#180: Change Your Mindset, Change Your Health with Dr. Morgan Nolte

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha. I want to share something with you that I believe God is doing right now in women's health. We're in the middle of a massive movement and most people don't even know it. Every single day, 6,000 women in the U.S. enter menopause. That's over 2 million women a year, and by 2030, that's more than 1.2 billion women worldwide. So here's the thing, most of these women feel exhausted, bloated, anxious, disconnected from themselves, and the medical system is Doctors are handing out prescriptions and quick fixes, and no one is helping women heal from the root cause of their issues. That's where Fast to Faith coaches come in. As a certified coach, you'll be equipped to help midlife women balance their hormones, heal their gut, regain their energy, and reconnect their faith, the foundation that so many of us have been missing. And from a business standpoint, woo, this is one of the most lucrative untapped opportunities in the entire health coaching world. The global health coaching industry is expected to reach over $33 billion by 2023, and midlife women are the fastest-growing, highest-spending demographic in that space. Most importantly, these women stay with their coaches. They invest deeply because they are desperate for lasting transformation— body, mind, and spirit. So if you've been feeling that pull and that whisper that you're meant to do more, This is it. Now is the time to rise, to serve, and build a purpose-driven business that not only changes other women's lives but transforms your own in the process. Because when you help one woman heal, you help her family, her marriage, her faith, and her future. That's the ripple effect that we're creating with Fast to Faith. So join me, click the link to come watch this webinar. It might be the one thing that really moves the needle for you in this Next season. I can't wait to see you in there. Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Gutsy Gynecologist. I'm a triple board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. After caring for thousands of women, I've come to realize that your gut health determines your gyn health and your overall And it's a super gutsy thing for me to go against conventional gynecology practice to bring you the truth. No more Band-Aid medicine, ladies. We're talking root cause resolution on this show. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. And I want to be your gutsy gynecologist. So welcome.

Have you heard of insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance. I'm sure you've heard the term once or twice, maybe 100 times. And if you've been following me, you know that I talk a lot about blood sugar, insulin resistance, and using fasting as a way to reverse insulin resistance. So I'm really excited about my guest today because she is an expert on insulin resistance. And essentially, What's happening is your body is requiring more insulin to do the job of taking glucose or sugar out of your bloodstream and utilizing it as energy or storing it as fat, depending on your activity levels. And so much of this comes down to inflammation and our cells not hearing the signal from insulin to be able to do what insulin is asking your body to do. So So she is a wealth of knowledge. She has an awesome YouTube channel that I invite you to check out. She's going to tell you about that later in the show, but here's the deal. I can give you all of the medical information to help you lose weight, feel great, be healthy. We can talk about insulin resistance. We can talk about preventing diabetes. We can talk about getting your hormones balanced. We can talk about healing your gut, which affects all of these things. But if you don't believe that your body is capable of healing and being healthy and thriving, then none of that matters. And more importantly, if you have stuff going on in your head that is sabotaging you, either subconsciously or consciously, or limiting beliefs or things keeping you stuck, In your current situation, none of the information I give you on this podcast is going to matter. And so please listen to this episode, okay? Dr. Nolte and I are going to talk about mindset, and I know everybody's like, I don't need that, that's whatever, I don't have a problem with that. But I am excited because she shares a story about How she used this to create her business. And I did the same thing, you guys. All of the success I have had has been because of mindset work, mindset shifts that have taken purposeful effort. And we're going to share those secrets. She has a formula. She's awesome about all of this. And And if you've done any of my programs like Fast to Faith, you know that this piece is so important. We have to get the mindset shift dialed in. We have to reprogram all those old recordings going on in our brain because, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you know that salad is healthier than that cookie. If you don't have the mindset to be able to handle having those options in front of you, right? So I really encourage you to listen to this episode with an open mind. Even if you are thriving and doing well and you just want to, like, stay up to date on information, I promise you there's always more that you can learn and grow from. That, I believe, is our whole purpose for being on this planet for this short little time called our life. We are supposed to continue to evolve, to manifest, to become something greater than this world. Do not succumb to this world, like, be transformed. Okay, so let me just sing the praises of Dr. Nolte. She's board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy. So she used to help the elderly recover from their physical issues, and she noticed that the recurring theme was insulin resistance, inflammation, diabetes, obesity. And I love that she has gone on to tackle these root-cause issues and really help the general public get an awareness and an understanding that so much of these disease processes are in your control. They're your daily choices that you're making all day long. You have so much say in how your body's functioning. So she's got an awesome program. She is the owner of Zivli Wellness and she does insulin resistance. That's her jam. But the way she does it is so awesome, you guys. She's going to talk about the mindset piece that she helps with her clients to overcome weight-loss resistance and sabotage issues and fear and anxiety and all of these things. So please, please, please listen. Like, I learned stuff. I thought it was an amazing episode, okay? So she also has a podcast, Reshape Your Health, and she's on YouTube. I love her YouTube videos.

Thank you.

They're short, they're concise, they're to the point. You're going to learn so much about insulin, about ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and so many other things. So check out her YouTube channel. All right, here we go. Well, welcome, Dr. Nolte, to The Gutsy Gynecologist Show.

Thanks. I'm excited to be here. It's a delight to get to speak with you.

