The Livy Method Podcast - Levelling Up Your Health with Dr. Paul Hrkal - Spring 2025

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

In this episode, Gina and Dr. Paul Hrkal unpack what it really means to go all in on your journey—how full commitment, not perfection, is what moves the needle. They share why shifting your focus from weight loss to wellness changes everything, especially when summer heat impacts hydration and digestion. You’ll hear practical strategies for identifying hidden blocks and what to do if you’re “doing all the things” but the scale isn’t budging. Dr. Paul also shares real-life tips for levelling up—like ditching sweeteners and adding saffron—and the power of supporting your body’s natural detox systems. If you're stuck, frustrated, or feeling like nothing’s working, this episode will give you a fresh perspective—and a few tools to keep going.Where to find Dr. Paul:Instagram: @drpaulhrkalwww.paulhrkalnd.com If you are in the Spring 2025 Support Group, you can check out the full video here:www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspring2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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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. The topic today is supposed to be leveling up Your Health, which seems like a really lame title because I know it's gonna be so much better than that. Hi, how are you? Hey, you know what?

I think our conversation is always better than those titles that we give it because we just need a placeholder. Well, we always go down great rabbit holes and we get into the weeds on things. But at the end of the day, I think we're here to help people get to their health goals. And so if you want to say leveling up, if you want to say, I want to get to my target, I want to whatever it is, whatever it takes to get you semantically there, we're

there to help you and answer those questions today. Yeah, because I'm always like, it's not more and more and more and more here. Dr. Paul is back to tell us more things that we can do. It's not, it's not really about, about that. Here we are week nine of the programs. We have four solid weeks left. People are already starting to bail. I can already feel it. People are like, I feel you. I was going to say the same thing. And maybe this is just like the patients I'm seeing. It's like the 35 degree weather outside. People are just like ready for the summer. And and I think that, you know, there's still some time the program left. And I hope that those people that have really been killing it so far are going to continue to do so because there

are some things that really start happening. Not right away, but continue to happen. And if you're seeing benefits, I think that's the one thing that I really would encourage you to continue to really dive in. And if you're not, don't give up either. Keep going. I think people's perception of a diet specifically, because obviously, you know, people are here, they want to lose weight, although it's so much more, is that it gets harder as they go. And the living method, you get even more in tune with your body, you know, what your body needs, you're getting into a groove, you've been building on the changes that you've made.

For so many reasons, like you said, people want to stick around because this is where things start to happen for people. Can you just talk about the struggles that you hear when it comes to just how long it takes to make change for people? Yeah. So, I mean, because I've had this unique opportunity to see a lot of people that are struggling and they are, you know, been in the program. I had patients yesterday since 2021,

did, you know, all the sessions. But it's interesting, a lot of times, the people that have been in it for a really long time, they will admit to say, you know what, I haven't really been able to like fully commit to it. And I'm like there because I love the community. I like listening to Gina, I like what, I haven't really been able to fully commit to it. And I'm there because I love the community, I listen to Gina, I listen to the guests. They always say the same things, Gina.

And then I ask them, okay, so were you able to fully commit? Well, you know what, I couldn't because my parents were putting them in a home, I was selling my house, whatever it is, of course things come up, but I really find it's the full commitment that makes the big difference to move the needle when it comes to weight. So I hear that over and over again.

Yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where, I mean, someone would do Weight Watchers for 20 years and not even bat an eyelash at it. And it's just like, I think as we have our 91 day structure and you're able to break it down group by group, I've done X number of groups. It's just like anything where you start and you just keep going until you reach your goal, no matter what the goal is. And life is, life gets in the way. Is there, what's the difference between making changes for health versus making changes for weight

loss? It's a huge difference. I think it's, I can tell a person's really evolved in their health journeys when they enter the program because they have a weight loss goal and they leave the program because now they have a wellness goal that they have. And that's the, that's the transformation, you know, that happens ideally. So, I mean, like weight loss is an amazing hook because it's like the interface between the way that we see ourselves on the outside,

but also physiology has a huge role to play in blood sugar and, and cholesterol levels and inflammation. Like it's not just about, you know, you don't want to be overweight. You it's about really being healthy, but people enter the program with that really important hook. But then the ones that stay in the mentality of the Weight Watchers, like I'm just going to do program for programs, doing all the things, but they haven't really gone to that next level. What does that mean? I know that sounds really like cool to say, but what does that mean? That means that now they're really thinking about the food that they're eating and the way it's making them feel.

