How to Kick Fad Diets For Good

Marissa Peer, who founded Rapid Church Functional Therapy, she created the Dietless Life program. So I am an official Marissa Peer Dietless Life coach, but I have tweaked it to add my own thing. She doesn't really add exercise, and for me, exercise, and for most of my people, exercise is another layer. Welcome to the Thrive Her podcast.

I'm your host, Amy Sanders. I'm a fitness and wellness pro, mom, stepmom, second wife, and master certified life coach. I'm here to help you manage your mind so you can uncover the most potent version of yourself and create the thriving life you love. Hello, hello, everyone.

Welcome back to the Thrive Her podcast. I'm your host, Amy Sanders. I'm excited to be here as always, because I mean, life is exciting, right? So today on the podcast, I have Gia Shaw with me.

She is another life coach, so a woman of my own heart. But her focus is a little bit... A little bit different than a lot of people's, because she focuses on rapid transformational therapy. She helps you without having to have a diet, which I think is interesting, because in our world, we're always like chasing like fad diets and all the things, and it doesn't work.

And so anyway, Gia has a different take on it, and I'm excited to bring her on. So welcome so much, and we appreciate you being here. So Gia, tell us a little bit more about yourself. Well, Amy, thank you so much for having me here.

It's so good. Good to be here. And I am a dietless life coach, and one of the reasons I am that is because I don't know how many of you have been on that vicious dieting cycle, but for as long as I can remember, I have been counting calories on every single diet imaginable, and realized that that is just not the way to go. And diets fail, and they're set up to not be successful.

And so what dietless life is, it's looking at mindset and our thoughts, so with every action. Before we do every action, it's our mindset and our thoughts, and so it's changing the relationship with food in your body. And so many diets look at shame and what's not allowed and what we can't do, and this is like, just like with your children or something you love, if you love something and respect it, you're going to treat it in a great way. And so this is looking at your body and looking at food and building a better relationship with food in your body from a place of love and respect versus shame and guilt.

So that's the... That's the short, the short version. That's the short version. Well, we're going to dive a little bit deeper, I'm sure.

But that's beautiful. Loving your body enough to do the things that are best for it, then shaming it and guilting it, which I mean, I've been in the fitness world now for a long, long time, almost 30 years. That's kind of scary to admit that, but, and the yo-yo diets and, you know, the shaming of not getting your workout and all the different things that can come really can take us from self-love. To self-hate, which is not a place that we want to live in, right?

So I love the work that you're doing. Can you tell me a little bit more about your journey and how you came to be a dietless life coach? Yes, I love fitness as well. And I actually was addicted to exercise when I was in my 20s.

I was on a, on a competitive bodybuilding team, was exercising six hours a day and just loved it. I weighed everything and I carried the food around. And did all my powders and, you know, and I loved it and I thought it was great. And ironically, I won't go into too much here, but I was lifting so much and exercising so much.

I was getting ready for my first competition for weightlifting and you have to get tested for steroids. And I was clean, of course, but I got a pregnancy test. I was six months pregnant, months before I was going to compete. And I had no, I, you know, I, my body, I was exercising so much that I had no idea.

And so that was kind of a wake-up call because. Now I was going to be delivering a baby in three months and I was addicted to exercise. And so that was the start of my shift, but I continued to diet and do all of these things. And as my daughter was an adult, she was telling me that seeing some things in me that I had to recognize about, you know, she didn't even know what a normal portion control was because I was always doing that.

And I realized as I got older, there's so many young moms who don't realize that when we do those things, we're teaching our children. Maybe some unhealthy habits that could be not good for them. And so it was actually that wake-up call when I was like, wow, if I had known before what I know now, and I really made a shift and I work with Marissa Peer, who's the rapid transformational therapist, and she is huge into fitness and exercise and through hypnosis and through the mindset, she shifts people's thinking. And as I was a rapid transformational therapist, she came up with this dietless life program.

And it just seems so. In alignment with who I wanted to be. And so I was on that first program. I was in, went in the program and just noticed it just completely changed how I viewed.

I still loved it to exercise and I still eat healthy, but I don't, I don't count my calories. Now I really tune into my body and I give my body what it needs and I'm conscious and it's just so much healthier and I just feel so much better. And I just love sharing that with people. Which is amazing.

Great. And I'm going to back all the way up. So you were six. Six months pregnant.

Yeah. And you couldn't even tell like you six was this, and this was your first baby, right? My first one. Yeah.

And I have my cycle every month because I was on the pill. So if she was my miracle baby and yeah, that was, and I was exercising so much that, I mean, I was like, I was, I was taking water pills. I was right before competition. So I was, you know, measuring everything.

And then I had to back off exercise completely because I knew that. I had a baby and now, so I had to lay off the gym for, so it's been an interesting cycle. And I, I, I actually have to watch myself because I'm like, if I see now I know, and now it's healthy, but I do notice that when I am lifting weights and exercising, there's some chemicals that are released that it's almost like a drug. It makes it, I'm like, well, if that's the addiction I have to have, then that's a good one, but we still need to monitor that.

And so I know when to cut myself off. Yeah. Well, I mean, a lot of people are that way. And I know that I am too.

When I was. Younger. So in my family, unfortunately there's been anorexia, there's been bulimia, there's been, you know, disorders or eating disorders and which has been really unfortunate. And I always prided myself because I was in, in my family, I was the only one that was a female that I don't think went down that path yet.

I was totally exercising six to eight hours a day. Yeah. And denied. And I was like, oh, I'm so healthy, but, but actually no, I wasn't.

And it, it is a drug and it is something that can be really healthy and amazing, but it also is something that can totally wreak havoc on your life. You know, it's really easy to put that healthy label on it and feel really good, but there's something deeper. Yeah, there is something deeper. So let's talk about that.

Can you tell us more about what the rapid transformational therapy is? We use hypnosis and it's, it's called it. It's the kind of the foundation is root cause therapy. And so when we are young, we are actually in our subconscious mind and we hear things and see things and we're told messages.

A lot of times how we identify ourselves and who we are is based on things that people told us, labels that people gave us. Someone could say, tell, tell us something one time and we could internalize that and hold that as who we are and our thoughts create our actions. And so if we truly internally believe. That that's who we are, everything around that we're actually creating that.

And so sometimes we have messages and things that people told us that we got when we were young that are no longer serving us. And so now as adults, I take people into hypnosis and we go to the memories where those were created. So you go back to your childhood and most people are shocked with where it came from. They didn't have no even recollection of it, but hypnosis is a really natural thing.

You actually can go into hypnosis when you. Go somewhere in a car without even realizing it. So it's a really natural thing. You're fully aware of everything, but you're able to go into your subconscious mind, turn off the thinking brain and access those memories where that was created.

And then you're able to look at that as your adult self and realize that that was created when you were younger and that actually served a purpose and it had a role. And so the first thing is to not be ashamed of it, but actually to recognize it and acknowledge it and find out why it served you. But why it's no longer required. And so then we do some work around a lot of inner child work.

So there may have been things that you needed to hear some stories that are now serve you that are different. So we go into that. And then at the end of all of that, there's a transformation. So it's like, okay, this, you do let that go.

So that part of you, you thank it and release that. And then it's like, okay, now in replacement of that, as my new adult self, who's treating me the way that I maybe should have been treated as a child. I'm going to protect and take care of myself. And who is this new person?

And so we do a transformation. Generally, I wait a few days after that and let them kind of percolate and see who that new person is. And then I'll give them a recording of not going back into the old, cause that's gone, but who you want to be moving forward. And then they get that recording to listen to every day.

And then there's some other visualizations and some other little tools, but it's pretty amazing how in one session you can go back. And, and part of the thing there is that those memories and those thoughts and those beliefs were created in your subconscious and they cannot be undone until you go back into the same space that was created. So being able to go in there, access it. And then a lot of times having awareness is the biggest thing.

And so if you do see something pop up, you're like, okay, I know where that came from. And you can even have an inner dialogue with that child. It'd be like, okay, I know this was you, you know, I know that this was required before and I get it, but I'm here. I got you and we're going to take care of this and this is no longer required.

So that's, um, that's a little bit about facial therapy. It's amazing. I've actually had it done with someone that's local to me and I didn't know what it was. And I was like, Oh, is it going to be weird to be hypnotized?

And, and I actually, I had my daughter do it because she had some stuff she was working through. It worked amazing for her. And then I've also had not the, this doesn't even have to do with like weight loss, which I know we're talking about here, but. One of my neighbors like has chronic headaches, like really bad headaches.

And he went and had it done. And he, I mean, he's done everything under the sun, you know, to try and like get rid of these headaches. He's had surgeries. He's done literally anything from natural to like highly medicated, whatever it is, he's tried it.

And this also really helped him. Yeah. Which was really fascinating to me is like this, this type of therapy can help so many people in all these different areas and you've chose the dietless being a dietless. Wait, I keep saying that wrong life coach.

I'm like, it's like when you're trying to say too many words altogether, dietless life coach, it's a lot of, a lot of la la la anyway. So how do you do it with bringing that into your clients? Like, do you combine that therapy with the dietless life coach part? Yeah.

Marissa Peer who founded rapid transformational therapy, she created the dietless life program. So I am an official. Marissa Peer dietless life coach, but I have tweaked it, you know, to add my own thing. She doesn't really add exercise and for me exercise and for most of my people exercise is another layer.

So I do the hypnotherapy and the, another thing that is really exciting is I work with other people like personal trainers and there's a chiropractor that I work with and he has a program where he brings doctors and, and physical or personal trainers in there and they, and I'm the mindset piece. And so it's really helpful if, if someone. Is a personal trainer or doing the other things, because it's really hard to change our actions without changing our thoughts around it. So it's a really good, I love partnering with other, other people and combining our skillset and getting that whole transformation done.

Yeah. I love that. And I'm a huge believer that all of us have unique abilities and unique takes on life, right? And our own journeys that we are going through.

And if we partner together and if we boost each other up, then not only do we create more success for everyone, but more people get the help that they need. More people are happier, more people are healthier. It's like creates like a ripple effect that can be so powerful. And I mean, our podcast, I love bringing women on like yourself who are doing things that are just like in the trenches saying, yes, how can I be a service to these people?

People need what I have to offer. And then just offering it because I mean, you're also an entrepreneur. If you're doing this, you're also an entrepreneur, right? Which is not for the faint of heart.

You have to get out there and just say, okay, yeah, this might be scary. Yeah, this is new. Or yeah, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to figure it out because I have a purpose and I need to see that purpose through to help these people. So what would you say, like having done what you've been doing with your people, what have been some of the stories and some of the breakthrough moments that people have had through your work?

Yeah, I think the big thing is just... So many people believe that when they go on a diet or they start something, in the back of their mind, they truly believe that it's not possible and that whatever they want is not possible. And so many of the programs don't really dig in and really let people have that ownership that they deserve that. And so sometimes we can't get there until we truly do learn to love and appreciate ourselves.

And so... So building that love and respect for people and letting them know that they deserve that and that that's possible, when that's there, then the changes are monumental. And I've had people who are like, you know what, I went in for this certain number, you know, for this certain weight loss, but I got so much more out of it because now I truly have a different relationship with myself. And that spills over to...

Well, actually, I'll back up. There's one person, I used to be a teacher. And so I think the best story... The best story for me was there's someone in my program and she taught, I think, second or third grade.

And I talk about the power of words and the things that we say that are positive and can be challenging. And she brought that into the classroom. And so in her classroom, she uses helping words and she teaches her kids when they say something that may be bringing themselves or someone else down, that they support each other in that. And so for me, that was the biggest gain.

That she was able to take that mindset piece into the classroom. And every kid in her class is impacted by that. So that's actually my biggest, my biggest gain. Which is amazing, right?

And it wasn't, it was, it was, she was in there to lose weight, but she's teaching all of her students how to feel better about themselves. And then that extends to everyone that they're in contact with. So that's the biggest one. That's how the ripple effect happens, man.

Yes. I have a similar story. That I want to share that came yesterday. I was coaching one of my clients just yesterday, and it's been amazing for me seeing her transformation over time and showing that same type of thing where she was struggling with a lot of beliefs.

And now she is even starting her own business. She got a new job. She's like made massive changes within her own life, which is like so exciting and so fun. And you just see him and it's like the best, I think this is like the best work ever, right?

Because we get to see firsthand massive changes. But also nothing happens if the person doesn't do the work or doesn't believe that it's possible for them. Right? So that's very important as long as they do, which, you know, through your work and my work that that can happen, she it's rippling into her kids.

And so she gave me an example of something that happened to her daughter with another student and how her daughter caught that student in their tracks. First of all, the students feeling feelings were hurt. And so the daughter. Apologized, but then the students said, and you made me feel this.

And now I'm going to do that, you know, just kind of attacking her daughter and her daughter's like, I'm sorry. You feel that way, but I can't take on those emotions. Emotions emotion. And you got to work through those, the daughter's 10, she's 10 years old.

And I was like, so awesome. So, you know, my client was like, I just, you know, I'm talking to my kids about this and I'm showing them how to love themselves and how to talk kindly and to own their own. Feelings and to, she's like, but now my kids are learning this at an age that, you know, like she's learning it now and she's in her forties. And she's like, she's my daughter's 10 and didn't take on the guilt or shame that this friend or student was putting on her.

Right. She didn't take the guilt or shame. So she like stood in her power while also acknowledging and saying, I'm sorry, you felt that way. That was not my intention.

Like how healthy is that out of a 10 year old. Right. But that's the thing that's so incredible is like when you do. Work through some of those barriers, the changes that can happen.

But as you see the changes that are happening for other people, because your influence is touching someone who's touching more and it's, it's incredible. So, yeah, thank you for sharing, but it reminded me of my story just yesterday. I was like ready to like jump out of my seat. I was like, so proud of her 10 year old daughter, you know, with the young people, you know, they just don't teach that.

And when you can do that with young people, it's so much easier to learn it than to unlearn it. And so if we can, um, if we, if we can teach the young and everyone that I work with, like you said, just because of who they are, the kids see it and, and it's going to rub off on them. And it's just, I wish I had, I wish I knew what I knew now when I was raising my daughter, because it's just, um, such a beautiful gift that we can give young people. Absolutely.

So what would you say to the person who is struggling to find their way forward? Like they are, even with their diet or whatever else, they don't feel like they're worthy. They're wondering where to go. Like, what would, what would you tell that woman who's tuning in right now?

Yeah, there are dietless life and other, fortunately, everything is repeatable. So there are a lot of different people with this kind of thing. And to just realize that, um, the diets and the, most of the things are not effective if they don't work on the mindset. And we all respond to different types of people.

And so know that the tools are out there and the desire to get it is the biggest thing. And to really look out there and see who's in your community that's offering that. And whoever is resonating with you to really, I've had coaches too, and we can't do it alone. And if you can reach out and get some support and help in a community, you can do it.

Yeah. Let's, before we end, we do talk, you know, like on, on the podcast, we're like mindset, this mindset that, and I do feel like it's a word that's getting thrown around a lot because it's gained popularity and for good reason, right? There's a reason why, but if we can like dumb it down, I'm going to dumb it down. And then if you have something to add.

So how I dumb it down is what you're thinking between your ears affects everything. Yes. And we are on autopilot. So over 80% of what we're doing is happening just from our subconscious mind, like just on autopilot.

Right. And we get so many, we get inundated with so many thoughts that aren't necessarily true. The majority of them are not true. And so what I like to tell people is if you would not say it to your child or your best friend, don't say it to yourself.

Yes. Stop yourself. Stop yourself and in your tracks and question why, why you were talking to yourself that way, how it's benefiting you and also how it is not benefiting you. I like to just like help you become a little bit aware because that's where it starts.

And as you dive deeper into it, you'll get to a place to where like, you don't remember the last time you were talking trash about yourself to yourself between your ears. Right. Yes. Like you're not beating yourself up anymore.

There might be days where you're feeling low. There might be days where you're like, I don't know, like, I can't believe I did that. But you also give yourself enough grace to where it's okay. So that's something when we talk about changing our mindset, that is like the first step and where things really start to shift.

So just having enough love for you, or if you're struggling with love, just that bridge thought of I'm, I'm learning to love myself. I'm learning to talk kindly to myself because you are worthy. You are an amazing human and me and Gia want to see you succeed in all ways. So do you have anything you wanted to add to that?

Yeah, I actually, I use that one as well. But another one that I like to go to is being proactive versus reactive. And so, so many times just in our life right now, it's, it's so important to be busy. And so just slowing down and anytime you feel yourself really tuning into your body.

And if you feel yourself, you're really tuning into your body. And if you feel yourself kind of getting anxious and, and feeling uneasy, just stopping and breathing and checking in with yourself and tuning into your thoughts. Because usually when we get into that, that self-talk, there's actually, we're in a different space mentally. And so being able to really check in and see where we're at.

And if we're feeling that way to just stop and have that conversation with ourselves. And like, I use the same one about how we talk to ourselves and with my tagline, choose healthy. Choose healthy. Choose happy.

Choose you. I'll ask myself in this, am I choosing that? And it goes with time too. We are so my morning routine and making time for ourselves and doing the hypnosis and the meditation and all of those things is really important.

And so many people say they don't have time for things. And so prioritizing ourselves and our time and asking ourselves is if we're going to do this, is this in alignment with me choosing healthy, choosing happy and choosing me. And if that's my filter, and if it's not that I'm like, maybe I don't need to do that today. So, yeah, I love it.

And it's okay to not, right? Yes, exactly. It's okay to not, if you're feeling pressure, there's probably a reason behind it and your body's telling you something. And also that gives other people permission and you can even tell people why, you know, I think that we're just so programmed to say yes to everything.

And it's like, we need to do the things that are best for us. And if we can do that. Then we can serve more people. If we, if we take the time to do what we need to be able to, um, to reach out and serve people in a bigger way, people think it's selfish, but it's actually, if you don't have enough for yourself, you don't have enough for everybody else.

So it's very, it helps everyone else. If you do the things that work for you to fill you up first. Absolutely. And when you show up in that space, you want to be there.

There's no resentment. There's no other negative feelings and people feel that energy. Absolutely. No.

So. Gia, thank you so much for being on today. How can people find you, get ahold of you, have more of you in their life? Um, giashaw.

com is probably the easiest way. My phone number and all of that is, is on there. I have discovery calls and I do have a, like a monthly fun group. That's really inexpensive for both of those two.

So I like people to be able to get in and join the community and have a good supportive system there. Amazing. I love the work you're doing and all the lives you're touching. And thank you so much for being here.

We appreciate your time. You too. Thank you so much. We'll see you.

We'll see you guys in the next episode. Bye. Hey, if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you've got to come check out my signature program, Thrive Her Academy. This is where we do real coaching and inner work transformation.

I teach you how to apply the strategies and mindset tools we talk about here on the podcast so you can create that life and business that you love. For more information, go to www. amysanders. co forward slash services.

Again, that is amysanders. co forward slash services.