The Livy Method Podcast - Introducing Kyle Buchanan - Spring/Summer 2024

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Gina talks sleep, stress, anxiety, digestion, and more with our newest guest expert, Kyle Buchanan. Kyle is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner, public speaker, and host of feelgoodery, a podcast for "anyone who has ever felt less-than" and "for those who want to feel a little GOODER".You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspringsummer2024Topics covered:Introducing Kyle BuchananKyle’s history with anxiety and weight issues – coming to terms with yourself, self-acceptance through biohackingKyle’s passion for helping peopleTips for managing your inner dialogue/self-talk – become more compassionate with yourselfNavigating the human experience – feel your feelings!The impact sleep has on your mindsetThe importance of sleep – some tools to help with sleepThe benefits of earthing – using a grounding sheetAdding in heavier carbs at dinner as needed to help aid with sleepSleep tips – sleeping in complete darkness, staying off devicesNavigating stressors – supporting your body’s ability to be resilientAnxiety and weight loss - how anxiety factors into your healthTips for managing your anxietyThe warmth of The Livy Loser communityHealth begins in the gut – tips for helping your digestionWhere to find Kyle Buchanan – Instagram @itskyleb – feelgoodery PodcastKyle’s final thoughts – Give yourself grace!To learn more about the Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livy and welcome to the Livy 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 re-listen 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. summer runs, or playoff season meditations. Whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca.

You're going to have this ability to now reframe. Allow yourself time throughout the day to stress the fuck out. The thoughts and the feelings and the behavior cycle can start changing. It is Friday. The sun is shining and I am feeling good. So I'm declaring this feel good Friday. And today I have the perfect guest joining me. Kyle Buchanan is here. He is, what is he? He is a certified nutritional practitioner. He brings a fun, practical, holistic approach to not just health and wellness, but lifestyle. He is a resident contributor on Canada's The Morning Show, and he is the host of Feel Goodery, the podcast. Hello. Welcome. Hi, Gina. You continue to impress me,

but the production value on this whole, your entire team, like every time I've talked with them just are amazing and just, it blows my mind. I was in shock watching like, first of all, the countdown and then the whole intro to a live show. It's well done. It's really nice to be here. You know I'm a fan of yours. I'm a fan of yours. I used to work in television, so this is like a dream. In fact, I was thinking last night, because I know you're on Global. I was the lifestyle contributor for the Global News Morning show for two years, way back when.

It must be 15 years ago. I think Anne-Marie Meadowick was the host, and I can't remember the other guy who was the host. But yeah, I was like, I don't think we talked about that. We didn't. I know we talked the City TV stuff, but not the Global. You're just this onion that keeps on peeling. It's great.

Right. So, um, so when I sort of got out of television, cause I hosted my own show and did my own stuff for a while. And when I came back, I wanted to do it specifically around what I love to talk about. I was a sportscaster, um, for a couple of years. And I just was like, I want to talk about what I love. And so this gives me the opportunity to do that every day. So I've turned it into my own kind of like mini TV show. Listen, it works really well. And it's also like, speak to what you know and speak to what you love and your, your, your, your group will follow. And that's exactly what happened. I got, so, you know, you were kind enough to come on my podcast. I got so much wonderful feedback from people connecting with you.

Like on, and I think it's because you're so authentic, but they connected on all the levels. They connected on the doubt and, you know, overcoming adversity and rebuilding yourself and that kind of stuff. So yeah, we, we share a lot of similarities, but like a lot of people loved and for good reason, you've, there's a reason you were this successful. Anyways, I could literally go on all day about you. So it'll be like the entire hour of being like, no, there's this and this and this. And it's great. Stop, please stop. Well, you know, I'm a big fan of yours as well.

So just so everyone knows, and our members are excited. There is so much excitement in the comments. Everyone's like, I'm so excited for this comment. There's only like, you know, 30,000, give or take, you know, watching. There's only like, you know, 30,000, give or take, you know, watching there's like, um, millions who download, listen to our, our, um, podcast, of course. But, um, you are, you're like a celebrity in here today. I came across you a couple of years ago, followed you,

stalked you because I just loved everything that you're talking about. And then we had an opportunity to connect. So you invited me on your podcast. Thank you. It was so fun. And I had you on mine. And I think Kim, you guys posted that yesterday. So we had a kind of a general conversation about Kyle and talked about a lot of fun stuff. So today, what do you want to talk about today? So why don't you just introduce yourself? Like, who is Kyle? Who is Kyle? Wow. I've got a Kleenex ready. No, I, so I have, I always say like, I have a long history of since I was, you know, in my, in my youth, when I was a kid, I have a long history of anxiety, self-doubt, self-hatred and weight issues. And I've spent, I spent a lot of my life, you know, I guess first half, cause it's funny, the old, as you get older,

no longer can you say like the first half of my life, because you're like, anyways, all this to say, I didn't like myself for a long time. Part of it was the weight, part of it was coming to terms with my sexuality, part of it was just a real feeling of shame that kind of clouded a lot of days. And then it took, you know, some trial and error. But I started in, I guess, in the self help world, like I started with food first, and using that to kind of change my state, and change my weight. And I lost some weight. And that was okay. But then the gay stuff started becoming an issue. So then I started in my early 20s, started to escape with alcohol and food again. So it became kind of this roller coaster. So it's kind of this ebb and flow of coming to terms with yourself in different ways.

