Identifying the Two Sides of Your Brain - Tracy Pleschourt

So, Tracy, thanks for coming on the show.

My pleasure.

And I was reading your bio, you were in advertising for 20 years sounds like you were having a blast. Obviously, if you're doing it for 20 years, when did you know you wanted to jump ship and get into life coaching and helping people to lose weight,

I knew that there was definitely a calling for me to do something more. And I really, truly believe that if you are going to conclude a relationship, whether that's with another human being or an employer, whatever it is a big life change, do it when you're most happy. Really don't leave things don't close those doors, in an unhappy state to do it when you are at the peak. And I did that, and it was really scary. And thank God, I have a husband who believes in me because I'm not sure I could have stood by and watched my spouse walk away from an executive level, you know, role at a at an advertising agency, and, but he did and and here I am. So I spent a lot of my career, really mentoring other people, and building that culture. It's a fun, fun environment to be in, I'm sure you can imagine you're amongst all these creative people, which makes life so interesting. But I really loved the mentoring aspect of my role and knew that whatever was next, in my journey, it was going to have an element of mentoring, consulting, something like that. Yeah, after 20 years, I would say the biggest the biggest reason why I chose that particular time was because my kids work in high school, I was starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel of them getting ready to leave the nest. And quite honestly, I had been gone from home for so long I was I had an hour long commute on both ends, and really long days. And I thought, gosh, if I don't do it, now, I'm going to really miss out on probably some of the most fun years of their life. So I left the industry at the exact same time they were starting their final years within High School and it couldn't have been more perfect.

And so why the weight loss and life coaching? And do you have a specialty? Or do you just kind of do it all or?

Yeah, so I pursued a certification in life coaching, I had my own life coach, who made a huge impact on me really helped me understand my own mind my own thinking and how it results in my own experience. And I believed in the concepts, but I didn't know them well enough to actually teach them. And so I knew I was going to be mentoring in some capacity. And I thought this could be a really good skill set to layer on. And my deepest desire is to help people start purpose driven businesses, that's very meaningful to me. And so that's where my life coach, that was the genesis of my life coaching. So I layered on life coaching with helping women primarily start purpose driven businesses. And as it would be, I was going through my own weight loss journey, and all of my social media started to reflect a shrinking life coach. And so I had more people start to get curious about that, and asked me about that. And here are five years later coaching more people on weight loss than any other topic out there. And I will say that the foundation of every thing I coach on, it all starts at the level of your mind. So there really is there's very few boundaries that I have on me as a life coach. Because everything you think is generating the feelings that have you showing up or behaving in such a way, whether it's overeating, or whether it's arguing with a spouse, it all starts at the level of your mind. So I can quite effectively show my clients, their mind and we can create change. And we can also create things that they once thought impossible or that was never actually been on their radar. So it's really fun. Well, the

fun thing about the mind is sometimes we don't see things that we should, but in other times, like it's 1115 and you there's a voice in your head that goes why are you pouring? You know, it's it's a quarter to men, you know, you got 45 minutes till bedtime and you're pouring milk on cereal, like, you probably shouldn't be eating this. And then you like, well, and then you lie to yourself, you know, oh, one bowl of cereal won't hurt or whatever it is. So how do we get to that conundrum when we know what's wrong, but we do it anyway.

Yeah, I like to teach the like my clients. I like to tell them that you have two parts of your brain. And if you just stick with me for a minute, one scientific part we call it the prefrontal cortex. So that's the decision making part of your brain. The other part is what I call the primitive part of your brain. And God created that in an attempt to keep you safe. Well, we're really not in a lot of danger these days, like, we're not trying to outrun saber toothed tigers and all that good stuff. But yet, our primitive brain is still firing off all of these thoughts, like, you're gonna starve if you don't get up out of bed and go eat a bowl of cereal at 1115. So not true. But our brain is still thinking in more primitive terms. So what we want to do is we want to flip the switch, we want to turn on that prefrontal cortex, and I like to call it your prodigy brain, it's the more extraordinary part of your brain to make decisions ahead of time, about why we don't want to get up out of bed at 1115 1130, and go pour a bowl of cereal. So you have to be more intentional, the primitive part of your brain is very reactive, it's very unintentional, the Prodigy part of your brain, very intentional, you can make decisions ahead of time for yourself. So you have to understand the difference between the two make sense of it, so that you can apply that sense and get closer to what it is that you want. I could sit and talk all day long to clients, but until they actually apply, and they see it, the kind of architecture of their thought process, work out for themselves, it's very difficult to really understand it. So I like applied learning versus just sitting back and listening to the words.

