STARTING THIS YEAR OFF WITH A MAJOR BREAK-UP!

Welcome to A New Life podcast with Pamela Jean, where it's all about empowering women to empower more women. Get ready, friends, to create a new life. And here is your host, Pamela Jean.

Hello, my friends, and welcome to the very first episode of the year 2022 of a new Life podcast. I am so happy to have you. And I just have to tell you, I am starting this year off with a major breakup. I'm officially breaking up with Sugar. Who is with me on that? I'm not gonna lie. This past holiday season, I definitely indulged and had my share of sugar and carbs. And I wanted to talk with you about that today. For years now, I have put my health and wellness to the forefront of my life. It wasn't always like that and I wanted to share this part of my journey with you, hopefully to inspire someone. Hopefully, this message will speak to you. To put yourself first. It's important. For about the last eight years, I have maintained a consistent workout regiment and I'm really proud of that. Like many of you listening, I was a busy mom, entrepreneur and business owner and didn't take time, didn't make time to work out. My plate was so full with working, and working out was not the top of my list. But something happened to me that was kind of a wake up call. And you might think that this is really silly, but this is what my wake up call was. I was walking up a set of bleachers at my youngest daughter's basketball game and I could not believe how I struggled to walk up the bleachers just one foot after the other, not going up the steps, but going bleacher seat to bleacher seat. My quads were burning and I felt shaky and really unsteady. I could not believe how much I struggled. Yikes. What an eye opener. To me, this was my first awareness of when women age, we lose so much muscle mass. I had never realized that before. It felt like I had gotten weak overnight. I was 45 at that time and that was when I decided to put working out as part of my future plan. So I started walking and running just around where I lived. I lived out in the country, so I just started walking and running out there and oh my goodness, my first run was so ugly, it was embarrassing. I've always been an athlete, not like the star of the team or anything like that, but I was a decent athlete. But my lungs were on fire. I couldn't even breathe. My hips hurt, my ankles were popping. I felt like a dinosaur in that 45 year old body trying to run. I was shocked, to say the least, at how my age had caught up with me when I was ignoring my health and not paying attention. I quickly decided I did not want to be the 70 year old woman who fell, broke a hip and never got out of the hospital. I just thought, you know what, this is ridiculous. I just had no idea how much I had declined in what I thought was such a short amount of time. I decided that was when I needed to work on my long term health. I continued to jog, I put those in air quotes and walk to build up some endurance. And after a while, that burning in my lungs finally started to get a little bit better. I needed to learn how to breathe again when I was running and starting to work out. So when my youngest daughter turned 16 and I was no longer needed as the morning taxi driver to school, I enrolled in my first boot camp class. Yikes. To say the least. To say I was nervous on day number one would be an understatement. I hadn't been to a gym since I was in high school. It was a slow start. It really was a slow start. But I started with three days a week. I was so sore and so weak I could not even believe how much strength I had lost. Persistence was the key. And over I was less sore, my endurance increased and I became so much stronger. And about four years ago, I increased my boot camp classes to five days a week with a three mile walk on the weekends. Once my workout routine was set, it's time for me to start focusing on my nutrition. My biggest struggle, honestly, was eating enough and eating the right things at the right time. Protein was what my body was missing the most, which obviously played a big part in the loss of muscle mass. And if I'm being completely transparent, I still have to work on getting enough protein. Like many of you, I'm a work in progress too. Through an incredible wellness company, I have learned what to eat and when to eat it. And that for me is a big win. What I love about this health plan is it's not a diet, it's real life. You can enjoy your favorite things in moderation if you can stay on task. And 80% of the time, you can teach your body how to have healthy cravings and you can have a healthy relationship with food if you learn to. If you live to eat instead of eat to live, you have some work to do. And I will save you the mindset of healthy eating for another podcast because what's in your head really, really impacts how you're going to eat, eat and take care of your body. This year, my big focus is breaking up with sugar. I enjoy dessert just like the next person, in moderation. And that's not the problem. But the problem for me really lies in the hidden sugars that are in so many of our daily favorites. And I wanted to shed some light on some of your favorites that you indulge in every single day that could be sabotaging your wealth loss, weight loss, health and wellness. It's the hidden sugars. It's the ones that you don't even know are there. And there's so many times that in the past I thought I was eating healthy, I thought I was making healthy choices. But when you look at those labels, it's shocking at how unhealthy you're actually eating. And there's more sugar than what you realize. So I'm going to list off several of the daily things that I used to eat that I've now found and understood are so high in sugar. So first of all, low fat yogurt. You know, you think yogurt is highly nutritious and some are, but yogurts are not created equally like many other low fat products. There's a lot of added sugar to enhance the flavors. So when you're choosing yogurt, look at the label and make sure that sugar is not the very first thing on the list. And make sure that sugar is one of the least amount of additives that you have in your yogurt. Barbecue sauce. This surprised me so much. You know, there's so much sugar in barbecue sauce. If you can wean yourself away and just in. In eat and enjoy the protein that you typically put barbecue sauce on, that's a better way to go. But watch your portion size and just slowly wean yourself away. And the next one is ketchup. Of course, you know, ketchup would go right along with the barbecue sauce. With a single tablespoon of ketchup is nearly a teaspoon of sugar. So if you think about dipping your fries, hopefully you're not having fries right now because we're on this new health kick for the beginning of the year. But if you think about putting ketchup on a burger or whatever, you're putting ketchup on. A tablespoon of ketchup is nearly a teaspoon of sugar that really, really add up. Fruit juice is another one. And gosh, as a mother, I used to give my kids juice all the time thinking I'm giving them apple Juice. I'm giving them orange juice or grape juice? Grape juice. Having no idea that there was so much added sugar to the fruit juice, it was shocking to me when I realized that. So if you have children or if you're a juice drinker yourself, make sure you're double checking that label and not having too much sugar in your fruit juices. Because just with a glass of juice, you can have as much sugar in juice as you do in a soda. So choose whole fruit or 100% fruit juice when possible and really minimize that intake of sugar that you're getting from juice. Spaghetti sauce. You know, this one really surprised me. There is a brand of spaghetti sauce called Rao's R A O s that really has the least amount of added sugar. But some of your name brands that you probably have in your pantry right now have so much sugar in them, they enhance the taste by adding more sugar. And just again, look at that label and whatever is the first thing listed on the ingredients label of your spaghetti sauce is the item that is the most in each of those jars of sauce. So spaghetti sauce, sports drinks. If you look at a bottle of Gatorade or Powerade or whatever, you will be shocked at how much sugar is in the Gatorades. Now they do have those available in like Gatorade zero, which is zero sugar. But the whole idea behind the sports drinks are really for that high intensity workout for athletes. You know, when your children are younger, they're probably bur off enough. Giving them a Gatorade is not a bad idea. But really they just need the electrolytes to be replaced and replenished. But most of us are not working out in that intensive a way to require that. So avoid sports drinks unless you're doing something high intense of a workout or hiking or doing something that really, really is going to require that. But I was so surprised to see how much sugar was in the sports drinks. Chocolate mil milk is next. Oh my gosh. Who doesn't love a glass of chocolate milk? And chocolate milk actually can be very nutritious. But you have to watch what is being added to the chocolate milk to make it taste so good. Again, look at those labels and make sure that you're not adding too much sugar through your chocolate milk choice. Granola. This was a big surprise to me. I used to eat granola all the time. I would put granola on or in yogurt and, and okay, so if I'm picking a yogurt that number one is high in sugar and then I'm adding a Granola, which I thought for so long was healthy and was good for me, it's insane the amount of additional sugar that you end up having. And you know the main ingredients of granola is oats. That's great. Plain oats rolled in a well balanced flavor and can contain some carbs, protein and fat and fiber. However, the oats in granola that have been combined with nuts and honey and other additive sweeteners, they will definitely not help you with your health journey. They are going to sabotage for sure. Flavored coffees. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Who doesn't love a vanilla latte? I mean, I do. I usually get an extra shot of espresso and it's just like heaven in a cup to me. But if you have a flavored coffee drink, they can contain up to 45 grams of sugar, if not more. That is crazy. That's equivalent to about 11 teaspoons of sugar per serving. If you get out your sugar bowl and a teaspoon and you just start scooping out 11 teaspoons, you are going to be so surprised at how much sugar you're drinking. The best scenario here is just don't have the flavored coffees. I know that's sad and it is to me because I do love a vanilla latte. But the wellness company I'm with, they have something called GC Control that is amazing. Amazing. There's a creme brulee and a chocolate that I mix in my coffee if I just want to have that flavored coffee feel that has protein and yummy flavor but does not have all of the sugar. So definitely stay away from those flavored coffees if you can. Iced tea is another one. If you are getting just a regular unsweet tea, you're fine. You might want to take into consideration the caffeine that might be in it. But if you have a sweet tea, there is so much sugar and flavored syrup in a sweet tea. 35 grams of sugar per serving, which is about the same as a bottle of soda. So if you're thinking, well, I'm cutting out soda, that should be good, well, that is good. But if you're replacing that with sweet tea, you're really not helping yourself out at all. Protein bars, okay. Gosh, this is one that. This shocked me when I first read this. I thought protein bars were good for you traveling. I would always throw a bunch protein bars in my backpack, making sure I had that extra protein. But what I didn't realize is how much sugar is in a protein bar. Sometimes almost 20 grams of added sugar is in your protein bar, which is equivalent to a candy bar. So when you choose a protein bar, please read the label. And you're just going to be so surprised at how much sugar you're actually eating in those protein bars. Because I really thought for years I was eating and I don't want to, you know, slam a brand, but I was eating Clif bars because they're yummy. They're actually, they taste good. Well, now I know why. Because there's so much sugar in them. So there's definitely other options and better options. And if you want to know some of those options, just reach out to me and I'm happy to provide you with that information of different options to protein bars and coffee additives, etc. Pre made soups. You know, soup isn't a food that you generally associate with sugar. When it's made, made fresh like you're making it in your kitchen and it's fresh and you're chopping up all the veggies. That is, it is so good for you. Vegetables have natural sugar, which is better than artificial sugars. But they can add sucrose, barley malt, dextrose, maltose, high fructose corn syrup to add to the flavor. So look at those labels and make sure you're choosing a pre made soup because I know you're busy and sometimes you just want to open up a can of soup, throw it on the st stove and have dinner ready in 20 minutes. I get that. But read those labels and make sure that you're making a good choice there. Breakfast cereal. Okay? So if a person could live on cereal, I would have loved that. I still love cereal. I think it's something that kind of takes me back to my childhood because there's nothing like a box of cereal. Who didn't sit there at the kitchen table and read the, the, the back of the boxes and play the games and do all the things because I, I don't know, that was just something that I had a lot of cereal growing up and I still love it to this day. But most breakfast cereals, even those marketed to children, have so much added sugar. If you know, you know, Frosted Flakes and Fruity Pebbles and all of those have so much additional sugar. But watch those labels and try to find one that is high in fiber and low in added sugar. You yet wake up a few minutes early and cook a healthy breakfast with high protein like eggs, maybe some bacon or sausage. As you eat more protein for breakfast. This is going to help you lose weight and it's going to help you balance out your metabolism. So as much as I love my cereal, and I'm sure you do too, it'll serve you better and serve your body better. If you were to get up a little bit earlier and make a protein shake or scramble some eggs, some bacon, that's so much better for you than the high sugar cereals. And hand in hand with that is the cereal bars. You know, the on the go cereal bars. You think they look healthy because they're packaged that way. They're not. They are just as disappointing in the health category, honestly as the protein bars. So check out those labels and avoid those cereal bars if you can. So canned fruit all fruit contains natural sugars. One of the big mistakes I made early on in my rectified health journey was I was eating too much fruit and I thought, well, how is that possible? I always learned that fruit was good for you. Well, it is good for you, but not when you're eating two bananas and two apples every single day. That's too much sugar and you just don't need it. But a lot of canned fruit is peeled and preserved in sugary syrup, which is why the juice tastes so good when you open a can of peaches. Right? So the canning process can destroy the vitamin C along with all of the other nutrients that are really good for you. Whole fresh fruit is best. If you want to eat a canned fruit, look for one that has been preserved in juice rather than syrup. Juice has a slightly lower sugar content. But honestly your whole, whole fruit, fresh fruit is what is best. And, and I would recommend if you just can't let go of fruit if it's something that you really, really love and enjoy. Have your fruit in the morning when you are making your scrambled eggs. So have some fruit along with that good protein that helps balance each other out which is going to keep your metabolism much more steady. Canned baked beans. Baked beans have that savory, savory juice that it's in. Well, that's all high in sugar. Cup of regular baked beans contain about five teaspoons of sugar. I know you would not take a teaspoon and just eat five teaspoons of sugar. But if you like baked beans, that's exactly what you're doing. So you're going to want to avoid those or at least look for varieties that have a low sugar content. Pre made smoothies. So I, I was so shocked and really disappointed. I used to go to Tropical Smoothie and they had a jamoc something, something that had all of this yummy stuff in it, plus I added extra protein. And I'm thinking that this has got to be a good, healthy shake. And I would go and get one of those several times during the week. Well, I found out so disappointedly that there were over 50 grams of sugar in this smoothie. Well, that's 13 teaspoons of sugar in a single serving. Oh, my gosh. No wonder it was so good. I was completely deceived with what I thought