MRP Q & A with Anna-Lisa - Staying Healthy Through the Holidays: A Mindful Approach [Nov 29, 2024]

Welcome, everyone. Jennifer, you're cooking. Very cute. Nice.

Every year I take a full week off of work to bake for Christmas. And so I was going to actually skip the meeting and then I thought, ah, I'll just listen in while I'm baking.

Fine.

Awesome. Glad you're here.

Thanks.

Welcome everyone. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Annalisa Kinch. I forgot to change. It says Deepa, but obviously I'm not Deepa. So welcome. What I'd like you to do is really think about your week and what's your win for the week? Jennifer told us it's baking and taking time off and self care is great and that's a blessing to many. And I have enjoyed all of your meals, Jennifer, as you have prepared and shared those with us. So what I'm going to move into today, we're going to do a. I'm hoping this muse. Can you guys hear the music? Yes. No, it's not playing. That's interesting. Okay. All right, well, what I'd like to do, I'm going to share a meditation today. It's from a lady who. Her name is Sarah Blondin and she is just. She does a lot around loving kindness, which is very important as we're going through the program to really get an understanding of where we're having issues with that kind of thing. So I'm going to start that and.

Hi, I'm Sarah Blondin and I am the author of Heart how to Hold Yourself and Others in Love. Most of us have a kind of challenging relationship with our feelings. And we're most often kind of stuffing them down or ignoring them or letting them make all their noise and never really addressing them. And a really easy practice that I use for feelings. Instead of getting caught in identifying with them, we're just going to learn to let them go. So we're just going to begin by bringing our eyes to a close and getting really comfortable in our bodies. Deep inhale long exhale out the mouth. And I want you to see if you can blur the edges of your physical body. And imagine turning into this great wide ocean. And there's ruby colored coral in your sand. And there's fish all around. And everything is a deep peace. Feelings are not us. They are not who we are. They are trapped memories of hurt. They are trapped identities, old stories, habitual ways of thinking. But we are the ocean and we are alive. And I want you to imagine a bubble rising up from the shifting sand of the bottom of the ocean. And as the Bubble rises. I want you to maybe name a feeling, even a thought or an old memory that is no longer serving you or that you'd like to let go. And just watch that feeling rise to the surface of the ocean. And watch it pop and enter back in the air. And you can do this for as long or as little as you need, just naming any feelings that rise up within your water, Maybe even bringing a soft smile to your face as you watch these things leave you. They are not you. They are but passing wind. They are but bursting bubbles of grace. Our feelings are not punitive. They're not meant to be wished away or to feel shameful about. They're there just to be let go of. You can open your eyes once your waters feel a little more calm.

Thank you.

I love her different meditations that she does. She's on Insight Timer if you've ever used Insight Timer. Having trouble going to sleep. Or you can find her on YouTube as well. Really help you if you've got emotional things that you need to release you. This is one way that you can do it by doing the meditations. And as we're coming into talking about holiday eating and the things that come up as we go through with family with different things, this might be if you need to just retreat and go and listen to a meditation that can sometimes help just get past whatever's going on versus moving into eating or kind of trying to console ourselves with food as we're going through through the process. So what I'd like to do before we get into the topic for today, I'd like to celebrate your wins. We already heard one of Jennifer's for the week. She took the week off for self care and she's cooking and baking cookies which is so awesome to give yourself permission to do that. And then the gift for those that you're going to give to. Right. They're all going to love it as they're eating your cookies later today. My daughter is a baker as well and we have a church event and I was able to get her in and she makes portrait cookies, regular cookies and she makes cupcakes. So I think her cupcakes are like a raspberry swirl and I forget what the other an orange, cinnamon orange or something like that very thing. And her portrait cookies, she actually takes your picture and puts it on a cookie, which is very cool. Oh great. You have your daughter baking with you. Awesome. Jennifer. So I'll just go through. If you're not able to unmute and share your win with us, then Just go ahead and put it in the chat. So we'll start with Beth. I see you.

I have my three boys here with me today and for the weekend and managed to get through the day yesterday without gaining any weight. So got to enjoy a little bit, a few things. And I fixed things for myself that had more fat than I normally than I have in the past few weeks, but I still did. Okay.

Awesome.

Congratulations. That's exciting. And of course, having family encourage us to cook a little differently. And we're going to talk a little bit about that as we go through. Deanne, did you want to share?

Yeah, I. I am in just starting week three and I'm down 12 pounds, so that's a definite win. And yeah, I navigated yesterday pretty well and appreciate the meditation that you shared this morning to use when we get emotionally triggered because that does happen with family and yes.

So thank you. You're welcome. And the other thing, have you. Have you received the crush technique? That's another thing that we can also send your way. It's uses emotional freedom technique. Have you heard of that before?

