Rita Black: Have you ever noticed how quickly your mood can shift? And then blamed yourself for it. Like you should just think more positively or try harder to manage your mindset. In this episode, I am talking with Jenn Trepeck about something that feels incredibly freeing. Your mood isn’t just about mindset, it’s about biochemistry.

Rita Black: Neurotransmitters, like dopamine and serotonin are literally built from the food you eat, influenced by your gut health, disrupted by stress, toxins, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and even constant digital stimulation. Jenn, author of Uncomplicated Wellness, breaks down biohacking for mood in a way that is practical.

Rita Black: Grounded and refreshingly sane if winter has left you feeling heavy, foggy, or emotionally off balance. This episode will give you real science-backed lovers. You can start using right away. So put away those winter clouds and come on in.

Rita Black: Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn’t start with the

Rita Black: food on your plate or get fixed in the gym? 80% of our weight struggle is mental. That’s right. The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind. Hi there, I’m Rita Black. I’m a clinical hypnotherapist, weight loss expert, bestselling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process.

Rita Black: And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years. Achieve long-term weight mastery. I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict and binge eater, and after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis. Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years.

Rita Black: Enter the Thin Thinking Podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling. I’ll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need, not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there long term and live your best life.

Rita Black: Sound good? Let’s get started.

Rita Black: Hello? Hello. Hello, friends. I hope you are doing great. Come on in and we are doing it. We are, we are. We are getting through the winter and what a winter it has been, man. Oh man. Everybody I talk to is like, woo. It’s. You know, been one of the worst ones yet. So, uh, but we’re getting through it.

Rita Black: I, I, I feel, I hope you are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and for our listeners down under in the Southern hemisphere. Sorry. Uh, are you starting to feel the chill of Autumn heading your way? Alright, well, we’re not, we’re, we’re kind of trading places right now. But I’m excited because today we are talking about mood, food, and gut.

Rita Black: Love it with Jenn Trepeck. Jenn Trepeck has been described as a force of nature in the wellness space. Jenn grew up the skinny one and a family of dieters, which was awesome until it went away and so began her weight management. S. Ultimately though Jenn learned the nutrition education we’re all supposed to know, but nobody has ever taught us this completely changed her life and allowed her to say she kicked her food issues.

Rita Black: And from then Jenn set out on a mission to pay it forward and help people help themselves. After a decade of working with clients, Jenn started salad. With a side of Fry’s podcast based on science, yet lighthearted, Jenn talks about living life while making ourselves and our health a priority. She’s also the author of the Bestselling Uncomplicating Wellness, ditch the Rules, quiet The Noise, reclaim Your Life.

Rita Black: Let’s welcome Jenn. Well, hello Jennn and welcome to the Thin Thinking Podcast. I am excited to have you on today.

Jenn Trepeck: Thanks. I’m excited to be here.

Rita Black: Yes, I, uh, you are a health and lifestyle coach. And tell us what you know for listeners who are, well, what’s a health and lifestyle coach? Tell us what you do and how, how did you come to this place in your journey?

Jenn Trepeck: Sure. So hi everybody. So. You know what I do? I work with clients one-on-one or in small group cohorts for 12 weeks. And the curriculum, I describe it as the nutrition education we’re all supposed to know, but nobody ever taught us

Rita Black: right

Jenn Trepeck: then. Right. Um, and then. We also in that time also address sleep, stress, energy, food sensitivities, holidays, habits, all of the things that make this not quite so easy.

Jenn Trepeck: Right, right. So it’s really, it’s not just nutrition, it’s also lifestyle and the seemingly small things that we do every day. Are actually what create our health and our outcomes and our energy and all of those things.

Rita Black: Well, I can agree with you more. That sounds really great. And what a great integration of, uh, nutrition, which we can all vibe with, although many of us probably feel under educated in that department.

Rita Black: Thank you very much. Educational system.

Jenn Trepeck: Well, and then the challenge becomes every. Piece of information that is shut down our throats these days on every social media platform and every headline. It just creates confusion.

Rita Black: Oh

Jenn Trepeck: yeah. You know, so, yeah,

Rita Black: my husband, every day, my husband is one of these people who reads all the studies, and so every day he comes to me with, well, there’s a study on this and this.

Rita Black: I was like, now who conducted the study? How many people were in it? You know, I make him go back and do the real research.

Jenn Trepeck: Exactly.

Rita Black: This peer reviewed. Oh my goodness. It is just,

Jenn Trepeck: exactly.

Rita Black: He’s so funny. But anyway, so, uh, I interrupted you.

