7 Unconventional Ways to Lose Body Fat Safely and Permanently - Q & A

Hello, friends. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Today, Deepa and I are doing a Q and A following up our most recent webinar that we did where we shared with you exactly how to lose weight in a safe, healthy, rapid, and most importantly, permanent way. We had tons of questions come in in the registration form, so we wanted to spend a few minutes and really try to answer as many of those questions as we can and create this video resource for you so that you could see what questions other people had, but then also see what questions you may not have even thought of to ask when it comes to permanent weight loss. The presentation that we did was seven unconventional ways to Lose Body Fat Safely and Permanently. And it is our absolute pleasure and honor to be able to dive a little bit deeper into this topic because we know that weight loss is more than just weight. It represents inflammation, toxicity, emotions. There's a whole lot of things that are bottled up into what on the outside looks like body fat, but on the inside can look like something that is very disastrous to our health, unfortunately. So we want to teach you how to do that in a safe way that helps you feel more whole and happy at the same time and really healthy. Right. That's the ultimate goal here. Deepa, how are you today?

I'm doing excellent.

All right, what are you most grateful for? I always love hearing what you have to say about gratitude.

I'm most grateful for my family and this beautiful weather. I really love summer and the sunshine and the heat. So I'm super grateful for that as well.

All right, and we'll talk about that. How getting outside is so important and how sunshine is so important for our health. We as human beings are like plants. We can't negotiate with a plant how much sunlight, water and soil and nutrition and the conditions that we're going to create for it. So human beings are very similar. There are certain non negotiables when it comes to our health that we can't out supplement and we can't out test. And certainly we want to try to avoid removing body parts if we absolutely can. I find that as science advances, people are looking for more zany and complicated solutions. Our philosophy is always to keep it simple. And you know, I. I'm grateful for this opportunity to be of service to all of our listeners today and to be of service to our community and help people move their health in the right direction by unlocking their inner potential, which lays unfortunately dormant in so many of us. So we want to kind of wake that energy up inside of you, wake that potential up inside of you. And we hope that this presentation and simply answering your questions inspires you to do that. So let's get right into this. We're going to try to keep these answers short and sweet and to the point and really try to be as helpful as we can. And Deepa and I will go kind of back and forth to make sure we're both adding some context from our individual perspectives about these questions. So one of the most popular question that came in are what are some healthy ways to lose weight and keep it off? So Deepa, I'll let you kick us off and share what are your thoughts on permanent weight loss?

So from my perspective, weight loss is all about lifestyle, right? It's not like a short term thing that you do for 10 to 12 weeks and then that's it, you go back to your old ways, right? It's really about creating and designing a lifestyle that's not just going to sustain weight loss, but also really create health, right? Which is then going to help you overcome things like, you know, diabetes down the road or cardiovascular disease. So it's all about creating healthy habits. So a few of those things that we really like to focus on with our clients. One of the most important things that commonly gets overlooked with losing weight and keeping it off is sleep. We really want to make sure that we focus on getting good quality sleep. And we went over this in quite lengthy detail on the webinar, but few tips for you to implement are making sure that you're following the circadian rhythm. A lot of the times when it comes to sleep, we think about what we're supposed to do right before we go to bed. But one of the most important tips for getting a good night's rest is to try to get morning sunshine. And so what it means, you know, when I say circadian rhythm is really aligning your body's internal clock with the sun because all our hormones follow a rhythm and a pattern that's aligned with the sun. So in the morning, when we get morning sunlight, that raises our cortisol, which is a good thing. In the morning, we want cortisol to be high and it really sets us up for a good night's rest. Another tip is try to keep your wake time and your sleep time pretty consistent, right? So a good sleep schedule for most people would be anywhere from about 10pm to about 6 or 7am you really want to also strive to get at least seven to eight hours of good quality sleep. And the reason why we focus so much on sleep is because if you're not getting enough sleep. And if you're not getting good quality sleep, then that's going to really dysregulate a lot of your hunger and appetite hormones. So two of the hormones that really get dysregulated when you don't get enough sleep are a hormone called ghrelin and a hormone called leptin. So when you don't get enough sleep, leptin levels decrease and leptin is your satiety hormone. And so you're never going to feel satiated no matter how much you eat the next day. If you're sleep deprived, you're constantly going to feel hungry. And that's also because ghrelin increases and ghrelin is our hunger hormone. Right. So if ghrelin is high, you're always going to feel hungry despite what you've eaten. Okay. And also when you're sleep deprived, you're going to consume on average about 350 more calories the next day. Even one night's sleep depth worth of sleep deprivation is going to result in an excess of calorie consumption the next day. And for most of us that calorie consumption when we're sleep deprived, it's not carrots and cucumbers. It's usually sugary and salty food. Right. And for most people it's going to be sugary food. So one of the keys to healthy ways to lose weight and keep it off, as I said, there's a whole list of things, but one of the main pillars that we like to focus on is sleep.

Yeah, I think sleep is so huge and so easy to fix, yet it can be a challenge for people to fix because of the environmental cues that are, or in many cases either the wrong cues or a lack of the right cues that are disrupting their hormones that help them regulate sleep. So evening time, we suggest really keeping your environment as dark as you can. Avoid overhead lighting if you can. We actually give our clients special light bulbs that they turn on in the evening that lower their cortisol and increase their melatonin. Cortisol and melatonin can't both be high at the same time. So avoid stress inducing activities in the evening, like perhaps checking email or opening up bills, things like that. Even stressful conversations are better. Not before bedtime. Better pick a different time to have some of those conversations if you need to, because you're just not in the right place. And we don't want to go to bed angry or we don't want to go to bed upset. Another thing that I Can say really helps with keeping weight off is shifting our identity. So think of, you know, somebody who doesn't smoke, right? They're not going to start smoking because they've identified themselves as somebody who doesn't smoke. So you really need to identify yourself as somebody who has all the characteristics of a healthy person. So if you identify yourself as somebody who's trying to get healthy, guess what? You will always be in that trying to get healthy identity and state. You will never be healthy. However, if you identify as someone who is healthy, then a healthy person makes certain choices and then decision making becomes so much easier because you ask yourself, hey, based on my current identity, what is the choice or the decision that I should make? And the answers present themselves, they become extremely, extremely clear. So you don't start smoking randomly because you have a certain identity. If you're vegetarian, you have a certain identity. You don't just eat meat, eat randomly, no matter how good it smells or how appealing it might look, because you have an identity that you've clearly defined for yourself. So permanent weight loss is going to require an identity shift. The earlier you can shift that identity, the better. So even if you're not at your goal, you're still considering your identity as that of a healthy person. And a healthy person is always looking for ways to improve and optimize. So even myself and Deepa, it's a never ending journey, right? There's always things, aging environments, stressors, all of these things are constantly picking away at us. However, our identity helps us make very clear and very determined decisions. So make sure you're taking that psychological component into into consideration. So being healthy is, and really having optimal weight is just one of the ways of being healthy. But it really requires the right environment, the right identity, which is the right psychology and also of course the right inputs. Right. So those are all the things that we want to make sure that we're doing. And of course the right outputs, the outputs are the things that come from inside of us such as motivation, activity, things like that. And our environment is the inputs and then our psychology is the interface in between them. All right, moving on, let's go to our next most common question which was how do you lose belly fat? So this is a very common consideration and concern for people and I'll take a stab at this deeps if that's okay and then you can certainly jump in. So first and foremost, one of the things that we want to recognize is that where we carry our weight is often an indication of hormonal disruption. So in this particular case, belly fat is usually caused by excess cortisol production, which leads to insulin resistance. And insulin resistance causes us to gain weight around the midsection. So there's three forms of stress. There's mental, emotional, and physical. And then everything else is kind of a subcategory of those. So you want to do an inventory. What are my mental, physical and chemical stressors that are causing my cortisol levels to become disrupted? Now, cortisol's main function in our body, we think of it as a stress hormone, but its main function is to actually regulate blood sugar. So one of the things that we often see is we see this type of body composition in pre diabetics and also diabetics because their blood sugar is very unstable and kind of all over the place, which means their cortisol is going to be all over the place where, which then means their insulin is going to be all over the place. So really regulating blood sugar, regulating our emotions, and then of course, identifying and doing an inventory of what are the stressors in your life and what are the things that you can at least control and start eliminating. And then what are the things that you can't control, but at least change the way you think about them? And then, of course, how do we balance blood sugar? We'll talk about that a little bit later. We want to uncouple this insulin resistance, and that will naturally cause your body to take this stored form of energy, which is all fat is. Fat is just energy that you're telling your body to store instead of metabolize. That basically is all it is. Now, the reason that this storage takes place is because you're sending your body signals of storage. So stress is going to send the body a signal of store fat, particularly around the midsection, because if you were to store fat in your arms and legs, your body wouldn't be able to run away from and create that adequate fight or flight response. So it's saving that energy. However, it's intelligently saving it in the midsection because that's actually, believe it or not, the best place, most efficient place to carry it in order for you to be able to survive a fight or flight type of situation. However, it's also the most toxic. So it's the best place to store it from a physical standpoint and even from a energy. You know, it's the. It's right around your organs, so it's easily accessible energy, which means it's easily, easily to lose it. If we create the right environmental and hormonal Signals to tell the body to use this fat up as a, as a form of energy. So, so, yeah, so belly fat is, is insulin, cortisol, and you know, of course those are easy to talk about, but maybe a little bit more challenging for some people to uncouple. Deepa, what do you want to share about belly fat from your experience?

I think it's also important to distinguish the type of belly fat. So if the abdomen is pretty soft and you know, there's, you know, I don't know, for lack of better word, it's like a muffin top, it's pretty soft, then that's probably more so a cortisol body type. But if you're gaining weight around the belly and it's pretty hard and taught, then that's more of a liver body type. It's also important to distinguish those as well. And we went into great depth on the webinar about this as well. But the liver body type basically signifies like an overburdened liver or someone who even has fatty liver. So usually in that person, it's going to be important to focus on detoxification and really making sure that we open up the detox pathways for that person.

Yeah. So huge to take that into consideration as well. So there's the rigid abdomen, right. So this is somebody where the abdomen is taut and there's a lot of water retention and that's where that tautness comes from. Whereas. And really that's on the other side of the abdominal muscles. Whereas this type of belly fat is on the outside of the abdominal muscles. And you know, one is water weight, one is primarily body fat. And so big important distinction. Thank you for that. All right, next question. So another question that comes up quite often is how do I balance my hormones? And that's a great question because as I mentioned with the previous answer, that really tapping into our stores of body fat and mobilizing them as a source of, you know, basically infinite energy is the function of our hormones. Hormones are basically chemical signals and they essentially tell our body cells what to do, what functions they should be carrying out. So, you know, balancing your hormones is probably one of the most crucial elements of overall general health and wellness. We want to have well balanced hormones and hormones being released at the right times to carry out the necessary functions and for our health. Now there is a master regulator of our hormones. And I'll let you shed some light on the HPA axis because this is the master gland that regulates all of our downstream hormones. Yeah.

So the HP axis stands for the Hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal axis. And so the hypothalamus is located in our brain, and it basically output certain hormones to then signal to the pituitary, to then signal to the adrenal glands to release certain hormones. So the hypothalamus is basically what governs all your hormones, whether it's your adrenal hormones, your thyroid hormones, and your male and female hormones. So that's things like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. So when it comes to balancing hormones, we really like to focus on taking a more upstream approach and really focusing on the hypothalamus, because we find that most people are a combination of the different body types. So there's, you know, the four different body types are the cortisol body type, the estrogen body type, the thyroid body type, and then the liver body type. And most people are a combination of those four, which then, you know, obviously represent different hormonal imbalances. So we really want to make sure that when we focus on the hypothalamus upstream, we're focusing on rebalancing all of those hormones rather than just micromanaging them down from a downstream approach.

Yeah. And an example I can share, just to give people context, is think of your hypothalamus like the thermometer in your home. The thermostat, really. And the thermostat has a thermometer that's constantly evaluating what the temperature is. And based on the temperature, it's going to either turn on the air conditioning or turn it off, or turn the heater on or off, depending on what time of season it is. And so one way to manage the temperature in your home would be to open the doors and windows. So if it's in the winter and it gets too hot, you can open up the doors and temporarily, that's going to result in a change in the temperature. The temperature in the home is going to drop. And guess what? If you close the doors, the temperature is going to come back up because of the thermostat setting. So if our HPA axis is, let's say, for lack of better, you know, without getting too complicated, but if our HPA axis is set at a certain metabolic rate each day, then exercising is going to be beneficial. But the HPA axis is really the master regulator. If our HP axis is regulating our hunger, if it's regulating our body temperature, if it's regulating our adrenals and thyroid, we really need to adjust the thermostat instead of constantly doing External things which only have temporary benefit. So we wouldn't manage the temperature in our home by opening and closing the windows. Right. That's a temporary solution. If we really need to get the temperature down or up, depending on again what time of season it is, the smart thing to do would be to go to the thermostat and adjust it to the temperature that you want. And this is one of the reasons why very many people will lose weight, but then they'll gain it all back and they'll gain back almost the same. They'll go back to the weight that they were, maybe even sometimes a little bit more because they haven't adjusted the thermostat. So one of the things that we like to do with our program is we actually have a special formula that we use that resets that HPA axis in combination with sending the right cues to the body so the body doesn't think that you have to over train and over exercise and overstimulate it in order to get the weight down. So this is a very top down approach instead of the conventional bottom up approach, which only leads to temporary outcomes. And while people might feel better with these temporary outcomes, they might look better. We're only interested in permanent solutions, permanent transformations in people's bodies. And then of course that leads to permanent shifts in their identity as well. So start with the thermostat instead of just constantly opening and closing the doors and you're going to see some major changes. So you know, really to balance your hormones, don't go downstream, go upstream. And that's where you're going to see the biggest benefit. All right, next question. How do I boost my metabolism? You want to tackle this one, Deepa?

So I think when it comes to this question, the deeper rooted question is how do I burn fat? Right. And so when it comes to burning fat, there's a variety of different things that you can try. One of the things that we have our clients do is practice intermittent fasting. And fasting really allows you to, you know, I think sometimes the old paradigm was that you need to keep eating to boost your metabolism. Otherwise if you eat too little or eat less frequently, it's going to slow down your metabolism. But the newer research is really showing that we actually overeat and we primarily need to focus on eating two main meals each day. Right. So that could be lunch and dinner. For some people, it's breakfast and lunch. And really allowing the body to have this period of fasting. Generally we'll recommend, if you're starting out, you can start with 12 to 13 hours, which is pretty easy for most people. And as you get more experienced, you can work up to 16, 17, 18 hours. And that really allows the body to tap into its own, own fat stores and really helps the body to increase the metabolism. So, you know, I, I suggest trying out fasting as a primary strategy to really boost the metabolism and then focusing on two main, main meals a day, avoiding snacking, and making sure that you're drinking plenty of water as well.

Yeah. Kind of as you're speaking about this, I would say that most people overeat, they over breathe, they overthink and they overstress and this leads them to really sabotaging any health goals that they have. So when it comes to increasing the access to body fat, I think an important thing for people to do when they are fasting is, is to realize that you can't fast and be in a constant state of stress. So really you want to focus on not just avoiding eating food if you are going to do intermittent fasting or extended periods of fasting, but you really have to give your body and your systems a break. Because if you're in fight or flight while you're fasting, well, guess what, you're, you're not burning fat as a source of energy, you're burning glycogen as a source of energy and you're going to crash and you're going to crave sugar and you're going to crave all the wrong foods and you're going to think fasting is really hard. But we all fast, right? We all fast every night while we're in bed and while we're sleeping. So most of us are already doing this. However, if our days are stressful, then it makes fasting really difficult. So if you are going to try fasting and experiment with it a little bit, make sure you're doing that in a period of time where you know you're going to be able to relax and chill out and not have the burdens of your day to day life if and when that's possible. Right. So make it a point to fast, but also make it a point to de stress and decompress so that you are truly giving your body that ability to burn body fat instead of burning glycogen, which then is going to cause you to feel hungry. And nobody likes to feel hungry. Right? And it's okay to feel hungry, but I understand nobody likes that feeling. So you're going to feel so much more energy and so much more balance and stable if you can also kind of regulate your stress response during your fasting period. All right, how do I lose weight in my thighs and hips? So we talked a lot about different body types and body compositions. And Deepa, you were mentioning, you went to the bank yesterday and you saw somebody who had really, you know, wide thighs and hips and you just wanted to kind of reach out to her and say, hey, listen, this is what your problem is. You know, this person's probably going to the doctor, probably looking in the mirror, probably going to the gym, maybe even trying to eat healthy, feeling frustrated that she's not seeing results. What would you, if you could talk to her right now face to face and she was receptive to hearing what you had to say, what would you say to her?

Well, I don't, I guess in terms of how I would approach her, I guess I would just ask her what she's tried or if she's looking for help. But you know, when it comes to this particular distribution of weight, it's for many people a imbalance in estrogen. They're what we call estrogen dominant. This person is going to experience heavy periods, mood swings, maybe some pms, they're going to experience maybe uterine fibroids or endometriosis, they're going to maybe experience some vaginal dryness or itchiness. If they're in that menopausal type of age, then they might also experience some hot flashes and night sweats. The key for this person, once again, we discussed the hormonal imbalances, but we're really going to want to address the hypothalamus once again. But then for this person, one of the main things is also going to be to avoid toxins. Okay? So buying organic fruits and vegetables, if you eat animal proteins and you want to make sure you're buying clean, you know, animal proteins, grass fed meats. Because if you're buying conventional produce, conventional dairy, conventional meat, that's going to be really loaded with toxins and chemicals which mimic estrogen in the body. So I remember a few years ago, we went to an apple orchard and we took our son Devin there and we saw so many women who had this estrogen dominant body shape. And the apple orchard that we went to wasn't organic. We just went there to experience it and to show Devin how apples grow. But we saw so many women with this estrogen dominant body shape because they're probably using a whole bunch of pesticides and these women are constantly being exposed to it and inhaling all these toxins all Day long. Right. Other areas where you might want to look into are your personal care products. Right. The average woman, I think the stat is like first thing in the morning, they're exposed to like hundreds of chemicals just from their perfumes and lotions and shampoos and makeup. So you really want to try to switch over to more natural products. And then cleaning products can be a huge source of toxins too, and also plastics. So if you're storing your food in plastic, if you're drinking from plastic water bottles, you really want to try to switch over to glass, stainless steel. You know, the plastic bottles are horrible for the environment. So invest in a good quality water filter for your home and for your family and really, you know, help the environment out and most importantly, help yourself and your family out as well.

