Secrets to Mastering Your Own Health (And Getting Doctors to Work WITH You)

It is a dangerous pathway to be dependent on prescription medication as the solution to your health. And many times that comes from the doctor's direction on where they want to lead you for your health. I'm going to help you to advocate for your doctor to work with you for a different solution, or give you the tools if you need to, to find a new doctor. I also want to talk about some strategies that can help you to lower your insulin right now. And I also want to give you some tips on exercising and how you can help your metabolism. We have a lot to talk about today, so just get ready because I know it's going to be life-changing for you. And let me tell you, I am here to give you the tools and the resources that you can use right away to change your health, because what we're seeing now is that doctors do not have the answer. And I'm gonna go over some ways that you can help the situation. And trust me, you need this because if you are considering your health for the next decade, two decades, three decades from now, then you're gonna need to know exactly what needs to happen for you, uh, to have the best plan possible to prevent disease and also to reverse disease. And one of the things that I usually do, even with my own clients, is I help them to become their own doctors. So today, I want to transition you to become the CEO of your health. And no longer are you looking at your doctors like they're daddy doctors and they're gonna just tell me what to do. Most of them, you're gonna find out, don't know what to do. And I am not saying that I am anti-doctor. I love doctors and they are special gifts. But what I am finding out is that they just don't have it in them to have the solutions that you need. And so you need to become your own doctor almost. And, uh, there's some steps that you can take where you can really become smarter than your own doctor, or you can help him to journey and to transition him to team up with you to find a better plan. Now, before we move forward, make sure that you just take the time to hit that subscribe button, uh, like and share this episode because we're going to cover a lot, and this is going to help the patient, those who are going to the doctor and/or dealing with some issues in their health. This is going to help you to take the power back in your own hands and know exactly what you need to do. That's what I'm here to share with you. So make sure you hit that subscribe button because we're going to journey through some amazing things, and there is so much more I want to talk about concerning your health that will empower you. I understand how doctors operate, and I am not, you know, against doctors. I love doctors. They are needed. Guess what? Especially when we are really dealing with some sickness and really need them. I've gotten to the point where really doctors are mainly needed for like breaking a leg, surgery, blood work, but they're not going to help you with your chronic disease because your chronic disease requires an standing in physiology, all right? Not pharmacy, not prescription. This is physiology versus prescription when it comes to doctors. And doctors are good with prescription. They are not good with physiology. They don't understand oxidative stress and, uh, cell functioning and how the cell membrane even works. They don't understand mitochondrial dysfunction. When you mention those things to them, they're not gonna have answers for you. So what you gotta do is step back for a moment and just understand they are human beings. And when I tell you, when they go to medical school, they don't get education on nutrition. They don't. As a matter of fact, doctors are sometimes considered to be one of the unhealthiest group of people in that particular professional. And what they found out too is that there, there are high suicidal, uh, numbers with doctors, and that's because they are severely overworked and super stressed, and they don't have as much freedom as you think they have. And actually, I— the more I understand doctors and their role and their limitations, even the more I really feel bad for the position that they're in, because anytime you're in a position where you have so much demand on you. Like, people are coming in thinking that doctors are going to fix their solutions and fix their problems, and then the doctor really don't know. And honestly, sometimes they may see their patients come in and they're getting worse. Do you know how stressful that can feel to be in a profession that you're supposed to be an expertise in and you really can't still solve people's problems. There's a lot of doctors that have said how shameful they felt from being in that position, or even the patient is looking at their bellies or looking at, you know, how they're looking, or maybe saw them outside smoking a cigarette before they came in and just kind of judging them, maybe, you know. And I'm sure a lot of people do it. They see an overweight nurse or doctor come in and they're kind of looking like if you can't get your own health together, what does that look like for me? And it's kind of scary. And they know deep down inside that that's happening to them, that, that, that there's judgment there. So imagine how stressful that can be. And then when you're in an environment where there's so much dependency on you to be able to solve problems but you are restricted, then that creates a lot of stress. There is no more stressful of a job than a job where you have high expectations, but you have low levels of freedom and fluidity and adaptability to be able to change things the way you see fit. When a doctor goes to their supervisors a lot of times to say, hey, I'm noticing this, or can we change this direction, or, you know, I'm starting to, learn or research some other things that could be helping, they often get snapped on by their leaders. And I don't even want to name some of the stuff, um, or say some of the stuff that's been said to them that doctors have admitted to, where when they went to the, their, you know, manager or whatever, or the top of the organization, like Chayne, they, you know, said what they were experiencing and gave real case studies of what was happening, and they got shut down, pushed to the side, you know, cussed out, um, you know, told, you're not a nutritionist, you do your job, you know, your job is to prescribe medicine. And, and just, and even manipulated, even for their job. I know during some of the times, uh, with COVID there were doctors who knew that there was medicine that could help their patients and they were tired of seeing people die, and they had researched some medicine and saw the studies of this particular medicine and how well it was doing. As a matter of fact, there's a doctor in Chicago that has not lost one patient to COVID because he was an advocate of this particular medicine. And this medicine is called ivermectin, by the way. I do want to say that. And so he understood and he educated the community, other doctors about this medicine, but they did