Asking for a Friend - Health, Fitness & Personal Growth Tips for Women in Midlife

Ep.110 Sustainable Health, Fitness & Nutritional Strategies with Sarah Bradley

• Michele Henning Folan • Episode 110

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Ready to transform your midlife health and fitness journey? Join us as we explore the incredible transformation of Sarah Bradley, a certified integrative nutrition health coach and Faster Way coach. Sarah shares her compelling story of transitioning from a finance career to her current passion, emphasizing the importance of sustainable fitness and nutrition plans for women in their 40s and beyond. You’ll be inspired by her personal experiences and practical advice on maintaining weight loss through life's significant changes, and how mutual support can help achieve long-term wellness goals.

Discover the transformative power of eliminating sugar and processed foods from your diet. Sarah and Michele dive into the science behind reducing inflammation and improving health issues like Alzheimer's and migraines. We discuss actionable strategies for clean eating, even while traveling, and the critical role of protein and fiber in daily nutrition. Learn about intentional eating, macro tracking, and how focusing on balanced nutrition can lead to optimal health and lasting results.

Sarah also shares her top self-care routines and clean eating hacks that are easy to implement. From morning walks to creative grocery store tips, she offers practical advice that can benefit your entire family. Follow Sarah on Instagram for more grandparent-approved health tips and food shopping advice, and listen to this episode packed with valuable insights to help you achieve a healthier, happier lifestyle.

You can find Sarah Bradley on Instagram @sarah.k.bradley
Facebook Sarah K. Bradley

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Are you ready to reclaim your midlife body and health? I went through my own personal journey through menopause, the struggle with midsection weight gain, and feeling rundown. Faster Way, a transformative six-week group program, set me on the path to sustainable change. I'd love to work with you! Let me help you reach your health and fitness goals.
https://www.fasterwaycoach.com/?aid=MicheleFolan

Have questions about Faster Way? Feel free to reach out.
mfolanfasterway@gmail.com

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Michele Folan:

Alrighty, tell me if this sounds vaguely familiar. You've been trying to lose body fat, but getting frustrated. You're tired all the time, lack energy and are maybe sleeping poorly. You've tried the restrictive, fad diets and crazy cardio, only to gain back the weight and then some. You want to focus on your health and gain muscle to make your coming years the best they can be, and you're really motivated to transform your body and have sustainable results. So everyone this was me to a T. So I did my research. I looked at all the coaching plans out there and knew I wanted one that combined both fitness and nutrition, was macro-based and had an app to keep me on track. Faster Way had all of this and more. And, best of all, it is a perfect match for women in midlife. I'd love to tell you more and see if I'd be a good match for you as your coach. My contact info is in the show notes of this episo de. And now on to the show Health, wellness, fitness and everything in between. We're removing the taboo from what really matters in midlife. I'm your host, Michele Folan, and this is Asking for a Friend. So you've hit midlife, kids are grown, maybe you even have grandbabies. Life is good, but you don't feel like your old self and see that you may be heading down a path that you really want to avoid in regard to your long-term health. On top of that, the post-menopause tummy fluff has crept in and your energy has been zapped. One of my missions with the podcast is to introduce you to other women who have walked in your shoes with relatable stories. In your shoes with relatable stories. Sarah Bradley is a clean eating mom and Mimi who wants to make a lasting impact on the health of her adult children, grandchildren and her clients. Sarah is a certified integrative nutrition health coach and a fellow Faster Way coach. Welcome to Asking for a Friend, Sarah Bradley.

Sarah Bradley:

Thank you so much, Michele, for having me. It is such an honor and a privilege to be here with you today.

Michele Folan:

Oh well, thank you, and Sarah and I had met a while back and I'm not sure if she reached out to me or I reached out to her, but she's been a huge help in regard to getting me started as a faster way coach, just with some of the technical things and just processes. So thanks, Sarah.

Sarah Bradley:

Absolutely. I feel like we are on the team for getting people healthy, and so it doesn't matter who's coaching who's doing what If we're on the same team. I always love helping others help other women for sure.

Michele Folan:

And thanks for that, and I you know. My philosophy always is and people have heard me say this a million times all boats rise in high tide and when we, as women, support each other, no matter what it is, it's a good thing for everyone. Absolutely. I would love for you to tell the audience a little bit more about you.