I do. I do use tapping, but I haven't heard of that particular. That technique. So I would welcome that. Thank you.

Okay, so I'll look for that so we can.

Okay.

In the chat. Let me just grab that for you.

Awesome. And I'm, I'm actually, I think another win is I have Pilates class at noon and I'm like, how am I going to listen to this at home and still get to Pilates on time? So I drove to Pilates and I'm in the parking lot listening to this.

Oh, awesome. Oh, congratulations.

So I can do both? Yep.

And are you in the States or in Canada?

The States.

Oh, okay. Yeah. So you're on holiday then? Most of the clients. Yeah. So congratulations for joining. I know most people are traveling or with family or doing things. Okay, here's the link. So I'm going to post the. This is for the crush technique for anybody who hasn't received it. It really helps. It gives kind of guidelines, especially if we're having cravings or we're dealing with an emotional situation. It will give you some guidelines for what you can do related to that. And I was going to share that anyway as part of our presentation today. So thank you so much for sharing. Deanne. Lori.

Sorry about that.

That's okay. I want to find a little button on my second week and just starting my second week and I'm down about £9 and I just started walking a lot more Where I used to walk maybe once a month. I've walked four days last week, so about four or five miles. So try not to be so lazy anymore.

That's okay.

Feels good. Yeah, it does. Yeah. I know Beth walks a lot, so. And that was good for her as well. Moving into doing that changes your perspective on things too. Getting outside, getting that sunlight in her eyes if you can, you know, I know Beth has been doing a lot of sunrises and sunsets which is great for our sleep. So awesome. Lori, appreciate you sharing with us.

That's awesome.

No problem. Nancy, if you want to just put in the chat. Oh, you did in. So Nancy, put in the chat. Enjoying longer and faster paced walks. Feeling strong in second week of maintenance. Congratulations, Nancy. That's so great. And again, Nancy is like you, Jennifer. She puts in some amazing food pictures. Oh my gosh. It's like fantastic. So I've clipped most of yours and hers as you guys have been going through because they're just beautiful the way you, you put it together and present it for you to sit down to eat. It is amazing. Just fantastic. Lindsay, you're just joining with us. Can you, if you would like, you can share your win for the week. If you're not able to share, just send me in the chat that you're in a. Like Nancy did. She's in a loud area and is not able to share correct. Directly. Let me see if I can ask her to unmute. Yeah, I'm not sure if she's available.

Can you hear me?

Yep, I can hear you.

Okay. I'm just getting settled.

I.

You said what was my win? I have. I don't know yet. So.

