Enjoy the Holidays Without Setting Back Your Health Goals w/ Carrie Lupoli
Hey there, and welcome back to Journey to the Sunnyside. I'm Mike Hardinbrook, and this podcast is all about mindful living, whether it's how we approach alcohol, food, or life in general. And today's episode is going to show us just how much overlap there really is between how we think about our food and our mindset with alcohol. I'm joined with Carrie Lupoli, a certified nutritionist, award winning behavior specialist, and founder of Disruptive Nutrition. Carrie has been featured on the Today Show, ABC, NBC, Fox, and more for her unique approach to health.
Speaker 1:She's all about creating balance and sustainability, helping people ditch restrictive diets and enjoy life while still reaching their health goals. With the holidays coming up, Carrie is here to share her best strategies and mindset shifts for staying healthy while still fully enjoying the season. We'll talk about building a sustainable approach to wellness and how it all ties into the mindful living principles we talk about here on Journey to the Sunnyside. So let's jump in with Kari Lupoli. Okay.
Speaker 1:Today, I'm here with Kari Lupoli. Kari, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Hey, thanks for having me. I'm super excited.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited as well. You have some really different takes on the way we approach our health during the holidays. And as we're getting into those times with Thanksgiving coming up, I know for me, that stuffing's always calling my name. And, if that's the worst indulgence, I'm okay with that. But, you know, I think that there's a level where we need to really check ourselves and have a mindset and have a plan in place.
Speaker 1:And so that's why I'm really excited to have you here to start talking about this. But before we get into all that and the strategy, why don't you give us a little bit of your background? You know, why are you talking about this? Why are you doing the things that you're doing? Which, by the way, you're doing a lot.
Speaker 1:You got podcasts, you got private practice and coaching and all those things. So I'm excited to hear more about that. But why don't you talk to us a little bit about your background and why you're looking to disrupt the diet and food industry?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, you know, I wasn't I didn't go to school to be a dietitian. I didn't have this whole dream of helping people to be able to be healthy. I was an educator actually. Went to school.
Speaker 2:I went to college to be a teacher. And I was a special ed teacher. I was a behavior specialist. And so behaviors were always fascinating to me. And I remember in my training once, our professor said there's only two reasons why people behave, to gain something or to avoid something.
Speaker 2:And from that point forward, I was like, I got a code that I can use to be able to figure out any behavioral situation when it comes to these kids or any of, you know, the students that I was working with. And it really was amazing when I thought about it to gain something or avoid something. I could come up with these behavior plans that were really creative but effective. And and I did that for more than twenty years, moving into a career as a national educational consultant, a little bit moving out of special education, but into teacher training. And if if there's any educators out there, they know that it's harder to teach teachers than it is to teach students often.
Speaker 2:But there was a lot of of of almost behavioral change I had to do with teachers around, expectations of their kids. I worked in typically disenfranchised schools very often, and there were a lot of biases and things like that that I was working on with teachers. And about at the time I was just about to turn 40, my kids, my two daughters were five and six at the time. And, I thought I had been keeping my secret obsession about food and my body and weight a secret from them. I was an educator.
Speaker 2:Was a behavior specialist. I knew how to talk to them. I knew how to make sure that they were, like, organized and doing the things that they needed to do. And I thought I was keeping all of that from them until one night on family Friday pizza night. Well, I didn't eat the pizza because I had salad, you know, with dressing on the side, and they had the pizza along with my husband.
Speaker 2:My five year old said to my six year old, why does mom never eat the pizza? And the other one said, well, because it has too many calories. And I was like, oh gosh. How did this happen? Like, how did my secret obsession with my weight and and my body and calories seep into these little kids?
Speaker 2:I had learned it from my mom who learned it from her mom, but I was sure I was not teaching it to them. And, you know, as a behavior specialist and as somebody that dealt with mindsets a lot, I realized I can't teach what I don't believe. I can't impart a different way of thinking and believing about your body, being empowered, about being healthy, about being strong if I didn't feel that way myself. And that's when I really started this journey of self discovery and saying, okay, what am I doing here? And if I don't really focus on what I thought really truly was my purpose at the time was like, am here to raise independent adults.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna do a very good job of that if I can't figure out myself first.
Speaker 1:That's a great story. And I'm curious to ask a follow on because I'm sure that there are other people that have the same thoughts. What was it that was going on in your mind around health and nutrition for yourself?
Speaker 2:Well, if I'm really honest with myself, it wasn't about health. It was about looking a certain way, weighing a certain amount. By the time that my kids were five and six, I was this national educational consultant, you know, traveling around the country, even around the world. I was the national spokesperson on childhood behaviors for Mattel Fisher Price. And yet before I would ever get on stage, I'd weigh myself that morning in the hotel room.
Speaker 2:And then my value, my confidence was all in what that number said. And until I started really digging into what did I want and why did I want it? Where was it coming from? And if I was honest with myself, and I think a lot of us need to be thinking about this, is it is it coming from ego or is it coming from heart? I think back and it was like my goal was to be a certain weight.
