Hey, welcome back to the Theravu journey.
You know, the overarching theme of this podcast is finding your purpose.
And I did mention in episode one or two is that part of my purpose was that I needed
to find purpose in my health and what I was dealing with.
And today we'll be talking about your physical wellness, being a journey and not a destination.
So if this is your first time here, I'm your host, L. Michael Burt.
And our guest today is Angela Bayer, a renowned trainer.
She's an oil line coach, professional health coach who has had an extraordinary journey
that led her to become a personal trainer and health coach specializing in helping women
build muscle and achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Angela had a keen interest in sports, but once college life took over and as hormones
kicked in, she faced challenges like we all do.
After experiencing trial and error, developing the eating disorder and encountering major
health issues, Angela made the decision to pursue a degree in nutrition, combining her
knowledge and unwavering determination to take her body to the next level.
Angela dedicated herself to, you know, daily gym sessions and with consistent effort.
She transformed her physique and ventured into her first bodybuilding competition.
Angela's achievements span a wide range from successful bodybuilding competitions to winning
titles such as Ms. Florida, Ms. USA and Ms. Universe.
She has delved into celebrity training and authored a health and fitness book.
Angela also founded House of Shate, offering women the guidance they need to attain their
fitness goals.
She has garnered recognition for her accomplishments and her work has been featured in publications
such as All Star Magazine Germany, Flex Magazine, Florida Sun Magazine, Global Trade Magazine
and Naples Daily News.
Today, Angela works with CO's, entrepreneurs, high-level executives, top-class athletes
and clients worldwide.
And she's empowering them to rapidly increase their energy levels, transform their bodies
and enhance their mental clarity.
And I'm excited to have Angela here.
How you doing, Angela?
I'm doing well.
Well, thank you for having me.
Yes, I'm glad you're here.
I know we were going to record another episode earlier, but you were in somebody's way.
You were in Helene and Milton, or was it just Milton?
How did, how, what was going on there?
Well, first Helene and then Milton.
Helene passed us, but to be honest with you, Helene wasn't pretty.
And then Milton being a direct hit.
Yeah.
It's so interesting when you go through this, you feel like a rubber band stretched to the
max and one more little thing you feel like you're going to snap.
That's how your stress level is at that point.
Where my house is is Flat Zone A. So I always have a mandatory evacuation.
So you say literally goodbye to your house and you don't know when you come back if
you still have a home or if you're homeless.
And unfortunately, a lot of my clients are actually right now homeless.
They lost their home, it got flooded.
My house, I mean, oh my gosh, so protected, has no damage.
And that's good.
Yes.
I'm trying to put everything back to normal, but it was very stressful.
I could imagine.
I know I, I didn't, I've never experienced a hurricane, but I lived in Los Angeles and
I've experienced earthquakes and I've experienced two different kinds.
One was a jolting where it's like you're shaking really hard.
And then the other is a kind of a rolling kind of kind of thing.
But it's nothing.
I mean, they weren't like, they're like 3.4.4.
Something like that.
But when you are dealing with a situation like yours where it's like mandatory evacuation,
leaving all of your stuff and all of your memories, everything, and you don't know that
you're going to come back to, you know, your normal lifestyle, it's a bit scary, but you
endured.
It's interesting though, what happens is right before the hurricane, you become like so laser
focused of saving the important things and getting everything ready and protecting your
property.
And you don't even feel tired.
You so, like I said, I was just like going, going, going, hoping friends as well.
Like you just, and this is amazing too, how neighbors all of a sudden like show up and
say, Hey, can I help you putting the shutters off?
Or like the community all of a sudden becomes one and there is such comfort and what also
is amazing and you don't understand when you're not there.
Like right before I left my house, I saw already, I mean, miles and miles and miles of linemen
trucks coming in, are ready to repair whatever is going to happen.
With Hurricane Irma, I was 10 days without power.
Oh, not ready.
Not going to let you.
Yeah.
With Hurricane Ian kind of the same situation.
And like I said, when you see how this country mobilizes all the forces and gets ready and
wants to help is amazing.
And you really do need help.
From FEMA, like I said, you see linemen from North Carolina, actually Georgia, New
York, Alabama losing it like from everywhere.
That's pretty amazing.
Yeah, together.
It is, it is.
That is pretty amazing.
Like when people know that people are need help, we really need help and people show
up, your community shows up.
It's within just within that.
That's really empowering to get the adrenaline going and making sure that you help all, you
know, whomever you need to help.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
It's amazing.
And we are all full of fear and edgy and like there is this electricity you can feel everybody.
It's like, I mean, it's a bad comparison, but I feel like Floridians sit in front of
the TV like in a football game.
And every time the hurricane wobbles, we're like, yay.
Oh, yay.
We are like kind of freaking out and having like those moments.
We all hope it just disappears to somewhere, but yeah, no, it's pretty amazing because
you see the beast coming at you.
