The Livy Method Podcast - Your Body's Default Mode Is Health. Do You Believe That?

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

You've been eating right, taking your supplements, showing up every day, and the scale still isn't moving the way you hoped. Dr. Paul Hrkal is back with Gina Livy, and this time the conversation goes deeper than food. He walks through the blood work your family doctor probably isn't running, the four hormonal systems that silently stall fat loss, and why inflammation, gut health, and mindset are all part of the same story. But the real pivot in this episode? The idea that your body's default setting is health, and what it actually takes to believe that. If you've been blaming your body, this one will change the way you talk to yourself.Where to Find Dr. Paul:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drpaulhrkal/Website: http://www.paulhrkalnd.com This episode aligns with day 38 of our Spring 2026 weight loss program. You can find the full video hosted at: www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodspring2026To learn more about The Livy Method, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm going to be honest with you, this podcast is unapologetically a hot mess, because that is what midlife feels like sometimes. Why, though? And how do we make it better? Do we all just need facelifts and GLP-1s? I mean, let's talk about it. No bullshit, no wellness wangery here, because we're trying to make real change, and change is hard. But we're in this together. Welcome to the Livy Method podcast.

Herckel is back and joining us today. Hi, how are you? Good morning. I'm well yourself. Hey, you're good. I'm looking forward to our conversation today. I'm like, what are we going to talk about? And of course, if people want to learn more about those secondary supplements,

reasons why your weight might be slower to move, we've had that conversation extensively, and those are now all posted in the app. I do want to ask you, I was thinking today, you know, here we are week five of the program. People have been working at this for a while, for lots of reasons. They can be struggling.

They're frustrated. What tests would you be like, okay, you absolutely need to get this test. Is there any tests that you think are worth getting done? Yeah, so there's obviously a lot of tests, even stuff online now, Gina, is touting, you know, do this test and it'll tell you all the major issues with you. And so there's a lot of noise. Yeah.

You know, I think, and then if you ask that same question to your family doctor or primary care provider, they might say, no, there isn't. there's nothing you can do. Just go and lose weight and then they just leave you this open-ended, like, kick out the door. So I think if I was going to be looking at what's like the most best bang for my buck or my bang for my time, I'll walk people through what I do with my patients. And ultimately what I do is I look at what are their main metabolic factors? What are the thing?

What's their liver function doing? Is there fatty liver going on? because that can play a role with disregulating blood sugar. I'm checking for insulin resistance. So this is all standard blood work. Family doctors won't run fasting insulin. They'll run fasting glucose, and then they'll run a hemoglobin A1C. And so these are markers that will tell us what's your blood sugar control like,

but it won't really give us an insight if insulin resistance is a problem. I'm also looking at issues related to a person's deficiencies. vitamin D is a huge one that we look at. We look at omega-3s. We look at B-12. These are things, basic building blocks for your body to try to lose weight and function. And that's why we're in the primary and secondary supplements is because they are that functional and essential for your body to do what it's normally supposed to do. Like balances hormones and repair your own tissues.

You need all these things. That's why they're part of the supplement recommendations or even suggestions. Yeah, go ahead. No, so finish your sentence. I was just going to say, I think we'd also be looking at testing hormones. So I'd be looking at the three main hormonal areas. I would say four if you're including insulin resistance, which is a hormone. The second one would be your thyroid.

So doing your Tsh, free T4, free T3. Family doctors just do TSAH, but they don't do the other ones. Yeah. And then if there's any sort of autoimmunity in the family, it may be for you historically, then do the two autoimmune markers. So there's actually a total of five thyroid hormones that you should be running. So there's two antibody tests plus Tsh, free T3 and free T4. And we do this all the time with the patients because family doctors,

they don't really understand, again, I don't want to paint them all with the same brush, but they don't really understand why they would want to test that. Because ultimately if your thyroid is not totally out of whack, but it's like subclinical, meaning it's like it's there. It can influence your ability to lose weight. Number three is adrenals. You need to do a thyroid, you need to do a saliva or urinary test, and then finally reproductive hormones.

You can do those on blood, but you also want to make sure that you time them with your period if you're cycling. And if you're a post-metapausal, which I know many of the people that are listening to this are, then we start looking at are there deficiencies, are there estrogen progesterone, but also things like testosterone, important for women too. You know, this is really interesting because, and again, I'm like I love my family doctor. This is not bashing your family doctor, but, you know, I think so much is coming to light about what they don't know. They know medicine.

If I have health issues, I'm definitely going to my family doctor and I'm very grateful to have one. But there's a lot that they don't know. And, you know, you go to your doctor and you get your thyroid tested and it comes out and you're fine. Doesn't mean you're actually fine because there's different tests. you can do. And we know that this is one of the things that came to light with hormones in terms of women and menopause. And this is sort of like if you're having a hard time losing weight and you're doing all of these healthy things and you're not really great and your body's not changing, there's such a benefit in figuring out what's going on with you far beyond just trying to lose weight.

This is what I do day and day out with all my patients, Gina, is that it's not that we're speaking ill of family doctors. Like, you just have to, again, and I've had this conversation before, but it's worth just spending two seconds just to really quickly remind everyone. The current healthcare system that we live here in Canada, but even I would say in most Western countries, is not a preventative one. Yeah.

It's a reactionary one. So the reason that the things that we just talked about is outside of the scope of most primary care providers is because they're worried about, I want to make sure that that person, you, doesn't die. And so I'm looking at the things that are I need to react to. Like what is the what are the blinking red lights? But then they for that's great, but that's not going to help me have better energy. It's not going to help me sleep better. It's not going to help me lose weight because those are things that are not going to kill you, but they're going to make you frustrated and

tired and not ultimately not being able to function well. That's not a morbidity. It's not a mortality problem. That's a morbidity problem. So, you know, these are things that it's just philosophical differences. It's also the system that we live in. And that's the double ed sort of having OIP and government covered healthcare is that, you know, I have a lot of patients that go down in the U.S.

and they're like, I go into the, I go into some clinics. Yes, it's expensive. and I have to pay for insurance, but then they get exactly what they want within like hours or days. It's like a different, it's a different mindset. So we're not here to debate the merits of one system over the other. That's beyond the scope of this conversation. But I do think just so everyone understands, if you're listening to this and you're living in a country or a province like ours in Ontario and you're like, well, it's just so frustrating that all this I have to pay for.

And like, shouldn't the doctor just like do this for me? No, they don't because they're just simply not. trained to think this way. They're not trained to think outside this box that they're giving. Yeah. I mean, listen, I, you know, I love living in Canada and having the health care and it may not be perfect. It may not even be great. But no one is, you know, no one is growing, going broke because, you know, they have a sickness or an illness. At least there's that in, in our country. Exactly. So there's pros and cons, Gina. You're totally right. Absolutely. Yeah. This whole program is about being an advocate for yourself. This is one of the reasons why we have these conversations and we have our experts coming on and

sharing their knowledge with you. Like, where else do you have access to that? I want to bring it back to those basic supplements because if someone is having a hard time getting their weight to move and yet they're not taking omega-3 and vitamin D and magnesium, that's probably a place that they should start there. Like, we did post our secondary supplements today, which are now that you're putting this kind of energy in can help your body level up. One of the conversations that we have not had that we wanted to get into really is your

microbiome. Like what do we need to? to know there, your gut health, your microbiome that is going to help us lose weight. Right. Okay. So let's just put this into context with the conversation that we just started, which is, you know, what testing should I have? All right. Great. So you did that basic testing. That gives you kind of a sneak peek into, you know, what is your cells and your organ systems doing. I want to make sure they're all okay. And then so one of the markers that we always talk about is inflammation. So inflammation is the kind of like signal.

that the body is producing if it's not happy. If certain areas are not functioning well, if your liver is dysfunctional, and if your microbiome or your gut is not functioning well, that has been linked to higher levels of inflammation. Is inflammation just inflammation? I know there's different reasons behind inflammation, like arthritis or whatever.

Like, is it just like a blanket inflammation is inflammation? I drink wine, my body's inflamed. I eat garbage food. My body's in place. Is inflammation, just inflammation across the board? There's a lot of different inflammation, Gina. So you can't just say it's all the same brush. So you just mention if I drink wine and eat crappy food, ultra-processed food, that is,

you know, kind of like this low-grade metabolic inflammation. It's just going to, it's like if you pumped a bunch of smoke into your house, you're not going to breathe very well. And that's the kind of like your cells are not going to breathe very well because you're putting in some of the stuff from the environment. Now, that's different than autoimmune inflammation. Now your immune system is attacking something that it shouldn't be attacking. Like, for example, Hashimoto's thyroid. We just talked about thyroid testing. So that is an inflammation, but that's a very specific inflammation to a certain tissue.