And they really become more mindful. And to be honest, it's a huge psychological component. Gene. I know you've probably heard this a thousand times. You learn the physical, you learn the, the, the what to eat first. Uh, and then you really, you really have to evolve past that into what are my obstacles? And oftentimes it's emotional eating because of what happened when they were in their teens. I had that yesterday, you know, they had unfortunately abuse that happened in the past. And some people have a genetic predisposition

for certain things, whether it's autoimmunity, whether it's being overweight, actually, that is a genetic predisposition. And they have to work against that. But I think I really want people to get away from the, I'm just here to punch the clock and evolve to what is my key underlying issue? How am I going to address that? How am I going to, like the conversation says, level up? Yeah, love that. Let's talk about the heat because people, the scale goes up. People are trying to drink the water.

Your guts get sloshy. You can only drink so much. What kind of effect is the heat having on our bodies ability to just do the things that we want it to do? Well, first of all, it puts the people that are in doing the program, I think are in a good spot because they're hydrating. And I think that's the one thing that, you know, we kind of take for granted is that it's really easy to get dehydrated.

You're hearing this on the news. People that are homeless, they're really coming in with a lot of dehydration. And that is something that happens on a much lower kind of subtle level. I think the heat in general makes some people, it aggravates a lot of different things. Like some people's, you know, metapausal symptoms and their hormones get worse

because they're hot, it's harder to regulate. People will notice that when they travel, especially to hotter climates like in Europe in the summer, their ankles will get a little more swollen and they're gonna have a little bit more water retention. Part of that could be that they're in a new environment, part of that because they're walking all the time, you know, you want to have, you know, vertical and also horizontal, you got to put the feet up a little bit sometimes. But I do think heat does play a role in, for some people that are sensitive to that, I think it has to do with constitution, Gina.

I love the heat, I tolerate it really well. My mother-in-law does not tolerate it well at all and has a lot of detrimental effects to her. So I think there's an individuality in terms of heat tolerance too. Is there anything we should be doing in the summertime in the high heat versus any other time of year when it comes to our health and wellness? Yeah, I mean, I think I'd be really concentrating on the electrolyte aspect of things. We talk about hydration a lot, but you're also losing minerals. And so I think that we talk about trace minerals

in the supplements as well, but I think you may actually need a little bit of salt-based electrolytes. And so trace minerals are a tiny amount of all the different types of minerals. So you're zinc and molybdenum and manganese, and it's hard to standardize the amounts of each one of those minerals

in let's say like a sea salt type of like mineral extract. So you may actually need some electrolytes. You can find sugar-free, you know, good quality electrolytes, you know, right beside that collagen in Costco, for example, that you can that you can get. So that is one way that we can, especially in the mornings, before you even get into the heat and have to go outside, you can already kind of prehydrate with water and also electrolytes. And those electrolytes, you know, help water stick in the body because water basically follows where your minerals are. So if you have no minerals inside of your cells or little, your water's not going to want to go there. And so that's why the electrolytes and good minerals are going to

be put in the body and the water is going to follow where those, basically it's the osmotic principle. Okay, and for anyone asking, we have a post on electrolytes, traits, minerals, and people are asking, how do you know if your salt levels are low? We have a post on low sodium as well. People are going off on the previous conversation

of signing up and then just kind of going through them through the motions. Oh wow. I did three years, I did this, same, same, same, same. So let's just revisit that for a sec. We're nine weeks into this program, there's four weeks left. What's the turnaround conversation for people? You know, I think that's a good piggyback. I know it's been a while since we spoke last, but the last conversation we had was reasons weight wasn't moving obstacles to weight loss. Yeah.

So obviously go back and listen to some of those things and really look at, you know, is there inflammation? Is there any sort of gut dysfunction? So I'm assuming you listen to that everyone. If you haven't, you have to go back and listen to that because that's the first prerequisite you have to look at. You know, at this point, it could be a whole bunch of other things. And this is kind of what I do day in and day out with my patients is we try to figure those things out. And it does sometimes require evaluation, Gina. And that means that, okay, standard blood work is a start, but could it be

some of those metapausal hormones and the underlying adrenal dysfunction? And, you know, really you won't know that until you test it. You might feel it. You can guess, you can make an educated guess. But that's where I think, you know, you can look at your particular situation and really list the things out like, what do you think the obstacles to wait might be for you? And I would write it all out based on the 20 questions and then also based on the conversations we had. And then from there, I would go and seek out care in each area.

I'll give you an example. I had a patient yesterday that going through the Libby program, however, got into an accident recently and hurt her hip. And that and before that she had knee issues. And so there always was some sort of physical limitation for her to reach her movement goals. So she was doing all the things post-metapausal, we know how important exercise is after that, you lose the protective effect of estrogen and progesterone. And she was never able to combine the movement that we talk about along with the diet. Now, we start with a diet in this program. However, for some people that's the foundation. So you're going to lose the, we call it kind of like the honeymoon weight where it's like, you know, the inflammation. So that goes down, but then you're left with the metabolism

you've built for the last 50 or 60 years, if you're in the medical community. And so a lot of that is sedentary. A lot of that is deconditioning. A lot of that is lots of stress. I hear this all the time. There's a common pattern with all the people that are really having difficulty losing weight is that they have had some major chronic physical or emotional challenge in the past. And part of that, we have to unpack the psychology of that,

but we also have to unpack the physiological effect of that. It's almost like the weight is being held on. And I know this would be a great conversation with even Dr. Beverly. I know she probably talks about this all the time, but I do think I see it a lot. There's a big interface between hormones, physiology, and then the psychology aspects.

Well, whenever I'm speaking to anyone who is having a hard time losing weight and they're doing all the things, doing all the things, doing all the things, it's not about the things. Normally, it's like it's talking them to get an understanding of how they're showing up and what's affecting the choices that they're making. I like what you said about this is, we've given so much information at this point, people pop in, like, I just am doing all the things that's not working. And we've given so much information at this point, people pop in, he's like, I just have doing all the things that's not working. And we've given you so much information up to this point, even if you're a first a first time through, for you to be like, you tell me what's going on. Like, why do you think the weight isn't moving? If you're doing all

of these things, then what why isn't it moving? And I think sometimes people think that your body just hates you and is just trying to make you fat, is trying to screw you over and all those things. And this is where I get a piece of paper out, get a pen, go through the 20 questions, the 150 sub questions. And I find that when people go through this practice of answering those 20 questions for us,

the answer is right there in their face. It's just that they- Exactly, that's exactly- When you write it out. You can see it. Yeah, 100%. You want to look at things that are obstacles that we present, but also consider on that list, these are the things that you have not been really willing

to go into and look in. Oh, you know what? It's not that. It can't be that. You know, I don't have any stress, that's not a big thing for me. And part of that is a pride thing. Part of that is, sometimes it's a cultural thing. I have lots of patients that are like,

I don't wanna see a psychologist. That's me, it makes me think I'm crazy. I will never do that. And so really look at the areas that you are, I'm not willing to give up. All right. You know, a good example would be alcohol. You know, we talked about that last time. It's like people are, you know, I'm not willing to do that. Now, I don't know. I'm not saying that's your underlying issue, Gina. What I'm saying is that it could be, saying that's your underlying issue, Gina. What I'm saying is that it could be, it could be one of the limiting factors. So I like what you said is that, you know, you really

have to look at that and be honest with yourself. And then you know what? Okay, let's think, let's talk this through. I don't think we've ever asked this question. I'm going to ask you to, because I really would love to hear what you'd say here Gina. What if somebody honestly goes through that whole list and they've done all the things, they're exercising the way they should and they still feel like they can't lose the weight? What would we say to that person? What do you think? Well first of all I've never met the person because anytime I do have someone who's saying those things and I have done this periodically where I would reach out to them and have them join me behind the scenes and we will go through. We start with their age and their weight, any health issues, when their weight

started, supplements they're taking, what a day in their life looks like and then you know moments in their life where they reflect on their weight, when they gained, what was going on when they were able to lose, basically trying to find everything and anything about them. And there's always something there, but it was something that they just couldn't see. And whether that might be something where they have a food allergy, right, or a sensitivity where they kept eating gluten, they're like, no, I took it out. I took it out for three weeks and I didn't notice a difference, right? There's always something in my experience. And it's never the thing that the person thinks it is. It's always something usually a little bit deeper. And then getting in their own way. And I struggle

with this because that's just my experience. But I don't want to place blame. I don't want to say, well, it's your fault. It's something that you're doing. But I've never met anyone I wasn't able to help as long as they were willing to put the time in to try to figure it out. So usually if it's not the food, it's the hormones, it's the the choices that you're making, the little things that are adding up that are making a big difference. Or sometimes it's just, I think that block, that two steps forward, two steps back, self-sabotage, not feeling worthy.

See, it's so many things. I'm trying to go through all the different things that it's been in all the conversations previously. And this is why I believe you have to get really investigative about it. And I love when you say it's usually where you're not going is where you need to go. Because the body has no need to like it doesn't want to carry excess fat. Because it's not healthy. And it's hard on your

body. But why? Why? Why is it feeling the need to store fat? Why aren't you losing weight? I don't know. See, it's a loaded question because it takes me like an hour to two hours to try to figure it out. It's not something I can, someone sits down and says, why am I not losing weight? I literally will need at least a couple hours to figure it out with them. Well, which is what I do that with my patients, right? I sit down and we spend an hour initial consult and then we always do some sort of investigation

from that. So, this is kind of like what I do day in and day out. And I think you're right is that there are always things that we can find and investigate. And sometimes after you do a lot of that investigation, a person's just not able to kind of maybe make the changes that they're required or for whatever reason, from a life circumstance perspective. And then, you know, there's another concept I've been kind of playing with. Sometimes when a person's in a certain state in their lives, they want to do all these things, yet the body doesn't seem to want to let go but then it does that it does let go in a year so it's kind of like a mentality shift of like if you really just stick only on the

weight and that's your only barometer success I feel like that in itself for some people is an obstacle because they're so myopic. For some people with what they have going on in their life, maintaining their weight and not gaining it when they would have gained it is a huge victory in itself. Exactly, 100%. I had a patient yesterday that, she claims she's doing all the things and she has a personal trainer, she's going through all these different extra things that I think not everyone does.

And you know, we found some we did some comprehensive letter work, we found some deficiencies. And so we're going to correct those. And she's going to come back to me and see if that makes a difference. Because she's like, Oh, I didn't realize that my vitamin D was very low. So we were looking at vitamin D has a big role to play. But the other thing was, is that that I'm gonna see her in a couple months after we've done some corrective things to look at some of these deficiencies. And best case scenario is that she's like, you know what, Dr. Paul, the weights moving. But I also think about the other scenario, Gina, where it's like, if she comes back and says, I'm even more frustrated, the weight's not moving. What do we say there? And so one other thing that we identified, and this is

for, again, we're talking to the people that have gone through the program multiple times here at this point, we're not talking to someone that's just learning the program gone through it. Right away, when someone comes into me, Gina, and I'm really being really honest, I'm laying it out here for everyone, right? This is exactly what I see with everyone, with my patients. This particular patient I just mentioned,

every single day, she lives and dies by the scale. And I could tell she's like, I'm so pissed off. Like, that's the first thing that she's saying. But as soon as someone says that to me right away, I know they've placed so much attachment on that number. And that in itself, for her, being a veteran of years of sessions, Brick is a stressor.

So I said, you know, maybe you need to take a little step back from that and not put so much attention on the weight. Because the other thing that we found out when we did this comprehensive blood work is that she actually is incredibly healthy. She was blown away. She's like, I must have fatty liver. You know, I'm not like, no, you know what, you have excellent cholesterol. You have excellent, you know, we went through the list and she was actually, she was like,

it actually feels good to know that I'm actually really healthy. Yeah. That I think there's a, there's a psychological shift where when we're not at the number we want to be, cause we sometimes assign a number of where we want to be that maybe the body's not ready to go there right now. And we keep saying I'm unhealthy until I reach that number. I think you're doing yourself a disservice if you do that because you may actually be healthy

for this moment in time. That does, if your only barometer is that number then you're gonna constantly feel like you're disappointing yourself. But if you're like, look at all the non-scale victories, look at all these different things that I'm improving. My strength is up, my scales and change, but my clothes are fitting a little bit better.

Like these are all little signs to say your composition is changing. So, yeah. Here's Bonnie here. I wanted to make my goal weight attainable. I'm there now. This is my first session here. Now I'm gonna make a new goal.

I think it also depends on the goal that people have, right? Sometimes people have like, unless I've lost 100 pounds in 91 days, I didn't reach my goal, I'm going to be upset and angry, but you were never going to lose 100 pounds. Yeah, that's my point. Sometimes we set goals that for where we are in life right now is not really a reasonable goal. And then we get disappointed where we actually did lose weight or we maintained it during this time. You know, like you said, sometimes that's the win. I, you know, I have lots of people that, you know, have 50 or a hundred pounds to lose, but I also have people that have 10 pounds to lose and they're

super pissed that they're not 140 and they're 150. I'm like, okay, is that now you getting too fixated on that number of like where you actually want to be? Because you are actually super healthy and we prove it to them over and over and over again. Well, and, and for some people, like losing 20 pounds can be just as hard as someone else losing 50 pounds, like having less weight to lose doesn't mean it's easier for you either. In some senses, it might be harder. Even though you're closer to your weight, I always say, you know, that those first couple of sessions people are like, yeah, I'm into it.

You know, this is cool. And you get these like easy honeymoon kind of easy weight melting off. But then sometimes they hit that next plateau where you now have these underlying things you have to deal with. And now the harder work becomes starts where before it was like, I got on this plan and this is you know, Livy should change my life. Oh my God, you know, bub, bub, bub, bub, bub. I hear that a lot too.

Yeah. Yeah. But now then you need to level up. And this is why this conversation is named leveling up because now it's not just about what I'm putting in my mouth and the number on the scale. That's now that's the foundation. We hope that you come in the program with that as a that's the goal. But you leave the program and being like, I'm now going to be healthy for the rest of my life. Yeah. Yeah. That's not the Jenny Craig mentality. Like I'm in the program and then I'm out. I met my goal amount. And so basically, what does that mean?

You're going back to the shit lifestyle that you had before? Yes. That's exactly it. And people can be successful and have this mentality too. I want to point out here, Cindy, I was thinking 13 pounds this round, still four weeks to go, wasn't so great. But then I look at my overall in three programs, I've lost 62 pounds. I look at the big master. Like even when you're doing well,

you can think that you're not doing enough. I mean, that's the double-edged sword about the program is that you're hearing people like, oh my God, I lost 50 pounds. And then you're like frustrated by the 10 because you feel like you'd like to lose 50. But that can be motivational, but they can also cut both ways where now that becomes

deflating where not every physiology is different. And so we need to understand that and it's human to try to compare ourselves to our peers. But in this case, try not to take the negative side of that because that can easily be disappointing and deflating for your own progress. Yeah. I want to ask you, I want to ask you, someone's asking, is there truth in the statement,

it's harder to lose weight as you age? I would say no. I mean, we have so many people who are like 70, 80, 90, even do the program. I think it can be just as hard at 90 as it is at 19, depending on a variety of different factors. I agree with that. Like it's individual.

I would say it's easier to heal when you're younger. I think every surgeon would tell you that 100%. Yeah. But that doesn't, you know, weight loss is a much more complicated solution and process than a simple healing from a surgery. Yeah, I think you're totally right. There's a lot of individuality when it comes to the rate and the amount that that

a person can lose at any given time. I do think and you've probably seen this over and over again, too. I do think that for women, particularly the the the menopause transition can really add a wrinkle to things and that can really make things sometimes more difficult. But the goal I think as a woman is to be healthy at every single stage. And so, I mean, I love anyone that's listening to this that's in their 20s and 30s, I think you're in an amazing spot because you're learning things that will set you up for,

I think, a much healthier transition, right? It's so much easier to do things preventatively, the saying, you know, the ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure, that really does play out when it comes to your health. So if you're physically fit in your 20s and your teens, it's so much easier to maintain that. That doesn't mean it's impossible if you want to start working out in your 40s and your teens, it's so much easier to maintain that. That doesn't mean it's impossible

if you want to start working out in your 40s and 50s, it just means that you have a little bit more work to do. But there are things like, you know, bone mass and lean muscle mass that are formed in your teens and 20s that set you up for your adulthood. That is true. Yeah. I mean, I don't know that I would listen

when I was younger, right? So I hope the people who are a little bit younger are listening for sure, right? And I think that's where the conversation is going, but I don't know. But the other thing, one final point of positivity, Gina, before we move on, is that if you're a mom doing this program, which I know so many of us are here,

our parents, you, by doing this and helping yourself, know so many of us are here, our parents, you by doing this and helping yourself, you are helping your family. You're setting an example for your daughter or your son. You're thinking about weight the right way. You're not telling your kid, Hey, you're fat, stop eating that. You know, like there are things I say that and it sounds harsh, but I hear that all the time from people that go back because we do a recall of decade by decade and they say I really had a tough time. You know, I was in, I was, I remember a patient yesterday also told me I was in Weight Watchers when I was 12, you know, and that mentality sticks

with you. So you are helping your family become healthier. So even though you don't think that they're eating the same way you are, you're setting an example. And the same way if your kids see you exercise and eat healthy, once something clicks in them and they're well at some point, then they'll realize, yeah,

mom and dad were doing something like different. So you're doing a really good thing there for generational health. Generational health. Yeah, so many moms do come. What can I do to have my family eat healthier? I'm just like lead by example, lead by example. First, the multiple.