Yeah. One thing I've discovered is that whatever is bad for the environment is always bad for us because we're a byproduct of our environment. So it's impossible to, you know, to do something that's bad for Mother Earth and for it not to eventually, if not immediately, be bad for us. One quote I really love. I don't know who to attribute this to, but they said that if you're not using a water filter, then you are the filter. So, you know, we recently, probably recently in terms of, within the last year, got a whole home water filter and a RO system that remineralizes the water. And the water tastes so different. It's so delicious and it's good for you. Right. So make sure the quality of water that you're consuming is excellent. Leading up to that, we had a Berkey filter. So the Berkey filter is great for drinking water. However, obviously it doesn't filter your whole home. And so making sure that you're making a conscientious effort to eliminate toxicity is going to be an important thing for you, especially if your body shape looks like this. A lot of times we'll also see women who struggle with this. When we do a genetic test on them, they have poor methylation. So methylation is a process through which we get rid of estrogen from our bodies. Estrogen is eliminated actually through our stool. So we have to have the right bacteria and we have to have the right elimination pathways in order for us to remove this from our system. And if it doesn't get removed adequately, then it recirculates back into the system. So methylation is a process that is responsible for several hundred functions in our body, but specifically it's responsible for estrogen metabolism. So this is important. And then the other thing to note is that there's three different types of estrogen. There's 2 hydroxy, 4 hydroxy and 16 hydroxy. And I'm not going to get too deep into this, certainly something we cover with our clients. But if you have toxic forms of estrogen, such as 4 hydroxy, that are bioaccumulating in your body, then this increases your risk of breast cancer and other, you know, cancers related to estrogen. So this could be an early warning sign to that there is a major hormonal disruption specifically with estrogen. And you want to look into that a little bit more closely, especially if you have a history of breast cancer and even if you don't. Right. Our environment has changed so much. Like the environment that our grandparents grew up in and great grandparents grew up in didn't have all these hormone disrupting elements in it. So maybe they had methylation issues, so to speak, but didn't express those issues because the load wasn't as high as it is now. So definitely want to get this checked out, get this investigated, and work with somebody who can help you rebalance this hormone in your body. Estrogen elevation also disrupts hormone metabolism of the thyroid gland. So a lot of times we'll see women who have estrogen disruption also having thyroid related issues as well. So just something else to kind of keep in mind is, is that there's a cascade effect of having disrupted estrogen levels. Aside from having wide hips and thighs, that's just one of the outward signs that we see. There's a lot going on inside that sometimes shows up in the form of various diseases that, of course, we all want to help you avoid. All right, lots to unpack there, but we'll leave it at that for now. So next question that came in, which is how do I reduce sugar cravings and snacking. This is an issue that I personally, being totally vulnerable, used to struggle with. My wife will tell you that I am a snackaholic and we would have to just load up the pantry with all kinds of different snacks and not so much anymore. In fact, she has to remind me, hey, I bought these snacks. How come you're not eating them? So I know what it's like to crave snacks all the time. And I also know what it's like not to. And sometimes we say willpower doesn't work, right? So it starts by knowing that, hey, if you have snacking tendencies, don't buy snacks, right? If you have sugar cravings, don't buy sugary stuff. And stock it in your pantry. Because we are a byproduct of our environment. And thinking about not eating something is almost as bad as eating it. It's distracting us from other things that we could be doing. So the first step is reduce your exposure and accessibility to things that are going to be disruptive to your goals and outcomes. And that just makes it harder for us to cheat. Right? If you make it really easy for you to cheat, then guess what? You're always going to cave, right? We cave to our cravings and our psychology sometimes, and willpower doesn't work. So we have to start with our environment and then an understanding of how our blood sugar works. Adeep, I'll let you speak to this slide here because you're really, really great at helping people rebalance their blood sugar. So maybe you can describe what's happening to this person and then you can also tell us what this graph should look like.

So when you look at this graph, you can see there's a lot, lot of peaks and valleys. The blood sugar is going up drastically, and then it's really coming down and crashing, and then once again going up and crashing. And so there's this constant roller coaster with the blood sugars going up and down, up and down. And so let's say in the morning, you eat a muffin, maybe you know, some cereal, that's going to send the blood sugar go skyrocket, skyrocketing up. And then whatever goes up must come down. So it's going to then go through this sudden crash. And when it goes through that sudden crash, you know you're going to crave something because your body is almost in a hypoglycemic state. And in order to get over that hypoglycemia, it needs a kick of sugar again. So then you're going to reach for, you know, maybe a piece of toast, right? And then once again, blood sugar is going to go up and then it's going to come crashing down again. And so this is also going to cause, you know, they call it being hangry. It's going to cause mood dysregulation. Right? You might be really irritable, might be really cranky and frustrated, and that's because your blood sugar is very unstable. So one of the main things that we teach our clients is how to really balance the blood sugar. So, yes, there is going to be some ups and downs, but we don't want to see this drastic peak. Right? So you want to see the blood sugar more stable. Right. And more without these extreme peaks and valleys. So really trying to, you know, eat foods that are going to balance the blood sugar. So these are going to be whole foods, anti inflammatory foods, unprocessed foods, foods that don't come in packages, right? Avoiding sugars, refined carbohydrates, and usually for sugar cravings. What I find with my experience is that when you stop sugar, the first four or five days, you know, might be a bit of a struggle, but once you get over that hump, the sugar cravings go away pretty quickly. So, you know, as Sachin said, you got to create that environment. So don't buy the food, right? And you know it once, once you kind of stop the sugar intake, then you can get over the cravings pretty quickly.

