021 - Why Diets Don't Work

Marisa:   0:00
Hello, action takers. Welcome to Live Blissed Out, a podcast where I have authentic conversations with business owners and subject matter experts to help us get the scoop, the 411 and the low down on a variety of topics. Tired of hesitating or making decisions without having the big picture? Wanna be in the know?  Then this is the place to go. I'm your host, Marisa Huston helping achieve bliss through awareness and action. Thanks for joining me. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. This podcast should not be considered professional advice. This is Episode 21. Wanna know why diets don't work? We'll talk about that. My guest is Jonathan Van Arsdale with J. V. A coaching. Jonathan has been a personal trainer for over 19 years and has been a health and life transformation coach for five years,.  He is married to his beautiful wife, Kirsten, and has the cutest little spitfire of a daughter, Nia, who is four. He has been involved in sports, from football to bodybuilding, his journey every day with personal development is what helps him be a better husband, father and man. And that is what he's most proud of. He is currently working with others to transform their thoughts and behaviors around eating self esteem and finding their purpose in health and in life. His transformative class called Why Weight is designed to change people's mindsets so they can overcome their struggles with their health and fitness goals. For more information, call 7204341837 Or send an email to [email protected]  

Marisa:   1:52
Hey, Jonathan, it's great to have you on the show today.

Jonathan:   1:55
Hey, thanks Marisa.Great to be here with you. Appreciate it.

Marisa:   1:58
I think this is gonna be a fun conversation because, you know, everybody is always looking for ways to get back in shape after the holiday season. And I think that every year we go through the same challenge. We decide that we're gonna go on a diet. We're going to get very strict about it. We're gonna work out, we're gonna watch what we eat, and we're gonna discipline ourselves. And then after the end of January, everything falls by the wayside. Everybody goes back to their routine.

Jonathan:   2:26
Oh, yeah, I think it's greater than 50% will give up by the end of January, and I think by the end of February it's another 30% like 35%. About 15% of people carry on through March, and then you have another percentage that drop off then as well.

Marisa:   2:41
So then the well intended actions that we set for ourselves in the beginning of the year goes away. And so I know that you and I talked about the fact that we believe diets don't work. I'd like to dive more into that and talk about why do you think that is?

Jonathan:   2:59
Oh my gosh. So there's so many different aspects to it and a couple different biological reasons that prove why they don't work for one. When we are essentially going into a dieting mode, we're not allowing ourselves to eat whatever we want or what our body craves. We go into a starvation mode. Our brain releases a chemical that has us essentially searching for more food or when we get the opportunity to eat. It's releasing this chemical that says you better get all that food in. You better get as much food and as you possibly can and we call that the last Supper. We're talking about like Thanksgiving, right? Yeah. It's a perfect example. Because if you just said Thanksgiving and the person that says that, Well, it's Thanksgiving, that's my day off. So I'm gonna eat as much as food as I possibly can because I'm going right back on. You know, I'm gonna be strict again. And so we, you know, shovel this food in our faces that we feel full, we don't feel good. And chances are we don't even know if the food tastes that great either. We just know that. You know what? I don't know what I'm going to do this again. So I'm gonna shovel as much food as I can in my mouth. Well, there have actually been studies dating as far back as the 1920's, where they would take soldiers and see what would happen if they starved them. They signed off on this and they'd starve themselves. And then you have the opportunity with all this food in front of them. Let's see what they do, Let's see how they react. And the soldiers were already in great shape. You know, slender guy, slim guys never had any eating problems to begin with, and yet they would still gorge themselves with as much food as they could possibly get in because of this chemical. We found out later that the brain is releasing that says, you better get as much of that. And as you can now, the problem with dieting from a biological standpoint and as mental standpoint is, will say, Well, I just don't have enough self control. I was a disciplined enough. I wasn't dedicated enough to this diet or two myself. So I'm gonna beat myself up now because I over eight and now I feel like crap. So I either continue to keep eating that way or I knock myself. I fell off the horse, so I better get back on the wagon and you repeat the cycle, and we think it's our own fault. We're really fighting against our own biology when we do that, so it's not just discipline. We're fighting our biology here, and you know another thing. The biology of the body is when we constantly are in flux. We're dieting. We're not dieting. We're dieting. We're not dieting. Our body eventually likes to go back to its step when our bodies always attempting to get back to its balance. It's balanced point, you know. We've heard about people, the alcohol in acidic pH scale, right? That's real popular right now, like drinking alcohol in water, for instance. The body's always working back to get to this homeostasis point, or this point in the middle, where everything works. Ideally, everything works through balance, so we don't actually become acidic or fully alkaline. We contend slightly towards one direction or the other. We stayed neutral. That's our body's pH works. So our bodies always attempting it back to that balance. Well, we're constantly dieting. Our body will literally go into a point where we are slowing our metabolism down. I mean, I've had clients that have just dieted for years, and they're like, How many calories did you eat it, you know, today? Well, about 1400 they're still not losing weight, you know. Oh, my gosh. That is not enough food or they're eating 800 calories. Still not losing weight. They're still holding onto it, and they're going in and out of this dieting phase because their metabolism is also matching what their bodies given to him. So it's conserving and surviving. So we put our body in the survival mode. It starts to conserve. And so that's a big biological reason why diets don't work.

Marisa:   6:26
Yeah, and don't you think that it also has to do with the fact that when we tell our minds that we are not supposed to eat this because this is going to be too many calories and therefore I'm going to gain too much weight? Then it's almost like you crave it more when you can't have cake or you can't have ice cream. Even though you don't normally eat that much cake and ice cream, it's like, What do you mean? I can't have that, And then it's like you want more bits because you're telling yourself you can't have it. Don't you think that the mind plays tricks on you that way?

Jonathan:   6:56
Well, absolutely. Absolutely a huge one right there, you know. I mean, I was reading a story about this gal who swore she love birthday cake. She had cravings for birthday cake every time she had it. She did, like, three pieces of, like, big pieces. A birthday cake, you know, because she wasn't sure when she would get it again. It's like I just have a weakness with birthday cake. We've all said that right? Like I Oh, I have a weakness with Cheetos, or I have a weakness for you know, salty or sweet, or have a weakness with chocolate, whatever may be. And when we're not allowing ourselves to make peace with food, we're not allowing ourselves to have, like, unconditional acceptance of it and of ourselves that way, then that's what it could look like. Well, the same gal when she finally started making peace with food and allowing herself to say okay, if I want a little piece of birthday cake or a little bit, I'm gonna have it. She got to the point where she was like, You know what? I don't really even like it. You know? I don't really like the taste of it that much. It was just as you said the feeling of I can't have it. I'm not allowed to have it. So when I do get to have it, I'm gonna go ahead and just gorge. And it probably related to a memory of hers, whether it's her having an awesome birthday when she was 45 or six years old, these things usually correlates to something that happened earlier in our lives. So I've got another client. He would eat. Reese's peanut butter cups do that has this craving for it, and he finally identified that for him, it represented it. The memory that it first came up from was sitting around watching a movie with his family. And they would all be Reese's peanut butter cups in a big glass of milk. Yes, and so he had this great memory of connecting with his family, watching a good movie together. And so for him, it represented this connection. He yearned for, in other words, when he'd feel lonely or disconnected. And I know we've all had that experience as humans right? We withdraw from society a little bit. Things maybe aren't going well. Well, he would reach for Reese's peanut butter cups because our sense of taste relates so close to to our sense of smell, which is, you know, some powerful triggers and anchors which relates to our memory. And so he discovered that Oh my gosh, that's why I crave this. The craving is related to the memory or really what it is. I'm just craving connection. We create all these connections with food that means something else rather than it's just food. And yes, you can still enjoy it. It can still taste good.

Marisa:   9:06
That is so true, because think about it when you gather around with friends. There has to be food there. It's almost like this pressure where everybody's got to bring food, everybody's got to eat food. And if you even think about little activities, like watching a movie, and you were talking about how we relate things with food, I mean, a lot of people can't even imagine watching a movie without a double popcorn because the smell of the popcorn hearing it pop and knowing that that was a memory that you've always had. You go to the theater, you order popcorn, you sit there and you enjoy it. You feel like you're being punished. You're not having popcorn while watching a movie because it's just part of the experience.

Jonathan:   9:42
Yeah, yeah, it's so true. That's a big one. People grow up with is you know, all of our connection and family gatherings revolve around food. So you know, we have this huge meal for dinner or this huge buffet or banquets or potluck or whatever it is. And it's really about the connection with our family. Yet we make it about the food, and it's okay to have the food. It's when we make it more than it is when it starts to become a bit of an issue. Yeah, there you have different kinds of eaters and many of us there more than one. Like, you know, people eat for reward people that eat for control, like you said, Well, I'm told I'm not supposed to have it, and I don't know what I'm gonna have it again, So I'm gonna do it now. By golly, you told me I couldn't. So I'm going to and then you have the the eating for security or safety. It usually comes from a traumatic experience, so I'm eating to keep myself safe. And then there's eating for stress, comfort food. We hear that all the time though we're still reaching for food or something external are outside of ourselves to make us feel a certain way, rather than realizing that I'm choosing how I feel or how I create that myself from inside.

Marisa:   10:47
Yeah, and it's amazing how complicated this gets in terms of how the mind works. Because even when you think about childhood, for example, some of us grew up where if they put food on your plate, you were told you had to eat every morsel that was on your plate. You could not stop even though you were full, and that then as an adult becomes something that is hard to change because you just feel guilty like Mama said I had to finish what was on my plate, and it's hard to even change that little habit. So there's just a lot of connections that are made from very early on that manifest itself throughout our lives and don't play a role in how we eat and how we enjoy food in our lives. Food is one of those things where we can't eliminate it. We have to eat. It's not like we can say stop eating. That's not an option. But it's really in how we eat, how we allow food to take part in our lives. Or we can still enjoy it, but not abuse it, so that then we have, as you mentioned balance and we understand then how to incorporate it so that we can still make it enjoyable and fun and have experiences and memories, but still be able to eat in a way that allows us to sustain health and feel good about ourselves inside and out.

Jonathan:   12:00
Yeah, that's perfect. It does. It can get really convoluted. A lot of times you don't even realize what we're doing, you know, like the actions and thoughts. And so I've gotta look for the best diet for me. Well, that guy didn't work. So now I'm gonna do this diet and that diet. It didn't work. So I'm going to do this diet. And who is the common denominator through all that? So you know we are, And that's perfect. Yes, we have to eat to survive. And that's why it it is very challenging for a lot of people to come to that realization. I talk about this all the time in personal development. I do a lot of volunteering, of course, as the coach, and I work with a lot of people that have done a lot of personal development, and a lot of person development will teach usvwhat the issue is. You've identified it so switch, change. Stop making excuses  and change. Well, what if the person hasn't identified where it came from in the first place? Just doing that with food is not necessarily that simple because, like you said, it's not just well, just give it up. I'll just quit eating well, that won't work. It's not like I'm addicted to video games, you know, So there's an avoidance there or nicotine or even alcohol. And yes, I'm not saying those are easy things to quit. I'm not saying that addictions or addictions, then we all have an addiction of some sort. The difference is you can live without those addictions with food or with living without food is not an option. So what you mentioned earlier you know about the beat, all the food on your plate. That's what I grew up with to the point where my grandpa would take meat and he was well meaning Well, attention. You know, we'd go to Furs. I know. If you guys remember that cafeteria. I think it's since been closed down. First was like all the rage. I was used to love it in the eighties and you take me to furs. And if I eat all my food at the cafeteria, he'd take me to get a toy so I could eat all my food and then all the desert because I was a growing boy, right? So then you take me to get a toy as the reward for finishing all my food and ski grew up in the Great Depression. So it was, Hey, when you have food was something to be grateful for, something to be abundant. And you gave as much as you possibly could in that time, cause you don't necessarily know when your next meal or how much of your next meal was coming. You may only get rice the next meal or beans, or, you know, if you're lucky. Yes, some of these things were a luxury. So that was also the generation that would eat a lot of liver,

Marisa:   13:59
All the parts. Any part that was the animal had to be eaten because you didn't want to waste anything,

Jonathan:   14:06
That got passed down to my dad who in turn you know what?  Told me the same thing. You got to finish all the food on your plate and what it goes against again. I'll bring up the biology here. And what's so cool is I have the best teacher in the world. Marisa, I have a four year old little girl. She just turned 4, Nia. Nia will ask for what she wants. You know, she has enough food from us and she'll ask for what her body needs as a toddler. And some days it's a lot of carbs carbohydrate, carbohydrate and of course, me being the guy that I am and you know, being in the body building, I'm going like, Don't you need to eat some protein? No, you need to eat some turkey or you need to eat some this and inherently, though after a few days time or even the end of a week, it'll balance out for her. She'll ask for I want protein in the next day. It's carbohydrates and protein. She's getting her fruits in there. She's getting her veggies, that kind of stuff. She's asking for what she needs to, and and so we honor that. And I catch myself saying, Oh my gosh, I'm doing what my parents did and also starting to reward good behavior with Reese's pieces. Wait a minute. No, no. Let's not reward her for going to the potty by giving her candy. Never reward is she doesn't pee in her pants. It's environmental. Your reward is kind of the intrinsic. So what's interesting is that we are taught that and got away from what we inherently are born with. All of us are born as intuitive eaters. We know what we need. Think about a baby. The baby wants breast milk. So we come into this world knowing what we need to nourish our body and to survive. And so a lot of us will play this game of like, Well, I just don't know what to eat. Well, I just don't know what to do. Well, I don't. Well, actually we do immediately if we listen to our bodies. Most of us were so detached from our bodies that we don't even get a chance to see like body. What are you wanting? What are you asking me for? What am I supposed to give you? Instead, we fight against it. I think it's higher than 80% now of girls are on their first diet before middle school. And I'm not saying don't eat healthy. It's having all the healthy things available for someone, and for a kid they will reach for that. Typically, we have a house full of soda pop, sugar in this, that and the other. Well, the kid's gonna reach for what's available, so that's all they have available. That's what we're going to eat there, going like, how do I get my carbohydrates? And subconsciously, of course, I'm gonna get my protein and that my fats and everything. So what happens is you've got all these kids, though, that start before they even hit middle school. They've done their first diet. And so they've been told, Oh my gosh. I've gotta watch what I eat. Watch my body. Otherwise I'll get fat. People won't like me. I won't like me. This means this about me. And then that's all diets do. So diets come from lack. Diets come from scarcity. We're taking away something and we don't grow from taking away from girl from adding to our working with

Marisa:   16:43
Yes, and in fact, I remember a very long time ago and it's always stuck with me. Somebody said, and I don't know where I heard this diet is die with a T. Yes, and it made me think about going okay, that's not very pleasant. Nobody wakes up and goes, Hey, I'm going on a diet. This is awesome and they want to go on a diet for many reasons. It could be physical, It could be mental. There's a lot of reasons why we want to lose weight. But at the end of the day, I think most people would agree that if when we lose weight, we feel good. But the process of losing weight is not something that most people enjoy, because again it's going back to that whole mindset of that means I've got to limit myself. That means I have to cut. I have to take away and nobody enjoys that. And so then it's not sustainable because it's a habit that you have to keep going out and you almost look at it is a sacrifice rather than an enjoyable process.

Jonathan:   17:38
Right? It is, and it's glorified. We glorify it all the time on social media. And here's the thing. There are aspects of it. I'm a body builder, so I go. I do a diet getting ready for a show. However, I know it's for a finite period of time.  It is not sustainable, and I don't look like that. I don't look shredded year round because it's not healthy to be that. And to do that for a long sustained period of time. And we glorify that all the time by looking or promoting that we see that all the time. And the problem is, it's not sustainable. And yet you know we'll celebrate like Oh my God, I've been on this diet and lost 40 lbs.  I'm like, great discipline, man, way to commit to yourself way to be consistent. Here's the catch. How many times, first of all, have you done that? And sometimes people will say I've lost 40 lbs before. Well, I've never lost 40. I've lost 30 or whatever. Okay, what's the plan, though? After you're done with the diet

Marisa:   18:33
That's exactly right.

Jonathan:   18:35
Have you learned to sustain yourself? Because just saying I'm going to just continue to say no. All these things is that really realistic? And how has that worked for you before? So how is this possibly different for you now? Then it would be before So anybody listening if you've lost weight, I mean, I'm like, congratulations. I am truly way to be disciplined. Way to be consistent to allow yourself to commit to that. And I challenge you with how many of you are able to sustain it. And if you are sustaining it, you've probably realized that things about yourself you probably have let go of some meetings or things around food. And you may not even realize you've done it, that the food meant security for you. The food meant comfort for you. The food had an inherent meaning for you. And you may have just realized no food is food. And you may have figured that out yourself. But until we get to that point where we can truly make peace with food than diets are going to set us up for more failure, not more success.And I've heard the saying I eat to live, and some people say I live to eat. But I believe that there's something in between where you can still get excited about trying that new dish and going out with your friends and having a fun.

Jonathan:   19:44
Good

Marisa:   19:44
But not let it take over your life to the point where you feel horrible afterwards because you ate too much and you do it so often that you can't sustain a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle,

Jonathan:   19:56
Right? How about just I live? I'm living my life.

Marisa:   19:59
And also, I believe that in our society in particular, we have such abundance, right? You go to the grocery store, and it's still boggles my mind like I cannot believe how many options there are for everything. I mean, there's one aisle that's just nothing but barbecue sauce. And there's so many different options. I don't even know which one to pick anymore. So again, it's choice, choice, choice, abundance and availability and a lot of it. And we're also a society that likes to go buy in bulk. We go to these places where we buy more than we need, but then we feel like Oh my gosh, it's gonna expire. So now we got to just eat more of it. And so I think that perhaps portion might play a huge part in this as well. What's your take on portions?

Jonathan:   20:41
Yeah, my take on portions. Is that the ultimate solution here Marisa, like the ultimate. Like I've reached the place in my life where food and I are good. Yeah, and I'm good with my body and I can still make changes. That's not to say I'm not growing anymore. It's I'm still can make changes. Yeah, I'm doing. I'm at peace with it as I'm doing so the ultimate places where you're able to eat what you want to eat and listen to your body and listen to what your body's wanting and typically, what that means is we're allowing ourselves to eat throughout the day and those that grew up in that kind of that Depression era. I don't know if it was your experience, like you were talking about earlier, too, or people you've met Marisa, where maybe they don't eat breakfast at all or they have something, you know, just something tiny for breakfast If they need lunch, maybe it's a banana or some like that. And then they just engorged themselves for dinner. Yeah, and some bodies only gonna metabolize so much food when we have these massive dinners or even a massive work lunch or something like that. And we feel comatose. It doesn't really support our energy nor metabolism to do that so that the huge meals during the day, whether it's feeding, ah, craving or like, I know some people are having a crappy day so that you know what? All of a sudden, they're craving something that they view as crappy for them, and they're not just craving a little bit of it. They want to go just engorged themselves, and it's essentially feeds the guilt and initially may feel like comfort food. And then five minutes later, they feel guilty. So, you know, we're making a conscious choice to make it crappy instead of like, okay, a couple things happen that might not have been the best yet. I get to choose what to do with those, and we love those things to food. So eating throughout the day portion control is fantastic. The only way to truly do that successfully for a long period of time is to do like I said, is to make peace with food, make peace with diet rather than forcing yourself to do portion control. Truly checking in with is the reason I'm wanting more to feed something else. You know, I have my clients do that sometimes. Am I actually looking to feed something else or why do I want more? No, I just want more. OK, then have some more. Now, if you're still craving something to feel stuffed and full than what hole am I trying to fill with food, what extra meaning am I putting on food? And can I check in with with myself and ask that question?

Marisa:   22:49
Yes, and I also think perhaps (and again you would know this) doesn't our mind need time to reflect on what we just ate? And so a lot of times, if we are used to eating really fast, for example, then

Jonathan:   23:02
oh yeah,

Marisa:   23:03
we tend to eat more. Or I know there's like a study that says also the size of plate that you pull out also dictate how your mind reacts, and it wants more. When you have a bigger plate, you want to feel more of it in there and you have a smaller plate and you tend to eat smaller portions. There's this connection between how we view things and how we take in things that impact how we eat. So, for example, if you've got a really big plate and then you just gorge so quickly that in five minutes you've devoured everything, you're still likely going to be hungry because there hasn't been enough time for your mind to absorb the fact that hey, your stomach is now full. But it hasn't connected to your head yet. So then you just keep going. So there are definite habits as well that we grew up with in our families or environment or what that impact that don't you think?

Jonathan:   23:49
Absolutely. You know, people with multiple siblings don't know how much food we're gonna have available to us tonight, so I better eat quickly, and better, continue to keep eating. Our brain produces a chemical called CCK for short and essentially we eat super fast like that just like you said I was perfect. We haven't given our brain ample time to producer the stomach to connect with the brain to go. Hey, I'm full stop. You had enough. I'm good. Let's stop for now and we overcome that. So then we back that food up, essentially in our system. So it does play a role how we grow up. So, like you mentioned the small plate big plate things. So especially if it's the person that's finished all the food on your plate like I grew up that way, then getting that big plate of food. Okay, well, that's more food. I gotta finish, and I've got to eat all my food, so I better finish at all because it's covering this whole big plates. But if it's on a smaller plate, then yes, that is a way to kind of work with it. There are ways to work with, like how we grew up for. So, for instance, the client I was talking about that did the recess peanut butter cups, but he now does is uses a spoonful of natural peanut butter. Natural peanut butter's perfect. That's a great balance. Healthy fats very low in sugar. Not a lot of carbohydrates, and it usually helps us feel more full or more satisfied. And for him, it's like, Okay, he can go back and create that memory and go, Ah, peanut butter. Okay, that reminds me of when I was watching that movie with my family so they can reach for other kinds of foods that can replicate that. If that's your thing. And I would also say that's part of the work that's part of the other Part of it is realizing the memory or the association for how we grew up is just that the association, if it's not the food itself, that food did not create the experience, you created the experience. You created the story from what the food but the food was attached to,

Marisa:   25:35
You know, and it took a very long time for each and every one of us to build these experiences, these habits, this mindset that we each have, and I think why diets don't work is because we try to undo that overnight and it can't be done. When I say overnight, I'm talking...Let's say you want to lose 40 lbs okay. It'll probably take you 6-8 months to get there if you're gonna lose it in a healthy way. But then, as you mentioned, it's hard to sustain because we have not addressed the bigger picture, which is everything that we've grown up with in our habits. They haven't been erased per se because we've lived that all our lives. And so now it really is about taking the time to understand how we are aware of our habits and how we can change them long term, but yet in a sustainable way and in a way that is enjoyable for us so that we don't equate dieting with something negative, but actually a really great lifestyle of changing the way we think and eat and deal with food in our lives.

Jonathan:   26:36
Well, absolutely. You know, it takes time. I'm so glad you brought that up, Marisa. It is key to allow ourselves the grace and forgiveness of learning something new. If I've done something for 40 years or 45 years, a certain way or a minute, whatever five years doesn't really matter. Then keep in mind that I've been working through that belief and it may be a limiting beliefs now for that long, So unlearn it. In the case of 48 hours or 24 hours or a week or two expect myself to have it and even 90 days time. I could change some habits by then. But to truly change my lifestyle, I get to realize that this is an ongoing process. I'm peeling off layers of the onion, and as I'm letting go of those layers, most limiting beliefs, I'm putting in positive or supportive beliefs that support my journey. Now it takes both. Yes, it's letting go of the things that caused me to eat or how this eating belief about my physical self and then allowing myself to create a new story or a new person, or what I really like to tell people is your true self allowing your true self to come forth to bring that forth from within. Instead of letting the story be what dictates who you are, I'll just give a quick example. You know, somebody who grew up with they heard you're fat. You need to go on a diet. You need to do this. You do this. Let's say it's from their parents and their mom or whatever heard the same thing from their mom. It gets passed down often times well. The person still has this story about themselves. It's not true yet. They believe it. So it's self fulfilling prophecy. So they become fat or they eat to avoid being fat. But then they end up really just indulging to become overweight. And it proves that story correct over and over and over again. It's when we're willing to let go of that story about ourselves. That story will find a way to prove itself correct again and again and again because we've made that true about ourselves. Another reason why diets don't work. It feeds into that. It feeds that you are not enough syndrome. You're not good looking enough. You're not skinny enough. You're not healthy enough. It does exactly that. It feeds it

Marisa:   28:35
instead of what Mr Roger says. I like you just as you are. I really like that saying, because yes, we have to be happy with ourselves and find ways to make ourselves content. And whatever that is is different for everyone. You know when people are unhappy with their weight or how they feel or whatever. There's a deeper thing that's going on on the background in our minds. You put yourself down, You think I'm not good enough or whatever. There's a lot of stuff that goes on that you're thinking about, and so that is really what comes into play in as you were talking about. It starts with the mind. There's a lot of stuff that we need to address from that perspective. And so if people want to learn more about what you do and how you help you ball, get to those goals and be more happy with themselves and their outcome, how do they go about learning more about what you offer?

Jonathan:   29:28
Sure, thanks for asking me to. Best ways are you can call me 72 0 4341837 and you can also email me [email protected]. And then we'll have something with the show notes for this podcast for my website as well. So you guys can just click on it, and that's the best way to do that. I do offer a 20 minutes complimentary discovery call to see if there's a way where I can support you in your journey and help you out and see if it's a fit.

Marisa:   30:01
That's wonderful, Jonathan. I thank you so much for taking the time to share all this with us. It means a lot, and I know that a lot of people are wanting to achieve some goals for themselves, and they feel frustrated. I know there's a lot of us that have tried. Everything may be achieved that goal, but then went back to our old habits or what not and so just being able to address it in a deeper way so that we can stop that yo yo dieting as they say, and finally implement a strategy that works for our lifestyle and makes us happy. That's priceless.

Jonathan:   30:34
It is. It's so is because we're priceless, you know, because our physical self is a direct reflection of the rest of ourselves and how we feel about ourselves. We don't get one without the other, and all of it overlaps. How we feel about ourselves in the inside is reflected on the outside and vice versa. In so many ways and we don't get one without the other. Don't just get your mind without your body. We get all of these things work together in conjunction for our best Selves. And I would also encourage people remember there are 12 months in a year, not 11 or 10. So January might be getting started in order to do something or take off your eating plan. Whatever it is, I hope you listen to this. You got something out of it. Remember, Creating momentum is what keeps us moving and how to experience change all 12 months of the year rather than two months of the year. 10 months of the year is to keep the momentum and the planning going. Don't wait. Don't put off December and start in January. Don't put off July. Start in August. Our lives are a full participatory sport.

Marisa:   31:35
Yeah, Thank you so much, Jonathan. That is such a good point. I know it's helped me a lot, So I thank you so much for sharing this with us.

Jonathan:   31:42
Absolutely. My pleasure. Marisa. Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It's my pleasure to contribute any way I can.

Marisa:   31:48
Thanks, Jonathan.

Jonathan:   31:49
Thank you.

Marisa:   31:50
That's all for this episode of Live Blissed Out. Thanks for listening, and thanks to Jonathan Van Arsdale for being my guest. If you find value in our show, please visit liveblissedout.com to reach out, subscribe and share on social media. This show is made possible through listeners like you. Thank you. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward.