Everything You Need to Know Before Starting the Blood Sugar Reset

Today on The Being Brigid Show, I am joined by an incredible guest, Christina Palmisano, who is one of the amazing, brilliant registered dietitians on The Being Brigid team. Christina is a mom of 3. She's an overachiever who has an MBA, a background as an accountant that changed careers, became a dietitian, got her master's in nutrition, got a board certification in integrative and functional nutrition, and has been a core part of our team for many, many years, serving many of our clients and has an incredible wealth of knowledge, in addition to also being a very close friend of mine for many years. So Christina, I am so excited for you to be here.

Thank you, I'm so excited to be here too.

And today we're talking about all things blood sugar reset, how you can get set up for success going into the blood sugar reset, what you want to know before you sign up for the blood sugar reset so that you feel really confident walking into our summer round, our first ever summer round of the blood sugar reset.

So exciting.

So we've run 10 rounds of the Blood Sugar Reset, and this is our first time doing a summer program, which we're super excited about.

It's the perfect timing. We are way overdue for having a summer Blood Sugar Reset.

We are way overdue. I completely agree. I completely agree. So Christina, in your experience, we've now had 29,000 people go through the program. You've been a part of nearly every single round of the Blood Sugar Reset, leading our community and answering all the questions and doing live coaching calls, what would you say is the most incredible part of the transformations that we see?

I would just say the connection in the community and those aha moments that just start within a couple of days. Like, I feel like people start the first day, they're feeling good, and then day 2 they're feeling good, maybe have some questions, and then kind of like a couple days into it, there's just like that aha moment that I feel like clicks with so many of the participants and then they share that energy with each other. They share the symptoms and symptom improvements that they're feeling and how well they slept the night before, or maybe even a win that like their husband liked the dinner and just the connection that it creates. And I think it's that combination between physically feeling better in just a few days, but also connecting with other individuals who are kind of riding that high as well. And it's just so incredible to witness every single round that we do it.

It's so true. I feel like especially in the world of AI that every round that we launch the Blood Sugar Reset, it like creates it's this additional, like, surge of dopamine and, like, all the feel-good hormones where you see all the pictures and the wins that start coming in on day 3 or 4, which is such a short amount of time for people to start to see the difference. But that's usually where people start to report decreases in cravings, less fatigue, better mood. And it's like, how is— I feel like every round, even though we know what to expect, we're like, how is this amount of change possible in such a short period? And how is it So like rewarding every single time to see all of the wins that people are having in the way that they're celebrating each other and supporting each other.

Totally. It never gets old and it's just like the wins are so possible. And when there's that new audience of individuals who come in and are experiencing it all for the first time in combination with those, you know, like veterans who show up with every round and, and, you know, root on each other, it's just so cool to watch and it, I think it's So exciting that, um, you know, people can realize that there's so much that's possible for them in maintaining some structure and just going about their week with a plan versus just winging it. Because I think so many of us, especially women, we're just kind of winging it from day to day, week to week, and it's actually wreaking havoc on our health and our blood sugar. And so going in with a plan, not a crazy plan, but a plan that gives you some structure, um, just creates so much possibility.

So much possibility. This is especially true for the women who feel like they eat really healthy, but they're still not seeing the results that they're looking for, and they're a little like, will I see any benefit because I'm already eating healthy? And that is what the majority of women come into the program saying is, I eat pretty healthy and I eat clean, but the real transformation is getting deeper into that intersection between inflammation, insulin resistance, and how eating healthy does not equal optimal, and our entire strategy is designed to help shift you to an optimal way of eating. So I'd love for you to start with explaining what insulin resistance is and how prevalent it is in the women that we work with, especially above the age of 40, and how the Blood Sugar Reset is designed to target this.

Absolutely. So insulin resistance is so prevalent amongst women, especially the women that are coming into our programs. And a lot of this can be, you know, for a number of reasons. Of course, diet and lifestyle, but the hormonal changes that occur during perimenopause and menopause don't exactly set us up for success when it comes to the concept of insulin resistance. And that's why nutrition and lifestyle intervention is so, so important at all stages of life, but particularly in these, you know, major hormonal shifts in our bodies. So insulin resistance is typically one of the earliest signs that your body is just having trouble managing blood sugar, which is an everyday task that our body is designed and equipped to do. But that system can become taxed over time when it's exposed to triggers or excessive amounts of sugar that really disrupt the process and make it harder. So I like to think of insulin as a key that really helps move glucose from your bloodstream into your cells to be able for your cells to utilize that for energy. But with insulin resistance, your cells stop responding so well to that key, and then your body has to produce more and more insulin to be able to get that blood sugar into your cells and also be able to maintain that normal range. So over time, as insulin, you know, slowly begins to rise, the levels of insulin in the body, um, that can contribute to a number of unfavorable symptoms. So fatigue, cravings, stubborn weight gain, especially in the midsection, uh, inflammation, hormonal imbalances, um, eventually leading to pre— pre-diabetes diabetes or even type 2 diabetes. So the good news is we don't have to go down that kind of landslide of effect of constant exposure to sugar, our body needing to produce more insulin for this process to be able to work. When you step in and have a dietary and lifestyle intervention like the Blood Sugar Reset, where you're eating blood sugar balanced meals that have a controlled amount of carbohydrate, that have an abundance amount of fiber and protein and healthy fat and phytonutrients, that can really halt this process of insulin resistance and make an individual much, much more sensitive to insulin so that blood sugar balancing process is happening efficiently. So the Blood Sugar Reset is just an incredible tool to intervene before something like insulin resistance can become really problematic and create really a foundation for a ton of different chronic health conditions. Of course, diabetes, but insulin resistance is of course connected to so many other chronic conditions as well.

So, so true. And unfortunately, it's often not diagnosed because doctors aren't checking for fasting insulin, which is something that we run a lot in our clients and see very commonly. And it's something that's reversible, right? That it's— it is easy to reverse if you have the right frameworks. And it's subtle shifts. It's not like you go from eating a ton of McDonald's every day to then, like, drinking green juices overnight. I think that people think, like, this is only relevant for people who eat a lot of fast food or processed foods. And that is so not the case, right? We see people all the time who are like eating oatmeal and eating smoothies and acai bowls and like rice cakes and other things that are quote-unquote healthy that are still contributing to this level of insulin resistance that we're able to then like walk you through in the Blood Sugar Reset and break down exactly the formula behind the recipes and then the entire meal plan as a whole. Because one recipe, you know, you can like Google all of the Blood Sugar Balance recipes on the internet, but until you actually lock it into a meal plan that's designed to improve the overall trajectory of your blood sugar and your inflammation, you're not going to see a lot of results. Like, looking for random one-off recipes online will not change and will not move the needle when it comes to, like, exactly what we're trying to work on mechanistically.

Totally. It's the structure of blood sugar balanced meals all day long, not just one meal, not even just two meals, but really all day long. Because like you said, we see it all the time in, you know, quote unquote healthy individuals who are eating whole real foods, but they're lacking that balance and they're lacking that structure in their meals, and then of course from meal to meal. And then that's contributing to the insulin resistance, because you can still be eating whole real foods, but your blood sugar can still be riding pretty high if you're not balancing it out with the right amount of protein and healthy fat and fiber, the way in which we do in The Blood Sugar Reset.

And we even had Susan who said to us in Um, the last round of the Blood Sugar Reset, talking about how the Blood Sugar Reset has been life-changing for her after having a lot of symptoms from the cancer drugs that she's been on as a cancer survivor. And she said, I'm a nurse and I have been eating healthy. My daughter is a dietitian. I've been eating quote unquote healthy, but there, she said, there's something so magical, well, actually scientific about the way that we pair the foods and then bring that science into the education around what the latest research shows. That also I think helps people change their mindset and change those habits, which is what we're really looking to achieve. And the other thing, like, if I had to say the second item that's so important for, for women to realize is that it's never too late to begin on this journey. Can you elaborate more of why that's so important?

Yeah, absolutely. Because insulin resistance and chronic inflammation and so many chronic conditions and diseases are completely reversible when you have the right tools in place and the right action steps, which are so much related to nutrition, of course lifestyle too, but that nutrition component is incredible when it comes to its ability to really halt and not just stop it in its tracks or pause it from getting worse, but actually reverse insulin resistance, actually reverse and decrease levels of inflammation in the body, which translates to so much from a symptomatic standpoint. I mean, we work with so individuals. I mean, I think one of my oldest clients is in her late 70s, right? It's never too late. She hasn't been on a health journey her whole life. It just kind of started in the last decade and she's kicked it up a notch, right? Learning that like when I can balance my meals in a blood sugar balancing ways, how that translates to my symptoms from a sleep standpoint, from an energy standpoint, right? She's getting on the floor and playing with her grandkids now because of the changes she's made in the recent years of her life. Not things that even started 30, 40, 50 years ago. So, so many examples of how many individuals, um, you know, are able to make substantial changes at later time frames in their life. And that's where I feel like it's really a beautiful opportunity for when we do have younger women coming into this program, realizing that, like, wow, there's so many older women being like, I just wish I would have known what you guys, like, know now. Like, I— we've heard that so many times in the Blood Sugar Reset, like, Oh my gosh, if I only knew this 30 years ago, 40 years ago. And that doesn't mean that they're not able to make changes right now, but just such an advantage to have access to this information at a younger age versus an older age. But still, the beauty of having access to this information at any age, because change and reversal of symptoms and disease is absolutely possible.

And 3 quick examples that just come off the top of my head that we— I had mentioned yesterday in a masterclass that Christina and I did. My grandfather who died 2 years ago, he died at the age of 92 and was hiking and very healthy, um, just weeks before he died. And at 91, we worked on modifying his diet and he dropped his blood sugar by 20 points, his blood glucose levels, which just goes to show that even at 91, something like that is possible with modifications. He was also a healthy eater, but the, the tweaks that we were able to make led to significant changes at 91 years old. My mom, reversed her osteoporosis in the last 2 years after being told by her doctors that everything that she was trying was a waste of time and money, and has completely reversed her osteoporosis into osteopenia and is now working on osteopenia into healthy bone. We have Kimberly, who I interviewed, that is coming on the podcast soon, that has lost 90 pounds in the last 3 years since starting the Blood Sugar Reset and is turning 60 this year and is like so excited for this next decade of life. So it really, any age, this can be applied, and it's never too late to start. Okay, the third thing that I think really separates The Blood Sugar Reset is that we don't approach it as another diet. Can you talk about how this is different than so many other nutrition programs?

Yeah, so it's immensely different than so many other nutrition programs because I think historically speaking, um, especially for women, you know, they're told you have to follow this 100% or you won't yield the results of, you know, weight loss or whatever, you know, the goal may be. Oftentimes it is weight loss, but it's so different with the Blood Sugar Reset. You don't have to be following it 100% to still see the benefits from eating blood sugar balancing meals throughout the week. So even if you do 80% of the plan, you are still going to get a benefit, right? That's 80% better than if you were just going to McDonald's, or if you were just kind of going about your normal day life, even if you are one of those healthy eaters, if you make that subtle shift to bring that much more balance to your meals, you're still going to see the benefits. And that's what I love about the Blood Sugar Reset, because this is not a diet, right? It's a lifestyle approach. It's a framework that we teach you so that you can learn how can I balance my blood sugar through, you know, my nutrition from meal to meal. And this framework is something that is flexible. So, so many times I get the question like, oh, if I don't like this meal, like, what do I do? Like, you just swap it with another one on the meal plan, right? Or if you don't like smoothies for lunch, for example, you can do smoothies for breakfast, right? It's not like there is this rigid structure that if you don't eat everything 100% to plan that you are going to fail and not get the result. Even if you're doing, like I said, 80% of the plan, you are still going to see symptom improvement and overall health benefit because of what you're exposing your body to that much more if you were not doing the blood sugar reset.

Yes, I could— so, so, so true and important for people to really like think that they're not signing up for this dogmatic approach where we're like, if you mess up, you're a failure, um, and no one is allowed to have any bite of sugar or alcohol or other things. We're like, this is just what we know is optimal, and we want to encourage you to stick with it as close as you can because that's going to yield the greatest amount of results.

Totally. And you don't have to white-knuckle your way through this meal plan. Like, you're— the goal is to keep you full and satiated and stable throughout the day. And I think so many women have really learned otherwise in years and years of crash dieting, that you have to kind of starve throughout the day, that you have to struggle throughout the day in order to stick to this plan. And that couldn't be further from the truth with the Blood Sugar Reset. If anything, we hear from people like like, wow, this is a lot of food. I can't finish this meal, because they're not necessarily used to eating all the protein, all the healthy fat, all the, you know, the wonderful sources of plant fibers. So you don't have to struggle your way through the blood sugar reset. And I think that's really eye-opening to individuals when they don't experience the struggle and they're like, wow, this is actually enjoyable, and I feel stable and satiated and content. Like, what is that? I've never felt that before. I'm used to just struggling throughout the day and kind of starving all the time.

It's so true. I mean, the number of women who come in that are like, I feel like I've never eaten this much, also because of the volume of the fiber and things of that nature where they're like, it's, I mean, they're, it's not that that's every person's experience. Some people are like, I am hungry, and then we make modifications or recommendations for being able to make sure that isn't the case since everyone has different needs. But, um, yeah, it's so true. That's something that we very commonly hear. That takes us to point number 4, which is how quickly women can feel good, where it doesn't take a long time for you to start to connect, like, oh, this is a different way of doing things and my body feels the difference. So walk us through what we know about in the research and then what we see from all the women that go through the program.

Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, so much good research has been done on blood sugar balancing meals and the benefit of including a lot of diverse, rich plant fibers in the diet. And we pull all that research into the way that we structure the Blood Sugar Reset recipes and the entire meal Plan. So Tim Spector, um, who's a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College in London, um, he's one of the world-leading researchers when it comes to the microbiome. He did the BIOME study, which, you know, about 350 healthy adults participated in this 6-week randomized clinical trial, um, and he really compared this prebiotic blend made of more than 30+ whole food plant ingredients with a control and probiotic group. So they measured not only the gut microbiome composition in these groups, but GI symptoms, hunger, energy, mood, as well as metabolic responses. And the findings are really incredible because the participants that consumed that diverse plant blend of 30+ different plants, um, not only had improvements in their gut microbiome diversity, which is of course really, really important, but they had an abundance of improvements when it came to a bunch of different, uh, symptoms. So less constipation, less indigestion, less bloating, which again is all great, but they also reported reported more energy, reduced hunger, improved fullness after meals. And so huge takeaways that, you know, when you shift up your meal plan and you eat in a blood sugar balanced way, but particularly with a focus on a diverse, you know, blend of different plants, um, that's going to improve that, you know, energy, that hunger, those cravings. And that's exactly what we see in the Blood Sugar Reset, which is so, so cool. Um, and like you said, you know, it's not just— you don't have to be doing this for for 30 days, 60 days, 100 days, although of course we encourage you to, you know, to be following this approach from a long-term standpoint. But just in a few days, we see what, uh, what, uh, Tim Spector saw in his research, um, in the, the cohort of our Blood Sugar Reset participants, right? So usually in just a few days, like, I mean, we said it already, just like 3, 4 days into it, we're seeing people, you know, comment on, you know, this is the most energy I've ever had, um, oh my gosh, I have no cravings, this is crazy, I always my— even if it's just my dark chocolate at night, I didn't even want my dark chocolate anymore. Mood, that mood stability that people comment on, that they just feel like more productive at work and more patient with their kids. And like, the list goes on and on. So being able to see those real-life symptom improvements that not only are shown in research but are also shown in our audience makes it really, really cool. And then beyond just those those, you know, symptom improvements that people are commenting on. They're also always showing us their data, which is really, really cool. So, so many participants are wearing different wearables, whether it's an Oura Ring or a Whoop or a Garmin, and they're sending us screenshots of their HRV jumping up 10 points, or they're showing us screenshots of, um, you know, they had the deepest sleep that they've had in months since, you know, starting the Blood Sugar Reset.. And so being able to see that kind of hard data from a variety of different participants, even just a few days into the blood sugar reset, is really what motivates, I think, other people to realize, okay, maybe I'm not— you know, not everybody's going to experience a drastic change in just a couple days, but there are several people who do. But for those who are like, okay, I feel good, but I'm not really noticing any major changes, seeing somebody else improving their sleep data or their HRV or commenting on their energy and their mood is like, it's so motivating and it's so uplifting, and it helps really like foster that community motivation to be able to keep going with this lifestyle approach.

So yeah, I would say seeing some of that HRV data just in the first 3 to 4 days has been very, very eye-opening, even for us. Last fall, one of my friends did the Blood Sugar Reset, and 3 days in, she texted me and her HRV went from 35 to 45, a 10-point jump in just 3 days. And she was like, this is crazy, I can't believe how much better I feel so quickly. And like you said, Dr. Tim Spector's research has shown in conducting not only that research study, which we take principles from that 30+ plants per week, you don't have to add a supplement on in order to do that. We incorporate the 30+ plants into the meal plan. But other research that they've done that, you know, he's one of the top 100 scientists in the world, and they have shown improvements in energy, hunger, and mood, which then when I found that out, I was like, that is crazy. Because in The Blood Sugar Reset, the 3 most common symptom improvements that we've seen over the last 6 years are energy, cravings, and mood. So basically the same 3. And I think it validates how much can, you know, these 3 markers specifically, or these 3 symptoms specifically, can improve when you have the right strategy. And then point number 5, I would say getting into action mode is the most important. So many of you have signed up for The Blood Sugar Reset. We're going to get into then how you can prep and set yourself up for success. But I just want to acknowledge how important it is to go from research and consuming mode into action, given that information alone will not change your life. We have seen people go from consuming podcasts and reading all the books to then actually adopting these principles that we incorporate. And like, their cholesterol levels will go from 329 to 270 in a 3-month period of time. Or we just heard from someone this week that has lost 12 pounds since the March blood sugar reset, or another person that shared that she reversed her prediabetes. Like, crazy changes that happen in such a short period of time, right?

I mean, that was 3 months ago. Like, it's, it's crazy to think women, you know, particularly the individual, um, who shared it yesterday about her 12-pound weight loss, like, she has been struggling to lose weight for a long time. The scale hadn't been moving for her for a very long time. But insert the Blood Sugar Reset and insert that framework becoming part of her consistency and her habits day in and day out, and she was able to make that transformation in her body. And it's not just about weight loss, right? But that translates to lower amounts of, you know, inflammation in the body and symptom improvements and more energy for her to be able to, um, have when it comes to spending time with her son. So, um, it's incredible to, to be able to see those changes.

Okay, so we talked about some of the ways that this is so different, and there are a lot of different factors that we put into— we have a very long list of factors that we put into planning the Blood Sugar Reset meals. Walk us through 5 things that we factor in that people can expect as they're going through this meal plan.

So number 1, we already talked about those 30+ plants. We work in a diverse, abundant amount of colorful nutrient-dense plants so that you don't have to think of how can I get to that number 30 throughout the week. Uh, second, 1,600 calories every single day. The meal plan is approximately 1,600 calories. We of course go over, you know, how to adjust that caloric amount perhaps if your intake needs are higher than 1,600 calories, if you're somebody who is extremely physically active, or perhaps you're, you know, pregnant pregnant, postpartum, we of course go over ways of how to increase that caloric load. Third, carbohydrates, right? This is a controlled, um, amount of whole food carbohydrate throughout the day and throughout the week, but this is not a low-carb diet, right? We love whole food carbohydrates, but it's about eating them in a very blood sugar balancing way. And an important component, kind of going into number 4, is of course fiber, right? It's not just about that total carbohydrate amount, but it's also about that net carbohydrate amount, which is really where number 4 comes in. Every single day is 30+ grams of fiber. Fiber is absolutely essential when it comes to blood sugar balance throughout the day. But not only, you know, does it exist in this blood sugar balancing world, it's also extremely beneficial when it comes to gut health, cardiovascular health, inflammation in the body. The list goes on and on. So this is another really, really important component of our framework that we work into our recipes. And then lastly, I would say, is our protein. Of course, you know, protein is also essential for blood sugar balance and satiety, muscle synthesis, overall health and longevity. And every single day, the meal plan consists of over 100 grams of protein. So you've got 30+ grams of plants, about 1,600 calories every single day, somewhere between 110 to 130 grams of whole food carbohydrates, more than 30 grams of fiber every single day, and more than 100 grams of protein every single day.

