205: How Science Can Help You Learn to Eat Intuitively with Kelly Leveque

Foreign.

Welcome to the Earn your happy Podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of The Bliss Project, 3 Time Fitness World champion, fitness expert and cover model, turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author.

Each week I'll bring you a guest.

Or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we anoint ourselves, get ready to earn, own and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go. Welcome back to the Earn your happy podcast. And you guys, if you are feeling isolated, if you're feeling like you don't have a tribe of women like minded people to really help you transcend from where you are right now into the person that you know you are being called to be, or maybe you're getting that soul calling and you're not quite answering it yet and it's turning more into a scream and it's starting to make you feel even more awful than the thought of facing the fear around doing that actual thing. If you're in any of these positions, you have to join me this year at the Bliss project. It is March 2nd through the 4th in Newport Beach, California and it is going to be a life changing weekend. If you've been wanting to bust through your fears and really meet a like minded tribe of people, this is exactly where you must be be. If you're feeling called to this, I want you to go check it out@theblissproject.info right now. It's also in the show notes and who is this event for? You guys really want to get clear on if you're feeling called to it. I want to make sure that you know what is going to go on there. So if you have always had a desire to do something big, but you've always been afraid to follow through, if you feel like you don't have the tools or the expertise to take the next step, if you wish you had that tribe of supportive people, if you're ready to take that next step into the next level, but you have no idea what that's even supposed to look like, or if you just want to feel more fully alive each day and this is absolutely for you, if you want a deeper connection and understanding in your relationships, if you want to become more fulfilled in your own job that you have right now and in daily tasks, if you want to know the true desires of your soul and if you're ready to enjoy the journey just as much as the destination and truly, if you are feeling feeling called to expand your spiritual connection, we're going to be doing some incredible exercises, meditations. We have some awesome teachers who are going to come in and really give you the space to understand what that feels like for you. Because for everyone, it's so different. But to be able to do it together makes you feel even more connected than you've ever felt before. So if you're interested in meditation, if you want to create a solid foundation for all of your goals and dreams to be built on, or if you just need a mental reset, a confidence booster, and to really own own your own personal power, you guys, this is the place that you want to be. So there are still some tickets left, but they sell out fast. You guys, in this year will be the best bliss project that we've ever done. We have a really amazing team working on it and we're adding so many more things than we have ever done in prior years because I know that when I get the opportunity to put epic women into a room, I want magical things there so that you guys can truly have the tools to create your own amazing transformation and experiences. And you guys, what happens there is nothing short of miraculous. So if you're ready to create your transformation, if you're ready to step in, if you're ready to have your tribe, this is where you want to be. And I hope that you join us and that I get to meet you and hug you and see you there. So. Theblissproject.in fox welcome back to the Earn your happy podcast and today I am thrilled and honored to have Kelly Levesque on the show. She is a celebrity nutritionist and wellness expert. She's also a best selling author. Before starting her consulting business Be well by Kelly, she worked in the medical field for Fortune 500 companies like J and J Stryker and eventually moving into personalized medicine, offering tumor gene mapping and molecular subtyping to oncologists with wow. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California and completed her postgraduate clinical education at UCLA and UC Berkeley. Kelly's clients list include Jessica Elba, Chelsea Handler, Kate Walsh and Emmy Rossum. Guided by a practical and always optimistic approach, Kelly helps clients improve their health, achieve their goals, and develop sustainable habits to live a healthy and balanced life. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband. You guys, I'm so thrilled that you get to listen in on this incredible conversation. And there is no doubt why she has created and manifested so much success in her life because of the human being that she is and how she shows up in the world. So let's get started. Kelly, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on.

Oh, it's such a pleasure to finally chat with you, Lori. I feel like it's. We've just been circling each other for months.

You know, we were just talking before we hit record, and I literally have heard your name through so many people that I was like, that's it. I have to. I must know this woman. So it's always so much fun to have a podcast because it's like this amazing excuse to sit down with somebody and talk for an hour. Like, you get to learn so much about someone. So I'm really excited about this and excited for the audience to get to know you even better. So for people who maybe don't know who you are yet, could you share a bit about your story and how you started doing what you're doing now?

Sure. So I guess I'd have to take you back to high school.

Let's do it. Let's go back.

