Ketones and Coffee Podcast with Lorenz
Ketones and Coffee Podcast with Lorenz
Episode 173: Dr. Sarah Zaldivar ON Harnessing Dopamine to Conquer Food addiction
In this episode of the Ketones and Coffee podcast, host Lorenz welcomes Dr. Sarah Zaldivar, a PhD holder from the University of Miami specialized in exercise physiology and nutrition. Dr. Zaldivar is known for her holistic approach to health, incorporating nutrition, exercise, mindset, and the science behind addiction, particularly sugar addiction, into her coaching practices.
She discusses her personal journey from struggling with weight and addiction to understanding the significant role of dopamine in overcoming such challenges. Dr. Zaldivar outlines her research and application of exercise as a tool to rebuild dopamine receptors and improve overall well-being. She emphasizes the importance of discomfort in workouts for dopamine stimulation, discusses the societal challenges in maintaining health, and provides insight into how understanding and adjusting our mindset towards food and exercise can lead to sustainable health changes. Additionally, Dr. Zaldivar shares resources and guides available on her website designed to help individuals increase their dopamine levels, improve fitness, and embrace a healthier lifestyle.
00:00 Welcome to the Ketones and Coffee Podcast with Dr. Sarah Zaldivar
01:22 Exploring Holistic Health, Mindset, and Overcoming Struggles
04:38 The Journey from Weight Obsession to Nutrition Expertise
11:30 Addressing Food Addiction and the Power of Dopamine
15:27 Understanding Sugar Addiction and Its Impact
16:50 Identifying and Overcoming Food Addiction
19:59 The Role of Environment and Mindset in Addiction Recovery
24:07 Planning and Managing 'Off Plan' Meals
26:25 Unlocking the Cure to Addiction: A Revolutionary Approach
28:17 Exercise as a Key to Overcoming Addiction
28:50 The Science of Exercise and Dopamine: Boosting Your Baseline
33:56 Practical Tips for Gradually Increasing Exercise Intensity
42:01 The Psychological Impact of Exercise: Beyond Physical Health
43:34 Navigating the Risks of Exercise Addiction
46:57 Dr. Sarah Zaldivar's Guides to Transforming Your Life
48:12 Closing Thoughts: The Power of Discomfort and Dopamine
Dr. Sarah Zaldivar
Professor, Miami Dade College
Youtube: https://youtube.com/@dr.sarah.zaldivar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.sarah.zaldivar/
Call to action for listeners: Follow ketones and Coffee Podcast on Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/keton.esncoffee ), Youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsZZmBEenvZnU8tA1npAODA ),
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So excited for this, guys. Today, we have a special guest joining us, Dr. Sarah Zaldivar. I'm excited for this. She brings a wealth of knowledge in exercise physiology, nutrition, and holistic health. Dr. Zaldivar holds a PhD from the University of Miami, specializing in exercise physiology and nutrition as a licensed dietitian and certified personal trainer. Dr. Zaldivar is also a YouTube and Instagram creator. She serves as an inspiration for many, many people in achieving their weight loss goals through nutrition, mindset, and Exercise and everything in between. Sarah, welcome to the ketones and coffee podcast.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Thank you so much, Lawrence, for having me. Did I say your name right, Lawrence?
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. That's
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah, I'm
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Lorenz.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:for the beautiful intro. Let's, uh, let's dive in.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Absolutely. You know, I want to acknowledge just how I'm completely in awe of, you know, what you, the range of topics that you cover. I mean, you really look, you really took. you know, holistic health, holistic healing to a much higher level. I mean, which of course, you know, speaks to your versatility in covering a wide range of topics, which I hope we can, you know, discuss, you know, have enough time to explore that today. just excited to have you on. How are you, where are you coming from anyways? Where are you based?
