The Livy Method Podcast - Let's Talk 4 Main Reasons Why Your Weight Might be Slower to Move with Dr. Paul Hrkal, ND - Winter 2024

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

In this live guest expert segment, Gina chats about 4 main reasons why your weight might be slower to move with Dr. Paul Hrkal, ND.If you are in the Winter 2024 Support Group, you can check out the full video here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodwinter2024Topics covered:Welcoming Dr. PaulMicrobiome and the gut-brain connectionHow the weight loss conversation has changedRest assured, you are already doing so muchThe most important place to start is with mindfulness and reducing stressThe role microbiome playsEverything leads back to your brainGut health is ground zero for communication in the bodyMicrobiome is at the center of many issuesFood either fuels or hinders your microbiomeHow to fix your microbiome- start with The Food Plan and supplementsCan you test your microbiome?Stress plays such a powerful role in your microbiomeHow improving our ability to handle stress can balance our hormonal systemsThe anti-inflammatory effect of the Vagus nerveThe importance of addressing these issues and doing the hard workChanging your mentality and simplifying your lifeHow to identify and handle food sensitivitiesThe difference between food allergies and food sensitivitiesThe body is a fine-tuned signalling machineThe gut is at the root of this intricate web of obstaclesDr. Paul’s thoughts on stevia and artificial sweetenersNatural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup are your best betHow do you know if you have inflammation?Is it fair to say that inflammation is the most common problem?The importance of the adrenal systemSupplements you can take to help with the adrenal systemDr. Paul describes what he calls the “mom syndrome”How menopause affects the bodyHow stress eating and emotional eating can affect metabolismHow thyroid and cortisol levels affect hunger cuesRe-watch this segment as often as you need to educate yourselfWhere to find Dr. PaulOver the next week, think about how you can take actionTo 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. New year, new me. Season is here, and honestly, we're already over it. Enter Felix, the healthcare company helping Canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year. Weight loss is more than just diet and exercise. It can be about tackling genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix gets it. They connect you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a little extra support. Start your visit today at felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X dot C-A. 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 this is going to be a big huge ginormous conversation today and we're having it with the perfect person dr paul herkel is joining us to talk about why your weight might not be moving with all the things that you're doing on the Libby Method, following the food plan, drinking your water, adding in your supplements, focusing on your stress and your sleep, and maximizing all those things, there are four main things that we're going to focus on today. Inflammation, food sensitivity, gut dysbiosis, and hormonal health. But we were just having a conversation behind the scenes. And if there's one thing that I know, after having this conversation with you so many times, it's all connected. It's all connected. First of all, hello, welcome. Hi. Thank you, Gina. It's great to see

every you and everyone else that's listening. This is actually out of all the three talks that I do with each session. This is my favorite because it really allows us to get down into the things that I think most people are concerned about, especially those that are returning members and they're wondering why their weight's not moving. And we've dove into the research to try to figure out what are some of those factors. I've taken my over a decade long of clinical experience and try to put this into this conversation. So that's why it's fun, because it really is that kind of culminating talk. Well, I know we have those four topics, the inflammation, food sensitivity, gut dysbiosis, hormonal health.

But behind the scenes, we were talking about your microbiome. I mean, I'm always learning. I don't pretend to know it all. I've learned a lot over the last however many years I've been helping people lose weight. But this microbiome, there's a lot. The research is so new, which is so there's a lot we don't know. There's a lot we don't know. That's true.

And, you know, just to continue our conversation that we just started before we went online here, you know, I'm also learning. And as a clinician, my patients are teaching me, oftentimes, when I hit a block or an obstacle, it forces me to get back into understanding and trying to figure out what might be the reason behind that obstacle. And this is exactly one of those examples. I'm lecturing in Spain, coming up in May on the gut brain connection. So I was asked to talk about that. And just, you know, every time I do a lecture, I dive into the research again. And that's what, that's really refreshing

because as I was looking at this connection, there was a lot of researchers around the world that are really exploring the gut weight connection. And I would say even the gut brain weight connection because so much of our habits, our dietary habits, our feeling of fullness, it's called satiety, and our impulses with food are actually connected to the bugs in our gut. I mean, it's really mind blowing, Gina. And I want to share a little bit of some of the things I found in the research with you today. Yeah, I love that. And this takes me back to when I first started looking into weight loss, and why I wasn't losing weight, even though I was

exercising all the time and hardly eating anything. I want to remind people that words like no one was talking about lifestyle, no one was talking about insulin, cortisol, microbiome, like nobody was talking about those things. And so the conversation has just this is just like leveling up the conversation and building on all the information that's come about over the last few years. And I think that's the problem. diets don't work. I mean, they do, you can lose the weight, they're not sustainable. And they don't make you healthier, just by eating less and exercising more and burning the fat. Sure, your body becomes healthier in a sense that you've you're, you're losing weight. So you're not getting that inflammation and all the other issues that are caused by carrying this excess fat. But I just wanted to

say that because the conversation is evolving. And what I love about you coming on and sharing it with us is that we are empowering our members. You are already doing so much. The takeaway today, before we get into this, because I don't want you to be overwhelmed is you are already doing a lot by being here in week five of the program. And if you have issues with your microbiome or inflammation, food sensitivity, gut dysbiosis, hormonal health, the things you are doing now are the things that you are going to need to do to even start to address those issues. So you're on the right path. You're already working towards it. So, okay. So where do we start? Yeah. Like I would say even in addition to that, you know,

I think that's a great place to start. You know, I think that we have to, we have to understand the big picture before we dive into the weeds, because if you get in the weeds, you can really get stuck there and being like, okay, is Dr. Paul going to tell me about a specific probiotic strain that will help me lose weight? No, I will not tell you that today because the research is simply not there yet. However, I will tell you about

how important your gut health is and maybe what are some of the things that you can start thinking about and maybe start doing to regulate that. First and foremost, to your point, Gina, the things that everyone's trying to do, mindset, mindfulness, reduce the amount of impact the stress has on the body. That is the most important thing to address the next four things we're going to talk about. Because our bodies, home homeostatic aka our internal

balancing systems these are beautiful elegant systems that when you feed and rest and recover and and exercise your body the right way those systems take care of the four things we're about to talk about yeah so a lot of times as a perfect So a lot of times, as a perfect example, a lot of times patients will come to me and I ask them one of the first questions they say, how did you find the Libby program? And they'll tell me about any weight loss and they'll tell me about non-scale victories. And this is very important because they'll say, well, for example, you know, my PMS got better. Well, how is diet changing your PMS? Well, we know that the way you eat can change your hormones.

