Weekly Living Light Metabolic Program Q & A Aug 4, 2023

Hello, Beverly.

Lovely to see you.

Happy Friday.

Happy Friday to you too.

Yeah, my name says Deepa, but I am in fact Alice. So lovely to see you. And Deepa might be joining us today a little bit later. She is just traveling right now, so time difference and kind of activity difference is going to have her pop in at different times. So it is us for today. Hi, Barb. Nice to see you as well. I'm just gonna write a quick note that we've started our meeting today so we can get a couple of other people coming in here shortly. But as we are rolling in, as we are getting started, I would love to hear, as per usual, something it is that we are grateful for today might be something that happened alongside the program, could be completely separate from the program as well. It could be something in your personal life that was a big win, a big change, something exciting maybe that you're looking forward to. There is no right or wrong answer in this. So I would love to hear what everybody is grateful for today as I quickly write in a message here in our group Facebook or sorry, our group messaging in practice. Better.

Foreign.

Back at you, Barb. Just eating and grabbing some water. Sure thing. I know this is in a lot of people's lunchtime, so I appreciate you making both work. Beverly, you're saying my husband, which is amazing. It's so nice to have a supportive partner that can be alongside you in any capacity as you're going through this.

So.

So it's and. And everything else, of course, in life. So it's super awesome. You're showing him some gratitude. I'm sure he feels it on his end. A moonlit paddle during the full super moon this week. Oh, my gosh. That must have been insane. I know. The moon. I believe it was a sturgeon moon on Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken. And it was just so massive and high in the sky. So I'm glad you had a chance to view that and enjoy its full energy. Hello, Sarah. Nice to have you join us here today.

Hello.

Hello. How are you today?

I'm good.

How are you? I am doing fabulous. I know you're gearing up to get started on your own reset journey very soon. That is correct. I'm excited for you to get started and I know we had some questions back and forth as well as we were kind of chatting this week. So if anything else has come up in the meantime, we will definitely be covering that today. But as. As we're kind of all joining in, getting started with the Q and A. I love to share some gratitude, share some wins. So that is what we were all doing right now. So if there's anything that's coming to mind to you that you would like to share in terms of gratitude, maybe something you've experienced today, maybe it was something as of this week, maybe it's something you're looking forward to in the coming weekend. So any sort of gratitude.

Are you directing that at me or.

Yes, yes, sorry. I am directing that only because Barb and Beverly and I just went through their gratitude. And so if you wanted to share, it's an open. Oh, well, I, I will actually share that this weekend.

Obviously, I'm going to start that 5,000 calorie thing for Saturday and Sunday and I, I'm a little nervous about it because my husband keeps reminding me that.

I can barely eat 1500 calories in a day, let alone 5000.

So having him not around for the weekend is going to be a blessing in disguise. So I can, I can probably feel.

Grateful for that and hopefully I can get this done. Yes, exactly. I think, you know, it's, it's definitely a lot to work up to. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's two of the hardest days of the whole program. But if you're not used to consuming that calorie amount, you know, on your every day, which I'm sure most people are not, I always recommend doing something called a soft load. So whatever, however amount you're eating right now, slowly adding in additional snacks, additional portions to your L or to your dinner, if you're just having two meals right now, even considering adding in a third one, so that you slowly start expanding your stomach so that it slowly becomes a little bit more accustomed to the food that you're going to be consuming for the loading days. And depending on where it is that you're starting from in terms of your current weight and then additionally your weight release goal, that loading amount can differ a little bit. So when it comes to, let's say, somebody that has 20, 25 plus pounds that they're looking release and they're sitting at around the 200 pound mark, let's say, or anything above, that's when I would say 5,000 calories would be your best option to aim for in terms of the load. If, let's say you had, you know, 20 pound release goal, you're sitting in the 180s, 4,500 calories would suffice. If, let's say, you know, similarly 20 pounds, but you're sitting at the 160 mark. Then 4,000 calories would be fine. So obviously that doesn't make it a whole whack easier, but at least it makes it a little bit easier for those loading days. And definitely stock up on lots of healthy nuts and oils. Those will be your best friend. So the oil, is it coconut oil like they. You indicate MCT oil, but MCT oil is actually coconut oil, is that correct? Yes, that's correct. It's just a different state that it's in when it's in the MCT state. So it's fractionated. That's the only difference. So it doesn't have to be necessarily MCT oil or coconut oil. That is just an example. I know a lot of people like to put in ghee or butter in their coffee as well instead of the coconut oil. So any fat that works for you that you enjoy would be great.

In coffee.

Yes, in coffee.

Okay.

Yeah. It's a great way to get healthy fats in in the morning. It was kind of a trend a few years. I'm not sure if you've heard of Bulletproof, but he was the one that kind of mainstreamed the idea of putting in fats in your coffee. And it actually reduces or completely eliminates the need of adding in any sort of creamer. So if you put it in a high speed blender with your coffee, it froths it with the fat of choice. So it takes away that need to again have any sort of creamer. And the healthy fats kind of supercharge your brain in the morning as well. So it's a win win on both sides. Okay.

Yeah.

Try it out. See how you like it. I know it sounds a bit strange, but it's oddly very good and satisfying. So. And it definitely helps get you up to that calorie amount much faster. So specifically coffee with obviously caffeine in it.

Is that what you guys want us to consume?

So you don't have to per se, you don't have to consume coffee or caffeine if you don't want to. We find that it makes easier in those fasting hours to kind of maintain satiety and to eliminate hunger cravings, especially towards the beginning as your body is adjusting being without the fats and starting to cook without fats. So you're definitely not required to enjoy coffee if you're somebody that doesn't like caffeine.

Okay.

Yeah. And the, the coffee or tea that, you know, we sometimes recommend alongside this program does have additional reishi mushroom inside of it. So that adds a lot of great immunomodulating effects. It adds a lot of kind of just healing and detoxing effects. It's really good on kind of calming down the nervous system. It's great at improving bowel movements. So there's a lot of different kind of benefits to it that we find doesn't take an additional step. You don't have to go out of your way and get those mushrooms in if it's already in the coffee. You're kind of, you know, hitting two nails with one hammer. Okay, so Rishi mushroom coffee. Yes, that's my personal favorite. I know a lot of other people on the program really like it as well. I see Gail's comment here and it tastes fabulous too. So it's a really great tasting coffee once you get used to it. I know some people have preferences and they've been following it for a long time and switching over is weird initially, but it's delicious. It has so many additional benefits alongside the caffeine and it's not jittery at all. So if that's something that you've ever struggled with or experienced, it doesn't cause any of those effects. No indigestion, no anything. At least not anybody that I've known that's drank the coffee. And it's been. I've known quite a few people that have tried it at this point. So you're welcome to. If you want to try out that reishi coffee or tea, it comes in a green tea as well. So those are great additions I find to the program, but additions, they're not required to do so.

So where do I get those?

I will send the link. I will drop the link right now into the chat and you can buy it directly off there.

Okay.

Hello everyone that joined in in the meantime. Welcome, welcome. Lovely to see all of your faces. And for whoever hasn't had a chance to write in the chat or share with their voice, I love hear it is that you are grateful for or maybe a win that you're really excited to celebrate. Share. Or that you're looking forward to this coming weekend. So I see Barb's writing in here. Another gratitude about the paddle. The guide noticed my improved flexibility and strength getting out of the kayak compared to last year. That's awesome. And that must have been such a big difference for him too, being able to kind of remember you and see the experience again. And I'm sure he was curious like, what have you been doing different?

You.

What's. What's been going on? No, he just noticed that it was easier. Awesome. Awesome. I'm sure it felt much better last.

Year after driving, because it was in Barrie, which is a couple hours away from me. So after loading the kayaks on the roof of the car, unloading them, kayaking for several hours, by the time I got out, I was tired. So he helped me get out last year. He did not have to help me at all this year.

Oh, that's amazing. Oh, so nice to hear that. And you're like, I got this. This is all on me this time. Don't worry about it. Beautiful. Beverly is saying I made it to maintenance and I'm maintaining. All right. Amazing. What have you really enjoyed sticking to kind of moving out of the release phase, going into maintenance, where you feel like it's. It's making that difference in maintaining your new metabolic set point. I'd love to have you share if you're open to it.

I don't know.

I've been. My digestive system has been so wackadoodle that it's hard to say how I'm doing, but. Or what I'm doing. But I have been enjoying extra fruit, which has been fun, and. Eggs, whole eggs.

And the reintroduction has been going well so far.

Like I said, it's really hard to. It hasn't affected my weight much. But as far as other symptoms, mostly any digestive issues, my digestion has been really whacked out for the last couple of weeks, so. It's hard to say how I'm tolerating them in that way.

Yes. And any noticeable differences, I guess, in digestion since entering the maintenance phase, coming off of the release?

Yeah, I've been. I've just. I've been having been really sick to my stomach and I've had diarrhea and all that other fun stuff. So I. I think one of the things I did was I introduced peaches. My husband brought home peaches from one of our local farms. And I cut them. I always cut them up, take them off the seed and eat them in pieces rather than, you know, taking a bite. And so when I cut it open, the seed is. Is broken in the middle. It's separated. And so sometimes it looked a little. The inside of the seed looks like it had fungus. I ate it anyway because it wasn't touching the flesh of the fruit. But I can't help but wonder if that's why things have been so whacked out. Yes. And peaches are high in sugar, but you can introduce that kind of stuff in maintenance.