Before we go, I want you to just, I want to talk about things that you can do to level up. I want to talk about, first of all, stevia, sugar, people still putting in their coffee. What can they do one thing lifestyle-wise, thing food wise that can make a difference. So let's start with and then supplements if you know anything, anything cool that we can start taking that are going to help us. Okay. Let's start with sugar in our coffee because talk about leveling up. People can lose weight, still have their their sugar in their coffee. People are still adding

stevia or artificial sweeteners, thoughts on that? To me, this is probably the easiest of your questions, because I do think if we're trying to reprogram our palate, our pleasure centers of our brain that really dictate things like cravings, you really have to take that out. Because the Stevia and artificial sweeteners are as sweet or sweeter. And the research is pretty clear to me that A, the effect on the microbiome is questionable.

It can have a negative effect on your microbiome even though there's no sugar in it. And secondly, I think that whether it's stevia or whether it's aspartame or sucralose or splenda, whatever it is, it still is interpreted as sweet by your brain. And so you're going to want to eat more sweet stuff later in the day, even though there's no calories in it. That whole diet industry of going diet on top of that, I think that was literally the cherry on top of the whole kind of like Weight Watchers world of like,

yeah, you know what, if calories in, calories out, and that's the only equation, we know that's not true. And so I think if you're trying to reprogram, and we're ultimately trying to build habits, you know, you're trying to reprogram yourself with good habits, that should be one of the things you take out. You know what's interesting?

Cause I think I did see it on Weight Watchers where it was like a real, did you ever want to eat cookies for breakfast? Well, now you can with this high protein blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, cookie. And I'm just like, the fuck people want to have cookies for breakfast? Like that? What about like that kind of shit? Where we're like, or the, the, I don't know, the chalk, triple chocolate protein powders and stuff like that,

that are feeding into that need to feed the sweet treat, but make it healthy. What's your thoughts on stuff like that? I think you could make breakfast baking that is in line with the Libby program and be eating healthy, but you're, you know, ultimately you should make it yourself because you know what's in it.

As soon as someone else makes it, unless it's at a local bakery, it's designed to sit on a shelf and there always will be highly ultra processed ingredients in it. That's number one. Even though, you know, it's going to be like calorie wise or, you know, sugar free or whatever, you know, whatever these catch things are. So yeah, I mean, we, you do have to be careful with some of these, some of these alternative type foods, because they are packed with sugar. And ultimately, we don't want to replace one ultra process

habit that we did before with another one that is just more expensive and quote unquote healthier because someone says it. So we don't want to waste our time and money. Supplements, what's new? Everyone, of course, is still talking about creatine. There's benefits for your body, for your brain, all of that. Any that we should double down on or any new ones out there? You know what, I we've talked about creatine a lot. So I think if you've been living under a raw creatine is

important for you, especially, you know, not just as a gym person, someone that's exercising, I think you get really extra benefits though, if you are resistance training, you get the kind of ability to improve your performance there and ultimately that leads to more strength gains. It also has important roles to play with you know, post-metapausal brain function and so that's really important. But you know what, that's not what I'm going to share with everyone today because everyone I think kind of already knows that. I think creatine is a nice addition. I think it's gonna be helpful for brain function, but in my opinion, it's not gonna move the needle when it comes to weight.

What I wanna talk about today is a herb called saffron. There's a herb that we know from cooking, it gives you kind of like Middle Eastern spice, gives you a nice yellow color, very expensive herb because it's hard to harvest. But there's lots of research on it, Gina, showing it helps with mood and will sleep anxiety and depression. And the neat thing is that it also offsets some of those negative effects that antidepressants are on. So it's one of my favorites because it's so safe. It's another one of my favorites because it has an impact on the brain. But here's the most important part, I think

for a one on the Libby program. There's also some evidence that it helps reduce things like cravings that are associated with some of these mood issues. And so there's some there's a study showing that there are some benefits there. So to me, I'm a huge fan of saffron for a lot of people that are kind of feeling always a little stressed out, they're a little on edge. I use it a lot in my practice, but it also has this neat kind of impact on cravings. It's not like an ozempic where it's going to like decrease your caloric intake because you're just not going to want to eat food.

It's not like that. It's more subtle, but I think that's a good place for us to start because it's super safe. Ooh, I love that. And what are we looking for? Anything in particular? So most saffrons, you know, if you buy it from a reputable company, they all use saffron that's sourced somewhere from Europe or the Middle East. Spain is one of the best places to get it from. And there's all these patented extracts and they usually almost always are 30 milligrams. So it's either 15 milligrams twice a day. So these two little tiny little caplets and they all use kind of patented ingredients,

whether it's safflower or aphron. And that's nice because you know that you're getting a high quality standardized dose. So if you've seen like one of these patented single ingredients, you know how much is in it, 50 milligrams twice a day, that's what the research shows. So again, I'm not telling you to take this. I know a lot of people come and say, Dr. Paul said, I know I'm going to hear it. I'm sorry. That's not why I'm not trying to be prescriptive.

I can't be. But I'm saying that there's that's what the research based doses. And so go check it out. All right. Well, two last two questions are what's one food that we should be eating that we're not and what's one lifestyle thing that? We're not doing that. We should I'm gonna go with something that maybe you didn't think about I'm gonna say kiwis actually that you are not expecting that kiwi kiwi fruit So one food that I think

is really important. Why? If you go to PubMed, which is where all the research, scientific research is published, and you put in kiwi, you will find a lot of evidence on immune function also because it's a ripped source of fiber. So this is a particular important hack for people that have issues going to the bathroom. Now, most of the people that are taking magnesium comm don't have those problems, but there are some people that are kind of constipated.

Kiwi, one kiwi a day, I find, this is a Herkul Clinical Pearl, one kiwi a day really makes a huge difference on going to the bathroom for people that are stubborn and sluggish. And tastes way better than prunes. It tastes way better than prunes. Oh, it tastes way better than prunes. So that I would say from a food perspective, I'm a big fan of food as medicine, meaning foods that replace supplements or work as well as supplements or really have an effect that's notable.

So, you know, for example, sour cherry juice is helpful for lowering inflammation, also really rich in melatonin. Pistachios are really rich in melatonin, actually the highest food per gram in terms of melatonin. So this is a nice little snack, you know, with your dinner, you want a couple of pistachios. That's a nice way of getting your melatonin. Uh, this is the type of thing.

Ginger is another one, turmeric, you go on the list. So I have a whole list of things that I share with my patients depending on what they need. So I'm a fan of those types of things. And I think Huey is part of that type of list. Love that. Okay. Finally, what's one lifestyle thing that people should be doing that they're maybe not doing?

I have so many, so many favorites here. You know, there's, I'm a big fan, I know it's probably it feels like a sauna outside right now, but I am a big fan of heat therapy. But I'm not going to talk about that, because there's a tremendous amount of research on sauna. And I think it really is a nice detox practice. Yeah, there's places around the world, like in Scandinavia, where it's a huge, you know, a huge part of lifestyle. Right now in the summer, it's not so great here in Canada. But in the winter, which we are have a similar climate to Scandinavia, you know, it's awesome. Why I love that is because it starts eliminating and detoxing things that accumulate in our bodies. Mercury, for example, comes out. So that's a really nice practice. I think, you know,

we talked about obstacles to weight loss. I think detoxification is one of those like sneaky underlying things that really play a key role in stubborn weight that doesn't want to come off. And so this is, you know, I'd have to really dive deep into the literature to really kind of make the case. I'm confident that I could, because I think that there's a way that the body holds on to toxins, to hide them in fatty tissue, because a lot of the toxins that we're exposed to are fat soluble. So it's kind of packed away in there. And so doing some of these, you know, detox practice, I think that's why the hydration piece, I hear it often enough, you're like, okay, I'm only drinking two liters a day. But when I went to four or five or six liters, boom, something started happening. The weight started coming up, you know, whatever it might be. I hear that a lot. I think a lot of that has to do with just helping the body eliminate.

That's really- Yeah. Not making the body detox, just supporting the body. And it's not just every second of every day, Gina. So I mean, I don't, I don't want to treat detox like a dirty word because it's not, it's like what you do all the time. It becomes dirty because of all the reels on talk and Instagram where it's like, do this thing. And then, you know, you're going to detox and lose weight. That's you know, that's a laxative type approach. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about helping your body do what it wants to do, which is put good stuff in and ultimately that's going to make bad stuff come out that was maybe stored in there in

the past. So, you know, I think that looking at elimination and detox practice from a lifestyle perspective, hydration, things like heat therapy, things like, you know, I think that looking at elimination and detox practice from a lifestyle perspective, hydration, things like heat therapy, things like, you know, taking care of your skin, like dry brushing, I think is really helpful and important eating bitter herbs. So like now this time of year, it's great. You can go out in the garden, you can eat radicchio, you can eat radishes, like these types of vegetables that we don't always reach for right away. Endive is another one. Arugula is another one. Dandelion greens is another one.

They're so fresh, they're in the garden. So eating those more bitter like herbs, we talk about Canadian bitters and things like that we can take before meals, but incorporating that into our diet, I think is a really nice way that we can augment what I just talked about on an everyday basis. So I'm going to say kind of like incorporate little daily detox things. Okay. Someone just asked quickly before we go the red light saunas. Is that the same as the sauna or the red light therapy? Is

that the same? So red light therapy and sauna is different. Red light therapy is an actual photo therapy. So it's not laser. It's not as strong as that, but it's basically charging up the mitochondria, the little power plants inside of ourselves with a type of light wavelength, which is the red light. Laser therapy does that, but on a much stronger level. And so there are more therapeutic aspects of that. I've had patients tell me they've had wonderful results from that. And then sauna is invisible. So now you're talking,

I think more about infrared sauna. So that's the invisible light. And that is still a heat therapy, unlike the actual red light therapy. I know it's kind of confusing. It's like infrared, red light, sauna, like what's... yeah. So infrared is a type of sauna and it uses a type of wavelength of heat, the infrared range that is invisible, but it penetrates a little deeper than just regular ambient heat, which is what like a wood burning sauna would be,

for example. And so there are some added benefits to using infrared. I personally don't like the experience of the infrared as well as much as I actually like the kind of more high heat from like a steam or a regular sauna. It's called a dry sauna because you don't feel as hot in the infrared, you know? You might hang up a red light therapy in a infrared sauna.

So that's maybe where the confusion is, is that I think people mix all these things up. That's like a double whammy. Sure. Go for that. That's amazing. Spend thousands of dollars if you want. If you can do it, go for it. Are you?

That's what people are wearing a mask, right? That's that red light. Yeah. For skin. Um, everyone's got questions about all the things that you asked. I'm going to do a summary. You guys, I'll take the transcript. I'll do a summary for you.

I'll put in some nice notes. We'll post that later today. Of course, you can always reach out to Dr. Paul and find him on Instagram. Dr. Paul Herkel, that's H-R-K-A-L. You can also head over to paulherklnd.com to find himself and his incredible team. If you're interested in working with them, you can reach out that way. Dr. Paul, thank you so much.

I don't want it to end because I know you're going to be back again with us in the fall because you live here now and you're never going anywhere. Also, I know you're working on some fun things for us as well, people to be able to learn more about all the topics that we discuss here. So stay tuned for more of that. Dr. Paul Herckel, thank you. What's your parting words of wisdom as we finish up the program, we head out to summer? I want everyone too that's gone through the program, first of all, to take a moment to

be grateful for what you achieved, even though maybe you haven't reached your weight goal. Like we talked about today, weight's important, but it's not the only thing. I hope that whatever point of the journey, if you're in your 15th session or whether this is your first or second, you are on a journey to be healthier.

And I hope that evolves from you losing 20 pounds to I'm losing 20 pounds while I'm also now optimizing my health in every way and I'm sleeping deeper and I have better energy and my libido is better and my mood is better. That is ultimately what I want to see as a naturopathic doctor. And that's ultimately hope that's the way you look at it, because that's telling me, that's telling everyone,

selling yourself that you're now not just reached a goal on a scale, but you're actually a healthier person. And that's going to make you live a more vibrant, long lasting life. So my hope is that we're grateful for this journey. So wherever you're on, whether you reach it or not, in terms of your goal, give yourself right now a moment of thanks that you've taken a time and effort investment in yourself. Because ultimately that's one of the most important assets

that you have. So let's leave that be the last word. Great advice. Thanks everyone for joining us live, for listening after the fact. Dr. Paul, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. Bye everyone.