The Livy Method Podcast - Let's Talk Levelling Up Your Health with Dr. Paul Hrkal - Fall 2024

Episode Date: November 5, 2024

In this segment, Gina chats with Dr. Paul Hrkal, ND, about some practical steps that can be taken to level up your health and wellness.If you are in the Fall 2024 Support Group, you can check out the full video here:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodfall2024Topics covered:How can we reframe “levelling up”?If we aren’t seeing the results we would like, where do we start?Dr. Paul shares the most overlooked reason why people struggle to lose weightWhat’s the environment that you are eating food in?How do you properly assess your stress levels?Why are people so hesitant to believe that the reason they aren’t losing weight is due to stress?There is so much information available about hormones - where to start?Why it’s important to change our mindset about stressHow long does it take to improve your stress levels and see results on the scale?How everything you’re doing on The Livy Method has a positive effect on stressYour body is on your side - taking care of it is an act of self-loveThe only thing we can control is how we respond to challengesHow much attention should we pay to insulin resistance?What is insulin, what is insulin resistance and how do you get it?What’s the real deal about alcohol?What other topics does Dr. Paul think we should dive into in the future?The topics Gina would like to discuss in the futureWhere to find Dr. Paul:www.paulhrkalnd.com@drpaulhrklTo 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. Dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not. Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton.

Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. This is an opportunity to become curious. To learn some things. How do we help you feel less overwhelmed so you can continue on your journey? Keep believing in yourself and keep trusting the process. Just be patient. Dr. Paul Herkel is back with us and joining me today. You know, I initially wanted to have a conversation about leveling up your health. There's always more you can do.

But every time I've said it over the last couple of days promoting this segment, I'm just like, but I don't want people to feel overwhelmed. Like, yeah, there's always more you can do, but now you're following the living method and you're doing all these things and now I gotta do even more. So let's scrap that whole idea. And since I have you here,

you know what our members are doing. You know how hard they are working. You know the conversations we have had. What is the conversation for people at this point? Follow through and finish. If they feel like they're not seeing the kind of movement on the scale that they would like, if they are feeling frustrated, how can we talk about it or frame it in another way that we haven't already done up to this point? Yeah, you know what?

I say I have this conversation almost every single day because I see so many patients that are literally in the boat, exactly what you're talking about, where they've done, I think, everything they possibly can. However, as I've said before, Gina, where I guide the conversation is looking at the big, first of all, looking at the big picture of the process. So this is your first time or fourth time through the program, looking at, okay, so how else in other areas, because I know everyone's very focused on the

weight. I know you're talking about that. There's maybe some frustration around that. How else have I really leveled up? How else have I felt better? What are some of my non-scale victories? And reflecting on those and putting them in the equation for success. A lot of times if people just hyper-focus on one outcome, like the area that I do a lot of work in, as you know, is chronic pain. So people are like, yeah, my pain's not better, but I'm sleeping better. My energy is better. All these other things are really getting better. And all

of that makes me healthier. So I kind of try to put the health into the equation. So I lead off with this, Gina, because it really is meant to be the backdrop for your mindset about what you're going to do in the next little while. Because I still think you need to finish strong. I still think you need to do all the things and reflect on, how well have I actually followed through a lot of this stuff? And I have to tell you, and you and I have had conversations offline about this, where people have said, I'm frustrated, I'm not losing weight. And then when they've truly had a chance to either sit down with me, or even you, in some cases in the past, there's four or five things that they haven't really done. And so that's not meant to be like

pointing a finger saying, Oh, you're not good enough. That's meant to say, Okay, let's be realistic. My parents just got put in a nursing home. I'm dealing with a lot of stuff at work. And my stress is really high, but I'm doing all the things though, Gina. I'm doing all the things. So just being really real and evaluating, have I fully done everything possible? And maybe there's some things out of my control that are contributing to why things are a little slower to move. So that's where I would start the conversation, Gina. Well, it's interesting because I think this is the theme of the week. I talked about this on both of the lives yesterday is this conversation of being really real.

We're not blaming you. We're not like, oh, the living method isn't working for me. So it's your fault. You're not doing the things. That's not it. I think sometimes people can't see the forest from the trees. They're so into it. They're focused on the scale moving. That's not it. I think sometimes people can't see the forest from the trees. They're so into it. They're focused on that, the scale moving. They're not seeing other things. You have to be healthy in order to lose weight. So, so where do we, where would someone start? I, I got the 20 questions. I got all that, but coming from you, someone saying I'm doing all the things, how, what's the conversation with them saying I'm doing all the things, what's the conversation with them? I'll actually just walk you through what I talk to my patients about day in and day

out, which is kind of like right up the alley of this question. All right. So the first thing we start looking at is we go back to those four major obstacles that you and I talked about. So if you haven't listened to that podcast, I encourage you to go back, listen to it. I know a lot of people recently have been coming in and talking to me about how, you know, something that we said together resonated with them. So that's a real first place for us to start to go back and identify, are there any sort of obstacles? And then really looking at realistically saying, okay, what can I, what can I do to change that? And maybe, you know, the conversation is at this point in time, there's something in my life that is just limiting me that's outside of my control. And I, but I'm

not going to flush my, the rest of the effort that I put in because you're still making positive progress. Sometimes if you've incorporated something like a new routine, you die routine, and now you're starting to exercise a little bit more. I've seen people gain muscle mass. The weight doesn't change, but they're starting to notice differences. People are saying, have you lost weight? They're a little bit less weight lost in the face. So observe some of those other factors because I think they're really important. And so then really, I would just even sit down with a journal. I look, put stuff in and literally just go through and don't rush this. Take time and be like, you know, what areas in my health in general, can I do a better job based on all the information that all these guest experts and Gina's talked about in the last two and a half months and then really just have that real conversation with yourself maybe with a friend that's going through the program and that sometimes again is frustrating in its own right

where they're like oh i lost 20 and i've lost two and so now it's like shoot what's going on here but it's more so like having uh the kind of accountability of saying okay maybe well i'm doing this uh and then you know there's some simple things like, for example, people think that they're eating, you know, a high protein diet, they're eating, they're eating good fats. And a lot of times I audit their diet, and it's not nearly enough, they need to actually, like, actually level up. So sometimes we tell ourselves things, just to say, Oh, no, I'm doing all things, because it's hard the first time, I encourage people to kind of stay the course. And then finally, you know, go identify that area after you've journaled it. And maybe it's in the psych realm. Maybe it's in the sleep realm. Maybe it's in the metabolic realm. I just saw somebody with high levels

of inflammation. They had insulin resistance yesterday on blood work. And they're frustrated. They're in the program and they're not losing weight. Things are going up and down. I'm like, it's hard to lose weight when your body is inflamed and insulin is through the roof. So let's go correct that. So go work with that naturopathic doctor to correct those underlying issues instead of sitting back and saying, yeah, I'm not doing anything about it. I'm frustrated and I'm going to give up. That's not what we want to hear. Well, you know, I've heard this so much where we've had members come in. They're so frustrated, I've heard this so much where we've had members come in. They're so frustrated, frustrated, frustrated, frustrated, frustrated.

Something clicks. They go. They get the test done. They try to figure out what's going on. And then they come back and be like, oh, my God. Yes, I have this. I have that. This is what's going on. And then they follow up and like, oh, my God, I've now started to lose weight.

Just to remind people those four reasons. So we had that conversation a few weeks back, maybe a month and a bit ago. Reasons why your weight can be slower to move. So inflammation was a big one. Food sensitivities was another one. Gut dysbiosis. Connected to inflammation, right? You know, so there's like, you know, it's one source of inflammation, of course.

Gut dysbiosis. So what's going on in your microbiome? Also tied into inflammation. Hormones as well. I would probably say if I'm going to drop a little like clinical pearl on people right now in terms of what I see over and over again, I would probably say a person's stress levels translating into high cortisol levels is probably one of the most overlooked reasons and pieces why people are struggling to lose weight. If you have either high or low cortisol, which is adrenal dysfunction, and if somebody's more of a science-y person in the literature, this is called HPA axis dysfunction, which is hypothalamus brain, pituitary brain and adrenal connection.

It's often one of the main reasons why so many other systems, Gina are sluggish, why our sleep is not doing well. I'll look, I explain it this way because a lot of the people that are in the program that are, that are working with me, they're, they're in this kind of zone of perimetopause menopause. That's why I think, you know, the programs that you launch are so huge and there's changes that are happening. However, some women just sail through this and there's not a huge issue. And a lot of this is as the ovaries stop producing estrogen progesterone, your adrenal system has to pick up the slack because it also produces a little bit of that estrogen progesterone. So now, if you have adrenal dysfunction because of stress, poor eating, inactivity, etc, etc, in the past, like the last, you know, 15 years before that,

you get to menopause, you're going to have an exposed adrenal system that is now having to pick up the slack or it just doesn't. And so that is a real big underlying issue that I see all the time, Gina. Yeah, well, especially as women get older, it gets harder, how much less can you eat? How much more can you exercise? Or I've even I've, I've encountered people have done the program where they did a couple programs lost weight, then all of a sudden having just a really hard time trying to maintain their weight. Yeah, the hormones are changing, they don't have that same muscle mass. It's, it's, it's, it is harder as you have that same muscle mass. It's it's it's

it is harder as you get older, but generally because your body's been so broken down because you've starved it and deprived it. You're not taking care of it. For sure. And, you know, another interesting point that a patient that I saw just yesterday reminded me is, you know, what's the state that we are eating food in? And why I bring this up is some of this particular patient was is in a very high ranking bank job. She has a lot on her plate. And she was doing all the things. So she's like eating the right macro, so to speak, right, you know, like the fats and the thing. But the state that she was doing it in, she's like, I'm just always rushing from one phone call to another on one meeting to another. And so maybe it's not always

like the actual food, but it's the environment, the food is being trying to be assimilated in and that in itself is some something that we just take for granted. So often, you know, we're eating and we're, you know, we're looking at our phone or multitasking or finishing an email. The nervous system, Gina, the balance between sympathetic, which is our fight and flight, which is life-saving, necessary, but often overstimulated where you're balancing that with the parasympathetic, which is rest, digest, recover, detoxify, and yes, lose weight is part of that. If you're constantly pushing that fight or flight button, even while you're eating, you're really not going to get the full benefit of that food. It's not just the minerals and the vitamins and the macros that are in the food.

It's about how's my body using it. And in that case, food can actually be part of the problem because it can be a stressor on the body that is receiving the food in a state that it's really not ready to use it in the proper way. So that's just one example of little ways that stress keeps in or that it can actually become a stressor and limiting us that's not actually food or macro related at all. Yeah. How would someone assess their stress? Because, you know, you talk to people like, I'm fine. I'm not stressed. I was one of those people. I was just like, no, I'm fine. I'm fine.

I'm fine. I'm fine. And so how would someone assess their stress and how long does it take us to have our stress levels, cortisol levels come down? Okay. to have our stress levels, cortisol levels come down. Okay, I'll answer that second question after because that is a little bit more in-depth question. But how do we assess our stress? There's a number of ways. And the first thing, you know, to me, stress is a double-edged sword, Gina,

because stress is this invisible factor that everyone feels. And as I've said before, almost everyone interprets as a negative thing, where the recipe for stress, there was a doctor in Montreal, his name's Hans Selye. And he was the first guy that came up with this idea of stress. And he quantified and he studied and he published on it back in the early 1900s. And what the basically what he found is that in order for something to be stressful, there needs to be a number of key ingredients. One of them is, it needs to be something that is novel or different. So unpredictable is a huge thing. Control is another huge thing. So if you feel you and I during this conversation, I'm not

particularly stressed right now, but somebody else would be super stressed because this is like, you know, something they're not used to doing. So mindset's a huge component of it. And oftentimes when those kind of resilience and balancing systems get overwhelmed, Gina, our body has to start picking up the slack. And so that means that you start feeling symptoms. So the first way to know that you're stressed is that if you feel that you're in a constant state of overwhelm and things are out of control. And what that translates into is I feel a little anxious, but I'm not really, I don't have really anxiety per se. I'm not necessarily going to panic attacks, even though you can. So pay attention to symptoms in your body.

Is your heart racing a little quicker? Do you feel like you're not able to kind of get your nervous system in check? You always, people will describe themselves. I feel either burnt out or I feel like I'm always on edge. That might translate into insomnia. So the first thing a good doctor does is they look at what are the symptoms. Secondly, then you start looking at assessments. So objectively, so you have another,

you have a healthcare provider, like maybe a psychologist or naturopathic doctor, they kind of take your case and they say, you know what, based on the way that all this is working and you're presenting, you look like you have the constellation of being under an excessive amount of stress. And then finally, you could check it. You can actually check your blood uh work so cortisol will pick up like extreme stress uh states of stress that's really rare in my experience you need to do a saliva hormone test or a urinary metabolite test and this actually tracks your cortisol throughout the day so you have multiple points so you'll actually see the patient i was just telling you about her cortisol levels were through the roof. They were really high. And that was

throughout the whole day. And then that translates into feeling always on edge. So there's different ways of assessing it, Gina. And I know we're going to get into how long it takes your body to recover. But why people I just find are so resistant to connect this to losing weight and dieting. I know it's been ingrained, eat less, exercise more, calories in. I think the oversimplification of calories in versus calories out has really complicated how people are approaching weight loss because they're very resistant to believing that the reason why they're not losing weight is because they are stressed or not getting enough sleep or they have something going on. Why do you think that is? Well, okay. Part of it is,

like I said, right off the bat, it's a double-edged sword because they go to their doctor and they come up with a bunch of symptoms. The symptoms we just talked about, you know, like I'm on edge, you know, I'm gaining weight, I'm not sleeping well, doctor. And the doctor looks at them and maybe pass them on the shoulder and say, you're just 50, you're going through menopause and you're stressed. And then people kind of feel gaslit by that they're just like that's not that's not the response so that's the other side of that sword where it's just so easy to chalk everything up to stress and stress is this really kind of vague concept what we're trying to do right now in this conversation is i'm trying to making making it very specific bringing it back into the hormonal realm. That's the disconnect, Gina. Conventional medicine,

by and large, doesn't connect stress as this kind of abstract psychological term to a physiological reality that people are feeling. That's the main disconnect. And so I think that's why people get confused. They get gaslit. They get overwhelmed because nobody really understands this type of situation. I even find, you know, not just in my weight loss cases, I would say even in my chronic pain and my concussion cases and everyone else, this is still the underlying issue that is not well understood by any specialist and healthcare provider that they've already seen. So that's kind of the background why really people don't understand it and they don't really get good help for it.

And finally, it is kind of difficult because it is kind of vague. There isn't like a specific thing like I have heartburn. So there's like maybe three or four things I would check if you have heartburn to make sure it's not the worst case scenario. But you could get, literally, you could get heartburn because you're stressed, because you're eating too fast and you kind of are in this fight or flight. So I've had patients that have had that symptom and it affects so many different systems in various ways, the neurological system, the GI system, and of course the hormonal system. And finally, and this is kind of a good dovetail into menopause, what we're talking about, I've been talking about for a while, and I think what you're now talking about in terms of this kind of menopause, what you're what we're talking about, I've been talking about for a while. And I think what you're now talking about in terms of this kind of menopause program that you're is that

hormones have just been generally really poorly treated and poorly understood for a long time. And so women, perimetopause, menopause, postmenopause really have gotten the short end of the medical stick on really getting an understanding a proper assessment and then a proper treatment, because hormones are not really well understood at all. And I still think we have a long way to go, but I think that's part of the problem is that that's not, it's not understood. Yeah. Well, first of all, the amount of stress that we're under, it just gets, it's just year over year, it's more and more and more like humans are under more stress now, I think,

than they ever were, um, constantly being bombarded, social media, all of that. When it comes to menopause and hormones, I mean, hormones, hormones in general, let's take menopause out of it and make it an inclusive conversation. No one is talking about or has been talking about hormones involved in weight loss. Yeah, there's a lot more conversation now, cortisol, but not necessarily specifically tied to weight gain or loss. Insulin resistance now is, you know, people talk about insulin resistance. It was really poo-pooed like four or five years ago and deemed pseudoscience where we now know it's actually a real thing. And I do want to, I do absolutely want to get into, and I'm going to ask you about insulin resistance next, but in, in, in the research I've been doing for my menopause program, I was just talking to Tony this morning. It's so

much, it's so much. So I wanted to create this super affordable program for people. The information is intense and that's my Coles note version. And still people are like, this is a lot. And I'm like, well, it's a lot because it's a lot because you have to start the conversation. It's a lot because it's a lot. Yeah. And that's, I think that's kind of part of the problem is that hormones, like think about it. If a person is in their late forties and they're starting to experience some of these hormones, who do they go see? They go see their family doctor and then they may send them to a gynecologist and a gynecologist really is expertise is dealing with severe gynecological issues. Hormones originate in the gynecological area, your ovaries, but they're not, they're

affecting the whole body. And so again, there isn't a, there isn't a good understanding. There's a ton of information and it affects so many different things so you need a holistic perspective about your hormones and your health and then now tying the weight loss piece like this is this is massive and it's massively overlooked and and you know the diet industry is kind of like touched on this i'm sure you've heard of some of the stuff called happy juice which like if you look at the ingredients of that stuff, again, I have no affiliation, I don't care. And nor do I think it's a good thing. But a lot of that's just focused on trying to lower your cortisol in an effective way. But so there are little things that kind

of come through sometimes. But ultimately, I think part of what we're trying to do here is we're trying to really help people understand this complex topic and talk about something that isn't often talked about. But I also want to talk about the flip side, Gina, where, you know, I've said this before and I'm going to really try to, I'm going to die on this hill where it's like stress is often always talked about in a negative perspective. And this is part of the solution. So this is why I want to bring it up right now is the first state we have to look at. The first step we have to look at is changing our mindset. So yes, we have to, I've said it before, simplify because a lot of the other things when we're stressed, what do we do? We actually add more stress to our life many times. So I stay up late because I'm binging something, or I'm going to drink a couple extra glasses of alcohol and wine.

These are all stressors. You said it best. We are. We've never been more bombarded by stressors. And so part of this is like the age we live in. Scrolling, doom scrolling is like mini dopamine hits. Patients talk about this all the time. So they're doing that before bed.

So they're getting this hyper stimulation and that is a stressor. So it's kind of like you doing a workout for your neurotransmitters basics, back to kind of more traditional values, back to more simplification. And I think that's the first step. If back to the thing you started with me right off the bat is what can you do? It's not actually, what can you do more of? Yes. What can I do less of? So I, you know, I've been snow secret. I've been dealing with a bunch of stress the last couple

of years. And I would say, um, I'm probably feeling better today than I have in two years, two years. I mean, there was a point where my stress levels were so high. I could barely keep food down. I just didn't sleep at night. I had a lot going on. I was having heart palpitations. Was some of that combined with perimenopause? Yes, I think so. Was just exasperated the symptoms. I stopped drinking alcohol. There's still more I could do to facilitate better sleep.

I'm now going for walks. I'm doing all of these things. Whereas before I was, you know, spinning on my bike and doing all this. It's taken two years. Two years for me to get a handle on my stress. What, like how, what is the average time? Like, let's put this in perspective for people. Is there a, is there a scale?

Is there an average time that it takes? Like people are like, okay, I'm stressed. Okay. What can I do about it? I got that. How long is it going to take me before I can start seeing results when it comes to the scale? Because ultimately that's what people are after.

Yeah. Such a good question. And, you know, just let's look at you as an example of somebody that, you know, you know, the things, you know, the information you're talking to, you know, people like me all the time, you have a lot of tools at your disposal in terms of what to eat and, you know, the knowledge to exercise. And it's taken two years. And you're not, it's not like it's like a cure. Uh, you know, that's the other thing to think about is that, you know,

because we can have to continue to live because we continue to have, uh, families and responsibilities and jobs. It's kind of like this, uh, it's like the savings account that we need to, we've just made a ton of withdrawals and now we're in a negative balance. And that's kind of like the, where the rubber, it's the road, you have adrenal dysfunction, HPA axis dysfunction, but it's kind of like you always still, you have, you need to have a cash flow. You just need to put more in your bank account than you're taking out. And so it's not like all of a sudden it's cured. My bank account's full. No, it's like a process. So to answer that question is that you can start feeling better almost right away. If you start making those changes where there's more going into your

health bank account, so to speak, if we're using that analogy, then it's taking out. And so you're going to start noticing my sleep is better. I, those palpitations are going away. There's things we can do to help reduce those physical manifestations of a stress response and adrenal dysfunction. You might even go for hormone replacement therapy when it comes to hormones because it's another stressor, right? So there are things you can do to feel much better right away. However, to really kind of get back to a state of healthy adrenal function, that takes years. Yeah, it takes years. And so I really want to be clear about that timeline.

And it's something that we just have to kind of be conscious of. Like if somebody's been diagnosed with IBS, they're going to be conscious about their digestive system for the rest of their life, most likely. Because they're thinking about what foods are irritating them. And if they just go off the rails and start eating like garbage again, all their symptoms are going to come back. So are you truly cured of IBS? No, it's in check. It's stable.

You know, the adrenal system is very much the same way. 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 health care 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 dot C-A. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not, just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push, find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Well, and I know people are sitting here like, oh, my God, I'm stressed.

I'm never going to lose my weight. I mean, all the things that you're doing on the living method is helping you address that. The living method does take a very holistic approach. And what else are you going to do? Do nothing about it because that's going to cause you to gain weight at the end of the day. And this is why for some people, even just not gaining weight is a huge, massive non-scale victory and all the things that you're doing. And yes, it sucks. If you're, if you're in a situation where you feel like that's what's happening to you, it's going to take probably longer than you would like, but everything that you're doing here is inching you

one step closer to making, well, one healing your body body and two, helping you lose weight. Yeah. Like for example, intermittent fasting, something that people might've tried before they go on the program. The Libby method is the opposite of intermittent fasting. Like you could still do intermittent fasting, but you're asking to eat smaller, more frequently. That is a stressor, especially for women in around that menopausal age. So that being said, you know, the Libby plans already addressing that. And you don't even you didn't think about that as one of the solutions. So my the adrenal repair diet that I've been giving people that are not on the Libby plan, it looks very, very similar where it's like, eat in the morning, get a high protein breakfast,

don't have the sugar. If you have a cereal in the morning or a bagel, you're going to just pump up your blood sugar. Insulin is going to go up. Cortisol is going to have to deal with that and with the crash of blood sugar at the end. So there's this connection between blood sugar as a stressor and cortisol and insulin. So, I mean, it's so beautiful when I think about it. It's such an elegant system. We have this intricate web that is keeping us healthy, and there's resilience built into the system. But if over the years we've actually destroyed some of that resilience, we've kind of burnt out the rubber on some of the things that helps us deal with some of these stressors, that's when kind of like symptoms start manifesting. So we can build up some of that resilience,

but a lot of it has to be, there has to be more kind of positive input. That's diet, that's lifestyle, that's sleep consistently. It's not like, oh, I'm going to be on this diet for a month and a half. Oh, didn't see you wait. It's garbage, I'm out. You know, like that's not going to be long enough

to start changing and shifting some of the things that you and I are talking about right now. Yeah. Well, your body's innately able of taking care of you. And I think a lot of people through dieting have this sense that their bodies is trying to make them sick and fat and screw them over when that's absolutely not the reality. Every minute of the day, your body's repairing and rebuilding and regenerating and rejuvenating. How to figure out how to function, given the resources that you're giving it, how you're treating it. It's like, hey, I'm trying to help you out over here. And then even genetics, like, yes, maybe it does predispose you, but that's not a life sentence to have,

you know, all these health issues. There's a lot that you can do about it. It's just sometimes people are just kind of, especially when it comes to their weight, that eat less, exercise more, bits and pieces, try this, try that, and not doing all of the things, doing them consistently and long enough to actually make real change,

which is what you're doing, following the living method. For sure, for sure. You know, I just, as you were speaking, it made me think of a patient I saw yesterday. This patient recently got diagnosed with an ovarian cancer, the reoccurrence, you know, there's an autoimmune underlying issue. And so I just want to like briefly just speak to the people that they feel that their bodies betrayed them because they feel like there's

so many things going on. Things are happening out of their control. What's wrong with my body? Why is it not losing this weight? Why am I getting all these health issues? And of course, this was a very tearful encounter. This patient was mentally, emotionally, you know, struggling with it. There's a lot of fear and then this idea of betrayal. So if you're if you're in this category at all, you know, this is kind of what I want to share with you. And I think it's applicable to everyone, Gina. You know, there's a process that our body goes through as we start fueling it and doing the right things, sleeping well, moving. There are lots of years, usually in our younger decades,

that we have not been mindful of that. And so in a sense, when you start following the Libby plan and incorporating all the things that you and I have talked about and other guest experts, I look at it as an act of self-love and self-respect. And when we start looking at it from that lens, because the opposite actions are yo-yo dieting, binging, this flies in the face of this. And so there's an interaction with what Dr. Beverly talks about in terms of psychology here. But I think it's worth mentioning that that should be part of our mindset about looking at, I'm now doing positive things. And these are good things for

my body. Yet, my body doesn't seem to be doing what I want right now at the pace that I want to do it. And that's why I think that idea of starting the this whole conversation around what what is my body doing well, what am I doing well right now, and being grateful for that, Gina. And because if you look at it as just a strict calories in calories out, in, weight out type of equation, you're really doing yourself a disservice because you've zoomed in on one small aspect of who you are. I want to read a comment from one of our members. Thank you for sharing. I'm going through stress and severe pain. Just got a CT scan and I'm discouraged. I'm not following the program properly. I was so good losing 9.5 pounds in the fall program. And then in the last three weeks,

I've been disappointed for me. I can't focus. Too much pain and overwhelm. Yeah. This is the type of person and situation I'm talking to right now is that, you know, this is life. People are doing this in context, not in a vacuum. Not everyone has a chance to press pause and be like, Oh, I'm just gonna do this program. And I'm going to do all the exercises and my work's going to stop. My stress is going to stop my husband and my wife, you know, whatever it is, my kids, my job. No, you're doing it in context. And there are things that happen to us that are out of our control. And the only thing we can do, Gina, is we can respond with either a positive or negative mindset. And the way that you get there, number one is you have

to be grateful. And sometimes that gratefulness is in the face and in spite of the situation that you just read. That's hard. I know that's hard. However, that is, as you said, what's the other option? Despair and despondency and giving up because you're going to be in a lot worse situation. Part of this sometimes is, you know, you're doing these changes. You don't know how much worse it could be if you didn't do this. Almost like an insurance policy. And that's like, that's a psychological mind bend. It's hard to get your head around that, but you could have gained 30 pounds instead of being down two pounds.

If you didn't during this high period of stress, for example. So I, I love a program that we also are able to have this type of conversation that you are doing this with with And we still need to maintain the same grateful and the same positive posture, irregardless of which way that we're actually going at this time. Because sometimes it can switch, Sheena, and all of a sudden things just start moving. It's so true. That's why you can't count and weigh and measure your way to sustainable weight loss. There's so much more to it. I want to talk to you about things that we're doing that you think are a detriment, like alcohol. I want to get your real opinion on that.

Before that, though, I want to tackle this conversation of insulin resistance. How much do people need to pay attention to this? It's coming up a lot now, especially in conversations with sort of PCOS, with hormones. That's a big conversation. Weight gain, weight loss, insulin resistance. How much do we really need to pay attention to that? I think huge. I think insulin resistance, if you look at a lot of the evidence that,

as you've mentioned, that's being published, it is really the underlying hormonal, metabolic hormonal environment that is driving inflammation, undergirding chronic disease, and on the way to type 2 diabetes. And not just that, it's going to increase inflammation in all areas. Like for example, you know, I talk a lot about the brain. We now know that one of the main theories about Alzheimer's disease is a type of diabetes in the brain called type 3 diabetes and insulin resistance is the main driver of that gene and so the first step as the body's trying to again it's trying to deal with a stressor what's that stressor too much sugar in the bloodstream too many many spikes of that sugar. So as the sugar goes up,

the body has to produce this insulin. Unfortunately, that is good to get rid of that sugar. But the long knock on effect, the longer term effect is that every time we do that, you have a bigger blood sugar dip, and cortisol has to push increase to maintain blood sugar. So now you have this yo-yo happening and you're stressing other systems and then the resistance happens is that when insulin continues to kind of be used and pumping it out at a higher level now cells are seeing that insulin uh hormone and they're like yeah i see it boy that cried wolf i'm not gonna i'm not gonna respond to that and that's what resistance means so that insulin insulin continues to have to go higher and higher and higher. And that's how we get insulin resistance.

And so it really has a detrimental detrimental effect on our cells, our brain. I would say I can't even say just one system. It's every system because you mentioned PCOS. That's a hormonal system. And most people with PCOS struggle with weight because of this insulin resistance. Okay. I know. I love the way you explain that. Is there a way to break it down? So it's just so simple. What is insulin? What is insulin resistance and how do you get it? I'll try to make this as easy as possible. Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas in response to blood glucose levels. So when they go up, when you eat a meal, and that meal could be cereal where you have a big insulin response because blood sugar goes up and insulin has to follow it to bring it down. Or it could be, you know, veggies and a piece of protein, and you have a low blood sugar spike, therefore a low insulin response.

And so the more sugary and carby and refined a meal is, the higher the insulin response. And the higher that it is, the more resistant we get, because our cells are just getting inundated by insulin, they're being overwhelmed by insulin. And this doesn't happen after one piece of cake, you know, this has happened after decades, this is not like I just want to be I want to be clear that, you know, if you have a little bit of sugar, if you have some carbs, we've all been there, including myself, that's not the problem. In fact, insulin in a sense is, is is dealing with, like I said, a type of stressor. So we want our insulin system to be really robust and flexible and dealing with some of these things

if it happens. However, if that's happening day in and day out, now that's a problem. And that's where insulin resistance starts happening okay and then like so basically it's from years and years and years of having way too much sugar refined carbs that your body's just like insulin insulin insulin and finally it's just like yeah no we're good like yeah yeah there's also other factors too where you know like for in PCOS, the hormonal situation with things like androgens, which is the testosterone family of hormones, there are hormones that can impact this. Some people have a genetic presupposition to diabetes the biggest things is going to be the lack of physical exercise is massive because there's a cheat code. Physical exercise provides a cheat code, a little backdoor that is going to absorb sugar independent of insulin. So it'll open doors to get the sugar out of your bloodstream when you exercise and so that's again you know a lot of this is starting to happen when you're in your first you know three decades and so a lot of people get to their 40s and 50s and they're already on the

insulin resistant strain so sometimes it's it they're confused like i had a patient yesterday the one that i mentioned about insulin resistance. She was like, you know, I exercise, I'm confused, but the changes have already kind of happened. So they're slower to kind of adjust now because it's a hormone. And like I said, it takes months and years for us to rehabilitate our cellular function to be able to be more responsive to insulin. Yeah, well, going for walks after my bigger meals has been just a game changer for me. And again, you know, going for walks, not just to

manage my weight, but brain health, all of that. So I mean, on the living method, we're doing a lot of things that are good for us. Let's have a before you go today, a straight conversation about things that we are absolutely doing that are a detriment to not just losing weight, but health and wellness in general. So can we talk about alcohol? Give us the real deal on alcohol. Can we have it? Can we not have it? What's going on? I know, obviously, personal choice. So I'm not ragging on anyone who chooses to drink it, or not cheering on anyone who's choosing not to drink it. But let's have a real conversation about that. You know, I'm glad you brought that up in that context. You know, by the way, I don't think we've ever had this conversation, so I really like it.

I like that we're getting into it. It's cool. We're like we're going to the zinger zone at this point. Yeah. Okay. This is a personal choice, but, you know, smoking is a personal choice too, right? And so there are health effects to that, you know. So at some point we have to just be real about what the effect is.

So alcohol is something that has been around for thousands of years it's the abuse of alcohol that's the big problem gina um in general when we consume alcohol it gets converted in the body into something called acetyl aldehyde which is a neurotoxin but the body is able to eliminate it uh and so there is this you know you know you think about that like one drink an hour type of thing. That's because your liver enzymes are constantly working on that acetylaldehyde to eliminate it. And what I always say is that people that are in a good metabolic state are women in around that kind of five drinks a week range and not more than like one or kind of more than two at one time. Because as soon as you start pushing past that, you're going to then overwhelm the body's ability to eliminate it.

It seems that women are a little bit more sensitive to alcohol than men. And that has to do with a number of different factors. Most of it has to do with smaller body size in general. And that has to do with a number of different factors. Most of it has to do with smaller body size in general. And that's what the evidence says. So I'm going to say this in conclusion, I personally don't have a problem with alcohol, like you should avoid it at all costs. But there's an asterisk around that. Because the people in the Libby program, Gina, they're trying to change their health equation. Usually, they're not coming in saying, I'm super healthy, I'm going to do this program. There's usually some goal that they're trying to do. So when that's the case, when we

look at alcohol, there is a number of factors to consider. Number one, it's extra calories. That's another piece to think about. Number two, usually when people drink alcohol, they make poor dietary choices. So it's going to influence things like that. And number three, it is an extra thing for your body to detoxify. And that does create inflammation. So those are three things that have a very profound effect on you possibly reaching your goal. So are you going to be, I know people on the program that have their very profound effect on you possibly reaching your goal. So are you going to be,

I know people on the program that have their glass of wine and we're losing 30, 40 pounds. So if you're in that category, who might've tell you to say, you can't do that. However, if you feel like, okay, I'm stuck. And yeah, I'm having, you know, two or three bottles on the weekend. I consider that as something I want to eliminate. And, and I'll, I'll, I hear this all the time. What Gina says is okay.

And I said, yes. However, what about you now when we're looking at possibly ways that you can level up? So, yes, that's the great thing about the program is that no one says hard and fast. You've got to eat these calories. You've got to eat this. It's about you trying to find your journey and what's good for you. And at this point, you know, if you feel like you're stuck or you want to really level up or you have more inflammation, your joints are hurting or your brain fog,

alcohol would be something I'd really consider eliminating. And the final piece I'll say is that some people, and you don't necessarily need to be an alcoholic to benefit from this. I don't see people that are drinking, you know, three, four glasses in the weekend, having elevated liver enzymes. That's not the case. Your liver is usually able to deal with it, but it's more so the effect it has on neurotransmitters. And it's this like more invisible effect that people will say that after, you know, a month or two of I've, I've cut it out. All of a sudden I'm more clear and less foggy. There is an effect that it has on our kind of neurological inflammatory system that isn't very obvious right away. So that's my,

that's my honest truth about it, I think. And sleep and it messes with your sleep. That's the part. That's number four. Yes. You're right. Okay. I know we could talk on and on and on for the sake of time, we've got to wrap this up, but I do want to ask you, um, you, if we could talk about other things, what would that, what would that be? Let's give, what should we start investigating? What should we, what should future conversations with us look like? What kind of topics do you want to dive into? Okay. You're putting me on the spot here. I like this conversation is our, usually we do

a three conversations session. This is our fourth conversation. So I actually have enjoyed this one because we're able just to kind of, we're not like, let's get through all the supplements. We can just like talk about real issues that patients are, that my patients are seeing and that your members are kind of going through it. So I really like that. Addressing some of those things.

You know, people always have questions about should I be taking, you know, this fad supplement? Should I be doing these things? So like, I really like to be like, on top of what I'm seeing, both good and bad. We've talked about some of the benefits of creatine before. And we've kind of touched on that when it comes to brain health and need and menopausal. Women, you know, I think that's always a key piece to be on top of what people are are concerned about and dealing with i you know we talk about the gut a lot and i know that's like a key area when it comes to things like cravings and when it comes to uh you know actually changing some of the weight loss equations that that people have because your microbiome plays a huge role in your metabolism

so i think as research comes out gina we're to know a little bit more about that. And we're going to be able to share some of that stuff with you. And then ultimately, you know, like using the tools that we have from a dietary and supplemental perspective to start leveling up. One of the things I just continue to see over and over with my patients is that once you hit menopause and you've been on the program, maybe this is your second or third time, you know, really being strategic with incorporating some of that physical exercise. I find it has a multiplication effect. It really gets people through a plateau that they have. And that is a really important piece that I talked about, and then supporting that process, supporting, you know, lean muscle mass growth, and, and, and not just fat loss, but improving that engine in the body, which is your, your, your muscle mass, because you do lose it at a pretty substantial clip after age 40 and definitely after you kind of

hit menopause. So, I mean, I think we're saying, we're saying a lot of the right things. I don't know. What do you think, Gina? Well, I, yeah, I mean, we, we talk about a lot, we cover a lot, but I think what's happening is that people are becoming more savvy. I'm definitely learning a lot. I don't, I don't, you know, think that I know it all. In fact, I'm never going to stop learning. And the information is changing. I read this thing yesterday that takes like an average of 17 years for once science makes a change for it to become the norm. And we science around here, but science is science until the science changes. And I find that really interesting because,

for example, insulin resistance is a big one. I used to talk about insulin all the time in the program. I took that information out because I didn't want to be seen as pseudoscience. And now I got to put it back in because science is now caught up and turns out it's not pseudoscience. It's actually a real thing that they're finding is affecting a lot of things like PCOS, like Alzheimer's, like all of these things as we start to unravel and get deeper into the science and the science is changing.

So I want to make sure, and I think that we do, that we're always keeping up to current conversations, not just sending out sound bites and what we think is the hot topic right now in the diet industry. And I think a lot of the diet industry has been built on gimmicks, sound bites, hot topics, you know, and it's none of those, it's this, it's that, it's this, it's this, it's none of those things. It's the small little things you're doing that amount to big change. And it's about putting in the effort

and getting out of your own way and doing what you need to do long enough and taking the right things that are going to help actually make a difference, not just whatever the hot thing of the week is. And so I just want to make sure that I'm, that's why I'm asking you, Dr. Paul and I don't really speak outside of these conversations that we have. I mean, we probably should more, but that's why I want to just ask you in front of all of our members, because whatever you got to say, I'm here for it, right?

Yeah, and I think we covered a lot of really great topics today. I'm totally on board with, as I'm super evidence-based, as that science changes, we bring it to you. We really help you understand that better. But at the same token,

we don't get lost in the minutia, we try to make it simple and get people to understand that there are still simple foundational things that are going to do 90% of what you need to do. And, you know, I'm a big proponent of not overthinking a lot of things, not getting too caught up in what's the latest fad, what's the latest gimmick. A lot of times people really get desperate and they look for quick fixes. And that's in the natural health product industry. I mentioned one product earlier. There's a lot of them out there that start looking at, oh, this is the secret. Every time I look at it, it always ends up being some sort of marketing ploy or some sort of like quick fix. There are simple, you know, you're looking to, you're desperate to find a solution because

for some people, they've been trying to lose weight for 20 years and they trust what people are saying. And, you know, they're open to trying new things and doing a program like the Living Method, like it's hard to explain because there's so many different working parts. Like already the book is like 500 pages. It could probably be a thousand pages and we could do a whole encyclopedia series. I'm sure on all the things that you can do to help you lose weight and level up your health and wellness. Okay. I'm already looking forward to our next conversation. I think this is the last for this group, but I think you'll be back. You'll be back in January. I mean, you're never leaving us. You are just here. What where can people reach you? What do you got going on? What like what's?

Yeah, so I have, I have a busy clinical practice. I have five kids. That's where a lot of what I'm my focus is on. But actually, the next little thing that I'm doing, I'm taking a little bit of like a dial back on my clinical, I'm going to call it like a mini sabbatical. And I'm really going to try to get out some of this, some of these conversations we have and some of the content that I really want to share, you know, I'm sharing it right now. One-on-one. This is great because I'm able to share it with this amazing community, but I kind of want to put that in a way that people can access it through

little masterclasses. And so I've three things I'm working on right now that I'm, I'm trying to get done. So that's kind of something I'm super excited about. And I'm, and whatever's relevant to the Libby community, which there definitely is some, we'll be sharing that with you in the, in the next couple of months. Yes. Let us know, let us know. We need more, we need more. And we need to, sometimes we need to dive deeper into these, these topics. Cause you know, I think that knowledge is power and I think if people are getting the right information, that's just going to,

it's going to pave their path forward and make it a lot easier for them. Dr. Paul Herkel, thank you so much. I love Dr. Paul's Instagram page. Yes. Dr. At Dr. Paul Herkel is where you can find them over on Instagram. Thank you so much. Thanks everyone who joined us live. Remember that you can also download and listen to this conversation again and again and again by way of our Living Method podcast. Thanks everyone. Thanks, Dr. Paul. See you. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era or yoga era, Thank you. classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca.