BONUS: The Health Warning High Achievers Keep Ignoring

0:00If your health is one of your top values like it is for me, then this woman's story is one that you really want to pay attention to because she was doing everything right or so she thought until she ended up in the hospital, in the ER, being wheeled into the operating room. Yes, you heard that right. I'm bringing on a very special guest to talk about health and heart disease. And if you are new here, I'm Laurie Ann and this is the Be in Demand Podcast. This podcast is for leaders who want to share their story, share their voice, be heard and be remembered. So whether you are a corporate professional or you're a coach or consultant marketing your business, public speaking is a skill that you will use everywhere. Let's get on to the show. Heather, I have been looking forward to this conversation because for a couple of reasons, one, I don't think it's talked about enough. And number two, this is something I have never

1:00talked about on my podcast. Wow. And I have a degree in exercise physiology. My health care background is in cardiology. So I, yeah, we need to talk more about health because I think it's so overlooked and it's like, I worry about it next week, next month. So before we jump into this conversation, can you just introduce yourself to the audience? Absolutely. My name is Heather Watkins. I live in North Carolina originally from upstate New York. I am a health and fitness coach. I have been since I was 21 and graduated with a degree in corporate health and wellness with a minor in exercise science. I have been exercising, teaching people to live a healthy active lifestyle since the age of literally 15 when I started studying nutrition and exercise. I just took a real curiosity in it. I'm fascinated with everything health wellness in the human body. And I am a widow maker heart attack survivor at age 48. So a real contrast. Yeah. Okay. Widowmaker, you

2:04got to explain that to a lot of people. I know what it means because of my background, but can you explain it to the audience? That is. That is a hundred percent blockage in your left ascending artery. That is one that supplies the most blood to the heart. And when it is a hundred percent block, there is no blood flowing to your heart. And maybe you can say it more clinically. But what happens in that moment is you cannot breathe, you cannot talk, you have extreme chest pain and pressure. And you feel like this is going to be it for you. Yeah. Yeah. So before we had hit record, we were talking about your fitness obsession. You ended up going to the emergency room because you were like you somehow knew you were having a heart attack. I want to talk about that. But before you go into that, you've got some hereditary, correct? I do. And I know that you're super easy to ignore. Can you just share with everybody about this hereditary factor? Yes. So at 19, I was

3:08in college in rebrand blood work and they called me into the health center two or three days after the blood work was done. I thought I was going to get a trophy or a certificate because as a type A overachiever, I thought I probably have the best blood work at a thick of college. So they called me into the health center. And at the time, I was the lead aerobic fitness instructor, of course, for the school. And the nurse called me in and she kind of looked at me like, wow, this is your blood work. Again, I was waiting for my certificate. And she said, this looks really bad. She said, do you have a family history of heart disease? And you know, I was 20, 19 or 20. And I said, you know, my grandmother is on heart medications. And I think that yes, there's heart disease. And you know, my grandmother, my parents are fine, but at that time, they were 45. And they said, you need to really keep an eye on this. And again, at 19, almost 20, that is the last thing on my mind was a my cholesterol. Fast forward to age 40, my OBGYN said, we need to send you to the cardiologist.

4:08You have had high cholesterol for many years. I'm very concerned. And they sent me to a cardiologist at which point they did the carotid artery scan. And they showed me plaque building in my epithelial lining of my arteries. And they said, this looks like you have been laying around eating McDonald's your whole life. And I was shocked. I was shocked. You know, I said, I said, I you know, understood what they were saying. They said, you know, it's great that you're so active. And you have such an exercise history. Keep doing your cardio, your heart, your heart is probably very healthy, but you are laying down plaque. This is dangerous. And they wanted to put me, they put me on a statin. And I did not fulfill the prescription. In my brain, I was checking every other box off the list. I do not smoke. I do not drink. I exercise every single day. I had a very clean diet. In fact, I was on a plant-based diet back then. And I have spent my entire life being the health, not the health guru of everywhere and everyone who knew me. So I just kind of like,

5:10I'll be fine. I'll just keep running and eating my oatmeal. And that is what I did until 45 when my doctor ordered a calcium score. And I went in for that. And that shows you. I know what a calcium score is. But what compelled your doctor to order a calcium score at the age of only 45? Because he said, I can see your LDL is still really high. And we need to take a closer look at this. I need to see what's in your heart. And guess what? It was a two. So it came back very low. So I was thinking, well, okay, they showed me a couple years ago. I had some plaque buildup. But my heart says, I am like in the clear. So I just kind of, you know, I chose what I wanted to believe. I'm fine. And again, LDL was still real high. Like in my total cholesterol was really, really high. And because I'm such a health, I want to take the natural root with everything. Right. Me too. I'm on natural. I don't take anything. So I just figured whatever I'm,

6:16I feel great. I feel great. Everyone knows me. I'm the energizer bunny. I feel great. So I, again, just kind of chose to listen to what I wanted to hear. And then at 48, this is the crazy part of the story. I'll give you the cliff notes. I might be family. Went out of town for a ski trip. I don't like to be cold. I do not like to ski. I stayed home alone. And I thought, I want to have a relaxing weekend by myself. Now I have to do anything for anybody. So I'm going to stay home from skiing Saturday night at six o'clock. I went to the gym because that is what I would do. And I did the treadmill and the bike. And I went to get on the stairmaster. And I couldn't even step up on the stairmaster. And my, I felt so heavy. Like I literally couldn't lift a leg. And I thought, alright, you are, this is not who you are, Heather. I left the gym and went home in rare, five miles in the cold with my scarf and hat on and got my cardio in that night. Went to bed at like nine o'clock. Had my green tea and my hummus sandwich with my veggies.

7:19And woke up at six and was a, woken up by a phone call at six on a Sunday morning, which is a lovely event. And it was an employee. And she said, my grandma's having a heart attack. And we are going to the ER. And I took a pause. I took a breath. And I said, I actually think I'm having a heart attack. And I stepped out of bed. And I knew it. Uh oh, this is bad. And that is what woke me up was that call. Not the night before running. I felt great. But that call woke me out of bed. Thankfully, you might not have woken up. Oh, I know I wouldn't. I know I wouldn't have. Okay, let's talk about you getting to the ER because you told me beforehand. And this is, this baffles me. So being the do it yourself or that I am, and I didn't want to bother anybody, I called the ER and I said, I think I'm having a heart attack. I have severe chest pain. What do I do? And the young lady said, Oh, just drive on over. I don't think she meant you drive. I think she

8:23meant get her ride. And she didn't say call 911. So I just thought, okay, well, let me let the dog out. Let me close out the girl's book on the computer who was coming into work. Uh, let me get dressed and brush my teeth. I had a glass of orange juice. I felt very nauseous. And I drove on over. And thankfully, it's only a two minute, two mile, two minute drive at six in the morning. Nobody's up on a Sunday, but I would never have called 911 and woke it up my neighbors anyway. Oh, I would not have done that right because I don't want to inconvenience anybody or class seed. Right. Exactly. Don't do that. Right. So I drove myself over. I walked right in. I said, I know I'm having a heart attack. I know I'm going, I feel like I'm going to die. And they said, give me your insurance and your license. And I'm re, I could barely get everything out of my purse. And they sat me down. And they did it in an EKG. And they said, oh, you look fine. You seem fine. And then they put me not in the waiting room, but in like a hallway where the vending machines was.

9:24It was in between where the, where the doctors would walk down, but nobody was there. It was six, 30 on a Sunday. So I was alone in a wheelchair for two and a half hours by myself. And I couldn't even get my phone out of my purse to text anybody. So I feel like that was another, um, one of the nine lives that I had that was probably number three, right? Right. Mm-hmm. But that is women do present, you know, from my background in cardiology and healthcare. I mean, women do present very differently. And it's amazing here in 2026 that it does still get overlooked. And they know that. So this is, this is, I'm like sharing this with my audience because I want you you need to be your own advocate when somebody, when a doctor says, and my sister's been after me for this, I have a nurse practitioner who takes care of me and I don't feel like she listens. And my sister is such a big component. Like you have to find somebody who will listen to you. Because you know, who knows your body best? You do. That's right. So you got hair, obviously. Yes. So they

10:33finally, somebody came back and called my name and I waved my hand and they pushed me back and they brought me back into their little room. The, I don't know what you would call it, the ER room. Yes. Yeah. And ER doctor came in and it was someone I knew. It was a dance mom from my daughter's studio. And she knew me. I taught fitness at the dance studio. And she looked at me and wave, hey girl, you know, how are you? And I said, Andrea, I know I'm going to die. I said, please help me. I know this is bad. And she was so calm and so reassuring. And I do believe that if it was not her who did not know me, I might not be here again. And she went outside and spoke to somebody and immediately put me through it. I think it was a CAT scan or MRI that you lay through. Came back in so the cardiologist is on his way. I'm not sure what's going on. I really did not know what's going on. I was kind of that point out of it. I mean, the pain was unsurmountable. And they started to put in morphine and she said, we're going to bring you to the OR. And the cardiologist will be there. And again, I thought to myself, I don't know what you're

11:36going to do. Do something. And he came in. He said, you're going to feel a small prick in your wrist and you might feel a second prick. And on that second prick, I had complete relief. The elephant was off my chest. I sat right up. I said, oh my god, I feel so great. How do I go home? And he said, okay, you're going to need to lay down and we're going to have a conversation. Let me show you what happened. He explained to me the the blockage. And he said, we're going to go up and talk a little bit more. And at that moment, I thought to myself, I'm in trouble. My parents are going to kill me because I thought he said, you had a massive heart attack. And you are the luckiest person I've ever met to be alive right now. And we're going to have a conversation. And I knew it was coming. Here comes the family history. And why didn't you take your medicine lecture? And that's all that could go through my brain is I am so glad I survived. And my parents are going to be really mad. That's so interesting that you resorted to that. My parents are going to be like, I'm being a bad girl. Yes. Here because I didn't take all the seriously. I really do think

12:40it's so easy to just put our health on the back burner, if not off the stove. Right. So all in all, what did you learn? Like if you had to distill like here's one or two lessons that I have distilled from this entire experience, what would that be? The first one would be that you can look and feel great and be doing everything right. I was by the book. I have studied this. I know this. I knew the signs of a warrant of a heart attack. I saw my grandmother again have heart disease that progressed as you know through my 20s and 30s and 40s. I would felt great. It doesn't matter. You know, you can control all those things. The sedentary lifestyle, the alcohol, the bad food. But if your family history is strong, you can not dismiss that. And you can't put that like, I just put that at the bottom of the list like, well, that's okay. I do everything else. Right. It does not matter. That has to be more of the need to look at your mother and your aunts and your

13:40uncles and your grandparents, you know, what has happened to them and dive in deeper. So the family history is very, very important. That is the first thing. And the second thing is it was at a time in my life where I was balancing multiple businesses. I had children in three different, you know, episodes of their life in schools and activities and sports and running everybody. So my hobby was my exercise and I always eat and clean. However, I think the stress and the amount that I was carrying was a very heavy load for me. My businesses were very stressful at the time. I have since sold them. I just, you start to just live with more and more compiling stress and you just kind of get used to it. And I think I was at an all-time breaking point. And I had, this was a loud, you know, a lightning that stopped me, not the whispers of things, you know, it really made me have to slow down balance, put up boundaries. I'm a people, please, or overachiever. I have a lot to get done in a day. I just keep on going. And I think women, we are like that. We have a lot to get done. So we don't want to slow down. Right. This is how I feel that

14:46well, it's just a little bit of stress. Like it'll be over. Like one more day, one more task. I just feel like it's so easy to say just one more. And I also, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I also feel like stress is always the catch-backskit. Oh, it's because of stress. So I think because I've heard so many professionals say that for my time in cardiology, that it's so easy to ignore it then. Right. It is. And we just think, oh, it's stress, but your body is keeping score. Your body, no, it knows the stress. It's, you know, whether it's high blood pressure or headaches or feeling fatigued or tired. Like people push through those things because it's just stress, but it adds up and are they? I do think that had a component of it. I absolutely do. It was a very stressful time for me. I was not going to slow down. You know, my to-do list would

15:48start off in the day. And instead of feeling really great about the 84 things, if I got 17 done, then I would add 17 more. I feel like my rolling to-do list, it wasn't, hey, I can do that tomorrow. It's like, well, I got that, that task done in two and a half minutes. So let me add two more tasks. And really, never taking a break. And then I would go exercise, which, again, is another stress to the body. If you don't, and just push myself into that high energy type of working out where it was like, that was my stress relief. But I'm like, what was it? You know, we might have been called stress. So I think, you know, one balancing putting up boundaries and two really, really understanding where your health is at. And feeling good doesn't mean you're good. All right. I want to talk about the boundaries first before we get into really diving into the health. How was that to be going from 90 miles an hour essentially down to 45? Well, I would say I went 90 to 85 to 70. That is a process. It takes, again, when you are used to

16:55being a type A independent do it yourself for non delegator. And everybody in your life knows that's who you are. You know, people will say, if you want something done, ask the busiest person in the room. I think I had that across my forehead. I think that was on a billboard on our highway. Literally, because that's actually could be like the next website. Just ask how they're because that's what would happen. I know you're the busiest person and you have so much going on. But can you plan this event for me? You know, and I've like, no, I have learned, I have really learned to say no. And I think it takes time to to say it to be okay with it. I felt not looking at been person and cringing and like, how am I going to disappoint the end? They won't move on. People will go ask somebody else. So I did. I had it slowly. I sold one of the businesses within six months. I just had an opportunity and I thought, you know what? Why keep putting myself through this? I sold that business. It was a brick and mortar. And then kept the other business. And that was

17:56still very stressful with the type of industry and business it was. And I had an opportunity about a year and a half after that to sound. I thought, you know, I want to go back and do full time, what I want to do, what I meant to do, which is my health coaching and my corporate wellness. And I navigated back to that full time, which was a beautiful transition for me to go back and do what I loved to do and not own a business to own a business. And so it took time, but I've done that. Good. Okay. I want to talk about what women need to know and what they either need to ask their doctor or really understand about basically their health, their numbers. Like once a woman gets over the age of 40, I'll say. Right. So I think that we all are familiar with our cholesterol, total cholesterol LDL HDL. I think that's it. You know, we see that number and there's, you know, the argument that, oh, cholesterol is very good for your body and it is right. It is however, if you have LDL that is, you know, high and not getting better as you age and not getting better

18:59with co with lifestyle factors, then you have to look at that. And then again, that I think we need to know our AP OB score and then our LP little A is important as well. And you know what those are. But I think what we have to do is say, okay, so if I don't take care of this and follow your recommendations, what might happen? Like bring me. I think I thought when people hear heart attack, they think, well, if I'm taking care of my heart, a heart attack is not just it affects the heart, but it is from the buildup of the plaque and the blood clot. And you don't think, oh, I might have a blood clot or I might have a piece of that plaque break off. And so I think there's a disconnect between saying heart attack, high cholesterol, but there's not that, hey, here's what could happen. A piece of that might break off. And that's what's going to cause a clot and you'll feel that building for days. I never knew what could happen the days before. And I definitely had warning signs leading up in that week before that I just blew off. So I think the heart attack we think of in the moment. Yeah. And so what happened to you days before hand? So days before, I think I am so driven,

20:08and my husband says this too, that I don't ever feel tired. So I wouldn't I would not say I felt tired because I think I just have natural good energy and push through the day, but I did feel a very strange tightening in my chest at least four to five times that week because I remember saying to my employees, I kind of feel like I'm having a heart attack. It would be this intermittent, like a burn, but not a heartburn burn because I always have had heartburn and I know what heartburn feels like. So if you have never had a heartburn and you have it, um, heavy burning feeling in your chest and it's not heartburn pay attention. So I had this intermittent pressure that would come for a few seconds and then it would go away. And I thought that it was because I'd increased my bench press and I had pulled a muscle, but when I would press on it like a typical pulled muscle, you would press and feel the muscle sore. I didn't feel that. It just felt like oh, that went away by the time I, and so I kind of dismissed it. And then on the at the gym that night,

21:12when I could not lift my legs onto that stair master after just getting off the bike and just doing a couple minutes on the treadmill and I could not physically lift my leg and I remember grabbing my chest, you would think that would have been something that said, hey, maybe there's something going on, but instead I said, well, I'm really good at running. So let me just go for my run. Unbelievable, unbelievable, but it is so easy to have this identity of I'm a healthy person. I'm doing all the right things that goes along with being that healthy person. So this could never happen to me. I mean, I will admit, like I also have those thoughts too. I know, I know. We'd be, but you know, we all know somebody says, oh, yeah, my uncle was a tennis player and he died on the tennis court or my aunt, this and my aunt that. And when people say that, I'm like, okay, if that is someone in your family, please go talk. I can't tell you how many women have come to me and say, you know, my mom had a widow maker at 49 and died. I'm so glad you're here. And I will say,

22:16okay, so what are you doing? Well, you know, I don't want to take anything or I don't want to, I'm like, I know you don't want to, but it is a silent killer and it will sneak up on you. And it's the number one reason that people die in America. It's not way down the list. This is real high, real high. Okay. So you talk about the metabolic shift. I want to dive into that a little bit. Can you explain that to everyone listening? Yeah. So I think between the ages of 18 and 40, we all want to fit in our genes and look good. And it's about the number on the scale and having good energy. And there's all these reasons we want to, you know, lose weight, feel good and work out. Mine was always, I wanted to look good, but I wanted to feel good. And I knew that would, you know, I knew it was affecting my actual health, but I studied health. So I knew that. I think at 40, when women, all of a sudden, hormones change, their stuck, they are frustrated, they are confused, their genes are not fitting. They go back to the 20-year-old methodology, more cardio,

23:18cutting calories, you know, at all costs, cut food, and at all costs just to exercise more. And that is exactly what we have to not do at that age. Estrogen drops, things change in our body, and we have to completely change our metabolism, but by shifting our mindset. So the metabolic shift is, hey, we have to do things a lot differently now. Our physiology is absolutely changing, and we cannot do what we did at 20 and 30. It will absolutely backfire. So convincing women that there is a metabolic shift, a physiological shift is they get it, but they really have a hard time accepting what we're going to tell them to do. You have to eat breakfast, you have to eat more, you have absolutely got to protect that muscle at all costs, or you will be very frail, like maybe your grandma, and things are just different. There is a new game plan, and if you don't do this, you will have more health problems and just feeling overweight. You know, a couple of years ago, I worked with a gut health specialist, and that was one of the

24:20things was to, for me, to eat more protein. But I feel like the information is more readily available out there, and I couldn't believe how good I felt when I ate more protein. I just felt better throughout the day. Now I will admit, I exercise in the morning, and a couple of weeks ago, I started experimenting, I was like, what if I had like a banana instead of coffee? I know you might cringe with my coffee idea. But that was just like you said, I'm still doing what I was doing when I was 20, but now I'm trying to have more, have like a protein shake, have a banana before I hit the dinner. And again, I'm just experimenting, and I can't believe how good I feel, and how much it's easier to lift a certain amount of weight. And I just drink my coffee. That is the first thing I do. I could never make it through the day without my coffee. In fact, that was probably the only day going to hospital that I did not have my coffee. And caffeine is so well researched, there's

25:22nothing wrong with coffee. But that's right, our bodies are different. Our cortisol is very high in the morning. We need something in our bellies, working out on a fasted, working out fasted is not good for us. The science tells us that the studies were done on men. We have got to stop listening to the tricks and the trends and what people think works and really look at the science on the women's bodies and physiology on what what the keys are. And it is, it is really hard to get women to eat breakfast. And then when they finally do, like I didn't overeat at night, and I feel better during the day and my brain is better. I'm like, well, because we're giving your body food and fuel. But I think the mentality has always been, eat as little as you can. And women think that they start at zero. So anything above zero food is bad. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, we have to look at how much food you need today according to your basal metabolic rate with good healthy food. And then we look at how much are you moving? How much are you exercising and lifting? And if you have to be in a clerk deficit, we pull from that top number, not zero. Yeah, not zero. Not breakfast is bad.

26:25We have to three meals a day, balance your blood sugar, balance your cortisol, fuel your body. But we have a real hard time doing that. Every woman I know feels bad about eating and that's a shame. Food is supposed to be enjoyed, is nourishing. So I have to change the mindset of this is good for you. I need you to eat breakfast and fuel yourself and don't feel bad about food. Because let's talk about that mindset. Because I do think just like you're saying, we've we've all been telling ourselves the story that less is best and it's not. And I'll just delay my first meal. So I'm a I'm not a breakfast person. I always heard that a lot too. Like how do you help women change their mindset around food? Well, here's the first thing. When people tell me they're not a breakfast person, probably about 38 seconds before that, what they're telling me is I'm really out of control at night.

27:25I come home. I'm I'm snacking on tostitos before I cook dinner. I then after dinner, I want sweets. And I'm telling them the number one reason for overeating at night is under eating all day. So what if we just try to eat a normal breakfast or even let's start with just a yogurt? Let's just have one thing takes two minutes. You can eat in your car if you have to, right? Not preferable, but with your half do you have to. But let's just try that. And then I try to add on a little bit more. And then what happens is they'll say, yeah, I didn't have like those weird cravings tonight. I wasn't going in the pantry seven times after dinner. And I said, because your body knows it needs to be fed. So you can either choose to be intentional and wake up and start the day with food or you are going to be hangry, crabby, cranky, and miserable and searching for food. And then feel guilty and shameful and be overeating at the worst time at night. So let's try to reverse the day. Trust me on this. I mean, I have to say trust me on this. I've done this 47 hundred times. And let's just see what happens. And then what happens is like, oh yeah, I feel so much better.

28:27I can't believe I'm eating breakfast. I feel more in control. I don't, you know, walk around the office eating Hershey kisses all day. So what kind of women do you work with? Now I want to dive into like you sold to businesses. And there is a way that you are helping people, which I want to make sure everybody understands that we're not just talking about eat right exercise with moderation. Like how do you work with people and help them through this? So I work with clients on a one-to-one basis. And my demographic, it's really split. I have a lot of young ladies, 28 to 22 to about 30 in the corporate world, because I have a corporate wellness partner that I have clients who work with me. A lot of them are 22 to 28 living on their own. Really like, hey, I'm eating clean. I'm working out. It's not working. What am I doing wrong? So I have a lot of, and that's a really great spot because many of them are, they're on their own. They're cooking. They're working hard. They want to know the knowledge before they all of a sudden at 30 are getting married and having children in that 30 to 40-year-old

29:30time frame. Everyone's just too busy. I barely get clients in that time of their lives. And then the next age is the 40 to 55 women who all of a sudden like, all right, the kids are a little bit older. I have a little bit of time. My health is out of control. I don't know what has happened in the last two or three years. I've been working, running everybody around, and I need help. And they are ready to make some changes. So I have two very distinct groups. And I love them both because I get to really help the younger girls set the tone for the rest of their life. And they'll look at me and be like, wow, I want to feel like you do it 53. And then I have the women who I say 40 like it starts now. If you've not been doing things, we've got to start now because 50 is coming quick. And we've got a really set this foundation of a lifetime of good health for the next 30, 40 decades. So I work with clients one on one. And you know, where it used to be mostly nutrition, now it's really lifestyle. It's, you know, we look at their stress. I look at their sleep. I really like, there's times we just start with you need more sleep. I can't help you lose weight until you can go to bed earlier. And,

30:33and one thing at a time, because people are busy, they, they cannot make a six week overhaul and do this 10 point checklist. It's literally one habit at a time. And when they master that, we're like, okay, now we're going to do X, Y, and Z. And, and some people can handle more two or three things at a time and some can't. But it's, I love what I do because it makes a big difference and how they show up. When you feel good and you feel capable, and I feel as if when you give people baby steps and they understand why they're doing it and they master it, they feel very capable. Now they can take on more, now they show up better, now they feel more confident. Even like I said, eating breakfast is a huge win for people who've never done it. It's a massive change. And it's a two minute part of their morning, but it makes a huge difference. So sometimes the smallest things really add up. It's not running the marathons. I'm not working with people, you know, doing triathletes or triathal ons. I'm working with people who are eating breakfast, are stressed, have limited time to work out.

31:34Maybe they're still balancing a family and need to know how do I, how can I help them fit this into their life without changing their life? Do you find that people want that quick win, that quick fix versus, okay, we're going to work out my sleep and we're going to work on drinking more water or maybe going for a walk. Yes. And I blame, I don't blame social media has people so confused. Heather, I read that if I drink two tablespoons of olive oil in the morning because this TikToker told me to do this, I'm like, who is saying this? That I'll lose weight in 30 days. And I said, you know, that sounds wonderful. Oh, well, it came from a supermodel. I'm like, okay, let's, let's look at, so I do think that there's a lot of quick fixes out there. And the reason women start over after every six week program, how many six week programs, 75 day program, 90 day programs, if people done, and they're still back to square zero because they finished it, but they did not

32:34know what to do on day 61 or 91, right? Because when you're so rigid and you have such a set of rules with no flexibility, you don't know what to do when you go out to eat at a restaurant or have to get on an airplane and you're rushing through the airport and need a snack. So I tell people, we have to look at your life if you are traveling for work and in airports and at hotels. We can't go five days in a business trip without a workout. So you're going to figure out how we're going to use dumbbells in the hotel in the hotel gym. And I'm going to give you a plan. You're going to do it there. You know, so I have to look at their life. And then we create the plan. Not here's the plan and just go ahead and fit it in. Oh, very nice. I like how you're doing that. Like, here's your life. Let me figure out how to essentially customize a program for you instead of you have to fit inside my program. And if you can't do it perfectly, you get the big F, you failed. And that's why it's a women fail. And then so when you fail several times, you procrastinate because you don't

33:35want to do the next thing that you are going to fail and then have to start over. So what I tell them is, hey, we're going to start with your life and looking at the time you have to actually work out and or prepare some food. You're travel schedule. You know, how many days a week you're in the office? Life is different now. Are you at home working? Are you in the office? Well, I travel three days a week and I'm home too. I'm like, okay, so that means I need to help you get two recipes two days a week. I mean, there's a lot that goes into it. And then say, well, where do you spend your time working out? Well, I do Pilates and I do this class. Okay, that's great, but where's your strength? We have to fit that in. So it is, I mean, I really drill down to how many days are you home, how many days you're traveling? Where are you eating when you go out and outfit people like, here's how you order when you go here. Here's how you read a menu because we can't have any every one of those moments where they're not in their kitchen to be just left to their own devices. Yes. Yes. Oh, God, I love this conversation. So if you had to distill everything down, like, what is

34:35like one tip, one gold nugget that you want everybody who's listening to this to walk away with? Everybody can do something today to improve their health, something small, whether it's walking for dinner, walking 15 minutes after dinner, that's great for your blood sugar and it might start a new habit for you. Or it's going to bed a little bit earlier and getting better sleep. That is a huge metabolic piece of the data we have to look at is how much sleep are you getting. So there's very small things we can do without adding more to your plate. How are you spending your time? Because everybody has the same amount of time, but how we spend it is very differently. One of the things I tell clients is I don't really have, I cook a lot. I cook a lot of food. I don't want to spend my time in the grocery store. So I instacar everything and they're great. It comes into my doorstep. That is a four hour time saver for me. I would rather spend the time prepping the food than shopping for the food. Because between traffic and slow cashiers, I need my grocery.

35:37So things like that, like have you ever considered having your groceries delivered? It might save you the time and I'd rather have you in the kitchen making some meals. Things like that, small things. That's a great, great tip. So Heather, thank you so much. Where can people follow you, learn from you and just absorb all your goodness? So I am on Instagram at Best Health Wellness and my website is besthealthwellnesswithheather.com and TikTok, Best Health Wellness. I can't believe I'm on TikTok. Good for you. All right, I will make sure that all those links are down below. But just to be able to get your message out there and just like you said, like there is a lot of misinformation that is out there. So thank you so much for doing what you're doing because the world and women need you. Thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you very much. And until next week, everybody, I want you to be in demand.