Jenn Trepeck: All good. So I came to all this work. Um, I started working with clients on the side of my full-time job back in 2007.

Jenn Trepeck: So we’re at 18 years and counting

Rita Black: whoa.

Jenn Trepeck: Of working with clients. But I came to all this stuff through my own saga, uh, and I call it a saga because I feel like the word journey doesn’t do it justice. You know,

Rita Black: I love it. It’s got extra weight there. The

Jenn Trepeck: song. Right. And, and you know, I remember, so I was a dancer growing up.

Jenn Trepeck: I ate healthy things. My family around me was sort of always on a diet. So in my house there was every fad diet under the sun of, you know, the eighties and nineties and everything there was. And so when I started to gain weight between high school and college, I was like, okay. I know what to do. Right? And I did every diet under the sun gained and lost, lived on that.

Jenn Trepeck: Yo-yo. I remember times feeling like I would just breathe and gain weight and not understanding how is it possible? Because somebody would look at what I’m doing and you know, at some point I couldn’t. Eat more or less, or, you know, work out anymore, do all the things. It was it, it didn’t make sense. Yeah.

Jenn Trepeck: Until I learned the information from this curriculum that I’ve since based my entire practice on, and at first when I learned about it, I was like, no, no, no. That’s okay. I’ve got my thing. Right. My thing was that wild rollercoaster, but that’s what it was.

Rita Black: Yeah.

Jenn Trepeck: Then I saw people who were following this approach.

Jenn Trepeck: One woman in particular was telling her story of removing like 150 pounds, and I just remember, I’ve, I don’t even know anything she said after that because, and she had kept it off, by the way, you know, I don’t know anything she said after that, because I was having a conversation with myself in my head that was like, Jennnifer.

Jenn Trepeck: They know something you don’t know because this woman is saying that the equivalent of another human was attached to her and based on everything, you know what you’re seeing and her story doesn’t compute.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: So I worked with a coach. I followed the program, completely changed my life, and I built my entire practice on that curriculum.

Jenn Trepeck: And now 18 years later, I’m still helping people. It’s the same. 12 week, you know, we’ve evolved over the years, certainly, but it’s, you know, the foundation of human health and really what we know is that weight is the side effect. So by addressing all of these other pieces, our body will release that extra fat that it’s been holding onto.

Jenn Trepeck: When we sort of put some of the puzzle pieces in place, and so now here we are. Fast forward 18 years later, I work with clients. I just published a book called Uncomplicated Wellness, so you know, we’re reaching people. The objective and everything I do is really to change the state of healthcare and empower people to reclaim control of their health.

Rita Black: That is amazing. Well, good for you and congratulations. Yes. On your book.

Jenn Trepeck: Thank you. Yes.

Rita Black: That’s the exciting how long, I’m curious to how long did it take you to put the book together and write it? And is it based on your 12 weeks or is it just, is, is it more streamlined idea?

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, so, um, started with the book brief in March.

Jenn Trepeck: 2025. We were finished with the manuscript in July, end of July. Oh my God. Um, and then launched in October. So I say it was a few months and a lifetime, you know, in the making. And, um. It’s, it’s interesting. It’s not my 12 week mm-hmm. Curriculum. It’s really, I would call it the precursor, frankly, for everyone, especially for women, but for everyone, like before you buy any plan or book or program or anything, read this book first.

Jenn Trepeck: It will help you then decide. Which piece to focus on which plan is the best fit for you.

Rita Black: So

Jenn Trepeck: it gives you a

Rita Black: lens

Jenn Trepeck: guide. Exactly. Exactly As we say, you know, you don’t need more information. You need, you need a new lens through which to evaluate all of the information coming at you.

Rita Black: A hundred percent. Now I know you and I were going to talk a little bit about a few things and I, I think.

Rita Black: Our listeners are very interested in mood and food, right? Yes. I love how they rhyme.

Jenn Trepeck: They are connected in so many ways,

Rita Black: and the

Jenn Trepeck: least of which is the rhyming. Yeah.

Rita Black: And, and our, our podcast will be dropping right in the middle of winter where mood is kind of, uh, prevalent, uh, to, to say the least. And so. I would love to hear, uh, you just, you know, your insights on how if somebody is struggling with mood, how they might start to look at that through that lens that you’re talking about.

Jenn Trepeck: Sure. So sometimes I think the easiest piece, it’s often easier to figure out what we want to do by figuring out what disrupts it. Right. So if we can figure out what disrupts our mood, then we can start to put some pieces in place to put it back together to give our body the building blocks of quality mood.

Jenn Trepeck: Right? And a lot of times people will say, you know, you have to get your mindset right. Quotes, I my least favorite word on the planet. Um, right. You have to get your mindset in place. We have to start with that, and I believe that if we can start with the biochemistry, everything else gets easier.

Rita Black: I would agree with that.

Jenn Trepeck: So we can talk more about the vagus nerve and why that’s the case, but fundamentally, our mood is a function of neurotransmitters. Right, and we know neurotransmitters like think dopamine and serotonin, right? Like oxytocin. We know these words. Those are neurotransmitters. The building blocks of neurotransmitters are amino acids.

Rita Black: Exactly.

Jenn Trepeck: Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. So in order for us to. Have the building blocks to build those neurotransmitters, we must have those amino acids. We must be getting those complete proteins, all of the amino acids that the body needs. But what we understand is also what disrupts our neurotransmitter balance, because our impaired mood is when those neurotransmitters are out of balance.

Jenn Trepeck: So. Certainly, like we’ve been saying, dietary choices, hyper processed foods, fried foods are going to create neurotransmitter imbalance,

Rita Black: right?

Jenn Trepeck: Toxins. That includes not just. The ones we consume, like alcohol, right? Maybe we have other toxins that we consume, but even thinking about the toxins in our environment, in our air, the couch offgassing, the detergents that we use, or the toxins in some personal care products, right?

Jenn Trepeck: And again, each one of these a little bit the body can handle.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: It’s that our modern world is sort of bombarded by all of these things. Um, you know, similar to that, and this one, people think less about is sensory overload.

Rita Black: Oh, interesting. You mean like overstimulation? Yes. With our phones and with the digital

Jenn Trepeck: world.

Jenn Trepeck: Yes. So like, well, and how many of us have something on the TV and we’re scrolling on our phone at the same time?

Rita Black: And And that’s a disruption to our

Jenn Trepeck: neurotransmitter. Yes. And neurotransmitters.

Rita Black: Yes. Interesting. Because I work with smokers too. And interestingly because nicotine elevates insulin, which also Yes.

Rita Black: And it depletes amino acid balance in the brain.

Jenn Trepeck: Exactly. So that’s in the toxic piece. Right, right. Yeah. Those toxins, as you mentioned, that we consume. But the other piece to that is also bowel dysfunction.

Rita Black: Mm.

Jenn Trepeck: So a lot of our capacity to handle toxins

Rita Black: mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Relies on the liver to detoxify.

Rita Black: Right.

Jenn Trepeck: And our gut and those gut bugs to be able to, so many of us have heard serotonin is produced in the gut.

Jenn Trepeck: Mm-hmm. So bowel dysfunction can not only impair the production of some neurotransmitters, but even if we’re producing it. Our nervous system and the bowel can potentially impair those neurotransmitters from getting from the gut to the brain.

Rita Black: Hmm. Wow.

Jenn Trepeck: So even if we’re making them, but we’re not able to support them and transport them, you know, we have

Rita Black: a disconnect.

Jenn Trepeck: A disconnect, an impaired neurotransmitter balance, and therefore mood impairment. And that looks differently for everybody. You know, we’re sort of using the word mood to be all encompassing because, you know, while these are diagnoses, I don’t mean them in that way as I say them, but like depression and anxiety are essentially the same.

Jenn Trepeck: One is just looking backwards. The other is looking forward.

Rita Black: Right. Interesting.

Jenn Trepeck: You know, so we have. All of these factors. Even blood flow is another one that really, if we don’t have proper blood flow, and then even still proper like, um, the fluid in the brain and getting that out as our brain detoxifies right through the back of the neck, you know, the brainstem, like, there’s so many of these small factors that play into how we show up in the world.

Rita Black: Yes. So if we were gonna biohack, if somebody was going to start to take steps forward to improve mood, improve, I’m assuming energy as well, but I’m hearing

Jenn Trepeck: absolutely.

Rita Black: Uh, primarily do you start. With, because like you said, there’s so many factors. There’s not just what we’re consuming food wise, but it’s how we’re breathing, what we’re breathing our environment.

Rita Black: And it probably feels very overwhelming to a lot of people to think, well, ah, where do I start and, and what, what are the best small steps forward that I can make? That would be easy to start.

Jenn Trepeck: Absolutely. So one of the first pieces I like to think about is what’s called BDNF, which is brain derived neurotrophic factor, and we see low BDNF in those with low mental effect with cognitive decline, right?

Jenn Trepeck: BDNF really plays into overall thinking even, um, and aging, overall health too. But even as we think about learning and memory,

Rita Black: mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: BDNF is critical for that low BDNF is connected to not just the anxiety and depression and the cognitive decline, but also the metabolic disorders. So when we can focus on this one piece, I think it makes a lot, a lot easier.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Simple ways to address that removing. It’s the processed foods. And I say that that’s simple. I get that it’s not, but the more foods that we can get into our bodies that don’t have labels, that we have to figure out how to read the better, right? Reducing those refined foods. So if we are choosing grains, truly choosing whole actual, real grains or potentially for a time seeing how you feel without grains at all.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, decreasing those saturated fats and increasing the omega threes. Yeah, omega threes. So we’re talking, um, specifically DHA and EPA.

Rita Black: And are you talking about supplementing, uh, with those types of supplements or eating whole foods that contain those supplements or both?

Jenn Trepeck: Both. You know, and again, it depends where we are.

Jenn Trepeck: You know, if you are willing to eat super high quality salmon many days a week. Great. You might be able to get enough of the omega threes. If we have a lower commitment on the food choices, we need a greater commitment on the supplementation.

Rita Black: Okay, that makes sense.

Jenn Trepeck: You know, so they work together, you know, and then depending on where we are, you know, we might need the fire hose rather than.

Jenn Trepeck: The fire extinguisher from under your sink. Right? So if we are in a place of already impaired mood, like if you had, you know, a fire in your toaster and you poured a thimble of water on it, you would say to me, Jenn, water doesn’t put out fires. Right? But if we had a fire in the toaster and used a fire hose or proper fire extinguisher, then we see.

Jenn Trepeck: What water can really do. So if we have this fire burning mm-hmm. We might need that supplementation to get a fire hose to the challenge, and then we can move forward potentially with simply our food choices or re-shift that balance between what supplementation and what’s quality food choices, you know?

Jenn Trepeck: And not to mention it’s not only the food. Right. Again, if we’re going to eat some of these more refined foods and hyper processed foods, then we might need that greater commitment to, um, sleep and potentially some detoxification herbs and some of the other things in order to help the body cope and support what we’re sort of assaulting it with.

Jenn Trepeck: So I always say, you know, if you are not feeling the way you wanna feel. Then we have to decide what we’re willing to do and play with some of that. I mean, sun exposure is another one that really exercise movement, fresh air, we get blood flow signs to the brain. You know, all of these things are really important and when we think about the gut brain connection, we really wanna think about a prebiotic.

Jenn Trepeck: Mm-hmm. A probiotic. Post biotic. So prebiotic is fiber. Eat your vegetables and some fruit.

Rita Black: Can I ask you, so we are on prebiotic, I’m just gonna put a nail there. Um, you were mentioning processed food, right? Yes. And I think a lot of our listeners eat. Healthy diets. I, I, I would say many of them do, and I’m sure you come across this as well, that, but there are, but the food industry, uh, has a way of marketing foods as healthy or so, so some of these, even if you went into Whole Foods or to of a market that, for instance, what you would say, this is a vegan product or a.

Rita Black: You know, no sugar, no processed stuff, but you look at the label, it still has, you know, 50 ingredients or 30 ingredients. Right,

Jenn Trepeck: exactly.

Rita Black: So is that food gonna have the same negative? It’s not gonna have the same negative impact as eating a ho, ho, or a dingdong, but it might have a negative impact just because of.

Rita Black: That it’s processed, that is hyper processed and what your body, well, the

Jenn Trepeck: question is, so the question to assess, write all of those labels of vegan or sugar free or whatever, they tell us everything that’s not in there.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Our health is a function of what is in there.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: We have to then read the ingredients, read the nutrition facts.

Jenn Trepeck: And say, well, what am I giving my body if I’m not giving my body the nutrients it needs to build those neurotransmitters? If I’m not giving my body protein, fiber, quality, fat, omega threes, it might be a quote unquote marketed as healthy food, but what purpose is it serving?

Rita Black: Right?

Jenn Trepeck: Not to say. That Eating for joy doesn’t have a purpose.

Jenn Trepeck: Right? Absolutely. We can certainly enjoy all of those things. It’s just for us to recognize that there are a lot of things marketed us, marketed to us as healthy, that aren’t necessarily providing nutrition. Right.

Rita Black: And what you are saying is you need to start with the building blocks and foundation first, and then you can of course go and enjoy some, but you need to have that foundation, the foundational building blocks.

Jenn Trepeck: Exactly,

Rita Black: exactly. So prebiotics is fiber and we’re not talking Yes. Uh, pulverized or, or juiced or Right. What have you. You’re talking about whole.

