Recently, my friend returned from a family member's funeral 8 lbs heavier and asked, "What's going on?" Weight gain from stress can be clinically explained by a few different mechanisms. There is emotional eating, where you eat to distract yourself and bury your sorrows, but there is also emotion-induced weight gain, where, during a period of high stress, your psychological state chemically disrupts your hormones. This imbalance can increase (or decrease) hunger and change your body's propensity to store fat.

My friend's follow-up question was: "What should I do to lose the weight?" On this week's show, I'll share my advice (food, vitamins, and blood tests) with you. This is by no means a comprehensive solution, but it's a very simple and non intimidating starting point for a journey back to a healthy weight.

------------

Listen & Learn:

• The plus one/minus one approach to making healthy choices
• Which vitamins are a smart choice for almost everyone
• How to see what's actually going on with your body from a blood test

ABOUT THE HOST

In 2002, I worked for a New York City book publisher doing a job I hated. I drank seven nights a week, abused drugs, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. For food, it was pizza and takeout—anything quick and easy to keep me going.

No one consciously decides to destroy their health, but over the years, that’s exactly what happened. I was bloated and flabby, unable to sleep without alcohol. My eyes were red and puffy, and I struggled to get excited about anything. I had so much potential, so many opportunities, but when you’re sick and numb to the world, everything feels impossible and uninteresting.

Enter yoga. A friend dragged me to a yoga studio, where I suffered through one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In that first class, I was sweating and dizzy, unable to do even the most basic postures. I was the youngest person there, but the way I moved, I felt like I was 90 years old. I couldn’t bend forward, sit cross-legged on the floor, or balance in a tree pose. Looking at myself in the mirror, I remember thinking, “How did I end up in such bad shape?”

I hated that first class so much, I knew it was exactly what I needed—so I kept going. People assume yoga classes are meant to be wonderful, peaceful experiences. This is not true. A good class should be the most challenging and uncomfortable hour of your entire day. When you push yourself on the mat, real-life problems become lighter and more manageable almost immediately. Hard yoga = easy life.

For the next 380 days, I practiced yoga every single day. While traveling, I used audio or video recordings. If I was in a new city, I’d go to any studio I could find. When my teacher told me to take a day off to rest, I’d ignore the advice and go to a class at another studio. The same way I’d fallen in love with things that were killing me (drugs and alcohol), I’d now fallen in love with something that was feeding me and fueling my growth.

And it worked. In six weeks, I lost almost 40 pounds (and had to replace my whole wardrobe). I quit drinking and smoking altogether, and most importantly, I found a renewed passion for life that is truly priceless. I remember walking around New York, still dripping with sweat from class, with a big, stupid grin on my face as if I’d unlocked a special secret. My life was changing.

Within six months, I’d quit my job and moved to Thailand. Within a year, I was teaching full-time to packed classes in Bangkok and later, Hong Kong. I opened my first studio in 2006 and that same year began training teachers. To date, I’ve taught more than 30,000 students and trained more than 3,000 teachers in 41 countries. I love my life and my work, and as a result, I’m in better health mentally and physically than I was in my early 20s.

YOGABODY was built on practice, sweat, and struggle. It’s the physical manifestation of everything I care about in life, and my greatest hope is that some of my passion for this practice and lifestyle rubs off on you when you walk through these doors. Nothing worth doing in life is easy. Movement is more powerful than meditation. And practice is everything.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Rinse Tea Rinse Rice

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

Like the Show?

• Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

  Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

  Learn More

I receive questions from listeners every day. On this week's Q&A show, I'll answer a few of them, with topics ranging from flexibility for seniors and what technically breaks a fast to Xylitol and Vitamin K2.

------------

Listen & Learn:

• Is it possible for people over 60 to increase their flexibility
• Is Xylitol really healthy
• Does drinking soy milk/espresso count for fasting
• Is Yin Yoga safe for your joints
• What is Vitamin K2 good for

ABOUT THE HOST

In 2002, I worked for a New York City book publisher doing a job I hated. I drank seven nights a week, abused drugs, and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. For food, it was pizza and takeout—anything quick and easy to keep me going.

No one consciously decides to destroy their health, but over the years, that’s exactly what happened. I was bloated and flabby, unable to sleep without alcohol. My eyes were red and puffy, and I struggled to get excited about anything. I had so much potential, so many opportunities, but when you’re sick and numb to the world, everything feels impossible and uninteresting.

Enter yoga. A friend dragged me to a yoga studio, where I suffered through one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. In that first class, I was sweating and dizzy, unable to do even the most basic postures. I was the youngest person there, but the way I moved, I felt like I was 90 years old. I couldn’t bend forward, sit cross-legged on the floor, or balance in a tree pose. Looking at myself in the mirror, I remember thinking, “How did I end up in such bad shape?”

I hated that first class so much, I knew it was exactly what I needed—so I kept going. People assume yoga classes are meant to be wonderful, peaceful experiences. This is not true. A good class should be the most challenging and uncomfortable hour of your entire day. When you push yourself on the mat, real-life problems become lighter and more manageable almost immediately. Hard yoga = easy life.

For the next 380 days, I practiced yoga every single day. While traveling, I used audio or video recordings. If I was in a new city, I’d go to any studio I could find. When my teacher told me to take a day off to rest, I’d ignore the advice and go to a class at another studio. The same way I’d fallen in love with things that were killing me (drugs and alcohol), I’d now fallen in love with something that was feeding me and fueling my growth.

And it worked. In six weeks, I lost almost 40 pounds (and had to replace my whole wardrobe). I quit drinking and smoking altogether, and most importantly, I found a renewed passion for life that is truly priceless. I remember walking around New York, still dripping with sweat from class, with a big, stupid grin on my face as if I’d unlocked a special secret. My life was changing.

Within six months, I’d quit my job and moved to Thailand. Within a year, I was teaching full-time to packed classes in Bangkok and later, Hong Kong. I opened my first studio in 2006 and that same year began training teachers. To date, I’ve taught more than 30,000 students and trained more than 3,000 teachers in 41 countries. I love my life and my work, and as a result, I’m in better health mentally and physically than I was in my early 20s.

YOGABODY was built on practice, sweat, and struggle. It’s the physical manifestation of everything I care about in life, and my greatest hope is that some of my passion for this practice and lifestyle rubs off on you when you walk through these doors. Nothing worth doing in life is easy. Movement is more powerful than meditation. And practice is everything.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Raw, Cooked, Boiled, Fried

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

Like the Show?

• Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

• PrepDish - is a healthy meal planning service. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a done-for-you grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals.

  Visit: PrepDish and use coupon code “yogabody” for your first 2 weeks for FREE

  Learn More

People joke that they 'laughed so hard they peed their pants.' However, this is a real problem called stress incontinence—a symptom of pelvic floor dysfunction.

The pelvic floor is a complex group of muscles, fascia and connective tissues at the base of your spine that is crucial for bladder control, posture, sexual function, and the health of many vital organs. 

So what's the problem? Maybe you gave birth to two kids and never resumed your pre-kid exercise routine. Maybe you are 45 years old and haven't done a proper squat since you lifted weights with your buddies in college. For dozens of reasons, modern lifestyles lead to atrophy of the pelvic floor that can manifest overtime into very serious health issues.

On the flip side, a strong, toned pelvic floor will help your posture, sexual performance, spinal health, and bladder control. In yoga, you'll feel the difference in almost every pose, and in your everyday life, you'll notice changes throughout the day.

On this week's Yoga Talk Show, you'll meet a kinesiologists who will help demystify this often overlooked region of the body.

------------

Listen & Learn:

• What the pelvic floor is and why it is important to both women and men
• Why incontinence and prolapse are huge (and growing) problems
• Why posture starts at the base of the spine
• How to strengthen and tone your pelvic floor with daily, 10-minute exercises

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Adrianne has a degree in kinesiology, with an emphasis on exercise science. She has certifications in Pilates, yoga, the Yoga Trapeze, Zenga, and Barre, among others, and specializes in spinal conditions, pelvic floor issues, and fascial tissue. She served as the fitness specialist at the NASA Langley Research Center and currently runs an eating disorder center in California.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Palm Oil

Links & References from the Show:

• Adrianne's Site

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

Like the Show?

• Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

• Four Sigmatic - makes delicious Mushroom Superfood Blends and Mushroom Elixirs. Four Sigmatic believes in the real magic of functional mushrooms like Reishi, Chaga, Cordyceps, and Lion’s Mane, as well as other superfoods and adaptogens like rhodiola, eleuthero, and schisandra to help us live healthier, more enhanced lives.

  Visit: FOUR SIGMATIC and use coupon code "yogabody" for 15% off your order.

  Learn More

A stage hypnotist convinced my friend Burton that he was an undercover spy and needed to find a clue hidden in the forest. There were 600 people in the audience, but Burton was all in. He raced off the stage, returning 10 minutes later, covered in sweat (clearly he had been running around campus), at which point he proudly displayed the ‘clue’ he'd found.

If I didn't know better, I would have thought Burton was a paid actor. The experience was disturbing and I immediately put hypnosis in the ‘weird party trick’ category of my brain for the next 20 years. That is until I learned about hypnosis as a real-world, clinically proven method of therapy.

Hypnotherapy is a largely unregulated industry, similar to yoga, which means there are some amazing, highly trained therapists, alongside a boatload of charlatans. Hypnosis also has a big PR problem because most people associate it with stage shows and tricks, not realizing that clinical efficacy for the treatment of phobias, anxiety, addiction and even pain are very compelling.

------------

Listen & Learn:

• How lifelong mental patterns can sometimes be broken through hypnosis
• What the difference between stage hypnosis and hypnotherapy is
• For which challenges hypnosis shows the greatest efficacy
• How to choose between self-hypnosis, hypnosis recordings, and in-person therapy

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Grace Smith is on a mission to make hypnosis mainstream. A renowned hypnotherapist, Grace is the founder of www.gshypnosis.com, the world's number one hypnotherapy hub, as well as Grace Space Hypnotherapy Certification School.

Grace is a regular guest on CBS's hit show The Doctors, and her work has been featured in The Atlantic, Marie Claire, Forbes, MindBodyGreen, Buzzfeed, Bustle, InStyle and more.

Grace's private clients include celebrities, CEOs, professional athletes, and government officials. She has given keynote speeches and workshops at Procter & Gamble, SummitLive, Women Empowerment Expo, Ritz Carlton, PSEG, Soul Camp, Verizon, and HypnoBiz.

She is the author of a new book, Close Your Eyes, Get Free, which you can find on Amazon or Grace's website.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

• Tanins

Links & References from the Show:

• Grace's New Book
• Grace's Site

Got Questions?

• Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
• Or write to us: podcast@yogabody.com 

Like the Show?

• Leave us a Review on iTunes

Thanks to our sponsor:

• PrepDish - is a healthy meal planning service. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a done-for-you grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals.

  Visit: PrepDish and use coupon code “yogabody” for your first 2 weeks for FREE

  Learn More