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Thank you, thank you. So, yeah, so I'm in Ocala, Florida, and, uh, to touch upon, you know, what you mentioned, the wide range of topics that I talk about, um, it's because everything is interrelated, right? And for me to help my clients the way that I help myself, I had to really understand how to change everything, everything about my life, you know, and that just understanding the health aspect, but also the mindset. This is the one thing I think that is the most underestimated component of success in health, in relationships, in your career. If you don't have a success mindset. You're just not going to persist. You're not going to be relentless You're not going to frame the failures as the learning lessons that they are and so I feel like I've had to really go and tackle the health aspect. I had to tackle the mindset aspect and the um when you tackle the mindset aspect you realize that You probably in your nine to five. So, and so I have published the quitting your nine to five, you know, guide, which I finally did too. I, the last formal employment that I had held, held onto was a teaching, uh, position at Miami Dade college. I was teaching nutrition there. And, uh, so finally quit also like two weeks ago. So, you know, everything goes together if you're hating your job and you're hating your bosses and you're hating just the career path you chose just because you've invested in it for so long and now you feel stuck. It's like, I just put too much into this one path. What's the point? Like, it's like, so what? Even if you did invest all this time, you have to invest happiness for the rest of your life. It just makes no sense.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah, it's it's everything's
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:love it. Uh
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:and the struggle the struggle like if I hadn't struggled in all those things I wouldn't have been able to help other people because That's what I tell all my clients your struggle is your greatest advantage It's like don't be mad that this is that you have to fix this and this because once you overcome that You're going to be so much more valuable to humanity and the marketplace as compared to somebody who just kind of Breezed through you know, always always was fit always was healthy Just had to like go a few times to the gym, you know, so your struggle is you know Hmm You don't make mistakes. Mistakes make you.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Wow. I love it. I love it already. Happiness. Absolutely. I would love to touch upon that. hopefully. But, uh, but at the, at the end, but I wanna touch on your struggle that you talked about there. I mean, as someone who's tried and seen all the diets it's clear. That one of your deepest passion is about health and wellness, right? And weight loss and not just nutrition. And you talk about exercise and you want to, I want to get to talk about dopamine as well. So that's a big topic that I want to discuss that you talked very eloquently about and how we can cure binge eating, yo yo dieting and cravings. Because I believe that if we cure those things. I mean, we can all lose the weight and keep that off. So we'll get to that. But first, let's talk about that story. The struggle that you talked about and what led to you exploring health and wellness. Talk about that.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:so ever since I was like, I think 12 I started developing an obsession with weight loss because of this like casual remark by one of my classmates like oh Yeah, cuz you're fat or something like that like very casual. Of course. I was mortified, you know a little girl And I wasn't really like that overweight, but I definitely always had a few extra like Fluff. I mean, it was never one of the skinny girls, you know, but that led to eating disorders. Cause once you start restricting and not knowing what to eat and not knowing how to diet, and then, um, you know, seeing a dietitian at 14 and putting, she put us on the food guide pyramid where it's like the base is all carbohydrates. I started eating more carbs as opposed to less in an attempt to lose weight. And so that created binge eating disorder and that created all kinds of, um, you know, uh, Disordered, uh, behaviors around food. And so then my weight ballooned up to like 60, 63 kilos What is 63 kilos and I remember my weights back when I lived in Lebanon, which is where I grew up, it's in the metrics. them. You just do 63 times 2. 2 and you'll get the you'll get the weight in pounds. I prefer not to do math in public. So, um, from there, um, I obviously to kind of figure it out. And brain was like, there's no dietician who's fat, right? So that's why I chose to go into nutrition diabetics. And of course, in the first, literally the first, semester, um, my nutrition professor who I adore, she's just amazing. But she was she was very, you know overweight thinking I was in shock I was like, but but how you know, like that was the first real kind of education that told me just knowing Well, also what we were being taught is the wrong stuff, right? We were taught the wrong stuff and also Just even if you know, like carnivores great just doesn't mean you're gonna automatically lose weight, right? And we can dive into that so That's that's kind of where why I did nutrition dietetics and then eventually, you know a phd in exercise physiology at the university of miami just to kind of um, Because I knew I wanted to leave lebanon. There was no like Good future for me a very ambitious ambitious person and almost all of the other classmates of mine either like they get married and they have kids and they stay in lebanon or You They get married and they have kids and they move to, like, the Middle East, like, in Dubai. And I just, I'm a very, like, staunch, you feminist, equal rights, um, gonna tell me what I can and cannot wear, and, and so I, even Dubai, people like to, like, Ooh, Dubai is great. It's like, yeah, well, I, I, see the signs that they put on the like, and, like, In arabic, they'll be like you have to like wear It's like f you I would never live in a that so that's why I had no other option but to leave And um, and yeah, I planned it out for like two years straight I I was tables as if even though had my master's I was still waiting tables There is no good jobs there. So, um, every little dime I had, I put it towards, um, you know, taking all of the, the tests too. I wanted I wanted to guarantee that I was going to leave. And so I applied to multiple different universities, all the four graduate schools for a PhD. I got accepted in and then eventually decided it was, I got accepted into like Florida State University, um, Baylor University, which actually the best program. Dakota State University, don't ask why I fly there. um, University of Miami. And then it was like, hmm, Baylor or U M? Like, no, I'm going to Miami. That's Yeah.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:So you got this, uh, Do you got this awareness in you that, uh, is so innate and you, I believe that you are a true practitioner cause you all, you wanted to practice it yourself. You're not just there just to learn these things because all of these things that you're noticing, uh, you're picking up things that. Some people may not pick up like, uh, you're one of your professors would be overweight, but how, right? You're so aware of that and you wanted to, you know, apply what you learned to yourself and if something doesn't look right to you, know, for people, you know, I love how I, I, I, There's practitioners and there are true practitioners where they apply it to themselves, right? They're not just there to learn, but they're there to observe and really do, do it themselves. And if it works, you know, great. I'll keep it. Right. So I believe that a lot of the guests I have on the show is all are. You know, true practitioners where they came from a struggle and from that, they overcame that struggle, learn a lot about that struggle and find things that works for them. That, uh, sometimes is unconventional. Sometimes are, you know, things that are viewed, you know, radical change, right. Uh, you know, calling it a diet you know, ancestral eating, all that good stuff.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:idea. Let's go back to eating. The one diet we ate for 99. 99 percent of our existence as a species here on Earth. Isn't it wild that we think that that's radical, you know? Yeah.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah. it is. It is wild. and nowadays it's really hard to stay on a carnivore diet or keto diet without, you know, the thought of going for a cheat day because just, you know, our environment is so It is so cool. You know, the society with the society as well that, uh, you know, pushes all of these agendas, like for you know, the food, food, food industry for the pharmaceutical industry, you know, just the sickness model that we have today, it's just so hard to stick to a diet. It's so hard to stick to, you know, you know, just keep just keeping the weight off is hard for a lot of people, right? You may lose the weight. But it's, it's hard to keep it off because of, you know, cravings because of binge eating, yo yo dieting. I think all, all of, you know, the society, uh, and, you know, the environment that we live in, it's just makes it hard for me to become
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Right? Because it's addiction, right? Because people are still, you know, aren't fully absorbing the gravity of the situation of what food addiction really is, you know? Any person is overweight or obese. It's why? Why are they overeating beyond what their physiological hunger signals are telling them? It's addiction, right? They're not eating to really feel full or satisfied. They're eating to go back and feel normal again because they've destroyed their dopamine centers in their brain from a lifetime of food addiction. And so this is the biggest that this is what my dissertation topic was about. It was about treating the root cause of food addiction, specifically sugar addiction, utilizing the one tool that can do that, which is exercise in a very specific way. Not any exercise going to work, right? Because if you do it the wrong way, there is such a thing as exercise addiction. That's the wrong way to do it. You have to understand how to create an exercise program or prescription so that you can build back up your dopamine centers so that you treat the root cause of addiction, which is a destruction of your dopamine centers in the brain. So dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy, excited, productive, um, like high, you know, this is why people do cocaine or Adderall, which is pharmaceutical grade cocaine, right? It's an amphetamine that raises. Dopamine and makes you feel amazing. But, um, we don't want to do it in that way. we want high and we can feel high, but not in, uh, not in a way that's unsustainable. So what you want to do is instead of taking a drug like cocaine or Adderall and thinking, Putting it all at once, raising your dopamine and then having the destruction happen later on. Cause after every high, there's a low, what you want to do is front load the work and do the exercise in the right way so that you raise your baseline dopamine level. So let me explain real quick how that works. Dopamine gets released from a brain cell and it has to attach to its receptor on the cell surface of adjacent brain cells, and the res, the receptors for dopamine. There is a bunch of receptors. The ones that we're mostly interested in that's been studied the most within the field of addiction is the D two receptor, right? Because we have D one, D two, D three, D 45, we care about the D two mainly when it when it comes to addiction. So with addiction. When you're taking a drug, whether it's cocaine or whether it's a cupcake, it's a drug. It destroys the d2 receptors. See, because if you're taking a drug like a cupcake or cocaine, it releases all this dopamine all at once in above normal levels. And so your brain, freaks out because it doesn't know for how long this heightened sense of stimulation is going to last for because it thinks, is this person going to continue taking lines of cocaine forever and be stimulated and not eat and not sleep? They're going to kill themselves. So let me protect them from themselves. Let me destroy the D2 receptors. So that even if they're doing lines of coke, it doesn't matter because if they're releasing all this dopamine It doesn't have these two receptors for it to bind to because for dopamine to exert its effect The dopamine has to bind to its two receptors It's like a lock and key situation when that binding occurs is when you feel good or high depending how much dopamine got released. So your brain is really helping you when you're in the throes of addiction, whether it's to a hard drug like cocaine or sugar, which I would argue is probably even worse of a hard drug. So what it does is starts to destroy the D2 receptors. So now, even if you're having those cupcakes and those cakes, then at least you're not stimulated forever. And this is what ends up happening. You build tolerance, right? Eventually, you, your, um, Your baseline dopamine activity, your baseline dopamine is dictated by how many D2 receptors you have. So over time, you have less and less and less D2 receptors. So over time, you're not taking the drug to feel high anymore. You're just taking the drug or you're eating the carbs and the sugar just to feel normal again. Because without it, those D2 receptors, you have so little of them that It's very hard to feel to activate them because you have so little d2 receptors even though you're releasing some dopamine You don't have enough receptors to get stimulated. So you're almost depressed most of the time And so, um, if you're not having the sugars or the carbs, you literally feel
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah. Mm hmm. Yes. You know, I can attest that sugar is worse because it's accepted and it's normalized and it's hidden in plain sight. And we all know that you know, chronic diseases starts, you know, with consuming and, and spiking your blood sugar every single day, and which leads to insulin resistance. And I want to get to talk to you about that's, that's, thank you for that explanation.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:and the age of onset, right? We they hook us from when we were children So the younger the age of onset of drug use You The worst it is in terms of long term sobriety, success rates.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah. And a lot of kids now from nine to 13 are getting diagnosed, uh, pre diabetic, right? And which is, which is crazy to me because a lot of people, yeah, you know, it, before you get diagnosed type two diabetic, you are, you've been insulin resistant for years and that's what, that's what people don't understand. You know, I consider myself as an abstainer. Right. And I noticed that when I would allow myself to have a small piece, you know, this is my own, uh, story, especially if I do it in the morning. And once I let myself have one, it always becomes a whole day of binge. And the floodgates open and that one piece always leads to, uh, you know, you, you say me saying you already had one, the day is somehow unsalvageable for me. Yeah. You talked about your own struggles with addiction that you also identify within yourself. I want to get to identify people to identify this within themselves. How were you able to accept the fact that you have an addiction and what did you do next?