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. We just finished recording for you and we had such a great conversation and I want to keep it going because you are wealth of knowledge when it comes to insulin and blood sugar and how it impacts your weight. And I know my listeners really are interested in this topic.

Yes. Yeah. That's one of my passion topics. And, um, just really quick how I got into it. I'm a geriatric physical therapist by trade. So people might be wondering, why the heck is she talking about weight loss? And well, when you're a geriatric PT, you work with a lot of people in their 70s, 80s, and 90s with diabetes, heart disease, and cognitive impairment. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out there's an underlying cause to all of that. And it's insulin resistance. Um, and I just so happened to stumble upon that after I had my first child and I was researching a lot about weight loss for myself and, oh, well, that makes sense. It all comes back to insulin. So for me, that's really the simplest lens through which I look at lifestyle choices. Like, how does this impact my insulin? And if the answer is it keeps it low, great. If the answer is it keeps it high or it spikes it, then that's going to be something that I second-guess. And you got to look at it in the context of not just short-term things, but long-term. How does it affect my gut health, which affects my insulin resistance, um, or my stress levels, which impact my insulin resistance long-term? So that's how I kind of got into the realm of insulin resistance. And then weight loss is just kind of a common topic that people care about. Um, especially in my clientele, we work a lot with women over 50. Um, and that's just a time when the belly fat kind of tends to increase as estrogen goes down, insulin resistance goes up, and, um, they're starting to get more brain fog. They're maybe diagnosed with prediabetes or high blood pressure and starting to slow down. And they're like, wow, this is not the retirement that I want. This is not the life that I want. So I need to lock it up. Um, and so that's kind of what we help people do is really change their health habits. So that they can prevent or reverse diabetes. Same thing with high blood pressure, improve their cognitive function, reduce pain, obviously lose weight. And you'd mentioned that a big part of that, that you might want to talk about today is the mindset piece behind all of it, because you can Google a lot of this stuff on insulin resistance, but no one is, no one's taking a class in college called how to be consistent, how to not self-sabotage everything that you want. You can only give this strategy piece for so long before realizing, oh, like, that doesn't always work for people.

Yeah, exactly. And let's just clarify a few things that you hit on because I love this idea of low calorie versus low insulin. You're mentioning like thinking about insulin when you're eating, and I don't think people are doing that. You know, type 1 diabetics do that, but the majority of us have been just taught to look at calorie count, you know, like how many calories, standard, the number of calories. How do we approach it thinking like, let's eat a low insulin diet?

Yeah, that's such a good question. And I really think it starts with understanding macronutrients. So there's 3 main food macronutrients. And then alcohol is another that isn't really macro because it's not required and we don't have it in large amounts, but it is what it is. So if you think about carbohydrates, there's starches. So pasta, bagels, bread, rice, um, there's sugars. So even the stuff found in fruit, natural sugars like honey and agave, table sugar, sugar, and then fiber, which is found in plants. So there are certain foods that are high in fiber or higher in fiber, but also higher in starches and sugars. And there are plants that are lower in starches and sugars, but still high in fiber. And those are the ones we want to focus on. So from an insulin standpoint, after you eat some sugar or some starch, your blood glucose will spike. And insulin's job is to move that blood glucose from your bloodstream into your cells. So insulin will spike too. So starches and sugars are 2 things that we want to keep low on a low insulin diet. And there is a— Disclaimer that I'll give to that, and that's with physical activity. So if someone is doing a lot of high-intensity or high-duration physical activity, like they're an athlete, they're training for a marathon, that may require more, a more nuanced dietary approach. But for the average person looking to lose weight, if you want to keep starches and sugars low, that will help keep your insulin low. Insulin is your fat creation and storage hormone. If you want to lose fat, you got to lower insulin. And then fiber has the opposite effect. So fiber actually slows the digestion and absorption of our food, will kind of slow the insulin response of anything else that you eat. So that's the first macro that we talk about. And then protein is the second. Protein is absolutely essential. Not, not all calories created equally. Well, not all protein is created equally either. And if you want to be plant-based, that's fine. Recognize that protein from plants is not utilized as efficiently from the body and there's less essential amino acids in plant-based proteins. So you're probably going to need a higher dose of plant proteins to get enough of the essential amino acids to optimize your muscle health. So we usually prefer animal-based protein if people are open to that. It does have a moderate insulin response, but it's worth the trade-off. So it's definitely worth the trade-off for the moderate insulin response because you need a certain amount to, you know, grow your hair and your nails and your muscle and your bone. Uh, the amount that we typically recommend is between 1.2 and 1.6 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight for non-exercising adults. If you're not exercising, you can get away with just 1.2 to 1.6. But if you're trying to build muscle, we really, really emphasize 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight. Um, for adults over 50, the closer to 2.2 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight you can get, the better. What does that mean? If you weigh 200 pounds and you want to be 130 pounds, try to eat 130 grams of protein a day. That's usually what we, what we recommend on the upper end. So that is, that's kind of a cornerstone of our approach from a low insulin lifestyle. Again, you're looking at the long term. Yeah, it causes a moderate, a modest insulin response short term. Long term, it's going to help you support healthy muscle mass. And what does that do? We know about 80% of a glucose, like of glucose that you eat after a meal, it goes to your muscles. The more muscle you have, the more room you have to deposit glucose after a meal before it's shuttled off to your fat cells. And you also have more insulin reset, like insulin receptors. So you have better insulin sensitivity. You need less insulin after a meal, the more muscle you have. So protein's great. And then dietary fat has the lowest insulin response. You know, fat is not a fat. You want to focus on monounsaturated. So omega-9, unprocessed polyunsaturated, especially omega-3s, some omega-6s as well from things like nuts and seeds. So fatty fish, nuts, seeds, um, avocados, olives, all of those are excellent sources of healthy fats. Um, saturated fat, I think, is a little bit more of a person-specific conversation. I like people to know their ApoB level, which is essentially your, your LDL LDL particle number. That's going to be one risk factor for cardiovascular disease your doctor is probably not talking about. The other is your Lp, and that's just another cardiovascular risk disease. They're inexpensive tests. Your doctor is probably not running them. Dr. Peter Attia's book Outlive, it really describes them in depth pretty well. If people want more of a deep dive on, you know, those 2 tests, I'd recommend it. But for most people, I think The saturated fats are okay. But if you're at a very high risk of cardiovascular disease, that's when I would suggest take a little bit of a deeper dive into your blood work. It's not to say never eat them. It's just to say bias your fat intake towards the omega-9 and unprocessed omega-6. Trans fats. Yes, they were banned in 2018 by the FDA. They still exist. So they're in your chips, they're in your fried foods. They are in any, pretty much anything that's fried. And the problem is that the concentration of trans fats increases every single time that that oil is used. And you know, they're not changing the oil at McDonald's for those French fries very often. So even though it doesn't have like a very high blood sugar or insulin response short-term, those trans fats are inflammatory big time, and they will cause insulin resistance long-term. So those from a dietary perspective, when I'm thinking about how can I eat low insulin, I am thinking, how am I getting at least 30 grams of protein a meal? That's going to be the minimum amount, minimum amount for an adult to really stimulate muscle growth. But I like when people can get closer to 40 to 50 per meal, especially if they're only doing 2 meals a day. That's going to be really important. Next, you know, at least 10 grams of fiber in a meal. So where, where is that fiber coming from? Again, Low starch and sugar foods. I have an ultimate food guide they can grab on our website that has a ton of fiber tables that shows you kind of how much fiber is in this food compared to starches and sugars. So the other thing is healthy fats. Fats are going to keep you satiated. However, if you have a weight loss goal, they are calorically dense, right? So when we're thinking about calories, there's 9 calories per gram of fat. That's why in the low In the low-fat, low-calorie era, everyone was eating low-fat because then they could eat more food that was less dense. Like there's 4 calories per gram in most carbs and proteins, and then about what, 7 in alcohol. So in my opinion, the less alcohol you can have, the better. It's something that I'm really working to straight up eliminate from my lifestyle. I might have a sip here or there, or on a very special occasion, maybe a small, small glass of wine, but I interviewed someone for the podcast who is such an advocate of not drinking at all. And like, after that interview, I thought, why am I drinking? Like, I don't even want it. I don't want it. It shuts off fat burning because it's an oxidative priority for your body. Meaning if you have a glass of wine and a meal, you're going to burn the wine before you burn the food. And it just messes up my sleep and all sorts of stuff. So it's just not essential for me. So on a low insulin lifestyle, that's what it is. It's prioritizing protein, prioritizing healthy fat, prioritizing fiber, keeping alcohol to a minimum as much as you can. Um, and then thinking too about when you're eating. So we know that you are going to be most, um, insulin sensitive about midday. Uh, this is a hard transition. I haven't even made it yet, but for some of my clients, if they're really at a weight loss plateau, it's like, well, have more of your food around midday. 3 o'clock, try to be done eating sooner. I know if I'm having a cookie after dinner, that's impacting me in a greater way than if I had it at noon. So that's another little hack is stop eating all day long. You do not need to eat every 2 to 3 hours to like keep your metabolism up. There's so many myths circulating online about how we should eat to lose weight and lower insulin resistance. So you don't need to eat all the time. Um, you do need to eat with a proper dose of protein so that you're full from one meal to the next. You need to eat in a way that allows your body to burn fat for fuel and not just run on sugar all day long like I used to. Um, so that, those are like the 2 main principles when it comes to low insulin eating is get your macros right, stop eating all day. And then from a weight loss standpoint, you do have to maintain some sort of energy deficit. Um, I hate the word calorie because I just, I just don't like it. So I use the word energy deficit. And that's why we've got to be careful with those fats because yeah, it's super easy to just have a quarter of a cup of nuts or a couple ounces of dark chocolate and, um, be at a weight loss plateau because you're just chronically overeating healthy fats. So they may not be metabolically unhealthy. They may have good fasting insulin, good blood sugars, good triglycerides, But they're still, you know, 10, 15 pounds heavier than they want to be. That's probably one of the underlying reasons. There's more, but monitoring.

Yeah, I think that's super important. You know, let's find the little nuances. Are we just eating too much healthy food? Are we snacking throughout the day and not realizing it so that our insulin keeps spiking, spiking, spiking? You know, give that Body a break from eating. I love it. Like, you and I are totally aligned on all of this. And I mean, all this information is out there. It's in your programs, it's on your amazing YouTube channel. I could watch you all day because you're just so great at explaining all of these basic scientific things that a lot of people don't understand. And like, big words— insulin resistance, what the heck does that mean? So Dr. Nolte makes this super easy and straightforward. You can watch all of that stuff. But I would love to hear your wisdom and everything on the mindset piece because I do feel like a huge part of weight-loss issues is not that they don't have all the information. Like I said, you can Google and figure out when to eat, what to eat, how much, where's the fiber chart, all these things that we give for free, right?