Yeah. Thanks for sharing. And there's so many different angles to kind of come at that. It could be, of course, you know, the sprays that were being used on maybe the peach, it could have been, in fact, you know, something that kind of went haywire with the peach itself because the pit was split and. Yeah, and it could have been a cross contamination as well. So there's so many different angles. But the most important thing is making sure anytime you are introducing, trying your best best to introduce again one new food each day and then also eating in a relaxing setting, not eating on the go, making sure that your same, your nervous system is coupled in the right activity it is that you're partaking in. So trying to do some stress resilience exercises is really great. When sitting down to eat, it's one of the things I preach until I'm blue in the face. Doing a quick 12 minute breath work session before sitting down to eat. It really makes a difference in terms of assimilation. So if you haven't explored any of those options as of yet, I would totally recommend that to see if that makes a difference. And if not, maybe a probiotic could be a great choice. Maybe your gut flora needs to be rebuilt. And I know apple cider vinegar is a great start to kind of, you know, get that that gut microbiome flourished. But if that isn't working, then we can also hit it with the stronger probiotic as well.

I did run out of kimchi. I've been two or three days without kimchi. So that's my probiotic right there.

Yes, exactly, exactly. So make sure to stock up on some kimchi, some sauerkraut if you enjoy tempeh, or maybe even some tofu. Those are great options to include on the program. And yeah, and making sure to give yourself some gentle digestion time, maybe even a quick walk after the meal as well, really helps. Welcome everyone. Hello, hello, all new faces. Lovely to see all of your faces with all the cameras turned on today. What a treat. This is awesome. So quickly just going through the comments here and I have a brief little exercise I wanted everybody to, to, you know, participate in today. Nothing too crazy, but something to just kind of get to mingle and get to know each other as well. Maybe get to know yourself a little bit better. But Gail is saying I have lost 18 pounds since I started on July 10th. So not even a month ago. Congratulations, Gail. That's so magic. I'm sure your clothes are fitting so different. I'm sure you're feeling different. Has anybody in your life noticed the Change?

Oh. Oh, yeah. Absolutely everyone. I think the thing they comment most, actually, including my husband, is not so much the weight loss, but they just said I look better. Not physically. Like, I just look healthier. Like, my. My husband has noticed that. You know, I know you're not in that much pain because the way you move and you seem happier and just lighter in my spirit, I guess, is a good way to put it. Like, obviously, they notice the weight too, but I just. I just. Like, I've had people say that I glow. I'm glowing. Like, I just feel that good. So that's the thing I think people notice the most. And then, like, from my face, and then they're like, oh, my gosh, you've lost. You've lost weight. I'm like, yes. And they asked me what I'm doing, and of course, I spread the word. So. But, yeah, I think that's the thing they notice the. The first thing they see about me, that I. I just look healthier. I. You know, you can tell I'm not riddled with. I mean, I still have pain, but nothing like I did before in my joint, so. And it shows, right. When you're in. When you have a chronic condition like osteoarthritis and it's affecting your whole body and you're in pain all the time, it wears on you after a while because it affects every aspect of your life, sleep, everything. So I think the fact that my inflammation has gone down to the point that I have quite a bit of relief. It shows on my face because I look rested. I don't have that. That, you know, that look that people have when they're in pain all the time. So, yeah, it's. It's. And I feel. Yeah. I mean, I recommend this to anybody. This has been, like. I don't even know how. Like, I was really skeptical when I heard about it from a friend. That was. That Annalise knows. And. And I thought, okay, well, you know what I mean, I. I respect her. So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna try it. And it truly has been a godsend, honestly. I. I mean that with everything in me that this has been a godsend. It's not just the weight loss. Everything, just. And, like, when I'm done, maintenance, even after I'm gonna. I might do another round when I'm done. But I. I will continue what I've learned here. Like, as far as no white sugar, no bread, snow, or if I'm going to make sure it's gluten free. And I'm going to, I want to continue it because I believe that's part of why I feel the way that I feel. Right. The stuff I just, to be honest, the crap like the white everything and all that stuff that you people eat every day and they don't think about it and you don't. I never thought it was an issue for me, to be honest. I didn't notice it doing anything to me because I didn't know any different. But seeing the difference, it's like a very distinct lineup before and after and the difference is just incredible.

So, yeah, huge congratulations. Sending you so much love right now, so much celebration. Way to go. And this is again, just like such, such the start of this chapter of this journey. Like you said, there's so much still to look forward to and to continue to build on top of. And that's exactly it. You don't know what you don't know until you know. That's a quote. I just continued to say non stop this last little while because you don't know you can feel so good until you. You felt that good. And when we're on certain food, they're, they're just part of our, you know, continuous cycle. You don't even realize the effects that it's having on your life and on your mood and on your brain fog and every function that your body is producing. Yeah. Thank you so much for that share, Gail. That was such an inspiration. And we're all rooting you on, cheering you on as you continue on this beautiful journey. Ed here is saying on my second round, I've lost 7.2 pounds in six days since loading and my water percent protein percent are both at an all time high record. Oh my gosh, you guys, you're coming in hot with these wins this week. I love it. Congratulations, Ed. And I know this is the second round too. So have you noticed any differences in terms of your first journey or your first round through the reset versus the kind of beginning of the second round? So far.