And I essentially started hacking. I know the term hacking is so overused now, but biohacking my system so that I felt more in control, felt more like myself. And slowly it kind of progressed into where I'm at today. And so is that where your love, because like me, I, same thing, right? Like I've always had this love of, it started in fitness. I saw this aerobics instructor one day, like, you know, leading all these people and they look so joyful. And then, you know, I got into,

after I lost, I gained a hundred pounds at university and lost that and, and got into helping people do that. And I have this like passion for it. And is that where your passion, cause you, you, you actually care. Like there's, there's a skill to sharing what you know with people in a way that resonates with them rather than trying to show what you know. And you do that so beautifully. And is that where your passion for helping other people has like, where did I think? I think the passion really just comes from feeling like crap for so many years. And like, feeling like not loving myself and hating it. And I know it's so it can be corny, but I love a cornflake. Like I'm all about the corny factor, but it really comes from genuinely not wanting people to feel like

crap or feel less than that's a big thing. Cause I, I, you know, in the home I grew up in, like there was a lot of, um, like seeing my, my mom feeling inferior, not good about herself. And there was, you know, that, so I think part of that and part of knowing what it's like to feel like crap myself, I don't want people to feel less than, and don't want people to feel bad. And I think sometimes, sometimes not always when you truly haven't experienced it, it's hard to, uh, fake it that you're like, Oh, I know what you're going through. I get it. Like it's, you know, so I think the passion really comes from that, that deep desire for not wanting other people to hurt. Yeah. I feel, I feel this. I feel this. So yesterday we

have this, we have this, um, we have some amazing guests and we have this, uh, Dr. Beverly, he, she's a clinical psychologist. And yesterday we talked about like that internal dialogue, that self-talk, that body image, right? How to kind of recognize, you know, like the moment that the thought coming on and the reality of that thought, like, you know, getting on the scale and being like, you know, the scale's not down. I'm a failure. This isn't working for me. I'm never going to lose my weight or, you know, indulging in that food. And then, you know, what you think is going to bring you joy. And then you berate yourself afterwards, you know, do you have tips to, do you have tips to manage that?

What say you about that? I think, I think it's, it, it depends on how sensitive you are on the day. And that varies because a lot of times, if you're going through something, if you've slept poorly, if you've done all these things, it's easier to fall trap to that voice and let it take hold of you. And I don't think there's ever a time when it's like anxiety. You will never, if you deal with anxiety, you won't rid yourself. There's no cure for it. It's just knowing how to handle it. So I think knowing how to handle that voice is a big thing. And there's so many different routes in to supporting that voice.

There's building like a solid foundation. So yes, you feel calmer and stronger. So you're more stable when you hear that voice and don't teeter. But there's also just becoming more, and this is another cornflake, it's more compassionate with yourself. Like when that, when that, when that little one is talking in my, the name of my little one changes on the day, it depends on what, what mood I want to give her. But I create, and it goes hand in hand with finding that balance, but the more compassionate you are with that person seeing that it's like, oh, I know you're hurting.

It's sort of like one of my favorite visualizations is when you are hurting and you're going through something. Maybe it's the scale. Maybe it's not. And that voice is talking. Sometimes I picture that voice as like this wailing little baby. Or if you've ever seen like Harry Potter, the last Harry Potter, you know how Voldemort looks at the end, all shriveled up and like just this sad little monster. I picture it as that screaming at me, wailing, because it's not our highest loving

selves that are talking this way, right? It's the ego. So sometimes when I'm feeling that way, I imagine I'm holding that little screaming baby or screaming Voldemort in my hand and say, Oh my gosh, dear one, I know you were hurting, but I'm here for you. So you can go as long as you want. And it's like the high, your higher self holding that one, that visualization normally really, really helps me. And I think the last part is finding different roots in for you that work. Like for me, visualizations help, a solid sleep helps doing things that build stress resiliency helps. And the other thing, I'm not sure if you know, it was talked about yesterday, but meditation for the purposes of separating yourself from the thought, when you're always in a state of fight or flight, like,

you know, thoughts, someone told me once that thoughts are kind of like clouds. We're just hearing a thought or that voice is talking and it's attaching ourselves to that thought and going down the rabbit hole with that thought that really gets us working up and feeling terrible about ourselves and it creates this rabbit hole. But if you allow the thoughts as clouds to just pass you by and not attach to them, that's a skill. And that's a muscle you cultivate. And I find that meditation or breathwork or something that allows you to connect with your body and distance yourself from that thought. When you create that distance, it's easier not to attach yourself to those thoughts as they come by or that little voice that tells you you're worthless or I don't

know whatever whatever they like to talk about on the day I I love that approach because I'm always like let's work through it let's rewire let's get and sometimes you're just like okay yeah let's just like just like manage yeah let's just cope let's just let the thoughts go by like clouds. I, I love that because you're right. We feel like it's an onslaught sometimes. And I love what you said, depending on the day. Um, and, and I'm assuming that you're, you're so yours, your, your approach, which I know you have this holistic and I don't like holistic. It's like taking a whole approach to everything is like, okay, your thoughts are going to be less whiny if you get a good night's sleep, if you're moving your body, if you're feeling your best. And I love what you said about that voice is not your highest self. That's not your highest

self. It's not. It's not like you, it's the, it's just, you know, this is not going to be a philosophical conversation, but we are. It can be. We are. I do believe that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And the spirit is when we're feeling great. We're feeling ourselves. Part of this human experience is experiencing this ego, right? It's part of this ride that we're all on.

It's part of like our biology, like this human meat suit. The ego is kind of part of this ride that we're all on. It's part of like our biology, like this human meat suit, the ego is kind of part of it. So sometimes when it's really bad, I just try to remember that. And yeah, holistic view, like depending on the day, because I really do believe like some, some things are going to work great one day. And then depending on your biology and your chemistry and your hormones the next day, that same thing might not work. The trick is just developing your own set of tools and toolbox kits that you can like draw upon and be like, okay, not this, maybe that. And, and it's not also not like sometimes it is important to feel your feelings. Like I'm not a fan of like toxic positivity and just denying it. Sometimes working your way through it really helps. And, but I mean, there are some like through lines that can help on a biological level, like sleep.

We are, when we have like, I read this study a while ago, when we have one bad night's sleep, even if it's just like a couple less hours, we are more likely to perceive other humans as negative. Like if we have a neutral interaction with someone and they're like, hi, like, hi, Karen. Hi, how are you? Good. And then it was completely neutral. And on a given day, you'd be like,

oh, that was a fun conversation. If you slept poorly, you are more likely to perceive, oh, she's mad at me. What did I do? That was a weird conversation, right? Like that was weird. So anyways, it's one of those things. There are the staples that we know will help us, but then the trick is finding your

nuanced tools on the days where you need a little extra help. Love that. Okay. So where's your, what is your passion? Like, what is your, what do you want people to know about? I was going to say weight loss, but let's go bigger than that. Um, health and wellness. Like, is it sleep? Is it exercise? Is it food? Is it meditation? Like where's your, like, where would you start with that? Like from a health, from an overall health point? Like, where's your, like, what do you want? Like, what do you want to talk about? I want to talk about your microbiome. You want to talk about sleep. You want to talk about, what do you want to talk about? I think, well, sleep is always a thing. What, okay. No, one little thing about sleep that I haven't talked

about yet that I've been experimenting with because I track my I track my sleep and then I want to go into digestion um but uh I got the the aura ring for Christmas so I've been tracking my sleep which is like a blessing and a curse at the same time because sometimes you wake up and you're I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of them to be honest because sometimes you wake up and you're like oh'm not sure I'm a huge fan of them, to be honest, because sometimes you wake up and you're like, oh my God, I slept so great. I feel great. And then you look at your numbers and it's like, no, sorry. And you're like, oh, I, I, I guess I didn't sleep great. Okay. I guess today's, I guess today's going to be pretty crappy. Wait, we are, our, um, our psychologist, Dr. Beverly is also a sleep researcher. So we talked to her about the psychology behind sleep.

And we talked to her about these things. And she's done like research groups where they tell people who had a crappy sleep, you had one of the best sleeps ever. And they go on to believe that they had the best sleep and they feel amazing. Yes. Whereas you tell people who had a great sleep and you tell them, oh, you know, that was like, how do you feel? That was a really interrupted sleep. They believe that they did not sleep. So there is something to be said about that. I'm just saying that it makes a lot of sense because I see in real time. So I don't I don't love it, but it is interesting to see data collecting. It's data collecting. Exactly. But I so one thing that I struggle with is deep sleep, which a lot of us do now. But I recently, I was, I like experimenting, right?

Like I like the concept of, yeah, I'll try it on for size. You know, even if there's not a ton of weight, I'm curious. I take anecdotal evidence into account. And I got a grounding sheet for my bed. Oh, yeah. It's like a fitted sheet. So you plug it. It essentially connects with the

earth's, um, electro charge anyways. Don't not. So I plug it in and I was like an old school. I can ground myself in bed. I do it every morning. I visualize my feet on the ground. You just have to be patient. It takes time. You don't need to, um, um, I want to hear about your mat because I, you don't need a mat to ground yourself. We're already connected. And then, so I like, I will like,

I don't even have to walk on grass. I will like in bed. Yeah. Connect to mother earth, connect up to the divine and ground myself instead of myself. But I I'm interested in the mat. What really? The mat?

A grounding mat? I do. I do love that. I do love it. Really? Like, well, I love what you said,

but I also love the, the, the numbers of love what you said, but I also love the numbers for the grounding mat. So essentially the grounding, the grounding mat, especially like, cause I'm in a condo. So I'm like, uh, eight stories above the ground anyway. So the grounding mat, you're going to have to wait before you go in. Cause I know it ties into your story. Tell people what it is. Cause everyone, I'm going to have thousands of people saying, what's the grounding mat in a second. Yeah. Okay. So essentially a grounding mat, it's a grant. So it's a fitted sheet. i have like a queen size sheet that i just got on amazon and it's interwoven with silver uh like silver fibers okay and you plug it in to you know

how you have an electrical outlet and there you have the two things on top and the grounding port it plugs like one thing into the grounding port there's no electrical charge but that grounding port connects to the earth. There's a big rod down the building that goes to the earth and it's, it's part of electricity. It's part of how, why we don't yeah, we don't get shocked.

So there's no charge for it, but it connects to the charge from the earth, which is negative. And essentially it's mimicking earthing, which is when you go and stand bare feet on the ground. And what earthing does is kind of balance our electrical charge because the earth is negative, uh,

has negative charge. We throughout the day, accumulate more positive charges from EMS, from things we use. So the theory is that grounding kind of balances out your system. So anyway, so that the grounding sheet is kind of like a hack for if, if you don't

want to do the connection with earth, spiritually, which I agree with, but what would this be like, so you know, I live in that I live north of the city. Yeah. And when I drive in, like, it's calm, like I got birds in the morning, all of that, you know, I got, you know, ducks, and I got wildlife in my backyard. And then I drive into the city. as i'm driving i can feel the lagoon yeah it's it's could be i think that's just the amount of people and the amount of stress that we have in the city and i also think it's the toronto traffic doing that to you but but is that the kind of are we talking like for people to physically be able to because this is going to tie into, are we talking like for people to physically be able to, cause this is going to tie into your sleep.

We're going to go back to your conversation about sleep. Is this, what would be the benefits of a grounding mat for people when it comes to their sleep? So in terms of the big overarching benefit that people talk about, it's essentially balancing that charge and reducing inflammation is the big one wow it claims to help reduce inflammation people notice less pain again there's not a ton of studies around this but what was interesting because i just tried it for you know i'm not allowed can we swear on the spot or no we're doing it okay i was gonna say shits and giggles i was doing for shits and giggles because it wasn't it wasn't overly expensive expensive. It was like $120. Okay. Anyway, so I was doing it and my deep sleep

has improved by like, normally I get like an hour, which is really not good, but now I'm averaging an hour and 20 every night and that 20 minute difference. Yes. So it's just interesting to see. So that was my little thing on sleep. You are not alone. We have so many people talking about how they have a grounding mat and a grounding sheet. I love it. Jen, I use grounding sheets and mats. Yeah, Netflix has a show about those. Yeah.

Yeah, okay. All right. Here's me ordering one on Amazon. I know. Yeah, I really should. I should become an Amazon affiliate, really. Me, same. I mean, right? Especially because we give them so much money and he does not need it. Yeah, I really should. I should become an Amazon affiliate, really. Me, same, same. I mean, right?

Like, especially because we give them so much money and he does not need it. Might as well get a little bit of it ourselves. Anyways, yeah, so that makes a difference. Kyle will be selling grounding mats later today, everyone. You can go to my shop. I'm also selling t-shirt and merch. So, yeah. Who's in?

Here's Lori. My grounding mat is totally helping my inflammation yeah and she says the um the first night i used it i dropped two pounds here's joanna hunt she says please don't fucking swear kyle okay deal yeah yeah thank you for being the the the uh yeah the The well-spoken police. Thank you so fucking much. Okay. So we're on sleep. It's just interesting. The other thing that I found works in practice is like the two things that have made the biggest impact. And this is just personal.

This is a personal thing. It is the grounding mat. And whenever I have oatmeal with dinner or as a bed. I know oatmeal, like it is a source of melatonin. Um, but only sometimes. Uh, but anyways, that's sometimes if I, if I'm really just struggling to get my, cause I don't always do carbs with a night with dinner. Um, I normally feel sharper the next morning when I don't, but if I'm like need to get back on track and I'm trying different things, um, it'll be oatmeal and then, um, uh,

for dinner or with dinner before bed. What's that? Um, I'll normally have it like as my dinner. It's like sometimes my lazy dinner will be, you know, a protein and oatmeal if I'm really in a rush and I haven't slept well, but, um, yeah, it varies. But that was my little thing on the grounding sheet. The other thing, if I can, the that for a second with the oatmeal, cause everyone's going to talk about the oatmeal for dinner, because with the, with the living method, their dinner, like, so we're like more main carb, like your heavier carbohydrates, rices, quinoas, stuff like that. Better at lunch when you're utilizing the energy from them.

Yeah. And then they have a bunch of, they are eating throughout the day and then they have a couple of snacks and then their, their dinner right now is focused on like protein, vegetables, leafy greens, healthy fats, and sort of heavier carbs as needed. In the weeks to come, that's going to switch and more of the vegetables will be the focus. So this would be the reason. So if someone is having trouble sleep, because we say extra carbs as needed, would you suggest if they are having a hard time sleeping that maybe for that purpose, they add in those heavier carbs and why, or that oatmeal and why?

I would say yes. And I I'm with you like normally, and this is where I love as needed because normally I'm the same with you. I protein focused, uh, non-starchy carbs at night. Um, but for me, my thinking is that sleep is the healer. And if you're not sleeping well, there's like a downstream effect and it's the domino effect the next day. So even though you're not having the carb with dinner, but you're sleeping poorly, that's really not helping in the long run. So sometimes it can be a benefit. The reason I do oatmeal and more of a starchy, well, oatmeal in particular is because it is a source of melatonin and it can help you sleep. Sometimes when people are having, and I've read through, you addressed blood sugar so, so wonderfully within your

program. Sometimes having that little starchy carb at night can help with blood sugar and preventing you from like waking up in the middle of the night. If you're going through the kind of those blood sugar swings, especially if you're under a lot of stress um but it really is as needed it's not as if you have to if you're having sleep issues you have to do it all the time but it's worth one or two nights seeing if it makes a difference but uh variety variety can help okay what else you want to talk about anything else i mean we could go down a rabbit hole of sleep i'm sure uh no sleep is i know you have wonderful experts on who've covered a lot but no i just want it was my just my my two cents

about the grounding uh the grounding sheet and and sleeping in complete darkness and not looking at our phones which we know but we it's so it's so like there was there was a sketch a while ago and the the lead girl was like saying like doctor what do i do i'm having i'm having trouble sleeping he's like okay don't look at your phone an hour before bed and she's like yeah but like what can i do what can i really do and she's like essentially like we're all just human beings are silly and sometimes yeah i mean you can i've gone the route with like wearing blue blockers before bed uh i've tried it out with like minimal success but that works that you know for me the biggest

biggest thing for sleep is uh complete darkness a slightly cool room and don't drink a lot of water very fast before bed because the rate at which you drink water will affect you having to pee yes we we were a sip. We're a sip spread it out throughout the day. Sippers around we're sippers, sippers around here. You would believe you would, do you believe though that sleep is like the ultimate pillar of health? Like sleep is like the be all end all like pretty much. It's like, you got to get that and eating to support your blood sugar. Yeah. Yeah. Those two things. And so what about stress? I do want to get into digestion because I know you love that conversation, but what about stress? How do you

feel about stress? Like we're learning a lot about stress. Um, you know, just all of it, cortisol levels affecting your sleep, um, affecting how your body's processing foods. When you're stressed, then you're not sleeping and then how you're waking up the next day and choices that you're making and all of that. What, what do you feel like? What do you, are you passionate about stress? How do you feel about stress? I'm passionate not sleeping in the home. You're waking up the next day and choices that you're making and all of that. What do you feel like? What do you, are you passionate about stress? How do you feel about stress? I'm passionate about stress in the sense of I'm, yes, I am. The stress and anxiety are like my, I call anxiety my closest friend and they're two kind of like cousins of each other. They're hand in hand. But stress, I mean, stress is interesting. Like stress does so, it gets a bad rap and you know, I've listened to one of your recent podcasts and

short-term stress is actually good. It's the chronic stress that we're all having issues with, right? Yes. Because we're stimulated all the time. Like the way stress is supposed to work is we get faced with a stressor, our bodies turn on releasing these hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, the stressor ends and we go back to normal, but the never the back to normal part never happens for us nowadays because we're, we stimulated and even things that we don't perceive as stressors are stressed like just because it's just mundane our body can still consider going on social media and seeing like someone you're jealous of as a stress and it can see it can see you know just food and like even things that are more subtle, like food sensitivities or inflammation in the

gut, that's also a stress on the body. So we're inundated. So my belief is that we have to do things to support our body's ability to be resilient so that we're not taken down with the stress because stressor stress is what it is. It will always be there. It really is how our bodies respond to that stress that affect our physiology. It's the same thing as the cloud and the thought that we were talking about earlier, having that distance between the thought and yourself, having the distance between that stressor and how you react determines how good your life's going to be. So, and, and on the other, you know, with digestion, stress is a killer for digestion. So it's, yeah.

