She Reversed Hair Loss, High Blood Pressure & Thyroid Meds With Food

The biggest problem areas that kept coming in and out were hair loss, inflammation, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, joint pain, lack of energy, hard time with sleep, and then acne. No matter what I was trying to do, and I couldn't understand what was happening with my body, and it seemed like the more I tried, the more I felt like I was spinning my wheels. And then as soon as I realized your brain is giving signals to your body, all of those subtle nuances are things that we don't really give ourselves the ability of figuring out.

Today on the Being Brigid Show, I am joined by Chatty Cathy. Cathy is one of our most engaged Blood Sugar Reset members. She is always involved in every program that we run to just volunteer to help other people.

I lived in fight or flight. I was somebody that was like, I don't have time for this. I'm too stressed. I have too many things I have to do. You know, I'll get to that later. I know how it feels when somebody really plugs into you and says, you can do this, when you're feeling like, I can't do this. I can't handle all this. It's too much work figuring out when to take my nutrients and how do I get to bed earlier when I'm so exhausted? The things that I've been through and the things that I've overcome, I look at myself in a third-person perspective now and I just think, wow, girl, look at you go. This is incredible. And so I want to be that person for other people.

Today on The Being Brigid Show, I am joined by someone seemingly famous in our community. Her name is Chatty Cathy, as many people refer to her, Cathy Hawkins. And Cathy is one of our most engaged TBC Blood Sugar Reset members. She is constantly cheering other people on in our community, so much so that people have asked us in the past if she's an AI bot that we've imported into our programs to make it seem like there's a lot of community support. So Kathy is that natural at supporting other people. She is always involved in every program that we run to just volunteer to help other people as an incredible member of our community. And so Kathy, I am so excited for you to be here with me today.

Thank you so much, Brigid. And chatty indeed, that, that is me to a T. I'm, I'm just excited to be here. And, um, you know, by virtue of this podcast just get to know other people.

Yes. And you've done that in our communities. Kathy meets up with other women in our community to show them more about how they can meal plan using our platform and helps to support so many other women that I know that she has on speed dial on her phone from being in our communities for so long. So the aspect that you add to supporting other women is so incredibly inspiring to me. Thank you.

And truly, I get back what I give. I think that's my mantra in life is leave it a little better than when you started. So, you know, it's selfish in some respects because I knew that I was in a place, you know, way back when we started eons ago of needing to have a community around me. So I thought, well, the only way I'm going to do this is get past my huge fear of kind of letting myself be known and just Go for it. Just dive in and just start getting to know people. That's really how this all started.

I mean, it's, it started a long time ago and has consis— has continued to evolve for you. So, Kathy, tell us where you were at with your health prior to starting your first round of the Blood Sugar Reset.

So, like, mid to, like, late 2020, early 2021, I started having these symptoms, and I'm just going to call them attacks, where my blood pressure would shoot up, my heart rate would shoot up. I was having a lot of problems with sustaining my energy, and sleep was pretty much nonexistent. If I got 4 or 5 hours, oh, I thought that was good. And I just, no matter what I was trying to do, and I had always been someone really interested in health, I work in an adjacent health field, and couldn't understand what was happening with my body. And it seemed like the more I tried, the more I felt like I was spinning my wheels. And this thing called a blood sugar reset was being publicized. And I thought, well, okay, we're gutting our kitchen and I have nothing but an Instant Pot, a Vitamix, and, you know, water from the sink in the bathroom to wash stuff. But I think I need to try this because it seems like this is going to be helpful. You know, hair was falling out. I mean, I just, I literally felt like I was falling apart. So I dove headfirst and, you know, that's when I learned about cauliflower rice and smoothies and all these other things. And it was no looking back from there, truly.

So that was— was that our first blood sugar reset ever?

Fall of 20— well, you did something called a healthy self-reset, I think it was called, with Dr. Julie Fouché. This is going way back to like, I want to say 2016 or '17. And I remember being so impressed that you had all these meals planned out and workouts. that you could do. And I thought, oh, people actually plan ahead for their meals? Like, oh, that's kind of a foreign concept. I'd never thought about that before. So it was kind of a bug in the back of my head about, you know, maybe you could try doing some of these plannings. But I lived in fight or flight. I was somebody that was like, I don't have time for this. I'm too stressed. I have too many things I have to do. You know, I'll get to that later. The I'll get to that later. And then when you start to realize— This is crazy.

So the Healthy Self Reset, yes, we did back in 2017. You initially found me through working through me being at the Cleveland Clinic. Is that right? Yes.

Yes, yes. You were at functional medicine. I was working with Kylie.

And then— so then we were doing the blood sugar reset, my friend Julia and I, who's a functional medicine doctor, and she was doing the workouts. I was doing the meal plans. Did you sign up for the Healthy Self Reset?

I did. I did 2 rounds of it.

Okay. So this was something we were just like— we knew nothing about creating online programs, but we were like so passionate about helping other people try to improve their health and learn the balance of blood sugar and inflammation and metabolic health. And so we would just do them for free every— I mean, it ended up being like 2 or 3 years in a row that we, that we did it every January. And I forgot that you were part of the Healthy Self Reset.

Yes. And I remember that the first year, like after you had done that, when you didn't have the next one come up, I was like, oh darn. And I'd printed off like the meals and stuff. So I had them for reference. So I thought, well, I can do this on my own. And after a few days of it, what am I doing? Like, I don't, I don't have anybody around here doing this. And then you just, you kind of fall off the cliff of feeling like you have that sort of go, go, yeah, yeah, you can do this. So then, you know, I continued to follow you when you had started the Being Brigid website and had your, your, your recipes you were putting on there. And so when the reset started, I thought, oh, oh yeah, you're totally in on this. And the fact that it was free, you know, even now, the fact that the price is so incredibly low, because I've seen other people doing resets. And I mean, this is the best game in town.

Yeah, the first 2 or 3 rounds were completely free and people were like, what are you doing? Like, why wouldn't you charge for something like this? And I was like, I just wanna help as many people as possible. So then it was like $10 and now it is $29. That is true for, for the 7 days. Um, but over the years this has been a, a, I think that probably you can attest to, like hearing you say that you were part of the Healthy Self Reset, I'm a little embarrassed about because it was like, I did not know what I was doing. Julie and I did not know what we were doing. My recipes were like not that great. The meal plans were, you know, it was just like very early days. And it's crazy how much you can evolve something over just like continuing to do something twice a year. We launched Blood Sugar Reset in 2022 and, you know, continue to like refine and refine and refine to try to make the best user experience possible.

And don't you think it's a great metaphor for life too, that when you're starting with something, especially with your health journey, it's like, okay, I'm just going I'm just gonna try this. I'm just gonna start. And maybe these first few things I do might backfire and not work out the way that I want them to or not have the same effect. But okay, we're gonna go back to this. So we're gonna keep coming back to it. And that's where you really start to see like, oh, wait a minute, this worked this time. And if I try this with that, I wonder what's gonna happen. And you just keep fine-tuning, fine-tuning the whole way through.

It's so true.

It's—

it could not be— it could not be more true. So you've done many rounds of the blood sugar reset, and you shared an incredible video that I shared Yeah. Last spring in The Blood Sugar Reset with an excerpt of how The Blood Sugar Reset and our other programs have impacted you with dialing in your nutrition. I think it's less about like the actual programs themselves, but truly speaks to the power of using food as medicine and you serving as proof of what's possible for other people. So, can you share some of the transformations that you've experienced in your health over the years of dialing in your nutrition?

Absolutely. I'd say 4 of the biggest key things that were kind of like my problem areas, and I don't want to call problem, but they were the challenges that kept sort of coming in and out. Hair loss, like I was having problems maintaining my hair staying full. And that wasn't obviously my top concern, but, you know, it's a mirror to what's happening in the rest of the body. Inflammation that just seems to come up in different ways and different areas. Hashimoto's thyroiditis. So, you know, it would show up in the thyroid labs. I was having huge problems with joint pain and just really lack of any sustaining energy. And I also just had a really hard time just with sleep. You know, a good night of sleep for me, I thought if I got 5.5 hours, that was good. And, you know, this— the whole sleep thing goes back to, I mean, my childhood. I mean, I remember I'd be up in the evening, like through the evening hours because I couldn't sleep, and then I'd be crashing when I was at school. And you start to think, well, okay, I guess this is just the way that this is. Like, I just have to deal with it, you know, because I'd gotten that in so many messages through the years. And then acne. So not so much when we started the reset, but I have a long history of having really horrific acne. And lo and behold, it was dairy that was causing that. So when you go dairy-free and realize, oh, this, this really could make a huge difference. I mean, you know, I never thought I'd have skin as clear as I have now. And it continues to get clearer just as I continue to make other tweaks. But my hair now is so thick that I, at my last hair appointment, my hairstylist said, we're going to have to thin your hair a little bit. Like, I'm going to need to use the shears because it's so heavy. And I said, can we just pause for a second here? I said, 5 or 6 years ago, I would have loved to have had you say that. And I went and looked back at some of my old pictures when she had done my hair in '21, and it was so thin. And I said, were you even aware of how thin this was? And she said, yeah, I wasn't even sure I wanted to color your hair. I was afraid it was going to break off. And she said, whatever you're doing now, don't stop. And I said, okay.

Wow.

Yeah.

Wow. That is amazing.

And there's other things too. I mean, you know, and I'm not one to talk a lot about like real specific things, but I will say that just from a medication standpoint, you know, I'm— when the first thyroid thing happened and I was diagnosed, that was 2012. And they initially put me on Lopressor and I'm on what I call a baby dose of it now. But I mean, at one point early on in my journey, I was on 150 milligrams of that a day, which is a really high dose. 12.5 grams now. I mean, it just— the power of what your body can do and how it can heal itself. And this isn't in terms of— it's not voodoo magic. It's just that you look at, okay, what's the first thing that I need to do in terms of giving myself a little bit more fuel for life? And so one of the biggest things for me is I need to eat within 30 to 45 minutes of when I get up, you know, and at least 30 grams of protein. You know, and carbs. Like, I had cut carbs at one point thinking, okay, the carbs are the issue. Well, my energy was tanking and my blood pressure was going nuts because my body's like, we have no fuel for you to really run on. And, you know, once my dietitian had mentioned that to me, you know, just start with a tablespoon and just work it up from there. And I was like, I don't know, I don't know if this is gonna work. And then I think I got up to like, I don't know, a quarter cup or close to a third of a cup, and I thought, wow, I have energy! And then my blood pressure's dropping to the point where it's like, okay, I'd don't need to be taking the blood pressure medication. It's incredible when you see these and you watch it in real time. And I kind of stand back from a third-person perspective and go, I didn't think this was possible. Like, I mean, it's just crazy. So yeah, that's why I'm like, I will be the town crier. I will be the mayor, as they've called me or joked about in the group. You know, yes, I'm a human bot because people think, well, okay, I'm stuck with this. Like, I can't deal with this any more than what I'm doing. And it's like, no, you really can. Like, Give yourself the ability to say, maybe I can try this a different way. And it's not that the current way is wrong. It's just, you know, how many ways are there to peel an onion or to peel an orange, they say, you know, it's like, let's try this a different way and just see what happens. Like, just stay curious. And that's for me, that's—

I love that.

That's the big thing is staying curious because I, and I think I told you this in some of our private conversations that I used to immediately have like warning bells going off anytime, like I started to get so hyper-focused on my symptoms, you know, in 2021, you know, when you're, when you're taken to the ER by ambulance because you're looking like you're having a heart attack, but it's really your body is in such a high state of fight or flight because you weren't fueling it the way it needed to. You know, I wasn't giving myself the rest that I needed to. Sleep was not restorative. You know, I probably wasn't drinking enough water, like with enough, you know, cellular hydration to really do some, some good. It just, it really starts to make you think like, what is going on? And then as soon as I realized And this has probably been within the last 2 years that I realized, wait a minute, your self-talk is everything. Like, your brain is giving signals to your body and your body doesn't know the difference whether it's a real threat or it's a perceived threat on, oh, maybe because I didn't sleep that great that maybe I'm feeling a little bit more anxious. So, you know, go higher on the protein and rest a little bit. You know, all of those subtle nuances are things that we don't really give ourselves the ability of figuring out. And Once you start realizing that you can put these building blocks together, then on the hard days when things happen in your life that, you know, we all go through, that you just, you feel like things are literally falling apart, it's like, okay, let's go back to my basics. You know, have I had at least, you know, half my weight with water today? You know, am I sleeping at least 7 hours? Am I giving myself ample downtime? You know, where's my meal prep? And, you know, to now be at the point where meal prep doesn't have to be so Like, on board, like, I need to spend an hour and a half each day. It's like, oh, okay, here's a protein, here's some non-starchy veggies, here's some carbs, here's a little bit of fat. Okay, is this looking pretty rounded and optimal? Yeah, pretty good. Okay, we're done in 30 minutes. Let's have dinner. It just really opens things up for you.

Oh my God, that makes me so proud just to hear you say things like, is this optimal? Because it's so true. Like, for so many years, I would be like, everyone thinks of food in such a rigid way of like, should or shouldn't Not, and that's where I feel like it locks you in. And so the more that you can think about having the balance that you need, having the carbohydrates that you need, which is important, as you mentioned, that blood sugar balance does not mean completely removing carbohydrates, especially for women, in order to support our central nervous system. And thinking about like, is this an optimal choice? It's you know, I mean, it really can change everything about about the journey. So in addition to the habits, it's like the symptoms. I mean, if you were to say. The biggest symptoms, it sounds like your blood pressure. I know you've also gotten your Hashimoto's into remission, that your thyroid antibodies are normal now through food and lifestyle and supplements. Is that right?

Well, the antibodies had gone way down and then they bounced back up. So Christine and I are currently looking at, okay, what are some helps that we can get so that they kind of come back down? Um, so, you know, that was in some respects a bummer, but then also a, a big Cue to me about, okay, we know what's working and we know that stress plays a big part in this. And then there's also the whole, you know, am I in perimenopause or headed towards menopause? And that can kind of shift the ground underneath you. So, you know, then it's just kind of going back to like dialing back in on some of those things.

Yes, it's so true. And I think like a testament to the fact that your health journey is ongoing, right? Like you achieve certain goals that tell you that you're headed in the right direction, you're feeling better, you have better energy, you're able to sleep through the night, and then your thyroid antibodies improve. And you're like, okay, now they're going in the opposite direction through a number of different things that life events, whether it's perimenopause or stress from different life events or whatever the case, and knowing that you have the tools to come back to, okay, how can I continue to tweak things in order to get me to where I'm trying to go? And when you start to think of it as a lifelong journey, I think that really changes things for people. Is that what your experience has been like?

Absolutely. Because I had even mentioned to Christina when we met last week, I said, I used to think that it was this end goal that once you would reach— like I always said, okay, by my birthday, I'm going to be at my goal weight. By my birthday, I'm going to be at my goal weight. And then a lot of times I would reach it and then I couldn't understand then what would happen between, you know, end of October to February. Like, why was the weight bouncing up? Well, the identity shift of I'm a person who likes to live healthily and the healthy weight is whatever all of these other metrics need to be. It's not about the number on the scale. It's about what am I doing in the small moments throughout the course of, you know, the year that really give me the sense of feeling like this is a lifestyle. Like, I am somebody who loves to be able to take care of myself and, by virtue then, to be able to be there for others. So it's absolutely much less about, I've reached like a goalpost and said, okay, done, I stick my flag in the ground, and more about, okay, here's where we're at right now. What do we need to do next?

Yeah, it's so beautiful. It's such a beautiful mindset reframe.

And it's freeing.

So you had started with the Blood Sugar Reset in 2022, right?

2021.

Oh, yeah, we launched it. I was thinking that the first round was 2021 or 2022. You're right. The first round was in November of 2021, and you participated in the first round, and you've participated every single round since.

Yeah.

So can you tell us how— where you were then? Like, how— take us back to your first blood sugar reset, like where you were and then what things you noticed, maybe what habits for someone that's still really struggling, like what changed for you?

At the first one, I noticed that I really was keeping a lot of foods off of my plate and not eating so many different foods and that I had this fear of, well, what if I eat such and such? What is that going to do? So it kept me from really understanding the power of just everything from how a food would taste, like, do I like it or not, to how I would feel if I actually dove in and tried it. Now, you know, the biggest thing for me has been if there's a certain ingredient like Zen basil seeds, or I'm trying to think of some of the other things that I've tried through the years, it's like, just try it because you're going to be surprised at what you're feeling in terms of like trying this new thing. Like, I tried the thing and then you eat it and it's like, oh, this is really good. Um, you know, and having a Vitamix— and when I look at the types of— I'll loosely call them smoothies before the blood sugar resets, you know, the types of smoothies that I was making was basically a liquid sugar bomb. Um, you know, versus now it's like you can have a full meal and it, it definitely eliminates a lot of places that I would go to get a smoothie these days. You know, I won't name names because I don't want to, you know, be like a Yeah. A person who's downing places, but so many of them have so much added sugar in them just by virtue of the ingredients and the juices and even just like coconut flakes that have sugar in them that you don't realize. Like, you know, sugar's everywhere. And you start pulling the sugars out of your diet and you start realizing, well, I don't really have a taste for stuff that's icky, overly sweet anymore. It's like I have a taste for the food. Like, I'll take a strawberry any day versus like a strawberry ice cream, or I'll take a smoothie that has mango peach. I'm currently living on that. I love that one. Versus something—

I love it too. I love it too. Yeah.

So it's, it's really from first reset to now, you know, since we're doing number 11 this summer and then, you know, on after that, you realize how much diversity of food is out there and how much opportunity is to play around. Like, I love to play around. You know that I tend to be like Miss Recipe Tester when it comes to trying out stuff in the kitchen. You are.

You are. Okay. That's amazing. So yes, I think that those takeaways and the fact that you're now going into your 11th round, can you think of advice that you would have for someone who's just getting started, who's in the place that you were where you weren't able to sleep? You were, I think, also having more anxiety that the blood sugar reset and doing the Being Collective.

Yeah.

has helped with, with improving that, your skin, your blood pressure, your Hashimoto's, all of those sort— your hair loss. Think of someone that's like— think of you just starting in 2021. What advice would you give?

I would say that overwhelm is normal because you're looking at making this huge shift. But think of it as just one bite. You don't have to do the whole meal plan. You don't have to prep everything. What's one thing on this Blood Sugar Reset Plan that looks really fun that you want to try? Make one of it. That's the only thing you have to do is just start someplace. Because that's the thing I keep hearing from my friends and peers in any of the programs, really. I'm so overwhelmed. I, you know, whether it's I've fallen off the wagon and I don't know how to get back onto it, to I've never food prepped, or we have 5 different meal types of, you know, personalities in our home. How are we going to do this? It's like, just try one thing. You don't have to do the whole thing. I think we do a huge disservice to ourselves when we say, oh gosh, I— there's no way I could do this. I don't have the time. I can't try all this right now. It's too overwhelming. The overwhelm, I think, is the brain's way of saying, I'm going to keep you safe. I'll keep you in the same box. You don't have to try anything new. But then we forget that, wait a minute, the way through of any of this is to say, if I tried this, what's the worst that could happen? What's the best that could happen? So I'm always just saying, just try one recipe. Just try one thing and see what you think.

And do you remember in 2021, were you able to do the entire meal plan?

I wasn't because I was overwhelmed. And I thought, okay, I can't cook stuff in an oven because we're down to the studs. What can I make? And how can I, how can I do this? So I did the smoothies. And I think I did a couple of the either the lunches or the dinners and would just kind of rotate those back and forth based on what I could do given our small little card table kitchen setup. So I probably did about 30%, you know, between like the smoothies and Like a lunch and a dinner.

Yes, that's so good because I think that it just points to, especially after multiple rounds, sticking with the same thing multiple different times, even if it's— we obviously vary the recipes typically in blood sugar resets for each round, but the power of continuing, stopping, not searching for all of the fancy new things and staying consistent with something for long enough for you to continue to get better with the same frameworks that yields the results instead of doing one thing 20% and then the next thing 20% and then the next thing 20% and never actually getting to the point that you're building on these skills to be able to consistently increase that percentage each time.

That, and how many of us, and how many times have you seen this too, where we're like, I'm an all-or-nothing person. I'm going to dive in. I'm going to do 1,000% of this, and then burning yourself out before you even really give yourself a chance. You know, you kind of give up on yourself. It's like, wait a minute, I don't need to police myself so hard. Like, why am I trying to do this? To such a degree that then I get turned off with this and then I don't want to do it. It's like, okay, I'll just do a little bit of this and see how this works. And then I'll just, I'll kind of stack some stuff on, you know, a little bit at a time. And I think the most fun thing is just looking back. It must have been between like resets 3 and 4. I thought, I'm going to go back and look at reset 1 because this was before the Being Collective had started. And I was like, oh, I didn't try that recipe. Oh, I didn't do that one. Oh, wait a minute. What about that one? So then I started kind of pulling those into our meals and trying them. And it's like, There's not a bad recipe in any of them. So it's been, it's been really fun.

That's so funny because when I started that, my recipes were so basic, but they, I think sometimes basic works, you know, because it like, it removes the complexity and it's like, okay, here's the, the, the snack that's very easy to throw together. And we've tested on the CGM and it's blood sugar balanced. It's meeting the fiber and protein and, and other goals, the polyphenol variety goals that we strive for that, um, Makes it more, you know, makes you more likely to follow through.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. So, Kathy, I'm so interested for people in our community. They obviously know you very well because they see your name pop up cheering them on all the time. You're such a leader in our community. Where does this like come from? I always think about this with you. Like, where does your unconditional support of others come from? Because it's a very special characteristic that you have.

I grew up with such a huge amount of self-doubt. And I will be very honest, and hopefully I'm not going to get like really like emotional. I didn't believe in who I was or what gifts I had in the world. As a young kid, as a teenager, you know, I would bounce back and forth from getting really good grades one semester to like a 3.4 or 3.5 and then a 1.8. And I just, I kind of lived by this idea of like, well, that was a fluke, that didn't work. And then, you know, I got admitted to the college that I really wanted to go to when I was a senior in high school. And it was because I finally said to myself, if you If you put this in front of yourself, if you give yourself the love that a lot of people are kind of coming around you and giving you, what would that do for you if you believed that you could do something? And it was such a huge hurdle and it was such a just unbelievable feat because, you know, as my friends and I used to joke, like, I like the extracurriculars more than I like the curriculars. Like when I was in high school, it's the people who came around me. Of course. The people who came around me who said, you know, You're not giving yourself enough credit on this. Like, do you realize the amount of ability you have? And, you know, then realizing, like, in my mid-20s when I went back to college for another degree, oh, I have dyslexia. I have problems. I like, oh, that's why words are turning around when I'm tired or letters are flipping. And I just thought, I want to be that person who has kind of come through so many difficulties and realized that it's the people who are showing up and being loving and being funny. And being authentic that that's who I am, that's who I wanna be. And you take away the layers of all of the difficulty and the struggle and you realize, like, I have such a gift in front of me. Like, this life is something that's unbelievable. And my humor, you know, my dietitian had said this to me at one point pretty early on when we were working. She said, there's a humor and there's a side of you that I'm loving seeing because you have got this wit and this kind of sharp bite to some of your jokes and your funniness that It's like I'm seeing the real Kathy come through. And I said, yeah, I said, I'm feeling like I can finally open up and be myself. And that is the biggest gift, Brigid, with your programs, whether it was, you know, My Food Is Health or Sustain or the Being Collective or the Kickstarter or Blood Sugar Reset or the 30-Day Challenge, or, you know, I wasn't in VIP, but you start to realize that there's these people around you that want to do life in a similar fashion and they see you for who you are. Not for what you're striving to be. I mean, they celebrate like, oh yeah, you can do this, like, go for it. But they see who you are in the moment and they love on that just as who you are. And I think that that's a gift that we give to the world just by what we're doing in the Being Collective or the Blood Sugar Resets is I'm just going to love on who I am and let that radiate out from where it's at.

Oh, no.