Yeah.

Here is the information. So why hasn't everyone lost weight and become super healthy and successful? And it's our mindset, right?

It is. Yeah.

So let's dive into that because this is the biggest blockade for women, especially. Like, oh my gosh, the conversations going on in our own heads. Like, I would be embarrassed to say the things that I say to myself. Like, I don't want to share that, but we just, we need to get transparent and realize all the damage that we're doing inside of our heads. So how, where do we even start with that?

Well, that's a really good question on where to start. And I always like giving books as resources because I can only cover so much in a few minutes on a podcast.

Right.

So people really want to dive into this. The couple of books that have helped me the most would be I Am Enough by Marissa Peer, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It's about money, but if you replace everything that he says about money with your health, That'll, that'll make a lot of sense to you. And then Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks. So those are kind of the 3 books that I refer to, or that really helped me develop more of an appreciation for the mindset side of things. And, you know, you've probably heard the cliché that the most important words are the ones that you tell yourself. And that is so true because women are walking around just obsessed with food. And their weight and they're, they're maneuvering other people in pictures to cover up parts of their body that they don't want to be documented for eternity. Yeah.

Or they won't even get in the picture. They will take the picture only.

Yes. And how much— what I like to think of is how much brainpower are we wasting caring about this, caring about our superficial appearance? Like, number one, you're a soul. You are an eternal soul and that is what really matters. And so in my opinion, all of this stuff about body image and appearance, it's a distraction from your happiness.

Yes.

So how much soul-sucking energy are you giving to this that could be put towards more productive endeavors, like starting the business of your dreams or having the relationship of your dreams or being a more engaged and present and calm mom? So there's so many other roles that women play that I think we're not living up to our full potential because we're too obsessed about our weight and our food and why we don't feel good. And I'm going to give that little caveat. When you feel good, you can freaking conquer the world. Like when you no longer feel like garbage, when you have energy, when you wake up in the morning, that's how we get stuff done. Like if you don't have energy, you just don't have much of a life. So going back to this mindset thing, I really, um, I came to it on a backdoor approach. I would say I had to learn it for myself first before I could teach it, but I did not learn it in the realm of health and wellness. I learned it in the place of finances and my relationships.

Hmm.

So when I started this business, my son was 4 months old. Okay. I thought I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. And very quickly I'm like, nope, that's definitely not for me. I'm going crazy. Like, I don't have postpartum depression. I have postpartum boredom and I'm going crazy. And so I started my business because I said, if I'm going to work, I'm going to do what I love. I am going to help people prevent the disease that I'm treating in geriatric PT. And, um, was just, you know, you know what it's like to start a business the first few years. It's a lot of work.

Yeah.

And it's a lot of stress and there's a lot of fear behind it. Like you're really, there's a lot of risk. There's a lot of financial risk. There's a lot of emotional risk. There was a lot of relational strain between me and my husband because my, um, my priorities were straight up out of line. You know, it was, he came home one day and he was like, I feel like Dawson and I are an inconvenience to you and your career aspirations. And I said, you're right. That's how I'm treating you. And that's not how I want to treat you anymore.

Yeah.

And so I had to figure my own crap out when it comes to how am I thinking about this? I'm doing all the right things. I'm doing all the right things to grow a business. So why am I still miserable? Or why am I not getting the results? Just like my patients were like, I'm doing the right things on how to lose weight. Why am I not seeing the results that I want?

Mm-hmm.

I just kind of came through it in a different realm, but it's the exact same approach that you use to get your head around this stuff. So the first thing that I recognized was that it's, I have to guard my energy.

Amen.

I have to. And I have to figure out how to, how to not be afraid all the time. Yeah. And how to not be afraid of failure and how to not be afraid of criticism and how to not be afraid of missing out or judgment or success. And I can guarantee you that anyone who's tried to lose weight has succumbed to peer pressure to drink an alcoholic beverage, to have an extra dessert, to have ice cream because it's the family reunion, even though it's 10 at night. This is literally an example that just happened to me like 2 days ago. My family and I went to bed while all of the other families sat up and had homemade ice cream and chocolate sauce at 10 at night. And I said, I don't fear missing out. I don't fear judgment. I don't fear criticism. And I don't fear making people uncomfortable by my decisions that are best for me. I value my health over someone else's opinion of me.

Yeah.

And so that's what it takes. I mean, really, truly, when we're talking about mindset, there's so much that can be done to change it. But it takes overcoming your fears. It takes overcoming, especially the fear of letting someone down. I think as women, I mean, how many of us really want to have that conversation with our boss? That's like, hey, I'm going to stop answering emails at 7 at night. I'm not going to work over the weekends anymore. And by the way, I need more time off.

Yeah.

