#91 Healing with Food: Surprising Results After a Stroke | Maria Garcia

0:00 Food is the foundation of life. And it'll influence everything that happens in your body. one of the ones that blew my mind was a guy that came to me on crutches. He was scheduled for a sciatica operation. He could barely walk. By week 7 or so, he came to the call, running in place, because it's a video call, he was running in place, his sciatica released, he cancelled his operation. And if somebody had told me, 5 years ago, that sciatica is related to food, I would have said, that's impossible. But now I know they're intricately related.

0:41 Welcome to the new age human podcast, where we have inspiring conversations with spiritual entrepreneurs in the areas of mindfulness, longevity, and innovative technology. I'm your host, John Astacio, and I'm on a mission to help humanity discover our human potential so we can together create positive change. Remember the journey starts within please like, and subscribe wherever you're listening or watching. And with that said, let's get to the show. Today we're hanging out with Maria Garcia, the author of breaking into the light. A journey of self discovery and transformation. So she passionately coaches others in resetting their relationship with food to dramatically change their life experience.

1:22 Let's go. Maria, welcome to the show. How's it going? Hey, John. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. Hey. No problem. We connected at a recent networking events and the vibe was really good. So you're totally coming on the show. You're here now. Let's chat. You have a, an interesting story of recovery and, uh, that's going to address a lot of things right now, and I want to start out. Today's episode with your recovery because it's your story and probably what made you say, you know what? I'm going to be a coach to help people with their relationship with food. So there's a lot to unpack there.

2:04 So Where did your journey begin? Well, in case you're wondering why my voice is so sexy, it's because when I was 25, I had a stroke, a massive stroke, and I ended up paralyzed from the nose down. So I was also a mute. It was pretty insane because I ended up being locked in my body for a couple of weeks. before anybody realized that I was understanding and hearing everything. They thought I was in a coma, so whoa, whoa whoa whoa You know what? When you said that the first thing that came up came to mind was so you can smell but you can't taste maybe I don't know but so, um You What, uh, continue.

2:52 I mean, do you know what caused it? And then how long did it take for you to get like your, your, if anybody's watching, she's, she's right here. She's moving around. Obviously she's talking and I met her and she was, she's dancing. She's full of life. So like, what happens? What, what, what did you, I guess, do you, if, do you know what started like what the cause was? They say the only risk factor was birth control. Whoa. Yeah, that's one of the risk factors when you read the inserts. Oh my God. Okay. So you unfortunately had an experience with one of those side effects like Probably one of the worst ones now.

3:37 How did you go from? Paralyzed from the nose down to I know it was a long journey Maybe you can give us like a brief synopsis of it to now saying hey, you know what? You need a better relationship with food Okay, like you said, it was very, very slow, and it all began with moving my index finger about. Half a centimeter. Yeah. And then everything started progressing slowly in the hospital. I was at the hospital for 43 days. And then I went to a rehab hospital for 2 more months.

4:19 So in all it was 4 months. And the rehab hospital, I was getting rehab 3 hours a day. So that was really helping me. But I thought it would have been much quicker, and because I didn't know what a stroke was. I mean, when I was at the hospital, they said, Miss, we think you're having a stroke. And I was like, what's a stroke? I didn't even know what the word meant! I didn't know what the word meant. So, I thought that when I went home from the VA hospital, that I would have been totally patched up and fine. For I didn't realize that that was not the case at all, right?

5:05 So I ended up going home in a wheelchair. And the first thing that happened when I was at home is my wheelchair didn't fit through any of my doorways. So that's when I graduated to choosing a walker at home. And this is the mother of all learning, right? You know what, that reminds me, so you were forced to go from a wheelchair to a walker. It was like the universe was like, mm, no, you're gonna walk, you're gonna start walking faster. Like, this is gonna take too long. You have narrow hallways, narrow doorways, we did this on purpose, and good for you, just be like, you know what, I'm just gonna go into a, what do you call it, the, the walker.

5:55 Yeah, and it was like that, um, progress was really, really slow. Um, my family made me do therapy, outside of therapy, basically for hours a day. I still remember one time, we have a bike, a recumbent bike, the ones where you sit on like a chair. And my mom thought, this is a good idea, let's go pedal. She takes me to pedal. I put my feet on the pedals. They slipped right off. I didn't even have the strength to keep my feet on the pedals. My mother, she tied my feet to the pedals.

6:36 She was determined. She's like, you're gonna walk Yeah, so all that to say is basically I had no hope and my family kept the hope alive. They're the ones that were pushing for me to do things. So that was a huge help. My brother would come over daily, work out with me. So that was awesome. Yeah, that's this is very powerful of a message of like how important like your family is and Being around Supportive people whether it's blood or not blood Wow, and and how long did it take for that process to happen?