Then there is this kind of like gut related inflammation where if your gut is hyperpermeable because you're eating foods that are not just ultra-processed, but they're also going to be creating an immune response, like an allergy or a sensitivity. I deal a lot with my patients on that front where we're looking at what are things that are going to be creating more of this allergic inflammation. That's a little bit different. So now we've talked about a third type of inflammation. So I just want to make sure people that are listening to this understand that just because I have joint pain or you have joint pain does not mean that you have inflammation all over the place. This could be as simple as I have a degenerative. knee. And the arthritis because of a past injury or something that maybe I didn't even realize I did

is causing the cartilage between those two bones to disintegrate. That's degenerative arthritis. That is not inflammatory arthritis. That's different. Just because you have lots of pain doesn't mean that you have the inflammation that I just talked about. Can the pain, though, be preventing our bodies from focusing on fat loss? Yes, for a bunch of different reasons. And And this is right up my alley because I work in a chronic pain clinic. And so I do see a lot of people that are dealing with many different types of chronic pain. When you're in chronic pain, you could have some sort of inflammatory process that's low grade. Again, that may not be picked up on blood work.

And that is contributing to a sluggish, again, metabolism. Ultimately, your cells don't work very well. Like that's like when I keep saying like metabolism, what people are like, you know, what is that? that is your body's ability to produce energy and to do its job. Your liver has to do its job better. If your liver enzymes go up, that means that your liver is producing a higher level of these alarm molecules saying, hey, I'm not happy right now. Something is impacting me. So this is the term, you know, metabolism.

It's the body's ability to produce energy. And part of that gene, part of that equation is also to not sort of. store fat and eliminate store fat and to properly use the right energy for its own function. And that's part of weight loss. That is part of weight loss. So yeah, because it's really about the messaging. Like we're talking about your body has learned to come to function a certain way, whether you have deficiencies, you've done previous diets, you have health issues, you're taking in medications, you're basically, your body's very adaptive and figuring out what it needs to do

to survive. And then inflammation can kind of dampen or mess up the messaging. And then your hormones are also the messengers. And so this is really about, and this is why I love the routine of the program to just kind of help the body calm down and get a handle on all of that for lack of a scientific explanation. But this is sort of where we have to rewire how our bodies have come to function and almost rewire how our brains have come to function.

and so then supplements can help. What do we do about? Like, supplements can help, obviously, giving our body the foods, outside factors, trying to get sleep, manage our stress. Like, what do we, I guess this is where the microbiome conversation comes in. Like, there's a, I'm just trying to, like, see how. I can we pull it all together for everybody, yeah. Thank you, yes.

So let's, because I agree. How do that? I guess what you're trying to say, and I think maybe where you're trying to articulate is what maybe people are feeling at this point where you're like, okay, we've talked about thyroid, we've talked about inflammation, we've talked about pain, you know, what does this got to do with the journey that I'm on right now? What does this got to do with where I'm at in the program? Well, all the things that we just talked about, as you eloquently pointed out, they are signaling molecules in the body. inflammation is a signal saying, hey, this part of my, this part of my body is not working well. It's unhappy. Pay attention to it. In the same way that hormones are signals, just like insulin.

So it's a signal. And if we press that signal too much or it becomes deficient or too little, let's say like in metapause, that's going to have downstream effects. So all what we're trying to do is work the body thrives on proper fuel, proper rest, balance, balance. in its activities and recovery. And I think everyone listening to this probably would say, you know what, I struggle with that. I don't do well with balancing all the things that I know I need to do.

Like what I do with my patients and what we're talking about, Gina, this isn't like rocket science. Like, oh my gosh, I'm going to tell you some like magical mushroom extract that's going to like make everything go away and burn fat. That doesn't exist.

I'm going to say this to you right now that does not exist. Okay. And so you may ask the question, how do we pull this all together and where the supplements fit in? Well, the idea here is that we're trying to send all the messages to the body that are positive, saying let's optimize your function because the default mode for our bodies, Gina, is health, is optimal function, optimal energy. What I've really been, I've said this to you before, what I'm really focused on is helping the body, cells produce energy.

And when they do that, then they're able to move. And then you're able to get into an optimal body composition because you're able to do all the things that you want to do and you exercise. Because I think we know what the things that we want to do to be healthy, except it's a challenge for us to do them because of all the things that are internally and externally stressing us. So these are all messages. We're trying to balance it and get our body back to default.

mode and supplements are part of that because they add building blocks that the body needs to do everything I just talked about. Your body's default mode is health. I think we all, and this is like what I mean by you want to work with your body, not against your body, but I think we all feel like our bodies are just trying to fuck us over. Our bodies are trying to make us fat. Our body's trying to make us tired. Our body's just not working. Our body is breaking down when our default is health. Your body wants you to be your body's sole job in life is to keep you alive um and supplements can help the things that you're doing on the program can help and it's it's like building that that body back up um your body's default itself why does that seem so like that sounds pretty profound let's impact that

because i i i think you just mentioned something right after repeating that sentence i mean like do you do people believe that? Do people think that that's, yeah. Because if you're saying no, then I bet you hundreds of people listening to this are also thinking, no. Yeah, the constant, what's wrong with me? What's going on with me? Why am I so tired?

Why am I so fat? Why is my skin so saggy? Why am I, you know, like why, why, why, why, why? And we know why. Is it just the easier to blame our bodies? Is it the dieting and hating ourselves? Is it the self-loathing? What is it that has made us believe that our body,

like your body doesn't want the fat. Our bodies don't want the fat anymore than we do. And if our bodies could talk, they'd be like, okay, honey, you think I want this fat? I'm just trying to help you survive. So yeah, can me please? Like, you must have a different perspective on this because then this is what you do. You help bodies. I do, yeah.

And that's why I can make the comment confidently that our default mode is health. Our default mode is optimal function. And if there's one thing that a person walks away with today after this conversation is that I hope that they can maybe entertain the belief in that if they can't fully believe it. So let's just, let's break it down. Have you heard of a term or a statement that your body keeps the score? No, I know. Like, I keep score. Fucking keep score.

Yeah. Yeah. What I mean by that is. is when we, when we deal with patients, the most complex of the complex patients, there's certain characteristics, and we've studied this in hundreds of people in our, in our program that deals with chronic pain. And one of the most important characteristics of whether a person's going to get better or not from the worst of the worst.

Like people sometimes, you know, are frustrated by life that things just happens, shit happens. They get in a car accident and then they get a divorce. And it's like almost like it's like a pile on. And so there are some people that are like, they don't experience that and they are kind of considered lucky where you know what? I've had like a pretty good life. I haven't had that victimization that's occurred at some point.

And so there are lots of people that we go through these programs. The people that hold on to the woe is me mentality. and the victimization mentality, Gina, they're the ones that are, they're saying, oh, my body betrayed me. You know, I hate the way I look. I can't stand this.

I'm so ugly. Even though you may not say it, you feel it. And then your cells feel it. And this sounds like woo-woo, but it's actually grounded in a lot of neurochemistry. Yeah. So a lot,

to answer this question, it starts like with stuff that happened long time ago. Like if you've gone through your 20s and 30s with tons of yo-yo dieting, when I say the body keeps the score is that every time that happens, when you start yourself, you lose muscle mass. And when you lose muscle mass, you lose your metabolic potential. When you are not active when you are, let's say,

and I can go down, I could probably name off 30 things like this, but, you know, just off the top of my head. Yeah. If a person is inactive during their teens, they're only going to have a certain amount of bone mass and muscle mass they're going to make because that's for women. They make a lot of the baseline stuff up until like 25. So a 45-year-old person that's in the program, I know you can't go back and change that. But just understand there are things that have happened that have led you to where you are right now.

So you have a choice and that starts right now with your mindset. Are you going to say my life screwed me and I can't get better? Or are you going to turn that around being like, here are the things I can do to be healthier even though they seem so infinitesimal in the moment? That's the only solution I see that, Gina, because if the people that are always like, no, you know what, life screwed me and like it's the insurance company's fault. It's that doctor's fault that didn't listen to me. It's that, you know, it's my, it's my, it's my brother's fault that screwed me in the, you know, in my parents' will.

