Radical Health Rebel

26 - How Women Can Reclaim Health, Strength, & Vitality with Allie Cass

February 06, 2023 Leigh Brandon Episode 26
Radical Health Rebel
26 - How Women Can Reclaim Health, Strength, & Vitality with Allie Cass
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Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Allie Cass explains many factors of women's health and weight loss, from her own personal experience and the experience of working with her female clientelle.

We discussed:
2:35

Allie's background

18:06

Why women feel completely lost and confused

31:50

The best dietary approach for women

36:53

Calories In versus Calories Out for weight loss

40:54

What roles do emotions, beliefs and thoughts play in our health?

50:55

Mindset

59:56

Hormones, Gut Health, Mindset & Metabolism

You can find Allie @:
Book a complimentary health audit call at the following link: https://alliecasshealth.youcanbook.me/

Website: www.alliecasshealth.com
Instagram: @alliecasshealth
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alliecasshealth

Support the show


Don't forget to leave a Rating for the podcast!

You can find Leigh @:
Leigh website - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/
Leigh's books - https://www.bodychek.co.uk/books/
Eliminate Adult Acne Programme - https://eliminateadultacne.com/coaching-program/
HEAL THEM Education Programme - http://healthemeducation.vhx.tv/
Radical Health Rebel YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/@radicalhealthrebelpodcast

[00:00] Allie Cass: Calories in versus calories out is one factor of the equation. But I always like to tell clients, and I didn't make this up, so I can't remember who said this, so I'm not going to take credit for it. But your body is not a bank account. It's a chemistry lab. And so we have all of these chemical reactions going on. We need vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, things like that to facilitate these reactions. And so what I try to help my clients understand is that there's a lot that goes into play there and your body needs the inputs in order to do that. And so it's not like we're just adding and subtracting calories like we would be for balancing a check book. So that's not really how your body works. At a very simplified view, sure. But if you look at it at a deeper level, that's not what's going on. So I think that while I think the calories in versus calories out and the Eat Less Move More was created with good intention to help people, I think that for some individuals, it definitely causes more harm than it does good.

[00:58] Announcer: Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel podcast with your host, Leigh Brandon. If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a five star rating and a warm review. Your opinions are important and your ratings help grow the podcast and help educate people to lead a healthier, more productive, fulfilling and happy life. This video is your thing. Please check out the Radical Health Rebel YouTube channel, where you'll find fun, bite sized clips from each episode. And now, here is Leigh, the radical health rebel with this week's podcast.

[01:37] Leigh Brandon: Ali Cass. Welcome to the Radical Health Rebel podcast. Thanks for coming on the show.

[01:42] Allie Cass: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

[01:45] Leigh Brandon: Awesome stuff. Awesome. So today's episode is entitled how Women Can Reclaim Health, Strength and Vitality with Ally Cass. And if you're listening or watching to this show, you're either a woman struggling with health challenges, either physical or mental, or, you know, a woman struggling with health challenges in state society. It's challenging to keep on top of everything and maintain a healthy lifestyle, whether due to all the toxins in our environment, conflicting health advice from authority figures, the psychological operations being carried out by governments and media, plus the everyday stresses of work and family life. So if you are a woman struggling with health issues or, you know, a woman who is struggling, then do not miss this episode and make sure you listen right the way to the end. So, to kick things off, Ali, can you share with the audience a little bit about you, your upbringing, your background, how you became interested in health and wellness, your professional education, your own health journey, and also a little bit about your career to date?

[02:50] Allie Cass: Yes, that's a lot, but absolutely. I grew up an athlete, so physical movement, competition, all of those things were very much a value for me from a very young age. Now, I say that with the caveat of no one taught me what it meant to truly be healthy. No one taught me how to fuel my body properly, how to manage my stress, and no one talked about at that point in time, right? This is kind of before the social media era, so no one was really talking about the importance of mental and emotional health and how that interplays with physical health as well. So I grew up an athlete, went to college. I played basketball at a D Three school for a couple of months, decided it was no longer for me, and made a Pivot. But during that Pivot, I was still living a very, very unhealthy lifestyle like most kids at university. I was drinking way too much alcohol. I was eating terrible food, if I was even eating at all. And all of this started to compound until probably two or three years later, where I just found myself at the highest weight that I've ever weighed, just super tired all the time, very reliant on caffeine, stimulants to just get myself up and going through the day. And I just felt not great, both physically and about myself. So that was really the catalyst for me to start kind of looking inward at my own health journey. Fast forward until when I graduated college and my mom was actually diagnosed with stage three brain cancer. So I moved across the country. I became one of her primary caregivers, along with my father. And that was when I really took a deep dive into what is the meaning of health. My mom was a very healthy person, outwardly healthy growing up. And so I was very shocked when she got this diagnoses. And, yeah, she made it about nine months and passed away, unfortunately. So it was in that process that I started to ask, why about everything? Like, why does someone get a diagnosis like that? What does it mean to be truly healthy? And of course, none of her doctors could give me an answer at all. And so I just started researching. And I think it was part of my coping mechanism, was to try to find some sort of answer, even though I knew I couldn't change the outcome. But attempting to try to understand what was going on and why this would happen to someone. So that way I could make sure it didn't happen to me, to anyone else that I love. And I basically fell down into what I refer to as the biggest rabbit hole of my life because I'm still way deep in the rabbit hole. And so basically, I started learning about Holistic, health, nutrition, things like you mentioned, environmental, toxins, even looking at things like here in the US. How our food industry, how the pharmaceutical industry, how that plays into health recommendations. And is that really congruent with what it means to have optimal health. And so I just started educating myself. I became super passionate on the topic, and so I simultaneously was also on this health journey myself because I was still realizing that I did not know what I was doing for my own health and well being. I hired a fitness coach just to kind of help me get back on track, and she actually ended up convincing me to do bodybuilding. So I did go through a stint of that for a couple of years, and it was great at the time. It served me in that period of my life. But I have since come back to a much more balanced place when it comes to health and fitness. And so, yeah, I started getting basically every certification that I could get my hands on. My personal training certification, nutrition coaching certification, integrative nutrition, health coaching certification, functional nutrition, and human metabolism, currently going through a mind body practitioner. So just all of these things. I became so obsessed with the holistic view of health and wellness, and it all is so fascinating to me, and it's such a passion of mine. So that is kind of my own journey. It really started with me, and then I saw the gap in health education from a systemic perspective and just within our society when my mother became sick. And then I experienced the transformation myself and became very passionate about helping other women live their best lives and show up as their best selves by empowering them with the tools and education that they need to be their healthiest self.

[07:10] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, I just want to dig a little bit deeper into the story. So tell me a little bit more about what life was like growing up.

[07:18] Allie Cass: Yeah, so I grew up, I think, like most average American families, middle class, you know, had a mom, had a dad, two sisters that were older than I was, played sports, went to school. It was very status quo, nothing crazy, nothing super exciting, was very high achieving as a kid, so good grades, trying to be the best at whatever it was that I was pursuing was very important for me. And it's definitely something that I've taken into adulthood. But yeah, just your very basic childhood, basically.

[07:54] Leigh Brandon: And what age did you kind of get into sports and athletics?

[08:00] Allie Cass: Gosh, I would say I've I mean, I've probably played a sport for as long as I could remember, maybe five or six. I, you know, did some gymnastics, some soccer, like most kids do. I did a little bit of dance, some competitive cheerleading. And then I grew up in a small town in Texas. So once I got to about middle school, I started playing volleyball, basketball, I ran track, and those were the kind of main sports that my school did. And there wasn't much else to do where I grew up, so I just kind of stuck with the athlete track. So, yeah, those were my three kind of main sports. But I've been involved in things even after I quit collegiate basketball, I still played club volleyball for fun, did intermural things, things like that. So I love sports, I love competition, and I love the camaraderie of having a team environment. That's something that is very much a value of mine as well.

[08:55] Leigh Brandon: So you played sports until you were what kind of age?

[09:01] Allie Cass: I was playing sports competitively until I was 18. I played a little bit of collegiate basketball my first season. I played for about two months. I kind of started falling out of love with the game. And that really bothered me because it was something I loved so much. And so that's when I knew that it was time for me to pivot, pursue other things, try something different competitively until I was 18, and then just for fun, on and off as an adult.

[09:29] Leigh Brandon: Sure. And at what point do you feel your health kind of started to suffer?

[09:36] Allie Cass: I would say when I stopped competing competitively, I didn't have that regular exercise routine. And that's with the caveat of saying that I don't know that my health was optimal while I was a competitive athlete. When I think back, if I would have had the tools and the education that I have now, or at least to some level of how to feel my body, how to recover properly, how to get better sleep, how to deal with stress, things like that, it makes me wonder how much better of an athlete I could have been. So I always say that I don't know that I was optimal at that point in time, but it was really after I was no longer in that competitive space, I was involved with other organizations in school and doing other things. And as I was in college, I actually studied abroad as well in Australia. And so that was a wonderful experience. There was a lot of unhealthy eating, a lot of drinking going on. So that kind of compounded pretty quickly for me during that period of life.

[10:34] Leigh Brandon: So you really took on the culture in Australia, then.

[10:39] Allie Cass: I did. It was great. I will say the culture wasn't a lot different from where I came from in Texas. There's a lot of that there as well. But yes, definitely immersed myself in the culture. And it was fun. It was very fun.

[10:55] Leigh Brandon: So from what you're saying up, it seems like it was around the age 18 that you stopped playing much sport and things started to kind of noticeably go downhill. Would that be right?

[11:09] Allie Cass: Exactly. Yeah. And it just kind of compounded from there.

[11:14] Leigh Brandon: And then at what point did you feel, okay, there's that light bulb moment, isn't there, where you think, Hang on a minute, this isn't right. I need to do something. At what point was that for you?

[11:26] Allie Cass: I would say that point came when I was 20 or 21. There was always that little kind of voice in the back of my head that was like, yeah, I don't feel my best. I knew that to be 19 2021 and feel tired, feel unhappy with the way that I looked, unhappy with the way that I felt, like, I just had that. Like, I'm way too young for this kind of thing. You always think like, oh, when I'm older, that's normal. Which now I know that that's also not normal. But yeah, I would say it was probably 20 or 21. And I kind of started feeling that I would start to do some kind of fitness routine that I would find online or I definitely went through my fair share of doing different diet programs like the Atkins diet. Low. Fat. All of the big things that were around in the early mid two thousand s. And it was really though, when I was 21, I had a friend who asked me if I wanted to go to this fitness convention in Dallas. And I was like, sure, that sounds great. So we went, and it was a bodybuilding show, but they also had an expo. And so we were walking around the Expo, and they had all these different companies handing out samples of their products or different gyms and things that were set up there. And I was like, oh, okay, this is really cool. And I remember we walked up to this one booth, and there was a woman there that was doing a raffle. And she was like, if you weigh yourself and get your body fat percentage measured, you get to enter the raffle. And at this point, I knew like, I knew that I was probably my most out of shape or the heaviest I had been, but I didn't really know the metric behind it because I wasn't actively weighing or measuring myself. I just knew that I wasn't in a great place when it came to my physical health. And I was like, no, thank you. I don't want to be in your raffle. And she was very persistent. She basically was like, Come on, come on, come on, and just kind of I caved. And I was like, okay, fine. And so I weighed myself. I did the body fat percentage, and my jaw dropped like it was on the floor. I knew that I had gained some weight. I knew that I wasn't taking care of myself. But when I actually saw the number behind it, I was, like, mildly mortified because it was just so far off from what I had been throughout that point or through up to that point in my life. And so that was kind of the catalyst for me of like, oh, I really need to do something different. Unfortunately, at that point in time, I still had no idea what that looked like or what I was supposed to do. But that was like that big trigger, that moment for me that I really remember thinking, like, oh, my God, my heart just sank. And I was like, oh, I've got some work to do. So I look back on that moment and I'm grateful now, but in the moment, I was not very happy be about it.

[14:11] Leigh Brandon: And so at that point, was that when you reached out and got yourself a coach?

[14:14] Allie Cass: I did. I actually did not get my coach until a year later, though it was shortly after that that my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And so I moved to Arizona, where she was living at the time with my father and became one of her caregivers. And so in that process, I would do at home workouts. I did beach body stuff, the Insanity, Sean T, all of those things, and I saw some success with that. I started counting calories, and I definitely was making shifts in the right direction, but still, it was very restrictive. And at that point in time, it was really an outlet for me. Like, it was my 1 hour a day that I could just focus on myself and not have to show up for everyone else in my family. And that was kind of the catalyst of getting me into it. And then it was after she passed that I realized, okay, I need help. I'm in a really dark place physically and mentally, and I need someone to help pull me out of that, and I just need a goal to work toward. Like, it was that athlete in me who's been so used to prepping all year for that competition that you're looking forward to in the future. And I didn't have that anymore because I wasn't an athlete. I had just graduated college. I was still figuring out what I wanted to do in the world and how I wanted to make a mark. And so I felt so confused and so lost. And so it was that need to just have a goal and have someone give me the plan. I just wanted to do it. I was like, I want to show up, I want to do it, but I don't want to have to figure out what to do. And yeah, so I got my first coach, and I was fortunate to have an amazing experience with her. And, yeah, she really helped kickstart the rest of what is now my own journey, and then my journey helping other people as well.

[15:52] Leigh Brandon: Awesome. And at what point did you decide, this is what I want to do for a living?

[15:57] Allie Cass: I would say it was after my second fitness competition. I was about a year and a half almost into my own journey with my coach. And again, I'm not hardcore into the bodybuilding fitness competition space anymore, but I just saw the level of transformation that I was able to make. And that extreme of a transformation does not always equal feeling your best. So I would definitely want to make that note for anyone who's listening. But I was just so shocked with how the little things done consistently over time, how big of an impact that had on me. And we could go into talking about complex health challenges where things do get a little more complicated, but the basics and the foundations are going to move the needle for so many people, and they move the needle so much for me. And I was just really surprised by how it wasn't really rocket science to get me at least to a point where I was feeling really good and I was looking better, my energy was better, I was happier. And so I was like, wow, like, more people need to know this, and more women specifically need to know this, because we're bombarded with messages every single day from commercials to social media about try this, try that, do this, do that. And regardless of what you do, there's always a message there telling you that it's not good enough or that you need to look more of this way or be more of this way. And so when I actually got to experience it with the help of someone, I was like, oh my God, I thought all of these other things were healthier. I thought this was the right way or the path. And it turns out that that's not exactly the case. And so I would say it was about a year and a half into that transformation, and I felt really at peace with how far I had come. And that's when I also decided that I wanted to kind of shift my mentality to, okay, I'm where I want to be now. How can I help? Bring along other people with me as well.

[17:55] Leigh Brandon: Got you. And that leads me on very nicely to my next question, which you actually started to answer anyway. So some women feel completely lost and just don't know where to start in order to reclaim their health. Why do you think that is? And what do you think that they need to do to get started? What's the first thing that people or women in particular should do?

[18:22] Allie Cass: Yeah, that's a great question. I think that part of the reason why so many of us are so confused comes down to a couple of things. I think it's lack of education growing up, right? Like, we're not taught how to care for our bodies. We're not taught how to deal with stress, deal with emotions, and we're not really taught the compounding effect that all of those things actually have on each other. And so I think people are really quick to discount their lifestyle or what they're experiencing and how that actually plays into their health and how they feel and how they show up. So I think there's definitely lack of education from an early age. And of course, we can't be educated if the people that are educating us also aren't aware of these things. So I think that's one of the big things. But we live in a society that just we're marketed to all the time, all day, on social media, on TV, on billboards, even in conversations, right? Like, I think a lot of women and people in general don't realize how much of their perceptions and their beliefs about what is healthy, what is not healthy, how they should look, whatever story it is that they are. Telling about their body or their health and how much of that is actually influenced by what they're seeing, what they're hearing, what other people, whether that's their friends, their family members, people they interact with on a daily basis, like how much we start to absorb and adopt those beliefs and those thought processes. So we are just like we live in an information age where we're just bombarded all the time. And unfortunately, the marketing for the things that are actually going to make you healthy, that are going to, you know, work and help you feel your best, those aren't the sexy things, right? Like, it's really difficult to to market. Like, all right, move your body 30 to 60 minutes a day, get sufficient sleep, drink adequate clean water, nourish your body with high density, nutrient dense foods, get sunlight. Those aren't like sexy things. That's not grabbing the attention of anyone. So I think that marketing companies, especially when we look at more of the bigger picture of the diet and the fitness industry and all of that, they do a really good job of hooking people, knowing what people want, understanding their pain points, and just digging into that. And I'm a consumer as well. And so I have seen this in my own journey as well as those of my clients. I'll have a client every now and then who's like, well, what do you think of this supplement? And I'm like, this is what I think about it. But is it going to be the magic pill that gets you where you want to be? No. There's a time and place for supplements, of course, and we definitely utilize those in my practice. But if we're not doing the foundations and the basics, then it really doesn't matter. So I think that that is where a lot of the confusion stems from. Also, one other thing is that social media in particular and online marketing, it's so polarizing because that is what gets views. It's those extreme, like eat only meat, never touch a vegetable or a fruit or like the opposite side. If you eat meat, you're a terrible person. It's these polarizing views that get attention, that get traction. And the reality is that what is going to be the best and make the most difference for most people is somewhere in the middle. And so I think that people are so confused because they're seeing these two extreme sides of the coin constantly being like, bombarded at them, and that can make it very confusing. And another thing is that I tell clients this all the time. I could make a use case for and against almost every dietary theory out there. So understanding that there's a time and place for these things, but not every approach is going to be correct for every person at any given time. So that is why I think we're so confused. But for someone who is looking to have better health, who's looking to embark on this journey, I think one of the biggest things that you can do, honestly, is if you're somebody who feels like you are constantly bombarded with this information and you're so confused, just drop all of what you think you know. Most of what you probably think that you know is probably not serving you in the best way. So just get rid of that and then find somebody. If you need help, if you need accountability, find someone that can help you, at least if it's just to get you started and get you going in the right direction for a couple of months, that can make a huge difference in the trajectory of your health and fitness journey for the long term. I'm also a big proponent of practicing self awareness too. So take inventory of where you think your obstacles are, where you think you might need help, where you might be struggling, and then get with somebody that can help you assess those things, help get you on the right path and get you moving forward.

[23:05] Announcer: You're listening to the Radical Health Rebel podcast.

[23:10] Leigh Brandon: Are you regularly suffering from painful bloating and wind that could be smelly and embarrassing? Are your bowel movements not as they should be, either constipation or diarrhea or possibly alternating between the two? Do you find the pain is bad enough, but the bloating and cramps make you feel awful and are affecting your everyday life? Do you sometimes feel you can't eat properly because of the wind, bloating and pain? And has your doctor told you that you have IBS but unable to help find you a solution? Do you feel right now that you simply don't know what's causing your symptoms and whatever your doctor has suggested hasn't worked and you feel frustrated that you're still far from having a normal, flat, comfortable tummy? Have you invested a lot of time, energy and money into improving your symptoms and don't wish to waste any more? Do you feel frustrated and depressed and don't feel like you can take part in all the activities you enjoy and sometimes have to cancel attending events because of the way your tummy feels? Do you fear that if you don't get this sorted you could end up with a much more serious gastrointestinal disease? Or if so, what would help you right now is to understand the root cause of your digestive condition rather than continuing to try to mask the symptoms with Over-the-counter or prescribed medications. You need help understanding how factors such as nutrition, gut health, stress and toxicology affect the digestive system and how to optimize these factors. You need someone who can advise, motivate, and support you every step of the way, someone who has walked the path before and taught many others to do the same. What you need is my overcome your digestive issues program. My Overcome Your Digestive Issues program can help you in the following ways I will help you understand the root causes of your digestive problems and teach you how to approach the condition holistically via expert advice on nutrition and lifestyle factors.

[25:13] Leigh Brandon: To overcome your digestive issues.

[25:15] Leigh Brandon: Program will start by ensuring you are on the right diet for you based on your genetics or metabolic type, and one that avoids the foods that are known to exacerbate your condition. We'll go on a journey step by step, learning all the necessary lifestyle changes required to achieve a flat, comfortable, pain free tummy. Each weekly 30 minutes coaching session will include advice, support, and guidance specifically tailored to your needs and at a speed that is right for you. Once you're eating right for your metabolic type, you will begin to see changes in how your tummy feels. And we will also uncover all the necessary blocking factors that you may have. And you'll be taught how to reduce, replace, or eliminate all the factors that are causing your digestive problems. Ultimately, this program will enable you to achieve a flat, calm and comfortable tummy every day for the rest of your life. For more information about how to improve your gut health and to claim a complimentary no obligation gut health consultation, please go to www.bodycheck.Co.UK that's BodyChek and fill in the request form at the top of the home page and we'll be in contact to arrange a convenient time. Now back to the podcast.

[26:34] Leigh Brandon: And what kind of person would you suggest people seek?

[26:38] Allie Cass: I think it's different depending on the goal. I mean, I'm a functional health and fitness coach, so I'd love to say come see me, and if you'd like to come see me, that's great. I think it depends on what you need and potentially how complex your challenges run. So if you're somebody who has five different autoimmune conditions and you previously had cancer, you just have all these things going on. I mean, I can certainly sit down and assess whether I can help you, but you might want to seek someone who has a little bit more of a foot in the medical community as well, but still takes a holistic approach. But if you're looking to work on your hormones, your gut health, lose weight, things like that, someone like myself. Or if you are just looking to improve your fitness, somebody who's just a personal trainer might be able to help you. So it kind of depends. But one thing that's super important for. Me that I tell everybody is regardless of who you choose to work with, make sure it's somebody that has the same values as you. So if you're somebody who values taking a more natural holistic approach, like a lot of my clients do, you might not jive with someone who is like textbook Western medical based and doesn't really incorporate or see the rest of the areas when we're looking at it from a holistic perspective. So make sure that you talk with the practitioner first. I always require people to do a consultation, call with me before I take them on, just to make sure that I can actually help them, that they're going to be a good fit for me. So have a conversation with somebody, see if your values align with them. And again, make sure it's somebody that you can vibe with because I think that at least for me, in a coaching relationship, nurturing that relationship and having that safety and that trust. So that way my clients feel like they can open up and be vulnerable about whatever it is they're experiencing, even if it doesn't seem like it's directly related to their health or their nutrition. That's super important to me because that's going to help them get further. So make sure that when you are seeking out a practitioner that it's somebody that you think that you can connect with on an energetic level, that you can trust, that will give you that space to open up as well.

[28:49] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, I completely agree with everything that you said. There something that I would add, potentially is, and you don't have to be, but if you find someone that's been through exactly the same thing that you've been through and come out the other side and has helped other people do that and they've got proof that they've helped other people do the same thing, then I would just add that to what you said.

[29:13] Allie Cass: Yeah, absolutely. I think that obviously formal education and knowledge is extremely important, but there is no substitute for experience when it comes to understanding what someone is going through and how they're feeling and what their experience is when they're going through that. Because I'm a firm believer that we can have as much textbook knowledge as we want, which is very important. But if I don't understand and I can't relate and I can't have empathy for my client while they're going through that, I'm much less equipped to help them in the transformation process than I would be if I could empathize with what they were going through and really understand at a deep level what their experience is. Because that experience plays into so much of the story that they're telling themselves and how that goes into their ability to change and their ability to get to where they want to be.

[30:05] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, there's a story that I'm sure I've shared before on this podcast and it was back in 2013. I ruptured my L 45 and L five S One lumber discs, which it was a pretty bad injury. But the ironic thing was that I've been specializing in lumbar spine pathology since 2001, so I'd helped many, many people overcome disc injuries. But actually I learnt more from going through the actual injury myself and the two years of rehabilitation than I did from the previous twelve years of actually studying and working with clients. So I completely agree with what you just said.

[30:48] Allie Cass: Yeah, that's awesome. Not awesome that you had to go through that, but awesome that you can take that experience.

[30:55] Leigh Brandon: Well, I look back at that now as a blessing because it did teach me so much. I mean, simple things like well, if you've got that kind of injury, how did you put socks on? Right. As simple as that. I mean, luckily for me it happened in June when the weather was warm, was warm here, but had that happened in January and there may have been snow on the ground, I couldn't put shoes or socks on. So what would I have done? Luckily I could stick my Birken socks on and shuffle down the road in June, but I had to teach myself how to put socks on with a disk bulge. And now I can use that experience to teach others in the same position.

[31:37] Allie Cass: Yeah, exactly. I love that.

[31:40] Leigh Brandon: So, next question. With all the dietary approaches out there now we've got keto, we've got low fat, we've got vegan, we've got carnivore, intermittent fasting, paleo, et cetera, et cetera, what would you say is the best approach for most women?

[31:55] Allie Cass: That's a great question. So going back to that, what I mentioned earlier about being able to give a use case for and against any of the dietary theories, it's going to be so dependent on the person and what kind of challenges they're experiencing with their health, what their goals are, where they're at. Now, I know first-hand from my own experience, but also working with clients, that what might have worked for me and what might have been the best approach for me when I was in my early 20s might not be the same thing that is going to help me or serve me the best when I'm in my 30s. If I'm going through different things in my health or in my life that are impacting my health, those are all considerations to take into play, where people just tend to think that, oh, this is the best dietary approach. There is no best dietary approach. So that being said, I think that everybody can again benefit from the basics, benefit from eating sufficient quantities of nutrient dense foods, staying away from highly processed foods, incorporating more whole foods, lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, high quality food is going to help basically anyone, regardless of your condition. Now, what that might look like in between might be a little bit different person to person, but those basics those foundations. Really getting back to kind of the roots of how we were meant to eat, I think can benefit a lot of people. And I also think people understanding that there is no right dietary approach and also one thing that they have to consider is that the best diet for someone is only as good as their ability to adhere to it. So I get that question all the time, what's the best fitness plan, what's the best diet? And the reality is, I can tell you what I think the best diet is going to be for you based on what you're experiencing and based on what you want to accomplish. But if you can't adhere to it or won't adhere to it, then there's still going to be a gap with what you're doing now and what we need to be doing. So making sure that whatever approach someone takes can be adhered to, even if that means starting small, incorporating one thing here, two things there, and not doing just a full overload can be super helpful for people. But your plan is only as good as your ability to follow it, regardless of what that looks like.

[34:15] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, I completely agree. Something that I remembered, as you were saying, that was over the years, whenever I've had a client come to me and say to me, tell me what I need to eat, I have a little red flag that goes off in my head because what they're saying is, I don't want to be responsible for my results. It's down to you. So I always say, okay, I've now got a challenge on my hands because they're expecting me to fix them. I always try and make sure that people understand that I can't tell them what to eat. But the way their body reacts to what they eat and tuning into the reactions is what they need to be listening to, to educate themselves on what's right for them.

[35:01] Allie Cass: Exactly 100%. I could not agree with that more.

[35:06] Leigh Brandon: There is a name for that. It's called metabolic typing. And I've been doing that since 2004. I know Paul Jack calls it primal pattern diet typing, which is slightly different, bit more basic, bit more easy to follow, if you like. Some people call it intuitive, intuitive eating. But it all really means the same thing. It's what's right for each individual and that can be determined by your genetics, but also your environment, which you mentioned. It depends what's going on in their life at the time, what stresses they're under. And it changed from my experience, it changes over time. And for females, it changes during every 28 day period. Every woman knows that when they're pre menstrual, they crave carbs. Right? And that just shows you your body has different requirements at different times. I eat very differently to how I did 30 years ago because I'm getting old. I'm getting old these days and my life is very different. I'm not as active as I used to be, and I'm still very active for someone of my age. I can't work out five days a week anymore, plus playing sports two days a week. My body just couldn't handle that. But what I'm noticing now is that my body cannot handle carbohydrates. It just cannot handle them in any kind of quantity. I don't want to say any quantity. I mean, anything more than a little bit of low starch carbohydrate. My body just doesn't like it. And we've all got to find that for ourselves. But also, like you said earlier, it also is very useful to have someone to guide you through that process and to hold you accountable. Which, again, is what you said 100%.

[36:46] Allie Cass: Yeah.

[36:48] Leigh Brandon: So if we talk about weight loss, I know a lot of people think it's as simple as calories in versus calories out. But in your experience, are there more factors at play there?

[36:58] Allie Cass: 100%. So I think that we have, again, not to make it more complex than it necessarily needs to be, but we have that oversimplification of it's only calories in versus calories out. And at a foundational level, yes, 100%. You need to be in a calorie deficit if you're going to lose weight or lose body fat. But what people don't realize is there's a lot of things that play into how many calories are you burning? How efficiently is your body working to do that? How are our hormones impacting that? So I see a lot of women who have been undereating, whether it was because they've been in a dieting mindset for many years or it's just a thing that they've kind of adapted to. They're busy, they don't have time to feed themselves, they're feeding their family. And I see the downstream effect of what that does from a metabolic adaptation standpoint, where their thyroid hormones being down regulated, other hormone production is being down regulated, their body is becoming more efficient with that lower level of calories. And so to bring them into a point where they're going to be in a deficit, we're going to be eating very, very little food, which is, again, that's not going to be conducive for their optimal health in the long term, but also it's not very sustainable and it doesn't feel good in the process. So that's one basic example that I see from women. And so I think that this idea of we just need to eat less and move more, like some people definitely need to eat less and move more. But that's not the case for everybody. And for a lot of my clients, for me, it's teaching them how to nourish their body again, how to actually give their body the nutrients and the inputs that it needs so that their metabolism can function properly. So that they can produce hormones at an optimal level so that they're not constantly in a depleted state and just kind of wreaking havoc on those downstream effects, hormonally and otherwise. And so, yeah, I think that calories in versus calories out is one factor of the equation. But I always like to tell clients, and I didn't make this up, so I can't remember who said this, so I'm not going to take credit for it, but your body is not a bank account, it's a chemistry lab. And so we have all of these chemical reactions going on. We need vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, things like that, to facilitate these reactions. And so what I try to help my clients understand is that there's a lot that goes into play there and your body needs the inputs in order to do that. And so it's not like we're just adding and subtracting calories like we would be for balancing a checkbook. So that's not really how your body works. At a very simplified view, sure, but if you look at it at a deeper level, that's not what's going on. So I think that while I think the calories in versus calories out and the eat less move more was created with good intention to help people, I think that for some individuals, it definitely causes more harm than it does good.

[39:46] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, I think there's a few things there. Firstly, if someone is eating, let's say, too much more than their body actually needs, the question is why? So why would someone be eating more? Is it because what they're eating is spiking their blood sugar, which is causing blood sugar fluctuations because they're secreting more insulin to deal with the sugar? And then what does insulin do? It drives energy into your fat cells. So that's one thing. Or could it be someone's overeating because they're trying to fill an emotional void and they're trying to do it physically with food rather than actually dealing with the emotional aspect? And again, we could go down quite a deep rabbit hole there, but my experience has been that, yes, calories do count, but they're actually more at the symptom end rather than the causal end of most people's problems, particularly if we're talking about weight loss. So what would you say, the role that emotions, beliefs and thoughts play in our biology and how do they affect our ability to heal our body and to reach out optimal health?

[41:04] Allie Cass: I love that question. This is such a fun area of health and wellness to me, so I always look at it twofold. So our thoughts and our emotions basically are going to determine what our actions and our habits are, right? So if we have a thought and that thought turns into emotion. So let's say I wake up one day and I think, gosh, I'm so fat and unhealthy and I can't believe I let myself get this way and I'm never going to be able to change, that's going to create a very disempowering emotion within my body. So emotions are essentially the physiological reactions to our thoughts, which is really cool when you think about it and when you actually read about it at a molecular level. So if I'm feeling very disempowered, it's far less likely that I'm going to get up, that I'm going to make myself a healthy meal, that I'm going to go to the gym, that I'm going to do whatever it is that I need to do because I don't have that belief. And essentially then I don't have the actions and the habits to back up what it is that I need to do. So I think that from that perspective and there's a lot of research, I'm not a psychologist, but there's definitely been research in that field that kind of shows this correlation. And then on the flip side of the coin, our thoughts and our beliefs also, like I mentioned, create physiological change. So our emotion emotional state essentially is the physiological reaction to our thoughts and our beliefs. So if you think about like, I'm super embarrassed, I might get like red in the face or if I'm nervous about something, I have that thought of like, oh no, I'm producing that emotion now. I have butterflies in my stomach. So there are actual physiological responses that we have in the body to emotion. So if you're constantly living in a state of fear or a state of worry or panic or stress, whatever that looks like, we're creating those reactions. We're activating our sympathetic nervous system and there's a whole cascade of effects. Of course, in an acute setting, those things, they're designed to serve us and serve us well. But the issue is that most of us live in a chronically stressed out state or we're in these perpetual thought patterns or loops that aren't very empowering to us and don't serve us very well. And so from my perspective when I'm looking at these things, I believe that affects us in both of those ways. So it really does not create an empowering environment for us to show up and do the things that we need to do to get to our goal. Also, we're creating physiological reactions and consequences within our body when we're constantly living in those types of states of being.

[43:42] Announcer: Get the Radical Health Rebel at Free head on over to our Patreon channel at www.patreon.com/radicalhealthrebel. It's the only place where you can watch full length, completely add and sponsor free episodes of the podcast. Plus, you can join the Radical Health Rebel Patreon community where you can have a say in the podcast. Watch exclusive behind the scenes cliffs as well as early access to the podcast. That's Patreon.com/radicalhealthrebel.

[44:17] Leigh Brandon: Just a brief interruption to this podcast to talk about adult acne. Now, did you know that 40% to 54% of men and women older than 25 years will have some degree of facial acne? And that clinical facial acne persists into middle age in 12% of women and 3% of men? I know only too well the devastating effects that acne can have on your confidence and your self esteem, and how it can easily destroy your social life, your career, and your relationships. I know this only too well because.

[44:48] Leigh Brandon: I suffered from severe cystic acne from.

[44:51] Leigh Brandon: Age 13 to 31 over an 18 year period. I visited my doctor on many occasions, and his only suggestions were acne creams, harsh cleansers, and antibiotics that weren't working and were actually making my skin worse. After 18 years of struggle and thousands of pounds invested in treatments that didn't work, through my professional education, I began.

[45:14] Leigh Brandon: To learn that what my doctor had.

[45:16] Leigh Brandon: Told me was untrue, and that diet was directly related to acne, plus other factors such as food sensitivities, toxicity, hormones, and balancing the body's microbiome. Putting what I had learned into practice, I managed to rid myself of acne over 20 years ago and have been helping others to do the same for well over a decade. By teaching people what foods cause acne, what food sensitivities each individual has, how to optimize their detox pathways, how to reduce environmental stresses and toxins, and how.

[45:51] Leigh Brandon: To balance hormones, especially those related to.

[45:54] Leigh Brandon: The mTOR pathway, a major causal factor with acne. I've been able to help many other adults overcome their acne nightmare, too. So if you would like more information on how to overcome your adult acne, please go to www.skinwebinar.com. That's www.skinwebinar.com, where you can also request an acne breakthrough. Call with me to see if you.

[46:21] Leigh Brandon: Are suitable for my Eliminate Adult Acne.

[46:23] Leigh Brandon: Coaching program, where you can once and for all learn how to overcome your adult acne. Now back to the podcast.

[46:31] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, one of the things that kind of came to mind when you said, when we're stressed, we're stimulating our sympathetic nervous system, so we're secreting the hormone cortisol, which one of the roles of cortisol is to release glycogen from our muscles, so we're increasing our blood sugar. What's the pancreas response to that? Well, it's to produce insulin. So if you're not active when you're stimulating your sympathetic nervous system, what you're actually doing is you're increasing the likelihood that your body is going to start storing energy in fat tissues. So if you're thinking negatively, and as you said, it does serve a purpose and the reason why 90% of most human beings thoughts are negative, it's actually there to help us survive in the wild. Because, you know, if you're walking along in the wild and you look down and you think, well, is that a snake or is it a branch of a tree that's fallen? Well, if you always treat it as a snake and you slowly move away from it, you're more likely to survive. But if you think, oh, it's just a stick, I'll pick a stick up and it turns out to be a deadly snake, then you're dead right. And I've actually got an interesting story that won't bore people with now but I had that exact experience in Australia once. But I want more people with that story. There are lots of other examples that we could go into, but that's probably the most relevant one in terms of if we're thinking negatively, what can happen. Are you familiar with Bruce Lipton's work?

[48:14] Allie Cass: Yeah, he has been a big influence in my learning path. I'm a huge fan that's actually, as I'm speaking about this, he's one of the people him and I don't know if you're familiar with Candice Pertinent, both of emotion. Yes.

[48:31] Leigh Brandon: Bruce Lipton says that because of our brainwave states, the first seven years of our life, we are in a meditative state where our environment is imprinted on our psyche, if you like, and our behaviors become automatic because we are in an automatic state in the first seven years of life. And then as we get older and we go up into higher brainwave states, we still have our subconscious mind controlling our behaviors, or you could say our beliefs. If someone's brought up that for a healthy diet, you should be eating x number of slices of bread per day, for instance, then that's hardwired into your system. You carry on eating all this bread and wonder, why am I so fat? And you won't get it through your head that well, that's the reason, because you've been brought up to believe that eating bread is a healthy thing, whereas it might be for some people in certain amounts, but if you're overeating it, which for me would be any bread, then it's going to cause a problem.

[49:39] Allie Cass: Right, right, exactly.

[49:41] Leigh Brandon: The other thing, there is a great book as well, and I won't mention the author's name because I have actually asked him to come on this podcast and he says, I don't want to be famous. He doesn't want to come on. But it's called you are what you think. And it is an absolutely fantastic book and I would highly recommend that to anyone to read about the effects that your mind has on everything to do with your body, not just from a health point of view, but from every imaginable angle. But like you said, Candice Pert, Bruce Lipton and this book, You Are What You Eat, are all great places to start if you want to learn more about how beliefs, thoughts and emotions actually have a biological effect on the human body.

[50:25] Allie Cass: I love that I know what I'm getting myself for my birthday now.

[50:28] Leigh Brandon: That book, and it's a really cheap book as well. It's really small, it's really easy to read, and I might actually do a solo episode based on that book. He said I can, but he just doesn't want to come on the podcast himself, which is fine and just going a little bit deeper on that subject. And I know this is something that is really important to you and that's mindset. Can you share your views on mindset and perhaps how your clients and how you help your clients with their mindset 100%.

[50:59] Allie Cass: I think that at a foundational level, our mindset again, determines everything from how we show up to the things that we're doing on a daily basis. And I think that for a lot of people, that's where the work needs to start. Yes, we do need to shift the habits, we need to potentially make changes with what we're eating, how we're moving, what our lifestyle is looking like. But so much of our external reality is determined by what's going on in our mind. And so for me, that was actually one of the biggest lessons I learned as an athlete growing up, is my coaches were very big on cultivating mental toughness, discipline, working on having that mindset for achieving success. And so that's something that I try to take back to my clients as well, to help set them up for success. Because the reality is life is always going to throw you obstacles, it's always going to throw you curveballs. You never know what's going to happen even when you and I just had this conversation with someone yesterday, it was great about expectations. And if I thought of every single thing in life, whether it was good or bad that has happened, it's never played out the exact way that I expected it to. And so cultivating a mindset that helps you to be resilient and helps you to overcome obstacles and challenges I think is super important not only in health and fitness, but just in every area of life so that you can actually get to where you want to be. And in my personal experience, that's been a bit of a fine line because again, when you are a little type A and have somewhat of a perfectionist mindset, it can be really easy to kind of overdo it and just constantly be in that push, push, push. And so that's not necessarily the point, but the point is to understand that this is a long game, this is not a sprint, this is a marathon. And so being able to adopt a mindset that's going to help empower you to continue to show up even when life isn't working the way you want it to, when circumstances change, when things get difficult to still show. Up in whatever capacity that you can, so that you can continue to make steps forward, even if they're just very small steps towards your goal. Another thing too, I work primarily with women, and again, women have a lot of us have adopted this mindset that we've been told from family members, friends, marketing, social media, big industry, that we need to look a certain way that we need to be doing this. One of the things I actually work on with clients a lot is we remove the word should from their vocabulary. If you're going to say should, the only time you should be saying it is when you're saying that you shouldn't be saying should. So we work on things like that a lot. And what I find too, with my clients is the mindset component is something that just happens very organically while we form that relationship. So people have different beliefs, people have different perceptions, people have gone through different things in life that have caused them to form a particular type of mindset. And so I don't typically go into that with people with a very structured thing. It's not like we're having a curriculum that we're going through. But I think that when you find a coach or you're working with a practitioner and you're addressing those things, as long as there's trust in the relationship, there's openness, those things start to come out really quickly. And I can pick up on what people's thought patterns are, what their beliefs are, just from hearing the way that they speak about their circumstances, speak about themselves, and speak about life in general.

[54:34] Leigh Brandon: Yeah, there's a two word replacement instead of should that I generally recommend people use. So instead of saying I should, I replace that with I choose to. I should start eating properly.

[54:52] Leigh Brandon: I choose to start eating properly.

[54:55] Leigh Brandon: Because now you're putting the responsibility on yourself to actually do it. If you say I'm choosing to rather than I should, I should means I'm probably not going to.

[55:05] Allie Cass: Yes, it means I should have done it yesterday and I didn't, so I'm not going to now.

[55:10] Leigh Brandon: So when you say I choose to, it just puts a completely different complexion on exactly the same thing. You are affirming that you are choosing to do something. And what I think is really important also before that process is to help people set their core values. Because once people understand what their core values are and again, this is quite a process that I think is important to go through with people, it makes it much easier for them to decide to do the right things. Right? So if, for instance, I sit down with someone and I say, right, let's choose some core values. So core values are like rules, if you like rules to live your life by or they're things that you stand or don't stand for. And let's say we're saying, right, okay, part of your health program is to get to bed at a healthy time. We do know that the later you go to bed, the more or the less benefit you get. Okay, so what are your core values going to be around getting to bed? And someone might start off by saying, well, at the moment I go to bed at 01:00 a.m., what if I start going to bed at 12:30 a.m.? And what if I manage to do that six nights a week but allow myself one day a week where I'm probably just going to go out and, you know, I might not get home until midnight the next day. Let's say, okay. Fine. So that's your cold rallies that you're going to live your life by for now, then it might be in a month's time, they might say, actually, I felt a little bit better, so I might actually start going to bed at 12:00. So they're choosing to do it. Ultimately, I always suggest people get to bed around 1010, 30 at the latest. But as long as they're making those steps and they're creating their own core values and they're living their life in accordance with their core values, then they can honestly say, I am choosing to go to bed at 1030.

[57:13] Allie Cass: Right.

[57:14] Leigh Brandon: Say, six nights a week, let's say, and they're allowing themselves a little bit of a leeway if they want to have a bit of a night out once a week, let's say. I just find that really helps to empower the person and really gives them responsibility for their own actions.

[57:29] Allie Cass: Yeah, I love that. I think that having autonomy and also taking ownership for whatever it is you choose, that's what I tell clients, especially around this time of the year, right. Holidays. I encourage clients to make whatever decision, again, like you said, is in line with their core values. If a core value is indulging in some food that your grandma made because that's what you really enjoy, then amazing. Do that, but own that decision, make the decision, enjoy it and move on. Once it's done, it's done. Think about what's next. And so, yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think that it is much more empowering for people to make those changes when they can really own it as their own.

[58:08] Leigh Brandon: Absolutely. I would say my diet is probably around 95%, what you might call spot on. But in my core values, I do allow myself my favorite. My favorite dishes are Indian and Thai or Thai and Indian. Thai is my favorite. Indian is my second favorite. But I have an allergy to chili peppers. So what do I do? Well, I don't eat them regularly, and to be honest, Thai food I don't seem to respond too badly to actually, it might be to do with a quantity of chili peppers. But let's say I'm going for an Indian milk because someone in my family is their birthday and there's an Indian restaurant that we tend to go to. And I think, okay, I'm going to go along. I'm going to enjoy myself, I'll enjoy the food. I absolutely love lamburiani. That is my favorite Indian dish so bad. But I know the next morning I'm going to be suffering. But I make that decision consciously because that is part of my core values.

[59:13] Allie Cass: Right.

[59:15] Leigh Brandon: And I think setting those kind of values as an individual can be really useful going forwards. And as you say, you're choosing that decision consciously. Now, if you're choosing to do that every week, maybe you're not going to achieve your health goals, or maybe you're doing it once a day you're not going to achieve your health goals. But that certainly works for me. And people, I would suggest, need to come up with their own core values. As again, as we've both said, it does help someone to help guide you to making those decisions 100%. So my next question, how do you explain the intersection of hormones, gut health, metabolism and mindset in women's ability to reach optimal health where they look and feel their best?

[01:00:04] Allie Cass: That is a great question. I think that we've touched in various segments of this conversation, kind of touched on all of that. But really what I aspire to do with people, and clients in particular, is help them understand that everything is interconnected. So again, your ability to lose weight or lose fat essentially is going to be impacted by things like your hormones, by gut health. Again, going back to mindset, are you choosing thoughts and beliefs that are empowering you to get up and do what you want to do? Are you living in that constant state of sympathetic activation for the sympathetic nervous system? And if so, that's not going to be very conducive, like you said, because of the physiological effects to lose weight, to burn fat and use that for fuel. And so I have clients, and I don't know if this is because that's kind of how we learn about the body, right? It's very easy to teach about the brain and the heart and kind of compartmentalize these different things for the purpose of teaching that. But the reality is that everything is so interconnected. And so if you are experiencing a challenge in one area and you're experiencing a challenge in another area, they're going to be connected. Now, which one was the chicken or the egg? That's a whole other conversation. And sometimes it doesn't even really matter which one came first, as long as we're making sure that we're addressing both of those things and addressing it in a holistic fashion. But I think that people make the mistake of thinking, like, I've had so many conversations with people where I think I have a really great grasp of everything that's going on, and then they'll drop something else, like, oh, yeah, I also have this, or I also experienced this. And I'm like, well, why are we not talking about that also? Because it very much plays into everything that we're talking about. So understanding that the body is very interconnected. There's so much research, especially gut health, being a kind of big, emerging, newer area of the field. I'm sure you do a ton of work in this area as well, but understanding how much of the gut microbiome and how much that plays into every other area of health as well. So what I just want people to take away is that everything is connected, even if it might not seem like it. Most likely there is some sort of connection there. And so that really is the importance of, again, kind of addressing things in a holistic fashion and understanding that, two, when we help fix one area, oftentimes there is a downstream effect that's going to help that other area. Maybe we do need to go do deeper work in that area as well. But oftentimes as one thing gets better, other things get better and vice versa.

[01:02:38] Leigh Brandon: Yes. As an example there. So earlier we were talking about calories in versus calories out. Well, if someone has, let's say, an optimal gut microbiome, so we're talking about the balance of bacteria in the gut. So let's say you got two different people. One has an optimal gut microbiome, the other one doesn't. And the one with the optimal microbiome needs to eat, let's say two and a half thousand calories a day, and so does the other person. They both need two and a half thousand calories a day to be at their optimum, let's say the one with the optimum microbiome. Because the bacteria in the gut play a role in the digestion of food, they will optimally, to a degree, optimally assimilate the nutrients from their food that they've eaten. Assuming that digestive system is working well with the hydrochloric acid and the digestive enzymes and et cetera, then the person that has a Dysbiosis and they don't have a good balance of bacteria in their digestive, in their intestines, they won't be assimilating all the nutrients from their food effectively. So what's the effect going to be on that person? Well, they're likely to not get the nourishment they need. Well, what happens if you don't get the nourishment you need? Well, you want more food.

[01:04:02] Leigh Brandon: Right?

[01:04:03] Leigh Brandon: So you've got two people that need two and a half thousand calories to maintain optimum health. One of them is probably eating two and a half thousand calories a day. If they're listening to what their body needs, the other one could be eating 3003 and a half calories a day because they're not getting the nutrients they need. So their brain keeps stimulating hunger to get more nutrients into the body. Now, these two people both need two and a half thousand calories a day. But over a period of three, four, five years, one is going to become very overweight and the other one's going to stay completely the same.

[01:04:40] Allie Cass: Right? Yeah.

[01:04:41] Leigh Brandon: And that's where it does get frustrating for me. Yes, calories in versus calories out does affect it, but I think it's way down on the list of priorities because as I alluded to earlier, I think it's as much of a symptom as it is a causal effect.

[01:04:58] Allie Cass: Right, right.

[01:04:58] Leigh Brandon: I agree with that if people are overeating. But we need to find out what's the reason. And having a Dysbiosis in the gut is just one potential reason. Right.

[01:05:09] Allie Cass: One very potential, very common reason.

[01:05:13] Leigh Brandon: And another thing that's quite well known now is the fact that the gut microbiome also massively affects mood. We got what's called the gut brain axis. So, again, if you've got Dysbiosis in the gut, maybe you're not thinking as well as you would be. Maybe you could be depressed. What do people do when they're depressed? They quite often overeat to try and fulfill the gap that they're missing emotionally. Right, so it is quite a can of worms, but then, luckily, there's people like you and me around to help people unravel the can of worms.

[01:05:47] Allie Cass: Yes.

[01:05:49] Leigh Brandon: So what's next for Ali?

[01:05:53] Allie Cass: I'm just continuing my work, constantly learning, constantly improving myself so I can improve the health of my clients and essentially, hopefully, everybody I come in contact with. So I'm so passionate about this field. I've gone through periods of life where things get sticky and things get tough, and I think, am I meant to do this? And when I think about doing anything else, it doesn't feel right. So I am so passionate about helping people, helping women. And, yeah, for me, when I look at my life 2345 years down the line, it's just continuing to learn, continuing to grow, and then continuing to take that and implement it to help make other people's lives better.

[01:06:35] Leigh Brandon: Awesome. That's awesome. So we're recording this at the end of 2022, but it will be coming out in the early 2023. Have you set yourself a goal for 2023 yet?

[01:06:49] Allie Cass: I haven't. I go back and forth on hard core goal setting for me. I try to focus more on who I want to become, and that kind of plays into the goals that I have, because, of course, I do have goals, but as opposed to getting hyper fixated on that end result and only thinking about, okay, what do I need to do every single day to get to that goal? I try to figure out what are my values? What do I want to have more of in my life? Is that more health, more abundance, more freedom in certain capacities, more connection in my relationships? And then based on those things, how can I evolve? How can I grow? Who do I need to be to be that next level version of myself? And so it's something I will probably toy around with for the next couple of days. But I'm definitely feeling so great going into the new year, and I'm just really excited for whatever the future brings about.

[01:07:44] Leigh Brandon: Awesome. And I know you'd like to offer the radical Health rebel audience a complimentary health audit call. How can they get more details on that?

[01:07:55] Allie Cass: Yeah, absolutely. So you can visit my website, which is www.alikashealth.com. You can read a little bit about me, my program, my methodologies, and then I have a link on there that you can book your free health audit call. Essentially, it's a call where we just sit down, we talk about you, your goals, where you're at, where you want to be. And I help you identify that gap between where you are and where you want to be and help you start coming up with a roadmap of what you need to do in order to get from point A to your end goal of point B.

[01:08:26] Leigh Brandon: And you're in Florida, but I guess you see clients online as well.

[01:08:30] Allie Cass: I do, yes. I am in Florida. Most of my clientele is virtually so. Got to love technology nowadays.

[01:08:38] Leigh Brandon: Definitely got its advantages.

[01:08:39] Allie Cass: It does.

[01:08:41] Leigh Brandon: Allie, thank you so much for taking your time out today to share your wisdom with the Radical Health Rebel listeners and viewers. And to all the Radical Health Rebel tribe, if you know someone who would benefit from watching or hearing this episode, please make sure to share the love and forward it on to them. After all, the mission of this show is to help people lead a more fun filled, healthy, productive, fulfilling and happy life. And if you'd like to support the podcast and your support is greatly appreciated, you can@patreon.com radicalhealthrebel where you can also receive lots of other exclusive premium content, including unedited, full-length ad, free video episodes, monthly, Ask me Anything, Q and A sessions, and discounts on my coaching programs. So that's all from Ali and me for this week, but don't forget, you can join me same time, same place, next week on the Radical Health Rebel podcast.

[01:09:37] Announcer: Thanks for tuning in to the Radical Health Rebel podcast with Leigh Brandon. You can find Leigh at www.bodychek.Co.UK. That's BodyChek.co.UK. Please hit the like button and share on your social media and with someone you feel will benefit from watching this episode. Together, we can help them lead a healthier, more productive, fulfilling and happy life.

Allie's background
Why women feel completely lost and confused
The best dietary approach for women
Calories In versus Calories Out for weight loss
What roles do emotions, beliefs and thoughts play in our health?
Mindset
Hormones, Gut Health, Mindset & Metabolism