Speaker 2:I remember like squeezing my legs, the back of my legs, when I looked at myself in the mirror imagining what my legs would look like if they were smaller as if that then defined my value. And now as a nutritionist, as a behavior specialist that works with people to really help them get their health in order, we got to dig deep into what do we want and why do we want it. And now it's really, wanna die younger later. I want to be around for my kids who are now 18 and 19 years old so that I can see their children and that if I fall on the floor that I can get back up, that I won't have to burden other people with my health issues the way that I see many of us in my age now in our fifties have to do with our parents. And it's completely attainable to live a long life that's strong and purpose driven and not be this, like, perfect number on a scale.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love not being a perfect number on the scale or the perfect amount of something or, you know, a rigid set of, ideals that you have to stick to because that's just not sustainable. So you had this big moment kinda, you know, circumstance with the children, and you started looking at yourself. So give me a fast forward version of where you were, what sort of steps you took, and where you are now and how that will lead into this conversation around how we should approach the holidays with health.
Speaker 2:I I I think I was really lucky, to be very honest with you, because at that moment, I was like, okay, Carrie. You gotta do something. I was drinking six cups of coffee a day. I drank wine out of a box because it was cheaper than bottled wine because I had a stressful job.
Speaker 1:And I've done both of those things?
Speaker 2:Yep. Yep. Yep. And I loved wine a lot, and I just felt like if I went the box route, I could drink more of it. So I was like, okay, Carrie, you gotta do something.
Speaker 2:I went to the gym. I joined a gym, and that's sort of what I knew. I was a division one college cheerleader. You know, it was moving your body, eating less and moving your body. And that's what I was like, okay, that's what I gotta do.
Speaker 2:So I go to the gym and I work out there for close to a year. And believe it or not, it was was living in Cleveland at the time. I live in the East Coast now, but I still work out with that same trainer virtually every single day. It's been more than ten years. He's he's absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2:So it wasn't the quality of my training. But when I didn't have a real understanding about food, I was just like avoiding carbs, you know, putting my body at a deficit. I guess I was getting a little bit stronger, but I saw no real changes in my body and I was still just as frustrated and as obsessed. And then one guy, one time this guy comes into the gym, he's a nutritionist, and we paid $5 to do this seminar. And he was a nutritionist trained by this guy named Mark McDonald, the celebrity nutritionist that he he kept mentioning.
Speaker 2:I didn't know who he was. But this guy, Joe, comes to the gym and he says he asked us a question. What do you think is more correct? Eating an apple or pizza with chicken? And now I didn't eat the pizza.
Speaker 2:Right? So I was like, well, an apple, but like, why are you asking the question? I was very skeptical. And he started talking about the concept of blood sugar stabilization and recognizing that when our blood sugar is dysregulated, when it goes up and down and spikes all over the place due to processed foods, not understanding how to balance our food in a way that will keep our blood sugar stabilized, stress, alcohol, like all the things, then it wreaks havoc on our body. And every time we spike our blood sugar, we actually end up storing fat.
Speaker 2:And and we are especially women, but most of us are on this blood sugar roller coaster. And an apple alone, while it might be healthier, will spike your blood sugar because it's a carb. And I was like, yeah, no, no, I don't eat carbs. And he was like, no, but we need to be eating carbs. Carbs fuel our brain.
Speaker 2:They give us the energy that we need. We just don't understand enough about food, and pizza with chicken is actually a protein, fat, and carb. And those are the three macronutrients. Macro means big. Big means important.
Speaker 2:And if we keep trying to take out one of those macros, those important things like fat in the nineties or carbs, you know, from Atkins all the way up to keto, there's actually a lot of ramifications when we're not getting those macronutrients. They were actually meant to be eaten together. And when you do that, you'll balance your blood sugar and it's not about eating less. It's probably about eating more and about getting your body the nutrients it needs. I was like, wow.
Speaker 2:So I started eating this way called PFC three, and it was this guy named Mark McDonald that, like, kind of figured it out more than twenty years ago. And within seven days, I did my first pull up in the gym. And from that point forward, I was like, I'm never going back. I didn't have to count. I didn't have to track.
Speaker 2:I didn't have to do any of that anymore. And it was it was freeing in so many ways. But again, the why. My body changed very quickly. I was stronger.
Speaker 2:I was leaner than I was even when I was an athlete, and I was almost 40. And my obsession with my body got worse because I wasn't really grounded in my why. It was about ego. And, that's when I realized like, okay, I look really good, but I'm still all messed up. And so that's when I really had to go on this journey of self discovery.
Speaker 2:I was a mindset coach. I was a behavior specialist, and I had to dig into what I wanted and what what I really wanted and why. And if I was really honest with myself, I wanted to be the healthiest version of myself. And I wasn't that even though I looked it.
