93 - She Stopped Training for Weight Loss

[00:00:00] What if the reason you're not seeing the results you want has nothing to do with working harder, but everything to do with working smarter? I spoke to Estelle Wiggett and in it I learned why Estelle stopped training to be skinny and started training to be stronger and why that had a huge difference. Also learned the simple nutrition habits she used to stay lean and strong. And we also dive deep into peptides, what they are and how they actually work.

[00:00:27] If you're tired of fitness gimmicks and looking for actual ways to improve your fitness and your overall health, definitely give this a listen. Thank you once again. ...recording in better quality so you don't have to worry about that piece. Okay. All right, let's do it. All right, welcome everybody to another episode of the Health Movement Podcast. I'm Derek, your host, and I have an incredible guest with us today.

[00:00:56] But before I introduce her, I just want to reiterate as always that we are not doctors. So before you go changing any programming, nutrition, anything like that, please consult with your physician. So without any further ado, I have Estelle Wiggett with us all the way from South Africa. And I want to thank you for coming back on. We had planned a time and I messed up the time zones and she's been incredible with rescheduling and everything.

[00:01:24] So Estelle, thank you so much for joining me. Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you for having me. So can we just kind of start at the beginning? You had mentioned you built your Instagram page because people have been asking you kind of about the things that you've been doing and how you've been getting the results that you've been getting. So I kind of just want to hear part of your story and how you got started with everything. Yeah.

[00:01:50] So I recently I've been stopped almost daily in the shops whenever I'm in the shops, even when I'm filling my car with gas, the gas attendant would come to me or strangers. Strangers, when I go to Cape Town, strangers would stop me and ask me, what do I do? You know, what exercises do I do or just stop me and compliment me?

[00:02:17] And one thing that really hit me was in a supermarket, a woman came up to me and she asked me, do you have any exercise plans that you can give me? Because I'm looking for someone who really knows what they're doing that can help me. And I so wish that I had something to give her and I didn't have anything.

[00:02:38] And even though the idea of starting an Instagram page was always there, I think that was the moment that I realized maybe I should just do it and put everything that I do, all the exercises, my eating habits, supplements, put everything out there. You know, you know, I'm not hide anything. I'm not the kind of person who will lie about what I'm doing.

[00:03:02] When I find something that works, I'm the first person to jump and go and tell everyone about it. So that's how it started. I love it. And I love how you used the term give. You wish you had something to give. And I think in this space, the goal is health, overall health, feeling good, and not just physically looking a certain way, but there's a direct correlation.

[00:03:29] When you look a certain way, when you have muscle on your body, when you're at a healthy weight, you feel different. And you can do the things in life that sometimes people struggle with. So how long have you been on the page now? So it's been almost two months, not even two months yet. So I'm quite new. Serious? That? Yeah. Wow. I thought you were on for a lot longer.

[00:03:59] I thought you were going to say two years, and I was going to say, oh, that was fast. Only two months. Yeah. So I'm still finding my footing. I'm still, like, finding, you know, the whole look of the page. But so far, it's going well. Because, like you said, you share everything. You've got some of the posts are your workouts. And those are the workouts you're doing. Yeah. It's not like you're getting a photo shoot together to put a bunch of, this is what you're doing.

[00:04:29] And you've got mindset. You've got peptides. You've got nutrition. You've got, like, all these different avenues that you're hitting, which is fantastic. I think it's so important to hit all the different avenues because, you know, you can't have good exercise habits without having the nutrition. And, you know, once you start working on yourself and you start improving, you also want to improve in the other areas.

[00:04:57] So to be able to get results of, you know, what really worked for me instead of going out there searching through the thousands of offerings. Yeah. Yeah. No. And there are so many fitness people. I got started with the podcast, actually, because I was trying to grow more of a presence for online training.

[00:05:22] And I look and there, you can, you know, you throw a dart anywhere and you're going to hit a thousand different online trainers. So it's definitely hard to stand out. But I think the approach you're taking is just giving back and being 100% authentic and showing people what works for you, I think, is definitely the right way to go about it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:45] So I definitely want my content, I specifically don't want it to look very edited because if I do that, I'm spending all my time on editing, you know, the whatever I'm posting instead of really posting valuable content.

[00:06:04] So I also think it connects more with people if I just, you know, show them this is who I am, this is what I do, instead of having highly edited videos and reels. Yeah. I think that's the way. They look clean, though. Nothing looks amateur. The process you have and the setup, it looks legit. That's why when you said two months, I was shocked.

[00:06:34] So has this always been a focus for you, health, fitness, or is this something that you kind of grew into? It's definitely always been a passion. I never considered studying health and fitness or anything, but it's always been a passion. And I've always wanted to understand everything.

[00:06:57] So if I went onto a diet, I would go and do research on why you would eat certain foods and, you know, how it works in your body and which parts of your body requires what to perform the best. So I've never been someone that just takes someone's word for it. I always go and do a very deep dive into why, how it works.

[00:07:24] And I think that's where my passion kind of grows even more, especially when it comes to peptides, because there's so much to, you know, to learn in that field. Yes. And that's also why I love peptides. I mean, they do amazing things in your body. I do want to dive into peptides, but I feel like that's going to be a conversation. So I want to hold off just a second on that one.

[00:07:53] But you had mentioned another thing there that you need to know why and you like to know why and how certain foods affect your body and your mood and your energy and all these things. And I think the understanding of what you eat and how that affects everything makes it easier to stick to.

[00:08:20] I hate the word diet because that kind of implies there's some end. And it's more of like what you eat. It's a lifestyle choice. Yeah. But understanding like, all right, if this is the meal, I know that the protein's affecting me this way and I've got complex carbs. So that's how I'm going to do it. And, you know, there's going to be a low insulin spike. There's going to be all these different results to it. And don't get me wrong. A piece of cake is great every now and then.

[00:08:48] I don't want to imply or tell people like never indulge because I think that's important too on occasion. Yeah. People have different discipline levels. For me, I'm not someone who would eat a slice of cake because I look at it and I think, okay, this is the workout that I have to do to burn it. Is it really worth it? So for me, it's quite easy to say now.

[00:09:15] But I know some people like to indulge and there's like absolutely no problem. I'm not critical of what people do at all. If they do want help, I'm very happy to offer it. But never critical. Yeah, I think that's important too because the worst thing you can feel is guilt or shame or any of that stuff around your nutrition.

[00:09:40] When you understand the effects that what you eat have, it just makes it so much easier. And there are times, you know, a lot of people turn to food when dealing with certain aspects of life, whatever it throws at you. Yeah. But understanding that, honestly, it makes things worse a lot of times when you're looking to the cake or whatever it happens to be to kind of mask some other issue.

[00:10:08] It never seems to help in the long run. But I will say there are things like if I'm going to play basketball and I'll have a little, like I'll have a handful of gummy bears or something like that that I know I'm going to burn through in a second. But it's going to give me a boost and that's okay. What's your... Oh, go ahead.

[00:10:34] I do like to, you know, when I know I'm going to have a tough workout the night before, I will have a bowl of pasta or, you know, something I wouldn't normally eat. So when you know you're going to need that energy, I mean, that's a different thing. Then you feel your body and you get ready for the exercise. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:10:59] And like you said at the beginning, understanding the why and the direct correlation between what you eat and the effect that it has on the body. What's your daily, like what do you eat during a day normally? So normally my mornings, I eat very low carb unless if I'm doing heavy weightlifting or if I'm going for a run. So a normal day would be eggs in the morning.

[00:11:29] I'll say like four eggs, four eggs in total, one whole and three of them just the egg white. And then I always try to add a bit of either tomato, spinach, something green. Then I drink clear protein every day. So I would sip on that throughout the day. And that's really helped me to stay full throughout the day. I don't have any sugar spikes. I don't have any hunger.

[00:12:00] For lunch, it's usually either some sushi because I do work out in the afternoons. Sushi or any lean protein, again, with either a salad, vegetables. And at night, I try to eat very few carbs. So I will have like a limited amount of veggies and again, clean protein.

[00:12:26] And then for snacks, I don't restrict myself to snacks because I feel like our bodies, we have different levels of activity every single day. So you can't, you know, put yourself on a 1300 or a 1800 calorie diet every single day. Because there might be days when you've moved a bit more, you're a bit more peckish.

[00:12:51] And if you don't feel yourself, you know, that's going to build up to a binge. So when I do want a snack, I still try to keep it healthy, either with some yogurt, some fruits. Or if I'm really hungry, I would have a meal. And then maybe later on, I'm not that hungry and I just have a snack. That seems simple.

[00:13:18] It's not always easy to follow, but it's very simplified and something that's repeatable. Yeah. I like it. And then you had a quote up on one of your most recent posts that said, you stopped training for skinny and started training for strong. Can you kind of elaborate on that a little bit?

[00:13:42] So I feel like my entire life, my goal with exercise has always been to lose weight, to lose fat. It's never been to build muscle. Since I can remember, post all my babies, it's always lose the fat, lose the fat. And about a year ago, I was introduced to high rocks.

[00:14:07] And I was looking for something, you know, some kind of purpose in my training because I felt it was very stagnant. I was mostly just running, not seeing any improvements in my body. So I decided that I wanted a challenge and I was going to start training for high rocks, not fully knowing what I was signing up for.

[00:14:32] So for the first time, I really started fueling my body before exercise, where normally, you know, you would go on a run fasted because you think it's going to burn more fat. So for the first time, I ate before every workout. I ate right after the workouts. I didn't weigh myself at all. As I kept going, like I actually gained a bit of weight.

[00:15:01] My clothes were, you know, fitting tighter. And I ignored that. And I just kept going, knowing that if I push through, you know, the results will come. And surely about three months in, you know, it started reversing. I started losing some of the fat. The muscles started showing. And kind of from there on, it's just improving and improving. That's awesome.

[00:15:30] And I agree with that completely. And I think people worry, especially women that I've spoken to, they're worried about getting bulky if they start heavy resistance training or any sort of resistance training at all. And that doesn't really happen unless you fuel your body a very specific way for a long period of time. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of women shy away from weights because they're afraid of getting bulky.

[00:15:57] And there are some of them that do get quite bulky. But I honestly think that that is their goal to get bulky. So training this way has, for the first time in my life, taken care of like the fatty areas that has always bothered me. And, you know, when you read a post that says get abs by doing these six ab exercises.

[00:16:26] I mean, it never works that way. You can't target one specific area. You have to target the whole body. You have to strengthen the whole body before you see any real benefits. And my body's completely changed from what it was. But what I was going to say, women are very scared of gaining muscle. And I think the same applies to me. I don't want to become very big.

[00:16:53] So there are certain things you can do to avoid getting big. For instance, one of the things I do is I never repeat the same workout. And that is mostly because I don't want to grow muscle groups too big. So if you stick, you'll see bodybuilders. They stick to the same workouts every week. Go heavier, go heavier. I rotate them. Every single workout I do is different.

[00:17:22] And that also helps me build strength but not go bulky. So there are ways to get around it and to keep yourself small and still strong. Are your workouts, what's the style? Are you doing circuit training or is it more like full body movements? What do you do usually? So I work out at home. I have a nice little piece of Astro and I have some weights.

[00:17:53] And what I would do is every day I would choose a muscle group that I target. And I would sit and I would write down six exercises and about four core exercises. And I would go and do them. It's been mostly just, you know, plain workouts. But also I've started adding a bit of plyometrics.

[00:18:22] Because I find that I'm really stiff and the plyometrics has helped quite a bit. But I love doing dynamic movements. These are especially helpful for the high rocks. I mean, if we're talking about dynamic movements, things like sled push, sled pull. Those are two of my absolute favorite workouts. Because they target the whole body. Burpees, anything like that.

[00:18:52] I love dynamic workouts because it pushes you. It feels like with a stationary workout, you're just sitting there doing the workout. Whereas with, you know, something that includes movement, that really pushes you out of your comfort zone. And that's where you see progress. Yeah, I agree. And I love the dynamic movements, the functional movements.

[00:19:20] I think a lot of injuries that happen to people as they get older are where there's a quick change of direction that their body's not used to going. And if you're only working in one plane, you're going to get hurt as soon as you have to twist quickly or something like that. So I love that you're incorporating that. Yeah. A buddy of mine and I were at the gym, what's today, Monday? It must have been Saturday.

[00:19:48] And we started doing, one of us was doing farmer's carries around the gym while the other one was doing, it was like a squat with a thrust on it. And you had to keep doing it until the person came back. And we did five rounds of that. And then we did lunges with the kettlebell around the head into side lunges. And I am so sore today. A few of my legs are on absolute fire today. But I want to do like the same sort of thing.

[00:20:16] I think it's important to get that movement in there. And, of course, my friend's a giant dude. He's about 6'2", but he's maybe 250, 260 pounds and mostly just muscle. And he grabs the heaviest kettlebells he can find and starts talking. I was like, dude, I can't. But after round two, we dropped the weight for sure because our egos were getting in the way a little bit. But it was definitely a good workout. But I agree.

[00:20:47] Farmers' carries are also one of the workouts I've never done in my life and recently started doing. And it's so good for you, like for almost every muscle in your body. It's amazing. Yes. It really is. It is. Can you talk more about High Rocks? Did you do one of the events already? Are you training for it currently? Before we get into High Rocks, if you're enjoying the show so far, please do me a huge favor and consider subscribing.

[00:21:15] If you have any questions you want to ask Estelle and me, please comment those. And a like is always a great way to show support to the show. Thank you again. And right back to it. I have done. So my first High Rocks was in Cape Town. And I had a partner that was going to compete with me. And about a week before the event, she got just violently ill and she couldn't go.

[00:21:45] So I tried desperately to find someone else because I was really committed to I'm going to do this. And I did find someone. And this girl was actually at a pro level. And she said, it's fine. I'll do the doubles with you. So we did it. And she pushed me so hard. We had so much fun. And we ended up getting a really good time. And from there on, I was just hooked.

[00:22:11] So after that, I did a solo, which was less fun, like really hard. And then with the next one, I attempted a double and a solo in one weekend. And it actually went really well. That's fantastic. That's awesome. The guy who's working out with, we opened up a nutrition shop with protein shakes and that sort of thing.

[00:22:38] And one of the things we want to do is a High Rocks with the shop, like people who come into the shop and stuff. But it's not until October in Boston. So it's one of those things that we've got to start training for because it's a very different sort of workout. Can you kind of explain what it is a little bit? So you start with one kilometer of running. But when I say running, these people, they don't jog.

[00:23:08] It's not a jog. It's like a full out run. So after the run, you start with one kilometer of ski arc. Then you're back onto one kilometer running. Then the second one is the sled push that you do with a certain weight depending on the category you're in. That's 50 meters of sled push.

[00:23:37] And that actually kills you. You shouldn't have to play that station. Then another kilometer of running. 50 meters sled pull. Another kilometer of running. The fourth one, I think the fourth one is the burpees. 100 meters of burpees. Then another run. What is the fifth one? I think the fifth one is lunges.

[00:24:08] 100 meters of lunges. I'm getting confused now. Is that with the bag on your back too? Yeah. Yeah. No, sorry. The fifth one is rowing. One kilometer of rowing. Then another kilometer of running. Then it's the lunges. Another kilometer of running. 200 meters farmers carry. Another kilometer of running. And then 100 wall bolts.

[00:24:37] And I mean, when you cross that finish line, you feel like you're on top of the world because you really feel like you've achieved something. Oh, absolutely. That's a heck of a workout. And I imagine like you want to do well time-wise, but just finishing that is an accomplishment. That's awesome. So when's the next one?

[00:25:01] So I was supposed to have another one at the end of this month, but I had a bit of an injury and I'm going to have to miss it. Yeah. I still can't do any running. So, I mean, then the next one is, I think in August in Cape Town. Oh, okay. So you got another one coming then at least. So that's good. Yeah. I love that. I love that.

[00:25:30] Speaking of injuries, I've had Achilles tendonitis for, I teach and would paint houses during the summer. And being on the ladder for so long, my Achilles tendonitis flared up horribly. And I did a bunch of PT and everything like that. And then eventually I was told to look into a peptide to help with recovery, BPC-157. And it's helped tremendously.

[00:25:58] That along with, I did a long 96-hour fast. And I think removing all inflammation from the body and getting kind of a reset also helped quite a bit as well. But can we dive into peptides a little bit? Oh, yes. Absolutely. I don't know where to start. I think you are far more knowledgeable than I am. So could you give like an overview of what they are?

[00:26:25] And then maybe some that you, I don't want to say recommend because, you know, everybody's different. What's my favorite? Oh, yes.

[00:27:04] It goes towards that specific target without interfering with any of your other systems, which is, you know, what sets it apart from traditional medication because you swallow a pill and it has like consequences all over your body and side effects where peptides just don't have that.

[00:27:29] But I think most people know about NAD and BPC. I don't know if there are any other like really popular peptides apart from GLPs. Yeah, GLP-1s are huge, obviously. But I have my own opinion about some of those. So they have the place for sure in specific situations.

[00:27:57] But nothing's going to change if you don't change your lifestyle. And I think the amount of muscle that's lost. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And also GHK is also a popular one. So I think a lot of people are very familiar with those peptides. But what they don't realize is that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many really incredible peptides for anything that you can think of.

[00:28:24] I mean, there's peptides that help recovery after strokes. There's peptides that fight against Alzheimer's. Literally anything that you can think of, there's a peptide for that. Peptides to strengthen your bones if you're someone that has osteoporosis or if you're inclined, you know, if it's in the family and you want to fight against it, there's peptides you can take to prevent it.

[00:28:55] So for any illnesses, I think one of the things I have against peptides or the peptide movement is that everyone seems to just be jumping onto NAD, BBC and GHK without actually understanding what peptides are available and without doing any kind of research on them.

[00:29:23] I mean, I get not everyone's like me to go and research everything before they take it. But there's still a lot of education that needs to happen in the general public about peptides and specific peptides and which ones would be best for them specifically to use. I think that's important. Yeah.

[00:29:50] You mentioned the GLP. So I have a very similar viewpoint about the GLPs. And I think it's such a missed opportunity for people to restructure the way they eat and train during that time that they're on GLPs.

[00:30:15] Because you get, you know, the food takes longer to digest in your stomach, which is such an excellent opportunity for you to eat healthy foods, get healthy bacteria growing in your gut. You know, that's how you fix your gut.

[00:30:33] Everyone claims GLP fixes your gut, but you can't fix it if you keep eating highly processed foods, junk food, because the good bacteria are not going to come out of nowhere. You need to feed it. So those types of things, if people don't address those, I always say GLP is not the solution. It's just a tool. Yes, I think that's a great way to look at it, too.

[00:31:03] And when people look at it as the solution, I think that's when they get into trouble, which can have some bad negative effects. And especially with the amount of muscle loss, you know, it's not directly targeting fat when you're losing the weight.

[00:31:25] It's going to take it from everywhere, especially if you're not feeding your body with the right food and you're not exercising, you're not doing resistance training. So it can be a very... Sorry, go ahead. No, I said and eating protein. Yes. Yeah, that's...

[00:31:45] And a lot of people, people I teach and some of the teachers will ask me, like, I'm having trouble getting enough protein in. And, you know, they're like, I had an egg for breakfast. You know, one egg? Like, yeah. Like, okay. I see where we're starting. We need to build up from there.

[00:32:06] I mean, it's great that the understanding, all right, I need to add more in, but understanding exactly what's going to get you where you need to go is sometimes very, very tough. A lot of people don't really understand how much protein they actually need. And I think that's why I also started drinking the clear protein.

[00:32:29] You'll see, I always, literally always have it with me in this bottle because even I struggle to eat that much protein. You can only have so much chicken or eggs. So I don't know if you have biltong in the U.S. I think you guys call it beef jerky. Biltong. Oh, beef jerky. Yes, we do have that. Yeah.

[00:32:56] The way things are produced over here, it's a little different than in Europe and Africa and other countries and continents. The amount of sodium in our beef jerky, I don't know if it's the same as yours, is through the roof. So it is a good source of protein when you need it, but there are cleaner ones. I just, I don't know. Is that one of your go-tos? It's one of my go-tos.

[00:33:25] I mean, I have four kids and sometimes I'm just always on the run with them. So that's also a snack that I always have on hand. You know, whenever I get hungry, that'll be what I reach for instead of a, you know, protein bar or something like that. Yeah, the protein bars can be deceiving.

[00:33:48] There are some good ones, but others will have 30 to 40 grams of sugar in one of the bars. And I think once I understood the, you know, the gram to calorie conversion for proteins, fats and carbs, and you see a bar with 25 grams of protein, that's over 400 calories. You have four calories per gram of protein. So that's 100. Where's the other 300 calories coming from?

[00:34:16] And it's not always the stuff that you want. So you just have to be careful with those for sure. Yeah. I mean, people really have to, I think that's why I do so much research on everything. I just, I have this mindset, which is probably not great, but I don't trust everything that I'm told.

[00:34:39] And especially, you know, when it comes to commercial products, because I know they have an angle that they need to sell it. I know they need to make a profit. I know they need to make it look as attractive as possible. So I would take the product to not, you know, I wouldn't take them at their word. I would go and do my own research, even with skincare products.

[00:35:04] You know, I would go into the store and actually look at all the ingredients and then Google each ingredient and see, you know, exactly what it does. Or I would go and look for specific ingredients on skincare products. And even if it's not a well-known one, if it has the ingredients that I want, you know, that's the one I'll take. Well, I think that's important to do.

[00:35:32] I've started using, I don't know how your feelings are with like chat GPT and those sort of things, but I'll take a picture of the ingredient list and be like, explain this to me. And it will break everything down. And, you know, you don't want to always believe everything that one source tells you. It's nice to check them. But for the most part, it's been very accurate.

[00:35:59] And one thing I had done after, and I had mentioned this on a previous show, I forget which one, but after the fast, I was like, all right, my body's in full reset mode. I want to see how these different foods affect me. Just because I was, you know, you're, you start on a clean slate. I love Swedish fish. So I had some of those and I'm like, I got to see how I feel. I felt awful. It, you know, I was lethargic. My stomach hurt.

[00:36:27] And it was, it was really cool because a lot of times like you eat that with a hundred other things you're eating throughout the day. So there's no like control group. Everything's a variable. But now I, I, I had it. I had clean food. I, I had one thing to check and it was, it was interesting to, to, to see what that was going to do. It is very interesting. I still love it.

[00:36:52] So one of the, um, one of the things I posted on was also how you have certain cravings and how to overcome them. And, um, I only recently found this out myself when I say recently, it's like two years ago, but every two weeks your, um, taste buds change completely. Yes. I was going to ask you about this. So I'm glad you're jumping into this. Yeah.

[00:37:19] So if you are kind of addicted to a specific food that you have every single day, if you quit it for two weeks and then you try it again, it's going to taste completely different to you. So if you need to quit something, I mean, that's probably the best way to do it. And I've tried it myself. It really does work. I think that's awesome to know. There's a, there's an end in sight.

[00:37:48] There's a timeframe where you're like, all right, I can do this for two weeks. I can suck it up, um, and, and make this change, but that's awesome. Two weeks and your taste buds change. Completely. You said you love chicken, like steamed chicken and veggies and that sort of thing. And you kind of trained your taste buds. You do. So I love, um, you know, foods don't have to be overly complicated for me to enjoy it.

[00:38:17] I love very simple, clean foods. Do your kids appreciate those or do they give you a hard time with that? They actually eat quite healthy. So a typical meal for them would be a protein, a carb and a veg. So they also really like clean food. They, um, yeah, they, they don't have the, the palate for very complicated meals.

[00:38:46] So they eat pretty clean. My husband is Portuguese. Um, he's from Portugal and they really, um, appreciate, you know, the, the nutritional value of food and they see food as medicine. So he hates anything processed. I mean, when we got married, I was the one that would buy like processed meals that you put in the microwave. And I thought it was fun.

[00:39:13] And, um, he was the one that said, there's no way you're having that in my house. I'm cooking from scratch. So, you know, every day my kids have two meals cooked from scratch, but they're very simple. It's a protein, a carb and a veg. Um, you're setting them up for such a healthy future too.

[00:39:40] Um, where, you know, we talk about how the, um, the average life expectancy keeps growing, but the, the illnesses and diseases and stuff are skyrocketing as well. So we're living longer, but living with more disease in pain and all these things that we need to overcome. Whereas if you start with the food that you eat and movement, you're going to live longer, but you won't have those negative things to deal with.

[00:40:10] And you can't control everything, but giving yourself the best chance to just be able to enjoy the, the extra years that we're giving ourselves is huge. Yeah. Yeah. Um, definitely. And I have to, you know, mentioning like growing old, being healthy.

[00:40:29] Um, one of the things that also motivated me to like really put my energy into exercise and staying healthy, um, for mental clarity was that my dad developed late onset bipolar. So my dad has never had any mental illnesses.

[00:40:50] And at the age of 62, um, you know, um, you know, um, you know, seeing things and not being coherent at all.

[00:41:08] Like, um, you know, um, um, you know, um, you know, um, uh, but, uh, something that just doesn't go to the, um, you know, um, you know, um, you know, maybe a little bit different from a student. Um, so many times.

[00:41:38] You know, once you've seen that, you really realize how important it is to look after your mental health and to look after your overall health before it becomes a problem. Yeah, no, I think that's huge. And it's unfortunate that that's sometimes a springboard for people to truly understand.

[00:42:02] And health is seeing somebody, and I'm not saying that's the case with you, but a lot of people I've spoken to, it stemmed from, you know, they're switching to a healthier lifestyle, stemmed from seeing somebody they love or it happening to themselves where they had a scare. But something health-wise went the wrong way and they're like, all right, I got to figure out how to prevent this or fix this. Yeah.

[00:42:57] And I don't want to become someone who's like, comment this and I'll send you this. You know, there's so many of that out there and it's just not authentic.

[00:43:21] So what I share is things that really worked or things that didn't work or my opinion, you know, use it, don't use it. So, yeah, I am a giver of nature. It really makes me happy to give to people and to serve. So I do find a lot of joy in it as well. Well, I think that's the best reason to do something, too. When there's the passion behind it, you know, it's authentic.

[00:43:50] You know, you know, you know, obviously this is a lifestyle you follow. It began because people saw you and were like, oh, she knows what she's doing. Like, can you give me a little help, please? I know. But you are your best billboard. You know, not many people would go to me as a hairdresser necessarily because I don't really have a piece of it. Although I have seen some bald hairdressers out there. We can't all control it. But you know what I mean.

[00:44:19] I appreciate you taking the time. I don't want to steal too much more. But do you have advice for people who are getting started with this? What would be the easiest, I don't know, two or three things that people can change right off the bat that they would see a huge difference in?

[00:44:37] I think the biggest one would be to tell people to stop doing excessive amounts of cardio and to start doing weights. Because that's really where the change is going to start happening. It's not going to happen with cardio. I love that.

[00:45:01] The second thing is, you know, do experiment with peptides. But make sure that you're taking the right ones. Don't just jump into, you know, peptides because everyone else is taking it. And before starting it, make sure that your body is healthy enough to use the peptides.

[00:45:26] Because peptides often have far less to do with the molecule and more with the environment that it's being placed in. So if your body isn't healthy enough to interpret the signal, the peptide completely misfires. So make sure from your end that you're eating healthy, you're optimizing your own health before you add on peptides.

[00:45:55] They definitely work. They do amazing stuff. But they only work in a healthy body. And third... Oh, thank you. Oh, we get another one. Nice. Third, I'm not really sure. I think high protein intake has been a life changer for me as well.

[00:46:21] Just keeping my sugar balanced throughout the day, keeping any cravings away. It's really been amazing. I think that's huge, especially in America. I don't know what it is in South Africa, but it's somehow turned into breakfasts are mostly simple carbohydrates where it's cereals or bagels or that sort of thing. And it's... I'm doing research for...

[00:46:51] I'm going to do like a six or a seven part series looking at even though we're living longer with better technology and medicine, why are we so much less healthy? And one of the things that I found in terms of the nutritional side of things was the invention of breakfast and its importance in the slogan like breakfast is the most important meal of the day was created by Kellogg's to try and push their cereals.

[00:47:19] And it's just this misunderstood nature of eating. But if you start your day with a lot of protein, you're not hungry for that other stuff throughout the day, which makes a huge difference. So I think that's a big one. I almost want to add on as a fourth thing is for people to be curious about products they use and, you know, whatever they put into their body.

[00:47:48] Because they need to remember that behind every product that's easily accessible is a marketing team. It's a company that's built around profits. So, like we mentioned, protein bars. No, it's not necessarily good for you. It's easily accessible. But, you know, it's a company that produced it. They're driven by sales. They're not necessarily driven by what is best for you.

[00:48:18] And a whole other conversation is the same with big pharma. You know, think before you just jump onto any medication too quickly. But, you know, that's a whole other thing. Yeah, basically just do your own. That is a long conversation. I'm very long. And I think we might upset some people. Yeah, definitely do your own. That's okay. You got to hear the truth sometimes. Yeah.

[00:48:48] Do your own research. Because at the end of the day, it's your body that you're putting these things into. I think that is excellent advice. Thanks. Well, Estelle, thank you so much for taking the time and hopping on. How can people get in touch with you? What's the best way? The best way would be to go to my Instagram page, StellaGlowProtocol. All right.

[00:49:17] I will put that in the show notes for sure. Okay. And you were pretty quick to respond. And I see you interact a lot with the people on there, which goes back to you just giving out all the information and all the experiences that you've had. So thank you. Thank you. Make sure everybody hops over and says hello to Estelle. And we really, really appreciate you taking the time to hop on.

[00:49:47] Oh, thank you. It was lovely being here. It's my first podcast ever. So it was very nice. Oh, it definitely won't be your last. I can promise you that one. I'm glad we got you first, though. Well, have a great rest of your day, everyone. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen. And we will definitely catch you guys in the next one.