I'm. I still haven't looked at it in detail, but if my memory is correct, I've. First of all, I felt a lot worse while loading on the second round. Like my system, I probably had too high of a fat content, but my system did not enjoy that. And the first time around it was okay. So I thought that was. Maybe my system was rejecting all the bad food. But. But then I know. I think I've also lost more after loading on the second round than I did on the first round, which I thought was interesting. My, I'm speculating, but I think probably because on the first round I had to do a lot more detox than I did on the second round. But no, other than that, I. I'd say there has been little or no adjustment on the second round. Meaning like I, when I would go for walks on the first round, I was feeling weak at the beginning and then I, by the end I was okay, but now I don't feel any weakness. My body's already used to whatever I'm doing, so there's no weakness, no adjustment period.

Amazing. Yeah. Because you've been practicing, so it's. You're not starting from scratch anymore at this point. And additionally, yes, the second time around loading days are much more difficult than the first time around for many reasons. But of course your body has been with. Without certain foods or I guess, quantity of those foods for such a period of time that the kind of introduction of them and at that calorie amount is quite shocking and could raise more inflammation than it was previously because your body has been without that for so long. So it's learned how to kind of heal and focus on the nutrition it's been getting versus putting out the fires from the food.

On the first round I felt uncomfortable eating that much and this time I felt almost sick with headaches and all of that other stuff. And it took about a day for.

It to go away. Yeah, and it's. That's definitely the hardest part, I would say of the second round is doing the loading days over again after coming off of maintenance. But the results are still really amazing. And that's. The second round is typically where I find people dig into more of that deep fat store, maybe the brown fat stores that your body leaves on reserve. Whereas initially it's tackling, like you mentioned, a lot of detox, a lot of inflammation, a lot of water weight. So that tends to go really quickly. So the two journeys can differ. That's not to say they will. It's not to say that anything is absolute. So it's completely, you know, based on each day's practices. But I'm excited to see how kind of those two, those two rounds fare out for you. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, awesome. Thank you. And for today, I wanted to do a quick exercise and quickly just ask a question and have you all get into a breakout room with one other person and do a bit of a share exercise. Maybe some of you have done it before with us as well. So if you don't have a pen and paper Handy. Or if you don't have some sort of notebook or, you know, ebook or whatever it is that you're writing on, I would love to just give you a minute for you all to grab that right now. And if you want, if you have a fun pen, if you have a beautiful notebook or whatever have you, you can wave it in front of the camera. I always love seeing it. I have my little notebook here, my bullet journal, which I love. I see Barb is raising it. I think I saw Bev raise it too. Awesome. So if everybody has their stuff ready. The question for today is, and something that kind of came to me this week is who else is benefiting from you doing this program? And you can even extend it to what else, you know, what else is benefiting from you completing this program? But who else in your life is benefiting from you completing this program fully and putting in your all playing all out.

Sorry, can you repeat the question? I was getting something to write on.

Yes, yes. So the question is, who else is benefiting from you completing this program? And you can extend it to what else is benefiting if there is an organization or if there is something else that you're a part of. You know, initially, when you think who else, your mind goes to family. But I challenge you all to think even more, think outside of that, even challenge yourself to see who else it is that you're interacting with and in what kind of settings and in what kind of places. Maybe you go to a yoga studio, maybe you're really, you know, have a great connection with your local farmer who is interested or is, you know, going through some health challenges themselves. Who or what else is benefiting from you completing this program? So I'm going to give everybody one, one to two more minutes to answer this question for themselves. Awesome. Now, if everybody is done answering their questions, I'm going to assign everybody into pairs into a quick breakout room. So what's going to happen in these breakout rooms is we're going to have person A, we're going to have Person B. So person A is going to ask person B who and what else is benefiting from you completing this program? So person A is going to actively listen, Person B is going to actively answer. And then once person B is done sharing, Person A is going to reflect back Person B's answer and then we're going to switch roles. So that's probably going to take maybe two, three minutes and, and then we're all going to come back into this room and we're going to have the next instruction for what's next. But right now all we need to do is assign person A and person B when you get into your rooms and we are going to go from there. So I'll see everybody in about two to three minutes. And it should come up. There you go. Which room you will be assigned in.

Foreign.

Welcome back, everyone.

Hello.

Hello. Nice to see your faces. Thank you for taking that time to do that exercise. Hopefully you've connected with somebody, maybe somebody you haven't connected with one on one as of yet and heard some cool, maybe interesting answers. And now I would love to see if, if maybe one, two people want to share either their answer or maybe they want to reflect back some of their partner's answer. I always love hearing your voices, seeing your faces. So please feel free to share as you feel called to and just kind of see if there's any overlap that we have between us, which I suspect there might be. But I'd love to hear kind of all the different communities maybe you're a part of, all the different people you interact with on a daily that, that you might not even notice you interact with or you might not even notice that they kind of, you know, assimilate some of the things or mirror some of the actions that you're doing. So does anybody feel called to share? Anybody find a cool answer within themselves or their partner?

I can talk about. I told Barb that I was really surprised by her answer because it's so different from my answer her and that she, she reflects a lot of what you just said. She's doing more and getting out more and people are noticing more and I'm, I'm always sitting in front of a computer working at home, so I don't have any of those interactions that she has. So mine are more individual. But I, what it tells me though is that that your benefit and what you see as a benefit in yourself and others is really depends on your perspective and your starting point. We just, we both started from different points and she mentioned in her kayaking experience her flexibility and strength and that's something I've always had. So I would never, you know, I have just the opposite problem. So, but, so I think it's just dependent your, your, the benefits you derive are, you know, you focus on the things you need or you want and, and where your, your perspective from where you're starting from. And I thought her story was a much better story than my story.

Oh, no, no. Because you also mentioned several people that are benefiting from you as well and signing up for the program and your children are paying attention to their health journey. And your daughter's boyfriend, you have a powerful story as well.

Yes, thank you, Barb. Exactly what I was going to mention as well. Every story is unique. Every story is impactful in its way. There is no better or worse whatsoever. So thank you, Barb.

Yeah.

And thank you so much for sharing, Ed. And, you know, it's. Everybody, you know, like you mentioned does receive very different benefits depending on, you know, what it is that you're coming in to work on and. But additionally, you know, benefits can include other people in your life that you love that are also getting healthier through osmosis. I can't tell you how many times I've had, you know, somebody go through the journey and their spouse was just like half, half completing the program alongside of them, and they were receiving tremendous results, even just following it seldomly. And so it really kind of begs the question of who else is, you know, absorbing this energy? Who else is noticing these little nuances, changes maybe in you, and is trying to, you know, maybe adhere to them, create them to be more habits in their everyday life.

So.

And it really comes down to, you know, just how much, exactly how much connection we have in different communities. And while we are in front of computers a lot as we are right now, you know, there's a lot of online communities as well where you can share, where you can post pictures, where you can even make a blog and have, you know, like a step by step or a week by week sort of update to show people what you're doing and have them also benefit. So the reach is massive, and it's cool to see how many places we're all kind of plugged in where we can have that reach and give people those options. So thank you so much for sharing. And if anybody else. I'll take one more share. If anybody else wants to share. Who else is getting impacted by you completing this journey? Who else gets to benefit from all the beautiful lessons, lessons, habits, you know, lifestyles, everything. I see. Annalisa, you have your hand up. I'd love to hear. Yeah, Gail.

I met with Gail and it was awesome to hear. Her husband, of course, is they're planning things, they are talking about going golfing, things that she wasn't able to do because of her pain. And I think what's most amazing is.

The amount that Gail gives to her local hospital and what she.

The different programs that she supports as far as the different committees that she.

Sits on and gives her time to Them.

So now that's going to be something she's going to look forward to doing.

So amazing.

Congratulations, Gail.

Congratulations. That's so awesome, Gail.

Yeah, thank you. And, I mean, I learned from Annalise that of course she's benefiting and her husband and her kids and her family. And I learned that she also does volunteer work. She works with teenagers is really important. I mean, I'm so grateful my daughter's out of. Not a teenager today. And, I mean, everyone knows what it was like being a teenager. Right. But in this environment, yeah, it's. I can't even fathom how difficult. So they. That's. That's awesome, Annalise. And you know what? They need all the help they can get, and they need good, positive people around them that can show them that. You know what I mean? It's. Yeah. What good people can do, you know? And I think that's great. It's so important.

Oh, my gosh.

So cool.

I didn't even know that. Annalisa. That's so amazing. And especially at that age, too, I feel like there's so much direction and there's so much knowledge that can enhance teenagers lives forever if they know it at that point, if they start young, they start practicing, then they won't even need to get to a point where they have to, you know, take further action on their health. They just start. Start, you know, as soon as possible. So thank you for all the.

Another voice that's not a peer. Peer pressure. Right. So that's. That's a big thing, so.

Exactly. Thank you so much for those shares and how important it is to impact, especially that. That community of individuals, teenagers, who are so impressionable, who are formulating their adult lives and their adult routines.

It's.

It's, you know, start them young so you don't have to have issues in the first place. Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you for participating. I hope that you learned something new about somebody else, maybe something new about yourself and continue to stay curious about, you know, different. Different circles, maybe, or different groups and different networks that you can plug into that you can enrich, even if it's through osmosis, even if it's passive.

It.

