LLN Episode #225: Dr. Nikki Siso - Heal Your Triggers Heal Your Body
About Dr. Nikki Siso:
Dr. Nikki has a PhD in Holistic Health & Nutrition and a Master's in Sustainability from Harvard. She supports fellow diabetics in using diabetes as a tool for personal development. She teaches how to control blood sugars using a holistic approach of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
What We Discuss In This Episode:
In this episode, we discuss an holistic approach to diabetes management. Nikki discusses diabetes resulting from stress-induced blood sugar spikes. Managing emotions through personal development helps control cravings and sugars more than nutrition alone. Checking triggers and beliefs guides healthier choices.
Nikki Siso was diagnosed at 29 years old, with type one diabetes, which thrust her into studying really hard to understand what she could do to support her body from a nutrition perspective. She learned a lot through that process which included another layer that needed to be addressed and once she did the personal development work, she was then able to actually control her blood sugars even more and better.
Nikki shares her thoughts and experience regarding mindset when it comes to diabetic meals. She shares the importance of understanding how your body reacts to different foods. For example, some people get blood sugar spikes from rice, other people spike more from potatoes. Different starches, different carbohydrates, will affect your blood sugar differently. And then a high fat diet leads to high resistance, which also creates an impact. However, Nikki points out how you can do the exact same thing every single day and have different results based on how well you slept, your hormones, your stress levels, and even how much fat you’ve eaten the day before. All these things play a factor in how blood sugars scale.
Nikki shares how important it is to look at calming the nervous system. That's one of the primary steps. What are your stresses in life? How are you responding to life's experiences? And then what are the emotions that come out in you?
Getting to know your body, and learning if your hunger is a physical thing, emotional thing or a mental thing. Learning those triggers and knowing what your body Is telling you can be a hard piece of the puzzle for people that have never done that before. But once you start doing it you can realize how quickly you can tune into your body’s cues on different things.
Nikki shares a few tricks. For example, you can put a little sticky note on your fridge asking if you’re really hungry - just a little cue to support you in stopping the pattern of just like satiating the craving and like pattern interrupts, right?
We then discuss some of the simpler aspects of diabetes, like what are some of the best meals for a diabetic. There's a lot of confusion in the diabetic world. Nikki says the simplest way to break this down is eat high volumes of fruits and vegetables. You think fruits are loaded with sugar, but they're actually loaded with fiber that helps in slowing down sugar digestion.
The best starting point is to remove processed foods and everything in the center aisles of the grocery store, and to ideally shop at the farmers market where things are picked fresh, locally, they're organic, they're seasonal, and they're eating with nature, what nature provided. Go back to that way of thinking, “Whatever comes out of the ground is nutritious for a body.”
We chat about the need for fats in our diet. Nikki explains there are healthy fats like avocados nuts and seeds - healthy ways to get fat in your diet in good portions. Note: Not a whole avocado but half an avocado at most per today.
And where does the the role of exercise come in – especially when dealing with diabetes? Nikki reminds us that the bigger muscles are, the more we burn sugar. Even just walking can be great for bone density as you age. Also, lifting weights is a must in your day. It can be body weights, yoga, Pilates, or using your own body weight for strengthening your muscles. Incorporating a brisk walk in the evening that boosts your metabolism - even if it's just 20 minutes around the block in your neighborhood, you'll burn the excess sugars, you'll boost your metabolism so that you do burn those sugars. It's also really great for your nervous system, and for calming your system.
Nikki closes out by sharing how we should see diabetes as a blessing instead of a curse. It's an opportunity to check in with yourself and with your body. When you can manage diabetes with grace and self-love you can manage anything life throws at you. It may not always be perfect, but you can use each challenge as a stepping stone to change and better health.
Key Takeaways
- Diabetic Meals and Mindset
- Foods and lifestyle for Blood sugar management
- Heal your Triggers Heal your Body
- How do triggers impact blood sugars?
- Why is emotional intelligence important to blood sugar control?
- Why is it so hard to control blood sugars?
- What are the best meals for diabetics?
- What are some life hacks for blood sugar control?
Connect With Dr. Nikki Siso:
Legends with Dr. Nikki Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@legendswithdrnikki
Website: https://WakeupwithNikki.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrNikkiElevates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnikkisiso/
Connect with Lynne:
If you're looking for a community of like-minded women on a journey - just like you are - to improved health and wellness, overall balance, and increased confidence, check out Lynne's private community in The Energized Healthy Women's Club. It's a supportive and collaborative community where the women in this group share tips and solutions for a healthy and holistic lifestyle. (Discussions include things like weight management, eliminating belly bloat, balancing hormones, wrangling sugar gremlins, overcoming fatigue, recipes, strategies, perimenopause & menopause, and much more ... so women can feel energized, healthy, and lighter, with a new sense of purpose.
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holistichealthandwellnessllc
The Energized Healthy Women’s Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/energized.healthy.women
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnewadsworth
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