REVERSE AGING | Get Fit Over 50 | Anti-aging Science | Fitness Inspiration | Holistic Health | Healthy Women | Motivation | Aging Gracefully | Body Transformation | Healthy Aging Metabolic Flexibility

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1:01 Low. And welcome to another exciting episode of the Fitness Wisdom podcast. Today I'm going to be interviewing Kerry September. She's one of my followers and we've been following each other for a very long time now and I got really inspired by her personal health and body transformation. So we're going to be sharing her personal journey and story today with you guys. And I'm sure we're going to get into different strategies, tips, and tools that she has utilized over her health and body transformation and how she has managed to keep and maintain such a great physique.

1:33 So this is going to be a really exciting conversation and I feel like you're going to get so much value out of this, so you definitely want to save and share it with a friend. Joyous. Hello, Kerry, How are you? I'm good. It's so nice to meet you. You're looking glorious. Are you sitting outside? I am. It's a little bit chilly, but the sun's shining, so taking advantage. Yeah, there's nothing nicer than the natural light. You know, it's like the best lighting, especially for the camera. It's the best lighting when you're over 50.

2:03 Really like I feel like that blue lighting makes us look so old. Yeah, it's funny because I look at pictures from quite a few years ago when I was maybe in a studio, or because I work in the photography fashion industry and a lot, a lot of my clients love to be photographed in sunset light or daylight. It is a lot more flattering, of course. So is it? Do you think it's because the the way that the light is so much more sharp with the blue light and it only comes from One Direction, whereas with natural lighting it it's more illuminates from different angles?

2:47 I think it's because it's the, it's the red light and the orange light that is more flattering on the skin. Yeah. I mean, blue light's kind of quite harsh. Yeah. And bright. So it's more, it's softer. It's softer lighting which you know you try and emulate in a studio, but it's never quite the same. Yeah, yeah, I found that, you know, when you're in a gym for example, you see that it's it's better for the for the definition, it looks better. You know, if you have a six pack or something, it looks better with blue lighting because it's so much more harsher on the lines.

3:26 So if you've got wrinkles, it really pronounces the the wrinkles as well, right? Yeah, or a good filter, but I try not to filter. I try to be as real as possible, you know so. I mean you now you look even better than your videos on the reels do. You know what? Do you know what it is literally sitting outside. And I thought, I'm gonna have to do this sitting outside. It is. So it's actually quite cold, but you know, as you and I know the cold, we our bodies love the cold. And I try and implement as much cold into my life as I possibly can and build up a resistance.

4:02 And I'm really have built up such a good tolerance to the cold that I tend to sit more outside and have my breakfast and have my evening meal as long as it's not raining. And I absolutely love it. I love it. Yeah, so we'll get all into that good stuff in a second. So, but first, I would love for you to the reason why I wanted to invite you on today is because you know, I I saw and I noticed that you have such an inspiring story from where you were to where you are now. And we've been following each other for quite a while.

4:33 So I don't know how long this transformation has been taking place because I don't necessarily I didn't notice the date or the time. But I think it would be really cool if you went in and you explained, you know, the journey. Like, what was the thing that actually inspired you to change your trajectory of your life really? And what age are you now and when did you actually start? So basically, I mean, it was, it wasn't just one thing, it was a combination of life getting in the way. I had been through some trauma.

5:09 I had lost a very close friend in 20/21/2020 and I was also very unwell. Very. I was getting very sick. I had to have a big operation to remove some big fibroids which had grown quite significantly since I went on some hormone replacement therapy. It just seemed to, I know now if I knew now, what if I knew then what I know now, then I, I always said that I would share my story if I found out the answers. So I was waiting for an operation and it was locked down. And I think I waited a year and a half.

5:53 And I tried to heal myself in that year and a half.

5:58 But everywhere I went looked, I just couldn't find any information. And even my doctor, I said to him, you know what causes fibroids? And he said I, I don't know. And I remember thinking that's really strange that you don't know the answer because it is your field. But now I know why, you know, we know it's because of lifestyle, epigenetics and carb, sugar, blue light, all of the things that I was doing at the time. And lockdown happened and I thought I'm going to do a detox, like a proper detox.

6:33 I was vegan at the time. Not really. I know. So obviously all of these things together and the veganism was making me sick. I didn't know, I thought. How long were you doing vegan? Three years for a vegan. So I did a a detox where I gave up sugar and I couldn't slip my head off the pillow for three days like it was it was it was pretty intense. But anyway, 21 days to break any habit and I got through it. And then when I got through that, I just kind of thought, well, I'm going to carry on because I feel better and I'm having this operation and I want to be as fit as I possibly can for the operation.

7:18 So I was doing yoga everyday with amazing lady Amy, doing yoga everyday in lockdown. And then I found, you know, I started getting into Instagram and I, I, I, I was getting up for sunrise anyway, I've always loved the sun. My dad's from South Africa. I'm kind of drawn to heat. I'm like a lizard. So I was on the beach watching sunrise. And as a friend of mine who also used to go and watch sunrise says to me, you need to, you need to check out a lady called Courtney Hunt. So I went and I watched one of her lives and basically I just, you know, this crazy lady on a mountain was swearing her head off and I loved it and she was so direct.

8:05 And that's what I think woke me up and I started following her protocols and kind of, you know, 4 1/2 years later, I'm still doing them. And it was I've, I've never, ever been able to kind of maintain, always been, you know, exercising since my 30s. But you have children and you kind of get preoccupied with other things in your life, career. And I burnt out in my career. And yeah, so I four, 4 1/2 years later, I maintain it and it's working. So I'm just going to keep most people, you know, you, I've always done a program for like 12 weeks or 12 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, and then you just stop.

8:59 And I, I think now why do people just stop? Why do we, why do we give? I suppose it's to motivate you for eight weeks. But you know, if you're not enjoying what you're doing and you're kind of rushing into it and doing too much too soon, you're thinking when it's 8 weeks, I can stop doing this. When it's 12 weeks, I can stop doing this. So it's about being so patient and studying and understanding what actually goes on inside the body. So I asked my doctor. I said, look, I want to see, I want to see pictures.