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or rest. And Peloton has everything you need whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. And I want to go to digestion, but I want to pivot and talk about anxiety. It just occurred to me. So anxiety is kind of your jam for so many reasons. How does anxiety, so, you know, we have people trying to lose weight, right? Follow the program, try to get better sleep, try to move their body, try to whatever, try to work on their digestion, all that. How does, because I know a lot of people deal with a lot of anxiety, especially me. Like I was used to be cool as a cucumber. I don't know whether it's hormones I'm starting to realize maybe or the pandemic.

I can't go to the grocery store anymore. I still have like anxiety. I used to be able to leave my house. Like now I just, I don't know what it is. So it's that, you know, and I have kids that have like super high anxiety and it seems exhausting. It is exhausting. It is exhausting. I'm owning it.

I'm owning that. I, you know, I've been prescribed the medication. I haven't stopped. I haven't started taking it because I've been doing other things. So I've been, you know, kind of managing it. Um, but how, um, how does anxiety factor into our health and are like people trying to lose weight and get healthier and make change i mean on a very basic level like anxiety increases cortisol and when the cortisol is out of whack it's really hard to lose weight like that alone but anxiety it takes and it's so frustratingly sad because it's just on the rise like like another pandemic right anxiety just it robs us of the present like it just takes away what little time we have on

this earth and i know that's like glue and doom but it it's i i unless you get a hold on it or figure out ways to not let it run your life it's it's like a cancer it's insidious and it becomes the trick with anxiety or the sneaky, sneaky trick, especially if you haven't experienced it before and you all of a sudden are, is getting to it and not letting it become a habit. Because for people who have been anxious for a long time, like myself, it almost becomes a habit just to worry all the time. And then you're, it, it, yeah, it takes a lot more to undo that or just be just be more

aware of it than if you're just dealing with it now. But with anxiety. For me, like the way I think about it is anxiety is what happens when you think about things that are beyond your control, like the future, technically, it's beyond your control. And normally anxiety is about the future. And for me, what worked for me after like trying different things is figuring out what I can control. And when I focus on the things that I can control, normally, there are things that support my physiology and my ability to calm, which ends up helping my future anxiety. So I'm not as likely to be anxious the next day. But a big and another thing with anxiety is you can't outthink it. Sometimes you can't outthink your thoughts. And sometimes getting into the body is the way to do it. We were so arrogant

as humans, right? We're just the worst. It's like, Oh, you have anxiety, I'm going to get you. I'm going to think I try to outthink my thoughts. That is totally me. Right now I'm gonna think me I try to out think my thoughts that is totally me right now I'm this thing where I am trying to just be in the moment like my life is very exciting I have lots of amazing opportunities coming down things I could create things I could do and I guess but then I'm like then the worry of like well what about this and what about that and then I got my past shit I'm always like in the past I'm always like stressed in the future. So my thing right now is like, let's just like be in the, in the moment, but I'm, I'm trying to outthink my thoughts. That's exactly what I'm doing. But more than that, here's like, Sandy, how do you help people you love with anxiety? I mean, that's a big thing.

I think you have to start with yourself first, but I have never talked about anxiety and people doing this program and trying to lose weight. We've talked about so many other things, but so many people are dealing with anxiety and then they're trying to lose weight. They're trying to like follow the food plan and be mindful and be in tune and manage your stress and get better sleep and move their body. And yes, all of those things factor in to help you to manage your anxiety. But I've never talked about anxiety and weight loss. It's a really interesting topic, especially like when people are first signing up, especially when they don't know, because I'm sure the what ifs that come up or what if, what if this is hard or what if this doesn't work or what if, well, especially with something like

weight loss, which you handle so beautifully, it's such a personal subject and it's, it's so, you know, drenched in a lot of times, like people like feelings of failure because like you tried and you haven't, and that creates this, it creates this worry. Right. So it, it, it really is. It's a one. Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a bigger topic than the time we have allotted for. But weight loss is like a daily or the weight program is a daily journey. Right. And if you're continually like putting in the effort to focus on your daily journey at the same time, holding on to that future, what ifs, that's a lot to carry. It is.

So sometimes knowing, okay, the only thing I can focus on is here and now. And we know, and I know it's one of those things that we roll our eyes at because it sounds ridiculous, but the ability to be present is a muscle that we cultivate. And so if you're holding that future, like what if it doesn't work? What if it, especially our brains are like prone to the negativity bias, like what if it doesn't work? What if it – especially our brains are like prone to the negativity bias. Like what if it doesn't work? As you're trying to do all this work towards food and changing the way you eat, that's not good energy to put on your present day, right? It's not.

Sometimes if I know the energetic component is not helping me, it's not serving me, it's easier to just focus on the present. Again, some days that won't work because we're human beings. But what I would say is if you're, if you're, we can only do so many things, right? In a given day, we can't focus on what we're doing and what we can, but we're going to be like shells of ourselves. If we try to do everything, the things you can focus on, especially if you deal with anxiety is the present is your breath, getting in tune with yourself, giving yourself compassion. And then you can throw in some things that help your body. You know, for me, like I'm a big fan of adaptogens and teas throughout the day, because they're such a simple way. It's like drinking a witch's potion, like holy basil.

I've talked about it a lot. But it is one of those things that does help calm anxiety. Because sometimes you can't outthink anxiety and sometimes it is a habit but you can do things to calm it down a little bit things that by like physiologically calm it down adaptogens do that breath work does that um sometimes even just like rubbing your like one of the exercises that someone told me once was rubbing your hands like when you're in your head and you can't think of it rub your hands together and focus on what it feels like for the right hand to be rubbing the left one and the left one to be rubbing the right one. And it forces you, like if you, if you really do it,

it forces you to become present because if you're being chased by a line or if you're in fight or flight, you will not have time to like, feel the sensation of what it's doing. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Sometimes that really helps. And the other thing is of what's feeling. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Sometimes that really helps. And the other thing is, of course, breath. Sometimes when I'm in my head and I, sometimes, silly one. Anyway, sometimes when I'm in my head, like taking your finger, because especially we

are prone to distraction now. We go on social media emails. Like we are, our brains are fractured almost. So that doesn't help anxiety. So sometimes taking a breath in, focusing on one thing like we are, our brains are fractured almost. So that doesn't help anxiety. So sometimes taking a breath in, focusing on one thing, like your finger, breathing in through your nose, and then taking a longer exhale out through your mouth, focusing on this one thing really can just kind of bring you back to the present and get you moving forward. I really tangented into the whole thing, but.

This is so great. You know, I love your perspective. I love people because I think people resonate with things differently and I'm always like I'll ask like a million questions a hundred different ways until I get it right and I think you know someone can explain something this way and the person like eh whereas someone explains it completely different so so you talk about stress anxiety all those things and it's not it's like we are we we're wired to handle stress, but stress is supposed to be this thing that happens. And then we're supposed to like, be like, ah, okay, danger done. We're good. But like you say, then we go on our phones or we get in our cars and we drive, or we talk to our kids about school or we would like, it's just like, it's an onslaught of never

ending stress. And some of us are in a hyper state of vigilance all the time. And there's bad stress, horrible things happen. And then there's exciting things, also stressful. So what you're saying is when you take time to focus on your breath, when you take time, and Dr. Beverly has talked about this too, smell the flowers, look at the sun, like don't look at the sun, don't look directly in the sun, but you know what I'm saying. You know, rub those hands together. That is a physical trying to calm the body and put it in that after stress state. Yeah, exactly. And it is, it is the irony is

sometimes when we are stressed out and feeling like, you know, hot garbage, the last thing we want to do is take time to do that stuff. Do know fuck that no that's not gonna work for me i'm a mess but the fact is it's like that's when you kind of for me and sometimes it's about hearing it the right way or getting in the right way if you actually think about that as not some wooey thing and it's medicine like if you think of it as a scientific medical thing that you can do, you're more likely to on those days kind of do it because sometimes, I guess sometimes we just like being in our own crap and sometimes we get addicted to that stress and it's all we know.

So we're going to going on that rabbit hole. The other thing that's interesting about stress that I do want to say is that sometimes, and it goes back to that cloud thing, the way we perceive stress actually can make a difference to how it affects our body, right? There's two groups of people. One group sees stress as bad and terrible, and they're stressed out because of the stress, and it's not good for us. They know it's really bad for our health. They're not going to do what's great, but the people who think that stress actually makes them stronger, that it's part, and again, there's nuance with this, but stress is

actually a good thing. I can handle this stress. It makes me think sharper. They actually do better on a lot of different health markers. And that's just really interesting to the way we perceive our life affecting our biology. So I was in Bali at Christmas time. And have you ever been there? No. Eat, Pray pray love is my favorite movie so i really want to go oh my god mine too okay okay first of all in you know when she goes to rome and that restaurant they're eating at outside been there been there twice it's my favorite restaurant they have the best pasta and oh yeah oh no um but you know what and went to the rice field the place where she's riding her bike is like the monkey village.

Anyway, it's not the same Bali that it was when they filmed that film. Unfortunately, that's what I heard. The movie kind of wrecked it for it. Right. Cause everyone went there. Tourists,

but I love Bali, but the driving is insane. The driving is like, there are no, look, I'm stressed talking about the driving. It is craziness. It's like bikes and things and people.

Did you drive? Did you actually drive? No. No, you cannot drive. You cannot drive. So we were in a car, like a van with like the whole family. And there's cars everywhere. And it's craziness.

And my mom's like, oh, and I'm like, oh, the kids are like, oh my God. And I said to the guy, how do you, he's just like, so over here is the la la la. And I said to him, how are you? How do you do this? He's like, he's like, there's no stress. He's like, if they if they have somewhere to go, they go. I get there when I get there. I am like, because everybody is so calm.

Like, if that happened in Canada, be like, fuck you. And there's no stress. And his whole mindset was, it's like, we all got to go where we're going. And if he needs to go in front of me, he needs to go in front of me. And if he had to make that turn, he had to make that turn. And I'm just like, so they just let it cut. And they sit in traffic and there's like cars parked blocking the way. And they're just, they just wait.

And I'm like, all right right does that not piss you off he's like i think that's what i love about travel is that you just see like wait i'm a human you're a human why are you so calm like what like especially like going to like europe where they're just like smoking cigarettes and drinking their wine midday like they're they're two p.m live until 120 yeah living to 120 because they don't like they just the it is frustrating and you're like us because we we you know north america we hustle and we i don't know it's that whole it's the cliche of i'm going to say it wrong but like they we live to work and they work to live kind of thing. But it stresses, it's one of those things. And I always say like, um, I, I eat well, but like stress is going to kill me before anything

else. Yeah. Same. I have a heart attack from stress. Same. And life is good for me. Right? Like at the same time, I love my job. Life is good for me, but yeah, I'm going to have a heart attack from stress. I always say that. Sometimes important to recognize that it is human nature to look for stress and like you want to survive and we're still programmed, right? So we, our, our nature is to survive and we also mimic everything we've been around. So our survival, you know, in North America has been a hustle because that's what worked for us and we've mirrored it and it's also in our biology. So it's not, it's not something you have to feel bad about. It's not something that you have to feel like, Oh, like I feel crappy and now I'm angry that I have stress and I'm letting it get to me.

It's just something that we have to be consciously aware of. And on the daily, especially with our modern lives, on the daily, do things to support your system and allow your brain to just rest. And I think that's another thing with rest. Especially North America, we'll rest for like half a day. Like we'll have a day off and we'll rest for like, well, like half a day, like we'll have a day off and we'll rest for half a day. But then during that half a day, we're probably feeling guilty because we're not actually getting stuff done, which energetically is not rest. Yeah, no. Sometimes the greatest healing comes from actually like, if you have the like luxury or can like

one full day of nothing, two full days of just no stimulus for your brain, reading what you do. And I know it's very, very difficult, especially people work so many jobs and it's, but it is one of those things where if you can't do it, you owe it to yourself to find another route in. And even if that is breath work on the way to work, you know, it's a luxury, isn't that a luxury? And we need the downtime. We need the rest. It's probably something that's so important for your health and wellness. We're like, what can I do to be healthier? What can I do to be healthier? Sit your ass down.

