How to Manage Sugar Cravings

Welcome, welcome. Welcome, Shelley. Welcome, Jennifer. Welcome, Laura. Welcome, Shauna. Happy Friday. Hope you're all doing well. And we'll just wait a few minutes for our friends to tune in. As you're tuning in, let me know what you're grateful for today. Anna says blue skies and shine sunshine. Yeah, it's a sunny day here too. It's really cold, but it's sunny, which is nice. Jennifer says, I'm grateful for the heater in my basement. Keeps you nice and warm, especially in the basement. It's probably cooler. Oh, there it is. Yeah. And I'm just gonna put a reminder in our group here. Hey, welcome, welcome. Hi, Shelley. Good to see you. How are you, Deepa? Good, good, good. Okay, as you're tuning in, let me know what you are grateful for today. And then we will get started in just a few minutes. Welcome, Kim. Kim says, grateful for my 23 pounds of releasing weight. Wow, that is pretty amazing. Congratulations. Thank you. Kelly says, I'm grateful that I was able to be with a friend who is dealing with a cancer diagnosis in her family. That's very nice. Awesome. Okay. So before we get started, we are going to do just a quick check-in, quick body scan. I know some of you might be multitasking, but I always like to just check in and see how we're feeling and tune in. So give me a second. I'm gonna share my music here. Can everyone hear the music? Yeah. Okay, so as we settle in here Just start to become more in tune with your breath, your inhale, your exhale. Don't change your breath, just Observe whether you're breathing fast or slow. And as you become more in tune with your breath, try to slow it down a little bit. Try to take a nice full breath into your belly, your ribs, your chest. Hold it there for a couple of seconds and then exhale. You can exhale out of your mouth. Nice sigh. Drop your shoulders. Pay attention to where you might be holding any tension in your body. Maybe it's your neck. For women, we hold a lot of tension in our upper traps and our neck, so try to soften there. Breathe into that area. Maybe it's your jaw. Maybe it's your temples. Just try to soften wherever you feel some tension. With every inhale, Bring some softness and breath to that area. Try to relax and let it go, whatever stress you're holding on to. Just be with your breath in this moment. Give yourself these few minutes to pause, to reflect, to be present, and to slow down. Continue to breathe in through your nose. And out through your nose or your mouth, whatever you feel more comfortable with. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Whatever you're holding on to, let it go. And bring your heart— your hands to your heart if you wish. Sometimes it's helpful to touch a part of your body, whether it's your, your heart Whatever part needs some love today, your belly. Put your hands on your thighs, whatever feels most comfortable to you. Continue to breathe in through your, through your nose. Long, deep exhales. In through the nose. And out through the mouth. Be in this moment. If your thoughts go astray, just come back to your breath. When we're doing a mindfulness practice, it's not about perfection. It's just about noticing and witnessing. Witnessing what's going on in your breath, what's going on in your body, how you're feeling, without judgment. Just with love and compassion and presence. And this practice of self-inquiry, of being present of being able to take a pause is so powerful in our day-to-day lives. And I invite you to bring this practice into your day-to-day lives. Doesn't have to be 2 or 3 minutes of your eyes closed. It can just be a practice of bringing your awareness back to your breath when you're feeling stressed, when you're feeling overwhelmed, just being present with your breath, being present with your emotions and your feelings. And when we take that pause, we can be more responsive rather than reactive. I'll take a couple more breaths. And put your hands to your heart and just tell yourself, I love you, I love you, thank you, thank you, thank you for taking this time out of our busy days to just be with your, your body and your thoughts and give yourself this gift of presence, of slowing down, of love, of compassion. And whenever you're ready, you can bring yourself back to the room, into the space. You can open your eyes. How does that feel? Let me know in the chat. Ellie says extreme peace. Wonderful. Good. Shauna says my overwhelming to-do list doesn't seem as overwhelming now. Good. Jennifer says calm. Hardeep says amazing. Walking my dog, but still did the deep breathing out in nature. Amazing. Good. Yeah, don't have to just sit there. You can always, you know, bring your attention back to your breath. That's one of the main ways that anchors us into the present moment. And one thing that you can also do for those of you who have an Oura ring is you can check in with your daytime stress. So when you open your app and you scroll down, there's a little section for daytime stress. And when you click on that, it'll basically tell you if your body is in a stress state, an engaged state, a relaxed state, or a restored state. And if you find that you're, you know, at the end of the day, it'll kind of give you a summary in terms of how many hours of the day you were