The Art of Pre-Selling

In this episode, Amber talks about how important it is to stop overcomplicating nutrition and try to make everything easier. On our health journey, it's really easy to pay attention to a lot of coaches, mentors, and influencers – especially on social media – and be bombarded with an absurd amount of tips, rules, and nutrition information.

For that reason, you might have picked up all of them to finally stay on track and get results but the reality is you just made it more complicated. And it's not your fault: the diet culture makes everything more complicated.

So, in this episode, Amber gives you an assignment: make a list of all the rules you think you need to follow to get results and cross out the ones that don't matter, or that are too unimportant to be effective, or that are too small. We need to be paying attention to the big dial-movers when it comes to losing weight (the ones that make sense). So before quitting carbs after 7 p.m. or being obsessive about sodium intake, for example, ask yourself: Did I drink enough water today? Am I consuming enough protein and veggies?

This basic stuff is way more important than all the tips you gathered from other people alongside your journey. Being discerning about what's important and what's not is the first step to your health goals!

Key Highlights

• Being bombarded with so much information about nutrition can make the whole process more complicated than it is;
• When it comes to weight loss goals start with the basics and stop focusing on what doesn't matter. This will increase your confidence and your daily consistency;
• Make an inventory of all the rules you follow to get results. Choose 3 Daily Nutritional Commitments (DNCs) to follow regularly. For example: stop being worried about supplements if you don't drink enough water.
• If you're having a hard time finding what's important and what's not, ask yourself: what makes sense?
• To follow your DNCs consistently, they need to be effortless, enjoyable, and effective.

Episode Resources

• Amber's free intermittent fasting guide: ambershaw.com/fasting
• Get the Beauty & Gut Collagen+ by MindBodyGreen by going to this link: MindBodyGreen and using CODE: wellnessrevolution15

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

In this episode, Amber sits down with actress Ari Zucker. She has been in the entertainment world for over 23 years and is widely known for her current role as Nicole Walker on the hit Daytime TV show Days of Our Lives.

Apart from her career in front of the camera, Ari is a creative mind coach, life coach, and positivity advocate—a new path she carved out for herself in 2019 right as the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside-down.

Today, Ari's brainchild Aloha Life Coaching is dedicated to providing support and guidance to those who were mentally and emotionally impacted by the economic and cultural turbulence of the past couple of years.

Ari's focus as a coach is on the gift of listening, absorbing information, and supporting clients with the tools to get to the root of HOW they can shift their mindset to a proactive way of living. "When we value change over our current situation, we begin to create the life we imagine."

Listen in as Ari and Amber discuss the paradigm shifts that have to take place in order to regain control over your life.

They talk about the importance of taking personal accountability for your thoughts and actions, relaxing into what you desire, focusing not only on what you want but how you want to feel, and the right way to practice self-care.

Key Highlights

• It's okay to fall off the wagon now and then, as long as you make the effort to get back on track.
• Your thoughts lead to feelings which lead to actions which lead to results. When you can understand how your body works, you will be able to process your thoughts much more effectively.
• Self-coaching and troubleshooting negativity in your life can be as simple as taking a journal and continually asking yourself "why" until you get to the root cause of why you feel the way you do.
• As human beings, we tend to blame everyone and everything around us for our misfortunes, when really, at the end of the day we're blaming ourselves. True healing starts when we acknowledge that it all starts and ends with our own mindset and the choices which follow.
• The power of a word or phrase depends entirely on the value you give it.
• There are two ways to approach life: either with the belief that things happen to you or that things happen for Which approach will you choose?

Episode Resources

• Amber's Little Black Dress Bootcamp: com/little-black-dress-bootcamp

Connect with Ari

Instagram (Ari Zucker): @ari8675

Instagram (Aloha Life Coaching): @alohalifecoaching

TikTok: @arianne_zucker8675

LinkedIn: Arianne Zucker

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

In this episode Amber explains why achieving significant physical changes is less about getting every little detail right and more about consistently making a bunch of good choices—no matter how small they might be—over the long haul.

It's true that, on our health and wellness journey, there is always more to learn, and a little more discipline gained over time makes a big difference. But that's exactly Amber's point: Transformations don't happen overnight!

She reminds us in today's episode to not sweat the small stuff. In other words, refuse to get caught up in the weeds.

