Ever eaten something “innocent” at lunch and spent the entire afternoon feeling foggy, cranky, and ready to gnaw your own arm off? You’re not imagining it—your food choices are talking directly to your mood, energy, and mental clarity.

In this episode, we step into mini-medical school to unpack why certain foods make you feel calm and focused… and why others send you straight onto the blood-sugar rollercoaster. I’ll share my Halloween Almond Joy debacle (spoiler: it wasn’t joyful), explain what’s really happening with insulin, cortisol, dopamine, and gut-produced serotonin, and show you how to connect what you eat with how you feel—emotionally, mentally, and physically.

You’ll learn simple ways to shift toward meals that support stable energy, better focus, and a calmer mood—starting with a feel-amazing breakfast and a colorful, fiber-forward plate. I’ll even walk you through my favorite smoothie blueprint so you can build your own mood-boosting blend.

If you’re ready to feel clear-headed instead of cloudy, energized instead of exhausted, and confident instead of chaotic… this episode will help you flip that switch.

Resources Mentioned:

Are carbs bad for you? Not so fast! In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie clears up the carb confusion once and for all. You’ll find out why carbohydrates aren’t the villains they’ve been made out to be — and how to choose the ones that actually love your body back.

From the history of the U.S. dietary guidelines to the real difference between simple and complex carbs, Dr. Vickie breaks it all down with her signature blend of humor and evidence-based wisdom. You’ll learn what “balanced” really means, why fiber is your best friend, and how to avoid the sugar traps hiding in your favorite foods.

No calculators, no food scales, just practical, real-world advice to help you enjoy your meals — carbs included.

Tune in and discover why the key to health isn’t cutting carbs, but choosing them wisely. Because when you love your body (and your carbs), healthy looks great on you.

RESOURCES:

7 Day Kickstart to Healthy Habits and Lose Belly Fat

Is healthy eating too expensive? Not anymore! In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie shows you how to eat healthy on a budget without sacrificing flavor or nutrition.

Discover how to use affordable staples like beans, frozen spinach, sweet potatoes, and canned goods to create quick, satisfying meals for busy weeknights or meal prep. You’ll also learn smart grocery shopping tips, easy meal ideas like budget bowls, sheet-pan dinners, and soups, and strategies to reduce waste while boosting your health.

Whether you’re looking to save money, eat better, or simply simplify your kitchen, this episode is packed with practical, budget-friendly nutrition tips you can use right away.

Resources:

Remember when you could power through the day without crashing? You can feel that way again! 🌿 In this episode, Dr. Vickie revisits the Six Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine—the science-backed habits that help women over 50 reignite energy, lose belly fat, sleep better, and feel like themselves again.

Forget the fads and quick fixes. You’ll hear real-world strategies for eating smarter, moving more, managing stress, and getting the restorative sleep your body craves. Dr. Vickie shares her own journey with humor and honesty, showing how small, sustainable changes lead to lasting results.

✨ Learn how to:

Build energy naturally without supplements

Eat for belly fat loss and hormone balance

Manage stress and sleep better

Create habits that actually stick

Because when you feel good, you look good—and Healthy Looks Great on You.

#LifestyleMedicine #WomenOver50 #LoseBellyFat #GetYourEnergyBack #HealthyHabits #DrVickie

HEALTHY LOOKS GREAT YOU - SUBSCRIBE/get resources

Have you ever opened your lab results and noticed those scary highlighted numbers next to AST or ALT? It’s enough to make anyone panic. Before you start Googling “liver damage,” join Dr. Vickie for a fun, fact-filled trip to mini medical school.

In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie explains what liver enzymes really measure, why fatty liver has become the most common liver disease in the world, and—most importantly—what you can do to heal your liver naturally.

You’ll learn the difference between AST, ALT, and Alk Phos (without needing a biochemistry degree), how diet, stress, and sleep impact your liver health, and why your liver has an incredible ability to repair itself. Spoiler alert: you don’t need a “cleanse” or detox tea—you just need the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine.

This is real science made simple—with a few cheesy jokes thrown in for good measure.

AST and ALT are enzymes that signal liver stress—not permanent damage.

The leading cause of elevated liver enzymes is fatty liver, not alcohol.

Fatty liver develops from too much sugar, processed food, stress, and inactivity.

Your liver can regenerate itself when given the right environment.

The 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine—nutrition, movement, stress management, sleep, avoiding harmful substances, and social connection—can reverse fatty liver naturally.

Ready to start supporting your liver with habits that actually work?

👉 Download my free guide, Quick Meals, Not Quick Fixes — it’s packed with simple plant-predominant meals that help your liver thrive (without spending hours in the kitchen).

And if you want 3 simple strategies to help you start sleeping better tonight, get a free guide HERE.

If you need help kickstarting healthy habits, check out my mini course HERE. 

Because remember, Healthy looks great on you—and so does a happy liver.

Do You Really Need a Liver Detox? The Truth About Cleanses and Liver Health

If your social feed has you convinced you need a liver detox, take a deep breath—and put down the turmeric shot. In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie explains what your liver actually does, why detox products don’t work, and what does help your liver thrive. You’ll learn how supplements, alcohol, medications, and even trendy wellness fads can harm this hardworking organ—and why the real “liver cleanse” is a healthy lifestyle. With humor, science, and straight talk, Dr. Vickie breaks down how to protect your liver so it can keep protecting you.

Subscribe at Healthylooksgreatonyou.com

Recent headlines warned pregnant women, “Don’t take Tylenol.” But what does the science really say? In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie — an obstetrician who delivered 5,000 babies — unpacks the FDA’s statement, the studies on acetaminophen and pregnancy, and the difference between correlation and causation. Learn what the evidence shows (and what it doesn’t), why context matters, and how to balance risks without adding fear or guilt.

Links:

FDA Statement to Physicians

The White House webpage

Harvard study

ABC interview with Dr. Makary

Press conference video

The Nurses Health Study

Boston Birth Cohort

Johns Hopkins statement

Mt. Sinai study

Swedish study in JAMA

Subscribe to Healthy Looks Great on You podcast 

Learn more about Healthy Looks Great on You a lifestyle medicine podcast

Wondering how to get rid of a cold fast? In this episode of Healthy Looks Great on You, Dr. Vickie breaks down evidence-based remedies that actually work to relieve symptoms. Learn which supplements may help, which ones to skip, and how lifestyle habits like sleep, nutrition, and handwashing protect your immune system. Stay healthy this season with simple, science-backed strategies.

'Tis the Season to be Sneezing

The Ultimate Guide to Avoiding Sickness

Does Prevagen work?

Growing Echinacea

Probiotics

Do you think of yourself as someone who just can't sleep? I know you want to sleep better, but I'm not sure you really believe you can. You have all the information you need. You even heard about my sleep course, but you're still worried. That it's not enough to fix you. Well, you're not broken, and I can help.

Sleep matters. You already know that. But do you think you just don't sleep and change isn't possible? I can prove that it is possible. Take my client, Claire. Claire was a sleep tracker, you know, smart bed with all the bells and whistles and the app on the phone that shouted disappointing score every single morning. Someone who tried everything and finally decided that good sleep was for other people. But after doing a sleep inventory with me, I was able to pinpoint the specific issues that made sleep elusive. And guess what happened? That sleep score average skyrocketed from the sixties to the nineties. And no, I am not talking about going from being a hippie to a yuppie.

I'm talking about a complete sleep transformation with just a few interventions. Does sleep feel kind of mysterious to you? Have you tried white noise and sleep apps? Or maybe the 3, 2, 1 bedtime routine or the 3 3 3 or the ten, three, two, one zero?

I'm not making this stuff up. Sleep has become so complicated. We forget that really it's a physiologic process necessary for the basic functions of life. And listen, you can't sleep better by trying harder. That just makes it worse. In fact, that's exactly what I cover in my sleep Masterclass. Everything You're Doing to Sleep Better is Keeping You Awake at Night, where I guide you through proven evidence-based ways to sleep better. Ask Claire how they work.

Last week I shared one of my favorite tools to turn off your mind so you can sleep. It's called cognitive switching or Cognitive shuffling. I'll put a link to that episode in the show notes because it is highly effective. Someone commented on my Facebook page, "Dr.Vickie, I'll try it tonight." That's the spirit. Put it to the test, and I asked her to let me know how it worked and the next day she commented, "Yes, it worked. I used the word faithful and then went on to smart, but only got as far as the A in smart."

Imagine falling asleep in less than 15 minutes instead of tossing and turning for an hour. That's a real story. It's not fantasy. It is transformation and it's possible for you, and I want to help you get there. I'm personally acquainted with sleeplessness too. It was my constant companion for years, even before delivering babies kept me up in the middle of the night. I come from a long line of poor sleepers. When I was a kid, we used to bump into each other in the hallway during the night.

That's just one of the reasons I am so passionate about helping others get the sleep they need for their health and wellbeing. And that's why I created my digital course, "Unlock the Secret to Sleep Your Personal Sleep Solution." Inside, I'll walk you through simple evidence-based steps to reset your sleep so you can finally feel like yourself again.

And because I know that sleep isn't a one size fits all when you join before September 17th, you'll get a personal one-on-one sleep evaluation with me. We'll look at your unique patterns and I'll help you identify the very first step that will get you moving toward better sleep right away.

📍Step one, enroll in Unlock The Secret to Sleep.

📍Step two, complete the sleep inventory and send it to me.

📍Step three. I'll give you a unique scheduling link to meet with me one-on-one. And together we'll choose the best place for you to start seeing results now.

📍Step four, change your sleep identity.

You can do it and I can help. Now if you're still staring at the ceiling at two o'clock in the morning thinking that's just me. I'm a poor sleeper. Nothing works and it will never change. Then visit healthy looks great on you.com and click the link. Unlock the Secret to Sleep. And see what's truly possible.

By the way, you have one more opportunity to catch the free Live masterclass tomorrow Saturday, September 13th, 2025 at 9:00 AM Central Standard Time. Hurry and sign up. now it's free, but registration is required. There is a link in the show notes, or you can visit my website, healthy looks great on you.com. And even if you can't show up live, I'll send you a replay if you sign up before nine o'clock in the morning.

Or, you could just binge watch Netflix all night or get your sleep tips from TikTok or Instagram. But if that's never worked for you and you're tired of being tired. This is your chance. Let's face it. If you could sleep better on your own, you would've already found the thing that helps. But if you're still struggling, check out. Unlock the Secret to Sleep, and let's do this together.

Then you could be like one of my sleep students who said, "For years I was running on empty and feeling the effects. After taking, Unlock the Secret to Sleep, my sleep improved, and now I feel in control of my life." Wow! It's amazing how sleeplessness robs you of control and how rest truly resets and recharges your entire life.

What if getting the best sleep of your life didn't mean buying blackout curtains in a new mattress? What if it started with something as simple as changing your approach to bedtime? One student told me that this course gives you all the tools and mindset that you need. See, that's the deal. You aren't broken, you just don't have the right tools yet. One last testimonial. "This course helped me reframe the way I think about sleep and get the rest I need."

That's the end game right there. Reframe, reset, and rest. Stop calling yourself a bad sleeper. Wake up on the right side of the bed, refreshed and ready for your day. So enroll now because registration ends on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, and only those who enroll before the 17th will get that special one-on-one sleep inventory for quick wins. Let's rewrite your story because healthy looks great on you, and it all starts with a full night's sleep.

Everything you're Doing to Sleep Better is Keeping you Awake

Cognitive switching

ENROLL in Unlock the Secret to Sleep

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 Counting sheep does not work, but this does. You likely learned to count before you went to kindergarten. So counting sheep is pretty simple. Your mind can easily flip between 45, 46, 47, and all of a sudden you're thinking about getting laundry detergent at the store tomorrow.

Cognitive switching, or sometimes called cognitive shuffling is a more effective tool to help you put your mind in neutral and drift into dreamland. The idea is to mentally shift gears and focus on something slightly harder than counting sheep, and there's more than one way to do it. But first, I have a story. Big surprise. I know. Recently I sat on the couch with my husband and planned a big trip for my birthday. Did you know that you can search Pinterest for trip itineraries?

But that's another story. Now I'm a master planner and give me some must see sites and I am all in. So I researched options, booked hotels, flights, a rental car, and several must see activities. The trip was booked and my mind was buzzing with excitement. The good kind. But then it was bedtime, and even though I went through my usual routine, slipped on my silky sleep mask to block out the light, I couldn't block out all those amazing adventures I had planned.

Essentially, my brain was still in high gear, and even though the plans were taken care of, the excitement was keeping me awake. I knew what to do to change mental gears. I used cognitive switching, and I'm going to tell you how to do it. Think of a word. Any word, it doesn't matter how long or how short, but I thought of vacation.

Then start with the first letter of the word you selected, and think of five other words. Begin with that letter. So I started with V and thought of victory vice voracious value and vapor, and then I moved on to A and thought of airplane administration armor askew. Acre and then C for castles and so on.

Now, I would caution you not to spend too much effort coming up with a word. You don't want to engage your brain at a high level, but positive words are always nice too. But just go with the first thing that comes to your mind and let the words flow. Now, it can take a little while to change directions when you're coming in mentally hot.

But I almost never get through a second word. So if you're still a wake and alert. When the first word is complete, repeat the process. Now, why does this work? Well, when you're drifting off to sleep, your brain starts a mental sorting process, throwing out random fragments of information. To make room for what will be stored overnight.

There's a lot of work that goes on while you're sleeping. Cognitive shuffling allows your brain to focus, but is boring enough to transition from alertness to relaxed and ready to rest. So when you can't turn off your mind, give this a try and let me know how it works for you. And if you find this technique helpful, then you will not want to miss my free live online masterclass that I have coming up.

It's called Everything you're Doing to Sleep Better is Keeping you Awake, and it is free. But registration is required and there are three available dates. There is Monday coming up this Monday on September 8th at noon, September 10th, which is Wednesday at 6:00 PM and Saturday September 13th at nine o'clock in the morning.

So you have three options to attend this free live masterclass, just go to my website, healthy looks great on you.com, and sign up for one of those three sessions and you will get a free workbook that contains all the tips I'm going to give, but it's not going to give you all the information you need.

You need to sign up and attend. If you can't attend live, go ahead and sign up anyway. You'll still get the workbook and you'll even get a replay. But what you won't get is the Food As Sleep Medicine Recipe Collection. You have to be there live to get that. And this is not just a recipe collection. This talks about the different foods and how they help you sleep.

Foods that are high in things like magnesium and B vitamins and tryptophan and serotonin and melatonin. So it gives you some foods and the reasons they work. And then I have six recipes that I will share with you. I've tested all of them and they're good, and they've got all the things that a healthy gut microbiome needs for you to get a good night's sleep.

But the only way you can get this recipe collection is to show up live for these free live masterclasses. So choose one. Go to my website healthy looks great on you.com, and sign up to get proven tips. And a bonus recipe collection because what if everything you're doing to sleep better is keeping you awake at night?

Everything You're Doing to Sleep Better is Keeping You Awake at Night

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