves get into trouble because the stress response always signifies to the body to store horde and conserve. So while energy's there, your body's going to start to protect it and hold onto it rather than release it, which starts to look like and appear like you don't have enough energy to go around, but stored energy inside the body is actually body fat.
1 (20m 26s):
And so your body will start to hold onto and store all this stuff. And we think, and then you're also start to get cravings and intense hunger. And you, you know, you kind of throw out, throw that whole energy spectrum out of whack. And then people get quote unquote hormonal issues. Not because it's their hormones fault, but simply because they have this message of stress inside their system that wants their body to store and conserve energy, which makes them exhausted and have all kinds of symptoms. But if we can move the body back into a parasympathetic state or more of a restful state, we automatically mobilize plenty of energy. We have what's called good energetic flow, which allows our body to do all of the internal functions it needs and still have plenty of energy to live our life.
1 (21m 9s):
Like that is the design state of the body, not to fear stress, but to use stress and know how to move yourself back into balance so that you can create flow. And when you can start to learn how to create flow in your body, you don't crave things, right? And if you do crave things, you can go back and understand how is my body out of balance and what can I do to bring it back into balance. Then it becomes like I want people to enjoy things that they quote unquote crave now, right? Like some people crave chocolate. We should be able to enjoy those things without being, without needing those things. Like the same thing with coffee. I think people who need coffee who rely on coffee, their body is just way out of balance.
1 (21m 49s):
We should be able to enjoy a cup of coffee without needing six cups of coffee to enjoy it for pleasure. Not to need it for a physiological energy function inside the body. Am I making any sense? I'm like, am I talking in circles at this point? No, no,
0 (22m 7s):
I'm getting, I'm getting it. No, I understand. I mean, I, I think the messages that focus on nourishing the mind in other ways, in a sense, I think that we rely on food for maybe some type of high where we should maybe take a step back and say, you know, I should be doing these other things. Like, for example, like my morning routine, I, you know, I'll do meditation. I'll maybe do even like a short yoga. I'll do something like I like maybe I'll play piano for 15 minutes, you know, little things. And is that what you're talking about? Sort of like, okay,
1 (22m 45s):
I think we so, so much want to focus on the food. The food is designed for nourishment. It's not designed for energy. And I think we eat food for energy because our bodies have become so accustomed to that. Being our only source of energy that then we have to rely on it. Then we have cravings and intense hunger and it becomes really hard to even choose healthy foods because healthy foods are not necessarily high in energy. So when your body is seeking out energy, when it feels like it's lacking and it's threatened, it's going to do everything in its power to get you to find quick energy sources, which come into places that really are things that don't and deuce health, right?
1 (23m 30s):
They make us gain weight because when your body's craving energy, no matter, even if you eat the healthiest food, if your body's in that store hoarding, conserve mode, it's going to take good boots and it's still going to break it down and store it as body fat. It's how we switch that off. So it's not really a food problem. It's an emotional problem. It's, it's an internal stress response. It's really just how, how our body is feeling or how threatened it feels by energy. That's going to change everything about our system. And that's why I don't believe behavior modification as in let's just 180, someone's dying, completely overhaul their diet.
1 (24m 11s):
It doesn't work long-term if it did, we wouldn't have any of these health podcasts because we've been trying to modify people's diets for the last 80 years. And none of it's work, right? Like we know today, there are more people dealing with obesity and overweight than ever before. And so behavior modification, when it comes to food, if that would've worked, we wouldn't be here anymore because it would have worked and tracking food and changing food is relatively easy. It's when we start to fight against our body and start to think that, that, that is the only way. So I, yes, believe food is important, but I like people to think of food as nutrients, not energy eating, we eat for nutrients, like even like plants, right?
1 (24m 53s):
Like they're getting all of their energy from the sun, like that is their sole source of energy without the sun, they don't survive. And so if we start to get, switch our mindset up from food being energy, and we need to eat food to survive and we start to see food as no, we just need to eat so that we have the nutrients and the nourishment to mobilize energy. That's already there. I feel like that becomes more of a liberating thing and allows us to make basically, I don't want people to feel strapped to food and think it's the only way because we become obsessive with it.