It's when we get hung up on minutiae that paralysis holds us back from making progress. If there's anything we actually need to focus on, it's the fundamentals.

Listen in as Amber reveals exactly what these big dial movers are and how you can optimize each of them in your own life!

Key Highlights

• Sustainable change is not about perfection. It's about making consistent, incremental changes over time.
• Sleep is, hands down, the most important thing you can do for your body.
• If there was just one thing you can do to improve your nutrition today, it would be eating less packaged food.
• For women especially, strength training three-to-four days a week is the fastest way to see changes in your body.
• 30% of your daily calories in protein is a great rule of thumb.
• Dedicate every non-strength training day to restorative activity, whether it be yoga, a hike, or even just a walk in the park. It's not just a great approach to active rest, but restorative activities also aid in hormone balance because they counteract those hard training days in-between.

Episode Resources

• Amber's free intermittent fasting guide: ambershaw.com/fasting
• Get the Beauty & Gut Collagen+ by MindBodyGreen by going to this link: MindBodyGreen and using CODE: wellnessrevolution15

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

In this episode, Amber once again sits down with intermittent fasting coach Laurie Lewis. This time, they dive into all things menopause. This topic is so important because it is the source of so much frustration, confusion, and even shame for a lot of women.

Laurie shares her experience with menopause and encourages listeners—both men and women—to not be afraid of having these types of discussions with the people most important to them.

In fact, she says that menopause can be "a big, exciting transition as opposed to a demoralizing one" if we refuse to treat it as such.

Laurie explains that sleep, hydration, meditation, walking, yoga, and—most importantly—intermittent fasting made the biggest difference for her.

Listen in as she and Amber discuss the lesser-known benefits of intermittent fasting and why more women over 40 should consider incorporating it into their lifestyle as they traverse down the road to healing!

Key Highlights

• From feeling like she was on top of her game in her early 40s to gaining 50 pounds in a short amount of time, Laure shares how she was forced to make major lifestyle shifts as menopause became her reality.
• In this period of transition, it's time to be gentle with yourself, slow down, and listen to your body.
• It's vital for women over 45 to manage their insulin levels, and the best way to do that is through intermittent fasting.
• Estrogen and progesterone are in constant flux and chaos throughout perimenopause. Talk to your doctor and have your levels tested to know the next step to healing.
• Focus on small, mindful shifts instead of the many complexities of menopause to avoid overwhelm and make real, step-by-step progress.
• Do not treat intermittent fasting as a "diet". The exact time you eat isn't as important as embracing your intuition: Your body will tell you when it needs to eat, and will tell you once it's achieved satiety.
• Intermittent fasting can be a beautiful way to work with your body. Refer to your fasting time as your "healing hours" and your eating window as your "pleasure hours".

Episode Resources

• Amber's Little Black Dress Bootcamp: ambershaw.com/little-black-dress-bootcamp

Connect with Laurie

Website: www.fastforwardwellness.com

Instagram: @fast_forward_wellness

Facebook: Laurie Lewis

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

In this episode, Amber explains why having a powerful vision statement gets us in the right frame of mind to smash our wellness goals!

The secret to sustainable weight loss lies in forging the right mindset. This mindset is not only important, but vital in your quest to create your ideal lifestyle – one where you're losing weight while enjoying life at the same damn time!

It's a mindset that Amber herself realized (the hard way!) did not involve agonizing over calories and choosing the "right" foods every minute of every day.

It all begins and ends with having a well-defined vision statement.

Listen in as Amber explains, step-by-step, how you can put together your own vision statement and lay a strong foundation for your health and fitness journey!

Wellness Quote

• "If you want true physique change and you want it to stick, we gotta get your mind right." –Amber Shaw

Key Highlights

• Too many people have cycled through all the fad diets of the hour only to end up at the same place they started – or worse! Transforming your body is less about the program and more about your mindset.
• Uncover the deep driving force pushing you to lose weight that goes beyond the superficial. This will eventually lead to a clear definition of your why and make your health and fitness journey so much smoother in the long run.
• Remember: Weight loss is just one piece of the puzzle. What else needs to change in order for you to become the person you want to be and live the life you want to live?

Episode Resources

• Amber's free intermittent fasting guide: ambershaw.com/fasting
• Get the Beauty & Gut Collagen+ by MindBodyGreen (CODE: wellnessrevolution15) https://shop.mindbodygreen.com/

About Amber Shaw

Amber is a Body Transformation Expert, Founder of The Wellness Revolution, motivational speaker, and NBC Health and Wellness Coach. Having built a lifestyle that allowed her to embrace work, children, exercise, and well-balanced eating habits, Amber now works with helping and coaching women to achieve the same level of serenity and empowerment through a sustainable way of living.

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

Facebook: Amber Shaw

In this episode Amber is talking with the amazing Monica Molenaar. Together, Amber and Monica talk about menopause and the devastating and quick changes it can make to your body. They discuss the importance of hormone therapy and all of the misinformation circulating and propagating that can really be more harmful than good. Menopause is a topic that so many women are wondering about and going through themselves. Unfortunately…there just isn't enough information out there and easily available.

Because of Monica's extensive family history of breast cancer, she was extremely proactive about screenings. After finding out she was BRCA positive at a young age and having her ovaries removed she was thrust immediately into menopause because of loss of estrogen production. It was an overnight change that was unexpected and extremely difficult. She experienced many early onset symptoms. She talks about how not sleeping, gaining weight, being in a bad mood because of lack of sleep, slowing metabolism, looking and feeling exhausted, being really irritable (NOT good with noisy little ones running around!) and experiencing major joint pain really affected all aspects of life. Carrying the extra weight and not feeling at all like herself any longer felt "demoralizing" to her. Amber and Monica discuss how body image and weight can really affect the mental health aspect of this process and of life in general.

After finding a knowledgeable doctor and being given a compounded hormone treatment she experienced much relief. She finally felt like herself again. When deciding to go back out into the workforce, Monica was determined to find what she was passionate about and Alloy was born. Alloy is a tele-health platform with medical doctors on standby, for people needing medical advice and/or medications. Amber and Monica talk about the importance of gut micro-biome and how it affects menopause as well as so many aspects of life.

Key Highlights

• Monica talks about how important it is to seek answers and see other doctors when you don't feel like you are getting what you need from one.
• 80% of women will experience moderate to severe symptoms of menopause. Three fourths of those women will actually go to a doctor to get help. Only 6% of women are prescribed medications.
• Hormone replacement therapy far outweighs the risks.
• Women need access to the mental and physical help that they require.
• The gut micro-biome are SO important for overall health.
• The meaning of menopause is estrogen depleted.
• Feeling good and feeling like yourself is so important.
• We're living in a time with so many resources but so much misinformation.

Episode Resources

• Amber's Little Black Dress Bootcamp: ambershaw.com/little-black-dress-bootcamp
• Cymbiotika discount code, use code AMBER15

Connect with Monica

Website: www.myalloy.com

Instagram: @myalloy

Facebook: Alloy | Facebook

Linktree: Alloy Women's Health | Linktree

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

There are tools that Amber has been talking about a lot lately on social media and it is called exposure therapy or intermittent sampling. This tool is very powerful and can help you to trust yourself around food more so that you are not stuck on diets that don't work. Lifestyle 2.0 is all about making healthy choices that taste good to you and feel good in your body. This tool can help you to eliminate binge sessions and make sustainable weight loss possible.

In this episode, we talk about how food is food. There is no good food or bad food. Amber shares tools that help you learn how to trust yourself around food, get to Lifestyle 2.0, and stop binge eating. She also talked about what the differences between Lifestyle 1.0 and 2.0 and why diet culture keeps us stuck in 1.0

It is not about being perfect, but consistent. One tip is to do exposure therapy and journal what feelings come up when you are having cravings. What emotions, physical feelings, and thoughts come up?

You in, Mama? Tune in for more!

Wellness Quote

"Diets don't teach us what to do when the diet is over. They start with nutrition and end with exercise. This is Lifestyle 1.0" -Amber Shaw

Key Highlights

• Jill Coleman, business coach, coined the term "exposure therapy", which is a tool that helps people to learn to trust themselves around food. It can help to eliminate binge sessions
• Eliminating whole food groups, or living your life in a "diet mentality", is not the goal. It is not real life or realistic. We need to live in Lifestyle 2.0
• The point of this is to trust yourself around food and to take a look at what else you're doing in your lifestyle to see why is it that you are binging on and where it can be in your nutrition
• If you are following on and off the wagon, your wagon sucks. You are following wheels made by someone else and it is just not working
• To get to Lifestyle 2.0, it is not just one thing. You have to do multiple things to arrive at this place.

