Weekly Living Light Metabolic Program Q & A with Dipa June 30, 2023

Sandrington providing with a complete alibi for the entire week.

Good afternoon everyone. Happy Friday. Hope you're all having a wonderful day. I'm just gonna put a reminder in our chat here a second. Happy Friday.

Foreign.

How is everybody's week going so far? I know that there's two holidays coming up for Canadians, Canada Day, and for everybody in the States, it is the fourth of July. So I would love to hear anything that you all have going on or are looking forward to or something that you are grateful for. And of course voices, as always, are very welcome. Same with faces. But if text is all you can do, then we appreciate that as well.

Happy Friday. Barbara. Preeti says transitioned into maintenance this week and leaving for a holiday today. Wow, that went by fast. I feel like you just started.

Awesome.

Great. Made it through, goes by quick. Hi Barb, how are you? And if you all can turn on your cameras, we'd love to see your beautiful faces if possible. Okay, so it works out well because today I actually was going to talk a little bit about women's hormones. Not that the men aren't welcome, but I would have had to switch gears a little bit and if there was some men joining us. But it seems like it's all women today. So if you can type in the chat, if you feel comfortable, if you have gone through menopause as of yet.

Or not.

Some answers come in. Okay, so we kind of have a mix and this is something that I've been diving into quite a bit because I feel like I'm starting to enter that phase of my life where it's called perimenopause, which those of you who have already, you know, are already in menopause. I've already experienced those wonderful years of perimenopause. And basically it's a time of transition. It's also known as second puberty. For many as we enter this second phase of our lives. Usually it can start anywhere from early 30s or not early 30s, late 30s to early 40s. There's usually a four phase transition that we go through. Typically the first phase is when you may not really notice any change in your cycles, but you may notice that you may be experiencing a few symptoms like maybe some hot flashes or night sweats or difficulty losing weight, to name a few. Those are some of the common ones. Then eventually you may notice that there will be a change in cycles. That's the second phase where the cycles become maybe more frequent and sometimes heavier for people. And then the third phase is when the cycles may become more infrequent and so that's kind of the third phase, which is going to be closer to the time where you may have your last cycle. Then the fourth phase, of course, is that year before the. You actually go into menopause. So menopause is defined as not having your cycle for a year. If you, if it's been six months, you know that you haven't had a cycle, and then you end up getting your cycle, then that you haven't transitioned yet. Okay. So basically, you know, and for men, it can be, you know, the 40s can also be a time of transition as well. So testosterone levels will start to decline for men in their 40s. It's a time where I feel like we really have to prioritize our health, if we haven't done so already. Obviously, all of you on this call here are prioritizing your health by embarking on this program, whether you're in your 40s or not, whether you're female or male or not. The things I'll talk about today are going to be impactful for you, regardless of where you're at in terms of hormones and in terms of your health journey. Of course, on the release phase, it's a really beneficial time for people to really focus on eating whole foods and avoiding processed foods and refined carbohydrates and refined foods in general. Right. And so what happens is we're eating whole foods, we're eating lots of healthy proteins and prioritizing a lot of vegetables and fruits. So we're increasing our antioxidants and phytonutrients. And basically what happens for most people on the release phase is they become more sensitive to insulin, which is a good thing. Okay, so insulin resistance goes down. Does anyone know what insulin resistance is or kind of have like a little inkling of what it is type? Yes, in the chat, if you do. So insulin resistance, yes, it does have to do with blood sugar. So what happens is if we eat diet that's high in carbohydrates and processed foods and refined sugars, then our blood sugars are going to go up. Right. When our blood sugars go up, then our body or our pancreas has to release insulin to remove that blood glucose from the blood into your muscles and cells, and then your muscles and cells use that as a source of energy. So any carbohydrate food, whether it's fruit or vegetables that are higher in carbohydrates, are going to create this blood sugar release, which is then going to require your body or your Pancreas to secrete the insulin. The problem is, when we continue to eat foods that are high in sugars and processed carbs and a lot of breads and pastries and cakes and cookies, then eventually we develop something called insulin resistance. So our pancreas can only release so much insulin to sequester that blood glucose. And so over time, the. The pancreas will start to release all this insulin. And, you know, over time, it's not going to be able to sequester all that blood glucose that's constantly being elevated. And so we develop something called insulin resistance, where the insulin receptors are not as sensitive anymore to sequestering that blood glucose from the bloodstream. Over time, you may eventually, if you don't do anything about this, develop diabetes. So when you go to your doctor and they tell you your blood sugar is elevated, that actually is. That insulin resistance has been going on, in some cases, for some people for maybe five years, 10 years before the fasting blood sugar becomes elevated. The process of diabetes happens years and years before the actual diagnosis. One of the first steps in developing diabetes is insulin resistance. The insulin resistance has to be there first. So when we enter our 40s, it's important to prioritize our health, because with age, we're going to become less sensitive to insulin. With age, specifically for. I think it's for men as well. But for women, once we enter menopause, we lose, on average, about 0.5 pounds of muscle every year. And the reason why that's important to know is because muscle is one of the. It's basically a sponge for. For glucose. So if you're losing muscle mass and you're eating all these high processed carbohydrates, then you, you know, you don't have that same volume of that sponge to absorb that blood glucose. So we're more prone or more at risk of developing things like insulin resistance and diabetes in our 40s and 50s and beyond. Okay, so with the release phase of this program, one of the main goals is to make you more sensitive to insulin. And that's why for a lot of people, they're able to decrease or in some cases, even come off of their diabetic medication, because we're a not feeding the body those processed foods, and we're also increasing insulin sensitivity. The fasting part of this protocol also helps you become more insulin sensitive. Okay, so the reason why I bring this up is because for women, as you enter this phase of perimenopause and menopause, in menopause, your estrogen levels naturally decline. That's just part of the process of entering that phase of life. And estrogen is, you know, some of the unknown benefits of estrogen are that it helps maintain bone density. Estrogen also helps increase muscle strength and the desire to move your body. Estrogen helps to maintain a healthy metabolic rate and estrogen also enhances insulin sensitivity. And Therefore, in your 20s, 30s, 40s, you may not have had any abdominal weight gain because estrogen helps with the ability to lose fat around your waist as well. All of a sudden, when we enter menopause and those estrogen levels decline, then this is why we need to prioritize our nutrition and lifestyle even more. This is why we need to make sure we're eating a blood sugar balanced diet, a whole food diet. This is why we need to engage in some sort of resistance training. Of course, on the release phase, we don't encourage you to do a lot of intense movement. But as soon as you're done with the release phase, of course you want to consult with your healthcare practitioner or medical doctor to clear you for exercise. But just doing some movement that's going to provide mild levels of resistance doesn't mean you have to go to the gym and start lifting all these heavy weights. You can use your body weight, right? You can do things like squats or lunges or you know, if you're, if you, if you're not used to these movements, there's so many ways to modify them, right? You can do squats with sit, you know, with a couch right behind you so that way you have some support if you feel like you might fall. You can use a door handle to help you squat. You can do wall push ups, right? All these little movements are going to help keep you young, right? Movement is the key to staying youthful. Okay? So doesn't have to be anything crazy. There's plenty of resources these days, even for free on YouTube. You can Google beginner resistance exercises. You, you don't even need to buy dumbbells or weights if you don't want to go to a gym. You can buy resistance bands on Amazon for very, you know, they're very inexpensive, right? So there's a lot of things that you can do without having to spend a lot of money if you're not able to do some of these things because you may have some inflammation or pain related issue that's preventing you from doing certain exercises. You can just keep it simple and walk. Walking is one of the best exercises. A 10, 15 minute walk around your block can go a long way. Okay?

And.

Usually for women who haven't gone through menopause, you may want to ask your mom if you're able to in terms of when she went through menopause, because sometimes, you know, it can be similar in terms of mirroring your mom in terms of when she went through menopause. And it doesn't have to be a difficult transition. Right? You can go through menopause not really experiencing any symptoms. Do I recommend hormone replacement therapy? So I always recommend lifestyle and nutrition first. And there's also certain supplements you can take to support you through the journey. And then if you've tried those things and still are struggling, then you may want to consider bioidentical hormones. I never really, I personally don't recommend synthetic hormones. I would recommend bioidentical hormones, but it's not necessary for everyone. And for men, a lot of the same things are going to apply to men because for men, their testosterone levels are going to start to decline. And the best way to maintain testosterone is to focus on strength training, specifically lower body exercises, when we're engaging those big muscle groups like your quads, your glutes. So lower body exercises like squats and lunges can be very beneficial for men to help them maintain their testosterone levels. Exactly, yes. Less complicated barb. So that's why for even some women who may be experiencing hot flashes when they go on this program, the hot flashes significantly decrease. Because one of the main causes for hot flashes is actually blood sugar dysregulation. And on this program we really help with balancing blood sugars. Hey, Preeti was asking during maintenance and long term, can we have fruit as an in between meal snack, 4 ounces, berries for example, or is it not recommended? So great question. So I would rather you have berries as a snack than, you know, bag of chips. Low glycemic fruits like berries are, you know, generally okay to have on their own. But the reason why on this program we have you eat your fruit at the end of your meal is because when you eat fiber in vegetables first, right? So when you have like your non free vegetables and your free vegetables first, and then you have your protein after that, and then you have your fruit, the fiber and the protein help to stabilize the blood sugar, that the blood sugar increase. That can happen when you consume fruit. So the only way to know, because everyone's different, the only way to know if your blood sugar levels rise if you eat fruit on its own is by testing your blood sugars. So you can test your blood sugars the traditional way with just a Finger prick, usually like an hour or two after you eat. You can test your blood sugars, but a much more convenient way is to get a continuous blood glucose monitor. In Canada, they're available without a prescription. In the US they're becoming more widely available now without a prescription. So there's a couple of resources I can point you to if you're interested in a blood glucose monitor if you live in the US in terms of where you can get one without a prescription. So from a blood sugar standpoint, we recommend eating fruit at the end of a meal. And Preeti commented here saying that many people say to eat fruit on an empty stomach. So from a digestion standpoint, if you do feel like you get bloated, then on the release phase, we would recommend eating it with the meal, at the end of the meal. But after you're done with the release phase, you can play around with the timing a little bit. Because fruits in general, from a digestive perspective, for some people, it can be better digested when it's eaten on an empty stomach. So that's not for everyone. But for some people, if they do feel bloated, then you might wanna try eating your food, your fruit on an empty stomach. So that's referred to something called food combining principles. So some of you may have heard of food combining principles. And if you do struggle with any sort of digestive related issue, then that's when you might wanna look into food combining after you're done the release phase. Okay, great question. So in terms of supplementation, you know, as Barb was asking, when we transition into these different phases of our life, whether you're male or female, of course there's bioidentical hormones, which I personally, unless things are really bad for you, I personally would recommend trying the nutrition and lifestyle recommendations first, which all of you are doing by embarking on this program. But there are some supplements that you can look into. So specifically for helping to optimize the insulin sensitivity, there are a few supplements that you can try. One is known as the brand that we recommend is Designs for Health. And they carry a supplement called Metabolic Synergy. It's available in the US and Canada. I'll put the links here. And it has a lot of different. It's a great product because it also kind of serves as a multivitamin and mineral as well, mineral complex as well, in addition to having certain components in it that help with insulin sensitivity. So it has things like chromium and vanadium in it. A lot of those minerals can really help with balancing your blood sugars. Okay. And we can put the links here for you all if you wish. So for Canada, if you live in Canada, it's here. And if you live in the U.S. post that here. And then another supplement that can be helpful is something called Berberine. Has anyone heard of Berberine here? Okay, so Berberine is. A lot of people refer to it as the, as the natural version of metformin. So if you feel like you are struggling with insulin resistance or some blood sugar related issues, this would be a great supplement. Addition. To your wheelhouse. Links in here. And of course, you know, supplements are not required. Right. We always want you to focus on lifestyle and nutrition first, which is what you're doing on this program. Right. This is just for those who want a little extra support or help with blood sugar balancing. But like I said, it's not absolutely necessary. So Berberine is called. That's how you spell it. And I put the links for the Berberine just in the chat there. Hey, what other questions do you all have? Doesn't have to be in relation to this topic. I know some of you are transitioning to maintenance. Some of you are traveling in the summer. So happy to answer any questions with regards to any of those topics as well. Oh, is that Julie? Yeah. Hi, Julie. How are you?

I'm good. I do have. I have three questions.

Okay, sure. You go.

Right.

And.

Today is my 31st day.

Julie, you're. Oh, I guess she dropped. I don't think she was getting good service. Okay. She might come back. Preeti says I'm a little nervous about traveling because I have stuck to the program 100%. I wish I could just keep it going without any outside food. Okay. Preeti, are you available? I'm going to ask you to unmute.

I. I'm just at work. That's why I keep on messing.

Okay, no worries. So where are you traveling from?

Boston.

Boston. Are you staying with family or in a hotel?

Hotel. For four nights.

For four nights.

Okay.

So a couple of things that I would recommend is you might want to just research in advance some of the restaurants that are close by to you.

Yes, yes, I did that for sure. It's just the idea of even having something from outside because it feels so clean.

I know, I know. Yeah, it's going to feel different. The other thing that you could do is, I don't know if most. I feel like hotel rooms will have like a fridge. So you could always go to a grocery store and you could buy a few things like we always do. That when we're traveling, like we'll buy some fruits and nuts.

Yes, I'll get fruits. Yeah, I'll get the fruits. I already packed all my nuts with me.

Are you driving or flying? Flying. Okay. Yep. So fruit and nuts. And then even if you go to certain grocery stores, they have salad bars, which can be, you know, still a clean option for you. Yeah, so that could be an option. But really as you're. Because you're kind of going right into. Right. You know, you're in maintenance and then you're traveling is. Ideally, we want people to introduce one new food at a time. But of course, if you're traveling, that may not be possible, but try to stay as clean as possible and try to really pay attention to how your body feels. Feels when you introduce certain foods. Okay, so like foods that you haven't had in a long time. You know, pay attention to how you feel. Right. Because then, you know, you've avoided those foods for six weeks and now if you reintroduce them back in, then you want to see how they impact. Your body doesn't just have to be gastrointestinal. It could be a headache, it could be more fatigue, could be a skin reaction. Like it could be anything really.

Yeah. Okay, sounds good.

Thank you.

And Ed has put some suggestions here. Pre cut veggie trays, raw green beans. Preeti is vegetarian, so no fat free turkey breasts for her. But you could do like, you know, a can of chickpeas or what other things could you do? You're not going to have like a stove or anything to cook, like your tofu or anything. But like even.

The reason I mentioned these is because for the last week to two weeks, that's all I've been eating really is something simple because I didn't want to cook or prepare. And you know, raw green beans with the turkey breast is, you know, two thirds of your meal and you just add berries on the top and there's no prep time. And then one of the times I've been traveling for work, I'm driving and I could just pack that up in a cooler. And there's no interruption to the program.

Yep, exactly. And that's what I really tell people is for the release phase is really keep things simple, right. You don't have to cook all these fancy meals unless you really want to, but keep it simple, right? Even when you're traveling, keep things simple, right? Preeti for you, I would recommend, like us, I'm vegetarian too, as you know, but we always travel with like a Clean pea protein that we can just quickly mix up. So make sure that you, you know, take something with you. We'll just take like a small canister of it because that's always like sometimes it's hard to get your adequate amount of protein when you're traveling, especially being vegetarian. So just make sure you travel with like a good pea protein as well.

Yeah. I have the designs for health one, so I'll that with me.

Okay.

And yeah, it should be fine. It just, you know, I, I guess I'll just come back and then continue as best I can.

Exactly, exactly. So just, you know, that's the thing. Like I was talking to a client the other day and you know, if we travel or have to, you know, things aren't perfect. It's all about getting back on track when we are able to. Right. So it doesn't have to be this like downward spiral.

Right.

We just enjoy our time with our families and enjoy the travel and do our best and then we pick back right back up when we return.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Yeah, and Alice had some good suggestions there too. Hummus is great for maintenance. So even like if you can find a whole foods close by, you can find things like organic hummus and guacamole and have that with some pre cut veggies. Like, like some of those things. It's not like a complete meal, but it does for me personally, like I get full like pretty quickly. Right. So for sure.

But I think I'm also a little nervous about the 4 ounce.

4 ounces though.

Yeah.

So I mean you're. When you can, you can weigh but of course you're not gonna be weighing if you go to a restaurant. Right. So in those cases like you can eyeball and just stay or try your best. Right. Because it's not going to, it's not going to be perfect. Okay. Barb is asking how much protein in quinoa. So let me pull out. If you download an app called My Fitness Pal, You can get a free, the free version of it. But let me look that up for you. And then Julie, I think you're back. I don't know if your Internet is better, but you can go ahead and ask your questions as I'm looking this up here.

Can you hear me?

It's a little bit choppy, but we can try. And if it doesn't work, then maybe you want to just type your question in the chat. Okay.

So I'm taking mentholated vitamin D and I guess it's called niacin. Rush where facing my arms. But I just decided since I'm so, so tired. I'm more tired on this program than I was before that I stuff from the DNA company. And I'm just wondering if, you know, if that's okay for me even though I turn all.

If the niacin is okay for you.

Well, it's vitamin B and I think it's nice and in it. But it's mentholated.

Yep. Oh, she dropped off again. Well, we'll continue with her question when she comes back. But for Barb. Yes. So a general serving size for quinoa or any grain is about half a cup cooked. So half a cup cooked has about 4 grams. So 4.1 grams of protein in.

By the way, deep. I just looked that up in practice. Better food database.

Oh, okay. Nice. Yeah. So maybe it. I think, yeah, if you go to your food food journals, then you could probably very easily look that up as well. Yes. And my fitness pal had the exact same 4.1 grams for half a cup cooked. I wonder if it pulls from there as a third party. Thank you. Thank you, Ed.

Okay, one other question that I had asked Elisa.

Yep.

Last week about the different types. And we already talked about it in one of these Friday classes. I don't remember which one it was. Deepa or Alice.

Okay.

Different types of magnesium. And then also like I have, I have the Calm Natural calm powder, which is the magnesium citrate. And then she was telling me about there's a lotion you can put on.

Yes.

But that was a different form of magnesium. So I'm just confused about the best way to get A good sleep and B, with muscle tension and stuff.

Yeah. So for sleep, the topical magnesium can be very helpful. Basically you just put, there's a spray or there's a gel and you just put like a few sprays on the bottom of your feet before you go to bed. So that's the topical magnesium. And then in addition to that, you can use something called magnesium threonate. So magnesium threonate crosses the blood brain barrier and can be helpful for increasing deep sleep and REM sleep as well.

Because my REM sleep, according to my aura ring, it's not good.

Okay. So REM sleep is not good. So try the mag, the magnesium threonate. I can put a. Do you live in. You live in Canada, right?

Yes.

Yep. So I'll put a link here for you. And then another thing that I. Because my, my REM sleep is also not the greatest. It's been better Since I've made some of these changes. But are you on screens at all at night?

I, I try my best not to be.

Okay.

And if I do, I have everything turned to that orangey, orangey color.

Okay.

Only time I am if I've got some sort of meeting. But I try not to be. That's usually once a week in the evening.

Once we get in the evening. Okay, good. So one thing that's really helped me is lion's mane extract. It's a medicinal mushroom. And put a link in terms of the one I use as well. Give me a second, I'll put all these in here for you. So.

Okay.

A couple of things is the supplements, of course. Number two is. So the magnesium is really going to help with that. Number two is getting morning sunlight. Okay. So in the morning, within the first hour of waking, if you can just be outside, you don't have to like stare at the sun. But just being outside can really help increase.

Remember and you told me not with my sunglasses on and not with my 50 sunscreen all over.

Yeah. So you could put the sunscreen on your face if you want. But like your eyes, you don't want to cover them with sunglasses because your eyes is the main way that light, basically that's how your, your eyes, the light comes in through your eyes to tell your brain that it's daytime outside. Okay. So if you put sunglasses on then your brain's a little confused. So getting morning sunlight really making sure in the evening the thing that's going to stimulate REM sleep and sleep in general is darkness. So in the summer right now we're lucky because it doesn't get dark until like nine. But as soon as it starts to get dark, you want to turn off overhead lighting. Use red light. Right. So red light bulb. If you're going to be on screens, have the filter or get blue blocker glasses. Other things that can help with getting more REM sleep is cutting back on caffeine. I don't know if you drink coffee at all.

No, no, I don't drink coffee. There's no over the, no overhead light in my living room. Just a salt lamp. I've got the bond charge red light in my bedroom. I've been trying to get into bed by 10:00 lately.

Okay, good. And has it improved?

No.

Okay. Are you sleeping in a cool room?

I have no air conditioning, so I have a fan.

You have a fan. Okay, good. Do you what time you're going to bed at 10. And what time are you waking up?

6Ish.

Okay, so that's good. Getting about eight hours in bed, whether you're sleeping well.

And my ring is telling me my time in bed and my time asleep are two entirely different things.

Yes. Okay, so then in that case, like, do you find that you have a lot on your mind?

Oh, gosh, yes.

Okay. Do you journal before bedtime?

I haven't. I have in the past, but I haven't been recently, so maybe I should start that again.

Yeah, I would journal before bedtime just to kind of do like a brain dump to get all of that off of your mind. Okay, so you're not taking it with you to bed. Even some meditation can really help before bedtime. And then going for a walk in the evening can help as well, just to kind of calm you down a little bit. So try some of those things as well. And then I am going to send you the links for the lion's mane and the neuro mag, Even some breath work or breathing as Ed has suggested. Are you mouth taping at night?

I have not been. I can, I can do that though. I can try that. I don't.

I.

My, my awareness is I'm still breathing through my nose, but maybe I'm not, I don't know. Oops, A deeper freeze.

I think we lost Deepa for a moment. I think the mouth taping would be great. Next step to try to see if it starts moving things. It's amazing for deep sleep and it's amazing for restfulness in total. Well, what I found additionally that has kind of helped raise my REM sleep as well is not waking up with an alarm. So if that is something, are you waking up with an alarm currently? Okay. Okay, good. Getting more time in those early hours of kind of like as you're waking up. I find that that's typically when the dream state kicks in. So making sure you're maybe even if you need an extra bit of sleep in that morning period of time, giving yourself that space, but definitely focusing on winding down. Having a relaxing technique at in the evening time is really, really helpful. And then like Deepa mentioned, the lion's mane as well is going to be something that just can kind of boost you in the right direction. It could also be something that is energetically, let's say bottled up, especially if you do have a lot on your mind. You, you know, like you've mentioned haven't been journaling or haven't been getting that kind of find that even doing. I know we talked about the crush technique a few different times. But if, if you haven't experienced it yet, it's something more. So the technique and the prompts on the actual PDF that we share is more so plateau sugar craving related, but I find it to be very helpful in just mobilizing stagnant energy in the body, regardless of why it's there, regardless if you are experiencing a sugar craving, a plateau, whatever have you. So if you're open to it, I'd love for, to give that a try and to see what comes up after kind of tapping in the certain meridian points in your body.

Can you send that, that PDF again, please?

Yeah, definitely. I can attach it here to this, to the zoom call. So if anybody else is interested in it as well, we can definitely go ahead and practice it. I think it's just great overall maintenance to kind of mobilize that stagnant energy. Okay, let's see here. Julie. Oh, yeah, I see that you're still on the call here. You're saying you're getting plenty of sleep and you've never been so tired and weak. So where exactly are you in the, in the program? Kind of like what Ed mentioned. Okay, day 30. So I find that some people can experience that kind of lethargic feeling towards the beginning, some people start to feel it towards the end. So for me specifically, I started feeling it kind of towards the end of my release phase. And so definitely making sure you're taking time to nap as best as possible. Usually what happens if your body is feeling more tired, more sluggish, is that it's kind of doing more deep healing. So it's accessing different points and it needs that additional rest to tackle that. So making sure you're giving yourself some time, if of course, possible throughout the day to nap for even 20, 30 minutes, see if that helps. Additionally, you can try taking something like activated charcoal at night. So if your body is doing any sort of heavier detoxing, you're making sure you're kind of binding to all of that. And it's, it's allowing it to move better through your body so it's not lingering and creating a little bit more discomfort or tiredness that it can be, making sure that of course you're staying hydrated. If you do have access to a sauna, that really helps in terms of detoxifying as well. And if it continues, then maybe adding in a little bit of fat. So sometimes it's, it's just from the body needing that additional energy source. Also assessing to see if your stress has been a little bit higher because that's obviously going to make you more tired as well. So if you haven't exhausted any of those options, I think that would be a great place to start. And if you need a recommendation in terms of activated charcoal, we can definitely add that in. And Deepa is back. Hi.

Sorry. My intranet this week has just been really bad. It just like cuts out randomly for some reason. I need to call our provider. I know. Julie. Were you addressing Julie's questions? Because she had a few.

I addressed the feeling. Kind of more tired. Yeah.

What week or day is she on?

Day 30.

Day 30.

Yeah.

Okay. Has the energy gotten any better at all throughout those days or. It's still kind of the same. Julie, if you can type it in the chat. Any. What were her other questions?

She also asked. Let's see here. My skeleton muscles are low and gotten lower. I've lost £14. Just wonder if I wondering if I'm losing muscle. And I didn't hear what you said about vitamin B is drinking water with lemon and stevia count for drinking water. So yes, water with lemon and stevia does count for your daily water intake. Any herbal teas are included in that as well. And if you're drinking broth with your meals, I would include that if it's not too high in sodium as well. Making sure if you are using any broth with your meals, it's usually about one cup that you're sticking to.

Yeah. And for energy, the B vitamin is great. But you can also try there is a supplement called mitochondrial energy which has B complex in it. So Alice, if you want to put the link in there, that would be great. I think Julie lives in the U.S. okay.

That's for the activated charcoal I just put in. And then I'm going to put in the mitochondrial energy and that supplement is truly fantastic. And just kickstarting your energy centers. You feel it almost immediately. But it could be that your body just needs little bit more time to rest and access those deeper states of healing and just.

Alice, Char Designs for Health has a charcoal binder now too. So you can. So Julie doesn't have to pay for two different shipping. You can.

Oh, that's amazing.

Just for the US not the Canadian side of it. But you could put that in there so that she can get both things from one place and not have to pay double shipping.

Okay, Sounds good. It's a shame it's not in Canada as well.

Yeah, always comes out there first.

It's the charcoal plus binder.

Yep.

Okay. Awesome.

Barb's asking is the last thing you mentioned for energy and electrolyte. Is that what you had mentioned, Alice?

Are you referring to the mitochondrial energy? That's a supplement.

That's a supplement, yeah.

So if you wanted to try it out, Barb, I can also put in the Canadian link for it. Awesome. Okay, I'll find that too.

I can for Barb. I sent her her a full script recommendation so I can see if I can add that to the full script recommendation so she can get everything all in one spot.

Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. Okay, what other questions do you all have?

My living proof book is just out of reach. How many days are we on release before we go to maintenance?

42 days. Yeah, so it's 42 days on the release phase and then day 43, 44, 45, you're going to continue the release phase plan, but you're going to stop the, you're going to stop the spray and then you're going to, on day 46, add the fats back in.

And then for the spray, sometimes I forget I have an alarm set. Yep, doing something. Oh, let me just finish this and.

Then I'll go do it.

And sometimes I have forgotten. So I don't always get it in three times. Usually at least two times. Okay, is that, is that. Have I really ruined myself?

No, no, that's. I mean, obviously, ideally we want you to take it three times and if you do have a reminder set, then that's going to help. But you know, if you miss it, you miss it. Just, you know, if it's close, like let's say your 2pm dose, you remember, at 3, like take it. You can still take it if it's a little bit off, but if it's getting close to your next dose, then just leave it out.

And what exactly is that spray doing again? It's helping reset our set point for.

So the, the spray is resetting your hypothalamic pituitary access, which is the main regulator in your body for your adrenal hormones, your thyroid hormones and your female hormones. So it's helping your body to achieve a new metabolic set point in terms of weight and then basically also helps with things like hunger and cravings as well. Okay. Julie is asking what about the skeleton muscles going down? So on this program, it's targeting fat loss, it's not targeting skeletal or muscle mass. Okay. So it's only targeting fat loss. So you should have received a Renfo scale from us Body weight scale. And if you download the app on the Renfo Scale. You should it. It measures your total weight, it measures your muscle mass, your skeletal mass, your body fat percentage. And so you'll be able to see the trends in terms of, you know, the fat percentage going down as you embark on this program.

Deepa?

Yep.

I just, I. Because I've been through the whole release phase now. Yeah, I did, and we talked about this before, but I did lose about 20% of the weight loss was in muscle.

Okay.

But as a percentage of my weight, my muscle, skeletal muscle went up in percentages even though the actual muscle went down. So now that I'm in the maintenance, I'll start to add muscle back.

Exactly. Yeah. So for most people it's going to be primarily fat. There might be a little bit of muscle mass. But that's why we, you know, as much as possible encourage you to still do things like walking and be active, just not intense activity. You can even do some really mild resistance training on the release phase. Just really like low weights, like three, five pound weights at the most. So if you're able to do those things, then you can still maintain that muscle mass.

Yeah. What? I have a theory, but I would like to hear yours. I thought it was going down initially because my protein levels were so low and my protein levels were low even before I started the program and they've gone up since I started. So I think I've stopped losing the muscle.

Yep.

But I didn't know if that was, you know, I think it all depends on where your starting point was or is.

Absolutely. And like, especially when, you know, you bring up protein. So on the, on the maintenance phase, like if you are going to add in more resistance training, you may need more protein. So you may need to bump it up to like 5 or 6 ounces on days when you're going to be more active just because, you know, resistance training is breaking down your muscle and then it's after that. The recovery phase is when you build muscle. So you'll want to be conscious of how much protein you consume to help you build back that muscle after resistance training.

Right. Yeah. But what I was getting at is before I started the program, I used to eat four eggs for breakfast, two steaks for dinner. I had plenty of protein, but I was eating it. But my protein when I got the scale was 14%. So something. It wasn't getting processed.

Yes. You weren't absorbing it or breaking it down properly to utilize it.

But now I'm eating, I'm eating far less than I used to and my protein levels are much higher.

Oh, okay. So that's good. Yeah. And it's probably because your body is just. Your digestive system is functioning better. Like it's really, you know, perhaps cleaned a lot of things up so you're better able to absorb your amino acids. Also this is why we really emphasize chewing. Right. Making sure you're chewing your food well because it's going to help you break down those amino acids further to help you. To help you, you know, absorb your protein better as well. Right. When you chew your food well.

Yeah. So I sort of, I forget what was Julie was saying about how she's feeling. Like that's how I felt in the first part, but I think it all had to do with how bad things were before I started.

Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, for sure. That plays a big role. Right. In terms of what your baseline is.

Right.

So Julie is saying that she cleans houses. So this could probably also be why you might be so tired because you probably are a lot more active than the average person who is sitting primarily. And so you know, I know that's what you do for a living. So it's probably hard to, you know, make modifications to your activity level. So Julie, for you, because you are more active just by nature of what you do during the day, try to bump up your protein, I would say 5 ounces for lunch and dinner and see if that helps. And then as Ed has brought up here, are you using toxic chemicals to clean? I was just going to say that because that's a huge burden on the body and if you're cleaning with toxic chemicals then your detox organs, your kidneys and your liver have to work so much harder and that is a huge energy expenditure as well. So I don't know if you use your clients cleaning products or if you're able to use your own, but I would try to use more natural products to clean because that could be a huge burden on your, your energy levels as well. Unfortunately the Renfro scale does not link to practice better. I wish it did. So what you. There are some kind of loop arounds. I think I'll have to take a look but I think it's. It may sync with. I don't know if it syncs with. There's an app called Chronometer.

I'm not looking for the syncing as much as I can as I am how to set it up. I thought, I thought I already answered a bunch of questions. I thought it's set up but I don't know. I have to have to start again.

I guess so you'll have to download the app on your phone. The app is called Renfo R E N P H o. And then you're going to have to sync your scale with your phone. And then when you stand on the scale, make sure the app is open so that you can retrieve all the data from it. Okay. Julie's using all natural products. Try to up your protein. Yeah, try to up the protein and let's see how you feel. Okay. Any other questions or comments? Happy to stick around. Otherwise, make sure you all have a lovely weekend. I know it's a long weekend here in Canada. I know in the US you probably have the Tuesday off. So have a lovely, lovely weekend, everyone, and we will see you all next Friday. Bye, everyone.

Bye, everyone. Have a great weekend.

Have a great weekend. Thank you.