WHAT'S EATING YOU? | Your Health is Your Wealth | Zlata Sushchik

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Wellness force Radio episode 108 with Wellness Influencer and author Lada Sous Chick the.

Eating Disorder I never actually told anybody until I wrote the book and I was like, if I'm gonna tell all the stories, I might as well tell this one. When we don't treat our body with love and respect and trust and communication and kindness, especially as women, this will manifest itself in some sort of sickness, which can really be a beautiful sign in order for us to start taking care of ourselves in the best way when it comes to our body, when it comes to creating boundaries in our work, in our relationships, when it comes to cultivating more mindfulness and less of the frazzled, busy mindset to where we love to live in peace, which is possible and available to everyone at any time, and really paying attention to how external chaos influences us as women internally and how we pick up on different energies and how we mirror those reflections, it really can serve as a beautiful gift to come back to where we were meant to be. At peace, at ease, impactful and coming from a place of self, love and a beautiful relationship with self.

What's up my friend? It's Josh Trent and welcome back to another episode. This is your weekly access to global experts in all things wellness, behavior change and new technologies. In this podcast, together we'll discover the connections between our emotions and healthy habits to live life well and enjoy the process. This podcast is brought to you by Perfect Supplements, a company who actually walks the talk with their values of pesticide free non GMO real food supplements that fuel us for the wellness journey, save money, support the show, get more wellness in the process, head over to perfectsupplements.com wellnessforce Enter code wellnessforce to save 10% off your entire order. Have you ever shame spiraled after a cheat day, a mega cheat day, or even ate a piece of food that wasn't on an approved list as you're working towards a nutrition plan? Well, how does that current health and wellness industry model with millions, literally millions of pages and guides that typically are a one size fits most approach, how do those actually apply to the unique individual, biochemical and psychological demands that we all encounter? How does that stack up versus the real world of what we face every day out there as busy people with full lives. Well, this brings up an important question that we're exploring on the podcast today and it's how do we create healthy eating patterns and the proper internal narrative that comes from a place of self care and self love? How do we take all the obstacles we face every day and use them to fortify our intuition that will guide us to make empowered decisions for ourselves, our health and the people that we love? Well, on this episode of Wellness Force Radio, I'm talking with my new friend, former fitness competitor and lifestyle coach, sports nutritionist and the authority of the Sexy Fit method, Zlata Suzczyk. Zlata is coming on the show to talk about what's eating all of us and what was eating her as she shares her incredible story coming from Russia, ending up to be Miss Alaska to then see the dark side of the fitness and figure competition where she developed an eating disorder and was given the gift of learning what real wellness was. Starting with the story she reconstructed regardless of her current reality, if you felt deep down or even on the surface like something's been eating you, your body is speaking to you, or well, in this episode we're talking about how to listen. If these are the kind of thoughts you've been experiencing or if you find yourself at a curious place in your wellness journey around how you show up to food and the way you speak to your body when no one else is listening, this is gonna be the episode for you. We're delving into topics like how trend hopping diets leads to less freedom, the why and how of the busy mom or woman's subconscious rationale behind self sabotage, how taking an honest emotional inventory can can lead to more weight loss than any diet or exercise plan, and expanding on Zlata's five key steps in her Sexy Fit method by training our mind to have food freedom using simple fitness with accountability and the power of community. I know you're gonna love Zlata's real and raw personality, so stick around for the entire show as we have a compelling back and forth section pretty much in the middle of the show where Zlata shares how the whole 30 is not for everyone and why selfishness is not necessarily a bad thing, how you can be selfish and still care for others at the same time. All right, let's drop into this conversation with Zlata Suzczyk. Zlata Suzczyk is a lifestyle coach, sports nutritionist and founder of an online fitness coaching company called Sexy Fit she grew up in Moscow, Russia, moved to the US at 16, and in her career as a fitness competitor, she won top five placements at 26 shows, including three national titles. She's been featured in Muscular Development, Flex Magazine, RX Fitness, and more. Her powerful message of the sexy fit method has helped tens of thousands of women let go of old weight by providing virtual nutrition, fitness and accountability coaching towards healthier, happier and sexier lives. She's known for her no nonsense, no BS approach to health and fitness and it's sexy Fit. Her focus is creating a foundation for sustainable living to help women get in shape and most importantly, create the habits that work for modern wellness. Zlara, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me, Josh. It's a pleasure.

Have a book coming out. We're going to talk about. We're going to talk about your life. We're going to talk about why you do what you do and really what's eating you. That's the title of the show today. There's so many things that go into nutrition and lifestyle and mindset and you have walked the talk, definitely. So before we get into the show, there's a lot of info about you online, your podcast, your videos. What's something fun, Zlara, that we don't know about you, you don't normally share?

I did not expect that question. I had to.

I gotta keep you on your toes.

Yeah. Yes. You're keeping me on my toes. I love that sleep something that I'm really working on right now, which I'm very transparent on my show. I am working in the area of relationships, so that's been really fun. I hired a coach, I'm going to seminars, I'm studying, I'm learning, I'm applying, applying thy methods. And very excited about that. And I also really enjoy rock climbing. It's probably something that you never actually see online because it's my me time.

