EP 614: Unlocking the Power of Habit-Based Lifestyle: Transforming Health, Mind, and Relationships with Dr. Christy Darin

The purpose of this show the purpose of this show is to guide you to realign with habits that get you to live the life you've always dreamed of. This this is the Habit Based lifestyle podcast with Jesse Jewel. This is the habit based lifestyle where you can access your full potential right now. Finally break free from destructive habits that dream life. If you want it, you can.

Heaven.

This is where you transform your health, mind, business and relationships or do nothing and keep your life the way it is. But if you're ready for change, you're in the right place. This is where you're going to learn how to live a habit based lifestyle. You are tuning in to the habit based lifestyle podcast with your host, Jesse. You. This is the habit based Lifestyle. Let's go.

Welcome back to the Habit Based Lifestyle Podcast. I'm your host, Jesse Yule and today I got a very special guest, Christy Darren, who's a chiropractor in Illinois. She's also part of our VIP weight loss system. Christy, I want to welcome you on the show.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah. So can you maybe just give us a brief, kind of a brief intro about you, kind of like where you're from. What got you started in the chiropractic space?

I've been a chiropractor almost 17 years now, own my own business pretty much the entire time and we've got a pretty busy office. I've had multiple associate chiropractors work for me throughout the years and at some point as a chiropractor, we can only see so many people. So I was looking for different ways to diversify our office and be able to better help our patient base. So about two years, about two and a half years ago, we diversified to be able to add medical to our facility. Between getting tired of waiting how long it would be to get referrals into either a primary care or even a specialist. So we just brought our own in house. And we've been able to diversify a lot of the services we've been able to add. And weight loss has been a big one of those. As a chiropractor, a lot of our patients are looking to lose weight for multiple reasons, whether it's truly just because they want lose weight for health reasons or their knees hurt, their back hurt, those sort of things, or even having to lose weight to be able to have surgeries. So it's been, it's been a good ad.

So being, you know, being a chiropractor for, you know, 17 years, what, you know, obviously, besides the obvious, right People need to lose weight. Like why would, like why would a chiropractor like bring weight loss into their business? Like what would that do for them versus kind of like just continuing with chiropractors?

Well, for starters, chiropractic on mind is all hands on with just me. And this is a service that I can add that doesn't take up more of my time. It definitely is a value add for the patients. And on the revenue side, it's something that I can bring money in that doesn't necessarily involve taking up a lot of my time.

Okay. So one is obviously it's, it's, it's a different business model than adjusting people to, you know, you don't have to be a chiropractor necessarily to work with people on weight loss. So you don't need an associate which, you know, if you're going to have somebody adjusting other people in your office, you obviously need that. What, you know, like, because I always think about like what makes someone want to do this in their chiropractic clinic. So like what initially made you kind of think of bringing this in and having that idea?

Really? Money. It's a lot of times as a business owner you're trading your time for money. And this is something that I didn't have to trade my time to still be able to make a pretty good chunk of money, which I'm sure we'll get to later on that into things.

Yeah.

So being able to have an additional revenue stream and something that again, people pay for losing weight, people pay for vanity, right?

Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of times, like, I mean, because I've obviously asked the question in the, in, in the chiropractic space is like, hey, does weight loss belong in the chiropractic space? You know, and obviously I think you have thoughts on that. But I would love to hear that because some people are like, no it doesn't. And then others are like well of course it does. But like, what are your kind of like thoughts on that?

I would say yes, it, it definitely belongs. Whether they're 10 pounds overweight or 110 pounds overweight for the most part. What's bringing a patient into the door on chiropractic is something pain related. Whether it's the back pain, the knee pain, hip, whatever it would be. When you're carrying extra weight, it's harder on your joints. Even 10 pounds if you've got somebody with a smaller frame. 10 pounds makes a huge difference compared to, you know, a 200 pound, 6 foot man, 10 pounds might not be that big of a difference, but when you're Talking more like 110 pounds, I mean, half of my world every day is people walk in the door because they hurt for one reason or another. And losing weight, taking that weight off the joints alone, but then the inflammatory process that comes along with being so overweight, the cortisol levels, the gut health, the liver health, all of the different things that just makes people hurt more in general on top of truly actually carrying the extra weight. So I would say 100%. There's. That was probably at least six reasons. Just real quick as to why it should be in a chiropractic office.

Yeah. And I mean, pretty much every. Every reason you listed off was, you know, more of a health benefit, you know, but then, like, what about the other benefits of, like, talking about the financial side, like, why would someone want to bring in versus there's obviously tons of other niches out there that chiropractors can bring into their clinic. But, like, how does this complement, you know, some of the other things that you're doing in your office, but from a completely different standpoint, maybe more on the business side.