You never really know the impact that you could be having, not only for your. Yourself, but for others around you, too. So, of course, I would love to leave some time for Q A. I didn't really see too many in the chat as of right now, but I know we've been talking, of course, a lot about different other things. So if Anybody has any questions, please feel free to write them in. Raise your hand, unmute yourself. I see Bart here has her hand up. So I'd love to go ahead and share your question.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, because I was just kayaking, I was on the road, but I did an amazing job of packing up, you know, my pre made meals or what I did because I'm in maintenance. What I did was some of the meals were like, with the vegetables, everything already prepackaged, but I brought a bunch of vegetables and then I only pre pre packaged my, you know, 4 ounces of protein. So I was. That was great. But then the day I left, I left one meal without my proteins. Like, oh, no. But I had a salad with avocado and cucumber and I put strawberries in there and pumpkin seeds. So it was a good salad. But no protein came home. There's nothing in the fridge. So I went to my local little grocery store and they didn't have any good chicken or something like that. So I bought my first processed meal. Oh my God. No. But hopefully it's not too bad. It was. I see them all the time in the health food store. It's Amy.

Amy's.

Oh yeah, Amy's Burritos.

It's gluten free. Gluten free. But it had. Most of the ingredients are good, but I did notice, darn it, it has some cane sugar in there. But most of it's like, you know, garbanzo bean flour. Oh, is potato starch bad? Probably.

Not so much. So it depends on the quality quantity you're having it in. If it's just a little bit in that burrito should be fine.

Or the other thing was tapioca starch.

Yeah, that's fine as well in small quantities.

But this, this is my very. But I thought in terms of I want to hit a protein, so I got my beans in here. But, but, so yeah, that's, that's a confession. And hopefully I didn't do too bad as a, A quickie.

Not at all. Not at all. Thank you for sharing. And that's real life. You know, we're not going to have it be perfect 24 7. Sometimes we're going to forget our lunch or forget our protein and you need those quick fixes or quick options. So. And the way you navigate it is exactly how I would want everybody to approach it. So reading the ingredients, making sure you're familiar with the foods that are inside of that product and as many as you can have it be whole foods. So just like you Said, you know, garbanzo beans, having some potato starch, tapioca starch, things that you can actually pronounce, amounts that you can buy individually as ingredients if you needed to. So Amy's obviously any sort of processed food we run into, of course, different flours, especially if it's gluten free, being used into that product. But it's so much better, like Annalisa wrote it, so much better than a Swanson or a TV dinner. So if you're grabbing that versus grabbing something ultra processed, you are headed in the right direction. Kind of what I like everybody to keep in mind anytime they do need to pick up processed food because it happens, happens. You know, we're, we live in the first 21st century so we need conveniences from time to time. Whenever you're picking up processed food, making sure you're checking out the ingredients exactly like you did. And the way I like to phrase it is you want it to be as close to Farmer Jane's farm as you possibly can. So everything is going to, all the ingredients are going to be like tomato, onion powder, you know, garbanzo beans, whatever it, whatever else, you want it to be as whole food as possible. You want to be able to look at the ingredients and be like, I can make this from the stuff that I have in my home or that I can buy easily. So of course locally processed and locally grown is going to be your next best bet. But that's obviously a little bit harder to do. So as long as the ingredients are clean, you are good to go. If there's a little bit of cane sugar, you know, there's, there's only so much we can control. So it's going to be fine. If you have it from time to time.

Yeah, it's from California.

Yeah. So it's mostly going to be from somewhere that's not super local. From time to time, if you have like a farmer's market there, you'll probably have more processed local goods. There's a food district here actually, close to where I'm, where I live that actually sells more Canadian made products, Ontario grown products, which is of course where I'm from. So looking out for those small things. But as you're getting used to it, as you're going out, you know, exploring new scenarios, those are the things I would keep in mind.

Well, I think, yeah, it's got eight grams of protein. So that's what I was hunting for, was a protein hit for the day.

Free.

It's 91% organic ingredients, plant based. So but that, like I say it's a confession, but I think I did okay on the confession side of things.

But I would give you an A.

That it wasn't a terrible sin.

No, no, definitely not. I would give you an A. I think you did a stellar job and you knocked all things. So, you know, I know you put a lot of intention and a lot of thought in it and if you felt great after eating that burrito, if you didn't really notice too much stomach upset, you know, it's something you know, you can rely on from time to time if you are in that situation again.

Yeah, I think my goal for I, I'm going to do another round probably at the end of the summer, I think. But my goal will be to find more easily accessible plant based proteins. I think, I think my sort of goals for the next round I think because I need protein, I have to go get some meat because that was my, you know. But yeah, yeah, that's, that's my goal to find some other plant based proteins.

Yeah. And something else. I think I shared this, you know, somewhat recently, but I guess maybe a month or two ago at this point, you know, even having like on a Sunday, making some protein balls. So you can make them vegan, you can make them vegetarian, you can use an animal based protein, you can customize it completely. But what I like to do is take some protein powder, take some sort of nut butter and I like to take dates just because of the added sweetness, the nice fiber, and then put in some hemp seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, kind of whatever seeds you have lying around. The more variety the better. So you get a wide range of nutrients. You can put some sesame seeds in there and that allows you to just kind of have dense protein that's also kind of like a dessert dessert, but can also double as a snack. So it's, it's that catch all. Let's say, you know, you're really, you know, hungry and you still have to cook dinner and you're ravenous, you're just about to grab something. Instead I just grab one of those protein balls as I'm cooking to tie me over and then I go ahead and enjoy my meal. So it stops me from like impulsively reaching for something that isn't necessarily the best because my hunger is at a 10. So at this point I'm just looking for edible. Edible versus anything else. So you want to have something to buffer that. So protein balls are a really great option. That's something that I really enjoy. But even Having, you know, a snack such as roasted chickpeas, those are a great protein. You can even use them as a protein. I make them somewhat frequently as well because they're great as just again, you know, popcorn or a chip substitute that actually has good, good protein inside of it. And so you can toss it on your salads, you could toss it in your stir fries. So it's nice to have on hand, which is like a vegetarian source, of course.

Okay, so if you have. Can you at some point post a recipe for how you make the roasted chickpeas and also the protein balls?

Yeah, definitely.

Follow up question to that is because there's dates in there, that's not something we can do during reset. It's only for maintenance, correct?

That's right, yeah. So that the protein balls you would have to do in maintenance because of course they use nut butters and different nuts and seeds. So that's going to be high in fat. But for the maintenance phase, totally. So you can go ahead and start experimenting with those. And the roasted chickpeas, I have actually posted a recipe for that in the Facebook group in the past, but I'll tag you in it because it was a few months back, back now. So I'll take you in it so you have that recipe as well.

And one last question before I know Gail's back. Have you ever tried pumpkin seed butter?

I have not as of yet. My go to right now is either doing almond butter or I really like sun butter. That's the one that I have mostly on hand because it's allergen free. It's super creamy and delicious. The sun butter brand literally uses one ingredient and it's just sunflower flower seeds. So I personally really like to use that. You can also make it yourself, but it's just so much faster store bought and it's super clean too, so I just opt for that instead. But pumpkin seed butter, there's so many honestly that I want to try. I just haven't gotten around to it as of yet. Is there any specific question you have surrounding it?

No, just I was talking to somebody yesterday and they, they said they love.

It, so they're all so good. It's. It's one of those things where I'm like, allow yourself to do some trial and error and you know, purchase different nut butters and enjoy it because they're all so delicious and decadent and you never know which one's your favorite till you try. Okay.

And I see that Annalisa posted it in the meeting chat as well. Thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Annalisa. And. And she tagged you in the post as well, so it's all in there. Gail, you have your hand up. Love to hear your question.

Yeah, it's not really a question. I just. I buy the. The organic dried chickpeas. I put them in my food processor, and I use that instead of flour so I can like, coat chicken or like, it's breaded, but it's not bread. It's that. And I use chickpea flour for, like, fish or chick. Whatever you want to bread. Right. Even if you wanted to. Yeah. So that's really good. I love chickpeas. And I also made my. I do tacos, but I use lettuce instead of a wrap. And I. My. And instead of sour cream. So I'll do. I don't know if people. And this is what I do. I do 3 ounces of turkey and 1 ounce of cottage cheese. And the cottage cheese is my replacement for sour cream cream. So I put a little. Just a dot, like a little bit on there anyway. But I made my own taco seasoning.

Wow.

I love how I looked it up, because I know you. It said it's got other things in it, too. So it's actually. It's like four ingredients. I didn't put cumin because I didn't actually have any, but. So, yeah, and my husband likes it, so I'll just keep making my own taco seasoning. But, yeah, I mean, you can find anything online. But yeah, chickpeas are awesome. And they're pretty much. Yeah, there's really. You can do anything with them. And I'd like to try kayaking. I haven't done that yet. That's. I want to try that, too.

You mentioned kayaking, correct?

Sorry?

You said kayaking?

Yeah. I haven't done that. I've never tried that, so.

Oh, it's so much fun. You're gonna have such a blast.

I'm gonna try. So if I flip over, it's all good.

Exactly. It's summer. We can use the refreshment anyways, so enjoy it. It's such a blast. And I love how creative you get with your meals. And replacing the sour cream with the cottage cheese, I've never even thought of that.

It's actually really good. Like, it. You don't notice it, really. You know, it's just like, you had really mild sour cream, but that's.

Yeah, it gets, like, the point across. You get the full flavor. You get the full experience with tomatoes really small.

And that's my. My substitute. And I could put some spices in it to make, you know, make it instead of salsa.

So, yeah, thanks for that inspo. And it just goes to show you, you can really customize. Get super creative with the meals in the recipe book. Obviously, they're there as a guideline, but use your imagination. There is no right or wrong way of eating. Or there is, you know, the types of foods. Yes. But there is no right or wrong way when it comes to satisfying your taste buds with healthy meals and healthy food.

Food. Can I just say, I do this thing with smoothies. I have a protein powder that I use, and it's all organic, like kale and peas and beans, and it's just all vegetarian, but it's all organic. It's really healthy. It's the healthiest. I showed it to my dietitian. She thought it was wonderful. So yesterday, like, I've done it a couple times. I do just water, a scoop of that powder, some pea, a scoop of pea powder. I finally got my pea protein, protein, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, freshly ground flax, and my super seeds, which are pumpkin seeds and all this, all the good seeds, and I blitz it while it's frozen. The blueberries are frozen and it comes out like a. If you like blizzards from dairy, which. It's like a blueberry blizzard. It tastes wonderful. So I do that if I'm not really hungry and. But I want something to drink, I'll make that. So that's my protein. So. And then I just have some vegetables.

Vegetables.

Oh, delicious.

I have that snack on cucumber or something. Whatever.

But, yeah, amazing. Yeah, I just, you know, it's Just Endless by Annalisa. It's just endless what you can do with food. And with a little bit of experimentation, you know, be a little mad scientist in your kitchen sometimes. And why not? That reminded me of two other recipes that I've tried and I really liked. Instead of having ice cream, kind of like on the same topic, doing banana. So it's called nice cream. I'm sure, you know, some of you have seen it online. And just taking frozen banana and blending it, and it creates a beautiful creamy texture where you don't need traditional ice cream and you can put whatever fixins you want in it. It tastes exactly the same, in my opinion, as banana sorbet without any sort of dairy. And it's just the best treat when it comes to, you know, summer. And this time around, if you have grapes, obviously grapes aren't allowed in the release phase, but in the maintenance phase and beyond, putting them in the freezer so they get nice and frozen. So they're little, like fun pops when you take them out and enjoy them as a snack. So it's like a freezing, but a fruit freezing, if you will. Very refreshing. And then the third thing is lentil wraps. So you can actually make your own lentil wraps by taking dried lentils and water. So you only need the two ingredients, unless you wanted other spices, maybe some other blend blended, you know, like spinach or other blended vegetables inside of it. And you just heat it up on a pan and it creates a beautiful wrap. So that you can use, you know, as a gluten alternative that is gluten free, that is higher in protein as well. So it's a great, you know, swap to make when it comes to nutritional density and. And also having it be more clean and homemade and not processed with all the different preservatives and fixins inside.

I can. You can have that on the release phase. You can make those wraps on the release phase.

So I struggle with that question. Only because when you blend something, you're ripping apart the fibers, so that can increase your blood sugar levels slightly more than what this program asks for. So while it's probably minimal because you're still consuming it slowly or not, as you know, drinking the lentils as you would a smoothie, say, I would say if you have a more significant weight release goal, then keep it as whole food as possible. Don't blend it in the maintenance phase. Definitely go ahead and experiment with that. If once in a while you wanted to go ahead and have a lentil wrap in the release phase, like once every week, once every two weeks, it's not going to affect your, you know, the whole process and your progress on the program. So you can definitely have it from time to time.

Time. Yeah, you can make chips, too. That's okay, right? Like, you can do beets. Or instead of. For people that want that crunch, you can do dry them out in the oven, slice them, thin and dry them out in the oven and season them. Maybe not with salt, but like, whatever.

And yeah, you can do. I wouldn't do beets only because beets aren't approved for the release.

Okay. Well, I just, I haven't done it yet, but that was an example. But you can do it with like, I guess I. On maintenance, like you do sweet potatoes or whatever, right?

Yes. Yeah, definitely. So on maintenance, you can do that. I know some people like doing kale chips on the release phase. So you can play around with some of that making sure you're still weighing that amount. That is a non free vegetable. But yes, from time to time you can definitely go ahead and enjoy that. And then also rice cakes are approved. So from once in a while if you did want that crunch because I know some people do crave it, you can have a rice cake.

Perfect.

And yes, I do have the lentil wrap recipe so I will post that in our Facebook group as well. Awesome. Any other questions before we end off for today? I know that we're just above or just over the 1 o' clock mark here, but I'm happy to answer 12 more questions if anything is coming in before we end off for today. And if not, I wish everybody a beautiful rest of their Friday and an amazing weekend ahead. Make sure to you know the drill. Get outside for nature, relax, enjoy some self care, enjoy some beautiful connection nourishing food and a positive of mind as best as possible. It is so lovely to see all of your faces. Thank you for joining today and I'm excited to see you all in the coming Friday. Take care everyone. Bye.