From Exhausted to Energized in Just 64 Days (The Powers Family Series Part 4) - 258
We continue with the transformation journey of Nicole Powers, a single mom who came to me feeling overwhelmed and defeated by her health struggles. Diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, high blood pressure, and epilepsy, she was exhausted and had almost given up hope.
Through our 1% approach to health, she’s made incredible strides. Nicole has learned to balance her meals, listen to her body, and, most importantly, empower herself and her kids to make healthier choices. In this candid conversation, we’ll get an update on how she and her children are progressing on their health journey.
Conclusion:
Nicole’s health journey is a powerful reminder that transformation doesn’t happen overnight. With small, consistent steps, she’s not only reclaiming her health but also setting a healthier example for her kids. Don’t wait. Start your journey today. Remember: every small change counts.
In This Episode:
00:00 Introduction to Nicole's journey
02:05 Nicole's health struggles and breakthroughs
05:25 Powers family's health transformation update
08:43 Understanding food and body reactions
12:30 Family's daily routine and meal planning
22:42 The six spinning plates of health
28:16 Overcoming gym anxiety
35:01 More about the PFC Pals program
We’ve Made Nutrition Simple For Kids!
To learn more about how we are working to help kids around the world get healthy, follow our children's nutritional literacy page at @PFCPals https://www.instagram.com/pfcpals/#
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Other Related Episodes:
Looking for more tips to optimize your health? Listen to these episodes:
- How One Mom’s Decision is Redefining Her Family’s Health Legacy (The Powers Family Series Part 1)
- Simple Habits That Are Reversing Chronic Illness (The Powers Family Series Part 2)
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Nicole Powers: I said, am I eating poison? Is this poison? What am I eating? Like, what am I putting in my system?
[00:00:06] Carrie Lupoli: I believe like what? The way that I feel is when you inject yourself, you're giving all of the power, all of the glory to that drug.
[00:00:12] Nicole Powers: I felt like I was on autopilot. I, I literally felt like I could just crash at any time.
[00:00:17] Nicole Powers: So I thought my sleep was good because I was sleeping so much. How could it not be right now? I know that I was wrong.
[00:00:24] Carrie Lupoli: It's miserable. You end up with tons of cravings and you feel like you have no willpower or self-discipline, and then you continue to just beat on yourself as a failure.
[00:00:33] Nicole Powers: So now my body is really triggering me to what is acceptable and what it just doesn't Like.
[00:00:38] Nicole Powers: When I tasted this sugar, my body was like, oh, you know, we're back. We're we're here. Yeah, I had like two pieces, but that next day I had such a horrible headache.
[00:00:48] Carrie Lupoli: Nicole, this journey will never end. Yeah, this journey will go on and on and on and on. And your job is to continue to uplevel, right? Continue to 1% progress.[00:01:00]
[00:01:01] Carrie Lupoli: Well, hey there, diet disruptors. We are back for our fourth, fourth episode in this series, where we are literally living side by side, paralleling the journey that Nicole and her family are going on. In real time as they made the decision together to get healthy. And so Nicole, a single mom who came to me oh, a while now, a few months ago now, desperate and, and I would even say you were desperate, but you were also done, like you had given up hope.
[00:01:37] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah, I did. I think we just sort of came into your life at a time where you, we were able to tap into that sliver of hope that you did have somewhere in there. And I know it was because of your kids. Yeah. Nothing else. And we have now been documenting your journey in social media as well as in this podcast and just going [00:02:00] through.
[00:02:01] Carrie Lupoli: Step by step what it's like to actually commit to getting healthy. And Nicole is a, a, a single mom of three amazing kids who had, I mean, Nicole, let's just share real quick a recap. All the things you came to me dealing with.
[00:02:20] Nicole Powers: Well, like I said in the beginning, and I'll say you say it again, uh, this program was truly a godsend.
[00:02:26] Nicole Powers: Um, so I, I so much appreciate that I came to you and I, um, again, I have sugar type two diabetes and I don't wanna say have, because I don't wanna claim that anymore. No, that
[00:02:39] Carrie Lupoli: is not your identity.
[00:02:40] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I'm claiming my freedom. I'm claiming my health. But um, you know, I had a fatty liver, high blood pressure, and then on top of that I have epilepsy.
[00:02:49] Nicole Powers: So I have seizures, and my seizures can be triggered. So I know probably my hormones being I balance had a lot to do with it too. [00:03:00] So yeah, you, the program was a godsend,d and I'm happy for it. I'm happy to,
[00:03:05] Carrie Lupoli: I'm, I'm, I mean, so what, what we did is we basically walked you through. 1% a day, every day, giving you just a tiny bit of education.
[00:03:14] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. So it wasn't all at once. And you've tried all the things. You've done all this stuff, but you came to us sleeping in the middle of the day because you were so exhausted.
[00:03:23] Nicole Powers: Right.
[00:03:23] Carrie Lupoli: And having really little motivation or desire. To move your body, even though you were urgent at the same time. Yeah, 'cause you were basically dying.
[00:03:32] Carrie Lupoli: Like,
[00:03:32] Nicole Powers: yeah.
[00:03:33] Carrie Lupoli: It was just such a, probably a, it's like a weird thing, right? It's like, you know, you're on this path of destruction and yet you don't have any energy to move. Plus you didn't have the knowledge in terms of feeling confident about what you were doing.
[00:03:46] Nicole Powers: Right. And prior to that I didn't really know how to pair my food.
[00:03:51] Nicole Powers: So I'm learning how to, or I've learned how to balance my plate and I'm teaching that to my kids. And I think that's so wonderful and that's something that they'll carry [00:04:00] with them when they're my age. So I didn't know what food fueled my body and what food, um, triggered me either. So I'm learning now that certain foods that I eat.
[00:04:10] Nicole Powers: Make me tired and exhausted. Certain foods I eat causes me to have bloat and et cetera, so yeah. Learning. It's
[00:04:18] Carrie Lupoli: such a Yes. It's a, it is. I say this all the time. It's a journey of self discovery, and that's why Yes, I, I, I always say like, if you're gonna go on a health journey, and if somebody's going to give you a meal plan, it is a script and that is not going to help you.
[00:04:32] Carrie Lupoli: They, you need to be educated so that you can be aware, like, I love that you know yourself so much more. You had no idea, I mean, you were going all day and not eating.
[00:04:41] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:04:42] Carrie Lupoli: And, and, and when you're type two diabetic, that is a result of a lifestyle, but you just didn't know. And I always say this, it's like all that we're taught is eat less, move more.
[00:04:54] Carrie Lupoli: It's miserable. You end up with tons of cravings and you feel like you have no willpower or self-discipline, and then you [00:05:00] continue to just beat on yourself as a failure. Yeah. And none of that is true because. You are the same Nicole Powers that you were three months ago when I met you, but you are now empowered and therefore confident, knowledgeable, and now can be impactful in a totally different way, which is very cool,
[00:05:17] Nicole Powers: right?
[00:05:17] Nicole Powers: Yeah. And I wanna say informed, you know, you have informed me in educated me, and I'm just happy for it. I really am.
[00:05:25] Carrie Lupoli: Okay, so let's get an update on the kids and then we're gonna get an update on you. So your kids have been learning besides you. Yes, and we are all about tools, not rules. So nobody needs to be doing anything legalistic, but they understand blood sugar and how to pair foods and making more intentional choices.
[00:05:43] Carrie Lupoli: So tell us what's going on with the kids.
[00:05:46] Nicole Powers: My son has lost a tremendous amount of weight. He's lost 20 pounds. Um, I was excited about it. I told him, I said, you're losing weight. You look good. He said, yeah, mom, I lost 20 pounds. I said, when did you find out? He said, I got on the [00:06:00] scale and I checked, so I lost 20 pounds.
[00:06:01] Nicole Powers: So I was happy for that. And you can see it. My daughter
[00:06:04] Carrie Lupoli: and he's gaining, gaining, he's your athlete and he's gaining lean muscle too.
[00:06:09] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:06:09] Carrie Lupoli: So when you think about losing body fat, but or losing, sorry, the visceral fat and gaining muscle, right?
[00:06:18] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:06:19] Carrie Lupoli: Like this is huge. He's losing body fat, he's gaining muscle and.
[00:06:23] Carrie Lupoli: I gotta believe his performance athletically is improving.
[00:06:26] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Yes, it is. Yeah, it is much better. And my daughter, she's lost a tremendous amount of weight too. Like, I'm looking at her just shrink. So I'm like, wow. Yeah, it's working. I could see, um, I'm losing some weight too. I can see it. I see it in my face.
[00:06:42] Nicole Powers: I see it in my, uh, tummy, you know, and it's coming off at a. I don't wanna say a slow pace now. I think it started out like that, but now I can see it more rapidly, so, yeah.
[00:06:53] Carrie Lupoli: Well that's, I think you bring up a really good point. First of all, you know your daughter, and, and it's not that, I mean, they're eating, they're eating all day [00:07:00] long.
[00:07:00] Carrie Lupoli: This is part of this, right? This is about not, not eating. In fact, your daughter wasn't eating. Right when in, she wasn't eating lunch in the middle of the day and now she's eating, which I just think is so incredible. But I mean, this is why I want kids to learn this at a young age. Once we lay down our fat cells, we actually, they're, they're there, they're, they're there for life.
[00:07:21] Carrie Lupoli: They can be dormant, but they're, they're much easier to then, um. To be a part of our story. They're, they're a part of our story for life, basically. And as you with disease, as you've been older, your body will not release weight until and unless it feels safe. And it it, because it's put on those, it's, it's, it's put on the weight to protect you.
[00:07:45] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And it's not going to release it until it knows it can trust you. Right. And that's what you've been doing. And I think that's really exciting. To know that now the weight is coming off because your body is trusting you.
[00:07:57] Nicole Powers: Yeah, and I realized too with my [00:08:00] daughter, she mimicked me a lot. So she went to school, she didn't eat breakfast, she didn't eat lunch, and at the end of the day she ate that one big meal as well.
[00:08:09] Nicole Powers: So, you know, now my baby boy, he goes, he eats breakfast and he eats lunch at school. Um, he's a very active little boy, of course. Uh, I don't really see a bunch of weight coming off of him, but again, he's so little.
[00:08:22] Carrie Lupoli: I mean, and that's not what we're really looking for, right? Right. We're really looking for healthy practices and kids understanding that food is fuel, proteins and fats and carbs, and when we compare them together, like put our pals together, we call it Right.
