Overcoming Body Shame, Hormone Chaos & Weight Gain — With Faith & Strength | Candace Cameron Bure

Foreign. Hey, welcome back to the Midlife Reset. Trusting God's design to overcome weight gain, anxiety and hormone issues for good. I'm Kirsten Lindquist and today I have the absolute joy of welcoming well, two women that I adore, both of faith and purpose. Candace Cameron Beret, one of my friends from QVC is here. And then of course, we all know Dr. Tabitha Barber. Let me talk just a little bit about Candace so you can, in case you don't know her, she is an actress, producer, and New York Times bestselling author. She is known as everyone's big sister, D.J. tanner from the iconic television shows Full House and Fuller House. She's also starred in more than 50 Christmas and cozy mystery movies and is a former co host of the View and she currently hosts her self titled podcast. She's an entrepreneur whose brand extends from entertainment and lifestyle to faith and family. Candace is both outspoken and passionate about her family and her faith. And she continues to flourish in the entertainment industry as a role model to women of all ages, which is exactly why we wanted to have her in this summit. Candice, it's so great to have you here. Thank you for being here.

Thanks. I'm so happy to be here.

I'm gonna let Dr. Tabitha, who we all know as just kind of the head of this summit, take it away and talk to you about what life is like and how you're managing your hormones and faith. So thanks for being here. And Dr. Tabitha, take it away.

Thank you, Kirsten, you're awesome. We love you.

We do love you.

Thank you so much for doing this. You are such a shining light for so many women. As Kirsten mentioned, we grew up with you and our children are now growing up with you. So you have so much influence over the women in this country that I just, I want you to help us be a voice and show women that there's another way to live. There's a better way to live.

Live.

You don't have to struggle. Right? That's when I read your books and I, you know, see everything that you're doing. It's. You are on this journey with us and you're so transparent about it. So I would love for you just to talk to us a little bit about how does caring for your physical body help you in all aspects of your life? Because we all know you just kind of took charge of your health one day and you haven't stopped since. Right?

I know. Gosh, you know, I. It really is a journey, isn't it? Your health, your. Whether it's fitness levels, how you view food. All of that really starts at your upbringing and what you're introduced to, how the people around you spoke about those types of things. And it really creates or can define how you view yourself, how you view those aspects of your life. And sometimes we need to reprogram and we need to reset as we get older. And I think that also some people might not have had terrible experiences with food or fitness, but as our body changes when we get older, we just find ourselves not understanding it and looking at it like, what just happened, what changed? And if I'm not changing, what is my body doing? And it feels really complicated. And honestly, it, it has been for me. I've had really complicated relationships with, with food in my life and just body image in general. Living in our world, in our culture, comparing myself to so many other people, I think we just all naturally do that. And at this stage in my life, I think entering the 40s was. Has been my favorite decade so far. I haven't hit 50 yet. That's next year. But I really found what worked for me. And I also find that that continually evolves and changes year after year because I'm always just dissecting my body. How's my body feeling, what's, what's.

Yeah.

What's working and what's not. And as I'm about to enter my 50th decade, I or fifth decade, but you know, my. In my 50s, I just want to come at it like, with strength and confidence and power. Even if I don't know all the answers. I don't want to be scared about it. I don't. I want to be inquisitive. I want to ask all the questions to people that have gone through the things that I am about to go through and just try to tackle it as best as I can. But truly through the lens of how God sees me first.

Yeah, absolutely. That's why we love you so much, because you are just like a go getter. Let me figure this out. And I'm not afraid to share with you what I'm doing. And if it's right, I'll let you know. And if it's not, then we'll pivot. Right. And you know, I just think it's incredible that you have been on this journey for so long. I didn't realize you wrote a book back in 2011 about your physical body and your faith. And I just would love for you to talk a little bit about how do we bring God into our health, journey into These daily choices that we're doing, because it sounds to me like that has been your cornerstone and that is, is why you continue to be so successful and tackle this health journey the way you have.

Yeah, it has been foundational for me. And again, I'm still working through that relationship with God and ultimately wanting to see and feel how he sees me and how he views me and, and question my own motives as to why I want to make certain decisions that I want to do, like what is the why behind it and what does God have to say about it. And sometimes I wrestle with those questions and answers, but that, that is my foundation and that's the, the place that I start with everything. And so in that. That was the very first book I wrote that you were talking about called Reshaping it all. And now that book is more than 10 years old. I'm sure if I reread that book, I would tell you do not take any of the diet things that are like, you know, food related things that I was doing at the time. I don't think I eat anything like that anymore. So there's probably a lot in there that I would, I would go back and refresh. But the foundation of that book, which stays true today, is that having such a difficult relationship with food in my life and my, and my body struggling with an eating disorder, I've been a, I'm a bulimic. I still say it because it's never gone away for me. I just have the tools to make good decisions now and, and to, to fight off those prompts when they hit me. And so. But it all kind of really started for me. That journey was, was that when I was in a place where I felt very lonely in my life, there were so many changes happening in my life, I didn't know what to do with them. And so food was my comfort, food was my friend. And I was like a little raccoon and just go to the grocery store and then at night like binge eat all of this food because it's stuffed, you know, it stuffed my emotions basically. It stuffed them down. It gave me pleasure in the moment of eating things that I would not normally eat. And you know, and then the cause and effect of what happened after was really awful and traumatic on my body for so many years. And, and the, the connection piece that really changed all of that when I had to start asking myself questions even before I would start the process was that why am I running to food? Why aren't I running to God to ask him? And So I was using that food as an emotional comforter for me instead of turning to God. And when I had that revelation or someone asked me that question, it was very convicting for me because I thought, you know, well, this is something I'm doing to myself. It's not hurting anyone else, so who cares? And yet we can read biblically that, you know, we hear it all the time, which can often be taken out of context. But my. That my body is a holy temple.

Absolutely.

But it is a holy temple. I house the Holy Spirit, and it's something that God made and created and designed my body uniquely set apart from anyone else's. And so when I come to that reality face to face, and yet I choose to abuse my body, however that is whether abusing your body may be out of laziness and. And just not even taking care of it all, not caring about it. If it's really physically hurting it like I did, it's really saying, God, you made a mistake and your creation sucks. I don't believe in it. It's awful. And I don't believe that you're good because this is disgusting and gross. That's basically what I was telling God for so many years, that what you made is gross, and then treating it badly. And so I don't think if I ever stood before God or I talked to God, I mean, even in my prayer life, I would never say something like that to him, like, what you made is awful. Like, he's the God of the universe. And so those are the big questions that you have to ask and that I started asking and saying, okay, you know, where is all of the emotional discomfort stemming from? And why aren't I talking to you about this? You know, that really is what motivated the whole journey and the shift of my mindset, and that's just continued, you know, 20, 30 years later. And that keeps evolving as I'm getting older.

Yeah, I feel this so deeply. I hated my body, and I was so mean to it. I was mad at it because it wouldn't function when I was sleep deprived and when I was living on garbage. And I just remember the day that I realized I was talking to myself in a way that I would never talk to anyone that I loved. And so it really is us having to reprogram and renew our mind. And so much of it is subconscious. We're not even realizing it's happening. So was this something that took you a while to, like, continue to just get your thoughts captive like it tells us to do in the Bible? Is it still ongoing to this day? Because for me, it really is. Like, I continue to have to renew my mind every day.

Yeah. Oh, I. I do. 100%, absolutely. And, I mean, the best thing was just connecting that relationship with God and my body and those. Those were the first steps. But it's something I have to do every day, just like you do. And it. It's gotten easier over the years in the sense that I. I see. I see so much goodness in my body now. I see how my body has carried me, not only has carried three babies, but how as I get older, every year that I'm getting stronger. I can lift heavier weights today than I did 10 years ago. And that thrills me. It excites me. It gives me motivation to keep going, and I'm grateful. As I look at my mom, who's 75, I looked at my. My grandmother, who lived till she was 98, and I look at the strength of their physical bodies that carried them for. For my grandmother for so long, but who actively carries my mom, who is in good health. And. And, like, that's what I. That's the motivation. Right? It's just, I think, hopefully for everyone listening like that as I've gotten older, it's less about, oh, I want to be this size. Oh, it has to look exactly like this. And, oh, I want to fit into. Like, I'm not trying to be 20 years old anymore. I just want to be the best version of Candace. And I want to kill it in my 50s. I want to kill it. And my 70s and my 80s. Like, I'm. That just inspires me.

Yes. Amen. Oh, my gosh. I just turned 50 early a couple months ago, and so I feel all of that. I just wanted to go into it the strongest and healthiest I've ever been in my life. Not just physically but mentally and spiritually, you know, and you just. You don't care anymore. You let a lot of that go. It's like, oh, it's not about vanity. And so I'm really hoping women are hearing that message today that this is not a superficial thing. Thing, you wanting to look good and be strong and healthy and be able to lift weights. That is way deeper than you fitting into your clothes.

Listen, we want to be able to open that peanut butter jar, that pickle jar, when we're 80 years old. Like, you need strength. You need the grip strength. So go get those farmer carries and, like, get your dead weight and walk around so you can do that when you're 80.

I know it's crazy. All of a sudden you're like, can I get up off the chair by myself? You know, our priorities sh. A little bit.

You know, my. My husband's mother is 76 years old, and she was having a lot of trouble getting off the couch and even, you know, going for very short walks. And his mom. My husband has been telling his mom for years, like, mom, you have to. You have to do some level of fitness. And anyway, she finally started going to a gym a couple days a week, doing very, very light swimming stuff. But the improvement in eight months for her is night and day. She's so much happier. There's nothing about vanity, but it's like she couldn't bend over to tie her shoes or get up without struggling. And now she can. And she finds that activity just a wonderful part of her life, and she looks forward to it. And, you know, those kinds of things make me so happy and inspiring. But so many of us, when we get older, can get sedentary, and it's like the worst thing you can do. So anyway, it's like, prep now. Prep now.

Yes, yes.

Well.

And it's never too late to start. I think that's a really important point. But you mentioned something. She mentally feels better. And I personally, if I don't work out for three or four days, all of a sudden I'm sliding down the slope of depression. And it might take me a day or two to realize, wait a second, I haven't been working. And I know that you've had that struggle as well. So I would love for you to just encourage women and help them understand. How does exercise change your mental health?

Yeah, it changes it drastically. And so much so. Exercise is my biggest tool that I use. And when I say exercise, it just means a walk. Like, it doesn't mean you don't have to go lift weights and go to a gym or sweat super hard. Fresh air, body movement. And if you can't get the fresh air, still body movement. So going out for a walk can literally change everything about you and give you mental clarity. And that is one of the tools I've used in so many aspects of my life. Like, I have. I love my work, but I have a lot of stress that comes with my job and with travel. I have three grown children. You know, it's life. We all have that. And exercising can clear my mind. It can give me a reset and. But also gives me. It actually gives me more. I would say, oh, gosh, now I'm having brain fog right now. It Energizes me throughout the day. I mean, if I'm lifting really heavy and have a hard workout day, okay, it might be tired, but just going when I'm in my office, I make sure I get up and I don't sit for more than two hours without getting up and taking a 10 minute walk. And I'll just go walk around the block because again, that's the exercise and the fresh air that clears everything out. And when I'm particularly struggling with something or I'm stressed out, it, I mean, you can probably talk about it from a more scientific point of view than I can, but it's just, I don't know if it's the endorphins or it's the sweating or something, but there's just like a release of everything and it just seems to make it all go away in a healthy way.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I, I can go into the science, but I say it's like taking out the trash. Like, you just get so much mental clarity from it. You know that runner's high, I used to be addicted to that because you would get it on a whole nother level. But any kind of movement really does help with that. So I know that women want to know, like, what is your daily regimen at this point in your life now that you are in your 40s and you're looking to go into 50, as strong and powerful as ever. Like, what are you doing on the regular?

So last year, because I really had goals to come into 50 years old at, at the best I could. And I wanted to take the next level and just learn more about my body. And so I did blood work. This is last October. Never had done blood work before just to see where everything was at all my levels of everything, my hormones, my, my, you know, whatever, my iron, my testosterone, my estrogen, my progesterone. I just had no idea. So doing blood work and then having someone who understands it all read it to me and then see where my levels were high, where they were low, where they were, gave me such this powerful overview of my own body that I was like, oh, so maybe there's some things that you might be worrying about. You're not really sure. But having some blood work done can either it can give you a peace of mind or it could give you an awareness of some things where you're like, oh, well, I am low in iron. This could be helpful. Or my thyroid doesn't work, or I'm really high in testosterone and that's why I'm like, really aggressive with my husband or something. I don't know. But this was wonderful. So I did that and. And I. And I took a Dutch test also, which is like, even more. It just has more.

I love that you're doing all of this. This is so good. Okay, what did you learn?

Well, I learned that overall, I'm a very healthy person. And most of my levels were really good, which was so. To me, I was like, all right, I've been on this road for, let's say, 20 years, since my early 30s. And all of that hard work has paid off. Everything's pretty good. But I definitely had some deficiencies and some places where I've just struggled in general. And so I'm working with a company that. That is just helping me go through all of those. And I've learned a lot. So I've added supplements into my regimen. I never took any kind of supplements before, ever. And now it's like I need a suitcase for them when they travel. It's like my vitamin A, my D, my DHE or DEH and my K3 and my vitamin D proline and my. My magnesium and my. I mean, it's just a. It's like a lot. But supplements where I feel great and I even have had. Since I've had blood work done again to now check my levels after I did it about after seven months and then realized, like, oh, okay, something's balanced out really well. So I'm easing off some of the supplements and that. It's just powerful information. So I'm. I'm recommending that if you're. You know what, I don't know what age range you guys are at, but I have loved this tool. And then, you know, I consistent pretty consistently work out. It depends on my movie filming schedule because I can't work out the way I normally do while I'm filming. But. But I'm still consistently active taking walks. And then when I'm not filming, I enjoy lifting weights. And then food has also. I feel like food for me is just an ongoing learning process because what has worked for eating for me 10 years ago doesn't necessarily work for me now. We're also. We learn so many things about food, which, honestly, most of it confuses me and I get mad at it because you're told one thing one year and a whole other thing the next year, and you're like, how much protein am I supposed to have? Wait, is the vegan diet the best is, you know, like, all of these things which make me want to scream.

And you and every other woman.

So what I'm trying to do, and I feel like every woman is always like, but you're healthy. What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing? And I like, I've been there my whole life. I'm always asking what other people are doing. And what I've been learning on this journey in the last year is that it actually doesn't matter what they're doing. You need to do what is right for your body. And so. And it. But it's going to take trial and error. So I've actually gone through different patterns of different types of eating. Counting macros, counting like calories, which I hate. I've never done it in my life. And with an eating disorder, I'm like, I don't want to count. But at this point I was like, okay, but I need to learn. I really need to learn what my portions are and weighing food and what is macro, how much are in fats and protein and carbohydrates. And so I'm learning it and I'm doing it as tedious as I can feel sometimes. And I've gone through saying, okay, well, what if I'm eating more keto for four weeks? What if I'm eating super high protein low fat for four weeks? And I've actually gone through different cycles of it to figure out what is how my body and my gut health are adjusting best to it. And like, I kind it. It's taken about eight months where I finally am like, okay, I feel like I know what my body works best on right now, which are carbohydrates. It needs them.

I love that message so much. And it might be because you have some adrenal issues going on, a little excess stress. You need the carbs. That is literally what I help women understand is get back in tune with your body. It will tell you what it needs. It's trying to talk to us all of the time, but we have been ingrained to ignore it or cover up those symptoms. And those are just messages from our body. So thank you for highlighting that point because it's really important that what's working for your girlfriend might not be working for you. Right. And that's okay. Yeah, it really is. So thank you so much. This is absolutely incredible. I just see you as such a shining light for women going through this transition in life. And I just want women to be empowered because it's actually the second half is so much better than the first half because we have less things to worry about. We have the wisdom now that God has downloaded to us that we've learned from our trials and tribulations. Right. So thank you for sharing all of your wisdom. I just.

You're. You're so welcome. I could keep talking about this forever, which is why, like, Kirsten and I just also get along and like. And I just look forward to listening more to you and all the things that you're sharing with everyone. And I'm grateful for the both of you and what you do to help women like us just go through this journey a little better. Feel like we're not alone and that there are answers out there for us. Because there are.

Oh. Fills my heart. Wow. What a powerful conversation. I hope Candace's story reminded you that you are not alone. Healing is possible when we invite Jesus into the journey. There's so much more wisdom ahead, so please don't stop here. Keep watching these interviews because each one offers unique insight into how you can reclaim your health, restore your energy, and renew your purpose, body, mind, and soul. So please join us every day in the live connection call. I am going to answer your questions live. Let's get healthy together. This is so good. I love you ladies.