7:19 For you to like start being like more like independent functionally was something like three years, three or four years, before I joined the gym. That was the first thing I did by myself. I still wasn't walking well, and I was definitely speaking a lot less clear, and More breathy, but that was the first thing I did. Yeah, at the gym, you're working out, you're probably stumbling all over the place. Um, and, um, I mean, good for you, right?

8:00 You're like, I'm gonna go into the gym, right? Um, I know I say, Oh, I'm gonna, uh, I, I am, An active fit person lately, not as much. I currently I'm a, uh, I just signed up for the gym. I'm a month in and I haven't hit the gym yet because I'm so caught up with all this other stuff, but no excuses myself. Um, and I'm, I'm not struggling like you were. So kudos to you, but, you. uh, so you're at the gym. What made you say, Hey, you know what? I'm going to be a, a, a coach to help people with, uh, weight loss. food and, and just overall well being.

8:41 Where did that kind of click in as a decision? I'm curious. Wow, that was so much further into the journey. I'm quite boxed and so I did all these things. I went to the gym. I did so many therapies. I did chelation therapy. I had stem cell injections. I was doing the works. I even went abroad for therapy. So my life was trying to get better. That was my life. And when I got to about 8 years post the stroke, I was 70 75 percent recovered, and I plateaued. And I thought, okay, this is now my life, I'm gonna live it as best as I possibly can.

9:24 It wasn't until 15 years after the stroke that I saw an ad for a nutrition program. And my first thought was, oh this sounds so cool. And Because I was already interested in nutrition and I had been playing with my diet for years. I had gone through macrobiotics, pescatarian, now I was a vegetarian, so I enrolled just out of curiosity. Never in a million years did I imagine what was about to happen to me. Within six months of the start of the program.

10:06 I had recovered another 20%, 15 years after a stroke, and got my life back. I finally got my life back. And so, What about, so what, um, could you describe what that 20 percent means? Like, what does that entail? yeah, I began to hike, which I could have never done prior to the program, because I had zero energy, my balance was pretty poor, and I just didn't have the wherewithal. Another thing that happened is My voice became stronger and what I think happened, this is my non expert opinion, so what I think happened is that my left vocal cord was semi paralyzed because of the stroke and because of the program, it got better.

11:03 Hmm. was very breathy, very, I don't know. Now there's bass to my voice. okay. I love bass. Let's go. So yeah. today I have probably four pages of things I noticed since the program. Oh, wow, it's interesting how you go by percentage I'm, like she's very like on point with like do you have like a spreadsheet where you're like, okay So like these are my goals. I'm like a certain percentage away. I'm just curious like where do you come up with percentages?

11:43 And there was just a number that I came up with, I mean, there's no goal, there's no spreadsheet. I do have a Google Sheet with all the things I noticed. But, just basically. How I was living compared to how I'm living now. And the number is maybe a little bit arbitrary and not totally scientific. But you do have her spreadsheet so I did catch that I do. Which is actually honestly really important a lot of times naturopathic physician and she's just like Write a diary of You know what you eating and and whatnot and you can kind of see like it's good for reflecting on your day to day because of all the things we think about and it's easy to be absent minded about what's actually working, right?

12:41 It's easier to pay attention to the negative than is the positive depending on where you are in your life. Um, cool. So. You got this program, you're on this program, 20 percent in, you're hiking, you're helping with your communicate, it's helping you with your vocal cords. Communication is huge. I can only imagine what things were like for you whispering to everybody. So now you're in this program, what next? Oh man, I'm remembering the whispering. That was not fun. Holy. I remember thinking that I would trade an arm because many people don't.

13:22 That have strokes and that paralyze on one side and I would think to myself how I would trade an arm for a working voice They're both horrible options, but But whispering is creepy. Like, like, Oh my God. You know? wasn't just a whisper it was like I couldn't get more than four words together at the same time I ran out of breath and it was awful It was awful Okay. So you got, you can do sentences. You have some base. Um, and what's going on?

14:02 So now, so what was the transition between you being somebody who's receiving the program to being like, was there a point where you're like, you know what? I want to help people. What was that transition? I'm curious. Well, some people did that right away. After the program, they joined to coach. And to me, it was more like a slow transition. I said, let me see what happens to me. You know? And I kept doing it and kept doing it and seeing all these magical wins. And then finally, I was like, this is the holy grail. I have to show people this. And so I signed up. To do clutching.

14:44 Okay. Awesome. Um, is there a magical win that you didn't share yet? I want to hear about a magical win. so many. So many, but I'm gonna tell you a ridiculous one. That is really magical. The girls will get this one more than the men. Okay. One day I'm looking in the mirror, and I'm like, Did my eyelashes grow? your Did my eyelashes. I kid you not. And I thought it was hallucinating. And I thought, okay, this can't, this can't be. And then I saw one of the other coaches say the same thing in a group that we shared.

15:25 And I was like, no way. I mean, this isn't of a consequence to my life, but it's just showing you that with the proper nutrition, so many magical things happen. I mean, every winter I live in New Jersey. And every winter my nose would turn deep red the second I stepped outside. And this was happening even prior to the stroke. So I thought, this is just the way I am. The first winter after the program, that stopped happening. That stopped happening. That means my circulation improved drastically.

16:10 Hmm. And so just to be clear, before the program, you were a vegetarian, right? Were you a strict vegetarian or were you like a processed food, Oreo vegetarian? I was never a processed food kind of person, even prior to being a vegetarian. So, I was doing, yeah, I was doing well. Or I was doing it properly. to be clear before the program and all these changes, you are a serious vegetarian and less processed food. So Okay, so let's dive into I want to throw some, uh, some diets at you because this program sounds interesting.

17:01 What would you, how would you compare this program to what makes it different from being vegetarian? Maybe a carnivore, a vegan, what makes this different than all the other programs out there? Let's say we're talking to someone that has done a Honestly, I've done vegan, I've done vegetarian, and I've done carnivore, right? So, what makes this program different? There are a couple of differences. One of them being that we don't eat the same way all year. We change the way we eat. It's to tell your body different things, because body, the food we eat is like a language.

17:47 And it tells your body certain things. It gives your body certain messages. So that's one of the big differences. And I actually, honestly, I agree. I forgot what I heard, but, yeah. Food is communication. It's data. And would you agree that when you're eating locally, you're getting data from the local environment. And so your body is getting the local microbes, the anything that's trying to, and has successfully thrived in your local environment. They're going to have the resources that resources that your body needs, which is huge.

18:28 So a lot of what you're doing is more local. And is that the same thing with like the seasons? Yes, I think that eating locally definitely has benefits. But it gets even deeper than that. It's What you're eating that, that tells your body, but not, not as far as it being local or not, just the messages. Some foods tell your body, hey, you better pack on some weight because winter's coming and we want to survive the winter. So, pack on a few pounds. Some food tells your body it's, there's abundance. It's safe to release whatever you're carrying because the winter's over.

19:11 And now, food is easily accessible. So that's what I mean when I say messages. So what's a, um, A typical winter, uh, plate meal versus a typical summer. Because I'm curious about like the complete opposites there. Um, well winter is fasting, so in the winter you're not eating. But that's, you're not gonna fast all winter. So we call winter like a three day fast. Three day fast?

19:53 Or one day, or yeah. But usually we do three days. Right now What type of fast? Because there's water fast, or I think there's a dry fast. There's the intermittent. What type of three day fast are we talking about? And it makes sense, and correct me if I'm wrong. The reason why you do more fasting in the winter is because all the food that you're eating is telling you to get fat. Or to gain weight. That's my guess. Yeah, all the food you're eating in the fall is telling you to fatten up for the winter. Get And then in the winter, you're fasting. But it's not just the time to release weight. It's not just the time to Actually, fasting, the purpose of fasting is not to lose weight.

20:38 The purpose of fasting is to survive. So, can you dive into that? I have a thought, but I don't want to cut you off. Continue, sorry. Okay, I don't know if you're familiar with autophagy, which is What happens in the body when you do a longer fast, which is Think of it like this your body ends up burning its own proteins when you're fasting and You would think oh my gosh. No, I don't want to burn proteins Wait a minute Your body is burning the whole diseased proteins first Think of it like this.

21:19 You're in the log cabin And it's beautiful to winter out, but all of a sudden you notice the heat stop working and you go, Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? But you notice the fireplace. So you start throwing things in the fireplace. What do you do? Do you throw in the grand piano first? Or do you go with the old picnic tables? And that's kind of the way the body works. So it's actually healing to the body. to do these longer fasts. That's interesting and, uh, it's interesting because I can say that People in general don't give, or let's say myself, in the beginning of my journey of learning about nutrition, I didn't give my body enough credit to know what to get rid of, right?

22:12 It's easy to say and try to be in control of everything. But your body knows not to throw out the piano. Go for the, um, the broken down chairs outside and the picnic table. It knows it's, it's dealing with the trash daily and it's saying, thank you. Thank you very much. That's pretty cool. So yeah, you're purging. So those fast, you're purging old talks, toxic proteins and cells and all that. But, uh, as far as, I don't know if I, if we got into it, but, um, are you talking about. What type of, how about this? What type of specific fasts do you suggest during the winter? And why is fasting a theme in the winter?

22:57 Okay, let me preface this by saying that if you're going to fast, you want to have your nutrition topped off. So we don't do fasting in the program until the very end and it's optional, right? So you want to make sure your nutrition is very topped off because if you fast and you're malnourished, Then you're compounding the malnourishment. Hmm. And then we do, I suggest water fasting. We don't do dry fasting. You could also do a fast with the green juice that we make ourselves. You could, so it's, we call it alkalizer, and you could do a fast using that.

23:43 That ends up being more difficult, in my opinion, because it opens up that. Oh, I, I, I want to eat something else. When you're not eating, it's like, okay, I'm just not eating. Heh. It's like a teaser. Yeah. It's like, uh, get being given an appetizer and then they're like, and that's it. Have fun. Yeah. Yeah. um, that's interesting. Um, and my guest, why winter? And it makes total sense if I'm right. If we're going based off of the natural human experience during the winter, yeah, you're not going to eat as much.

24:25 Things are not as abundant and it would make sense why foods. want you to pack on some weights because a you need to be warmer and b you're less likely to have access to food and so it's almost like your body's switching gears am i correct as that logic Yeah, so we're, we're creating certain conditions that used to exist. Now there's abundance of food. Calories per acre, you can just call Uber Eats and have whatever you want. But before there was no cell phone, there was no Uber Eats, I mean it was just whatever you found as you're walking through the savannah.

25:10 okay so since we're in the winter and we're coming around the corner to spring what changes in your diet Beautiful. The spring is a season of abundant hunting and abundant plants are growing because of the rains. And so what to focus on during spring would be high quality proteins. And a lot of your vegetables, that, Green vegetables, really, not your root vegetables. what's a high quality protein Stuff that is grass fed, that's higher quality.

25:59 so we're talking about meat Yes, yes, meat and fish. meeting first okay okay So we have high, high, so we have that high quality protein grass fed and, um, Is that a good time? So no, would you say no fasting or slow down on the fasting in spring? You don't want to fast at all. Well, I fast, but I do it intermittently. So I don't eat breakfast. But I don't do that because I'm trying to fast. I do that because I'm not hungry. And I just don't need the food. You know? Interesting.

26:39 So now we're in spring and we're coming into summer. What changes now? I mean, and back to your question. I'll tell you in a second. But, that's a social construct. Eat three times a day. Why do we eat three times a day? I know people that I ask, Oh, are you hungry? And they go, No, not yet. If you're listening, she, she, uh, looked at her watch to tell her whether or not she's hungry, which is kind of funny. that's how people do nowadays. Because we're so used to this construct.

27:20 I actually used to eat every three hours because that was how I was taught to speed up your metabolism just and people know me as a, And so they're like, what the heck are you doing trying to speed up your metabolism? And for me, it was, I just want more energy because I'm going to fall asleep in the middle of the day. So it was funny how your body catches, um, adapts. And I would look at my watch and I'm like, okay, so it's been almost three hours. It makes sense why my stomach is grumbling. is rumbling right now. And I would have that funny relationship with time where I'm like, I can't miss the three hour.

28:00 Like, I don't want to do a minute early or, you know, I don't want to throw things off. Right. But that was me programming the body thinking I know more than the body. Yeah. Yeah, because I eat twice a day. Sometimes I eat once. And I have energy all day. I don't get tired. I don't take naps. No naps. That's that's good. Especially if you're like a very active person, like I'm seeing more people for two main reasons. Uh, one reason is, uh, people are starting to fast because like myself, I have more mental clarity when I don't eat breakfast and I just kind of delay it.

28:46 So you don't feel, and then like, I try even to delay my lunch because depending on what I eat, I get that left. Uh, I get lethargic, I get tired. And then another reason is you save money. People are like are on this. pluses. All pluses. Yeah, all pluses, you know, there's less dishes. There's less garbage. There's less trips to, or, you know, there's less groceries or it's, it's fantastic. I love, I love that part of energy and you save money. Um, that's funny. So, so summer, what?

29:27 I'm guessing summer is like abundance and maybe much less, uh, fasting, right? What kind of, uh, does it is summer versus spring? Is that diet very similar? It's pretty similar. It's a little bit different with some. more of a maintenance kind of thing if you're not looking to lose any more weight and your medical issues are all resolved. And so it's kind of like just a fun season, right? Yeah. Okay. Have some fun. And, and I feel like But not, but not the fun that you're thinking about. Not the, chocolate cake fun. Not that kind of fun.

30:09 Okay. I get it though. It's maintenance. It makes sense. It's, it seems very aligned with someone who's, um, I guess like those bodybuilders were, but not in the exact way where they tell me, Oh, I'm going to go start carbon out. You know, I'm going to just go heavy with the carves during the winter. I'm going to pack on the weight and then come the summer, we're going to start shredding and cutting. And it's interesting how, um, that industry. Naturally went that direction and you can, based off of our conversation, you can kind of see why they do that and they do it in the most unhealthy way, but it started from something and then probably got corrupted and, you know, just, just for visual sake and not for internal, uh, sake where you got those guys with the guts, with abs on top.

