I keep reading all these articles about people who are paying thousands of $$$$ per month for Ozempic and Wegovy to help with blood sugar balance, appetite control and weight loss.
No doubt that the drug ‘works’ for people who are obese – but it comes with potential side effects that include diarrhea, nausea, and maybe even cancer of the pancreas and thyroid – and that doesn’t seem like a very good trade off if you’re looking to lose 10-20lbs?
There are actually a lot of safe, effective, and natural solutions that can help your gut to make its own appetite control hormones and blood sugar balancing signals – we have specific strains of probiotic bacteria and specific structures of prebiotic fibers that are amazingly effective.
Why would you choose an expensive synthetic drug with serious side effects, when you could choose a safe natural and affordable option?
The new dates will be Monday-Tuesday, Feb 20 & 21, 2023
The new location is only ~15-20 minutes East of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at the Three Fountains of Mesa Clubhouse located at 1550 N Stapley Dr, Mesa, AZ 85203.
There was a good article in the New York Times recently about how so many people are trying to get off melatonin, but are having a hard time kicking their dependence.
It has been known for at least 20 years that melatonin is not very effective for improving sleep quality, yet millions of people still use the hormone every night – including millions of teens and kids. Since melatonin is a hormone (either extracted from pigs or synthesized), concerns exist for dependence, depression, and interference with puberty.
In the U.S., melatonin use has increased 5-fold since 1999, and sky-rocketed during the pandemic – but now that people are trying to return to their “normal” lives, many are struggling with melatonin dependence.
Two recent meta-analyses (one in 1,700 participants and another in ~44k people across 150+ trials) found that melatonin supplements can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep by 7 minutes and increase total sleep time by 8 minutes. In kids, the effect of melatonin is a little better – improving time to fall asleep by 11am in and total time asleep by 15min, but that may not be a great trade-off for potential future problems with dependency and puberty?
Melatonin is actually involved in much more than just our sleep cycles – including regulation of our entire circadian rhythm, energy metabolism, body weight, insulin sensitivity, and glucose tolerance (which is why poor sleep is associated with diabetes and obesity – and why getting better sleep can help with weight loss).
Side effects of melatonin commonly include headaches, irritability, dizziness, dry mouth, and night sweats, with the most common problem being the “melatonin hangover” grogginess experienced by many users the day after using melatonin (caused because your body has not fully metabolized the entire melatonin dose – so your brain still thinks it is night).
Most scientific sleep organizations (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, UK’s National Institute for Health Care Excellence, and the European Sleep Research Society) discourage the regular use of melatonin because of its low efficacy – and based on the “user experiences” of melatonin dependency outlined in the NYT article (and all over TikTok and Reddit), it seems prudent to look for other non-drug natural approaches to improve sleep.
I speak and write a lot about Sleep Quality – there is a whole chapter about sleep in my most recent Mental Fitness book and it is a core section in our Certified Mental Wellness Coach program – and there are LOTS of natural (non-melatonin) approaches for improving sleep quality.
For example, if you have trouble falling asleep, specific strains of probiotic bacteria can increase GABA production to help you fall asleep faster. If you have trouble staying asleep, then having a small balanced carb/protein snack before bed can help you stay asleep with fewer nightly awakenings. If you fall asleep ok and stay asleep ok, but wake up not feeling rested, then your problem might be poor sleep quality – which can be improved with corn grass to increase time spent in Deep sleep (where your body recovers and rebuilds) and REM sleep (where your brain recuperates and “cleans” itself).
Getting high quality sleep every night should really be considered a SuperPower – but one that is very much in-reach for all of us with a range of effective natural solutions.
I’m excited to be joining Team Resilience to raise funds to support Erika’s Lighthouse, an amazing organization raising awareness of teen depression and empowering teens to take control of their menal health.
For the FIRST 12 donations of $100 – I will send you a signed copy of the Mental Wellness Coach Workbook (this is the 500+ page book with all the slides that we use in the Certified Mental Wellness Coach class – it weighs about 10lbs – sheesh)!
Thank you so much for helping me reach my goal, and for supporting Erika’s Lighthouse. We couldn’t do it without you!
Last Friday, I wrote about “Quitter’s Day” – the 2nd Friday in January where most people quit their New Year’s Resolutions – and I got a lot of questions about how to help people “not quit” and maintain progress toward their goals.
One of the very best approaches is to use “narrative psychology” to increase your sense of empowerment and self-discipline – this is basically a fancy way of saying that you need to “write your own story” to support your motivation.
As I’ve written about in Mental Fitness, writing your story (actually writing it down) can powerfully shape our resilience to stress and improve our mental wellness.
It’s pretty easy to do this in a paragraph or two where we document our struggles, challenges, and redemptions – and ultimately view our future with the positive outcomes that we desire.
This approach is more robust than simplistic “happy thinking” – because research has shown that writing your “hero’s journey” can not merely change your perceptions, but it can better help you get into (and stay) in ACTION (which is how we actually make progress toward our goals).
Our February Mental Wellness Coach Certification in Phoenix is filling up – where we talk about many aspects of Positive Psychology, including mindset and especially how the Microbiome-Gut-Heart-Brain-Axis impacts mental wellness.
Today is ‘Quitters Day’ – the 2nd Friday in January – which is traditionally the day when most people throw in the towel on their New Year resolutions…
DO NOT let that be you!
No matter what you resolved to accomplish in 2023 – get in shape, grow your business, achieve a goal, whatever – let today instead be your ‘Recommit Day’ and not a Quit Day!
The annual “Best Diet”awards are out from US News – and for the 8th year in a row, the Mediterranean Diet hits the top of the list.
This style of “whole food” eating is at the center of my “Mental Fitness Diet” – which combines the best parts of Mediterranean with Scandinavian, Okinawan, Blue Zones, and other traditional patterns form around the world.
If you’re trying to “eat healthier” this year – then you need to understand how the Mental Fitness Diet can help you feel better (energy, mood, focus, resilience, etc) and perform better (exercise, sex, weight, heart, brain, gut, etc).
In this video (and the slides below), I talk about not only the best foods to include in your diet, but also WHY they work (the biochemistry and psychology), the science of the microbiome and gut-brain-axis, and how we can use targeted plant extracts to supplement our phytonutrient intake.
This Friday (2nd Friday in January) is typically known as “Quit Day” – the day when most people throw in the towel on their New Year’s resolutions – especially those to lose weight, get in shape, reduce stress, and other “fitness” oriented resolutions.
I recently did a short overview of “metabolism” to help people understand some the underlying issues with losing weight and getting in shape (and feeling good while doing so).
You can check it out in Part 1 and Part 2 – where I talked about how do you know what aspect of metabolism is “holding you back” when it comes to weight loss?
It could be appetite hormones (from your gut microbiome) – or inflammation – or cortisol – or glucose imbalances – or a hundred other “signals” that govern metabolism and your ability to lose weight versus your tendency hold weight.
This video (part 1 and part 2) dissects the different metabolic signals and the natural herbs that can help to balance those signals to support weight loss (glucose, cortisol, melatonin, dopamine, UCP-1, GLP-1, PYY, leptin, ghrelin, estrogen, testosterone, Akkermansia, F/B ratio, etc).
Also – stay tuned for the launch of a very new type of non-stimulant “Thermogenic” approach to weight loss that will be hitting the market in a couple of weeks…
Join us on Feb 21 & 22 for a special Certified Mental Wellness Coach (CMWC) event in Phoenix.
Our event will be held ~45min north of Phoenix at the unique Wrangler’s Roost (https://wranglersroost.net)
This will be a very special “live and learn” event – where students will stay onsite for 3 nights with 2 full days of education about the Microbiome, Gut-Brain-Axis, Nutrition and Mental Wellness (stress, energy, focus, sleep, metabolism, etc) – as well as ample time for fire pit, hot tub, and hanging out (what could be better than sitting around the fire pit and feeding your microbiome a glass of polyphenols)?!?!
*Room choice will be allocated on a first-come basis (a mix of kings, queens, doubles, and twins across 13 rooms) – so register ASAP and call Julie at 801-712-0408 to select your room.
Even better, we are doing a “BOBO” deal (buy one – bring one) – where you can bring a friend to get certified with you for FREE (staying in the same room).
This is a screaming deal that will sell out fast.
The Certified Mental Wellness Coach (CMWC) is a streamlined, focused, intense course spanning 16 hours of instruction (8 hours each day) in the role of diet and lifestyle factors in balancing the Microbiome-Gut-Heart-Brain-Axis for improved Mental Wellness.
Total costs are:
Tuition = $1,500 per student (and you can bring a guest for FREE – or share the tuition)
Food = included continental breakfast and coffee, healthy lunch, refreshments (dinner is on your own each evening)
PrintedWorkbook = includes 500+ slides ($100 value)
Powerpoint slides used in the certification (500+ slides for your electronic library)
Background – Why Becoming a CMWC is Important
At no time in human history have we ever been so “advanced” technologically and yet so miserable psychologically.
It’s no exaggeration to describe stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout as epidemics – literally the “Black Plague” of our modern times.
How you feel is not just in your head, it’s also in your gut, and your heart, and your immune system, and in many other places inside and outside the actual brain in your head.
National surveys show that happiness and life satisfaction levels are at all-time lows, while depression, suicide, drug addiction, and use of prescription antidepressants and pain-killing opioids are at all-time highs.
There is no physical health without mental wellness. They are two sides of the same coin, and they are vital for each other and for our ability to reach our peak potential in this one life that we have to live.
The CMWC will explore research-supported natural approaches can improve how we feel mentally and perform physically in every aspect of our daily lives, including:
What is Mental Wellness Coaching
Education, Guidance, Training, Support to help unlock potential
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