in a stress state versus a restored state. And if you find yourself being in a stress state more often than being in a restored state, then This is a great way to take a little pause and recenter and help you focus on getting into a more relaxed state. And in the Aura app, when you click on the plus button in the bottom right-hand corner, you can do a little unguided meditation session as well. So when you click on that plus Plus button, there's an option there for unguided session. And then it'll, it'll measure your resting heart rate and your heart rate variability as well. Okay, so just a little tip for you there if you find that you are in a more stressed out state during the day. Okay, and then when you go to— at the very bottom, when you go to— there's a little menu there. It says Today, Vitals, and My Health. When you click on My Health, there's a little section there for stress management, and then it'll kind of tell you what your cumulative stress is. What your resilience is, and what your daytime stress is at that moment. Okay, so lots of cool little things that you can discover if you haven't in the Aura app. Okay, so we'll shift gears. So today we're going to be talking a little bit about managing sugar cravings, and then we'll do some Q&A as well. So let me share my screen. Okay, can everyone see my screen? Okay, perfect. I'm just gonna make it a little smaller here. Okay, so, you know, sometimes when we're talking about sugar cravings, I think it's multifactorial, right? Sometimes it can be a result of stress, of overwhelm. But one thing that I feel like commonly gets overlooked is how sugar cravings can also be tied into our biology. Okay, so You know, as I mentioned, sometimes we think it's all about willpower, right? And— but many times it can be our biology that's driving the sugar craving. Okay, so they can be biochemical, they can be microbial, and they can be neurological as well. Okay, so what I'm trying to get at here is that we don't always want to blame ourselves and blame the lack of willpower for some of these cravings that we might be experiencing, right? Because many times, as we go through midlife, we will start to perhaps, you know, we experience some shifts in our hormones, which is then going to also shift our gut microbiome. And our gut microbiome can really dictate our biology, because there's a strong connection between the gut and the brain. Okay? So many times some of these cravings have nothing to do with discipline, which is relieving in many cases, and it can have a lot to do with how we're actually— or how our biology is actually behaving. Okay? So basically, we all have microbes, right? Generally speaking, we have more gut bacteria than we do have human cells. Okay, so our microbiome really does run the show. And generally speaking, we want to have about, you know, 80% of the quote unquote good bacteria. And we have— we may have 20% of not necessarily bad bacteria, but bacteria that when overgrown can cause problems. And then in some cases, some of us may have a yeast overgrowth, or we may have something called small bacterial overgrowth, or we may have parasites, or we may have worms, right? And some of these overgrowths are not normal, okay? So many times we might pick some of these things up with travel, but sometimes it can just be our food and water as well, okay? So basically what happens is that we might, you know, over time with travel or, you know, as I said, as we go through midlife, our hormones changing, our bacteria kind of shifts and certain microbes in our gut feed on sugar. Okay? And when these microbes feed on sugar, they also ferment carbohydrates. Okay? And basically, this is then ultimately going to alter our neurotransmitters. So our gut and our brain, as I said, is connected through what we call the vagus nerve. And when there's any sort of immune signaling or inflammation, then those neurotransmitters are then going to be altered. Okay, so typically speaking, the two main neurotransmitters are dopamine and serotonin, and these can influence appetite. So they can— when these neurotransmitters shift due to inflammation in our gut, due to this bacterial fermentation that occurs or sugar fermentation that occurs, it's going to create an increase in cravings, which is going to pretty much hijack our appetite in some cases, depending on how severe the overgrowth is, okay? And this happens to basically ensure our own survival, okay? So one of the main, I guess, overgrowths that can happen, one of the most common ones that many people may know about is Candida and yeast overgrowth. So basically, you know, when we eat sugar, it is, like I said, going to ferment, which is going to produce certain toxins, which is then going to create inflammation, which which is then going to cause our blood sugar to dysregulate, which is then going to, you know, with that gut-brain communication through the vagus nerve, it's going to alter our neurotransmitters and it's going to really feel like this compulsive need for sugar. Okay? And so that then, you know, of course, we then will probably engage in that behavior, have some sugar, and then that whole cycle just keeps on going. Okay? So as you can see, this is, you know, the sugar is then a fuel to these yeast and these Candida. Okay? And then it's just going to create more cravings, you know, which is then going to result in, yes, eating more sugar, which, you know, this cycle just, as you can see, just keeps going on. Okay, so Candida can really reduce dopamine sensitivity. It can increase anxiety. And a quick dopamine hit is having that, you know, sugar. When we have that sugar, it's going to basically give us that quick dopamine hit. Okay, so this is why cravings often feel very urgent. They feel very emotional, and they can feel very compulsive. Okay, so when yeast is thriving, it's going to signal for more sugar intake. Okay, so that's one of the mechanisms is Candida and yeast. And then similarly, many people have something called bacterial dysbiosis, which is also known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. And some people have histamine issues. So One of the main symptoms of small bacterial, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is bloating. So for some of you, if you feel bloated after meals, you might have an overgrowth of bacteria in your small intestine. So bacteria, you know, is supposed to predominantly reside in your large intestine. So it goes from your small intestine and then your food goes from your small intestine to your large intestine and the bacteria is supposed to reside in your large intestine. But sometimes that bacteria can backflow into the small intestine. And one of the main reasons why this backflow can occur is if we're not sitting in the correct anatomical position to have a bowel movement. So if you don't have a Squatty Potty, then you're going to want to definitely make sure you get one. And you don't have to get a Squatty Potty. You can use a stool. You can use two paint cans, as long as your knees are elevated above your hips. Okay, so if you think of like third world countries, like, you know, specifically like India, it's not so much the case anymore because of modern day toilets, but people primarily squat when they're having a bowel movement. So when you put your knees on a— or sorry, when you put your feet on a stool, it's going to kind of put you in a squatting position, which is then going to prevent that backflow of bacteria from the large intestine to the small intestine. Okay, so definitely always want to have— when you're having a bowel movement, you want to sit in a position that raises your knees above your hips. And I'll show you a visual of what that looks like in just a few minutes here. But similar to the Candida, this small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is basically going to cause fermentation of sugars and bacteria, which is then going to produce a certain type of gas. There's 2 main types. There's hydrogen and methane type of gas, which is then going to cause inflammation. That inflammation is then going to cause insulin resistance, which is then going to increase fat storage and increase hunger signals and then cause us to eat more carbs and sugars. Okay, so it's a very, you know, it's not always your fault, right? There could be these things happening that commonly get overlooked. Okay, and then we may also have histamine-producing bacteria. So high histamine can cause anxiety, it can cause poor sleep, it can cause irritability, it can cause rashes or flushing, it can cause loose bowel movements, and that also can cause cortisol spikes, which is going to increase blood sugar. And then it's going to cause sugar cravings as well. Okay, so it's really important to see if some of these things are at the root cause of our sugar cravings. Okay? And this can all worsen when we're in midlife because during perimenopause and menopause, we have changes in estrogen and progesterone combined with higher cortisol from stress, which is going to cause blood sugar imbalances and therefore increase— when we have blood sugar imbalances, it increases cravings. Okay, so that sugar then feeds the gut imbalances, causes inflammation, which creates more instability. And then causes the neurotransmitters to become dysregulated, which is then going to cause those intense cravings. Okay, so one of the things that we can do is we can test whether or not you have any imbalances in your gut. Okay, so we can test to see if you have Candida or if you have any other bacterial overgrowths, if you have any parasites. With a comprehensive stool test. Okay? And I'll show you what that looks like in a minute. But basically, if you have sugar cravings, plus if you have any of these type of issues— so bloating, gas, reflux, brain fog, fatigue, skin issues, recurrent yeast infections, a history of prolonged antibiotic use, Feeling worse after eating carbs, waking up with a hangover feeling without drinking alcohol, you may— the gut-related issues may be at the root cause of your sugar cravings. Okay, so let me quickly show you what gut test looks at— give me a second here. Oops. Okay, okay, so this is, um, a very simple swab, right? So, you know, these all— this test can be done at home. It's basically like when you have a bowel movement and you wipe, then you take the— the kit is— comes with a cotton swab. So you take the cotton swab and you just need a small sample of stool from the tissue. So it gives you an overall gut health score and then it gives a diversity score as well. And so what this looks at is probiotic bacteria, which are microorganisms that, when consumed in sufficient quantities, provide health benefits. Okay, so these are kind of our good bacteria. So it tells us if we have low levels or if they're too high. So with this sample report here, this person has a lot of low levels. Of these probiotic bacteria. Okay, it then goes on to tell us about what we call commensal bacteria. So these are bacteria that coexist with us without causing harm. Okay, so these contribute to our overall well-being. So we want to make sure we have a good amount of all of these. We don't want them too high or too low, once again. And then the next section looks at what we call pathobionts. So these are microorganisms that reside harmlessly in the gut, but when they're overgrown, then they can cause issues. Okay? So if they are overgrown, then we'd obviously want to eradicate those. Okay, and each one of these, like, see, um, well, this here looks at whether or not there's certain type of hydrogen-producing bacteria or methane-producing bacteria. And if these are high, then it could indicate the SIBO, right, the small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Um, and then it also looks at fungi, so it looks at Candida. So in this sample report here, none were detected, which is good. Looks at if there's any viruses, looks at if there's any protozoa. So these are certain types of parasites. Looks at if there's worms. Okay, so it's very comprehensive. And then it also looks at our digestive markers to make sure that we're digesting our food properly, looks at certain metabolites, and it looks to see if there's any inflammation in the gut. So we have to have certain, certain types of bacteria to produce what we call short-chain fatty acids. Short-chain fatty acids are the energy source for the bacteria in our gut, okay? They also help to regulate our appetite. So if these are low, then we need to, you know, consume foods that are going to help us make more short-chain fatty acid producers, looks at if we have the right type of bacteria to produce certain neurotransmitters, which is going to help regulate our mood and our sleep and our cognitive function. And, you know, that dopamine and serotonin I was talking about looks at if there's histamine producers, right? So if there's too many of these, then it can, you know, lead to a lot of those symptoms I was talking about. Such as the anxiety, the poor sleep, the irritability, the rashes, the flushing, loose bowel movements. Looks to see if there's enough vitamin-producing bacteria in the gut. So a lot of our vitamins, yes, we do get them from our food, but it's our bacteria that actually convert some of that food into those specific vitamins. So we have to make sure that we have these vitamin-producing bacteria to give us the right amount of B vitamins specifically. Okay, so B12, B9, which is folate, looks to see if there's any inflammation in the gut. Okay, looks at how well we detox. This specifically can look at estrogen metabolism, okay? Because even though we might not have a cycle, or even if we do have a cycle, our body makes estrogen, but then we have to make sure we're detoxing it out of the body. So if you gain a lot of weight in your hips, thighs, buttocks, if you have heavy periods, if you are very moody or irritable, you might not be— if you've ever had a history of uterine fibroids or endometriosis, you might not be metabolizing the estrogen out of your body properly. Okay, and then it also looks at some longevity markers here and then looks at digestive markers. So how well we're metabolizing carbohydrates and fat. How well we're potentially digesting lactose, okay? And then how well we're digesting protein as well. So very comprehensive report, and then it gives us some very actionable steps and a very actionable protocol. So I did this test about a month ago, and I'll be starting my protocol pretty soon here. Thankfully, I didn't have any overgrowths of bacteria— or, or sorry, of parasites— but I did have low diversity. So I'll show you just the protocol that it— that I'll be going on as a result. Of this. So Deepak, did you have any symptoms or signs that matched, you know, what the protocol is, or, or the, the results, I should say? Yeah, I would say like I did have— I did— I do get bloated sometimes, and then, um, sometimes I feel like I don't digest my protein well. So I did this test because we usually do this type of testing, like, every year to 2 years. And I hadn't done a stool test in a while. So it was not so much that I had really overt symptoms. It was more so just for optimization. So that was kind of what prompted me to do the test. What you can see here, these were just some of the main findings on the test. So there was some of the good bacteria that were a little bit high and some were a little bit low. Like, you know, this one here, Bifidobacteria, I, I had 0%, right? Even this one here, Akkermansia, I had 0%. So, you know, some of my— that's why my diversity score was a little bit on the lower end. And then basically it gives us— it gives me a detailed protocol here. So this is like a 12-week protocol which tells me exactly what to take, you know, on these