I think it's also important to note that when your blood sugar crashes, then you're going to be releasing tons of cortisol. And that release of cortisol creates insulin resistance and that just creates this perpetual cycle. And one of the things that we need to note is the reason your blood sugar crashing is so dangerous to use, because our brain is primarily working off of glucose and ketones. But when our blood sugar crashes, it really is a dangerous situation for us to be in. So it is a fight or flight type of situation. Now it's not an external fight or flight, right, like a lion chasing you or a stressful event, but it, at a biological, biochemical level, it is a stressful event. So our body will respond. Now sometimes what happens is our body does release cortisol, you know, to try to protect us. But this really taps our adrenals. And our adrenals then become victims of this constant kind of roller coaster throughout the day. And sometimes your adrenals will kick in, however, you'll also kick in. So there'll be an internal rise in glucose by raising cortisol and then an external rise in glucose by you choosing perhaps the wrong foods. And your body is going to crave sugar because that's the thing that's crashing in your body. So it's not that you're a bad person, it's not that you're weak, it's that you are a byproduct of your biochemistry. And so it's only human for you to crave sugar. So one of the things that you want to do, as Deepa mentioned, is let's figure out a way to get this stabilized. Let's get you into a state where your blood sugar stays within the boundaries as much as it possibly can. Every area that you see in blue is a state of stress for the body. Our body has no defense. Let me say this again. Our body has no defense against overeating. We have every defense against under eating, but we have no defense against overeating. So what does our body do? It stores as body fat. So anytime you see this area over the curve, our body's going into storage mode. Anytime we go under the curve, our body's going into breakdown mode. So if you're the type of person that wakes up and you're super hungry in the morning, it probably means that your blood sugar is crashing. And if your blood sugar is crashing in the afternoon again, it's probably because your adrenals are not doing their job to keep your levels up. So you're going to crave food, you're going to crave coffee or something that's a quick fix, like, you know, a sugary snack. And that's going to make you feel good, but it's going to create this perpetual roller coaster. All right, next question, Deepa, is, you know, how do I keep the weight off? I know that I've heard this joke, and maybe you've heard it too, is I've lost £100. It just happens to be the same £5 20 times. Right? Yeah. So people will lose it, gain it back, lose it, gain it back. And for some people it's £20, £30. So they've lost hundreds of pounds over their life, but they keep gaining it back. So tell us, from a biochemistry, psychology, environmental perspective, what causes this weight to come back on?

Well, I think it's kind of what we had touched on earlier is really shifting your identity and really focusing on health first. Right. So if we just keep focusing on weight loss, weight loss, weight loss, then we're not really focusing on shifting your health. Right. So really implementing healthy habits and really having that consistency. Right. And what I find for most people is that they may know intuitively what to do, but I think in terms of keeping the weight off and losing the weight too, because it's kind of a two step process. You got to lose the weight first and then keep it off. For most people to be successful long term, they need accountability. They need to have someone there to check in on them to make sure they're moving in the right direction, to give them that support and that feedback and really help them to implement the lifestyle upgrades that are required for you to keep the weight off long term.

Yeah, it really is all about our environment, our identity, our paradigm, our belief system. Right. Which is what our paradigm is and surrounding yourself with the right people. I found that there's three things that people need. They need a roadmap to safely get the weight off. They need a guide that's going to hold their hand, hold them accountable, but also be there to support them and lift them up when they seemingly fall. And not only fall, but also to be there to celebrate their victories. And then they need a community. A community of like minded people. Because all of us are climbing our own version of Mount Everest, whatever that might look like. For some of us, it's the Mount Everest of being an awesome mom. For some of us, an awesome entrepreneur. For some of us, an awesome dad. Whatever the case may be, we're all climbing our own Mount Everest. And I can reassure you that no successful mom or dad or entrepreneur has done it on their own. So when it comes to our health, which is really, in my opinion, and I hope all of you think this way, it's really our most important asset. Why wouldn't we get the right roadmap, find the right process? Why wouldn't we find the right mentor and guide? And why wouldn't we find the right community? In fact, I believe it's our obligation, if we're serious and committed to our health to do that. And if you can find those three things, then your life will forever be transformed. I just released a podcast today about how mentors have helped me in so, so many ways in growing my business and in growing as a father and growing as a husband. And we're always seeking, you know, help in areas that are important to us. And I can't think of any area that's more important, that people try to wing it and do it themselves. And I just want people to know that you're not alone. You don't have to be alone. That's a choice that we all make. And one of the things that came up in a conversation the other day, which is, hey, there's Sachin, there's a recession. What are your thoughts? And I said, well, this is the greatest time for us to invest in ourselves. Investing in housing might not be a good idea. Investing in the stock market is probably not a good idea right now. But investing in yourself is probably the best place. No matter what's happening outside, in the outside world is the best place for you to invest. Because you can come out of any situation stronger, better, more mindful, more present, have better health, and then pass these skills on to the people that you care about as well. So, yeah, I just wanted to add some, some context. There that you keep it off by really surrounding yourself with the right people and the right person that's going to help you get there and do it safely so that you're also committed to sticking to a new way of life. All right, next question. Very important question, which is, what's the connection between emotions, trauma, and food? I know in our community, we actually had Trisha Nelson, who's a mutual friend of all of ours, and she did a powerful talk on trauma. And we understand that emotional eating is such a big component to the choices that we make. And when we turn to food as an emotional crutch, I'd love for you to share maybe some highlights from that conversation that you had and maybe add some of your own perspective on this topic.

So I think a lot of this stems from our childhood. So an example is basically, and I think we all have this to a certain degree. I think a lot of cultures and parents use food with children to suit their emotions. An example that I always give is a few years ago, I was at a Halloween party at a friend's house, and her daughter got hurt. And, you know, my friend just reached over, grabbed a lollipop from the bowl on a counter, on the countertop. And the, you know, the emotion of her crying and, you know, having this, like, outburst was so uncomfortable, right? For us humans, it's so uncomfortable that we just like, you know, she kind of just shoved the lollipop in her mouth to kind of have her, to soothe her, right? And so that then creates this subconscious pattern in that child's brain that whenever I'm upset, I can have a lollipop or I can have sugar, right? So it doesn't really set. And no judgment, right? I know. I've done this before, too. And it's all about learning and just becoming aware of what this, what this does. But it really doesn't allow us to hold space for that child to process the emotion, which is what, you know, technically should happen. And instead, we distract because we find those emotions so uncomfortable. So, you know, really becoming aware of how food was used in your childhood to soothe you is going to be important in your journey. This is, you know, these are some things that we talk to our clients about. We have guest speakers come in to our community to talk to our clients about this as well. And really, you know, I think another big thing is identifying certain behavioral patterns that are pretty common with many women, right? So people pleasing, having difficulty saying no. You know, a lot of these type of behavioral patterns can lead to overeating, right? And so just a few little tidbits there.

Yeah, I think emotions play such a huge role. And just to kind of add to what you said, you know, children have a great way of unleashing and releasing their emotions. And for us as adults, we have a great way of hiding our emotions. And emotions are energy, right? It's energy in motion. And so if we keep it bottled up inside of us or we shove it back down right in our mouths. So our mouths are a way for us to express emotions, and it's also a way for us to stuff those emotions back down with food. So that association that takes place, especially at a very young age is obviously never done intentionally. Like, we're not judging because we've made. If I could go back in time, there's certain things that I wish I didn't say or do. However, you know, if you have the ability to think forward and even think backwards and be like, okay, why am I eating this? Right? Am I eating this because I'm upset, or am I eating this because it's providing me sustenance? And if it's because you're upset, then we need to focus on the what made you upset and how are you releasing or unleashing that negativity and emotion so that it's not being bottled up inside and finding another way out, Right? And another way out is disease and illness and dysfunction and disruption in the body. So very important for us to kind of let our children fully express themselves. It's okay if they cry. It's okay if they need to release, provide them with a safe container for them to do that, because otherwise we're conditioning them to think that they've got to bottle their emotions inside. And, you know, of course, food is one of those things that, as a mom or a dad, it's an easy way out, right? It gets them quiet. And. But however, it does create that conditioning. So make sure you're paying very close attention to why you're eating. And, you know, what is the psychology of why you're eating. If you're eating because you need sustenance and nutrition, that's different. But if you're eating to bottle up your emotions, then that's obviously at some point going to catch up with you. And some people, you may not eat to bottle up your emotions. You might do other destructive behaviors, right? Some people might smoke or they might do drugs, or they might do other behaviors that are negative, that may not cause weight gain, but it's still a way of them to deal with their emotions, ineffectively and so the behavior doesn't change because the emotion hasn't been erased. So some trauma work for people can be helpful. We do some breath work that helps people release that stored emotion. There's a variety of different ways that you can do that, but at least acknowledging it is probably the first step. And food is so very, very closely connected to our emotional state that it's easy for us to get caught up in some of these patterns. All right, next question. How do I get over a plateau? Let's talk about that. So first things first. It's normal to plateau. So if you're on a weight loss journey and a health journey, it's totally okay, right? Think of somebody who's bench pressing. When you bench press, you reach a plateau, and then you're kind of stuck there. And then you have to do something a little bit different to get that breakthrough, right? So you might have to change your form, or you might have to do other exercises that help stabilize your shoulders so that you could bench press more weight, or you may have to just give it some time, give your body a chance to catch up and kind of reset itself to this new set point. And realize that as long as you're continuing to create healthy habits, you're not plateauing, right? You're actually continuing to move forward in the right direction and do things that are continuing to promote your health. Your weight isn't the only metric of your health. So your sleep could be improving, however, your weight could be plateaued. Your mindset could be improving, however, your weight could be plateaued. So keep doing the things that got you there, but realize maybe there's a new identity that you need to uncover. And another thing about plateaus is ask yourself, this is where emotions come in. Ask yourself, when was the last time I weighed this much? So it's not uncommon for women, especially, to have gone through some sort of traumatic event. Sometimes it could be a sexual harassment or comment that somebody made that made them feel uncomfortable, and now they're guarding and protecting themselves and creating this armor around them. So it's not uncommon that we'll hear somebody say, I feel naked now. Now that I've lost these 30 pounds, I feel naked, and I don't feel saf. I don't feel guarded and protected because of this, you know, the suit of armor that they've put on. So ask yourself, when's the last time I weighed this much? And maybe go back in time and ask yourself, was there something that happened when I weighed this much? Was there something that created A negative experience for me, or did I get a negative type of attention that I didn't like because there could be some emotional connection there? So, of course, we want to never want to ignore the psychology and the emotions. And of course, we never want to ignore the biology and the biochemistry of the body. And both are very, very important. So, Deepa, do you want to add anything to this?

No, I think you covered it all.

Okay, awesome. And then how do I increase energy? This is something that I think all of us want more of, right? We want more energy. We want to function at the highest level that we possibly can. And we covered a lot of things today, right? So balancing blood sugar is going to help you increase energy. Getting good night's rest is going to help you increase and optimize energy levels. And really what we want is we want to be able to get through the day without needing stimulants. Our body makes stimulants, right? We make cortisol first thing in the morning. Another way to get supercharged is getting outside in the sun. We spend way too much time indoors, way too much time sitting. And paradoxically, we actually get energy from more movement. So one of the most important nutrients to the brain is movement. Movement. Neurology feeds the brain, nourishes the brain, energizes us, and it also helps us balance a lot of our hormones. Getting outside charges literally charges our batteries. So when you're exposed to sunlight, your body is literally turned into a battery where it creates energy. So simple ways to increase energy without stimulants is getting outside, going for a quick walk, even doing some breathing exercises can be very helpful. We won't get in too deep into that. We go over that with our clients. But there's lots of ways that you can stimulate energy without using stimulants, like caffeine, you know, coffee, tea, things like that. Anything else you want to add to this, Deepa?

Yeah, I would say one of the main ways is to focus on sleep. Right. Which is what we kind of covered. One of the main questions we covered in the beginning. So if you're just jumping in, just go back to that first question in terms of implementing some of the tips to improve your sleep.

Awesome. All right. Another question that comes up especially for people who have, like, arthritis or maybe they're, you know, going into a surgery or coming out of a surgery, or maybe they just don't have the time and they ask, how do I lose weight even if I can't exercise? What would you say to that person who asked that question.

So when it comes to weight loss, intense exercise is actually going to work against you. So you really want to focus on, you know, if you, if you can't really move a lot, then you can even do things sitting in a chair. Right. But the things that we recommend to our clients is really focusing on things that they enjoy doing. Right. So 20 to 30 minute walk goes a long way. You don't have to spend an hour at the gym. And you know, what they're finding is that the frequency at which you move is important, more important. Right. So you might spend an hour at the gym, but then you're sitting for like seven hours straight. Well, that one hour at the gym is kind of counterintuitive. So really got to get up frequently. Right. Make sure you're drinking lots of water, which can really help with, you know, getting you to get up, go to the bathroom, making sure you're doing things like yoga and, you know, moving in a way that is enjoyable for your body and is not going to put too much stress on your body.

Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. And, you know, consistent movement is probably the best tip that we can offer you. The people who live the longest, who have the best kind of lifespan, who live as centenarians in blue zones. They don't have gyms, they're not on a treadmill, they're moving throughout the day. They're doing simple things like walking as much as they can to places they need to go to. They're going up and down the stairs. Right. They're not just ordering food and having it delivered. Right. It used to be that we would at least have to get in our car to go get fast food, and now we're having it delivered to us. So try to be active. Sometimes we delegate a lot of things, like, for example, mowing the yard. Right. I've, I can, you know, I'm capable of delegating that to somebody and hiring somebody to do that. But I don't look at it as a chore. I look at it as an opportunity to get some exercise, to get my feet in the ground, to be outside, to break a sweat. You know, there's different ways that we can, you know, it's important for us to stop delegating so much of what we do. Even, you know, chores around the house, you know, you know, doing things like washing the dishes or cleaning your bathroom, cleaning up your bedroom, mopping the floors, all of those things add up. So stop delegating those things if you don't absolutely need to, because those activities can add up day after day, week after week. All right, next question. How do I lose weight if I have hypothyroidism? So hypothyroidism, that's a whole can of worms. So I'm going to give this some, you know, time here, but I'm not going to go deep into this because it can take, you know, an hour to explain the whole mechanisms of hypothyroidism. But hypothyroidism is primarily caused by an autoimmune condition called hashimoto's thyroiditis. So 90 of people, statistically, who have thyroid issues actually have an autoimmune condition where their thyroid isn't the problem, it's actually the victim. And so typically, your doctor is not going to test for. For thyroid dysfunction related to autoimmunity, because they're actually going to. There's no treatment for it, so there's no medication for Hashimoto's. So instead they treat the symptom, which is a dysfunctional thyroid. The way we would look at this is let's get your stress levels down, let's optimize your gut, let's optimize your liver, and let's make sure your body has all the nutrients that it needs for your thyroid to function properly. Your thyroid primarily makes a hormone called T4. T4 is then converted into T3. T3 is the active form of thyroid hormone. That conversion of T4 to T3 takes place in the liver, in the gut, and in the kidneys. And it requires certain nutrients, like zinc, for example, in order for that conversion to take place. Things that will stop the conversion are chronic stress. And so chronic and acute stress stop the conversion of T4 into T3. It's kind of like you have a check that's worth $1,000, and in order to turn it into cash, you have to go to the bank. Well, stress will stop that conversion from taking place. So now you just got to check that your body can't use to stimulate the thyroid to stimulate the tissues in our body and increase metabolism. Stress will also turn your thyroid hormone into something called reverse C3. And reverse T3 stops the thyroid hormone from binding to the cell. Think of your thyroid and adrenals like two different drivers. You can't have two people in the car seat drive in the driver's seat at the same time. One person has to be driving, the other person has to be in the passenger seat. So under stressful conditions, our adrenals are in the driver's seat, and our thyroid kind of Takes a backseat at rest. Our thyroid is more active and our adrenals are in the passenger seat. So we have to understand that stress will naturally, biologically, this is important. Will shut off our thyroid because we can't have. Otherwise we'd be overstimulated and our heart would jump out of our chest. So hypothyroidism is very common. You have to look at it from an autoimmune perspective and also from a stress perspective. And those two things are reversible so that you can get the weight off naturally. And we've helped many people reverse their thyroid issues. And I have to be careful what I say, but I'll just leave it at that. All right. How do I lose weight if I'm in menopause? So menopause is a common theme that we see these days. The symptoms of menopause should be no symptoms. So in case you're wondering what are the symptoms of menopause in a healthy female, and I don't know if that even exists anymore, but in a perfectly healthy female, there are no symptoms of menopause. It should be a seamless, symptomless transition from one stage of life to the next. What happens is nowadays women, unfortunately, are overstretched and overburdened. You know, they're working, they're raising a family, they're taking care of the household. And unfortunately, that leads to adrenal dysfunction. So what should happen? As a woman goes through menopause and the ovaries kind of shut down their production of these hormones, the adrenals are supposed to take over and support the person. So we always look at it from that lens. What's going on with the adrenals? How do we support the adrenals? And yes, you can lose weight during menopause. It's actually much easier than you think. But it starts by going upstream, resetting the HPA axis, resetting the circadian rhythm, making sure you're emphasizing the sleep patterns. All those things make all the difference in the world. So again, this could be an hour long conversation, but yes, it is possible. And we kind of work with our clients on an individual basis to address their specific needs, because everyone's version of menopause is unique and different. All right, next question. Is calorie counting important? Calorie counting, in my opinion, is not important because the healthiest people on the planet, the people who live the longest, aren't sitting there calculating their calories. And. And you're not a bomb calorimeter. So what's probably more important for us to calculate, if we are going to calculate anything, is nutrient density. And really, nutrient density is pretty self explanatory. If you're eating whole foods, organic foods, foods that, you know, didn't have to travel 2,000 miles and sit on a counter, you know, sit on a shelf for two weeks, then, you know, it's almost very intuitive. You can eat like we have a garden in our house. So we eat fresh salads pretty much every day now in the summer. And that's going to be a nutrient dense fresh food that we're eating versus buying salad from the grocery store, which is so far removed from its environment and so long removed from its natural growth cycle that it's not going to be as nutrient dense. It's certainly going to not be as healthy for you. So counting calories is not something we focus on. We focus more on quality of food that you eat. We focus more on, you know, meal timing. Are you chewing your food? You know, are you sending your body the right satiating signals? You know, by correctly sleeping and creating the right lighting environment, you know, there's so many other things that contribute to why you eat and how much you eat. And calories are a very reductionistic way of looking at how our body metabolizes food. Not all calories are created equal. So 1,000 calories of ice cream and 1,000 calories of a healthy meal are going to have a completely different immune response in your body. They're going to have a totally different blood sugar response in your body, and they're going to have a totally different inflammatory response in your body. So we focus more on that than counting calories. Now some people will say, especially the men will say, hey, just exercise more and eat less. You want to eat the right amount and exercise the right amount and do the right type of exercise and eat the right types of foods in relationship to what your goals are. All right, almost done. All right, next is what is the best exercise for weight loss? So here's the thing. The best exercise or exercises for weight loss are really the exercises you love doing. What is it that you look forward to? We call this joyful movement. And so I love playing basketball with my son. That's a form of exercise for me. I love power washing. That's a form of exercise for me. I love mowing the yard and landscaping. That's a form of exercise for me. The best exercises are going to be ones that you enjoy doing and bonus points for doing them consistently and bonus points for doing them outdoors. So I play basketball outdoors I do my landscaping outdoors and I ride my bike outdoors. So if you can stack different habits, then that's going to be important. Another thing to about think consider when it comes to best exercise for weight loss is are you over training? So James Nestor, who wrote the book Breath, he talks about this quite a bit. He says that if you're not able to breathe correctly while you're exercising, you are over stressing your system and you're going beyond a healthy capacity for yourself. So you should be able to do exercise and breathe exclusively through your nose. If you're huffing and puffing and you can't maintain your breath, then you're overworking yourself and, and that actually gonna, is gonna have metabolic consequences for you. That isn't to say that you shouldn't lose your breath once in a while, but just pay attention to that. Am I exceeding my metabolic capacity? Because many people will unfortunately do that. All right, next thing is fasting recommended? Fasting is recommended. In fact, the word fasting shows up in more religious scriptures than any other word. So fasting is recommended. We do recommend that you do that. Do it under the guidance of a professional, especially if you're unfamiliar or if you have blood sugar related issues or you're diabetic or something like that. However, all of us are fasting. All of us. Unless you're eating or have a feeding tube while you're sleeping, all of us are fasting while we sleep. We're just extending that period of fasting, combining it with as much rest and parasympathetic tone as we can. And you can actually go several days without eating. In fact, you know, one of the things that we encourage you to do when the season is right and the timing is right for you is do a fasting mimicking diet or do a 100% water fast where you're only drinking water over a three to five day period. Because this will actually stimulate something called autophagy, where your body starts getting rid of, you know, cells that are no longer metabolically active and contributing to health. And it also helps you stimulate stem cell production. So you can actually start regenerating your organs and systems by making sure that you're, by making sure that you're tapping into the power of fasting. Anything you want to add to fasting deeps?

Nope. I would just say start slow. So start with about 13 hours if you've never done it before and then you can slowly increase that it by 30 to 60 minutes every few days if it's new to you.

Okay. And Then the classic intermittent fasting that people do is 16 and 8. So they're eating during an eight hour window and then not eating anything except water or coffee or tea during the 16 hour window. So no calories during the 16 hour window. And really, even without restricting your calorie intake or changing your diet, you'll probably start seeing results simply from giving your organs and systems a bit of a break. So consistent and persistent. Snacking is obviously oppositional to this and it seems kind of contrarian. However, we're seeing that for health, the less we eat, the longer we live. So calorie restriction has been studied, you know, controlled calorie restriction, not nutrient restriction. Okay. That there's a difference between calorie restriction and nutrient restriction. But when we, you know, eat less, we actually live longer. So that's something to keep in mind as well. And fasting is an excellent way for us to start that process. All right, now, last question before we wrap things up. And this one is for all the busy people out there. How do I lose time? How do I lose weight if I don't have time? What are your thoughts on that? Deepa, you hear this all the time.

I think it's what we just talked about. If you don't have time, then fasting is great because that means you only have to think of two meals and not three. Preparation is also key. I always recommend making more of your dinner so that you have lunch leftovers the next day. You can also batch cook. So prepping a few dishes on the weekend goes a long way, especially on the weekdays when you're probably busier. Just some of those few simple tips can be really helpful. And then, I think Sachin had mentioned it a few times, is really creating that environment where you have healthy foods and snacks around and where you don't buy the unhealthy stuff. So that is going to help you reach for foods that are more in alignment with losing weight rather than processed and unhealthy foods. So yeah. So tips are try fasting. Right. That saves a lot of time if you don't have to prep another meal. And make sure that you're stocking your fridge and pantry with healthy foods that are, you know, easy for you to grab if you're in a pinch.

Yeah. So it's really about most things, right. It's about planning, it's about efficiency and looking for opportunities to save time. And even asking yourself, you know, hey, if I, if I, if I don't have time now, then how am I going to have time? For the consequences of what's happening in my body right now. And time is really our most important and valuable asset. So we want to help you live longer, we want to help you live more effectively and more efficiently. And we want to save you time so that you can spend it with your family, doing the things you love, getting outdoors, contributing, volunteering, all that fun stuff that freeing up your time will allow you to have. So thank you for tuning in. I did want to let you know if you're interested in speaking with Deepa and setting up a reset discovery call. We've got this fantastic program that takes all of this into account and more to help you discover the best version of you that you possibly can. We do it all without supplements. We do it without excessive lab testing. We do it with wearable technology, lots of love. And we do it with practical guidance and lifelong habits that we want to help you create and skills that we want to help you develop. So if somebody wanted to set up that time with you, Deepa, they can certainly go to this link resetdiscoverycall.com what can they expect during that conversation with you?

So on this call we will before you, when you schedule the call, you'll receive a form which is going to ask you some detailed questions in terms of certain symptoms that you might be experiencing and really grouping those symptoms into different body parts, which is going to help us identify where there's room for opportunity and where you're going to need more support. And then we'll answer any of your questions and then we'll see if working together is a good fit or not.

Awesome. Thank you Deepa and thank you all for tuning in today. We appreciate you. Feel free to share this information with anyone else who might need it. We're here to help. We're here to serve and we're here to contribute and add value to your life. And I hope you found this session today valuable for you. Thank you. Have an awesome day. We love you and we will talk to you soon. Bye for now.