Jenn Trepeck: Eating vegetables and fruit. Yes. Mm-hmm. There are some fiber powders on the market that are high quality ingredients, but most of them, it’s harder to find the high quality ones.

Jenn Trepeck: This is one where a hundred percent you can get 25 to 30 grams of fiber through actual food that grows from the ground.

Rita Black: Right.

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And by the way, on the question of, you know, the processed food, if you think about it, grows from the ground, right? How many degrees of separation are we from? What grows from the ground?

Jenn Trepeck: Did it grow from the ground? Did it eat something grown from the ground? Or is it made from things that grew from the ground or ate things that. What grew from the ground, right? So as we look at some of those packaged foods, you can look at those ingredients and say, well, how far is that from the thing that grew from the ground?

Jenn Trepeck: And then we can even use that as a barometer,

Rita Black: right?

Jenn Trepeck: For does this meet my needs?

Rita Black: Yeah.

Jenn Trepeck: Or not.

Rita Black: Got it.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, so prebiotic fiber probiotic, are those gut bugs? Right. We need those quality gut bugs. A lot of times those gut bugs that are there can hog, the serotonin that is made can keep us craving the sugar, refined foods, the ultra processed foods, because there the gut bugs are craving it.

Rita Black: Right.

Jenn Trepeck: Interesting. So, so it might mean. A probiotic supplement. Now, the prebiotic, that fiber is the food for the healthy gut bugs.

Rita Black: Okay?

Jenn Trepeck: So you’re potentially, you know, some of you might be taking a probiotic. Now there’s a lot of probiotics on the market. We wanna make sure it’s a high quality one that’s delivering bugs that are alive to the proper part of the GI track at the proper time, right?

Jenn Trepeck: Because we need different bugs. In the small intestine versus the large intestine. So we wanna make sure that it’s delivering the bugs to the proper place. The right place

Rita Black: at the right time.

Jenn Trepeck: Exactly. Um, and we wouldn’t need them to be alive. So

Rita Black: do you have, I, I’m assuming you have recommendations for these

Jenn Trepeck: Yes.

Rita Black: Products that

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, I’ll send you links. Let’s do that. I’ll send you. Links, um, that you can put in the episode notes to ones that I use and recommend. And there are more than just these, but these are ones that I work with all the time.

Rita Black: Okay.

Jenn Trepeck: Um,

Rita Black: and, and just because our listeners are, you know, inquiring minds, uh, how much fiber would you recommend?

Rita Black: That somebody be consuming? Is it 35 brands? Yeah, so

Jenn Trepeck: fiber, it’s so a minimum of 25.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, you know, we generally say 25 to 30 is a great place. With that said, work your way up.

Rita Black: Yes.

Jenn Trepeck: So the average American is eating less than 10 in a day. Work our way up if you are getting, you know, 10 to 12 servings.

Jenn Trepeck: Vegetables, and you know, maybe a fruit or two in there, you’ll get your 25 to 30. Not to worry, most people are not getting that many servings of vegetables in a day. So by the way, a serving is like a handful, you know? So you don’t have to live by Googling how much fiber is in a cucumber. You don’t have to live, you know, with measuring cups in your handbag.

Jenn Trepeck: You know, handfuls is a great way. So a handful of vegetables is about a cup. If it’s greens, a serving is gonna be two handfuls. You know? Other than that, you know, we can use our hands and we wanna get to somewhere around, you know, eight to 12 servings of vegetables a day, one to two fruits, and if you’re getting that, we’re gonna be in good shape on that fiber.

Rita Black: Okay, great. That’s a great measuring stick. Thank you.

Jenn Trepeck: Sure. So then the probiotic are those gut bugs?

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: And then a post biotic is short chain fatty acids. So we think of butyrate, we think of some others that are actually formed also from that fiber. So with the, so that fiber essentially, and some of these foods sort of ferment.

Jenn Trepeck: The gut in a great way, in a healthful way, and that creates the short chain fatty acids.

Rita Black: Interesting.

Jenn Trepeck: These pieces going through the entire GI track allow us to communicate better between the gut and the brain. So tackling all pieces of that help us get the serotonin to the brain.

Rita Black: Okay,

Jenn Trepeck: one more piece on this is the vagus nerve.

Jenn Trepeck: Have you guys talked much about the vagus nerve?

Rita Black: No. No. I haven’t had any guests on that talk about vagus nerve.

Jenn Trepeck: Okay.

Rita Black: I haven’t, no.

Jenn Trepeck: Okay. So the vagus nerve is the literal nerve that connects the gut and the brain and it can lose tone. So we could talk about some ways that tone the vagus nerve, but here’s the deal on it.

Jenn Trepeck: Think of it like a five lane highway. Three lanes go gut to brain.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Two lanes go brain to gut. Hmm. So going back to what I said, the beginning of getting our mindset in place first, I find it a lot easier to start with the biochemistry of what we’re feeding ourselves. Because we will never outthink that biochemistry if three lanes are going gut to brain and two are going brain to gut.

Rita Black: Interesting. Wow.

Jenn Trepeck: So we can tonify the vagus nerves. So think of, um. You know, like on an airplane when your ears get plugged and you sort of hold your nose and close your mouth and blow out a little bit? Mm-hmm. It’s called the Valsalva maneuver that tones the vagus nerve, humming tones the vagus nerve, um, putting your face in ice water tones, the vagus nerve connection touch tones, the vagus nerve.

Jenn Trepeck: So little things that we can build into our day can help that mind body connection through the vagus nerve.

Rita Black: Is that why singing in the shower makes us feel good?

Jenn Trepeck: One of them? Yeah. Right. One of many reasons. I think so. Even if we start with some of these pieces and just build into our day, oh, I’m going to hum.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: While I am. In the car by myself. Mm-hmm. And by the way, ’cause if your listeners are anything like I used to be and my clients, we say, oh shoot, I forgot to hum. And we go, and then weeks go by and we’re like, oh, I keep forgetting. And then we go, well, I just need to do it. I get that answer. We just need to, that doesn’t actually help us make it happen.

Rita Black: Not really.

Jenn Trepeck: What helps us make it happen are the physical reminders. So put a post-it on your dashboard that says, hum. Set an alarm in your, you know, an appointment in your calendar that’s with an alarm that’s gonna go off when you get in your car to drive to work, or drive to whatever appointment. And have the appointment in the calendar, say hum on your way too, so that the alarm goes off, it tells us what to do and then we’ll do it.

Jenn Trepeck: The last thing any of us need is one more thing of the, I just have to remember,

Rita Black: right. At least humming though is one of those things where it is enjoyable for the most part. Sure. It’s enjoyable, so it’s not a reminder to do something we don’t wanna do. Right. Yeah, for sure. Are there any, if, if, you know, uh, are there any like mood enemies?

Rita Black: I mean, I know you mentioned hyper refined foods, but are there anything that if, if somebody was gonna clean their house out of things that are disruptors that like are obvious disruptors. Do

Jenn Trepeck: you have

Rita Black: any advice?

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, so those stress inducing foods, we tend to call them and you, you’re all gonna really run away from me after this, but I’m gonna say it anyway.

Rita Black: Be brave. It’s okay. We want the truth.

Jenn Trepeck: Coffee

Rita Black: Uhhuh. Uh oh.

Jenn Trepeck: Alcohol, right? See alcohol.

Rita Black: Okay.

Jenn Trepeck: Refined sugar table salt.

Rita Black: Hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: And those processed foods, those things that come in bags, those things that have labels that we need to read.

Rita Black: How is coffee, just, I’m super curious ’cause I’m a coffee drinker. How is, how does coffee impact your system or,

Jenn Trepeck: yeah, so coffee.

Jenn Trepeck: Is a stressor, right? Mm-hmm. The cafe, and maybe, and I should pre rephrase that as caffeine versus coffee.

Rita Black: Got

Jenn Trepeck: it. Um, but in particular, when we start our day with caffeine before fuel mm-hmm. We disrupt our body’s natural cortisol production and cortisol curve, and we can end up in adrenal fatigue.

Rita Black: Okay.

Jenn Trepeck: So it’s more a function of when and how much.

Rita Black: So you are saying as to

Jenn Trepeck: how much stress it’s inducing.

Rita Black: Got it. So you are saying it’s not stress stress, but just stress on the body. And you’re saying that if I drink my coffee prior to eating consuming food. That’s going to be more of a disruptor than if I have it with my breakfast or after. Yeah. Okay.

Jenn Trepeck: Yep. And then even thinking about, because then the snowball effect, right. Also, depending on the time of day we have it, and depending on the person, you know, genetically, but coffee tends to have a, or caffeine tends to have a half-life about 12 hours.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: So depending on what time of day we’re having that coffee, we might be trying to go to bed and there is still that caffeine flowing through our system, which then leads to the impaired sleep.

Jenn Trepeck: And you might think I sleep fine. There’s a difference between what we perceive as sleeping fine and what the body experiences as sleeping well.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: So it’s quantity and quality. Of rest and sleep. And if we aren’t sleeping well, there’s further impairment of every system in the body. I call sleep the ultimate biohack.

Jenn Trepeck: Frankly, I’m not really the biggest like biohacker person, but it’s such a buzzword. You know, the reality is we wanna think about the foundation of our habits and the things we do every day that create health, get those pieces in place, which is really, by the way, what we’re talking about, using these daily, small, seemingly small tools.

Jenn Trepeck: To support our mood and our energy, and then we can add some biohacks, then you can add the cold plunge. Then you can add, you know, other things and see and experience the benefit of that.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: But we are not going to, you know, cold plunge and fast our way out of. Some of these other choices, we’re not even going to supplement our way out of these other choices.

Rita Black: Right. Do you see, uh, so you’re talking about the, uh, impact on the adrenals. Do you see that, I mean, I, I am assuming, I think I might know the answer, but like, how do the adrenals impact mood? Yeah. I mean, what’s the correlation between those two things?

Jenn Trepeck: I mean, fundamentally it’s stress on the body and energy.

Rita Black: Okay,

Jenn Trepeck: so cortisol, which is that stress hormone.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: It gets a really bad wrap, but it’s really helpful for energy, cortisol, we need it. Cortisol is part of what gets us outta bed in the morning, so our cortisol is naturally higher in the morning, which is why when we then add the caffeine on top of it, we sort of.

Jenn Trepeck: Push it out of range. Um, but it gives us energy. It gives us a, our get up and go. It gives us our, I wanna get stuff done. And so when we end up in that adrenal fatigue, I. You probably feel like you might even say anxiety and depression. That’s a whole lot more energy than I’ve got, right? Like we might be more in the apathetic place where really there’s nothing that’s very exciting.

Jenn Trepeck: There’s nothing that’s very downer either. We’re just sort of ho-hum on everything all the time. That’s also a signal to say, Hey, something’s going on. You know, we wanna have the joy we wanna experience, and as much as you know, we don’t necessarily wanna experience the sad moments, they’re a part of life and experience and having all of that.

Jenn Trepeck: And so when we’re in adrenal fatigue and our body isn’t producing cortisol, there’s a detriment there too. You know, and that can then disrupt other pieces of our endocrin, just our endocrine system as well. Right. Because we need all of these pieces at play.

Rita Black: Right. Oh, interesting. So, so it’s, it’s prebiotic, probiotic, and then post biotic.

Jenn Trepeck: Yep.

Rita Black: And what I know you mentioned. Prebiotics. I know you mentioned fiber, uh, and I know you mentioned probiotics, that there are supplements that you would, because we can’t really get that in our diet. We can’t. The

Jenn Trepeck: prebiotic we do. Right. Remember, that’s

Rita Black: fiber prebiotics. They’re not the, the probiotic

Jenn Trepeck: probiotics eat fermented foods.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm. That would be okay. Yep. So,

Jenn Trepeck: yep.

Rita Black: Kimchi. Uh,

Jenn Trepeck: exactly pickle, even sauerkraut. Just make sure that you’re, it’s actually fermented. A lot of times things are pickled instead of fermented.

Rita Black: Oh, okay.

Jenn Trepeck: So pickled foods do not give us those, you know, that healthy bacteria, so making sure you know you are eating those fermented foods.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, some yogurt qualifies. Um, as giving us some of that probiotic. There’s a lot of yogurts where they’re not fermented and they’re adding probiotic supplements into the yogurt. But, um, you know, we can do that through our food. But again, it kind of depends on where we are in the spectrum of things to say, am I experiencing symptoms?

Jenn Trepeck: Do I need to increase my commitment to those food choices? Do I need to increase my commitment to supplementation? To get to a place where I’m noticing the difference.

Rita Black: Yes. And then the, and then the postbiotics. What are those You’re, those are the omega threes and the,

Jenn Trepeck: no. So postbiotics are short chain fatty acids.

Rita Black: Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: That are byproduct of the fiber.

Rita Black: Okay.

Jenn Trepeck: Right. Coming through. Also butyrate. Um, what

Rita Black: is that? Can you explain

Jenn Trepeck: that? Butyrate is, uh, kind of a byproduct. There’s you also, it’s probably if you’ve heard that like, oh, we’re supposed to be eating butter.

Rita Black: Oh,

Jenn Trepeck: okay. Butyrate is in butter.

Rita Black: Okay. That’s where I’ve heard about it.

Rita Black: Okay. Mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. Um, there are some supplements

Rita Black: mm-hmm.

Jenn Trepeck: That use like butyric acid and things like that, which are kinda a precursor to butyrate. Um, and. Again, like your body can make those short chain fatty acids. If we have enough of that fiber, if we have healthy gut bacteria to ferment those fibers. Um, so again, depending on where we are, we might need a little bit of extra support in there.

Jenn Trepeck: I’ll send you links to, you know, a couple things in there too.

Rita Black: Oh, awesome. That would be great. That would be great. This is also very fascinating and I think really helpful. Especially, like I said, we’re gonna be dropping this in the middle of the winter when people need it the most. Um, what, tell us a little bit more about your book and where we can find it too.

Rita Black: Are you on Amazon? I mean, I’m sure

Jenn Trepeck: you I am. Yes. Yes. So first of all, just as we’re thinking, like as you mentioned, it’s winter. For a lot of people. Sunlight. It doesn’t have to be bright, it doesn’t mean staring at the sun, but sunlight, especially in the morning. I know we didn’t really talk about morning routines, but first morning light, well end.

Jenn Trepeck: Tell us a little bit about it again. No, first morning. Um, I’ll leave it at, ’cause I know we’re running on time, but first morning light doesn’t, don’t have to wake up at dawn, but when you wake up, get light to your eyeballs. That is sending signals to your whole body to turn on, right? It is sending, it is time to move.

Jenn Trepeck: Every system turn on, it is go time, and it also supports that BDNF. It supports mood, it supports all of those things, even if it’s not bright light. And if you’re in one of those places where it really is super dark all the time, you know, maybe you’re in Alaska or certain parts of the world. There are lights that you can buy that are the closest thing to daylight, like an OT light, OTT is like the closest to daylight.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, and a bulb and things like that. So you can use some of those tools to help you get that light.

Rita Black: Um, and you don’t have

Jenn Trepeck: to

Rita Black: go outside directly in the morning. It’s just like stirring through a window out of the

Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, and it depends if you have film on that window or whatever, you know, I wouldn’t necessarily make it a tinted window.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, but yes. You know, you can look out the window, see some sunlight. I will say the fresh air, even if it’s cold, you know, breathing in a little fresh air, deep breaths, you know, maybe you can do, sit up and, you know, stand up and sit down 10 times, get some blood flow. It’s helpful.

Rita Black: Okay. Well, very cool.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, so the book, uncomplicating Wellness, wherever books are sold.

Jenn Trepeck: Yes, Amazon, um, Amazon has both the paper book and the ebook. Um, we are working on the audio book, so stay tuned for that.

Rita Black: Cool.

Jenn Trepeck: Um, maybe by the time this goes live, we’ll have it. We’ll see. So I’ll send you that link as soon as we have it.

Rita Black: Very, very cool. And, uh, remind us one more time what your book is about so that when they can be excited to go.

Jenn Trepeck: Yes. It’s called Uncomplicating Wellness Ditch the Rules, quiet The Noise Reclaim Your Life. And it’s really, uh, a new, like we said, a new lens through which to evaluate. All of the information coming at you, you don’t have to read it cover to cover. You could skip to the chapter that resonates with you. Um, come back to it often and you know, let it be a guide to help you choose where you focus your energy.

Rita Black: Oh, that’s great. So it’s a great resource to have that you can just focus on one aspect of it and come back. You don’t have to read it, cover to cover. Very cool.

Jenn Trepeck: Exactly. Yeah.

Rita Black: Alright, well Jenn, this has been a very helpful conversation. Thank you. And I will look forward to posting all of your links, including the link to your book in our show notes.

Rita Black: Thank and uh, thank you for coming on The Thin Thank You podcast. We’ll have to have you back to talk more about health.

Jenn Trepeck: Yes, I would love that. Rita, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

Rita Black: Okay, take care. And please make sure to grab all the free goodies Jenn has offered us the link. It is in. All the links are in the show.

Rita Black: Note, the free guide. It’s not what to eat. It’s how to eat, uh, the list of supplements she’s provided for us. And also check out her book on Amazon Uncomplicated Wellness. Ditch the rules. Quiet the noise. Reclaim your life and have a great week. And remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you.

Rita Black: So keep listening and find it. Let’s meet back here next week.

Jenn Trepeck: You wanna

Rita Black: dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release. Head on over to www. Shift Weight mastery.com. That’s www shift weight mastery.com, where you’ll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release tips, strategies, and more.

Rita Black: And be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book From Fat to Thin Thinking. Unlock your mind for permanent weight loss.