not want to give it to the patients. And sometimes the patients had to ask for it and beg for it and still wouldn't get it because this medicine was very cheap and it just fixed the problem right away. And there was possibly some other agendas that were going on during that time. And so there was some doctors that actually got fired because they gave their patient the medicine of ivermectin, and the managers were mad even though their patients lived. So why are you mad as a leader, as a manager of the organization, of the hospital, whatever that looks like, and this person just saved somebody's life? And when they would interview some of these doctors, they would say, I could not even think about trying to save my job when someone is dying. You know, I, I would I would not be able to live with myself. I did what I knew was going to keep them alive, and if this person had died on my watch, I would not have been able to move forward. The rapport with myself would have been compromised. And so I did what I did, but some of them lost their jobs for that. And that is how bad it is in this entanglement. There are many doctors, uh, who said that they did not renew their membership with the American Medical Association and they remember getting that letter or the invitation into being a part, and they remember feeling just so amazed and just, wow, I'm a part of the American Medical Association. And only to find out it was— they were full of it, most of them, and they were not doing things the right way, in a way where, like, they could really help people, or were not prioritizing the well-being of you know, people who needed help with certain chronic diseases. And so they stopped, you know, they stopped their membership because they said, this is not, this is not going well. And so what we have to understand about doctors is that they really just kind of know how to look for just markers, like this is red, this is too low, this is too high. And here's a medicine to help with that. You know, so if LDL is high, here's a statin drug. Vitamin D levels are low, here's a supplement, vitamin D. And then they don't even give them D3, they give them D2. So they see something wrong and then they know that there's a medicine that's supposed to work with this, right? And so they are not versed in being able to interpret your blood work. So they don't— they're not going to dissect the pieces, they're not going to ask any questions, they're not going to say, hey, is your cholesterol high? Because you know, you just had some type of trauma, or you had an accident, or you had a death in the family, or you just got over a sickness. Because cholesterol levels will increase at times if the body needs to be healed. And so they're not— they don't even have time to ask questions. Again, they're stressed, they're overworked. Then you come in there, they only got a limited amount of time. They supposed to get so many people in their office and so many people off. They work with the pharmaceutical industry, so they're supposed to get so many prescriptions written. And, you know, I guess whatever time frame they're supposed to have it in. And then you come in and you've been dealing with inflammation and back pain, and you got high blood pressure, and you're having some memory problems and chronic stress, and you can't sleep at night, and your blood sugar levels are high, and you got a lot of questions. They don't have time to answer those questions for you. They just do not. And they don't really know the answers either. This is what you have to know. So you have to be empowered and I'm going to help you to know what you need to say to your doctors, even to see how well you're doing, because there's a particular test that you can ask for even to see how well your blood sugar numbers are doing, even 10, 15 years before you start having problems. And they don't even advocate for this test. There are people right now in their 20s and 30s and younger, uh, or even in their teens, who can ask for a fasted insulin test. To see what that number is. And that test can help you to know if you are starting to get too high with your fasting insulin levels, with how much insulin your body is using, to be able to tell you, okay, maybe it's time to start lowering the carbs a bit. You know, these refined carbs are starting to bring your insulin levels high. And the sad thing is most doctors don't even know this test exists. Actually, if you ask them, can I have a fasted insulin test? They, they might say, what is that? What exactly is that? And of course, if they don't know what it is, they're not going to give it to you. And most times you can't advocate or you can't get advanced testing from your regular doctor. So you have to kind of know what to say. And if you are getting a fasted insulin test, by the way, I think the normal range they have it at is, I want to say, 25 MIU per milliliter. And really, it should be under 10. Uh, it's almost near perfect if you get— can get it somewhere between 2 and 6, but under 10 is, is pretty good. But they have the normal rate at like 25, and that's way too high. If you start going over 10, you have knowledge now that your insulin levels are starting to go up. And so you want to be able to ask for this particular test because this test can give you a lot of information, and what you need is information. But doctors won't know what this test is, and if you have a good doctor, you'll have a doctor that's kind of curious about this. And so, you know, you can come to them and say, you know what, hey, I saw an article in The Lancet, and they'll know what that is, and they may listen to you just because you mentioned that and they know it's the British Medical Journal. And so, if you use language like that, I saw an article that just talked about, you know, if we knew our insulin, our fasting insulin levels, you know, ahead of time, this could give us some great information even 10, 15 years down the line at what our blood sugar numbers are going to start doing because these fasting insulin levels start to increase before they start to affect our blood sugar levels. And I just want to be preventative and very proactive. With understanding these numbers and being able to have some kind of tool that can guide me into the behavior patterns and the habits and the choices I need to make with my health. Because as we see, diabetes and high blood sugar issues and insulin resistance is a, you know, is an epidemic, and it's happening with so many people. And I want to do something different that maybe other people have not done. And so when I saw this article, it gave me the information that I need. You know, maybe you can print out some information or give your doctor a book or, you know, whatever the information is that you've gathered, show it to your doctor and let them know you're not just coming off a whim. You know what you're talking about. You've done your research. See, doctors will listen more if they feel like you're educated. If you come to them uneducated and you're just, you know, being opinionated or telling them what you