Sarah Bradley:

Yes, so I am almost 50. This is my big year. I say it's my big year. I will say that I think every decade going forward, but I turned 50 in November. I have been married. It will be 32 years in October. We have three grown sons Two are married, but they've all left the nest and we have three grandchildren, which has been one of my most incredible gifts have been those grandbabies. I love raising my boys, but those grandbabies are something else. Previous to becoming a coach, and you mentioned, I am both certified as an integrative nutrition health coach as well as F aster way coach, both certified as an integrative nutrition health coach as well as a faster way coach. Believe it or not, I was in finance and for the 11 years leading up to starting my coaching business, I was a finance manager. If you would have told me three short years ago that this would be the direction my life would have taken, I would have probably doubled over in laughter because it would have been the furthest thing from my mind from my own health journey, thinking well, no way would I be in a place where I would be teaching others. I needed so much help on my own to just completely shifting so drastically in my professional life and finding my passion. So I used to think that money and finance and accounting was my passion, but it really it was a job. All those years my passion has been the coaching. So that is definitely, I think, me in a quick little

Michele Folan:

You midlife pivot that you weren't expecting. It just kind of in some ways kind of fell in your lap in regard to an inspiration and a passion that you didn't know you had. I am curious, though, what prompted you to get coaching in the first place.

Sarah Bradley:

So I have always struggled with my weight, ever since I was probably maybe 20, 21, 22. So it's always been one of those things where you gain 10 pounds, you lose 10 pounds always. I have never been able to consistently find a program that really worked for me long-term, and certainly because I was not doing things, in my perspective today, in the right way and in the healthy way, of course, possible. So you know that worked for me in my 20s, my 30s. It worked, I gained it, I lost it, no problem. Then I hit 40. And any other listeners that have hit 40, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know what happened to my body. What worked before no longer worked and then, in conjunction to hitting that decade, when I was 44, I then had a hysterectomy and I really I kind of felt like I felt like this to be honest, I have a very slender husband, has a crazy good metabolism. He has been an incredible snacker okay, ridiculous amounts of snacks. He's changed and we can talk about that because I've had an impact on him. But I started getting to the place where I'm like you're eating a bowl of ice cream and I'm gaining the two pounds. You know.

Sarah Bradley:

It seemed like I would put weight on like nobody's business and then I could not take it off and all of those diets that I had previously tried were not working. Nothing was working, and at the time keto was a huge craze and I really tried not to go down that path because for me, instinctively, I really felt like it didn't make sense. Whenever you take something out and I had tried other diets where you take things out and then you go back to eating quote unquote, more normally, and then what happens? Of course we gain all that weight back. So I didn't want to do it, but I became desperate. I had gotten to the heaviest that I had ever been and I really was starting to lose hope that I was going to be able to get the weight back off. And, honestly, at that point it really was about weight. It was really more about vanity, to be honest, than having to do with my health, about vanity, to be honest, than having to do with my health. But I went ahead.

Sarah Bradley:

I went down that keto road and I did lose 25 pounds, but I did not feel good doing it and I was constantly just aware, kind of seeking out. I knew there had to be a better way. And I always had this kind of in the back of my mind for the, for probably the, the, maybe two, three, four years leading up that I knew I needed to make a drastic change. I knew that for the many years of my adult life I had really been living to eat and I wanted to change that mentality, that I wanted to eat to live. I didn't want to be controlled by food anymore and I just sort of instinctively knew that that would snowball into so many different positive effects in my life.

Sarah Bradley:

If I could break free from sugar addiction, if I could break free from a lot of the things that I was doing to my body, because I did a lot of very, very unhealthy things to my body. As you can imagine Many of us, I think, especially in the era in which I live, and even today I think we do many things that are very unhealthy. But I was so unkind to my body so I was kind of on the hunt, but not proactively on the hunt, and then I found a faster way coach that looked the way that I wanted to look because I still had the vanity part, let's be honest and I was blown away when she was the exact same age she is about. Well, she just turned 50 this past May and I'm turning 50 in November. And I thought, well, wait a minute, if she can do it, I can do it. I want to learn more about this program and I want to seek out having her possibly as my coach.

Michele Folan:

So you found someone that you identified with, which I think is a really great thing. I do want to back up for a second. Was there anything in regard to family health history that had you concerned about continuing on this path, that you were on with your weight? Absolutely.

Sarah Bradley:

There were two very significant health concerns that I had. One I had my grandmother, who I was incredibly close to, had Alzheimer's and her father also had Alzheimer's. And walking through that disease with a loved one, as hard as it is to watch that loved one go through it and how hard it is, I should say, for them, you can imagine, to be walking through it it is to me, in my opinion, so much more difficult for the family to see the decline, to see how a once vibrant person is now at the state that they are when they're in different stages of the progression of the disease. So I had that at play. I also have a mother who is only 19 years older than me and already within her 60s. She was needing to get her knees replaced, she was using mobility devices to help her walk a cane, different things, and between these two things I thought is this what the next stage of my life is going to look like? You know I started, I think, as you hit your 40s, as you get towards even your later 40s, and you start to reflect a little bit and you think well, wait a minute, I'm probably now starting to look at the years before me are going to be less than the years behind me. And out of those years, how many quality years am I going to have to be able to enjoy my children, enjoy my grandchildren? And I'm looking at that, I'm also looking at this what I thought was genetically, almost a genetic disposition to Alzheimer's and my grandmother had hips replaced as well. And then seeing what was going on with my mom and I thought, wait, right now I'm in a place where it's not too late.

Sarah Bradley:

I knew that there's so many things that I feel like I instinctively, as I began this journey, I just sort of started to know and I instinctively knew it's not too late, my body can still move. My knees are hurting. I'm thinking that does that mean that I'm on the way to really starting to have knee problems? Is that knee replacement closer to coming than what I would like? But I also knew that I could still move my body, even though I was not doing that, I was not taking advantage of working out and exercising, but I knew that I could start it.

Sarah Bradley:

I knew it was time to make the change. What I didn't know and we might go into this a little bit more and I don't want to jump ahead but what I didn't know at the time, even though I knew I could start making changes, I didn't know exactly how much of those things that were happening to my mother and my grandmother were things that I could control. That, even if you are predisposed that, even if you are predisposed genetically, that's really just like loading my gun. What's going to fire that gun and actually have those diseases or have the different issues with the hips and the knees and things like that. It is my lifestyle and when I learned that I had control over that, it changed everything drastically for me.

Michele Folan:

And you had to make some changes. So, from what you were doing before, and I'm curious, what were the biggest changes that you made early on to be successful?

Sarah Bradley:

Yes, so I would say very big changes. Number one I knew I needed to get sugar out of my diet. When you do any kind of research on Alzheimer's in particular and really inflammation and any of the things that I've just really talked about, sugar is a key thing that needs to get out. Sugar starch. Getting the processed foods out of the diet I mentioned a little bit earlier I was a full-blown sugar addict. I would choose to have cake for dinner because, let me tell you, I'm still going to be mindful of calorie intake, so I would have cake, sugar cookies. Oh, give me a good bowl of sugary cereal with milk maybe not with milk. That could be my dinner. I mean, I was the kind of girl that every holiday that was all about the candy that was going to be available that was special for that holiday. I mean, I was obsessed with it. So I knew I needed to get that out of my diet and to back up.

Sarah Bradley:

I will tell you and I didn't mention this I also struggled with migraines, really, really debilitating migraines, for 15 years, up to the time of where this journey really began. For me, things that contribute to that is not having enough protein, not being hydrated, having too much sugar. So I knew that was the first step. I needed to get the sugar and the processed foods out of my diet as much as possible. And I knew with myself and most people we know this because it is so highly addictive, you really have to get it out. It's not an easy thing to go. I'm going to eat it part of the time and part of the time I'm going to get it out. Sugar is, it's basically a drug, and so I knew I needed to get that out. So that was number one and number two I needed to move my body. While my body was in a position where it could still move, I needed to get it moving.

Michele Folan:

I want to mention something and you already know this, but the American Heart Association. Their sugar intake limit for women is 25 grams a day of added sugar. Wow. And if you think about a 12-ounce can of Coke, I believe that's 37 or 38 grams of sugar. And when you put things in terms like that, you're going, hmm, that's not a ton of sugar, but it's the added sugar that we really have to stay away from Absolutely. Yeah, so that's not fruit. Those are good sugars, but I just want to make sure that everyone listening understands that the amount of sugar so that venti drink that you're getting at Starbucks is probably sending you way over that. 25 grams, absolutely. And when you started moving your body, you got the sugar out. And when you started to see results with the Faster Way program, what was the first thing?

Sarah Bradley:

I'd always had I shouldn't say always whenever I was.

Sarah Bradley:

You know, I had just finished a diet and I was on the lower end of my size ranges.

Sarah Bradley:

I always had a tiny waist and I noticed as I hit midlife that was one area that my waist was not as tiny, and so that really was one of the first things that I noticed, and it did happen fairly quickly. But what's interesting, we start the Faster Way with a six-week program, and I often tell my clients you're just getting started in the six weeks. The magic happens when you go into what we call our VIP program, and I think a lot of it has to do with you know it takes a minute for your body to catch up to what you're doing. So it was unbelievable what happened between week six and week eight, and I'm so thankful for progress photos because I would never in a million years would have thought that I would have lost the inches that I did between that two-week period. But it was certainly what had been started on week one and it just took a minute for my body to kind of get there. But yes, I saw significant changes in my midsection initially.

Michele Folan:

Well, you bring up a really good point. It's one thing to step on the scale and see the scale move, but when you see actual inches coming off, that's really where the rubber meets the road. With this program we're looking at body transformation. We want to shift fat body fat to muscle, lean muscle and when you do that you may not see those significant pounds falling off, but you will see the inches change. And we always tell people you know, put the scale away, because it's really how your clothes fit and your measurements. That is really the barometer of your success.

Sarah Bradley:

Absolutely. And you know one of the things that I'm always doing and you have to really encourage people to take the pictures, because my clients don't want to take the pictures, especially at the beginning, or even I find it's sometimes a struggle getting them to do it at week eight. And I like to have my clients do these pictures. I mean, I would love to have them do them every four weeks because it is unbelievable. You know, again, for me, from week six to week eight, I did not see the difference and even though my clothes were fitting differently, I did not realize how much of a change until I saw those pictures. And you know one of the things with the scale, that is, it's such a hard thing, it's hard for us to get rid of it. But what is so challenging with it is I will have clients that have lost inches. They're seeing that they are two dress sizes down from where they were and they'll get on that scale and that scale will say they have gained three pounds and it completely demotivates them, it discourages them.

Sarah Bradley:

I had one client in particular that I happened to see her on a Saturday, happened to be in the town that she lived. She was so excited because she happened to try on a pair of shorts that she hadn't tried on in years and it was a size that she really didn't think she was quite there. It was kind of funny because I think this is part of how we look at ourselves we don't necessarily see it, even though it's happening in our mind. Again, especially if you're a scale watcher. If you're looking at that scale and you're thinking, okay, this is my ideal, ideal goal, weight right, and you've not hit it, you may be hesitant to try on that smaller pair of pants. And that's where she was, even though she was having to buckle them up, she was having to put a belt on. She just didn't have that faith in herself because she'd been watching that scale to try on these shorts. So this was a Saturday.

Sarah Bradley:

I talked to her about a week later and so she went from being on this high and it was a good high because it was a good indication of the progress that she had been making. But she went from that to a week later. She jumped on the scale and she had gained three pounds and she was so upset with herself and she immediately went into this place of but I've been working so hard and all of these things. And I said, okay, do those shorts still fit you? And she goes, well, yes.

Sarah Bradley:

And I said, well, you didn't gain those three pounds, yes, and I said, well, you didn't gain those three pounds. So luckily she I mean not luckily, she got back on the scale. But for her, she was able to have a defining moment where she went back on the scale a few days later and she had not only not gained those three pounds, but she was down like another two pounds. But that just goes to show that, yes, it's what you're saying. It's looking at the inches. And I always say, really, whole premise of the Faster Way program is body transformation.

Michele Folan:

We want. We need that lean muscle, particularly going into midlife and beyond, because we do want to avoid not being able to get off the floor and we want to have that strength to be independent. I'm curious at what point in this process did you decide to become a coach?

Sarah Bradley:

I'm laughing because it's probably going to seem crazy but week two. So and to back up just a moment when I found my coach, I instinctively knew because I did my own research on the fast way that's how I am. I'm not just going to go by an Instagrammer that I follow and she's saying it does all these things. I want to get to the nitty gritty and that's exactly what I did. I researched what the program was about and it made sense to me.

Sarah Bradley:

Now I was concerned, coming off of keto, that I was going to gain weight back, but for whatever reason, I thought well, it makes sense. Even if I gain the weight back, I'm just confident that I'm going to lose it again. Now the wonderful thing was I didn't gain the weight back, I think because of some of the strategies that we have within the Faster Way. Carb cycling is one of them. Many people that I know, many of my co-coaches, have all come from keto and we've all experienced the same thing that we didn't gain the weight back and we just moved very, very well within this program. So I knew that instinctively. And then, when I started the program and I hit week two, again, I instinctively knew this was something that I wanted to do Can't fully explain that other than I, I, I again it's. It's sometimes you have that inner voice. I mean, I think it's God, um, and you have that inner voice that's leading you in a direction, and oftentimes it doesn't make sense, which is the really great thing about it.

Michele Folan:

So week two Okay, you know I was speaking to a client of mine last weekend and she got a little early start, so she's probably six weeks in at this point. She went to the salon to get her eyebrows and her hair done and the woman that does her hair said what do you? What have you been doing? Your eyebrows are so much fuller than they normally are. And she said, well, I've been eating better. And then she started doing her hair. She said my God, your hair is thicker. She said tell me more about this thing that you're doing. And what my client admitted was that she was, probably, before doing Faster Away, was only getting about 40 grams of protein a day in her diet, and now she's getting three times that much and it is having a tremendous positive effect on, probably, her skin, her hair, I mean, and those are some of the things that, beyond the weight, beyond the body transformation, there are other things that just eating better really it just affects everything in our bodies.

Sarah Bradley:

Absolutely, and you know it's interesting that in our . . . .. Absolutely. And you know it's interesting that you say that because I will tell you. When I have initial phone calls with prospective clients, I often will tell them my goal for you is health Number one. It is health. It is trying to reduce your possibly having chronic diseases down the road. It's trying to make sure that you're healthy and you're able to move and get up and down and have quality of life as you're aging. That's my goal for you.

Sarah Bradley:

As the coach, I know that likely your goal is to look good. You want to look good in your clothes and that kind of thing, and I think it's such a great thing because when we come together with those goals, we both get what we want. I get you healthy and then you're also going to see that translated in how your body looks. That's just naturally going to come. But I still, you know, nothing makes me happier than when I have a client say I have more energy than I've ever had, ever Way more than yes. I'm excited when you get into that outfit that you've been wanting to get into, but the fact that you're feeling your best or, like you're saying, you're noticing that your hair is thicker. All of these things because you're treating your body well is incredible.

Michele Folan:

Yeah, because you're treating your body well is incredible. Yeah, it's so satisfying to be a coach and to be able to talk to people that were feeling a little hopeless at one point, and now they're energized, they feel good, they're sleeping better. There's just so many positive things beyond the body transformation that happen, positive things beyond the body transformation that happened. I want to tell the listeners that Sarah is extremely passionate about clean eating. I mean to the point where I'm like, oh man, I didn't know that that's a good one. I love your tips that you put out there on social media. I think they're so helpful. What are some of the strategies and the watchouts that you teach your clients about clean eating? What are your top ones?

Sarah Bradley:

Well, first, thank you for saying that that you watch and you're getting something out of it, because I do get to hear that in my DMs and I love it. That's what I live for is helping the ladies see things in a way that they weren't seeing it before. So one of the big things, one of the first see things in a way that they weren't seeing it before. So one of the big things, one of the first big things, I think, is realizing that you cannot trust the label on the front of the package. And if it says something on the front of the package that makes you think it's healthy, you should be turning it over and looking at the label on the back even faster, because that usually is. It's just it's so deceptive. It is so deceptive what we see on the front of the label. So getting into the habit of looking at everything that you're picking up honestly and reading the label is so important. Really finding products that you can read what's on the back of the label, really finding products that you can read what's on the back of the label. The shorter the ingredient list, the better. You know simple things like that. You know we always talk about well, at least okay in the world that I live in, we always talk about within the circles, probably in a faster way, the importance of whole food eating. You know finding ingredients, I mean the importance of whole food eating. You know finding ingredients, I mean optimally. If you find ingredients that are a one word ingredient right, your apple, your beef, your chicken thing, you know one ingredient, that's optimum. But that's not real life. We're going to be eating other things Absolutely and so just really being mindful of what are the ingredients, looking at the back of that package, this came up this week with one of my coaching groups.

Michele Folan:

We like to share ideas of healthy foods, maybe for when we're traveling, Because everybody's going on vacations right now and that can be a challenge. And somebody had mentioned this amazing salad at a very popular restaurant that we all know and the salad itself sounded great. And I was like, yeah, this sounds great. But I said, what's in the dressing? And I went on a quick search, found what was in the dressing and of course it's. Soybean oil is the first ingredient on the salad dressing. And I mentioned you and I said well, you know I have a fellow coach that she'll bring her own dressing to a restaurant. I do, I do so. Anyone who's listening. Sarah brings her own dressing to restaurants because nine times out of 10 salad dressings are made from seed oils at restaurants, unless they're whipping it up with olive oil in the back kitchen, which does happen too. Yeah, I just thought it was kind of a funny story because I knew I was talking to you today and, yeah, mentioned you to my group that you I love it and I will say this is my mantra.

Sarah Bradley:

Okay, there is no shame in my game, and I mean that I went to Panera. I went to Panera this weekend with my grandkids and my daughter-in-laws and I have a travel bag and I kind of joke. I feel like I'm a two-year-old. Do you remember when we had babies and we would travel with bags to have little snacks and things for them? Okay, that's me. I travel everywhere with my cute little leopard bag. No lie, brought my bag in with me to Panera. They all wanted to eat that food. I didn't want to eat the food that day. I usually try to eat out only maybe once or twice a month and it wasn't something that it was worthwhile to me. I like the food that I pack, I like the food that I make. So I bought an unsweetened tea and I brought my big old leopard bag and I brought it right in and I ate my lunch. So there's no shame in that game. When you want to be healthy and I want to know what's in my food, yes, I will bring salad dressing. I've also, for me, learned that I really enjoy on my salads fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper, which I can get pretty much anywhere that you go, so I have found ways for sure to have these little things that are workable for me these little things that are workable for me.

Michele Folan:

soybean and so, talking about travel hacks, so the lemon juice and salt and pepper is a great hack, but you have some great equipment. You have a way to heat your food. It plugs into the car. I've seen you do that. What other strategies do you employ when you're traveling?

Sarah Bradley:

So there's a couple of different things. One, I want to preface by saying that at this stage of my life, I really put emphasis on experiences versus the food that I'm eating. And I say that because at this stage for me and let me back up one minute and also say look, my journey is not your journey, is not this person's journey, is not this person's journey, and where I'm at is going to be different, and it's going to be different today than what it's going to be another year or two years. I have been doing this lifestyle now almost two years, okay, and I actually cut sodas out, even a little bit earlier than that. So I don't, you know, I don't ever want people to feel like you have to do everything that I'm doing. It has to look like this this is where I am and this is where I'm comfortable.

Sarah Bradley:

So when we travel, my husband and I, we like being active. We ride motorcycle together, we like to go hiking, we like to explore different cities. So we don't really get a lot of enjoyment out of eating at restaurants. One, they're so expensive. Two, I don't like typically what I'm going to be eating. I'm not going to feel my best, I'm not going to have as much energy to do the excursions that I want to do. So when we travel we like to stay at like Airbnbs or Verbos where I can cook. And this last trip we just did a trip for 10 days to the Tennessee area and on the trip down I planned out, honestly, I planned three meals but I planned three dinners that were, you know, I did like a four quantity recipe so I did a good amount of it. I thought, well, we'll start with three and then we'll eat these up and if I have to make more we'll make more. But we had that. I had taken good lunch meat, organic lunch meat, down with us. You know, sometimes I'll make chicken salad. You know, for sandwiches I make sourdough bread. So I took sourdough down with us. So we had all of our meals. I ate every one of my meals for those 10 days, things that I packed.

Sarah Bradley:

My husband he did cheat and I joke when I say cheat because that's, you know, that's life, that's not cheating but he wanted a Bucky's, if you know Bucky's, that big fast, you know, or gas station thing. He had a Bucky's barbecue sandwich and he had a hamburger someplace. But that was easy for me because everywhere we went, we had our cooler with us for the cold sandwiches. Or, yes, I have the ability to heat up our meals. I have two electric lunchboxes, by the way. They're like less than $40 typically on Amazon. You can plug them into a regular outlet. If you happen to be someplace, you know you're indoors and you don't have a microwave, but you do have an outlet, you can plug it there or you can plug it into your car 20 minutes your food is heated up. So even when we're traveling you know to do a trip to Tennessee, for example, for us is about 10, 11 hours I heated our food up on the road and we liked it because we got to where we were going and we had so much energy. We felt absolutely incredible and the hiking that we did on that trip was amazing.

Sarah Bradley:

So that's what I do when I don't want to eat out at all. Now, something really quick, because I know that was a long answer. Something really quick as a tip. If you are eating out Because, listen, I do eat out once or twice a month this is something that really does work Oftentimes.

Sarah Bradley:

Now your server will come up and initially say does anybody have any allergies? This is a big thing. It's a big buzzword that you're allergic to something. I am allergic to seed oils and vegetable oil. You are allergic to seed oil and vegetable oil. Our body has a reaction to it. Let me tell you, when you tell your server that you are allergic to that, they bend over backwards to tell you what on the menu you can order that does not have the seed oils or vegetable oil. Okay, absolutely incredible way to sort of navigate. That doesn't mean you have to do that all the time. I'm not saying that you have to be an all or nothing and I can never just go and just order something. Absolutely I can, but when I really want to be on point and I don't want to take those kinds of ingredients in, that's my little hack.

Michele Folan:

Okay, I like that. That's a really good one. I am curious. So when you want to be bad and I'm doing air quotes bad Buccee's what's your kryptonite? What Buccee's food do you get really excited about having? Can I have two?

Sarah Bradley:

Yeah, oh yeah, and I don't think they're too far removed from each other, which is kind of funny, I think, and I think it's a tie. I can't even say that there's one over the other. A soft pretzel, I love, you know, the ones that you get out, not the work......... o I'm making. Homemade, you know, covered in melted butter and salt, yes. And bagels, love bagels. You're a carbohydrate girl, exactly, and that's one of the reasons I do love the fast-food, because I do have my carbs.

Michele Folan:

Let me tell you something. People have been shocked. I have clients. They'll call me and they'll say am I really allowed to have this much fat? Am I allowed to have this much carbohydrate? Like yes, yes, you can. So it's. It's amazing, once we start to eat more balanced, what the effect that has on your body. And then when you start actually fueling your body with real food, it does charge up the metabolism. So it's getting yourself out of that deprivation mindset is, I think, one of the first key steps to success with Faster Way.

Sarah Bradley:

Absolutely, and, if I can just really quick, it's one of the first steps and it's one of the hardest steps that my clients have. When I ask them to eat everything that I'm asking them to eat, their eyes get really big. They're not used to that because, you're right, we're used to so severely under eating that, yes, it's mind blowing. And then when they start to eat all that I'm asking and they're like whoa, I'm eating all this food, I don't have to feel hungry and I'm losing inches. Yeah, mic drop, they're all about it.

Michele Folan:

I had a client. Her husband called her out and said you're eating a lot. She said I know I'm supposed to, and so it just again. It's just a real shift for people. I am curious now that you've been in FasterWay for a while, how much protein do you think you eat on a daily average?

Sarah Bradley:

I would say on average, probably about 115 grams of protein.

Michele Folan:

Okay, all right, I was just curious. I'm about there too. I didn't know where you were on that. What are some of your favorite protein sources? What do you typically eat?

Sarah Bradley:

So I, I love I. I'm a pretty, pretty boring girl, but every morning I have three eggs, full eggs. I want the whole thing. I want the yolk, I want all of it. There's so much nutritional value in F Faster Way I love adding cottage cheese. Good Culture is a phenomenal brand where you're getting probiotics in with it and for half a cup of cottage cheese you get 14 grams of protein. So I get 18 grams with my eggs. I get 14 grams with the cottage cheese. I mix it into the eggs and have a scrambled egg. Usually add some veggies in there. But that's how I start my day. Almost every morning. I typically for just regular protein.

Sarah Bradley:

I love doing pumpkin seeds. I like to say I like big bangs for my buck. So pumpkin seeds for a third of a cup you get 10 grams of protein. I really try to make sure that I don't ever have naked carbs, that all of my carbs are eaten with protein and or fat. But I really try to have the emphasis be on the protein, because I know I need to make sure I keep the protein up, because I am working on building this muscle and so I do things like the pumpkin seeds. I often just then focus on, you know, shrimp and fish and chicken and just meat, that kind of stuff. I sometimes like to add beans. If I'm going to have a salad, like a taco salad, I might have ground turkey with that and then also add some kind of beans with it, just to up my protein in that way.

Michele Folan:

And you get the extra fiber. And that's the other thing is that we really strive to get at least 25 grams of fiber in our diets every day. Fiber is great for your gut health. It's also great for keeping you full longer, so there's many great points about getting your fiber in your diet.

Sarah Bradley:

Yeah, and I will say this is one shift that I have made in the last several months. When we talk about macro tracking because that is a part we haven't talked about that necessarily, but that is a part of our Faster Away strategy is the macro tracking, and that can sometimes be off-putting to people. And one of the things that I have shifted in saying is it is about intentional eating. You don't accidentally eat 115 grams of protein. You don't accidentally eat 25 to 30 grams of fiber.

Sarah Bradley:

On average, americans only get eight grams of fiber a day. That is so far below the mark because they're not being intentional and you have to be an intentional eater and that comes with at least learning what that looks like. You know, even if you get to where you can intuitively eat and you're listening to your body which I do like to get my clients into a place where that's the case but when you've been intentionally tracking your macros and been able to intentionally eat in that way, you know. I know I eat blackberries, for example, every day. I have avocado every day because I know that helps hit that mark for my fiber goal and, as you said, it's so incredibly important for our gut health and our gut is so important for everything. So you know, sometimes just making those tiny little switches of not thinking so much about it's macro tracking, but it is we're intentionally eating to be able to hit these very specific goals.

Michele Folan:

And back to the macro tracking thing too. I do want to mention this. We come from a culture of calorie tracking and I know it's sometimes hard for people to make that shift as well. But if we look at what we were eating before and particularly I do this with clients I love for them to track their food before they actually jump into this program, because what they typically find out is that they were woefully under eating. We're talking 900 to 1200 calories per day. Essentially, they were blunting their metabolism. And once I get them up to 16, 17, 1800 calories, it's hard Again. It's that mindset, but I'm like we're not going to look at the calories, we're just going to look at your macros, because you're going to hit the right calories if you hit the macros. So let's just focus on the macros. And it is hard for some people to do that, but it's so important to be successful with this program.

Sarah Bradley:

Absolutely, because it's not just about calorie in, calorie out. It's what we were just talking about having the right protein and having the right fiber amounts and and, and paying attention to how much fat we're getting in the carbs. I mean all four categories, absolutely. It makes such a difference and it's because we do it this way that our clients are eating more than likely they have in many, many years and they're feeling full and they're seeing results and not having to live with feeling hunger, pains and feeling like that's. You know, to me that's what dieting always meant. Dieting meant I was going to be hungry and so you have to sometimes. Yeah, oh for sure, you know you're not yourself when you're hungry.

Michele Folan:

So I've A A A mericans so yes, yes, I'm curious what one of your core pillars of self-care is.

Sarah Bradley:

So I've started something new actually over the past, about I'm probably heading into week nine, week 10, and it is getting up every morning and walking, and that's probably not a standard answer for self-care, but I'm telling you, getting up and getting outside and in nature and having the sun although we haven't had as much sun as I would like, but having the sun, just having the birds singing around me. I don't walk with any kind of music playing, I don't walk with anything in my ear, because I want to just sort of be present in nature looking at what God has for me for the day, really, you know, taking time to have some prayer, time to focus on gratitude. It has been such an amazing many weeks, and I really do get up in the morning and I just feel like I'm starting my day with really prioritizing my mind, my body and my spirit, and it sets the tone for my whole day by doing that. Now, you know, I definitely, once I get that movement in, my goal for myself personally is to have at least 8,000 steps every single day.

Sarah Bradley:

Getting into a mindset, though, of I want to get up and go outside is kind of big. I mean, even for me that I've been kind of living a pretty healthy lifestyle. I still, up until the last you know several weeks I was just talking about, would be like oh, I got to get these steps in, okay, I got to get outside, or I need to get on my walking pad or whatever it is. And now I'm at the place where, even if it's raining, I throw on a rain jacket and I get my behind outside because I know that I'm going to enjoy that time being out in nature. My goal is to still be doing this, even in the wintertime.

Sarah Bradley:

I'm originally from San Diego. I moved when I was eight. I don't like to be cold. There was something about having, I think, lived there for the first eight years. I do not like to be cold and I definitely was lacking on my steps last winter. But my goal is to keep this mindset and to keep the joy that I'm having doing this, so that even in the winter, even in the snow, I bundle up and I get outside and I enjoy what's out there waiting for me.

Michele Folan:

Yeah, Fantastic, I love that. Sarah Bradley, where can the listeners find you?

Sarah Bradley:

I am on Instagram and Facebook. Both are the same. It is Sarah, s-a-r-a-h, dot K, dot Bradley, b-r-a-d-l-e-y. Perfect, and I do. Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry to say, and I do on my Instagram. Perfect, and I do. Oh, go ahead, I'm sorry to say, and I do on my Instagram.

Sarah Bradley:

I do like to share tips and tricks, things on clean eating. I like to clean up recipes. There's things like I've always loved no bake cookies and I wanted to make them in a way that I took the refined sugar out. So I'm always testing out new recipes, cleaning things up, coming up with my own, my own ideas. I have one I just shared that's a cream cheese icing. That's my own recipe. That also is a fruit dip that's sweetened with maple syrup. That is absolutely delicious. I actually did a video yesterday with my grandson. He loved it. I always think if I get these things approved by my grandchildren, they are Instagram worthy. So I always like to share those things. I like to go to the grocery store and tell you things that I would take home and things I'd leave on the shelf. So lots of just tips and tricks that if you're interested in having a healthy lifestyle, having an impact not only on yourself, but hopefully your husband, your children, your grandchildren, that you'll be able to find some good information there.

Michele Folan:

Absolutely Check out Sarah on Instagram and Sarah Bradley. I'm sure you and I will be talking again very soon, but thanks for being on the show today. Thanks so much, Michelle. Follow Asking for a Friend on social media outlets and provide a review and share this show wherever you get your podcasts. Reviews and sharing help us grow.