GHUTV LIVE! Mental Health and Exercise

Well, hello everybody. Happy Friday. Um, in September. I guess we would call this the onset of fall. Yes, it is.

At least where we live, where we live. Yeah, it's still a little warm in Minnesota. But Fall is my favorite. It's my favorite too. It's, there's nothing better than like a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt.

Yeah, I love that. Cozy. Cozy. We like cozy. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to our live Q and A. I'm Chris Frag. This is lovely. Sam Cameron, also known as Sam Cam. We try to come live once a month.

We, we probably come live 10 out of 12 months a year. Um, from Get Healthy U TV. Live Studios here and we answer questions. Get healthy. U TV is an app that is all about live streaming workouts.

We have over 600 workouts, but we know that part of being healthy is not just working out, but it's talking about nutrition and mindset and um, all the things we have. So every month we kind of cover a different subject but just letting you know that all questions are ok. Anything you wanna ask today is ok, but we're kind of focusing a little bit on mindset and mental health. Um especially as we age. So, um, that's something to think about.

If you have any questions, we have some pre asked questions, we have some questions that actually relate nothing to mindset. But hey, if you, you want to talk about something health related, we are here. Ok. So I just have to mention get healthy U TV. If you are a member or not a member, you might know that we are having our fitness weekend live and in person in Minnesota.

Next weekend, we are so excited. There are about 100 women coming to Minneapolis, September 23rd through the 24th. It is not too late to sign up. Hotels still has rooms is at the Mall of America, which is a great place in and of itself. If you're a shopper like me, I, I love to shop.

Um, so it's a fun place with lots of good, uh, places to eat. It's close to the airport. It's easy to get there. Any of you who live in Minnesota. And you're like, you know what?

I need a kick in the butt. I'm just gonna drive over to the Mall of America for those two days. Join in on this, on the thing. We are going to be doing workouts, Saturday and Sunday. We'll kind of tailor them so that everyone isn't too sore.

We have a whole program. We have three or four great workshops where we're gonna be doing a lot of what we're doing here, but it's gonna be intimate because I'm, we're gonna be answering your questions right there. All the trainers are gonna be there so you can meet the trainers live and in person. We're catering yummy food. Um So it's just gonna be so freaking fun.

We're playing real music. So get ready to, you know, groove to Bruno Mars, not just the beats in the back of the music like you all hear in our workout. So it'll be way more fun, isn't it gonna be good? We love it. We're excited a lot to do before next weekend.

And so just wanted to let you know, it's not too late to sign up. We could still take just a few more people. The room is fairly big. So, yeah, we're excited. Ok, let's dive in Sam to our live Q and A Friday afternoon is a different time than we've ever come.

We usually come on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Um And I know a lot of people are off work or maybe you're dealing with kids or whatever. So we'll see who joins us and we're here for you for about 45 minutes today. Awesome. Um So the theme is mental health and exercise, but again, any question that you write in the question box goes, um So we'll take pre asked questions that we have a couple there and then um as you start rolling, we'll start answering them as, as many as we can get in.

Um So with that being said, um how does mental health impact your physical health and exercise? Um Well, they're totally intertwined. Um I think that physical health helps to improve your mental health when people are feeling depressed down. Um movement, not even the word exercise, but movement in general movement um helps, you know, depression patients, they actually use movement therapy in um in depression therapy. So it's really a big deal just getting your arms up overhead and moving your body, yoga, meditation.

We're gonna talk about in a minute. Um All of those things really help uh deep breathing, which is really trend. Right. Right now, this gentleman Wim Hof, um the Wim Hof uh method of breathing. He is really trend right right now because he's been talking about taking deep breaths, holding your breath, getting the breath all the way down and all the way up.

It sounds so silly. It sounds like, well, I know how to breathe, but it's really these little things that make a difference, but movement is the key to clearing your head. Um We believe also that for instance, anything that's rhythmic in movement helps to um keep your mind sharp. So today we were talking about kickboxing and someone said, well, kickboxing is just so like, I gotta think so hard to know, you know, I'm moving my right arm, I'm moving my left arm, I'm like, yes. And that's good for your brain to have to pattern like that and keep your mind sharp as we age.

We want our mind to stay sharp. We want to feel like we um feel good. So not only from things like um mental sharpness and alertness and ability to pattern and think, but also then from the side of depression and emotion, you know, when you're feeling down, sometimes just a walk and some deep breathing can really clear your head and help you step back into, take a moment for yourself. So the connection is real, it's big, it's huge. And when I talk to people who are really low mentally and then I ask them if they're moving and they're like, no, no, it's kind of like the cart before the horse.

Like, well, you better start moving to improve your mental health. You got, you gotta somehow start one of them, um kind of going off of that. So like if you're a beginner, right? And you're trying to get back into working out or maybe you are a true beginner. Um How can you like change that mindset of like getting back into exercise because sometimes it can be daunting, right?

And that mental like connection isn't quite there. So how do you like switch that mindset? And we talk about and we talk to people online all the time, I guess. And so just so, you know, you have to allow yourself to be a beginner. OK?

It is OK. And one of the things that comes with age is wisdom when I was younger, I understand like where people would be so competitive. Well, and not everybody is, I am an Engram number three. What are you do? You know what you are?

You're three. Of course, we're both threes. And so like I'm a little competitive but now I realize like, it's ok to be a beginner if you're out of shape, if you haven't exercised ever in your life and all of a sudden you're like, hey, all of a sudden I'm valuing this and I need help. Start from the beginning. It is hard.

You will be intimidated. You will feel, you know, sometimes, like a little bit, like, ah, I'm so sore. I can't do much. I can only pick up these weights, but you have to flip that to like, ok, it took me a long time to get where I am. Like, let's say you haven't exercised in 20 years.

You can't expect to be back in 20 minutes. You know what I mean? So, you have to give yourself that grace, that kindness allow yourself to be a beginner. We have heard from so many of you who tell us that you are, you know, in that exact position that we filmed a program that we call fat burning beginner workouts. There's six of them so far.

And we will add more to them. What we did is we took what you guys were saying to us. Many people tell us I can't go up and down off the, I can't go to the floor and then stand up and then go to the floor and stand up. Like that's way too hard for me. Maybe it's based on being out of shape or maybe it's based on age.

Some people tell us, you guys move too fast. You're just advanced. I wanna slow it down. I wanna understand the movement. So we slowed them way down.

We kept them very, very. Um I, I don't wanna use the word basic to make them sound like they're boring because they're not boring at all. I actually, as I get older, I prefer, Sam knows I prefer a slowed down workout anyway. I want to really focus on my muscle and I, I still love like the kickboxing moving fast from time to time, but most of the time I really do enjoy something a little more slow down. So we've got stuff for all levels for everybody.

But flip that mindset from feeling competitive or you know, a little depressed because you feel or a little intimidated to, hey, I'm just starting from square one. Like when you were a baby, you had to learn how to walk, you didn't know how. So you had to learn how to take those first steps. You have to allow yourself to do that. Absolutely.

Um, all right. Not on the mental and, you know, exercise, um, questionnaires, but why does a weight pile on in menopause? Your favorite question? Everyone asks that. I know.

Um, well, ok. So, yes, people gain weight at menopause and they say, well, what is it? Yes, it can be hormones. Yes, it can be hormones. Um, our hormones are changing when we hit that age of menopause.

So when you get through, not having a period for a year, that day, that's the year mark. That's like your menopause day after that, you're post menopause. You're only in menopause for one day, one day, one day a year, just a, just a day once you've gone a whole year without a period, that's menopause. And from then on you're post menopause. So, so wait, what happens if it's like 11 months and some days and then you get it, you have to start all you start over.

Yeah. And I mean, it's not an exact science, like you might get it one more time and then all of a sudden you realizing like, oh, I must be post menopause because I'm not. So it's not an exact science. But anyway, your estrogen is decreasing, your testosterone is decreasing, your progesterone is decreasing. So those hormones protect your joints, they give you some energy.

They, so yes, that can be part of the reason. But what I want to tell most women is just, don't use that as your excuse or the curtain you hide behind like, well, my hormones are bad. So I'm just going to gain £30. Here's the thing. It's also a time of life when we slow down, we feel older, our bodies feel older.

So we stop doing some of the maybe more advanced type sports that we used to do when we were younger. We have more time on our hands. We're maybe not chasing little kids anymore. So we're sedentary. We're sitting in chairs more often.

We're sitting on the couch at night. I tell the story all the time. My kids told me this old couch we had, there was a point where my kid said to me, mom, you've never sat on this couch. And I'm like, yes, I have no, like no, we've never seen you sit on this couch. I'm like, I have two like, and then I started thinking about, I'm like, I never sit on the couch.

Now, this is when my kids were little. Now, guess what I do every night. Now, at my age 58 next month, I sit on the couch every night. So that is a, a change in my lifestyle. So if I wasn't making effort to get more steps in to take that daily walk, to do my workout, I would burning less calories throughout the day.

And at the end of the day, waking weight gain is calories and calories out. Yes, it matters. What type of calories? Yes, it matters like how you feel. But, and what type of exercise you do and putting muscle on your body, blah, blah, blah.

But at the end of the day, a calorie deficit is how you lose weight. You can't, like, you can't lose weight. I'll have people. I'm eating so much protein. I don't know why.

I'm not losing weight. I'm like, ok, well, protein is amazing for fee feeding muscles. But how much protein are you eating? If you're eating too many calories of protein, more than you're actually spending, you're gonna gain weight, period. It doesn't matter what you're eating if it's too many calories.

I mean, if you overeat carrots, which would be really hard to overeat, I don't know about carrots. But I mean, my, my point being that, you know, a lot of it is sedentary and, and so don't hide behind the curtain of hormones, say I gotta get moving. I gotta change what I do. It's maybe less extreme, but low impact does not mean low intensity. We talk about that all the time.

I love low impact workouts and actually not kind of similar. I did a body weight, um, workout the other day and I was like, this feels really good, like it's hard that, you know, your body weight is enough weight. Um, but there's something to be said about low impact workouts and just like lifting heavy, focusing on your form, focusing on all the things that you should be work, you know, thinking about, um, they're great because sometimes jumping just doesn't always feel good. Right. And then on, on a side note, if you do feel like your hormones are really out of whack, um, and you wanna do something about it.

See, a functional medicine doctor, your regular MD may not, I don't know, be of great help. And so functional medicine doctor can help you if you think that some sort of hormone replacement or something could help you because it can help you. It's not for everybody. There is no one size fits all menopause. That's the thing, just like there's no one size fits all pregnancy, right?

You know, you just have to muddle through and the most important thing is you're talking to friends, you're talking to professionals like functional medicine doctors, you're talking to people who can help you navigate that time of life. Absolutely. Um, a another question, my low back has been really bothering me. Any tips or tricks. Um, they're afraid to go a little bit heavier with the weight.

So low back pain. How can we? That's a very common one and actually that's one that leads to um mental issues like depression. You know, because you feel like my back is so tender, I'm afraid to do anything to um overuse it. So, yes, staying away from heavy weights when you're in the middle of a serious back problem.

Did you say low back, um, low back is the number one reason people go to the doctor for a physical like therapy type problem. It's typically low back. Um, and it's very common. So, yeah, you kind of wanna stay away from those weights till you can figure out what's going on. But for most of the time I am not a doctor, but most of the time it's something that is fixable.

Yes, there are times and we know plenty of people who have had back surgery because their disc becomes so incredibly degenerated or ruptured or who knows what. Um, or if nerves are being really pinched and you can barely move your arms or your legs or whatever, that's when, you know, things are really serious. But for most of us, by the time we're forties, fifties, sixties, we have some wear and tear to our back, that's just life. And so those disc can get a little herniated or a little extended or, um, a little deflated and sometimes the inflammation around there is what really causes the pain. So there are things you can do to reduce the inflammation.

Um I literally talk about this. I, I swear to God seven days a week with people literally low back pain. Yeah. Well, yeah. So, and I had low back pain about eight years ago to the point where I couldn't even bend over and pick up a laundry basket.

I literally had to like get on the floor, pick it up, push myself up and it was so bad. I was so mad because this is my line of work. It's like, oh my God, Christ, get a grip and I had so I had an MRI on my back and the doctor said, yes, you have a little degeneration, a little herniation in your L four L five. But you have so much inflammation around it because those muscles around your spine, they start inflaming and trying to grip to protect your back so that nothing happens. So you've got to reduce that.

So go on, get healthy U TV. We have a free video, go to 10 minute free video and go under yoga and flexibility and find the video that is all about um low back pain. Yeah. And in that um video, I show you how to use a massage ball, which is a little harder than a tennis ball, a little softer than a lacrosse ball. And I show you how to use it.

So you basically place it on the sides of your spine and you lay down on the floor and it's like trigger point therapy on your own. So that you know, because the Yeah, yeah, you can go to a physical therapist once a week, but most of the stuff you need to do every day if you're trying to heal something like this. So it's the feeling that like someone's putting their elbow into your back. So you use that ball, you reduce all of the inflammation. I've got some stretches for you in that same video.

Um And then start thinking about what you're eating, reduce alcohol, reduce inflammatory foods, like let that body heal. Um and and eat more sensibly, drink more water. Um You can take things like Advil that are gonna help remove uh inflammation right at that time. Infrared heat has been my go to So infrared heat is different than heat. Heat is awesome like heat just makes you feel good loosens things up.

Um Infrared heat goes deeper, it penetrates through the dermis. So it gets deeper into the muscle and it's a wavelength that actually is not hot. So if you had an infrared back pad that had no heat also added to it, you'd be like is this thing working because I can't feel it. So most infrared back pads when you buy them have infrared heat and heat in it. So you can feel that warmth happening.

But the infrared wavelengths are helping with inflammation. I used that and I will truth be told if you were a fly on my wall in my house right now, I use my infrared heating pad every day unless I've stopped taking it with me on trips. So I used to put in my suitcase. Now I'm like, well, if I go two or three days without, it doesn't matter because I'm not in any pain, but I use it as like a preventative, just that infrared to keep my back from ever having. I haven't had back pain and I can't even tell you how long not gone.

This is what this is what? So, I hope that helps back pain is a real thing. Oh, absolutely. I mean, even just the other day, like I was sleeping, you know, I was out of town and slept on a weird mattress and things felt tighter, right? And so for me, it's the same thing doing some, you know, preventative care, doing some foam rolling, that kind of stuff.

And then I will say like for me movement feels better, the more I sit, the more like my low back kind of compresses. And so like I have to stand up and move and I don't do anything crazy. You go for a walk for a little bit. But like if I wake up and my back is like killing me, it's foam rolling to get started, move your body stretch a little bit and then kind of move around. You make a really good point.

I'm just gonna say one more thing about this topic. So um when I, after my third was born, my third baby, that's when I really started to have some of this low back pain, you know, five years after that. And I was like, good Lord, what's going on? And I got into Pilates, I became certified as a Pilates instructor. I really understood.

The Pilates was kind of a magic to learning how to use that human girdle, that muscle that wraps around our body like a girdle. So try out our Pilates uh workouts. We just released a Mat Pilates four um in the gold workouts a week ago. And I've seen a lot of our members in our Facebook group talking about how it's not a sweaty workout, but holy bananas. I can feel that workout.

The other thing I wanna say about sitting is when you're standing. So I'm just standing up right here just for a second. Um I've got my lower body to dissipate the weight in my low back right now. So my low back is not taking the brunt. Now I sit down in a chair where is all the weight distribution?

Boom right at my tail bone at that low back. So if you're somebody who sits in a chair eight hours a day, you also can de develop horrible back pain. And so finding ways standing work desks, I mean, it makes such a difference. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down throughout the day. A walking pad is the newest trend.

These walking pads are like 200 bucks on Amazon. We, we know about three good ones and actually I'm on the brink of buying one of you and I'm waiting for the day it's gonna happen. Goes out. No, I am going to buy it because having just walking at like one mile per hour can help to eliminate back pain, can burn calories, can just keep your mind um into it. So, uh the thing about back pain is when you get rid of it is not the time to stop therapy, you have to start taking it on as a daily ritual.

Like I'm just gonna stretch for five minutes. That's what I do. Um We have somebody asking will an infrared sauna work is that the same like same infrared sauna will alleviate um inflammation all over your body. So an infrared sauna is amazing. As a matter of fact, we have one in our basement.

My husband loves it. He loves it. I don't really go in it. Um I just don't make the time for that but concentrated infrared on the point of pain. So if you blow up, you know, your knee is killing you put that infrared heating pad on that knee and let those infrared wavelengths get in your back, your shoulder, but an infrared.

So it is overall anti-inflammatory and really good. What are the best exercises to improve balance and prevent falls? Oh, that's a good question too because as you know, it, it's such a real, you know, back when I was your age when people would talk about falling and like getting older it. Yeah, whatever. And now here I am at my age 58 my mother is 84 and I'm watching her fall and seeing some of her balance issues and then talking to other friends who are caring for their elderly parents and seeing them fall.

It's a real thing. So, core muscles are huge when it comes to balance, we have a balance workout. That's 10 minutes. Yep. Um, I think I did it.

Ok. We have a balance workout that is 10 minutes and it is just about balancing and using your core bouncing on 1 ft, bouncing on unstable surfaces, balancing, barefoot. It again seems so silly. Like roll up a mat and stand on a mat on 1 ft. And you're like, well, that's easy.

Well, it might be easy for you now, but when you're eating, it might not be easy if you have lost your core strength. So maintaining your core strength, maintaining your ability to move in all planes of motion, sideways, forward, back and twisted your ability to stand on 1 ft to balance on one arm. And then of course, Pilates, I'll, I'll always go back to Pilates as the best way to keep your core healthy and strong. Um And we do incorporate balance in Pilates workouts. Also.

We also have um, you if you're a member of the uh unilateral workouts, the un gold workouts. So we have unilateral strength. 12 and three. Yes. Yes, there's three.

I was looking. Yeah, there are three and people we realized Sam and I were looking, we always, I like to see like, what's the most watched video for the month or for the last six months or whatever? And unilateral strength was up there and I was like good for good for our members. They're taking that like seriously. And then I just said a premium.

That was the core and balance, that's what I was thinking. Ok, core and balance premium. And was it the first or was it the first the first? Why don't I remember that? What were we wearing?

Um Well, it's just me by myself. Oh, that one. Ok. And the we people love those workouts too because you put on a 15 minute, cool down on the Yes, there's a warm up at the beginning. That's a little longer than we normally do.

And then it's like a 20 minute workout and then a 15, 10 to 15 minute um stretch at the end. So for those of you who are members like we listen to you, your feedback matters so much to us. People were saying I really want a series of work. That's where the cool down is long. It's not just a five minute, cool down.

It's a 15 minute stretch, blah, blah, blah. So how many of those did you do? You did like four or? Yeah. Um There are upper body, lower body core and then just like a balance.

So four of them. Yeah. Um How do you determine whether to use heat or ice for pain? Oh That's a really good question. Good question.

Ok. So a cute pain is ice. Chronic pain is heat. So acute means I just fell on my knee. It's blowing up like a balloon.

It's killing me. Ice, ice can reduce inflammation. So acute means it's something that just happened. It's, it's, you know, gonna go away kind of thing. Chronic means my back pain has been going on for six months or more.

My back is killing me. I can't get rid of this or it comes and goes over the course of a year. Then that's chronic and heat can help. Um And sometimes people will alternate ice and heat like a little bit of ice to reduce the external inflammation. A little bit of heat for improving mobility, blood flow and internal.

So you have to decide um which one we have an article on Get Healthy U dot com. All about ice versus heat. I can put that in the chat. Look at Sam just typing away. I know it looks like I'm not paying attention but I really am.

I'm trying to. No, you're doing great. Sam is like a multitasker. So as you guys are asking questions, she's throwing links um into our uh chat box or underneath, right? Yep.

Ok. Um OK, we have a question rolling in. Let me see. How can I change my 13 year old daughter's mindset about more mobility work. She plays soccer and complains of knee and ankle pains.

Oh, it is really, really hard to convince younger people that they need mobility work because they're already so mobile. They kind of have that feeling of like I'm invincible. I can do it. But joints, you know, talk to her about joints because joints are or two bones come together and joints are hinged joints or some of them circumduct, like we can circumduct our wrist. We can't really circum well, kind of can move that elbow, but the ball and socket joints are the shoulders and the hips and then the ankles, the wrists and the elbows can, you know, move in a variety of uh, uh of motions and keeping them healthy, makes a big difference.

And when you release them, it helps how maybe talk a little bit even though she said soccer player, right? Yes. Um talk about gymnasts, like, say, how are they so flexible and mobile? How do they touch their toes so easily because they do more mobility work? And more then not if you are more mobile, you have a less likely, not always.

It depends on like if you're hit on the field and it's need to contact or something and it hurts, but more often than not, the more mobile you are the less chance of injury because your joints can react like a rubber band and um, and help you. It is hard, you know. II I really wish all coaches. Yeah, that's what I was about to say, yeah, go to the coach and talk about mobility training because they really need to do it. And I think like, when you get to, when you think of a 13 year old, right, they're still trying to think of like all the things and like, maybe bring up their favorite soccer player or their favorite athlete and be like, look like they're stretching, they're doing all these things.

Um, trying to get the coaches is huge. Um, you know, because then you can also kind of explain to them, like, do you want to get injured? Chances are they don't? Right. And so then you're like, ok, in order to not get injured or whatever, the, exactly, then let's start stretching.

Mobility is like stretching before and after. And I know at 13 they are like, I don't have time but like you kind of have to, you know, speak to them in their terms. Um, one more idea. Um, when I went to, uh, a NFL football game, I've been to lots of, but I had one opportunity where I was down on the field. And, um, so obviously Minnesota Vikings, we live in Minnesota.

Um, they came out on the field and the first thing they did was mobility exercises. The exact same ones that we do in class. I was laughing so hard. They were doing hip circles, they were doing toe touches as they walked across the field, they were doing walking lunges, they were doing PS and Yogi squats and I was like, ok, if it's good enough for an NFL player making millions of dollars, it's good enough for me. Right.

They know they have to do that. Mobility training is the secret to keeping their joints, um, you know, elastic. Yeah, absolutely. Um, can you lose fat and gain muscle while in a calorie deficit you can, um, building muscle has to do with using the muscle. So the only way you can build muscle is breaking down those muscle fibers and then repairing with protein.

So, protein is very important. And especially as we age, a lot of women tend to become more sedentary and eat less protein. They're just, you know, I'm not eating as much meat or I'm not eating as much this or that and you, then your muscles are starting to deteriorate if you're not using them and it's everything in health has a little bit of that whole snowball effect problem going with it. So, um, yes, you can gain muscle and lose weight while in a calorie deficit. As long as you're eating healthy and providing protein to those muscles.

All right. Um, I missed one up here. So I wanna make sure that we grab it. Um, what are the best strategies for managing menopause symptoms through diet and exercise? Well, anti inflammatory foods, getting rid of fried foods and additives and coloring, food, coloring and all the crap.

I mean, I wish I could teach everybody to be a label reader. What it says on the front of a bottle is literally a billboard for the manufacturer to say whatever they want. You can literally put on the front of anything that's filled with food coloring or whatever and have it say natural wholesome, yummy. Those are just descriptive words. You can say anything you want on the front.

There are only 14 claims you can't make on labels. It's pretty crazy. Otherwise you can say use any descriptive words you want, but you flip it over and you see red die 40 blue di for uh five yellow six. This additive that additive, that stuff just causes inflammation in your body and joint pain because of the inflammation. See how it's all fitting together.

So get rid of additives, get rid of food color and get rid of fake. Everything in your diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, the more produce you have the more vegetable type products you eat. It also ties into this whole trend of the blue zones that is all over the internet now because the blue zones just came out with a new documentary. Four part documentary about the blue zones are the areas of the world where um the people live, the long the most Centurions and they went to the cities and studied them. And what are they doing differently than the rest of us?

I watched all four parts. Of course, I did I need to get on that this weekend. It was amazing and it's very interesting and, but at the bottom line is all these people do movement and by the way, none of them do organized exercise. No. Isn't that crazy to you?

They do movement. They sit on the floor, they stand up, they sit on the floor, they stand up, they climb stairs, they go down, they bend over, they do this, they do that. They're constantly moving, the gardening, they're doing stuff that keeps them in motion and then they are eating healthy, they're eating fruits and vegetables and healthy proteins. And then of course, it also digs into relationships and all that because mindset is a part of this, which is what we're talking about having fruitful relationships and deep relationships with family and friends so that you have connection. You think that that doesn't matter.

It does. But, um, at the end of the day, back to the menopause question, um, what you put in your mouth is the number one, health choice you make every single day and yes, hormones are a big deal. I'm not discounting them at all. That's a whole another subject. We've talked about it and we're gonna be talking about it at the fitness weekend.

But what you eat is like probably number one or two in that equation. And there's some, there's some conversation going back and forth and you've said it before about like healthy chips what, you know, they say that they're healthier. Um, but they also have inflammatory oils. You say you always watch out for the oils and there's a lot of conversation about that. So I love chips.

Like I, I love chips and I eat chips all the time, but I'm very particular, I try not to eat seed oils. Now some people say, oh, that's just marketing seed oils are fine. Ok, believe what you want. I think that I try to avoid as many seed oils as I can because they are inflammatory in your body. So that's things like canola oil, vegetable oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil.

Even if they are organic, they're still seed oils. So now does that mean I never eat it? No, I don't like uh I had no choice. I really wanted some popcorn and I was out of town and I'm like, I'm eating that popcorn and it has sunflower oil and I don't care. So it's not like I don't, but I try to avoid it.

Chips, which is the number seven in um Spanish. They all their chips are no wheat. Most of them are no wheats. They're all organic. They have an organic corn chip that is to die for an avocado or coconut oil.

So they're amazing. Um Lesser evil is another brand that's all coconut or avocado oil. Amazing Jackson's is another um brand that makes sweet potato chips with avocado oil. And I'm like obsessed with sweet potato chips. And when I found these, I literally I can eat the whole bag.

I let's talk about the fact that it says five servings on the back. Give me a break. There's literally two servings, don't you think? I'm like, how my husband and I will be driving the car and we'll eat the bag. And we're like, how is that five servings?

That was two. You're like that and I could eat two of them. But anyway, it really, it really, really matters. So it's not taking the joy out of your life. It's being smart.

Absolutely. Um What are some self care practices that you incorporate into your daily routine to promote? What mental wellness? That's a really good question. And I'm gonna answer that as well as I'm gonna talk about meditation.

We do have a 14 day meditation um series on Get Healthy U TV. It is free. You don't have to be a member. You can just sign up for the 14 day meditation challenge. And uh all of the meditations are done by my daughter.

So my daughter is 29. She is deep into meditation. She is a professional ballerina and she got into meditation to help deal with her head space because the ballet world is a really icky world to be quite honest. And so she learned uh about the value of meditation to help her stay on the, on the right side. So she is a Reiki specialist, a Kundalini teacher, a metal, all this.

So join our meditation series. Now, do I do the meditation? No, I should do more of it. I'm just being honest. I wish I did.

I started doing the Wim Hof breathing, which I love, I follow him. He has youtube Free youtube. Um I have done some of my daughter's meditations. They are really good that 14 day meditation, it's like ranges from five minutes to 15 minutes. So it's not like we're asking you to sit there and meditate for an hour for goodness sake.

And the ones that got up to 15 minutes had some movement involved in them, like some yoga movement and stuff. So um it's really quite easy but some of the self care practices I do daily walk. I like today. It's raining. So I don't know if I'm gonna walk today, but I walk six days a week.

Um On the average I get out in nature even in the winter, I hate winter so much, but I will bundle up hand warmers, everything just to get my body outside. It does change things for me mentally. Um I try to sleep. I try to be more mindful about prayer and journaling and things especially as I get older because I feel like when you get older, the highs are so high and the lows are so low. Like I see so many friends going through so much hard stuff and my family in different situations.

And then you see people achieving like an a and a great things happening, right? The birth of kids and this and that like so many good things, but you have to be able to balance it out. I also just as self care, take the right supplements do the right thing to keep my mind clear. Um I think that that matters and then the last thing I would say is for self care, connecting with friends. Um Finally, my girlfriends and I all have time again.

Like, we really didn't talk to each other for like 10 years because it's like, I'm sorry, I have three hockey practices and a dance practice tonight as well as I have to get up at 4 30 in the morning and blah, blah, blah. But now we're all like, hey, who wants to go to Happy Hour tomorrow night? Who wants to take a walk? Who wants to play, pick a ball? It's really um kind of a great time of life to be honest.

So that's what I do. What do you do for self care? Let's talk about that, like for helping with mental health. Um I also would say like movement. Um That is like my first and foremost, I do like to walk um way better than me in the winter does not happen outside.

It's inside for me. Well, inside is fine too. I mean, I like to walk inside and watch shows I watch shows when I, um, I go back and forth between like, just listening to podcasts and just kind of like, you know, letting all that go. Um My biggest thing I would say is reading. I try, even if it's just 10 pages before, but even if I'm like, super tired, try to put the phone away.

Um, for me, the last couple of years has been great for reading. Um And then, yeah, same thing. Like I just the other day I broke down crying and I'm like, why am I crying? Right. Um And I realized I'm like, I'm spending way too much time with my fiance and I need time with friends, girlfriends and I was like, you need to go find more friends.

I have a lot of girlfriends that I haven't seen in a while and that is what I I'm doing this weekend. So it's fun to your point. It's like the connection of like the connection with friends. So, and I love that Sam is a ferocious reader. She, as a matter of fact, we have a whole list on Amazon on our Amazon store storefront of awesome books to read.

None of which I've read, all of which Sam has read. She is a ferocious ferocious reader. I, that is something I wish for myself that will never happen. I've just never been a non fiction reader. It's been crazy because like I was a reader when I was like, really little.

And then I went through a period of time where I, like, did not read at all. And my parents were like, you should really read. Um, and then I started doing it again and I kind of fell in love and, like, now I have goals of like, ok, last year I think I read like, 20 books this year. I'm, like, 25 and I found a lot of friends that, like, I did not know that red and now we all bounce back and forth. Like, do you like this book?

I, I should, that is really a club. I haven't done it yet. But why don't you start it? Because I'm getting nervous. Like I get nervous that it's gonna become a chore and I love it right now.

So I'm like, I don't know if I like Sam has no time. I really don't. I'm like 10 pages on the coach for a high school dance team. She works full time and get healthy. She doesn't have time.

I don't, I, I take that back. Don't do that. Yeah, she's like I need more time with you. Um Yeah, so there we go. Um How do you change your mindset to get motivated?

We have a member and she has a membership with us. Um She's had it for a while but she feels like there's a wall in front of her. So motivation gets you started habit keeps you going. Is the old saying, right? But then people say to me, ok, that's great, Chris.

Yeah, I get habits. The habits are doing something consistently. But how do you find that first piece of motivation? So it requires a little discipline. So I always come back to the word discipline and remind people that the word discipline actually is synonymous with freedom.

People don't think it is because discipline sounds icky. But the more disciplined you are in certain areas of your life, the more freedom you have. So I'll go back to eating healthy when you eat healthy. 80% of the time. And you feel good.

I, I do not for a minute, feel guilty about having a piece of birthday cake or an ice cream cone with my granddaughter or diving into a pizza. Like I did a couple of weeks ago. I, I don't, I don't feel bad at all because it's like I have discipline in my life. So freedom is then given to me. I exercise five days a week at least.

So like if I do go through a couple of weeks ago, I think there were three days in a week. I couldn't exercise. We were in the car nonstop. We were road tripping and it, but I don't feel bad because the discipline has afforded me the freedom to not lay guilt on myself. Um So I think you have to look at that way like you gotta be disciplined.

I get up at 4 30 in the morning, two days a week. Do I wanna do that? Seven days a week? No, I couldn't, I don't think. No, I could not.

But can I do it two days a week? Yes. That discipline affords me freedom on the other days to sleep in. And I like to get those workouts done those two days. It really makes a difference on the way I manage my, uh, work life.

So I just think you have to, you have to. Yeah, I gotta go back to that mental thing. It's a little bit of mental, like, ok, I don't always want to work out. I don't always look forward to picking up weights. There are some days I'm like, I'm just not gonna do that.

I don't always feel 100%. I mean, we have to, but you have to, like, kind of push through it. Just like an athlete does. You know what I mean? And I, I love our members.

They all say once they get there, like, they have a dedicated space in their house, they know what TV, they're gonna turn, get healthy U TV. On, they plan the workout, they're following a calendar, they know what they're gonna do. So, they don't have time to doubt themselves when you can doubt yourself, huh? What time should I work out? Huh?

What workout should I do? You're gonna talk yourself out of it. You have to have all those discipline factors in, you know, in a row. All those ducks in a row so that you get to the point you get to the altar as they say and you go, ok, I'm doing it absolutely. And I think it's like, good to hear too that like, even you say, or we've said it before, like, we don't always want to work out every day.

Like, there are times when it's like, I really don't want to but like you kind of in some days we have to, right? Like it's what we do. So we have to show up but it's ok to not, but like then just do a 10 minute workout or stretch for a little bit. Like it doesn't have to be the hardest workout you've ever done. Every workout is not supposed to leave you feeling like you just died.

That is not the point of working out. Um And like I said, most Centurions people live to be 100 they don't do crazy exercise programs. I mean, it is about finding movement that works with your body. And there are some days like two days a week where I kind of do more of a hit, like push myself. But the other days of the week I'm in a nicer heart rate zone, lifting my weights.

I move a little slower now. Like I said it with age and I'm ok with that. Um, do you plan to do another live on exercise modifications or low impact workouts. Those are super helpful. Yeah, we sure can do that.

That's, I mean, that's always popular. We're gonna be doing a lot of that at the fitness weekend. We're gonna be Sam and I were just talking about that. We're gonna spend one hour just going over with everyone live form. Um, you know how to go form for speed, second.

Um, how to decide what weights are the right weights, how to know when you're reaching muscle fatigue, all, all that kind of stuff. But yeah, that we can definitely do that again in 2024 or at the end of this year, the end of this year. Yeah, because I don't think we have those planned yet. Um, what is the best way for those with illnesses such as lupus to stay active, um, beyond like their pain that they already have? Oh, it's really hard.

I know those of you who suffer from autoimmune diseases. Um, you, you're gonna have your ups and downs, right. I, I am not familiar enough with the pain of lupus. I don't know exactly what you're experiencing but I'm sure there are times where it's like, nope, I can't do that. Um, and I'm assuming that if you're suffering from that you've probably already been through all the training on what you should eat and shouldn't eat because hopefully, you know, some of that does make a difference.

I think you have to give yourself grace and do as much as you can when you can and tailor it back when you can and be very aware. I have a friend with rheumatoid, rheumatoid arthritis. And so I always tell her like, journal what feels good and what doesn't. So you remember because it's so easy for us to forget, right? Like if a certain workout was like, that felt good on my body and it actually helped me great.

If you do a certain workout where you're like, that was just too much or that wasn't right or that, you know, then rule that one out because there is so much choice in the world you got to find um what feels good for you. Yeah, my dad has rheumatoid arthritis and I, and sometimes I'm like, just go move your body and he's like, you don't understand, right? Like, and so then it kind of makes you, like, realize, but then there's some days he's like, I felt really good today. He like, randomly played tennis. I'm like, wait one day you couldn't go on a walk and one day.

But like, that's what it is. So give yourself a grade for sure. And so it's like we, you know, I never realized until he was diagnosed with that. Then I'm like, oh, and congratulations to you for, for moving. And we have people in our get healthy U TV group that suffer from different diseases and autoimmune diseases.

And um man, do I get motivated when I see their posts of how they show up? Absolutely. Um, wow, we have a lot. I know we only have two minutes left and now all the questions are rolling in. Um, people are loving a lot of the workouts that we're doing.

People love the calendars. So we'll, we'll continue to do those and anything that you guys. Well, and by the way, all the calendars that are online, like we update a new one every month. So some of those calendars were from like 2018. You know, we've, we've updated a ton of hope.

There's no, none of them matter that. No, none of them are that old. But what happens is we'll go through a series and we'll update them and then we let the Facebook group know like we just updated firm and burn you guys, which means it has more recent workouts in it. So we have two new um, walking ones, right? Two really good walking calendars.

We're excited. Um ok. One last question. Um How do you control your cravings for sugar? She's recently realized.

Um I don't, there was a spelling error here but, but um women should have like less than 25 g of added sugar daily that has not been easy for her for her. Any suggestions for like healthy sweets or that craving for sugar. Yeah, sugar. I I it's not like sugar is the devil or anything like it's OK, if you uh like sugar has been demonized in many ways. And mostly because there's now all different kinds of sugar that some of them enter your bloodstream differently.

Like high fructose corn syrup and a lot of them are um just manufactured in practices that just aren't the greatest. So, but sugar in general, they do recommend 24 g or less of added sugar, not natural sugar. So don't count your fruit in there. Don't call count your veggies. So if you're eating bananas and oranges and apples, don't count that sugar in there, that's all fine but added sugar.

So I have a sweet tooth for sure. Like I need something sweet every single night or I can't stop thinking about chocolate. You're a chocolate, I'm not a chocolate but like I love Greek yogurt. I love it. I put a little Stevia in it um which doesn't affect your blood sugar.

I'll add blueberries, I'll add um cow chips like a higher percentage of chocolate chips that have a higher that aren't just um you know, chemical um I add uh or I'll do and Lily's is a brand that is a sugar free um chocolate chip with a higher Coca count. Um I'll add some pistachios are my favorite nut, but I love walnuts. I mean, I know you're uh allergic to nuts, nuts. Um I will add like just something crunchy, a little bit of granola on top or something. So that gives me.

Uh That's like a big thing for me. I love bananas so much. So I will take like a frozen banana, put it in the blender with some other frozen fruit. Like make like a little baby protein smoothie, put some um ice cream, ice uh It's, it is like ice cream. I also do love chocolate.

Like I'll buy chocolate bars where I can break off a little piece, break off a piece. What other sweets do I have when I'm not eating like an ice cream treat? I'm trying to think. I love ice cream. That's my favorite thing.

But I love pumpkin pie. I love carrot cake. I love like, oh my God, I love it all. Um What else? Uh So there are some, I guess that would be mostly yogurt for me is my go to and frozen fruit.

Somebody on here said frozen grapes, frozen grapes are delicious and frozen banana is actually just sliced like in coins. They're delicious bananas are I know there's some people who don't like bananas. I'm like, I freaking love love one a day, one a day for me. All right, we are at 1 45. I know.

Can you believe it? Ok, you guys so that it always goes so fast. We only had 45 minutes today. So um we are going to move on. It's so great for you guys to join us.

Please go back to get healthy U TV. Go into the, um, free stuff and look for our old Q and A s. We have so many Q and A s we do this all the time. We've talked about even turning these into a podcast. But honestly, you don't have to be watching us.

You could just turn it on, put in your ear buds and walk. I feel like a lot of like, even our friends will listen to it podcast style podcast to listen to you guys banter back and forth. So you could definitely, um, do that and catch up on some other ones, any of you who are coming to the fitness week and we can hardly wait to see you. We are so excited to meet you in person. It's gonna be such a fun weekend.

Um, and we'll see you guys next month for A Q and A. We'll see you on the TV, screen every darn day. We are here for you. We got fun workouts coming up. Um, and we as always are so appreciative of your loyalty to get healthy.

You TV. All right. That's it. All right. Thanks.

Have a great day, everybody.