heard and what you think, they're not going to always listen to you. And The good thing is if you can get your doctor to change directions, then not only are you saving yourself, but you're also saving all the other patients that that doctor works with. And so I want to give this information because we need to start tugging doctors, you know, let's tug them a little bit. Let's pull their little collar and say, hey, hey, hey, you know, can we do something different? Because what is being done is not working. I'm still on medication. I still have high blood pressure issues. I, you know, want to wean myself off. My blood sugar numbers are not improving. Something is not right, and I want to figure this out. And so there needs to be an advocation. There needs to be this advocate approach to say, listen, we got to do things different. Will you work with me to do this? And they're not like— don't let your doctor come across like Daddy Doctor, like, no, uh, you, you know, no, this is what you need to do. Like, they're— no, actually, they work for you. You work for me. I pay you. So either we're going to come up with a plan, and if I can't change my doctor, I'm going to change my doctor. You know what I mean when I say that, right? If I can't change you, I'm going to change you. Like I'm going to switch over and go to a different doctor. And so we have to make sure that we are communicating, and don't be shy and just let them tell you what they want to tell you, because doctors don't know what they're talking about. I'll never forget, I had some lab work done and my cholesterol levels were great, my triglycerides were low, HDL was high, no insulin problems, blood work is great, everything was great, right? Except I think my LDL level was high because I tend to eat a lot of saturated fats from fatty meats. And they put a little red flag on, on the number, uh, didn't pay attention to the triglycerides or anything, and told me that I needed to exercise more. It was like a note that they put on my lab work: make sure you're exercising more, and you know, that you're eating a balanced diet. You know, and it was just the most generic— like, if I really was having a problem, you are not going to be the person to fix it because it was just the most generic information. They're telling me to work out more. I already work out 6 days a week, so you don't know what you're talking about. You did not get to know me and my physiology. All you cared about is, you know, your approach and, and the way you do things. And I get it. You don't have time, nor do you have the knowledge. And so— and by the way, there are a lot of doctors that are getting the knowledge. Thank God they are getting it. They're researching, they're starting to, um, do their own work. They're starting to even get certified in other areas, you know. So there are some amazing doctors out there, but the problem is, is that they don't understand physiology. They're, they're not understanding how the body works. And that's why they can throw Ozempic out and throw medicine your way here and there and everywhere. And, you know, I have clients that's been on medication for like 10, 15 years. Doc— the doctor has never once gave them another route. Listen, if you are in that situation, I don't care if it's been 1 year, I don't care if it's been 6 months, if your doctor has not mentioned a different route to try to help to reverse this disease or to prevent some more damage, all you're going to do is get worse because the medicine is going to masquerade what's really happening in the body, which is usually, you know, inflammation or chronic stress or insulin resistance. So I'm going to talk about some ways that you can naturally reduce your insulin right away. But what I do want you to know is that You have to first find a good doctor that is going to work with you, not daddy doctor, okay? I'm talking about, you're my partner, this is a consultation, you know, you're, you're working with me, we're a team. But first you have to be educated, because if we're a team, I got to be educated on my own body. Now let me say this, if you are somebody who has been put on medication, especially cholesterol, because Doctors just throw statin drugs like it's candy on Halloween, okay? And so you want to make sure that you're not on a medication that you don't need to be on, first of all, because that happens a lot. There are people on medication that don't need to be on medication. So you need to know that for yourself. Am I really supposed to be on medication? Now, if you are, listen, I'm not telling you to come off your medication. I'm just saying make sure that you're supposed to be on the medication. Other than that, if you are— let's say you're on the right track and you, you have changed some lifestyle habits and you're doing everything right and you feel great, you feel limitless, you wake up, you're energized, your blood number, your blood sugar numbers are well, your blood work is well, there's nothing wrong with you, but your doctor is trying to push you in a crazy direction, don't listen to it because they don't know you better than you know yourself. Your body speaks to you. You understand yourself. I need you to get in tune with yourself even more so that you can understand your health and your physiology, because your doctor isn't going to quite understand it. And you do have the power to possibly change him for the better, or her for the better, or you have the power to get a new doctor that's going to work with you for your long-term health plan. But if you're feeling great and you're feeling energized, you never felt better in your life, then stick with what you know. Because like, for example, there are some people who are in their 60s and they're like, I changed my eating habits, I prioritize, you know, healthy whole foods, I'm not doing a lot of processed sugar and processed refined carbs, and I feel great. And maybe their numbers do go up. Sometimes your LDL numbers go up when you are eating a little bit more saturated fats. But that may be because you decided to do a ketogenic diet. And then doctors will get mad that your LDL numbers are going up even though your triglycerides are going down and your HDL numbers are going up. And they'll say, no, I still think I need to put you on a drug. And it's like, why? I've lost 50 pounds, I've gained this many pounds of muscle, I feel energized, I'm sleeping through the night now, I don't have anxiety, the pains in my joint have left, and you're telling me I should still get on medicine. No, I think I'm gonna pay attention to my body and I'm gonna know that something good is happening because these are all symptoms that would not go away any other way. And so just, you know, you got a gut feeling about yourself and your well-being, whether it's good or bad. Like, some people have a gut feeling that something's going wrong and their doctors are like, no, everything's fine, nothing's wrong. And it's like, no. And that could be— you have some people whose cholesterol is too low, and that starts to affect their brain capacity and their ability to memorize things and stay focused. And so they'll go to the doctor and say, something's not right, I'm not able to focus, I'm having blackouts, I feel like I'm drained, uh, something's not right. And it's like, well, everything looks great. They're not gonna ever tell them I think your cholesterol is a little too low actually, and you're probably stripping the fat from your brain. And so maybe you need to do some healthier omega-3, you know, fatty acids, maybe a supplement, eat a little bit more wild-caught salmon and, you know, sardines, or just include some more omega-3 in your diet, maybe some more eggs or something. Doctors are not going to tell you that, right? And so, because they don't even know They have no idea about certain things. They get the blood work, they see the red zone, they give medicine. That's it. That's about the extent of it, except they decide to wake up and be educated. And so I need you to know this. You have to understand this from their perspective in order for you to be empowered and say, you know what, if they don't know and I don't know, then where does that leave my future? No, somebody's got to know, and it's going to be me because it's my life and it's my body, and I am supposed to be stewarding well over this life in this body. So I wanted to kind of help you to understand that. Now here's what you can do. Now, like I said, first of all, first up, you know, use some language. Tell them you read an article, bring them a book. Hey, I saw this book here that talked about how, you know, a ketogenic diet actually started to reverse you know, all of these people's diabetes, you know, have you ever given this a thought or maybe thought about suggesting this to your patients? And it's interesting how the health organization pays, you know, a surgeon hundreds of thousands of dollars to reroute basically, you know, the, the heart or restructure it a bit to get better blood flow, but they won't pay a nutritionist to actually reverse the damage of heart disease. And hypertension and, you know, high triglyceride levels now, but they'll, they'll pay a surgeon to reroute it. That, that doesn't fix the problem. You still gonna have problems if you're still doing the same things that got you that heart disease, and that is what is not being addressed. And so we need to find a way to really communicate in a diplomatic way with our doctors that we have learned that there are other ways in reversing chronic disease, and I'm interested to explore these different opportunities of making sure that I can reverse this. Or either if you want to be preventative and ask them, are you willing to journey that with me, doctor? Because I pay you and you work for me, really. Like, are you, are you interested in that? Because you are a doctor, right? You do care about your patients and you do care about making your patients well. And that should be the heartbeat of your, your passion and why you do what you do, is that I want to see people well. I want to see them reverse, you know, disease. I want to prevent them from reversing disease. Isn't that why you became a doctor? Or did you become a doctor just to pay your bills? Because that's going to make a difference. And you can't team up with a doctor that's just there to pay bills and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, just, just take this medicine. I love what I do. I'm doing this right now to be able to empower people to take back their health and live a longer, more prosperous life. I don't know about a doctor, but that is why I spend hours and hours researching and understanding and listening to case studies and exploring and investigating and studying and giving my time to educate and to give the tools and to give what I found out. Do I know everything? I don't, but I am certain that you got a student right here. And so that's another point, because if your doctor will not work with you to find alternative solutions, then you do have to change doctors. And when you change doctors, you don't want to look for convenience, okay? You want to look for a good doctor that will actually have your best interest at hand. And if you are like Googling or you're searching for a good doctor, you want to make sure that you are looking for words like nutrition or comprehensive lifestyle or advanced lab testing. You want to search for things like that. As a matter of fact, really good doctors are sometimes found on social media, and those are becoming really good doctors because they're interested and finding real solutions because they're, they're now content creators. So now I have to give out and educate and give content. So that means I have to study. And sometimes the best route is to find a younger doctor because sometimes if you have an older doctor, they're stuck in their ways and they do not want to change. Older people don't like to change, and I'm sorry, Um, they just don't. They're not flexible, they're not adaptable, they don't have the capacity to be, you know, able to just let their ego go and be a student and just keep learning. They are set with what they think, what they feel, what they believe, or they don't want to compromise their income because there is financial gain for the consumer staying sick and there are incentives for writing prescriptions and sending people to the pharmaceutical industry. And so you're gonna want to find a doctor that is educating. Maybe they're on social media. You know, like I said, you can Google some of those words— lifestyle, alternative medicine, functional medicine. Usually if you have somebody who is in functional medicine, they are more geared towards the— your functionality. So that's what that means, is that they, they specialize in making sure that your functionality is adjusted, and that's the approach they take. Now do beware, because there are some, you know, naturopathic, alternative functional medicine doctors that still have an agenda, unfortunately. And I have been to a lot of them just because I loved the exploration of seeing, is this a good doctor? Maybe this is somebody I can recommend to somebody. And so I do things just kind of based out of learning and research often, and also just seeing if I can find a good doctor, you know, who can understand, you know, functional medicine and alternative solutions. But what I find sometimes, and I want to save you the trouble from going down this bunny trail, is that some of them, they are natural and They take the, the natural route, but then they will make you feel like, okay, yes, there's things going on with you, but now you have to take this supplement and you got to take this supplement and this supplement. And before you know it, they have 20 supplements that they're shoving down your throat. And by the way, you know, you should buy them from me. Okay, so well, there's financial gain. Like, we gotta create a problem and make them take 20 different supplements, and now I'm buying them from you. Okay, now this is definitely the same system, is just making me feel a little bit better because it's at least natural. And so some people fall for that. So I'm just saying, be careful. You can sense when a doctor really cares about your well-being, and I definitely know when a doctor cares or don't care. And that's because I care. Like, I care about the people that I work with, and I want them to win. I want them to get over the hump. I feel like if they win, I win, you know, and if they lose, I lose. Like, we're in this together, and that's exactly how you should feel. And, you know, you want— you really want them to get better. Like, this is their life. They got kids and grandkids and a big, huge future to live. Like, why wouldn't you want somebody to extend themselves to be able to experience the beauty of life but you may find some doctors that are not quite interested in that. So just make sure that if you do find a functional medicine doctor or a different type of doctor who specializes in nutrition, that they don't start to over-promote. Like, I get that you're going to probably need some supplements and some things to help out, but if you sense an agenda of like, I'm just trying to make money and I need you to buy all of these supplements just to kind of give me more money, then that's when you gotta move to somebody else. Especially because even sometimes you have to pay larger amounts out of your pocket when you sometimes go to alternative doctors. I know I've had to do it plenty of times, and they tried to promote all kind of stuff. I did— I had one doctor, this is a true story, who tried to give me some machine and say this machine was built in France and— or some other country and it's only built there, and it's able to read every cellular communication in your body and create a report that shows what the future of each lung and your kidneys and all your organs look like, you know, all this stuff. I get we got some, you know, innovative machines, and, you know, we're futuristic when it comes to, you know, being able to get data from the body. I get it, but something seemed a little fishy, you know, with, with this whole thing. Like, how do I know this is true? And if you get hooked up to it, that'll be $600, you know. And it's like, yo, like, I was doing fan before I even came here, so I don't think I need to pay $600 to get hooked up to this machine. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm not trusting what you're saying at this point. And you kind of just can sense that. Like, I could sense that something wasn't right with this doctor. I go outside after an appointment, I left outside, this doctor came outside and lit up a cigarette. I'm like, so you don't know the damage that the cigarettes is doing to your body? Like, that's, that's like basic 101. This ain't even a, uh, this ain't even a competition of which diet to do and the confusion that happens with you know, does this food do that? And then now, oh, this food is good for you and this food isn't, and all of that. Like, everybody knows that you should not be smoking cigarettes. And I'm not— I don't want to continue on with a doctor that's smoking cigarettes because I'm not confident that they are going to give me the right guidance because it's obvious that they, they're not— they're doing that. Not only are they— I'm not expecting them to be perfect, but you're literally doing something that is damaging your lungs and causing cancer, causing an increase of risk, causing an increased risk of lung cancer. And I'm not judging this person at all, you know, because they want to smoke. Maybe, maybe they have an addiction or whatever. I'm not judging them, but I'm just saying I'm not going to feel confident now because if you can do that, I don't know if you are being honest about how I need to operate in my health, if that's something that you're doing. And so I have the right to choose. I choose. And again, somebody else could say, oh well, you know, he still could be a good doctor. He could, he could be a good doctor that helps other people and give them the right advice, but maybe he's just dealing with some extra stress and an addiction. And like I said, doctors are super stressed, so that might just be his vice. I'm not saying it's not, I'm just saying me personally I just lost confidence in that, especially, especially when you're pitching me to pay $600 for some machine to be hooked up on, and then you're trying to pitch me all kind of supplements and stuff like that. You know, it was really bad. It was worse than what I'm even saying. So just make sure that your eyes are open when you're looking for a doctor. Now, you remember to look for a young doctor because they're more adaptable and they change a little bit more, and they're usually found on social media. There is a a movement of also older, the older generation getting on social media, and I absolutely love it. And so, um, that it could be an older person. I'm not saying that it can't be an older person. Just make sure that it's someone who is adaptable and they are a student and they want to learn. That's if you can't get your doctor to change. Your doctor may say, wow, I never heard of that, let me look into this. And they might say, wow, this is something I can offer my patients. Maybe it is somebody who really care about their patients. You know, I say try that route first because again, you won't be the only person affected by it. It will be so many people affected by your tenacity and your courage to be able to, you know, help to educate your doctor or to see if they can give you a different route. Now also, I want to say it doesn't matter if it's two counties over. Be willing to travel for a good doctor. I'm sorry, but I, I wouldn't want you to go to a close doctor who's a horrible doctor who could have your life at stake and have you on medicine that you shouldn't be on, or don't have the solution to be able to give you an alternative direction to your health. Because the truth is, you can change the outcome of your chronic situation, and you can do it yourself a lot of times. And I'm going to go through a few things that you can do right now to reduce insulin, uh, problems, because usually that is the, the situation that's at hand., and so, uh, just make sure that you are, you know, if you won't need to travel, make sure you do that. And then also make sure that you go to a compounding, um, pharmacy. So you want to go to a, a locally owned pharmacist, uh, because really a lot of times people have a lot of questions about their medication. And if you go to like a conventional pharmacy, like at CVS or something, they don't have time. If you think doctors are stressed, pharmacists are crazy— when crazily— pharmacists are super overworked. Like, they have no time to answer questions. They are just— and they are just filling out prescriptions all day. And look at how many people have prescriptions. They do not have time to sit and talk to every single person and give them information on the side effects and just really be patient with them. But a lot of times, compounding pharmacies and locally owned pharmacies do. So make sure that you go to a locally owned pharmacist or pharmacy if you want to get the patience that you need and get your questions answered. It's worth it. And a lot of times locally owned pharmacists, they will have some information about really good doctors because they care a little bit more. They're dealing with patients, they see what some of the complaints are, they're ask answering questions. So they have that connectivity, and that makes it, you know, that makes them care a little bit more. And sometimes they just, they have the resources, and they might, if you ask them, you know, do you know any good doctors that operate, you know, any good oncologists or any good preventative, you know, uh, disease doctors, or, you know, whatever it is that you're looking for, you can ask them, you know, do they know any, and, and ask for the resources there. All right, so Those are the things that I feel like would be really, really useful for you, is to make sure if you're trying to change your doctor, have the language that you need in order to change them in a sophisticated way and get them to jump on board with an alternative approach to your health and preventing disease and even reversing disease. And then also, if that doesn't happen, just making sure that you look for a good doctor Maybe a younger doctor might be a little bit more adaptable to change. Someone who is on social media who is educating, or just look for words like, you know, when you're searching nutrition, you know, uh, comprehensive lifestyle or advanced lab testing, as I stated. And then, you know, make sure that if you got to go 2 counties over or a county over, that you, you do it, you know, because there may be a good doctor somewhere there. And just look through the comments. Even on social media, you can look through comments, and a lot of times people will give information to say, hey, if you're in, you know, Texas, there's a doctor named, you know, whatever. Or if you're in Chicago, you know, this doctor is really good with, you know, immune, you know, boosting immune health, you know. Or this doctor is good with, you know, osteoporosis or whatever. There's a lot of people who are really helping the community out. And so just pay attention to that. All right, one thing I do want to say about the American Diabetes Association is that I just wish that they would just come out and just say something very, very simple like, everybody stop eating added sugar right now. Do not eat any more refined carbs. Right now, and you will have a greater chance of reversing your diabetes than prescription medication will ever have. If the ADA came out and said that, a lot of doctors would listen because a lot of them highly respect the American Diabetes Association. And they won't say anything like this. And a lot of times, a lot of these organizations, they have like Coca-Cola and Kellogg's and all these people who do processed foods and stuff, they have them funding their organizations. So they are very committed to a lot of things that is destructive to our health. So, you know, it's really sad because I know doctors who have actually went all the way up to the chain of command and asked to speak with those in the high places of the ADA and said, hey, can we talk about this? Can we talk about the keto diet? Why are you not advocating for it? Can we talk about the seed oils and how inflammatory they are and how they cause insulin resistance? You have nothing on your website that have to do with that. Can we have a conversation? And they will not respond. I mean, they won't say anything. Just quiet. No response. They don't want to know. And maybe it's because they have no idea, is so far-fetched, it's so extreme to them because they're so stuck on where they've always been headed. Or maybe it's the financial incentives, but they will not change that. And so the reason why I'm going to give you these four, these four steps is because you need to empower yourself. Because I'm telling you, the people in places of power who could bring an end to a lot of this they are not moving. And they will spend billions of dollars on medication and all kind of other stuff, and they will not invest in just making the food better. It's beyond me at this point. Like, it's beyond what I can think through because it doesn't make any sense. And so you have to be empowered. All right, so here are 4 things that you can do to lowering insulin And I take this route because a lot of people are like, okay, how do I deal with chronic stress? Well, that's a little more complex. Like, it could be coming from a lack of sleep, you know, long-term sleep deprivation, or, you know, this overworked sympathetic system. Um, it could be coming from trauma. I mean, it's— you can't just— it's, it's not as easy as being able to just say, okay, 1, 2, 3. Like, I work independently with my clients, and I have to dig deep into their life to figure out where the stress is coming from or the inflammation. You know, it's easy to say, you know, you need to lower inflammation. Well, how? You know, it's not just like 1, 2, 3, always. It depends where's this inflammation coming from. There's investigation that needs to happen. But when insulin is the issue, there's just some simple things that you can do right now to change that. And number 1 is to control your carbs. And try to eat the least processed carbs. If you're a carb eater, try to eat the least processed carbs that you can possibly eat. Let them be whole foods if they're going to be carbs. If I could just tell you to just shift your, you know, direction with the carbs and make sure they're not processed. So if they coming out of bags and boxes, they're processed. Eat real food. If you're going to eat carbs. Some people don't eat a lot of carbs, they do low-carb diets. That's fine, you know, because the body can create its own glucose, you know. But make sure that you are controlling your carbs. Number 2 is to prioritize protein. And protein is very, very important, and especially if you have kids and they eat a lot of junk. We know that kids are going to eat junk, they're going to go to school and eat junk. It's only so much you can control, right? But if they're asking for junk from you, like whether it's chips or something, you know, as parents, you know, it's hard to just say no junk, no chips, no crackers, no nothing for kids. It's very extremely hard. They're kids, um, you know, especially if they're like, they're at a, a healthy metabolic weight. I can see if they're a little overweight, you might want to just have a conversation with them. It's just hard to just say no because you're overweight. You got to really help them to understand that their health is really important and the choices that they're making right now is going to affect them long term. So have the conversations, but honestly, I think the best thing you can do is you change, and they'll see you change. And when they see you change, it'll have way more impact than if you can have a conversation with them, to be honest. So, um, that's just food for thought. But let's say they do want something, you know, hey, can I have a bag of chips? Ask them, have you had