I'm a California girl, born and raised in Orange county and grew up pretty active. Played soccer, surfed, snowboarded. My favorite class in high school was health, and it lit this fire underneath me to start to want to know more about biology and nutrition. And I started reading diet books at a really young age. So Atkins Mediterranean Diet, and then into college, the China Study. And then I kind of found myself down a rabbit hole reading books that a lot of people haven't read, like Lights Out, Sleep, Sugar and Survival and Gluten Freedom and. And more scientific books by MDs and PhDs. And it was crazy because I went to USC and probably my favorite class, absolutely my favorite class there was Nature of Human Health and Disease. But when I was in school, in college, which was over 10 years ago, being an RD and being a nutritionist wasn't very popular. It wasn't like a big career then. And I feel like now there are so many young girls that I see on Instagram that are like, RD to be nutritionist to be. So. So I actually had an eight year career in cancer and genetics where I paired my love of biology with the business side of things and training and would train oncologists in the newest genetic technology that they could use to help treat their patients. So we were mapping the genome of tumors, the breast cancer Tumors to determine which chemotherapy agents and which type of treatment would work best and be most efficacious for that patient. So it was definitely deep into the research. I had to read studies every single day and understand and be up to date on the newest female cancer research. Eight years of that. I still, in the back of my mind would always look up going back to school for nutrition and what would that look like? And telling my friends at parties what to eat or how to lose a couple pounds. I was a girl drinking green smoothies and telling people that they should be taking magnesium at night. Ten years ago, fast forward. And in 2012, one of my best friends was like, what are you doing? This is just getting annoying. You need to go back and at least make it a side hustle. So I did that. I did a health coaching program and was able to start seeing clients after a year. And I saw clients for about a year and a half or two years after that and then decided to go back to UCLA and Berkeley for my postgraduate nutrition training. And In September of 2015, I took my business full time. And In January of 2016, I got my book deal with HarperCollins. So since then I would say it has been a wild ride. So really only two years full time in September. And my book came out in June of this year. It's called Body Love and it's all about living in balance and learning how to balance blood sugar without having to count or track or do calories or macros or keto or Paleo or Whole 30. I'm really trying to ditch the drama and get rid of the rules and have people intuitively eat, but in a way that they're intuitively eating based on healthy choices. Because I think if you have a bagel and your blood sugar spikes and crashes, you're going to intuitively want a cookie versus scrambled eggs or protein shake. So if we can make those healthy choices early in the day, how that can perpetuate healthy eating throughout the rest of the day, that's kind of my mission. I see clients all day long. I have one on one clients, a nutritionist full time. And I'm just trying to share recipes and things outside of the book online, just so people have resources. I mean, I'm not a chef, but I try my best. So yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of what day in the life looks like for me.

2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss, you become the leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever, that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it's something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify give you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did and that I use Shopify. It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos so marketing is built into you can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets and do it all from the Same dashboard in 2026. Stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your one per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com go to shopify.com happy that shopify.com happy hear your first judging this new year with Shopify by your side. There are so many challenges to business that I don't want starting to be one of them for you.

And when you want more.

When you're starting a business, you need Northwest Registered Agent because you get access to thousands of free guides, tools and legal forms to help you launch and protect your business. And it's all in one place. You can build your complete business identity with Northwest today. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. Real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. You can sign up for free account to begin managing your business hub with lawyer, drafted operating agreements, bylaws, resolutions, membership certificates, bills of sale and more at no cost. Northwest makes life easy for business owners. They don't just help you form your business, they give you the free tools you need after you form it like operating agreements, meeting minutes and thousands of how to guides that explain the complicated ins and outs of running A business. And let me tell you, this is life changing because I had no idea how much went into this. So don't wait. Protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business Identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit www.northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earn free and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent at www.northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earfree.

I love that and I even love that you're not a chef because it actually helps us so much say that we don't have to be in order to live this lifestyle because a times sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming when you're like, okay, well that's great, but they can make all of this healthy food taste amazing because they're a chef. So I actually love that you're navigating as well. And I come from a fitness background where we can get. You can get. When I say we, you in general, just as women, as human beings, it's really easy to fall into that idea of what worked for us once will work forever. Do you see that a lot with trying to break habits of people?

Yeah, no. We definitely can get stuck in a rut and think that something works for us. Obviously if you do a low fat, low calorie diet, it might pull some weight off your body, but optimally that's not nutritious. Now you're not absorbing fat soluble vitamins, you're not absorbing your phytonutrients and antioxidants and you have to be willing to change. And that's one thing that I always guarantee my clients is as the research comes out, I had to pivot a number of times in my cancer and genetics career because new research would prove something different and we wouldn't have more information. And what I will say is we're at the tippy top of the iceberg when it comes to nutritional knowledge. Just because the funding for nutrition research is coming in from big businesses, you're going to see it from the soy association and the Corn association and the Wheat association and big agriculture business and the milk organization or whatever it is. And you just have to be really aware that it's really hard to do unbiased nutrition research because when you think about it, you're basically saying if you eat X you'll have a lower chance of heart disease or if you add Y, you're going to have better brain health. And unfortunately, it's like every single person in that study is different genetically. They have a different Microbiome, how they're eating and what else they're eating and the lifestyle they have. Are they working out, are they sleeping well? Do they drink alcohol? You can't control everyone like a lab rat. And so I think it's just important to kind of go back to that way of eating that's really natural, which is like, where are your fruits and vegetables, where are your healthy proteins, where are your nuts and seeds, where's the fiber? And forget about the news article that's like coconut oil is going to kill you or turmeric is going to make you young. And just these things as tools to say, oh, that's interesting. Instead of changing your whole life based on something that just comes out. I don't know, I look at things, everything with a grain of salt. And I just try to help my clients, whoever they are, however they like to eat, just elevate their choices left and right.

I love that. And I'm really all about trying to figure out intuitive eating. And like you said, there's so many things that go into play with it because if I'm tired, I'm like, no, I intuitively really want starches and carbs right now, quantities of it. So it's like, is there, is there an exercise that you kind of do around getting really clear on what it is that you actually need for yourself?

Yeah, I talk about it in my book. And there's bio individuality, there's also bio community and what our cells like dumbing it down to what do your cells need? What do you need? Well, you absolutely need essential amino acids, whether you're vegan or paleo, and that's from protein. You absolutely need essential fatty acids. And that's going to be your omega 3s and omega 6, all of those. And then you absolutely need antioxidants and phytochemicals from non starchy vegetables that are full of fiber. And I would say that you really need leafy greens, the spinach, arugula, kale, whatever it is that you like. Even herbs, they contain a sulfur based sugar that feeds your probiotic bacteria and really keeps you well. Those are my pillars of what you need. And I think it's a light structure so that anyone, no matter what how they're eating, can get this base of nutrition. And then from there they can decide, well, am I a person who does well with starches? Can I have the squash and the sweet potato and the quinoa and the rice without it impacting my blood sugar drastically? That really comes down to someone's microbiome. I might have a piece of pizza and you might have a piece of pizza. But depending on our gut bacteria, our blood sugar spike and the use of that glucose is different. Depending on. You might lift more weights or heavier weights than I do, which might make your, your muscles more insulin sensitive. You might have better stores of Omega 3, which also would help you to decrease your blood sugar more than mine. You might have better gut bacteria that ferments that sugar down before it even enters your blood sugar or your bloodstream. So there are so many pieces of the pie when it comes to then taking it to an individual level. But I always say your base of nutrition should be what your cells need. And then from there you can decide, am I cool with dairy or not, am I good with starch or not? If I eat sugar, do I crave it and have to have it every single day for the rest, you know, the next 10 days? Then we just like kind of go into, well, what are you about and what works for you?

So there's certain things that when a client come to you and they keep on finding that they're struggling with the same thing over and over, maybe it is, you know, something that I hear all the time is, you know, I think that I'm just not good with carbs. When I eat carbs, I immediately gain weight or things like that that you can kind of look at or do you test different things all the time?

Yeah, no, I mean there's some, there's some base stuff that I look for. Like, so whenever anyone gets like a blood panel done at their OB GYN or their internist, I look at any of their, any of the, like the last blood panels within the last six months. Because I'm looking for deficiencies like a vitamin D deficiency or B12 or B6 that's going to affect like, like weight loss and weight gain. Have they been on antibiotics recently? And then we kind of go through day in the life of them. So it'll be like, okay, Lori, why don't you run me through what day in the life of you looks like? Like, what time does your alarm go off? Do you drink water? Do you drink coffee? Do you go to a workout? Do you open your computer right away? How's your stress? Then what, what do you eat? When's the witching hour happen? At 3 or 4 o' clock when you're like cookies, you know, really just depends on the person. And so we'll go through the whole day and then depending on the client, if I think There might be any issues with food intolerances or if there's, for example, someone has joint pain or migraines, then we might do some type of an elimination diet. If someone has a deadline for a red carpet, we might use a little bit of intermittent fasting a couple days a week. But I do it a little differently. I have people eat breakfast, eat lunch and finish eating by like 4 or 4:45, just because I think it's a little bit less emotional than trying to be like white knuckling it until 2pm and then hoping that you don't eat your whole cabinet or fridge. But I use things like glucometers, which is what diabetics use. And sometimes I'll prescribe that to a client just to kind of understand how they're, what their fasting blood sugar is. We'd start there. And so they prick themselves every morning and look for a good fasting blood sugar number, which my sweet spot is somewhere between 75 and 83. Because if someone's coming up high, like their fasting blood sugar is anywhere between 90 and 100 right there, they've doubled their chances for Alzheimer's. And they've also, they're going to have increased cravings for sugar and carbohydrates the whole rest of that day. That means that they're not metabolizing the sugar from the day before. And they're probably craving more of that because of an inability to metabolize that. And they might not have a very active lifestyle. They might be afraid to lift weights. I mean, there's so many things involved there. But we'll start to work to make sure that their blood sugar is balanced. And once I get someone balanced and eating like the Fab four, which is my protein, fat, fiber and greens, and understanding how to use fat to feel full instead of starch and how to use leafy greens and all of that, Then we'll start to look at, well, where are the cravings now? Because I think it's hard when someone first comes to me, whatever lifestyle they're living, they might feel like I could never go into a workout fasted, or I could never not snack or I'm never going to be able to get over my late night eating habit. And I think, yeah, when your blood sugar is all over the place, it's really hard to say no to the things like cookies in the break room or whatever. But if I have you balanced and satisfied, then you really start to know what you can and can't do. And so it really Depends on the client. But I always start with my smoothie because it's worked for a long time. And what that is is a protein powder of choice, fat of choice, fiber like chia or flax, and then couple hands of leafy greens. And that, for the most part, keeps people full for four to six hours. And then we find that they're making healthier choices at lunch. And then we kind of work our way through the day instead of saying, oh, Lori, perfect. Here's your eat and do not eat list, and here's how I want you to eat for the whole day. And, you know, maybe that lasts three days, and then you fail. Just like little changes that then become habits. And then we can work on the second third of the day or the third third of the day to really make you efficient at eating clean.

Too many people finish their workday feeling frustrated, drained, and unfulfilled. I know that. I have experienced that myself. And the good news is it doesn't happen to be this way, and you don't need a new job to fix it. Patrick Lencioni, author of the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and more than a dozen other bestsellers, created the working genius assessment to help you pinpoint the kind of work that gives you energy, the kind that lights you up, and it also shares the kind that drains it. So over a million people, including me, have taken it and completely changed how I lead and show up every day. If you're a CEO, an entrepreneur, or someone who just wants to level up in business and in life, working genius is going to give you the clarity and confidence to operate in your strengths and find greater joy in what you do. Because confidence isn't pretending to be good at everything. It's knowing where you're truly gifted. Take the working genius assessment today and get 20% off with code Earn at Working genius.

Com.

That's Working genius dot com. You'll be glad you did it.

Totally. It's amazing what happens when you feel more satisfied like that. Just your decisions in your entire life.

Life.

