We're sitting down with Registered Dietitian and Founder of Your Living Health, Carly Lucchesi.
From the brain to our personal genetics, Carly helps her clients address it all and in our conversation, we discuss everything from adverse reactions, the histamine/cell connection, elimination diets all the way to our government's suggestions for health.
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Interview with Carly Lucchesi, RD
*Text has been edited for clarity.
Calla: You help women eliminate stress related to chronic disease. And I cannot tell you how timely it is for me in my life that you're here, and I know when this airs, it'll be just after the holidays. And I know that can be a stressful time. And so in moving into new year, we have like a lot of expectations that come with a new year. I just want to know, how you got into your role as a registered dietician, and how you help women with these things.
Carly Lucchesi: So I mean, I think that's kind of an interesting question, because going into my career as a dietitian, and it was mostly just because I wanted to do right by my future kids, you know, this is like, young me back in college, where you don't know what the heck you're doing. So I was like, Okay, well, let's just forward think a little bit and try to do right by my future family, you know, so that's what kind of got me into the field. But then it's been this progression through kind of learning new things, and helping different types of people that's progressed into where I'm at now with chronic disease. And I think how it started was kind of a passion for and having a broken heart for people with GI disorders, with your IBS, and your Crohn's and your celiac and all that stuff. And there was kind of a period in my life where I did a deep dive to try to fix these areas and to really hyper focus on clients that have these issues. But what I found through digging into that, was that that that's not the problem. That's so it, then it was okay, well, what is the problem? Where can I actually do the most bang for my buck. And that's where it really stopped with stress, with the physical stress and the emotional stress what that actually means and what it can do if you target those certain areas. So and that's where just even a generalized chronic disease component came in, because it doesn't just take care of diabetes, or heart disease, or cancers, or IBS and Crohn's and like all of the autoimmune conditions, it's all stress related. So that's where I am now and why I target what I do is because why not just get it all?
Leanne: Everyone's stressed? how did it come to the conclusion that it's stress?
Carly Lucchesi: just because of the system processes, as I dug into adverse food reactions, and genetics, and more of the mindset, again, everything that I was trying to target kept coming back down to that one single component. There were various symptoms related to either physical stress or related to emotional stress. But regardless at all still had that immune activation, or that hormone activation, from a sense of perceived threat.
Leanne: I'm so curious, because I do personal training, and all of my clients are always stressed all the time. But my job, you know, is to put their bodies under a certain level of stress to gain strength and endurance. So I guess I'm asking selfishly, how do you get people to minimize their stress?
Carly Lucchesi: It's absolutely a fine line between too much stress and not enough stress. And that's kind of where the magic and the work needs to be done to figure out and that's going to be based on that individual component of like, who are you? And what have you been able to go through in your life? And what what issues are you bringing in? What chronic disease you bringing in what kind of mental game do you have? That's where that line is going to be shifted, but because you want to put stress and strain on people. That's how you progress your exercise and the personal training realm. That's how you progress, your cognitive strength as well, in regards to like, starting a business or changing careers or doing a new relationship, there's all these things that we want that stress and that stress is actually a good thing, it's going to progress us but then there gets that that line of okay, whoa, way too much, you know, about the context of exercise, where if you exercise too much, or if you exercise in ways that your body cannot handle based on individual genetic variations, well, then you get into the situation where people are gaining weight, the more they exercise, and it's not muscle, it's not like oh, my gosh, muscle weighs more than the fat , iy doesn't work like that. Like sometimes you're just straining your system to the point where it's like freaking out, and you just keep pushing the envelope. And that's where we get into that. Okay, well, we need to take a step back and figure out okay, what's going on? What are the genetic variations that you have that make you more susceptible to certain things and different needs? And let's support your system as we add that strain.
Leanne: I actually had to learn that lesson myself, because in school, they didn't teach me about the central nervous system and how if you're, you know, operating at a very high level of stress all the time, then maybe you shouldn't work out a couple hours a day and just pile on and pile on and you never recover. And I was working out more than I ever had. And I was spinning my wheels and just maintaining the same amount of muscle, same amount of weight, I couldn't eat less and lose weight. It wasn't working, and I had to totally revamp everything I was doing. And then in turn, after I realized it wasworking for me, I had to then revamp everything I was making my clients do, which I'm so thankful that I went through that. But that was a hard lesson to learn. It seems very counterintuitive.
Carly Lucchesi: Well, even in the midst of that, then what was your brain doing? So obviously, your body was talking to you in a very, very obvious way. But then what was your mindset, like, during that whole process? And, like the emotion?
Leanne: Yeah, rock bottom. I was like, I'm supposed to be telling people how to be healthy and lose weight, and I can't even do it myself, you know? There was a hormonal component to with, like, the birth control I was on and everything. But um, it was just, it wasn't anything that I had learned. And that was the field that I chose. And so I felt very ill equipped to, to help even myself, which felt really demoralizing in a way, you know?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, feel trapped almost. I think its like that to being a dietitian. And I graduated from UC Davis is a very reputable nutrition school. And when I came into the field, it was that same feeling, where I didn't feel equipped to do the job, like, because we don't have an information deficit in this country, right? We all know what to do. And we were just told to tell people what to do. And they'll do it. And it doesn't work like.
Leanne: It never works like that. Or for like two weeks.
Calla:
That's why I come into the conversation. That's what I have to provide today because I struggle big time. So I'm so curious with you, I know when you first got on the call, we were talking a little bit and you said that you were focused for your your family's future and things like that. Did you have a health struggle that kind of you needed to walk through to get this insight?