I love that. And you came from Russia. Your mom was a traveling journalist. How do you think her vocation as a writer affected what you do now?

She truly influenced me in the most amazing ways. And more. More than one that you would think as far as writing goes, if anything, mother's roots from, you know, the world of journalism is really something that really helped me with my podcast and with my writing in a way that she said, zlara, you know, if you're looking to turn pro in the area that you work in your show, from the first episode to the fifteenth episode to the hundredth episode, if anything has to get more interesting and it has evolve and that's how you really show up when you turn pro. And I am so grateful for that piece of advice because she just knows how to give a gentle nudge and a gentle push in the right direction.

And a mother's wisdom is very poignant, especially coming from a different culture. I mean, Gary Vaynerchuk, he's one of the people in our industry that really helps get people motivated and inspired. He came from Belarus, 50 miles away from where you were from. And when I watch your video Slaada, I feel the fire from you, I feel the drive from you. Coming from the culture of Moscow, how did that affect this lens you live your life through?

It's a very, very interesting question because I was just trying to put this into words with, with someone. And what really occurred to me is really the beautiful blend between the two cultures that we live in. I believe that Russians, and especially us humans from Moscow, we are very down to the point. We're very direct, we're very assertive and we're very on the go, go, go, go. Very busy people that that city never sleeps. Really. New York is, you know, a fraction of Moscow when it comes to that particular motto. And I believe that that beautifully blended with the ability to have to really create that communication style that really will allow somebody to really hear you when you are being direct and being direct in the most respectful way. So bringing that from from Moscow and that directness and you know, being Russian, we all are very known for that and blending it with the culture here. I think it just turned out to be a very beautiful blend together.

Definitely. And it comes through in your work. You know, I was the sexy fit method the book and I was laughing. You have this funny style of writing to you. I really enjoyed reading it. We're going to link everything in the show notes today. It's@wellnessforce.com Sexy Fit. But Zlata, let's dig into your story a little bit. From Moscow to USA to Alaska, Ms. Teen and then competitive bodybuilder. Walk us through a brief version of your history.

It's a really interesting story because I feel like I've lived three or four lifetimes. There has been so many different pieces of quote, unquote, rebirth of me as a human. And it was very interesting to put it all in words in one book, which is where the biggest challenge was is what part of the story do I tell, what part of the story I don't tell. And then I just sat down and I said, you Know what? I'm gonna write it all and hopefully they'll make sense of it. And because every piece of it is relevant. When I first moved to the States, and I will attempt to do this in Cliff Notes, When I first moved to the states, I was 16 and I grew up in Moscow. I didn't grow up in the family where we had a lot of money or a lot of anything. And I didn't actually have a bed growing up. It was a funny story. I slept on a folding cot that had this weird flower pattern which is.

Did it have the bar that went into your back, too?

Yes, it did. But at the time, we didn't really care. It was. Me and my sister would alternate beds and we made it really fun. I didn't really know anything different. And we're always told to be grateful for the things that we have. And that's exactly what we did. And I'm very grateful for that particular habit that has been instilled in me to this day. And when I moved to the States, everything was big, you know what I mean? Like you people, you people, you know, Americans lived in these big homes, had three fridges because they just needed three fridges and drove these big cars. And I really was frazzled. Not to mention that at 16 in Moscow, you're a full grown human, and then you come here. And I lived in Alaska, which is not even really America, if you would look at it from that sense. And it was a really interesting experience that led to a lot of the time I felt very lonely. And that translated into my relationship with food at the time. And I remembered all the beautiful moments that my family and my dad shared together. And sweets in particular, American sweets were not something that was very available to us. And that's where that was my perfect escape. In high school, I would just go to sweets. And eventually, of course, it led to about a 30 pound weight gain that sort of came on rather quickly. But I didn't really notice because the gratification of sugar and sweets was so much more powerful to me at the time. And it wasn't until gym class actually dance, because it was very inadequate when it came to sports at the time. I didn't even. Dance was my way out. I wasn't particularly good at dance either. I should mention a teacher asked me to change my shirt because, quote, unquote, my fat gut was hanging out. And those were the words that she used. And wow, at the time, I didn't really know what a gut was. I mean, I mind you, I talk like this at the time, I don't know. So I asked her what a gut was and she didn't make the situation any better because what she did was she looked at me dead in the eyes and then she squished her stomach and then she said gut very slowly but very loudly, as if I would really understand.

Was this in front of other people?

