The Livy Method Podcast - Anxiety with Kyle Buchanan - Winter 2025

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

In this guest expert episode, Gina chats with Certified Nutritional Practitioner, public speaker, and host of the feelgoodery podcast, Kyle Buchanan who shares his journey with nutrition, anxiety, and his work in media, offering insightful and practical tools to support both physical and mental well-being. From the surprising importance of bowel movements—yes, poop matters!—to the benefits of herbal teas for stress management, Kyle breaks down simple strategies for gut health and relaxation. He also unpacks the impact of stress and "future tripping" on anxiety, highlighting the power of self-compassion and mindfulness. With a focus on brain awareness, breathwork, and using the right tools at the right time, this conversation is packed with actionable takeaways to help you navigate change with resilience. Plus, Kyle reveals his #1 tool for personal growth and the books that have transformed his mindset.Where to find Kyle:Instagram: @itskylebwww.kylebuchanan.caYou can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodwinter2025To learn more about the Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livi and welcome to the Livi Method Podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams from my 91 Day Weight Loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews, and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the Morning Live? Want to relisten to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place.

This podcast is hosted on Acast, but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon music. This is an opportunity to become curious. To learn some things. How do we help you feel less overwhelmed so you can continue on your journey? Keep believing in yourself and keep trusting the process. Just be patient.

How does anxiety affect your health and therefore your weight loss as well? That's, I mean, that's what we're gonna start talking about today. But joining me today is speaker, host of Feel Goodery podcast resident contributor on Canada's The Morning Show, sharer of knowledge on all things, health and wellness, Kyle Buchanan, hello. Good morning, Gina.

It's a snowy morning here in Toronto, so good snowy morning. It's so nice to be here. I mean, whenever I, I know this is a new group and every, there's no community like you guys. It's incredible. Whenever we have these conversations,

I never know where it's gonna go. It turns into education, but like therapy, and I always feel very good afterwards. So I'm very happy to be here. You're one of my favorite people, and you and I connected a few years back, and we share the same passion for really, truly wanting to help people.

And in all ways, in all ways. And there's so many things that affect people when they're trying to just wake up every day and live their best life, let alone try to reach any health and wellness goals. Yeah. And you hit the nail on the head. I think especially nowadays, the weight of the world is on all of our shoulders where it feels as though just getting through the day is all we can do.

So to have a goal you're working towards, things you're putting on, I just applaud everyone for doing that. We have to do that. But I think it's worth acknowledging that we're all dealing with a lot. There's a lot of things our minds and our brains are taking in. So if you're actively existing, well done. And if you're working towards this sort of a goal, even more well done, you know. Actively existing. I love that. Okay, so we probably should do a little bit about you. We do have a lot of people joining us. So, I mean, I was just saying to Kyle,

like, how would I introduce you? I mean, I follow you for all things because you seem to touch on so many different elements when it comes to health and wellness. Maybe a little introduction? Sure. I mean, at the core of what I like to do now is share information that can help us feel good because I do my my

philosophy is that when we feel good, more good comes and so much goes into that. I have a background. Well, I have a background in anxiety. First and foremost, anxiety is my oldest friend. I was an anxious kid. I was bullied a lot growing up. I was I was overweight, I was bullied a lot growing up. I was overweight. I was bullied because of it. So that whole cluster storm is my longest credential. But then up into my early 20s, I was making a living in media doing acting and entertainment. And my weight was going all over the place because my anxiety was really bad

because I was also dealing with some personal stuff and coming to terms with who I was. So that cluster storm really led me to seek the help of a natural healthcare practitioner. And I started researching different modalities and different perspectives that could help me feel a little bit better. And the combination of all of that

actually started working, which was a really good thing. So I decided to kind of leave the acting world and go back to school to study nutrition, holistic nutrition. And I graduated, I started working in clinical practice, working one on one with people, all the while reading and researching different things as well. And then I've lost timeline, like I think, what is time anymore, right? It doesn't matter. Like five, seven years ago, I got asked to go on the morning show and kind of talk about poop and nutrition. And I did, and it was a lot of fun. And it was kind of a way to meld both my nutrition background and media background. And I get to talk about poop and farts, which I really like. So I started doing that and that kind of

morphed into where I'm at now is I kind of break down different health topics, speaking to experts, doing my own research and distilling it down into digestible things that can actually be used by people. And I at the end of the day just like giving people

different tools to add to their own toolbox, so that they can draw from it when they need because we're all different. We all respond to different things. People can say the same thing all the time, but it's that one person that says it in the one way that really connects with and I like throwing my hat into the ring. Maybe I'm that, you know, I can be that for that one thing for that one person. Yeah, that's kind of the Cole's notes, but We've had you on many times and people say that we have a lot, you know We have you have psychologists and MDs and all, you know a variety different guests They're always they love you because of the way you are able to

Make it resonate We get that all the time. They get that all the time. I've heard that before but when Kyle says it like this It's just like it hits different and oh, that's great. Oh, wow. That get that all the time. I've heard that before, but when Kyle says it like this, it just like, it hits different. It hits different. Oh, that's great. Oh, wow. That makes me feel very good. Thank you.