And I've gotten to the point where I don't care if people realize that I just— I live with my heart on my sleeve. You know that I'm just a big softie because the things that I've been through and the things that I've overcome, I look at myself in a third-person perspective now and just think, wow, girl, look at you go. Like, this is incredible. And so I want to be that person for other people because I know how it feels when somebody really plugs into you and says, you can do this, when you're feeling like, I can't do this. Like, I can't, I can't handle all this. It's, it's too much work figuring out like when to take my nutrients. And my supplements and, you know, how do I get to bed earlier when I'm so exhausted? And it just, it falls into place. You just keep coming back to it. So that's, that's who I am. And it's, it's so joyful to have one of my best friends in the world as somebody who I've met through these programs, you know, and other people who I've known in other spaces, whether it's, you know, the online cooking community with one of the cookbook authors that, you know, I've gotten to know, to, you know, another blogger who I've gotten to know that I've now recipe tested for 2 of her cookbooks. And you meet people around you and you get to say, yes, I get to do this. Like, this is my life. Like, holy cow. You know, if you would've told that to me as a teenager, like, yes, you're gonna go on, you're gonna get 3 degrees, you're going to work in a field that lifts other people up. And then through your own struggles with what you dealt with, with, you know, some of these food intolerances and all these different autoimmune things, like, people are gonna be drawn to you because they're going to see what's possible in your life. And it's like, nah. But Okay, if this is where my life is leading me, then I'm honored. I truly am. It's an absolute gift.

You are such a gift, Kathy. I like am sitting here just listening to you in awe because I've seen you and the way that you pour into so many people in our community for literally like no— I mean, there's no upside for you. Like you're outside of just the pure joy and love that you have for other people. And wanting to believe in them before they're, they're able to believe in themselves, which is, uh, it's gonna make me emotional, but I feel like it's a gift that you've given so many people in our community and that you're able to do in ways that I'm not able to do. Because there's something about having someone in the community that's going through it with you that is different than me being able to see possibility in, in someone, right? It's like the gift that you give to so many of the women that are in our community by Sharing your stories, sharing your transformations constantly, you know, like sharing hacks that are working for you, but then also leaning into people when they're struggling. Like you're one of the first people who will be in that comment section, like, you've got this, like just helping them see in themselves things that they aren't able to see yet. And it is like such an amazing, amazing gift.

Thank you. Thank you. It reminds me that, you know, when we try to do community on our own, it doesn't work. You know, when we say, well, I'm just going to have more discipline, I'm just going to prep more, I'm going to try this more. And after so many times of like stumbling through it, and somebody coined the term wobbling, I think, which I love that. It's like after you wobble through this enough times, you're like, okay, this really isn't working. And And rather than working harder, you know, one of my bosses used to say, we're just going to work smarter. So working smarter is you surround people who are doing things the way that you would love to do them. And there's people in the group who I watch that, you know, I'm like, I'm not at my ideal like body comp yet. And it's like, okay, just because I haven't gotten there today doesn't mean I'm not going to, because look at this person and this person, like they're crushing it. They've had to deal with such and such. There's such a joy for me, and it's truly— and it's— how do I put it? It's so basic to me that when I see someone start to fly, like really start to kind of nail it, I'm just like, yes, go, go. And that's just kind of who I am as a person, because I just, I feel like all of us in this life, you know, there's so many things that can get thrown at us and just land in our way that we don't even realize. Like this I didn't see coming, and it just blindsides you. And it's the people around you who say, yeah, you got this. Like, did you realize you did that? And I never would have thought to do this. It's like, oh, okay. And, you know, I've been— I don't want to say accused, but I've been told that I'm a Pollyanna. I'm like, no, if you heard the amount of like, I don't think I can do this at times in my head. Like, we all live with that. But then it's like, I'm going to kind of witness it. It's almost like— Like, this thing sitting out here, and I'm just going to kind of say, well, what is it trying to tell me? I'm afraid that if I succeed, then what does that mean? Or if I try it and it goes the way that I didn't expect it to, then what do I do? It's like, okay, I'm just going to sit with that and let it inform me. Because really, that's all this is. It's like we're teachers to ourselves. Like, we're an N of 1, you know? And I'm a researcher. Like, I did research in one of my prior jobs. And I love getting into the nitty-gritty and kind of teasing out like, oh, okay, so if we do this at this particular time and keep it this way for X number of weeks. And I would drive people nuts because I can go like 30,000 feet up in the air and look at like high level, like really artistic and kind of bougie, like, okay, yeah. And then I come down to like within milliseconds, like, okay, analytical, like, you know, left-brained person, like, here's what we're gonna do. And people are like, stop, you're driving me nuts. And it's just because I think we have such a gift to really Look at how does this work, you know? And at one point, one of my—I think it was my husband—he's like, "Well, you're just going to recruit everybody for the blood sugar reset, aren't you?" And I'm like, "Yeah, pretty much." I'm like, "I think everybody needs a blood sugar reset, you know, because you—you think you're eating healthy, you know." And I look at my my my food diaries on Chronometer because I'd been using Chronometer Gold, you know, for eons, and I was like, "Okay, you basically subsisted on avocado toast, acai bowls, which I love, but you know." The way I was making them, they were sugar bowls. And, you know, a peanut butter banana chocolate smoothie. Oh, where's your protein sources? You know, where's your carbs with the protein and fat? So yeah, it's like, I love being that person because I know what a gift it is to have been given that multiple times throughout my life. And then to see other friends of mine, you know, that I've known in these other spaces and places, or even family members say, I didn't think I could feel this good. And I was like— I did.

Yeah, you've recruited a lot of people, a lot of friends and family to the Blood Sugar Reset and speaking collective. I feel like I have. So much so that we still keep finding out, like, people where someone will be like, oh, I didn't know that that was Chatty Cathy's sister-in-law. I didn't know that that was— that this person originally came to us through Chatty Cathy. Like, that happens still to this day, Cathy.

And I think too, Brigid, you know, it also speaks to the effect, you know, I saw what you were doing after you left at the clinic and starting, you know, the Being Brigid. And your journey has also been very honest and very open. And I'm like, you know, at one point I thought, okay, hey, we both went to the same college. Like, I was there for a while myself. And just the struggles of the things that, like, didn't work for us and trying to go against the grain, literally, like, when so many other people were saying, well, that's stupid, that's not going to work. Well, you know, I remember I had somebody joke at one point when I did the first reset, Or actually, no, it was when I started with the clinic and I was like, okay, I, you know, I tossed out all my candles, which I loved, and, you know, got rid of all the other stuff. I started drinking filtered osmosis water because my hormones were a mess. I mean, and people are like, oh, you're drinking your special water? And I'm like, yep, it's filtered. Like, don't know what else to tell you. And now, like, years later, people are like, oh yeah, you know, I only drink filtered. And it's not because of me, but when you're transparent about your struggle and you're realizing like, okay, I tried that, I tried all the different protocols. I went to all the specialists, you know, I spent eons of money on my health. And—

Yes.

It gave me signposts. And there's a lot of really great practitioners and clinicians out there. So this isn't anything against medicine. I truly think it's an— it's a both/and. It's like you need those clinicians and those specialists, but then you also need to be honest with what is it that my body's really telling me? What is it that I'm telling myself? And where can I be really gut honest about, okay, these are behaviors that I'm doing that I don't think they're serving me. So, you know, my husband And I are kind of back on the train of we're going to be accountable to each other for working out. And no, we're not going for ice cream because that's been like my kryptonite this summer. And when you're just really honest about that and saying, this isn't necessarily where I want to go with my efforts, you know, I have a finite amount of energy that I want to use. Is it in this space? Then it opens up these whole other possibilities. So it's like, yes, creamy machine, we will be making copious amounts of protein ice cream and There's lots of flavors because you just, you use a smoothie and you add a little bit more coconut milk and ta-da, you've got strawberry basil smoothie or, you know, whatever into ice cream. So yeah, it's, the possibilities really are endless. And I think that's what we get wrong as a society is that we say, well, I'm a, you know, I've heard people explain themselves by, well, I'm a, you know, I'm a depressive or I'm a Hashimoto's gal or, you know, I'm an autoimmune type, whatever. Okay, that's part of you. But, you know, my part of my training too, in working in healthcare is to say that I am someone who, and you don't describe yourself by your symptoms and by these diagnoses. You're a person first.

Mm-hmm.

And I think when we forget that personhood and we forget that I'm a human being, that there's, there's so many other pieces and parts of you than just this one diagnosis, even if it's a big one, we forget the ability that we have to really embrace this and to say, okay, if I run with what I can do, Right now, where would that take me? You know, and I remember having even some of my other prior clinicians way, way, way back when say, well, you know, your thyroid's your thyroid. Like, you know, you've got a family history and, you know, you're probably not going to have any ability. You're probably going to have to have your thyroid out. Well, I was diagnosed 14 years ago and thank you. I like the butterfly here. It just allows you to say to yourself, I'm possible. Like, I really am possible.

Kathy, you are such an amazing human with so much depth, and your journey is such an inspiration to me, to my entire team who, like, we are always singing your praises, to everyone in our Community. You are like this incredible leader in the Blood Sugar Reset going into your 11th and 12th rounds. to all of the people in our TBC community who you lift up and you continue to trailblaze and, and show what's possible. And I just, I can't thank you enough for being the heart of our community because if that's how I could describe you, that, that is really like what comes to mind the most is that you are the heart of our community.

It's an honor to be part of it. It really is, you know, and I, I remember when I first started with, um, My Food Is Health, you know, and I hadn't told my husband that I was going to do it before I signed up. And he's like, what's this charge? And I'm like, okay, hear me out. I said, if I'm not invested fully in making sure that I'm truly being accountable to what I'm doing for myself, I said, am I really giving this a go or am I just kind of putting lip service to it? And that's when things really started to shift. It's like putting ourselves in this position of saying, yeah, I can do this. You know, that's when we really start to see the needle change. And it's really a joy to be able to do that.

Yeah.

I get to, you know, You know, a friend of mine is a blogger and she said, it's not an I have to, it's, it's I get to, I get to do this. And it's like, yeah, I really do. I get to do this. So it's, it's fun too. You know, people are like, why do you think it's fun? It's like, well, you know, I was making the pancake sheet pan, you know, kind of testing things out. And I was like, wait a minute, I could make this look like an American flag. 4th of July is coming up. And then I was like, wait a minute, I'm a huge Disney fan. What if I put blueberries in the batter and And a little bit of pea flour and turned it like a light blue and then saved the almond ricotta to make clouds on the top. I'm like, who thinks of this stuff? I'm like, I don't know, but I just did. And it was really fun and it tasted really good. So it's like you have fun with this stuff too. I mean, if we're not having fun with the food prep, you know, I'll have music blasting. You know, my husband will come alongside and he's like, I'm your sous chef. And, you know, he'll be chopping stuff up or, you know, doing some stuff. And we can knock out things in an hour, which before we would've thought, you know, that would take all day. But you start having fun with it and it changes your conversations about, well, what do we want to do with our time? You know, what do we want to do with where we're at in our life? Like things that we want to try. And it does have this sort of ricochet effect with everything else in your life. And people are like, okay, it's just food. But no, I mean, when you start looking at something that interval, I mean, you're either inoculating yourself with something 3, 4, or 5 times a day, depending on like, you know, snacks and beverages. Or you're fueling yourself and you're propelling yourself towards something that you really want to try. And so I think of that often, that if I'm about ready to order something or other, it's like, okay, is this propelling you in the direction that you want? And it's not by any sense that I'm not somebody who loves, you know, a good snack. You know, I mean, I've had a lot of potato chips and, you know, the ice cream and stuff. I love my, my good, you know, I'll call them What shall we say? Foraging foods. Like, I'm foraging. I'm going to forage and figure this one and see if I like this. It's like, I still have fun with food, but I get to do things with it that ultimately make me feel a heck of a lot better on the backside of it after I've consumed it or a day later versus going, oh, I had that glutinous dairy-filled something and I'm going to be in the bathroom for the next 3 days. Like, that's not going to be fun. Or my blood pressure is going to go nuts because I had stuff that's just causing inflammation. It's like, no thanks, pass.

Yes, exactly. It's so, so true. It changes everything. And like you said, it doesn't mean that you can't have fun and enjoy food. And there is so much more joy. I mean, the fact that you said that you can make meal planning a more joyous experience, I think that that is the metaphor for life, right? That we're not in this to be like the ultimate biohackers and check the box on every single vital sign and make sure that every single lab marker is absolutely perfect. and sacrificing every aspect of our lives in order to do that. We're here to make life larger and more abundant and have the energy and, and capacity to be there for the people that we love and to have more joyful life experiences. And so to be able to adopt these habits that help you do that, and then also find a way to create joy in those experiences is what it's all about.

Totally. Absolutely. And, you know, and I'm 54 and I have friends that are like, you look like you're 10 or 15 younger than when you were, you know? And I'm like, well, I, I live differently. And, you know, it's like, what am I going to try next in terms of whether it's education, career-wise, you know, things that I'm kind of wanting to do? Because you don't come through this process of seeing your body completely transform and seeing your mind kind of come to life. I mean, Brigid, at one point, you know, I was working at a large hospital and I came to work and I was, you know, busy getting my schedule ready and I was going to go see clients. And then I, you know, I walked through one of the buildings and my boss stopped and kind of did a double. And she said, what are you doing here? And I said, I started laughing. I said, my job. She said, no, today's your day off. You know, I was having such brain fog at one point that I didn't even realize it was a vacation day for me because, you know, I used to work nights and weekends at the hospital. You know, I'd leave my keys someplace or I'd leave my parents— over at my parents', I'd leave my phone there. I'd left my phone at my then boyfriend, now husband's, you know, come back to my apartment and I'm freaking out. I'm like, where did I leave my phone? It's like, okay, you're having a lot of brain fog. And now I don't have that. Now I'm the person everybody's like, how do you remember that? It's like, well, you know, A few changes here and there, a little bit of meditation does a body good, you know, go ground outside first thing in the morning and, you know, take your cup of tea with you and, you know, pick some flowers. I mean, and it's like you said, this doesn't—

Get your omega-3s.

Yeah. It's like you can't make your life smaller and like track everything. And I was at that point for a long time. It's like, oh, what's the symptom? Or, oh my gosh, I forgot to do such and such. You know, what's that going to do? And it's like, wait a minute, relax. Your nervous system is not going to operate Right. At its optimal pace if you're constantly dogging it and like checking it like, oh, you didn't do this and you didn't do that. It's like, oh, you know what? Yeah, you had a bowl of ice cream. Did you enjoy it? I did. Awesome. Were you with people that you loved? Yes. That's the whole point of it. Now get back onto whatever it is that you need to do. If you need to take some extra enzymes or, you know, hydrate a little bit more and enjoy this because it truly is a gift. Yeah.

It's such a gift. Chatty Cathy, thank you so much for being a part of the Being Brigid Show today. Thank you so much for being a part of our incredible community, the core, the heart of our community. Thank you all for being here today, and I'll see you next time.

Thanks, Brigid.