Oh yes, in front of the entire class. And I was like, wow, now not. I'm only just a weird fat person, you know, I also have a gut and I'm just humiliated. Just let me just fall through this floor. And I didn't know what to do. And I was like, do I change my shirt? Do I say sorry, am I fat? What's happening? And a girl came to rescue and she was, you know what, it's a totally movie like story, if you would. Tall, blonde cheerleader, great at dance, saved me with a shirt. And the next thing you know, she's the one not only lending me a helping hand and really saving me from this humiliation of this teacher, then she actually ended up being my fitness mentor, if you would at the time, because she was a fitness competitor. Because we had a pretty develop culture of bodybuilding in Alaska and we still do. I ended up doing a first high school show with her, a first state show with her, and then with the same trainer that was leading the group. I ended up just climbing the ladder of being a fitness competitor. And next thing you know, eight years later, 26 shows later being Miss Alaska Teen USA later I was really forced with the decision to leave the competitive fitness world because it became my hyper focus, eventually led to very unhealthy relationship with food, very unhealthy relationship with my body. And something that originally drove me and was such a passion of mine really started destroying me. And I really had to find a better way for how I can still enjoy my time with my friends where I can still enjoy life. And that's what sexy fit became for me to really find that new relationship with food, new relationship with self, and stay healthy, happy, sexy and fit, and most importantly, confident in my decisions, you know, next thing you know, book podcast, hundreds and thousands of women listening and it's just been a true joy and pleasure to serve and really see how it all evolved.

And one of the quotes in your book that really struck a chord with me is about the bodybuilding industry as a whole. You wrote having a period in bodybuilding meant that you weren't working hard enough. It was frowned upon. Can you tell us about that?

It's Funny that that's what you picked up on because we as women, we tend to only focus on the exterior and the bodybuilding world and the fitness world is a little harder in our body than it is for a man because of the hormonal composition. And for us in bodybuilding and in fitness, if you worked hard enough, then you were lean enough and if you were lean enough, you're good enough and then you're worthy of the title and the stage and to be compared with other women. And if your hormones functioned in a well, like a well oiled machine, it was like frowned upon because you really are not. You need to work harder. And that's essentially what broke me. It came from, it really did break me. There is no other way to say it. It came from, you know, period. And that specific thing, that is a very womanly thing to have, that's the first thing that went. And then with that went, you know, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone. With that went the thyroid. With that went adrenal fatigue. And it became much more dangerous than it ever needed to be because of that idea of a perfect exterior and what that looks like. But in order to achieve that, that's oftentimes the extent we need to go to. Oh my gosh, we don't get that.

What's coming up for me right now is Reed Davis. He's the founder of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. He talks about this as being metabolic chaos where when one system goes down, it starts to affect everything else. You had adrenal fatigue, which led to hypothyroidism. We had Dr. Jade Tita on the show and he talked about his hypothyroid, how it inspired him to kind of do what he does. Now looking back, Slaada, you know, we talked about growth mindset before we recorded this. How do you feel like these health conditions can be a blessing to our path?

I love that you called them a blessing. And I would say, Josh, that while, you know, you mentioned adrenal fatigue and hypothyroid and, and all of that actually started from the gut health and all of them started from my, the eating disorder. I never actually told anybody until I wrote the book. And I was like, if I'm gonna tell all the stories, I might as well tell this one. So we must understand that all the things are very related in our body. And if you're constantly fatigued, there is something else that is allowing you to really serving you in a way that is giving you a sign of pay attention. Your body just wants attention. And when we don't treat our body with love and respect and trust and communication and kindness, especially as women, this will manifest itself in some sort of sickness, which can really be a beautiful sign in order for us to start taking care of ourselves in the best way when it comes to our body, when it comes to creating boundaries in our work, in our relationships, when it comes to cultivating more mindfulness and less of the frazzled, busy mindset, to where we love to live in peace, which is possible and available to everyone at any time, and really paying attention to how external chaos influences us as women internally, and how we pick up on different energies and how we mirror those reflections, it really can serve as a beautiful gift to come back to where we were meant to be. At peace, at ease, impactful, and coming from a place of self, love, and a beautiful relationship with self that will allow us to really have healthy body, healthy mind, healthy relationships, and healthy mindset.

And there's a part of your story that I really connected with. There was a moment where you spent all your money on sexyfit.com it was like a rock bottom. You had explained to yourself you wrote your business plan on a Nordstrom's shoebox. I think we all can flash to these moments in our lives, everybody listening, where it's like, okay, this is a moment where my back is against the wall. And take us to that moment. And then how you actually went through with purchasing Sexy Fit and creating it.

What an amazing question. I'll tell you that that did not just happen one time, it happened twice. I will address that specific time and hopefully we'll have an opportunity to really talk about the test of faith with this particular book. When I originally started Sexy Fit, I literally had my back against a wall because nobody would hire me. I went through like probably 50 interviews and I would always end up not there. There's a beautiful company in San Diego in California. It's called Digital Telepathy. And they do all Tim Ferriss and all Louis Saus stuff. And they had an amazing interview person there. And she. We were in an interview, I was about to get hired, and she told me. She looked me dead in the eyes and she said, you're meant to do something bigger. Go do that. And I was like, but I really want this job, you know? And I really took that very closely to heart because it sounded like a message. And there was really no way back because nobody would hire me. And I knew that. I moved a year before that to San Diego to really be a wellness coach that's what I told my mom. I had no idea what a wellness coach did. And I said, how about I listen to that gentle nudge and not such a gentle nudge and actually follow through how Sexy Fit started. It actually started under a different name, and I was just kind of figuring things out and trying stuff out. I was, you know, coaching online the way that my coaches coached, and. And it was sort of very dry and very not me. And then I had the opportunity to coach my best friend, who ended up losing £70 on that journey, and she ended up competing in her first bodybuilding show, which was so not even her mission. What I loved about her is that she said, zlara, I will never be as small as you. I will never be a size two in my life. It's just not how I'm built and she isn't. And I just want to experience what it's like to be confident and go for after what I want. And I was like, ooh, I love this. She's not stuck on a size or she's not stuck on a weight loss. On the scale. She really, truly shined through the whole process and transformed into this beautiful human being. And when it came down to me deciding on a company name, I said, how did you want to, like, how do you feel now and how did you feel before? And she said, I feel very confident and I feel sexy and I feel beautiful. And I said, hmm, beautiful fit, lean fit. It sounds very limiting. I go, how about sexy fit? And she said, that sounds about right. That's exactly how I feel. And that's where it started from the idea that there's no one definition of sexy. Like, there's no one definition of success, because that's something that we truly cultivate for ourselves as women, and that's truly where we shine in, being different in our own way. And our bodies are different, our lifestyles are different, and we must honor that in order to feel at home in our body and in order to feel at home with who we are and not to be bought into the. The ideas of what we're supposed to look like or the fashion trends or the beauty trends or Instagram model craziness. So. And if. If you choose to be an Instagram model, congratulations. That is your own way of being sexy fit. That's great. And. And honor that within self. But, you know, when we're talking sexy Fit, it's really about understanding who you are and. And how you feel and doing it your way.

And I love that you talked about this, because this is a piece of our society, unfortunately, especially in the fitness industry, where there's a bit of perfectionism and this idealism around. If you look a certain way, you're enough. We're all enough right now. We've talked about this a lot on the show. Everyone's got their unique journey though, right, Z? I mean, you went through some definite hurdles to get to where you are now. I want to talk about these five points in your book. We're not going to get to even the tip of the tip of the iceberg from your book. So there's five steps, and one of them is train your mind. We'll talk about the other four. This is the most important one, I believe, for anyone that I've worked with and from all the people that have been on the show. It's clearing away the obstacles that are holding us back from creating keyword, creating the body we've always wanted. Why did you lead with Trade youe Mind?

Because if. If you really, truly want to create a brand new body and a brand new self, you cannot do so from the old mindset that you had. Old mindset does not produce new results. And if you want new results, we have to shift your mindset first. And what do I mean by that? You know, there's obvious pieces of the conscious mind of excuses is what we call it conscious mind excuses. I don't have time. I'm not good enough. I'm not sure. I don't know what I'm doing. I've tried everything. And why can't I just do stuff? And we have these stories that just kind of. And we're kind of like stirring the soup of it all. But what really is driving our behavior is the subconscious mind, the subconscious patterns, the subconscious beliefs that ultimately sabotage us from going where we are or where we want to go and who we want to become. Because any transformation will force us to become a new person with new habits, with new stories, with new mindsets. And that's really. The subconscious mind is what I'm talking about here. From. From not just understanding a story, but also understand. Understanding where that story came from, how to create a new story. And for us women, how to understand that on the emotional level. Because we cannot avoid that particular conversation any longer. Because like you mentioned, if we are looking in fitness for the validation of that we are enough or validation that we can be loved or validation that we can be certain or validation that we can be good enough for blank, then that's an obstacle and fitness and getting there on a Scale is not going to give you the feeling and the emotion that you're really seeking and you're really looking for. So we must transform the mindset to cultivate what it is that you're looking for already and use nutrition, fitness as tools. But we cannot do so. We cannot approach that until we train our mind and understand conscious stories of conscious stories, emotional well being and how to set goals that actually light our soul on fire.

We just had episode 100. We featured Bonnie Kelly. She wrote True to youo Core. And her studies have proved that 90% Zlata, 90% of our actions are controlled by the subconscious mind.

I absolutely agree with that.

This is like the biggest thing that we all get to not have to, but we get to pay attention to. You know the next one, Food Freedom. It's a great title. It's, it's something that I know Melissa Hartwig talks a lot about overcoming emotional eating once we've trained the mind. And by the way, there's a lot in your book about training the mind but emotional eating, the diet roller coasters that people experience. Why do people trend hop and how does trend hopping, you know, keto to the next thing, to the next thing. How does that apply to finally having food freedom?

I love that you mentioned Whole30 and Melissa and unfortunately we don't share the same view at all. We are the furthest people away from, from how we teach food freedom.

Oh, we're going to have to talk about that. Let's talk about that.

I, I do not support the particular methodology of Whole 30. I do not believe in restriction. I do not believe in food as off limits food that is restricted. I do not believe in approved food lists. I don't believe in compliant or non compliant when it comes to words. Words shape our present moment and shape our future. And if I have to be compliant with my food, that is just going to bring out the rebel child in me. Because I am going to want to be non compliant, which is truth to a lot of women and truth to a lot of sexy fit sisters that I work with. We don't need any more restriction. We really don't. If anything, we need more freedom. Freedom doesn't come from restriction. Freedom comes from empowerment. Freedom comes from being able to make choices based on what's true for us. I don't know. Is cake good today? I don't know. Is it your kid's birthday? Do you want to be a mom and share that cake with, you know, with your baby? It depends. Should you be eating cake every night? I don't know, it depends. Maybe you should, because you're going through a breakup and it freaking hurts. But empowerment is a driver to freedom. When you understand on both levels, the scientific level of what's quote unquote good for your body or what is going to be nutritious, delicious and fueling your body. When you're coming from the scientific level standpoint of that. And the second element that I believe is very important when it comes to food freedom is cultivating a relationship with self that stands on trust, that stands on communication, and that stands on understanding what you need emotionally and why you need it. And from both of those pieces, from emotional intelligence and scientific intelligence, you now have the opportunity and the ability to create empowered choices. And that's where you get to food freedom. You don't get to food freedom with having approved lists, meal plans, and pieces of the puzzle that might not necessarily apply to where you are. And on top of that, Josh, we don't get where we want to be by struggling a whole bunch struggling, struggling, struggling, struggling for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, it does not get you to the final outcome of where you feel at peace in your body, to where you feel empowered about the decisions that you're making and where you feel compassionate towards the decisions that you're making. We can struggle our into success. That's really not what's going to happen. And that's what I see with. It's not just whole 30, it's keto, it's paleo, it's whatever it is. We choose the mindset of struggle because it is freaking hard to make those decisions. And everybody says, cut, cut, cut, Approve, not approved, do this, do that. What I really want to deliver to a woman or a man reading this book is understanding that it is empowerment and making empowered choices that are right for you right now. There's no right, there's no wrong, there's neutral. And you get to.

Well, I got to, I got to healthily challenge you here because this is a fun topic, right? Like, I believe that when there is a period of time where we do possibly take out foods that can be emotional anchors, like a go to, like we always have chocolate every night because that's what makes us not deal with the emotions that are coming up that we don't want to feel. So whether it's branding it a whole 30 or branding it a nutritional approach, these go to foods for people. I mean, when we look at emotional intelligence, something you talk about in your book, how does the food we eat relate to Our mirror work. There's a section of your book on mirror work and contrast that with the food we eat.

Effy, I love that you challenged me on my thought and I loved that this is something that you asked of me and really understanding the emotional part of it and whether or not I'm going to come back to chocolate every night. Josh, before I answer the next question, because I believe that's very important. This is the reason why I teach macros and this is the reason why we teach sexy fit the way that we teach it so we can actually work in those emotionally triggering foods to us. Because, you know, we're also working on the process of challenging the inner child. And eventually maybe you make a replacement, you eat better chocolate or you journal through the understanding of why you particularly are attracted to chocolate, or you have the opportunity to explore why it is chocolate. And maybe I'm just lacking magnesium. So that comes with knowing more and acting better in that moment and making different choices, which is again, very empowering. So my thing is don't take that out, figure out why that is and make an empowered choice based on what you learned about yourself. So there is a reason for why we do things, and when we understand the reason for why we do things, it's a whole lot easier to really create a brand new pattern for behavior because we made that choice for ourselves. My job as a coach is to explain to you the steps. So now when it comes to mirror work, when it comes to mirror work and really that, that was a very powerful moment, Josh. Very powerful. And emotionally understanding how I felt and what I felt in the moment really connects to food and really connects to eating certain foods and understanding what that choice is. Because, because to me, I used to say, oh, I'm just feeling so fat. And unfortunately, fat's not a feeling. It's sort of like a catch all phrase for all the things that we want to feel like overwhelmed, disappointment, shame, guilt, joy, pleasure, fun, I don't know, you know, point of conversation. And when I was going through really recovery from my binge eating bulimia, I went to see a weight loss coach. Like I needed to lose more weight. I thought I did. But what I really needed to do is emotionally understand how I felt. And the mirror work moment that you're speaking of is my moment. After I went to a couple sessions or first session or whatever, and the therapist really asked me to keep, keep in touch with how I feel about my body. And not without a glass of wine or two, I ended up on my bathroom floor after taking a bath and wondering why it is that I piece my body in like glutes and quads and shoulders and abs and I want bigger this and smaller that and define this and define that. And I really rooted into how I wanted to feel in my body because I only have one body and I might as well love it as is. And that will truly what will help me understand how I feel and how I want to treat myself. Because my body is a temple, not a weird voodoo Pinterest quote, your body is a temple, whatever. But really cultivating that feeling and knowing if the body is the temple, how do I want to feel and how do I want to treat it, and how do I want to feel in my body in that moment? Does that answer your question, Josh?

Yeah, absolutely. There's actually an exercise where you take off all your clothes, you take seven breaths, you look in the mirror and you create a new dialogue which is so powerful. I mean, talk about inner guidance, right? So this relates to our habits so much because if we're trying to establish a new habit, I don't care what the habit is, right? Quitting smoking, letting go of weight, whatever it is. If the narrative is going against your processes for creating the new habit, it's self sabotage written all over it, right?

Absolutely. And feeling not good enough and why that is.

It is no surprise if we're on point in taking care of our emotional health. It makes it so much easier to let go of old weight and have more energy throughout the day. But believe me when I say it's hard to treat other people well and think good thoughts if we're walking around hangry. One of the best ways to support our body's energy systems and help cure that satiety and satiation, AKA hangry, is to add in collagen to your waters, shakes and foods. Over the past year I've been using powdered collagen from perfect supplements in my morning coffee and waters and post workout shakes to get some organic proteins I can feel good about eating. You know by now healthy cows eat grass and these sick cows from CAFOs eat corn. So beyond the healing powers of collagen for digestion and joint health, this 100% pasture raised organic hydrolyzed collagen has 20 grams of protein in two scoops, which helps curb appetite and increase satiety and satiation from ethical harvesting you can actually feel good about. Collagen from grass fed cows has five times as much Omega 3s and twice as much CLA as found in grain fed beans and Best of all, you can sleep well at night knowing you're supporting the change we need for this broken food system. Get a box of single serve packets for on the Go grass fed collagen or purchase it as part of the Wellness Force discounted bundle by clicking over to perfectsupplements.com wellnessforce and be sure to enter code wellnessforce to save 10% off your already discounted package. So one of the ways we can do this is by using fitness to catalyze. That's what helped me. I was 280 in 2001. I lost over 75 pounds. That's what led me into fitness and I did it through catalyzing, using my body, changing my state. You talk about this in your book by getting effective routines you can do not just at the gym, but like everywhere.

I love that you mentioned state because that is the biggest routine that is going to be the biggest challenge because we're so used to living in old state and old stories. One bad day, one bad moment, one bad minute is one the next, you know, the bad day forever. And it can be months because oh, I ate something that wasn't on my approved list.

It might feel like it in the moment, right? Like one bad decision is like, oh my God, the world is ending. But it's just not true.

The world is ending. And really getting out of that pattern is the most beautiful routine that we can create. And really catching ourselves in that pattern and creating the awareness over that pattern is what's really important. Because you know, we as women especially and men do this too. We could be really hard on ourselves and really live in that nagging state of onuate that you're never going to be able to be fit and what do you think you are? And you can run a business, but you can't even run your body. Blah blah, blah, blah blah.

It's like a robot. Yeah.

And then you can, you could take a deep breath and really re pattern and say, thank you, I hear you. This no longer serves me. This is what I choose to think I am. You know, I'm in a neutral world. I choose to give it meaning. And just because I feel like I messed up doesn't actually mean that I messed up and I choose to do something different or getting to that state where you actually feel versus judgment, you feel compassion versus perfectionism, you feel gratitude. And really it's those routines and those rituals that are so important outside of food, sleep, reading, you know, and all that.

Yeah, workouts don't always have to be something super intense, right? I mean, if every single workout you're leaving exhausted, you're feeling like you're just completely zonked and tired for the rest of the day, what have you seen? What's the commonality with either body weight workouts or fitness practices in general that can still leave people with a little bit of gas in the tank?

I love that question because I think it's misinterpreted in a fitness industry. Like, if you're not going all out, you're not hard enough, go do more. And I'm like, good Lord, I just worked 14 hours. I don't want to go do more. It's just, I'm like. And, you know, there's this idea that every workout has to be, like, intense and insane. I'm like, half my workouts are like a walking meditation. I swear, I go in another dimension. I must be in another dimension, because I believe that simple fitness is really the way to connect with our body and connect with our movement. Fitness is not therapy. Fitness is not a way to really hide any more things. Fitness is fitness. Therapy is therapy. Figure out what you're feeling and do fitness in a way that honors your body and honors your movement. And I will guarantee you're never going to torture yourself with crazy workouts that don't feel good to you, Especially women. Men, it's a little different for you guys. You guys can torture yourself and actually will feel good to you, but to women, we're very fragile. And which is why I have a whole. You know, I have a whole another opinion on powerlifting for women. And this is not something I subscribe to. I believe in resistance training. I believe in. I believe in weights. I believe in intensity. But it also has to honor where you are.

Tell us about this, because the last two sections of your steps are accountability and power of community. So much of what we see in the CrossFit section is just power of community and connectivity. It gives people the identity of being in a trusted tribe. And we're wired for this. Everybody's wired for being a tribe on a very, very subconscious and conscious level. We just crave it. We're human beings. We deserve connection. But why not doing the traditional lifts, you know, the deadlifts, the squats, things like that in the CrossFit setting? Do you think that the benefits of being in the community of CrossFit outweigh the deleterious effects of possibly lifts that aren't, you know, the best for a woman's body?