Okay. Like we want to talk about balancing our hormones. Let's talk about balancing our time and guarding our energy. So to do that from a practical standpoint, what I had to do and what I help my Clients do is develop something called our Personal Faith Formula. And this comes from Think and Grow Rich. And essentially it's defining that why, like, why do you want to lose weight and get healthy? Because otherwise you're going to keep going through the same narrative in your, in your brain over and over and over. You're so fat. You're so ugly. Why can't you ever stay on track? We're going to start again on Monday. Why bother anyways? You fail every single time. What is your partner going to think? Everything, all of this crap that goes through your brain, that's completely unproductive towards reaching your goals. We've got to stop it. You've got to stop that internal self-talk. But the only way to do that, I like to say, like the only way to hammer out a nail is with another nail. It takes intentional repetition, but you have to choose what you're thinking intentionally. And so sitting down and really writing through, like, why is it important for me to lose weight and get healthy? How am I able to show up in bigger and better ways in my home, family, and community? How do I want to feel? Most people are thinking about how they don't want to feel. I don't want to feel like I'm in pain. I don't want to feel tired. I don't want to feel Bloated. I don't want to feel fat. Okay, great. You're telling your brain tired, bloated, in pain, fat. That's what your brain hears. So we need to use the positive version of what you don't want. You want, you want to feel energetic. You want to feel sexy. You want to feel confident in your clothes. You want all of these things. Great. Tell your brain that the tricky thing here is the language. So if you're always just like, I want to be energetic, I want to feel sexy. Well, then you're manifesting more want into your life. You're gonna constantly be wanting things. So if you can use more empowering language like, I am confident, I am whatever, and if you don't, but you got to figure out how you believe it. That's the tricky thing. So when you're writing this, it's like, well, are you looking forward to being more confident? Are you working on being more confident? Are you working on making healthy choices? So a couple of my favorites that I like including is, I prioritize my spiritual, emotional, and physical health every day. That one is general enough for people to kind of latch onto so that they can say, well, how am I doing that? Because it's important for your brain to get the right instructions. It's like a blueprint when you're building, when you're building your house, you don't just like tell the architect or the builder, yeah, give me a 2-bed, 2-bedroom house.

2-bed, 2-bath.

It's like, okay, well, how big do we want those bedrooms? You want a half bath or a full bath? Like you have to give your brain the right instructions so that it can execute and give you the life that you want. But all of these instructions have been passed down from parents, from magazines, from your peers, from fears and external factors. Like you have to choose your life. I have very little tolerance for people throwing pity parties for themselves because it's like you chose your life. And once you realize that, it kind of sucks because you're like, oh, I chose my misery. Yes, you did. That also means that you have the power to get out of it. So that's the good news, people. You have the power to get out of it because you got the power to get in it.

Oh my gosh, you and I are like— I think we've been studying down the same pathway adjacently for all these years, reading the same books. Like, everything you're saying, I'm right on track with. This is how I Do my Fast to Faith program. Like, it really is the only way to transform is you have to transform your mind, honestly.

Yeah.

Like, when— as soon as I accepted the fact that I had created that life of being sleep deprived, being on call every night, being chief of staff, like, being so accomplished yet so miserable, and that I could change all of that, like, I just, I encourage women, see that as an empowering realization, not like, oh, shit, what did I do? Like, oh my gosh, that means I can change it. I love that so much.

Yeah. And so just a couple other things that I think might help your audience on. Okay, well, what do I tell myself? Like, what instructions do I give myself? I love thinking about the different roles in life, you know? So I am a present Calm, intentional, and engaged mom, loving and supportive wife, and successful business owner. I guard my energy. I for I say fortify my frequency. I nothing affects me negatively. I tell myself that every single day. Does that mean that nothing ever affects me negatively? No. But what it what it does, I like to say it's like putting on your glasses for the day. When you do this first thing in the morning is when you want to give your brain these instructions. When it gets, when it, before it gets all distracted with everything else. Then when you're tempted to eat something that's not healthy, or when you're, when I'm tempted to snap at my kids, you know, yesterday my, my son threw a ball across the house and it hit me in the head. And I just did, I gave him the look, but I didn't say anything. And I didn't say anything because every day I tell myself I practice non-attachment. I practice non-reaction, I practice non-judgment, and I practice non-resistance every day, you know. And so it's like, I'm not gonna react to that. I'm not going to resist the reality that I just got hit in the head with a ball. Like, he's a 5-year-old and it's a mistake and he's a good kid, right? And I don't— and I practice non-reaction. And so when you're tempted by things, when things come up that don't go quite your way, it's okay because you've armed yourself You put that lens on for the day. You see the world in a different way. And another huge, huge, huge thing that I wanted to hit on was fear. Every day I tell myself I don't fear success, poverty, criticism, judgment, rejection, or missing out. So when all of my other cousins are drinking alcohol on the boat, I'm fine having water. I'm fine having an alternative because I don't fear missing out. I don't fear their judgment or their criticism or yada yada. So what I thought was so helpful from a fear standpoint was recognizing that my fear was often made up in my own head because of the perceived judgments or criticisms or opinions by someone else. They didn't say it. I made that up in my head that they said it.

Right.

And so it's like, well, if your attention is always on the undesired outcome, Or, or the perceived undesired outcome. If that's where your attention is, that's all fear is. It's your attention on a future unwanted outcome. That's it.

Right.

You're just making it all up.

Like it has not happened.

Yes. And then when it comes to guilt and shame, which is, or worry, you know, worry and fear are kind of in the same bucket. It's in the future. Guilt and shame are from the past.

