[00:00:00] This is episode number 260 of Better Blood Sugars with Delaine, Md. Welcome to Better Blood Sugars with Delane, MD, where you can learn strategies to lower your blood sugars and improve your overall health. I'm your host, doctor Delane 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 podcast is for you. Let's talk.
[00:00:28] Hey there, and welcome to the podcast.
[00:00:31] So there are some things that are looking different on Zoom. You know, everybody's up leveling their everything in the world. Everybody up levels their life, they up level their diet, they up level their health, they uplevel zoom. So, uh, things look a little different. I think things are recording the way they're supposed to be. So we're going to run with that. So today I want to talk about decisions ahead of time.
[00:00:58] We're going to dive into that. Before we do, though, I want to share a success story. I want to share Jennifer's success story. She downloaded the 14 days to better Blood Sugars guide. So that's being up leveled. That's being, speaking of up leveling, that's being up leveled. So stay tuned for that. If you haven't already downloaded that, you can go and get the old version, uh, delane mD.com forward slash better will get you to the sign up page and you can get access to it. But it is being up leveled. And next week there should be a new and improved guide. But she downloaded the original 14 day guide and when I sent her an email to follow up with her, see how it was going, which I do for everybody who signs that up for that. And if I haven't, please reach out to me, delanemd.com and I will definitely touch base with you, make sure everything's going okay. But, but this was her response when I sent her that follow up email. She says, good morning, things are going great. My a one c was 7.5 in January and is 5.9 as of early this month and that was in May. So from January to May, she dropped from 7.5 to 5.9. She states my blood sugars were ranging between 175 and 189 and now my fasting is 100. My cholesterol is also now normal and I've lost 22 pounds. She says, I'm super excited and I have been doing a 15 hours fast in the last one and a half months. The challenge is definitely finding new recipes and keeping things fresh. Thanks for checking in. So I want you to understand that it is totally possible to rock the face off your blood sugars. There is help available. Go get it. Delanemd.com. forward slash. Better go get that right now. Jennifer is not a client of mine. She did not sign up for the group. It is possible to start seeing significant improvements even without forking over a ton of cash and signing up for some expensive program. I don't feel like my program is so expensive that it's unavailable for most women. I think that there definitely is some skin in the game and that financial commitment, and I think that that serves you, but it's not necessary. Lots of women are fixing this with just the help in my podcast and that 14 day program. Go get it. All right, so let's talk about decisions ahead of time. This is a tool that I teach to help people help women make food decisions. I teach it frequently. The most frequent way that I teach decisions ahead of time is to make a decision and stick to it. This is a decision ahead of time. What this does, why this works, is because it gets the primitive part of your brain out of the decision making role, and it gets your prefrontal cortex into the driver's seat or into that decision making role. So recognize the human brain has these two sides, the primitive brain and the prefrontal cortex. These are referred to, depending on who you hear this philosophy from. It's sometimes called something different. But the primitive brain or the reptilian brain is sometimes what people will call it, is focused on seeking out pleasure, avoiding pain, and expending the least amount of energy possible. This is the land of instant gratification. Like, we're not going to think of any consequences. We're not going to think of anything further than what's right in front of us. And we want pleasure, we want to avoid pain, and we want to do it as easily as possible. That is the primitive brain.
[00:04:35] The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, is the part of your brain that really, like, does think about what's two weeks away, what's, you know, right, what's going to be in front of us right now, but also, what are the consequences of what I'm going to do. Considers your pros and cons with every decision, and it considers what's in your best interest. That is the role of the prefrontal cortex. When we're looking at our food, allowing our primitive brain to make the decision is going to look like a bag of oreos on the couch with your remote control. That's the primitive brain. That is the land of the primitive brain. It feels good, it creates pleasure, it avoids discomfort or pain, and it does it with the least amount of energy possible. You don't even got to get up and change the channel, right? Like, you've got your remote doing it. All that is the land of the primitive brain versus the prefrontal cortex is willing to take a little discomfort for a long term gain. I'm willing to feel a little uncomfortable with the desire for oreos, for the long term health benefits that come from that. Same thing with exercise. Right. I'm willing to feel the next 45 minutes uncomfortable with exercise, expending energy, because long term, it's going to improve my health.
[00:05:56] So these are the differences between the prefrontal cortex and the primitive brain. Okay? Decisions ahead of time. They engage that prefrontal cortex, they get the primitive brain out of the driver's seat and engage that prefrontal cortex.
[00:06:13] So decisions ahead of time are going to be made with your best interest in mind and not instant gratification. Applying this to food, I like to think of this as decisions ahead of time. 1.0. You can take this to a next level. Part of this involves the thought model that I teach and that I use when I am coaching clients. The thought model is five different components. You have circumstances. Your brain will have thoughts about those circumstances. Those thoughts will drive your feelings. You will, your feelings will drive your actions, and then your actions as you like. The collection of actions that you take will create your results. Okay, so when you're thinking about food, what, you're like, you're eating a chicken salad, right? You can have a thought, this meal was not good for me because I still want more. Right? This is that primitive brain. Like, I'm not satisfied. I still want more. This food wasn't. This must not have been good for me. And that's going to lead to desire. From that space of desire, your primitive brain is definitely going to have you seek out some potato chips, seek out some crackers, some candy, whatever is available, your brain is going to seek that out, and then you're going to eat it, and then that is going to create evidence for you, because this is confirmation bias, right? Like, the brain works in a way to create evidence, or at least only see the evidence of what it already believes. So if you already believe that this meal isn't great for me because I still want more, you're going to create evidence. The evidence is the meal wasn't good for you because you ate more.
[00:07:52] Like, that's the result that you get from that thought, okay, you contrast that to different thoughts that you can have about the same chicken salad.
[00:08:03] That salad provided nutrients for my body, nutrients that my body needed without the foods that make me sick, that can feel, depending on who you are, it feels satisfied. Sometimes that feels empowered. Sometimes it feels neutral. And your action is to then go about your day, just live your life, do your thing. You provided nutrients to your body, all that it needs. You're going to go out and live your day.
[00:08:29] The result of that is your blood sugars drop and you're healthy because you've provided foods to your body that don't make you sick. So in the same way that we use decisions ahead of time about our food, we can use decisions ahead of time. Like, you make a plan about your food, right? Like, so you planned the chicken salad, and you eat the chicken salad, even though your body wanted the crackers and the chips and the yada yada, all these other things, right? But you made a decision, and you carried out that decision, not letting you know the decision was made from the prefrontal cortex. Not letting the primitive brain take over.
[00:09:07] Doing this for your food is very important. This is like, again, it's like the first thing that we need to do. It's why I encourage every woman to make a plan. It's because you're engaging that prefrontal cortex and not the primitive brain. But it is possible to also use the strategy of deciding how you're going to feel about a situation. And that just that thought model, you know, you, circumstances, thoughts, thoughts drive your feelings. Feelings drive your actions. Actions drive your results. You can decide ahead of time how you're going to think about it, how you're going to feel about it, the same way you decided ahead of time what you were going to eat. Using this to decide how you're going to think about a situation gives you power over every situation you come into contact with. And deciding ahead of time how you're going to think and feel about the meal you're going to eat is going to help you see or help you decide how to eat in a way that serves your body. Applying this to your thoughts can be really powerful. Even if you're simply using the process of deciding ahead of time what you're going to eat, it allows you to overcome obstacles that come up. So when you're doing this as a food plan, by thinking about the food that you're going to eat, you can like, I'm going to have the salad, and you think through it. And you're like, yes, and there's going to be donuts and pizza around, but I'm going to eat the salad even when I want the donuts and the pizza. Maybe you're going to a restaurant, you look at the menu like, I'm going to eat this thing, even though they have these other things that my brain, the primitive brain, will want.
[00:10:44] When you think about maybe your schedule, right? Like, I'm going to eat these things even when I'm busy.
[00:10:52] When you recognize, like, when you think through and like, I'm going to eat this even when I'm busy, then you can see I need to do these things to make it easier. I'm going to be busy and I need to remind myself how important it is to eat these foods, even when I'm busy.
[00:11:06] Or maybe like when you're thinking through, when you make that plan and you decide ahead of time, I'm going to eat the chicken salad.
[00:11:14] You have to think through, is that food even available? Like, do I have the stuff to make a chicken salad at home or am I going to have to go to the grocery store? And if so, am I going to do that? And if I'm not going to go to the grocery store, what else am I going to eat? I need to make a different plan. This is the power of decisions ahead of time. And you can do this with your thoughts, right? I'm going to be busy, so I need to decide what I'm going to think about eating the things that I need to eat to be healthy. Even when I'm busy, you start to see what your brain will go to automatically. And then you just decide what you're going to think and feel instead. When you eat a chicken salad and then you think, I'm going to want more, I will want more, but I'm going to decide what I'm going to make that mean. So I'm going to want more, but I'm going to decide this meal was adequate and I don't need anymore. I'm going to want more, but I'm always going to want more. For me, that's the most powerful. I'm always going to want more. I'm always going to want to eat the chocolate. I'm always going to want to eat the ice cream. I'm always going to want to eat the chips. I know that if that's going to be there, how do I want to manage my health even when it's there? Okay. When we decide ahead of time what we're going to believe and what we're going to think. Then we just rely on that thought. I'm going to want more. But that doesn't mean anything was wrong with the meal that I ate. Okay, decide ahead of time what you're going to think instead. So it might be this food didn't taste as good as I thought it would. In the group, we call this plates of disappointment. Like, you make a new meal, you make a new recipe, and you have it, and you're like, that was not what I thought it would be. I did not enjoy that. We call those plates of disappointment. And that's okay. Nothing's wrong with a plate of disappointment. But you need to decide what you want it to mean. Maybe that means I'm not going to make this dish again. Period. End of sentence. Maybe it means, like, this didn't taste as good as I hoped, but maybe it just needs more seasoning, more salt, more pepper, more whatever. Maybe you have the thought this didn't taste as good as I hoped, but it's everything that I need for my health. That's okay. Maybe I won't make it again. But for today, it was fine. Lots of times when we have plates of disappointment, we're like, oh, that's a bunch of crap. I should be able to enjoy my food. And again, the chips, the crackers, the junk that makes us sick, that's when we start to rely on that. It doesn't need to be that way. It's possible to have something that wasn't enjoyable and make it mean that it was everything that your biology needed and that next time, you're just not going to make that meal. It doesn't need to be something that derails you.
[00:13:57] So recognize you already do this in your life. You just don't know it. If you have a child and your thought, my child does this and I'm going to x, right? Like, if my child gets an f in his class, I swear to God, I'm going to lose my marbles.
[00:14:12] Because we make it mean. I didn't do a good job of helping him. I didn't do a good job of raising him. He didn't do what you expected of him. And that means something, right? We make all of these things mean something. We already decide ahead of time what we're going to think about a situation. We do it all the time. If my husband does x, I'm going to y, right? If my husband doesn't clean the dishes, I'm going to lose my marbles on him. I'm going to scream and yell at him because it means he doesn't appreciate me. He isn't helping out. He doesn't think of what I need him to help out with. Right. Like we already do it. If this happens, I'm going to think this.
[00:14:54] If, you know, when I'm driving on the road, if that car pulls out in front of me, I'm going to blah. We already make it mean something. We already think about what we're going to. We've already decided what we're going to think about the situation. Okay? Just start applying this in a way that serves your health. When I eat x, I'm going to think why? When I eat chicken salad, I'm going to think, this is amazing for my health. It's everything my body needs.
[00:15:22] When I eat chicken salad, I'm going to feel satisfied because I know I'm serving my health. When I wake up in the morning to exercise, I'm going to feel tired and I'm still going to get up and do the exercise because it's what my body needs.
[00:15:37] Start applying this strategy to the things that are important to your life and your health.
[00:15:42] If you have any questions about this, reach out to me. This is one of the most powerful tools that we can use to creating the healthy life that we want.
[00:15:50] I want to remind you, if you're medicated for your type two diabetes, you've been medicated because of the things you eat in the past. If you change the things you eat, you're going to need to change your medications. This is a warning I give on almost every podcast. So make sure you're calling your provider who's giving you those medications, and you let them know that you're going to make some dietary changes and that you're going to watch your blood sugars and they're going to ask you, I want you to send me those blood sugars. How can I get those from you? And then you guys are going to decide together how you're going to send your blood sugars to your provider and your provider is going to tell you how they are going going to share medication changes with you. You do this to keep yourself safe. If you don't do this, you can get very sick with your tight with the medications, you can get your blood sugars too low. The kind of load that looks like having to go to the hospital, the kind of load that can look like death. This can be very dangerous. So make sure you're not getting yourself into that situation. Call your provider, let them know what you're going to do, get a clear line of communication open with them if you're not sure what to eat. Again, there is a powerful guide the 14 days to better blood sugars. Go find it on my website, delanemd.com forward slash better. If you're not sure, send me an email delanemd.com or
[email protected] I will get it to you. There is an upgraded version that is taking into account protein and fiber and all sorts of other things, which just means there's going to be more food available. So if you tried the 14 day program and you found that you were hungry, there's going to be more food on the upgraded one that's going to be coming out hopefully next week. So, um, the last half of July of 2024, that should be out. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook. There's help there. There's information about upcoming events that I have. So follow me there. You can get a hold of me there. If you have any questions, I'm always available.
[00:17:33] Lastly, I do have an ask if you are enjoying this podcast. If you're finding help from this podcast, if you're seeing better blood sugars because of this podcast, please like and rate it on your podcast player or review it on your podcast player.
[00:17:46] Nine out of ten Americans are insulin resistant and on their way to type two diabetes. Everybody needs to hear this information. The more likes, the more reviews, the more ratings this podcast gets. The more times you share it on social media, the more times you tell your friends about it. The more this gets out there, the more Americans, the more humans out there will realize that they don't need to be sick for the rest of their life. They need to hear this message. Doctors aren't sharing it. Healthcare system isn't sharing it. This is not being shared in the public field. Do your part. Share this information, rate it, review it so other people can see it also.
[00:18:25] Lastly, keep listening. Keep making decisions that serve your health. Keep avoiding foods that make you sick. Keep making the choices you need to for your longevity, your vitality, and your health. I'll be back next week. Bye.