Okay, so now I just want to talk about poop because I love someone, because I could talk about poo all day. It's like, there's no such thing as TMI around here. And I love it because it's like the, I love it because it's so telling of what's going on. I love it for a lot of reasons. It's so telling with what's going on

in our digestive system, but also for the freedom of it because we're never as confident and happy as when we've had a good bowel movement. And another reason is that we all do it. It's like the great equalizer, right? If anyone is intimidating you, if anyone's making you feel like crap, imagine them literally just on the toilet. It takes everyone down to the same level. So when people do the program, their bowel movements are all over the place.

So they start following the program, they can like can get bouts of constipation, any kind of change in your diet. So people who are dealing with that. And then of course, when people are actually their weight is dropping, they tend to have those looser bowel movements. I mean, everyone's expected to have those S shape Dr. Oz, I'm eating healthy now. That's what my poops are supposed to look like. And I find when people are in the pursuit of change, they're noticing change happening

and they're noticing change along with their bowel movements. Do you have anything, is there, like let's talk constipation for a second. So I would say, especially when, oh, sorry, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. I was just saying, like, especially with the changes, there's the added pressure you give yourself when you hear it's supposed to be that S that's floating

and you're doing these changes And you see oh, it's it's looser than normal So maybe what I'm eating is not right you have to kind of play the long game It will fluctuate day to day it depends on stress load it depends on what you're eating and when you're eating new foods Especially health, you know quote-unquote healthy like more veggies and things like that It takes time for your bacteria to adjust to that. So there will be this kind of transition period. So my biggest thing is to making sure you're going. That's first and foremost,

but when it comes to constipation, I mean, there's a few things to consider if you're going through bouts of constipation. I always say immediately everyone should have a squatty potty or a stool. I think it's one of the best inventions of ever. And I actually like my second episode of the podcast, I talked to the founders of squatty potty. And it was this 70 year old mother, she was retired, she was a serial entrepreneur, but then she

learned that she should use a stool to squat and she kind of created it her and her son and it's the success story that's pretty cool. But what essentially modern at the end of the day, modern toilets aren't designed for us to have a proper go. So we're designed to squat as a species. So getting a stool puts your body in a more ideal squat position, which literally unkinks your bowel just enough that allows everything to go through a little bit more smoothly. So that's number one. Making sure you're staying hydrated. Magnesium if you're not

on it. If you are dealing with constipation, you'll see that there's different forms of magnesiums out there and it's incredibly overwhelming. Typically magnesium citrate is the form that will help you go to the bathroom or if you want a little bit more aggressive, magnesium oxide is a cheaper magnesium citrate is the form that will help you go to the bathroom or make if you want a little bit more aggressive magnesium oxide is a cheaper cheaper form of magnesium but that can be kind of if you get a combination of oxide and citrate that can be a great kind of loosener you want to see okay and the other the other kind of... Listen. Okay.

The other thing you can consider is dandelion root tea. So this is like one of my favorite little hacks. I like dandelion root anyways, because it's really supportive for the liver, but it also helps to support regularity. So if you're dealing with constipation and you're doing the squatty potty and you're drinking water and you're doing the fiber and you're doing the magnesium, if you just get some dandelion root tea and make a cup of it like the night before, let it steep overnight. Have that first thing in the morning. You can have it

because I know there's like the apple cider vinegar and everything we talk about. I've read about in the program so that you can have that as well. But have that dandelion root tea kind of upon waking. It's a wonderful liver and bile support that can help also move things along. So that's those are some things to consider. And then, just don't use them too long because you can get dependent on them. You won't want to be on those kinds of teas for too long for obvious reasons, but I don't like to say just a little bit of a disclaimer, but something like dandelion is more gentle and can be used more long-term.

I would imagine you can buy these in the health food section of the grocery store or health food store. And just as you're saying dandelion tea, it kind of freaks me out a little bit. And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way when they hear these alternative teas, or they're just like, ah, do you find that people are a little bit resistant to,

I don't want to say, would we even call them alternative anymore? What would we call them? I would just, I don't know. It's so, I guess alternative when people hear like, oh, especially because it can be lumped in the same thing as like, oh, like weight loss teas like that, like it's the same kind of thing.

And it's like, no, no, no, this is very different. Generally I find when people are dealing with constipation or they're looking for something, there's not as much apprehension because they're like, well, I'll try anything. I don't care. Give me all of it. It's for when you're feeling kind of okay, and then someone suggests it and you're like,

oh, I don't like change. I mean, change is, you know, it'll scare us all. But anything I find anything natural, and anything quote unquote, alternative, kind of gets the red flags up quicker, which is very ironic for me because there's so many things that are bad for us that we get sold to every single day that people are all on board for it. Like, you know, a celebrity comes out with a tequila company. They're like, good for you. Someone tries to sell dandelion tea and they're like, Oh, snake oil. Okay. Like there's the, there's a such double hypocrisy, but the whole thing I can't stand.

But something like, I consider dandelion tea pretty, out of all the alternatives, pretty gentle compared to the deep dives we could go down into with the different herbal teas. Dandelion tea is pretty, pretty safe. Okay, and trying to stay on topic today, is there an anxiety tea? Oh my gosh, so many.

So if you want just like an herbal anxiety, like the cheapest, easiest accessible one would be chamomile. I kind of always like to sing chamomile praises. If you have a ragweed allergy, it's kind of the same family. So it's not great beneficial for everyone. But chamomile is so widely accessible. And we think of it for sleep, but it's actually great for the nervous system and a nervous system tonic to have throughout the day. So if you're going through an anxious period, and you're kind of like, you're normally at a five, but you're at an eight right now because of anxiety, getting ahead of it during the day and having something like chamomile in the morning can be a great way to calm the system. So chamomile is always a go-to. Passionflower is really underrated. Lemon balm as well. And then you could go with something like holy basil or Tulsi tea, which is an adaptogen,

which is one of the best things you can consider when it comes to stress and anxiety support. So those would be really kind of my go-to. So passionflower, lemon balm, chamomile is the cheapest and available to Morton's and Tulsi. Yeah, you mentioned adaptogens. We're going to be talking to Dr. Paul next week about adaptogens. It's kind of like supplements that now that people are putting this kind of time and energy into the foundational stuff can really help, especially when it comes to stress. So last week we had a whole stress and sleep series. You know, we've been talking about this week change. We've been talking about how, you know, one of the most important things to focus on when it comes to sustainable weight loss is not just the physical changes that you're making,

but what's happening in your brain. And what I love about you is one of the first conversations we had, we started talking about anxiety. I had never even thought of anxiety and weight loss and how one is impacting the other, especially when it comes to change. Yeah. So where, where do we start? Where does anxiety fit into someone trying to lose weight? So I feel like, so anxiety happens when you try to control the uncontrollable and you try to make certain the uncertain

and weight loss journeys bring uncertainty, which is food for anxiety. So they're gonna go hand in hand, right? And you're dealing with all the changes when it comes to what you're eating. You're dealing with the mind changes and how your days are changing and what you're focusing on. And the brain thrives on comfort.

The brain thrives on familiarity. So you're in the unfamiliar. Anxiety naturally will rev up to help you try to kind of make sense. It'll try to also make you get more comfortable. It'll try to pull you back to where you are safe, even though where is safe is not serving you. So it's, it's this little bit of a mind game you kind of have to just be aware of. And once you're kind of aware that your brain is doing this stuff, it's easier to kind of show compassion towards yourself and not let it take you down. Cause it's like, it's going down the rabbit hole, I call anxiety, like it's a slippery slope and it feeds on itself.

So it makes perfect sense that anxiety and any weight loss journey is kind of hand in hand. Where does anxiety fit? Because we talk about stress, right? Talk about stress and how it affects lack of sleep and how that affects not just how you're feeling and you know what you're thinking and the choices that you're making and then we talk about issues and associations tied into food, your habits, your beliefs, past traumas, all of that.

That's a lot. And so for example, this week we're downsizing. So you take people who've been following the basic food plan, nutrient rich foods, six times a day, probably eating better than they ever have. Previously they've been eating enough to feel satisfied. Now they're just eating slightly less to feel slightly unsatisfied. And it is freaking people out.

They're afraid that they're gonna be hungry later. They're not trusting that they'll make a good choice later because of that. They're adding in extra meals and snacks, which is the opposite of what you wanna do. They have fears of food waste. They have a hard time leaving food on their plates. They don't wanna waste food.

That's a lot. So where does anxiety fit into all of that? That's a really I mean, stress and anxiety are very closely linked. And I think it's, it's sometimes hard to decipher. I feel like anxiety, anxiety, stress, anxiety is a more heightened response, in my opinion, it's a more heightened immediate response to a perceived threat. So, and it's more tied into what ifs, right? For me, anxiety is very future forward.

It's your brain saying, what if, what if I don't get enough food? What if, and your body's triggered, because especially if you're downsizing, your body's used to having a certain amount of food. So it's kind of a two-pronged thing, right? You're not having enough food, so you have maybe a little bit more hunger

than you're used to. Whenever there's any perceived change or perceived, and I use this term lightly, threat, your anxiety goes into overdrive because it's trying to predict what will happen in the future, right? I really see anxiety as future-focused.'s what if I'm going to be hungry? What if there's not enough food? What if, you know, what if I'm wasting food and being

the worst human possible and it your brain kind of spirals, but it almost future forward spirals. Like we think of rabbit holes going down, it's actually spiraling you into the future and just taking you on this never ending what if journey. So it's a very hard thing to decipher and I'm sure you'd have different people on, even doctors, everyone have different like discrepancies between stress and anxiety. But for me, the biggest thing is it's very future,

it's more heightened future focused. That's the way I kind of like to distill it. Well, this starts to happen as we progress in the program. We implement different tweaks and people start freaking out. Oh my goodness, you're setting me up to fail. And I don't know if I can do this. And I would, la la la la la la, call it future tripping around here.

Or we're coming near the end of the program. And people are like, if I can't lose all of my weight by the end of this program, somehow I failed. Or it's not worth continuing to follow through when you're just gonna have to keep going anyway. That's, we call it future tripping. Is that the same thing? I would consider it the same thing, for sure.

Like, I mean, you're tripping over problems that haven't happened yet. And the irony is it doesn't help you move forward at all. Cause what's the alternative that you completely, I don't know, it's a sad alternative, but that you completely give up and then you end up just feeling a little bit worse. It doesn't work in your favor, but we all do it. All of us do it. Yeah. And so is that this, do you think anxiety feeds into sabotage? Yes. Oh my gosh. Yes. I think anxiety fits into sabotage in so many subtle ways that we don't even realize. Because anxiety can affect so many things.

It can affect motivation. I mean, anxiety is really tied to overthinking, right? Thinking about what will happen. And we analyze all the different things that possibly could happen. And we think and we think and we think. And what does thinking do? It uses up energy stores. So we overthink to the point where by the time

we're actually ready to start something, we're exhausted. And this is something I struggle with every day. It can be applied to weight loss, but it can be applied to a workload, all the things you have on your to-do list. My, one of my huge flaws is that I will like see big picture and I will get overwhelmed and I will think about all the things. So by the time I'm ready to start, I am frozen because I'm exhausted. Yeah. So, yeah, so I've lost completely my train of thought, but anxiety, motivation.

There was another point, but it's not here right now, so she'll get back. Okay, we've lost some people who are just tuning in or people who tuned in, we were talking about poop and now we're talking about anxiety. We are talking about anxiety, but Kyle is like, he's so knowledgeable about so many things. Sometimes we go off on little tangents. I got so many questions for him,

but we are focused on anxiety and how it factors in. If you're just tuning in, factors into your weight loss journey or making change in your life and the difference between anxiety and stress and your issues and associations and how is anxiety impacting your life by having a new future trip and what if, what if this, what if that,

that almost paralyzes you from making any kind of decision and doing the things that you need to do. How do we, so besides the what ifs, I mean, is that the biggest tell? For the anxiety, like if you're dealing with anxiety. Yeah. I think it is one of them.

I mean, anxiety can show up physically. It can be, It can be erasing heart rate. It can be cold sweats. It can be restlessness. But when it comes to the mental symptoms, it can be the what ifs. It can be overanalyzing. It can be irritability, which is something we don't think about as anxiety. If you're more quick and more short tempered, there's a good chance that anxiety could be fueling that because your brain, if you think about it, your brain is on what if alert. And if someone in your life comes up and talks about something else, other than what ifs, of course you're gonna snap.

Be like, I'm spiraling right now. I don't maybe realize I'm spiraling, but that's why I'm short tempered. So it's this really insidious thing. And if you're going through a weight loss journey, if you're going through any sort of change, any sort of change, I think the more we accept that anxiety might pop up

and might be there, isn't a sign that we're doing something wrong or isn't a sign that we're failing. It's just being aware of it. And then once you're aware of it, you can take steps to support your body and support your mind in a way that it doesn't let it overcome you. Do you find that's a big part? Am I doing something wrong?

Like people say that all the time. And based on the scale not moving, right? I'm doing all the things. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. I swear I'm doing everything right, but the scale is not moving. So I must be doing something wrong. And I'm always like, why is that people's go to that they're doing something wrong? Yeah, I think because we're so hard in ourselves. And if you've, you know, I don't want to place bets. But if you have struggled with weight, my guess would be that you're more hard in yourself than not. And there's a level of frustration there. And there's a level of maybe shame there as well. So I think a default of what am I doing wrong? Why am I failing? Of course I'm failing. I think that default is sort of a pathway that a lot of us who have struggled with weight, it's kind of wired deep in us. So a big part of that is just

being aware of that and showing yourself compassion, which I know is one of those things that we hear about, but I do feel like what everyone's going through right now, the world, we have to be compassionate with ourselves because it's really the only way we'll move forward. Because the minute you start saying, I always like trying things on for size. And for me, when it comes to anxiety, there's kind of like four things to think about.

There's your mind, there is your body, there's nutrition and supplements. That's kind of like a four pronged approach. But when it comes to your mind, I really like trying on different phrases or different mantras and seeing what fits with me, seeing what fits with you. So one of my favorites when it comes to like that moment where you're looking at the scale and it's not moving and you're immediately going to the default of what am I doing wrong? This isn't working. And you just start stressing out. One of my things that I like saying is

just to kind of check yourself before you lose yourself. Ask yourself if you're coming from a place of fear or coming from a place of love. Because when you come from fear, you can feel it. If I if you're going through something right now and I ask you, is this coming from love or coming from fear, most of the time, you know, because fear will think, have you think you're feeling it'll think the worst case scenarios, it'll make you think that you can't do it. It's not worth it. But if you shift it and decide, okay, right now, you know what, I'm going

to come from love immediately. It's that just that subtle shift that can give you just the slightest more compassion for yourself, knowing that, okay, this is what it's like right now, but I know I'm taking action. I know I'm doing the things and the loving part of myself knows that good comes from that. So I really think it's a matter of when you're in that moment on the scale when something happens, there you have a choice and the more you support calm and support anxiety on a daily basis and we've talked about this before, getting ahead of it.

The more space you have in that moment to choose where you go from there. Does that make sense? Oh, it makes so much sense. Let's take a minute to hear from our podcast sponsor today because this new year, why not let Audible expand your life by listening? Kind of like what you're doing right now.

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today when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.ca. Fancy parka, a ticket to somewhere you don't need a fancy parka, or just be responsible and top up your retirement fund. Plus move any other eligible account and we'll give you a 1% match. Minimum $15,000 transfer. Register by March 15th. Additional terms apply. Learn more at wealthsimple.com slash match. I love this conversation because this is what these conversations are about. It's about awareness. Yeah. What's happening physically in your body,

what's happening mentally. And you know, of any point at all, you are struggling and you're wondering what, what the fuck is going on? It's all about like, I'm not, I'm struggling. It's such a big word. Like, well, what, what is it that you're, that you're struggling with?

So it really is about that awareness. I love the fear and the love, right? Like, is this, I'm like, well, what is it that you're struggling with? So it really is about that awareness. I love the fear and the love, right? Like, is this, I'm like, I got a lot going on in my life. I'm just thinking about my day yesterday. And I'm like, huh, was like my way of thinking based on fear. Well, what if this and what if that? I don't know about this and fuck, but this is,

fuck, fuck, fuck. None of it came from love. And I was just like, as soon as I switched it to love, I was like, ah, man, I was just raging in fear, all in response, fear response all day long to everything that I was doing. Now, in hindsight, that is very easy to do. But how do we show up in the moment? How do we how do we, how do we in that moment show compassion for ourselves?

So it's sort of like there's two different versions of what that when that happens, right? if you are can if this is completely new and There hasn't been any kind of groundwork to help lay that space of awareness in you and you're in that moment That's when sometimes the mind stuff That come from love., or come from fear, like I don't want to hear the right, even me, like, again, it depends on a day, you depending on what's going on in a day. And this happens to me, too. I'm like, I don't fuck come from love come from fear. I don't want to deal with right now because right now I'm fucking spiraling, right? Because that happens. So when that happens, okay, you're like, okay, the mind stuff isn't going to work. And I haven't done any of the stuff. That's when you kind of reach into whatever toolbox you have at your disposal at a given time and be like, okay, that's not working. What is going to work and typically, to kind of break the cycle of overthinking and being hard on yourself. That's

when I kind of move to the body and do body work. And that can be something that will physically calm your body down. And that can be that can be breath work. And I know we, again, it, depending on the day, you can roll your eyes at it. It can be, uh, it can be humming. It can be physically just touching yourself and figuring out what you can, you know, that see touch here and smell that kind of stuff to ground yourself. So that's kind of like tier two.

If the thinking isn't work, go to the breath, at least try it. Make your exhale longer than your inhale, just something to give you inner space. Because when you're in that moment and you are looking at the scale and everything is storming up on you, sometimes you can't outthink that anxiety, you can't out think that feeling, but if you breathe out and physically calm your heart, that can sometimes give you just enough space in to not spiral. Okay. Breathing, I want to talk about that for a sec, because with all the breath work, fucking feels like a job, Kyle.

I know. And you know what's so frustrating about everything that we do in this industry is that stuff that actually can work gets overwhelming and it gets over social media and it gets over everything. So the minute something becomes a cliche or we've heard it a million times, what do most of us do? We don't do it. Yeah.

And it just doesn't serve us. So it doesn't, I understand the need to like, and even when I kind of started this world, it's like, so I have to take time out of my day to breathe. Are you and I pay a premium for these apps? Apparently, at the end of the day, you know, at the end of the I mean, they're great. They're great. They're wonderful. I do love the apps. But sometimes it's like, Oh, I don't want one more thing. So whenever that's the case, it's like at the very least, nothing you don't have to count. If you don't want to, you don't have to do anything. Just breathe

out as much as you can get all the air out and then see how you do. When you make like at the bottom, at the base level, don't even count. when you make your exhales longer than your inhales, you signal to your body that things are okay. And you will feel even 1% better, which is sometimes all that's needed to move the needle. So you can go down the rabbit hole with breath work, you can do that, but at the end of the day, especially if you're going through an anxious time,

we tend to breathe very shallowly anyways. Someone said once like anxiety or anything is just emotion without breath. I forget who said that and I don't quote it, but it makes perfect sense because when you're going through a stressful time in general, you'll probably breathing from here and you're probably breathing very shallowly. But at the end of the day, the way your human meat suit works, if you take time to breathe out and then breathe in, that's all you have to do. Don't think about buying a subscription. Don't think about scheduling five minutes a day. You can, but you don't have to.

So breathing was one. I love the touching but you don't have to, you know? So, breathing- So, that would be tier two, sorry, and I would say, and then you go- Breathing was one. I love the touching, like whenever you're like sympathetic, you know, or empathetic to something happening with someone, you're like, oh my God. Oh yeah. Like, and that's sort of where that's calming for ourselves.

Like whether it's your hand on your heart or wherever that might be, that physically calm. So breathing, physical, like touching. Touch one, like I like, I think we've done this way before, but like if you, if you're going through, and this is like, again, if you don't wanna do any of the exercises, just don't, but for those who want something, you know,

what I like doing is rubbing my hands, especially if you're stimulated and you've been on your screen all day, which all of us are all the time. You take your hands and then you rub them and then you take the palms and just cup them over your eyes. Apply slight pressure, not a ton of pressure. Don't push your eyes in again.

Not if you're driving, obviously. Just have to say it in today's world. And then you breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Breathe and then do our long exhale. And do your long exhale. But when I, so that, that sometimes can really help kind of get you back and focused because what we don't, I think, give enough attention to nowadays is how overstimulated we are. And that takes its toll. Like our brains have to filter so much more than they ever have before. They have to filter technology. They have to feel like just the chemical light we're exposed to all the time.

And we're also exposed to a thousand different people's lives every day, right? In social media. And we never used to be, if we think about it, we never used to, we used to know what was going on with our family, with the people we lived with. If we went to school, we had the 30 kids in school, which seemed like a lot then, but then you come home.

But now we're subtly exposed to a thousand, I mean, we always had the news and that was the biggest stressor of the time. But now we have social media, now we have connections with 1000 different people around the world at all times. And we have to stop underestimating the toll that's taking on our mental health, and the toll that's taking on our anxiety. So sometimes if this all boils down to that moment, you look on the scale, there's a bunch of things feeding into your brain that you might not realize that's causing you to overreact in that moment. And that's where breath, that's where taking things to tune out the world

just for a couple seconds can make a bigger physiological impact than you might think. Well, and if you take people's history of really trying really hard, spending time, energy and money on diets,'s history of really trying really hard, spending time, energy and money on diets, being successful, gaining it all back plus more every single time here's from Suzanne and I love the realness and the share. And listen, you know, for everyone who struggles or people doing the program, that's so easy,

peasy, one and done, great, whatever. But struggle to deal with anxiety and an overwhelming sense of impending doom. Day 15, I shut out the world, including this program, tuned back in today. And as I try to deal with the excruciating sense of failure, this conversation is exactly what I needed to hear. Oh, good. Thank you. And thank you for sharing that. Yeah, right. And isn't it just amazing when someone connects,

like shares authentically and vulnerable, like there's something that just shifts inside of you. Like for me, it's like, oh, me too. Like for different reasons, but I hear you on the impending sense of doom. And I totally respect and relate to, well, I'm just shutting down right now, because my body says I just can't. And I just can't right now. And you gave yourself rest, but you came back. And you know, that's the thing. You fall down seven times. My mom's

favorite, you know, my mom has gone through a lot in her life. And her expression is fall down seven times, get up eight, right, because we're going to have those times. But the fact that you come back, and you just do one thing that day, you know, I think some of us make the mistake, especially if, and myself included, like I've never said, whenever I say this to be like, some people know myself completely. There's so many people out there that do that. And I'm like, you've never dealt with that.

That's me projecting. Anyways, it's so easy when you've given up, when you've quote unquote given up and shut everything down to be like, okay, well, I have some energy now. Okay, I'm gonna come back and you try to do everything and you set the bar way too high for yourself. And then you just can't do it. And then you kind of do this kind of self fulfilling prophecy where it's like, oh, well, I knew I can't do it. And then you kind of do this kind of self-fulfilling prophecy

where it's like, oh, well, I knew I couldn't do it. Because there was that lack of compassion toward yourself where it's like, your body needed a timeout. So when you're coming back, you got to take the microbytes. You got to do the one thing and praise yourself for doing those things. You know? We try to wait for the big accomplishments

or the big things to, okay, then I'll be proud of myself. Then I'll show myself, you know? But again, this is a cliche, but going back and wishing you had enjoyed the journey more because it did become a memory in the end, I think is really important. So that's something I'm trying to do, but I just really appreciate that, Shere,

because it, yeah, my heart felt something with that, Shere, so I appreciate it. You feel like you're not alone when you do have feels like that. I love your mom's fall down seven, get up eight, very similar to people's weight loss journeys. Yeah. Right, they lose, they gain back, they lose, they gain back.

I always say to people, if you've been trying to lose weight for 20 years, five years, two years, whatever, and you feel like you failed, but you are still trying, you haven't failed, you're persistent as fuck. That's it. You haven't given up on yourself. And that's the biggest thing. I was at the National Women's Show in the fall, and I got to meet so many of our members and you would be music. What saw it was so nice to see. What? I just was saying I saw that it was so wonderful to see that on Instagram. I remember our community is amazing. Yeah.

But so many would come up and be like, oh, yeah, well, I did this program, but then I failed and I'm like, whatever. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. What was going on in your life at the time? Like your perception of failure, what was happening? It's not because you didn't want to show up. Not that because you you know, you failed or whatever that was what like what was in every time they had this like, Oh, my husband was sick or somebody passed away or

I lost my job or something and we need to normalize that not everything is a straight line to where you're trying to get to. And you know, you might do one program do really well and then life just smacks you in the face the next program, you feel like you're hanging on by the skin of your teeth, and then you come back your next program and like that's, that's, that's we need to normalize that. This linear path instead of just thinking of life as fluid. Yeah. There will be ups and downs. And I think that one of the things that can help with that is just not detachment, but again, it's that awareness piece. Like being aware that you're, being aware that your body went through a stressful time.

Your husband lost his job. That's a lot for a body to go through. You lost your job. You had a death in the family. You had something. If you looked at it from an outside perspective, just like a bird's eye view in your life, be like, oh, that body, that physical human body just went through grief. It went through a lot.

Okay, there's that body, that physical human body just went through grief. It went through a lot. OK, there's that. And give it shroud that cover that cover that in compassion and then take it from there. This we like to link on, especially if we run anxious, we like to link on to something and hold it so firmly because because we do, but it just kind of makes us more reactive to whatever that thing is, if we're dependent from this stuff going on in our life. And again, I'm not saying dissociating, I'm not saying ignore, I'm not saying

be ignorant, if we're just more aware of it, and we take it from that place, it's just easier, I think, to come back from it, because it didn't define you, It didn't the weight gain or weight loss, that didn't define your perfect lovely little existence in this life. Right? It was just something that happened. And it's just information. It's just information that you take with you. And then it's like, Okay, and this now knowing that I'm going to move forward in this way.

The the the the when we attach so firmly to that number of that goal and the stuff that normally because life is fun doesn't always happen. If we attach our happiness to that and that defines us we're friggin screwed. Okay. Yeah. No, I have this next question. This next comment I was going gonna go in because say, say good time I gotta wrap things up.

I was gonna ask you about those satellites, sad lamps, cause I got one. But before I get to that, here's a comment from Pamela. I'm not an anxious person, never been, but I'm not very optimistic this program will work for me. So keep in mind, right? Like why would it not? And there's so much proof in the pudding.

We're constantly highlighting people. We are only four weeks into the program. Only lost three pounds in the first 10 days. Then nothing. Every day I'm the same. It's hard to be optimistic. So where, let me read it again. I'm not an anxious person, never have been,

but I'm not very optimistic. This program will work for me. Only three pounds in the first 10 days and then nothing. Every day I'm the same way. It's hard to be optimistic. I mean, it's normal for some people to have not lost any, but where does that fit? Like to me, that's like, where does that fit?

It's funny cause the link saying, oh, it's a very good question. Because it's like anxiety. It doesn't have to be, I mean, it might not be anxious. It might be not hope nor fear. It might be. It's like there's no reason. There's no reason to not. There's all the reason in the world to be optimistic.

I mean, we've had people not lose any weight to week seven, lose 30 in the end. We talked to real people who that's been their journey. Like this, this program is it you're so supportive. We got the experts, like it works for everybody as long as you don't, as long as you keep showing up, you can't mess it up. There's no reason to not be optimistic. Yeah. It's a very, it's a fair, I think in that case, it's just to be It's a very, it's a fair, I think in that case, it's just to be aware of how the brain works. I think our brains, anxious or not, have an inherent negativity bias, where it's easier, we always skew to the, it won't, we always skew that, and it's a survival, it's a survival thing. Our brains are wired to be more negative. And I am a big believer in energetics and that sort

of world that we'll talk about another time. But I think you don't maybe take optimism outside of the equation for a second and just take it as, let's see what happens. Let's be like, be aware that the brain will kind of say, well, this probably won't. Be aware that the brain be like, it's not worth it. Be aware that your brain is just kind of pulling back. And if nothing else, this is just more information. And the fact that you, in my head,

cause weight is such a biologically unique thing, the fact that you in my head because weight is such a Biologically unique thing the fact that you lost three to begin with like congratulations That's that's some information that like okay something something worked where it's like if you can just take it as this is information moving forward, this is just data I am collecting and If you are eating more whole foods if you're eating more protein, which is a big, I know, something you advocate for, eventually things will snowball in the right direction, I believe. So if you just take that, it's not anxiety, it's just like a brain's proponent to keep you safe and keep the negative. I would just say, go forward with a more neutral stance. Does that make any sense?

It doesn't have to be anxious. It can be not optimistic or fearful or hopeful. It can just be neutral and compassionate moving forward. It's very tricky. Yeah, no. I think that's helpful because I think people are trying to look where they fit. Right, they're trying to have their aha moment

They're like well, I don't feel anxious but I do feel to me this would fall under kind of doom and gloom like that It's not gonna work Not very, you know Would be the opposite of optin. What's the opposite of I was thinking? That's awesome. I was thinking fear like hope and fear optimistic pessimistic makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes pessimism, I think, leads to self-sabotage or self-fulfilling prophecy that when you're constantly thinking it's not going to work for you, you just look for reasons why it's not going to work for you rather than look for the reasons, like you said, the data collection or the glimmers as to why it will work for you. I lost, wow, I lost three pounds in the first 10

days. That's amazing. Looking for non-scale victories, that type of thing. Yeah. It's complicated. It's complicated and things, everything takes time. Like, you know, and when we're in it, it can feel like time slows down and it's just like, oh my gosh, four weeks feels like frigging forever. But in the grand scheme of things of all that your wonderful body has been through,

and I'm talking experiences, I'm talking environment you live in, and I'm talking about the way you were raised, the relationship, like the amount that your poor body has been through, four weeks is nothing, but it feels like forever, especially when you go through especially like a week of downsizing where it's like, I'm restricting more, it's just, it feels like forever. And it's sometimes it's just a matter of one day at a time and recognizing that things do take time because that this three month thing will be a memory at some point. And it'll be wonderful data for you. And, you know, sticking through something and getting, getting that data collection and finding what works and what doesn't work. And when it comes to nutrition and everything, health, it's not, we're so conditioned for the quick fixes or the quick stuff now, especially with social media nutrition and everything, health, it's not, we're so conditioned for the quick fixes or the quick stuff now, especially with social media, like everything, we're quick, quick, quick pills in general. There's so much out there that leads us

to believe things are fast. When it comes to even natural supplements, even that things take time and we just have to compassionately manage our expectations and recognize that we are individual and that we're just taking some stuff in right now. What's your biggest tool for awareness? Do you journal?

Do you like take time out your day? Like- Personally, it's meditation that helps the most with awareness. The day that when I get off my meditation practice, I'm more reactive. In general. If I do like I'll do 15 minutes in the morning, and there's this great book called stress less accomplished more. By Emily Fletcher, she just introduces meditation in a way

that's very digestible for some people. And my meditation practice is roughly based on that. So I recommend that. I'd also I'd also recommend the book The Big Leap. I don't know if you've talked about it before in the show. Okay, so The Big Leap is my favorite book of all time. It's by a wonderful psychiatrist psychologist by the name of Gay Hendrix. And his whole thing is about upper limiting ourselves and how we sabotage ourselves and it ties into the

comfort we're feeling right now. So when things you know, we have our zone of comfort, the minute we start to push to our I think it's zone of excellence, like our that where our highest self, if we're let's say we, we get a promotion, but all of a sudden we start to fight with our partner more. It's all about self-sabotaging to bring our thermostat back down to where we're comfortable. And I don't know this, but when we self doubt, when we say, when we throw in the towel too soon,

that can be sometimes, I don't know the individual case, a sign that we're upper limiting ourselves so we come back to safety. Like the big leap is the any talks about awareness, but to answer your question, meditation for me is the best way. And I've talked about it before to create space in your mind to create, I like I like visual. So I literally think of it as creating this white light of space in my body. So I'm separating myself from my thoughts.

And when you separate yourself from your thoughts, you're not defined by them, you are aware of them. And then you can choose. It just gives you a pillow between your light, the one that was here before and will be after, and whatever thoughts you're thinking, so you have that space. And for me, meditation is by far

the best kind of way to do that. Amazing. You gave us so many people are like, I got so many good nuggets and takeaways. I can't keep up. They're gonna have to rewatch this. We will store it in the guides for you to watch again, or you can download and listen to our podcast.

Also, the best way honestly is to follow Kyle. He's on Instagram. What's your Instagram? Kyle. So it's Kyle B. I-T-S L E B. When I say it's Kyle B people. Anyway, so I T S. It's Skylab. He's always sharing his tips. You can also find him on Canada's The Morning Show and you can head over to his podcast,

Feel Goodery podcast, which is absolutely brilliant. And I do believe you have a website, KyleBuchanan.ca. Are you coming back? Did we schedule you to come back? Kyle Bucanon Next, I think in the next session. Heather Cieslik Oh, the next session. Kyle Bucanon Yeah. Heather Cieslik Okay. What is Kyle drinking from a jar? Do we need it to? Kyle Bucanon Oh, this is, so this is whenever I do any sort of talk anywhere, this is holy basil This is this is the Tulsi. This is the thing because it helps calm like, you know speaking it, you know anxiety comes up

So I yeah, it's I don't just say it like anytime I have to have a stressful day or do anything Holy basil tea will be in my my cup Writing that down. Holy basil tea. I have so many questions because I wanted to talk to you about so many people are sick this time of year. I want to talk to you about that sun lamp. I got one of those. So now I pop it on in the morning and I walk on the treadmill. Makes a big difference. But I guess they're going to have to go to your podcast or they're going to have to go to your Instagram account where you have talked about all these things. Please welcome. Everyone's so like the support I get from LibbyLosers. It's unlike any other. So please. No.

Yeah. Thank you for having me. And just be good to yourself. I just feel like there's so much happening right now. We're all just feeling this. The only thing like, we hear it time and time again, but like, now we actually there's no there's no bluffing, we have to put in practice control what you can control your world, whatever you have, hold it near and dear and know that like this is saying for myself, for them, but then know that it's enough. You know what I mean? Like, control what you can control hold everyone really close, because it's scary time. Yeah. And change is scary regardless, you know? Change is scary. Your number one tip for embracing change.

No. Oh, what? Your number one tip for embracing change. Recognize that it's going to be uncomfortable and use that as the fuel. Like the minute we feel discomfort, we tend to run, but if we intend to be like, no, discomfort is that fuel. It's actually good.

If we address it as such, we're more likely to keep going when we feel it. And it's not a sign that you're failing. Discomfort is part of it. It helps us grow. Pressure makes diamonds. I love it. And I love you.

I love you too. I don't wanna stop talking. I just, it's selfish. I just wanna keep you on and ask you a million questions. You will stop talking. I just, it's selfish. I just want to keep you on and ask you a million questions. You will be back whether or not it's this program, but our next program. You are family to us now and we are so grateful that you've taken the time to share all your amazing knowledge with us. Kyle Buchanan, everyone go follow him on Instagram, listen to his amazing podcast, Feel Goodery. Thank you, Kyle, I appreciate you. Thanks, Gina. Bye everyone.

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