Ep #82 Creating a Container: A Tool for Managing Emotions

When a negative or uncomfortable feeling arises, it is common for people to manage these feelings with food. Food acts as a distraction and and buffers negative feelings by releasing dopamine, which is a feel-good hormone. Learning to manage these emotions and understand the underlying thoughts that drive our actions is an essential tool for living a naturally healthy life. During this podcast, I discuss a concept I call “Creating a Container” as a tool for analyzing and better managing emotions without food.

Ep #82 The Gray Zone

The notion that we “must be perfect” in the pursuit of goals can be debilitating. Often, clients tell me how they failed because they weren’t eating 100% keto or missed a day of exercise. Consequently, this thought that they “can’t do it” causes them to throw in the towel and give up. During this podcast, I explore why we strive for perfection and WHAT IF we could live in THE GRAY ZONE. What if it doesn’t have to be a morning work out at the gym? What if the work out did not have to be so uncomfortable? Maybe there is a gray zone between killing it at the gym and laying on the couch.

Ep #81 The Benefits and Side Effects of Diabetes Medications

When clients come to me, they are often on all sorts of diabetes medications. As we work together to make lifestyle changes, these medications need to be adjusted. Ideally, if you can make lifestyle changes and reverse your type 2 diabetes, these medications can be eliminated. During this podcast, I discuss the many diabetes medications on the market, their benefits and side effects. As with all my podcasts, the content is for information only and not intended as medical advice or treatment. I always recommend working with a primary care physician to manage your diabetes and diabetes medications.

Ep #80 Coaching with Angel

Making and sustaining changes can be challenging. Many people rely on willpower to muster through temptations and cravings. Unfortunately, willpower will only get you so far. Eventually, willpower fatigues and old behaviors take over. Achieving permanent lifestyle change requires understanding and changing how you think. As a coach, I provide education based on medical research and science, help clients develop plans, track results, and dig into the underlying thoughts that often undermine progress. During this podcast, I talk with my client Angel to provide insight into what coaching is like.

Ep #78 Are Your Hormones Causing High Blood Sugar Levels?

Did you know other non-food related factors can influence blood sugar levels? Stress, lack of sleep, and visceral fat (body fat that is stored within the abdominal cavity) are just a few non-eating related lifestyle factors that cause the release of hormones that can raise blood sugar levels. Hormones are chemical messengers produced by the body and released directly into the bloodstream to help regulate biological processes, such as sleep, hunger, growth, and metabolism. During this podcast, I discuss several hormones and their effect on blood sugar levels as well as what you can do to manage them.

Ep #77 Exercise & Diabetes: The Dos and the Don’ts

Exercise is good for your heart, great for your lungs, and amazing for your soul. It is also a great tool for reversing type 2 diabetes. When you exercise, your muscles use glucose for fuel. Additionally, this process happens without the need for insulin. This means lower blood glucose levels in a way that bypasses your insulin resistance. In studies, exercise combined with modest weight loss was more effective at improving the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in high-risk people than Metformin alone. WOW! During this podcast, I discuss the research on exercise and blood sugar control as well as review the guidelines. Finally, I provide some caveats to exercise that diabetics MUST consider.

Ep #75 Courage

It is easy to underestimate the amount of courage it takes to start something new. Whether we are starting college in an unknown city or investing our time, money, and hopes in a new wellness program, taking that first step (and the many steps after) takes COURAGE. During this podcast, I discuss the concept of courage and how proactively training, preparing, and utilizing data to make informed decisions, aids in being courageous.