So from the business side, for starters, like we've already mentioned, I'm not so hands on, on having to do this on the front end, kind of getting people enrolled. But after that, I've got my physician assistant who's handling a lot of the things. We've got a coach that helps with getting the whole app program set up, which is awesome as far as patients being able to bounce back to that and follow the program on that. And it's not something that I'm holding their hand on a lot. So again, the whole trading time for money, so the financial and the ROI has been amazing on that end. And on chiropractors, we get sold on different things all the time. And Trust me, through 17 years, I've put a lot of money into a lot of things that have not even come close to making me what VIP has been on the return on investment without me actually having to put a whole lot of hours day by day into it.

Yeah, that's. That's amazing. So let's talk a little bit about kind of two things, because one, we'll talk about vip, like, why the nutrition plan, why you feel like it's. It works really well. And then we'll kind of get into the bass business aspect of it. But, like, why. What are maybe like one or two things about the nutrition plan that you feel like are really beneficial? Not only for your clients, but for yourself at the same time.

Well, first off, you're eating real foods. It's not pre packaged foods. And you're making what you're going to eat. The foods are laid out in a simple format as far as, like, meal prep and meal planning. I mean, it's. It's meats, it's fruits, it's vegetables. You even get carbs. What diet have most people been on that you get carbs and they teach you how to pair the things together? You're not cutting out any one food group. We eat dessert, ice cream bars on this program, and it's okay, it's plan approved, and we're still losing weight. My husband and I personally lost over 100 pounds in a pretty short period of time. Literally going out to dinner with friends, still out to eat, eating things at home again, you know, eating dessert. My delicious red pepper soup we have here today. So it's all real foods. And I've had other weight loss programs in our office that are super restrictive. We've had patients in our office who do other, like, MLM sort of programs. And it's prepackaged meals. Well, that's all great. You lose the weight. But what happens when you have to go back to eating real foods? So when you're eating real foods all along, and when the foods are designed to help heal your liver, help heal your gut, that's part of the problem with people anyway is that stuff is so sludged up and not functioning right that it's keeping them from losing the weight to begin with, let alone trying to keep it off.

Yeah, no, that's good. Like, kind of what I'm hearing is, you know, there's a system, there's a. There's a program. And, like, you don't have to, like, think about cutting out.

It's easy to follow.

Yeah, I think, you know, kind of the whole diet stigma is like, I can't eat sugar. I can't do this. And so it's more about what you can't do. And kind of what I'm hearing is this is more about what you can do and focusing on that.

And I would say it's much less of a diet than it is like a lifestyle. Diets, I feel, like, have a beginning and an end, and they just by nature feel super restrictive. And this is not that at all.

Yeah, that's amazing. And then let me ask you this, like, as far as the, you know, client side, like, what are some of the things that you're seeing from Results with clients. I mean, obviously you have your own story where you're kind of like a walking testimonial where you, you're for sure, you walk your talk. And I, I love that about you. And your story is like. And that, that's what I really think, that the whole health space is missing is, you know, it's like there's a lot of people that offer diet programs, but it's like they should be the number one client on the diet program. What I love about you and what you're doing is you. You're actually like walking the talk. So can you talk a little bit about what this has done for your clients as far as results? And then obviously, you guys have both lost a combined hundred pounds, which is amazing in itself.

So the biggest things I'm hearing from my clients, we keep kind of coming back to gut health, but just a lot of the digestive issues, the heartburn, the chronic upset stomach, digestion, bloating, even the ability to go to the bathroom on a regular basis, that's a huge thing. And energy is another one. I'm hearing a lot of things on patients from just getting their energy back. People who've tried a bunch of different other programs and not gotten results and able to get results with this hormone balances. Some of our pre menopausal. Menopausal women who. Everything from the hot flashes to the not being able to sleep at night, getting their hormones back on track, truly, just by eating real foods that are on this program, because it's helping to rebalance everything. We've talked about pain a few times, fatigue being the huge thing. Gosh, it's all across the board. Energy. Energy is a huge one. Yeah. Gut health, the hormonal balance, gosh, yeah, people are getting great results and they're not killing themselves to do it.

Yeah, no, that's amazing. And then I know one of the big things is, is a lot of times with, you know, weight loss programs, people are committed for six weeks, you know, eight weeks, 12 weeks, and then they kind of go back to normal behavior. Can you talk about maybe like the resign rate of your clientele and like, what, you know, percentage of people resign in this program and continue on.

