[00:00:00] Speaker A: You are listening to episode number 239 of the reversing diabetes with Delane M D podcast.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to reversing diabetes with Delane, MD, where women who are confused and worried about their type two diabetes come to learn strategies to fix it. I'm your host, Dr. Delane Vaughn. Ladies, if you know you are capable of doing badass things at work and for your family, but you're frustrated with why you can't seem to stop eating the chocolate cake, this podcast is for you. Let's talk.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Welcome to the podcast. Thank you for joining me today. Thank you for committing to your health. Thank you for spending a few minutes focused on you today. This is a special episode where I have a guest come on and I interview her about her focus on health through a different lens. This is Dr. Amy Beheimer. She is a firm D and I will introduce her in the podcast and in the interview. But she focuses on helping people who have autoimmune disorder living their life to the fullest extent. She talks a lot about lifestyle modifications and lifestyle things that we can do to improve our health in a variety of different ways. You know that I'm constantly promoting that as far as our diabetes and improving our blood sugars, but she really is going to promote that in a more general way. And I think it's a really powerful thing to see how many different places that these changes can really impact health. And that's why I had her on the podcast. She's lovely and I hope you enjoy it. Before we get started, I do want to remind you if you are medicated for your type two diabetes, please be careful making the changes that I recommend in these podcast episodes. You have been medicated because of how you've eaten in the past, and if you change the way you eat, you're going to need to change your medications. If not, you can get very sick, including the kind of sick that ends you up, the hospital, and possibly even dead. So I don't want that for you. So you will need to call your primary care or whoever the provider is that's prescribed these medications and let them know that you are going to be making these changes. You're going to want to ask them how they want you to share your blood sugar logs with them and how they intend to share medication adjustments with you. So make that phone call. Keep yourself safe as you're making these changes. I also want to offer to you that there is help if you feel like you've tried everything to improve your blood sugars and you can't seem to get it done. I have a 14 days to better blood sugar guide. You can find
[email protected] better B-E-T-T-E-R so that's delanemd ddelanemd.com C-O-M better B-E-T-T-E-R that is a 14 day guide. If you follow it, you will see better blood sugars. If you're medicated, make sure you let your doctor know before you start that because you're going to need some help coming off those meds. But it is very powerful and it is available to you when you sign up for that. You'll also get on my email list and I will send you emails for all of the different things that I offer to give help for women to improve their blood sugars. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook. At Delanemd, I promote all of the webinars that I do on social media so you can get registered there. And then lastly, I do have a request. If you are enjoying this podcast, if you are finding it helpful, if you are getting amazing results and seeing improvements in your blood sugar, please rate and review the podcast. The more ratings and reviews a podcast gets, the more people it gets presented to. So the algorithm will put it up in front of other people. So if you could rate and review my podcast so that others can get the same help that you're getting, that would be fabulous. And the very last thing, if you have any questions, don't ever hesitate to email me. You can always find me at
[email protected] I will respond to those emails. I will respond to any will, you know, get you scheduled for whatever you need to be scheduled for.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: If you want to do one of.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: The webinars that way also. So don't hesitate to find me that way. And that's all the housekeeping I have today. So I'm going to leave this for the interview with Dr. Amy Beheimer.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Hello. Welcome to the podcast. We have Dr. Amy Beheimer here. She is a pharmd, she is a coach, and she does really amazing work in the realm of autoimmunity. So I want to welcome you. Amy, thanks for coming on.
[00:04:26] Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me, Delane. I'm so excited to be here.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: So I want you to introduce yourself as far as your training, like explain your training, not just your pharm d. I think most people are familiar with that, although I love to hear about that stuff too. But I also want to hear about your coach training.
[00:04:42] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. My doctorate of pharmacy came from University of Georgia that's been almost 20 years ago. So a huge part of who I am, how I see the world, definitely the strengths I bring to the work that I'm doing with autoimmunity and helping people. But more recently, I have started or I have put on this identity as a coach and really leaning into the power of coaching and how coaches can change the world, change our health, change our life.