That's a perfect example of maybe you've experienced this right now. If you're thinking, okay, I need to rebalance my hormones, your body wants to rebalance those things. And when you feed it the right way, and you don't inundate it with junk and garbage, then your body's metabolism is going to start getting back to its normal set state. So to your point, probably the most important takeaway right off the bat is that if you have not done all the things that you want to do with the program and implementing it,

that's the first place to start to correct these four things, right? That makes sense. Yeah. So let's talk about the gut because we actually, usually in past conversations, we've saved this for the last one. And today we're switching into the first one because I think it really is the foundational piece. A couple of things for us to consider. Number one, we have 10 times the amount of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in our guts that are living symbiotically with us, meaning they are

working with our bodies to produce things like serotonin. A lot of people don't know this, but serotonin is your feel-good, happy neurotransmitter. It also helps you with regulating your appetite. 90% of it is produced in the gut by gut bacteria, by cells in the lining of your gut. Just let that sink in for a second. We are more bacteria than we are cells, than human. We have this beautiful relationship, Gina, between those microorganisms. And there are a lot of things that have worked throughout our lives to unfortunately disturb that relationship. So think about poor diet. If you're eating a lot of refined foods, the research shows that your microbiome, that bacteria composition of those trillions of bacteria, it changes, it shifts.

And that's one of the reasons that I think I really like the concept of you can't eat a little bit of sugar and still expect to not have cravings because your bacteria now start fueling themselves on that sugar. And they are going to now send out signals that actually go through the bloodstream all the way to the brain to say, hey, give me more. Feed me more of this junk. So you have to put that tap off. That's one example. So in a sense, the Libby program in many ways is already trying to rebalance your gut, whether you know it or not.

Okay. Yeah. And so, I don't know if you want to add anything to that because I know that you probably had some experience with your gut. Well, I just want to say, like you said, you're already addressing a lot of these things and they all really work together.

Like when you don't get a good night's sleep and then you're tired, it affects the way your body processes your foods. And then you end up craving sugar. You have a little bit of sugar. It affects your microbiome. It affects your brain. All of these things lead back to your brain.

And we're always talking about messaging. Trying to send messages to your body. Be in tune to knowing what your body needs and having your body communicate its needs back to you and how it all works together. And that messaging can get really muddy. And this is where you feel like things are slow and you're not, you know, like your body is slow to make change and all those things because it's slow to be receiving the messages. And I know that a lot of what we're talking about, we're using big words like microbiome and we got little, these bugs in our guts and stuff like that. It's, it's all, it's all very much real life. And we're not trying to, you know, like woohoo you into believing a bunch of crap. Like

this is on the most basic level, how your body functions. And when it comes to your gut, there's a lot of research, especially on, for example, I was just reading the other day, anxiety, and especially tied into PMS and how, you know, we feel all this anxiety leading up. And it's not just because we're stressed out or whatever, it's because our body is reacting to the chemical reactions or the reactions that are happening in our body. So, so I just want to kind of, it seems like a lot, it seems like big, but it is very real, which is why we're gonna have a really real conversation about it today. And it's all how it impacts you trying to lose weight. And it's not just the food and the water and those things. It's such a, it's like, I saw someone today who in the comments, who was like,

well, I'm a, I'm a slow loser. I hope there's something in this today. That's going to help me. There's going to be so many things in this conversation today. It's just a matter of whether you show up and you do them and you make the changes or not. Right. So I think, yeah, I mean, we got health is ground zero for communication in the body, Gina. So we talk about inflammation. And that's the next thing we're going to talk about. But what we now know from a scientific perspective is that when your gut is unhappy, the bacteria are imbalanced. So for example, a lot of times people will not feel good after they take antibiotics, because antibiotics kill certain types of bacteria. And that allows these opportunistic bacteria to grow up. And then

they are now going to have that negative effect. I've had patients, you know, almost every single day that tell me, you know, they had COVID, and they have sinus infection. This is one that I'm thinking about just yesterday. They took antibiotics and then they got gastroenteritis. And ever since they got gastroenteritis, which is a gut bacterial infection, because of the antibiotics, they have been burping, they've been bloated, They've been cramping. These are signs that the body's telling you on the gut level that you are not breaking down your foods correctly. You have an imbalance of your microbiome. And then that is creating inflammation in your whole body. People will say, I feel like tired. I feel foggy. This is because when that lining of cells that are making up the gut barrier, it can

become leaky. That's the term leaky gut. That's not just the woo-woo term. That is a scientifically peer-reviewed, multiple, hundreds of research studies showing that many conditions, including fatty liver, which is a huge one I know when it comes to the people that are participating in your group, that is related to gut imbalance, or the term that you've used is called gut dysbiosis, which I think is the scientific term. Basically, a fancy way of saying that that microbiome, the healthy microbiome is imbalanced and is causing symptoms and causing inflammation in your body. Well, I love this because we have we hear so many times people

who had fatty liver starting the program and just by making the most basic changes on the program are able to address that. So that's really exciting above and beyond. Again, I want to reiterate what you were doing with the basics is already a lot. So this is like a leveled out conversation, which is perfect for this week. You said something about inflammation in your microbiome, which makes me believe that microbiome is this is at the center of inflammation of food sensitivities of gut dysbiosis and of hormone health as well. So in any way, your microbiomes in the middle, and it's really affecting all of those things. I think that's an excellent way of visualizing it for everyone, because it is ground zero for the production of inflammation. It's ground zero for your immune system. If you feel like you're getting sick all the time, one of the reasons could be that your gut is unhappy because that's where a lot of

immunity comes. There's actually quite a bit of research showing particular probiotic strains improve your resilience to upper respiratory tract infections. You know, how's your gut related to your, you know, your throat and your nose and your sinuses? Because they share a common membrane. So the immune reaction that you're having in your gut is actually going to be transferred throughout your entire intestinal tract and also through your throat into your sinuses because they share a similar mucous membrane. This has been a principle in naturopathic medicine for a long time. And now the research is finally catching up to what us naturopaths have been talking about for so long.

So I think that there's so many considerations for us to think about. But bringing it back to the basics is that how do you start changing your gut? You start fueling it the right way. How do you start fueling it the right way? Following the Libby plan. Stop giving it things that make the gut imbalanced. Some of the worst ones are sugar, alcohol, artificial sweeteners. These are three well-known things that damage the microbiome. Then after that, there's research paper I just read yesterday, the impact of pesticides, the impact of the pesticide or herbicide called glyphosate, which is just ubiquitous, especially here in

Canada. It's a big difference between why people can go to Europe and they say, you know what, Dr. Paul, I can eat pasta there and I'm not bloated. And then they come back here and they're like, oh my gosh, like my gut's brutal. There is a stress aspect to that, but there's also a change in the type of food that you might be eating and that food fuels your microbiome or gina it hinders it so start with following the the livy plan because that's the best way to start balancing your microbiome now if you're one of those people that you're saying hey listen i've done that my gut's still off that's when and i've heard you say this before that's when you go and seek out a naturopathic doctor to be like, hey, I need help on this because this is an area

of my weakness. This is an area of my predisposition, Gina. We need to start being proactive about that. Like if your lower back is weak, then you should be seeing a chiro or a physio to help address that. You know, for me, it's my gut. I know that my digestive system is my metabolic weakness. For other people, it's their sleep. My know that my digestive system is my metabolic weakness. For other people, it's their sleep. My mom has trouble sleeping. I have no trouble sleeping. Everyone's a little unique. So we have to look at that and then seek out the health in the areas that we need. But I hope that that gives people some impetus to say, hey, listen, start with a diet. But then if I do continue to have symptoms, like I'm still gassy, I'm still bloated, seek out professional help,

try to balance that for you. And it's not, it's not just a matter of cutting it out, like cutting out alcohol, cutting out sugar, cutting out artificial sweeteners. I see someone asking about stevia. Pardon? I'm happy to talk about that too. I was going to say, because there is some research coming out on stevia compared to some of those other sweeteners. Okay. Yeah. Let's get that, get that to get to that in a second. Cause we never have that artificial sweetener conversation. I'm just like, there's so much research out there. I don't touch it. Like I will not touch it. But okay. So it's not just a matter of cutting those out though. I mean, that's going to help, but for some people, they need a little bit more. It's like, what is the fix for this? Is it probiotics, prebiotics? I know everyone will be a's like, so what do we do about it, Dr. Paul? Well, I think I already started saying is that, and you started saying

the same thing, start with a diet, see if that makes a difference. I would say majority of the cases, people, if they follow the plan, they will always say my IBS went away because I stopped feeding my gut and my body stuff that is making my digestive system more imbalanced. If you feed it the right way, which is whole foods, high quality, high antioxidant foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, we now know that those molecules inside those fruits and vegetables, there's fibers, there's also these compounds called polyphenols, they feed our bacteria in our gut. Our bacteria use them to actually grow and proliferate. It's an important concept to understand, and this goes back to the antibiotic comment, where you would take antibiotics, it kills off good and bad bacteria,

but then the problem is that those bad bacteria, they're opportunists. They're going to jump on that gap that was created, and they're going to grow up fast. When you have enough good bacteria, that's the concept of probiotics, is that when you have enough good bacteria, they are going to keep the opportunists in check. You can't get rid of them totally. We all have a little candida in our diet, sorry, in our guts. It's a matter of like, is it being put in its rightful place by your good bacteria? And so that's where foods that are high in natural fibers, we talk about prebiotics and probiotics. So in this case, I think pre and probiotics are appropriately put in the primary supplement category because they are that foundational.

So I think in that sense, you know, Gina, back in the day before we even knew all the research, you already had, whether it's a feeling, a thought, or an intuition that this was important to put that there. I think that makes a lot of sense now. And so that's a good place for us to start. A lot of people, I would say 80% of people get benefits from that. And then if you're still having gas and bloating and reflux, there are many other factors, you know, that we have to consider that may be in that 20%. So if you're in that category, that's where you're going that we have to consider that may be in that 20%. So if you're in that category, that's where you're going to seek out some of that additional help is have guidance of you may need to have like a weed and feed approach where you kill off the bad bacteria

with some botanicals, and then you put some specific higher dose probiotics back in and some targeted prebiotics. That's really what I do with my patients. And that's not a general recommendation. I don't recommend everyone go and suck back oil of oregano, which it will kill off bacteria in your gut. A lot of people do that. I'm still shocked how many people will take oil of oregano every day between November and April. And unfortunately, it does kill off bad bacteria

and good bacteria. And so it's a very short-term thought in my mind because you are going to have a deleterious long-term effect if you're always trying to kill the bacteria. Instead of, let's just get the guys that are supposed to be there to keep the bacteria in check. That's a better approach. So take the things out, add the good foods and stuff back in, go, you know, you can take that next level probiotics, prebiotics, whatnot. Is there a test? Can you test your microbiome? Is there a test for that? There's a ton of tests online. Any sort of biome tests, that actually is the name of the company, which I'm not associated with. But a lot of them, unfortunately, I've looked into a number of them.

And the clinical application from the results, while it's kind of cool to like send your poop in and they give you this report and they'll say, these are the foods you should be eating. It's not very clinically applicable from everything that I've seen and I've looked into. I have testing that's more specific to pathogenic bacteria that I've seen and I've looked into. I have testing that's more specific to pathogenic bacteria that I use. So for example, I will do SIBO testing, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. So this is a condition where it's a very severe case of dysbiosis, and there's bacteria in places like the small intestine that it shouldn't be. And so that needs to be killed off. And that can happen because people are on certain medications. That can happen because they have low stomach acid. That could be because they have an actual structural issue in their

ileocecal valve, which is the connection between the large and small intestine. So there's a lot of other factors that kind of play. I would actually even say, Gina, that you touched on this earlier. One of the big things in the last couple of weeks of research for me that really came home is that stress has such a powerful role to play on your microbiome's health. When you're under a lot of stress, that your gut actually becomes more permeable and your bacteria change. Your actual microbiome changes when you're under stress. You don't absorb nutrients as well. So that's where all the things we talk about being mindful and putting in those practices,

I think that's another huge component to gut health. This has been the past year of my life. My one with turning 50, I'm sure my hormones are factoring in, but the stress in whenever I'm stressed affects my stomach. And Lord, I add, I add in a tiny bit of sugar or alcohol and I just am bloated. I'm uncomfortable. I don't feel well. And I know it's all stress, which is like, I can feel it simultaneously weakening my body, probably starting with my microbiome is probably what's happening. And then I get on my probiotics, I take my stuff, it, you know, it feels better. And then, you know, stress hits again, I fall off and it's just like a fucking disaster. Okay, but there is hope. Well, that's a good segue into hormones. I think that that's a perfect segue. We'll use you as an example, Gina, if you don't mind. Okay. Okay. So we just, you're, you just heard Gina be like, this is the gong show because this happens. And I'm sure everyone listening has, can somehow think of a time in their lives that they've also been under a lot of stress. And again, it's out of our control to a degree. So we're going to do all the things to try to

bring our cortisol and our adrenal systems back into balance. That adrenal system, which is, again, those glands are located right above your kidneys. That's your stress coping system. And so when you're under a lot of perceived stress, and that could be mental, emotional. That could be physical. You're actually staying up late because you have a baby that's crying. These are all types of stressors, Gina, and they create a stress response in the body, and the main hormone is called cortisol, and that does alter the microbiome. However, the body has a lot of powerful anti-stress systems too,

so I don't want to just paint it all like it's all negative because when you think about it, this is actually one of my big kind of like purple takeaways I would say, is that when you think about all the health things that you have read about online, read about on Instagram, saunas, cold tubs, fasting, exercise, just think about those four big things. What they they are you're actually exposing your body to more stress it's a they're stressors the body is meant to handle stress i want to drill that home today the body is meant to handle stress the problem becomes when we don't recover from stress. So we think it's like an over stress syndrome, or you can think about the other side of the coin. It's an under recovery syndrome.

So our body can handle stress sometimes heroically. However, I think what we need to focus on is we need to build up our resilience, build up our ability to deal with stress. And there are ways to do that. Mindfulness, prayer, meditation, all this is research, evidence-based to show that it activates your anti-stress systems. Speaking of the gut again, there's this nerve called the vagus nerve. It connects the brain and the gut. That's the way that the brain and the gut communicate. There's a direct highway. And that nerve, when you breathe deeply, for example, and use your

diaphragm, when you're eating in a peaceful environment and you're not eating in front of your screen and eating while you're on the phone or you're watching something or doing work, you are able to activate that vagus nerve. And that vagus nerve then has literally an anti-inflammatory effect. There's this, it's called a cholinergic anti-inflammatory effect, and it helps combat the effects of stress. The problem is, is that we have a lot of stress, which we just talked about actually could be a good thing, but we just don't recover. There's like a zero recovery. So what do we do when we get stressed? We actually compound the problem. We drink, we go to bed late because we want to binge out on things. I mean, yeah, I'll put my hand up too. Cause we've all been there. But my point is,

is that we have to get out of the mentality of, I need to insulate my life from all stressors. Cause that is a, is a, is a losing proposition. It doesn't exist. You have to think about how do I enhance and support and buttress my life with ways of becoming more resilient. I want to, this comment, well, if stress is big, plus I'm perimenopausal, I have no hope. This is why we're having this conversation. I said to Dr. Paul, before we started today, I want to stress the importance of actually addressing these things. Not just like, well, I'm doing this. I'm doing that. No. If you want to make a big ass fucking change in your life, you actually want to see change. You want to lose your weight finally

and forever. You want to be healthier. You want to do these things. You're going to have to take this real serious. And I put up my hand too. I get stressed out. What do I do? I grab a drink, right? And then I pay for it for the next week. I have this. I do this.

And so I know you are doing this. And so if you think your hormones are up, go see someone who's going to help. Listen to this conversation today. Have some takeaways. If you think your microbiome is screwed because you've been on antibiotics or you've been doing this or your stress levels, you know you are stressed. Listen to this conversation today and take it seriously. The whole point of this conversation is to give you hope because there are so many things

you can do. So many things you can do in combination that are going to make a big difference that are going to get you to where you want to go, but you are going to have to do the work. Some of you are going to have to make changes. You're going to have to maybe add in some supplements. You might have to stop eating cheese. You might have to actually do something to manage your stress. You're going to have to get your ass to bed earlier.

You're going to have to make real changes. But that's the whole thing. If you want to see change, you have to make change. And that's why we're having this really big conversation today. I know you are working hard and it's about leveling up. And that's what this week is about. And that's what's so exciting is that you are already doing so much with following the program that there is so much hope for you. So much hope for you. So I just, I had to

say that because I just, I want people to really understand that there's so much that can be done, but if you're not doing it, you know, I mean, I think the one, one thing as you were talking, Gina, that really came to my mind is that a lot of times we get in the mentality of I'm stuck, woes me, what can someone give me and do for me? And what can I add in even, I would say, I think a lot of what I've just talked about is, is you need to simplify your life. I've been on record here, talk about that before. And when you think about a lot of the things that are core and foundational to your health, diet, rest and recovery, sleep, healthy movement, healthy relationships, a lot of that is eliminate the toxicity, eliminate things that do not build you up and work towards your goal.

And a lot of times this might be like to the person that just said that about menopause. It's like, okay, if you're perimetopausal and you're struggling with a lot of hot flashes, you're struggling with a lot of those symptoms, don't have to struggle alone. Do the diet. See if you notice a difference. I've had patients that have followed the diet to a T and their hot flashes have gotten better. I will say that. So if that's not you, hopefully that you've had some reduction. If that's not you, number one, have you done all the things that you should be doing? Have you been hydrating enough?

Are you eliminating things that really shouldn't? Oh, you know what? On the weekends, I still have a couple of drinks. Alcohol and sugar, I've noticed, is a huge trigger for hot flashes. That's number two. And then after that, number three is like, you know what? If I can't sleep because I have these symptoms, go work with somebody that's going to help give you some hormones or rebalance those hormones because you might need for that period of time, some support.

And then sometimes when those hormones get rebalanced, Gina, then the weight starts coming off. I have lots of examples that come to mind of people that have done the program. And then they're like, that's been the game changer. And that's actually a great segue into, I mentioned alcohol and sugar as a trigger for another symptom. That's a great segue into food sensitivities. Because this is like a spokes of a wheel.

Instead of like one, two, three, four separate things, it's like a web that's interconnected. So we talked about gut. We talked about gut microbiome. We talked about the lining of the gut. Then there's these food proteins that everyone has a unique set of food proteins that they could be sensitive to. Some people have very little sensitivities, and some people have many. So this is, I'm eating a food, let's say, let's take dairy, you mentioned dairy earlier, Gina, it's not lactose, it is the protein that's found in dairy

that could be creating a negative immune response. So actually inflammation at the level of the gut and that inflammation also gets circulated through the whole body genome. It affects your metabolism. It affects your energy. It can affect things like hot flashes. So I've actually done some testing for people for food sensitivities, or they've done kind of an elimination reintroduction. You can do it the old school way too. That doesn't cost you any money, it costs effort. And then you can find out what foods are making my symptoms worse. It could be none, but many times it's one or two foods that are big triggers. And it is going to be a huge thorn that you will remove from your side, that your metabolism now can become more effective.

I have lots of examples and cases for, for people that have removed food sensitivities and their weight changes. Yeah. How prevalent is this? Because, you know, people are like, well, I feel bloated and I feel this. And, you know, like, again, if your weight isn't moving, like, listen, if you're doing the basic things and your weight is moving and grooving, and you're at the very least that one to two pounds per week, that's amazing. You're doing great. But how prevalent is, I got a lot of questions about this because, you know, people think food sensitivities, like how much habit can that cause? How much is the cheese or the bread really bothering me? But people have food allergies, where if they literally eat the food, they will die. Like, so would is it fair to say that food sensitivities are a less serious version of of like a food allergy? Or are they two different things? Like,

well, the better way of saying it is that it's maybe it's not life threatening. Like, for example, a peanut anaphylaxis is something that will make your throat swell up and you can die. I'm talking about food sensitivities. I specifically use that verbiage because this is now not going to be a life-threatening situation, but it can cause symptoms that often can come on a couple hours later and then stay for a couple days, maybe even the residual effects for a couple weeks. The immune system has a memory gene of all the foods you eat, anything you're exposed to, anything you breathe in, the immune system is constantly processing it, assessing it and saying, is this something that's going to harm me or is it beneficial or is it

neutral? And then it eliminates it. Yeah. There are certain situations where our immune system actually starts attacking things that for other people, it's fine. Like for example, dairy protein or gluten. And I have to say, I have a lot of people that will hear this and they'll say, yeah, I'm not willing to give up whatever, you know, and they'll fill in the blank. You know, they're like, I'm not willing to give up cheese. I'm not willing to get up, uh, you know, my bread or whatever. And then I'm just going to gonna say that's a rock that has not been turned over and you don't know the impact on you. Because it doesn't always have to be that it causes gut issues, Gina, it could be causing skin issues, for example, it could be causing eczema, rosacea, a lot of people are worried about that. And they're frustrated by that.

And then I'm like, okay, so let's actually try to eliminate foods that are creating this inflammation in your body. And that inflammation, it muddies up the signaling. I love that you guys are talking about signaling in the program because our body is a finely tuned signaling machine where there's these eloquent signals, these elegant signals going between all these different systems. And if you are eating things that are going to compromise that signaling system, now you're going to have inflammation throughout various parts of your body because you're not going to be getting the right signals. You're not going to get the signals to say, hey, turn that inflammation process off. So I think we have to

consider food sensitivities as one of the possible obstacles that ties into gut health. Because again, if you're under a ton of stress and your gut's not happy, you're going to react to more things. Maybe you're listening. Yeah. Gut health and inflammation. And again, this is where it's all tied in. Again, I want to remind people, it feels like a big conversation and you're like, what? Stick with it. So it's just stick with us in this conversation. Maybe listen to it again, Gina.

Like re-listen to it and then think of like, okay, if you don't have all the things that you pulled up. I've had this conversation before. You can even re-listen to past ones if you really want. Go back to the archives. Yet every conversation is a little different because we have we love that we like bring a different flavor each time we talk yeah today we're focusing a bit more on the gut but i would say for the first time today gina we've really made the connection of that the gut is at the root of this intricate web of obstacles inflammation foodivities, and hormones all have a key root connection back to

the function of the microbiome, the gut lining, and the immune system that is in and around your gut. Yes, which is exciting because they're all connected. So all the little things that you can do will actually add up and make a big difference. This information is also in the new post today, For Reasons Why Your Weight Might Be Slower to Move. It's also in the new post today for reasons why your weight might be slower to move. It's also in the book if you want to check that. In case nobody's told you, weight loss goes beyond the old just eat less and move more narrative, and that's where Felix comes in.

Felix is redefining weight loss for Canadians with a smarter, more personalized approach to help you crush your health goals this year. Losing weight is about more than diet and exercise. It can also be about our genetics, hormones, metabolism. Felix connects you with online licensed healthcare practitioners who understand that everybody is different and can pair your healthy lifestyle with the right support to reach your goals.

Start your visit today at Felix.ca. That's F-E-L-I-X.ca. I want to circle back to the stevia conversation because so many people were asking about stevia, monk fruit. We started artificial sweeteners since we're still on that microbiome. We're circling back to that. What's your thoughts on those? Yeah. So I think that since the kind of idea of artificial sweeteners being having a negative impact has come out, and I would say maybe five, 10 years ago, the natural health product industry and the food industry have been searching for alternatives. And stevia was the most popular one. Stevia is a plant that has

a very sweet taste, but it has no sugar. And then monk fruit, xylitol, urethratol, and there's others that are now coming out that have a similar effect. Now, these are molecules that don't have sugar in them at all, but they are very sweet. They're actually sweeter than sugar. And so what the research shows is that even if you replace sugar with artificial sweeteners or with something like stevia, the negative impact on your body's satiation and satiety is the same. What does that mean? That means that if you're replacing a pop with a stevia sweetened drink, your body's still going to want to consume more calories if you are eating the and drinking the stevia drinks. So it's, it's, it still is not a perfect solution. Yes. Is it,

does it have calories? No, it doesn't. However, it can still trigger you to eat more later. And that's the problem with sugar is that when we eat sugar, it triggers our, it overrides our kind of natural neurochemical, hey, I'm full mechanisms. And it forces people or it prompts people to eat more. It also negatively impacts your microbiome. And your microbiome, and this is one of the big things I shared with you earlier, Gina, is that your microbiome plays a huge role in the production of serotonin and your feeling of being full. So there is, I still think that, you know, stevia has this negative impact. It doesn't have, it doesn't have sugar in it. So there's, there's at least you're not getting the calorie aspect

of things. But my point is, is that don't just replace one thing for another. I think that's the, that's the takeaway message. I think you have to still go to Whole Foods. And if you're still looking for something really, really sweet, you're not going to really end up in the win column by subbing out sugar for sucralose or for even monk fruit or stevia. What about honey, something like honey? Yeah, so things like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, date sugar. These are whole foods.

And so what that means is that, yes, there's sugar in them. However, there's also other medicinal compounds. There's other medicinal ingredients like fiber, for example, in the date sugar. I'm actually quite a big fan of date sugar because it is just a powdered fruit. So you're going to be getting the type of sugar that is naturally occurring in that fruit compared to something that is like high fructose corn syrup or any of the artificial sweeteners that I mentioned, or cane sugar. Cane sugar in its own right, I think can have a number of additional negative effects over and above

the whole foods. So, you know, real honey, a little bit of maple syrup. That would be, I think, the top of the pyramid that we want to use and then kind of go down maybe a little bit of monk fruit, maybe a little bit of xylitol for like a mouth swish or something dental. Or if you have to chew some gum, that would be the best way to do it. And then after that, just like avoid the sugar and artificial sweeteners there, I would say last on the list. Okay. So what you eat is important. Well, it makes up your microbiome. It's the most important things for sure. Okay, so I want to kind of lead into back sort of circling back to inflammation,

right? I'm sort of like, how would you know, so causes can be hormonal issues, insulin resistance, Hashimoto's cortisol level. So I want to, I want to definitely end up in the hormone conversation, digestive issues, including food sensitivities, allergies, autoimmune, autoimmune, like arthritis, lupus, medications, stress, environmental factors, lifestyle, and then of course the sugar, the refined carbohydrates, alcohol, process, stuff, that type of thing. So those can all cause inflammation. How do you know if you have inflammation? Well, I think there are some traditional signs, classic signs. I think a lot of people will say inflammation is associated with things like pain, but you know, a lot of times things like osteoarthritis there, you know,

it's not like systemic inflammation necessarily. I think you have pain. There's a genetic component to some people there's injuries, past injuries are a huge contributor to that. So it's not just pain, Gina. I think Gina, the biggest thing is people associate pain with inflammation, but it could be, again, gut dysfunction, bloating, swelling, your hands are kind of like your rings are tough to get on and off. These are little small swelling things. That's actually one of the key signs that people will say that, you know, once they like get on their diet or they clean up their gut there, they're like, you know what? I like find myself less sore and achy in the morning. Overnight, we're not moving as much. And so there's an accumulation of fluid that sometimes happens. And that is another sign of inflammation. You know, skin issues like eczema is another sign that there is inflammation that's being transmitted, again, out from the body that's coming out through the skin. The skin is a backup detox organ.

It is not, if the gut and the liver and the kidneys are not working as well, it all comes out through the skin. So slathering corticosteroids on eczema, while in you know, in severe cases, this can be life saving, it is not a long term solution. And there's negative effects of doing that. So we have to think about everything that we do, and everything we put on our body in our body can have either a positive or negative impact, or we have to consider both. Sometimes it's a short term impact for long term loss. So those are little signs as well that I always think about inflammation. Things like I'm just tired all the time. I'm fatigued. I don't really have any obvious deficiencies. My doctors check that.

I have brain fog. This is a sign of neurological inflammation. We've learned about this a lot through post-COVID and long COVID types of situations. So there's cellular information, there's allergic inflammation, Gina, and then there's actually autoimmune inflammation, which can start affecting things like your gut. It can affect things like skin, your organ systems. And that's where we're starting to look at anti-inflammatory strategies are going to keep those things in check. Everyone listening, like hands up if you feel like you fall under any of those things. I, you know, I'm, I'm, you know, I always say four reasons why your weight might be slower to move. Maybe it's, it's one reason it's inflammation that can be caused by your microbiome, food sensitivities, gut issues, hormonal health. Like, is that sort of

like just trying to reframe it for, for people? Is it, is it one main issue and it's inflammation and it can be caused by all these other separate things? Is that, am I getting that right? Yeah, I think we're getting that right. The one thing I was, I would probably pull the hormones out of that where inflammation contributes to that, but hormones can be imbalanced over and above inflammation in the body. So I would say there's like the gut and that leads to food sensitivities and inflammation. I would say even if you want to put the one to your, put them in order, it's like inflammation is what you see. So it's the top of the iceberg. The next level of food sensitivities and then gut dysbiosis at the deeper level. And the hormones are kind of like on the side that affect all three of them.

And there's arrows that go to all three as well. So hormones can impact everything. Like, for example, cortisol, you probably think that sounds pretty similar to cortisone because, you know, cortisone and cortisol lower inflammation. So if you have a ton of cortisol because you're under a lot of stress, then your body's actually going to suppress not only inflammation, but it's going to suppress your immune system. And again, it's about balance. You know, you need some inflammation in your body to help promote healing. It's going to help your immune system to do its job better to say, hey, look, there's something that needs to be healed over here. Come over here and heal. Come over here and resolve this inflammation. It's not just right. Not too little, not too much, just right.

And that's maybe the frustrating part, but it's not frustrating when you start looking at your health, not as A plus B equals C all the time. No, it's about how does it work together? Because they all balance each other. Start with a diet and start with mindfulness. Start moving your body in the right way. Start implementing things that are going to reduce stress.

These are simple, free things, Gina. If you came away from this conversation thinking that you have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on all these things, I think you missed the point of what we're trying to say. I love it. And I love you. Okay.

In the spirit of the time that we have left and this huge hormonal conversation. So we're going to have a conversation with Dr. Olika on Thursday about menopause and hormones and all of that type of thing, that conversation. But when someone comes to you and says, I think I have hormonal issues and that's why I'm not losing weight. What is, what does hormonal issues mean to you? Because it's a big conversation. It is. Yeah. And it can mean a lot of different things, but I'm going to, I'm going to focus on three areas that I think is most impactful for the people that are listening. Number one, I already mentioned the adrenal system. I personally

think the adrenal system, your stress coping system, think of it as your stress shock absorber. It is the most poorly understood system by conventional medicine. It's often overlooked because conventional medical practitioners just look at it like black and white. Do you have the worst case scenario like Cushing's really high cortisol or very low atisus disease? But there's a lot of people that have what's called, excuse me, HPA axis dysfunction. And that's a fancy way of saying brain connecting to adrenals causing issues and there's this there's this connection when you're feeling stressed that your body's going to create this response so it's the translation of something invisible to something that's biochemical that's creating uh creating these forms of the body and

eventually gina if you keep calling on that pathway, saying I'm under stress, press the button, I'm under stress, press the button, eventually that system will decrease its function. It's kind of like I'm always riding my brakes. Eventually those brake pads are going to get worn down. And so if you don't refill your body's recovery systems, if you don't repair, you don't take time to repair, your body's not going to actually be able to recover. And you're going to have an impaired adrenal response.

And that could mean a whole bunch of things. But the primary symptoms, Gina, are I'm tired. I'm going to have changes in my sleep. You might be blood sugar issues all over the place. And you, no matter what you do with your diet, you know, you really, really, really struggle with skipping any meals. I have said this before. I think a great diet is following the gene living plan because you're, you're fueling the body regularly. So you're already kind of like building up your, your reserves that way. So fatigue're already kind of like building up your, your reserves that way. So fatigue is a huge one, I would say, Gina, and there's many other ones,

but I think that's a, that's a big one. The funny thing about the adrenal system is that a lot of the symptoms that, that, that, that might be dysfunctional, they're all like pretty vague and they often, they often can get confused with other symptoms like people just like i just don't feel right i'm off i'm um you know i'm getting hot flashes when i'm 45 and and it's just like it's the system that is under the surface pulling the strings but it's it's not looked at and considered by almost any doctors okay well and i think that's what the adrenals is like, what sort of your adrenals it's like, what are, what, what is being impacted, you know, before big thyroid issues hit or before menopause hits, you're already, your body's already like broken down and being like, and then you're going through that and everything's like really exasperated. Right.

Okay. So the adrenal system and we're going gonna have Dr. Paul's gonna come back, we're gonna talk about our secondary supplements and you adaptogens, if memory serves are really good, there are things that you can take to help with your adrenals. Yeah, so there really is no drugs that are going to help the adrenal system. There's only drugs that suppress the adrenal system or replace it if it's totally gone. So like that's a case steroids. You know, on the flip side, also, if you've been on steroids for a long time, for example, creams, puffers, nasal sprays, these are things that are again, going to be influencing the adrenal system, because they just are going to constantly give the body an external source of steroids. And the adrenal system is constantly

checking how much is in the body. And eventually, it going to say, well, I'm just going to decrease my own production because I'm getting a lot of this here. So there's, there's, there's research showing that, you know, kids that are on puffers for asthma for extended period of time, actually it impacts their growth because they're, they're missing this key signal as just one example of what's in the literature. Yeah, and it can impact your weight as well. I mean, totally. The side effects of excess cortisol are you retain weight. Your face actually is called like a moon face. Your face will blow up and you'll get like this circular face.

So that is another sign. Again, if you're like trying can't lose weight, and you have this like tire around your waist, one of the cortisol receptors are so rich in this area, that if you're struggling that, you know, the rest of your body seems fine, but you have this kind of like thing around your waist, that could be that you have a lot of adrenal issues by having excess cortisol. Well, and that's where, you know, we'll be like, oh, it's menopause. It's that kind of, you know, hormones. But people aren't thinking cortisol is like,

those are hormones that people aren't talking about. Okay, so the adrenal system, and then you mentioned two others. What categories? Yeah, I think, I love that you position the adrenal system as kind of like the underlying system and that, you know, you can really become dysfunctional because when you think about it, you know, think about most people that are in the program. you know, for example, a lot of moms,

I call it the mom syndrome. They go through life through their like late twenties, thirties that are trying to like make it in their job. And then they like get pregnant and then they are thrown into this like new mom phase with kids and stressors. And then they try to get back to work. So stress is high. And then they are like taking their kidsors. And then they try to get back to work. So stress is high. And then they are like taking their kids everywhere. And then they almost like come out of this like fog where they're like, I'm, I'm,

they're like, I'm functioning. I'm good. But what are you doing? You're actually pulling out more than you're putting in that for those whole, let's say like 15, 20 years. That's,

that's what I term the mom syndrome. And then they come out at 48, 45, and they're like, oh shoot, now that the kids are a little bit older, they start thinking about their health. They've been able to lose their weight before. They've been able to keep it off and still eat junky. And now all of a sudden that's not happening anymore. So they have to deal with the reality of I've been under a ton of stress and I haven't really done anything about it and I can't keep up. I mean, how many people can resonate with that pattern? I can see it over and over and over and

over again in my practice. So of course it's better if you're hearing this and you're a 30 year old, this is amazing to hear because you can help, you could already help prevent some of this. But if you're hearing this and you're in that kind of like late forties, fifties, that doesn't mean that you're screwed because this has happened. This just means like, I now understand this was the root of it. I need to now also work on my stress levels. I need to work on my mindset, my mindfulness, because that is ultimately what's going to keep the adrenal system down. And that's a good parlay right into menopause. So that's the second point is that your estrogen, progesterone go down, your ovaries stop producing those hormones. And those hormones have a lot of protective effects, Gina. They have a lot of protective effects on memory,

on your subcutaneous fats. That's when wrinkles start happening. Lean muscle mass, cardiovascular risk, there's bone mass, there's a lot of changes that happen muscle mass, cardiovascular risk, there's bone mass, there's a lot of changes that happen. And then of course, there's symptoms like hot flashes, and vaginal dryness, and aches and pains that can really dramatically affect a person's quality of life. And so correcting those can help a person get into deeper sleep. And then when you can sleep better, you're able to manage stress better, you're able to manage inflammation better. So there's this like really beautiful cycle that starts happening when you start balancing those hormones. So start with a diet, see if that helps. And if you can't really

change those hormonal symptoms you're experiencing that I just mentioned, that's when you've got to work with somebody that's going to help you in that case. Now, where do the hunger hormones like your leptin and ghrelin, because we're talking weight loss and people eating and so they're all kind of connected, right? It's like one blows out, they're all blown out. Now next thing you know, we're just fat and hungry. Is that what's happening? The biggest thing that I've seen with all the patients that I've seen through the program, Gina, is that a lot of people have habits of stress eating, they're going to be emotionally eating through that period of stress. So they've, again, their metabolism is still young and flexible. But as they get older, and as they continue to

take withdrawals out of their adrenal system without putting the recovery back in, their metabolism becomes less flexible. And then you're going to go, you're going to, you're going to not be able to positively respond to eating habits like, Hey, I can just have a, that bag of chips and wine at night. And before, you know, in my thirties, that didn't affect me, but in my forties, now that's starting to negatively affect me because your body's resilience to those, to those inputs have changed. And so that's an important thing for us to consider is that you're going to have to really start looking at what are the reasons why I'm eating? Why am I consuming those foods? So a lot of times we do use food to prop up our neurochemistry to help improve the way we feel temporarily,

aka the serotonin and those that we talked about, those feel-good neurotransmitters. And then we need to then change that because we are relying on an unsteady source for fuel, an unhealthy source for fuel. So that I think is a huge part of satiety that I've seen in my practice. But of course, if your thyroid and your cortisol levels are off, you're going to have changes in your hunger, you're going to have changes in the way that you feel full. That's why high protein, good fat is such a powerful way of keeping our insulin from going up and down. And that's going to be triggering those, those cravings. So I think that, again, you cover that in the program in the diet really, really well. But just to let you know, that's a good way of balancing your hormones. So your diet does have a role in balancing hormones. I love it. Speaking of full, this was a really

robust conversation today. It's probably I know, and you're so generous with your time. We've got a whole hour. I mean, I'm sure we could we could keep on talking is probably the most important conversation when it comes to weight loss. Honestly, we dive into a variety of different topics. Dr. Paul is going to be back. We're going to be continuing the conversation. But, you know, watch this, watch it again, watch it with the notes, watch it again, two weeks from now, you know, four weeks from now, you know, next group, make sure you watch it again, go to YouTube, pull out all the, all of our past conversations about this. There's so many good to educate yourself in this. Honestly, it's such a great investment. Not everyone has access to it. You have to be in the Facebook

support group, but you can download and listen to the podcast and share that with your friends or family or anyone who's been struggling and trying to lose weight. Um, I honestly cannot thank you enough for taking the time with us. Uh, Dr. Paul, um, I know real quick, people are going to want to know where to find you, uh, where to reach out to you. Yeah. You can check me out on Instagram. You can look at my website. It's on the screen. And you can connect with me or my clinic there. You know, I think the one big takeaway I want to everyone leave this conversation with Gina is that I hope that as I was talking, as you were talking, Gina, there's one or two things that really stuck out to everyone as you know, this is something that resonates right now that I need to work on.

Something that I can action. It's not always an addition. It sometimes may be a subtraction. It may be something that is totally free and it has to do with your mindset. It has to do with the way that you thought about stress. And I want for the next week, I want you to think about how you can action that particular item. And it could be, I've always suspected I had food sensitivities. You know what? I'm going to go get some testing done. You know, I'm going to go seek out support. If you have financial issues, if you want to buy

a house, you're going to get a real estate lawyer. Like it's the way that our world works. If you need help in a particular area, go and try to find help in that particular area. Instead of, you know, if you're listening to this for the third time, you've been in this program, don't continue to bang your head against the wall. See if you can like find that additional support in the area that you really need that. And it might be in the area of psychology because you feel like you can't kick the emotional eating. I have lots of people that are in that category. Or you know what? I feel tired all the time. I feel achy in the mornings. I feel like I have brain fog. That talk that Dr. Paul said about adrenal function, that thing represents me. You know, I'm going to go work with an ash path to address my adrenal system, or at least to go get it tested because there

isn't a good blood test to do it. You got to do it through saliva or urine. So hopefully I want this to be a positive takeaway from a very complex conversation, which could be a heck of a lot more complex if we really wanted to, Gina, but we're trying to keep the weeds at a minimum and we're trying to keep the fruit, the benefit at a maximum. We'll leave it at that. I love it. And we're actually are working on some sort of, you know, conversation with Dr. Paul. So those of you who are interested, we can go down that rabbit hole of conversations. We are working behind the scenes on some fun stuff for sure. More Dr. Paul, Dr. Paul all day, every day. Dr. Paul Herkel, thank you for your time today.

Thank you guys. Another amazing conversation. Thank you. New year, new me. Season is here. And and honestly we're already over it enter felix the health care company helping canadians take a different approach to weight loss this year weight loss is more than just diet and exercise it can be about tackling genetics hormones metabolism felix gets it they connect you you with licensed healthcare practitioners online who'll create a personalized treatment plan that pairs your healthy lifestyle with a little help and a

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