Episode Resources

• Amber's free intermittent fasting guide: ambershaw.com/fasting
• Get the Beauty & Gut Collagen+ by MindBodyGreen (CODE: wellnessrevolution15) https://shop.mindbodygreen.com/

About Amber Shaw

Amber is a Body Transformation Expert, Founder of The Wellness Revolution, motivational speaker, and NBC Health and Wellness Coach. Having built a lifestyle that allowed her to embrace work, children, exercise, and well-balanced eating habits, Amber now works with helping and coaching women to achieve the same level of serenity and empowerment through a sustainable way of living.

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

Facebook: Amber Shaw

In this episode, Amber is talking to board certified neurologist, Dr. Philippe Douyon. Together, they break down the science behind neuroplasticity, how to improve your neurological health through simple action steps, and what you can do as a woman to take care of your brain and live a long, healthy life.

As Philippe says, there's so much more we can do for people besides prescribing them a pill or taking them to the operating room. So many neurological disorders are developed from lifestyle decisions. Thus, Philippe created The Inle BrainFit Institute to help create exercise and nutrition regimens for patients based on their medical and neurological needs. Dr. Douyon's BrainFit app also helps teach people everything that impacts their neurological, mental, and medical health. Philippe even has a course that enables you to Take Charge of Your Brain.

So, how can we take charge of our brain starting TODAY? As a patient himself, Philippe has applied the lessons he's learned as a patient to the people he's serving and taking care of. One of the biggest lessons he's learned is the importance of taking time to get to know the factors that are impacting one's health and teaching them how to overcome the challenges they face.

Are you ready to take charge of your brain health? Tune in to learn more!

Key Highlights

• If you don't have access to holistic or functional medicine doctors, Philippe says you have to be dedicated to taking good care of yourself every day so you can stay healthy and avoid landing in a hospital. Improving your brain health today starts with actionable diet and lifestyle changes.
• You need someone in your close circle that can advocate for you during doctor/hospital visits. Having a person, or multiple people, that can fight for you is HUGE in reaching the health outcomes you want.
• To improve and/or maintain your brain health, movement and exercise (that you enjoy) is #1 - particularly aerobic exercise and resistance training. Living a sedentary lifestyle actually causes your brain to shrink! Minimizing stress, meditating, breathwork, eating healthy foods, drinking plenty of water, getting enough quality (deep) sleep, and learning new things can all improve brain health and decrease your risk of developing Alzheimer's and other diseases.
• Cosmetic plastic surgery and drinking alcohol can negatively affect neurological health and neuroplasticity. Listen in to hear why Philippe believes that "one glass of wine a day" is total BS!

Episode Resources

• The Inle BrainFit Institute
• Take Charge of Your Brain course
• Dr. Douyon's BrainFit app
• Neuroplasticity: Your Brain's Superpower by Philippe Douyon MD
• Amber's Little Black Dress Bootcamp: ambershaw.com/little-black-dress-bootcamp
• Cymbiotika discount code, use code AMBER15

Connect with Philippe

Website: www.inlebrainfitinstitute.com

Instagram: @philippe.md

Facebook: Philippe Douyon, MD

LinkedIn: Dr. Philippe Douyon

Email: [email protected]

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

Facebook: Amber Shaw

In this episode, Amber unpacks a common hurdle that many people face when it comes to following a nutrition plan: getting through the weekend without falling off-track!

It's tough to avoid the temptation to binge over the weekend with friends or family, then attempt to justify it later on by telling yourself that it was just a "cheat meal"... before proceeding to the next binge, resulting in a full-on cheat day!

Then, once Monday rolls around – along with those inevitable feelings of shame and guilt – you punish yourself by severely cutting back on your calories and spending an additional half-hour on the treadmill to "make up" for overindulging over the past couple of days.

That knee-jerk urge to restrict yourself after a weekend of binging is part and parcel of diet mentality – something that Amber reminds us is an unproductive and sometimes even dangerous mindset to live by in the long run.