9:35 I want to see images of inside my body. I want to know what they look like. It's fibroids. And he looked at me and he was like, I'm OK, Well, you can, but I mean, I won't go into too much detail without getting gruesome. But anyway, he showed me these pictures. I went in for my final consultation. And on the screen was a picture of these fibroids. And I just couldn't believe it. They were. So, I mean, they were like living beings, but around the fibroids was all this yellow kind of stuff. And I was like, what is that?

10:06 And he said, that's visceral fat. And I was like, my good God. So that kind of woke me up. And I thought right now is where my journey really begins. And when you see inside your body, it's almost like a bit of a wake up call because we just worry about what's on the outside. And in my job, you know, I've made people look beautiful for a living for almost 30 years, but nobody really looks internally on what's going on inside your body. So it's been a real my own studying quantum biology and acadium rhythm and you know, I was bottom of the class at school.

10:49 I was bottom set maths. I wasn't, you know, I'm dyslexic with numbers and also I'm hard of hearing. So I really struggled at school. But I think, yeah, I I'm so interested and keen to learn about it. And I think when you have somebody that teaches you in a different way that makes you think for yourself, yeah, then it ingrains. Yeah, it it ingrains. You learn it. You learn it better than if someone just gives you all the answers. 100 represent you have to be also very passionate about, you know, what you're, you're learning because I was also as well, you know, when I was younger, I was also diagnosed with this dyslexia at school as well.

11:31 And, and basically I had a hard time with all the things that you just mentioned, but I was never great at math. I was never great at history and all this stuff, but I still went to university, you know, I got my nutrition degree, I got my master's degree and all this good stuff. And it doesn't mean anything. It's just that I wasn't interested in those things that they were teaching me at school. As soon as I found my passion I realised, oh, it wasn't actually that I wasn't good at what I was doing, it was just that I was passionate about those things, yeah.

12:01 You are so intelligent with your knowledge like you say you inspired, you know, by me. I was so inspired by you and Tina. It just, I watched my watch one of your videos and I instantly tried to do, you know, replicate something that Tina was doing. I'm like, this is bloody hard, but I'm just going to keep doing it everyday and, you know, adjust it to my age because obviously it takes time to get your mobility back. 100% you have to meet the body where it's at. So that's the key. This is what we teach all our clients and, and even on ourselves.

12:36 If I'm trying to learn something new, I'm never going to like if you're never done squats before on the barbell, you're never going to go and straight to straight 500 kilos. I mean, you have to build it up first with the empty bar, then slowly, slowly. This is like the most basic example, but if you take anybody weight exercise, which is more complex, which requires body awareness, body control, balance and all this stuff, you have to give your body the time to learn the skill before you start to add the power into it, you know, and the strength.

13:06 So yeah, definitely. But I love what you said previously about how, you know, people love to start these journeys with, you know, a certain time frame and then they quit, but they don't actually realize that it's a it requires a whole mental and lifestyle shift, right? It's not about doing something and then going back to what you used to be, because the reason why you are where you were, where you don't want to be, is because you're living the life which is manifesting what you don't want. But if you want to manifest what you do want, you have to create a new reality, right?

13:42 Yes, you have to see it, imagine it. We know. Whatever you speak, you become. Whatever. You live. You live it totally. And I think a lot of people when they, if they just kept going that little bit further, then they would see that, Oh my gosh, I'm seeing results. And then that would spur you on. And that, and that was what was spurring me on. I was like, my God, if I just keep going, what would happen if I just took it a little bit further? And I just kept saying that and you know, you know what it's like you just, once you get into it, there's no, there's no other.

14:17 There's no turning back. You just keep. Going, yeah, exactly what you just said, because once you are aware, it's very hard to become unaware about something, especially something that destroys your current paradigm and you can't see in any other way anymore. And then you start to become awake about so many different facets of health and life and how everything is intertwined that you know, there is no way of going back. Because if you are going to do something that is maybe not in alignment with your volume, it's almost like you know that you are doing harm to yourself, you know, because you are so aware about it.

14:55 So you can't, you can't do it, you know. I mean, I remember, like I look back and I suddenly remember the other day I used to fall asleep. I used to go to work, get up at silly o'clock in the morning, sometimes do kind of late night shifts. And then I'd come home and I would fall asleep with my laptop watching a film, fall asleep in front of my computer, absolutely no clue whatsoever. And now I, you know, I changed my whole life. I thought I, I couldn't sleep and I didn't know why I couldn't sleep.

15:30 And I blamed it on the fact that I was approaching, you know, perimenopause, which apparently.

15:38 Yeah, it's not. It's not, I don't, it's not really a thing. Like I think you can avoid certain hormone disruptions, obviously, if you I mean, it's possible, I think. But I didn't know why I couldn't fall asleep. And I and I would lay awake and it was really stressing me out. And then I was, you know, heart palpitations and soy. And then I thought I need just something needs to change. And so when I, I moved to the coast, changed my whole life. I used to have like 4 televisions in my old house, one in the loft, one in my, my bedroom, my God.

16:19 And I just kind of didn't know how to set them up. When I got to my new house, I was like, I don't know how to set these up, so I'm just going to leave it. And then before you know it, the universe must have been looking after me. And I never set the TV's up and I still don't have TVI mean, I can, I can watch it on my laptop or my phone, but I just don't after sunset, the thought of watching something on television or letting that blue light into my eye, if I go to the cinema, I go at ten, 11:00 in the morning because if I go at night, I'm going to fall asleep.

16:53 And I don't want to feel like that. I want to, you know, I want to feel good when I wake up in the morning. And yeah, it's just just you notice how far you come. Yes, exactly. So maybe you can tell us what kind of sacrifices do you feel that you had to make in your life? Because a lot of people don't acknowledge that there has to be some sacrifice and short term sacrifice for a long term benefit, right? Forever or whatever we are aiming for if we are thinking about the short term comfort, you know, like eating something like right now, because I feel like it versus not eating that thing for the long term benefit of not eating that thing, you know, So if you could maybe go into something, some areas of your life where you feel like you have to sacrifice in order for your but they're not really sacrifices anymore right afterwards because you don't, you know, even feel like doing those things anymore after a while, those habits and behaviors.