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:It's funny because I did my dissertation on the topic and I still was in denial. If you just watched that, I was, you know, still doing keto and doing keto treats. I even wrote a keto dessert cookbook after I had graduated with my, with my PhD working on sugar addiction, you know, it's funny. Denial is real. And I think the biggest turning point for me was. When I worked on my dissertation and I had to do like the literature review, do all the research, I was able to include the research that compared sugar to cocaine and showed like sugar is four to eight times more addictive than cocaine. Somehow I felt like cocaine, like cause I knew people in my life that were very functional, happy humans who will do cocaine here and there. And so I feel like my personal experience, that drug is like, uh, I know people who can do it. And it's like the next day at the it's all good. They're not addicts. They're not, you know,
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:so it's, it's yeah. And I think because of YouTube and working with clients and researching and all that stuff, eventually I came across the studies that came out later after I had already written my literature review, which is why I wasn't aware of them during my dissertation. They came out in 2017, pitting sugar against heroin. And it showed the same thing that you know sugar is far more addictive than heroin and by the way when I say sugar I'm talking about the sweet taste whether it's from actual sugar or artificial sweetener It's the same thing most of the studies
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:right.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:use the artificial sweeteners because they're sweeter than sugar So it's even worse. It's that sweet taste when your taste buds It detects that sweet taste, it sends that dopamine signal to your brain. So I think that was a major turning point for me, I was like, wow. You know, it's like, how can you consistently have something that's more addictive than heroin and expect to be able to control your food intake? You know that I think that was a major turning point for me.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Ah. Be honest with me, alright? Now I said I go on an off plan meal once a week, right? Well, how do you distinguish a healthy relationship with food and one that may be addictive? Because, you know, I can't go Longer than maybe 14 days, you know, uh, also like I, I want to take my, my wife out, uh, to dinner, to dinner and my, my daughter. So I'm hitting two birds with one stone, but I am having sweet stuff, uh, once a
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah, you're having
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:a healthy relationship
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:You already know if you're having a an addiction or not if you're having sweet stuff once a week But then it's not turning into a week long All out binge, then you're not really addicted, you know? And that's, that's very, I know it's hard for people to get that. especially I've done so many like content pieces on that sugar is more addictive than heroin. Yes, it is. It's true. But at the same time, if you remember like the Vietnam veterans, like, um, 80 percent of the Vietnam veterans to heroin during the war when they came back into a different environment and in a healthy a happy Environment they just stopped they did they didn't all become, you know Like 80 percent went back to normal and only 20 percent actually stayed Um heroin addicts and so it's not so much about the drug. It's more about your life Circumstances your overall happiness in life, right? And this is probably why those cocaine at not the people that I knew that you know would do cocaine and then just be super You know successful later on it's because they were an addict. They yeah, they dabbled in a drug here and there But that was it, You know, so um
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:I'll have
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:about that,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:know, I share what I eat on, on all of my social media and you can see like, you know, Gatorade, um, sugar free Gatorade and stuff like Sometimes I'll have a Quest bar there. It's no longer an addiction, you know, because I've raised my baseline dopamine level. So it doesn't turn into this insatiable, out of control event where it's like, I had it. And now I just want more and it doesn't end in day It takes like a week or two or whatever the case may be and it's funny over time I noticed the addictive tendencies They got shorter in length and the intensity of whatever I was choosing got less in addiction potential And that's really important for people to understand that You know, it's not like sugar is the devil and if I have sugar after two three days of sobriety I'll never like that's it. I I just have no control over it It's like no it's it's a gradual thing because if you take a drug You're taking away that dopamine stimulation that you were used to so now you took away that dopamine So now you're running on empty your brain is like Very low on the amount of dopamine that it needs just to function So you need to work on raising your baseline dopamine level and as you work to raise that event You will naturally see the symptoms of low dopamine like addiction will get better and better and better until They are completely extinguished, you know
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:You talk about like occasional cravings versus like deeper addictive patterns, right?
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah, Yeah, and you will still by the way one day you're super tired. You haven't slept in a you know for whatever You will still Your mind still have a craving here and there even if you're working to raise your baseline dopamine, you know But it it'll still have it's not like you will never ever think of sugar ever again You know what I will say is don't plan This is the worst thing for people who have good addiction tendencies Don't plan for a chemium because it's like when you're planning for it And you have a large amount, you know, it's gonna be the next day is gonna be hard the day after that Actually day two and three are probably going to be the hardest because that's when the withdrawals you're in like the throes of withdrawals From that drug use incident. So don't plan for it to as a normal part or um Something that is gonna help you reach your fitness goals the reason you haven't been able to reach your fitness goals is because of addiction don't plan for more, you know drug use You know what? I mean, but if it happens and you're just you know, and you need a little bit Don't also feel like it's all or nothing and if I have a tiny bit then i'm a failure It's like no just pay attention to the trends, you know, because I used to have, like, 3, 000 calorie binges of, like, the worst things imagine. Like, that is in meal, you know? Like, that happened in years. Maybe a year.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Mm.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:for me, that's
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Maybe talk about that.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:life has been like that you know?
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah, talk about that, the techniques that you do. Because for me, it's hard to not plan because I don't know. For me, when I plan my, I don't call it cheat now, but I, I call it off planned meals. I don't know if that's, you know, that helps. But, uh, if, if, if you do plan for it, for me, you're ex, you're expecting to, to be. Uh, you know, in a high caloric intake and there's, there's little, uh, guilt for me as, as compared to if it's not planned for me maybe, maybe because I'm an abstainer I, I believe that, you know, if I had one, it's going to turn to be, uh, uh, a day of binge. I just can't just have one. So I had to plan for mine. I don't, I don't know. What do you think about that?
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah. It's, uh, my hubby does the same thing. Like he plans his cheat meal and it's not like he's not constantly waiting for the day. It's like he loves the stuff. It's not like he
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:any sort of, you know, doesn't care. No, he loves sweet stuff. But he'll plan it and he'll do it once a week. A week and that's it. And like the next day he's back to eating nothing but meat, you know, um, that that is a very good point because you feel you are in control that what is addiction is the feeling of being out of control. So if you are in control, then you can't say that that's an addiction. right? Because you are planning out this specific time where you can indulge and then, and then when you do that and you only have it on the planned day and you're not breaking the word to yourself and there you have it, you know, this is why discipline is so important with addiction. And this is why I don't like the, um, the AA, you know, way of doing things. Like I'm an know, you identify as an addict and I have no power over it, It's like, well, if you say you have no power over it, what do you think is going to happen? You know, you won't have power over it, right? So, I agree with that in that, yeah, like it's like, it's not so much about the drug like we were saying earlier. It's more your, the way that you interact with that behavior. You know, kind of, because you have addiction, you go to different behaviors. It's not always an internal drug, you know, like shopping addiction, things like that.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Does it ever get cured? If somebody is addicted, can you be, uh, can you reduce that into just like occasional cravings? Can you be when you're, you have a past behavior of addiction. Can that be, can you say that you're cured at some point? Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:yeah, I 1, 000 percent can say that not just in my experience personally But even with working with clients and applying my the brain rehab protocol that I've developed that you can see You know in the dopamine brain guide It's the same for everybody, you know, they follow the plan and they do the work and they read their baseline dopamine levels. Like, yeah, they're cured. They literally don't have, of course, it's never going to be 100 percent never, ever, ever crave, you know,
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Cause one day you're going to be tired. One of these days, something's going to happen. That is going to kind of remind you of old patterns. Um, but yeah, it's, it, it, it also depends like, okay, so what is Right? Like, how do you define cure? I define it as a feeling of being just in control and feeling like. They're
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:it.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:just you're in control of your food and take your in control of your health You're in control of your fitness and I can definitely attest to the fact that yes This not just with me because I can just say it about myself But what if that doesn't work on other people but when you take that program and you apply it to other people It's still working which you know, obviously makes me the happiest, you know, yeah
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Awesome. I love it. I love it. I love it that you said you're in control. That's when you know, right? You know, occasional cravings, like comparing to addictive patterns, right? The difference is you're in control, right? Amazing. I love that. I love that. You know, let's talk about exercise. Now you talked about. You know, exercise, how it reduces addictive behaviors. I know a lot of people who exercise just so they can eat whatever they want, right? Which is insane. But for me, if I would exercise, so it's for me, it's I would exercise. So it's harder for me to binge because I put so much effort into working out and exercising just to eat like crap. can you talk about how exercise can actually reduce addictive behaviors?
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:How exercise?
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:work? Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah. The reason why the base of my brain rehab protocol is focused on exercises because addiction is a destruction in your D2 receptors and a bunch of other, you know, dopamine related reactions too. But let's just focus on the D2 receptors. You destroy because you can, we have brain scans, right? If people are overweight or obese, they have less and less D2 receptors, similar to cocaine addicts, similar to alcoholics, similar to, um, heroin addicts is the same brain scans. You can see in of addictions, they all have the similar, um, destruction in the number of D2 receptors. So that's addiction and destruction in D2 receptors, meaning very low baseline dopamine activity. Then, okay. Okay. The cure is, let's raise D2 receptors, right? How do we do that? With a very specific type of exercise. The exercise that you hate to do. It is the exercise that is at the edge of your comfort. Why? Because dopamine is an anesthetic. You gotta give The brain a reason to create more of that anesthetic chemical. What is the reason? It's like I'm doing something that is so painful physically That's so uncomfortable that it's sending the signal to the brain to adapt to this level of discomfort by raising its production of the Anesthetic dopamine and of course endorphins all the other stuff but all roads lead to dopamine at the end They all culminate in the increased production of dopamine and also due to receptors and so If you're doing, let's say a joyride, a cardio joyride, like a really fun little jog that you've already adapted to, and you're having a blast doing it, that's not really uncomfortable. That's not really at the edge of your limits. That's not really going to send a strong enough message to your brain to tell it like, I need more of the. Pain relieving anesthetic dopamine. So the more uncomfortable you get the more you're gonna release dopamine And here's the thing Let's say you start working at the edge of your discomfort to get faster with running to lift heavier weights The more you do that the higher your fitness level gets the higher the D2 receptors or your baseline dopamine level gets because now your brain is gonna release even D2 receptors, but if you're just Remain complacent then you're going to be stuck here And so if let's say you yeah, you improved your fitness level to a certain extent, but then you got complacent then It may or may not be enough for you You decide because if you're at this level and you're you decide you don't want to push yourself beyond this level But you're still having cravings and you're still feeling out of control here and there. Maybe it's better than what it was but you're still not really where you want to be, then that's your sign right there that you need a higher level of fitness, meaning a higher level of baseline dopamine level because they're one the maximum weight you can lift at the gym and the fastest that you can run equals your baseline dopamine level. So if you want a higher baseline dopamine level, you have to get faster. You have to lift heavier. And more and more and more and more. And I say, why cap it knowing I just become the super breed of a human that you can be
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah, Why is the body doing that? I mean, just going back to our historical ancestors, like, why does the body reward us with dopamine as we get stronger? isn't that something that's, uh,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:because it wants to be prepared because if you keep hitting it with like traumatic physical exercise, it's like, what is happening? This is too painful. Let me adapt your brain and body adapts to anything you
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Ah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:stretch your muscle, right? When you stretch your muscle body adapts and it elongates the muscle. the muscle so that you're, you have more range of motion. The next it, it always wants to be prepared to what demands you're placing on it. It adapts to everything you give it. That's why it wants to be prepared. It keeps your baseline dopamine activity elevated because it seems that every day you're traumatizing it. And so it doesn't want to be traumatized, which is why it's like the best way not to be traumatized is to be prepared and have more of this, um, pain relieving or anesthetic chemical dopamine. the of it, either the less, um, the pain and discomfort you're going to feel, you're going to adapt, right? And so, and, and, and again, also higher levels of serotonin, also higher levels of beta endorphins. But I focus on dopamine because It's a chain reaction of events when you release all those chemicals that all eventually lead to dopamine being released all roads lead to dopamine, know, so whether it's an addiction, whether it's an exercise, you increase the baseline level of all of the mood regulating and mood boosting. Neurotransmitters you really you increase all of them, but if you look at how it happens They all kick start the release of one another until eventually the last thing to be released is dopamine,
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:I want to get to the practical stuff though, because I want to talk about, you know, any, any of your clients that you help. Because I, without over exerting themselves, because I know there's also this factor that if you over exert yourself you know, people would, uh, get maybe, maybe they'll do it for a week, but then they're so, they're gonna be so sore that, uh, they're traumatizing their, their, their brain, or, And it's so traumatizing to them, like a diet, just, just going on, uh, uh, broccoli and chicken breast diet, you know, it's hard for people to, uh, think about that because they got so traumatized. So how do you gradually increase your, your intensity? Let's say, I don't, I want to be a little bit anxious, like going into the gym, but not so anxious that I won't go.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:And you said it right? there Gradually, right? I'm not you don't go from being sedentary to running at 8 miles per hour Right. We like create a plan where by every day you're as like, here's, here's the best way to look at it. When you start working out, if it feels super fun and it's like, Oh, that's not it. That's it. Now we're not saying destroy your body in one day, cause then it's going to take you So many days to recover that we're going to waste from, you know, getting into the habit of waking up and working out every day. So I prefer to go gradually, like you said, just a little bit. So what I do every, um, for, with my training, for example, I just hit a new PR with running. I eight miles per hour. So I'll do eight miles per hour for a few days, then I'll go and I'll push myself beyond that. I'll do, okay. 8. 1 miles per hour for a few days or even a week. Then it's 8. 2 miles per hour is such a gradual increase in intensity where it doesn't take me out for full few days where I can't work out. Cause I just, you know, pushed myself so much. You could decide to do it like that, but then risk of injury goes up. And if, I mean, an injury can really take you out for months, you know? So that's why it's not recommended.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:So where did you, where, where did you start though, with running? I just wanna have a perspective here. When you started running, can you go back to that time? What, What, was your time? back then and what was
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:really was a runner from, I remember, I definitely have the genes for it. I remember even without any training whatsoever, I would always win like the track races, um, without any training. So definitely I do have like those type actually did the 23 and me gene tests and does confirm that I do have more of that. I'm like kind of built for a runner. Um, So I've always, um, in my twenties wouldn't say, no, I wouldn't say I would run that much. Cause I, I didn't really become super consistent with running until I bought my first treadmill, I would say. And so that was in my twenties, um, late twenties. Um, I for me to remember just know, that I didn't really push myself the way I push myself right now. I was kind of like, just, um, more of a joy ride, you know, let's go for a jog. Like that was training, but it's helpful still because it. makes me very comfortable feeling, um, like you know, sweating. I've had clients their lives, and that was a major roadblocks like it provides a major resistance. Um, and then Yeah, I would I remember client of mine because she hadn't she hadn't really had this level of exercise And I'm not saying that I was like a star athlete or anything, but I definitely had a lot more Experience with movement starting from when I was a teenager and so for me It kind of comes easier because I started sooner and I remember thinking that for her in her 30s mid 30s She would literally break down crying when I would explain to her how important it is for us to push her fitness level. And the biggest, biggest breakthrough we got after months of coaching was Three Jogging sessions in one week. It was 30 minutes each and it was like a very light jog, you know And it was very hard for her to develop the habit. It was she just uh Would would feel so uncomfortable sweating, you know So the I and I remember thinking wow, like I must have gone through that but not really realized it It's just because i've been doing it for so long. It's just I enjoy it now anything you do you keep repeating it becomes easier You But yeah, for some people it can be a little traumatic. Um, you might, you're going to feel lightheaded. You're going to feel, um, very weird. You're going to feel nauseous when you really start way and pushing yourself. This does not mean there is something wrong with you. This is normal to everybody. You know, those feelings. you. are going to feel them and you know, i'm not saying completely disregard any safety measures I'm, just saying that if you don't Understand that it's happened to all of us the nausea the lightheadedness the feeling sick the feeling, you know Then you know it it's very common and it's just your body and brain Adapting to this level of discomfort and eventually it goes away. I don't feel that way anymore.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah. No, absolutely. And running eight miles in an hour, that must have, you must have done it gradually, right? With anything that we do.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah. Yeah. I'm not saying I'm running eight miles. That's a good point. I'm not doing eight miles per hour nonstop for a whole hour. I'm resting and starting again and resting and starting again
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:and get like a mile or mile and a half continuous. Yeah. but I can definitely do seven miles per hour for like a mile straight before I walk a little bit for like a couple minutes and then Um, yeah. So yeah, like that's another way that you can push you know, here's what I recommend just like you go and you lift weights and you start with warm upsets, you do a lighter weight and then a slightly heavier weight and then a slightly heavier until you hit your working set, which is the heaviest weight you can possibly lift. I recommend doing the same thing with running. Start with a light jog and then and then walk a little bit. And recover, then do another light jog, but that's a little bit faster. And then walk a little bit. And then those are kind of like some warm upsets. And then you start increasing the intensity more and then you walk. And then those last two or three sets, what you're doing is sprints. For like 3 miles. And then you, when you do it that way, you are working your, um, kind of like endurance level, and you're also super fat part of your. Training, you know, so you're really, you're really pushing yourself to the limit at the end of every workout. You really are knowing what your limits are. And that is so motivating because now I can say I'm hitting my limits. eight miles per hour. Next week, I'll be able to hit 8. 1, 8. 2 miles per hour. In a month or so, I'll be at nine miles per hour. And that, I know that that's the edge of my physical ability. And that equals my baseline dopamine level. So it's just seeing that, understand what's happening to my brain. You will start noticing also the feelings you get, the mood that you're in, The way you interact in life, the amount of focus you have, the amount of discipline, your discipline becomes so much easier when your baseline dopamine level is elevated because every time you deploy discipline, you're using up some of your stores of the dopamine pool in your brain. So if you have a higher baseline dopamine level, you have a lot more dopamine stores in your brain when you are actually deploying discipline and you're using up some of that dopamine. It's not really, you can barely feel the difference in the dopamine. It's not really dropping so much because you deploy discipline. So you're not going to. Feel the resistance in the emotional pain that people associate with discipline, which is why they don't like to deploy it.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Mm. So running or cardio is not so much for weight loss, right? Like it's, it's much more about releasing dopamine and reducing addictive patterns, right? mental strength.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:it's, it's about discipline and mental strength. Um, because that's really what fitness and health is about. It's Like, we all Cake is bad. Protein is good. Like, at the very basic level, we all kind of all know what we need to do. not, so it's not really a knowledge problem, right? It's more of a emotional pain problem. The moment you do what you're supposed to do, you're doing it. Feeling good, almost depressed. And some days, you know, to the point where it's like, F it, I'm just going to eat whatever and also, and then, and you, and then you to like make up excuses in your mind why it's okay this time and you'll have a better plan next time. But then the next plan happens and you're still feeling the same emotional pain when it, when, when it really comes down to it you know, This is why, like, the first week or two on a diet is, is like, fantastic. You're so motivated, you're proud of yourself for taking a step, but then that's when really the cravings, so.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah. You know, I, I don't claim to be, you know, a weightlifter, but if I go two days or more without working out I, I look, I look for it. I get depressed. You talked about like just, uh, addiction with, uh, Working out or exercising. Talk about that a little bit. uh, I'm curious to learn about how you can be addicted with, you know, over, over working out yourself.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Oh, like how do you get addicted to exercise? There's so many, yeah, right? That's the question, right? Yeah. Yeah, so there's so many um people that you can look up I mean you can just go And you can see uh, so many uh, documentaries done on those topics, especially exercise addiction where people get Um hooked on the high you get from running. It's usually long It's a cardio joy, right? This is why I say it's not a The base of my protocol is the complete opposite of what people think of when they're thinking cardio, they're thinking, Oh, just a light jog. And then if you do a light jog enough times, you start to realize some, at some points you get this high from it. This release from the beta endorphins where it feels good. So people can, can get hooked on that, where they are running for eight, my four, eight hours in a day. I'm doing multiple fun cardio sessions that the problem with that is that you can start getting hooked to the endorphins that are being released, but the problem is that the recovery that it's going to require from those exercise sessions. It's hard for you to allow your body to recover
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:it.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:you're hooked on that feeling. Going back and you keep going back and you can't really sit still for a few days to allow your body full recovery And that's where it can become a problem. And it's basically you're doing the cardio in a way What you what you're doing is you're you're avoiding the uncomfortable feeling That I am telling you you should seek out when you're sprinting when you're jogging When you're working out that the edge of your limit, it's you really only want to count the reps that hurt, whether it's the strength training or whether it's the running, the only the only ones that matter are the ones that hurt because those are the all that's that feeling of discomfort is the only thing that's going to send a signal to the brain to create more dopamine and more endorphins and more of those Baseline level of those neurotransmitters so that your baseline goes up so that from the moment you wake up to the moment You go to sleep. You're high. You're feeling great.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:I love that. I love it. So every time I'm uncomfortable with a workout, I'm going to be thinking about this. That I'm releasing dopamine and, you know, less depressive moments. Ha Ha ha ha
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:you're up regulating your baseline How motivating is that? So and the only way you can up regulate your baseline is Through how much discomfort you can handle And so this is why I only count the reps that hurt whether it's with strength training or whether it's run The only thing that matters is the amount of time you spend feeling uncomfortable. That's it. Other than that. It's useless might as well Just relax lie to yourself
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Ha ha ha ha. That's masterful. If you master that, you'll be superhuman in a couple of years. Right? I mean, if you just,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:super breathe metabolism. Yeah, and I have another guide I should I should Launch it really so super breed mindset. I love that notion of being a super breed because because you have the ability That yeah
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Absolutely. Where can people find you? Where can people find that, those links? Tell us about it.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Yeah, so you can just go I don't know if my name is going to show on the youtube, um, you know thing that we're doing Um, it's uh, dr. zoldivar. Um, sarah with an zoldivar um Z l d i v a r. So my website com As all the guides, actually go to drsirazoliver. com forward slash shop and you will see all of the guides that I have the dopamine body, which is the weight loss guide, the dopamine brain. Dopamine brain is everything we're talking about today. It's the brain rehab protocol that I developed that is based off of my dissertation at, you know, that I worked on at the University of Miami, how to boost your baseline level of dopamine. Um, you know, I have a monster mindset guide. You were how important mindset is, um, at the hundred K social media guide where I break down, know, everything I did to quit all the jobs and become my own boss, making six figures and how you can do the same. Because that might be the reason why you're having, you know, addictive tendencies, if you're just hating the career path, you're in your, you'll So, yeah. And then of course, you know, Instagram, dr. Sarah dot Zaldivar and YouTube, my name, and it's easy to find me.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Awesome. Dr. Sarah, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your story with us here today and talking about just amazing topics here that, uh, you know, frankly, I would love to practice myself and you know, who doesn't want less depressive moments, right? I feel you know, this is a sign for everybody to just get on that treadmill or get outside and get uncomfortable, right? And whenever you get uncomfortable,
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:true. I wanted to show you my treadmill, but I have too many things on it right now. Yes, exactly. It's like, you know, who doesn't want to feel like you can do anything you set your mind know?
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, and, and that idea that just get uncomfortable and you release those dopamines to become a superhuman yourself, super breed, you know, that's an idea that I want to you know, one day. Be part, be a part of. So thank you for sharing these topics with us. Uh, such a interesting topics here. I would really listen to this. If you guys take notes, you know, get on, uh, the description down below, check out Dr. Sarah Zaldivar her links and, uh, her courses and, uh, make sure that, uh, you also subscribe to her YouTube channel, Instagram, follow her on Instagram. Get most of, uh, all of these topics that she talks about very eloquently on her social. So thank you again, Dr. Sarah, for coming on and sharing your story.
dr--sarah-zaldivar_1_05-02-2024_130524:Thank you so much for having me. I had a fantastic time, you know, getting to know you and, you know, chatting and hopefully we'll do this again.
lorenz_1_05-02-2024_130525:Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Dr. Sarah. Bye bye.