any protein yet? Have you had any, you know, maybe some beef jerky, some Greek yogurt? Something, cottage cheese, some type of protein. You know, there's some, you know, baked chicken in the refrigerator, you know, eat that. Or, you know, like just some type of protein. Push them to a protein first because a lot of times if they get to a protein, then they won't have as much room and they don't— won't be as hungry to eat on carbs. A lot of times people are just having cravings at that point And so, uh, protein will bring a little bit of satiation and it will help them to not overeat on the carbs. And so just prioritize protein for yourself. Make sure you're eating your protein. And then what goes with that is number 3 is not to fear fat. So a lot of protein comes with fat and it's good to eat protein with fat. It's not as good to eat protein independently of fat because protein will digest better when it is with fat. It's muscle stimulating and it's anabolic. So it is really good when you do protein with fat. So don't be afraid of the, you know, the fat with protein. Now, when you're dealing with— and I'll get to the last one— but if when you're dealing with insulin levels, If your insulin is low, then your body starts to burn more fat. And if your insulin is high, your body is burning more sugar or glucose. And so you do want to make sure that you are keeping your insulin levels low. And the best way to do this sometimes is to prioritize the protein and eat more fat, because again, it's more fulfilling to the body. And so then you don't overeat on, you know, your carbs. So even with your— any type of carbs that you're eating, I would still eat the protein fats first and save the carbs for last so that you don't overeat on them. Because carbs can be very addictive, and sometimes even when you eat them, they interrupt the communication of your leptin levels. And so then the body doesn't say, hey, you're full. And that's why people can overeat on carbs and they just eat too much of it. And so that's why you can eat bread and then, you know, eat an appetizer full of carbs maybe, and then you will eat um, you know, your main meal. And if you're drinking some kind of drink with it that has sugar in it, you know, you'll ask for a second one. And then, you know, then you're asking for dessert. You know, people come back for extra pizza, extra pasta, extra french fries, extra cookie, another piece of cake. You know, they— they're— it's addictive. And your brain is not telling you and communicating and saying, hey, you had enough. And so people tend to overeat. So save them for last so that you're not overeating, so you're more full when you do eat them. Okay, and then that can help you to balance it. But remember, do not eat refined carbs. Make sure you understand that. And so the whole point is, when you're first starting off, if this is something new to you, prioritize protein and fat. And don't be afraid of the fat, and don't worry about the calories yet. Because calories, yes, they're, they're energy, you know, and, and it is an energy problem often, but we forget about the hormones. And if we're lowering insulin and we're able to get our bodies into fat burning potential, then that's a great start, okay? Because the, the lowering of the hormone insulin is going to get your body to burn more fat, and that's where you want to be. You want to be able to burn more fat. And if you can get your body to burn more fat, you're off to a great start and you don't have to worry about calories. And you're going to stop eating when you're full because you don't have the interruption of sugar throwing off your leptin levels. Okay, now I'm not saying that calories don't matter, but if you hit a plateau eventually after healing, after losing weight, after reversing things, and then you want to start to go over that plateau, then sometimes maybe a little bit of calorie restriction could be good to get over that plateau. But I think the beginning stages is just eat protein, eat healthy fat, and eat when you're hungry, but don't eat when you're not hungry. It's just that simple. Eat when you're hungry, don't eat when you're not hungry. Okay, and then also the fourth thing would be fasting. Fasting is really good because people are living at elevated blood sugar levels all day. You know, you have a good night's sleep, and then as soon as you wake up in the morning, you know, you're eating bagels and croissants and donuts and pancakes and orange juice and, you know, fruit. And as soon as your blood sugar levels drop down, now you're bringing them back up. And then you eat an afternoon snack, whatever that could look like. And then you're bringing your blood sugar levels back up, and then you're, you're eating, you know, dinner, and then maybe a snack after dinner, and then you're just, you're just elevating your blood sugar levels all day. And that's, that's going to prevent you from entering into fat burning level and decreasing the inflammation in your body based off of lowering your insulin levels, right? So fasting is a really good way to put boundaries around some of that and really just restrict your time frame for eating. So if you're like, okay, I'm gonna eat in an 8-hour window, whatever that looks like, 1, 2, 3 meals— that's fine, but outside of those windows, at least I give my body a chance for my blood sugar levels to lower. And so that's always a great way to help the body to burn fat and to get a little bit more metabolically stable, right? And so that is the fourth thing, uh, that is very, very important. Now I have maybe three more things to say that is very important, so I want you to hear this. I'm going to talk about exercise really quick, and then I'm going to leave you with two last things that you want to know about, because it is very important for you to operate and do these things for your health. And I found it to be one of the biggest changes that I could have ever made to see the results that I have even now with my health. And so, uh, the first thing is when it comes to exercising, people are like, well, what do I do? Do I work out? Do I or what do I do? Do I lift weights? Do I do cardio? Um, what is it that I would do as far as exercise to get my body to reverse chronic disease? And there's a lot of ways I can answer this and get very complex about it, but I will not. I will give you this piece of advice: when it comes to exercise, the one that you should do is the one that you will do, okay? The one that you should do is the one that you will do. If you don't plan on going on doing no high-intensity interval training and sprinting, and it's like, that's too much, I don't feel like doing that, don't do do the one you will do, okay? And that's where you start at least, because what you're trying to do is create a habit. And the reason why I say do the one you will do is because the one you will do is the one you will do more frequently. And when we're talking about exercising, frequency is more important than the intensity. So I would rather you do something that you will do several times a week then do something