Have you ever shame spiraled after a “cheat day” or eating a piece of food that's not on an approved list?
Shouldn't creating healthy eating patterns really be all about self-care and self-love?
How can we take all of the obstacles we face each day and really use them to help us make empowered decisions for ourselves? On this episode of Wellness + Wisdom, lifestyle coach, sports nutritionist, founder of Sexyfit, and author of The Sexyfit Method, Zlata Sushchik, teaches us how we can deeply connect with our bodies, create a fresh start with our health, and gain our own confidence and powerful mindset.
In this interview, Zlata uncovers how we can avoid being a “diet robot” that's compelled to always keep up with the rules, regulations, and latest “trends” around food and fitness. As you'll learn, no single diet or exercise plan is made for every person because we get to discover what makes us feel good about ourselves by trusting and honoring the process.
Listen to Episode 108 as Zlata Sushchik Uncovers
- How Zlata's mother and her Russian roots in Moscow have influenced her career in the health and wellness industry.
- Zlata's story from moving from Russia to the USA (Alaska), getting her start in the fitness industry with bodybuilding, and her relationship with food.
- Why Zlata created Sexyfit to help her and other women create a healthy relationship with food and love themselves.
- How our health problems can actually be a blessing that leads us to live healthier lives.
- Zlata's experience starting out as a wellness coach and helping coach her best friend shed 70 pounds.
- What it means to be Sexyfit.
- Zlata's 5 Key Steps in the Sexyfit Method:
- Train Your Mind
- Food Freedom
- Simple Fitness
- Accountability
- Power of Community
- How trend hopping around diets eventually leads us to stop doing them and discover food freedom.
- How the Sexyfit Method differs from the Whole 30 and other nutrition methods.
- What was Zlata's Mirror Work moment and how it helped her analyze her relationship with food.
- What are the emotional triggers that attract us to food?
- How you can create a new dialogue with your body and stop self-sabotaging it.
- What both Zlata and Josh have done to help them change their state of mind about their bodies.
- Zlata's view point on weight lifting vs. simple exercise.
- Why exercising should be about honoring your body.
- How we're responsible for our own happiness and self-love.
- What can sabotage a busy mom's own health and wellness plan.
- Why selfishness is not a bad thing: We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of other people.
- What's eating most people today and what affects us on a day to day basis.
- Why it's so important, but scary for people to take a closer look at their emotional inventory and come to terms with it.
Meet Zlata and the Sexyfit Community
Top 3 Takeaways From The Show
- You don't have to be a “diet robot” that follows all of these different fitness and nutrition rules and regulations. Healthy is something you create for yourself. Discover and enjoy whatever keeps you motivated to stay on track with your wellness.
- Don't see your poor health as something to be ashamed of. Instead, see it as a blessing that you're recognizing that you want to take control of your health and wellness. We all have to start somewhere.
- Each day, you have the opportunity to wake up and honor your body. Do the exercises that you want to do whether it's cardio, HIIT, or LISS. Sometimes, some workouts like CrossFit won't bring us the same joy that other ones can provide for us. Just because your favorite workout isn't hardcore like CrossFit, it doesn't make it any less beneficial for your mind or body.
Power Quotes From Zlata Sushchik
Tweet This- “We must understand that all of the different parts of the body are connected. If you're constantly fatigued, your body is giving you a sign that you need to pay attention to it. All your body really wants is just attention.” – Zlata Sushchik on the power of listening to our bodies.
- “It is possible to live in peace. It is possible and available at any time. To achieve it, we need to pay attention to how external chaos influences us internally and how we pick up on energies and mirror those reflections.” – Zlata Sushchik on paying attention to ourselves.
- “There's no one definition of ‘sexy' just like there's no one definition of ‘success' because that's something that we truly cultivate for ourselves as women and that's truly where we shine in being different in our own way. Our bodies are different, our lifestyles are different, and we must honor that in order to feel at home in our body and with who we are rather they buy into the ideas of what we're supposed to look like.” – Zlata Sushchik on what ‘sexy' means.
- “Sexyfit is about understanding who you are, how you feel, and doing things your own way.” -Zlata Sushchik on what Sexyfit is all about.
- “Words shape our present moment and shape our future. We don't need more restrictions in our diet. If there is anything that we do need, it's freedom. Freedom doesn't come from restriction. Freedom comes from empowerment and making choices based on what's true for us.” – Zlata Sushchik on how we should be empowered to make the choices we want to make about food and not restrict ourselves.
- “There's this idea that every workout has to be intense and insane, but half of my workouts are a mix between walking and meditation. I believe that simple fitness is really the best way to connect with our bodies and to connect with our movement. Fitness is not therapy. Use fitness as a way to honor your body and movement. Don't torture yourself with crazy workouts that don't feel good to you.” – Zlata Sushchik on why we don't need to do intense workouts like CrossFit.
- “The true wealth is our health. It's really important for us to honor the relationship we have with ourselves when it comes to trust, communication, respect, kindness, and compassion. Just like everything else in life, it takes work. It's not something that's just given to us and it's not something that's so simple unless we have the right tools.” – Zlata Sushchik on the importance of honoring our minds and bodies.
About Zlata Sushchik
Zlata Sushchik is a lifestyle coach, sports nutritionist and founder of an online fitness
coaching company called Sexyfit. She grew up in Moscow, Russia but moved to Alaska (USA) at 16. During her career as a fitness competitor, she won top 5 placements at 26 shows including 3 national titles. She's been featured in Muscular Development, Flex Magazine, Rx Fitness and more.
Her powerful message of The Sexyfit Method has helped tens of thousands of women let go of old weight by providing virtual nutrition, fitness and accountability coaching towards healthier, happier and sexier lives.
She's known for her no-nonsense, no BS approach to health and fitness and at Sexyfit. Her focus is to create a foundation for sustainable living to help women get in shape and most importantly, create the habits that work for modern wellness.
About The Sexyfit Method by Zlata Sushchik
Sexyfit was created out of the notion that every woman is sexy in her own way and deserves to feel confident in her body. Zlata Sushchik helps women break up with unrealistic beauty standards and escape the “I’m not enough” mindset, as well as the guilt and anxiety around food. Zlata has combined her fitness knowledge with the expertise of the more than 300 top researchers, coaches, and nutritionists whom she on interviews on her podcast .
“The Sexyfit Method” is a complete five-step formula designed for women to create the body they love on their terms. What makes this approach unique is the combination of cognitive psychology practices, research-proven nutrition strategies, and simple fitness, all of which Zlata marries with useful tips to stay accountable and motivated for life.
Resources Mentioned by Zlata & Josh
- Visit the official Sexyfit Website
- Get your own copy of the Sexyfit Method Book by Zlata Sushchik
- Learn more about the creator of Sexyfit – Zlata Sushchik
- Check out the Sexyfit Podcast
- Join the Sexyfit Challenge
- Zlata's three helpful tips to beat emotional eating for good in 2017
- Connect with Zlata Sushchik and Sexyfit via:
- Check out Zlata Sushchik's interview on the Earn Your Happy Podcast with Lori Harder
- Learn more about Reed Davis at Functional Diagnostic Nutrition
- Listen to the WFR 067: The 5 Metabolic Myths with Dr. Jade Teta
- Learn more about Upgrading Your Subconscious Beliefs with Bonnie Kelly on WFR 087
- Read True to Your Core by Bonnie Kelly
- Check out WFR 071 Food Freedom Forever with Melissa Hartwig
- Listen to WFR 027 with Michael Strasner: Creating a Life Worth Living
Thanks To Our Amazing Sponsor
Want to avoid more trips to the store and save hundreds of dollars a year on superfood supplements?
Check out Perfect Supplements.com
Go to perfectsupplements.com/wellnessforce to get your grass-fed collagen from today's show and sign up for a free membership, plus get 10% off your entire order – just enter promo code “wellnessforce” at checkout.
About The Author, Lauren Bryant, Podcast Production
Lauren Bryant is the Podcasting Assistant and Show Notes Writer for Wellness + Wisdom. She has a BBA in both Marketing and Spanish for Business as well as certificates in Advanced Business Communications and International Business from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire.
Lauren’s wellness journey began at a young age when she joined her local YMCA swim team, The Wave, of La Crosse, WI. One of the most profound views on wellness that anyone has said to her was when she was an assistant swim coach for that same YMCA swim team.
One day during a practice, former head swim coach, Jon Brenner, shared with her that the most important thing about coaching the swimmers was that “It doesn’t matter if they become the best athletes in the world. What’s important is that we give them the tools and guidance they need to live a healthy, active lifestyle for the rest of their lives.”
Since hearing those words, she has taken it to heart to not only focus on continuously living her own healthy lifestyle, but to help others pursue their wellness goals as well.
Lauren’s not only an avid swimmer, but a fan of running, yoga, cooking, and doing any activity outside that involves being surrounded by nature. In the Fall of 2014, she completed a long-awaited goal of walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
According to Lauren, wellness is about finding gratitude and joy in doing any type of physical or self-care activity that we love. Wellness means providing ourselves with self-love, good nutrition, and the inner peace that our individual minds and bodies need.