What Yeah, and I always say, when you do something that's maybe not that beneficial to your weight loss efforts, we have a tendency to really just beat ourselves up if we step on the scale the next day. And we say, well, you are kind of practicing doing, I hate to use the word wrong, because it triggers people. But if you're doing something that's not smart, you're gonna get better at it. So that's, I'm with you, when I start doing the right thing. That's where and you start to see the results. You're looking for this if I just keep doing this? Yeah. And for me, I'm good for about three weeks. What for me, my brain starts to believe the lie of okay, good for you. You've got almost a whole month without any soda. And you haven't hit McDonald's once and blah, blah, blah. And then that little voice in your head goes. Well, you could have won cannon Mountain Dew.

Yeah. Why?

Why did we fall for that trick? Is that just are that same brain? That's just tricking us again?

It Yeah, that's your primitive brain being very reactive, we often react to those that kind of thinking it's very fear based thinking, like, if you don't have this right now, something horrible is gonna happen. And so we're like, okay, we're all in. But if you make a decision ahead of time, and I in so just listen to this, Dave, it's not, I'm not going to ever have another pop. Again, I'm actually or a soda depends on where you're at in the world. It's more about making a decision about when and where, like with your prefrontal cortex. So you're making very well informed decisions. It's not about restriction. It's not this all or nothing, it's let's make very intelligent, well informed decisions that we're actually responding to, instead of reacting from. Does that make sense? So our primitive brain as US reacting, and it almost never ends? Well, it never is quite getting us to what it is that we want. But if you've learned to respond to those thoughts by okay, I hear you I know what's happening. That's fine. Those thoughts can be there. I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be there. They should. We're all human, we're all going to have them. What I'm suggesting that we work on, like, practicing is not reacting to them. Just responding. That's what that is. Yeah, I don't have to, I don't have to jump out of bed because I'm not really gonna die if I don't eat right now.

Yeah, I know, for me, when I start doing math, when I started going, well, let's see this, whatever I'm gonna eat was X amount of calories. So if I were to hop on a treadmill and divide that by two, unless and lightweight, if you're doing math, you're about to make a bad decision. That's just the way it works. I read somewhere recently that if you are trying to do some sort of weight loss that really, I forget the article, I wish I could quote it, but it said basically, roughly 80% of your success is based on your diet. But yet we all focus on exercise. Because if we, you know, go sweat for 10 minutes, it feels like we're we should expect miracles or something like that. And likewise, we get that with well, some of us carbs are the devil. Other things are no no just you know, live on bacon. So how do you know what to believe?

Yeah, I think that's such a good question. And I think that you have to know yourself. This. My company self made you is Literally, it is a curriculum that is based on understanding you mentally, emotionally, physically and metabolically. So I believe that it looks like taking your blood looking at how you react, how you uniquely react to things that you're eating, because nobody knows that you can't just guess that you need to see the data. So, again, our primitive brain likes to make decisions based on drama, our Prodigy brain makes decisions based on data. So two totally different results. So I like to say, how do you know what diets gonna work for you go out and try the different diets, maybe low carb is great for you low refined carbs, but maybe not. Some people love the carnivore diet. And some people love vegan diets, it's an and when I say love it, it's they're loving the results that they're getting. They like the way that they feel like metabolically, they can see the glucose numbers balance out, they know that they're insulin sensitive and not insulin resistant. Once you can see all of that through monitoring, you're very easy. And you can strip away all of the Drava. When you're looking at the facts, I would say at its simplest, take note, try something, give it 10 to 14 days, and make note of how you're feeling mentally, emotionally, physically, that's a great place to start. Because if you're working against your own will, if you're like, Okay, I'm going to eat plant based for the next forevermore, but yet, you're totally bloated, and you absolutely hate plants. Is that going to be sustainable? No. So it's taking note on how your body is uniquely reacting to what it is that you're giving it. And I would say make note on a lot of different levels physically, mentally, emotionally and metabolically.

Yeah, I tried something recently, and the first day wasn't, was not easy. But the second day, my brain was just like, I'm not going to be able to do this on it was the something to do with five to word five days, you eat normal two days, you have a pretty extreme fast, and they give you this little pouch of smoothies. And by the end of the day, I'd eaten like 600 calories when I'm usually clocking in around 1900. And it was just a matter of like these little smoothies were basically so you weren't just having your stomach go all day. But on the other hand, it was hard not to, it was hard to get your your brain in the game of to whatever you're doing, because all the time you're like going, Okay, I'm not starving. But I could use the sandwich about now. And I just went the first day it was okay. I was like, I wasn't that bad. And the second day, I was like, Yeah, this is probably not gonna work for me in the long run. Yeah, but I tried it, you know, and I guess if I wanted to, I could look at that first and go. Yeah, but I did do one day. Yeah, you know, yeah,