[00:08:39] Carrie Lupoli: Then we can see that our body becomes super fueled. Yes. So what are the kind of conversations you're having in the home now that's different than maybe 65 days ago?
[00:08:51] Nicole Powers: Well, I'm, I'm finding out when I talk to my children about dinner and things that we're gonna prepare, well, we're not doing as much beef.
[00:08:59] Nicole Powers: Um, we're [00:09:00] trying things that I normally don't, well, that I didn't try. So we're doing a ground Turkey. I went and I, I wanted some yogurt, so I did get some Greek yogurt and I introduced them to that. As well as some coconut yogurt. So when I walk into the store now, I'm looking for alternatives to how we normally ate, you know?
[00:09:20] Nicole Powers: So I think that's amazing though.
[00:09:21] Carrie Lupoli: It's so crazy. Like when you look at labels now and you look at yogurt and you're like, well, holy heck, a lot of this yogurt is basically dessert.
[00:09:29] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Sugar. And that's my, that's my trigger. Yeah.
[00:09:32] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. Yeah. But then when you get Greek yogurt and you look at how much protein is in there Yeah.
[00:09:38] Carrie Lupoli: And how little sugar, and then you could add some fruit. Yeah. Could add a little honey. It it, yeah. But your does, is your palate changing? Like you were, its addicted to sugar. I
[00:09:50] Nicole Powers: was. I
[00:09:51] Carrie Lupoli: was
[00:09:51] Nicole Powers: really bad.
[00:09:53] Carrie Lupoli: Is it changing now in terms of what you want?
[00:09:55] Nicole Powers: Well, right now, I, my body is, uh, being triggered by certain [00:10:00] foods that I eat.
[00:10:01] Nicole Powers: I did have a piece of cake, um, and I think I got carried away. 'cause when I tasted the sugar, my body was like, oh, you know, we're back. We're we're here. And I had like two pieces. But that next day I had such a horrible headache. I had a headache.
[00:10:16] Carrie Lupoli: So interesting. And so the, the whole thing that I am all about is that not, not that you can't have cake, right, right,
[00:10:22] Nicole Powers: right.
[00:10:23] Carrie Lupoli: But like, it, it's, you get to decide how you wanna feel based on that. And all cake is, is carbs and fat. And you can do a pairing with maybe some protein before to try to mitigate the spike. Yes. Or have it as. A dessert after a protein filled meal. But I think more importantly is like, how did it make you feel?
[00:10:48] Nicole Powers: Yeah, my body is triggering me now. Um, so I'm learning to listen to it and it's such a eye-opening experience for me. 'cause I'm saying, did I ignore this all this time? [00:11:00] I had, it was one time during the holiday that I had, uh. I was on the verge of missing a meal. I was out running back and forth with my kids and I stopped and I got a burger.
[00:11:10] Nicole Powers: I said, let me just get something. And I got a burger and I had about three bites and oh, I felt horrible and I couldn't even really finish it. But the next day I said, am I eating poison? Is this poison? What am I eating? Like, what am I putting in my system? So now my body is really triggering me to what is acceptable and what it just doesn't like.
[00:11:30] Nicole Powers: So I'm like, okay, let me pay attention to this. Yeah,
[00:11:33] Carrie Lupoli: and that's what's so different than dieting because when you're dieting, you're basically being told that you can't, you know, restrict, restrict or,
[00:11:41] Nicole Powers: yeah.
[00:11:41] Carrie Lupoli: And you're not filling your body necessarily with all the nutrients that it needs. But when you're like calories in, calories out, you're, it isn't about what you are, you eat, it's, you are what you absorb.
[00:11:55] Carrie Lupoli: And I think for so long your body actually had what I call this [00:12:00] callous on it. Yeah. You know, like when you have a callous on your hand.
[00:12:02] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:12:03] Carrie Lupoli: And like if you have a callous on your hand, you can't really feel sharp things.
[00:12:07] Nicole Powers: Right
[00:12:07] Carrie Lupoli: on your hand, but when you soften that callous, suddenly sharp things hurt.
[00:12:12] Carrie Lupoli: Yes, yes. And so I think this is what I've said to my clients for years. You've actually softened that callous.
[00:12:19] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:12:19] Carrie Lupoli: By serving your body the way you have for the last two months. And now you get to decide how you wanna feel based on what you put in your body.
[00:12:28] Nicole Powers: Right. Exactly.
[00:12:31] Carrie Lupoli: So let's, let's do a little coaching moment.
[00:12:33] Carrie Lupoli: Okay. Let's talk about what, I love to do this to be able to like check in and I know that you have a coach and you've been working with a group and all of that. But, you know, let's, let's dig in a little. Let's talk about a typical day. Let's go through what a typical day looks like for you for meals, and then I'll give you some feedback based on things that I think we could tweak or that we could enhance.
[00:12:53] Carrie Lupoli: And then I'd like to hear a little bit more about how. You're continuing to 1% up level with the [00:13:00] six spinning plates. Does that sound good? Yes. Yes, yes. So let's talk about first, what your typical day is like when it comes to food.
[00:13:08] Nicole Powers: Um, okay. So, what I eat my typical day in the morning, I start with a shake, a protein shake.
[00:13:15] Nicole Powers: It's just easier for me 'cause I'm up early getting my kids ready. Headed for school. Yeah.
[00:13:20] Carrie Lupoli: And you're eating within like an hour of waking up, am I right?
[00:13:23] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Within an hour of waking up, I get my kids up and then I head to the kitchen and I make it. I need to start making my protein shake the day before, but I don't, I just do it that morning.
[00:13:32] Nicole Powers: I wake my, when I put my. Baby boy in the shower. That's when I head to the kitchen and make my shake. I don't have to do much with my older kids. You know, they, they kinda handle that how you
[00:13:42] Carrie Lupoli: do a shake too. Is that right? What did they
[00:13:44] Nicole Powers: do in the morning? Yeah, my son makes, my son makes their shakes in the morning.
[00:13:47] Nicole Powers: I've gotten used to it, but at first I was like, Hmm, y don't have to leave my shakes alone. But yeah, I've gotten, yeah, I've gotten used to it. He goes in there now, you know, I mix, uh, chia [00:14:00] seeds with water. I put that in a refrigerator, so I, I've mixed that in my shake. So he's began to do that as well. So, you know, Hey,
[00:14:07] Carrie Lupoli: did you ever, did you even know what a chia seed was before?
[00:14:10] Nicole Powers: No, I didn't. I.
[00:14:15] Carrie Lupoli: I didn't know. I was like, what, what, what? She has seen pudding. That sounds gross. And now your kids at that age are learning this. I'm just so, so excited. Okay, so you do a balanced PFC shake, which means a protein, fat, and carb, because Yes, we need carbs. Carbs give you energy and you balancing your blood sugar.
[00:14:32] Carrie Lupoli: And you, are you wearing your, uh, continuous glucose monitor?
[00:14:35] Nicole Powers: I am. I am.
[00:14:36] Carrie Lupoli: And so are you seeing that?
[00:14:38] Nicole Powers: Well, I'm not right now. I'm, well, I'm not right now at this moment, but yeah, I've gotten Okay. You're, yeah.
[00:14:43] Carrie Lupoli: So, uh, and your blood sugar has been balanced.
[00:14:46] Nicole Powers: Yes, yes. My blood sugar, I wake up with my sugar now at about 1 24, so that's good.
[00:14:54] Nicole Powers: Okay. I went from 180 1 before I started the program to like one [00:15:00] 40, and now I'm at 1 24. So yeah.
[00:15:03] Carrie Lupoli: Okay. Uh, I mean, that's incredible. And I know that you were, you had started Ozempic when you were first working with us.
[00:15:10] Nicole Powers: Yes.
[00:15:10] Carrie Lupoli: And you had decided you didn't wanna keep taking it. You wanted to do this without it.
[00:15:15] Carrie Lupoli: Is that still the case?
[00:15:16] Nicole Powers: That's still the case. I wanted to feel the program and I wanted to see, I wanted to do an honest review. I wanted to see if it would help. I wanted to see how I would feel. Yeah.
[00:15:26] Carrie Lupoli: Nicole, this is what people are on GLP one's for, to bring down their blood sugar, to silence the food noise, to lose weight, to get healthy.
[00:15:36] Carrie Lupoli: And in 64 days you have done that. Without the Ozempic, and I just think that it is, you have literally regained your own power. The Ozempic, I believe, like what? The way that I feel is when you inject yourself, you're giving all of the power, all of the glory to that drug,
[00:15:52] Nicole Powers: right?
[00:15:53] Carrie Lupoli: And now you get to own it.
[00:15:55] Carrie Lupoli: You get to have it. Yeah, it's all on you, and that is so exciting and empowering. Okay, [00:16:00] so then how long, like, you'll, you're hungry about three hours later is my guess.
[00:16:03] Nicole Powers: Yeah, yeah, it's now it's about two and a half hours. Okay. I'm like, do I need to wait an additional 30 minutes? But yeah, now.
[00:16:12] Carrie Lupoli: Uh, what I would say is your body, so your body processes, like at first your bo you weren't hungry like at all, right?
[00:16:20] Nicole Powers: No. No. Right? '
[00:16:20] Carrie Lupoli: cause you had trained your body not to eat. So what I would say is now your body is getting used to you eating. We process liquid. Differently than we do solids. So sometimes we can get a little bit hungrier. So, uh, you could actually add just a little bit more fat to your shake. Okay. And then that will sate you a little bit longer and probably get you to that three-hour mark.
[00:16:43] Nicole Powers: Okay?
[00:16:44] Carrie Lupoli: Okay. All right then. What's your second meal?
[00:16:47] Nicole Powers: I normally, my second meal is another shake. Um, for the simple fact that I've drunk my first shake in the morning. I drop my kids off about eight o'clock, and then when I come home, [00:17:00] um. It's almost time for me to eat something else again. But during that time I am kind of cleaning up from where they messed up, getting dressed, putting stuff away.
[00:17:08] Nicole Powers: So it's just easier for me really, really quick, make another shake and kind of get it down. And then I'll start preparing for lunch and dinner for my kids. 'cause I like to have that prepared when they get outta school so I don't have to do it. And then so
[00:17:22] Carrie Lupoli: what if you could, I. I usually say, because we eat typically five times, six times a day, depending on how long we're awake.
[00:17:31] Nicole Powers: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:31] Carrie Lupoli: That if you wanna have two meal replacements, like two protein shakes, I'm okay with that, but I prefer that they're not back to back. So like one idea is if you can, do you have an Instapot? I love my. Yeah, but I use the Instapot, which is a little different 'cause it's a pressure cooker, but it doesn't really matter.
[00:17:52] Carrie Lupoli: I boil just a whole bunch of eggs.
[00:17:55] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I do that for my third meal.
[00:17:58] Carrie Lupoli: Okay, so what if [00:18:00] you, even if you swapped it a little bit, because I'd like for you especially, 'cause you get hungry after that first one. Yeah. To have like hardboiled eggs, like four hardboiled eggs, two of 'em with yolks and like an apple or some sort of a, like a, a fruit.
[00:18:13] Nicole Powers: Very. Yeah.
[00:18:14] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. Um, and then if you wanna do a shake after that. Then you're just, at least you're mixing that up a little bit. You know what I mean?
[00:18:23] Nicole Powers: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I, I normally do that for my third meal because I know you spoke to me and you said not to do it three times, but you know.
[00:18:31] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. I prefer only two.
[00:18:33] Carrie Lupoli: Yep. But if you could. Have a meal in between, so you're actually chewing food and you're getting a different set of nutrients. So, because remember, think about a protein shake is great, especially the ones that you use. I know you use Trini and they're clean and
[00:18:45] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:18:46] Carrie Lupoli: Um, but it's still processed, right?
[00:18:47] Carrie Lupoli: It's still not whole food. Yeah. So I'd love for you to be able to have some whole food in between there so you're not doing back-to-back meals like that.
[00:18:55] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:18:56] Carrie Lupoli: And then, and then what will you guys typically have? What, uh, so for lunch, [00:19:00] you'll often do like hard-boiled eggs or something like that.
[00:19:03] Nicole Powers: Well, that's, yeah, that's for my third meal.
[00:19:05] Nicole Powers: Yes.
[00:19:05] Carrie Lupoli: Well, it's funny because we don't really have lunch or dinner. It's like first meal, second meal. Third meal. First meal, right?
[00:19:11] Nicole Powers: Yeah. 'cause it's every three hours. I'm like, okay, I have an alarm on my phone that tells me it's time to eat. Yeah.
[00:19:17] Carrie Lupoli: But you're getting hungry now, right? Which you weren't getting before.
[00:19:21] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I am. That's
[00:19:21] Carrie Lupoli: great.
[00:19:22] Nicole Powers: But sometimes when I come home I kind of get caught up. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. But some, and I think I'm used to putting off that hunger feeling.
[00:19:32] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah.
[00:19:32] Nicole Powers: Before. So, no, I'm really, really just training myself to listen to my body. But isn't it
[00:19:37] Carrie Lupoli: interesting when, when you get really hungry, what do you crave?
[00:19:42] Nicole Powers: Uh, I was, well now, um, well now. I just, I just automatically go for Whole Foods and my, okay, good protein shake. But I just know if
[00:19:53] Carrie Lupoli: I get too hungry, I want like, carbs. Carbs, you know? Yeah. And I [00:20:00] wanna eat my carbs first.
[00:20:01] Nicole Powers: Like, I'm like, Ooh, I can't get
[00:20:03] Carrie Lupoli: it done. So we want you to be always kind of ready to eat, satisfied, ready to eat.
[00:20:07] Carrie Lupoli: Satisfied. Yeah.
[00:20:09] Nicole Powers: And that's how I was before.
[00:20:11] Carrie Lupoli: Good, good.
[00:20:12] Nicole Powers: A salad. I do a lot of, uh, spinach, um, kale, uh, just vegetables normally. My fourth meal is, uh, vegetables and fruit. Um, I've recently introduced a kombucha into my diet. Wow. It took some time. It took some time. I wanted a soda. So I said, let me just try something different.
[00:20:33] Nicole Powers: And I, I have this app that tells me what's healthy and what's not. So I didn't, I made sure not to get the wrong brand. So I got Synergy and I got health aid. I don't know if you're familiar with that.
[00:20:45] Carrie Lupoli: You're just so empowered right now. Isn't that amazing? I always say competence comes when you know what you're doing is right.
[00:20:52] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And you were, the first time we met you, you were in tears and now look at you. Yeah.
[00:20:57] Nicole Powers: Yeah. And this program really [00:21:00] makes me, it really makes me think when I'm picking out food now.
[00:21:04] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah.
[00:21:04] Nicole Powers: You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, lemme see if this
[00:21:06] Carrie Lupoli: is healthy.
[00:21:07] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Lemme see if this is healthy. So
[00:21:08] Carrie Lupoli: what about, what about dinner?
[00:21:10] Carrie Lupoli: What do you guys do for dinner?
[00:21:11] Nicole Powers: Dinner is, uh, normally chicken. We'll normally do like a grilled chicken. I cut up avocado. We do avocado. Um, and we'll do a vegetable. Yeah, we do a vegetable now. My
[00:21:22] Carrie Lupoli: kids. Yeah. So your kids keeping it simple but healthy.
[00:21:24] Nicole Powers: Mm-hmm. Yes. Simple but health. And then I want to be able to, um, kind of switch up the foods that we would normally eat.
[00:21:32] Nicole Powers: So yesterday we did a pizza bank. Um, so we did like the ground beef. I did the, um, alternate cheese, what is it, almond cheese or something like. I wasn't that crazy about that. Uh, we did the Oh
[00:21:46] Carrie Lupoli: yeah. I don't love it either.
[00:21:48] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Yeah. I, we did the, um, I'd rather do
[00:21:51] Carrie Lupoli: no cheese or just cheese.
[00:21:54] Nicole Powers: Yeah. So, and then we put a bunch of vegetables in it, olives, uh, banana [00:22:00] peppers, some mushrooms.
[00:22:01] Carrie Lupoli: I mean, your good, your kids are trying all sorts of foods that they never had before. Yeah. And I love that they're willing and they're open. That's a testament to you as a mom, and I'm seeing what's so important. I love this. So let's dig into a little bit around, I mean, you're doing great. This is exactly what I'm hoping for.
[00:22:17] Carrie Lupoli: Oh. And you know, you have access to our recipe vault too. Yes. Yes. And so. Just think about the fact that, um, there is a chicken crust pizza or chicken. Oh yeah. Chicken crust, pizza crust with ground chicken in it, and it, it, the protein is in the crust chicken, and then you can just pile it of vegetables and it's an amazing pizza, so,
[00:22:40] Nicole Powers: okay.
[00:22:40] Carrie Lupoli: Uh, go ahead and look for that. All right, let's talk about your six spinning plates. So food, nutrition is one of the six spinning plates as is. Can you, do you think you can name 'em?
[00:22:51] Nicole Powers: Um, it's food, nutrition. Sleep.
[00:22:54] Carrie Lupoli: Well, nutrition would be one. Yeah.
[00:22:56] Nicole Powers: Oh, nutrition, hydration.
[00:22:58] Carrie Lupoli: Yep.
[00:22:59] Nicole Powers: Um, [00:23:00] we said mental health, right?
[00:23:02] Carrie Lupoli: Nope.
[00:23:02] Nicole Powers: And exercise. Okay.
[00:23:04] Carrie Lupoli: Exercise. Exercise. Yeah. They're more of the physicals. Yes. The mental health is an important one. The six spinning plates are more the physical things that we do for our body. Right?
[00:23:12] Nicole Powers: Okay.
[00:23:12] Carrie Lupoli: So nutrition, exercise, hydration.
[00:23:15] Nicole Powers: Sleep.
[00:23:16] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. Sleep.
[00:23:17] Nicole Powers: Okay. So sleep. And then, um,
[00:23:21] Carrie Lupoli: the next to are heart,
[00:23:23] Nicole Powers: um,
[00:23:24] Carrie Lupoli: they begin with s they each begin with s.
[00:23:27] Nicole Powers: Stress.
[00:23:28] Carrie Lupoli: Stress is one. Stress and supplement. Supplementation and
[00:23:32] Nicole Powers: supplements. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Supplement.
[00:23:35] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah.
[00:23:36] Nicole Powers: And so I that on that.
[00:23:39] Carrie Lupoli: I know that. Oh, good, good, good. Zy seven is amazing. An amazing digestive enzyme that I think everybody should be on. Xi seven. Uh, no. No joke. No joke. That's great because gut health is the most important thing and now you're putting such great food into your body.
[00:23:57] Carrie Lupoli: Yes. But we will not, we still need to fill the gaps. [00:24:00] We just, our soil is not what it. Used to be, and we are not even, our vegetables are not as nutrient-dense as they once were. Yeah. Our gut microbiome actually, on average, most people have less of the good bacteria in our guts than we did 40 years ago.
[00:24:16] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And so we really do need some supplementation when it comes to digestive enzyme. So shop ive seven.com. It's my favorite. It's so good. Okay. So how, my real question for you, well there's a couple here. One is on sleep. Before we started recording, we were talking about how important sleep is. I have a cold right now, and being able to sleep it off is like the best medicine.
[00:24:38] Carrie Lupoli: But you said something interesting about sleep.
[00:24:40] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I thought initially when I started the program, I know you asked me, well, how's your sleep? And I thought it was good. I said, oh, my sleep is good. And the reason why I thought that is 'cause I slept so much previous to starting the program, after I would take my kids to school, I came home and I slept.
[00:24:58] Nicole Powers: I was. Always [00:25:00] tired. I felt like I was on autopilot. I, I literally felt like I could just crash at any time. So I thought my sleep was good because I was sleeping so much. How could it not be right? Um, now I know that I was wrong. I was wrong. When I lay down, I go to sleep much faster. I stay asleep through the night, and now when I'm up.
[00:25:21] Nicole Powers: I'm up. I don't need that sleep, that nap. I don't have that midday crash. I don't even have coffee anymore. You know, it's, when I started I was still at the one cup. So I don't even have coffee. I don't need coffee. I go to bed at a appropriate time now. So, yeah, I feel great that
[00:25:39] Carrie Lupoli: if you don't sleep well, you can just, doesn't matter anything else, literally nothing else you do matters if you don't sleep well.
[00:25:45] Carrie Lupoli: Okay, and the next really one I really wanna talk about is. Exercise movement because the last time we had talked, or a couple times ago actually, you were just like, I, right? I think it was our second episode together. You were like. [00:26:00] Tired still. And like you were almost detoxing from the sugar and all of that.
[00:26:04] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. But you had said you have a lot more energy now. So are we getting in our movement more?
[00:26:10] Nicole Powers: Yes. I joined the gym. I joined the YCA. Yes I did.
[00:26:16] Carrie Lupoli: I was not expecting that.
[00:26:18] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I joined the gym. Um, so I go swimming, um, and I do a couple of laps. When I got in the pool, I thought I can do this. 'cause you know, I used to love to swim.
[00:26:28] Nicole Powers: I was wrong. I was wrong. It, it was so much harder. So I'm, I'm pacing myself with that. And then outside of swimming, I like to take my kids on walks. So we go to the park, you know, and we walk. Well,
[00:26:39] Carrie Lupoli: it's interesting, right? Because I put walking in the supplementation category, I think it's supplemental. It's so important.
[00:26:47] Carrie Lupoli: We have to do it. And if that's the only exercise you're doing great. I'll meet you where you are. Right. But you're gonna up level, right? So that's exactly what you've done. Yeah. The walking needs to stay a constant, but now [00:27:00] you've upleveled to the gym.
[00:27:02] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:27:03] Carrie Lupoli: And then the next, you, you know, you know what the next thing I'm gonna ask is, right?
[00:27:07] Nicole Powers: What's that? Let's that
[00:27:08] Carrie Lupoli: some strength training.
[00:27:11] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:27:11] Carrie Lupoli: We're gonna get you lift some weights, you and your son together. Wouldn't that be cool?
[00:27:17] Nicole Powers: Yeah, well, I've got some 10-pound, uh, dumbbells and I have been trying to lift them. Well, I can lift them. That's not a problem, but I have them. You can lift them.
[00:27:25] Nicole Powers: Yeah. I've been doing my arms and I don't really know what to do when I do that, so I.
[00:27:33] Carrie Lupoli: Because you are working with us. Mm-hmm. You have, uh, already a workout in the disruptive nutrition portal. Okay. That just needs bands. That's it. Okay. So if you just get the exercise bands and or I can show you about that, and I will give you access to where my trainer actually develops programs for with a kettlebell and dumbbells.
[00:27:58] Carrie Lupoli: Okay. You're gonna need more than 10 [00:28:00] pounds, but Okay. Uh, if you commit to doing that, I will get you access to that and you can be doing that at the YMCA, so you can just have it on your phone. You can be at the gym, and you can be using their stuff.
[00:28:13] Nicole Powers: Okay,
[00:28:14] Carrie Lupoli: that sound good?
[00:28:15] Nicole Powers: Yeah. You know, the gym, it's kind of, I guess when you first start, it's kind of intimidating.
[00:28:21] Nicole Powers: Of course, you know, everybody is, yeah, it's kind of intimidating. They're in there, they're pros, they're running, and here you are huffing and puffing and trying to, you know, just trying to get through those 15, 20 minutes on the treadmill. And then even with lifting weights, it's kind of hard to ask for help sometimes.
[00:28:38] Carrie Lupoli: I know. But here's, here's, here's something that someone told me. Listen to this. When someone and I did the same thing, I remember I was. 38 years old and I went to the gym and I didn't go back for six months because I was so intimidated. And what I have learned since then, where more than 12 years later, I have been going to the gym consistently, is that we all started there
[00:28:58] Nicole Powers: and we
[00:28:59] Carrie Lupoli: all [00:29:00] started there and it was showing up little by little that got us to be more confident.
[00:29:03] Carrie Lupoli: So when you. A year from now or that person that a new person looks at and says, oh my gosh, she knows what she's doing. I don't know if I can do that. You will never judge that person. You're gonna look at that person and be like, good for you for being here. Nobody that's ahead of you is judging you. And that's what's so important.
[00:29:24] Carrie Lupoli: The only people that are judging us are the people that are looking at us. And we are not. They are not where we are. That they want to be. Right? Right. So if you think about somebody like, okay, let's say you're on this health journey. Let's say you go to a party. I know you don't drink alcohol, but we're just gonna play this game, this play out for a second.
[00:29:42] Carrie Lupoli: Let's say you go to a party and you normally will have a glass of wine at a party and you're with your girlfriend and you're not drinking the wine. And she's like, what? What are you doing? Why are you not drinking the wine? Come on, let's drink the wine. It has nothing to do with you. It has to do with the fact that she is not.
[00:29:59] Carrie Lupoli: [00:30:00] Doing the things necessarily in her own mind, and then she will judge somebody that is ahead of her only because it's making her feel less than in, in a way. Right? Right. It's actually more to do with her, but the people that have gone through the journey, that have gone through the hard, that are coming through the other side, look at the people just starting the journey and they're never judging.
[00:30:20] Carrie Lupoli: They're cheering you on because they know what that journey is like. So I say that to people all the time in the gym. That is a story you're telling yourself about being intimidated. But none of those people want to be intimidating. They know how important the gym is, and they celebrate every new person that's coming in.
[00:30:37] Nicole Powers: That's beautiful.
[00:30:38] Carrie Lupoli: Remember it that way and you will walk into it very differently
[00:30:42] Nicole Powers: and that's part of re resetting that mind the mindset. Yeah. So I like that. Thank you.
[00:30:48] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah,
[00:30:48] Nicole Powers: thank you for that. I,
[00:30:49] Carrie Lupoli: I just have learned over and over again when people want to be where you are, they will be the ones that judge, but when people have been where you, they are cheering you.
[00:30:58] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I [00:31:00] know when I, uh, go into the YI see the gym and I'm like, eh, I don't think I'm gonna go in there. You know, where the weights and the treadmills. I kind of just head to the swimming area, do my laps, and then I ease on out of there, you know? But in my mind, I'm saying when am I gonna walk in there?
[00:31:16] Nicole Powers: When am I gonna kind of start there? So, yeah,
[00:31:20] Carrie Lupoli: I want you to think about all of the steps that you have taken that were hard, uh, 65 days ago. Everything that you've done. Was new. And so you are in the gym, you are at the YMCA. You were swimming, which you weren't doing before. Yeah. So you are doing everything absolutely perfectly.
[00:31:37] Carrie Lupoli: Yeah. And your next step, because this, this is the thing, Nicole, this journey will never end. Yeah. This journey will go on and on and on and on. And your job is to continue to uplevel. Right. Continue to 1% progress.
[00:31:49] Nicole Powers: Right?
[00:31:49] Carrie Lupoli: And so it's swimming today, and you're gonna uplevel in your swimming. It might be strength training next month.
[00:31:56] Carrie Lupoli: Maybe you're gonna start with, you know, doing some stuff at home to make [00:32:00] you feel a little bit more comfortable, but you're going to get there and you'll never stop pushing yourself.
[00:32:07] Nicole Powers: Yeah, I'm excited.
[00:32:09] Carrie Lupoli: I
[00:32:09] Nicole Powers: love
[00:32:09] Carrie Lupoli: it. I am so excited. So I really feel like at some point we're gonna have to do another check-in with you because Okay.
[00:32:17] Carrie Lupoli: Two months has just been an incredible amount of progress.
[00:32:21] Nicole Powers: Yes. And
[00:32:22] Carrie Lupoli: I am committed to making sure that you stick with this.
[00:32:27] Nicole Powers: It's a lifestyle and it's, it's, it's not, it's not bad, you know,
[00:32:32] Carrie Lupoli: just like, it's amazing.
[00:32:34] Nicole Powers: Yeah. It's, and it's not bad. I'm teaching my kids, you know, we used to eat this way. Well, let's switch it.
[00:32:39] Nicole Powers: You could still have the meal, but let's find the healthy alternative to it. I, when I bought the Greek yogurt, I got the plain, and I got my daughter some strawberries, so strawberries and cream. She loved it. You know, instead of the sweet yogurts with the granola and everything like that, she loved it. So now they're thinking differently, um, you know, with pairing their foods.
[00:32:59] Nicole Powers: And then I [00:33:00] have, um. It's a little thing that kind of goes on your plate that shows you what one serving is. So now they're portioning out, portioning their food better incorrectly. You know, my son's not piling his plate up. He used to because he played football, you know, he used to just. How his food up on one plate and just eat, you know?
[00:33:19] Nicole Powers: So he's not doing that. So it's, it's like everybody's kind of slowing down and paying attention. It's paying attention
[00:33:26] Carrie Lupoli: to what we're eating.
[00:33:27] Nicole Powers: Yeah.
[00:33:27] Carrie Lupoli: You're, you're changing your family tree. And this is what I just need to reiterate. It's been 64 days. So many people are like, I mean, you started this in November.
[00:33:35] Carrie Lupoli: So many people are like, I'll just wait until after the holidays. Well, nothing magical happened in January and. 88% of people fall on their quote unquote, new Year's resolutions. By week two, you didn't have to have new resolutions you didn't have to do because you had started, but in only 64 days, you're like a.
[00:33:54] Carrie Lupoli: Like, I mean, the Nicole that was hiding in there is coming out. Yeah. It's not that you're [00:34:00] new and better. You're perfect exactly the way you are. You were just kind of hiding behind disease in a lot of ways.
[00:34:08] Nicole Powers: Yeah. Yeah. And what's great about this program is it's not a diet. You know, it's not a diet, so it's, I don't feel like I'm depriving myself.
[00:34:18] Nicole Powers: I just feel like now my mind, like you said, my mind is changing and because my mind is changing, my behavior is changing, so that's wonderful. Yeah.
[00:34:28] Carrie Lupoli: The two you go hand in hand, Nicole, the two go hand in hand. I am so proud of you. Well, we will stay in touch with you, okay. You're gonna continue to keep us posted and we're gonna have to have you on again in like, you know.
[00:34:41] Carrie Lupoli: Like I think we should do is have you out in the summer because then it will be another like six months and we're just gonna be like, oh my gosh, look at you.
[00:34:49] Nicole Powers: Right. Yeah. I really wanna take another picture. We took that beginning picture with me and the kids and I wanna be able to take that same picture just so you could see the [00:35:00] progress.
[00:35:00] Carrie Lupoli: Yep. Well, you can follow. Nicole's journey on PFC pals, which is our children's educational, nutritional literacy program. And Nicole and her kids are the first official PFC PALS family. Yes. To be able to walk through the education together based on the work that I've done for decades, helping women to become the healthiest version of themselves.
[00:35:25] Carrie Lupoli: And I've always said that women are the cog in the wheel of their families, and now we get to actually. Truly work side by side with the kids and the moms and the dads and all of 'em to be able to truly change family trees. So Nicole, thank you for being here. And make sure again you follow along with PFC Pals on Instagram and Nicole be continuing to share her story.
[00:35:49] Carrie Lupoli: I love you, babe.
[00:35:51] Nicole Powers: Thank you. Love you too, Carrie.
[00:35:54] Carrie Lupoli: Till next [00:36:00] time.