31:01 That's pretty hilarious. Yeah. Um, but that's, that's, that's very interesting. So I'm actually wanting to get into. What are your thoughts on somebody that wants to do like, what are your thoughts on vegan, vegetarian, and carnivore? I'm just based off of what, you know, now, especially coming into this as a vegetarian and you know what, maybe even scratch that, what was it like for you to get into this program and being a vegetarian? Cause I know that this program has protein from animal products. What was that like that transition?

31:42 They never made me have protein. They suggested, maybe you want to be a little more flexitarian, if you want to try it. If you don't, we will support you, whatever you decide. And it is a bit more challenging to do the program as a vegetarian. Or a certain part of the program. But it's doable. And vegetarians have fantastic. Outcomes as well, but they never force you to Eat one way or another that's a can of worms though, and i'll give you my honest answer All right, let's open up those cans of worms. Okay, yeah So I was never a vegetarian for Ethical reasons I was a vegetarian because I was looking out for my health if that is the case for you Vegetarianism is not the healthiest diet.

32:42 It's not. Eating animal protein, the human body needs that. She just dropped it right there. Mic drop. Um, so interesting enough, there are people that are vegetarian that have fantastic results. And what you're saying is, Um, the animal protein is a really good choice to add into the diet. Why, why would you say what's so special about animal protein for anybody who may want to win an argument or just, you know, someone's curious that, hey, I'm open minded. Uh, I'll incorporate some animal protein.

33:24 Um, what can I do to. empower myself mentally to make that change. Animal protein is all the necessary amino acids. And you can basically get everything you need from animal proteins. Yes, there are some successful vegetarians, but there are few and far between. Most people that end up Trying vegetarianism, they go back to eating meat after years. And as a matter of fact, I was watching a podcast yesterday about a guy that was doing veganism for seven years and his health was terrible.

34:08 Terrible. And then when he began eating meat again, his health came back. So, the people that are successful doing this, They have to supplement very carefully. And it just, it's a lot of work. Yeah, I agree. It's a lot of work, especially in the society that we live in right now. There's a lot of unknowns. Um, a lot of what you're sourcing as far as food is not local. And I've seen successful people that are vegan, but they, they eat what's in their backyard. And And it's different because of the, like you said, you're going to have to supplement because what you're getting at the store is devoid of like 70 percent of the original nutrients that it had like 30 plus years ago.

35:01 So that's why you see people feeling like they need to eat like a huge bowl of vegetables and everything because they're just watered down, you know? Like, uh, yeah, like tomatoes. then on top of that, you cannot get from plants what you're getting from meat. You cannot. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff missing from there. I do like the idea of having the quote unquote fruits of the animal. So, raw milk, raw cheese, I'm pretty sure, um, Someone listening is going to be like, ah, so, okay.

35:42 Um, but yeah, raw milk, raw cheese. And there's like a whole history on why, but I'm not going to get into that. Um, do you, do you like the idea of raw milk and cheese? Have you heard of that? Yes, I like that better than the alternative. Although what I do have to say is, humans, or no species, has milk. after like two or three years of age. And no species has the milk of another species, right? So it's not the optimal nutrition for your body. how about Raw is a million times better though. I, yeah, right? I have a counter to that and I, I agree.

36:26 It's like, yeah, if we're trying to understand what, you know, what's the best diet for a human, right? Um, and you, and you're looking at nature and the, the go to to look at nature for answers, honestly, has been the, the way. Right? Everything that we do is literally just a copy, and it always falls short because we didn't create it. But what are your thoughts Yes, we don't drink milk or not, we're the only species that decided to drink milk from another animal. And then after, I think adolescence, or after a certain age.

37:06 And my thought is, one, humans are different from every animal. And two, if you pay attention to the, I guess the embryo growth of a human, we look like humans. a lot of different animals before we decide to stop at the human form. It's really freaky. I don't know if you've seen that. I see you nodding your head. So my thought, my crazy mind is thinking we technically have the genetics of all species on the planet. So technically we could handle the fruit of all species of the planet. We can handle the milk because we have the genes of a cow somewhere's inside of us.

37:52 What are your Well, let's put it, let's put it this way. When you are nursing a child, your milk is different every week. Every week your milk is different. And the cows as well. The milk for baby cows, that milk is designed for really rapid growth and gaining weight. And so our milk is designed differently. Interesting. So every species of milk is designed for that particular species and it changes week by week. Makes sense.

38:33 And I can give you an example. Here's an example. There were two children that were born about the same time from two sisters in law, and they took a picture of the children side by side sitting on the couch. The one that was pregnant, she looked like a small little thing, and the other one was plump and big and because she was drinking Kalmyk. Kalmyk is designed to make you grow quickly. Ah, interesting. Makes perfect sense. Right? And that's interesting how they did that experiment on a, a child with cow milk versus mom's breast milk, which is uh oh.

39:18 So, This is for, this is for my own personal life. This is people I know. oh wow, wow. So that sisters in law, and they weren't doing experiments. They just had the children sitting next to each other on the couch, and they took a picture. And I knew that one mother was breastfeeding, and the other one wasn't. so the one that wasn't breastfeeding, uh, how did you know that it was cow's milk? Was it because it was like formula? Yeah. Also formula is technically cow's milk. Well, I don't know what exactly the type of formula she was using, but it wasn't breast milk. Can nature made, it's not going to be the right one.

40:02 And then chances are that formula has way protein in it coming from the cows. I doubt they're sourcing it from women. That would be a cool thing to look into. you imagine? where's, that sourced from? If anybody who's listening, feel free to send a comment or an email. Word is. Uh, formula milk come from? Is it cow milk? Is it just fully synthetic? Is it a mixture? Or does it really come from women? I highly doubt the third option, which is nuts. But, there's an obvious difference if you're thinking, and if you're nursing, now you see the difference.

40:45 Um, interesting. I have a niece that literally recently just got a baby. off breast milk and I'm very curious. She's, she's, I would say, lean. And, uh, if I were to put a side by side photo of her and myself, I was a, I was a chubby boy. My cheeks sagged. Uh, I can only imagine, uh, I was taken off breast milk earlier. So that's something that I can look into because I was a fat baby, man. Like, I had, like, like the rolls and everything. Heh, heh. I'd be curious. Yeah, yeah, curious I'll follow up on that. All right. So it's interesting to, to hear your, your thoughts on, you know, the vegetarian lifestyle, let's go and the vegan lifestyle.

41:30 Let's go into carnivore. Uh, I know that's something that's growing in popularity as of, uh, 2024 and we're halfway through 2024 as like a timestamp for anybody listening in the future. Um, what are your thoughts on carnivore diet? I have a lot of thoughts on that. Um, I like the carnivore diet. I do. Okay. I do, because I feel like you're getting everything you need without any of the stuff you don't need. So, I've seen people have miraculous healings from that. Like what? The latest I heard, which I was blown away by, was somebody with a heart murmur.

42:15 Their heart murmur got fixed. And a heart murmur is like a hole in your heart. Right? That you ever broke. That's huge. Huh. Okay. And so, uh, based off of what you said before and now it's a concentrated source it's a concentrated source of your, your vitamins, minerals and, all that. Correct. Yeah, think of it this way. I mean, we've been eating meat for millions of years. Meat is really the only superfood. Right? They like throwing that word around today.

42:57 Oh, superfood this. No, it can't be a superfood unless it's been in our diets for millions of years. Hmm. So the carnivore diet, very similar to the keto diet. I feel like it's like, the advanced version Version of the keto diet where you're putting your body into ketosis. Hmm. What are your thoughts on Not having carbs because you're on the carnivore diet and what if someone falls off and they you know go for a carb snack here because maybe they're just having a hard time or they just don't have access to only meats or whatever like what are your thoughts on on that whole?

43:40 like restricting your carbs And focusing on burning the fat from the meat and everything I think herbs are not a necessary macro at all. Not a necessary macro. Interesting. Interesting. we like them and they're comforting, but they're not necessary. Huh. And a Carb is, is, essentially, when it, when the body breaks it down, it turns it into, sugar. That's pretty much what. the function of the carb is, um, so technically, it will be meat and fats like butter and whatnot, and then fruit for your sugars instead of carbs.

44:23 Correct? Yes, and as far as the fruits, I would also keep that to a time period instead of having fruit every day. Because think about it, in nature, fruit grew two months a year, it didn't grow all year. So you don't want to have fruit all year. So it's best to concentrate into like, days, or weeks, or even months. Rather than having fruit today, two days later, having fruit again. No, when you're gonna have the fruit, have it every day. But for a time period. Mmm. Don't snack on it all day, just decide like one part of the day type of thing. Yeah, yes and no.

45:06 Because us adults, our digestions are so messed up, it's good to eat fruit on an empty stomach. Because fruit wants to go through quickly. And when you're eating fruit on top of other food, it ferments in your stomach. Oh, so then you'll get, uh, I've heard, he said, ferment my mind, just went wild. I've heard of people that have these things where they get drunk because of the fermentation. of food in their gut. So That could be interesting, right? Maybe we're, Good question. dealing with, a, a, a, A certain version of that and don't even know it. That's, you know, imagine that you're driving and then like, you're full and you're snacking on an apple and you get pulled over and he's like, you have a certain percentage of alcohol in your system.

45:56 You're like, no, no. I swear. I swear. I wonder if there's any stories like that. Right? I do know that that's a thing, but that's like a certain condition where it's like it defaults to like that fermentation process. That's interesting. I, I more meant things like getting heartburn and stuff, but that's interesting because That's what hangovers are. Hangovers are, you've loaded your body with sugars, and it's like a sugar thing. Do you have. So, so hold on, hold on. Let's say you have a hangover. Is there, outside of drinking water, is there like a favorite preventative, hangover?

46:39 solution? And then What about the day of? I'm curious if you have any tips. probably the best thing to do is drink a lot of water while you're drinking. So when you're out and you're having drinks, drink a lot of water in between the I'd definitely do that. I try to do So that's like number one. That's the best way. But the best way I know, there might be another better way, but, I do the same thing. if I have a one glass of Whether it would be alcohol, or whatever it is, I try to match it at least one to one. if not a little bit more. That's like my personal minimum It works. It works for me. What about the the day after?

47:19 Do you have any, go to's or do you not drink Like that I don't drink like that anymore, anymore. But um, probably just drinking a lot of water, maybe. Vitamin B12, that might help you. That's cool. So Fruits on an empty stomach is the best way to go for it. I'm totally going to take that. I'm totally going to take that very cool. And it may be I guess the last season to cover would be fall that transition. I think that's a Out of all the transitions, I think that is the biggest transition diet wise just based Off of what you said earlier So fall is the season to pack on weight.

48:09 Right, because you're preparing for the winter. And so this is the time when you're eating a lot more root veggies and things with carbs. But not junk carbs. We're so used to like junky carbs that don't have any purpose in our bodies. What's a, What's a couple of examples of junk carbs, just in case, I know it's obvious for you and me, but let's just say it's not as obvious. What would be some examples? Um, your pastas, your rice, breads and stuff. These are things that are not doing any functions in your body, right?

48:51 The Okay. So put on the weight, not junk carbs. What would you say are better carbs. root vegetables. Hmm. And then, like you said, we technically don't need. junk carbs. What you said. So that would just be another. Is not a fruit, correct? Yeah, what I would say if you're going to have carbs, not natural carbs, fall to season to have those in, because you're fattening up anyway.

49:37 But I, then it turns into some people just go into fall and then they go into spring and they treat it like another diet. that's what it becomes if you treat it like a diet. It becomes a fat diet of just. What do you call this? When you, um, When you're, or yeah, just Yo Yo ing, yo yo yoing? Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yo yoing diets. Okay. Okay. And then we get Into, um, winter where we started and uh, you're going to see more fasting.

50:18 Interesting. I remember you telling me this earlier. You're like, well, it depends on the time of year. That's how you want to optimize. I'm like, huh, I'm going to have to ask you about that. Well, you know, it's, it's great to see that you are better shape than in the past. And it's interesting to hear your story. of virtually being paralyzed, having a stroke, and, and now you're, you're doing hikes, you're going to the gym, you're not whispering, you know, only if I Boop! And, and a great sense of humor. Um, so you have, you have two books.

50:59 you're a nutrition coach. What, um, what are you focusing on now that, you, that, let's say someone wants to, connect with you or, um, like, what's your focus right now as far as like, uh, business. or or helping other people, because you found this program. You obviously, obviously know what you're doing and have gotten personal results. What's what's working? what's what you're doing right now. And not just personal results, I'm building a database of case studies. And all my clients who've had serious issues, they've had mind blowing results. Mind blowing. That's me.

51:40 Stopping some injections, stop CPAP machines, and just stories go on and on. So we have stopping CPAP machines for sleep apnea. And then what was the injections that you're talking about? Insulin for diabetics. Whoa. So. Yeah. going to make any claims, but are you saying that there's a possibility that This can help someone with diabetes. Yes. Type 2 diabetes is reversible. Type 1, as far as I know, is not. But even type 1 will see huge benefits.

52:21 Wow. Wow. Um, any, any, let's, let's share one more, um, case study of someone getting over something that is one of your clients. I'm curious cause you said you're, you're stacking up. What are some other examples? Wow. Sciatica. One of the ones that blew my mind was a guy that came to me on crutches. He was scheduled for a sciatica operation. He could barely walk. By week 7 or so, he came to the call, running in place, because it's a video call, he was running in place, his sciatica released, he cancelled his operation.

53:05 And if somebody had told me, 5 years ago, that sciatica is related to food, I would have said, that's impossible. But now I know they're intricately related. Wow, that's pretty food is the foundation, yeah? Yeah. Food is the foundation of life. And it'll influence everything that happens in your body. Everything. Right I agree. And that's why I work very hard on what I eat. And I try to connect with as many people that are knowledgeable, such as yourself on just what to eat, when and kind of be there to uh, answer some questions to some uh, difficult questions.

53:49 Did I say answer questions answer? Hehe. Give answers to difficult questions. You, you, you understand, you understand we have the same brain. Um, so right now you're taking in clients. What's the best way for people to reach you? now the best way to reach me is go to my website, which is genuinelyandmariette. com Okay, cool. And then, book that. huh? I was going to say that you can book a Rediscovery Call. Perfect. Alright. chat and see how I can help. GenuinelyMaria. com. Correct. And booked that discovery call.

54:30 Cool. Yeah. So if anybody's interested and you want to learn a little bit more about this seasonal look at, uh, outlook at what you're eating and whether you have diabetes, sciatica or something else that you think you're Maria can help you with, give her a call. You couldn't hurt to do that, that free, discovery call. Well, um, before we go, Maria, is there anything that we didn't cover that you wanted to share that I didn't ask about before we close out today? I love that you asked me that because I was just thinking, I want to talk about willpower. Okay, Willpower is a horrible long term strategy.

55:11 So that's the reason why diets do not work. You can't hand people a list of things to do. So we work to understand your food psychology. That's the foundation of the course. And if you get this part, and you really dive in, this is what's going to create. Lifelong results. nice. And I agree, right?

55:51 Everybody comes from a different place of willpower. It takes willpower to go to the gym. It takes willpower to make that decision. And then if someone gives you, like you said, a list of stuff, you're gonna be like, Oh God, come on. Right. And, uh, Just speaking on willpower, right? Get rid of all the bad stuff in your pantry. So you don't have to look at it. That's one of the Yeah, that I heard. Is there one thing that, like, like that, right? Getting rid of all the food in your pantry that is against your diet. Is there anything like that that you suggest to uh, increase willpower? well, I like the way you said and I think it's even more interesting If you could have that food stuff there or that non food rather And not eat it.

56:41 That's what's real. That's where the power is at That you don't have to use willpower And are some things that you do to help people build up that willpower instead of just saying, you know what? Good luck. We're not working with willpower Interesting. with awareness of consciousness Hmm. the need for the use of willpower. Hmm. And then maybe what's, can you give us some examples of how you help with awareness and conscious versus willpower? Willpower? Yes When you're using conscious awareness, you're finally understanding Why you eat certain things, why you don't like certain things, how things really feel in your body.

57:33 Because a lot of times you don't even notice because We humans have an interesting capacity to eat Mindlessly Right, and it came from us being in the wild, we would run into a bush, and we were eating, eating, eating whatever fruits were there, but we had to be on the lookout. Because if we weren't on the lookout, we became food! Mm Hmm. have this ability just not even notice we're eating after the third bite. We're just like, whatever, I don't even know how to finish that! Yeah.

58:16 trying to, yeah, you know, it reminds me of um, just seeing animals eating and uh, whether it's a bird or squirrel, like each time they take a bite of something, they're looking around, they take another bite, they're looking around and I get stressed looking at them, you know? Uh. So it makes, it makes sense where the power of, uh, being aware and slowing down. And I think that's like, that's that transition from animal to human, that, that self awareness, that situational awareness and no longer the need. To be in that survival mode, which changes everything. It's almost like, very interesting how the body, the human body is well adapted or designed, if anything, to thrive in that environment of not being in survival mode, which is very interesting.

59:09 Right, right. And that's like, that's what make, if that, that would probably be a key to the human diet. That's different from the animal diet in comparison, which is, I think, huge to be honest. Um, I don't think we give that credit, uh, that, the credit it deserves. Which, awesome. Yeah, willpower. I agree. Um, well, that's it. Thank you for coming on today. This was pretty cool. I hope we provided. I know we provide a lot of value and you came to the plate and you stepped up and you've, I mean, we went through the whole year in a conversation.

59:49 Um, I was hoping we would be able to do that. So that's pretty cool. And uh, ending off with willpower versus um, self awareness and giving yourself time to eat, Yes, conscious eating is very important. for coming on the show, Maria. My pleasure. It was a lot of fun. And one last tip for your audience. water. Just drink water. Cause that's gonna fill you up and take care of one of your six hungers. Which aren't real. Only one is real. Oh, that's what I wanted to get into. Ah, the six hungers. I knew it. All right, we We literally just passed one hour.

1:00:32 Let's can you can you go over the six hungers? Why don't we do a follow up? Okay, then on the next episode We may just go over the six hungers Very well, very well till next time. Have a good day Let's stay connected Thank you. And anybody listening. Thank you for joining us today. And I hope you got something that you didn't hear before and today is another day of, perspective around longevity and how we can thrive as human human beings. So, yes. Thanks. Showing up today as a listener, as a watcher. And, if you want to hear more about awesome stories with entrepreneurs that have amazing backgrounds in longevity, mindfulness, and innovative technology, just hit like, and subscribe till next time.

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