I think there is something to be said for doing your own research, understanding the benefits of the good fats. Understanding the benefits of really limiting sugar and flour, sugar flour are both pretty toxic, can manmade substances. And I don't think there's very many people that can argue right now that they're actually good for you. They they fuel the cravings, they do a lot of damage to our metabolic health. Whereas good fats, they satiate you, your brain prefers to operate off of fat, you think better more clearly, your moods are more stable, your energy is heightened. So I personally, I subscribe to a low refined carb, pretty moderate in protein and high in good fats. And that works for me and but I do have quite a few clients that they are vegan, or they are lactose intolerant. And so it takes out some of the heavy layer, like the good fats that we recommend. So you have to play with it a little bit. But ultimately, none of that matters. If you don't have a managed mind. I truly believe that you have to have a managed mind before you ever get to the checklist of what it is that you're actually going to eat or not eat. It all starts with how you're thinking and feeling about your weight loss journey.

So how do you get rid of the little guy on your shoulder? who's been with you the whole time? And says, I told you wasn't gonna work? Oh, sure. You're gonna lose weight this time. Just like you said you were the other 37 times. Let me guess. Is this the popcorn or the Lemonade Diet? Or what are you going to do? Oh, sure. Go, you know, you've got that little voice in your head. Yeah, sometimes he just won't shut out.

Yeah. And so those old stories like I've never been able to succeed and a diet, I always quit. Those are just thought ears. Those are thought loops that you're buying into and because you consistently think the same thing and feel the same defeat, before you've even really started, of course, you're going to keep getting the same result. So I would first like really look at the unintentional thinking that's going on that you're reacting from, and just know that it's not your fault, you're not broken, there's nothing morally wrong with you. It's just that you're not managing your mind you're operating from like, you're running on default on those primitive brain thoughts. That's an old story, that little guy on your shoulder, that's an old story, let's like narrate a new story. You are the curator of that story. We all sit in the driver's seat of our own thoughts. But most people don't know that. They think that whatever runs through that little brain of theirs is like, gospel, they believe it to be true. And it's not. It's usually coming from our permanent brain, which is meant to keep us safe. So it's overly dramatic. Yeah, how does that make? How does that make you feel? I can never write, it's or I should have my clients always giggle when we're talking about the thoughts that they're having. And there's certain prompts that I can give them to pull it out. And they're like, I should have done this. And I should have done that. And I'm like, Alright, listen, You're shitting all over yourself. And this is not going to work. Yeah, so we always get a few chuckles out of that. But these shoulds Yeah, it's part of that extreme vocabulary. That is not helpful.

Let's Good point. Overlaid Yeah, because it's always like, and that's where you get into extremes will like, it's not like, I'm never going to have use words like always, and never all those extreme words. So I can't ever have another Mountain Dew, you know, so was just triggers you. Some people love to fast I am right now, getting into it, because it's kind of a weird gamification thing. Like when, like when I had the thing that kind of helped me with the bowl of cereal, because I was like, Well, I'm either A, I'm gonna lie to the app, I didn't want to lie to the app, because I want the app to have good data. And I was like, and I'll have to reset my because I already said I quit eating at seven o'clock. It was like, okay, I'm good. I'm on my fast. I was like, Oh, you have to and you're fast. And I was like, Are you gonna lie? And let the app think you didn't eat? And like now, I promised I wouldn't do that. So for me, I kind of like it. I know other people scream, oh, no, you're letting your metabolism falls asleep when you don't eat for, you know, X amount of hours and things like that. So that's another one is this? How do you decide, you know who's right or wrong? Or is it? Are we just back to try it and see what happens?

I would say that just really be mindful of the myths that are out there. We're constantly taking in our messaging, it's either direct or indirect. Right? So the diet industry has provided a whole lot of messaging around metabolism and Breakfast isn't the most important meal of the day, and that we shouldn't be eating five, six, even seven meals throughout the day. That's that is, unfortunately, sadly, that is the standard American diet right now is that we're eating six times a day, we never give our insulin time to balance out. And when insulin is present in our bloodstream, we can't burn fat, period. That is a scientific fact. So you want your insulin to bottom out, you want to lower it as much as you can. So you cannot be eating anything that spikes your blood glucose, because what insulin does, it's bringing down any sort of blood glucose spikes. So sugar, flour, anything refined is going to spike your blood glucose, which then your pancreas releases insulin to bring it down.

Exactly. What would you say? If you had to pick? You know, what do you think the number one thing is that people struggle with? When it comes to weight loss?

I would say fear. It's, I would say it really does come down. If it's if I had to wrap it up in no one, the number one I would say it is they're afraid of emotion, which really does boil down to loss. Or it's, I would say it's some iteration of fear. And so you have to get to the root cause of what is what are you so afraid? Are you afraid of failing? Because what's the worst thing that can happen? You learn from it, let's just get real here. But I would say that it almost always boils down to fear and it's probably rooted in fear of failing. And my sister's on staff with self-made you and she's a clinical psychologist. So of course, she always wants to look way back into people's paths and figure out why they're afraid and I'm a life coach. So I like to just start with where we're at now and let's just go for it. Let's just go after whatever it is that we're looking to achieve, and I'll leave all of the therapy to her but it is it truly is. is understanding what is it that you're afraid of? And do you really need to be afraid of that? And, again, that's why I said, Dave, it always starts at the level of your mind. Because however you're feeling is going to have you in action. In action it's either going to have you doing or not doing. And that's how we create our results by being in or not inaction period. So if you just reverse architect that, you'll quickly see that it is always a feeling that is driving our actions or our inactions. So the right cause a feeling, typically fear.

It's interesting. And I've also heard of people that in some cases, will sabotage themselves because they're afraid of success, because they've always been, whatever heavy or I've always been this way. And again, that's their negative self-talk, right. And so they'll sabotage because they're afraid because they've never been successful. And they don't know what that looks like. And right, it's fear of other

people's opinions. We I see that a lot, too. Yeah, fear of fear of losing the relationship that they had with food, that's a big one, too. It's abundant. It is almost always fear-based. And but the reality of it is that you don't need to be afraid. It's just, it's learning kind of your new lifestyle and how to be real about it. There is nothing to be afraid of. And as long as you look at it, and look at the data, and just try to strip away the drama, you'll quickly realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. And but it takes practice, like seeing your primitive brain thoughts for what they are, and responding with a product you brain thought that takes practice.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Practice makes perfect. Right and perfect. And sometimes, you know, hard to get to but you had mentioned your company self made you can find that itself, dash made you.com. And it's I didn't know I didn't realize your sister was on staff. Tell us more about what you offer there.

Yeah, like I said, it is steeped in coaching. And we do have some programming, our biggest program that we offer is called self-made mind and body. It's a six-month program that offers transformations mentally, emotionally, physically and metabolically. So we teach you all of these things that I've been talking about tonight about really looking at the data, I talked about the four basics, it's S E, L, F, because we're really clever, we're really clever like that. So the S is solving the mind math, it's understanding your thoughts and your emotions, the E is eating the foods that fuel you, uniquely, you. The L is learning how to collect data so that you make decisions from data not drama, and then the F is fasting. And we do the fasting not to be restrictive, but to balance out our hormones, specifically insulin. So that's a six month program, we are putting people through that we were doing four classes a year. And now we're starting people by the day. So it's a very effective program, you learn a lot about yourself. It's a curriculum on youth self discovery, because I think that's what's sustainable. And then alongside of that, they get mental health assessments because we have a mental health expert on staff, and then a lot of coaching, a lot of life coaching, mixed, mixed in,

you hit one of my I'm a big giant nerd. So when you said you know, looking at data, what's your, what's some of your favorite tools to? Because I know there's 8 million different apps and I think you have an aura ring on I have one. And I have I also have an AI watch. I just, I'm a data nerd. So what's your what's your favorite tools?

Oh, wow, well, I probably a CGM right now a continuous glucose monitor. It's really cutting-edge technology, you wear it on your arm, there's two manufacturers right now levels is one and neutral sense is the other. And I would say those two manufacturers are the manufacturers of the on the technology side, they actually partner with the continuous glucose monitor that's actually put on your body. But it monitors your blood glucose around the clock. So you don't have to do like the finger prick type glucose testing, which is very effective. I teach all of my clients how to do that. And for those who are really into the data and want to see, you know, the continuous, not just the snapshot, that's a really great option and they have apps and you know they give you your score not unlike the aura ring. So yeah, you can kind of gamify it but fascinating information like so many of us think that our blood glucose is spiked through ice cream, right? Well yes it is. If it's made with sugar, and or anything else that you might react to some people have like glucose spikes from dairy, but you also have blood glucose spikes from your environment from stress, you know, things like that exercise. So you want to know those kinds of things too. So it's fascinating. So I would say that's probably my favorite aura. The aura ring is a close second.

Yeah. Yeah, I always love it's weird. It's a fun way to wake up and like one of the first thing I do is grab my phone. I'm like, All right, look at who that 84 on the sleep, alright. And then it's like, you need to take it easy. You know did this and that or, and then it also will kick you in the butt. It's like, you haven't done any exercise in four days. Are you okay? It's like, so. It's like, excellent. So Well, thanks again for coming on the show. Everybody go out and check out self dash made u.com. Tracy, thanks so much for coming on the show.

You're welcome. Thanks for having me, Dave.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai