Ep. 120 My Favorite Health & Weight Loss Tools

 This transcript was auto-generated, please forgive any weirdness.

Hi, and welcome to the mindful shade podcast. I'm Paula Parker. I'm a life coach specializing in weight loss. So you are in the right place. If you are looking to really release excess weight off your body and want to feel in charge around food. And this podcast is really. I'm going to be doing a workshop that I'm going to be doing later this week, so if you are listening to this in real time, you might have heard in the intro that it's going to be on Thursday.

So feel free to sign up. You can go to mindfulshape. com to sign up. And if you are listening to this in the future, there's probably a replay out there somewhere in my free resources, or DM on Instagram and I will hook you up. Okay. In the meantime, I thought it'd be kind of cool because the workshop is really on, you know, getting clear on you know, all the practices, rituals, things that we do, all of the things that we do to release weight, all our strategies, all our little.

Tricks and tips and things we bought and programs that we've invested in and everything, everything that we do. And what we're going to be doing in the workshop is just going through all of it and deciding, you know, what's serving us. And I'm going to give you some tips on how to, some questions on. To ask yourself to be able to decide that to clarify for yourself so that we can let go of what is complete or at least complete for now, put a pause on it and then only bring with us what is really serving us currently so that we can get clear on what we really want, the relationship that we want with our bodies, the relationship that we want with food and double down on that, invest more time, more energy, more effort into that without feeling like we should.

You know, there's like a certain energy to feeling like we should do something versus feeling like I'm clear that I'm in alignment on this thing and that's why I'm doing it because it feels good and it really serves me. And sometimes we just need to clarify that for ourselves so that it really just makes it easier to do it.

Okay, so I thought it might be fun to just share a little bit of some of the things that I do. Some of the things that are strategies for me that are serving me so that if you maybe have thought about doing it, you might give it a second thought, or maybe you've never heard about it before. And so this could be something new to you that you might want to incorporate into your own strategy.

Okay. So first let's talk about regimes, practices. How I think about things. So this is gonna, this is not super organized. I'm going to let you know in advance, I made some rough notes here. So if it feels a little bit all over the place, there's some rough organization, but just, I hope you will forgive me and kind of go with me here.

Okay. Now, when it comes to how you're eating, there's definitely going to be foods that are going to allow your body to burn the fat off your body versus. Storing fat what I mean by that is when you eat your insulin goes up based on your blood sugar And then you go into fat storage mode So there are certain foods that are going to accelerate that and essentially keep you in fat storage mode longer I think of these foods as exceptions.

There are foods that I do want to Keep in my life to some degree but I think of them an exception so that I'm not eating them at every meal. I'm not even eating them every day or even every week. These are alcohol, deep fried foods, artificial sweeteners, sugar, and flour. Okay, so all of those I think of as exceptions.

And so If I'm going to have something like that, I just want to account for it. It's not like I need to compensate, but I'm going to be thinking of it as like, okay, if I'm going to have this, a pizza or whatever, I'm just going to be thinking about how am I going to work this into my week. So that might mean tomorrow I will not have an exception.

It might mean that I will ensure that I stop it enough and I'm not overeating. Or that I really up my water intake or I up my vegetables or that kind of thing. So I'm just going to kind of offset that a little bit. Okay. So I'm not excluding it. I'm thinking about how do I incorporate it in without my weight going up?

Okay. The second is how I, you know, when I'm eating. So we're before we were just talking about what. I'm eating now. We're talking about when I'm eating. So for me, I don't stick to any kind of rigid Eating window or any kind of fasting protocol. That's very strict. So I'm strict. I just mean very rigid. I tend to Use my menstrual cycle as a guide And I talked about this in the last podcast, so you can let's go back and listen to that.

But I use that as a guide to if I'm fasting for how long I'm fasting and how I'm eating. So as I say, I use that as a guide because sometimes it doesn't work with my schedule or even just how I'm feeling. But in general, I would say that I. allow a, what you would think of as a fasting window, usually a minimum of 13 hours.

