For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/93 'Tis the season for resolutions and topping your list may be losing weight! But what if you're struggling to stay away from sugar and flour? Don't worry, Marchelle and I are here to help!  Our podcast explores why our brains want us to indulge in junk food - but we'll also show you there is life beyond these processed treats. Tune in to find out how 2023 can become a healthier New Year than ever before!   Episode Highlights: (04:11) Our primitive brains are always looking for pleasure. That's one of the things that allowed us to survive, to find things that were pleasurable. So the primitive brain says, pleasure means survival. (08:43) So I want to explain a little bit about what's happening in the brain when we eat processed foods that contain sugar, flour, or both. These substances are basically white powders. So think about all of the addictive drugs that you know of, they're producing hits of dopamine in very high concentrations. Well processed food with it’s sugar and flour causes a lot more dopamine release than natural food, so it's like concentrated pleasure, and your brain really loves that.  (12:10) What I want you to know is that the brain heals, so the dopamine receptors that were downregulated start to come back, and you'll be surprised at how good you feel, how you don't have cravings or this constant need for the crap food, and you discover just how awesome natural food can taste!

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/92 Today, Marchelle and I talk about the difference between a desire and a decision. We compare these two statements “I want to lose weight and get healthy” vs “I will lose weight and get healthy.” While they sound very similar, one creates an emotion of hope while another generates action plans in your head without even trying! If we want to evolve our lives, it’s important that we learn how to make decisions and take action. Listen in as we discuss what happens in our brain when we make a decision, and how to overcome our brain’s natural unwillingness to make decisions and take action!  Episode Highlights: (02:47) The difference between “I want to lose weight and get healthy”, and “I will lose weight and get healthy” is a subtle change in words, and yet not so subtle change in the feelings and actions that these two sentences generate. So that's not just a desire, that's a decision, it generates confidence, determination and empowerment. (06:06) There's very little power in wishes and hopes and dreams, but there is a lot of power in making decisions because decisions generate action. Once we've made a decision, we are compelled to act. (11:30) When we make decisions, we learn to back ourselves up. So we remind ourselves that there are no wrong decisions. When we make a decision, we will take action, and in taking action, we will either succeed or we will learn. There's no such thing as a wrong decision because there's no such thing as failure. There's only success or learning.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/91 Did you know that one sentence has the power to make or break you in your weight loss journey? It’s true…. Because sentences are thoughts, and every thought we think has the power to create our reality. Tune in to this week’s podcast as Marchelle and I talk about those pesky little sentences that lead us down paths of trouble… and we’ll show you what to do to correct them! This is a very powerful episode to listen carefully! 
Episode Highlights: 
(9:07) It’s important to supervise our brain and question everything we think, and ask ourselves, how does this thought make me feel? If it's not good, it might be a good idea to drop that thought, even if it seems so very true. If it doesn't feel good, it won’t help me live the life of my dreams. (16:33) Many of the thoughts that don’t serve us have been running through the back of our minds for decades. And so you don't get rid of them…but that doesn't mean that you have to listen to them. (20:42) You cannot lose weight and keep it off if you allow yourself to keep thinking those same old dream-stealing thoughts!  

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/90 Happy Thanksgiving! It's that time of year again- when we think about food and how much it tastes better than anything else in the world. But don't let yourself go into overload on Turkey Day! Today, Marchelle and I discuss 8 ways you can have a Happy Thanksgiving without gaining weight (and still enjoy all your favorite dishes).    Episode Highlights: (03:05) Most of us move through our lives and we're just reacting to everything around us, so it's really important if you want to lose weight and keep it off, that you stop that behavior. And that goes for Thanksgiving too. Turns out, it’s all about the PLANNING ahead of time. (17:30) Anytime that you're having a hard time with temptations, just excuse yourself, go to the restroom and read through the list of things that you wrote down of things about your life that you appreciate and that will help to replenish your willpower.  (18:18) Whatever happens, decide not to beat yourself up the next day if you happen to overindulge. So if you don't follow your plan, don't beat yourself up, it's simply not that big of a deal. Just get rid of all the leftover pie and the bread and get right back on track with your normal eating, and you're going to be just fine.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/89 Next week is Thanksgiving here in the states, and then we move full time into the Holiday Season! It’s happening fast!! This time of year is always tough for people who struggle with obesity, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is all the tempting treats around! So I wanted to take some time and talk about what we can do to prepare for the holidays so we don’t gain any weight.  I recently discovered a process called WOOP, which stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle and Plan. Listen in as Marchelle and I use this process to plan for success during our holiday seasons, and then you can WOOP your holidays too! Episode Highlights: (07:23) One study showed that people gain just one pound over the holiday season, but that one pound never comes off! So if you gain a pound a year between 30 and 60, that means you are 30 pounds heavier by the time you hit 60 than you were at 30, purely from indulging in holiday treats. Frankly I believe most people gain more than that, as this was just one small study.  (10:00) To handle the holidays, we’re going to use a process called WOOP, which is based on 20 years of research done by a scientist named Gabriele Oettingen. WOOP stands for; Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. Gabrielle has a website called woopmylife.org, where she trains you how to do this. I would recommend you listen to this episode and then go to her website as well. (23:53) The plan is an “if”, and “then”. So you think about what you can do to overcome your obstacle. You name an action that you can take or a thought you can think that would overcome the obstacle.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/88 We had a recent question about sweeteners in the “Sugar and Flour Buster’s Society” Facebook group… When someone asks a really good question like this I do give an answer but I often like to go to the podcast and give a more thorough answer, and discuss the science behind my answer.  I get this question ALL the TIME - are artificial sweeteners OK? Can I use them?  The truth is, it’s hard to give a black and white answer on this one. I would never say “Use all you want,” and I’d never say “Absolutely NOT!”.  So the purpose of this podcast is to educate you about artificial sweeteners, and then you can make your own decision about whether you want to use them - or not - and if so, what kind and how much. Enjoy!   Episode Highlights: (11:05) There's evidence that if you replace sugar-sweetened beverages like Coke, for example, with Diet Coke or Coke Zero, people will lose weight and have an easier time keeping it off. So the thinking here is that if you're someone who drinks, let's say six 12 ounce cans of Coke a day, in this case, using a non-nutritive sweetener, an “NNS”, makes a lot of sense because you're not getting all those calories, you're not getting all that sugar, and I can pretty much guarantee that when you stop doing that, you’ll lose weight! (13:58) In terms of research on problems with sweeteners, there's other evidence, and this is from a 2014 study out of Israel and a 2018 study out of Australia that showed that sweeteners can kill the good bacteria in our gut, it's called the microbiome. So science is really coming to understand the importance of a well-balanced microbiome in our gut and how important it is that the different types of gut bacteria are in balance.  ( 24:44) Here's what I think; definitely do not drink sugar-sweetened beverages ever. If you have to have soda, drink diet soda, but I would be super careful with sweeteners. We just still don't have enough information about their safety and their long-term effects.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/87   Episode 87: Stress and Your Weight Have you ever noticed that weight loss is more difficult when you’re under stress? Not only that, but it’s really easy to gain weight when we’re stressed too!  Many of us think, well, of course I gain weight when I’m stressed, because I stress eat… but there’s actually more going on than that. Tune into today’s podcast as Marchelle and I talk about how stress affects the chemistry of the body and what that has to do with your weight loss journey.    Episode Highlights:  (08:17) Cortisol is also the stress hormone. It causes our liver to make glucose, which is blood sugar, in preparation for increased activity. Now, the interesting thing about this is that if we're not eating enough protein and we're stressed out, the cortisol that's released when we're stressed will cause us to use our lean muscle mass to make glucose. (15:06) How do you keep cortisol levels down when you’re stressed? By following your morning routine, meditate, journal and pray, exercise and eat nourishing food. Think about the day ahead and plan, so you're not just rushing out of bed, trying to wing it all day, you're planning and you're thinking. (24:54) I can think of one other reason that stress can cause weight gain, and that is stress eating. It's called buffering. Our primitive brains believe that any negative emotion means we might die, and our primitive brains will give us the idea to get rid of that negative emotion as quickly as possible, and we're almost guaranteed to get the urge to dive into a bowl of ice cream or popcorn. I just want all of us to recognize that this is actually a normal response of the human brain to the pain of stress.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/86 Episode 86: Halloween Treats Halloween is coming up this weekend! Do you have a strategy for getting through this “candy holiday” without backsliding in your weight loss efforts?  Join Marchelle and me in this week’s podcast - we’ll give you fun and creative alternatives to candy for the little ghouls and princesses who come to your door for treats, and we help you understand a little more about what food marketers are up to this time of year!  Have a safe and FUN Halloween! Episode Highlights: (06:30) Remember, sugar is a drug that's eight times more powerful than cocaine… so we don’t want to be passing it out to children, and I want you to be thinking like this. Another problem with candy is that it's so hard on the pancreas.  (11:37) Some people will have Halloween cookie-baking traditions. Not such a great idea… So what if you were to replace the cookie baking tradition with some other craft, like painting rocks or making Halloween bows or making jewelry, or something like that… what we’re really wanting is connection with our kids, a time to play and do fun things together.  (14:14) Fall is the start of what I call the “sugar season”. The food marketers are always out there, and it'd be a really good idea for all of us to just start noticing what it is that food marketers do. I want my podcast listeners to become very aware of all of the subtle tricks that the food marketers are doing to try to get you to buy their stuff.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/85   Episode 85: How do I get Rid of belly fat We had a recent question in the Sugar and Flour Buster's Society Facebook group about belly fat. One of our new members wanted to know how to get rid it… And guess what, I hear this question All THE TIME! People will say - it doesn't matter what I do, the belly fat won't go away. They'll say they feel like they look pregnant. Even men have said this to me. Women who've never had a problem with their weight their entire lives will hit 40, and suddenly, their clothes fit differently because their waists are expanding.  What’s going on? Tune into today’s podcast so you can discover what causes belly fat and what you can do to get rid of it!! (Hint: Sit ups won’t work!) Episode Highlights: (08:21) In the world of obesity medicine, and endocrinology, we understand very well that visceral fat is like a ticking time bomb in our bodies. It's setting us up for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, liver disease, and a host of other medical problems that create disease and will eventually kill us. (13:30) The biggest reason why people develop visceral fat is because their insulin levels have been running too high. Last week I talked about the pancreas, and the beta cells of the pancreas that have been working overtime producing so much insulin. All that insulin creates that belly fat and it gets worse over time. (19:46)  I just want everybody to understand: if you're struggling with belly fat, what that means, in most circumstances, is you are struggling with insulin. And if you want to get rid of belly fat, you have to lower your insulin levels.

For more details on this podcast visit: https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/blog/84 Episode 84: Weight Loss Saboteurs Are you struggling with weight loss, wondering if you’ve stalled out?  Or are you gaining weight, but you’re not sure why? Sometimes there are these little things that we do regularly that slip under the radar, that we don’t realize are sabotaging our weight loss efforts …. and in some instances, actually CAUSING weight gain!  In today’s podcast, Marchelle and I talk about some common (and surprising!) weight loss saboteurs …. So you can ask yourself, could one or more of these things be at the root of my struggles?  Episode Highlights: (03:01) Weight loss and fat loss are not the same thing. If you get on the scale and you don't see any change, that does not mean that you are not losing fat. (07:18) When you produce excessive amounts of insulin, you can't lose weight, and you're probably actually going to gain weight. (22:50) Think about all the different types of stress that we're dealing with these days. So stress and anxiety can keep you from sleeping well. Stress can come from being overworked, or from being an over-exerciser. All of these things can increase your cortisol levels. Cortisol is the stress hormone that can sabotage your weight loss efforts.