I don't think deadlifts or squats are not the best for a woman's body. Let me just clarify that because that's. I do teach that particular philosophy on functional movements and movements that incorporate your whole body in general, I don't believe that 400 pound deadlifts are specifically what women are designed to be. And we just have to take in consideration that a woman on a regular day, or if we even look back into being tribal beings was even meant to lift £224 off the ground. Like, it just, it's. I just, you know, that's just my opinion. So. But I do believe that those, as far as what our body will allow and what our body likes, we all have individual needs when it comes to that. I don't believe that functional movements aren't relevant. I believe they are, they truly are, and they make us a better woman. And aesthetically and functionally, it's beautiful. It just, we just have to consider what the workload is based on our body versus our mind and based on our mind versus our body. So as far as community goes, I do believe it's a lot easier to live £225 when everybody else is doing it.

Especially when they're screaming your name, right?

Yes, exactly. And it depends on what community feels relevant to us. Perhaps we love the no pain, no gain community and we love to go hard and do stuff. When I talk about community specifically for women, what's really most important to us is feeling heard and feeling understood and feeling like we can really share how we feel and what we do. And that's when it comes to power of community. And my understanding for women in this particular step, if we're going to talk about step five of community, I really show women how to cultivate that relationship with other women without it being coachy, gossipy, judgmental, shameful and things that we don't actually need. Because, you know, for women, sometimes, you know, feeling, you know, catty or feeling, you know, uncomfortable or any of those things, they're present and they're relevant in female communities. And for me, it was very important to really help women create these communities. That's a natural thing for us to do and kind of give them a head start on how to feel in that particular environment and what to do.

I love that you mentioned it's not that you don't enjoy deadlifts or think that deadlifts and squats don't have a purpose, because I think they do. But it also depends on where you're at emotionally, Right. If you've had an Incredibly stressful week and you're just starting a program for simple fitness and you go into a CrossFit gym. And I'm not trying to just bash only CrossFit. I'm just trying to paint the light of what the individual needs are for us as human beings. And specifically, if you're a mom and you have a family and you're doing CrossFit and you have all these things that are going off on your phone, maybe deadlifts and squats and getting screamed at aren't the best option for you at that point. Maybe what's more powerful would be like some breathing work and just taking that emotional inventory of like where you are in your day, what's going to serve you the most and what does my body and my heart really want right now instead of what are the expectations that my community might think I should do? Right. So community is a double edged sword and I love how you write about this in the book. This is the last part of our show. This is where we dig a little bit deeper into you. So I'm going to keep you even more on your toes. This is seven questions and it's really fast. Seven answers. Are you ready?

Shoot. Yes.

Well, they don't have to be that fast. What do you think the most common internal narrative is for busy moms? And I say busy because they're just busier than ever. Right. What sabotages their wellness programs? What's that narrative where when they're working towards a goal, the narrative pulls them away from it.

I am not worthy of giving myself time, giving myself the intention, investing in myself because I must invest in others more than I invest in myself because I don't deserve it. We as women, we love to give up, give up everything for other people. We're self sacrificing and that leads to a lot of resentment and unfollowed dreams. So I wish a lot more women understood that once they are happy with where they are and who they are, life will look completely different.

If you found yourself in a elevator, it's two minutes from bottom to top and it's with our current president, Donald Trump. And he said, hello. What would you tell him about what our health and wellness policies need to change most right now in the United States?

Oh gosh. Two minutes. My personal belief is that doctors in our community drive a lot of dietary changes and have a lot of power and opportunity to create a different mindset and different outcome. And I would somehow in some world would make sure that our doctors actually got education when it Comes to nutrition.

What do you think that might look like?

At least one nutritional course in med school would be great.

Because I had heard it's right now it's like a two day course, right? For most physicians.

Yeah, they don't, they don't know anything about food.

So when we look at healthy boundaries, this is something you talk about a lot in your work. What are the beginning stages for someone to create healthy boundaries in their life?

Understand what your needs are and don't compromise on your own needs because that also leads to resentment and a lot of guilt. So know what your needs are. If you need eight hours, eight hours of sleep, no date in the world, no human in the world, no person in the world will compromise that need for you because you can't be your best self.

What's your greatest edge for one of your boundaries? And I'll go to right when you're done. What's one of your greatest boundaries that you're creating right now?

I am starting a new relationship. So that is a very interesting conversation. And my biggest boundary is to really remain myself in the relationship itself and really root into that idea of self love and honoring myself first in a very selfish way. That's my answer.

And selfishness, sometimes it's looked at as a negative connotation, but selfishness is really a part of who we are. I mean, if we're not putting on our oxygen, but how are we going to take care of other people? Right? Like one of my edges, one of my boundaries in life is pulling away from the computer. You know, I'm growing Wellness Force, I'm building Wellness Force and I'm like, wait a minute. Part of my wellness is me pulling away from always doing and always serving. So I definitely think that one of these hard lines we can all do is create these healthy boundaries. Zolato, what does taking personal responsibility look like now in your life and what would you recommend to others as far as taking personal responsibility?

I think it's understanding that nobody and nothing, not one thing can make us happy in a way that if we're looking for a partner to make us happy, that's not going to happen. If we're looking for weight loss to make us happy, that's not going to happen. If we're looking for a particular outfit to make us happy long term, it's not going to happen. If we're looking for a brand new car to make us happy, it's not going to happen. Happiness gets cultivated from within, from really deeply rooting into self love and taking Responsibility for who we are and for choices that we make, and understanding that we're powerful beings in a way that we create the reality and the outcome of everything that we have right now. We manifested and created everything around us right now in one way or the other. Everything that we like and everything that we don't like. And that's a very powerful place to be.

What makes you laugh the most? What makes you crack up? Laugh out loud.

Everything. I love jokes. I love playing silly. I love being weird. I love. I'm just weird. Weird is my favorite color.

There's so much out there about what to do in our wellness space. But what is one of your deepest whys that guides you to make decisions in your habits and in your self dialogue?

That is a fantastic question. And that's something that I really had to think about very hard and really had to feel about very hard when I was writing my book. And the harder I thought the, the worse it was. And really the biggest driver that I have is having the capacity to create more. And I mean not to be more, but to create more for others. And if I'm not in the best state, in the best state of being, then I cannot create and I cannot serve. And this is a big message. This is a big opportunity to get these tools and information to hands of more men and women, really. And if I'm not feeling my best, I can't serve. And it's just that simple.

What do you feel like for people, this is kind of a sidebar question, but for people that feel like something's eating them, Going back to the genesis of our show, have you ever come across a commonality where just usually it's the same thing that's eating everyone? Is it the case of the sickness of being busy? Is it the fact that people don't know enough or is it something else? I mean, what's eating most people?

Unsolved childhood trauma, I think, is the biggest thing when it comes to either mothers or when it comes to fathers. Fathers. I am going to make a huge generalization and please take this with, you know, whether it fits or not, typically with women who seek very direct, rigid plans and seem to want to meet expectations and really end up in CrossFit, if you would. In the environment where a man is very powerful or yelling or coaching or in some form or the other, then it is an unsolved relationship with our father that either had very big expectations for us or, you know, there was an absence of a father like there was for a lot of my life. I have an amazing dad. He just didn't, didn't care to show up to be a dad. So that was a big pattern of mine when it came to food approval. And with my mom or moms in general, there's a lot of shame, judgment, wanting love, wanting approval. A lot of that comes to life and a lot of that comes to fruition or worthiness because our mother sacrificed everything for us. And we really believe that we must be self sacrificing in order to be the best that we can be. And that's, I think is the biggest, the biggest obstacle. And I wish that more of us have actually dealt with that.

I love that you brought that up. The only thing that made me really pull the trigger on this podcast was going to an emotional training in Los Angeles and I've talked about it on the show. We actually had Michael Strasner, he was my teacher for this course. And that is the, what you're talking about, Zlara, is the emotional inventory. All these things that you write about in your book are very important with mindset and food freedom and accountability. But the emotional inventory of like actually doing the work, I think that's what's scary for most people. So thank you so much for mentioning that. This is the last question. This has been such a fun conversation. I knew it was gonna be fun. What is wellness to you? How would you define wellness in your life?

Being present with every moment, that is true wellness. And if we're not too far in the past, we're not too far in the future. Past is depression, fear is stories, future is anxiety, uncertainty, and really expectations. And the more that we stay in the present moment, the better decisions we will be able to make and the better outcome we'll be able to create.

Drop the mic, we're done. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Tell us about Sexy Fit, the book. It's sexyfit.com, the book, right?

Sexyfit.com book and it's a step by step guide to complete food freedom, loving our body and as a result reclaiming our life and living our best life. And that's what this book is all about.

People get 21 day transformation plan that's included. There's also some really beautiful looking recipes at the end of the book, so we'll definitely link that. Now did you create those recipes or did you work with somebody?

I did work with somebody. I did work with a self taught chef and her and I created what the outline of the recipes would be and she had the opportunity to create a lot of the pieces that you see there.

So how can the Wellness Force community support you besides checking out the book sexyfit.com book what else can we do when we look at what's eating us and how can we help spread your message?

I love that so much. Thank you so much for being willing and open and honest about that and you know, allowing your, your community to really, you know, to really help me too. Podcast that I have Sexy Fit Podcast one Work Sexy Fit is a fantastic resource for your audience and that would feel amazing to have them on the show and to get to know them better.

And show notes from today are wellnessforce.com SexyFit Zlotta we talk so much about everything that I believe are the building blocks for wellness. Do you feel like we missed anything today? Is there anything you want to leave people with as parting guidance?

I had to take a deep breath on that. The true wealth, I believe is our health. And and it's really important for us to honor that relationship with self when it comes to trust, when it comes to communication, when it comes to respect, kindness, compassion and just like everything else in life, it takes work. It's not something that is given to us and it's not something that simple unless we have the right tools and keep keep at it with that relationship and educate yourself. And most importantly, while you're educating yourself, remember to listen to what your body truly wants and needs.

Thank you for creating this change in the wellness industry and sharing your gifts with us here on Wellness Force Radio. Thanks for coming on the show Isleta.

You're so very, very welcome.

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