[00:00:00] You are listening to episode number 299 of Better Blood Sugars with Delaine, Maryland. Welcome to Better Blood Sugars with Delaine, MD where you can learn strategies to lower your blood sugars and improve your overall health. I'm your host, Dr. Delaine Vaughn. Ladies, if you know you're capable of doing badass things at work and for your family, but you're confused and frustrated with why you can't seem to stop eating the chocolate cake, this pot podcast is for you. Let's talk. Hey there, and welcome to the podcast. I can't believe that this is episode number 299. This seems insane. I am so glad that you're here today. I am glad you're taking some time for you and for your health. And I do feel privileged that you're spending it with me and trusting me with teaching you something new today about your health.
[00:00:49] It is spring, finally. I'm trying to get out of town to go on a.
[00:00:55] A race weekend. I've talked about this before. I think every year when I do one of these races, I talk about it only because I think it's such a good time and I want to share good times with other people. Um, I do these Ragnar trail races where me and seven girlfriends get together and we camp for a weekend and we erase trails and we run them, and it's really so much fun. But the spring weather is kind of threatening our little plans, so it could be a fun and exciting weekend. But I wanted to get this podcast recorded so that it could get posted on Mondays. I have put together today a podcast diving into how the things that we believe and the things that we think about our food and our health and our diabetes, how our brain manages us, what happens in our brain with the thinking things that we think and believe about foods and about our health and really about all parts of our life.
[00:01:54] I want you to consider how much easier would it be to lower your A1C if you didn't crave and desire foods that are making you sick? I used to think this all the time. Like, if I could just. If they could just make apples taste like chocolate, we would be fine. I'd be good. There would be no extra weight on my body. I wouldn't have any worries about my health in the future because I'd be eating apples the way I eat chocolate.
[00:02:23] So what I want to offer to you is, what if you had agency over that desire component?
[00:02:31] What if I didn't have to make apples taste like chocolate or chocolate? Be as healthy as apples because I could actually control the things that I thought about these foods. What if you had control over the desire that you felt for salads versus pizza or apples versus chocolate? How much easier would it be for you to accomplish your health goals if the control over that desire was in your hands? That's what I want to talk today about. Today I want to talk about how we can have control over this part of our health. Before we get started, though, I want to give you my warning about meds. If you've been medicated for your type 2 diabetes, please be careful as you make the dietary changes that I recommend in these podcast episodes. You have been medicated for the way you've lived your life, eaten and exercised in the past, and if you change those two aspects, you're going to need to change those meds or you're going to end up sick. I want you to get a clear line of communication open with your primary care provider or whoever wrote these prescriptions for you and ask them how you can share your blood sugar logs with them and then ask how you should expect to hear medication changes back from them.
[00:03:42] Getting this line of communication open is going to keep you safe while you're making these changes. If you don't have this line of communication open, you can get very sick. The kind of sick that looks like ER visits, hospitalizations, and possibly even death. And that's not why you're making these changes. So make sure you call your provider and you get a clear line of communication open about how you're going to share your logs and how they're going to share medication changes with you. If you're not sure what to eat, that's okay. I have help for you. Download my 14 days to better Blood Sugars guide. You can Download it at delanemd.com forward/better. That's B E T T E R. Try it out. This is 14 days of food menus telling you exactly what to eat and how much and you can eat those foods and you're gonna see your blood sugars drop. I have yet to hear from anybody that that is not happening for them. So go download that 14 day guide. This guide is so powerful because one, it will lower your blood sugars and that's really fun. But two, it will prove to you that there is so much power in food that food is usually the primary culprit about what is making us sick with type 2 diabetes. So go download that guide again. Delanemd.com forward/v e t T E R Try it out and then when you're done, set up a federal blood sugars assessment call. These are 45 minute Zoom calls where you and I hop on the phone and we go over what's worked for you, where you struggled and how to go forward to create a lifetime of health for you. You can access my Calendar.
[email protected] forward/DelaneMD forward slash call. So that's C A L E N D L Y.com forward slash D E L A, N E M D forward slash C a l l calendly.com delanemd call that's the website to go to and you'll get access to my calendar and we can set up a time and get on a call if there's been an off chance where you have not seen better blood sugars after doing the 14 day guide, I really, really want to hear from you. I've yet to hear about this happening, but I want to know if you're not getting great results with that. One, so I can make the 14 day guide better, but two, so I can get you help so that you can be living that healthy life that you're wanting. So set up that call. So today we're going to talk about thoughts and beliefs.
[00:06:15] This is the part of your health. Like, we don't think about it. Like we think that health is like, how many carbs do I eat, how many calories do I eat, how many minutes do I exercise? We think that's primarily what our health is about. But what I want to offer to you is the thoughts and beliefs in our brain.
[00:06:31] This is what creates lifetime changes, changes that last forever. This is what truly creates change, not just coercion. Doing this part is what makes a difference between fleeting results and long term health.
[00:06:47] Doing this thought and belief work is what makes that difference.
[00:06:52] So recognizing that the results that we get in life are a direct result of the things that we believe, I use the example of flight when I'm talking about this with clients.
[00:07:03] I do not believe we could have flown like 10,000 years ago. I would not have believed it. And certainly 500 years ago when people were out trying to tinker around with flight suits and flight machines had been like, that is a bad idea. We are not birds. That is not going to happen.
[00:07:19] My brain would not have been able to stretch that. But there was a human out there that did believe it was possible. Da Vinci, there was another guy, Abbas Ern Furnace, there was the Wright brothers. There were all sorts of scientists and physicists and early aviators that Totally thought that maybe we could fly. And because they believed this, they were willing to look at creating tools and adaptive devices and eventually machines and airplanes that led to flight.
[00:07:53] I wouldn't have been able to get us there. They did because they believed they could fly. This was possible. I couldn't because I do not. I would not have believed that. My brain would not have stretched that. My brain will stretch a lot of stuff. This is not one of them. Now, of course, I see that we fly with machines, with adaptive devices, with airplanes, but my brain would not have done that 500 years ago. And it's because of my beliefs.
[00:08:18] So our beliefs are they impact our brain in a way that interacts with the reticular activating system of our brain. So this is a part of our brain. This is an element of our brain, the reticular activating system of our brain. The RAS R A S is an element of our brain that helps set our attention and our focus. It allows our brain to filter out information that is irrelevant to our interests. And our brain will then focus on information that is relevant to our interests and proves what we already believe.
[00:08:57] So this is why early physicists and scientists who thought maybe humans could fly started to see evidence for this. They started to create suits that look like bird wings so that they could start to maybe mimic flight that the bird does. And they built winged contraptions and parachutes and had air balloons, and eventually George Cayley built like, the first biplane, right? And then the biplane became a glider, and then the Wright brothers had flight. Now, don't get specific about those historical details. I'm not a flight historian. It's not the point.
[00:09:33] I may have botched up history there, but flight would not have been possible if a human being out there did not believe that it could happen.
[00:09:43] It was a belief that seeded that my brain wouldn't have gotten us there.
[00:09:49] My brain would not have gone there because my RAs, my reticular activating system, would not have seen how to create it because I didn't think it was possible. I wouldn't have thought it was possible. But these early people, these early aviators and scientists and physicists, they thought that maybe it could happen. And they set their reticular activating system to finding a way to make it happen. And this, my friend, is the power of our reticular activating systems.
[00:10:17] This part of our brain keeps us awake. It keeps us engaged. It plays a role in our cognition and our emotion and our muscle tone. It does all sorts of things.
[00:10:26] But this part of Our brain engages all of our aspects of our experience. It takes cues from our visceral body, the internal parts of our body that are under unconscious control. It also takes cues from the somatic parts of our body that are under conscious control. And then it takes cues from the sensory parts of our body that are interpreting, interpreting our surroundings, everything around us. It uses all of this information to dictate our focus and our attention.
[00:10:57] When our brain sees all of the challenges that go into making us healthy, and they see all the things that are hard, it's because our reticular activating system is set to see what's hard. And it's set based on your beliefs. Most of us know that person. Maybe we are that person who always see the obstacles. No matter what the situation comes up, there are these people out there who will just always see the obstacle. And sometimes seeing the obstacles is just a part of working out, a strategy to complete something. The obstacles are true. This is true. The obstacles are there. Frequently, the obstacles are the way to accomplish something, and obstacles brought up that way can be helpful. But other times, we all know those people who present every obstacle they can think of as a reason that something won't work. And this is different. How do you tell the difference? If you're accomplishing your goals, the goals that you set for yourself, you're likely seeing the obstacles as the way to achieve it. If you're spinning out for years, wanting to accomplish something, wanting to accomplish a goal, setting a goal for yourself, but not getting there, you're likely using the obstacles as a way to keep you like the block that keeps you from accomplishing that goal, not as the way.
[00:12:15] So this difference in obstacles is a reticular activating system element. This is your reticular activating system not being appropriately or intentionally directed. Your RAS is looking for evidence about what your brain already believes. So if your brain believes this is going to be hard or this is going to be uncomfortable, or one of my personal favorites is, no one can eat that way, I eat that way, or the old standby, like, this is genetically predisposed. My whole family is like this.
[00:12:51] Sometimes I'll see other things like guilt and shame show up, like, I've messed my body up so much that I'm never going to be able to get it healthy. All of these are going to lead your brain to find reasons that you cannot fix your diabetes.
[00:13:04] These beliefs allow your brain to produce evidence. They direct your brain to produce evidence to support the belief, even when the belief isn't serving you.
[00:13:16] So what if you can learn to intentionally direct your reticular activating system to serve you? What if you can learn to use this aspect of your brain to work for your greater good and your goals?
[00:13:32] Learning to intentionally use this part of your brain is going to allow you to create a focus in areas of your life to get the results that you want.
[00:13:44] You're going to see a path forward instead of seeing blocks and obstacles that keep you stuck and sick with diabetes.
[00:13:51] So learning how to activate and use the reticular activating system is an insider secret. And it can endure. It can drive and impact all of your important decisions, choices, and aspects of your life, not just your health.
[00:14:06] This is the basis of the thought model. It's a coaching tool that I use when I coach with my clients.
[00:14:12] When I first learned about the thought model, it seemed like magic. And sometimes it even felt manipulative. And I have no doubt that I've coached women in the past and they felt like, that's kind of manipulative. And I want to talk about that a little bit. The magic seems straightforward, or at least, I don't know, maybe it doesn't. But it seemed magical because you are seeing the same experience you've had a thousand times over from an entirely different experience, from an entirely new perspective.
[00:14:43] You get a shift and it happens quickly and it's disorienting and it kind of shakes you up. It's like earth shattering. It's like shaking your foundation.
[00:14:54] And that seems magical, but it can feel manipulative. Because we've all been taught that our experience is real and concrete and it's not up for interpretation.
[00:15:04] And to some degree, that's all very true.
[00:15:08] It's certainly your experience is as real as any experience.
[00:15:13] I'm not saying that the experience isn't real.
[00:15:16] The realization that there's an option to have a different perspective and therefore a shift in that experience gives us tons of agency, but really sets our reality on end. It can be very disrupting to our experience.
[00:15:32] In my experience, there were times when I would get pissed when I realized that I had the agency to change this. When I realized that I had agency over my shitty experience that I was so mad I was having, right? I'm mad that I'm in this situation. And then I realized that it's my agency that dictates that I'm mad about it. I was like, wait, what? Why am I doing this? What? I'm doing this. Why is this happening?
[00:15:59] That's how I felt. I felt confused and I felt like I was doing it and I felt like I was at fault. And that's not the point. Nobody's at fault about it. The point and the power is that we don't have to do it that way. There's a choice. I had a choice. If I look. I like to use road rage as an example of shifts in my experience of thought work. Really. I have used the thought model to change a lot of thought things in my life and I'm eternally grateful for it because it's really, really changed my life.
[00:16:34] I use it and the road rage. I use the road rage example of how the thought model and the reticular activating system and my shift in my experience changed. One, because it's ridiculous and kind of funny.
[00:16:50] Two, because it seems kind of, I don't know, petty and silly. And there I do carry some amount of embarrassment. Like seriously, are we not more mature than to yell at other Dr. No, we're not. Momentarily yell at other drivers. They need to get out of my way. So I'm going to use road rage as an example.
[00:17:07] It's a little ridiculous, but I can laugh at myself. So it makes a fun example. When somebody would pull out in front of me and drive slower than me. That would trigger me my road rage or God forbidden. They drive in the left lane and they weren't passing somebody. I get pretty fiery about that. I would get mad, I would get impatient. I had thoughts like they're rude. I had thoughts like they're going to make me late for whatever I'm trying to get to. All because they're not following the rules and they should be. As I was writing these notes, I was laughing at myself. But this is absolutely. I hope that, you know, maybe your, your opinion of me is plummeting right now. That's possible, but absolutely, this is, you know, vulnerable honesty. Yes. All of these things went through my head on a regular basis.
[00:17:55] And this feeling of agitation and anger would make me yell. It would make me gesture fingers. It would definitely make me feel this high frequency vibration in my chest that was agitation and anxiety and that group of feelings.
[00:18:15] And then of course, because I had these thoughts like these people are being so rude and they're making me late.
[00:18:25] That set my, that, that was a belief I had that set my reticular activating system to find everything that was rude and making me late.
[00:18:35] Even though I me, I was making me late. That was usually the issue. Ironically, it also made me rude and yelling at others and gesturing.
[00:18:48] Any other driver that thought of being on the road with me I would find fault with. And this was an element of my reticular activating system being set to find that this is what I believed and this is what. And that then because I believe that my reticular activating system was set to find evidence of it. So you may know that this is an optional experience.
[00:19:12] Trust me. I had friends like you that told me, hey girl, it doesn't have to be like this. They told me it didn't need to be that way. But it took coaching and working the thought model to give me evidence that I actually had agency over this. No, I did not hire a road rage coach, although maybe I should have. But coaching in other aspects of my life showed me that I have agency over all the experiences of my life. And the experiences that I didn't want to have, they were not required. And it was such a gift initially, when people like you, who maybe sees the ridiculousness of this, would say, hey girl, it doesn't have to be like this, I was offended. I was like, no. Horseshit. It does not. These people need to get out of my way. They are impacting my life and they're not supposed to be living this way like they're doing something wrong. They're not following the rules and I'm having to suffer for it. These were all thoughts that went through my head when I started to realize that I wanted a different experience.
[00:20:10] I had to open up my reticular activating system. I had to open up my RAs and start consuming, considering other realities, other perspectives. Perspectives probably that you've always had, but they were new for me.
[00:20:24] Perspective shifts came for me. Things that came up for me, like thoughts that I use, beliefs that I tried on, they have just as much right for this road as I do.
[00:20:36] Or they're not using their driving right now to make my life a living hell. They're not trying to make me late. In fact, they probably don't consider me at all.
[00:20:47] Or they're just trying to get through the day just the same way I am.
[00:20:52] All of these thoughts, all of these things I could believe about other drivers, and they were just as true, maybe even more true than these people are trying to make me late and get in my way. So all of these things, these other, these perspective shifts, these new thoughts were likely just as possible for being true and frequently, like, they don't even consider me. That was probably more true than anything I would was thinking. Certainly more true than these people are trying to make me late. When I started to consider these other Beliefs, my reticular activating system started to show me evidence of them. It was the most amazing thing ever. It was mind blowing. Now, yeah, I still run across somebody who I'm like, that's a crummy driver. But immediately my brain goes to. And they have as much right on this road as I do. They have as much right to their presence on this planet as I do. Yes, sometimes I still yell, maybe sometimes I still float a bird here and there. But this ability to have a different experience, it really impacted everything. I used to be, this is a total side note. I used to be the kind of person that frequently apologized. I apologized for not getting things perfect. I apologized for taking up too much time. I apologized for being in people's way. I apologized for interrupting somebody. I was constantly apologizing.
[00:22:19] And the reason I realized through this road rage work. This sounds so silly. I realized through this road rage work, though, is that my belief was that I was imposing on somebody else. And when I could start to extend to a driver, an entire stranger on the road, they have as much right to be present in the world, right where they're at right now as I do, I could start to extend that to myself. Those sorrys dropped off because I no longer had to apologize. I had as much right to be there in the grocery store line. I had as much right to use whatever public, you know, place there was. I had as much right as anybody else and they had as much right as anybody else. So really, setting our brain to have these different experiences and to shift our beliefs really can impact deep seated things in our life. And it's really the most amazing part of coaching work. And so seeing that this is how our reticular activating system works, that we believe the experience that we're having is a required perception that we're having and that there's no other choice. And therefore we don't consider other options.
[00:23:34] So our reticular activating system shows evidence for the things that we already believe.
[00:23:40] Like, if you can see that that's how the reticular activating system works, and then open the reticular activating system to consider other options, other perspectives, other experiences, and believe you have agency to choose them, suddenly all of the unpleasant experiences you've had in life, all of the things you've done, seem entirely unnecessary.
[00:24:09] So if you had a stressful day at work and you came home frustrated and buried, your day, your experience, your feelings in a bag of Oreos, if you can start to see how the reticular activating system works, and you can see that this experience you have is not the only experience. And you can allow your reticular activating system to give you evidence of other experiences and then see that you can choose that other experience. Suddenly you don't need to eat a bag of Oreos. How much easier is it to get healthy if that's not the way you're managing it?
[00:24:58] So that is the underlying pathway in our brain for shifting to doing things differently. It is that we have to believe there's a different way that's a meaningful way to handle our experiences.
[00:25:13] Frequently, we'll resist seeing this. We resist seeing that there's another option. Because if our crummy situation is required and infallible, then we're justified eating the bag of Oreos.
[00:25:25] We're justified in doing the things that don't serve us. So sometimes we really are resistant to seeing this.
[00:25:31] And the example of my road rage, if those drivers are really doing everything they can to make me late and they're just being turds, and there was no other option of the experience, then I didn't have to change my angry outbursts and yelling, yelling and gesturing with them. And thank God that was not the case. I was kind of a turd. I didn't like myself. And I'm sure anybody who had to be in the car with me, I think of my kids, they also didn't like that version of me.
[00:25:59] Thank God there was another option.
[00:26:02] This is the power of intentionally setting your reticular activating system, and it's what shifts your health as well. So if you're wondering if you can fix your type 2 diabetes, decide that you can. Like, I can fix it. And then allow your reticular activating system to set out looking for ways to do it.
[00:26:24] If you have tried for years to improve your health, to eat better, to lose weight, whatever it was and you haven't been able to do is possible that you believe the obstacles and your reticular activating system is set to find those obstacles and produce evidence of them.
[00:26:42] If you struggle with cravings and urges, consider what you believe about those foods that you're desiring. It's my favorite. I love those so much. Always struggle with that.
[00:26:56] I want you to pause for a minute because as you're saying it, you're like, yeah, girl, that's totally true. I get it. These things seem so straightforward and they seem like facts. I mean, you're likely like, delane, you don't get it. Like, it is true. I really do love those things. So much. And I've always struggled with them. I mean, since I was, like, 12. I get it. But it's not the only option. And you have agency over believing that.
[00:27:25] You have agency over which beliefs you practice to direct your decisions and your experience.
[00:27:35] Figure out what your struggle is and consider what other beliefs are available to you. And then set your reticular activating system on those beliefs and see what comes up. If your belief is it's hard to eat healthy, that's the obstacle that's kept you spinning your wheels for years. It seems legit, my friend. I know. Likely you've thought this a million times, and your brain is set out to produce evidence. Eating healthy is expensive. I've got to go to the grocery store. It takes so much time. I got to prep food. It's not as easy. Your brain, your reticular activating system has likely done a fabulous job of finding evidence for this.
[00:28:14] What if you set it to. It doesn't have to be hard to get healthy.
[00:28:20] Think that small shift right now and what comes to your brain. Can you feel it open?
[00:28:27] If your brain is giving you. It's my favorite.
[00:28:30] Yep. Every time you eat the Oreos, you're like, yep, still my favorite. Love it. Love it so much. I love it so much. I'm gonna have another, right? Your brain, your articular activating system is gonna find evidence to support it's my favorite. So what if you shift to it's my favorite, but I enjoy other things, too.
[00:28:49] That small shift then your reticular activating system right now is thinking, what other things do I enjoy right now? It's shifting.
[00:28:59] If your brain is giving you I love those so much.
[00:29:04] And again, you'll eat it. You'll be like, yep, still love them. Love them so much. I'm gonna eat more. Do it again tomorrow night. Your brain, your reticular activating system will find evidence for it. But I want you to pause. What if you shift. I love those so much, but they don't love my biology.
[00:29:22] What comes with that? What is your reticular activating system set to?
[00:29:27] I struggle with that. I've always struggled with that. What if you shift that thought because, again, you tell yourself you always struggle for it. You're going to run. How you've struggled with eating. This is my own thing. How you've struggled with eating fudge sickles ever since you were 12 years old and you got your first job and you could walk down to the grocery store and buy your own box instead of eating them every night. This was my childhood. I would do this in the we literally lived around the block from our local grocery store in my small town and I would on a regular basis, walk and buy a $50 box of six fudge sickles and I would sit and eat probably most of the box. Maybe it would last me two days. So yeah, I struggled with that forever, surely. And I have my brain set to giving you evidence of that. Everything from the walk to the grocery store to the amount the box cost, to the six BOPs that were in there, the six fudge sickles that were in there. What if instead of I always struggle with that and I've always struggled with that. What if you shift it to I'm learning how to stop struggling in this area.
[00:30:34] Set your reticular activating system just to that small change and your brain's going to give you what you learn differently, how you know to do it differently, other tools you've already learned to do it differently. You set your reticular activating system to do that and it is going to start showing you what you already have available to doing it differently.
[00:30:59] This is what I want you to try out. This is what coaching is about. This is how coaching changes your mind and helps you get healthy. If this is something you're interested in learning more about, reach out to me. You know, you can always email me delaneelainemd.com I'm happy to answer any questions.
[00:31:16] Lastly, I do have an ask if you've been getting benefits from this podcast, please like and rate the podcast on your podcast player. The more ratings and likes and reviews this podcast gets, the more the podcast gets presented to new people. If you recognize that 9 out of 10 people in this country, in America, have insulin resistance and are on their way to type 2 diabetes, you realize everybody needs to hear this.
[00:31:41] Everyone needs to know that they do not need to be sick and it's possible to live healthy. Put it on your social media pages. Put it everywhere. Get it out to your friends. Let them hear this message. Help me get that word out.
[00:31:54] I will be back next week, but until then I want you to keep listening. Keep avoiding foods that are making you sick. Keep making the choices for your vitality, your longevity and your health. I'll talk to you soon. Bye.