And that's really like the starting place of, of where we start. I love how you just put that together so, so well. But, um, that's really the starting place that we factor in, like the top 5. Um, it goes deeper than that, but I think that that's a great place for us to start. And then, um, other things that we do is a smoothie for lunch every day. So you can expect a smoothie for lunch. If you need to move that to breakfast, you can, you can rotate that, but that's a core part of the blood sugar reset. Um, we have 3 breakfasts throughout the entire week, so you rotate through similar meals so that you're not spending hours and hours in the kitchen. We try to make it very efficient in the way that we lay it out. We rotate between 3 different snacks as well for that exact same reason. And then we have the dinner. So you have breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner, and, um, 4 different dinners that we rotate through throughout the week that are our best of recipes.

They're so good. I mean, I get excited about every single one of them. Every time I try to pick a favorite of our dinner lineups, I'm like, I just can't. They're, they're so good.

It's true.

And they're so easy. They're so easy, right? They're nutrient dense. They have all those components that I just explained, but they're quick and they're easy and they're family friendly. And, um, they're just so delicious.

Like our kids actually eat them.

Yeah.

I mean, for the most part, I know that Christina like has a bit of a picky eater situation with one of her kids, but overall your kids eat them. Yes.

I deconstruct them a little bit, which I'm always happy to talk about. And I talk about a lot, I think, in our Facebook group throughout the Blood Sugar Reset of ways of you can still make the, like, you know, the lasagna eggplant, for example. I don't necessarily always mix it all together in one big bowl because like I said, I've got one kid who likes the eggplant, another kid who doesn't like the eggplant. So typically I make another veggie, um, that I roast on the side. And, you know, the ground turkey mixed up with the sauce isn't always a fan favorite of every single one of my kids. So sometimes I just keep it on the side and then that can, you know, they can pick and choose. So there are ways to kind of deconstruct the meals to make them even more family friendly if you happen to have picky eaters like I do.

Yes. It's actually like amazing because all of our nutritionists have kids. So the support that you get throughout the week, um, from our dietitians and our nutritionists incorporates not just like their actual amazing expertise of like all of the training and credentials that Christina, Michelle, and Danielle have, but also like the real life. We are moms and we get it and we're trying to help you make this work.

Totally. And your kids may surprise you because this has happened to me with a number of, you know, past blood sugar reset recipes too, where I make something and I think they want nothing to do with it and they're actually interested because perhaps they were in the kitchen with me the same time I was prepping Or maybe I even ask them, like my older two being 8 and 6, like sometimes I'll say, hey, can you chop these veggies? Like chop up these peppers so I can throw them into the, you know, rainbow frittata cups. And then they're eating the peppers along the way. So there's ways of kind of having your kids surprise you and your family surprise you, right? We hear it all the time. Like my husband actually enjoyed that dinner and he's a meat and potatoes type of guy. And it's, you know, your family might surprise you. So if you're worried about this being, you know, just for you and then you're gonna have to cook separate meals for your family, like you may be surprised. Otherwise.

Yes, we, we do hear that all the time. And I love, my favorite is when people upload to the Facebook group pictures of their kids being like, this is the first time that they've actually eaten blank because we've had such a hard time getting them to eat these things. And I'm like shocked that not only did they eat it, but then they wanted more of it.

Totally. Yeah. I remember an exact example of a participant who shared that, um, I believe it was her daughter eating the rainbow frittata egg cups and she doesn't usually like any of the veggies that are inside. Inside that recipe, but because they were in the egg cup and it was colorful, like, her daughter went to town on them. But she's like, but now I have a problem because she ate my breakfast. I'm like, well, sounds like you have to make another batch.

Oh, it's so true. Um, okay, so then let's get into what— for people who have signed up for the Blood Sugar Reset, hopefully everyone listening at this point, because if I were to— if you were to like see me in real life, I said this yesterday on our masterclass, like, if you see me in real life, which happens all the time where people are sharing their like health struggles or things that they're working through, and you were like, what's your advice? My advice would be join the Blood Sugar Reset because these 7 days will be so, so eye-opening for you. Um, so as people sign up for the Blood Sugar Reset, the natural question is, what should I focus on next? So can you walk people through next steps after they've signed up?

Yeah, so once you sign up, hopefully you know this already, you get immediate access to the Blood Sugar Reset portal. You can go in there and look at all the resources that are associated with the Blood Sugar set. So definitely encourage you to watch the videos that we've included with the portal that are kind of more like how-to videos to kind of talk you how you can adjust the serving sizes. So if you are doing this on your own, you may not need to adjust the serving sizes. If you're doing this with your husband, you may need to double things or even triple things. So we have videos to kind of really teach you how to not only use the portal but also to make modifications to the serving sizes with the meals as well. I would definitely encourage you on the sooner side.

Because once you add, once you change the serving size, it automatically changes your shopping list. So the idea is that being able to use the portal is going to save you a lot of time with your shopping for the week because everything that you modify for servings changes the, the shopping list directly that you can take with you to the grocery store.

Yes, this portal is amazing and you'll be like, wow, where has this been my whole life if this is your first time using it. It. Um, definitely want to encourage you to review the specialty item shopping list. There are about 10 items that we include, um, in the recipes that may not be available at your everyday grocery store. So definitely go through that list. You may already have some of these on hand at home, but there might be some that you might need to order ahead of time. Obviously, like a protein powder, for example, um, the curry paste for the shrimp red curry. Um, we can talk about that more in detail, but we have, um, that that list separate for you. So definitely review that on the earlier side, just in case there is something that you can't access at the grocery store when you're, you know, ready to shop. I would definitely encourage you to log into the Facebook group. Joining that community as soon as you're able to is just so uplifting and so encouraging and will help you kind of connect with like-minded individuals who are obviously participating in the blood sugar reset as well. There was a past episode that Brigid Titgemeier and Michelle, the other dietitian on our team, did back in the spring prior to the spring blood sugar reset, where they definitely talk a good amount about the blood sugar reset, not only its benefits but how it connects to other aspects of health too. So I definitely encourage that. We'll include the link, I believe, with the show notes for this. And then I would also encourage you to try a few recipes. So because you get access to everything immediately, but the blood sugar reset doesn't officially start until July 27th, 7th. You know, if that might be a week away, that might be 2 weeks away depending on when you joined, but I would definitely encourage you to jump into the recipes right away. That doesn't mean you need to do like, you know, all 4 recipes every single day for the next 7 days. If you want to, by all means you can, but I would definitely explore at least 3 recipes just to trial them and set you up for success for your weeks kind of leading up into the Blood Sugar Reset. Um, and then lastly, one thing you could do is because we do smoothie lunches for, um, the entire Blood Sugar Reset, you could always prep those smoothie bags ahead of time. So a smoothie bag is simply all the ingredients, um, of the smoothie that you store in your freezer so that it kind of removes the barrier of having to get all those different ingredients out on your counter and make that smoothie. So it just kind of allows you to expedite the process when it comes to making your smoothie for lunch or even for breakfast if you choose to swap the smoothie, um, for whatever breakfast there is for the day.