So as far as resigns go, there's a couple, a couple different routes on that. And the things. First off, you know, if they've hit their goal weight and they're like, I truly don't want to lose any more weight, but they're maintaining, they're still sticking with the food program on that and that's where this app comes in. But we also do weekly zoom accountability calls. So even though you're at where you need to be, we just got through Christmas and holidays and let's be honest, nobody follows what they're supposed to do during that time. But our clients have found it a lot easier to stick with. Again, we're still real foods and Christmas is all about sweets and holiday cookies and whatnot. And they're like, I even found that I was able to eat just, you know, a couple bites of my favorite cookies and put it aside, I didn't need it. And, and then still just get right back on track. So having that accountability where you. Not that they have to check in, but they're choosing to check in every week still. So resigns for the people who truly still need to lose more weight, for them it's a no brainer. It's been a non issue because they see that the program works and they're sticking with it. The ones who are more on the maintenance end, they're signing up still keeping up with the accountability into things, keeping up with the app stuff. They're just coming off of the peptide for the most part because they don't feel that they need it. So yeah, when you are truly like changing your lifestyle to keep this food plan up, which is easy and sustainable to follow, it just keeps it easy. So the resigns are not a big deal at all.

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, and I know like there's a lot of people that are, you know, they, they're against the peptides. But I know in our program and kind of like what you're doing is where our goal is to make sure people stay on a lower dose. And I think, can you speak into a little bit? Because I think there's some negative stuff around that but like we don't really see the negative effects of those because I feel like our clients on a very minimal dose and so we don't really see the, the same effects as what people might say in the marketplace. But can you speak to that a little bit?

For sure. So as you said, our program is designed to keep the dose lower anyway. And part of that is because the foods involved are to help heal the liver and the gut, which helps to speed up your metabolism and get things back on track anyway, keeping you able to be on the lower dose. Now with that said, we do have our medical provider that sometimes people do need to go up a little bit in dose, but we're not seeing that big jump in dosage like, if you're just going to your primary and here it is, and, you know, here's a shot and hope that you got something to go along with it. Having the support that goes along with our program has made a huge difference on that. And if somebody does have any kind of issues with, like, indigestion or headaches or nausea, there's protocols in the program that help combat that. And we're able to just point them back to those different things in the app or talk with Kim, our registered dietitian, like, hey, any other suggestions on this? And more often than not, when they are having some sort of issue, it's because they're putting something into their body. They shouldn't be like, oh, well, I just went and ate a big fatty cheeseburger with bacon and whatever on it. Like, the fatty things tend to be the bigger things or higher sugar or alcohol. So just kind of redirecting them back to the program, and then they realize after they've kind of straightened theirselves back out a little bit. You're right. This is what I did, and it definitely did make a big difference. But when somebody's just getting a shot from their primary or some other clinic that doesn't have a plan in place for them, they don't have somebody to bounce those things off of. So, yeah, just having the whole plan in play makes a huge difference.

That's amazing. So, you know, to kind of go back. So you. You started the weight loss business in, I think it was March of last year. We started kind of working together with marketing and kind of helping you get that launched. And then you brought VIP in, in, I think, June revenue. What have you been able to do in revenue since you kind of started this in March of last year? Just, I think it was like nine months of 2024.

Yeah, I think we just looked at the end of the year, it was close to $400,000 in additional revenue just from adding the weight loss programs to our office. That's cash, by the way. That's not insurance reimbursements. That's 100% cash. And that's, for the most part, me being hands off. So, I mean, my Cairo office made about double that, but that's 100% me, hands on my time for money. And I was able to literally add an extra third of revenue to my income for the office without me really having to be too involved. So that it's huge. I mean, how do you add an extra $400,000 and I only have my practitioner there two days a week. So if somebody was five days a week doing this, gosh, they'd really go gangbusters.

What. Yeah. What do you think is, you know, let's say you took away some of your hours as a chiropractor. Like, what do you see as this as a possibility if maybe you were able to be a little bit more involved in it?

So as far as taking hours away, I just added an associate docu. She will hopefully be licensed in the next 30 days or so. So it will be less me having chiropractic hours and more training her for chiropractic hours. So that's going to give me the chance to be able to get out and do some more marketing on that and whether truly just be some of the Facebook stuff that we do. But even talking to other practitioners, different medical providers that I. We have a pretty good relationship with multiple medical doctors in our area that they see patients all the time who they can't get the peptides approved through their insurance. So nobody wants to spend twelve hundred dollars a month at the pharmacy when it's not covered. And we've got some way more reasonable, affordable options. So getting that referral stream built up is something I'm looking forward to. And again, these primary docs don't have a plan for them. They're just like, here's your script and go. And if they don't even know if they even went and picked it up until they see them six months from now and find out it didn't get covered. So I'm. I'm looking forward to being able to add that source of referrals.

Yeah, that's amazing. And so, you know, you launched this March of last year. We, you know, you've been able to do $400,000. Primarily the marketing that you utilize was kind of the organ marketing system.

Yes.

That we teach and then obviously referrals and stuff like that. And you know, I always say you're a walking billboard, you and your husband as it is. So, you know, because I think a lot of times people think, well, hey, how much did you have to pay? You know, Facebook ads or do marketing? But 100% of this, you know, was organic marketing.

