October 15, 2024 • 23 mins
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Join Magic Barclay in an insightful episode of A Magical Life featuring Allie Cass, a former pro bodybuilder turned functional health and fitness coach. Allie shares her transformation journey and offers wisdom on optimizing metabolism, mindset, and holistic health. Discover her top three wealth-building tips—gratitude, investing in health, and giving back. Allie explores her personal battles with weight and stress, revealing coping mechanisms like low-intensity exercise, meditation, and resistance training, which are particularly beneficial for women. Learn how to integrate joy and honesty into your life for ultimate wellbeing.
Don't miss out on Allie's exclusive complimentary health audit. Find her on Instagram and Facebook at @AllieCassHealth or visit AllieCassHealth.com.
At Wholistic Natural Health Australia, we often recommend the use of high quality essential oils.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Magic Barclay (00:43):
Welcome back to A Magical Life.
I'm your host, Magic Barclay.
And today Allie Cass joins us.
Allie is a former bodybuilderpro turned functional health and
fitness coach who helps stressedout women optimize their
metabolism, up level theirmindset and shift from surviving
to thriving.
(01:04):
She's an advocate for self love,becoming your best self through
mind body health and living alife fully alive.
She's excited to talk to ustoday, and I'm excited to have
her.
Allie, welcome.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm
Allie Cass (01:19):
excited
Magic Barclay (01:19):
to be
Allie Cass (01:19):
here.
Magic Barclay (01:21):
I love your intro.
Being fully alive.
How many people do we see gothrough life, here's an
Australian term, half arsing it,like either waiting for death or
being the walking dead.
Life is so precious.
You really need to grab it andrun with it.
Allie Cass (01:39):
Really do.
And to answer your question, Iwould say the majority of
society, at least in our Westerncivilizations are just on
autopilot.
They're just cruising throughtheir days, waiting for the
weekend, wishing the day wasover.
And the sad, unfortunate partabout that is our days are
limited and we never know howmany we're going to get.
So I'm a big advocate of livinglife to the fullest, seizing
(02:01):
every opportunity and reallymaking the most out of the time
that we have here.
I love that.
Magic Barclay (02:07):
Okay.
I ask all of my guests the samethree questions.
Everyone gives me differentanswers and I've had a look at
the show notes you sent me andyours are fantastic.
So here we go.
What can your expertise do toaccelerate health?
Not just physical, but alsoemotional and spiritual health.
Allie Cass (02:26):
So for me, when I am educating, working with clients,
having conversations withpeople, what I aspire to do and
bring to the industry and bringto individuals is to bridge that
gap between the mind and thebody.
I have been in this industry forabout eight years.
And as you mentioned, I startedout, as a fitness athlete, a
(02:47):
bodybuilding professional.
So I really have seen thephysical side of things, both
from a, physique perspective andjust from an overall health
perspective.
And what I learned through thatprocess myself is that you
cannot out train, you cannot outdiet, you cannot out supplement
or medicate, or beliefs,negative self talk, wounds that
(03:09):
are unresolved, traumas that youdon't address from the past.
All of those things have animpact on our biology and on our
physiology and ultimately theway that we show up and live our
life.
So anytime I'm looking at healthwith people, I get people all
the time that ask me aboutnutrition, they ask me about
training, and it always seguesinto the bigger picture, which
(03:30):
is what is going on in yourbody, what's going on in your
mind, and how are those twothings influencing each other
and integrating with oneanother?
Because that's really the bigpicture for the ultimate healing
pathway that I think a lot ofpeople desire to be on.
Magic Barclay (03:48):
Very true, indeed.
We talk about wealth here aswell, Ali, and people think
wealth is just financial, but itcan also be personal and
emotional wealth.
And I guess that ties intoliving every day to its fullest.
So what are your top three tipsto creating wealth?
Allie Cass (04:07):
Ooh, that is a great question.
I actually, I was just at awomen's wealth symposium this
past weekend, so I feel likethis is really fresh on my mind.
So I would say the first tip isliving in a state of gratitude.
Like you mentioned, weoftentimes think of wealth as a
financial thing, and we cancertainly be financially or
materialistically wealthy, butwealth It can apply to anything
(04:31):
in life, it can apply to yourhealth, it can apply to your
relationships.
And I think what's important isthat we realize what our values
are, and we create wealth aroundthat.
If your value is freedom,connection, love, purpose, find
ways to be wealthy in those.
But at the root of everything,Anything that you want to
manifest, anything you want tohave wealth in, anything that
(04:52):
you want in abundance, it allstarts with being grateful for
what you already have in thispresent moment, and being
grateful for what is coming toyou in the future.
So tip number one for living awealthy life, whatever that
means to you, is to practicegratitude in the present moment.
Second tip, I would say investin yourself and that includes in
(05:14):
your health.
I think, I mean, it's so cliche,but there's the saying that
health is wealth.
And it really is because ifyou're not healthy, if you're
not feeling your best, showingup as your best, waking up every
day ready to go.
It does not matter how muchmoney you have.
It doesn't matter how much moneyyou want to have.
If you don't have the ability toexperience that to the fullest,
(05:36):
like we're talking about a lotof, the conversation is about
how do we experience life to thefullest?