Smoothie bags are such a game changer, aren't they?

Yeah, when you find one in your freezer, I always feel like the blood sugar reset reminds me every time, um, how beneficial smoothie bags are because I always make them for the blood sugar reset but then kind of fall off at other times throughout the, like, the month and the year. And every time I find a smoothie bag, it's like, yeah, why don't I do this more? Why don't I save myself the hassle of grabbing the peanut butter and grabbing the this and grabbing the that and like all stuff. Not that it takes long if you do have to do that, but it takes longer than if you were to just have that smoothie bag and plop it in into the, the blender with some liquid.

It helps me so much with consistency with smoothies for lunch. And the reason that we do smoothies for lunch is because I noticed I've struggled with fatigue for my entire life. I have narcolepsy, and so I'm always looking for ways to optimize my energy and offset it. Blood sugar balance has been one of the most impactful things, which is why why I feel so passionate about sharing this. But smoothies for lunch, um, is like a very particular thing that I started doing to help with my afternoon energy. And being consistent with my smoothie lunches requires me to have smoothie bags, um, and having those prepped. So, and Chatty Kathy in our community actually just shared how she does a— what do you call it when it's like an assembly line— where Chatty Kathy does an assembly line of all of her ingredients, where she goes from like one bag the next with the cauliflower rice and then with the others so that she's like making so many that then you can store in your freezer in order to be able to have these smoothies on a more regular basis. My kids also always drink my smoothies, so I like got just not sick of it because I'm happy that they're drinking them, but to the point that all of my smoothie bags that I prep, I do 2 times the serving size so that I know I'm making 2 and then I'm dividing it out for them and then for me., and then, you know, if other people are there, like my husband or my sister or you or Danielle or someone from our team that's at our house, then, or Marcia, then I then am able to just like throw another bag that's a 2x serving into the blender to make them for everyone.

We love our smoothie bags.

We love our smoothie bags. Okay, since we're talking about smoothie bags, let's talk about protein powder. The number one question that we get asked when people sign up for the The Blood Sugar Reset, the protein powder really impacts the outcome for the recipes. So walk us through what people need to— what people need to know about the protein powder.

Yeah, so we have some favorite brands that we recommend because, one, we test our recipes with them, but also, two, we know that they are high-quality, reputable brands with simple ingredients that also taste delicious. So we recommend using Be Well by Kelly's grass-fed beef protein powder. She also makes a vegan protein powder. I prefer the grass-fed beef. It comes in both vanilla and chocolate. As part of the ingredient list, we recommend doing a vanilla protein powder, and you can also do a totally separate chocolate protein powder. But personally, I love to just add in a little bit of cacao to— or cocoa powder to the vanilla protein powder to turn it into a chocolate protein powder. So if you don't want to buy two separate bags, you can buy one bag of vanilla and add that, um, you know, chocolate flavor in, whether it's from a cacao powder, cocoa powder, something similar, to be able to turn it into a chocolate protein powder. Another favorite protein powder of ours, or a couple favorite protein powders, are Just Ingredients. So she also has a protein powder that is— this one actually contains dairy, so it's a grass-fed whey protein powder that also has pea protein and some grass-fed collagen in it tastes delicious. So if you're somebody who tolerates dairy and consumes dairy, that could be a great option for you. Just Ingredients also makes a bone broth protein that's delicious. It's made from grass-fed beef bone broth as well as some collagen, so that works really well in our smoothie recipes too. And then she does also have a vegan protein powder if you prefer a vegan protein powder. It's a blend of almond protein, pea protein, pumpkin seed protein, and chia seed protein. Just keep in mind, with the, the vegan or plant-based protein powders, you may need to add a little bit more liquid to the smoothie when blending up, which really the liquid amount is totally up to you. There's some individuals who like a thicker smoothie, there's some individuals who like a, you know, a little bit thinner consistency. So you can change the consistency by the amount of liquid that you add to it. But particularly if you're using like a plant-based protein powder, that typically absorbs a bit more liquid when it's blending. So you might need to add a bit more liquid protein— I'm sorry, liquid to the protein powder or the smoothie, uh, for the, the right consistency.

I will say that the most common thing that we hear in the Facebook group when people are like, I don't like this smoothie, then the number one thing that we ask is, what protein powder did you use? And then the number one response that we get is some kind of a plant-based protein powder. It's more gritty, the texture is very hard to, to master. So if you are like, I want to do this exactly as you recommend, I would stick with either the Be Well by Kelly beef protein powder if you're dairy-free, or the Just Ingredients Just Ingredients regular protein powder that Christina just talked about as one of those two options. Um, the third option could be the bone broth protein powder from Just Ingredients, but those are our top three preferences if you're trying to mimic exactly how we make the recipes at home. When we're developing the recipes, we cannot control for how a recipe is going to turn out if you're using a vegan protein powder.

Totally. And I definitely, um, also want to add, um, too, that with the protein powders, um, if you don't love the flavoring of the protein powder. We do kind of get the feedback sometimes like, oh, I don't really like monk fruit, or I don't really like stevia, like it's just too sweet for me. If you go the unflavored route, that's going to absolutely alter the flavor of the recipe too, so you will have to kind of compensate for the flavor. So if you go for an unflavored protein powder, you're obviously losing out on that vanilla, so you might want to add in a little vanilla extract to that smoothie to kind of compromise so that you're not totally getting that flavorless. And then you may want to consider consider, um, you know, depending on your tolerance for like a stevia or a monk fruit or maybe even a bit of allulose, adding a tiny bit of a non-nutritive sweetener to it so that you're not, you know, totally depending on the small amount of fruit in the smoothie alone to carry the flavor. Because the protein powder really does contribute immensely to the flavor of our smoothie recipes.

One other thing that I would say about the protein powder is that we do have— we are not sponsored by any of these companies. None of the companies that we reference in The Blood Sugar Reset are we sponsored by. We don't actually do sponsorships through food companies to remain unbiased, but we do have affiliate links with both Be Well by Kelly and Just Ingredients that will save you money. If you want to use those, we can include those in the show notes as well. We also have them all over the Blood Sugar Reset portal, the Facebook group, so hopefully that will make it easy to find. Okay, let's move on to the most important kitchen equipment for people to think about Yeah.

So I would say top most important, obviously, since we were just talking about smoothies, a high-powered blender. So personally, I have a Vitamix. My Vitamix is like probably 12+ years old and it still works incredible. So any sort of high-powered blender is going to be really important for the smoothies. Sometimes we'll hear feedback about, you know, I don't like the consistency or maybe it doesn't feel blended enough. I would definitely say you have to perhaps blend it a little bit longer, but having a high-powered blender will make a big difference in the consistency of the smoothie. So definitely I would say that is number one. And then number two, this blood sugar reset includes the Rainbow Egg Frittata Cups, which are absolutely delicious, but in the past they've been a bit problematic for some of our participants because when you're cooking with them and you're putting them in whatever kind of muffin pan that you have to make them individually, they can really, really stick to the pan depending on the type of pan you're using. This is why we recommend using a silicone egg muffin liner to be able to kind of avoid that stick factor that can happen with a variety of different pans. Another option that I always like to include, and I know I'll include this when we go over our— we do the VIP cooking class as well, but you don't have to individually portion out the egg muffins. You can make it more like a frittata style, so kind of like in a baking dish or a pie dish and cook it that way. Now you will have to cook it longer. Like, I think the frittata cups take about 20 minutes or so to cook. You'll probably have to cook it closer to like 40, 45 minutes. So you'll want to monitor that. But if you don't want to get the silicone egg muffin, um, liner and you just want to cook it like more of a frittata, you can divide that out into— if you're making the 3 different servings throughout the week, you can divide that, um, into 3 servings that way instead of the individual muffin cups. So if you are going the muffin route, definitely get that silicone egg muffin liner. You can just easily find that on Amazon. They're not very expensive at all. Um, would recommend that, but just know that there is the alternative to make it more of like that frittata style if that's an easier step for you.

Those are great points. 3 other things that I'm thinking of as you're talking through this is if you don't have a zest— a zester, that would be helpful because we do have the lemon blueberry yogurt and the strawberry lemonade smoothie. And a lot of our recipes, not only in the Blood Sugar Reset but also in the Bean Collective membership, we do add zesting fairly often because it's a great way to add phytonutrients to your diet that help with decreasing inflammation and also upping the flavor profile. So a zester would help. Um, number 4, I'm thinking, would be like a Le Creuset or a larger pan that you could make, especially if you're going to make a larger serving of the lasagna eggplant with the ground turkey, and then also the shrimp bread curry. I'm looking at the picture from our food stylist and they made both of those in a giant Le Creuset, which is also what I use typically. It doesn't have to be a Le Creuset.

Yeah, sort of Dutch oven.

Yeah, a Dutch oven. Exactly. And then number 5, I know this is like a big splurge, so I wouldn't necessarily say you have to have this for the blood sugar reset, but if you're loving the blood sugar reset and you're like, I'm gonna dive further in and follow into the Bean Collective membership and make this more a part of my everyday lifestyle. I am a huge advocate of a garage freezer. I know some people do like the refrigerator and freezer, but we have just a freezer, and to me that is a total game changer because we have an entire row where we put like frozen cauliflower rice from Costco. We're going to talk about Costco in a second. Frozen berries. Since we have different flavor smoothies, we like to think of it as like going to an ice cream shop and getting a different flavor of ice cream. It just makes it more fun than having the same. I used to do the same smoothie every single day, and since changing up the the flavor profile and trying to mimic it in the way that we do with like the chocolate truffle smoothie or the strawberry lemonade smoothie, um, it makes it just so much more exciting. And so being able to have a dedicated space for that in addition to the smoothie bags, if you're prepping those, in addition to like animal proteins that you're freezing, like we keep those in our freezer, um, I just think that it makes such a difference for being able to set yourself up for success. So if you're trying to think of a Black Friday purchase or something, down the road, I do think that I'm a big advocate for a garage freezer.

Yeah, I'd also add glass storage containers. I know it seems kind of obvious, but with the meal prep that you're doing throughout the week, of course during the Blood Sugar Reset, but if you continue on in the Bean Collective, meal prep is really essential to your overall health and most everyone's nutrition goals. So having a nice set of those— I know we're going to talk about Costco in just a second, but, um, Costco has great options as far as glass storage containers. Containers as well.

That's a great point because typically what we do is have you prep one of the recipes and then prep it like, so for instance, Monday and Wednesday is lasagna eggplant with the ground turkey. So you have it on repeat on Wednesday so that you make it once and then have it twice. And being able to store that in the fridge in those glass storage containers is definitely an essential. Which reminds me, I still have your chia seed pudding. I have your two chia seed pudding glass containers.

It's okay. I have like 15 different options for GSE puddings. I have an abundance of glass storage containers, like truly like 2 massive drawers in my kitchen dedicated to storage containers because I use 'em, right? Meal prep is so important.

I know it's so important. I have, I have too many and we just did a photo shoot, a team photo shoot for The Bean Collective and Johnny was just yelling at me the other night like, you just bought so many more glass storage containers for this photo shoot. You don't have a system for where they're going in an organized way. So I need to organize our kitchen a little bit more. Bit more with all these glass storage containers.

They do take up a lot of space, but with the right system, you can figure it out.

It's true, it's true. Um, okay, let's talk about Costco, because I think that one of the things before we get into Costco that people will say when they're new to the Blood Sugar Reset is this seems expensive because there's so many things that you have to buy if you don't have them in stock. What happens then as people evolve from the Blood Sugar Reset into the Being Collective is that a lot of these staples are on repeat at all times. So if you don't have things like cacao powder or protein powder or extra virgin olive oil or some of the staples that you need to purchase, then it does become a larger upfront cost that then you of course use over time. Because, you know, cacao powder you're only going to go through so fast. But I do think that that makes the case for being able to save money by buying through Costco, also supporting local farmers, of course, on the opposite end. Because, you know, there's of course concerns with buying everything in bulk, but, um, there— it's a great strategy for being able to save money. So talk us through some of the things that you— they could buy from Costco from the grocery list that would help to save money.

Yeah, so Costco has so many different frozen items that are ingredients in the Blood Sugar Reset. So cauliflower rice, uh, frozen cauliflower rice, you know, that's what we use in our smoothies, um, as the non-starchy vegetable, kind of contributes to the creamy texture. So frozen cauliflower rice is available available at Costco, as well as frozen organic cherries, frozen organic strawberries, frozen organic blueberries. All of these are available at Costco, so nice big bags that allow you to make smoothies for really weeks to come. Also frozen wild shrimp, so they have an Argentinian wild shrimp that'll be used in the red shrimp curry. Also organic ground turkey for when you're making the lasagna eggplant plant. Two additional proteins, they have organic ground beef, which is obviously an important ingredient for the hamburger salad, as well as wild-caught salmon for the chili lime salmon. So, so many great protein options at Costco, whether in the frozen section or even the refrigerated section. As far as non-starchy vegetables, which are obviously contributing to all those important plants throughout the week, there's organic spinach, organic carrots, they have grape tomatoes, you know, lots of other ones too. So keep in mind, if a specific non-starchy vegetable that's in a recipe that you don't love, you can always swap it with another one. Um, other important ingredients, uh, like salsa is available. There's also organic, uh, Greek yogurt available at Costco. Make sure you go for an unsweetened option. Um, that's a great resource. Huge, huge tub for such a great price. Um, as well as healthy fats like avocado oil spray, the cooking spray that we use for most of our recipes that you you're cooking, as well as peanut butter, which goes in the smoothies and the yogurt bowl, and then black beans as well. So, so many different ingredients. Obviously, this is the list of what's applicable to the Blood Sugar Reset, but there are so many wonderful, optimal, um, whole food ingredients that you can get from Costco to help really cut down on the cost that does come with, you know, making majority of your meals at home.

And of course, when you go to Costco, you're going to spend more money on larger servings than you would on smaller servings at the grocery store. I feel like we probably don't need to say that, but we get all kinds of comments, so I just want to make sure.

Yeah, well, people go all in. I feel like once you really get a few days into the blood sugar reset, you're like, I need to do this all the time, and you're happy that you have these, these bigger items. So maybe if it's not for that first week of the blood sugar reset, once we hook you and you want to stick with us and, and keep continuing to eat in this blood sugar balancing way, Costco's a great resource.

Especially if you have a larger family. Like just yesterday when I saw one of our TBC members who has a family of 7 who uploaded like all of the TBC recipes that she made for their camping trip or for their vacation, I was like, wow, that is so mind-blowing with a family of 5 that you're like making this work in TBC and in the Blood Sugar Reset. Like we see this all the time with people, with moms who are serving feeding a lot of people. Costco can be a great way to do that.

For sure, for sure. Love Costco. In addition, and Sam's Club, and Sam's Club, and other—

yes, with the Sam's Club, um, offerings. I also know Aldi's is a great way to get— they have grass-fed beef and other things. We're big fans of Trader Joe's too. Trader Joe's— Christina's like the Trader Joe's queen, um, where you can get a lot of things from there at a reasonable price. And Whole Foods, actually, I feel like their prices have dropped since Amazon bought them. That can make it more reasonable. Whole Foods is definitely like a one-stop shop where you can get everything on the Blood Sugar Reset, but it is gonna be more expensive than if you're kind of like dividing it up a bit.

Sure, totally.

Christina, one of the most common questions that we get asked once people join the Blood Sugar Reset, which we provide ongoing support throughout the Blood Sugar Reset— so like Christina said, join the Facebook group once you're, uh, once you sign up. If the Facebook group is already open so that we can, we can offer that support. But one of the most common questions that people ask us as they're prepping and leading up to is swaps for a number of reasons. Now, I wanna add before we get into swaps, the fact that the meal plan is gluten-free and it's 90% dairy-free. So there's 2 recipes that have dairy that are easily modifiable that we provide recommendations for. But then we get a lot of questions about vegetarian, other allergies, these swaps. And I will say, for vegetarian— if you are a vegan, this meal plan will be very difficult to modify. If you're a vegetarian and you still eat eggs, you still eat fish, then it's going to be easier for you to be able to swap out the, the ground turkey and the ground beef that are in two of the, two of the recipes that are repeated twice. Outside of that, talk us through the swaps and what people need to know about how we can support them?

Yes, so I would say best resource for swaps is to review the swaps bank. We have a 2-page document that goes through nearly every ingredient in the, the Blood Sugar Reset recipes and then tells you an appropriate swap so that you can maintain the integrity of the recipe from a nutritional standpoint, maintaining the protein content, maintaining the fat content, maintaining the fiber content. Because sometimes, you know, we'll hear with someone saying, hey, you know, from a, you know, like a vegetarian example, you know, instead of doing the ground beef, can I do chickpeas? And chickpeas are great. They have some protein in them, of course, right? We love chickpeas, but they're not an equal swap for something like ground beef because they're— you know, ground beef is exclusively, for the most part, that predominant protein source in a recipe, whereas chickpeas, although they have some protein, they also are a source of whole food carbohydrate. They give you some fiber and some other good things too, but it's going to have a different impact on your blood sugar. And our goal for you during the blood sugar reset is to try to make these swaps as equal as possible so that we can, you know, achieve the goal of stable blood sugar throughout the day. So definitely go over to the Swaps Bank, which is included in the Blood Sugar Reset Portal. But we really break down every swap that you may have a question for. So if you want to swap the protein for another protein, we give you examples. If you want to swap certain ingredients, you know, uh, cauliflower rice, for example, in the smoothies— we'll hear this sometimes, you know, I don't really like cauliflower rice— whether you just don't like cauliflower, it doesn't agree with you, whatever the reason, we say that, you know, frozen zucchini or even like frozen greens or spinach could be a great swap for that in the recipe. We swap out things like if you don't do avocado or if you don't do nuts, for example, if there's a nut allergy in your house, you know, what are the appropriate swaps for the peanut butter, the almond butter, and the cashew butter that are included in the smoothies and the yogurt bowls. So truly, best swaps. Uh, if you have any questions, just go over to the swapping. We really, really really do cover like nearly all of them. Of course, if there's something that's not on the list, that's what the Facebook group is for. So absolutely ask your questions. But I would say another important swap too is for those individuals who are dairy-free. So there is some dairy in a few of the recipes, but we provide those dairy swaps for you. So if you don't want to do the ricotta cheese in the, um, the eggplant lasagna, you can buy a dairy-free alternative. You could certainly omit it too if you needed to. Again, it might change the macro nutrient composition a bit of the recipe. Um, but when it comes to dairy, uh, we do include all of those swaps.

I think there's more than 2 recipes, as you just mentioned.

I think it's 3, because it's the yogurt bowl, the pizza dip, and then the lasagna eggplant. So 3.

Um, okay, that's, that is so helpful because that is the biggest question that people have. And then when it comes to adjusting, we obviously, it's not a one-size-fits-all plan. We can't guarantee this isn't a program where it's like, follow our nutrition plan exactly as it is, every single person, not accounting for those individual needs. So what we do see a lot is women who are active, women who are breastfeeding. What modifications do we recommend?

Yeah, I would say the two kind of main categories of modifications is first, typically you need to increase the calories if you're somebody who is burning more calories throughout the day or have higher energy needs based off of the stage of life you're in, you will have to increase those calories. The best ways to increase those from a blood sugar balancing standpoint is going to be increasing the protein content of the recipe, perhaps adding a bit more fat. So maybe that's more olive oil or more avocado or more peanut butter, whatever nut butter it may be. So you don't necessarily want to jump to increasing the carbohydrate too much because we still want to maintain the blood sugar balancing aspects. However, for those who are more active and those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, you likely need a little bit more carbohydrate, and that's okay. You can still add some whole food carbohydrate to the recipes and still maintain blood sugar balance, especially if you're burning through, um, you know, more glucose throughout the day based off of your activity. So typically, um, to increase the carbohydrate content of the recipe for those who need to do that, um, you know, increasing the fruit by perhaps a half cup or so. So, you know, in a smoothie recipe, maybe an additional half cup of strawberries, for example. You can add an additional half cup of legumes, which again will get you some protein but also more fiber, a bit more whole food carbohydrate. You can also add in something like a half cup of starchy veggies, so maybe a little bit extra butternut squash, for example. So you can absolutely increase the carbohydrate content of the recipe if you're somebody who needs one more calories, but two, specifically more whole food carbohydrate based off of that. So, um, you know, it's flexible. If you have more specific questions, you can always ask those in the Facebook group. So many individuals do alternate the recipes or do make kind of their own modifications to the recipes to meet their needs, and we want you to do that. If your needs are more than 1,600 calories and more than 100, you know, plus grams of protein and more than, say, 130 grams of carbohydrate, we want you to modify the recipe. You need to do what's best for you to be able to, one, support your health, but also to support, um, you know, your individual's body— individual body's needs.

So, so good. One example for some of these modifications is day 1, you could add half a cup of blueberries alongside the rainbow frittata cup. We have the chocolate truffle smoothie. You could double the frozen cherries to do 1 full cup of that. Um, you could do with the carrots and peanut butter, you could do, um, the— an additional serving. We have strawberries alongside that, so you could double the, the strawberries and do a full cup of strawberries. For the lasagna eggplant with ground turkey, which is Monday night's dinner, you could do that on a bed of lentil pasta, for instance, to help with increasing the carbohydrates in a way that is more blood sugar supportive, like Christina said, where we're still choosing low glycemic options to pair with what already exists in order to support your goals. And then, you know, sometimes even doubling the, the protein portion. So for each of the dinners, we have 4 ounces of protein. And if you are a very active person, if you're breastfeeding, etc., then your protein needs are higher. So we— you could increase that to 6 ounces or to 8 ounces depending on what your total protein needs are. We strive for about 1.2 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight that you can calculate yourself. And we have a bunch of calculations that we send out to people in the Facebook groups as they're trying to figure out exactly what works best for them. Let's talk about eating out, because it's summer and I know that this question is going to come up a lot with it being the summer round, um, with plans that people have in advance. What are the recommendations that we make for them?

Yeah, so I always say when you're eating out, the two main categories of food that you want to focus on are protein and non-starchy veggies. So, you know, if you were going out to dinner and you wanted get a salad. For example, you can get a nice big salad with maybe some spinach or romaine, and maybe it has some tomatoes and cucumbers on it, and then you add that piece of protein. Or maybe it's a piece of grilled fish or chicken or steak, and you have some non-starchy veggies like broccoli, a side salad, sautéed veggies on the side. Those are the two most important categories to focus on in an eating out setting, um, because, you know, those are going to be ones that can obviously get you that protein, get you that healthy fiber, and have a really stable blood sugar response. What you want to be most mindful of, of limiting or avoiding, is going to be categories of food that fall underneath carbohydrates. So of course the refined carbohydrates, so you know, staying away from the bread basket, perhaps the French fries or a pasta dish. These are going to be carbohydrate— refined carbohydrate-rich foods that are going to have the greatest impact on your blood sugar and likely cause more of a higher glycemic response or a higher blood sugar spike. So that's why I like to focus on, in the restaurant setting, whole foods, protein, non-starchy veggies, trying to limit your exposure to carbohydrates as much as you can. Now, if you were, say, for example, getting a side of like some roasted sweet potatoes, you can absolutely have some roasted sweet potatoes, but just know that that's the category of food that's going to kind of yield the greater, you know, response in blood sugar. And while you're on the blood sugar reset, we want to try to keep things as stable as possible. So protein and veggies, your best friends in, in the restaurant setting with that limitation, trying to limit, stay away from carbohydrates as much as you can just to yield the most favorable blood sugar response.

Because in the Blood Sugar Reset, our criteria is a little bit more strict than what we have in our membership program, the Being Collective, where we do meal plans every week, but they're not— they do incorporate more starchy vegetables and other things on rotation than what we do in the Blood Sugar reset, knowing that we're trying to just help as many people as possible get faster results, like a true reset mentality.

Totally. And you're not a failure if you go out to eat and you happen to not follow the recommendations I just shared. My recommendation for you is when you wake up the next morning, get right back on track with the blood sugar reset recipe. Just know there may be a little bit more of an adjustment period, but if you can stick to kind of the simpler meals in the restaurant setting, it's just going to yield you the greatest results. And we We want you to get the greatest results in the shortest amount of time to be able to truly accomplish that reset.

Completely agreed. So if you're interested in joining us for this summer round, which I would absolutely encourage you to do if you feel inflamed, if you're having a difficult time with energy and fatigue, if you're having a difficult time with cravings, mood swings, feeling like you can't lose that stubborn belly fat, absolutely join us for the blood sugar reset. You can register at www.beingbrigid.com/blood-sugar-reset. Again, that's www.beingbrigid.com/blood-sugar-reset. .com/blood-sugar-reset. It's a $29 program. I would highly recommend considering doing the VIP portion. So it's $29 for general entry for the live program where you get access to the 7-day done-for-you meal plan with all the recipes, the portal that we talked about with the swabs bank, the shopping list, etc., the daily live coaching calls with myself and our team of nutritionists there supporting The Facebook group where you get access to the community in addition to our incredible team of functional nutritionists. If you do the VIP package, then the VIP package also gets you the ability to do additional daily VIP coaching calls where they are Q&A format where I'm just answering questions throughout that entire call. Those are extremely valuable. People love the Q&As to be able to dive deeper and answer a lot of the confusing nutrition questions that they seem to have. So absolutely consider doing the VIP portion as well. I believe that when you do Blood Sugar Reset plus VIP, then it's $68 total for the entire week. So we are very excited to welcome so many of you into the Blood Sugar Reset, excited for you to be prepping along the way, getting yourself set up for success throughout the month of July. If you are joining us for the Blood Sugar Reset, the other thing that I would say is please send this episode to a friend or a family member that you feel like could benefit from doing this program alongside of you. We have so many amazing people in our community who invite their, their sister-in-law or their cousin or their coworker and, or even Susan, who is the woman that I mentioned at the beginning, who her, the leader of her cancer group was the one who sent it to her and said, let's do this together. So I think that being able to walk through what people can expect in an episode like this is, um, really great preparation in order for you to be able to recruit a friend or family member to do it alongside alongside you.

Couldn't agree more. Everything's more fun with a friend.

Everything's more fun with a friend. It's so true. Christina, thank you so much for being here, for all of the amazing support that you offer to our community, for all of the amazing— you guys will see in the Blood Sugar Reset how incredible Christina is walking you through everything, being so patient and thorough in all of the responses, in addition to Michelle and Danielle, our incredible team. So Christina, thank you for being here and for everything that you do for our incredible community. Thank you for tuning in to the Being Brigid Titgemeier, and I'll see you next time.

Bye everybody!