Okay, that's fine. Once you have it, put it in the chat. We like to celebrate each person as they're coming through. Okay. Because that's important. Often we don't celebrate ourselves for the smallest wins that we have as we're going through. And sometimes we will compare and we will say, oh, we didn't, you know, succeed as. As someone else. But remember, this is your journey that you're going through and your success as you're going through is really learning how to celebrate yourself in that process. So let's get into our topic today and then if you have any questions, you can put them in the chat or I will open it up. Oh, Deanne, where are these ladies posting pictures? Actually they post them in their journals. So I'm the health coach for Nancy and Jennifer going through the program and they had their pictures were there. What I can do is post some of the pictures I collected, which were. I did post some in the Facebook group, but I can post other. I'll post a bunch of different ones from them in the Facebook group that are a variety of different meals that they prepared, which is amazing. So you're welcome. All right, so let's do our topic for today. I just have to. So let's share. It's going to be on. Just need to do this. There we go. So it's staying healthy in as we're going navigating the holidays. And I know for our US clients, you've just come through a holiday, but the difference, I think, between yesterday and what's coming is often many days of holiday celebrations. And so navigating through those with family, with things that go on often, we need some things that we can change from what maybe we were doing in the past. So the power of mindfulness, I think, is the most important thing when you're going through. I know 40% of what we eat is what we see. So often family events will happen in the kitchen, and lots of things are being prepared or put out. And when we're in that area, we can just absentmindedly take food and just start eating. And so what I would suggest for you to do is really try to be present in the situation and notice what's happening around you. Check in with yourself. I know Michael Bernoff always talks about what is my intention right now. It's the concept of asking yourself. Like, for example, you may, if you're going to a movie theater and you're having popcorn, you're making a decision to have something that is for fun, it's entertainment. Whereas if you're at home and you're making a decision to have your 4 ounces of protein, your 4 ounces of broccoli, and your 4 ounces of fruit, you're making that decision for nutrition. So often it's the naming of things. Many of us just lump food into one category, and we make that. We don't differentiate between the foods that we're eating. And so if you're at a holiday event and there's lots of cookies and cakes and all those things, those are what we would term entertainment. They're not necessarily nutrition. And so thinking of, you know, the decision that you've made to make this transformational journey is making that mindset shift in your mind to say, you know, I am healthy. If any of you have done, I know Deepa did a few weeks ago. That identity kind of defining your perfect day and your Perfect day is who you are in that day. And that is setting up your identity as being, for example, healthy. Right. And so when you're in that situation, if you ask what is my intention right now is am I, you know, focusing on being healthy and making healthy choices? And so the. Once you ask the question, pause and pay attention to what comes up. I had one of my clients, they realized that what was happening at the finished their meal and after they finished their meal, they had these hunger pangs, yet they just ate a full meal. And she was trying to figure out what was going on. And it came up that it was related to when she was younger with her family and her siblings and the way her mom acted after the meal was completed. And she had to deal with that emotion that was coming up and realize changing her thoughts, that's the other piece. You become self aware of what you're dealing with. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you stressed? Is this something from my past? And then working on changing your state, because when you as I love that meditation that she just did because it was kind of like those bubbles are just feelings that are out there in the ocean. We have them inside us, but we don't need to become them as we're going through the process. And self awareness is all about knowing what is going on inside us and then setting realistic goals. Again, this will depend on where you are in the program. If you're in the release phase, you're going to want to stick to your portion controls. Similarly, in maintenance, you have a set of portion controls. If you're in lifestyle, maybe you decide, you look at your calendar and you're going to decide, where do I want to go off the rails and where am I going to reign things in? Because the goal in lifestyle is not to, you know, deny yourself everything. It's still to do things in moderation. And so I remember I have a, a mentor that used to say his, his thing was oatmeal cookies and he would have them on a Sunday night and you know, that was his treat for the week. So deciding where you're going to do that and when you're in lifestyle will be important. But the key is you've already set some goals as you came into the program. You want to, you know, as Beth said, she's in maintenance and she's maintaining, even though she did a few things that were a little bit different, you know, with having family there. But she was able to maintain her weight, maybe setting up weekly targets and as all of you know, accountability is key. As you're going through this, make sure you continue to communicate with your health coach as you're going through. And then mindful eating strategies. One thing that can often happen is we can, if we're mindful, not mindfully eating and we're at the table and we're just all of a sudden realize, oh, my gosh, I'm just eating because the cookies or whatever is right there is really doing the choose, chew, chill, cherish and check. Going through the process of making sure you're choosing the right foods. Chewing slowly, slow down, because often it can take 20 minutes for that signal that we're full to our brain. And so by chewing slowly and taking things in and enjoying what you're eating, that can help also having gratitude for the food and the hands that prepare it. That also brings me to Trisha Nelson. There's a module in your program that talks about emotional eating. And one of the key things she talks about is sometimes in situations with family, we feel obliged to eat what they cook. And if we haven't in advance, you know, sent a message or let them know, hey, I am gluten free and dairy free, I can't have certain things. And we get there and then we feel like, oh, my gosh, there's nothing for me to eat because I didn't tell them. And so now I feel obligated that I need to eat what they prepared. So what she says is bring your own dish so that you could share with everybody else. And then in that same situation, if they've prepared foods or they've gone to, you know, a large extent of putting together a buffet or whatever it is for the day. Just thank them. You know, I appreciate all the work that you put into putting all this food on the table and, you know, let them know that you're grateful even if you don't partake in the food that they've prepared, because you can't, you're still allowing for gratitude to flow with the person that prepared it. So if you get a chance to go through Tricia Nelson's emotional eating module, it really help you understand some of the things that we go through from a mindset perspective. You definitely want to make sure that you fill your plate with veggie veggies and eat those first. Those will fill you up before you start to eat the other things on your plate and will help you. And of course, have a water bottle with you. Right. Make sure that you're still drinking your water. That will help you through the process and you Know if you want to save your fruit at the end to do a mocktail so that you still feel like you're participating with everyone. Have some sparkling water and add some of your fruit to that so that you feel like you're involved in the celebrations and things that are going on. Really key would be focusing on maintaining your intimate and fasting. It's the 6, 16, 8 window. Try your best to have your meals within that eight hour window and three hours before bed. I know some people posted in the Facebook group. Sometimes you're on the schedule of those that you're staying with. If you're going to visit family over the holiday or maybe you're out for an evening, maybe it's a work celebration or something that's coming up. Try to still stay as much as you can within that eight hour window and three hours before bed. Those are going to be key to help you maintain the success that you've had and try to if you can. If you're going to a work event like I have, I belong or support an organization called Freedom Village. They have an event coming up next Sunday. I'm going to that I let the organizer know ahead of time I am gluten free and dairy free. Could she request that the organizer or the. The food prep people could prepare something specifically for me and often they do that. So it's just in advance if you can ask. Even at work more and more I find restaurants or company events or different things you go to, they will support providing something for you specifically which is great and then staying active. I love Lori's comment on getting out and walking. Right. That's important to the our success and not only our success but our stress levels. It's so good to be outside versus all inside the house a lot. We can breathe in stuff that's, you know, not as good for us. Getting out in nature is amazing. But schedule those in, especially with your family getting out, it's good for them to learn this so that ongoing they continue to keep this in their lives. And depending on where you're at, it could be just walking, could be going to Pilates, it could be doing, you know, if you're in your lifestyle, it might be doing a hit session, different things that you can incorporate in and even doing self care like going to have a sauna. If you have a sauna at your gym. I know based on the research that I've been doing recently it's 15 to 20 minutes in a sauna really helps the body detox. Sometimes we can't start there and we need to start with a smaller amount of time and then increase as we go. But definitely focus on that and then cooking for success again, really just focusing on your core foods, your protein, veggies, you know, your, I always say the 4, 4, 4 and some unlimited, right? Your 4 ounces protein, 4 ounces of veggies, 4 ounces of fruit and then some unlimited. If you're in maintenance, you're adding in some fats as you go through and being flexible with your recipes. I'm going to share some holiday a link for some holiday holiday recipe guide that Deepa has put together that will give you some suggestions that you can include. Often the holidays can be very busy and so batch cooking is a great way to put together and prepare some meals so that when you're rushed you can just take them out and be able to use those and then healthy swaps. So for if you're cooking for family and you're cooking potatoes or rice or other things for them, incorporate great cauliflower rice for you as a way to still participate. Cooking stews or soups or other things where everybody can share in that is also a great opportunity. And then navigating social situations really when we are focusing on family and friends versus not on the food. So enjoy the time and the experience that you're having with your loved ones. Be present, connect. Of course, the holidays are really about that quality time that we're going to spend with those we love. It's not so much about the eating, although we generally eat when we're all together as a family connection. And again, if you're feeling that you're, you're, you know, experiencing emotional eating, then do the power of the pause. You know, take time, journal, go for a walk, do something that distracts you from the eating, especially if you're in a boredom state. Often when we're bored, we will turn to eating and then substitute that eating. If you're really struggling, then incorporate celery, your free veggies, cucumber, something, you know, a rice cake if you need to, something that will distract you and allow you to feel like you're having something and go from there. And so I highly recommend going to the Tricia Nelson's module on emotional eating. Great tips that she has in there that can help you with getting an understanding of if you're dealing with those things while you're going through the holidays with family that bring up different things. She was amazing at explaining because she was 100 pounds overweight. She used to Pull the cake out of the garbage and eat it and dealt with a lot of stuff. So she could give some great tips on how to navigate that, which is amazing. So any other suggestions that you guys have on how to navigate the holidays? Nobody has any comments, suggestions and how better to navigate the holidays? I'm going to find the healthy recipes and post that. It's a great guide that Deepa has pulled together a bunch of different recipes.

I have something I. Yesterday or the last few days, I really leaned in to have my family members prepare the dishes that they wanted versus me doing it because it was going to be too tempting for me. And that really helped me. So just something to consider is really leaning on others to kind of, if they know they like a dish, ask them to prepare it or bring it.

And that's so good for your stress because I know when you have to prepare everything, it's like, oh, my gosh. You're like the whole day in the kitchen cooking, and then everybody comes and you're exhausted and done. Okay, eat. And it's like five hours of cooking and an hour of eating and it's done. It's like, oh, my gosh. Great suggestion. And lots of people are willing right to. Especially if you. There's usually a rotation, I think, in families of going to different houses. And so that's a great idea to incorporate. Love that. Especially if you have family members that love to cook, like Jennifer. You definitely want to have their cooking as well. Any questions?

All.

All questions are open. If you have any questions about the program, about your, where you're at, anything, and we can go through those. Go ahead, Beth. Okay.

I saw that in the first week of maintenance, you could add in collagen. I was wondering how we are to do that. Can I, like, put it in my hot tea in the morning? Can I. How would I count it? Does it count?

No, it wouldn't count for anything, really. Okay, just add it in. I usually my collagen is liquid that I take, so I just take it on a spoon and I take it within the eating window. That's okay.

So it's. It's not going to provide any more fat or protein or anything like that because I did notice that this is starting to get a little saggy right here. And I thought, well, maybe I need to put a little collagen in.

So, yeah, I want it to be.

Saggy and go away. I just don't want it to look like a turkey neck, you know, I mean, kind of have to protect myself if I Do that right now. Everybody doing turkey?

Yeah. And with time your body will retract similar like when you have a baby. You know, when, if, if you. I think on my third child I finally remembered to pull my tummy after the baby came out because it retracts so quickly and just to see how far it would go. So I know our body will eventually catch up with tightening and different things.

I know that. The intermittent fasting, I've read, I read a long time ago that when you use the intermittent fasting, it does help to keep your skin tighter and everything. So it's like, okay, good deal. And I've been doing intermittent fasting for 10 plus years, so. Yeah. Anyway. Okay, thank you.

You look great, by the way. And your skin looks amazing.

Thank you.

Right, awesome.

Thank you.

Any other questions for today or any other suggestions on holiday eating and how to navigate that time? Mary, I see you're just joining.

Yeah, sorry, I had some Internet connection troubles here this morning.

That's okay. Well, we're celebrating each other on our wins for the week. So if you want to share your win, we'll all celebrate you because we often don't celebrate our little wins and we really need to celebrate ourselves as we're going through because that builds that confidence in us that we can accomplish.

Well, I'm £10 in 10 days. I guess that's a win.

Awesome. Congratulations. That's so exciting. Way to go.

That's great.

I didn't believe at first that the first two days of loading were, were the hardest, but indeed they were.

Yes, they are. Everybody that comes through thinks it's going to be easy. I had a gentleman who is used to loading for competitions and stuff that he does like eating lots of carbs and all that and he goes, oh, that's going to be a breeze. I'm like, okay. And I came back after that and went, oh my gosh. I did not realize how hard it was to get to 5,000 calories. So I think we just don't realize how much is in. And that's why we always say start early, eat frequently. So there's enough time to allow for digestion.

Yeah. So I've and like pleasantly surprised that I haven't had cravings. You know, I, I'm a big, I love sugar, right? Not sugar, like for sugar, but I love like pastries and that kind of stuff. And I haven't had any cravings for that and every. So it's actually hasn't been as I didn't think I'd have to really reach in and do the self control and willpower as much as I thought. So that's been a really great surprise. Yeah.

So, yeah, that's the spray. So the metabolic spray. That's why we don't like to, we usually recommend making sure you've got the middle spray on an alarm somewhere. I forgot mine.

I missed, I, I, I miss the middle spray about 50 of the time because I get absorbed in what I'm doing, working. So I just, actually now I just got it sitting on my desk.

Oh, perfect. But add an alarm to your phone. Yes.

So it didn't matter. Have the alarm.

Is that too. Because I would do the same as you. I would get busy. And when the second one came up, it was like, okay, I'm doing it. I'm stopping what I'm doing and I'm going to do it now.

Yeah. Doesn't matter. So if I have to get up, it's like I'm just going to finish this and then I'll go do it.

And then I. Yeah, because you get busy. Yep.

I get, I'm just gonna set it. I said just set it right by my desk.

Perfect.

My desk in the office. And it just, that seems to be the solution for now.

Yeah. Because the spray really helps with cravings and hunger as you go and just makes it real easy to make it through the program I found.

Yeah.

And it's helping to, I guess through the intermittent fasting and the foods that you're eating is helping to balance your blood sugar so you aren't going through those swings. And when we have those swings and insulin resistance, we tend to crave carbs because we need them. Now your body is becoming metabolically flexible because you're losing the weight. As we see as you become less insulin resistant and more metabolically flexible, you're now able to burn the food and the fat on your body so you don't have to eat to gain energy. As an example, your body can actually burn it for energy, which is exciting.

So I'm sorry I missed the previous discussion on the, you know, on the. Oh, the neck turkeys.

Yeah. We were just talking about collagen and the use of collagen. So in the release phase, you will not be adding in collagen, but you can put it to, in maintenance, you can start adding collagen back in, in your eating window.

Okay. And to the other question I had was, if, as if you are losing a lot of weight, like I tend to have it around my belly.

Are.

You going to get like the Drape.

No. As you go through, you might have a little bit of. In the beginning, maybe a tiny bit. But I found. And I think if you asked many of the people that are here who have been through the program, mine has all kind of just retracted.

Okay. Okay. And I, I saw something come through on Facebook with suggested. Suggested meals over the holidays.

Yes, correct. And I shared that in. You may not. I can share that again.

I. I have it.

I have it. I think it came through on my Facebook.

Okay. So is it the Healthy Holiday Recipe guide?

Yeah, I think so.

Okay.

So is that available somewhere other than just through the. Is it somewhere in our app by chance?

I would have to go in. I can't remember if it's in one of our modules.

It's called Living Proof Quality Recipes.

Yeah, I think it's. Let me just go to this link.

Oh, it's got like sides, main course, dessert. But those obviously are for maintenance.

This one.

Yeah. Because I can't.

Yeah.

I don't think I'll be completely through by the time like I'm looking at. I'm like, I don't think I can eat the pecan pie bars.

No.

Okay.

Not in. But there are things. So one of the key things is a lot of these recipes, if you omit the fat and incorporate broth, those can help with being able to cook them. Just look at the ingredients and really your protein, veggies and fruit. Look at your. From a veggie perspective, what's approved and what is free on your chart. You have your fridge chart that you can use that kind of give you. So looking at these recipes, all of the. Like this one here, vegan butternut squash and kale lasagna. Well, the butternut squash is fine, but you have to do it in 4 ounces. You can't include the other.

I was told I can't have the butternut squash and I can have other squash, but not butternut.

Yes, correct. Butternut squash goes into the starchy carbs. You're absolutely correct. You can do other squashes other than that one, but acorn squash, other things. So you could substitute depending on what you are able to incorporate. But yeah, these look, these are more designed for. Specifically for if you're in maintenance lifestyle. So it's just adjusting. I mean, you could butter onions. Yeah. So this one, you would have to omit the almonds, for example, and the butter and do cook the green beans in with the onions in a broth instead of in the butter as an example. So there are ways around it you also have in your manual. There are lots of different recipes in there. I did share in the Facebook group two different Thanksgiving meals that you could incorporate. One is if you're vegetarian, you can do the eggplant casserole. And then there's also, I think one I did with a turkey as an example.

Okay, I shall have a look. I'm just on the page now. Okay. Okay.

Awesome. Lindsay, you have a comment? I find it funny that I never used to wait. Want breakfast now I wake up hungry. So Lindsay, are you. I think you're doing everything in the program. Are you doing your spray three times a day?

I'm in maintenance now.

Oh, okay.

So no spray anymore.

Okay, perfect. So interesting that you wake up hungry. Are you with your meals? Are you still doing your 4, 4, 4 and then are you working out?

I just started back to. I did some hit yesterday but I hadn't been. It's just, it's been with me the whole time. Once I started the intermittent fasting for real, even though I was already doing that.

Yes, yes.

Now I want breakfast when I never wanted it before.

And it could be, it could be your time to eat.

Right?

Everybody's different in time and so maybe your eight hours have to shift. I had one client who really their eight hours, they were done at 4:30 in the, in the afternoon. That's when they ate their dinner and then they had a meal early in the morning. Within that eight hour window is how they shifted and that made them feel the best. They had the best sleep. Everything worked for them. So just pay play around with that and see how that might work for you. Again, if you have family and you eat with family, there's lots of things that go into kind of setting your schedule for.

I don't even see my family by 4:30.

So.

Yes, correct. You know, I eat at 11:30 and 4:30. Those are. It's just how my day goes and how I prefer to eat because I suffered for many years, probably 13 years with Digest. Well, more than that, but severe digestive issues. Until this program, I've had two years of blessing where I don't have pain, I don't have suffering. Whereas before I was in hospital like numerous times. And so I find when I eat earlier it just helps keep my digestion in normal and I don't have any issues when I'm going to bed. So I just chose. That's the way it's worked for me. So decision wise you can see what you can do. You can do green tea in the morning. That really helps to stave off the hunger. Have you tried green tea?

I wish I liked tea. I really don't. But there is tea in what I've been drinking lately with mixed with my coffee, so.

Okay. And coffee also helps to stave off hunger in the morning.

And I added back. I found a sugar free creamer. So I know it has some fat in it, but it's stevia that makes me enjoy my morning coffee again. Maybe what I do is put back. I used to put collagen in it before the program. So maybe I'll go back to that and see if that helps.

Yeah, good idea. And then that will still allow you to keep your eating window a little bit later.

So creamer. I mean, officially there's calories in that. Do I need to count that as when my.

Yeah.

Time frame starts? Yeah, the one thing.

How's your sleep? Because often we can be more hungry if our sleep isn't eight hours. Like that. Seven to eight hours. And we're not. Are we getting enough deep sleep and REM that allows.

We've been commenting a lot on your excitement about my room and my deep sleep. So I think better. I'm usually in the 80s or the 90s. Yes.

So you're doing great there.

I'm doing good there.

So just monitor on days when you feel like you're more hungry. If you're doing hit or doing any kind of workout, you want to increase your protein to six ounces on those days.

Six, eight. Is that what you said?

Six ounces. So on you do your workout, then increase your protein at your meals to 6 ounces and see if that helps with hunger the next day.

Okay.

Well, I'm doing a good job of not trying to be perfect before I figure all this out. And so I just jump into the next thing every time and figure it out afterwards. But.

That'S all about transformation, Right?

Right.

Right.

I need to spend a little more time learning about maintenance.

And it's just the process of going through is it's your journey and what you're learning to. It's okay. You don't want to overwhelm yourself with too many things. So that's why in maintenance we really focus on in week six. And as you move from week six into week seven, it's just adding in fat. Right. Focus on one thing. Similarly, as you move into week eight, you want to have that whole seven days of adding fat in before you really incorporate major exercise. In week eight, you start adding in exercise and now you start incorporating some starchy carbs I usually recommend for maintenance. You're going to incorporate starchy carbs on the days that you're working out so that you're just J.J. virgin says you got to earn those carbs right as you're going through the program. So and pick the days you're going to do it. It's not every day and it's not every meal. So you're going to try to fit those in three to four times a week. And if you're on the days you're working out, if you can do it, then that's great. Otherwise you're going to pick when you're going to incorporate it. It's not at every meal that we're going through. And again with your protein increasing to 6 ounces when you do do those workouts as you're going through and then you're it's little changes that we're making as we're going through. As you move into week nine, you start incorporating different gluten free grains, different things that you can try eggs often for some people. I know with me as I started incorporating eggs I had pain in my stomach but I couldn't figure it out. I didn't know what it was in the meal that was causing it. I did the food sensitivity test and it came up that I'm allergic to egg whites. Which is sad because you're probably baking with them Jennifer, right now. So for me it's I can't have egg whites, I can have egg yolks but I can't have egg whites and so don't have eggs generally anymore. So it was just the learning for me of what works for me versus what I hear what other people are going through. So it's your journey Lindsay. Keep playing around with things. Try one thing journal, you know, say today I'm going to try this and then try it for a couple of days and see how it affects your sleep, your hunger, the different things we always it's called is your heck in check? So is your hunger in check? Is your energy in check? And then is your cravings in check? And if those three things something is off with those then there's something we're doing. Either it's something we're eating that maybe is causing it. Whether it's our sleep, maybe in your case doing your hiit and doing your exercise but not having enough protein so you feel more hungry. Just try to navigate and see what when you do change something, how does it affect you? It's similar with in maintenance when you're adding foods back in and paying attention. I used to get a rash on my leg all the time. I couldn't figure out what the heck it was and doing the food sensitivity test gave me the list. I took all those out and now the rash is completely gone. But I had that for almost a year because I couldn't figure out. So I just said, okay, do the food sensitivity test, figure it out. And then now everything is gone. So it's just finding those things that can help you uncover what you're going through so that you can move through. Great suggestion, Mary. Fermented foods, adding those in when you're hungry. Those are amazing for your microbiome too. And I think it's really key when we move into. As we're moving through release and in maintenance is incorporating a little bit. And if you haven't incorporated fermented foods in the past small start with like a teaspoon or a tablespoon. See how you react to it. Just go slow in incorporating and adding things in. Doing sauerkraut is great. Make sure you get the one that's in the fridge, not the one on the shelf. The one in the fridge is more active and alive and better for you. You can incorporate kombucha, but really read the label because kombucha has often lots more sugar, lots more additives, lots more things. So just make sure you read the label. Yeah. Mary, do you want to just talk a little bit about how you make your sauerkraut? I've done it once with a family who came over and really made it for me.

Essentially I have to go back and look at my recipe, but it takes about an hour.

Right.

And it doesn't take a lot to. I use the, I use rec jars. W, R E C K rec jars. And it's, it's just easy. It's vinegar, salt, cabbage and if you want to put in some spices in there, if you like it spicy, then you can put in some peppers or whatever and then you just, you let it put some. Make sure it's, you've got some weight on the top of it and, and you let it sit and it's doesn't. Doesn't take very long and you can do. There's 24 hour dill pickles that you can make too and that are really simple. If you go online, there's lots of recipes I did mine with. There's a gal here in Calgary who does cooking classes. So she did one, one session just on different fermented foods. But my mom used to make the 20. Well, she made regular dill pickles too, but the 24 hour dill pickles and. Yeah, that's, that's great.

So, yeah, if you, I know at Costco or at your local farmers market or your local stores, health stores, you can get those little cucumbers and make your pickles.

Yeah. And then the thing is, if you go to the grocery store to buy the sauerkraut that's in the, that's refrigerated, it's like $12. Yes. And it. And to make it like a head of cab, you could probably, I don't know, you could get a lot of sauerkraut out of a head of cabbage. And a head of cabbage is like $4. Right. So.

Yeah, right.

It's. So it's, it's way more economical. And I use, I use sauerkraut all the time just to stave off if I have any hunger pangs.

But.

Yeah, yeah, good idea.

Yeah. And I know for me, when we were doing making our own, I would go to the Chinese market and you can often get the Chinese cabbage for a lot less. Just look for the sales and pick it up. And we, the difficulty with what we did is we made a big honkin food jar like a food bucket. And then it's trying to open that and take out. That didn't work for. I like your example of using the W is a wreck jar having individual jars to make it just easier. You take one jar out, use it, and then you've got other ones. It'd just be easier to get to. I think that would have been. Yeah, because in the end we were moving and we had to dump it. What was left because it was such a big container.

So the other thing is if you do it in a big container, it, it does have an odor to it. Right. So you do do it in a big container. Then it's like always permeates wherever it is. So I like the jars better. Yeah, absolutely.

And we, when my kids were younger, my son had a billeted a boy from Korea. And so I learned about kimchi, which is like sauerkraut with more pepper and that kind of stuff. And I never really knew what it was. I went to a Korean local restaurant. I asked if they could prepare it for me and I brought it home so he could have it while he was with us. I think he stayed four weeks or six weeks, something like that. He was with us. And so I wanted to make him feel on occasion that he was able to have some of his own food. So I had it in the fridge, but it was not in a sealed container because it came from a. Not a grocery store, but from a restaurant. And oh my gosh, the whole fridge stun. So I get what you're saying with having that. It's crazy, but it was. It was definitely good. It was hot, though. I. I was at how peppery it was.

Can I ask a question? I don't. I don't mean to monopolize if anybody else's cup.

Anybody's welcome to ask questions.

When we're. When we are journaling in the app. I haven't been putting in, like, I haven't been logging. If I use stuff that's in the. On the free side, I really too much, like, especially on the condiment side of things. I just think it. Otherwise it makes it really long. So do we have. We don't have to log those, do we?

No, you don't. But if you're using the free form entry when you're logging or are you trying to find each thing.

Well, I'm.

No, I'm logging when I log in the journal, if it pops up, if there's something there. Right.

So, yeah, but you can just go in and type in. If you're doing 4 ounces of chicken, 4 ounces of broccoli, 4 ounces of an apple.

Yeah.

And just write that in. And then if you want to say. And some free veggies.

Oh, okay. That's what I.

Salad or.

And you know, a mixed salad or a mix.

Okay.

Something like that. That just incorporates that way. I think Alice is your.

Yeah.

You can make.

When I've been putting in like a salad, I've been putting in all the ingredients in the salad. I'm like, this is a bit cumbersome for me and for her probably to have to read through it. So that's.

Yeah.

But if you just type it all in, you could just say mixed salad with tomatoes, this, that, you know, whatever's in it. The only thing we're making sure of is that you're in your salad, that it's all free veggies.

Right.

If you're having 4 ounces of something else. So that's the only key thing. And yeah, you just put salad. She may ask, was there any. You know, so using the freeform entry and not looking up everything, it doesn't take as much time. Just write it all in quickly and you're done.

And I can't remember where I upload photos.

Same place. So you'll go free form entry in the journal and then there'll be a little picture, like a little you know how on your.

An icon.

Yeah, yeah, Correct. A little picture icon. You click that and you can upload the picture.

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Right.

From your phone. If you have the app on your phone, it's a lot easier to do it because the photo most likely will be on your phone. So, Jennifer. Sorry, did that answer all your questions? Mary. Oh, Jennifer.

I was just going to add something for Mary. One of the things that you can do is you can voice text. So it's sometimes it's a lot easier to speak it than it is to sit there and like thumb it out. So you can. You can just hit the little microphone and then you can just say what you're having. And it figures like the AI in the app is actually pretty good. So it figures it out for you. And then I just go through and I'll correct if I need to correct. But that's way faster and easier.

That's a great suggestion. I didn't know you could do that.

That's awesome.

I got the clue that if you look through my posts, it's the difference between when it writes out the word ounces versus oz. If I'm typing I write oz, but if I'm voiced transcribing it then it does ounces. Like it. It like writes it out properly.

Yes.

Yeah. Correct.

Great. So any other questions from anyone I know? For all our US friends, continue with your celebrations. Good thing you're not out shopping, Jennifer. Black Friday. Take time off to cook versus be in the malls and run around like a chicken with your head cut off. Although Black Friday I don't think is Black Friday anymore. It's kind of like the Black month, right? Black Friday month where all the deals are available for kind of like a month. So well, enjoy the rest of your time. Your week, weekend and then into next week and we'll see you next Friday. And congratulations everyone on your weekly wins. You're doing amazing and I can smell your baking. Jennifer, her awesome. Love you all. Have a great week, everyone. Take care.

Thanks, Annalisa.

Have a great week.

Thank you.