You are listening to the Drink Less Lifestyle podcast with Dr. Sherry Price, episode number 134.

Welcome to Drink Less Lifestyle, a podcast for successful women who want to change their relationship with alcohol. If you want to drink less, feel healthier and start loving life again you’re in the right place. Please remember that the information in this podcast does not constitute medical advice. Now, here’s your host, Dr. Sherry Price.

Hello my beautiful friend. I am fresh back from vacation and I feel amazing. We had such a good time in Cabo, excellent food, great weather, oh my goodness, so, so loved it. And yet I am back and I am so excited about all the things that are going on here. And so I want to just give you two quick announcements to remind you of all the greatness that is happening in case you want to get involved and sign up for anything.

So you may know that I am doing a one day mini retreat at my house here in San Diego. And we are just a little over a week away from it. So it is going to be on Saturday April 29^th from ten to three where my good friend, Anna Nieto and I are going to be working with the women who are coming. And the goal is really to tap into the desires that the women want to achieve in this next phase of their life.

I just know when I talk with my daughter or kids, and we just spent a long time with kids over this vacation. And they keep talking about what their dreams are, what their goals are, what they want to accomplish in their life. And I just know as we get older we lose sight of that dreaming and that imagination and that spark. And that spark brings so much vitality to our lives, it gives us purpose, it gives us meaning.

And I know we’ve been through a lot these past few years. So just reigniting that passion again for life, reigniting what it is that your soul is calling you to do and really taking that time out of your busy life, busy day to submerse yourself in a new environment around new people so you can’t truly let your mind to think new opportunities, think about new things and really tap into the inner wisdom our bodies have.

I know when we are in our own surroundings we are just inundated with what do the kids need, what does my spouse need, what does the house need, what needs to get fixed, what spring cleaning needs to happen, what do I need to do? I know here we’re thinking about what camps do we put our daughter in, do we do camps, all of the things. And what I really want you to do is find some space where you can stop and just consider, are you living your most epic life. And if you are, fabulous. And if you’re not, let’s get you there. Let’s find out what that is for you and how to move forward towards it.

So I love it because we’ll be incorporating an assessment to see if you are on your path, what you path is and also an assessment to see if you’re blocked from getting your goals. A lot of us think we want this thing but what gets in our way and our obstacles and how we are blocking ourself from actually achieving it. Because we know we feel so good when we are growing, when we are evolving, when we are getting those new goals and we’re evolving to that next level of ourselves.

So I can’t wait to work with the ladies that are coming. These exercises that we are doing are going to be so powerful and so life changing. And if you’re one of the lucky ladies who signed up for that, just know that our team is getting out some information for you on how to dress and what to prepare for as we come together on that day. So you will receive an email about that because we want you to get the most out of this experience, and how to prepare yourself to do that.

Alright, and so my next exciting announcement. I actually have chills over this program that I have created and developed. It’s called Intermittent Fasting 45 for women. Now, you know I released a special announcement about this on the podcast, I hope you had a chance to listen to that. And by the time this podcast airs, we will have just gotten started. And so this is my first time running this program because I know many people have been telling me that they are struggling with how do I lose this extra weight, particularly as our bodies as women go through the different phases of life.

We have our cycle, then we sporadically have our cycle, then we lose our cycle. And there is scientific evidence on how we should be fueling our bodies, what we need to increase, what we need to decrease and what we need to let go of as our bodies age. Because here’s what I don’t want any woman to think, that gaining weight is a normal thing that happens when we age because we don’t have to gain weight. I know many women don’t like the extra weight they’ve put on, COVID or pre COVID or they’re blaming their hormones for the extra weight.

And if you want to learn how to reverse that, how to change that, how to fuel your body in a way where it feels more functional, where it feels easier, where it has less inflammation, less pain, less brain fog. Then I want to invite you into IF45 for women. Now, when I am recording this I don’t know if there’s enough spaces.

So when you are listening to this it may be already closed in terms of the number of registrations that we are allowing inside the group. Because particularly for this first time that I’m running this I really want to be heavily involved and have everybody get the guidance that they need, get what they came for of this program. And so I am limiting it to the number of people we are allowing in. And I’m excited to be working with these ladies that are coming in.

And I’m excited to see what we are all going to accomplish because I’ll be sharing what I want to achieve in this 45 day program because I am always on a health and wellness goal and I always can improve. And I have to tell you, just what we’ve learned just in the past 10 years is dramatic and profound because we’re actually studying women now, not just men. And that’s one great thing with all this information age that we are living in, we are just learning so much with technology and the wearables and the continuous glucose monitors and everything.

We are learning so much more about how individual ingredients either help or harm our bodies. And I know for me what I’ve just accumulated in going through this program, getting certified in this program, listening to other people and their podcasts on seed oils and how to fuel with protein and how much protein and all the supplements that I’m learning about and testing for my own self. And how to improve sleep and the quality of our sleep and how much sleep we should be getting. I mean all of this really does affect our health, our longevity, our health span.

And not just increasing in those years but increasing the health as we increase in those years. And that’s what I’m committed to because if I have grandkids coming I want to be on the floor playing with them. And if I don’t have grandkids coming I want to play with other people’s grandkids on the floor and not saying, “My knees hurt. I can’t get around, my hips.” And not being able to take care of myself. So whatever you’re looking for, it could be greater metabolic flexibility.

Do you know that 92% of Americans are not metabolically flexible, 92%. That means 8% of us are metabolically flexible. And I used to be part of that 925. And now I’m part of the 8%. I mean it’s profound what we have been able to tap into and learn in just the past 10 to 20 years. And so maybe you want to get greater metabolic flexibility, maybe you want to lower your A1C or your fasting blood sugar or prevent diabetes. Or maybe you want to decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s which is called Type 3 diabetes or diabetes Type 3.

Or maybe you want to break through a weight loss plateau. Maybe you’ve just been at the same weight for a long time and you just don’t know how to break it. Or you want to lose those extra COVID pounds that you’re still carrying. If that’s you then this program will help you achieve those goals. When this program started working for me I was like, “I really want to learn how to do this for other women and share this wealth of knowledge.”

Because I’ve seen even my mom and other women do that yo-yo effect. They go on a diet, they lose a bunch of weight and then when the diet is over they gain the weight back plus more. And it’s unfortunate because they try so hard and yet they feel like they failed. And I want to tell you, there are a ton of diets out there, ladies, that really impact your hormones in a negative way. Yes, they will lead to some weight lost in the initial stages.

But if you’re not taking into account the amount of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, if you’re taking other medications that alter weight, whether that’s causing weight gain or weight loss. All of these things will influence if you are able to maintain the weight loss. And there’s nothing more frustrating than losing the weight and then putting it right back on or putting more weight on. And I have to tell you, I’ve seen this time and time and time again.

And what we also know is that there is an obesity crisis in our country right now. It’s getting worse and I want to help reverse that. And so I want to share all that I’ve learned. I’ve put together resources and tutorials for you and workbooks so that this can be simple and easy and sustainable. Because nothing is more frustrating than trying to lose weight and get healthy and yet what worked in your 20s and 30s is not working now.

And that’s why I created IF45 for women so you can get the road map and the answers you need to finally lose weight, reduce total body inflammation, reduce your blood sugar and make your sugar cravings disappear all through science backed ways. Now, I don’t know when this airs, if it’ll be too late to join us, but if you want more information and you want to see if a spot is available then go to my website epicyou.com/if45 to learn more and to join us. Again that is EpicYou spelled E-P-I-C-Y-O-U.com/if like intermittent fasting, 45 to join.

This program is done completely separate to EpicYOU. This is a standalone program and it is run out of a private Facebook page. So I just want you to know that ahead of time that this is run on a private Facebook page that you will be invited to once you register.

Alright with that, let’s dive into today’s topic. So what I wanted to talk about on the podcast today and help you do is really to look at how you speak about drinking. And where we’ll be going is talking about the process of letting go. So when I talk with women who are looking to join EpicYOU, and they want my help and they want the tools that they’re going to learn inside the program.

Oftentimes I will hear them say, “Sherry, I just don’t want to drink this much or I just don’t want to be drinking this much. I want to be a woman who can take it or leave it. I want to just not care about alcohol. I don’t want to look forward to it every single night.” Or maybe it’s not every single night but they overdo it on weekends. So it’s like, I just don’t want to drink this much. So notice if you have that same vocabulary. Notice if you say this to yourself, I just don’t want to be drinking this much. I just don’t know why I drink this much.

And so where I want to take you is just to first be aware if this is something that you say out loud or if this is something that your brain tells you. Just notice if that dialogue is there for you. Is this something that you hear your brain repeat over and over, I just don’t want to drink this much? Now, for a lot of you, and a lot of people that come into EpicYOU, they’ll say, “Yeah, I do think that but I don’t want to think that.” And so they want to run away from that thought so quick, so fast and they don’t even want to entertain that it’s in their brain, and I get that, because it doesn’t feel good.

The emotions that come from that thought are heavy, they’re shame filled, they’re guilt filled. They don’t make us feel good, totally get that. However I just want to offer that having that thought is not helping you, not just from an emotional standpoint. But when the brain tells you, I just don’t want to drink this much or I just don’t want to weigh this much or I just don’t want to be scrolling on Instagram this much or whatever it is, that you just don’t want to be doing this much of, because you’re overing in this category.

Notice that your brain is just focusing more on the problem and it’s not really helping your brain move to finding the solutions. So yes, it’s helpful to say, “Okay, I’m overdoing it. I have excess weight on my body. I take in excess alcohol than I really want to.” And notice the tone that I’m using when I say that. Do you notice that there is the tone of just observing and not judging? Because this is what I usually hear, “Oh, I just don’t want to weigh this much, I just don’t want to drink this much.” That is a very judgmental tone.

And I will tell you that it’s so much harder to get progress when you’re judging yourself. So instead it would be much more helpful and you would get much faster progress if you would just notice it with non-judgment and just as a matter of fact, yes, that’s what it is, I drink too much. I don’t want to be drinking this much. I don’t want to feel this crappy. Because when you say it like that, do you notice that your brain will just kind of ease a little?

And what my brain does and what I find with other people’s brains when I’m coaching them, if we just look at it from a non-judgmental standpoint we start to see that it’s just something I’ve been doing and there is the opportunity to make a change. And there’s an opportunity to do something different. Now the brain is more primed to find the solution rather than dwelling on a complaint that only makes us feel worse. And I will tell you that this is a critical piece to changing habits.

So if you want to cut loose from certain habits in your life, overeating, overworking, over-shopping or overspending, overdrinking or whatever overing that you feel has gotten out of control. You don’t want to necessarily bring in more anxiety, bring in more frustration and bring in more negativity by how you approach the change. When you increase the emotions that make you feel worse so you amplify anxiety, you amplify depression, you amplify frustration, you amplify anger, you amplify disappointment by the way you’re thinking about it.

Do you know that it makes it so much harder to actually change and make a new path and go a new direction? It’s like the person who sits at home and says, “I don’t know why I’m drinking so much”, as they’re slugging back the whisky, as they’re slugging back the next Manhattan, as they’re slugging back the next beer, as they’re slugging back the next glass of wine. And here’s what’s worse. That level of thinking will only continue to fuel the bad behaviors which ultimately can kill you or significantly harm you.

Now, this may sound trivial, this may sound like, oh. But notice if you are a mom and your child has a negative tone towards you. So you tell the child to clean the room or do something or take the car, fill it for gas or do something. And the child comes back and has this awful tone to their voice. So it’s not exactly the words they said, it’s the way they said it. And then what does that feel inside of you? We call that backtalk or watch your tone.

And you may have asked your child just kind of matter of factly like, “Hey, do this for me or take out the trash.” And what they come back with is like a pie in the face, it hits you and it hurts because of the way they said it. Now, I know for me, if my daughter talks back to me like that, that could be a trigger that I just want to fly off the handle. So if that’s the tone that she’s using towards me and that can rally me up and maybe do things that would be spiteful or whatever, take away privileges.

Just imagine if we have that same tone to ourselves and how that’s going to want to increase our self-sabotage. So it may sound like I’m asking you to do a very trivial thing. I’m not. And in actuality when women do this in my program and they change the tone to themselves, I will tell you, their outcomes change, meaning the results that they’re able to achieve in a very short period of time, dramatically changes for the better. So just as we’re teaching our children how to talk and be in the world and talk and interact with others we also need this skill for ourselves.

And this is a skill because if you don’t practice it, you won’t get it. We know that negativity bias of the brain runs deep, runs strong and particularly for women. We are our own worst critic. Us women are so hard on ourselves and compared to our male counterparts we compare and despair way more than the males. And so evolution has just created our brains to be this way over time to fit in, to go with the flow, to keep up with the Jones’, all of that, plus our socialization. So it makes it so much bigger for us females.

And this one skill that you can practice can dramatically change how you feel and how you think about alcohol or any part of life that you feel you’re overing in. Now, I could go on and on and on, on this point but I want to get to the next point which is a question I want you to think about for you. What in your life do you need to cut loose from because it can cause you serious damage in terms of money, stress, wasted time, your reputation or making progress in your life towards health and wellness?

We are constantly inundated about things that we can add to our lives. You can add a country club membership. You can add this vacation onto your life. You can add more vegetables to your plate. You can do all these things. We’re always talking about adding. You could go back to college and get another degree. You could get a second job. You could do this, you can do that, you can learn to play another sport, you can pick up pickleball. We are constantly being marketed to, about other things we can add to our life.

And, look, with the advent of the internet there is so much we can add to our lives. But I think a great thing to ask is, what do I now need to start thinking about cutting back or subtracting from my life because it’s causing me serious damage in terms of money, more stress, wasted time, tarnishing my reputation that I’ve built years creating and maintaining and improving. Or it’s causing me to lose progress and actually step back in terms of health and wellness.

All of these are forms of serious damage. We may trivialize them and say, “Yeah, I’m not going to become an alcoholic. Yeah, I’m not going to become 400 pounds. Yeah, I’m not going to be la, la, la”, whatever. But there are serious consequences along the way in terms of lost time, wasted time, doing things that harm your reputation or not speaking your mind. And then it gets harder and harder to make the changes because you still show up as the same human with the other same humans. And they still expect you to show up that way.

I know for a lot of women, what do I say to my friends who still drink and I want to cut back? How do I show up at these socialites and these parties or these activities where everybody’s drinking? Whether it’s boating in the summertime or barbecues or trips to the beach with other families and everybody brings a cooler. What do I say? How do I show up in those moments when they expect me, because the past me has always drank?

And yet another summer goes by, another season goes by and if you don’t change, does it get easier the next summer, the next season when you see them at the holiday parties now? And let me ask you even a deeper question than that, why is it so hard to tell other people that you are now investing and empowering yourself to get better health? When has that never been in vogue? If somebody tells me they’re trying to cut back on alcohol I applaud them.

If somebody tells me they’re trying to quit smoking, I applaud them. If somebody says they’re trying to increase their muscle mass so they have greater agility later in life, I applaud them. Maybe it’s time that we actually started standing up for one another. Maybe it’s time you get very passionate about your health, about your wellness, about your brain cells, about what is important to you and your value system. I certainly want my friends and family to know what I value, that is on me. That is not on them to guess what my values are.

And if I’m valuing being a party girl all the time over my health, what does that say truly about my value of health? That I only do it when it’s convenient, that I only do it when I’m not around people, that I’m only conscious of what I put down my mouth and conscious consumption Monday through Thursday but doesn’t matter every Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I mean you get to decide. And I’m not saying I choose to be excellent seven days a week 24/7.

But what I’m advocating here is that we advocate for ourselves and we tell people what is important to us at this point, for this vacation, for this night. And why does that feel so scary for so many of us? We don’t want to be judged. And there is a part of us that wants to maintain the status quo, but the status quo if that’s leading to serious damage in terms of wasted time, wasted money, wasted stress, wasted progress then it’s really not adding value to our life.

So when you’re talking about, I don’t want to be drinking this much or I want this summer to look differently for me, I want to give greater concern around my consumption. Then I really want you to think about what needs to go. Not, what do you need to add, but what needs to go? What do you need to cut loose from? What are the narratives running in your brain that you need to cut loose from? Because this is how it starts to change the behaviors we want to free ourselves from.

And one way to look at that is what am I tolerating that I no longer want to be tolerating? And so once you’ve identified what you need to cut loose, what you need to cut out or what you need to cut back on, here is the next question I have for you. When am I going to do it? Because this single question of when you’re going to do it can transform your life. A lot of us ask the other question, how will I do it? That’s secondary. Primary is when, when am I going to do it? And you know what most people’s answer is? Tomorrow.

And then tomorrow comes and what do they say? Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. And if you keep answering the when with tomorrow you’re not going to get there unless that tomorrow comes and that becomes today. Because that’s the moment that your life then becomes what you want it to be about. Let me say that again because that is so good. The moment you answer when and start it on that day, that is the moment your life then becomes what you want. And then that’s when the answers appear. That’s when the how becomes known.

That’s when the teacher arrives. That’s when the how appears. It’s after the when. I remember clearly when I went to the Google and I asked how to cut back on chardonnay. I remember it so clearly. I just wanted to know how to cut back on chardonnay. And I told my husband, “I have to do this now.” It was 10 o’clock at night. It was late in the night, maybe eight, nine, I don’t know, felt like 10 o’clock at night. And I went and I saw a coach that can help me and I instantly purchased, because that was the moment I wanted change.

And it was I answered, the when was now. I went to the internet to get the how and the rest is history. When you are ready my friends, the how appears. And I tell you, cutting out the nonsense out of your life and focusing on what you truly want, what stimulates you, what creates all kinds of benefits to improve your life in so many ways feels incredible and amazing. It is epic because you have to be willing to cut the nonsense out of your life. Life gets busy.

What we wanted in our 30s changes in our 40s, changes in our 50s. As we go through life our desires change, the things we welcomed in our life in our 20s may not serve us anymore in our 40s and 50s. And so the process of letting go, the process of letting go of things you don’t want anymore, behaviors you don’t want, stories in your mind you don’t want. All of these things that are holding you back, let them go so you can simplify your life, live with greater ease, greater freedom, more love, more expansion, more beauty and release all the things that are holding you down or dragging you down.

And for a lot of people and a lot of women I work with, it’s things that are holding them down emotionally. And these are things that could have happened 10, 20, 40 years ago. Don’t give those things your power anymore. They have no power. They are in the past. They are gone. My friend, you are free. You are free to live an amazing epic life. When you cut out the things that weigh you down, you can do that.

I want to liken this to an analogy. When you graduated high school, do you think back about crossing that stage and grabbing your degree or college, crossing the stage and grabbing your degree? Is that a memory that you go back to? Is that something you think about often? I bet you, you don’t. You probably think, yeah, I graduated high school or I graduated college, been there, done that, check. And you’ve moved on. And guess what, you were meant to move on. You’re not meant to repeat high school and college.

If you’ve done that, been there you moved on. And that’s what growth is. That’s what evolution is. I’m not meant to be the same drinker I was in my 20s. I have moved on because I’ve wanted to, not because somebody made me, but because I chose to. And so one of the most powerful tools you can implement in your own life is to choose wisely. You have the power of choice, my friend, and especially as an adult, maybe not as a kid but certainly as an adult.

And you can choose to drink less. You can choose to cut back. You can choose to become a woman who can take it or leave or you can choose to do nothing about it and continue going on the same way, either way you have a choice. And here’s what I find a lot of people want. When they choose they want it to be easy. They want it to be struggle free. Well, choosing may not always be easy, convenient or affordable. But if you crave a different life then you’re going to have to make different choices.

And what you’re experiencing now in today’s day, in today’s life is just a result of your past choices, the choices you made yesterday, the choices you made last week. So if you want a new result tomorrow you need to make different choices today. It’s so valuable. And what I love coaching for and what I go to my coaches for is why do I continue [inaudible] myself? What is in my brain that keeps making me choose something I don’t want to be choosing, something that’s giving me a negative effect in life?

And then we dissect that and we look at it. And then I’m like, “My brain was just confused or just carrying something from the past into the present and into the future. I want to stop doing that.” And our brains are always evolving, just like our bodies are always evolving, we’re always learning which is a great thing. And so when we learn new information, that allows us to say, “Hey, what was the information in the past that I hung on to that I thought was gold but now is false?”

We used to tell people, “Don’t eat cholesterol because it can raise your cholesterol.” But now we know that that was totally false and that eating cholesterol has no effect on blood cholesterol. That was a faulty way of thinking based on no evidence and no science. And now we know better so we do better. And I love the quote that Stephen Covey has, ‘to know and not do is to really not know’. So if you know something and you’re not doing it, then do you really know it if you’re not putting it into action?

It’s because on some level, probably subconsciously you don’t fully know and you haven’t fully learned that that’s what is true. You have other thoughts getting in the way and you’ve got to clear those in order to let it go, so you can go on to do the actions that you want to be doing.

And so what I want to empower you with on this episode is to know that you are empowered to make whatever choice you want. And you can leave behind your past self any time you decide. Any time you want to make that change, it is available to you. And all is you do is have to ask yourself when, when am I going to make that change? Because when you decide the when, the universe provides the how.

Alright, my friends, that’s what I have for you today. Go out and live your amazing epic life. I love you all and I’ll see you next week.

If you want to change your relationship with alcohol and with yourself then come check out EpicYOU. It’s where you get individualized help mastering the tools so you And become a woman who And take it or leave it and be in control around alcohol in any situation. EpicYOU is the place for women who want to be healthy, confident and empowered to accomplish their goals and live their best life. Come join us over at epicyou.com/epicyou. That’s epicyou.com/ E-P-I-C-Y-O-U. I can’t wait to see you there.