And these are those bands rolling in.
It's not like it's funny because people are like, if they never experienced a hurricane,
they're like, oh, they said it starts at seven.
No, it's not like a movie.
It's not starting.
It's rolling in.
It's coming.
You get tornado warnings.
Like we had 90 tornado touchdowns with Milton.
It was just crazy.
That's why.
Yeah, it was really wild.
So yeah, the show doesn't start at seven.
Like that's when landfall is, but boy, the whole day is already crazy.
There's a pregame before the actual game.
Yeah.
It's long and loud and like just by the pressure change in the atmosphere, everybody
is tight and tense.
You have an extreme headaches.
It's really hard to function and everybody is exhausted afterwards.
It's just the change of the atmosphere, not even the stress.
Yeah, I can imagine.
The closest I've been is watching like hurricanes on TV and that's as close as I want to get.
My sister actually was, she flew down there before all the hurricanes came down and she
was supposed to fly back, but she was stuck.
She was stuck down in Florida.
So I was like, but she's safe.
She's good to go.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was bad.
Well, you know, I can imagine, you know, just the fear that kind of runs through.
But again, with the community that's the support and everybody and each other, that some of
that fear kind of kind of subsides a little bit to again, get your mobilizing and moving
forward and doing what you gotta do.
Support is everything and support.
It shows it in so many ways in my life, how important it is.
And I'm more like, like I said, like I want to tackle everything by myself and so many
times in my life, if I would have asked for support, it would have been easier.
And now that I take support and I appreciate it, I know how important it is and how many
benefits it is to have a good community.
And that's huge.
It doesn't really matter if it's like in little things in your health journey or major things
like a hurricane.
But if you have a good support group, it makes such a big difference.
Yeah.
Community is good.
And I know on some of the episodes that I have, we talk about community.
And I know in your health journey, just kind of jumping into it, going back when you, I
know that you made a transition in college before you got on a health journey.
What was life like for you before all that shifted?
Very good question.
So yeah, I was a banker.
So after college, I got a finance degree and I got into banking.
And what happened was I got into a management position very, very quickly.
And that put a lot of pressure on my life.
It was just not only my career.
It was also social pressure, showing a certain image, having a certain look.
I didn't have the best relationship.
So that cost a lot of problems as well, not having the support.
And what happened was I was doing a job.
And to be honest with you, I did my degree.
It wasn't difficult for me.
I was kind of in a comfort zone.
It was like, oh yeah, that's what women do.
I'm in banking.
It's a nice, pretty job.
And like I said, I was in that safe environment in that regard.
I was comfortable doing it.
It wasn't really something that challenged me.
If it came to the work, it was just that I moved up the ladder very quickly and I was
in management, what challenged me.
So that's where the pressure came and where I thought, oh my gosh, I have to look a certain
way.
I have to present a certain way.
And that's how I got into all my eating problems and eating disorders and over exercising.
It's a funny thing.
When life is out of control, you try to control whatever you can.
And I did my food intake.
And I can imagine when you're under all that kind of pressure, especially for women in
particular, to look good or look the parts, to be the part, it can be overwhelming.
And you said that it went into the eating disorder.
What was that world like for you?
So what happened was, I was skinny fat.
I had no interest in being strong or shaping muscle, being fit.
All I wanted was a certain number on the scale, no matter what, whatever the price was.
And the interesting thing is, like I said, I wanted to control my food.
And the more I put pressure on my nutrition and I restricted myself more and more and
more, the more food thoughts I had.
It's so bizarre.
I think about it.
I should have written down how many times per day I thought about food.
Can I eat this?
I'm hungry.
If I eat this, I need to do two hours of whatever, running on the treadmill or being on the
elliptical, like how can I do this or how much can I eat?
And it was constant, never peace of mind ever.
And there was no food freedom.
It's a funny thing when you think about it.
You don't want to eat and all you think about is food.
Is that the definition of skinny fat?
Because in my head, I'm like skinny fat.
Is that, like you're, just say your body weight should be like 125, 126, but like it's
just not together, so to speak.
Or your mentality is really opposite of like a healthy lifestyle.
Correct.
So what you do, what I did, what a lot of people do is they don't understand.
How your metabolism works, how your body functions, how you can stay in the right size body with
no problem and food freedom.
When you understand the concept of having healthy muscle, I didn't, I destroyed it.
And every time with every harsh diet I did, I reduced my muscle mass even more, reducing
the active tissue in my body, what helps me to actually burn calories when I'm resting.
My resting basal metabolic rate was down the drain because I killed my muscle.
And I wasn't actually in good shape.
Like I was skinny, but there was no shape to it.
It was not a good looking body.
I was, yeah, very unhealthy.
And it showed.
You could not tell me though.
Yeah.
Your view of yourself was different than what people probably viewed you as.
And when you talk about resting metabolism, that's, metabolism helps you, your body define
what metabolism is and would define what resting metabolism is.
Can you do that?
Yeah.
So depending on how much muscle you have, you need a certain amount of calories just
to maintain your body weight, just to function, just to, like in a resting state, so your
body is working properly and fine.
Now the more muscle tissue you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate is.
Meaning you want to have as much muscle as you possibly can.
So you have a high metabolic rate, meaning you can eat more.
And the more you destroy, and see this is the interesting thing, what happens when we
get older and we are not working out and we are not taking care of our muscle.
Sarcopenia is starting our 30s.
Sarcopenia is the loss of muscle.
Just by aging, it reduces.
And that's the same for men and women?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
So for men, it's actually very steady, the loss, same with hormones.
And women, they tank, and then it's steady tank and it's a little bit different.
So for women, it hits them more.
Men it's gradually, but it's happening.
It's happening.
So yeah, you do have this muscle loss just by aging.
If you're not training your muscle at all and not keeping the muscle up, what happens
is your resting basal metabolic rate goes down as you age.
And you keep eating the same thing.
Guess what happens?
You gain weight.
You gain weight because yeah.
You're not keeping the muscle up.
Yeah.
Right.
I got you.
Yeah.
What happens too, and this is an important part too, if it comes to metabolism, the
muscle is a glucose sponge, meaning whatever carb you eat, and this is so funny, we all
demonize carbs, which is really no good.
Good.
There shouldn't be a reason for it.
Have your carbs, but you got to earn your carbs and then more muscle you have.
Like I said, it's a glucose sponge.
So what is happening?
So you eat your carbs, they get digested, they end up in the bloodstream as glucose.
Okay.
So we have glucose in our bloodstream.
The pancreas gives a signal to actually produce insulin.
Insulin is the hormone, which works like a key to open up the muscle cell or the cells,
the muscle and get the glucose into the muscle.
Now if you have damaged muscle cells or just not enough muscle cells, the insulin you produce,
you're fine, you're producing it, can't open any cells because the cells are damaged or
not there.
So what happens is even though you produce the insulin, the glucose stays in the bloodstream,
goes back to the liver, spills over, and you produce this real fat, the belly fat.
That happens most of the time in the 40s and 50s and people say like, I don't know what
happened.
All of a sudden I have this belly fat.
That's a sign of insulin resistance that can get you to pre-diabetes, diabetes.
So this is already a warning signal where you have to pay attention to the muscle.
So you want good quality muscle.
Beauty of it is you can start anytime.
There's no age limitation.
Right.
When you were saying that the word that was coming to my mind was diabetes.
Can you talk about the glucose and the insulin that we all many could produce?
But I know that if you have diabetes, you have to get injected with insulin.
Not fun.
Yes.
Yeah, not fun.
And so when you're in that age, you're in the 30s, and I can imagine most people are
listening to the podcast will be around that age and more and are older.
And you're starting to get into the 30s when life is kind of doing its thing and you're
not in your 20s, you're not in your teens anymore.
And going to the gym is not number one on your to-do list.
What is the mental barrier that's there or to really get rid of so people can start to
get to the gym so they could be healthier and just live a healthier lifestyle for themselves?
Well, first of all, I think just the sentence going to the gym is a barrier.
And you know what?
Yeah, I can agree with that.
Yeah, it's like just the drive and then being interesting to how we start compare ourselves
to others.
At the gym?
Yeah.
And I understand if you don't want to do that.
So if you start at home, totally fine.
Like I said, it doesn't have to be a big project.
Don't overthink it and don't think you have to spend hours.
The goal is to have healthy muscle tissue and you can do this at home, even with your own
body weight.
Now, the second thing I think people need to understand is why.
He gets really old when you hear all the time, oh, workout.
It's so important.
Get moving, don't sit around.
And you get like, oh, yeah, whatever.
I can, I see it in my clients, but you have to understand why you're doing this.
We all talk about our longevity.
That's such a buzzword right now.
You want to live a long life and it's all about lifespan.
Now, yes, we want to live a long life, but I say we need to pay attention to health
span.
We want to live a long, healthy life and then be done.
Agree.
I totally agree.
Huge.
So I looked it actually up.
Think about this.
In the United States, the average lifespan is 79 years right now.
The average health span is 63.
That's a 16-year gap where people have not the quality of life they deserve.
And think about it.
You work all your life and you save your money for retirement and then you get to that point
and then you have to spend all the money to be healthy to actually live.
Don't you want to enjoy the last years as well or play with your grandkids, play tennis,
golf, travel or just even be able to shop and go home and put the groceries away and live
independently in your own house?
This is when you understand this is why you're doing this.
It makes so much more sense and you understand that with a little effort daily or if it's
not daily but two, three times a week, you can maintain that and get to that.
When you mention life health and then what did you say?
Life span and health span.
So it went straight to my father.
My dad's, he just turned 85.
And the producer of this podcast, I was telling her that my dad's turning 85 and she was like,
oh wow, that's pretty great.
She was like, well, who take care of them?
I was like, he takes care of himself.
And I told him the story.
And my dad is 85.
He drives, he moves a little slower.
He says, because I don't have anywhere to go.
I'm good.
So he doesn't have to move fast and bustle fast like people of my age and younger do.
But it's such a like edifying feeling to know that at 85, you can be well, do well, take
care of your own self in your own home and not have to be in retirement home or something
like that.
And he took care of himself.
It's wonderful.
Yeah.
It is.
What, again, let's stick around this age range.
What are the things that people can do as opposed to like what things people can do that can
keep them like moving forward in a healthy lifestyle?
Very good question.
So, well, moving forward, move.
Move.
Yeah.
Keep moving.
So, carry is the new smoking is so harmful to the body.
We are not meant to sit around.
We are meant to move.
And if somebody has a hard time, okay, the biggest bang for your buck is weightlifting.
Shortest investment, most benefits.
Hands down.
But if you're not, and some people have this powerlifting and crazy heavy weights in mind,
this is not what I'm talking about, but you want some resistance training.
But if this is not your jam and you just get off your couch and take a walk after every
meal you see already improvements and that's not hard.
And start with the things which are not hard for you and where you have fun or enjoyment.
And so you can stick to it and create a habit because like I said, it's not training and
exercising should be like brushing your teeth.
So we are talking about a habit.
You want to create a habit.
And one last time you remember you didn't brush your teeth in the morning.
Right, right.
It's never happening.
And what you do too with brushing your teeth, you have no emotions attached to it.
And I think that is an important part as well.
You don't get up and think about, oh, what toothbrush should I take?
Or what flavor of toothpaste do I like today?
Now you get up and you do it and you check it off.
And that's how you routine with the workout should be.
You just get up, you do your workout.
It's not about what outfit you wear, what kind of workout shoes you have, what music
you're playing.
You just set it up in the morning, for example.
It doesn't have to be morning.
I like to do it in the morning.
Yeah.
Done and do my day.
But whatever time fits your lifestyle, just put it in.
Put it in.
Don't overthink it.
Don't make it a science project.
What muscle group to hit and hit every muscle group.
Work it all.
But just get started.
That's a huge improvement.
You know, it's so funny because when I go to the gym, even myself, my little history
is I've been an athlete experiencing the health challenges and then getting over that and
then going to the gym.
I'll be on the treadmill and I can't run as fast as the next person or I'm not lifting
as much weight as I used to.
You see this guy over here, got 245s on there.
It can play a mental game with people.
How does one go to the gym and not get that mental game playing with themselves?
I know you mentioned starting a little, but what if someone is approaching the beginning
of the year, everybody has their New Year's resolution, it's like, I'm going to go to
the gym.
What can you tell people about going to the gym and not comparing themselves to people,
but really having a focus on their body style, what they need to do for themselves?
Oh, yeah.
So what I like to do is always set yourself some goals.
And then start journaling, writing it down.
So when you start writing down what you're doing, you see improvement every week.
So oh my gosh, last week I bench pressed 135 pounds and this time this week it was 145
or 155.
So you improve and that gives you the self-esteem and you see the success and focus on really
what you're doing.
Sometimes it's good to start out with a trainer if you don't have any experience.
So they can give you support and guidance and teach you the right form.
And when you start out and you never worked out, you have to create the neural pathways,
the muscle-mind connection, because you don't know the movement and it's really sad.
But if you don't use it, you lose it.
You see the stabilizer muscles get lost in the process and you get injuries.
We always want to prevent injuries.
So that's why it's always good to have a good foundation.
First, hire a trainer, have some support or a workout body that also keeps you accountable.
No excuse.
You have an appointment and then you show up and you feel more comfortable doing it with
somebody else, having a team.
And that's I think a good start too.
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Now, back to it.
That was a good start.
And these are what goes for somebody who's new to the gym, right?
You have been through different things where you got titles like Miss Florida, Miss USA,
Miss Universe.
Can you talk about that just a little bit before we transition?
Oh, yeah, of course.
So, yeah, I'm from Germany.
Was a banker there.
I had my issues and I put a hard stop on everything and went to the United States to learn English.
I fell in love with the country and I'm like, oh, I want to stay.
And what happened was my immigration lawyer at the time said I can't get a work visa as
a banker.
I have no special skills.
So I'm like, well, that's true in banking, but I can't lift things up and put them down
really well.
I can bodybuild.
And so she said, if you can get a world champion title for the United States, you can get a
green card.
That's crazy.
That's how I got into it.
So I'm like, well, that's a stretch.
But the only thing I can do is try.
And the funny thing with me is, trust me, I have a lot of fears, but I do it anyway.
So here I am, prepping for Miss Florida.
And it's funny when you compete and when you prep for a certain competition, you get,
again, dialed in.
There is nothing else.
I had this tunnel vision and I was just literally keeping focused on my diet, exercising, resting,
repeat.
And sometimes I just focused on that one day.
I'm like, okay, I'm able to do this today.
What I do tomorrow, I don't know, but today I can do this.
And that's how I added one good day after the other until I had a string of good days
and all of a sudden I had a competition in front of me.
So yeah, it gets very, how can I say, simple.
Life gets very simple.
There is no craziness.
You're very zen, so to speak.
You do the one thing.
And I don't know if this is also why I was successful because I was so focused.
I mean, I saw myself on stage.
I saw how I was standing up there and hitting my poses or doing my posing routine.
And the practice just of that brought me in better shape.
And the workouts, of course, were way more intense and way more effort.
And interestingly, what I learned in that time was sculpting bodies.
It's funny.
All I do all day long is scanning bodies.
And I think about, oh, how can this person would need more shoulders or this person would
need better glutes or I could shape those legs.
So it's funny because it became just my nature of scanning bodies and seeing how I can sculpt
them.
And I'm really good at this because I did it with myself and with many others.
And it's a form of art.
Other people paint pictures.
I can transform bodies.
I can sculpt them.
I can put, and it's so funny sometimes I actually say to people, OK, show me which body you
like or what shoulders you like or what, whatever, abs or, and then I know what the person has
in mind and I can dial the person in to get there.
Because body type is body type, you know, but I can work with that.
You know, it's so good that you said that you saw yourself on the stage.
And I think having a vision of your future self can really give you who you're being
in the present.
And then you bring yourself to the present and you start, your body starts to, you know,
work in accordance to who you see yourself being.
Absolutely.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
So, you saw yourself there.
You were successful in all those competitions.
What about the person that is looking to get into the competition?
Like, they just say that, you know, what we talked about earlier, like they're new to
it, right?
And they start to build their confidence and say, you know what, I think I'm going to try
this bodybuilding thing.
What's that shift like?
OK.
So of course, again, goal setting.
And then the measuring of success is a little bit more frequently, more dialed in.
So I can tweak the diet and exercise program accordingly.
So with clients who have healthy lifestyle in mind, the measurements are monthly.
I see where they're going.
If they're going in the right direction, and that's fine.
So I can dial it in.
And there is actually no, how can I say, like timeframe.
And when you get ready for a competition, usually we have a date, a special date.
And then I dial it in accordingly to that timeframe I have.
And of course, where the person is coming from.
If I have to, you know, dial them in and get rid of more body fat, the diet and the exercise
program is different to protect the muscle and get rid of the body fat than the person
who is already lean and we have to put on more muscle.
It's so individual.
And like I said, I do the diet and the workout program really special for that person.
So yeah, everybody's different.
Everybody's different, right?
So you say that there are people that sculpt pictures or pink pictures, but you sculpt
bodies.
So is this how house of shape was started?
Can you talk about house of shape?
Yeah.
So, well, I started out as a personal trainer.
And what I saw by training, oh my gosh, I don't know how many hundreds and thousands
of clients, there is a limitation.
And I wanted to provide a better service because the training is just one part of the big picture.
And I saw that I needed to dial my clients into nutrition and stress management and rest
and recovery.
So I got a health coaching degree and I built programs where I look at all those aspects
so they can sustain and maintain whatever goal they have.
So I mean, to be honest with you, I can, I mean, shred everybody down and crush them
at the gym.
But I want them to maintain their shape and know what to do when the holidays come around
or when they go on a trip or when life gets lively.
So what do I do?
How do I maneuver around it?
How do I keep my shape and stuff like that?
So that's when I started house of shape.
And that's like one pillar of the company.
And then the other thing is, that's where the competition comes in.
I get women ready for their dress.
So I have a lot of brides.
They get ready for their special day.
So whatever dress they pick, I sculpt her the body accordingly to their dress so they
look perfect in their dress, whatever it is, anniversary birthdays.
But I have a lot of brides.
And then what I also do is I help clients to get ready for surgeries.
So if you need like rotator cuff repair, a hip replacement, knee replacement, those
kind of things, I mean, I always like to have as much time as possible right before the
surgery.
So I can prep them.
I clean up the diet.
I want them to have a high protein diet.
I get anti-inflammatory diet, anti-inflammation is super important right before the surgery.
It always is, but getting them ready.
And then I practice the exercises, what they're going to do in rehab afterwards.
So again, like I said before, they have this muscle memory so they know what's coming
and it's so much easier for the brain because when you are having a surgery or when you
are sick and in bed, just five days, you're going to lose five pounds of lean muscle.
And you know how hard it is to regain those muscles.
So I prep them.
I train them.
Like I said, if they have a knee replacement, for example, the healthy leg, I train them
and we do strength training so they're able to get out of bed as fast as possible to be
able to go to the bathroom to function in the house.
So yeah, this is like the third part of my company.
And that reduces the recovery time too as well.
Absolutely, yes.
Exactly.
What is important?
I've had my stance with being in the hospital, but I think because of my past and the sports
and all that kind of stuff, it kind of helped me when I had to deal with the hospital and
recovery.
Oh yeah.
And then, you know, it was steadily going to the gym even after my 30s and things like
that.
It helped me.
I think my nephew even said, he was like, you know, I think, uncle, because you were
an athlete and all this kind of stuff, I think it helps you with, you know, dealing with,
I don't know why I gave him that voice.
I'm sorry, but it helped me with dealing with recovery times of like the surgery that I
had and things like that.
So that's really the next point that I want to talk about is like really bringing your
money body and soul into alignment.
What would you say about that?
So oh my gosh, it's huge and it works all together.
So when you have healthy muscle tissue, you have again, more self-esteem or like even
the cognitive function is improved.
It works so much better and you're more resilient.
You can have stress so much better.
And like I said, I go deep into recovery and stress management because most of the time
we don't understand that we are always in a fight, flight or freeze mode.
And we are operating in the sympathetic nerve system and we are not even digesting properly
in that state.
And we only talk about cortisol and yada yada.
Cortisol should be high in the morning so you get up and have energy, but then during
the day it should go down.
And we, because we are bombarded all day long and bombarded with text messaging, emails,
taking care of the kids, going to work, being in meetings.
It never ends and this all causes stress and you never in the parasympathetic nerve system
in the rest and digest mode.
And that makes such a big difference how you handle stress and the more you work out and
the more you're active, there is like this huge benefit where you bounce basically into
like just by breathing.
So interesting.
When you exercise and you focus on breathing, you bounce into the parasympathetic nerve
system and you're more relaxed.
Really?
Taking time.
Super interesting.
That is.
Taking time during meals and having no phone, no nothing and really focusing on that chewing
and having that meal and having a break.
Again, this is like the full circle, soul, body, mind gives you so much more benefit
and you're actually digesting the food and it gives you satiety.
It gives you a feeling of happiness, of being full, of being content, being grounded and
we need this nowadays so much.
We are never grounded and yeah, it's a big part.
When you were talking about that, it was so in my mind.
Here I am.
I don't see, I don't even have my phone near me because I don't want it to be a distraction
because I want to be focused and present.
And that's like when people are driving to somewhere, they got their phone, well, the
phones are in the car now so they can eat while they're talking on the phone or driving
somewhere.
It's like a whole bunch of just busyness that's happening where you're just not, like you
said, just kind of relax and just chill and eat or just chill and relax or bringing that
body, soul and mind into alignment, just being present and whatever you're doing at
the moment.
Well spoken.
Oh my gosh.
Ask people whenever the last time present.
Like literally enjoying the now.
Most people are not.
And that's what causes depression and anxiety as well.
People who are living in the past and having regrets and being stuck there are always
depressed and people who are worrying about the future are always anxious.
So they have this bouncing back and forth and they're never present in the moment.
It's a huge problem.
And that can, that can mess up, that can mess with your physical being as well.
Right.
Oh my gosh.
Causes a lot of inflammation, causes a lot of, like I said, the chronic stress, that's
the killer.
That's where we get all the health issues.
And again, for example, if you say after a meal, I'll take a walk outside and it's just
me, boy, is this re-energizing, refreshing and grounding.
And this is where you have that part of keeping your mind at peace and give it a break.
And you will be so much more productive.
It's a funny thing.
People say, oh, I like my clients.
I hear it all the time.
I don't have time for this.
If you take the time for those five or 10 minutes taking a walk, you're so much more
productive afterwards.
Yeah.
Five, 10 minutes, don't matter.
Create the time.
And like you said, like it doesn't have to be this big old thing, like take five minutes,
take 10 minutes, you know, enjoy the nature and just be present with, you know, the moment.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people, I shouldn't say that.
Let me take that back.
I don't think a lot of people.
There is a shift with being okay and present with you, who you are, or doing things naturally.
There is a thing that I think you talk about.
And let's talk about your, is your PDF on your website.
And you talk about, you say, Captain Obvious, right?
You have these Captain Obvious points and it's all natural versus what the big thing
is either is it WeGovie or a Zempik.
Zempik, yes.
We're, we're tight.
Yeah.
And it's meant for one thing, but a lot of people are using it for another.
What do you have, what do you have to say about that?
Oh, it's an interesting topic.
So, okay.
If I have a client who is morbidly obese and we all know being morbidly obese causes
death and there is no other option, I understand to take those medications because the side
effects of those are less than being morbidly obese.
Oh, really?
Here is a purpose for that.
Yes.
Okay.
I understand.
Yeah.