0 (25m 31s):
Yeah, no, I, I I'm, I'm getting it. You know, what is your thought around, you know, fasting, you know, I know you mentioned that sometimes just abstaining from something won't necessarily make that thing go away. But I will say, I do find at least my personal experience, that when I got into fasting, a lot of the cravings that I had for certain things actually eventually went away. And I also, it also changed my relationship with food in the sense that I understood my body more, where I understood what true hunger was, as opposed to just eating when it was noon or eating when it was six o'clock.
0 (26m 13s):
So what are your, what are your thoughts around that?
1 (26m 15s):
Yeah. I love fast scene is one of the best ways to mobilize energy inside the body because here's the deal fasting proves that energy is inside your system, that we can live a really healthy and satisfying life. And the absence of food. Obviously we can't do that forever because we need the nutrients in food, but fasting is one of the easiest and fastest ways to mobilize energy inside the body. Because as long as food is present, we don't, our, our hormonal system doesn't allow us to really mobilize that energy. That's already there to create that healthy flow.
1 (26m 56s):
And so fasting, I'm a huge fan of fasting daily intermittent fasting. I prefer, I actually prefer circadian fat seen over intermittent fasting, but yeah, any amount of fat when
0 (27m 8s):
You say circadian fasting, are you talking about just eating when it's light out and not, and, and when it, when the sun sets you're you're done.
1 (27m 17s):
Yeah. Yeah. So understanding the circadian rhythm of that, every single cell inside our system has a circadian clock to it. And that there's a time to eat and a time to fast. And I think we hear intermittent fasting and I see a lot of people who hear that and think, okay, I'm going to skip breakfast. I'm going to skip lunch and I'm going to eat supper. And men can tend to get away with that a little bit more, but women really struggle with that model because our body is more sensitive to food at high sunlight. And so our digestive system, our enzymes, our gut bacteria, our metabolism, our insulin sensitivity is all higher. As the sun reaches its highest point, meaning that it's going to be better for your system to eat your largest meals earlier in the day.
1 (28m 2s):
And then as the day progresses to start fasting. So that's a difference between intermittent fasting and circadian fasting is it just adds another layer of there's a time to eat and a time to rest. But the time to eat is with high sun. And the time to rest is when the sun goes down.
0 (28m 18s):
Yeah. You know, I liked that. I mean, I, I tend to want to stop eating it. I always tell people, give yourself at least a few hours before you go to sleep to have that last meal, you know? Yeah. Just to help with digestion even going for a walk after you have such a great for just blood sugar maintenance and things like that. Yeah, for sure. So what type of, I was just going on your website a bit, what type of actionable tips do you do give people as far as just like I noticed you boosting brain energy and I know we've talked a lot about energy so far, what would be ways that an individual could do that?
1 (28m 57s):
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think fasting is one of the best ways to boost brain energy. Again, we need to eat, but there's a time to eat and we shouldn't be grazing all day long because again, when foods in our system
0 (29m 12s):
It's a lot of energy goes towards that. Jessica, it takes
1 (29m 14s):
A ton of work to break that food down and you know that, right? Like sometimes after you eat, you'll almost feel tired. And the more that you eat, the more tired you'll feel because your body is again, channeled energy and a different direction. And so if we really start to become aware of, and just listen to our body, right. Just to, just to understand it a little bit, then we can start to see where that energy is going based off of how we're feeling like literally energy is. How do you feel like, do you feel energized? You feel like you have to get up and go, do you feel like you could go outside and do a workout or do you have the brain energy to get through a day without feeling sluggish in the afternoon?
1 (29m 54s):
All of those things are good signs that your body is working as it should, that it's thriving. And so a few quick things that can help mobilize energy again are just daily circadian fasting. I think moving that to another level outside of intermittent fasting and saying like, okay, your biggest meals should be breakfast and lunch. And your smallest meal by far should be at supper time. I like to think that half your supper should be half the size of your lunch. Now this is a hard thing for people because you know, the traditional scope in America is that we eat a small breakfast and a small lunch. And then we kind of come home and binge. But if you're doing this right by the time supper rolls around, you should not be that hungry.
1 (30m 37s):
If you feel like you're ravenous or starving or especially hungry before bedtime, you did not eat enough during the day. So it's just add more, add more, add more until you feel like you can come home and maybe even skip supper if, if it allows, but otherwise eating half of your meal. Now for me, I have to cook my biggest meal at night because it's when I'm home. And a lot of people still do that. I think you can still do that. Just eat half the amount that you normally would and then use the rest for leftovers. So I always like to think of like, what are, what things can I cook at night that then I can use again for breakfast or lunch the next day. I also think if you're going to do that, it's really important to get outside this idea that you have to eat breakfast foods, you know, like a bowl of cereal and granola bar, those things aren't really going to be that nourishing, especially for breakfast.
1 (31m 25s):
That's the wrong time to eat those foods. We want to see more of these. What I consider harder to digest foods being eaten earlier in the day, harder to digest foods would be things like animal proteins, heavy fats, just your heavier meals in general, and then more carbohydrates if you're going to have them as the day progresses, because those are going to be easier to digest. They're going to get out of your system quicker so that your body can convert over into that fasted state. And that's really what we want to see. And also you have better digestive enzymes. Your gut bacteria is working at greater rates during the early morning hours. And it actually feeds off of those higher protein, higher fat foods.
1 (32m 7s):
That's going to help you produce more serotonin, which is going to help you feel better. And so those are some things I think daily movement, you know, like a lot of these like pretty basic things. So really the goal is how can we create energy flow inside the body? The best way to create energy is to work, work, produces energy. And so we want to be moving our body. It doesn't matter what it is, you know, like I even think foam rolling, stretching, massage, sauna sessions, Epson, salt baths, anytime we can continuously move our body that is going to create energy and make us feel better. So if you like, I, I have some lists on my site and I can't remember exactly where they are, but it's kind of like, okay, creating lists of what gives you energy and what takes your energy away.
1 (32m 56s):
This is super basic and it seems really cheesy, but just understanding, okay, making a list today, going back in your day, what things like exhausted me, what things took energy. And it could be quote, unquote really healthy things like for some people, their workout, it's just not the right workout for them in that season. So maybe you're going through a season where your body is fighting something internally like a virus or a parasite, and you don't even know it, but your body's channeling extra energy into the immune system. And it's going to make you feel like your workout is just hard and it's grueling and you get home and you're so tired and you're hungry and you're craving all the things all day long. That's a sign that, that workout in this moment, not forever in this moment, it's probably taking more energy than you actually have leaving.
1 (33m 40s):
You exhausted. So how can you alter that to, and hanging out energy flow? A good example of this is like women. And I know I keep coming back to the menstrual cycle and, but it is a good time because it's, again like during menstruation, we see that there's a massive movement of energy into healing, into repair. And we see that women tend to struggle too, to do their harder lifting, harder workouts and this time. And if you fight through that, you're actually creating more problems and more stress and inflammation. Long-term rather than just understanding my body's lacking energy or it's channeling energy in a different way. How instead can I support it with movement?
1 (34m 22s):
That's going to help create flow rather than take flow. And so doing more yoga, more Pilates, just walking sometimes. I mean, all of that can create change, but I think movement is critical. I think what type of movement is going to depend on how your body or what your body needs in that movement or in that time. So fasting movement, obviously relationships, I think we're only as healthy as our most unhealthy relationship because relationships take tons of energy, your work, your passions, the environment in which you live, like how you're surrounding yourself. All of those things I think are really important.
1 (35m 3s):
And then I think also, I don't think we give enough credit to like just being outside in nature. But I think nature is one of our best medicines because it tends to have a really high, high, energetic, like high flow. The sun is one of the highest forms of energy that we have I have. And just being in the sun is really, really important to our system. Especially morning sun tends to be really good. It's just a change in light frequency that energizes our body. And so just getting outside no matter what the weather is, it's just really important to be outside.
0 (35m 36s):
Yeah, no, those are all great tips. And I think that, you know, you can do each of these things and it doesn't have to take a lot of time. Like I was just interviewing Brad Kearns and you know, I've talked about it before, but these little micro workouts, just little things, even just like maybe jogging up the stairs, it's like, you can use these things to gain, right? Like almost like you're talking about it to gain energy and to be in sort of a good mindset. I'm a big fan of morning routines and night routines. What type of things do like to use for yourself or your clients regarding those?
1 (36m 15s):
Yeah, I think it, I think a morning or Sheena night routine is really good because it doesn't have to be a lot, you know, I think we, we think it has to be this like three hour process. And honestly, I think the most important thing about it a morning routine and an evening routine is just the fact that you show up for yourself. It's just that one little vote of confidence that says, I recognize myself and I'm going to show up today. And I think both of them for me, I don't, I mean, I think my morning routine and evening routine, I'm very much of what does my body need today and providing that as opposed to saying like, I'm going to do this for this block of time and this, for this block of time, I just say, I'm going to wake up at this time. And then whatever my body needs, I'm going to provide in that day.
1 (36m 57s):
Like I'm going to create that space, but it creates that awareness to understand your body. I think we're so quick in society to look at all these external things that we should be doing to look at our diets, to micromanage, you know, and weigh foods and count things. And I'm not saying any of that's wrong, but when we push it to an extreme and we fail to see how is our body responding to that? We missed the most important part of health because how our body responds is really the thing that we want to understand, because that's the thing that's going to create the change that we want to see. And so the morning routine for me is I'm going to set my alarm at the same time every day, because I think it's important not to, I think sleep patterns are really important. And I think that's a value of a morning and evening routine as going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time, sleeping in is actually a huge energy drain.
1 (37m 44s):
A lot of people think it like gives you energy. No, it does. It, it takes a lot of energy, but waking up. And then for me, it's just waking up at my alarm, not hitting snooze, getting up and I always move my body first thing in the morning. And that's really like kind of my only thing that I really do, but what type of movement I really do choose in that day, generally speaking, you know, like obviously sometimes I have to push myself to be like, okay, I'm going to get out there and do it and do something hard because hard things create resistance, right? So you're naturally likely to want to avoid that. But if I'm really having a bad day or I'm just not feeling well, I do honor that. And I'm like, okay, maybe I'll try Pilates today or just put on a yoga video instead of going and lifting heavy weights or going out for a run.
1 (38m 30s):
So trying to as best I can honor when my body is really lacking in energy and when I'm just resisting it because of my mindset, if that makes sense. And that night, I really think that again, trying to create that parasympathetic state in the body where we get into more of that rest and relaxation is really important. And so for me at night, it's more like making that list of things that drain me, right? Like social media tends to drain me. Like you can scroll all day long, but you could often kind of feel like junk. And so like trying to set boundaries on my phone and then just saying like, okay, every day at eight o'clock, I'm done working, I'm done with my phone and then I can do whatever feels relaxing in that time.
1 (39m 14s):
And then from eight until 10 or whatever, I go to bed, it's like, okay, I'm going to take a bath. I'm going to read a book. I'm going to get outside and just sit outside or I'm going to go for a walk, doing things that relax me rather than kind of like, I feel like we have this pressure in society to have your to-do list and follow your to-do list. For me, it's more, I just set boundaries around time. And then I do, I try to pay attention to myself in that time.
0 (39m 39s):
Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, I, I recently got the Peloton treadmill and then they recalled it. But, but anyways, we're not giving it back, but they just put like a safety lock on it. Yeah. But I haven't, I'm not a runner. I'm not really a big runner, but I've actually been using it more. I didn't even think about it when we, when we got, it was the meditation that they have so many different guided meditations anywhere from like five minutes to whatever, like an hour. And, you know, I always talk to people about meditation and it's one of those things that I think people just have this fear around and they don't want to go that way because it's uncomfortable.
0 (40m 23s):
It's not easy. We're so used to being stimulated all the time around our phones and computers or whatever. And like you mentioned, just being there for yourself. And I just think if, if you could, if someone's listening to this and they could just say, you know what, start with a five minute meditation and just build it from there. You'll just realize you're just there for yourself. And you're, you're just become more self-aware and I don't know. I just think it's been a great thing. I'll do it at night. Sometimes I'll do it morning just depending on how I feel. But I think also starting with like a guided meditation is really helpful too. Cause sometimes just sitting there by yourself, just difficult, but you know, when you have a soothing voice that helps sort of talks you into focusing on your breath and becoming more, just sort of like aware of your body and how you feel.
0 (41m 16s):
Right. Yeah. So big fan. I just, you know, I, I don't know if you're a golf fan, but Phil Mickelson was the oldest player to win a major this past week. And he talked about, you know, you're 50 years old, it's competing against 22 year olds and you know, how do you get that edge? And he's like, a lot of it was quieting my mind and being able to get into a state where I'm just focusing on my breath and that's it, and I'm staying very present. And so he's really got into meditation and, and you know, he, he attributed that to helping him win at such an older age, you know, as opposed to playing against all these, you know, 22 year olds who are winning all these tournaments.
0 (41m 56s):
So I just thought that was interesting. And
1 (41m 59s):
Yeah, I think it's huge. I mean, I think one of the biggest problems we see in the world anymore is this disassociation is what they call it in psychology. It's where like, basically you are out, you're living outside of your body. And so you can't even understand what's happening to your body. You don't even necessarily really recognize how you feel. And I think the health space has made it seem like you have to achieve a destination and then you can kind of come home to your body, right? Like when you reach your goal weight, or when you can wear that size of jeans, then, then you can, you know, you'll, you'll arrive. And so we have this huge problem with being disassociated with ourselves and, and meditation is one of the best ways to come back and see like, no, I want to see myself.
1 (42m 42s):
Like, I just want to sit here and whatever it is, and we're not fast to sit in anything because sometimes it's hard and it's painful. But when we sit, we create like that resiliency to realize that maybe what we're sitting in is not bad. Like we thought it was, it can be good. And, and I think, you know, that meditation starts to recognize you, not as the problem, but more as the solution that you've been looking for in all these external things. And yeah, I think it's a huge edge. And I think there's a lot of ways to meditate too. You know, like you said, there's guided meditation, so there's by yourself. Sometimes people journal. I don't, I mean, it, again, there's not a right or wrong to this.
1 (43m 25s):
It's just the act of showing up for yourself over and over and over again. And I think our pain and our trauma of our past, and, you know, the, the pain of the health space or whatever likes to believe likes to make it seem like there's right and wrong, good and bad. And we like to moralize everything, even food, but it's really what, what is your body mean? And how's your body responding and you have to show up to see that.
0 (43m 48s):
Yeah. And, and, and I know I'm going back to fasting, but because I think fasting meditation can go hand in hand. But like, I just think that, like, if you learn that to skip a meal from time to time and sort of acknowledge, you know, you might have a hunger craving, but it goes away. It just makes you, so you just become more self-aware I think that's what this is all really about. Or just becoming self-aware of, okay. What is true hunger and, and, but abstaining from meals, I think can, can really go a long way into helping you sort of understand that you don't need to be eating all the time. And I know we talked about that before, but I don't know.
0 (44m 29s):
I just think like, even the simplicity of just skipping one meal and I, I know this is the opposite of, what's probably been taught a lot of people where they, you know, you should eat six meals a day and that's where you're going to get your energy from. But we, you know, once you get into fast and that you have plenty of energy to fast for days, you really want to.
1 (44m 50s):
Yeah. It's like being coming okay with it's becoming okay with your body. Right. Like it's becoming okay. And realizing the strength that it has and how it's working extremely hard. And it's doing a great job.
0 (45m 5s):
I just think, like you said, we rely on food for so many things. And if we can just get away from that, you just changes your relationship with food. Yeah,
1 (45m 15s):
Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
0 (45m 19s):
Well, I, I asked this question and we can talk on forever about this, but I think we've, we've touched on a lot regarding mindset, but what would you say? And we've maybe hit on it. What would you say? Like one tip you'd give someone who's middle-aged they want to get their body back to what it once was. What, what one tip would you give that person?
1 (45m 44s):
I think it's seeing their body, right? Like it's creating that self-awareness and understanding the mindset behind that. And I mean, like you said, we could talk all day long about what it is to change that mindset. But it is, I think for me, the most important question that I had asked myself was not why do I want to do this? But why haven't I, you know, and I asked my clients that a lot is, yeah, we want to talk about the why and having a good, solid why to, why you want to do it, which is enticing. But what tends to be more enticing for people is why not right there? Why not as stronger than their why? And so asking yourself not why do you want to do it? Because we all have great reasons on why we want to get healthy, why we want to lose weight, why we want to make that change.
1 (46m 29s):
But what has been the thing that's stopped you? What holds you back? And I think we have to be willing to dig into that because that's the thing that's going to prevent, like no amount of having a better, why or a deeper why, or, you know, some people are like, go five levels deep. Yeah. That's great. We should. But if our, why not is still stronger than our, why we won't, we won't move. And so why not? You know, why haven't you and what has stopped you. And once you can start to understand those, start to acknowledge that without accepting that, then I think you can start to create more truth into that. But we all have, right.
1 (47m 9s):
We're all working off of our belief system. And so we can talk all day long about behavior modification. But if you don't believe long-term that you're capable of it or that you're, you're able to get healthy, then you're always going to fall back into that because our thoughts are built off our belief systems and our actions are supporting evidence to our thoughts. So like, just to give you an example of this is like, if you step on the scale in the morning and it's a number on there that you don't like, and you think to yourself inside your mind, right? No one even knows this is happening. I'm so fat. I'm never going to get healthy. I'm exactly what I thought I would always be. I'm not good at anything. Then no amount of you wanting to do something, no amount of you saying, okay, today's the day I'm going to do my healthy diet.
1 (47m 52s):
What you have already told yourself is the internal belief that you truly believe you're fat. You're always going to be fat and nothing's ever going to change those things are always going to win out on any kind of behavior modification. So yeah, you might eat a healthy breakfast, but guess what? When, when lunch turns around and the day gets stressful, your beliefs are going to start to win out and you will take action based on your belief, because your thoughts have to have supporting evidence. It's like a scaffolding system in order to act on it. Your body has to believe it as truth. And so it will start to create supporting evidence based on past memories, maybe on field diets, maybe on words, someone spoke over you it'll start to great supporting them. It's based on that, but it will also start to create supporting evidence based on action.
1 (48m 35s):
So maybe you grab some candy on your coworker's desk, or you feel like, oh, today's just too stressful. So I'm going to drive through the drive-through. That's all coming from that, that bottom line belief or what you identify with. And so you're why not as often that belief, why haven't you, what have you believed about yourself? Because if you believe you're fat, you're always going to be fat because that's what you identify with. And that's the action you take. Your action always comes out of your identity, no matter how many behavior modifications you try to change or, or manipulate inside of that. And so we have to go back and understand that. And the act of letting go of beliefs, I think is, and letting go of emotions is so valuable.
1 (49m 18s):
And so I always say, you can acknowledge a thought. It's like, it's okay to acknowledge. Like when you stand on the sale, you can acknowledge the fact that you feel fat, but you do not have to call yourself that you can say, well, I might not have been able to do this before, but that doesn't mean I can't. And you can acknowledge, but here's the deal. As soon as you accept something as true, or you justify it, you justify the behavior, you justify the action that comes your belief. Right? So I see a lot of people do this, right? Like, well, it was a really stressful day and I didn't have anything else to do. So I just drove through the drive-through. You just justified that belief that you're never going to do this because you took action on it.
1 (49m 58s):
And then you came up with an excuse behind it. I'm not, that's so easy to do. We don't even know we're doing this because these are survival patterns at their core. And so we have to be willing to acknowledge things and even starting with little things, right? Acknowledging little things, little thoughts, little movements, and then letting them go like, literally it's as good as like that thought does not serve me. I'm going to let it go. And then filling your mind with truth. So actions always are going to reinforce belief systems. So if you want to change, it's like this two-fold approach of, we have to basically be willing to challenge our beliefs that are not positive or not healthy.
1 (50m 40s):
We have to learn how to let them go. And then we have to come in and add something truthful to that while also taking positive action in that. So it sounds like there's really big process, but like, even for instance, going back to the scale, you step on the scale, instead of saying I'm so fat, I'm never going to do this. Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm still here. Acknowledge that thought. Say like, yes, I feel fat, but you're going to challenge that. But that does not mean I am that. And that does not mean I have to stay this way. Then you're going to let that go and say like, I am not going to let this thought get the best of me. The truth is is that I have every ability to get healthy. My body wants to be healthy. Health is already inside of me. I just need to learn how to channel that.
1 (51m 22s):
And then you're going to take action. That's going to create that reinforcement. You're going to do something positive that reminds you, that you are in charge. Even if it's just, I'm going to go fill up a glass of water and I'm going to drink it. It's showing up for yourself. And the process of that. Yeah, that sounds like a lot to do because a lot of people haven't thoughts, every day, but most of our thoughts are happening in our subconscious. The more you can be conscious of this and start to put to rest, it's like a snowball approach. It's going to be work at first, but it'll eventually become faster and faster and faster and faster your problems. Aren't going to go away, but you learn how to strengthen them, or you learn how to strengthen yourself and less than your problem. I always like to think of like the mind, our life with an infinity loop.
1 (52m 3s):
I don't know if you've ever heard of this before. And a lot of people put something in the middle of that infinity loop, whether it's they're so fat or maybe it's been some kind of trauma or pain, right? Like you live with a depressed person or you have a problem with alcohol or whatever it is your addiction is. Right. We tend to put that in the circle or the middle of our infinity loop. And our whole life runs around that one story. We tend to have one theme that controls our entire life. So it's the, if it's the process or if you have inside your infinity loop, you're so fat, that's going to affect every single thing that you do from your relationships to your passions, to what you give your attention and your focus to basically, if there's a problem inside of the core, running your life, and it's a problem, and we keep investing energy into that problem.
1 (52m 52s):
It's never going to go away because what you give attention to grows. So if you keep giving attention to the fact that you are fat, you're going to be fat and you're going to stay fat for a long, long time. No matter how much you try to change that because you're giving energy and attention to it. If you want to stop that, if you don't want to be that anymore, you have to change your focus. You have to stop focusing on the problem and start to focus on where you want to go put something different in there. And every time you come back to the idea that you're fat, you have to challenge that and remind you that might've been your past story, but it is no longer. And I, I mean, like there's just so much power of our thoughts and I didn't want to believe it for myself.
1 (53m 35s):
I didn't. I think it's not something that any of us want to believe, right? We want to be able to do behavior modification because we're really good at doing things. But the survival response is we always go back to our belief system because that, that is the thing that controls our life. And so challenging those being willing to let that go and starting in all the small ways, it's like an onion. Like the more you can do this in a little ways, the more you'll keep pulling back the layers to the bigger and bigger things that are really controlling your everyday life and action.
0 (54m 5s):
Yeah. That was really good. That was really good. Yeah. If you could take those last, whatever, two, three minutes and just record that, you know, and just re listening to that. I mean, yeah. I love that. And I kind of just lost my train of thought, but oh yeah. On that point, are you a fan of like writing out affirmations and things like that?