Carly Lucchesi: Um, no, I feel like I'm one of the fortunate few. I did not come from a health struggle. My mom was a PE teacher, my dad did triathlons like Ironman. So I really did grow up in a very health conscious household, I never had a negative relationship with food. I've never been overweight. And I feel like sometimes for me, that's been a mental battle that I've had to go through too, because it seems like the people that are best equipped to help have gone through that stuff themselves. But on the flip side, though, I haven't. And I've been able to view my life from this certain vantage point where that stuff hasn't been an issue. So it's, then it's being able to be the example of what's possible, even for the future generation, what you can do for your kids, so that they never actually have this struggle, and then to kind of guide them through that. And this is what is possible. And this is what you should be teaching future generations. So but it is definitely a mental struggle for me.
Calla: Kudos to your parents, too, for like being so progressive and doing that, because I feel like that is more of a progressive approach. How has that impacted how you parent your children?
Carly Lucchesi: Oh, it's definitely led to absolute moderation. Like, I even posted it in a reel the other day that I have a full drawer of candy for my kids and they're allowed to have sodas and chips and stuff. But it's always the context of how do you feel after you eat this? After you have McDonald's because I don't have McDonald's cool. But you know what, you better listen to how you feel. And now they don't even ask for it any more, because they're like, that makes me feel horrible. I don't want to feel like that. So it's always bringing it back to the conversation of what do you want to be? What do you want to feel like? How does this help that situation? Or if they're having certain symptoms. My husband and my daughter both went through GI issues, so stomach problems, adverse food reactions, and we had to go through the process of figuring out what was causing this. So my daughter would have body wide rash, it just he skin and she would just like claw herself to death overnight. So then even that as it was her decision, do you want this test because I'm not going to put this on you? I can help you but it has to be from you. So then it was a Okay, I want the test. And then even with the food phase, it was like, This is what you should try to avoid. But I'm not going to tell you, you can't have that. You can have it if you want to, but listen to your skin and listen to your body. And then through that it was just this wonderful learning opportunity for her. Because now she can choose and her trigger was soy, most clients, like 9 out of 10 clients are triggered by soy, so it wasn't like a big Whoa, surprise or anything. And she can tell now she can maybe have, you know, go two weeks of no soy, and then be able to have a few different components with soy, and be totally fine. But she knows when she starts to, you know, have more of that instant gratification instead of the long term. Because all of a sudden, she's like, Mom, my skin is so itchy. And it's like, well, you know what to do. So you need to choose to do it, it's, but I really try not to tell them what to do.
Carly Lucchesi: I feel like that's very progressive and very empowering for them too. I am not a parent, but I know my parents, it's like you, you learned these lessons in your own life, and you want to do everything you can to say, "Hey, I know this isn't the right path. So just don't even bother going down it." But if you don't let them go down it, it's not a lesson they learn. It's just something they were told. And eventually, maybe if they're told enough, they'll want to rebel and maybe even push even further than they would if you just said, "Hey, this probably isn't right. But it's up to you." That's That's parenting goals. For me. That's the way I want to do it.
Calla: My heart swells. I hear you talk about that. And just to know, like that, there's moms out there like you, it makes me really, really happy. I know, I'm in good company,
Leanne: you're one of my heroes.
Calla: I see it. And I know that that's really hard work to watch your children go through that. And then to do the research, and then to really just tell them like, Listen, this is really in your hands, as much as I want to do the work and to be able to heal you and help you, I can only do so much. It's really going to be up to you. And it's an accountability thing. And to teach that at a young age is beautiful. It's a really, really great thing. My daughter has epilepsy and some some issues like that. And we've been able to get off of a lot of the medications and things just from her doing the work herself. And it really is all her. I love hearing that, that your daughter is able to have that same success. It makes me really happy.
Carly Lucchesi: No, that's awesome. So what have you found? Have you found foods that are triggering her her events?
Calla: Not not specific to epilepsy, but definitely with her like the learning disability and I don't want to call them it's disability, she was misdiagnosed with ADHD she really had dyslexia and some other issues. And so the stress of trying to figure that out, I think flared up a lot of the food allergies, because of the stress in her body. Does that make sense?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah.
Calla: As a parent, that's what I've noticed. So once we've kind of like called things out for what they are, stop being so afraid that we don't know the answers. I feel like that really caused a huge, huge shift in her feeling better and not having many triggers as far as her skin. So there's still flare ups. But I know that it stress brings it on for her as well.
Carly Lucchesi: Gotcha. Yeah, no, you touched on a big component too, with, when I do take clients through uncovering their adverse food reactions, that's the biggest thing that I push is you have to pull emotion out of it, you cannot come into that phase of, you know, six to eight weeks that it's going to take to uncover this and have any emotion tied to any symptom that you develop. So it's a very scientific process where you're just observing what happens, you are conscious, you're aware, you're documenting everything, and you are just the scientific observer, because you can, you can so easily mask a reaction, because when you have a reaction, then you're like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be me for the rest of my life. And I'm gonna deal with this. And then and then all of a sudden, they have more and more and more, and then we get brain fog, and it's like, what are we doing? And then for me as a practitioner to like, I need to keep my emotions out of it in my own drama out of it, because then if I start doubting myself, like, oh my gosh, am I never going to be able to uncover this for them? And what if I don't know all the answers, and then I get sucked into my own emotion and I can't see their reactions, you know? So keeping emotion out of the picture for a lot of different things is a very valuable skill to develop.
Leanne: Can you teach us how to develop those skills?
Calla: I'm a 90's emo kid this is gonna be really difficult work.
Carly Lucchesi: Absolutely. Yeah, that's that's where the mindset component comes in. And I know many of your you know, that's, that's the whole premise with your podcast. is the mental health component to and it absolutely is like 90% of the battle, you know, I have a lot of people that work with me because I'm a dietitian, and they're blown away that I don't give a crap half the time what their eating. It's always about what they're thinking. And I know that's where kind of the intuitive eating movement has kind of come to play. But, and there's a lot of basis to that. And then my practice just helps to more identify, Okay, well, now we're going to target this and kind of redirect it to chronic disease and redirect it to adverse foods, but they're still always the foundation of why are you eating this? What emotions? Are you trying to mask with this food? Or what are we trying to uncover and behaviors and, and the mental health is more than half the battle? And like we were saying earlier, it's because it's not information like for some Yeah, adverse foods like, yeah, we're talking information that people don't have, like, that's just helping people to uncover the language that their body has been speaking to them for years that they just have never really taken the time to understand. So yeah, that's definitely a phase where science is key and, you know, chronic disease and symptoms and really listening, that's very necessary, but you have to be able to back it up with a mindset. So when I work with people, that's absolutely most of the battle.
Leanne: There was a quote from a book that Calla I just read, and it was like, if hunger is not the problem, then eating is never the solution. And I was like, oh, yeah, that's like, every night at 8pm. That's what I need to be like, my mantra, you know?
Carly Lucchesi: Absolutely.
Leanne: You talked earlier about a genetic component for foods you could have flare ups with is that something that you you can test for, that you have people test for?
Carly Lucchesi: So the genetic component can lead to so it doesn't necessarily like there is some evidence coming out that it can lead to adverse food reactions, but it's mostly for my practice. And what I use it for is to figure out where physical stress is happening. Because there's, there's two different types of stresses, there's your physical stress, which is like the physical, the tangible things that your body is reacting to, this could be foods and chemicals, and environmental exposure and genetic variations that may be causing these slowdowns. It's like, it's like a washed out road within a system pathway, you know? So what is the tangible stress component? And then there's the emotional stress, which gets into more of like, the hormonal management and the neurotransmitters and kind of that component as well. But ultimately, the genetic component is to isolate where are the physical stressors? How is your body dealing with detoxification of I mean, everything that you're exposed to. How well is the liver working? How well are you able to reverse oxidative stress? What about in your cells? How well do your cellular systems function in terms of like, methylation? And just the reversal of like the even how well is your body dealing with like dead and dying debris and old mitochondria? And like, so we really dig into, okay, where's your system struggling? And based on your diet that we know because food journals, again, are key? Where are you not getting the nutrients because like, your system is like massive gears. And the nutrients that you ingest are like the gear oil. So sometimes a genetic variation can cause those big gears to go a little bit slower. But you can totally add to things by not having the gear oil to keep those things moving too. So we want to figure out how your system functions as a whole, before I start telling you what to eat. Because, I mean, if I'm telling you what to eat from generic recommendations, I'm doing you a disservice, really, or from recommending supplements, when I don't even know what the heck is going on with your body. Again, I could be slowing the system down, you know, too many by B vitamins that actually block certain receptors for energy production, or the different types of B vitamins. So like, I really want to be careful what I recommend to people. Because we're all unique, you have very different genetic variations, even compared to like your mom, you know, so we want to make sure to isolate first.
Leanne: How do you discover that information for people?
Carly Lucchesi: So it's a genetic it's a cheek swab.
Leanne: Oh, it is. Oh, okay. Okay. And it gives you all that information?
Carly Lucchesi:
Yeah. And it's just a report that comes out and then we pull again, I want information because I am a dietitian, we got to be sciency a little bit. Then we pull a micronutrient test to that looks at the intracellular nutrients because sometimes, nutrients get stuck in the blood and I don't really care if they're in the blood, they're not doing anything there, I want to see what's getting into the cell. And then you can actually, which is so fun. And I'm going to geek out for a second, but like,
Calla: Pease do! I'm on the edge of my seat here. I'm not kidding.
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah. So you can actually use a micronutrient test as like a checks and balance system with your genetics, because your genes, this expression of your genes can be turned on or off based on what you do think, eat, what you're exposed to, it's like a light switch. And then your nutrients are going to reflect that. So I mean, obviously, your dietary intake, so we have that component of the puzzle, too, so I can see what you normally eat. But then you can see what genes are actually expressing or over expressing themselves, or pulling certain nutrient stores to depletion, you can see these trends going on, we're like, oh, shit, dude, that's awesome. And it's really exciting, because it's very accurate. Every single time, you can have some genetic variations and the nutrients support it. And you're like, alright, so you need to start eating these types of foods more, or if you feel this certain way, you need to do this or you need to exercise a certain way. Or if you start to lose weight, you need to do this more. So it's just fascinating that you can really hyperfocus what somebody needs based on these components to.
Calla: Would that track like histamine levels and reactions to like food?
Carly Lucchesi: Histamine, really fascinating things like, okay, so many clients react to histamine differently, too. So that's one of those were, like me is the geeky observer, I'm always on the edge of my seat, like waiting for a text message for my clients, like, how did you react? You know, because it can be extreme fatigue. I had one client who if in the context of a histamine overload, felt like he was going to murder someone, like he's like, I have this uncontrollable rage that you need to help me through, you know, and it's like, oh, shit, dude, I think its histamines. And you help your system to process those through different behaviors and different supplements and foods to counter that, but histamines, you never know how they're going to react. And not everybody reacts to them, like I've had people that can have leftover fish and beans and raspberries in the same meal be totally fine. But somebody else was going to try to murder his wife if he hasn't, so you never know.
Leanne: That'll be my next excuse to Clayton is just a histone reaction.
Calla: It's a histamine intolerance.
Leanne: To keep monitoring these things. Is it just like a constant cheek swabs? Or is it just how they physically feel after trying certain foods after you get all that information?
Carly Lucchesi: So your genetics will never change. So the cheek swab, you could get the cheek swab done 40 years from now, it'll be the exact same result. But your expression of the genes are going to be different based on behaviors, foods, what you're thinking, what you're doing all that stuff. So the micronutrient test, that'll change over time, too. And there can you know, for some people that like want that close follow up, they can get it done in a year, and to see what they're trending at and see if they're repeating some of those stores. But the intracellular valleys, they don't really change super rapidly. So you don't want to like get it done too often. So yeah, that can happen in the microbiome is a constantly changing environment, too. So like, if somebody wants to do the tests to check what is activating their immune system, again, like that can be done again. So the micronutrient one and the one that's checking to see what foods are activating the immune system. Those are both blood draws. So and then the other one's a cheek swab. So we're just testing everything except for stool right now. Yeah. But it can change over time. But for the most part, once you kind of paint this picture, that's like my job as the practitioners. I'm painting the picture of your life, how your system is talking to you, what your micronutrient stores are, what your mindset is, like, I'm just painting this whole puzzle for you together, so that I can just like give it to you and be like, Okay, now you have the tools to live your life. No, you know, and if they have problems like cool, we can do some touch up and most of the time after that once you have the science, it's mostly just the mindset and then it's coaching like monthly coaching and that's why I have my monthly coaching program because it is just like if you just need like, you know, a quick little 20 minute one on one like, Oh, you got in a husband/wife battle and you've got to have some outside eyes to look at it. Like that kind of thing is different, but I've never had somebody once they know the science to be like I don't know what to eat. They know exactly what to eat and they know how to to feel good again, they know exactly what they want. So that's not a problem anymore, then it's just making it happen.
Leanne: Mm hmm.
Calla: So why do we struggle with stress? What are you? What are you seeing? When you coach these people?
Carly Lucchesi: A lot of times the stress the source is, number one, awareness is key. And I know that's a very common theme amongst like the mental health world, we've got to find that space of awareness, but not only the space of awareness of, you know, why you have certain emotions, and why you have certain thoughts that are generating those motions, like where's those coming from? But then the source of the stress is what what are you what are you exposing yourself to? What kinds of supplements are you not doing well with? What kinds of exercise Are you a salon tech that is exposed to hair color all day? Like, what are you exposing your system to? The sources of stress can be so different, that you really need to just do that deep dive to figure it out first, because there isn't really a universal other than soy, wheat and dairy, like as far as foods go, that like 90% of people. You pull those out, and you'll probably feel better. But ultimately, the goal isn't like, I'm not one to say foods are good or bad. Like, I have soy too, because I don't think there's any better mayonnaise out there than like soy based mayonnaise. So certain things, I'm like, yeah, it's worth it. You know? We've got to figure out, okay, well, where is the stress coming from and figure out what's worth it and what's not worth it? Because I want my clients to eat as many foods as possible. I don't want to restrict anybody. But I also don't want people to have headaches and brain fog and lethargy and muscle aches and all that stuff, either. So we've got to do the work to uncover that and find that space of awareness.
Leanne: How long does that typically take to have someone become aware of of their stress and pinpointing it? Is the timeline pretty generic? Or is it very individual in terms of becoming aware of the stress and then making active changes towards decreasing it?
Carly Lucchesi: I would say, most people, we can pin within around four weeks, like we know most, we know most, it depends on how people are willing to open up to in terms of the mental struggles, but foods we can get dialed in pretty freakin quick. Genetic, the test takes about six weeks to come back. But by then I kind of know them already. So I can almost like guess what their genes are gonna be like. So you can kind of go there. But within four weeks, you can pretty much know what you're supposed to do or at least the work that needs to be done, you can start to have homework, you know?
Leanne: Yeah. On your website, you talk about the pillars of system function and brain management, I think you said, can you talk about those three pillars a little bit.
Carly Lucchesi: So I think what the pillars mostly what I was trying to get at is that you have to have components of each, you have to have the science, you have to know what's physically stressing you, you have to know different foods, and you have to know the mindset to, because without the combination of those, everything's gonna fall apart. And it's not even worth the struggle. You know, I've had people that like, they're like, just tell me what to eat. I could tell you what to eat all day, but you're not going to do it. And it doesn't even matter. Because I don't know what you should eat, like, generic recommendations, and you're going to still feel like crap. Soit's really making sure to take the time to listen, and to find that space of awareness. From the three different pillars.
Leanne: I've read a little bit about the, like, ancestral diet. I do. Do you recommend that at all? This is the theory that we're supposed to eat in the way that our ancestors did, depending on where we are from originally.
Carly Lucchesi: Oh like the blood type diet?
Leanne: Yeah. Is there any validity to that?
Carly Lucchesi: Um, I don't know. Like, I think there's absolutely validity in the theory of the ancestral, like, eat real food. If you can recognize it, then you probably should eat it in that form. You know, like the highly, you know, when we take wheat and refine it down to flour, and we take sugar cane, we frame it down to granulated sugar, like, yeah, things are gonna go poorly for us, but so I absolutely agree with that. But then even the blood type diet, I think they're alluding to the unique variations and it doesn't pull it into genetics, but it absolutely kind of alludes to you may be able to tolerate certain things better based on your environment and where you're from, which, I mean, to me is like, yeah, that's because those genetics are going to be kind of in line with that, you know?
Leanne: That's what I was wondering.
Carly Lucchesi: But I don't think they ever pull it to genetics, I think they do keep it to mostly like a blood type.
Calla: When that whole craze started by mom got the books for all of our blood types. I remember that. And so I remember reading it and I started to follow it. And I did notice a difference and throughout my life when I do have flare ups, going back to that really does really help. But it's almost like, it's what's the paleo and the keto diet are just based off your blood type, and what will really benefit you. To me, that's it all translates across the board as to which one works best for you.
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, no, it's, it's really good. And I do really agree with a lot of some components of different diets out there. But, man, I tried to stay out of the rabbit hole. Like I feel like I'm kind of the head in the sand dietitian, where I'm like, what diet like, what are they preaching? Like, you know, you can kind of pull components from each of them and be like, yeah, there's, I've seen a lot of good with that. But then they always just take it to the extremes where it's like, Keto, holy crap, that would be horrible for you. What are we doing? Like 90% Fat? You've got to be kidding me. So it's like, okay, well, let's have a little moderation here. Let's have some common sense, you know? And no, so it just depends on the goals. What, what are the goals of the person? And, sure, can I tell somebody to eat carnivore for a month and see how it goes? Sure. But it's gonna be based on their genetics and how they process animal fat and animal proteins? And is it causing their system to go too acidic? And are we having gut issues because of that? So it's kind of just like, Let's weed through.
Leanne: And, is sustainable for them? Like you're going to go out to dinner with friends, you're going to go get drinks and the second you have a drink, you're not carnivore anymore. Like it's like, people can't live with these rules.
Carly Lucchesi: It's hard because like, during when we are uncovering the adverse food reactions, yeah, I've got some rules for them. But it's because there has to be limited variables where we're science at that baseline. Yeah, scientist. So yeah, I've got rules for him. And I'm like, you can have a drink if you want to, but it's gonna take me a hell of a lot longer to figure out your problem. So I'm like you, do you but... it's same with food journals, you know, people kind of like boycott like, oh, I don't have to do that like rules are rules.
Leanne: All my clients. I can't do it for you but I'll show you how it's done. And I'll show you the fastest way. But if you're not going to do it, you're not going to do it. So are you referring to, do have them do some kind of elimination diet in the beginning to see about food intolerances?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, so it's called an oligoantigenic diet and it's based on the mediator release test out of a lab in Florida. So it's just looking at kind of this. It's just looking at what the immune system is reacting to by releasing mediators. And it's just a very simple test to in the presence of certain types of foods, how much is your system releasing mediators? So it's just an I love the simplicity of it. It's not looking at what type of mediators like I don't really give a crap. It's just is your system responding to this food? And through working with clients, it's, it isn't really about the test, the test just kind of gives you a foundation to work off of, because that's kind of one of the problems with elimination diets is where do you start exactly know if I've had a client react horribly to chicken will chicken and rice is usually where people start or like lamb or potatoes or, you know, these kind of traditionally benign foods, but you have no idea what people are going to react to. I've had somebody go into full body aches, like to the point where they thought they had osteoarthritis for flare. It's like, well, and then tingly fingers. I've had another client who had full like tingly fingers and neuropathy type symptoms from limes and lemons. It's like, you don't know. So that's why I use that test to help us to identify, Okay, where do we start? And now let's start to bring on some of these safe foods and see what happens and then read between the lines because it's not gonna identify a histamine reaction. It's not gonna identify if you're acting the salicylic acid or any of the other preservatives or like any of the other chemical groups, you really have to kind of watch trends and just like ooh, I think this is what you're reacting to to try this. And then they'll go and like, Okay, what happens you know, that's why I'm always on the edge of my seat because I'm like, I just told you to do something that really might make your life hell for a day. But like, that's the only way you're gonna identify it truly so that you know, in the future, what not to do.
Calla: And I think too, when you run those tests, like you said earlier, the mindset of the people doing the test, I think is so crucial. Because if you're stressed out about it, while you're doing that, I mean, how is that gonna alter the results?
Carly Lucchesi: You;re not gonna see anything?
Calla: That's so unfortunate. I mean, seriously, just want to get to it so quickly, sometimes there's just not a quick way to get the information, you kinda have to go through it and work through it, for sure.
Carly Lucchesi: And it's, it's a missed component to from a lot of different, like, a lot of programs don't focus on the mindset, or the stress component, like, at all. Or, like I said, it's imperative, my reaction, is if I show any stress, or any emotion over the symptom that they had, they're gonna feed off of that, right? And because they're scared, they're terrified. This is a world that they they're done with. That's why they reached out finally, that's why they're, like, willing to pay for a solution. Let's figure this out together. And I show any emotion that I don't know. If that if I'm gonna be able to figure it out. Oh, it's, it's on if you're off to the races, you know, so it's very much like, okay, let's just chill. It's, okay, we'll figure this out. It might take a little bit of time, but we will I have yet to not figure something out. So let's like, let's do this.
Leanne: Have you noticed with clients too, that once you discover a certain type of food, or foods that they maybe don't react well to? Is that kind of a lifelong try to stay away from this thing? Or once they get there stressed managed the results are? The reactions are okay? Or 10 years from now? Maybe try it again. And you'll have no reaction, what's, the thought process there?
Carly Lucchesi: So you always want to retest these foods. Again, the goal is a liberalised diet. So you just want to allow your system a chance to forget that it hates a certain food, you know, and just like allow the T cells to chill out. And so we will re challenge foods again, within like three to six months, even if you were known reactive to it. Well, your system might have forgot about it. So like, don't eliminate eggs forever. Okay, but challenge them again, bring them in and see what happens. Because it could be a dose dependent reaction to maybe you can have eggs once every six months and be totally fine. You know, and then it's, or if you react to eggs, and you want to eat the eggs, cool, like, just know that you're going to have that headache and that's totally your choice. Go for it. So I never tell somebody, you cannot have this food. It's always just like with my kids, hey, we know that this causes this. You do you. I don't really care what you do that's on you. But if you want to get rid and you want to feel good again. Do the thing. We figured it out, you know?
Leanne: So in one of your podcasts, you talked about the mindset model. Can you go into that a bit?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah. So it's, it's traditionally it's just life coaching. And I love Brooke Castillo's model with the self coaching model, which is that your circumstances are neutral events, you have thoughts about those circumstances that generate your feelings, and then your feelings drive your actions, which gets you results in your life. And this is the foundational concept that I coach on, to help people to understand and to gain that awareness and that clarity of how their brain is functioning, so that we can get them the results that they want. And to me, that was one of the most profound things that I've ever learned in my entire life. Like, it sounds so stupid. But I had no freaking idea that thoughts generate emotions. I always thought it was circumstances or results. Like that's why a lot of people are stressed because they're like, man, life is just dealing me these crazy cards or, Oh, I'm sad because my mom died. It's like, No, you're not. Your mom dying is totally neutral. Somebody could be happy about it, and somebody could be sad about it, it is only about what you think about it. And helping them to kind of go through that work is fascinating because a lot of my clients and I had one in particular that had autoimmune condition. And when we finally honed in on the mindset and helping her to reduce her emotional stress, flares started to get easier to go through. And then she like went to the other side of the autoimmune so it's fascinating to see these trends and what happens when you finally kind of target what's wrong. Sometimes it's it's just mindset and you know, the profound thought of like, oh my gosh, it's just my thoughts and I have complete control over my thoughts. It just puts you back in the driver's seat again, because it doesn't matter. You know, even in our like, or your relationship with your husband, it doesn't matter what they do, it only matters what you think about what they do, or what they say, or what they're bringing to the table. And it just helps you to, again, gain that awareness and that 30,000 foot vantage point instead of kind of down in the weeds, so that you can choose who you want to be and know how to get there. Because we all control our thoughts.
Leanne: So would you say your job is like 80% mindset? 20% diet then?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, I've had so many people that are like, I'm so confused. You say you're a dietician, but like you're not. You're like a counselor. I'm like, Yeah, well, but I love to geek out on the food and the dietitian side, but it doesn't work. I can't do that. Yeah, we've got to bring you there too, you know? but School doesn't teach that. They don't even like require I think they required like one psychology class, which you know how school goes, it's just teaching you like the founding fathers of psychology. So it doesn't actually teach you anything. So all of this has just been through diving into, like, hey, there's a problem. Let's figure out a solution. That's
Calla: I was gonna say we're all trying to figure it out. ,
Leanne: That was frustrating. I was out of college. And I think I saw a meme, like on Facebook. And it was just like, thoughts, Arrow feelings, Arrow actions. And I was like, Whoa, it just blew my mind. I never thought of it that way before. But it's exactly how it works. But yeah, we aren't taught that at all.
Carly Lucchesi: Well, it's fun to watch, because the world model is that actions control everything, right? Your actions can change your circumstance, your actions can change your results, your actions, and like, we don't even have thoughts in the equation at all. So it's, it's fun because just knowing the mindset model doesn't do anything, either. You really know how you got to work on the application of it and kind of watching your brain play out. Because a lot of times clients are coming, like they know the model very well. And they know we've coached through these issues, but then it's just the identifying of how your brains trying to fool you again, that actions create results. And that's all it's doing. It's not trying to hurt you. It's just falling back into old ways. And that's where kind of that monthly coaching is beneficial, because then you can kind of oh, crap, okay, I didn't see it, but now I see it. So I'm going to try to, you know, hone in on that in the future
Leanne: Is monthly enough? If you see seeing someone once a month, you know what I'm saying? Because like some people I see three times a week, and I'm like, and we're back. We're back. Over and over again.
Carly Lucchesi: The main program is 12 weeks. So there's very intensive coaching during that 12 weeks and Absolutely, there's like foundational concepts that they need to understand and learn and, but no, like, once a month, so the monthly coaching program, it's once a week, group li group li group sessions, and then they have to one on one options during the month that it's like, you know, the Oh, crap incidents. So there's an opportunity to get coached six times a month. Most people don't need six times a month. Usually, it's just like, that intense one on one that really helps out
Calla:
It will kick them in the ass for the rest of the month.
Carly Lucchesi: Or it's just like, just to get out of their own heads. Because they when you're stuck in your own head, you don't see okay, going on half the time. So just like bringing your hot mess self to a phone call can can absolutely change
Calla: Here I am guys!
Leanne: That's why were here.
Carly Lucchesi: I love the hot mess because usually they are so emotional that it's like, blatantly obvious from the fly on the wall. You're like, oh, shit, your brains just fooling you in this way. No, see, you can just, it's just I love it. I love coaching. I think it's so fun. But then I like to geek out on the science too. So it's, it's a pretty cool, good thing
Calla: It's why you are good at what you do. Yeah, that's really awesome. How does hormones play into mindset?
Carly Lucchesi: So hormones can just be regulated through that stress effect. So I mean, your hormones are just the signals that are telling your body to do certain things. So you've got your your cortisol and you've got your, your TSH and your thyroid, different hormones so like it's all based on the perceived stress and the perceived functions of your body and what foods are actually triggering maybe your system to be more stressed. So again at all, it all kind of comes back down to how safe does your body feel? I guess you could say, with your hormones because your hormones a lot of times the hormones aren't broken, like everybody demonizes their thyroid or demonizes their pituitary gland. And it's like, well, is that really the issue? Or is it like all your brain? And it's just reacting to your brain? That's all it's doing? You know? Sure, there is some times where like, there can be a component of burnout, or there can be a component of like, oh, you're not converting your T3 to T4 very effectively, where medications would need to come on board and like there actually is this broken system. But a lot of times, that's not the problem. A lot of times, it's just like, your brain is a mess, and it's causing hormone reactions.
Leanne: And by brain being a mess you mean, stress, right?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, your mental stress is like off the charts.
Calla: Guys, I feel like there's a big spotlight on me, right?
Leanne: Calla, are you listening? Are you listening, Calla?
Calla: I'm listening! So on your website, you talked about synergistic lifestyle. Can you explain to me what that means?
Carly Lucchesi: So right, everybody's got to have their signature program. So the concept of a synergistic lifestyle, because it really, it alludes to my upbringing, and that you really need to have that balance in that choice. But then it also alludes to, you have to know the science behind how your body works. So that you have the opportunity to live synergistically with your body and to live synergistically with your behaviors and your brain and your lifestyle. It's just kind of the way to almost rise above and live at peace with everything. And to not, you know, succumb to the different diets and to succumb to the different intense emotions of a certain circumstance, when you kind of have the awareness of everything and how it goes together as a puzzle, then you're able to live synergistically no matter the situation that you're in, you know, you could be going through a divorce, or you could be diagnosed with a chronic disease, or you could have all this stuff happen, but it's okay, when you know what to do and how to handle any situation.
Leanne: I'm so curious, as a dietitian, do you know anything about the transition from the food pyramid to the My Plate that they have now?
Carly Lucchesi: I don't know, I feel very anti dietitian, and, you know, maybe, whatever, but I hate eat rights or their pushes. And I don't like the six small meals for diabetes. And I don't like anything that I'm told I'm supposed to counsel on. And maybe they have some good premise, and there is some science backing but like, from how I work with my clients and what I target 'My Pyramid" and 'My Plate' doesn't, I don't care about it. It's beneficial information to me.
Leanne: That's encouraging to hear. Honestly.
Calla: I agree. I agree completely.
Carly Lucchesi: Maybe I'll be martyred for that.
Calla: Applauded.
Leanne: When I heard that, you know, dietitians back in the day were schooled based off the food pyramid. And then I read this book called The Big Fat Surprise where it talked about all the clinical trials and stuff that were just thrown away to the side because they weren't getting funded that we're showing that you know, maybe we shouldn't base our entire nutrition off of carbs and rice and breads and and, and I thought the the whole industry was corrupted, to be honest with you. And so to hear you say that it it gives me some hope that you know, not all dietitians are just going off of you know, the books that were told to read.
Carly Lucchesi: You have to weed through your dietitians and see which ones actually have a brain that they use instead of the brain they are told to use because yeah the 'My Pyramid' remember how it went from like the bottom to like up and down?
Calla: Oh yeah, it did switch didn't it? I forgot about that.
Carly Lucchesi: Because there was all like a politics money thing because you know the foundation that looks like that's more important. So greens and you know, that industry is trying to one up your meats and dairies and dairies are like no, we're just as important so then they did this up and down. So it does tower so yeah, so predominant. Like, how corrupt is that crap? Like, that's BS.
Leanne: And they are all paying each other off. It's all for money. That's the crazy part. It's not about health at that point.
Calla: And that's what we teach at school. And it's like, it's the whole mess with another system that needs to be unraveled. Girls. I'm getting anxious. Let's go.
Carly Lucchesi: We've got some work to do. Yeah, it's sad too, because then like sure we do need generic recommendations? And is the My Pyramid recommendation better than, you know, some kid just eating Cheetos? And that like, yeah, it's, it's gonna help somebody if it pushes the concept of real food, let's do it, you know, and not having a diet that's predominant in butter and stuff like, that's cool, let's do it. But if somebody is really looking to better their health, like, don't do them to disservice of preaching 'My Pyramid and "My Plate" and six small meals and that garbage because it's not going to help you.
Leanne: Yeah, that's setting the bar really low. Do you have any clients success stories that are some of your favorites that you'd like to share?
Carly Lucchesi: I have a couple of my website. And they're just awesome people. I love them to death. So I have one lady who came to me just wanting to lose weight because her knee was just killing her. And she is always she was doing everything right. You know, she was already eating all Whole Foods. She was cooking all her own foods, she had eliminated gluten, she was exercising every day. And she's like, I can't lose weight. Like I've done everything for six to nine months, I pulled out different food groups, I've put them back in like, nothing changes. All right, well, let's see what happens, you know, in my brain, what makes me think I can fix her? Yeah, but it's like, well trust the process. I, I built my program on science. So let's just trust it. And let's follow the science and see where it leads us. So we did the adverse food reactions and pulled out foods that our immune system was activating at. And it's just like, I mean, I'm talking, she lost like 10 pounds in two weeks. So that just shows the amount of water wait that she was holding on to because they're poor systems, like, I've been telling you for years that I hate this food. And finally you listen, do you know, and so it's just like, oh, sloughed off. And then through mindset, that was another one where it was another aha moment of why I'm stuck. And then through the genetic phase, it was like, oh, I need to address weight loss through this way. And that's what's gonna work like, because she was trying to over exercise yourself where her system didn't even care about exercise. That's not how she lost weight. It was all through the system stress and all through, you know, a lot of the other components that usually aren't targeted with weight loss. And, you know, she, throughout the whole program, she, by the time 12 weeks came around, she had already lost 30 pounds within 12 weeks. And she wasn't, you know, she wasn't a 400 pound lady, she was already fairly fit. So it was just fascinating to watch her body. Just love what she was doing and just respond so positively. And you know, she was very fully engaged and, you know, did everything that I asked her to do. And that's why she thought such phenomenal night and day results because she's reliable. She was listening to herself and able to make those adjustments. And I mean, she's just been losing sense. She's just doing amazing. I don't even need to help her anymore. She's like on point.
Leanne: Oh, that's so awesome.
Calla: That's awesome to hear. Can you tell us about your association with Wildland Firefighters?
Carly Lucchesi: Yes. So my husband is a wildland firefighter, and he has been for 19 seasons, the next year, earliest 20th Season. This is more of a new endeavor for me. But not really because like that's what our program does. It targets stress and chronic related disease. So it was kind of like an aha moment when I'm like, Oh, why don't I help firefighters?
Calla: Close to your heart. Yeah, it makes right.
Carly Lucchesi: So, Wildland Firefighters. It's absolutely a population that is very stressed. Chronic Disease is overwhelming them in terms of heart disease mindset need, and the food because either you're eating at a station or you have you know, it used to be a six month fire season, but now it's turning into like a 10-11 month fire season where you're eating fire line food and you know my husband in particular because we know of his food sensitivities. He has a histamine intolerance, like, so he gets to the fire line and he's like, Okay, I have this sack lunch. What do I eat because I don't want to feel like crap. I want to be able to perform and I want my cognitive ability to be on point but in this bag, I have uncrustables and a red apple and you know, chimichanga burrito and he's like, What do I do? So my goal with helping Wildland Firefighters is to help them to understand their body well enough to know like okay, what are you reacting to? And help their bodies to be able to convert to between the different fuel systems. Because the six small meals, you're burning glycogen like all day long. And that's the big push with firefighters is we need to give them glycogen, so that they'll keep burning that it's like, well, what if we remind their bodies that they can burn fat just as efficiently? You know, and it might take a little bit more effort and our bodies are innately lazy, so it doesn't want to. But what if, during the offseason, we target their system processes, and we optimize those, and we target what they need individually, and we help them to understand their bodies well enough, and to understand hunger and to understand how to feel good again, so that on the fire line, they're able to do their job, and they don't have to worry about that and handle the mental health component of things to and like where is their stress coming from? Why do they feel trapped, you know, and there's kind of a lot of the mindset shift that I see as a big need as well.
Leanne: Huge need the it's, it's crazy to me because their whole job is based off of performance. And that shows just how neglected nutrition is in our society like it. Were totally ignorantly feeding firefighters uncrustables. And like, one of my best friends works at a hospital and she said the hospital lunches are absurd, and there's cookies everywhere and free candy. It was hard for her to get serious about her diet because she's just bombarded by bullshit all the time. And she works in hospital, like, how are we not making these connections on a bigger level? It's unbelievable.
Carly Lucchesi: Well, it's hard because I also have compassion for the flip side of things in that that's a really hard environment for food procurement, you know when a fire kicks off. And then all of a sudden, you have, you know, a couple 1000 firefighters on scene that need 4000 calories a day at a drop of a hat. And these guys are way out in the middle of nowhere, like my husband, it'll take him sometimes three hours to get to the hotel because he's he's a dozer operator. So he's like, way out all by himself plugging in fire line. And so you have to provide this dude, with food that's shelf stable with something that is good, because it's a 24 hour shifts. Sometimes he's literally running the dozer for 24 hours. So it's extremes, you know, and sometimes it's hard because like, he knows if he has an uncrustable, he's gonna feel like dogshit. So he's like, I'm not going to do that. But that's where that information comes, that he is fat adapted, he knows he can go 24 hours and not eat and his system will be just fine. But then he knows the next day on his 24 hour down, that he's going to need to refuel and refuel very specifically for what he needs in order to maintain or to know like, what can I have out of this fire pack food? Or what can I bring in regards to shelf stable foods that's going to actually make him be able to perform?
Leanne: Do you have any shelf stable recommendations or go twos that you have around your house?
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, for him, we love the Lara bars. Because yeah, very few ingredients, the RX bars, again, very few ingredients, anything that's soy free, I'm sold on, Certain types of protein powders. Even a carbohydrate powder, like we have sweet potato powder form, we have MCT oil, we've got different types, he does okay with dairy. So we'll do like a whey protein just to have a standby meal for him because at that point for the firefighters, it's not about taste, like sure quality of life and like all that stuff is cool. But really, I see it, that they need nutrients because they need to be able to perform, and they need to be able to, you know, in the situation where they need to get out of harm's way they need to be able to truly perform and have the cognitive ability to know when they're in danger too. I see that as my job. And yeah, then those shelf stable products of you know, there could be like a nitrate free beef jerky, and there can be different dried fruits that don't sulfates in them and all that stuff that your immune system is going to react to. So they're are standby, but then it's okay, well, what is the fine line of their board? Because sometimes they're at these fires for like a month, you know? So how, how often or how do you teach them to know when the uncrustables okay? And to know when it's okay to have the chimichanga or whatever crap that's going to be. I know CalFire there, they're absolutely trying to address that need but with certain requirements of these lunches that it has to have this, this, this, but it's just one of those ever changing marks. I think that, like you fix a problem and it creates another problem. So then you just have to like, fix that one and then like, look into it and figure it out from that standpoint.
Calla: It's beautiful work that you're doing. Like it really truly is. And you can tell that your heart and souls in it. Thank you so much for coming and hanging out with us today. I learned a lot
Carly Lucchesi: I feel like I did you a disservice by not having a coffee cup with me.
Calla: Never, never
Leanne: Next time.
Calla:
Where can people find you and get plugged in with you?
Carly Lucchesi: So Instagram, Facebook, @yourlivinghealth, or Carly Lucchesi and my website, yourlivinghealth.com -And you can book your free console there or just like find out more about me.
Leanne: Thank you so much, Carly. This was great.
Calla:Thank you.
Carly Lucchesi: Yeah, thank you ladies.
Leanne: Have a great day, Carly.
Carly Lucchesi: All right. Bye
Calla & Leanne:Bye!