And in order to do that, youhave to be healthy.
You have to feel vitality.
You have to show up as the bestversion of yourself.
And so I think.
Investing in yourself, investingin your health.
again, whatever that means toyou.
However, that's going to helpyou cultivate wealth.
that's where I always like tostart.
(05:58):
I think that we are our own bestinvestments, and you can never
go wrong by investing inyourself, whether it's
physically, mentally,emotionally, educationally,
anything.
And then my third tip is to giveback.
I know this is so true for me.
Every time I give back tosomeone, whether it's in the
form of charity or just offeringtime or taking some time out of
(06:22):
my day to just have aconversation that I know is
going to help someone.
Um, I have people all the timethat are like, can I have a
consultation with you?
What do you charge?
And I'm, I don't charge forconsultations.
I, my goal is to give back topeople.
So even if I can just helppeople, Provide them with a
direction or a resource orsomething that's going to help
them on their journey, even ifit's not myself, I think that
(06:44):
it's so important to give back.
And I truly believe that when wegive to others, whether it's
financially, whether it's withour time, whether it's just
lending, you know, someone 10minutes to hold space for them
while they you're.
Tell us about how their day hasbeen.
I believe that the universebrings us back, whatever it is
that we desire in the form ofwealth, like, double.
(07:06):
Um, so I think giving back inwhatever means that you can is a
very important part of thejourney of life and in creating
wealth.
Magic Barclay (07:15):
And our final standard question is around
weight loss.
Many people struggle with thisquite needlessly because stress
is such a big factor in it.
So have you ever battled yourweight?
If so, how did you win the war?
And what can you offer thelisteners who might be on this
journey?
Specifically on that stressrollercoaster.
Allie Cass (07:37):
Absolutely.
I had a really big battle withmy weight when I was about 22
years old.
I had just graduated college,um, I grew up as an athlete, so
physical fitness was always apart of my life.
I played collegiate basketballfor, A few months, decided that
it was no longer for me, anddecided to quit and put my focus
(07:59):
elsewhere.
While I was at university, Iactually studied abroad in
Australia.
And, um, let me tell you, youguys can party over there.
Uh, it was a wonderful time,but, um, I did not have the
healthiest habits.
So, after I graduated, I foundmyself being the heaviest I'd
ever been, exhausted.
like brain fog all the time.
I just, it, I wasn't happy withthe way that I looked, but more
(08:19):
than anything, I wasn't happywith the way that I felt.
I was like, I'm 22 years old.
I'm way too young for this.
Um, and then I had another lesssevere, but still somewhat of a
struggle with my weight aboutfour years ago.
And this was, again, this wasafter I was in the fitness
industry.
This is after I'd alreadystarted competing.
and I had issues with weight fordifferent reasons.
(08:40):
So the first time that, I reallystruggled with weight.
A lot of it was lifestyleinduced.
I drink a lot of alcohol.
I ate very poorly.
I didn't really know how toexercise in a way that was
suitable for my body and mygoals.
Um, but there was definitely alevel of stress in that process.
Um, right after I kind of hitthis breaking point with being
(09:01):
my heaviest, my mother wasdiagnosed with stage three brain
cancer.
I moved across the country and Ibasically became her primary
caregiver.
Through that process, I reallystarted to do a lot of research
on health, wellness, nutrition,all of these topics.
Um, not just for myself, but asa way to cope with what was
going on with my mom.
(09:21):
I wanted answers, and no onecould give me those answers.
But in that period, my stressskyrocketed exponentially.
Um, fast forward about ninemonths, and she had lost her
battle, unfortunately.
And I found myself.
In a place physically, mentally,emotionally, where I was at my
lowest and stress was a bigplayer in that, um, the second
(09:43):
time that I really battledweight as well, um, a lot of it
was actually stress induced andnot just stress from what we
think of.
So oftentimes we think of stressas, you know, the financial
stress or I'm going through,Some turmoil in my relationship
and that's a stressor.
I have all these deadlines atwork.
That's a stressor.
What we also don't realize isthings that happened in our past
that we have not yet workedthrough or that we haven't let
(10:05):
go of that serves as a form ofstress.
We have internal stress fromtoxins, parasites, bacterial
overgrowth, inflammation, thingslike that.
And what I had found in myselfat that point was that a lot of
the stress that I was incurringwas coming from The fact that I
had not really fully faced thegrief that I had around my
mother's death.
(10:25):
another traumatic death that Ihad prior to that when I was in
high school.
And so a lot of it was emotionalstress that I was carrying.
Um, the second time that I washaving this battle, I was You
know, doing all the right thingswith my nutrition, my exercise,
my supplementation.
So I knew it wasn't that.
And that was really the firsttime that I was like, Oh my God,
like we talk about how much of arole stress plays, but I'm
(10:46):
experiencing it.
And this is for real.
So the remedy for me to thatstep number one, always
awareness, right?
We cannot change what we're notaware of.
When I work with clients or evenworking with myself, my goal is
always to bring to the surfacewhat it is that's holding us
back or keeping us stuck in thatplace.
Um, for me, some of the biggest,biggest mediators to help me
(11:09):
move through stress were thingslike Low intensity training, um,
I moved away from doing highintensity workouts, um, I
started doing more restorativemovement, like walking, um,
yoga, I was still liftingweights, but I was backing off
of the intensity quite a bit,um, I started to dabble in
meditation, which has becomesuch a crucial role.
(11:30):
Practice for me in my day to daylife.
practicing things likegratitude, like we were just
talking about last question.
it's really difficult to feelstressed out while you're
simultaneously feeling grateful.
So even just shifting the focusaway from what it is that's
stressing you out and, andreally, Kind of keeping your
mindset on what it is that youhave that you're grateful for
(11:53):
all of the positive things inlife because, you know, I'm a
firm believer that we need tofeel our emotions and we need to
move through them.
However, there's alwayssomething that we can be
grateful for, and there's alwayssomething that we can learn from
any given situation.
So practicing awareness,cultivating practices in my
daily life that were morerestorative in nature, whether
it was through movement, throughstillness, and then practicing
(12:14):
gratitude were huge for me froma stress management perspective.
Magic Barclay (12:18):
I really love how you just mentioned all the
different types of stress, youknow, it's not just what you're
experiencing mentally, it'severything around you, it's the
people, it's the food, it's thechemicals, and I often say this
to my clients, you know, anystressor Is going to change your
(12:38):
cortisol patterns, youradrenaline patterns and either
make you feel up for a littlewhile and then crash or just
make you crash completely.
And we often just look at stressas, you know, work, time, money,
that kind of thing.
There's so much more to it.
Allie Cass (12:57):
A hundred percent.
And I often find with peopletoo, sometimes we don't even
realize that we're actuallycontributing.
You know, are we, experiencingthose stressors at work in our
relationships and with finances?
And then are we.
using unhealthy copingmechanisms like alcohol, drugs,
are we using food in anunhealthy way as well?
Because all of those thingscontribute to our, the stress
(13:18):
load of our body, whether it isthrough toxins, um, whether it
is through just creatinginflammation or not having
healthy patterns.
So sometimes, you know, I hateto say it, but sometimes we're
our own worst enemy as when itcomes to, creating more stress
for ourselves while weConsciously think that we're
dealing with our stress.
We're actually contributing toit even more.
Magic Barclay (13:37):
Very true.
Now we've already covered a fairbit.
What else haven't we touched onthat you feel the listeners need
to hear today?
I really want to hear about.
What you do every day, what youoffer to your clients and how
the listeners can maybe learnmore about how their body works
physically, you know, in thispodcast, we've explored a lot of
(14:00):
the emotional stuff, coaching,but I think many people just
think, first of all, that weightis calories in calories out,
which we know it's not, there'sso much more to it, but also how
the body experiences things.
And I know here in Australia,definitely.
You know, there's still a largepercentage of women that feel
(14:24):
that working out with weightsmakes them big and bulky and
masculine looking, you know,those old myths are still
kicking around.
So can you explain to us alittle bit about why resistance
training and weight training isso good for women's health and
how they can do it without thefear of looking like Arnold
(14:44):
Schwarzenegger.
Allie Cass (14:46):
A hundred percent.
So I resistance training isdefinitely a love of mine.
And it is part of what I do inmy coaching practice with women,
a very small part, but a veryimportant part.
I think that that's very common.
That's very much still themindset here in America as well.
I think we're shifting away fromthat, but, um, Weight training
for a long time has kind ofbeen, you know, we've been told
(15:08):
to go do aerobics or to, youknow, do cardio machines or, you
know, if we are going to liftweights, pick up five pounds and
do it a hundred times.
And, and a lot of that advice isthere's certainly a time and
place for cardio, but weighttraining in general will not
make you look bulky.
I can tell you from personalexperience in bodybuilding, the
(15:28):
people, the women that, um, looklike they're a female version of
Arnold Schwarzenegger, ninetimes out of ten are taking
performance enhancing drugs.
I did not realize this when Iwent into bodybuilding.
I was very naive.
but there are federations whothey're not, um, all natural.
And so just from the perspectiveof like a, an everyday consumer
(15:50):
or somebody who wants to justget in shape, who wants to feel
more fit that I promise you,even if you lifted consistently
for 10 years, it's going to bereally difficult for you to get
to that point, without takingsome kind of enhancement, drug.
And even the people who arenatural who get very big and
muscular, there's a lot ofscience and a lot of, What's the
(16:13):
word I'm thinking of?
It's very specific stimulus tocreate that kind of outcome.
So those people have very stricttraining regimens, they have
very strict nutrition regimens,supplements, and it takes time.
So if you are convinced thatyou're just going to go into the
gym and start lifting weightsand you're going to look like
that in six months, I'm here totell you that's absolutely not
the case.
(16:34):
Um, the reason why weighttraining though is so important
particularly for women.
obviously there's many differentreasons, but one of the biggest
ones being that muscle, theycall it the longevity organ.
So muscle is also the mostmetabolically active tissue.
So oftentimes we hear, you know,eat less, move more.
That's kind of your calories inversus calories out.
(16:57):
But what happens when we'reconstantly eating less is that
we're Reducing our energy intakeand our metabolism, our
hormones, our thyroid starts todown regulate over time.
If we're living in that state ona chronic basis.
what I like to focus on withclients is building more muscle
as muscle takes more calories tomaintain at rest.
So when you're focusing onbuilding muscle, you're actually
(17:19):
focusing on becoming moremetabolically healthy in turn,
raising your metabolic rate.
So you're not having to live ina chronic calorie deficit.
I mean, Even people whochronically diet, nobody wants
to diet, right?
Everybody wants to enjoy food.
We want to be able to haveflexibility to live our lives,
to nourish our bodies,rightfully so.
And building muscle is one toolthat can help you get there
(17:43):
without having to constantly bein a state of dieting.
having muscle tissue is alsosuper important for regulating
blood sugar.
So, our muscle stores glycogen,which is glucose.
in the storage form.
It's also stored in our liver.
So when you have more muscle,you can consume more
carbohydrates.
and a lot of women don't want togive up, you know, their, their
(18:03):
fun foods every now and then.
And so having more muscle isalso a way to, again, stay more
metabolically healthy and havemore flexibility with your diet.
Um, another thing more from ahealth and longevity perspective
is that resistance training hasbeen shown particularly in women
to help maintain and increasebone density.
Many of us that have been, I'mnot currently not on birth
(18:25):
control anymore, but I was formany years in my teens and in my
twenties.
and that can actually lead todecreased bone density,
obviously, as we age, bonedensity is a very important
topic.
And so having resistancetraining, doing, Exercises where
we're loading our body with aparticular amount of weight can
be really, really beneficial,um, in making sure that we have
(18:45):
healthy bones so that we don'tfall when we're older.
Um, you know, we have less of arisk of fracture, breaking a
hip, things like that.
You know, you can look atresistance training as being
beneficial, not just from aphysique perspective, but also
for longevity and maintainingproper health and function
throughout our life.
So I'm a big proponent of it.
There's so many more benefits,but those are just kind of the
(19:06):
main ones that I think.
Are really attractive for mostpeople
Magic Barclay (19:11):
and going back to your introduction and we were
talking about living life fullyrather than just waiting for the
day to end, waiting for the weekto end, hanging out for your
weekend and then spending it.
slave to your home or whateverit is, the tasks that you have
to get done before you rush backto work.
(19:32):
How can people stop that cycleand really start taking each day
as a blessing?
Allie Cass (19:40):
That's such a great question.
I think going back to theawareness piece, being honest
with yourself about what it isin life that you're unsatisfied
with.
Is it a job?
Is it a relationship?
Is it your health, your weight,the way you feel?
Is how you're feeling in yourhealth, is that holding you back
(20:00):
from being able to do the thingsthat you want to do?
I think a lot of us turn a blindeye.
We know, we know the things inlife that are pain points for us
that we don't enjoy, but wedon't necessarily want to face
them all the time because it'spainful and it requires us to
change.
And once, it's kind of like thatignorance is bliss, right?
So once we know the issue, weknow that.
(20:22):
It's our responsibility andwe're the only one to blame if
we don't change it.
So by not recognizing something,we can kind of live in this
state of blissful ignorance, butmeanwhile, we're, you know, not,
not happy, not feeling healthy,just not feeling satisfied with
life.
So I think taking inventory andreally trying to be brutally
honest with yourself about whatin your life Is not working and
(20:44):
can we change it?
Certainly, there are times wherewe may not be able to, you know,
if you're a single mom and youdon't really love your job, but
it's really what you need to doright now to make ends meet for
your kid.
It may not be feasible to quitat this moment or to make a
career change.
So how can we either Bye.
Bye.
express more gratitude for thesituation that we're in, or how
can we infuse your life withother things that you enjoy?
(21:08):
One of the questions that I askon my intake form is what is
something that you used to dolike as a kid or basically
before you were an adult thatyou no longer do?
And oftentimes homework itemsfor my clients include
reincorporating those thingsthat they used to do that they
thought were so much fun, theycould just indulge in and get
lost in before they had to havethese quote unquote adult
(21:31):
responsibilities.
And so what is that for you?
What brings you joy and what canyou include more of in your
life?
So I think being honest withwhere you're at, what's not
working, what you can change,and taking the steps to change
that and seeking support if youneed to.
And then if it's something thatyou can't change, change.
Looking at how that situation ismaking you better or better
(21:52):
equipped for what the futureholds and how can we also infuse
more fun and joy into your lifewith the circumstances that
we're given right now.
Magic Barclay (22:00):
Some great advice there.
Okay, Ali, before I let you go,we love freebies.
What can you offer the listenersand where can they find it?
Allie Cass (22:09):
Absolutely.
So I offer a complimentary noobligations health audit.
It is a free consultation wherewe sit down, we talk about your
goals.
We talk about where you're atnow and where you'd like to be.
And I help you dig into some ofthose root causes, some of the
things that we've been talkingabout here on the podcast and
help you design a roadmap to getyou from point a Over to point
(22:30):
B.
Um, you can find me onInstagram.
My handle is at AllieCassHealthor you can visit my website,
www.
AllieCassHealth.
com.
You can read more about me, myprogram, and schedule your free
health audit.
Magic Barclay (22:43):
Fantastic freebie there.
So you can find Allie, as shesaid, on Instagram at
AllieCassHealth, also onFacebook at AllieCassHealth.
Thank you so much for joining usthis morning.
Allie Cass (22:56):
Thank you so much for having me.
Magic Barclay (22:59):
And listeners.
Thank you for your time.
Don't forget to subscribe tothis podcast, leave us a like a
review and share it with yourloved ones for now, go forth and
create your magical life.
Welcome back to A Magical Life.
I'm your host, Magic Barclay.
And today Allie Cass joins us.
Allie is a former bodybuilderpro turned functional health and
fitness coach who helps stressedout women optimize their
metabolism, up level theirmindset and shift from surviving
to thriving.
(01:04):
She's an advocate for self love,becoming your best self through
mind body health and living alife fully alive.
She's excited to talk to ustoday, and I'm excited to have
her.
Allie, welcome.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm
Allie Cass (01:19):
excited
Magic Barclay (01:19):
to be
Allie Cass (01:19):
here.
Magic Barclay (01:21):
I love your intro.
Being fully alive.
How many people do we see gothrough life, here's an
Australian term, half arsing it,like either waiting for death or
being the walking dead.
Life is so precious.
You really need to grab it andrun with it.
Allie Cass (01:39):
Really do.
And to answer your question, Iwould say the majority of
society, at least in our Westerncivilizations are just on
autopilot.
They're just cruising throughtheir days, waiting for the
weekend, wishing the day wasover.
And the sad, unfortunate partabout that is our days are
limited and we never know howmany we're going to get.
So I'm a big advocate of livinglife to the fullest, seizing
(02:01):
every opportunity and reallymaking the most out of the time
that we have here.
I love that.
Magic Barclay (02:07):
Okay.
I ask all of my guests the samethree questions.
Everyone gives me differentanswers and I've had a look at
the show notes you sent me andyours are fantastic.
So here we go.
What can your expertise do toaccelerate health?
Not just physical, but alsoemotional and spiritual health.
Allie Cass (02:26):
So for me, when I am educating, working with clients,
having conversations withpeople, what I aspire to do and
bring to the industry and bringto individuals is to bridge that
gap between the mind and thebody.
I have been in this industry forabout eight years.
And as you mentioned, I startedout, as a fitness athlete, a
(02:47):
bodybuilding professional.
So I really have seen thephysical side of things, both
from a, physique perspective andjust from an overall health
perspective.
And what I learned through thatprocess myself is that you
cannot out train, you cannot outdiet, you cannot out supplement
or medicate, or beliefs,negative self talk, wounds that
(03:09):
are unresolved, traumas that youdon't address from the past.
All of those things have animpact on our biology and on our
physiology and ultimately theway that we show up and live our
life.
So anytime I'm looking at healthwith people, I get people all
the time that ask me aboutnutrition, they ask me about
training, and it always seguesinto the bigger picture, which
(03:30):
is what is going on in yourbody, what's going on in your
mind, and how are those twothings influencing each other
and integrating with oneanother?
Because that's really the bigpicture for the ultimate healing
pathway that I think a lot ofpeople desire to be on.
Magic Barclay (03:48):
Very true, indeed.
We talk about wealth here aswell, Ali, and people think
wealth is just financial, but itcan also be personal and
emotional wealth.
And I guess that ties intoliving every day to its fullest.
So what are your top three tipsto creating wealth?
Allie Cass (04:07):
Ooh, that is a great question.
I actually, I was just at awomen's wealth symposium this
past weekend, so I feel likethis is really fresh on my mind.
So I would say the first tip isliving in a state of gratitude.
Like you mentioned, weoftentimes think of wealth as a
financial thing, and we cancertainly be financially or
materialistically wealthy, butwealth It can apply to anything
(04:31):
in life, it can apply to yourhealth, it can apply to your
relationships.
And I think what's important isthat we realize what our values
are, and we create wealth aroundthat.
If your value is freedom,connection, love, purpose, find
ways to be wealthy in those.
But at the root of everything,Anything that you want to
manifest, anything you want tohave wealth in, anything that
(04:52):
you want in abundance, it allstarts with being grateful for
what you already have in thispresent moment, and being
grateful for what is coming toyou in the future.
So tip number one for living awealthy life, whatever that
means to you, is to practicegratitude in the present moment.
Second tip, I would say investin yourself and that includes in
(05:14):
your health.
I think, I mean, it's so cliche,but there's the saying that
health is wealth.
And it really is because ifyou're not healthy, if you're
not feeling your best, showingup as your best, waking up every
day ready to go.
It does not matter how muchmoney you have.
It doesn't matter how much moneyyou want to have.
If you don't have the ability toexperience that to the fullest,
(05:36):
like we're talking about a lotof, the conversation is about
how do we experience life to thefullest?
And in order to do that, youhave to be healthy.
You have to feel vitality.
You have to show up as the bestversion of yourself.
And so I think.
Investing in yourself, investingin your health.
again, whatever that means toyou.
However, that's going to helpyou cultivate wealth.
that's where I always like tostart.
(05:58):
I think that we are our own bestinvestments, and you can never
go wrong by investing inyourself, whether it's
physically, mentally,emotionally, educationally,
anything.
And then my third tip is to giveback.
I know this is so true for me.
Every time I give back tosomeone, whether it's in the
form of charity or just offeringtime or taking some time out of
(06:22):
my day to just have aconversation that I know is
going to help someone.
Um, I have people all the timethat are like, can I have a
consultation with you?
What do you charge?
And I'm, I don't charge forconsultations.
I, my goal is to give back topeople.
So even if I can just helppeople, Provide them with a
direction or a resource orsomething that's going to help
them on their journey, even ifit's not myself, I think that
(06:44):
it's so important to give back.
And I truly believe that when wegive to others, whether it's
financially, whether it's withour time, whether it's just
lending, you know, someone 10minutes to hold space for them
while they you're.
Tell us about how their day hasbeen.
I believe that the universebrings us back, whatever it is
that we desire in the form ofwealth, like, double.
(07:06):
Um, so I think giving back inwhatever means that you can is a
very important part of thejourney of life and in creating
wealth.
Magic Barclay (07:15):
And our final standard question is around
weight loss.
Many people struggle with thisquite needlessly because stress
is such a big factor in it.
So have you ever battled yourweight?
If so, how did you win the war?
And what can you offer thelisteners who might be on this
journey?
Specifically on that stressrollercoaster.
Allie Cass (07:37):
Absolutely.
I had a really big battle withmy weight when I was about 22
years old.
I had just graduated college,um, I grew up as an athlete, so
physical fitness was always apart of my life.
I played collegiate basketballfor, A few months, decided that
it was no longer for me, anddecided to quit and put my focus
(07:59):
elsewhere.
While I was at university, Iactually studied abroad in
Australia.
And, um, let me tell you, youguys can party over there.
Uh, it was a wonderful time,but, um, I did not have the
healthiest habits.
So, after I graduated, I foundmyself being the heaviest I'd
ever been, exhausted.
like brain fog all the time.
I just, it, I wasn't happy withthe way that I looked, but more
(08:19):
than anything, I wasn't happywith the way that I felt.
I was like, I'm 22 years old.
I'm way too young for this.
Um, and then I had another lesssevere, but still somewhat of a
struggle with my weight aboutfour years ago.
And this was, again, this wasafter I was in the fitness
industry.
This is after I'd alreadystarted competing.
and I had issues with weight fordifferent reasons.
(08:40):
So the first time that, I reallystruggled with weight.
A lot of it was lifestyleinduced.
I drink a lot of alcohol.
I ate very poorly.
I didn't really know how toexercise in a way that was
suitable for my body and mygoals.
Um, but there was definitely alevel of stress in that process.
Um, right after I kind of hitthis breaking point with being
(09:01):
my heaviest, my mother wasdiagnosed with stage three brain
cancer.
I moved across the country and Ibasically became her primary
caregiver.
Through that process, I reallystarted to do a lot of research
on health, wellness, nutrition,all of these topics.
Um, not just for myself, but asa way to cope with what was
going on with my mom.
(09:21):
I wanted answers, and no onecould give me those answers.
But in that period, my stressskyrocketed exponentially.
Um, fast forward about ninemonths, and she had lost her
battle, unfortunately.
And I found myself.
In a place physically, mentally,emotionally, where I was at my
lowest and stress was a bigplayer in that, um, the second
(09:43):
time that I really battledweight as well, um, a lot of it
was actually stress induced andnot just stress from what we
think of.
So oftentimes we think of stressas, you know, the financial
stress or I'm going through,Some turmoil in my relationship
and that's a stressor.
I have all these deadlines atwork.
That's a stressor.
What we also don't realize isthings that happened in our past
that we have not yet workedthrough or that we haven't let
(10:05):
go of that serves as a form ofstress.
We have internal stress fromtoxins, parasites, bacterial
overgrowth, inflammation, thingslike that.
And what I had found in myselfat that point was that a lot of
the stress that I was incurringwas coming from The fact that I
had not really fully faced thegrief that I had around my
mother's death.
(10:25):
another traumatic death that Ihad prior to that when I was in
high school.
And so a lot of it was emotionalstress that I was carrying.
Um, the second time that I washaving this battle, I was You
know, doing all the right thingswith my nutrition, my exercise,
my supplementation.
So I knew it wasn't that.
And that was really the firsttime that I was like, Oh my God,
like we talk about how much of arole stress plays, but I'm
(10:46):
experiencing it.
And this is for real.
So the remedy for me to thatstep number one, always
awareness, right?
We cannot change what we're notaware of.
When I work with clients or evenworking with myself, my goal is
always to bring to the surfacewhat it is that's holding us
back or keeping us stuck in thatplace.
Um, for me, some of the biggest,biggest mediators to help me
(11:09):
move through stress were thingslike Low intensity training, um,
I moved away from doing highintensity workouts, um, I
started doing more restorativemovement, like walking, um,
yoga, I was still liftingweights, but I was backing off
of the intensity quite a bit,um, I started to dabble in
meditation, which has becomesuch a crucial role.
(11:30):
Practice for me in my day to daylife.
practicing things likegratitude, like we were just
talking about last question.
it's really difficult to feelstressed out while you're
simultaneously feeling grateful.
So even just shifting the focusaway from what it is that's
stressing you out and, andreally, Kind of keeping your
mindset on what it is that youhave that you're grateful for
(11:53):
all of the positive things inlife because, you know, I'm a
firm believer that we need tofeel our emotions and we need to
move through them.
However, there's alwayssomething that we can be
grateful for, and there's alwayssomething that we can learn from
any given situation.
So practicing awareness,cultivating practices in my
daily life that were morerestorative in nature, whether
it was through movement, throughstillness, and then practicing
(12:14):
gratitude were huge for me froma stress management perspective.
Magic Barclay (12:18):
I really love how you just mentioned all the
different types of stress, youknow, it's not just what you're
experiencing mentally, it'severything around you, it's the
people, it's the food, it's thechemicals, and I often say this
to my clients, you know, anystressor Is going to change your
(12:38):
cortisol patterns, youradrenaline patterns and either
make you feel up for a littlewhile and then crash or just
make you crash completely.
And we often just look at stressas, you know, work, time, money,
that kind of thing.
There's so much more to it.
Allie Cass (12:57):
A hundred percent.
And I often find with peopletoo, sometimes we don't even
realize that we're actuallycontributing.
You know, are we, experiencingthose stressors at work in our
relationships and with finances?
And then are we.
using unhealthy copingmechanisms like alcohol, drugs,
are we using food in anunhealthy way as well?
Because all of those thingscontribute to our, the stress
(13:18):
load of our body, whether it isthrough toxins, um, whether it
is through just creatinginflammation or not having
healthy patterns.
So sometimes, you know, I hateto say it, but sometimes we're
our own worst enemy as when itcomes to, creating more stress
for ourselves while weConsciously think that we're
dealing with our stress.
We're actually contributing toit even more.
Magic Barclay (13:37):
Very true.
Now we've already covered a fairbit.
What else haven't we touched onthat you feel the listeners need
to hear today?
I really want to hear about.
What you do every day, what youoffer to your clients and how
the listeners can maybe learnmore about how their body works
physically, you know, in thispodcast, we've explored a lot of
(14:00):
the emotional stuff, coaching,but I think many people just
think, first of all, that weightis calories in calories out,
which we know it's not, there'sso much more to it, but also how
the body experiences things.
And I know here in Australia,definitely.
You know, there's still a largepercentage of women that feel
(14:24):
that working out with weightsmakes them big and bulky and
masculine looking, you know,those old myths are still
kicking around.
So can you explain to us alittle bit about why resistance
training and weight training isso good for women's health and
how they can do it without thefear of looking like Arnold
(14:44):
Schwarzenegger.
Allie Cass (14:46):
A hundred percent.
So I resistance training isdefinitely a love of mine.
And it is part of what I do inmy coaching practice with women,
a very small part, but a veryimportant part.
I think that that's very common.
That's very much still themindset here in America as well.
I think we're shifting away fromthat, but, um, Weight training
for a long time has kind ofbeen, you know, we've been told
(15:08):
to go do aerobics or to, youknow, do cardio machines or, you
know, if we are going to liftweights, pick up five pounds and
do it a hundred times.
And, and a lot of that advice isthere's certainly a time and
place for cardio, but weighttraining in general will not
make you look bulky.
I can tell you from personalexperience in bodybuilding, the
(15:28):
people, the women that, um, looklike they're a female version of
Arnold Schwarzenegger, ninetimes out of ten are taking
performance enhancing drugs.
I did not realize this when Iwent into bodybuilding.
I was very naive.
but there are federations whothey're not, um, all natural.
And so just from the perspectiveof like a, an everyday consumer
(15:50):
or somebody who wants to justget in shape, who wants to feel
more fit that I promise you,even if you lifted consistently
for 10 years, it's going to bereally difficult for you to get
to that point, without takingsome kind of enhancement, drug.
And even the people who arenatural who get very big and
muscular, there's a lot ofscience and a lot of, What's the
(16:13):
word I'm thinking of?
It's very specific stimulus tocreate that kind of outcome.
So those people have very stricttraining regimens, they have
very strict nutrition regimens,supplements, and it takes time.
So if you are convinced thatyou're just going to go into the
gym and start lifting weightsand you're going to look like
that in six months, I'm here totell you that's absolutely not
the case.
(16:34):
Um, the reason why weighttraining though is so important
particularly for women.
obviously there's many differentreasons, but one of the biggest
ones being that muscle, theycall it the longevity organ.
So muscle is also the mostmetabolically active tissue.
So oftentimes we hear, you know,eat less, move more.
That's kind of your calories inversus calories out.
(16:57):
But what happens when we'reconstantly eating less is that
we're Reducing our energy intakeand our metabolism, our
hormones, our thyroid starts todown regulate over time.
If we're living in that state ona chronic basis.
what I like to focus on withclients is building more muscle
as muscle takes more calories tomaintain at rest.
So when you're focusing onbuilding muscle, you're actually
(17:19):
focusing on becoming moremetabolically healthy in turn,
raising your metabolic rate.
So you're not having to live ina chronic calorie deficit.
I mean, Even people whochronically diet, nobody wants
to diet, right?
Everybody wants to enjoy food.
We want to be able to haveflexibility to live our lives,
to nourish our bodies,rightfully so.
And building muscle is one toolthat can help you get there
(17:43):
without having to constantly bein a state of dieting.
having muscle tissue is alsosuper important for regulating
blood sugar.
So, our muscle stores glycogen,which is glucose.
in the storage form.
It's also stored in our liver.
So when you have more muscle,you can consume more
carbohydrates.
and a lot of women don't want togive up, you know, their, their
(18:03):
fun foods every now and then.
And so having more muscle isalso a way to, again, stay more
metabolically healthy and havemore flexibility with your diet.
Um, another thing more from ahealth and longevity perspective
is that resistance training hasbeen shown particularly in women
to help maintain and increasebone density.
Many of us that have been, I'mnot currently not on birth
(18:25):
control anymore, but I was formany years in my teens and in my
twenties.
and that can actually lead todecreased bone density,
obviously, as we age, bonedensity is a very important
topic.
And so having resistancetraining, doing, Exercises where
we're loading our body with aparticular amount of weight can
be really, really beneficial,um, in making sure that we have
(18:45):
healthy bones so that we don'tfall when we're older.
Um, you know, we have less of arisk of fracture, breaking a
hip, things like that.
You know, you can look atresistance training as being
beneficial, not just from aphysique perspective, but also
for longevity and maintainingproper health and function
throughout our life.
So I'm a big proponent of it.
There's so many more benefits,but those are just kind of the
(19:06):
main ones that I think.
Are really attractive for mostpeople
Magic Barclay (19:11):
and going back to your introduction and we were
talking about living life fullyrather than just waiting for the
day to end, waiting for the weekto end, hanging out for your
weekend and then spending it.
slave to your home or whateverit is, the tasks that you have
to get done before you rush backto work.
(19:32):
How can people stop that cycleand really start taking each day
as a blessing?
Allie Cass (19:40):
That's such a great question.
I think going back to theawareness piece, being honest
with yourself about what it isin life that you're unsatisfied
with.
Is it a job?
Is it a relationship?
Is it your health, your weight,the way you feel?
Is how you're feeling in yourhealth, is that holding you back
(20:00):
from being able to do the thingsthat you want to do?
I think a lot of us turn a blindeye.
We know, we know the things inlife that are pain points for us
that we don't enjoy, but wedon't necessarily want to face
them all the time because it'spainful and it requires us to
change.
And once, it's kind of like thatignorance is bliss, right?
So once we know the issue, weknow that.
(20:22):
It's our responsibility andwe're the only one to blame if
we don't change it.
So by not recognizing something,we can kind of live in this
state of blissful ignorance, butmeanwhile, we're, you know, not,
not happy, not feeling healthy,just not feeling satisfied with
life.
So I think taking inventory andreally trying to be brutally
honest with yourself about whatin your life Is not working and
(20:44):
can we change it?
Certainly, there are times wherewe may not be able to, you know,
if you're a single mom and youdon't really love your job, but
it's really what you need to doright now to make ends meet for
your kid.
It may not be feasible to quitat this moment or to make a
career change.
So how can we either Bye.
Bye.
express more gratitude for thesituation that we're in, or how
can we infuse your life withother things that you enjoy?
(21:08):
One of the questions that I askon my intake form is what is
something that you used to dolike as a kid or basically
before you were an adult thatyou no longer do?
And oftentimes homework itemsfor my clients include
reincorporating those thingsthat they used to do that they
thought were so much fun, theycould just indulge in and get
lost in before they had to havethese quote unquote adult
(21:31):
responsibilities.
And so what is that for you?
What brings you joy and what canyou include more of in your
life?
So I think being honest withwhere you're at, what's not
working, what you can change,and taking the steps to change
that and seeking support if youneed to.
And then if it's something thatyou can't change, change.
Looking at how that situation ismaking you better or better
(21:52):
equipped for what the futureholds and how can we also infuse
more fun and joy into your lifewith the circumstances that
we're given right now.
Magic Barclay (22:00):
Some great advice there.
Okay, Ali, before I let you go,we love freebies.
What can you offer the listenersand where can they find it?
Allie Cass (22:09):
Absolutely.
So I offer a complimentary noobligations health audit.
It is a free consultation wherewe sit down, we talk about your
goals.
We talk about where you're atnow and where you'd like to be.
And I help you dig into some ofthose root causes, some of the
things that we've been talkingabout here on the podcast and
help you design a roadmap to getyou from point a Over to point
(22:30):
B.
Um, you can find me onInstagram.
My handle is at AllieCassHealthor you can visit my website,
www.
AllieCassHealth.
com.
You can read more about me, myprogram, and schedule your free
health audit.
Magic Barclay (22:43):
Fantastic freebie there.
So you can find Allie, as shesaid, on Instagram at
AllieCassHealth, also onFacebook at AllieCassHealth.
Thank you so much for joining usthis morning.
Allie Cass (22:56):
Thank you so much for having me.
Magic Barclay (22:59):
And listeners.
Thank you for your time.
Don't forget to subscribe tothis podcast, leave us a like a
review and share it with yourloved ones for now, go forth and
create your magical life.
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