Still, it's inevitable that we veer off-course on our journey every now and again. The question, then, is: How do we get back on track?

Ready for the answer, Mama? Tune in for more!

Wellness Quote

• "If you're stuck in the 'I'm not allowed to have that' box, you're never going to get to the next level – what I consider 'Lifestyle 2.0." –Amber Shaw

Key Highlights

• The neverending roller coaster of weekly binging and restricting is not only unhealthy, but also unrealistic as an attempt to "catch up" to your health goals.
• Always keep the satisfaction factor in mind when preparing your meals. The main reason we fall off-track and our willpower fizzles out is because the track we're trying to stay on sucks! Make it a point to enjoy your meals and you won't have to worry about getting derailed.
• There are no "good" foods and "bad" foods. Instead, tell yourself: "I'm a grown-ass woman and I can eat whatever I want." Make this your affirmation. It's an absolute game-changer!
• Diet mentality will keep you stuck in Lifestyle 1.0. Get out of that restrictive box, choose the food you enjoy every time, and supercharge your progress with Lifestyle 2.0!

Episode Resources

• Amber's free intermittent fasting guide: ambershaw.com/fasting
• Get the Beauty & Gut Collagen+ by MindBodyGreen (CODE: wellnessrevolution15) https://shop.mindbodygreen.com/

About Amber Shaw

Amber is a Body Transformation Expert, Founder of The Wellness Revolution, motivational speaker, and NBC Health and Wellness Coach. Having built a lifestyle that allowed her to embrace work, children, exercise, and well-balanced eating habits, Amber now works with helping and coaching women to achieve the same level of serenity and empowerment through a sustainable way of living.

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

Facebook: Amber Shaw

In this episode, Amber is talking to the badass woman that is Amy Ledin. They are breaking down the barriers around weight loss and being completely transparent by looking inward and rather than in the mirror. If we're being honest, how many of us associate that dreaded mirror negatively? That's why we have to show up for ourselves in everything we do to prove– damn, we are worth it.

But what does this mean? It seems almost trendy to say "show up for yourself." Really, as Amy and Amber break it up, it comes down to intention. Amy and Amber both have stories that many of us can relate to. Did you ever have that moment as a child where you realized, there was just something different about the way you looked– and it didn't make you feel good. As Amy says, "no one likes to be the chubby kid in school."

But we aren't children anymore. But some of us may have kids that have inherited that same title we had. We have to show up for ourselves. Like an airplane emergency, the parent puts on the mask first and then the child. When we have intention behind our decisions, we are modeling effective behavior for our children. It is up to us to keep our home environments strong.

How do we do this? As the episode wraps, Amy discusses a BANG-card technique (Behavior, Activity, Nutrition, Growth). These are four agreements we make to ourselves the night before and if we can check each item off as achieved, we have won that day. A simple tool, but what an empowering way to show up for yourself and win back your life– whether it be weight loss or any other valley.

You in, Mama? Tune in for more!

Wellness Quote

• "I was just a really good program follower for years, but the moment you took that away from me, I was looking for ways to break my promise [to myself]." –Amy Ledin

Key Highlights

• Childhood as the "chubby kid" can lead to inner work we have to deal with as adults.
• Personal development work is everyday. It has to be intentional– with purpose.
• What behaviors are you modeling for your children? Even if you don't think you're modeling anything health-wise, you most certainly are. Take a moment to think about what those behaviors are currently and if they should be changed.
• We don't meal prep pizza! When we plan ahead of time, we are making better choices for ourselves.
• Because of the dieting culture that has been so pervasive, diets often run very deeply for women in a psychological sense.
• Don't confuse a promise with willpower. Think of an agreement to yourself. If you say you are going to make your bed, then make the damn bed. That's an agreement you have kept with yourself. What other areas of your health can those agreements lend themselves to?

Episode Resources

• Amber's Little Black Dress Bootcamp: ambershaw.com/little-black-dress-bootcamp
• Cymbiotika discount code, use code AMBER15

Connect with Amy

Instagram: @amy_ledin

Facebook: Amy Ledin

Website: amyledin.com

Connect with Amber

Instagram: @msambershaw

TikTok: @msambershaw

Website: ambershaw.com

Facebook: Amber Shaw