Yeah.

So if you're feeling guilty or shameful about having dessert over the weekend or having more than you wanted, guess what? That's a waste of your energy. You're not guarding your energy. You're not fortifying your frequency. You're allowing the energy in you that could be used to more productive things like meal planning or planning your exercise for the day or whatever else you want to do. That's being drained out of you because you're worried about a decision you made in the past. It's done. Stop it. You know, stop worrying, stop feeling shameful, stop feeling guilty. In my opinion, the only way that this gets done is by writing it out exactly how you want to feel, writing out exactly what you want from your life, exactly what you want your brain to do, and then reading it, getting that repetition. So 95% of our thoughts are subconscious. You're not even aware that you're doing it. It's just automatic. Your phone dings, you pick it up. It's automatic. So how can we build more conscious awareness to these subconscious thoughts? It's through that intentional sit-down time to tell yourself what you actually want, through that daily repetition. And if you need to do it twice a day, you need to do it twice a day. I did in the beginning. I tell people to do an audio version. recording on your phone, and then you can listen to it while you're on a walk. I love, I've never personally done it, but I feel like hypnotherapy is a really beneficial technique sometimes too, to really break through some old limiting thought patterns. But so many times, like so many times when people are trying to lose weight, it's this kind of stuff. It's mental weight that is holding them back from losing the physical weight. So in my opinion, if, if a coach is not willing to go there with you, you got to find someone who's willing to go there with you, call you out on your crap, tell you you're being a perfectionist, tell you that you're living in your fear and you're too worried about the opinions of others. And that's driving your food behavior.

Mm-hmm.

And then give you the tools. Okay, well, that sucks. Like, how do I fix it? Um, and so that's just one way. I think that there's, There's a few other things that have been really helpful for me. Gratitude is so big. Like, we don't come out of our mother's womb saying thank you. Like, we come out of our mother's wombs crying and wanting food. I need, I need, I need, I want, I want. And we're trying to do this with our son. He's like, oh, can I do this? Can I do this? I want this. I want to just be grateful, Dawson. Like, just give thanks for what you already have. You know, and more will come. But so many women hate their bodies. They hate how they look. And it's like, well, if you hate how you look, you're manifesting more hate of how you look. So you got to figure out what you appreciate. Why don't we use that word appreciation? Do you appreciate the fact that you can see out of your eyes? Great. Focus on that. I love that. Do you appreciate the fact that you can walk? Great. Focus on that. Write that down. I appreciate my eyes. I appreciate my feet. And then every time you pass a mirror, tell yourself one of those positive affirmations about yourself instead of, God, I look so fat today. So that's kind of like a little nut— that's a, that's the overview of the mindset side of things, I would say.

Oh, I love it. I couldn't agree more. Honestly, I ran a fasting program for a few years and women would lose weight. And then there was some women who just couldn't, you know, they would drop out, they wouldn't complete the program. And as soon as I started incorporating faith, which is essentially this mindset piece of flipping everything on its head, seeing it from a different light, having gratitude, reprogramming your mind, like the transformations were incredible. And it, it was so exciting to see, like, you can break through these old limiting beliefs and stop those old recordings. And create new ones. And I do so much like you, like envision the woman you want to be. What does that woman do every day? How is she living her life? Like step into that, become her. And so I couldn't agree more. Like you have to get crystal clear on what you do want, not what you don't want.

Right.

Because the don't want is there. It doesn't matter. It will fall to the wayside once you crystal clear on what you want, what your life looks like, what your body looks like, what it feels like, right? Oh my gosh. But I want you to hit on one other piece because we're all human. And like this past weekend—

Yeah.

Like, I just avoid sugar. I don't eat gluten. I avoid sugar. I have an autoimmune condition. It flares me right up and I succumb to the Here, have a cocktail with us. And that led to the slippery slope of, drink this pop now at the tournament. Oh, just eat these gummy bears and let's stop for ice cream. And before I knew it, my back was in so much pain I could barely drive home. So this morning, you know, I just want to be fully transparent. I wanted to cancel on you. Like, I couldn't function.

Oh, wow.

But what did I do? I did it anyway. I just believed that it was possible to get past it. And I didn't live with the shame and the guilt and like the anger that I used to have. Like, why did I do that to myself? Why did I just, you know, go down that path? I'm such a failure. I'm such a loser. And just give in to that and eat more crap and stay in that place. And I think if women can find a way to pull themselves out quicker when they do fall into it, like, You're making so much progress, and that's what you need to focus on. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. So what do you tell women who do that?

Because we all fall off the wagon.

Right.

Or we purposely choose it, right? Like, I knew if I eat this ice cream right now, I'm going to be hurting, but I wanted to have that moment with my daughter. And so I made that choice and I had to decide, like, I'm not going to beat myself up for it. I'm just going to suffer the consequences.

I think that's the ultimate goal is it's not necessarily to never have something again. It's to make it a conscious, intentional choice, a fully informed decision. And I do that as well. It's not always a fully informed decision, but you know, for example, last year we went on a family vacation and I had so much sugar. Like the family that we went on with, they just made the best chocolate chip cookies. We had s'mores, we had So many things every day. And I'm usually a 1 standard size sweet a week kind of girl. Like, that's my goal, 1 standard size sweet a week. If I want something else, it'll be stevia chocolate chips or like a quote unquote healthier sweet throughout the week that doesn't make me want more and more. And then last night, for some whatever reason, probably because I was really happy to be home, I wanted to finish up some of the ice cream cake from my son's birthday party. And so I did. And I was like, I'm going to have this. I'm— it's an intentional choice. I'm going to fast tomorrow. Fine. Do it.

Yep.

And I did it. And, you know, there's obviously hacks like blood sugar hacks that we can get into, but what really helped me and what helps me is this vacation that we just went on. I continued to read that personal faith formula every day that says I prioritize my physical health every day. So while we were on vacation, the only things that I had was a very small, Like, I don't know, 1.5 by 1.5 lemon bar and brownie. And that's it. That's— I didn't even want anything else because I didn't drink. If I drink alcohol, I want sugar. Like, that's how— Oh my gosh.

That, like I said, it started with the cocktail. That was the slippery slope and it all went downhill from there. So yeah, figure out your triggers.

Yes. And so where mine started was we stopped at Subway and my husband had a free cookie coupon. I'm like, great, we'll get one cookie, we'll split it 4 ways, it's one bite of cookie. Well, that triggered more sugar cravings for me. And then when I got home, I remembered, oh yeah, that's there too. Um, so reading that personal faith formula every single day is such a great restart for me mentally.

Mm-hmm.

And I always fast after vacation. So just naturally, you know, we're eating different foods, we're eating more food. So today's a fasting day. I'm pretty much just going to fast and I don't know. I usually eat, I fast like 12 to 14 hours every day because I'm pretty active. And then I'll probably fast like 16 to 20 hours today. So just a little bit more of a fast, but I try to make my fasting match my feasting. So like last year after vacation, I fasted for 40 hours. That was my longest fast ever because I'm like, my body has 10 cookies it can use. Um, water is very important.

Yeah.

Um, I love a good protein-sparing fast, especially if you feel like you kind of overdid it maybe a little bit more than you wanted, but you don't want to do an extended fast. You can do like, just have the protein portion of the meal, um, 1 or 2 meals a day so that you're getting something, or like bone broth is another good option. But honest to goodness, just recognizing every single time you're not feeling good, you are manifesting more not feeling good. And so we've got to figure out a way to guard that energy and to reframe your thoughts towards what you want and thoughts that feel good. So another one, another thing I say every morning is, I choose to think and do things that make me feel good. I choose to think and do things that make me feel good.

Yeah.

You know, and it's like this stuff creeps up all the time, but if you can arm yourself Every single day with how you want to show up, when you're not showing up how you want, when you're following those old patterns, you're going to catch yourself and you're going to call yourself out on it a lot faster. It almost acts as a highlighter throughout the day. And I think a little reflection that I've been doing recently is like every morning I'll say I practice non-judgment. I'll say, how was I judgmental over the last day on myself? on others. I practice non-resistance. What am I resisting in my life? What am I resisting today? I practice non-attachment. This is the biggest one for me. Attaching yourself maybe to like expectations of how fast you should lose weight or how fast you should make progress or how other people should show up for you or how you should show up every day. We are so attached to our expectations. Of ourselves and others, and attached to perfectionism, attached to the ego, so many things. And then non-reaction. So how did I react today in a way that I'm not proud of, in a way that I didn't want to do it? And then just constantly refining that internal dialogue, constantly refining that behavior to get to a place where you're no longer sabotaging yourself, where you're no longer a slave to your own thoughts. thoughts so that you can finally start implementing with consistency the lifestyle changes that are required to get to the health that you want to get to. I said in our interview, I said, you can't circumvent this stuff.

No.

You can't take a pill. No one can do your exercise for you. No one can, you know, you can order pre-made meals. Fantastic. But no one's going to put it from the plate to your mouth. No one gets to sleep for you. And no one gets to do this mindset work for you. This is your responsibility. And part of being healthy is being a darn adult and taking responsibility for your health and for your actions and not blaming other people, because that's another way you waste your energy is blaming other people, blaming your upbringing, blaming your spouse, blaming your kids who like junk food. So what? A lot of people live with people that are unhealthy and they're still healthy.

Yeah.

If one person can do it, you can do it too. And so I think part of this is just having that radical honesty with yourself to stop justifying your own limitations and freaking live into the person that you were called to be. Become obsessed with being the best version of yourself. And it's amazing the things that you can do and how freaking good you can feel. Um, but if you're just stuck criticizing yourself and everyone else all day, it's like, well, no wonder you're not changing. Because I view it as like a water balloon, like a big old water balloon is your brain. Every single negative thought, every single, like I said, attachment, judgment, resistance, all that stuff. It's just like a little water, like a pin in your water balloon and you're draining your personal power. No wonder you don't have any energy to follow through. You're too busy with all this other crap going on in your brain. So, so I think like—

Yes.

We focus so much on hormones and all of this stuff. I think that's That's so important. But this is the stuff that you can't test. Like, you— there's no test for negative thoughts besides how you feel.

And there's no supplement that I can give you. Like, you have to do the work. And I love— thank you for sharing your story about your business because it does permeate all aspects of our life. If you think this way about your body and your health, you most likely are thinking this way about how you show up at your job, how you show up as a parent or a partner or a friend or, you know, a sibling, whatever. It really does. That's just you. That's your personality. And so if you feel like you are stuck and you're frustrated and you want a different life, it all starts up in your mind.

You have to create it first. I am not always present, calm, intentional, and engaged with my kids. But I guarantee if I tell myself I am every day, I am more likely to show up in that way than if I don't.

Exactly.

We are all so selfish by nature. So we have to figure out how do we want to show up. And you are exactly right. Like my marriage, I would say I always had a good marriage, but there was a pattern of resentment that I grew up with. as an example in marriage that I brought into my own. And so after we had kids, I'm like, I'm very resentful for my husband. He gets to work whenever he wants and like he doesn't have to figure out who's watching Dawson. And, you know, I just, I didn't have to hang on to that anymore. And I had to choose to release that. And I had to choose to release the expectation that he doesn't have to be perfect. He's darn close, but he doesn't have to do that. And you know what that does is it opens up new opportunities. Like, we are talking about a 3rd. I don't know if we are going to have a 3rd kid, but we sure as heck would not be talking about having a 3rd kid if I was as miserable as I was after we had our 1st, or if I was in the same place after we had our 2nd. And I said, honey, as hard as it is, you cannot judge my future behavior by how I was 5 years ago or even 3 years ago, because I have evolved, you know, from the inside out. Yeah. I have a new mindset. Like I am a new person and I'm a more positive person and patient person. And, um, so when you really adopt the type of mindset stuff that we're talking about, you can transform your career. You can transform your health. You can transform your relationships. Um, and I think that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about this is because I started with business stuff and it's like bled through every other area of my life. So exactly. Yeah.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I just, I love you. I think you're awesome, everything you're doing, and it's incredible just to hear your journey. It's so much like mine. It's really interesting. So I'm so glad that we crossed paths finally. You know, we're so close. Um, but definitely everybody needs to check you out. Tell them where to find you.

Yeah, so my business is Zivli, Z-I-V-L-I, and that Ziv means live in Croatian. I am not Croatian. It's just that all of the English words for live were taken for the .com domain. LI stands for low insulin and low inflammation lifestyle. So zivli.com. Um, on YouTube, I'm at Dr. Morgan Nolte Zivli. I talk a lot about insulin resistance on there and weight loss. Um, because frankly, a lot of people will resist this kind of conversation. Um, it's a tough one to have. It's a tough love conversation to have, and you have to be ready for it and you have to be like, Amen. I am changing my lifestyle. I am not just going on a diet anymore. Um, so YouTube, their website, and then our podcast is Reshape Your Health. And that's where you're going to be coming on to talk about hormones and all that fun stuff. So I am so glad that we crossed paths as well. It was a pleasure to talk with you.

Yes, everyone, you guys have to check her out. She's a wealth of knowledge. And thank you so much. Like this, this has been an incredible What an incredible episode because I feel like my listeners are ready to, you know, just make these shifts and we just got to keep giving them the tools, right?

Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Okay. I know you got something out of that episode. That was so good. She was dropping golden nuggets all over the place, all kinds of tips that you can start incorporating today. Like, just pick one. And then come back and listen and add on, pick another one, and keep building a new way of living. Personally, I think the best way to start is the golden nugget, like, start your day off with the written-down desires of your heart, like what you want to be. I am capable. I am healthy. I am Thriving. I make good choices. Whatever it is for you personally, that's the part you have to figure out. And then you write it down and you want to write it in the positive affirmative so that your brain sees it as possible and real. And you want to step— start living into that every day. So if you start your morning off like that, it sets you up for success through the rest of the day. And then you're more aware when you're getting sabotaged and pulled out of that space that you can recenter and begin again. That's my motto: begin again. Just begin again. No shame, no regret, no resentment, no anger. Just begin again. Move forward. So let me know what you got out of it, what your golden nugget is, what you're going to start incorporating, how your mind is going to shift. So I would love to hear that, and I'd be so honored if you would leave me a 5-star review and just let iTunes know what you want to hear about, what's important to you, because we need to use our voice as women, and that means leaving reviews, saying something, typing something out. It takes probably 30 seconds. You just scroll down, hit that button, but sometimes That can be the game changer for us to really start to help each other as women and create this movement that I'm just envisioning that we're creating, is a movement of women supporting each other, getting educated, claiming our health, like taking back the control. Like Dr. Nolte said, it really is up to you as an individual. It doesn't Doesn't matter your circumstances. Some of us might have a harder time than others. And if you're watching this on YouTube, you're seeing my dog is being ridiculous and she's expecting me to pet her while I'm talking. So I'm sorry about the goofy noises in the background. But this is how we do life, you guys. We just show up and we do life messy. We do it imperfectly. If I waited for life to be perfect, I wouldn't record a single podcast episode. Seriously, my dogs never behave. My kids always have something going on. My email's always blowing up. There's always a reason not to show up and not to do something. So do it anyway. Do it anyway. Do the mess. Just do it messy. Okay. That's, that's my thing for today. Look, now she calmed down and I finished my episode. So awesome. I love you guys so much. I am here for you. I actually do this for you. I don't get paid, nothing, none of that stuff. Like, this is all for you. So let me know what else you want to hear about. I hope this was super helpful. I absolutely loved everything Dr. Nolte had to say. So Follow her on YouTube. Check out the links. They're in the show notes, you guys. All right. Go have an amazing kick-ass week. Bye.