That tends to feel good for my body and tends to work for me most of the time. Now I definitely fast for longer than 13 hours on some days, but in general, to give you a rough idea. That's kind of what works for me in terms of apps. Now there's lots of different ways of tracking things. Now I have my own tool that I use to keep track of my weight and keep track of, you know, my kind of what I'm doing, my protocol and I share that with my clients.

But in terms of apps that you might want to use, there's two that I really like. One is called easy fast, easy fast is free. It's essentially a timer on keeping track of how long you've been fasting. So that's the best one that I've found. If anything that I say here and you're like, Oh, I think you might like this.

Please let me know. I would love to hear it because I'm always looking for, you know, new practices, new kind of tips and tricks and apps and all that kind of thing. So please let me know. But easy fast is essentially after you're finished eating at the end of the night, you just. You know, start fast and then it will start calculating the time for when you can set it so you can say like, okay I want to do a 15 hour fast or something and it will let you know or you can just set the timer and then You're just keeping track so that when you stop your fast, you know, how many hours you've been fasting for that has been one great In terms of being able to track how long I've been fasting so that I can keep track of that over the course of the month.

And then secondly, it's motivating, right? If you see, Oh, I have one hour left. Sometimes you're thinking, well, you know what? I will definitely make it to that 15 hour fast, or it just helps helpful to keep track. The second app I was going to mention is Spotify. Why would I mention that? Now, my relationship with Spotify is very mixed.

One of the reasons is I pay for it, and I don't understand why I still get ads. Okay, that's one. Second is If you are looking to change your state, the quickest, easiest way to do that is music, alright? So, I go to Spotify for mostly music. I know they have podcasts and various things on there, but generally I find that if I want to get myself into the right headspace to relax, or to, before a workout, Or if I'm just ruminating on something that is the best way to go is just to put on some music.

So I use Spotify a lot. Let's talk about movement. So my, my choice of movement has changed a lot over the years. So I generally tend to be somebody who likes big body movements and I used to be really into kickboxing. So I worked with a trainer and that was was it two or three times a week where we worked one on one and got my black belt and the whole deal.

So I love that kind of very, that big physicality and I love that. I also was doing yoga at the time and running. So now it looks a little different. And so I mentioned this only because what worked for you years ago may not necessarily work for you now, given your goals and given where you're at in life, given your age and different things.

So. Now I do, I would say less, I don't do any hit classes. I do maybe some less intensity, but I'm still seeing amazing results. So I am doing a program now called bar definition and it's more, it's I would say a wide variety of movement, but there's some weights in there. There's bar classes, there's some more dance stuff.

There's yoga, there's cardio. It's kind of the full deal, but I'm doing it consistently every day. Sometimes as, you know, short as 10 minutes, sometimes up to an hour, but it's the consistency. I think that is really me making me feel great. Okay, let's talk about devices. So two things here. You can, I know some people use a glucose monitor.

I have never used one, but I know that that can be the most effective way, more accurate way of knowing how your body responds to different food. And that is, will even change over the course of a, you know, a year, depending on how you're eating and some changes in your body. So that can be great. I've never used one.

I have used a. Keto mojo. I haven't been using it recently. So that is one device that has served me in terms of giving me information about my body. Basically when I'm using ketones as fuel and when I am using glucose as fuel, and that's important information for me to know because I know that if I'm using ketones, then I'm really using my fat stores.

So if you want to, it's basically you get a little you just test your blood and you like poke your finger, get a little blood and you do a couple of tests. Now I am going to be using that a lot more in the coming months. So I think once I get more data and I have more to share with you on that, then I will do another podcast episode on that.

But I would just thought I would mention it in case you're like, Oh, I'm kind of curious about this. I would like some information on measuring my glucose levels and my ketones. You can buy a keto mojo. I don't think it's that expensive. I think for a setup. It's like 140 bucks. I can't remember, but anyways, you can check that out.

Another one is very low tech, but I can't fail to mention just a water bottle with a straw. Okay. I know it sounds so dumb, but I really noticed that I started drinking a lot more water when I had a water bottle with a straw. Now, do we want to wash it? Yes. Wash it regularly because of the bacteria, et cetera, but you just want to make it really easy for you to stay hydrated.

And the more hydrated you are, the less hunger cravings you will have. All right. Let's talk about speaking of hunger cravings. Let's talk about some like products that are more ingestible. Okay. Or supplements. So again, I am not your doctor. I'm not your health provider at all. So you have to get the medical expertise that you need.

I'm just going to share with you, you know, what I'm doing in case it sparks some interest and you want to explore it on your own or do some more research or talk to your trusted medical professionals. Okay. So I use a multivitamin daily multivitamin. I use ritual again. None of this is sponsored or anything like that, but I just like it.

A girlfriend I trust recommended it looked cool to me. It looked good. I like that. It's a subscription. I think it's like a hundred bucks a month or something like that. It, I like it because It actually has a little bit of, you can get peppermint or you can get lemon. And I really like that. Now they say that if you have, you can take two at once and you won't get any, like, cause it has fish oil in it.

You won't get any, like the fish oil taste or anything like that. For me personally, if I do two at the same time, I will get that. So what I've done is I just split it up and I do one at a time. Now with age, your stomach acid declines. So I'm kind of wondering if that may be for people that are younger, they can have two and it doesn't bother them.

But for me, That's what I've noticed. I also do. I, they sell a, it's like a probiotic mixed with a prebiotic and postbiotic. Is that a thing? Anyways, it's like it comes all together and I do that as well. You want to really support your gut health. I'm always wondering how much those things are really helping.

But I don't think it can hurt. And so far, my body seems to be pretty doing pretty well on it. There are probably a lot of other great ones out there. So all that to say, you just want to be doing something to support your gut microbiome, whether that's in your diet or some sort of supplementation. And then lastly, I take a magnesium.

All right. Another thing that I was going to mention is. There is a product called anti spike. Now, if you are familiar with a glucose goddess Then and then you've read that book the glucose revolution. This is by the same person Jessie is her name. I forget her last name. She has a French name. Anyways, I mentioned on the last podcast and She has a product called anti spike and I also take that So the idea behind this product is it's two pills and you take it Before you are about to have a high carbohydrate meal so that it offsets the blood sugar spike.

So Again, do your research to see the ingredients and see if it's going to work for your body. But one thing I will tell you, based on my own personal experience, is that it does, I think, help with satiation. So popcorn is something that I love. It's kind of like an indulgence that I really enjoy. And I notice that if I take antispike before, I will feel more satiated sooner.

Then if I had not taken it, so what it does with my blood sugar, I haven't yet measured it with my keto mojo to do some experimentation there, which I will do. So I'll get back to you on that. But just from that personal experience, that's what I had mentioned. So look into it, see if it's something for you.

I think you want to be careful that it's not something that's giving you license or permission to overeat. That's not the idea behind it at all. The idea behind it is. You're not changing how you're eating because you're going to take that you were just using it as a supplement, right? So you're going to eat the same you're not indulging because now you're taking this thing to offset anything It's like this is how you already would be eating and now this is just going to be another supportive Element that you do for your body to manage your blood sugar Okay, another one that I'd like to have in between meals is Coffee, so I've noticed that if I am not doing cream heavy cream in my coffee, then I want to light a roast I my girlfriend I went to her house and had an espresso and I just find that that is the best tasting coffee for me and Super convenient.

So I can just hit a button and have my coffee. I am not a coffee connoisseur and I don't like all the fuss of all the espresso. We have one of those espresso machines. My husband uses it. I cannot be bothered. But what I like about the Nespresso is that I can go lighter roast when I am not having cream and then I can go darker roast when I am.

So I just thought I'd mention it. It improved my coffee game. I will say that. Another thing I like in between meals is sparkling water. Now, I use bubbly. I like bubbly. Sparkling water is great. Although I know for some people it gives you some heartburn or indigestion. So just be wary of that. If that's the case, just lay off of it for a little while.

You might notice that if you clean up your eating, and you also clean up the amount that you're eating, so you're not eating as much, you might notice that that changes. So if you've given sparkling water, if you've written it off, because you're thinking, Oh, it just gives me heartburn after you've changed your eating habits a little bit, you might be able to incorporate it in.

So maybe just give it a try and see if it's something that you like and it works for your body now where it didn't before. The other thing is cocoa. I get asked about this still continuously. I am more than happy to talk about it because it's one of my favorite things. I started having it. To offset sugar cravings after my meal.

So if you have a meal and then you really want something sweet after this could be a good solution for you. What I like is doing the it's the brand called Camino and it's just raw cocoa powder and I just put a couple of tablespoons with Hot water and then I like heavy cream, but you could really use anything that you want almond milk or whatever And then that's how I take my collagen So I also take collagen and I've really found that that helps us like I I think it's organics the one the brand that I have but it's makes my nails makes my hair everything better.

I even think it makes a difference on my skin So sometimes you're kind of wondering am I just noticing this because I'm taking it but I would recommend that and so I have also added in cardamom and cloves and I just like the taste of it. It's very satisfying. It's very nourishing. I will typically eat a little bit less so that I can enjoy that drink at the end of my meal.

All right. Let's talk about. coaching tools. So what do I like doing in terms of what coaching tools do I use myself? So a couple I recommend is any time that I am kind of wondering, okay, is this emotional eating or is this, you know, like anytime I want to eat outside of a meal per se, there's two, I would say maybe three coaching tools that I rely on quite a bit.

I don't use them so much now just because I don't really. I don't need them as much, but especially when I was pregnant, having a lot of cravings, I would use these a lot. And if you are, if you have a lot of over desire for food and you're trying to release weight, then you might find that these help you a lot.

Okay. One is called caffeine. I've mentioned it before, but it never hurts to mention it again. If maybe you're new to me or you just forgot about it or haven't heard about it. So caffeine is just an acronym. Okay. So it's C A F N check in with your hunger level. How hungry am I? Oftentimes we forget to do this.

We just eat on autopilot automatically. Okay. So first thing to do is just check in. Am I physically hungry? How physically hungry am I? The other one is ask, A for ask. So then ask, what is it that I really need? Sometimes it might be boredom. Sometimes it might be anxiety. What is really going on here? Do I need comfort?

Do I need pleasure? Just ask the question, what is it that I really need? After you've asked that you want to feel F is for feel, feel whatever comes up for you. Okay. So that might be, I'm feeling a lot of desire. I'm feeling a lot of big craving in this moment. I'm feeling some anxiety. I'm feeling boredom.

Whatever it is, you want to feel what's coming up for you so that you can process it without turning to food. And then the last one is notice. And for notice, notice what comes up for you when you don't eat the food. Notice how it passes. Notice how it actually doesn't take that long. Notice how you might feel more calm.

You might feel proud, like, wow, I really let that Go, I just allowed it to be there and everything was fine. You might be surprised. Okay, so that's one. The other one is very similar, which is catch, hold, and release. So catch is you want to catch it, meaning you want to notice when you have desire for food.

When your brain is offering justification thoughts to overeat, when your brain is offering up suggestions to eat when you are not physically hungry. You want to catch that so that you are noticing before you turn to the food. Next one is hold. It just means holding space for that emotion, that desire, whatever is going on for you.

Notice what's going on in your body, allow it to be there. Okay. You're literally holding space for it. And then lastly is release. Once you've held it there, once you've acknowledged it, you can let it go, you can release it. Maybe that means process it and processing it in your body. It might mean going for a walk and just like feeling and letting it go.

But just as when you notice. Some sort of calm come in, you will notice it will release through your body. So catch, hold and release. Okay. And the last one is pause and pivot. These are all variations of essentially the same thing, but different things click with different people. So use whatever works for you in the moment.

Pause and pivot is super easy to remember, right? We just want to pause what's going on here and check in with yourself and then pivot instead of turning to the food. What might serve you as just even a mental distraction temporarily, right? And if you don't have the capacity in that moment to like, stop checking with your feelings, sometimes we don't, let's be real.

So we want to pause and pivot until we can calm our nervous system and maybe access some of that. Access some of our thinking, access some of what we're feeling. So pause and pivot might be just pausing, taking notice. Oh, I want to be searching in the cupboards right now. I'm going to have a glass of water.

I'm going to go wash my hands. I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm just going to pivot, change my behavior in some way. It helps because it's re establishing, or I should say it's interrupting some of those patterns, right? The patterns of I have a suggestion of food and I comply. Automatic. We want to interrupt that pattern.

Let's talk about some personal rules or guidelines around food. Again, we're going to be going through all of this in more detail in the workshop that I'm going to be doing in the eight step exercise. So, but this will get you starting to think about what are some for yourself. Some ones that I have are any time that I want to eat maybe outside of my meals, any time that I, want to eat that's off of, you know, my protocol or the way that I normally eat.

Let's say anytime my brain's like, I could go for some popcorn right now. Always tell myself I can have it. Okay. I always tell myself I can have it if I want to. And that might be a huge thing that you do not do right now. You probably do the exact opposite. If your brain says, you know, we could go for this or that sort of indulgence.

you probably say, I can't have it. I can't have it if I want to reach my goals. And that feels terrible. Right? And what we typically do is we resist it and we rebel. So what I want to offer is the first thing you can do to start thinking more clearly is to not. Kick up your nervous system and that kind of fight or flight response.

Instead, just tell yourself, I can have it if I want it, then you will be able to pause and pivot, right? You'll be able to pause and say, okay, what's really going on here. You'll be able to do maybe the caffeine. Okay. Am I, how physically hungry am I? Do I really want this thing? How am I going to feel after, you know, the skip ahead method of, okay, I could have it, but how am I going to feel after?

And you might still have it, but at least you're doing it from an empowered place. You're doing it from a conscious place. All right. Another one, another guideline or rule that I have for myself is I never eat when I'm emotionally upset. So, even if I am physically hungry, if I'm emotionally upset, I'm not going to be eating.

If I am really bored, if I am very uneasy about something, if I am anxious about something, I'm just going to wait. Until, not even waiting, but I'm, well, yeah, I suppose it's waiting, but it's really processing whatever's going on for me emotionally and let that pass, let that release until I eat food. My body's going to be fine.

Even if I'm physically hungry, my body will use its fat stores. It will use the food that I ate from previous meals. that I have on my body. It's not, I'm not going to starve, right? I might be physically hungry, yes, but that's not a problem. That will subside when my body starts using ketones for fuel and not asking for glucose anymore, right?

So there's no need for me to eat just because I'm physically hungry. especially when I'm emotionally upset. Why? Why have I done this? One is I don't enjoy my food when I'm emotionally upset. I really don't enjoy it. Secondly is I really don't want to establish that connection of numbing with food. Okay, I want to practice because what we practice we get good at.

I want to practice uncoupling that I feel bad emotionally and food soothes it. I want to unpack that. So I've just made that rule for myself. And then the last one that I'll offer is I always make my own rules. So no matter what it is, I always decide I'm going to do what serves me, regardless of somebody else says it's a good idea.

Somebody else says this works for them. Right. And so it's kind of funny to end on this note, but even given all of the things that I've said, you always get to decide. What serves you and that may change over time But always allow yourself to create your own rules based on the reasons that you love Which likely are going to be based on what you value what you care about more.

Maybe that's feeling really good in your body maybe that's reconnecting with yourself and Prioritizing yourself so that you can show up for the people that you care about most in your life feeling great in your body so that In general, you're in a pretty good mood, whatever it is, right? That is how you want to make decisions around any of your weight loss strategies.

Okay. And in the workshop, we're going to be connecting with that. I'm going to do an exercise where it's going to help you connect with that. All right. So I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions about anything that I've mentioned here that you would like to hear about more in depth, because I kind of, you know, glossed over it or whatever please feel free to reach out to me.

You can. email me at paula at mindful shape. com. You can go to my website, mindful shape. com, or you can find me on Instagram and it's mindful underscore shape. And hopefully I will see you at the workshop. And if not, I will talk to you in the next episode. Okay. Bye.