specific weeks. So phase 1, I'll be taking this prebiotic fiber to help feed some of the bacteria to increase the diversity, some omega-3s. And then, you know, kind of tells us dietary strategies as well. So, you know, increase dietary fiber intake, focus on polyphenol-rich foods. So, you know, make sure you're adequately hydrated. Some lifestyle notes as well. So really gives like a pretty detailed protocol as well to address some of the findings from the test. Okay. So the other thing that I wanted to talk about cravings is how to actually manage them in the moment, right? So one of the main things that you can do, which is why we kind of start off our Q&As with some mindfulness, is take a pause, right? So that 5-second pause can really help us become less reactive, right? Sometimes we— the sugar craving might be so intense that we may not be able to overcome it, but really helps to shift us into a parasympathetic state, which is going to calm our amygdala, which is the part of our brain that makes a lot of these emotional-type decisions, and potentially even stop reactive eating. And try to ask yourself a couple of questions in that moment when that craving comes on, right? Is this physical or emotional, right? If it's physical, is it a low blood sugar dip that you're experiencing? Is it fatigue, right? Is it a true physical hunger? And if it is, then, you know, if you're on the release phase of the program, then you might have some herbal tea, maybe you'll grab some free veggies. Or is it an emotional craving, right? Is it boredom? Is it loneliness? Is it overwhelm, right? And if it's an emotional kind of craving, then, you know, there's some tools that we can utilize. So number one, like I said, is whether it's a true physical hunger or craving, hydrate first. Right? Dehydration is one of the— when we feel hungry, one of the first signs of hunger is dehydration, right? So make sure you're well hydrated. Right? Another thing that you can do is making sure you're getting enough morning sunlight. Now, I know in some parts of wherever you're living, like here, it's like -20 outside. It can be a little more challenging. But when we get that morning sunlight, it's going to regulate a lot of our hormones, okay? It's going to stabilize serotonin. Serotonin then eventually later on in the day will turn into melatonin, okay? It's going to help stabilize our cortisol. So in the morning, we want cortisol to be high, right? Because that's what helps us wake up. And then as the day goes on, we want cortisol to drop. And sunlight is also going to help reset a hormone called leptin. Leptin is our satiety hormone. Okay, so for a lot of people, they may be experiencing leptin resistance, which is going to dysregulate their satiety. So making sure you're getting morning sunlight is going to help regulate leptin as well. Okay? And this morning sunlight can also really help prevent evening sugar cravings. Okay? And then just, you know, if you can't write it down, like, just ask yourself if, you know, in that moment, like, what does your body actually need right now? Right? Maybe it does need some fuel. Maybe it does need food. Right? Maybe it just needs, maybe you just need to pause and slow down. Maybe you need to take a few deep breaths. Right? When we journal, when we take that pause, it's going to activate the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for more logical thinking, and it's going to quiet down the hindbrain, which is the reactive, the reptilian brain, which is the reactive part of our brain. Okay, so, you know, depending on which phase you're in, if you're on the release phase, right, sometimes some people might skip certain parts of the meal. We highly discourage you skipping parts of the meal. So make sure you're eating the free vegetables, the non-free vegetables, the fruit, and the protein. And in some cases, if you're doing those 2 meals on the release phase, you can also be flexible with your protein, right? So we do allow a little bit of leeway if you're feeling like you're not, you know, you might feel like the meal satiates you, but then if you're feeling hungry like an hour or 2 later, you can increase the protein to 5 or 6 ounces. Okay? And then if you're on the maintenance phase, on the maintenance phase, you really want to make sure that you have a healthy balanced meal, right? So making sure you're getting, once again, enough protein, making sure you're getting whole food carbohydrates. So that's going to be your vegetables, right? Making sure you're having a lot of the non-free and the free vegetables. The non-free vegetables in general are going to be a little more satiating. On the maintenance phase and beyond, you want to make sure you're having some healthy fats. And you also want to make sure you're having fiber. So I think Laura spoke about fiber a couple of weeks ago. So if you haven't listened to that Q&A, make sure you go back to that. But there's two main types of fiber. There's soluble and insoluble fiber. And on the maintenance phase, you can You can reintroduce some of the insoluble fiber, which you temporarily just pause. So things like psyllium husk, flaxseed— these are all insoluble— sorry, they're not insoluble, soluble fiber. So psyllium husk, flaxseed is soluble