Like, I've heard it all. I've heard every single thing. And so if that, if that mindset's there, our research shows that those people can't get better. Well, they get stuck. They get stuck. I think it's one of those things where we want to validate how we feel and we like, we get stuck there. Or, you know, when people are doing the program, I call it festering in their funk. And you see, you, you just like, whatever you focus on is what you're seeing and you just see more and more and more and more. And it's like, you know, it's interesting. I talked to someone yesterday about like, I'm always, I've got this bit of doom happening, doom and gloom and doom. And they're like, well, you have just trained your brain to worry. Like, what do you got to worry about? You have nothing to worry about. You've literally just trained your brain to worry about everything. So you're creating, like, you're creating chaos because you're, you're, you're, you're creating chaos because you're, you're

brain is looking for it. You must see this all the time in your clients because people come to you, you know, like I know people can lose weight. Like I've just been at it for so long. I know I can help anyone lose weight as long as they're willing to continue to do the work, put time into figuring it what's going on. It's just problem solving. You're the same. You must know that you can help someone, but whether they take the things they need to take, whether they do the things that they need to do is a whole other thing. What has you most frustrated about knowing people can make change and then that block that they see that they're just not doing it? You know, I would say it's exactly in line what we're talking about. I know that, you know, as a naturopatic doctor, I deal a lot with diet. I deal a lot with

supplements and hormones. And, you know, I kind of have this like unique perspective that I'm looking at things biometically. I know all the diagnoses. I know all the drugs that people are on. but I'm also looking at things holistically. So I kind of have this like marriage of everything. Yeah. So that gives me a really unique vantage point that, you know, the mindset that person has is all the difference. And, you know, what you just, as I was listening to you talk, you know, there's a couple things that really jumped out. And it just kind of reminded me of, you know, if a person feels like they've had,

a constant issue that's come up and they've constantly been getting, you know, screwed over by their genetics. The biggest thing that holds them back is that they're like, I'm stuck. I can't change. I can't do better. And then they turn it, they turn negative rather than positive. Yes. Yes. Even I've seen the people that have had like 20 bad things happen to them, you know, medical mismanagements and accidents and psychological traumas. And they still, are positive. So like, you know, when you say, you know, what are you complaining about? There's a lot of stuff that people can actually complain about that we would objectively sit back and say, wow, you've had a pretty crappy go at things. However, what are you going to do? You're going to turn

around and just wallow in that. And then therefore, you will constantly feel ill and not well because your mindset is not, not well. You need a, you need a wellness mindset. not an illness mindset. So what does that mean? That means I'm focused, I'm only going to be happy. In an illness mindset, I'm only going to be happy in the absence of illness. I'm only going to be happy when all my shit gets better, when all this stuff goes away. A wellness mindset is I'm going to be happy when I'm on a journey to self and physiological

improvement. That doesn't mean that I'm not in pain anymore. That doesn't mean that my, you know, my anxiety still isn't there in the back of my mind, but it's a mindset shift. I know this seems like, oh my gosh, Dr. Paul, you're like talking, you know, some psychological stuff now. Dr. Beverly's up Dr. Beverly's alley. And like, you know, it starts with mindset. In our concussion recovery program for people that have been in it for decades, some people have been dealing with dizziness and headaches for decades, we start with mindset. Hold on, hold on.

Is there like a physio you can go see? Is there like an MRI scan we got to do? Like, is there something fancy? No, you start with your mindset. And once you shift that to a wellness-based mindset rather than an illness-based mindset, now you can start actually getting better. even though appreciably you haven't done anything physical. No one's like moved your elbow and done something different.

You've changed this and that makes all the difference. Yeah, because you're like, okay, so here's your health issue. Here's what you can do about it. Do do, do, do, do. But the connection is the person showing up and doing do do do for as long as they need to while life is smacking them in the face while they're like, you know, sometimes barely hanging on by a thread. And that's the same. Like this, gosh, this is amazing. Because the last couple of days have been like, this program works.

Like we know it. We cannot prove it anymore. Right? Like, sure, we could go spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on clinical trials to prove it. But we've already proven it. The proof is in the put-in and the research and the studies we have done on it. But here it is for people. And yet every day they're questioning it because of what the scale says when it's,

this is why the program works really great for a type people, right? Like a type people are like follow the rules, do the things, take the stuff, do whatever. But then when life gets them, then they get, you know, right? Yeah, the mindset. Okay, so, so what is your, what is your, so wrap this up for us in the mindset of like, we're five weeks in, people still have a lot of time. Their life is hard. Maybe they have health issues.

Maybe they're just really frustrated with their entire weight journey. what's what's the conversation for them i know that's a lot that's pretty loaded but that's that i mean i would say gina that's the question you know like i would say like if there would be the question that we could like say this is the lit this is the liby um crux of the liby program whether you're going to be successful or not because like i think just you know the lay of the land is the people that are going to lose weight easily on the liby program i know there's hundreds of them. I've seen them in my office. I know you, you guys listening to this. It just comes off easy. And we don't fully know why it is for some person, some people and not

for others. There are factors there. I think you could probably, you know, and you know what, I will answer this question because this is a big picture one, but can I just, just sidebar here? Absolutely. What are the characteristics of people that do well on the program and lose weight more easily than others. Have you seen that? Can you just think about that for a second? Yeah, we've actually studied this in less weight loss and more in maintenance. What were the commonalities between people who are able to easily maintain and sustain their weight and people who had a harder time? And the main thing was mindset that they truly believed and understand

that they made changes in their lifestyle that they were going to be able to maintain because they understand if they didn't, they would fall back into old habits, which would cause them to gain weight back because that is the environment that they gained weight in the first place. So it was the people who really understood that and believed it and owned it and lived it that were able to maintain and sustain their weight. Yeah. We lost another way. They were all in.

They were all in. And they felt like they had learned enough to know, I'm not going to let that happen again. But in a different way from like you've starved yourself, deprived yourself, and I'm just going to follow a diet for a right. Like they really believe that they knew what they knew and they knew enough to not gain their weight back. Yeah. I don't know in weight loss, that might be different though. I can tell you, based on my observations, that here's a couple of things that I could hang my hat on. One of them is the first few programs, it's when it's the funnest.

It's like I'm engaged. People are all in. And I use that term all in. Yeah, yeah. And so they end up losing the most weight during that time. You know, that's one aspect. Number two, they often, in subsequent programs, they often get kind of derailed by life. And then they're just not as engaged.

Or they get torpedoed by, you know, a stressor or an injure. And then again, the default mode, and here's the mindset shift again, they go back to bad eating habits as like, you know what, I just got hurt and therefore I can't do a healthy eating plan. Think about that for a second. I just got injured. Let's say I twisted an ankle. I just got hurt and therefore I got to like drink more and I have to eat crappy and I have to go to bed late. Let's reflect on that for a second. I'm insult to injury. But we all do it. Like we all, why is it not that something happens like even a psychological stressor and I double down on the healthy stuff? Yeah. Or it's like I can't do this right now. I've got things going on in my life or I have an injury or I just can't eat. I'm like really stressed.

Like I'm just like this is the dime you need to be doing that. Well, this is a perfect little microcosm just looking at that. of why people struggle with losing fat. Yeah, and listen, y'all, I did it yesterday. I had like two brownies for breakfast because I was like having an emotional day, right? Like, I'm not a martyr here. That's a good example. Yes, you're right.

That's a good example. And people do that. But I think we should challenge that. I think we should challenge that and be like, okay, I did it. I'm not hurting my, I'm not beating myself up about it. But why did I do something that's going to actually do me a bigger discern? when I'm already not feeling good. Yeah, sabotaging ourselves.

Yeah, self-sabotage, right? And so we do that all the time. And so that's one of the things that often comes up and gets us. Okay, number two, people that do the program together with some other people do better. Yes. Like group, community, even like subgroups, like friends, relatives, they do better. Hands down. So, okay, tells you that there's an accountability piece, just like,

People that work with personal trainers do better than those ones that just sign up in January and say, I'm going to get fit. And then they drop up in February. Yeah. So everyone just using the app, join the Facebook support group. That's what theirs for. Yes. Yeah.

So that's one example. But even better, if you're like, you know what, I had a couple of patients recently where they were like, you know what, the first couple programs that I just couldn't get any way. And then I'm now into the third program. You know, okay, now I'm like all in. And so they're doing better. They're doing it. But they find that, you know, maybe that first time they, they were just learning it.

And then now they're kind of all in. Okay. So number two, that was number two. Number three, are you a skeptic or are you an optimist? And people that are optimists, they're, you know what? I'm going to give this program a shot. You know, they don't come in guarded. They don't come in like, you know, this is kind of wacky.

you know, Gina's got natural paths talking on there. And I heard like, you know, Uncle Jim said they're wacko. And then she got a psychologist. And Gina swears like a trucker. So she's obviously not serious. Like, you know, there's little things like that that people tell themselves. And I see it in my patients. I see them my patients.

The people that do the best, Gina, are the ones that say, here's the prescription from Dr. Paul. They're like, I did it. 100%. I'm like, whatever's on the list, I'm doing it. those are the ones that do the best. The ones that come in being like, yeah, you know what, you told me to do four of those, but I did one of them.

And that one, I read the label and, you know, I did some chat GPT research. And that's not for me, you know. And, you know, then they were sitting in my office there like wondering, you know, yeah, why is my sleep so shit? Okay. No, I know, I'm telling you. It's like tales from the actual athletic office. I can tell you the type of stuff that I see.

this is this is the mindset are you an all in person or are you a half in skeptical that makes a world of a difference why okay it's not just about did i take that beat complex or not it's about are you letting your body and therefore your metabolism because your metabolism and your cells follow your mindset it's the biology of belief do you believe this is going to help well you know what's interesting because right now what's happening out there though in the in the social media world is everybody is selling shit oh take this do that this is going to change the world so i you know i get this skepticism of it and that's why you have to you have to find people that you trust and that's why we'll tell i may swear like a trekker but i'll tell you the real deal i'm not trying to sell

you snake oil here at the end of the day right like and and and i think it's big i think it's this is why i love the science and the why it works you need to understand you need to understand understand why. Or if you are a skeptical person, you're just going to keep being skeptical unless you learn why you need to do it. Right? Like there is blind. No one's saying blind faith here, right? Like, is it just that don't, because you're like, okay, well, the reason why you're not sleeping is like people, I'm so hungry at night. Okay, are you eating your snacks in the afternoon? No, I wasn't really hungry for them. I'm like, okay. So you went all afternoon without eating and now you wonder why you're hungry later. I understand that. You're like, okay, well, we gave these things to help you

with X, Y, Z, and you're not doing them, and now you're wondering why you're not sleeping. So you can see big picture. How do people help themselves see big picture? Yeah. So, you know, just the point about the skepticism about, you know, and I think this is going to lead into the big picture stuff, especially for people that are, you know, still kind of like on the fence. You know, in life, you know, we yet different opportunities. Like, for example, I'm going to use a relationship as a good example. So let's say we work, this diet that we're talking about, the relationship we have with the Libby program is going to be like a relationship that we have with a partner.

And if I, if when I'm in the dating process, which is kind of akin to, you know, the first couple weeks of the program, let's say, where like I'm kind of trying to get to, I'm getting a feel for this. I'm getting to know it. Maybe, you know, I agree. Before you go and spend money on anything or go ahead and put all this time and effort, you should feel comfortable with doing it. However, once you go through that vetting process, like with a partner,

once you've gone through the dating process and you commit and you get married and you say I do, if you are still like, I'm not so sure I trust this person, even through the first couple years of your relationship, you're not going to have a full and happy experience with that. The same thing with the program. Once you've kind of done that initial like, okay, vetting process, at some point you have to be like, I'm going all in. I've got to put my trust in this.

And at least in the case of the living program, it's three months out of your life for you to just be like, you know what, I'm going to go hard on this. Instead of at every corner, at every guest, that every week you're always like, yeah, I'm not so sure this is working and, you know, like, I'm not really doing it. Like you said, you know what, I don't really need to do that fruit snack in the morning. It's like, you know, whatever.

I don't like fruit. You know, there's the thousand excuses that are running instead of being like, I'm willing to do this. And I also respect, you know, at the same time, a lot of this mindset, this is like deep-seated psychological stuff that people have brought in to this point in their lives. And they've been let down by people. there's trust issues. There's maybe trauma.

There's even abuse. These are common factors with a lot of people that are experiencing chronic health issues. So I respect that. I understand this. But the reason I bring this up and why I'm harping on it is that you can either wallow in the fact that that's been your past or you can say I'm going to go forward. And the people that are going to go forward are going to maybe recognize that, you know what, they haven't really been able to go all in because they are kind of like skeptical. I'm going to work with my mental health professional try to address this.

I'm going to try to like change my thought process because that that's going to be, that's the thing that's holding me back here. I want to go ahead. No, I was just going to finish up by saying, you know, I really encourage a person to be thoughtful and mindful through this whole process. And as they're going through it, They're asking those key questions that you ask, like, why can I still lose weight? Sit and reflect with each one of those and be like, why, what am I not doing here?

Maybe there's three or four that you've circled and highlighted being like, you know, those are challenging for me. Why are they challenging? Is it a knowledge gap issue? Is it a commitment gap issue? Is it what is it? And everyone guaranteed has two or three areas that they are still not able to fully optimized. And those are the areas that I'd be focusing on. Those are the areas I'd be

putting my supplemental focus in. That's who I'd be saying, okay, I'm going to go see Dr. Paul, or I'm going to go see Dr. Beverly. I'm going to see someone like them to help me address those root issues. Everyone's root issue of weight, why they can't use weight is slightly different. It's not the same for everyone. It's not that everyone's microbiomes messed up, Gina. There are some that that's the case, and that can be holding them back, or they have food sensitivities or they have chronic inflammation. We can help assess those things. But there could be, in every case, there always is some sort of psychological tie-in with

what's holding us back to really put it to something. Well, speaking about microbiome, we kind of like did not get into that yet again. Please do a course on that. You need to do a master class on the microbiome. We're going to get into that. I know you're going to be back. I mean, this is why I love we're building on these conversations. we needed this conversation today, says literally everybody here.

This reminds me the conversations you had about happiness. Yeah, I mean, there's a list of things you can check off. There's all the supplements, like someone saying, what's secondary supplements? Like, go read over the list and why we suggest them and then what would be more resonant to you. Dr. Paul just listing his favorites, again, without knowing anything about you,

those kind of are ones that we've talked about and we've had conversations. But this is the conversation. Like, no one needs, here's 10 things to do. Here's five things to do. Here's all that. It's not about those things.

It's about why are we not doing those things? Or how do we figure out the things that we need to do at the end of the day? What do you got going on these days? What? Yeah. It's not like it's like 10 reasons or 10 hacks on how to invest or 10 reasons that you should, you know, change up your backyard garden. These are external things.

We're dealing with, you know, complex people that that have. certain thought processes for the better or worse that have been developed over decades of our lives, not to mention our hormones and our gut and all these things are part of what makes humans beautiful. That is never going to be replaced by AI, which is like one of the biggest things I think why people are skeptical right now is because we live in a world that so many things are just like artificial now. And while that's so helpful from a knowledge perspective, I think it's actually detrimental from a wisdom perspective. Those are two separate things.

So just because you have the facts doesn't mean that you've actually had a way of cogently pulling all that together. So I think that good takeaway for our conversation today is really focus on having a mindset that is going to be wellness, not illness based. If you're constantly catching yourself being skeptical or being negative or being ungrateful, try to do something the opposite of that. Reflect on what your underlying issues are. And that is going to require sometimes asking the right questions. I think, Gina, you still have those 20 questions, right, that you ask why people can't lose weight. Sit with those 20 questions and reflect on them.

And then star the ones that you need help with. and then go and find someone that's going to help you navigate that. And yes, that means you're going to have to go see a psychologist, which everyone, your family says you're crazy to go see. That might, that might. I hear that all the time. Come see me if you need help with unpacking a lot of this stuff. So, you know, that's a big thing.

So I've made myself available for more patients. I know it was really hard to get in with me, but, you know, my passion is helping people navigate this. And so people can reach out and book an appointment if they need to. and I will order back you through the situation if you need. Love it.

You can reach out to Paul at Paul Hercl-N-D. That's Paul H-R-K-A-L-N-D.com. You can also follow him over on Instagram at Dr. Paul Herckel. Gosh, I got so many things. I got so many follow-up questions, so many other things I want to get into,

but I know you'll be back. Thanks, everyone who joined us live or watching after the fact. Again, don't be shy. Reach out to Dr. Paul and his team. Dr. Paul Hercl ND dot com. Yeah.

I'll send it over. We'll send it out after. But there's a couple of cool things I'm working on. One of them is going to be a six week, very exclusive class that I'm going to be guiding people through on understanding the root causes of why they are tired and they can't lose weight. So I'm going to be kind of walking people. Yeah. So that's, stay true for that.

That's coming out really soon. but I've never done something like this before and people have been begging me to do it. And finally I have been begging me to do it. I have been begging you to do it. Yeah, you have. And you know what? This is a chance for them to talk to me, interact with me.

We're going to have like a weekly kind of like, it's a course, but it's live and it's kind of adaptive. So people can, I'm not answering their like personal health questions, but I can answer general health questions for the benefit of everyone that's listening. So stay tuned for that. I'm going to share that. Love that because that would be a very important. Very focused conversation.

You know, again, these are awareness conversations. These are overviews. This is empowering you and giving you knowledge to take the next step. Love that. We will actually have, we'll put that information. We have a newsletter that goes out every Monday. So if you want to give us the details, we can let people know how to sign up and do all that. And of course, we'll put Dr. Paul's contact details in the post.

If you're listening to the podcast, we'll add it there and we'll add it in the group. Dr. Paul, thank you. So everyone's like, yes, please. I need that. Yes, yes, yes. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day.

Bye, Gina. Take care. Yeah.