It's so funny because, you know, if. If you remember back before, maybe you learned about eating balance. It's like, it's really easy to talk about that diet you want to go in on Monday when you're, like, stuffed from the pizza you just ate five minutes ago, you're like, yes, this is what I'm doing. Like, as soon as that food burns off, you're like, I'm starving and I'm crabby. And, yeah, so it's really powerful to finally get food in your body that can actually make you feel satiated. And it is possible. So that's kind of what I want to talk about, because I am from. I grew up in the Midwest. I was told my entire life that I was going to be overweight, like all of my family, and that it was genetics like, that I would constantly battle genetics. And I told that story to myself for so long. And it can still, once in a while, creep in. You know, if I'm ever struggling with something and I'm like, okay, let's reframe, let's reset. Let's really look at what we've been eating. So for people who maybe feel that right now, who are kind of stuck in that cycle or that story, do you have people that come to you and where do you begin with that?

Absolutely. I think mindset is everything, because the minute you think. And I have a family history of obesity as well. On my dad's side, my mom is twig a tour, and so is my middle sister. But I'm one of three girls, and two of us got the short end of the stick. And it's always been effort. And I've always been working at, you know, being my fighting weight. And there is a difference between wanting to be the weight I weighed in high school because I was this height, and being like my curvy fit weight that you can easily stay at if you eat healthy consistently and work out consistently and sleep well consistently and try to manage stress because you don't want to starve and try to hold yourself at an unattainable way. You have to learn to love yourself at your fit weight. And so whenever I work with clients, it's all about mindset. It's about believing in yourself and giving it a shot, giving yourself a shot to be consistent. I can think of a client that I just talked to yesterday who, when she came to me, had a significant amount of weight to lose. We had. She wanted to lose 30 pounds, which is a pretty daunting number. It's been seven months, and she's lost 10 pounds. She used to be a yo yo dieter. And I think when we're told that we're going to be overweight, then we jump on diets right away and we try to use them as much as possible. And when we got on the call, she was discouraged. And I said, you know what? We need to change the mindset, though, because we've only been working together. It's not even been a full year. You're down £10. You haven't gone up, you've plateaued at certain points and you've gone down and you've maintained it. And you've never once felt starving, unsatisfied, or like you couldn't have a glass of wine with your husband or celebrate on a holiday. And you knew and have the tools that aren't diets that isn't this really drastic overcorrection into a juice cleanse that you can just easily say, okay, well, I'm going to go a little bit lower carb tomorrow, maybe going to have just a big green smoothie in the morning and maybe like a big salad for lunch and some kind of healthy protein for dinner. And I'm going to finish dinner a little bit earlier. Maybe you're done at 5:00. And put myself to bed early. And then all of a sudden, whoops, there we go, the holiday weight is gone. I explained to her, I'm like, think about it, I want you to reframe it. You have spent the last 10 years going up 20 pounds, down 35, up 15, down 10. And what ends up happening later in life is we lose that motivation and concentration and commitment to a diet and our diets fail. Earlier, maybe we used to be able to do it for a whole month and now we're barely squeezing in two weeks. And I'm like, look at this. If in seven or eight more months you're down another 10 pounds and you've stayed there and that's your new set weight, how would you feel? And it's like, I saw her light, her face light up. Because it isn't about how quickly we can pull the weight down. And there are so many diets that do that. Go ahead and do the cabbage soup diet, go do a juice cleanse, do a liquid diet. I mean, it's totally heartbreaking for me to see some of these YouTubers that are like, I'm starting my juice cleanse again for the next 200 days and I'm going to lose £80. And then all of a sudden the next year they've put half or more of that back on over a holiday season and then they're starting it again and it's like, what deprivation. And you have all these hormones in your body that are like, nope, sorry, your set weight is way back up there. When it's gradual and when it's loving and body love and self love type choices, then we're talking real change, we're talking real lifestyle change. And I saw that with one of my, I had a client who was dealing with infertility and pcos. And it was really getting her blood sugar under control, getting her insulin sensitivity up, getting her to be, you know, she's a creative graphic designer. Up until three in the morning, I'm like, this needs to stop, sister. We need to be sleeping with, you know, getting up with the sun, sleeping when it's dark. And do you know that circadian rhythm and stress hormones can really affect all of that too? So it's really just like working on a lifestyle. And it's. I mean, it's exciting that that was a. You know, it took us a year and a half to get her lifestyle in check. And she's pregnant. So, like, that is super powerful for me, and that's why I do what I do.

So many things that you just said are, you know, for people, it's like we grow up hearing and learning and seeing certain things, and then it can feel so counterintuitive. Like, I remember just really eating when, you know, maybe I felt like, oh, this is too much, or maybe I'm eating too little or I'm eating too much of this or that. But, you know, it's like we continue these cycles of beating ourselves up because we relate. Or I used to. This is a lot of speaking from how I was raised. Relating that pain meant that you were doing it right. Right. Like deprivation. Okay. This must be right if I'm hungry. This must be right if I'm not feeling good. Okay. These are all the familiar feelings, but everything that you've explained, there's ways to get there without ever feeling that. So how do you balance when women come to you in that mode? Because I hear it all the time. It's like that sabotage point. Right? It's like that point between sticking to it and going back to the cycle. There's that space in between. So how do you kind of talk those people off the ledge?

Yeah, well, I think. I think I really just share a lot of science that can be eye opening for them. So, you know, I think back in the day when it was low fat, calorie counting, juice only, cabbage soup only, just high protein, low carb. There's no satisfaction in a boiled chicken breast and steamed broccoli. There just isn't.

It's so sad.

Yeah. And I talk about it in my book, and I really talk about it with my clients. Like, if you don't have fat, there's a hormone called cholecystokinin, and that's your satiety hormone. It's not even released with Broiled chicken and steamed broccoli. You need the fat to release cholecystokinin and protein and veggies and having the actual stretching of your stomach. So when people go buy all of these mini Tupperwares that are gonna make them eat the right portion sizes, it's like, well, it really kind of depends on your stomach. If you've been eating big Cheesecake Factory portions for the last three years and you're trying to go down to one ounce of nuts, it's gonna hurt. There's this gradual change in that I use science to explain. Okay, well, let's talk about blood sugar and let's talk about insulin. Because there are a couple of hormones that, when they're flowing through your body, can really put people in a place of weight gain. And that's insulin and that's cortisol. Insulin follows carbohydrates, carbohydrates, and excess insulin follows, like fast carbohydrates, like crackers, cookies, cakes, juice, all of that. And when you have stuff like that, it immediately turns to blood sugar. And the hormone that manages blood sugar is insulin. So it's going to go pick up that sugar and it's going to store it in your body, put a little bit in your liver, put a little bit in your muscles. There's no space left there. Blood sugar still has to come down and it's going to store as fat. But the kicker there is insulin is. Insulin is a hormone. It's a chemical messenger that tells your body to store fat. And you look at type 2 diabetics that actually end up needing or even type 1 diabetics that need to use insulin. And the weight gain comes with the insulin. It doesn't come with as much with the food that they're eating if they're managing their food correctly. So it's crazy because depending on your ability to clear insulin, insulin can last in your bloodstream from pancakes and IHOP for six to eight hours. And so that basically means from 6am at IHOP pancake hour, you're not burning fat until 2pm and by the way, your blood sugar went up and came down by 9am and you're white knuckling it and starving for carbohydrates and sugar between nine and two. So I try to work a different way and say, how can I make it so your body isn't screaming at you to eat? How can I make it? So you're in this mode of let's burn and let's use our own body fat for Fuel. And that is kind of. I play a little bit with getting people fat, adaptive and being able to burn fat. I play a little bit with carb cycling. I play a little bit with intermittent fasting. But depending on the client, it's always about what I think they're going to be the most successful at. If I have a mom who is making dinner for her kids at 5pm, her husband comes home at 8 and she always waits for him. My first recommendation for her is to eat with her kids and be done eating and have a cup of tea when her husband comes home, sit down at the table with him, chat with him about his day. Because that right there is going to benefit her for calming that insulin before she even gets in bed. Or right, a few hours after she's sleeping and then all of a sudden we're burning fat. Or maybe for someone else it's like, okay, where can we put a carb around workout? So you feel good and you don't ever want to feel like you're dieting, but it isn't derailing you, it's fueling you. So it really depends on the person. But I like to use the science to motivate people because I think when you instead of saying, I don't want you to have toast ever again or you're never going to have a bagel again, then all of a sudden you're like, where's a Noah's Bagels? I think I feel like that. Instead I say, okay, well you can, it's not off limits. You can have it. You just understand, okay, insulin's gonna fill my body. It might not be out of me till 2. It might be a little harder to say, you know, to say no to other sweets and, you know, other things in the house. What can I do? Well, probably around 9am I'd pump you full of, I'd give you like one of my fab four protein shakes. Or I tell you to have lunch a little bit earlier and I would say, then dinner, I would probably make it low carb so that you're pulling that insulin out of your bloodstream. And then it's a choice, it's not a cheat.

That's so helpful because. And I love, I love science. I mean, I don't really know who doesn't love it. Just learning. And the more self aware you are, the, the more successful you are in life. Because I love just learning about the science of mindset. It's like, oh, I'm not going to think that negative thought if it's Attacking my cells in my body. There's a little bit more motivation there. Like it's all about pumping up, up the motivational end so that you can tap into that. Because sometimes if you're not seeing it, if you're not seeing it, it's kind of like it doesn't exist. You're like, well, I don't really know what it's doing anyway, so whatever. It's just like that game of guess and check. So I love the awareness that you bring in around everything and talking about that. You talk a lot about the side effects of food, whether it's drama or mood, stress, things like that. So what are some of the main things that you see that people think are maybe personality traits that they end up finding out is or was related to the food they were eating?

Yeah, well, there's a couple of things that stand out to me. I think dysglycemia, which is uncontrolled blood sugar, where a blood sugar goes high and then crashes to a hypoglycemic state. And then you're eating to bring it back up. That's going to cause that three or four o' clock hour to be really daunting because you have just ridden Montezuma's Revenge or whatever roller coaster you're picturing yourself on. And by the time 3 o' clock clock rolls around, not only are you full of insulin, your energy is going to follow that blood sugar curve too. Watch out, you're getting the Frappuccino and whatever is in that glass window at Starbucks. If I see that type of person and they're like, I'm a sugarholic. I love when I get that in my intake forms. Or if I see someone who is driving off of caffeine and not eating all day and then overeating late at night and can't believe that they barely eat any calories, their metabolism must be broken. I look at that and I go, you're basically riding on adrenaline all day long. The release of adrenaline causes the release of cortisol and it causes your liver to dump blood sugar glycogen, break it down into glucose and put glucose into your bloodstream. So if you're a caffeine aholic and you're using coffee all day long, it's basically like you're eating carbs all day long if you're overreactive. So I'll see something like that and say, okay, I know this sort of sucks for you and it's not going to be real fun to kind of pull back on the caffeine. But we got to start to limit this. And I need you to eat something at a certain point in time because. Or I need you to mix your caffeine with a really high dense form of fat, like a bulletproof coffee style. Maybe you're putting coconut oil in your coffee to lower your body's reaction to caffeine. Because fat can slow down the metabolism of caffeine and that can help with adrenaline and cortisol.

So for people who feel completely like they're leaning on caffeine, are there ways that you kind of wean off to use tea or is it just kind of again, Although that's a really big motivation when people realize, when people realize that what they're doing with caffeine is, could be detrimental. But have you, did you have something that you've done? Have you ever in your life been totally addicted to caffeine?

I love caffeine, Lori. I do too.

That's why I'm like, tell me, please.

Yeah, no, it's really hard. It's really hard. I get into rhythms just like anyone else. Everything's pretty cyclical for me. So I mean, I just got off a six month book tour so there was more caffeine than necessary and I just kind of went with it. And then you realize, oh my goodness, I am leaning on this too much. I need to switch the afternoon coffee to a green tea and then I need to wean it to an herbal and I need to not get up and just have coffee and try to hammer through to lunch. And how can I get myself maybe some fat in that coffee or some eggs on the side or a blood sugar balancing smoothie to really balance my body out instead of just going on adrenaline. There have been periods of time where I've had to pull back and I'm like, I'll notice that I've just gone too far and I'll go, I'm going to take a month or two off of coffee. I'm just going to do a little bit of GRE tea or matcha and get to a place where when I go back to coffee it isn't two or three times a day. So that's kind of been my thing. I really have pulled back on coffee in the afternoon. So that's something that I've been able to kick since I got home from my book tour, which hasn't been very long. But it's always hard the first time around because you're like, that just sounds so good right now. But knowing the Science, or reminding myself of the science is always what. It's always what gets me excited. And then seeing the inputs. If you're not getting good sleep because you're drinking caffeine in the afternoon and you think it doesn't affect you, and then you get off of it and you get some good sleep and you aren't overeating your dinner because you didn't crash from the caffeine, then all of a sudden you start to. Maybe you're jumping on a scale or you're putting your jeans on and they feel a little bit looser and that can be super motivating. Or you see that your skin looks brighter. It's like always for those positive reinforcements from the choices that you're making. They don't always have to be related to weight, but, you know, how vibrant do you look?

And I love that, really focusing on the good stuff. Because a lot of times it's like so many people or in the past, I've been like, well, this is not. This isn't here yet, or I don't have this goal yet. But really focusing on the little things. And now I've learned it's the long game that that is so important. It's like, yes, the tiny wins are usually even better than when things happen quickly because that means that you might actually be making this a habit and a lifestyle. It's really hard in the beginning to be like, wow, there might be a day when I may not lean on this at night or I may not lean on this coffee. And that's a really exciting thought. So what's something that you think is the biggest message that maybe is always on your intake forms or that you, you tend to run. Run into with people?

Well, I think that this smoothie craze and acai bowl craze and the kombucha craze and the juice craze, I mean, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Like, if it tastes sweet and yummy, it's probably causing a surge of blood sugar, the release of insulin, and. And I think people get real excited about the benefits of something and then write it off as it not being really good for you. Unfortunately, when I see these smoothies that have a banana, a pear and an apple, or they have a banana, mango and a date, or they're using coconut nectar and they're like, it's healthy. I'm like, it's sugar. Make the choice, understand that it's sugar. It's not a healthy choice to start your day with that. And I've had some backlash. I've had some people obviously pretty upset. There's fruititarians out there that aren't my biggest fan, because I'm like, guys, there's only so much room in your liver to metabolize fructose. For most people, that's less than 10 grams, and you're having three pieces of fruit in a smoothie that's closer to 25 grams. Well, if your fructose doesn't fit in your liver, what happens? Well, it's got to store as fat. Don't set yourself up for disappointment and understand the science, because the science will always set you free, and it will always allow for you to have a little bit of fun when you want to have it. And know how to make little changes to autocorrect so it doesn't stick on your waistline or affect you to the point where you need some drastic change or cleanse or diet. And that's kind of what I'm trying to get people off of. I talk a lot about a pendulum ball. You have people that go to Mexico and have so much fun and quesadillas and guac and margaritas and chips, and then they get back and freak out and they do something so, so drastic. And that pendulum ball swings all the way to the other side, and they try to be really diligent on that, and they use all their willpower. And it's really more about, like, mental willpower in this space. And if you could just free up your mind and instead of swinging so drastically back and forth, just, like, allow yourself to have a little bit of fun and then enrich your life and add your life. Maybe I'll add a workout when I get home. Maybe I'll do some green smoothies for the week when I get home for breakfast. Maybe I will set an earlier bedtime for the week we get back from Mexico to naturally pull off whatever puff I've put on instead of freaking out and going crazy. The more we can bring that pendulum ball closer to that midline and just bounce off of it. I think that's balance. I think too many times I write my journal, do my meditation, do everything I have scheduled for the day, and I'm like, whoa, I'm already overwhelmed. Like, I'm gonna. I'm gonna mess that up at, like, task two. Do you know what I mean? So it's like setting those attainable goals and just really flowing and bouncing off of what feels like your norm balance to me more than trying to have your Ball, stop and try to be perfect. Because that's not balance, and that's you really in an unemotional space because you're too focused on the food. You're not connecting with the people that you're with, and you're not, you know, present because you're worried, like, what. What appetizers are we going to order at this dinner? Or, you know, it just.

It's not living life that has literally become such a driving factor for me because I just. In order to. In order to find my balance, I'm one of those people who's had to go to. I. It's like, I. First I find the extreme, and then I'm like, oh, that's not really working for me at all. But within that, I find that middle point, and it's kind of like. I view it as just like you said for you, like the pendulum. For me, it's like checks and balances. It's kind of like if I go. If I overdraft one day, I'm kind of like, okay, well, where could I kind. Where could I get that back today? How could I fill myself up the next day?

Because.

Because I just. I don't, to be honest with you. It's kind of like you hit this point where you just know that you don't have the energy and willpower to come back from those big benders or binges anymore. And it's just so exhausting. So it's. It's kind of like that point where you're like, where can I put more joy in my life that's not around food? Do you ever look at that? Like, where can we maybe pump up your life in a different way and try to focus on experiences so much?

I mean, I feel like that you just hit the nail on the head because it really isn't about the food. Like, can you get yourself a massage? Can you decide to pull an hour of, like. For me, it's deciding that my health is more important than maybe my paycheck and taking an hour off my calendar where I would normally see a client and saying, like, I need an infrared sauna today. Like, I need to be done, and I need to read, like, you know, a chick lick book, or I need to, you know, Netflix and chill with my husband and. Or, you know, whatever it is that. Whatever it is that fills you up, I think you need to make time for that. And that might be hanging out with friends or. It's exactly what it is. It's experiences, and it's all about enriching your life, right? Instead of this deprivation mindset of like, how can I, how can I strip, how can I disinfect, how can I pull away? It's like, change your mindset. How can I just schedule a soul cycle class? Or how can I meal prep? Or maybe you're not even meal prepping. Maybe you just literally go into your food grocery delivery app and you actually have someone deliver you groceries. That's going to help you make healthier choices throughout day, the, the whole rest of the week.

I love both of those because it's so important to have that awareness around what you're doing in food. And it's also important to say, you know, am I. Because so much of why I was eating is I'm bored or I'm doing the same thing, or wow, the people I'm hanging out with are really not filling my soul. And it's like, those are the hard questions, right? And, or wow, my schedule is so busy today that you can guarantee the only way I'm gonna find joy is on the couch at the end of the night eating that thing that I can't stop thinking about because I'm so overwhelmed right now. And, and that's something definitely that you just said. You're help, you're helping me because I'm about to go on a book tour too. So I'm like soaking this all up right now. Like, okay, what can I do to make sure that despite a busy schedule, I'm not leaning on food as that thing that's a crutch and the comfort. So what do you do when you are seeking comfort, comfort foods, when you're having a tough day, what is it that you kind of focus on?

Yeah, so I'm a really big fan of the bath, actually. I think I know that that's hard to explain, but if I come home from a really hard day, or for example, when I was on my book tour and I would have an early morning flight or I had had maybe a meetup in a specific city and then had to write to the airport and take a three or four hour flight, get back to California, and I walk in my front door and one of the first things that I do, and it's honestly become such a habit for me, is I will walk into my bathroom, start the bath, throw some Epsom salt in there and fill a big glass of water and I'll go in, chill out for a minute. I might be shopping online, I might be reading a book. My phone might not even be with me, but I Kind of decompress before making a choice. And that has been. It's a stopgap for me. It's like, hold the phone. Wait a minute. All of you wants to order a fresh Brothers pizza right now, because it was a really tough day, but let's get a grip for a second. Let's try and calm down. And I've been known at the end of the day when I know I need to put an hour and a half in of extra email time to email from my bathtub on my phone because it doesn't feel like I'm working, which is not safe. Do not drop your phone in the tub. But that right there has been become like a really. For some people, it might be meditation or breath work or whatever, but this is just something that has become a habit for me. I'm a water baby. Like, grow up in pools and Jacuzzis and the ocean, and that's just where that makes me happy. And then I have this recipe for freezer fudge, which is almond butter, coconut oil, sweetened cocoa powder. And then I'll mix that up, melt it, kind of whisk it up, pour it into ice cube trays, and then I'll take a little bit of monk fruit powder and shake it on the top. And then when I'm craving chocolate and when I need dessert, I have a bite of one of those and it's a fat bomb. I mean, it would be considered a keto dessert. But what it does is it really satisfies me because it really ups the fat. And I have that release of cholecystokinin where I'm just like, okay, I'm good, but it take a minute, you know. So when it comes to, like, actual comfort, I try to lean on soups too. Here in California, or where we are in between, you're in Santa Monica and I'm in Brentwood. But Kay and Dave's has a Mamacita's chicken soup that I really love. Yes, it's a Mexican place. It's really yummy. I try when I know that I'm like, emotionally craving food, I look for something that's going to physically stretch my stomach. And it might make me feel a little extra full right at first, but because it's a liquid meal, it's easier kind of to break down and digest. And I think over the years, I've just made my takeout, I've just elevated it. It hasn't been this drastic thing where I went, I'm never going to have that again. It's more that our Mexican takeout used to be chipotle, and then our Mexican takeout's now can Dave's, you know, and our, you know, our Italian takeout maybe used to be a little bit like Maria's, and now it's La Scala. And I can get a minestrone soup and a chopped salad from there, and that's really yummy to me. So I think it's just looking for those healthier options, and you get in the habit of ordering from those places and you get joy from that instead of, you know, the grindier places. And when it comes to the pizza, I mean, I stock things in my freezer all the time. Like, I have the cauliflower, cauliflower crust pizzas in my. In my freezer. I have the barely bread bagels in my freezer and bread in my freezer. And there are moments when I'm like, ooh, I really need to feel like I'm having a bagel and cream cheese or I really need a pizza. And if I can make that replacement choice and it hits the spot enough to kill that craving or that emotional need, I'm winning.

I'm so gonna take your advice on the back path. And I so feel you on the takeout food. And just those. Those changes over time, small changes over time. Because I think for a lot of people, it can feel so daunting, but just knowing that if you make these small changes that you're talking about, just these little shifts in what you normally do and still trying to satisfy that craving, but in a little bit of a different way, it's like, it really is possible. It's possible to be free. It's funny, we walked by this Italian place last night and. And I was like, I don't ever crave pasta now. For me to actually say that is like, it's absolute insanity because it's all I ate. It was like I was a pasta baby growing up. I hated meat. I hated vegetables. I was like, noodles are bust. And I really couldn't imagine a life without noodles. And now it's like, I don't even. They're not even a thing for me. Like, I actually don't want them. And that is the weirdest thing to realize in your adult life. Like, I did it.

Yeah.

It's such freedom. So I love hearing all of your just hacks and these beautiful other ways to enjoy life and that it is so much more. It actually is more fulfilling and more enriching and you get to experience more of yourself. Like, when you fuel yourself with this incredible food. What have you learned about yourself?

Well, I will say that I have been way more productive in my job and taking care of myself and feeling good and being present with my friends and my family. I think it just, it's a really powerful thing to get to a place where you feel like you're eating healthfully and taking care of yourself. And then when you do have those days where Thanksgiving happens and all the sweet potato casserole and pies happen, and the next day you're like, oh, I don't feel good. It's knowing the difference of what it feels like to eat clean and feel good versus not take care of yourself. There's so much more motivation to eat clean and to fuel your body with good whole foods than, you know, to end up just eating easy at the airport, you know, at takeout, whatever.

What is a question that you wish more people asked you?

How to use a glucometer.

How do you use a glucometer?

Well, I just think it's a pretty interesting little tool. I like being a lab rat, personally. I like when people take charge of their health and they understand it and can really hone in on it. And this is a really, really good way to be healthy because you know how your body responds. You start to learn your bio individuality. And it's, I think, the only way to daily, you know, without being sick and being tracked a certain way. It's the only way to really track how your body responds to things. And so glucometers run like $50, and then you can get the strips for them. And you're testing your blood sugar and there's a little lancer which would prick you and you would have basically a little dollop of blood. And you put it on the strip, and the strip is connected to the glucometer machine and it's going to read out your blood glucose level. A normal blood glucose range in the past would be 80 to 120. Fasting being 80 now, the new research is suggesting that a healthy blood sugar level can go as low as 70. When I'm looking for fasting blood sugar numbers, that would mean that when you wake up in the morning before eating anything, you prick yourself and test your blood sugar. And you're looking for a number between 75 and 83 is my sweet spot. And then when it comes to meals, you don't want high blood sugar, which would be going through that 120, 140, 160 range where you're getting into pre diabetes and diabetes. Because your body is always trying to maintain homeostasis. It's always trying to keep your blood sugar balanced. And if you are shoving it up really high every single day with the food choices that you're making, your body is going to still bring it back down. But your life and the way you respond to things and your energy levels and your insulin sensitivity and all of that is going to be affected by the roller coaster that you have from the food choices that you make. People can then decide, okay, I'm going to test before a meal. And they're looking at, like, well, if you're going to have a meal and your blood sugar is at. At 110 and you're having a starchy carbohydrate meal, you're probably going to a pretty high blood sugar mark, maybe 140, 160, and that's high. I like to support my body's natural homeostasis to stay in balanced blood sugar, and I like to see my curve be a little bit tighter. And the food choices that I make support that. And it's just. You can have a crazy weekend wine tasting with friends and come back and just have elevated fasting blood sugar in the 90s for until Thursday, and you might not see any changes. But then all of a sudden, you jump on the scale Friday, and you didn't make any. You know, you just went back to eating regular, didn't make any changes, and you see weight gain. You don't know why. You're like, I was eating healthy all week. It didn't happen right after wine tasting. Well, it might not have caught up with you. And so blood sugar is an indicator of, like, what's to come. And I think that it's a really cool tool.

That's so interesting. That makes me want to order one.

I'll come over. I'll take you. I'll teach you how it's done.

Amazing. Okay, so if you had a billboard and it's that you couldn't speak anymore, it was the only thing, the only way that people knew you, what would the message on the billboard say?

Love yourself now.

Mm. That's so beautiful. So, Eric, I'm so excited to have had this conversation with you, and I'm so grateful for you. And I just want to take a second to acknowledge all the work in the world that you're doing, because I really believe that through your passion, you are freeing people to not only feel better, but to find and live their purpose. Because a healthy body, a healthy life, is so much clarity. Be just to live as the person that you want to be. So thank you so much for coming on.

Oh, thank you for having me, Lori. The gratitude goes both ways, and I.

Always end on one question. Are you ready?

Yes.

Okay, so if you are in an elevator with someone, we have all these elevators and billboards. Apparently. If you're in an elevator with someone and the ride is only like 30 seconds and it's a total stranger and they look over at you and they ask you, how can I make myself happy? What do you say?

I would say follow your passion. Don't be afraid of it. Don't wait for it. Don't. Don't stop. Like, follow your truth. And if you are not happy in a relationship, in a career, in your life, you need to make change now because time is only going to keep moving and you don't want to look back and think, I didn't live my. My best life.

Amazing. Thank you so much. And you guys, if you loved this episode as much as I did, make sure you share it with your friends. And Kelly, where can we find you? Where can we follow you? Where can we get your book?

Yes. So the book is called body love. It's everywhere. Books are sold, Barnes and Noble, Costco, you know, Amazon. And then you can find me on Instagram, ewellbykelly. My website is www.bewellbykelly.com or kellylevesque.com. both will take you there. And I'm everywhere on social and pretty much have be well by Kelly everywhere.

Awesome. And you guys, until next time, earn your happy. Bye, everyone. Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely, absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment, tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye. Bye.