1 (54m 29s):
Yeah, I think I love affirmations. I think because a lot of times we can't think of them in our, our hardest moments. You know, like when we're, when we're stuck in those negative stress responses, when we're stuck in those negative thought patterns and I'm, I am, I mean, I am the epitome of the glass half empty kind of person. Like I have struggled greatly with negative thoughts and negative mindsets and thinking, oh, if I just add positive thoughts to that winter and in a cycle, right. All of these are feedback loops, so they're all loops. And so when you're in a cycle of negative thoughts, that's, it's a loop it's going to keep repeating itself, keep repeating itself, keeps repeating itself. And it's going to take a massive amount of work to stop that loop and to change that loop.
1 (55m 11s):
And so when you're in those negative thoughts, it's really hard to recognize the positive. And so having affirmations written up like on this side of like my desk, I have things on my board and it's not everyday. You don't look at those. But at first it was like, I have to say those out loud. Like I have to remind myself that what is happening inside my head is not true. Right. Just because you think it doesn't mean it's true. And just because you feel it doesn't mean it has to stay that way. And so reminding myself that there's something else out there that's really good. As you start, you might get to yourself to the point where you just have those memorized and you can pull those up.
1 (55m 52s):
But at first I think that's almost impossible for most people because our feedback loops are so strong. And so having those affirmations, having that accountability partner too, I think that's really good and valuable in those relationships is to say like, Hey, I'm really struggling today. And just have having someone else to be able to remind you of what's true. That can be really beneficial too. So anytime you can set yourself up for success for those things, you might not believe them right away. That's because your original beliefs are really strong, but the more you can kind of challenge those beliefs, is it helpful? Is it serving you? Are they healthy? If you start to say no to a lot of those things, you can start to recognize that the things that you've believed in aren't necessarily true.
1 (56m 37s):
And when they're no longer true your body doesn't act out of them, your body only acts out of what is true. What is true is based on your perspective of them. So we have to start shifting our perspective of them, which means we challenge them, but we also start feeding ourselves with truth right away. And that's where those affirmations come in.
0 (56m 55s):
Yeah, yeah. This is really good. This is something I try to apply. I've been applying in my, my life. I, you know, I started journaling and doing like a gratitude journal and doing affirmations and stuff. So I know a lot of people don't do them, but I find it helpful, very helpful. And like you said, start with the mindset and then everything else will fall in place after that. And it's something that probably doesn't get talked enough about, you know, right. Well, this is great. This was like a breath of fresh air from, from my, maybe my normal interview here and something different, which I enjoyed.
0 (57m 36s):
So where can people find you and learn more about what you do?
1 (57m 39s):
Yeah. So I am over@thelivingwell.com. So it's a site, there's blogs. I have a podcast called, made for living. Well, I do more series on my podcast. So the summer we're actually doing a series called the sex talk. So we're talking about sexual education and like more of a mindset, you know, body confidence kind of way. And also the biology aspect of that. But the sees the series kind of change based on different topics, but otherwise they also have, if you want to learn more about the mind and kind of understanding energy flow in the system, I do have some programs over there where I actually work live with people to go walk through that. Like, I think that's really important too, is just that we have, I love being with people.
1 (58m 21s):
I love seeing people and walking them through this. So there's one called health made simple. There's the energy fix. Those are all things that could be really helpful. If you want to learn more about how energy works inside of the body and how to create and channel more of that energy in a healthy way, taking away those cravings, that exhaustion, because you don't have to be tired all the time, right? Like it's, it's not a part of just being an adult. It's a trained response. So how do we un-train ourselves from these negative feedback loops and move into something positive. So the livingwell.com you can get all of it there.
0 (58m 52s):
Awesome. Yeah, this was great. And definitely opened my eyes a little bit more into mindset, which I think can always help whether you're doing it for health or sport or just everyday living, you know? Well, I appreciate it. Thank you. I'm so glad you came on Alexa and a lot of great information and yeah. Thanks for coming on.
1 (59m 16s):
Thanks for having me. It was a lot of fun.
0 (59m 18s):
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0 (59m 60s):
If this sounds like a fit for you, email me@brianatbriangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. That's brian@briangrin.com with the subject line blueprint. Thanks for listening to the get lean eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member. That's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