fiber. I'll show you the fiber that I really like. You can throw it in a smoothie. You can put it in some yogurt if you eat that. You can just mix it up with— it might not taste so good with water, but if you put in a tiny bit of juice, it can help you get it down a little easier as well. So this combination is really going to support your glucose stability. So it's going to— one of the main things that we really work on on the release phase is stabilizing the glucose, right? Many times when people first come to us, they're like— if you remember, you might have done— you probably, you know, you may not remember, but when you first came to us, we had you fill out a form called the Root Cause Assessment Form. And Section 7 of that form is blood sugars. And like, literally almost everyone I talk to, that section always comes back high. And that is an indication that your blood sugar is doing this roller coaster up and down all day where it's like high and then it crashes. And when it crashes, that's when we want to, you know, gravitate towards the sugar. That's when we might feel a little bit tired and we need that, you know, quick boost of energy, which is usually in the form of sugar to get our blood sugar back high. But we tend to overshoot because we might, you know, eat when our blood sugar crashes and we crave something sweet. We might have like a muffin or a cookie and then it overshoots, right? And then whatever goes up must come down. So it's like a yo-yo all day. So with the release phase, we really want to stabilize the blood sugar so you're not doing this yo-yo. And then on the maintenance phase, you know, to maintain the results that you got, you're adding in some foods, right? So you might be adding in like sweet potatoes or you might, you know, for some of you, if it's right for your body, you might introduce some grains back in, but you're still stabilizing those blood sugars, right? So you want to prevent those crashes. Okay, so basically, you know, let me show you, let me show you just some of those symptoms from Section 7 of that form if you don't remember filling it out. But some of these symptoms are going to be indicative of Blood sugar dysregulation. Okay, my screen. So if you awaken a few hours after falling asleep and it's hard for you to get back to sleep, that could be, you know, most of these symptoms are gonna be the hypoglycemia when your sugar goes really low. Okay, so the reason why you wake up when your blood sugar goes too low is because that's dangerous for the body, right? And so what happens is when your blood sugar goes too low, cortisol increases because cortisol's one of its main jobs is to raise blood sugar. Okay, so cortisol increases and that's why you wake up because cortisol's also responsible for waking us up. Okay? And so that could be a big reason if you are experiencing this. You might crave sweets. You might have binge or uncontrolled eating, excessive appetite, crave coffee or sugar in the afternoon, sleepy in the afternoon, fatigue that is relieved by eating. So if you feel tired and then you eat something, that could be a sign of low blood sugar. Headache if meals are skipped or delayed, irritable before meals, shaky if meals are delayed. If you have family members with diabetes, if you have frequent thirst or frequent urination, all of this can be a blood sugar problem. Okay, so we really wanna make sure that we're stabilizing the blood sugars. And let me just show you like a quick visual. See if I can find it. In the meantime, let me check the chat as well. Okay, Kim says another thing I am super grateful for is that I am now on day 60 without sugar. Wow, congratulations, Kim. That is pretty amazing. Feeling great and feeling great. No overwhelming cravings. That's me too. So excited that I am not having cravings either. Yeah, because, you know, you've really stabilized your blood sugar, which is going to really help. Okay, Chewy says, without testing, I've heard that we should just assume that we have parasites and mold exposure. So, I mean, not always, but yes, many people do have parasites. Can you guys give me a moment? I'm just going to put— my son is calling me for some reason. Give me a moment. Sorry about that. Okay, so I can't, I can't find it for some reason, but I'll show you if I find it. So let me just show you all the Squatty Potty, which I said I would, and then I'm going to continue with the chat as well. So this is what the Squatty Potty looks like. If you don't have one, like I said, you can always use— this is not the actual Squatty Potty, but something like this. Yeah, this is the original Squatty Potty. So something like this, which, as I said, so it, it unkinks the colon, so it prevents that bacteria from migrating backwards. Okay, and then this is the fiber that I really like. So this, this is the fiber that this you can have once you're on the maintenance phase. So this is a really good fiber. I can put the link in the chat. And then let me get back to some of the questions here. Okay, Kim says, another gratitude experience for me today. My husband and I went on a walk, and we were able to watch the sunrise. Amazing. Yeah, watching the sunrise, it's, it's very, it's very, a very peaceful time of day, right? Where do you live, Kim?

I live in Utah. It was like 18 degrees. It was still pretty cold. Not as cold as you.

Yes.

But one other thing that we did with the sunrise, and I kind of wanted to ask you a question about this. Is it okay if I ask?

Yeah, absolutely.

My husband had been talking, or somewhere got information from Satya about when the sun— I didn't know this, but when the sun rises, right when it's rising is the time that best time to look at the sun and receive whatever. But I wanted to know more what actually is happening during that time and, and why is it that time?

Yes. Okay. So when the sun is rising, it's very rich in infrared light. Okay, so infrared light, basically one of the main things that it's going to help with is it's going to help with— it's going to help with creating something called a sun callus. Okay, so, you know, sometimes we might feel like we burn easily, and that could be due to the fact that we don't have enough infrared exposure, light exposure. So it almost acts like a natural sunscreen. Okay. So that's one thing that it, it really helps with. It's also going to help with regulating our hunger and appetite hormones. Infrared light is also responsible for repair and regeneration. So Sunsets and sunrises are really rich in infrared. Okay. And basically the, the infrared is, is similar to what you would get like if you were using a red light panel. Right. So a lot of people use red light panels for repair and regeneration of cells, but sunrise naturally has infrared and we can't see infrared. Okay, so infrared is also really beneficial for skin health. Okay, it's— it also helps when we, when we see the sunrise, it helps reset our circadian clock. So it helps with sleep as well. And basically, yeah, those are kind of like the main, the main benefits of it. So it's not Over time, like, you know, sometimes you'll see people who, you know, in the dead of winter, they go to Mexico and then they're like sunbathing for hours and hours. And of course they look like a lobster and they're burnt, right? Which is not a good way to like, you know, not a good way to expose yourself to the sun. Right. But if you get that morning sunrise and that infrared light, then that helps build that solar callus so that you can tolerate the sun for longer amounts of time. And so you won't burn as easily. Thank you. Welcome. So for us, But I know some of you are asking about the testing. So, um, the link for if you wanted to do another round, the link to get, um, another bottle of spray plus another round, um, there is an option to do stool testing with that as well. And that includes follow-ups and, um, includes the test of course, plus your protocol. So I'll put the links in the chat if you ever wanted to do those. Give me a second. Any other questions? Questions, comments? Hi, Deepa, it's Chewy. Hi, Chewy, how are you? Hi, very good, thank you. If we can't get that fiber that you're recommended or looking at fiber, what do you recommend? That we look for? Like, so flaxseed, ground flaxseed can really help as well as a soluble fiber. And psyllium husk, those are like the two main ingredients in that fiber. That fiber that I, that I put the link for, it also has dandelion root and I think it has a couple of other ingredients, but the two main ones are psyllium husk and flaxseed. Thank you. What about inulin? So inulin is a great prebiotic. And yeah, that could help as well with— that's going to help. I don't know if it helps with bulking the stool. I'll have to take a look. But it is great for helping to feed the bacteria in the gut, which is going to help with diversity. So that was like part of my prior— my protocol, because my diversity score was a little on the low side. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? No? Okay. Well, I guess we will see you all next week. Thank you everyone for being here. Have a wonderful weekend. Bye, everyone.