Speaker 1:So that really makes me think because we talk a lot about it, especially around alcohol here at Sunnyside. You have to come in with the right mindset, and you have to kinda reprogram yourself if you're talking negative or you're pessimistic or you make things difficult. You know, not everything has to be hard. So, like, I could go down the list. It sounds exactly the same here that people should be approaching diet, nutrition, and overall health in the same kind of mindset.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, really gotta think about why. And and this is the thing. I think if we go into a change, like I decide I'm going to, you know, stop drinking or, you know, slow down my habit, you know, decrease my intake of alcohol, or if I want to change my eating habits, It's is it because of shame and guilt and frustration and anger? Or is it because you love yourself too much to not take care of yourself, to not show up for yourself in a way that serves your purpose for the long term.
Speaker 2:And I think if we can just shift our mindset about really what do we want, but why do we want it? That changes everything in terms of how we show up. Because any relationship, any relationship that you have has to be based in trust and positivity and love. And so our relationship with our body is no different. And if we go after a change because we are so angry with our choices or our body, then we're not starting off a new relationship in a way that's going to be serving for the long term.
Speaker 1:Yes. So that actually gives me some thought about mindset and Mhmm. The topic at hand, which is the holidays.
Speaker 2:So Yes.
Speaker 1:A lot of people are going to maybe wanna make changes, but they're gonna defer to Yes. The first of the first of the year. Or maybe, like, the food is really just too tempting. So let's talk about the mindset of, you know, maybe what you were just saying there about getting to your why might seem like a big thing to tackle at this time of the year. But maybe they can have a mindset that will that will lead them into the right direction and not, like, totally derail yourself while you're in this holiday period.
Speaker 1:So what's the mindset that we should start be thinking about? Maybe there are some ways that we can approach this, totally sacrifice our health goals, and still have some fun around food, maybe alcohol, and that sort
Speaker 2:of thing. Well, and this is the thing. Think we forget that the holidays happen every year. Every single year, they happen. And every year, I'm, like, having these conversations, and I think, wait a minute, if they're gonna happen every year, then we have to learn how to be able to enter them without saying, okay, I'm just throwing it all out the window.
Speaker 2:I'm just gonna drink whatever I want. I'm gonna eat whatever I want because we're gonna throw our body off. And and it really is about this relationship. Think about a trusting relationship. You don't have to show up perfectly, but you do have to show up pretty consistently.
Speaker 2:I've been married for twenty four years, and my husband and I, we pretty we show up pretty consistently for each other, but not perfectly. But on a regular basis, I know how he's gonna come home. I'm not I don't have to wonder like, oh, what what kind of Peter am I gonna get today? Am I gonna get the angry one? Am I gonna get the the nice one?
Speaker 2:We're consistent. And that's how I think we have to think about going into the holidays. Are we going to go so far off the rails that our body is like, woah, I don't even who's coming coming in the in the door every day? Or are we gonna show up sort of consistently? The only reason I've been married for as long as I have is because we have trust, and trust is positive interactions consistently over time, not not inconsistent.
Speaker 2:And if the holidays happen every year and every year we go kind of all crazy about what we're doing and we say, forget it, I'm just going start again in January, then your body's sitting there going, wait, hang on. We don't trust you. And that leaks havoc in every aspect of your body. Like I hear all the time people who do fasting, and I'm not a proponent of fasting because of blood sugar regulation and stabilization. We can do other things that supposedly fasting does, without actually having to deprive our bodies.
Speaker 2:But a lot of people will say, well, I'm not even hungry until twelve And I'm like, that's because you've taught your body that you're not going to feed it. So it's just that yelling at you to eat in the morning. And that's sort of what our body does. Our bodies are amazing and they adjust based on what we tell them is gonna happen. And so if you go through the holidays where you are binging and and really going off the rails more often than not, instead of staying somewhat consistent, then your body's gonna have to keep adjusting and adjusting and adjusting.
Speaker 2:The trust is thrown off. And then you wonder why in January when you're quote unquote good again, your body's not responding, especially the older that you get. You're putting yourself on a blood sugar roller coaster. You're putting your body at risk for every single metabolic disease there is out there, and it's not necessary. I drink wine.
Speaker 2:I eat. I'll have a really amazing Thanksgiving dinner with stuffing. I will have our favorite family meal of chicken paprikash, which is dumplings on Christmas Eve. And there's no guilt, my body doesn't miss a beat because more often than not, I show up for it. I wake up.
Speaker 2:Within an hour of waking up, I eat a PFC meal, a protein, fat, and carb. Maybe it's a protein shake. Maybe it's eggs and berries, but I'm ready to eat. I eat until I'm satisfied. And then about three hours later, I'll eat again.
Speaker 2:I don't have to save my calories because I'm gonna eat a really big meal later. And I don't have to allow food to make me feel guilty because all food is is protein, fats, and carbs. You go up the rails for what? It's okay. You can have another one three hours later.
Speaker 2:You're never done for the day like when you're counting calories or macros. And that's the thing. With every diet out there, you have to be perfect. And so if you can't be perfect, you might as well just go off the rails. But if you could look at it where it's just consistency over perfection, you could show up very differently.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more. I mean, I can draw more parallels to alcohol, but, you know, during that holiday season, if you go so far to one side and then you have a cutoff date where you have to go to the polar opposite, it's gonna be so much more difficult, not only, like you said, your body talks to you. There's gonna be physical at brain chemistry level, there's gonna be responses, also habits, and everything's going on because you're gonna swing that way so hard. And then on top of it, if you don't get to where you want to and it's January and you're like, I already messed up. I'm just getting better luck next year.
Speaker 1:So, like, mentally, you kinda mess yourself up. There's ways that you can, like, approach the holidays, whether we're talking about food or alcohol, where you're gonna give yourself some momentum going into the new year, and you're gonna say, this is actually where I wanna be. I'm gonna go somewhere in the middle right here so that I can actually attain it's more attainable when I get there, and you can still have fun. It's not all about restriction. You can still say it's the holidays.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna cut loose a little bit compared to what I normally do, but it's gonna be not on the other spectrum of it. So
Speaker 2:Yes. So this is the way this is way that I look at it. I always say food is not good or bad. Food is not healthy or unhealthy. Food serves our body and it serves our soul, and we need both.
Speaker 2:But just like we can't have Christmas every single day, like my kids would be like Christmas every day. Like Christmas every day, you wouldn't appreciate it and we'd be broke. It just wouldn't be special. So a little litmus test that I usually say, especially around this time of the year is we want to be serving our body more than we're serving our soul. Because a, our body is going to respond when we're treating it nicely more than we're treating it not so nicely.
Speaker 2:But also when we do serve our soul, we appreciate it. We enjoy it differently because we know we're not doing it all the time, but we have intentionality. And that's one of the things I love about Sunnyside, right? The intentionality of saying, you know, I might decide I'm going to have three drinks on a Friday night, but I decided beforehand, not when I got into that situation and felt pressured that I made intentional decisions before I entered into a situation and then I don't break the promise to myself. So if I decide I'm going to serve my soul tonight, I decide that before I walk in the door and then I do it.
Speaker 2:And when I do it, I enjoy it and I don't feel guilt. The guilt comes in when we were often wanting to do something else, wanting to maybe say serve our body, not have a drink. And then we walk into a situation and we impulsively make a different decision. That's when really the disconnect comes. And then once we start going down that train, we just have a hard time getting out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. If you if you don't plan it at all so have a plan, first of all, is why I took a lot from that. But also what you said about feeding your soul in that, if you just go in and don't stick to your plan, it's just like, oh, well, what the heck? Why not? I already broke it.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna go way over there.
Speaker 2:So Right.
Speaker 1:When you talk about that, let let's talk about this. So as far as the holidays go, how do we pick and choose when we can we can indulge, we can enjoy ourselves, but at the same time, not go overboard? How how do you approach that?
Speaker 2:So there's a couple couple of things I think. One is we don't need to save up our calories, and I think that's really important to recognize if we know that we're gonna be in a big party. We still wanna be fueling our body throughout the day. And then when you're going to a party, going to an event when you're, you know, hanging out and decorating the tree or having your big Thanksgiving meal, you a decide, am I going to go all out or not? Or and you can also recognize that if all food is a protein, fat and carb, then you're just eating.
Speaker 2:And in this, you can even be grazing and you're not going to throw your blood sugar so far off the mark. And I think that when we recognize that I don't have to save my calories and it's not a good choice or a bad choice, it's just a choice, then I realize I'm gonna wake up and I'm going to fuel my body all day with a protein, fat and carb every three to four hours. And then I'm actually not craving food when I get to the party. Because like, I'll ask you this question. When you're really hungry, like super, super hungry, what do you crave?
Speaker 1:What do I crave?
Speaker 2:Yeah. If you're like, I'm so hungry and you just like you're home and you have to just like rustle through your pantry, what is the first thing you're grabbing? I
Speaker 1:can tell you two things. So if I'm if I went for a long ride or I did a lot of exercise, I crave pizza. And I'm not a pizza guy, but that's when I
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I'm like, I earned it. I'm gonna have it. Yep. I'm a little weird. I would do, tablespoons of, like, a nut butter.
Speaker 1:Okay. I know that'll fill me up. And Yep. So Well
Speaker 2:and and that's the thing. Like, when we're really hungry, like, oh my gosh, I'm so, so, so, so hungry. Our body automatically almost goes for, like you just said, pizza, the carbs because our blood sugar is actually really low. And we often think it's our own willpower that we don't have enough strength. But in all reality, that's our body talking to us being like, hey, our blood sugar is really low.
Speaker 2:We need sugars in all carbs turn into sugars in our body. And so if we walk into a party with our blood sugar really low because we haven't been eating all day, we are going to be there's going to be an inability to control what we put into our mouth because we need carbs. It's almost like this unconscious need, but we feel like we don't have any willpower. Yeah. So that's why it's so important to do that.
Speaker 2:So you walk into any situation feeling that homeostasis, that balance. But the other thing that I think is really important in all of this is not just getting your body and physical balance, but also your mindset. So when you walk into a party and somebody let's say you're you're, you know, deciding you're not going to drink that night, you've made the decision you're not going to have alcohol that night. And somebody comes in, they see her and they're like, you're like, no, I'm good. And they're like, what?
Speaker 2:You're not going to drink. And it's all that, you know, pressure that we feel like is being put upon us. I need people to realize this could be about food. This could be about alcohol. It can be anything.
Speaker 2:Right? It's not about us. It's about that person wanting to feel justified about the choices they're making. So they're putting pressure on you to make that same choice. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if we can recognize that it's actually not about us, because if we say yes, okay, yeah, give me the drink. Now you've just justified for that person to be able to have that drink versus you saying no. Now there's a subconscious like, oh wait, now like I'm kind of like feeling a little bit like, I don't really like that feeling that I'm not like that he didn't say yes or she didn't say yes. And so it really is about that other person feeling validated with what they're doing. And if you can walk into a party or a situation like that and you realize, okay, it's not actually about putting pressure on me.
Speaker 2:It's about me not just standing by what I want to do and ignoring the pressure that that person's feeling. And that changes everything about the way that we we go about it. And then there's one other little strategy that I use when it comes to the holidays and thinking about whether I'm going to indulge or not. Yes, I want to be intentional. But at the end of the day, we still sometimes feel that pressure or a desire to change what we intended to do.
Speaker 2:And so we often act on feelings. I feel like having a drink right now. I feel like overindulging and just having all the fried chicken in the world. Well, feelings often can be fickle, right? We know that they change all the time.
Speaker 2:And if we act on our feelings right then, isn't that amazing that like the next morning we feel really guilty about it? What if we know that, okay, listen, at 09:00 tomorrow morning, I know where I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be at work or I'm gonna be, you know, at home, wherever I'm gonna be. How am I going to feel at 09:00 tomorrow morning if I did indulge or if I didn't? Because I'm 09:00 tomorrow morning is going to come one way or the other.
Speaker 2:I'm going to sitting at my desk. How am I going to feel then? So I just future cast my feeling so I can still act on my feeling, but I'm acting on a future feeling that I know is gonna happen tomorrow. And then sometimes it's a little bit easier to make the decision because you know what? I don't wanna feel like I have this hangover.
Speaker 2:Or you know what? I don't wanna feel gross because I'm having all this greasy food, whatever it is. And you still have permission to act on your feelings.
Speaker 1:It makes total sense. And it's really interesting to hear this, and we probably could talk for a really really long time because I've actually never really spent so much time on the nutrition and health side, which, of course, involves alcohol, but mostly just in the alcohol side and much of the same, like, peer pressure and internal monologue. All those things are so similar. I I'm a little bit weird. So since I I was just, like, training in my teens and early twenties to be an athlete.
Speaker 1:And so at that time, I got really regimented around diet. And so that kinda carried on to into my adulthood. And so I've always really not had a problem with knowing what's good and what's bad. And and, of course, I'd fight, you know, pizza or fried food, which I I know things are bad, but they're usually in moderation. And
Speaker 2:Well, would not Like I said
Speaker 1:that I have everything figured out.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But if it serves your soul, right, then you go for it.
Speaker 1:I definitely don't I definitely balance it. I don't count calories. I don't get I don't go crazy. It's just it's what I'm used to. It's my my regimen.
Speaker 1:But here's the funny thing in there I wanna tack onto this is it Yeah. Even when you think you're doing the right thing, it and when it comes to what we're talking about and that you're an expert on is that you really have to be educated because you could be thinking that you're doing the right things and you're actually sabotaging yourself at the same time. So I'll tell you a funny little story, or I think it's funny, is that I do have a hard time resisting bread. Like, I love bread, especially, like, from Europe or somewhere, a nice baguette. And so I avoided it when I was in I was studying in Italy.
Speaker 1:I avoided bread. I was like, no. You know?
Speaker 2:Oh, jeez.
Speaker 1:Sandwich. I mean, I didn't totally. And, of course, I was drinking wine and beer. Everything, like, is that straight. But, you know, the funny thing is is I was like, I'm gonna avoid pasta and beer beer I mean, sorry, pasta and bread.
Speaker 1:But here I was so not educated on things, drinking, like, a half carton of the fruit juices that they had, not even knowing that that was carbohydrates. You know, this Yes. Early two thousands. So yeah. So, I mean, like, I think it really you could have all the commitment, but you gotta also have the information.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And that's what I always say. I'm like, alright. There's so much confusion up out there about food. Do I eat carbs?
Speaker 2:Do I eat carbs? Do I eat fast? Do I eat keto? All of this stuff. And we have to make it make sense.
Speaker 2:It has to be simple. It has to be sustainable. It has to be satisfying or we're not gonna do it forever. And that's how marriages last. Right?
Speaker 2:Because we are consistent over time that we're not just being, like, really on point for one moment and then only to fall off and have to start the cycle of distrust with our body over and over and over again. And I don't know what it is for anybody listening. It could be pizza. It could be chocolate cake. For my sister, it's tiramisu.
Speaker 2:Like, that's her thing. And if you just felt like you could never have that again, then I don't feel like that's living either. So it's really around this idea of balance and intentionality, but understanding blood sugar stabilization is really a big educational point that a lot of people don't know. And once you do it, like everything starts to make sense. Oh, that's why I had cravings.
Speaker 2:That's why I've had hormonal imbalances. That's why I have gut issues. You know, like we're we're wreaking havoc on our bodies because we don't know about how important blood sugar regulation is. And once you know, then then you can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I wanna dig into that. So you have something called the PFC three. Am I getting that right? So can you talk about how that works and and why blood sugar is all involved in everything that that you just mentioned?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So remember when I said to you when I first, kind of went on this journey, I had this nutritionist show up at the gym, and he was trained by the celebrity nutritionist named Mark McDonald. And I had never heard of him before. But once I learned the concepts of PFC three, like what he taught, I got really, really kind of obsessed and passionate. And so I stalked Mark McDonald for a year.
Speaker 2:And I was like, by this point, was working with women and I was teaching them how to eat. And what was really incredible was that, like, they loved it. They were finally not dieting. And then but what was crazy is like six months, twelve months, they all fell off. And I couldn't figure out why.
Speaker 2:Well, I wasn't putting in the mindset change, the habit change, the behavioral changes that I knew I needed to do when I was working as an educator. So I started putting that in and I wanted to get Mark because I was like, even fifteen minutes as a guest, kind of a guest with my with my clients. And so it took me a year. Finally got him on the phone and he was like, woah, what did you build here? He couldn't believe that I had taken the concepts of protein, fat and carb every three hours and turned it into a private practice where women and then their families as a result were literally changing their family treats because he was saying like, I've trained hundreds of thousands of people, but they don't all stick with it.
Speaker 2:But our our clients, they were sticking with it for years and years. And so he was really intrigued by like, okay, what are you doing that's different? And so I really dug into with him, how do I teach self awareness? How do I teach mindset habit change and truly sustainable behavior shifts? And so once I started teaching him that he was like, we got to do this together.
Speaker 2:So we ended up starting a brand called PFC three. And we really built, the concept is 100 of 1%. And think about like if you could learn in little bits and pieces every day to your point, education is so important. Then what can you do over a hundred days? Well, you get a %.
Speaker 2:And then you start all over again because the learning never ends. And so when we started working together and putting in body, mind, lifestyle into one approach where then we trained other health pros, doctors, because doctors were the least trained in nutrition, which is so crazy.
Speaker 1:It's wild.
Speaker 2:The pharmaceutical company trains our doctors.
Speaker 1:It's just not as holistic as you would think and would like and Nope. Very specialized to to what the and I'm just speaking, you know, broad sweeping here. But, yeah, you would think
Speaker 2:that I'll get into that in a whole another like, that is it is insane. My my number one clients are doctors actually because they don't know. And so we we train them, other health pros, nutritionists, dietitians to be able to then teach their clients the concepts of one hundred days of 1% using the PSC three approach. And PSC three stands for protein, fat and carb, but it stands for so much more than that. Right?
Speaker 2:It stands for really recognizing that I'm not done for the day, that, I can't always control my circumstances, but I can always control my response. And if I don't make a great choice, just like we say, can just eat another, you know, your next meal is only three hours away. Your next choice is your next opportunity. You can't change the past. You can't control the past, but you can control what your next opportunity is to make a better choice and then learn from it.
Speaker 2:And that's really what PFC three means and stands for.
Speaker 1:I mean, love the concept without even knowing all the program details because Mhmm. One of the things that I've gotten to know more, which I think is really the biggest health concern just in general, is blood sugar, which leads to diabetes. To my surprise, about two years ago, I wore one of the continuous glucose monitors. And it was like I said, I mean, occasionally, I would eat fried foods. I think during the pandemic, I went a little bit crazy for me, but not
Speaker 2:You and everyone else.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so I wore it, and it was I wish I thought I'd put it on, take it off, and be like, I'm done. You know, everything's good, and it was showing that I was insulin resistant. And so the I'd be curious to to talk for anybody that's listening that might have the same thing, but also curious about your philosophy on this because one of the recommendations from the company that I worked with was to try intermittent fasting or to not eat as often through the day, which I'm sure you're familiar with those strategies. Yep.
Speaker 1:So tell me about, like, I mean, how's the relation between p f c three and maybe that recommendation?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So here's the thing. Every time we're talking about these types of of changes or hacks, we're comparing it to the standard American diet. The standard American diet means every time we eat, we spike our blood sugar. And that's what I work with a variety of companies that do continuous glucose monitors, and that's the agreed upon belief.
Speaker 2:When you eat, you're gonna spike your blood sugar. So if you eat less often, then and, you know, fast in a lot of ways, then you could control some of that. Now there is science and some studies on fasting for men, but not long term for women. Fasting is very problematic on our hormones for the long term, but we're comparing it with what typical people eat. They're not necessarily eating a protein, fat and carb.
Speaker 2:They're often eating either more calories or or more carbs in any one meal. So that recommendation gives a very simple way of sort of like saying basically eat less. But because my clients all wear continuous glucose monitors and they're eating a protein, fat and carb every three hours. And if we're following the concept of I'm ready to eat satisfied, ready to eat satisfied, we see every time they eat, they don't spike their blood sugar. And so what we're doing when we're making recommendations around fasting is saying, let's spike your blood sugar less because every time you eat, you're going to spike your blood So if you eat less times, you'll spike your blood sugar less times.
Speaker 2:Or we could do something that's more satisfying and actually not spike our blood sugar every time we eat, fuel our body with the nutrients it needs, have more energy, and then actually reduce cravings and not be stuck with this whole like deficit mindset. I have to eat less. I have to eat less. I have to do like we wouldn't let our kids do that. Right?
Speaker 2:And I'm such a component, a proponent of is what you're doing based in science designed for your body to thrive. Number one. Number two, can you do what you're doing forever? And number three, would you let your kids do it? And if you're not doing something and you wouldn't have your kids fast, then you shouldn't either.
Speaker 2:But we could. And we know this because of all of the science that I've seen with continuous glucose monitors, able to eat smaller meals throughout the day, keep our blood sugar balanced all day long and reduce metabolic, not even reduce, reverse metabolic disease. And so I have clients that have reversed diabetes. They've reversed insulin resistance. They have reversed all of their cravings, their weight gain, lost weight, no longer on cholesterol medication, no like, totally reduced their risk for heart disease while eating every three hours.
Speaker 2:It's fascinating, and we have the science behind it. So Yeah. You know, I like to eat.
Speaker 1:Well, I do too. No. That totally makes sense. And, you know, what's really interesting is that once wearing that, I realized that everybody's body, you can read all these health articles about what's the better thing to do this or that but like when you wear one of these, you get more of a personalized reading on how your body actually reacts to things. So, for example, sweet potatoes are said to be healthier.
Speaker 1:And so my glucose levels didn't almost ever spike about where they should be, but they wouldn't return to the normal levels. But the interesting thing that I found during that time that I wore it was that the biggest spike I had in glucose had to do or insulin, it had to do with, eating sweet potatoes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so so a lot of times we'll look at that and we're like, okay. Well, I can't have sweet potatoes. Well, here's the thing. Like, sweet potatoes are really nutrient dense, I just love sweet potatoes.
Speaker 2:Right? But if we eat sweet potato on its own, it will likely spike our blood sugar. Now, if you're already insulin resistant, that means your body's really sensitive to denser carbs. And so, yes, we have to be looking at that. I have a coach who every time she had blueberries, her her glucose would spike.
Speaker 2:But if we think about the PFC concept and recognizing that when we spike our blood sugar, our body then has to release insulin to try to mitigate that spike. And if our body is constantly over releasing insulin because it keeps spiking its blood sugar, that's how we become insulin resistant. But if we eat a protein first, so if you have like your chicken, it's like you have dinner and you have chicken and you add some chicken first and actually even before the chicken you have like a green salad because lots of fiber is in there and fiber is like a soft landing ground for the carbs. Then you have your protein and then some fat. So maybe you have your dressing on your salad or you have avocado or some sort of a a marinade on your on your on your chicken, and then you eat the sweet potato, you will likely not see that spike.
Speaker 2:So and that's why I always caution people just to go throw on a continuous glucose monitor because if you don't know, then you start thinking I can't have certain foods. And that's where we become in this diet mentality, especially for women. We've ninety percent of women have disordered eating and thinking about their body and have a problematic relationship with food. And the minute we start to think I can't have something, a, we want it more, but b, it just exasperates that. But again, if we could be educated and recognize really how food works in our body, there's nothing off limits.
Speaker 2:And it's just more of a matter of does this serve my body or does this serve my soul? And I'm serving my body more than I'm serving my soul. And it is amazing to watch your cravings literally go away in days when that happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean, I love everything you're saying. I mean, it's really interesting around how everybody's worried when it comes to alcohol about liver and health and all these things. But what I just told you about the, insulin resistance that I was seeing is that I was actually, of course, affecting my liver enzymes, and so those were automated. Until fast forward, that was two years ago.
Speaker 1:I'm back to normal. My levels in my liver are normal. But what I think a lot of people need to do is realize that you need to place emphasis on what we eat as much as we do with what we drink around things like your liver.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, it's really true. And at the end of the day, like we we see a huge rise in pancreatic cancer right now. And I know like forty years ago, like or even less than that, we didn't even know people with pancreatic cancer, but we do now. I know three people recently who have been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, and they had no idea.
Speaker 2:Well, where do we release insulin from? Our pancreas. And so we're just we're in a really scary place right now. And the education of all of this is super, super important. But here's the thing with blood sugar.
Speaker 2:You could eat a keto diet and not spike your blood sugar at all. You can drink alcohol and and actually mitigate a seemingly what would normally be a blood sugar spike. Because when you are right, so for keto, you're not having carbs. So you're, of course, you're not gonna have a blood sugar spike, but we know keto is problematic long term. It was never meant to be a diet.
Speaker 2:It was actually meant for other health reasons, and we need carbs. Think about like the fact is that we need fruits and vegetables. Those are carbs. So just wearing that continuous glucose monitor without the education can be problematic. And then the second piece is because our liver actually has to stop monitoring its whole glucose intake and start dealing with the alcohol, we can get misled on the readings of a continuous glucose monitor when we're drinking.
Speaker 2:And so it's really important to recognize that if we are going to be drinking and you know whether you have a continuous glucose monitor or not, to be having as many nutrient dense foods as possible that are low in carb. Because while our blood sugar may not technically be spiking as much, we are wreaking havoc in in all of those areas of our body. And so we wanna have, like, I like to say, have some, like, low dense vegetables along with protein and fat if you're gonna have a drink so you can mitigate the impact on your liver as well as in your blood sugar.
Speaker 1:Okay. I love that. So if we're going to a party, let's let's end with some really good tips. Somebody's walking into a party that has huge spread.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:What should they be thinking about for mitigating their blood sugar
Speaker 2:level? Gonna walk in hungry. That's what we're not gonna do. We're not gonna walk in hungry because we're gonna have no self control
Speaker 1:of money. Three. So one is don't walk in hungry.
Speaker 2:Don't walk in hungry. Two, walk in with a plan. Be intentional. What are you going to do? I like to call like, am I going to go on a green light meal, a yellow light meal or a red light meal?
Speaker 2:And and then stick to a green light meal means I'm going to eat PFC balanced, gonna clean, whole, unprocessed foods. I'm not going to drink alcohol. Yellow light means I'm going to be mindful of what I'm eating. I'm not going to overindulge, but I'm gonna have a drink, and I'm gonna just make sure I have some protein, fats and carbs. And red is like, I have no rules.
Speaker 2:Make your decision. Are you going green light, red light or yellow light? And don't break that promise to yourself. That's number two. And number three, if you are going to drink, make sure you're pairing it with a protein and a fat and vegetables so you can mitigate the impact that that's gonna have on your body.
Speaker 1:Those are so actionable. Let me ask you before we go too. What about a walk?
Speaker 2:Oh, a walk after you eat is so incredible. My husband and I just went out for breakfast to our favorite breakfast place. It was a total red light meal, and we walked around our little town after that. And it was about a fifteen minute walk. And we know because of a continuous glucose monitoring that when you just take a ten minute walk after a really overdone meal, you can mitigate that blood sugar spike dramatic dramatically as well as something called box breathing.
Speaker 2:That's another one. If you can't get up and walk, if you can breathe in and count like four seconds in and then take four seconds to breathe out and do that about five or six times, that mitigates a blood sugar spike as well. It's a hack. It's not a, like, lifestyle. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But there are ways to be able to mitigate that impact on your body.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so interesting. So well, number one, I I love the fact that the walk is just something that all the old people do after a meal. They're now the sights coming out. And I did not know about the box breathing because I do a lot of breath work. And in fact, two weeks ago, I did a solo episode on our ten minute Mondays about breath work and box breathing is one that I taught.
Speaker 1:So if anybody's listening and wants to know more on that and some other breath work, you can go listen to that one. That's a really interesting one I did not know.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. It's it's really incredible the way our body can work with us if we know more about what our body needs. And we're doing it for the right reasons because we love ourselves too much to not show up for ourselves consistently.
Speaker 1:Well, this has been an amazing episode. And if anybody listening wants to learn more about you, follow you, you know, reach out and thank you, what's the best way for them to find you?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, my website is carilupoli.com. And on Instagram, I'm cari underscore lupoli. So either of those ways are great ways to be able to see how I work in my private practice, how I work with health pros, or just to connect and ask me any questions you want.
Speaker 1:Well, Carrie, thanks so much for coming, taking the time to share your strategies on how we can approach and stay healthier during the holidays.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I love everything that you do. Sunnyside, my husband and I use it. We're big fans.
Speaker 1:Music to my ears. Thanks a lot. And that wraps up today's episode. A huge thanks to Carrie Lupoli for joining us today and sharing her powerful tips and insights for navigating the holidays mindfully. Whether it's food, alcohol, or your overall approach to health, her advice is something that we can all use to create more balance in our lives.
Speaker 1:And if you're ready to take the next steps in your mindful living journey, don't forget to check out Sunnyside. It's the mindful drinking app that helps you build healthier habits with alcohol without any pressure to quit. Right now you can get a free fifteen day trial to see how it works. Head on over to sunnyside.co to get started with that. Thanks again for tuning in to Journey to the Sunnyside.
Speaker 1:And if you enjoyed today's episode, please rate, review and share. It really helps us get the word out and I'll see you in the next episode.
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