17:53 But what are some things that you had to switch in your life that you feel like has massively improved your life? It's funny because I don't. I mean, at this age, I'm 53, I'm 54 this year. I think I've done my partying. I grew up in the 70s, partied in the 90s. I'm repairing my brain cells, right? So I don't feel like I've sacrificed anything because I feel like I've done it. But when I gave up sugar in all areas of my life and change my lifestyle, I think I turn that energy into excitement. I was feeling excited about all of these changes.

18:35 So I never really felt like I'm, I suppose sugar. Sugar's been the biggest sacrifice. I thought that I'd miss, you know, I wouldn't be able to eat cakes or sweets or whatever, but at the weekend, I eat what I like because my metabolic flexibility is how it should be. It's like a normal, you know, it is how should be, I think. And I'd never known that. Yeah, not since I was a kid. But I want you to maybe like explain to people if you can, like, you know, because a lot of people when they hear that, they think, oh, I can get away with that, but only if you are healthy, you know, if you're metabolically healthy, because now you've built your body to the state where you're able to tolerate those things.

19:18 And I feel like there is a lot of people in the health and fitness space and also circadian space, they vilify carbohydrates a lot. When in reality, it's not about, there's no such thing as a, you know, a good or a bad macronutrient. It's just how is the body able to process and tolerate that nutrient, right? Why is it not able to utilize it or process it? That is the question we should be asking, not that the carbohydrate or the sugar is the problem. Why is the body not able to process that sugar or the carbohydrate in the 1st place?

19:53 Right. Because because they're not getting sunlight. And this is a thing like people don't, you know, a lot of people messaged me, how do you do it? You know, what are you doing? And you tell them you're like, I've learnt, this is what I've learnt. You need to get up for sunrise, get, you know, get that golden ratio in your eye, get that red light in your eye. And people don't want to do it and. You don't realise that getting that light in your eye regulates all your hormones especially. I'm in full menopause and I cold plunge everyday and I know that it makes tostesterone tostes.

20:29 What is it? I'm saying testosterone. I always get that one wrong because of my hearing. And so I think, I think people underestimate the power of being outside in natural light. They think they can get away with, you know, fitness, working your arse off in the gym. I see so many people working their arse off in the gym, but missing the crucial, the most important thing. It's not about food, it's about getting the light in your eye. 100% So well, one thing that you mentioned previously in the beginning was about the burnout that you experienced.

21:09 And I feel like a lot of people, they are doing all the things meaning they are, you know, working out really hard. They are supposingly eating as they are supposed to be out, but they are not taking care of their circadian habits or their sleep. And if you're not doing those fundamental parts or you're not getting sunlight, you're not getting grounded, that means you're not taking care of the foundation. So eventually you're going to hit that burnout point even if you are working out because working out is a sympathetic activity, right?

21:42 So everything that everything that is hard for us to do, all the hard things, even cold exposure, it's like puts us into a sympathetic state at first when we get in, but afterwards, you know, when we get out, our nervous system is better regulated. But our body cannot tolerate those hard things so easily if the nervous system is all the time fried. So I think that it's really, really good if you maybe talk about some ways that you actually regulate your nervous system. What what kind of habits and things have you found very helpful for that?

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22:43 Don't take my words for it. Grab yourself a panel from emrtech.com and use the promo code Mobility Fitness for a Massive 30% discount. So, you know, we, we have to remember that women who are in their 40s, I had a child in my 40s. And when you have a big family and you have children, it's hard. You know, life is all about timing. So you have to kind of imagine, visualize, work towards goals. Like I always wanted to move to the coast and I would visualize it and it's happened. Everything I've visualized has happened.

23:20 And, you know, people message me and like, well, how do you do this when you've got kids? I'm like, well, visualize it. And then it would get to a point when your kids would be, you know, older and you will be able to go and get up for sunrise and you will be able to go, you know, sneak a little bit of a sneaky, sneaky session at the gym. Having a home gym really helps because I can just fall out of bed and do my workout And, and, you know, I can still make my kid breakfast and see him after school.

23:53 Implementing things like, you know, when you're driving along on the school run or you, you know, you walk to school, get the natural sunlight or you roll down your window letting the light. And then I suppose it's easier for me because I'm a little bit older and it came to a stage in my life where I had time and locked down as well. I was able to pay more attention to my health. But I think, I mean, everybody's different. It is literally about life, life, life, that it's about timing. And I think it was my time.

24:35 And so I think everybody has a time. So if you can focus towards something you want, I mean, as you know, you, you can manifest stuff. People think it's woo woo, but you know, you are what you imagine and it it it, it sounds woo woo but it but it works. Yeah, I mean he works also in the negative sense as well, right. So if see people think if you think negatively, Yeah, Yeah, if you're negativity, you attract the negative things into your life. So it's very we believe that part, don't we? Very easily, but we don't believe the good stuff.

25:10 So I think we need to shift the mindset towards positivity you. Know eliminating stress. So I look back and I was working silly hours because, you know, I was earning good money and people would ask me to work and I would always say yes. And it's learning to say no and it's learning to slow down and just stop and think, do I really want to do that? And you know, money doesn't motivate me anymore. Money just comes. It gives me what I need and I can do what I want to do. And, and I don't mean that to sound pretentious in any way, but I think you, you know, I

25:58 think it's just being just just slowing down, slowing down. Fantastic tip. Otherwise, you're going out, aren't you? Yeah. Definitely yeah, if you, if you're not like slowing down, if you're not doing all the things you know to to calm your nervous system down, you're going to hit a point where you're not able to work anymore, so you're not even able to earn money, right. So The thing is, yeah, like a vicious. Circle. Yeah, like a. Vicious circle. You have to really take care of your health. I think most people all underestimate the power of doing the slow things, forgetting for them and being able to be more resilient and to do the hard things.

26:39 Everyone thinks that to get to get in shape and to change my health, I need to do hard things. You know, I need to do ice from. I need to climb the mountain. I need to do the hard workouts. I need to do this, get fit in 30 days, you know, kind of business, like super hardcore. But in reality, no. It's about taking your time, as you said. And like, yeah, preserving your health. It, it's for me, I think in my head, if I'm going to work out for longevity, you know, I, I don't want to become a bodybuilder.

27:15 I don't want to exert myself into setting myself targets that are not achievable. So I will, I do, I, I'll push myself in the gym, but I won't push myself to the point where I think that's not maintainable. I'm going to get fed up with doing that in six weeks. I, I work out to a certain level like, but it's experimenting with your own body. I think that's the biggest thing is people want to know all the answers in 5 minutes and then they hit the gym, go five days a week and it's like, it's not about that.

27:50 You really need to slow down and you need to experiment on yourself and you try out different things. I mean, I think I remember messaging you asking you about creatine and you were like, just try it because I don't take anything. I don't even take an aspirin. I've never taken aspirin, paracetamol, I do not take anything because I think if shit hit the fan, you need to be able to survive on whatever you've got around you. So I just kind of like really simplify my life in every single way in my in, in what I eat, in where, you know, every aspect of my life is simplified.

28:27 I'll even walk instead of driving or and then yeah, it's just, it's just about slowing down, really slowing down. I love it how you said about simplifying things because a lot of people try to make it sound so complicated. Like transforming your health and your body is literally about hammering the fundamentals over and over again, isn't It's just prioritizing your sleep. But not only your sleep, everybody even sleep right with how is the quality of your sleep is dependent, is dependent on what we just talked about, which is your light environment, your relationship with your environment.

29:07 And you know, whether you're exposed to artificial lighting or natural lighting, whether you have been very stressed throughout the day or more relaxed, all of these things are going to influence how you sleep. So if we get the sleep right and then, you know, we get outside as much as we can, we have that nature connection, we're then able to, you know, to drive. And then it's so much easier to transform our body externally because I tell my clients all the time that in order to transform your body on the outside, you have to transform your body on the inside so it reflects on the.

29:39 Outside you have to feel right and the way you train yourself is you know a lot of people have lots of apps and gadgets and. Yeah, yeah, I'm a I'm a great Fitbits and watches. I don't like them. No, I mean, I, I, I did have an aura ring, but it started to, I started to feel it on my finger. But I'm quite sensitive to things. I've become more sensitive to things like that, I think, for this week. Even with the flight mode the option on. Yes. Really. Yeah, even with what? Sorry with flight mode. On yeah, there was I think now there or there was an option to put the ring on a flight mode, but I'm not sure if it's still emitting some kind of.

30:25 Signals. I haven't had it for a year. I mean, do you know what? It was absolutely brilliant when I first started on this journey. I had an oil ring. I used apps to track my macros and my fat, you know, to protein intake. But what I did is, you know, after doing it for about a year, I know it. I know it. I like to have a little pressure, you know, but I, I, I can feel it. I can feel when I'm in ketosis. I can feel when I'm you've learned. Your body. Yeah, I'm so in touch with my body and I think, yeah, just just just just do it.

31:04 Basically just just get on and do it rather than procrastinating. Yeah, experiment. And it's really fun actually, when you work out something yourself and you go, oh, wow. Well, that that worked. And I think recently somebody posted quite a big influencer posted the golden sort of amount of time to fast. And I was like, well, I fast. I've been fasting for that for that amount of time for the last 4 1/2 years. But I didn't realise it was just. I know that it feels good. I don't know that it's right on a daily on a daily basis.

31:40 So they're. Talking about no, no, no, I, I, I fast once a week, once a week. And I see lots of people, you know, fast over fast, and they go for days and days and days. And you don't, unless you're trying to heal, cure something. You know, everybody's different, everybody's different. So I don't know if you want to fast for that many days, maybe that suits you. But I know that this amount of time is the right time. And I can feel that, you know, even now I have barracus veins, they're all gone. I don't need my glasses to drive anymore.

32:17 I only wear them at night time. I've actually stopped wearing my hearing aids for about 6-7 months now because I've learnt that we need to exercise our eyes, we need to exercise our ears. Well, you know, and I suppose I've been wearing glasses because what I noticed is when I eat sugar, I need to wear my glasses the next day. So yes, that might profound. You know sugar equals information, as I have learned. Yes, and. It's interesting though, because you know these eyes, the eyes, they are mainly using more glucose compared to other cells.

32:57 So it's really interesting how they get affected by you eating carbohydrates when in reality maybe it's just too much sugar for the ice. Definite. I know, I know, you know, I I love eating cake. When I lived in Thailand, the locals called me Kerry Cake. And but my, I'm fortunate enough, I've got some amazing friends that own a bakery where I live and I know what goes in their cakes and I know what flour they use. And I've even started milling my own flour and making my own cake. So I know that it doesn't have the heavy metals in.

33:36 I've started growing my own food and I've started making my own butter. I mean, I'm so. Dependent fill for life, yeah. Yeah, I just want to, I just want to, I just want to put goodness in my body, really. I'm not, you know, but I still, I still when I have too many cakes, I can feel it the next step, of course, but that's OK. Yes, get back on it and don't you know, just keep going. Exactly, this is what I love. This is what I love that, you know, again, another thing which I do and I, I teach my clients as well, is that if you make, let's say, a mistake or you, you fall off track with your diet for one meal, just get back on from the next meal, you know, just eat like what was part of it of the plan?

34:23 Yeah, just get back on track. And it's all about consistency. What you do 90 to 95% of the time, if you're good with your habits and it's taking you towards the right direction and the goals that you want. Once every so often, eating something that you can't or being exposed to blue light once every so often is not really going to kill you, right? It's, it's more about the consistency. Like, for example, I train in the gym maybe four times per week, and that's obviously in a blue gym, right? But I'm always wearing my blue light blockers when I go there.

34:56 I'm always being outside the rest of the time. So 23 hours of the day, I'm leaving circadian alignment. So I'm not that bothered if I go for one hour to train in a blue light. But even I'm in supermarkets, hospitals, airports, they're all blue lit, right? So we shouldn't be stressing so much about the gym specifically. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You've got to live your life right. Yeah, exactly. So what other like health practices, slash habits do you feel like I've been a game changer for you beyond sunlight and cold exposure?

35:34 What are the game changers? Like what kind of things do you do on a daily basis or on a weekly basis? Like do you do sauna at all? Do you do grounding? Do you do any breath work? Do you do any of these kind of things? I go out every morning. I jump in my cold plunge at sunrise. I walk bare feet around my garden and if I don't do that, I go sunrise on the beach and sometimes I go in the sea. Like I've literally gone for a walk at sunrise and just stripped off and run in the sea because I think that's the best you start waiting it.

36:05 You know you like, you want to get those electrons you want. You it calls you. In it calls you in and you know, if you said that to me when I lived in the city, it would have been like no way. But when you move down to the coast, you, you know, your body starts being very in tune with your surroundings. So I can't not run in the sea. What else do I do? I just I'm, I'm, I'm busy mum. I mean, I, I homemade my son. So I'm teaching him all the things. He's nearly 14, so the last year he has really got into his fitness.

36:44 I think it's a natural process for a teenage boy. But also it's been lovely because my, my boyfriend, we've been together for two years when I met him, you know, he was a bit like I was in 2020 and he's worked out all his life and he was kind of all of a sudden started just doing the things I was doing. I didn't even, you know, go into detail about it and I was like, wow, this is really quite infectious. You know, when you when you, when you sort of like do all the things and people see that you're getting results, it has a real kind of not going to affect your family.

37:25 You lead by example. Yeah, so it's just being able to help as many people around you and show them that. I was going to say the one thing that I, that blew me away was I came from this person that was so unwell. I was actually told that if I'd have carried on, I probably would have got, you know, could have got cancer. And I think the way your body has the ability to spring back is incredible. It's honestly, it is profound. You know, I was nearly, I was very overweight and I was, I, I get regular bouts, attacks of Vertigo.

38:13 I'd be in bed for about a week and to, to think, you know where I've come from there to now my body has spun back and I'm, I'm, I'm past 50. It's amazing because you don't think that it's possible, but it's, but it's so possible. If you just implement all of the things, you'll notice a difference in two weeks. I did sickness in two weeks and I was like, wow, this is how I feel in two weeks. Imagine what I feel like in a month. Imagine what I feel like in six months. Imagine what it'd be like in a year.

38:45 And 4 1/2 years later, I'm, I'm stronger than I was in my, you know, I'm more kind of, I've got more energy than I had when I was in my 20s. And I think we're, it's amazing. It's it's, it really blows my mind. Yeah, You know, like the body is always trying to heal us and to regenerate us and detoxify us. But if the level of toxicity and damage to the body is greater than the ability for the body to deal with that process, that's what we call aging, right? Is when we have constant stress on the system and the body cannot have the the energy or, you know, the antioxidant capacity.

39:25 You know, by having the melatonin available to scavenge all of the oxidative stress from the free radical damage that we are creating, we are then causing, you know, DNA damage, mitochondrial damage. And this is what leads to accelerated aging. Not the problem for one day, but it's very problematic if repeated every single day for multiple years. And this is what a lot of people are doing even when they are young, you know, like in university or when they're studying or even after studies when they are bringing alcohol like almost every day, not sleeping, like, you know, being exposed to the wrong type of light and eating the wrong types of foods.

40:04 And you're doing this for years and years and years. And then afterwards you you look in the mirror one day and you wonder. When did I age like this? You know, when did I get these wrinkles? When did my hair start graying? And then. But then, as you said, like, because the bodies, it wants you to repair yourself so badly. Yeah. Even until the day that you are dead, it's all the time trying to repair you. Literally. And the only reason why it can't keep on going anymore is because the mitochondrial capacity goes out and then our energy levels go to 0.

40:34 And that's when we thought living in its physical body. So if the mitochondria have like a certain potential, right? So every single decade of our life, we, we lose approximately 10% capacity of mitochondrial functions. So the earlier of course you catch yourself in this cycle, the more of a greater chance you have to spring back towards something better. And you have really shown everybody that you can do this, you know, even if you are in the halfway or what we consider as halfway in your lifetime, we don't know if you're going to miss 150.

41:12 I think it's amazing that you guys have found this lifestyle at your age because you know what you're going to be like when you're my age kind of thing. But also for people not to give up hope if they are thinking, Oh my God, I'd never be able to snap myself back into shape. Everybody can, you know, he just needs to get out, get out. I love it. But you're always so like, you're always so direct. You always tell people like just do it without overthinking just. Do it. And I'm, you know, I, I'm trying hard not to swear.

41:45 I've been doing quite well actually for this whole almost hour. Oh yeah, you'll be doing great. Wake up, call. People do need that, you know, That you do need to be quite direct because there's been this very softly, softly approach. And that's what made me wake up, you know? Yeah, I listen to somebody's telling me to get off my ass and get out there. If you want to change your life and that's what you have to do. Yeah, well, there is like the there are two types of pains in life, isn't there? Like there's the pain of like temporary discomfort for long term, you know, success or you have long term for long term pain.

42:25 So it's choose which pain you want, but like I always choose short term pain right now so I can reap the benefits in the future. And what I was going to say previously, based on what I just said about the ability for the body to heal itself was that, you know, once you get yourself out of the way and you remove all of the stressors and all of the things with that were causing you the damage, this is what leads to your body to be able to spring back to your original self, which is your young self, right?

42:57 Like the cells are always wanted to be young, vibrant. And IT aging like what we call negentropy, which is like the reverse of aging, right? So it doesn't matter about your biological age. It's, I mean, sorry, your chronological age, it's about your biological age. So how old is like yourself old? Yourselves, right? And I think I remember from this journey right from the beginning. I visualize myself on my very best self. I had an image of myself for some reason standing on the end of the jetty in a long coat.

