What Does Being In Balance Mean? Transcending To Your Best Life Podcast Ep # 1
Are you struggling to identify the areas of your life where you feel most fulfilled and at your best? The Transcending into your Best Life Podcast can help you achieve this goal. This podcast features three expert panels specializing in psychology, nutrition, and sports medicine who provide tips on incorporating healthy practices into your life for long-term success.
Transcribed Podcast
Speakers: Michael Cerreto, Tina Shiver
Michael Cerreto
Hello, everyone. This is Michael Cerreto and Tina Shiver. With transcending to your best life. In this podcast, we're going to cover how to create your best life from a nutritional, health, and psychological perspective. I'm Mike Cerreto again, as I mentioned before, and I'm with a Talented Mind Clinic, I'm a cognitive rehabilitation therapist and sports and performing arts psychology counselor. And Tina, do you want to introduce yourself?
Tina Shiver
Sure, I am Tina Shiver, and my company is called Lighten Up. I'm a registered dietitian and certified in functional medicine. And then we have a third person who is not with us today but will be here in the future, with other topics. Her name is Dr. Katherine Dec and her company is called Sports Navigator. She is a sports medicine physician.
Michael Cerreto
And you'll be definitely hearing from her. She has wonderful insights about how to create a more balanced and fruitful life when you're in pursuit of important things in your life. But today, in this episode, we're going to cover what it means to feel balanced in your life. You know, Tina, we, a lot of people talk about how it feels to be out of balance, right? If you really listen to a lot of the conversations we have with each other. A lot of them have to do with ways in which we're at balanced or we don't feel connected to other people, or the world around us. What do you notice in the people you work with?
Tina Shiver
Oh, everybody is really focused on more of the balance piece, like you're saying they don't, they don't give themselves credit for sometimes being imbalanced. Right, right. And so it's nice to talk about it today and to look at, you know, what keeps people in balance?
Michael Cerreto
What are the ways that what do they look at, you know, what's interesting is, patients will come and they'll present an issue? And then they say, I, they believe that they are that issue. And the way they define themselves, the way they personalize the issue that they're struggling with, is almost always negative. Right? Yes. Okay, which is why they come however, they personalize those issues. And what I often have to do is remind them to look at these other areas in their life that they've created over time, you've been persistent with, and are very fruitful in your life that are anchors for you, that you're not that thing, that negative thing you're wrestling with, that it's causing you pain. And do you see the same thing,
Tina Shiver
I see it all the time, and that people will hone in on certain diets, for example, you know, they'll read about it, or they'll Google about it, and they'll start following it. And all of a sudden, they'll get into that negative space of I can never lose weight, I can never lower my cholesterol, I just I can't do anything, when you know, they are able to actually look at a plan a healthy balanced plan and follow it and in some way or another, so
Michael Cerreto
so the fact that they can follow it is often that they have followed it in the past is often forgotten,
Tina Shiver
it's forgotten and they go right back into that negative of that negativity of I can't do this can't lose the way it's only coming off by a pound or two. Or I can't eat anything with cholesterol or saturated fat or it's gonna go up my cholesterol is gonna go up. You know, we're they're not looking at the balance. It's all or nothing,
Michael Cerreto
all or nothing, right? All or nothing about diet and nutrition, all or nothing about perceptions of themselves.
Tina Shiver
Yes, yeah. So what are you seeing in your practice?
Michael Cerreto
Well, the people that tend to live a more balanced life. They, they stay in what's called an optimal zone, pretty much which is a zone in which they have really good self awareness, either awareness of how they're feeling in the moment or, or awareness about the world around them. And then they also have very good self care. Both of those things need to work in unison but he Here's the thing around balances, very often, our imagination takes over, around our perception of the world and ourselves, we have these amazing imaginations that have created wonders of the world. And we, so what we'll do is we'll often view the world, not as it actually exists, but as we may fear it to exist, or we want it to exist. And so in many cases, for people, a part of what you're perceiving throughout the day is not actual reality. It's how you're making that those situations, those interactions, real in your own mind, based on your history. So the people who tend to be able to accept reality, accept what's going on around them, and accept who they are, without a lot of guilt and shame. And have the ability, which is the self care, to keep them keep from the stress from getting too high or too low. They stay in an optimal zone throughout the day, because stress ebbs and flows throughout the day. And, you know, one of the things they they're able to do, no matter how it ebbs and flows, is, they're able to stay engaged. They're able to relax, stay calm, but here's the fourth, they're able to feel safe and supportive. See, this is the one thing that I noticed with clients is the sense of lack of safety or support from other people. And it because we are our survival and our evolution was based on community, and finding safety and contributing to community. We rely on it so much. And it is one of the greatest ways we stay in balance by having around us, people who are healthy and imbalanced themselves. What do you notice with your patients around the support they have around them and how it influence their nutrition, their diet?
Tina Shiver
I mean, especially with if you think I'm thinking about teenagers, right? If they have a supportive family, if they're not if the family is in on different diets that confuse the actual teenager, if they eat healthy and balanced, and it's passed on to their kids, and then they pass it on to their kids. So I noticed that I noticed that with the older generation, that from like, old 50. And up that we tend to be a little bit more balanced. And that we've learned a lot about the fact that if we go down that path of following this fad diet, then it's going to take us to a not a great place. But if we stay within keeping our blood sugar level, for example, by eating healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch and a healthy dinner that has all the macronutrients in it, the protein, the carbohydrate and fat, then we feel better. And it's it's worth it's worth us to continue to pursue that
Michael Cerreto
instead of getting off track with paleo or keto or some of the other fads that are out there. So being able to live a healthy life and a balanced life psychologically. And nutritionally. I guess it does take a community, doesn't it? Both are very, extremely social constructs. And especially food. Yes, yes, for sure.
Tina Shiver
I mean, we are social human beings. And we do love to celebrate with food, right? We really do. I mean, it's just, it's just part of us. And so how can you do that and still continue to lead a balanced life. It's important. We've gotten away I think, for a lot of us in going by fast food and grabbing food really quick, right? And so that creates really not such good habits for future and especially for kids because they're not getting their needs met nutritionally. Um, and it takes away from them sitting down at the table together, right, having right communication and finding out what was the day like today and what Did you learn are the conversations? Do you see that a lot in your practice as well?
Michael Cerreto
Oh, yeah, I think that right now families feel experienced some imbalance because they're having conversations mostly around execution. How is school? How are you doing in school? Did you do your homework? Are you going to do your homework? What is this grade? Wire? Why are you friends with that person? Right? I don't really like that person. Are you? Sure they're good friends? How are you doing in sports? Let's watch film together. No, I don't want to watch film. No, you have to watch film tonight. And so that the mom or dad or watch film with more, they'll go out in the backyard right after they went to school and practice, and a will work with that workout with them. In other words, it's so much of the conversation is around keeping up and executing. And the only the only exit for the kid is rarely video games, or, or going out with friends, which they they do need that separation, but families are less around telling stories and how it felt going through the day and more around execution, which can limit the social feeling of socially supported.
Tina Shiver
And also so the acknowledges saying that it takes them away from the interesting because it also takes them away from learning about what foods work for them and what what foods do not or when you're hungry, and when you're not. Oh helps us kids, right? I mean, if they're always constantly to think about, so if they're, they skip breakfast, and then they whatever, at school, and then they go by fast food at dinner. Or they're sports oriented. So right, because of that they're going by, let's say they're playing until or they're swimming until seven or eight o'clock at night. And they're going to grab fast food or they're going to eat later, they're gonna be starving, right, which takes some again, out of balance, and they're also not gonna be able to communicate as well. It takes that part away from them
Michael Cerreto
as well. So the people that tend to stay more imbalanced, or families that are more imbalanced, they manage the nutrition throughout the day. Yes, it's just not we're going to fit it in to the activities of the day. But we're going to make it a priority.
Tina Shiver
What I found and I will talk, you know, we can talk a little bit about athletes is that they're, that the athlete comes into my office, the student, and the parent comes with them. And the parent is very engaged, not in honing in on, let me take control away, but you're taking control that give them that control. So they're, they're just helping them. They're supporting them as far as grocery shopping, right? They're saying, Okay, what do they need for their best performance, whether it be dance, whether it be running, swimming, or whether it be day to day life? And so you've got that parent support, right? Which also allows them to become more educated the chart the kid and the parent, they would look at me that like, Oh, I didn't need know, they needed that many carbohydrates, or I didn't know they needed that much protein or that many calories. Are you sure they need that many calories? Yes.
Michael Cerreto
Right. Right. So that helps their brain and it helps their mood. Right? And without that support, they they would be out of balance. Okay. Yes, yeah. So one other important psychological aspect of being in balance, is the ones that typically can stay balanced in their life, soothe parts of themselves. And what I mean by that is, when we go through life, we are creating memories and patterns of events in our life that we feel guilt or shame or not good enough, or we experience a trauma. So let's say if I experience a trauma at 12, or a series of really negative situations, I'm going to lodge that memory or that pattern in my head based on a 12 year olds interpretation and experience. So as I get older When I see that same pattern now at 40, I'm upset that 12 year old part of me is talking to me, because it's trying to help me stay away danger, this is terrible. But that's a 12 year old talking. As a 40 year old, I got this. And the people that tend to be more imbalanced, can distinguish between the old parts of themselves that felt vulnerable. And understand that as a 40 year old, or a 30 year old, they can handle this differently, they're not that 12 year old anymore. That often takes a fair amount of work therapeutically, to get there. But some people tend to be able to notice that and, or naturally, and have the confidence in themselves, to not listen completely to that 12 year old and try things differently as a 30 or 40 year old. And that helps them not run away from events or feel significant anxiety, but really engaged with those events where they feel control and mastery over them. So what do you notice? The people that are really imbalanced nutritionally, but did they experience
Tina Shiver
from a, from a young age to as they grow older or no, just in general? In general, say that again?
Michael Cerreto
Oh, how? When people are imbalanced, nutritionally, right, what, what does that mean?
Tina Shiver
So it means giving yourself giving yourself a break. And what I mean by that is that you know, that whatever your choices are based on eating, that you're fueling your body, you're feeling at your best, you have energy, you're hydrated, you're keeping your blood sugar level throughout the day. So you're eating enough protein, in order to fuel yourself and fuel your muscles, you're eating enough carbs, to have the energy and you're eating enough fat. It's it's feeling at your optimal threat. It's feeling at your best throughout the day. So that means, again, getting enough calories and enough energy. So what role does blood sugar play to blood sugars, you know, it's a goes way back, right? It's what it's what drives our moods up and down throughout the day. So if you eat something in the morning, let's say you had cereal and milk, which is mostly carbohydrate than your blood sugar, more than likely will go up. And eventually it will come down. And for some people, it will go down a little bit more than it should and could create a little bit of hyperglycemia. Okay, the goal is, is to keep it above that hypoglycemic state. So it's going to go up, then insulin is going to be secreted and it's going to be, it's going to be able to come back down again, so that there's no out of control blood sugar, there's no diabetes, type two, there's no low blood sugar hypoglycemia. So if you fuel throughout the day, and you eat about every four hours, then more than likely your blood sugar is going to be pretty level if you include all the food groups, so you'll be more balanced. So basically, and mentally,
Michael Cerreto
therefore you will be more Yes. If you ate a doughnut in the morning, there's not right that people eat doughnut, sometimes the money but if you do, more than likely, you're going to have a crash, you're going to have a lower blood sugar. So so when I came to you, I had high cholesterol, right? And you gave me a diet, that when I found it, I didn't totally understand the chemistry of it all. But I follow the diet and still do. And I noticed one big thing. Before that, I was really up and down throughout the day energy wise
Tina Shiver
from an energy standpoint. So in other words, you felt tired. Oh, yeah.
Michael Cerreto
And then I would feel energy and then tired again. What the peaks and valleys were very high and low.
Tina Shiver
And what did you contribute that to in the past before you met with me? Oh,
Michael Cerreto
I think to OH, Sleep, that you weren't getting enough sleep. Right. But in reality, about a week after I changed my diet, my energy was consistent, correct. After day, in other words, my energy was balanced throughout the day.
Tina Shiver
Yeah, because so what we did, from what I remember, we increased your fiber, because fiber is really, really important for helping to stabilize the blood sugar. And we increased your protein, your lean protein, but not not unhealthy fats, because of the cholesterol piece. So you don't want too much sugar, and you don't want too much cholesterol or saturated fat. But that's what brought you back into balance. And also eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, I think there was a snack put it at all, also not taking everything away, right? People think that when they go on a healthy food plan, or start or need to feel balanced, that it has to be perfect, right? If it's not like this, then oh, my gosh, I'm out of balance, all of a sudden, like that, just because I made one change. And so it's important to know it's going to ebb and flow. And keeping people in balance, I think is all about recognizing when your body has certain symptoms that you haven't felt before, like the fatigue, or like a headache, or like, what else what else? What else? fatigue, headache, low energy throughout the whole day. So not necessarily fatigue, but you just don't feel at your peak. Whereas in so when you're imbalanced you are feeling at your peak, it's possible.
Michael Cerreto
You also told me I was under hydrated, right does that the people that are typically nutritionally more imbalanced? What does hydration means? So
Tina Shiver
80%, I bet of my people are under hydrated. So I test people to see how their hydration levels are. And it you know, with hydration, so important for the unit to clear toxins out of your body. It's important that in a lot of cases, when people are hungry, they're actually thirsty, they need the fluids. When you're not thirsty, it's usually a sign that you need more fluid, people will look at me they're like, but that sounds the opposite. And I was like, but it is when you're thirsty, you are fully hydrated anymore. And I remember working with a runner who had very low body fat. And you told her she was over hydrated. And I that's the first time I heard of that. And she did a great job explaining it to me, but that's great. Well, all it means is that for her, and I can't remember who that was. But more than likely, she was either not eating enough. Okay, that was one piece or some people had the body type where they run a little bit overly hydrated, right? Or they're not taking enough electrolytes, which could have been her case. So yeah, it's every body is unique and individual. And unlike the I think the the idea is of what you're telling me or what I'm hearing, you say, is in the if you look at when you're young, that eventually as you age, you learn about your body physically, mentally and emotionally. And how do you as a individual, keep that physical, mental and emotional peace and balance? It's, it's not easy. No, it's not. But it can be done. And I feel like people know more than they give themselves credit for.
Michael Cerreto
Let me ask you a question about sometimes the information is so much out there. And especially in your area in my area, people self help has been around a long time. And there's some wonderful resources for that. And you could access those resources and dissect down into very small aspects of your mind and your body. But
Tina Shiver
what about it can be so overwhelming with nutrition, it's even for me. So it's really interesting. So I at one time was extremely overwhelmed, because you don't know what to believe. Right? It's like what to believe there's so much information out there. And as a dietitian, I can look at research. And I think that it's more and more important to look at research on how does it play out? Does something like this food plan continue to last for people does it? Does it help them lower cholesterol? Does it help them stabilize blood sugar? Does it help them with weight? Does it help them feel better? And so research I think is important. I also think it's it's time right? I've been doing this a long time. And so you start to see these trends. And you see the Atkins diet is now the keto diet for the carnival redial, and it's like, had never worked before. I doubt it's going to work now. But people are going to choose what they're going to choose. The key for me is to guide them into thinking about it and saying, Okay, if you do this for short term, go for for short term, short term, if you think it's going to work for you, and I'm here to say, it's probably not going to be lasting for you. Right? So how can we tweak it? How can we change it?
Michael Cerreto
So from a nutritional perspective, and a psychological perspective, it comes down to what I mentioned earlier, self awareness, self knowledge and self care, yes, that we are really the masters of our own learning, and our own creation of what we do here. I know there are higher powers involved across different cultures, but I think we are gifted with the ability to learn to be extremely aware of our life and our surroundings. And, and learn new skills no matter what age to, to stay more focused, and feeling in control and balance, both with our bodies as you talked about, and our minds, which I mentioned. So in the next episode, what we're going to do is talk about what it looks like to be out of balance. And then the third episode of this series will be what did how to get back in balance? Are there any topics or any issues that you have a remaining from today? That you want to make sure we we talk about anything come to mind? Yeah. Ah,
Tina Shiver
oh, yeah. There's a lot of topics. So we'll do another episode. So we'll do Yes. On inbound on imbalance. Okay. Yeah. All right, good. Well,
Michael Cerreto
this is Mike Cerretto, and Tina Shiver, and see you next time.