Specifically, I went for training in functional medicine coaching. So really looking at the root of what is going wrong in our bodies, and I have to say I found it mainly because I started looking for myself, which I'm sure we'll get into the various things that my body has been telling me over the years. But going the functional medicine route through coaching and then getting board certified through the national board of Health and Wellness Coaching has just been huge in terms of the skill set and the ability to really help people change. So combining those two skill sets, the science and the conventional medicine with this functional medicine behavior change piece has just been such a gift.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I know that for those of us who work within the western medicine realm, and then we have this other part that really does combine the why do we need to change and how do we make powerful, lifelong changes in our life? Because western medicine does not teach that. I mean, really falls short in that category. And I think that, yeah, we start to see, and when we see how do you create long lasting change? And then we see it in our own lives and then we see we can share it with others.
It is just, for me, it's true hope. Like, oh, my gosh, I see that this is possible, and everybody else in the world needs to see it's possible. It's really what's missing from medicine. Most people in western medicine, most providers are like, yeah, nobody can make lifelong changes. Let's just give them a med. And it's a disheartening at best mindset. And so, yeah, I agree with you. This is really what changes people's lives. And it's such meaningful work and it's.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: Such a snowball effect. And I often find that it just takes people being curious enough and hopeful enough that maybe there is a different way to get over that initial hump of, ooh, I'm going to see what it's like to work with a coach. And then you start to really experience it, and then it's like, oh, I don't need to read about what a coach can do. I'm here feeling it. And that's where the magic is. If we can overcome ourselves, to try something different.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Yes. And I think that it is truly where the magic, and I think that some people are able to get there in that hope phase, but I think also equally as powerful as those people who are in that desperate phase. And they're, like, almost to their wits end. And they're like, I don't know what else to do. These meds are what they say is going to help. In my brain, it's like, give yourself every fighting chance that you can and take this leap for yourself before you give up that hope. Oh, my God.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: I love that.
Two days ago, I was meeting with a client, and I just love when they use words that I'm like, that is genius. But he said, in recapping kind of what we were doing, he goes, I just love it because I leave you, and I know that I have no regrets. I will have no regrets at the end that I didn't try everything and give myself the best shot. And I'm like, I couldn't agree more. It's no regrets. Let's do this.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: Exactly. I love it. That's amazing. So tell me, tell us about your coaching practice. I love this. I love what you do.
[00:09:01] Speaker C: Absolutely. So I help people with autoimmune disease really take control of their health so that not only can they start feeling better today, because chances are if you have an autoimmune diagnosis, you're feeling a bit like crap, whether it's low energy, whether it's symptoms related to whatever the diagnosis is. So you feel bad today, but then you have this added element where you worry about tomorrow, because with an autoimmune diagnosis comes, is it going to progress? Am I going to have another one? What does this mean for my health? And so that taking control of your health includes both the inner work of what it takes to take control of your health. That's a lot of that coaching, our beliefs and how we're feeling and how that drives what we do. And then the outer work. What are the habits that you're actually putting into place to change your biology and to make those changes and feel those changes?
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
It's so amazing. So tell how did you get into this? I know this backstory, but I want you to share your path into this work with autoimmunity.
[00:10:13] Speaker C: Absolutely.
I was 17. I was diagnosed with vitiligo. So that was what I call my gateway autoimmune disease. It's on the skin. It's solely vanity. It doesn't really cause any harm other than white patches. As a 17 year old it can sometimes feel like it's harmful when your face looks different. But had vitiligo, I kept going. Didn't change much about my standard american diet, the way I lived, the way I moved. In my mid twenty s, I was diagnosed with graves autoimmune thyroid disease. So now I'm on number two. I'm already through pharmacy school at this point, so I get a little red flag like, oh, something is not right. Is there another diagnosis coming? I started getting that worry piece. So when I talk about that second piece of worrying, what's next? That's where that started was with the graves disease at the time. I took a medicine that put it into remission and kind of kept going. And a few years later, when I was 27, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Wow, really? Back to back?
[00:11:26] Speaker C: Back to back, yes. And I've even had a fourth diagnosis in there, an IBD, an inflammatory bowel disease.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:11:33] Speaker C: That I didn't have as many symptoms with. And I'm so grateful that three out of four of those are in remission and there's no evidence of those in my body. I do have multiple sclerosis and I live with the symptoms that come with that today. But when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it was just a wake up call.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: I know a lot about this human body and through my training, and it's not only whispering to me, it is screaming at me that something needs to change. And when my mobility and my independence and my ability to walk kind of came at, you know, started to be threatened, that's when I was like, whoa, what am I going to do different? How am I going to change my lifestyle?
[00:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah, that's amazing. It's amazing that three out of four of those that you've put into remission.
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Essentially, it's the power of this work. It's been about twelve years that I really started looking at, what are the things I'm doing? What are the things in my control? What can I influence?
So it's been, like I said, almost twelve years. And I think that's just the power of our bodies and the ability for them to get back on course.
They want to serve us and they want to heal. We just have to give them the building blocks they need to do it over a long period of time. It's a long game.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So sure.
I'm interested in hearing you on your general philosophy of these causes of autoimmunity and then into kind of the six pronged approach that you teach.
[00:13:23] Speaker C: Sure. So I love to first start with the analogy that most of your listeners, and you have probably heard of, that our genes load the gun and environment pulls the trigger.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:13:41] Speaker C: And so we have this genetic predisposition to have an autoimmune disease, and something happens in our environment that pulls the trigger. And the reason that I don't love that analogy and have had to find a new one that serves is that that makes it seem like it's a one and done thing. Like we have a diagnosis.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: And that's it. And the truth is, not only does our environment, and by environment, I mean our lifestyle and our habits, not only does that impact, yes, getting a diagnosis, but it also impacts the prognosis, how we feel with that diagnosis, how fast that diagnosis progresses. Do we change anything at the root of what caused it? And so the analogy that I love more is, think of a piano. And a piano has a set number of keys. Those are our genes. They are fixed, they are constant. But you can come up to that piano, you can play it at a different tempo, a different rhythm, a different volume. And the music that comes out of that piano is going to be very different. It's going to sound very different. And so that's how we need to think about this, is that we are playing the piano with our habits, with our lifestyle, with our environment, and we get to determine the music that comes out of it. And so with that, when you ask about what my approach is, my approach is how do we optimize our habits and our lifestyle in every way possible so that we love hearing the music that comes out.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that analogy, by the way.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: Yeah, you like that? Yeah.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Oh, I do. I love it. It's brilliant.
[00:15:19] Speaker C: It's a spin on a few different. Everything that we hear, we're influenced by different people. And if you're like me, you're reading and listening and devouring all this information. And so from that, I have come up with my framework for what those different lifestyle and habits, how those all fit together, because we need a framework to help ground us in what are all the various things that we can be doing and that we're doing, and how does it all relate back to our total health? And so the framework is called the habit hub for autoimmune health. And I can run through what the six spokes of the habit Hub are. Okay. And we'll probably dive into each of them. But at the top of what I call spoke one is mindset matters. So, again, that inner work, that spirit of health, of how we are thinking and feeling about our health. That sets up the rest. The second spoke is food, is medicine. So likely everybody listening, if they are in your world for a second, knows that food has the power to harm and the power to heal.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: Number three is movement as medicine. So how do we move these bodies in big and little ways to help them heal? The fourth one is rest and relaxation. So that's everything related to sleep and how we handle stress. Fifth is my favorite connection, how we are wired to belong and how we make the most of that. And then the last one is one that we don't hear about quite as much, but is so crucial with autoimmune disease is what I call the good stress. So those are the things that we're doing where on purpose, we are pushing ourselves a little bit past our comfort zone, into our growth zone, so that we get to come out the other side just a little bit stronger and a little bit more resilient.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: I love that.
I've been looking into sauna work. I've kind of come in and out of hanging of sauna work. And of course, it's cold right now, it's in the winter, so it's easy to get in the sauna.
And that whole idea of the stressing of your body leading to an improvement in overall well being and health, and that that's really how sauna works. And so I think that you're right, it is something that we don't. I mean, everyone's like, I think as humans, we're driven to look for the easiest path possible. And so sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense to look for that stressor. But the good stress that is relevant and helpful to building health well, and.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: We all know it with weights. I mean, we go to the gym, we know that we're going to be sore, and it's like, oh, but this is good. I come back, I'm stronger. And so we take that same principle. We apply it to what we do to ourselves metabolically, kind of how you mentioned with sauna or various types of fasting. But we also can do that with our emotions. We absolutely lean into and feel a little discomfort or angst or whatever it is, and get that rep of, oh, I can handle that. And I didn't die.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it's resilience, really. I mean, both, like, with the muscle part of it, it's resilience. The more we prove to ourselves that that isn't going to be the end of it, the more we prove to ourselves we can do more you're right. It is the one that nobody talks about, but really so very powerful. Yeah.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: And there's these six. I was just going to say, usually habits and lifestyle have a primary spoke that they fall under, but they really are so interconnected. You can be absolutely trying to cut down on processed foods. I know is important for both of our audiences.
So that can fall under food as medicine, but you may have to feel some discomfort as you resist an urge to do it. So that's going to dip over into the good stress spoke. So the beauty of the habit hub for autoimmune health is that they all kind of play together, and finding balance amongst them is key, because I had a time where I was so focused on food as medicine that I was not going out to dinner with friends because I didn't want to eat the inflammatory oil. And finally, I'm like, whoa, I'm sacrificing one spoke for another.
So seeing it big picture really does help.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Or the people who. And I've been this person, like, oh, I only got five and a half hours of sleep, but I got to get up for my workout.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: Right, exactly.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: And the realization that maybe once in a while you can do that, but we cannot consistently be making that sacrifice, that trade off.
I love that. So I know we talked, and I really do love this idea. Even the piano being the genes and the way we play it being kind of the part that we have the nurture versus nature.
We have nature that needs to be nurtured. You and I have talked about this in the past, and I like that.
Do you find that in your coaching practice that you hear people coming to you with this very defeated idea, like, these are just my genes and I've got nothing to do. I don't know that there's anything I can do to change it.
Yeah. What's the story? I mean, what's the message that you hope those people hear?
[00:21:08] Speaker C: I'm trying to reach more people who are in that phase. I'm trying to instill the belief that what we do matters, because by the time somebody is curious enough to reach out to me to have a conversation about, can we work together?
They have a belief that they often have seen it in someone else or they have some sort of belief. And so it really is, there are so many people, I think, more that I come across in my personal life that they have an autoimmune diagnosis, and they are like me with my first two diagnoses where, okay, all right. Not much I can do, or I'll take the pill. I'll do this. And so, really realizing that we don't need to wait for it to be a diagnosis that feels earth shattering or for it to be so bad that we need to see such a change, if we can get upstream and make some of these changes in a way that feels really good and look at it as a gift you give yourself to work with a coach instead of this have to do or punishment.
But like I said, I was in that boat, too.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Sure. I think that once we see and we work through some of these struggles in our own lives that we felt like were out of our control or we didn't know how to get control of, or we're not seeing any good examples of people getting when we get to the other side and we're like, oh, yeah, I've mastered this. I know how to control this. I know exactly what to do. I know where to change things when things need to be changed. I think when we get to that place, I think it's very natural to be like, man, I wish I would have known this earlier.
Oh, man, what would have been different in life? And so I do think we want that. Oh, let me help you. I hope you can find it earlier. I find this with my children. I'm constantly like, man, had I had this mentality earlier, totally, I would have taken over the world, and I want this for you. I want you to be able to have that. So I do. Yeah, I get that. And I agree with you. I'm in that same boat where I'm constantly trying to get the word out there. You do not have to live sick. You do not have to live sick.
[00:23:26] Speaker C: Remove the disease from it. And just ask any human being, like, what do you wish you were doing that you just can't seem to do? And everybody has something, oh, I wish I ate better. I wish I moved more. I wish I stressed less. That is the gift that coaching can bring, is the ability to decide on something you want and go out there and get it and do it in a way that you love, and it feels good. And there's a Harvard study that shows the three macronutrients of happiness. And I love the wording they use because it speaks to us as food is medicine. But I like to say I borrow it and say it's the three macronutrients of health. Because for how many of us is health directly tied to our happiness?
[00:24:20] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:21] Speaker C: If we don't feel healthy, it sure is hard to feel happy.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: And if you are healthy without happiness, what the hell is the point?
[00:24:28] Speaker C: Exactly.
Oh, God, that's so true.
[00:24:30] Speaker B: Yeah. What are those three? I want to hear those.
[00:24:33] Speaker C: So the three one, I mean, they're ones you've heard before. One is like a sense of meaning or a sense of purpose, which absolutely, coaching can help. Two is pleasure. Most people don't have problem really doing things that feel good, doing the day to day. Some people have a problem doing it in a way where they just enjoy it and don't make themselves feel bad for it. But the second one is pleasure, and the third one. And the reason why I think that everybody who wants a coach should have one is its progress, its satisfaction. It is the daily bit of, I'm making progress towards a goal. And I think sometimes we think, well, I only would have a goal if something's wrong. It's like, no, having a goal is what it means to be alive and to go for it.
That would be that progress piece, that satisfaction in doing what you say you want to do.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Yeah, that is so.
Yeah, absolutely. And I've never thought about progress as being a part of that. That's amazing.
Progress clearly is important, but I've never thought of that as one of those kind of key components. Yeah, I love that. So let's discuss a little bit the three. Like, maybe if you can narrow it down to three, which might be hard, but most common autoimmune diseases that you work with, or maybe. I don't know. I know you probably, and you've said this, that you work a lot with Ms folks, but more, how do you apply the. And maybe it's the same across the way. Six prong approach to various autoimmune. I know you and I have spoken, and I don't know that I've shared this on the podcast, not intentionally keeping it, it just doesn't come up. But rheumatoid arthritis is very prevalent in my family. My grandmother was diagnosed and legally handicapped. That was the legal term back then. By the time she was 35. Wow. She had all of the impressive pharmacology, like, she had gold injections, certainly methotrexate. She had all sorts of therapies that we don't even use anymore. And of course, in the 1960s, when she was diagnosed, they were on this joint conserving mentality for rheumatoid arthritis, so they told them not to move.
At least my understanding of the key river running through their recommendations for treatment was to conserve joints and not move.
So that was my grandmother. So, of course, by the time I was born, my grandmother was very crippled, had many, many joints fused, had all of the physical deformities that come with horrifying rheumatoid as it was before. We had really good, well, better therapies.
She was an amazing human being whom I just have such deep, deep gratitude that she was in my life as long as she was. And she taught me many important things and the joy and just her entire demeanor, she was just joyful in spite of significant pain because, you know, she was in significant pain all the time. So that was my first experience with rheumatoid, and I don't think that I realized in my teen years how familial it was until my mother came down with her diagnosis when I was in medical school.
Yes. And I was like, oh, wait, now, hold the phone. What are we doing here?
Wait a minute.
And my mom's, of course, she's in her seventy s now and she's had a much less painful life, maybe better treatment therapies than my grandmother had. But of course, that is always in the back of my head.
I think I have a special.
[00:28:44] Speaker C: Place.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: In my heart for autoimmunity, partly because there's a part of me in the back of my head that I'm like, this could be on my horizon someday.
So I would love to hear the way that you apply your six prong approach to the variety of these.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: Well, and we pay attention to what impacts us. So you have these two strong, beautiful women who were impacted by this. So of course you're like on the lookout for what else, and that's going to be more and more with stats are almost one in five having an autoimmune disease. Americans and another tens of millions with these antibodies as precursors.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:28] Speaker C: And I promise I will answer your question, but I want to say your know, I remember one of my first coaches, she pulled out of me that what I really wanted was for my niece and nephews to look back and be like, list all these things about their aunt Amy. And I wanted autoimmune disease to be like, oh, yeah, and she had ms and she had autoimmune disease versus for a while I was stuck in this. This is impacting my life in all the negative ways and this is going to make this worse. And so your grandma, almost pre coaching, had the wisdom and to say you're not going to rob me of my joy, which is so inspirational.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Yeah. She was really an amazing woman for sharing.
[00:30:17] Speaker C: I needed help to get there.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: I'm grateful, whatever her genes are that I got in me, even if they do have rheumatoid with them, I'm grateful I have. She was a pretty amazing lady.
[00:30:30] Speaker C: The people that I work with, like I said, a like attracts like, or misery loves company. So I do find that people with Ms do find their way to me, and I'm so grateful for that. Also, there's a lot of co diseases, because they do tend to cluster. So thyroid disease is statistically one of the top ones. If you don't have some sort of thyroid issue, chances are you know somebody who does. I hate to say that, but thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, another one that is questionable, the autoimmunity link, but Lyme's disease, so people will come, because, again, they're in that place where they just feel terrible and what can they do? And the commonality there is a lack of energy. It's the symptom that binds a lot, is what's going on at a biochemical level, is our cells are not as strong, the mitochondria are damaged, and so we just feel fatigued and exhausted, and it doesn't matter what the. What is the work that I do with people is all about. Let's make these cells the healthiest they can be. Let's work on our minds, let's work on our bodies.
And the approach really is we have these habits to work on. But it's first really getting clear on where you feel stuck. Is it you don't know what to do? Is it you don't quite understand why it matters or why it's worth it to you, or for most people, you just don't know how. So you may come with, I know exactly what I want to be doing, but how in the world do I actually do it? So it's really getting specific, first with where in that what, why, how do you feel stuck? And then we work together until we make progress and we reach big goals, and then we get to pick new ones from a place of love.
[00:32:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And so on. That six prong approach, I imagine, as you're saying, that kind of looking at their goals, at your client's goals, probably dictates which one of those prongs that you heavily lean.
[00:32:47] Speaker C: The. The BJ Fogg. I don't know if your listeners are habit lovers, but he is one of the leading researchers in habits.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: Does he have a book?
[00:32:59] Speaker C: He does. Tiny habits.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: There we go. Okay. Yes, I know his book. I have not read it, but I.
[00:33:03] Speaker C: Know his book, Tiny habits. And he says there are two maxims to behavior change. One is we need to do what we want to do, and we need to feel good while we're doing it. So when people come in a where do you want to start? Where do you want to start? Because making progress where we want to start is key. And then another thing is I do something called an energy audit, and we really go through each of those six areas. We really dig in. Where's your biggest bang for your buck going to be? Because maybe you have the most room to make some progress. So between those two things, it usually becomes pretty clear on where we start. And you and I know it doesn't matter where you start because you're building the skill of making and breaking habits of starting? Of starting.
[00:33:57] Speaker B: You're building the skill of starting. Yeah.
[00:34:00] Speaker C: And that'll transfer over to whatever we want to work on.
[00:34:04] Speaker B: So I know you have six key habits to feeling better today, and I want to come back to that. But before we do, I want to talk about you and I have spoken about this briefly, and I really would love to talk about it for an hour, but that seems excessive, so we don't have to do that right now. But I want to talk about your sugar snob idea, which I think is brilliant. And I do want to hear your where artificial sweeteners fit into autoimmunity. And just because I think a lot of times we as humans love sugar, and that is just biochemistry. Like, nothing's broken about us, there's nothing wrong with us. We're not addicted to it any more than we would be addicted to other things that we didn't naturally come into contact with that has this biochemical experience. So I think that humans, we like to find our sweetness everywhere. And when we believe that the sugar is a problem, then we turn to something else to try to get that sweetness. And that turns us to, of course, artificial sweeteners. But I want to hear your being a sugar snob, because I think we have similar ideas on this. And then I do want to hear you explain the artificial sweeteners and where it keeps us stuck.
[00:35:20] Speaker C: I would love that. So, of course, for a podcast that has diabetes in the name, we're going to talk about sugar. It really started with people would describe, as I was starting to experiment with, how am I going to be eating all those years ago, people around me watching, they would say, oh, she doesn't eat sugar, because they would notice that I wasn't going after the big desserts, I wasn't doing various things. For some reason, that label, it wasn't entirely accurate. And it kind of made it seem like I was doing something that was hard to do, or she doesn't do sugar. And so really what it means, and I have a podcast episode on this, which is what you're referring to, it's the habit of being a sugar snob.
A snob, by definition, is like being selective and being intentional to kind of have high standards for something. And so being a sugar snob essentially means, and I invite everybody to be a sugar snob with me. It means if I'm going to eat sugar, it's going to be worth it.
It's not going to be from a package that I could get at any convenience store anytime. That is just. There's so many of them that it's everywhere. It's not going to be this just mindless eating in a fog, or it's going to be on purpose. It's going to be. Someone I love made me a gluten free, dairy free dessert, and I want to try it. Or it's going to be because I spent time in the kitchen cooking something for my celiac husband or for someone else I love. So, yeah, it's really just that redefining that we can have it, but let's make it worth it. Let's make it exclusive and really worth what it potentially can do to our body. And when we do it in that way, remarkably, it doesn't have as catastrophic of an effect on our body.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: Absolutely.
And I also like the idea of, if it's something you can get everywhere, you've already had it in your lifetime, and chances are it's not that spectacular or not as spectacular as it could be. Right.
[00:37:40] Speaker C: One of my ways to be a sugar snob that I talk about is I've decided if there's any chance that somebody was sitting in a meeting in a boardroom, and they're on a team of executives that are designed to help you crave something more or to make something have a certain mouth feel so that you can't stop. I've decided I'm pissed off enough at that.
You don't go in my body.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: It's a solid no.
[00:38:11] Speaker C: I'm a solid no. If somebody in a boardroom decided this, then I'm out. I'm not doing anything.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: My mindset on that gets a little hippie dippy, and that's okay. I'm a little hippie. I'm all right with that. But this idea about food being made with love and how that love that we make food with, and I totally harness this. I always tell my children anything I make for them is chucked full of love. Mama made you an omelet, and it's chucked full of love. Right?
[00:38:40] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:38:41] Speaker B: But having the food and the love that goes into the preparation of food and how that transmit to the consumers, and I'll tell you, those people in that damn board room making sure the mouthfeel and the bliss point and all of it that is made in the food that they are manufacturing for the millions, they don't care two shits. They don't have any love for me.
They don't, because they know how horrible it is. Exactly. And so, yeah, absolutely. I love that. And I the same way, once I realized that that was what was happening with packaged and processed foods, that it was about how they could make you, the consumer, want it so much that you would eat it regardless of how good it was and how sick it makes you. When I realized those two things, it became very easy to break up with sugar, for me, at least.
[00:39:31] Speaker C: And if you're still in that, like, nothing is wrong with you.
It's so funny what you said about you've eaten enough of it. I have eaten enough perfectly milk soaked Oreos to know the way that feels when it dissolves in my mouth and I squeeze out the milk. I can sit here. I haven't had an Oreo, probably in, I don't know, almost a decade, and I can still feel it. Yes. And I'm like, oh, okay. Yes, I remember you. I love you. You got me through some very broke days. Some very broke days where I bought the knockoff version at the dollar store in my college town.
That kind of thing.
Yes. And artificial sweeteners. It's hard for me to.
I'm going to give you my personal experience with them that leads into kind of the science behind it. But I used to be addicted to Diet Coke. Meaning Delaine's raising.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: You're my sister from another mister. Yes.
[00:40:37] Speaker C: I'm talking 1012 a day.
I have a quit date. I know the exact quit. Diet Coke on May 3, 2013. My last one.
I remember feeling poisoned sometimes. I remember getting to the point where I felt like something was, and it was because I was cracking my 13th one of the day. And so I think that there is a lot of danger. And so many people want to say, well, it's not proven. It's like, well, why do we need to wait for something that. Why do we need to wait for this evidence when there's a lot of signs pointing to how much destruction it has on our body these insert whatever artificial sweetener it is. It's called artificial. Like, your body doesn't recognize it as a food, and your body is having to process it. Your body is using its precious energy. And the biggest science backed reason of late that I really get behind is what it does to our gut. Microbiome.
[00:41:38] Speaker B: That's what I understand. That's my understanding also. Yeah.
[00:41:41] Speaker C: It's the 70% of our immune system is in our gut. And so if we are trying to create autoimmune health, which is the call to action that I empower everybody, let's become autoimmune health creators. Instead of just managing a disease, let's create health.
Our gut has to be at the center of it. And if we're coming in and wiping out the good stuff that we do in all these other areas for something like that, it doesn't quite make sense, but I know it's hard.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: We're riding the gas and the brake together. And, no, I agree with you as far as your thought. The comment, like, nobody's broken. If this is what you're doing in my brain, I'm like, yeah, no. The food manufacturers spend millions of dollars every year to research and develop food that hijacks your neurochemistry so that you want it. There is nothing wrong with you. You're working perfectly the way the human body is meant to work. We have to realize what's happening and kind of have this intentionality and this rising above that neurochemistry to stop that part and get.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: You want to hear six states? Oh, you're so right. You want to hear hippie dippy? I have a recurring dream that I decide in my dream, screw it, I want Diet coke again. And I just start drinking Diet Coke. I'm not kidding. And I wake up, and I'm like, did I drink a Diet Coke?
[00:43:12] Speaker B: How a true Diet coke addict works. Yes, I get it. And I was there. I was there. I totally get it.
[00:43:20] Speaker C: Did you rank can versus bottle versus. Yeah, totally.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Bottles were, like, far inferior to me. I think cans were probably superior. And then the fountain drink was tolerable, and I would do okay with it. That's my.
[00:43:32] Speaker C: Oh, I loved fountain. Fountain was my fountain was my jam.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Did you rank them between fast food restaurants?
[00:43:38] Speaker C: McDonald's number one. Yeah, they have big straws, and I.
[00:43:42] Speaker B: Think that I know.
[00:43:47] Speaker C: Come work with us, and we can really understand you. That's what I'm getting. We only learn through experience. Right. This is real.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Well, I love this. So my question that I always ask people who are on the podcast, what is the one thing? If you felt there was one thing that a human being could do to get the most bang for their buck as far as their health goes, what would that one thing be?
[00:44:12] Speaker C: I kind of have two answers.
Okay. Because this one doesn't really. I mean, this one's a little bit different, but I think starting today and.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: Meaning, I love that.
How true is that?
[00:44:27] Speaker C: Whatever bs your brain wants to tell you about waiting or it'll get easier or I'll do it. When the compound effect, the compound interest of starting so small today and making progress back to that progress thing, you will never, ever regret it. Figuring out how to start today, I think that's great. Yeah. I don't need my second one then.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: I love it. I do.
You can say it, but I think that you're right. Starting today is the biggest thing that you can do for your health. I love that.
[00:45:02] Speaker C: I think my second one is just the one that I can't.
What changed my life was really embracing my thoughts about my disease, about my diagnosis, and realizing they're optional. And that mindset work of, I thought when I was diagnosed my life would always be worse. Like, there is no way you can have a progressive, chronic neurodegenerative disease and not have a worse life. And slowly, over a decade, like slowly chipping away at that and now again, starting then and slowly doing the work with the help of outsider help. I don't believe that anymore. I can look back and say, no, I don't. I refuse to say my life is going to be worse because of a diagnosis.
So mindset, doing something to invest in.
[00:46:00] Speaker B: I love that the mindset work. Yeah. And I love that you said that thoughts are optional in the group, my group program, we meet on Fridays. We meet on Tuesdays and Fridays and Tuesday we met and we kind of had this conversation. And me and one of my clients, we were like, well, you don't have to feel this way forever. And she's like, I know you keep saying that, but how do I stop?
On Friday? I was like, oh, we need to talk about that. But just the knowledge that the things that we think sometimes things pop into our head and we can't control every time what pops into our head but we can control it is optional to continue to spend time with those thoughts that feel cruddy. It is optional to continue to believe that life is going to be worse, which feels worse. That is optional. And when we realize that and then working with somebody gives you the opportunity to develop something else. That's also true. Right. And start to spend more time with those thoughts. And that's how we change our lives, period.
[00:47:08] Speaker C: Well, and I love that woman because go back to the where am I stuck? What, why or how. So she kind of knew. Okay. I know what I want to do and what I want to think and why, but delaying how. Yes, that is. Okay. Let's do it. Now we know what we're solving for. And we got you. We got you on the how.
That's what we do as coaches and as your support is, we help you with the how. So I love it. Absolutely.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: I love it, too. So if anybody has any questions about what you do or how to get in touch with you, where can they go?
[00:47:47] Speaker C: Absolutely.
They can go to. It's my name, coaching. So it's ww dot amybeheimercoaching.com. That's amyb as in boy Ehim as in Mary E. R. Coaching.com. And I'm sure you'll put the link in the show notes as well.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:48:06] Speaker C: And also share a link for the six key habits for feeling better today with autoimmune of the six key habits. And there's also a spot for you to take action on what you learn. So the last thing we need is more info. So you're going to learn something, but then you're going to today start taking action if you go find those six key habits. So I love to share that and just start those little belief nuggets that we can do something different.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. Amy, thank you so much for taking time to be on the podcast.
If anybody has any questions and you have forgotten anything that's in here, you can always email me and I will get you to Amy if you need to get there. Okay.
[00:48:57] Speaker C: Thank you so much for the work you're doing. It's just amazing. And I'm so happy that we found each other and connected.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: That is so mutual. It is mutual. Thanks for coming on. I will be back next week with another podcast.