So, I'm not totally against them, but I have clients, they want to get rid of 10 pounds.
No, we are not going taking medications for people who actually, or taken it away from
people who really need that and use it to lose 10 more pounds.
No, no, no.
So you can use natural things out of nature who help you to feel more satiety, to slow
down the emptying of the stomach and they're very simple things.
For example, if you create your plate, you always want to have a robust protein and you
eat the protein first because protein regulates or helps regulating ghrelin and ghrelin is
the hunger hormone.
So you feel fast or full and you have a higher satiety effect.
And also when you digest protein, you have a thermogenic effect, meaning 20 to 30 percent
of the protein just gets burned off by digesting it.
Huge.
Carbs is 3 to 5 percent, fat is zero.
FYI.
So.
Good to know.
So protein first.
So then always go to having a bunch of fiber.
There is soluble and unsoluble fiber.
Binds with water so it makes your stomach fuller and the emptying of the stomach is slowing
down.
Same as semi-glutide, whatever you want to, or zempic, whatever you want to call it.
Soluble fiber.
So that's, for example, chia seeds or, yeah, all kinds of seeds.
But one thing, vegetables, vegetables, seeds, but I just loaded up with vegetables.
And then the other thing are the unsoluble fibers and they're like the broom cleaning
out the colon.
So that is like a buffer in your digestive system.
So you're not spiking as much insulin.
So you're not having those up and downs in the cravings.
Huge.
So fiber is a really big support of that.
And then of course you want the healthy fats on your plate as well.
Untyne inflammatory, very healthy for your brain.
And that keeps it calm, keeps your mind calmer.
And like I said, the food thoughts, the cravings are not happening with healthy fats.
They're coming from sugar.
The sugar is the one what gets your brain going with the dopamine hits.
That you need, yeah.
So another thing, yeah, what you can do to use natural things as substitute for zempic
is for example, super simple apple cider vinegar.
So if you make a little salad with apple cider vinegar right before your main dish and eat
that, it slows down the emptying of your stomach as well.
Super simple, nothing to it.
It's an easy thing to do.
Super simple.
And I think there's a theme there for you.
Keep things super simple.
In another episode we talked about stress and I talked about growing up with a grandmother
and a mother who drank apple cider vinegar.
This was back before I even knew, people really knew about apple cider vinegar.
And that was the thing that my grandmother was, she was thin and tall.
But she would drink apple cider vinegar.
And so just for people to know apple cider vinegar does help with the cravings.
Absolutely.
Yeah, big time.
Now, please don't drink it straight out of the bottle.
Always diluted in water.
With water, yeah.
But I like how she said drink apple cider vinegar.
Because it can be kind of harsh.
Kind of harsh.
Right.
So I just want people to know that they're, oh is it because not a bad thing?
I know celebrities talk about it and I know you work with celebrities as well.
But I know that celebrities talk about it and it's a thing that's happening in Hollywood
and all that kind of good stuff.
But there are natural substitutes to something like ozimpy.
Especially if you're not dealing with morbid obesity.
Correct.
Okay.
Good to know.
So in your captain obvious, in your PDF, you talk about the regular exercise, mindful eating,
stress management, much of that what we talked about.
And then we talked about things people are who are really busy.
Sleep quality.
Can you talk about that?
Oh yeah.
With your physical being.
Yeah, I love, love, love all those devices where you can measure sleep.
I think it's always, yeah, it's not awesome.
Like I just like to get back on it.
Now if you have a stressful day, you need more sleep.
If your day is not as stressful, you need less sleep.
It's again, very easy concept.
People get sometimes a little bit hung up with the devices and oh my gosh, my REM sleep
and my deep sleep wasn't very long this night and what's happening and I can't be functioning
and it's not good.
My score is not good.
But think about it.
If the body doesn't, during the sleep, you're cleaning up the memory bank.
You detox your body.
That's the longest time you have no food.
So you heal.
Now if you didn't have a stressful day the day before and you go to bed, there is not
a lot of work to do.
So it's okay if you're not having the same amount of deep sleep and REM sleep as you
had another night where you had a very stressful day, the body needs a longer recovery time.
So it goes accordingly to your day.
Now deep sleep is where the body heals.
REM sleep is where the brain cleans up.
So and then you have the light sleep.
Always think about when you go and ideally it's seven to eight hours per night.
When your goal is to sleep, let's say eight hours, don't count it as like, oh I go to
bed at this time and I go and I get up at this time and these are eight hours.
You actually need to stay longer in bed to get the eight hours of sleep depending on
how fast you fall asleep, how many times during the night.
So think about the add an hour to it.
Just saying if you're looking for the ideal sleep.
Now I'm really into healthy sleep for my clients because think about it.
And I thought this when I was younger, oh I catch up on the weekend.
Or you know, I sleep when I have time.
That's our mindset.
Yeah, you cannot.
If you lost a night of sleep, it's lost.
And it's very, very harmful for the body.
It causes the brain not being able to recover to clean up.
Memory is getting worse.
And interestingly, the day after a bad night's sleep, immediately you are going to be insulin
resistant.
Meaning that low carb day.
Oh yes.
Wow.
And the sleep is not responding very well with the insulin at all.
So it's hugely important to really focus on sleep and that's like every night.
Now what is also important, sometimes people don't need a lot of sleep.
Like I said, depending on their lifestyle, but what is important is the timing.
You should go to bed always at the same time.
You shouldn't bounce around.
Is that for the circadian rhythm kind of thing?
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's the circadian rhythm.
It's your inner clocks and the body loves consistency.
So that is an important point if it comes to sleep hygiene.
Always going to the same time to bed and getting up at the same time, even on weekends.
It's very beneficial.
Beneficial.
So all you late night sleepers go to bed early.
Or maybe a late night sleeper sleep like always at the same time.
Always at the same time, right?
Because there are people that go to bed at one o'clock and don't wake up till eight
or whatever it is.
As long as they're sleeping at the right at the same time, every time.
And I know that this shows me, has showed me and I don't wear it all the time because
I just don't want to get addicted to it.
But it does let me know that where my deep sleep is, my REM and all that kind of good
stuff.
I can attest that it does work because I know that when I'm in deep sleep or when I have
dreams, it shows me.
And then when it shows me where I am in my REM or how many hours or how many minutes I
was in the REM or the deep or how much time I was awake.
And the next day when it shows like maybe I had like four hours of sleep altogether,
even when I was in the bed and going to sleep, four hours, right?
And I wake up the next day and I'm drained and I'm really tired.
So on that day, then people should do what?
Do you say get some, get more carbs?
That's the day where it's a very low carb day.
It's a low carb day.
Okay.
And the funny thing is we crave the carbs because we have no energy because we had a
crappy sleep.
We were bringing carbs to get going and you can't have them.
That's like the worst you can do.
This is when people struggle with weight loss and they are stuck on a certain weight.
Usually their sleep is off and they're insulin resistant and no matter what they do, they
can't get rid of it because the metabolism is not working.
There it goes.
Yep.
There it goes.
And that's where the gut is supposed to show up for the fellas out there.
Cut it out, right?
Well, this is one of the things that I struggle with sometimes is with the sleep and then
waking up and not having, well, I'll cook the way I want to cook, right?
But now I know that there's an alternative to eating the carbs because I love pasta,
but sometimes when I'm not sleeping well, the best thing to do is kind of, you know,
stick with the proteins and... Yeah, that day.
I'm okay with that.
It's just like if you know, you can see what, that's an easy fix.
So it's really not like it's such a nice hack and you can really maintain your weight and
you understand why you're doing it.
And that's the big thing that, like you said, it's a hack.
And if you understand, like if you're having a bad night's sleep, the next day, you know,
stick with the carbs, do more proteins and things like that, that can help you with the
maintenance of your weight and you're better off because you're washed up ahead.
Yeah.
That's pretty amazing.
I like to know that and I'm sure that people would like to know.
They down know and it's a new thing for people that didn't know.
So that's pretty awesome.
So Angela, everything that's coming from you is really easy and really simple to get,
to have happen when you're really working on yourself, your physical self.
We got the spirit of body, mind and bringing that into an alignment.
And it's just, I don't know, it's just really, talking to you is really relaxing.
I thought maybe, you know, she's a bodybuilder and, you know, maybe it's not going to be
that way, but it's very relaxing talking to you and the knowledge that you're sharing
is pretty awesome.
Oh, thank you.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome.
How do people get in contact with you?
Yeah, you can find me on social media as health coach Angela and otherwise on my website,
houseofshape.com.
And we'll definitely, you know, add all that information in our description and when everything
goes out.
But one of the things that I do with my guests and is there anything that you want to share
for your last remarks, a story, a saying, anything for, for whatever you want to share?
I think that's to all the listeners out there.
I hope you understood my message and I want everybody actually to start today to get off
that couch and put all what they heard in action and get moving.
Get in action, get moving, get off the couch, get off the sleeper chair, whatever it is,
and get moving.
Angela, thank you so much.
I mean, it's been a pleasure.
I'm glad that we got the chance to link up and have this interview.
You've been amazing and very delightful to talk to and what you had to share was awesome.
So thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
It was a pleasure.
You're very welcome.
You stay safe.
I know that all the hurricane season is about over, I guess, but you know, you could see
to stay safe down there and all the listeners, listen, go ahead and check out our open, our
Facebook group, The Thrive World Journey, where you can catch up with the conversations
that we have.
One with Angela.
We also have some shorts for you to get the nuggets of the conversation.
So make sure you check into the Facebook, The Thrive World Journey.
And again, thank you, Angela.
And let's make thriving our new normal.