It's like, not that. Not that. Calm down. I'm cognizant of time. I do want to touch a little bit because I just want people to understand how amazing you are. Because first of all, you're in now. So now you have to stay. Meaning that you're going to come back. You're going to join us. You're going to be all, you're in now. So now you have to stay. Meaning that you're going to come back.

You're going to join us. You're going to be like, you're here now. You're part of us. That's what happens. I have to say, I've never met a, um,

a community of people like, like the, the Libby losers. Is that still a term? Yeah, sure. That's what we, that's what we,

we've taken the word losers and we've made it cool. Right. That's what I remember. We're owning it. We're owning it. We're owning it. I always felt like a loser. And so now, you know, we're like, it's cool to be a loser. So that's what we say.

Yeah. It's always. Yeah. It is cool to be a loser. My God. Normal is so boring. But the community that you all have is just so impressive. Like the kind more messages I've received.

It's just when I, and now whenever I think of like community and fostering it, I think of you. Like, it's like, it's just, it's the it's just when I and now whenever I think of like community and fostering it I think of you like it's like it's just it's it's shroud and we talked about this on the podcast with with um like weight loss and that kind of stuff it's been demonized in some you know circles and like that but there's none there's no even from your socials like you don't get a lot of like hate and I think that's because you've cultivated this energy and community within you where it's just so loving that people can't touch you. And even if they do, they're quickly like, Oh, I try, but I just felt kind of good. So I deleted my comment. I don't know why. I feel this. I feel like if you were in a room full of positive people and you have a, I hate positive and negative because it's all just energy. But if

you have a room full of like people who are like, you know, like we, our stance is life is hard enough. We're all trying to do this thing. We're trying to wake up, be our best selves. We are asking for help. We're being authentic. We're okay with our feels. We can have frustrated days.

We can have angry days. We can have all that, but we're all, we're all just people trying to just do our best in life. And we do try to take a very helpful, empathetic, compassionate approach and kind of like we're all just people trying to just do our best in life. And we do try to take a very helpful, empathetic, compassionate approach and kind of like we're all just in it together. And so when you do have someone who comes and they're like, they just stand out. And I think they immediately feel uncomfortable because it's not their

place. We're not your people. We're not your people. So we don't foster that kind of, we're like, hey, you're welcome here, but there's a nice way to say things. And if you're not going to be respectful and nice, this is probably not the place for you. And it's so nice to have this little, people told me it was impossible. Like literally like, you know, a hundred thousand people ago were like, oh, there's no way it's the internet. You can't have this positive space.

It's the people are good now. And I'm just like, yeah, I can. Watch me. And I don't know. I think like attracts like. And I think that we allow ourselves to have our good days, bad days, and we're all kind of in it together. And that's why I love you. That's why I feel like you get it. You're our people. So now you're stuck with us. Well am honored i am honored to be i was gonna say i'm honored i'm honored i'm honored i was trying to think of a joke and sometimes my jokes just don't work in my head and then i just like brain fart and i'm like oh so it doesn't work anyways i'm honored and it's so lovely to be here well welcome to the pack loser um i want to talk quickly about digestion because i know we don't have a lot of

time. We have like, like five minutes, um, the best fucking community in the world, because we're going to have you back. And there are so many things like, I was like, the team was like, what are we going to talk to him about? I said, Oh my God, what can I not talk to him about? I can talk to you about supplements and, you know, um, and, and, and, you know, like pooping and every day, like digestion and sleep and exercise and movement and mental health. I can talk to you about all of it. I love a general, like, I love this. I love talking to like my favorite podcast episodes, like Q and A's, like just a little bit of everything. I love that. Well, I want to have you back and do some Q and A's because I think a lot of times,

like we'll do a poster and cause people weren't really, they're like, who's this Kyle? They either knew you and they're like, cool, excited, or they don't know you right and I was like ah we're just gonna meet him and so now that we've introduced you this is where I'd love to have you come back and do it like and ask me anything people put a shit ton of questions on a poster and I'll just like rhyme them off for you and you can kind of like and we can have a like an ask us anything but I know digestion is important and people were like let's talk digestion so you got two and a half minutes to talk about that no so it's essentially digestion is one of the most underrated things that we have like as humans we've just gone so straight so far away from it and it is one of those things where it is becoming more mainstream but we you know

when you hear a lot of things it's easy to kind of discount it for some strange yeah it's so they've over complicated it now they've overcomplicated it now. They've overcomplicated it. Essentially health begins in the gut. If your gut's not functioning optimally, and if you think about it, you, your, your stomach is your car engine. If your car engine isn't working properly and you're eating all this food, but maybe not extracting the nutrients from it. So you're feeling tired. Maybe in your gut, there's a certain overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria that are eating the undigested carbs because your digestive system is not functioning properly, causing gas and you're experiencing bloat. So it really is a minute for digestion. You really go from the top down, right? Digestion.

Go ahead. I always say you have to be healthy to lose weight. And then if you add health begins in the guts, like we talk about microbiome, probiotics, prebiotics, digestive bitters, you know, the, the, the, the connection between your, you know, the two brains, the one you've got in your, in your stomach, the one you got up here, that connection, we talk about inflammation and then there's this whole big microbiome, huge, massive conversation. And it really comes down to your gut. And so like, love that you said that. It really is true. Right. And everyone is like, it's like a fingerprint. Everyone's gut is different. Um, there's a lot. So yeah, it starts from the top down, like taking like at the basic level, taking breaths. I mean,

I'm sure you're covering this, you cover this in the program, but like take a few deep breaths before you eat, because if you eat in a stressed state, you actually produce less digestive enzymes. So calming your system before you eat is huge. I always say prepping your digestive fire is really important. And you talk about apple cider vinegar, I think, and digestive bitters, which are great because a big epidemic, a big problem is people have too little stomach acid, which essentially it's the spark you need for everything else to work. So a lot of the times when people are dealing with bloat and digestion, they don't know what's up and they're thinking it's about maybe there's a bacterial

overgrowth and they're very well might be, but what allowed that bacteria to grow? And normally it's too little stomach acid because your stomach acid is your first line of defense. It digests your food, but it also sterilizes parasites and it should kill everything. But because we are under stress, because we had excess processed carbs, we have a zinc deficiency, too much alcohol, food sensitivities. There's a lot of things that can suppress stomach acid, um, that has a huge effect on everything else. So it's, that's something that's still not talked about too much, but yeah, there is a, I would, if I, when I come back, I'll talk about, um, stomach acid and also, also talk about H. pylori, which is kind of goes hand in hand with

low stomach acid that really can affect everything else. So it really is about- I had that. I had that. I gained like 20 pounds. I was heartburn and sick all the time. And that's why I was like, well, I'll fix it. I'll fix it. And then I'm just like, then I had to go to the doctors and take some antibiotics and all of that. And it was stress was all and here we go again like stress suppresses stomach acid so and and h pylori thrive in a low acidic environment and once they're present and once they start growing they actually suppress stomach acid further so it kind of is this cascade event. And with there's with H. pylori, sometimes, you know, you have it, sometimes you don't know you have it. Some people present, obviously, other times, not so much. So it's one of these, it's a very tricky thing that 50 to 75% of us

actually have. I mean, it's up for debate as to whether some people think it's commensal, meaning that, you know, normal amounts should be there. Other people think that no amount should be there because it has such a detrimental effect. But, um, so supporting stomach acid production at the very like apple cider vinegar bitters and calming your system before you eat through breath, huge things you can do. And of course it's chewing your food, which we all eat very, very fast. You know, I just talked about this in my check-in, which you guys, I checked in late today. So it's up now it's up now, but I just talked about this in my check-in, which you guys, I checked in late today, so it's up now. It's up now. But I just talked about this in my check-in because someone was like, how do I be more in tune to when I'm eating my food? I'm like, be present. Because it's like, what do we do? How do I not overeat my food when it's delicious and yummy? I'm like, enjoy it while

you're eating it. Smell it. Taste it. Chew it. Don't like wolf it down and be like, oh, I want more. Oh, my God, I shouldn't eat more. Should I eat more? Should I not eat more? Oh, my God, I'm eating too much. Oh, my God, I'm so fat. I'm never going to lose weight. And then you're just like, oh, it was so yummy.

Like, was it though? Did you even taste it? I don't know. Sometimes eating with your non-dominant hand has been shown to force people to be more mindful because you're you'll naturally be slower anyways so your brain has to think a little bit more by using your non-dominant hand and people have shown you know that they have shown that people eat a they they did a study with popcorn and moviegoers moviegoers who ate with their non-dominant hand ate something like 50 less popcorn because it just took them longer to eat and they whether or not they ate more mindfully who knows but when you eat a little bit slower you kind of mindful kind of goes in

hand in hand but if you if you want to be mindful and you slow down you can just try it and it works a different part of the brain it's like it's like brushing your teeth with with the other side well you're paying attention to like you're more grounded in the moment i'm not normally into tomfoolery and trickery like smaller plates and stuff like that but i am into feel goodery i need to feel goodery okay um our time i gotta go i gotta let you go go i don't want to um but you're gonna be back you're gonna be back um where can people find you i know you have your podcast at feel goodery where can they find you on instagram the production value look at this it's kyle b right there thank you liby team it's kyle b like i t s k y l e b for those of you listening to our pockets it's kyle b

is his instagram handle kyle b was taken so i t s k y l e b and then you can listen every week on the feel good repodcast available wherever you get your podcasts um okay and what's that about what do you chat about on your podcast like it's about the there's there's nutrition there's health in there it really is about talking about all the stuff that makes us feel like crap getting it out in the open and then leaving feeling a little gooder like taking under the shame the anxiety all the stuff that makes being a grown-up hard we talk about it and then uh at the end of the day at the end of each episode, hopefully leave just feeling a little bit lighter.

Okay. I love that. And then you have a website? I have a website, kylebuchanan.ca. Okay. And then people can find you on Canada's The Morning Show. Oh, yes. So The Morning Show as well. Global, normally every week, I do something something called Kyle files where I answer viewer questions, but we also talk about a whole host of different things. Yeah. Yeah.

It's been, there's a lot, it's, it's added up over the years, you know, hundreds of segments, but just when you think you can't talk about anything other than health, like there's, there's new things to talk about. And if, and if in doubt, we can always talk about anxiety because we all have everyone, we can talk about it and then we'll need to talk about it again. Just like being a human, right? We do our best.

We do our best. Thank you. You know I adore you. Thanks to everyone. I've been reading the comments, you guys. Thanks for joining in on the conversation with us. If you're joining us live, have an amazing rest of your day. If you're listening by way of a podcast, I hope you loved it as much as I loved having it. Kyle Buchanan, thank you. And we will see you again. We'll see you

next time. Final good words. Feel good to read words. Just give yourself grace. I love it. Give yourself grace and have a wonderful day ahead. If it's the weekend when you're listening to this or right now, have a wonderful weekend ahead. And yeah just we're just so hard on ourselves and then before you know it it'll be over and what's the point so give yourself grace that's both that's both morbid and hopeful so you i'm here for it bye everyone thanks thanks If you're at a point in life when you're ready to lead with purpose, we can get you there. The University of Victoria's MBA in Sustainable Innovation is not like other MBA programs. It's for true changemakers who want to think differently and solve the world's most pressing challenges. From healthcare and the environment to energy,

government, and technology, it's your path to meaningful leadership in all sectors. For details, visit uvic.ca slash future MBA. That's uvic.ca slash future MBA.