was health by, oh, I added protein, and I'm going to a health store to get it. Just be really conscious of what you're putting in your body. And I'm not meaning to slam any brands or anything like that, but I just want you to be aware of what you're putting in your body, because I wasn't aware. And here I'm, you know, doing this hardcore workout five days a week, and I just plateaued with everything. It's like my muscle definition just stopped growing and it just reached a plateau. And I thought, okay, what am I doing wrong? Well, it wasn't the workout. It was what I was putting in my body. And I realized very quickly after doing some research that it was the sugar that I was adding to my. To my diet. Some of it knowingly, obviously the cake, I know that's not good for me, that has sugar in it. But unknowingly, I was having way too much sugar, and I just didn't realize it. I really innocently thought that I was eating healthy and making good choices with yogurt and granola. I thought those were great for my health, and they really weren't. Now there are varieties that are healthy. I just wasn't making those choices. So I want to just wake you up a little bit to what you might be doing as well, and I want to just highlight something for you. So I made the decision eight years ago to start getting back into the gym and build my strength. And let me tell you something. I feel fantastic. I feel so good. I had lower back issues. I had hip issues. I have worked really hard, hard over the last eight years to strengthen my core muscles, to strengthen my hips, work on my hip flexors, and that has made so much difference. I feel stronger and healthier today than I have in well over 20 years. That's not an exaggeration at all. I feel incredible. My endurance is amazing. I can actually run now without my. My lungs burning. And my endurance is at a level I feel like I could even out do the high school me. I feel so much Stronger and so much better because I'm doing all of this with my health and wellness, with intention and not just willy nilly doing whatever and putting some thought into it. But I wanted just to say that because it is, it takes time. If you're getting on a health journey right now, you're not going to wave a magic wand and in a month or six weeks, boom, be exactly where you want to be. Now that's possible. If that's all you do, if that's, that completely consumes you for that eight weeks. It is possible to get where you want to be in eight weeks, but to be able to sustain it, to make it real life, it's a natural slow process. You didn't get where you were, where you are today overnight. It didn't happen in six weeks. It's compounded over years. Just like me at 45 trying to walk up the bleachers and it's like, holy cow, how did I get so weak? I got weak and lost all of this muscle mass, mass when I wasn't paying attention, when I wasn't taking care of me, I wasn't taking care of my body and I didn't put myself as a priority. There were so many other things that I was doing between running a business and raising kids and just being busy. It's a season of life. I understand that. But you have to put yourself in the front of the line. You absolutely do. And give yourself grace and give yourself time. Which is why I started a new you365 because it's a full year of support. It's not just a quick, you know, six, eight week thing and you're done and you're on your own. It's a full year of support because this transition takes time. Now you're going to see immediate results. You're going to see results in the first couple of weeks, bar none. But to be able to maintain this as a lifestyle, as a life changing thing, it takes time. So the bottom line is added sugars are not necessary part of your diet, you don't need them. Small amounts are fine. They can cause serious harm if you have too much. There are so many people that have type 2 diabetes that are named diabetic or diagnosed diabetic later in life because they've added too many compounded sugars. And I want you to know something. If you are going to join me in the breakup with sugar, the first part of this year, it's realistic that it can take up to 20 days to completely detox your body of sugar. Once you have made that 20 day marker, you will notice your craving for sugar is going to decrease. In fact, you might take a sip of a sugary drink like a can of soda and it'll make you shudder because you haven't had it in so long. But that's the whole point to weight loss and wellness is to be patient with yourself, give yourself that grace. If you don't get it right when you first start, most likely you won't. I didn't. It took me a long time to get there. New habits take around 30 days to establish. It takes you two days to break a habit and takes at least 30 days to establish. What I want to instill in you today is that your weight loss and wellness is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It's taken years for you to get where you are today. It will take time to find yourself again, to really find yourself again. Time to redefine yourself and time to fall in love with yourself again. For some of you, you haven't loved who you were since you were a small child and it's time to fall back in love with yourself. When you love yourself, you're going to love your body. Friends, you are worth all of the effort. Let's lock arms together and do this. Won't you join me in my breakup with sugar? Thank you so much my friends for joining me today. I hope you have a very, very happy new year. I'm so excited to lock arms and continue to share my message with you. Have a great day.

Thank you for joining us today on a New Life podcast. We will see you next.

Sam.