Correct.

And I think that's what's really powerful in that. And then, I mean, I, I think there's a. Definitely a potential to double the revenue that you've done this year just by being able to, you know, because you're what other people may not know. You're a solo chiropractor and have been and you were able to actually roll this program out and do that revenue, which is kind of like unheard of.

Yeah.

So tell me, tell me why, like, well, tell me why someone should do this program if they are a chiropractor.

So again, you're not trading time for money for starters. Again, we can only truly personally see so many people in a day. So being able to diversify your income and that you're not so hands on with it. I said my ROI has been huge. So again, as kairos, we get sold on all kinds of stuff all the time that doesn't give you roi or that does mean you're putting more time into, into the mix, taking up more of your personal time in office and yeah, it's the complete opposite of that. So someone else is handling a lot of it and we're just bringing in the money.

Yeah. What do you think? Like the top one or two things that have really helped you with the roi the most, like in the program.

So big thing getting the accountability program on that. So since our program is different than again, just getting a shot, having the support that goes along with it, I mean, they can get a shot pretty much anywhere. But there are very few places that I've seen around my area and we've got a lot of places that are doing just shots, but they don't have a whole program, a whole plan put together, let alone support with like the zoom calls, the accountability. We've got a private Facebook page for our group too. So people can ask any questions at any time. And it's not that it's just out there in the world. I mean, Facebook, you know, it's social. So when you've got these private pages, people can ask things. Weight loss is a pretty private thing and people might have some semi embarrassing questions, but everybody is in this all together. So just having that support, that community, that forum, to be able to have a safe space to go through their questions, comments, concerns, and having a plan, I mean, that's really kind of helps our patients not just get to goal, but stay on track and just have a community that goes along with it. And I think that's the big difference between what we're doing with VIP compared to places that just don't have that.

Awesome. And then as far as like, you know, because I know there's a lot of times we, we purchase like niche services and niche things, but like they don't come with marketing.

Right.

Or any of those. And that's kind of the difference between making money and not making Money, Right. What is that kind of helped you with, you know, these last nine months?

Well, and as you mentioned earlier, too, that, I mean, it's all organic marketing through our own personal Facebook page. So we're not dumping money into advertising or print ads or Facebook ads that don't necessarily have the return on investment. This is truly just organic, like fishing from your own pond. So you're stocking your pond, you're filling your pond, you're feeding your pond and having the system for how it's all laid out with the marketing on that end. It's been really easy, really, really seamless. Sometimes it's a lot because you do get a lot of feedback from people. But, man, the, the time that you're putting into that part of it, you're truly, like, seeing the benefit almost immediately. So it's definitely worth it. Where I've done print ads for different things, and I promise you, we haven't seen hardly anything for that. You just hope the ad even went out.

Yeah, no, that's amazing. Any. Any last words for maybe a chiropractor or health professional watching this that you would have for them on, like, them thinking about either getting started or. Or not getting started?

The biggest thing I would say is it may seem like a chunk of money on the front end as far as an initial investment, but again, the ROI on my end, I would, hands down do it again tomorrow in a heartbeat. If you're truly looking to make more money on something that doesn't trade your time for money. I know I keep going back to that, but as a busy office, I don't have more me time. So if you've been on the fence on doing something that costs money. Yes, but what you get back, I mean, gosh, I. I'd have to do the percent. My ROI is hundreds times of what I initially invested. And like you said, that was just me being a solo practitioner last year. So this year having more help on the Cairo end is just going to give me more time to be able to just make this explode. And it was pretty gangbusters this past year. So if you're on the fence, just get off of it and get rolling.

Well, that's awesome. Well, hey, I want to thank you so much for being on here, being a part of the VIP weight loss system. We appreciate you. We're excited just to see what you do in 2025 and. And so thanks so much for being a part of our family.

Absolutely. Thanks for having me. It's a great program.

You're welcome. Hey, if you guys want to if you guys want to find out more information about the VIP weight loss system, go ahead and go down into the show notes. Click on the VIP weight loss system. If you want to find out about Christy, maybe ask her some questions, there's also going to be a link in the show notes directly to her. She's a walking billboard, walking testimonial.

The purpose of this show the purpose of this show is to guide you to realign with habits that get you to live the life. Live the life you've always dreamed of. This this is the Habit Based Lifestyle podcast with Jesse Jewel. This is the habit based lifestyle where you can access your full potential right now. Finally break free from destructive habits. That dream life. If you want it, you can have it. This is where you transform your health, mind, business and relationships. Or do it. Own nothing and keep your life the way it is. But if you're ready for change, you're in the right place. This is where you're gonna learn how to live a habit based lifestyle. You are tuning in to the Habit Based Lifestyle podcast with your host, Jesse Yule. This is the habit based Lifestyle. Let's go.