you don't want to do, and then you give it up and you're like, that's— see, this is exactly why I don't like exercising in the first place. I've— this is too much, you know. Like, maybe one day you can get there, but I need you to do what you will do. If you will walk, then walk, because maybe you can do that every single day. If you will do a light jog, do a light jog. If you will cycle, cycle. If you will lift weights and get on some machines, then lift weights. Whatever you will do, do it. You need to be moving. Now, I do prioritize movement even over the exercise, you know, model, meaning that you should be moving and flowing throughout the day with movement, and you shouldn't be sitting down for long periods of time. I think that's going to give you great results if you look up and just realize that you're standing a lot of the day, you're walking, you're moving around. So just make sure you prioritize movement at the end of the day because everybody can do that, right? But if you're just so wondering about like, do I sprint, do I do high intensity, do I take a boxing class, do I do the cycling, do I lift weights, do I, you know, do the bands, you know, what makes you kind of happy, you know what I'm saying? Like, some— something's got to make you a little happier than others when it comes to your exercising, you know. If you're like, I think I can handle the resistance bands, a little bit better. I feel better about that. Let me start there, then do that, because you'll do it more often. And then maybe one day you'll get to say, you know what, I think I want to transition to this, or I want to add this part to, you know, my routine. You know, I just need you to get in the habit of it, because exercise is important for your longevity. So that's what I'll say with that. Now, you'll find me answering this question very, very, uh, detailed and breaking down the complexities and the different ways that we should exercise in the different zones. I'll do that another day, but right now that is what I want to say. That is the wisdom that I want to give you so that it is not complicated, because this whole episode is not meant to be complicated. It's really to break things down in a normal way where you can, right after this episode, go and do what is being said to you that you can do to empower yourself and your health. Now, the last two things I will say is that one of the most powerful things that I realized about myself when it comes to my health is that if I stop eating about 3 hours before bed, I have the best results with my sleep and with my recovery and my metrics, my data the next day. I'm telling you, like, I check my data and a lot of people are saying the same thing. When I eat right before I go to sleep, my pulse rate is higher. That means my heart is overworking itself, and I don't get as much, like, REM sleep that I— as I need, and my heart rate variability is compromised. Like, there's a lot of hindrances that come. And then also, the next day, if you're not getting as much quality sleep, your blood sugar levels will be even higher than on a day that you get good quality sleep. So it's just going to impact you the most when you eat right before you go to bed. It puts your body in an active state, in the sympathetic system, and that is the system that accumulates, you know, stress over time if you're there too much. And really, when you're resting, you really need to be activating the parasympathetic system, the rest and digest system, and you cannot do that when you go to bed with blood sugar levels elevated. If you just didn't get a chance to eat much throughout the day and you really just need to eat a little bit before bed and you're about to go to bed, do not let it be sugar. Let it be protein, you know, because you don't want highly, highly elevated blood sugar levels before bed. But I would suggest that you do not eat before you go to bed. Let your blood sugar levels come down. Go to bed with an empty stomach. That is the top advice for today for you to get the best sleep and the best recovery that your body needs, because Anybody who wants to be preventative with disease or reverse disease, they have to recover their body. They have to put their body in a position to heal itself. Okay? And so I want to say that. And then the last thing I would say is have a faith or a philosophy that keeps your priorities in line. Whether it's a faith or whether it is a philosophy that you live by, you want to have your priorities in line.. And there's so many things in life that matter. Your social connections matter. When people are dying and they're on their deathbed, the major thing that they're thinking about is their relationships and how effective they were, how much they invested in them. That's the biggest regret. You want healthy relationships, you want healthy social connections, because actually, statistically, people who have social connections, strong healthy social connections, they live longer. And there are just some things that matter in life and that should be prioritized. Your family should be prioritized, your children, your grandchildren. The experiences that we have in life with one another, they matter, they matter to our well-being. And so you want to make sure that you have a faith or a philosophy that you live by that can prioritize what really matters in life. And I'm telling you, if you can get your priorities together, then your life will be much more pleasurable to you, and you will reap the benefits and the joy and the peace and the, the quality that you're looking for in this world that you live in. And your priorities will set the stage and create boundaries around toxic behavior patterns, and they will prevent you from crossing over the boundaries that you need to stay within. So I wanted to share that with you because we can do all of these little steps that we talked about today but you need to make sure that first things are first so that second things can be second, and so forth. Your life should be ran by a system, and you need those systems in place in order to have the outcome that you really desire. Don't be fooled, systems mean everything. And so make sure that you prioritize what is most important for your life, your family, and your world. All right. I hope that I gave you enough that you can walk away and be empowered and do some things right now that will change the course of your life forever. Make sure that you also hit that subscribe button. If this has been valuable to you, do me that favor. I will continue to get information to you. Leave in the comments what you would like to hear about, any questions that you have. We are journeying together, and this is wonderful because what better way than to have this connection and do life together with people who have the same values concerning their world, their life, you know, their health. Like, this is exactly what life is all about, and I appreciate it, and I appreciate you. So let's continue to do this together. Make sure you subscribe. This has been another episode of The Health Goat. I'll see you next time.