43:32 It was a bit like this today, actually. It was cold, but it was sunny. But I had a coat on and my hair was kind of blowing in the wind and I had a big smile and I was looking really healthy. And you know what, Andreas? I am that person today. So you keep visualizing and holding that vision. Then you will get there. You will get there. I love it how you had it so descriptive in your mind. You know the vision. Say that again, I. Love it how you were so descriptive with your vision in your mind. Yeah, yeah.

44:05 I mean, and I still hold that today. And I think 1 I just suddenly realized one day, Oh my gosh, I am actually that person. And yeah, it's hard work, but it's but it's but it's worth it. It's so worth it. Why? Why is it important for us to eat local and seasonal, do you think? So that's the other thing, isn't it local to our latitudes? So, you know, I won't. If I eat a banana, I'm going to feel like shit, basically, unless I have the banana cake that my boyfriend's sister makes when she comes down and stays, I will have, you know, one slice.

44:46 But eating local locally is, why do we eat locally? Because it's to our latitude. It's what we would have grown up with. It's what we would have evolved with. It's what we would have eaten in the winter, you know, picking berries or growing our own vegetables locally or honey. We didn't have all the foods that were imported. And obviously now they're getting tampered with bilomboli. So yeah, the local honey is amazing, yeah. Why? Why do you Why do you stop eating before sunset or just the sunset?

45:26 So your body can repair itself when you're when you're sleeping because that's when all the work is done, isn't it? That's why sleep is so important. And you know, gone are the days when I used to go out for dinner and eat a big fat meal at 9:00 at night. I couldn't think of anything worse now. But like you said earlier, if you do that once in a while, it's not going to kill you. Just not all the time. I've just got a message that my raw milk is waiting for me. Oh, are you in a? Hurry are. You in a hurry for it to go and grab the door.

45:59 Oh, not at all. But you know, talking about manifesting, I was thinking I need, I need to find some raw milk and I need to find some local eggs. And sure enough, you know, I was driving, I've just changed gyms. So my route to the gym is down some country lanes. And I just happened to drive past some an honesty box with some eggs. And then I happened to be part of a Facebook group since 2020 and they set up a raw milk delivery. So, you know, it's evidence that this stuff actually does happen. So.

46:38 Yeah, and you attract like what you want, right? What you keep on thinking about what? You think about. Yeah, it does. No. I mean, it's like you, you can't, you know, you talk about this stuff and people give you really funny looks, but you just hope that people kind of. Well, yeah. I mean, you meet people in your frequency, don't you? You, you, you attract your own tribe. So 100% yeah, has has your health journey and your body transformation in general, How has that influenced like your relationships?

47:13 Well, you kind of talked about already about your partner, but do you feel like you lost some people around you who thought you went weird or crazy or something? Like what kind of what if you feel comfortable sharing about that? You know what kind of happened? I think when you change, it makes other people look at themselves. And because at the end of the day, nobody really gives, you know, they're more concerned about themselves than they are about you. And that applies to when you go to the gym and you're worried about, you know, what you're going to look like.

47:49 Nobody gives. Nobody gives a shit. You go into the gym and everybody's worrying about themselves. So I think it's it's like holding up a mirror, isn't it? So you start getting fit and healthy and some people don't really want to be around that because it reminds them that they're not maybe had the chance or they've known you a certain way for years. And then you're suddenly changing everything and you're not going out for a drink and you're not, you know, staying out till 1-2 in the morning, even though I'm kind of way past that stage.

48:22 But even, you know, family and friends, some it's I mean, it's awful, but some, some you'll find that your biggest haters are actually really quite close to you. But send them love and kindness because they need it and hopefully they'll come round. And I feel like a lot more people are getting on this journey now. I think people are starting to wake up to the fact there's a lot of stuff out there now that is is talking about the Acadian rhythm lifestyle. I think a lot of people are getting in. More people are getting into the gym lifestyle, I think.

49:02 But yeah, did you find that, Andreas? Did you? Yeah, definitely. I find that a lot of people, especially ladies now, you know, because in the past ladies were not so much into going like in the gym, gym environment. They were more like into these like fitness classes and stuff. I feel like now the, the gym culture is really like shifting so much. You see a lot of more people like Tina, for example, like in the gym, like in good shape. There's a lot more people like being proactive about their, their health.

49:33 They're aware that they need to do something. So they start with the exercise. They're not aware about all the other, you know, health things, but it's a good place. You know it like no matter which area, you know, which pillar of health you choose, you find one and then eventually you start to become aware about the other one. But you have to eventually implement the other ones as well if you want to see that all around long lasting, you know, result and benefits that you actually want. Yeah. You are the person that helped me do a pull up.

50:07 Well, you did the work. You did the work. I just gave you a couple of. Tips. Your whole you just said one thing to me. You went, I think I messaged to do about it because I think I saw Tina do about 20,000 pull ups and you said to me it's mind muscle connection and then you explained it to me and I was like wow that's so interesting because my mind has been blocking me all of this time. Most people you know, they kind of aim to do a pull up in the gym. It's what everyone works towards. And I remember once and you just said also look up, just look up because I was like concentrating so hard.

50:43 Yeah, to try and pull myself up. And I when I first, when I got first pull up, it was just, it was amazing. So thank you for that, because it made such a bloody difference. I'm so happy to hear that. Yeah. And you know, like what I was trying to, to get you to do by telling you to look up was to get out of that like sympathetically dominant state by because when you're, when you're like, you know, trying to pull yourself up with all your strength, you're using maybe not the most appropriate muscles for the actual movement, right?

51:15 So you want the correct muscles to be engaged for the exercise to, to save your joints, number one, And and secondly, to activate those muscles that you want for the actual pull up. Because once you start developing them, the pull ups get easier and easier when you're able to do more and more. So then your lungs are able to come online. You know, you have better posture during the whole movement. And again, it's about that body awareness, right? And that's why I said to you, it's about my muscle connection.

51:41 Because a lot of times we think that we don't have the strength to do something. But actually it's just that the brain needs to gain that neurological safety by us showing is the showing to the body by us doing the thing over and over and over. And when there is an element of play involved, you know about this, about neuroplasticity. Like when you create an element of play, you learn things maybe like 100 times. Faster, yes. So if you're not so serious about things and being more playful, you can like achieve incredible things with your body.

52:16 Well, for me it was all about starting up something that I used to do as a kid, which was roller skating because that is fun. That is fun. And I think I hadn't put my roller skates on since I had a really bad fall as a kid. And I was like, right, I'm never, I just don't want to get back on my skates. And then reliving, you know, the music, the skates, you know, what you wear like very sort of seventies, 80s style and, you know, thinking about the memory and, you know, now my brain is clean, my nose works better, all my senses are heightened so I can pull back those memories.

52:58 And it gives me, yeah, it gives me loads of pleasure and kind of excitement of when I used to roller skate as a kid. And like you said, the, you know, it's like neurogenesis is, is a thing and you become fitter from doing something that you love. So roller skating is my thing. Like I, I can't imagine. I wouldn't, I wouldn't just go to the gym because I think it's, it's, it's, it's nice. It's good to kind of do lots of other things. But think about something you love doing as a kid, you know, whether it's playing tennis or whether table tennis or, you know, rounders or whatever, or skipping.

53:39 Skipping is a good way to start something that that is going to lead or even hula hooping. Just that's how I started doing hula hooping. But yeah, that that that do something that's fun and then just build up, build up and let it evolve into something a little bit more kind of, you know, picking up some heavy weights when you get stronger and feel a bit more confident. I think confidence is a big part of it as well, because when we have, you know, when you have your kids, like your body changes and you need to get back to, you try to get back to how you are and you have a lot of pressure from, you know, pressure to snap back.

54:16 But it's about, yeah, taking your time. Definitely. And what you said there about you being afraid when you were a child doing the, you know, rollerblading and then now all of a sudden you did it again with it, with this new fresh mindset of trying to into your life. I feel like you also released yourself from the trauma that that you were, that you have in your head. Yeah. You've let nothing go and you reprogrammed, you reprogrammed your system to to feel like now this is a really positive thing.

54:49 And I love to do it. And, and the cool things about that type of sport is that it's so there's so many variables involved, like, you know, you've got balance, strength, you know, athleticism, flexibility, mobility, so many aspects in that skill that is not just bi directional like in the gym. Like you mentioned that it's so important for people to incorporate multiple different fitness activities in their weekly routine. I feel like on top of your a traditional strength training, because traditional strength training makes you strong in traditional movement, like just basic up and down, backwards and forwards, but it doesn't make you good at, you know, rotational work, you know, being, you know, in unexpected situations like in in that sport that you're.

55:36 Doing well, I mean, for instance, I sort of evolved. So when I started skating, I was thinking, well, maybe I should get in the gym, but I didn't have the confidence. And then I, I posted something today about muscle Mike, a fellow, you know, we follow each other and I watched him everyday. Everyday he'd be in the gym and he'd be like his little hashtag would be just do it. You were you already know it, just get it in. And I was like, do you know what? I need to go? I need to go. So every time I went skating, I would go weight training because I'm thinking when I want to get stronger to skate.

56:13 It wasn't about being in the gym. I just wanted to get stronger for skate. And also, you know, if I took a full, I'm the only one that has got the full kind of pads on the elbows, the knees, the wrist guards. I really don't give a shit what I look like. I think if I'm going to fall over, I'm going to go down and I'm going to be comfortable. But what I've realized is that, you know, the stronger I got weight training, if I did fall over, I wouldn't even feel it. I just bounced off the floor and people were like, Oh my God, are you okay?

56:44 And it's like, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Whereas I do see people coming, you know, they put a pair of roller skates on and they and they don't do any exercise and then they fall over. They break something and they wonder why. Just my God, if you just pick up a weight or just kind of got a little bit of movement, then you would feel the benefits so much more. But I'm just kind of getting into this whole, it's not just about weight training, it's about mobility and your fascia and moving, you know, it just makes you so balanced.

57:17 Yeah, exactly. I feel that, you know, all of these quantum and circadian practices, they are very underestimated when it comes to facial health and connective tissue because we know that the connective tissue, the elasticity of the connective tissue comes down to the overall health of your overall system and how hydrated your system is. And stress in general dehydrates your system, so it dehydrates your connective tissues. So if your connective tissues are less pliable when you are pulled down or you hurt yourself by accident.

57:55 You're. You're more prone to breaking something or or cutting something or, you know, or causing more damage because it's more real. It's not as juicy, you know, it's not. It doesn't have a high hydration in there. What? As you say, just bounce. Yeah, it feels like, you know, when you got energy, you got more kind of, I don't know, it's a feeling, isn't it? You just kind of deal with life better when you're full of energy. Yeah. So, you know, I think everything that I've learned in the last 4 1/2 years, life is hard enough as it is.

58:30 So if you do have a bit of a cleaner brain, if you do feel a bit healthier, it makes it a little bit easier to deal with. 100% So there, there goes again like what you're saying. Is that all about laying that foundation before you start to do these other extreme things? It's it's always a great start for people to I guess maybe we can finish off our conversation here by highlighting and summarizing everything that we just discussed in this awesome conversation. So we talked about the importance of light.

59:03 You know what type of light you are exposed to really influences the trajectory of your health and your well-being on on every level, right? Your mindset, your mindset as well. You know, it really shifts your mindset. It changes your perspective about life because when you start to align with taking care of yourself and your values are in alignment with that, every single aspect of your life is built based on those foundational principles. So as you mentioned, you're not going to go to the cinema at night, you're going to go in the middle of the day because that's more circadian.

59:38 Yeah, In the morning, it's more circadian appropriate to do that. And you're not going to damage your health by watching TV after sunset. And most people don't realize the exposure to artificial blue light and Wi-Fi, cell phones, microwaves, all these things, invisible electromagnetic signals are damaging our body, especially after sunset hours. So it's very important. Do you, do you also like block the blue light after sunset? What kind of lighting do you have? In your house, Yeah. I've got a pair of I bought blue blockers for myself and my son and they religiously go on after the sun goes down.

1:00:14 But yeah, I think it's when you can't see the damage straight away. What people don't realise, it's like a little, you know, you're, you're adding to your kind of it's like, I can't explain it stress. Bucket, I call it a stress bucket where you keep on thinking. Stress bucket and you know, in in 5-10 years time it's going to be up here and you can do something about it today. You just have to be quite forward thinking. But I think sometimes when you have or when you do get sick is, is when you take action and it's, you know, it's, it's that, that thing, you know, youth is wasted on the young.

1:00:56 When somebody used to say that to me when I was younger, I used to go, what does that mean? And now I know exactly what it means. So you try and spread the message and try and inspire people to do something before it's too late. But that's just human nature, isn't it? Yeah, it's about everything that we talked about today is literally about letting go of who we were to become something that we wish to be. And we need to we need to embody that new self that we would like what you just said about visualizing yourself and where you wish to be on like energetically, physically, spiritually, and letting go of what you are right now.

1:01:36 Even though that may sound extremely hard to do because you may not be able to see yourself well, you know if you are unwell or you despise. It. Yeah, yeah. So you mean you just start with small action steps like what can you control right now today that is going to influence tomorrow? And then therefore, that's going to have like that knock on effect where you're going to build that domino, you know, get that ball rolling. And then eventually you're finding yourself on a really good trajectory towards, you know, you're finding the energy to have the enthusiasm to look into other areas of life and health which are going to impact you on a big scale.

1:02:17 Well, it's like a snowball, isn't it? If you get started, suddenly you just find yourself you can't get off this snowball and it feels fantastic. So it's just about getting started. Yeah, it's. I think some people have it and some people don't. And all you can do is encourage the ones that kind of want to come on that journey with you, you know, And when you do, like the, the snowball gets bigger and bigger and the energy gets bigger and bigger and everybody bounces off each other. And, you know, you, you inspire me.

1:02:50 I get inspired by people all the time. I've always got inspired by people. And I'm, I always thank them for it as well. And remember, you know who inspired me? Yeah. But I love how open minded you are though, because you know, it takes like it does take a quite a big level of open mindedness to be able to embrace different things that you don't understand. And you don't necessarily judge them, but you just accept them for what they are. You don't criticize them and you just try. And because you are a person who just tries and does, you get the value, right?

1:03:27 You extract the value and you discard everything that is irrelevant to you. But a lot of people, they criticize things before they even try them. And then they wonder like, you know. Yeah, well, I think you just have to. What would I? I was going to say something and I got distracted. There's so many things I'm going to say. Oh, I know. So let's let's close off like this is is there any other final words of wisdom you would like to share with the audience before we sign off? I think block out the noise.

1:04:03 That's what I was going to say. I love it. Block out noise from everyone, you know, the voices. That's why I like to simplify everything, Andreas, because you, you know, you go back to 2020 and I really enjoyed the quietness. And that's when I actually could focus and, and go, right, let's do this. Let's, let's just do this, This is your chance. So block out the noise and just concentrate, focus on what you're doing and just don't worry about what other people are thinking. So yeah, listen to your like inner prompt.

1:04:36 Things like, does it feel? Does it ring true to you? 100% and I do it all again. I do it all again honestly. Like I see people starting their journey now and I, I enjoyed the journey, I loved every moment of it and I still am. I'm still learning now and I'm still even hungry For more information and I just love love this community. It's beautiful. Yeah. I feel like this circadian and quantum biology health space is really great because I feel like we're so open minded about so many different areas that we can share so many great tips with each other.

1:05:19 And I feel like us sharing this message, you know, to other people like you're inspiring journey, I feel like you're going to inspire so many other people who are, you know, ladies out there who are busy, like working moms who you know, or even dads out there. It doesn't matter like if you are a man or a woman, this knowledge and wisdom applies to everybody, even if you are a child. It applies to every single US, any single age group. So it doesn't really matter. Well, thank you so much, Carrie.

1:05:47 This has been a great conversation. I really enjoyed it having. Me. So lovely to meet you and I'll see you, yeah. Yeah, well, if you ever come to Cyprus, let me know. Yeah, I'm coming. I thought you were in Greece. I don't know why I thought you were in Greece to remember, but yeah, Cyprus. I've been. I love it. I love it. Most people think that we are in Greece. Well, because Cyprus is quite close to Greece, right, Where it's its own separate country. It's a separate island, it's close to Turkey and Egypt.

1:06:16 So we're in the, we're kind of like in the middle of those two countries. I'll be in Turkey in May so who knows, I might come across and see. You yeah, the flights are quite cheap if you are going from somewhere nearby. It's easy to hop from one place to another. If it's like really close, like from here to Egypt for example, it's like super cheap and it's only one hour flight from Cyprus, so. I mean, it's amazing when I see all your pictures and videos on Instagram, when you and Tina are walking in the sea and stuff, I get really jealous.

1:06:48 So you live on the coast, right? It's not you live on the in the coast, but maybe it's not as like the water is different. We have a little micro climate. It's better than London, but it is England. So you know, I have to use the cold. If there's no sun, I use the cold. But when good summer, like the skies here at the moment, it's just so blue. It's beautiful. But I do love the heat. Yeah, I think maybe you are. You have uncoupled mitochondria. So maybe you're more designed to be, you know, exposed to the, the heat and the cold because you get benefit from both if you are, you know.

1:07:29 Both. So I'm kind of lucky that I have, yeah, yeah, I'm a certain hat for type. So I am quite lucky like that, yeah. That's awesome you enjoy all these awesome conversations that I'm having with the guests. I would really appreciate if you left me a five star review on Spotify and you also followed me also on on YouTube as well because that helps to get the message out there and spread this awesome knowledge and wisdom. I hope that you have an awesome morning slash evening wherever you are in the world.

1:07:55 And until next time, this is the Fitness Wisdom Podcast.