All Episodes

June 11, 2024 49 mins

In this episode of the Defiant Health podcast, I interview Joyce Laszloffy who personally struggled with a crippling sugar addiction and overweight for many years. She experienced extreme ups and downs, trying to overcome the powerful pull that sugary foods can have on us. She shares how, for years, she managed to hide her addiction from her family and friends, often feeling powerless and humiliated, dealing with health issues including high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, fatty liver, depression and mood swings, until she found the key to finally kicking the habit. She has since taken her ideas to others through her courses, helping people banish sugars in all its forms from their lives with often spectacular results. 

Joyce delves into her belief that the problem often lies not within individuals but within the food system itself. Drawing from her journey of becoming vegetarian and vegan, she explains the importance of aligning dietary decisions with personal beliefs and identity. By understanding the psychology and science behind addiction, Joyce outlines why conventional methods such as willpower and restriction frequently fall short. She encourages listeners, particularly women, to arm themselves with knowledge and approach quitting sugar in a holistic, value-driven way to reclaim their health and happiness.

Grab Your FREE Sugar Sleuth Tool Kit now to learn where sugar is lurking. https://get.ikickedsugar.net/freeguide/

You can learn more about I Kicked Sugar and Joyce Here:

FREE 2 Hour Workshop: https://get.ikickedsugar.net/register-training/

________________________________________________________________________________

For BiotiQuest probiotics including Sugar Shift, go here.

A 15% discount is available for Defiant Health podcast listeners by entering discount code UNDOC15 (case-sensitive) at checkout.*
_________________________________________________________________________________

Get your 15% Paleovalley discount on fermented grass-fed beef sticks, Bone Broth Collagen, low-carb snack bars and other high-quality organic foods here.*

For 12% off every order of grass-fed and pasture-raised meats from Wild Pastures, go
here.

Support the show

Books:

Super Gut: The 4-Week Plan to Reprogram Your Microbiome, Restore Health, and Lose Weight

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find Your Path Back to Health; revised & expanded ed

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Davis, MD (00:06):
In this episode of the Defiant Health
Podcast, I interview JoyceLaszloffy, who personally
struggled with a crippling sugaraddiction and being overweight.
For many years, she experiencedextreme ups and downs, trying
to overcome the powerful pullthat sugary foods can have on us
.
Trying to overcome the powerfulpull that sugary foods can have

(00:26):
on us, she shares how, foryears, she managed to hide her
addiction from her family andfriends, often feeling powerless
and humiliated, dealing withhealth issues including high
blood pressure, pre-diabetes,fatty liver, depression and mood
swings, until she found the keyto finally kicking the habit.
She has since taken her ideasto others through her courses,

(00:47):
helping people banish sugar inall its forms from their lives,
with often spectacular results.
And later in the podcast, let'stalk about Defiant Health's
sponsors Paleo Valley, ourpreferred provider for many
excellent organic and grass-fedfood products, and BiotiQuest,
my number one choice forprobiotics that are

(01:07):
scientifically formulated,unlike most of the other
commercial probiotic productsavailable today.
Well welcome, joyce.
Thank you for taking thisinvitation.
I'd like to hear more aboutyour approach, your unique
approach to reducing oreliminating sources of sugar.
But first of all, how did yougo down this path in the first

(01:28):
place?

Joyce Laszloffy (01:29):
Yeah, great question.
Can I start at the beginning,maybe?

William Davis, MD (01:34):
Please do.

Joyce Laszloffy (01:35):
You know anyone who's listening, just so they
know what my background is.
My whole life, as far back as Ican remember, dr Davis, I was
addicted to sugar.
So as a kid, sugar was alwayson my mind.
I have those thoughts as alittle kid, all my childhood and
adult memories they revolvearound sugar.

(01:58):
You know, when I think of mytrips to Disneyland, I don't
think of Space Mountain, likemost kids might.
My first thought that Iremember is like the chocolate
fudge and the root beer candysticks that I would buy on Main
Street in the candy shop.
My family cruise in seventhgrade you know that was me
frequenting the gift shop, maybethree, four times for three

(02:20):
musketeer bars.
These are my fun, excitingmemories.
Or all those dessert bars youknow that they've got the
buffets every hour, on the hour,repeatedly.
You know all my holidays everytime I think about a holiday
Valentine's Day, hanukkah,christmas, Halloween they're all
revolve around sugar and thecandy and the desserts that I

(02:44):
would eat.
And then in my late teens, as Iwould get through breakups, you
know, have a stressful momentat school or being a teenager,
hormones setting in I would dealwith it with massive sugar
binges.
I would go to the store I couldeasily buy like a pint of Ben
and Jerry's ice cream, a poundof M&M bags, bag of cookies eat

(03:05):
it all in one night in a serving.
It was nothing for me.
I could just never have enoughsugar and I used to say, up
until I kicked sugar, that sugarwas my best friend and I hear
this all the time from women inmy program, you know, and I
thought I believe that itcomforted me.
And the thought of giving it up, like what you want me to get

(03:27):
rid of this, it scared the hellout of me.
Most of my life I was physicallyand mentally unhealthy.
At my heaviest I was 67 poundsoverweight, so I weighed about
186 pounds.
I weighed about 186 pounds Forme, you know I'm small framed,
I'm 5'3", you know, so that's alot of weight on a little person

(03:48):
.
I struggled for years with myweight, with high blood pressure
, fatty liver.
I was diagnosed with a high A1CI mean all the markers stomach
issues, which relates so much tothe gut microbiome, chronic,
you know, stomach issues,chronic yeast and sinus
infections.
I was constantly going to thedoctor in my 20s for that.

(04:09):
I mean two, three a year boutsof that and really lots of
depression and anxiety.
My moods were constantly aroller coaster, so I was very,
very manic and it was really alldue to the poor food choices
that I made daily.
And the main culprit for me wassugar, you know.

(04:30):
And I used to eat, you know,healthier during the day and I
would restrict my calories.
That was kind of healthier forme.
But then I would binge at nightBecause, you know, I went ahead
.
By the end of the day I hadused up all of my willpower, you
know, and I was just lookingfor a way to soothe myself for

(04:50):
whatever uncomfortable feelingthat I was feeling or stress I
was having in that moment, and Iused sugar to avoid the numb
and to numb my pain and justavoid that discomfort that I
would have.
As I said, I could easily, youknow, into my adulthood, into my
forties, eat, you know, one totwo pints of Ben and Jerry's ice

(05:11):
cream.
I loved the Nestle Toll Housecookie dough.
Oh, I would buy like a roll ofthat and eat that in one evening
, one serving.
And I used to hide my addiction.
I was very ashamed by it, youknow.
I would tell my husband oh, Igot to go out to the store.
I forgot something at nighttime, you know, something for our

(05:33):
son's lunch, you know, and itwas just an excuse to go to the
store because I was craving, Iwas jonesing something sweet and
there was nothing in the houseand I would buy like a bag of
cookies and I would sit in theparking lot, you know, at
nighttime, in the dark, and thisis common.
This isn't one episode, thiswas routine for me Stuff my face

(05:53):
there in the darkness, solitude, in my car, go back out, throw
the wrappers, you know, out infront of the stores there would
be no evidence that I'd eatenthat and drive home.
I was on four differentmedications at one time and I
wasn't even 40 years old yet NowI'm 54.
I was on five, tried fivedifferent antidepressants.

(06:15):
None of them worked and I wasactually told by doctors a
nephrologist actually said thisto me you're just going to have
to face the facts.
You are going to have to be ona lot more medications as you
continue to get older.
That's just what happens as weage.
But I'll tell you what the worstpart for me, dr Davis, was

(06:35):
actually the part allowing sugarto control my life was the
constant, daily berating ofmyself that went on with the
sugar and the eating this.
You know that inner voiceinside you that tells you, oh,
you're not good enough, you'renot smart enough, you're not
talented enough.
Choice.
You know you have no willpowerand I would say cruel things to

(06:58):
myself, like you, fat loser.
I'd look in the mirror and I'dsay that to myself and I taught
this way to myself internally,daily.
This was a constant thing.
That mental abuse thatinflicted on myself.
That was by far the worst andwhat I consider the most
detrimental and actually whatstops so many women that I work

(07:21):
with being able to make positivechanges in their lives.
For anyone that's trapped insomething.
So being trapped in thatvicious cycle is tough.
But instead of giving up, youknow I went and I dived deep and
after 17 years of doing my ownresearch, just like you
advocating your book Undoctored,you know, I started diving into

(07:45):
those stacks and reading booksby leading experts like yourself
in the field of functionalmedicine and sugar and
neuroscience, brain chemistry,the gut, you know so important
and I gathered all the best tipsand advice from these experts
in the field on addiction, onhealth, and I really uncovered

(08:06):
what I feel is the dark, dirtyworld of sugar.
You know, and, most importantly, I discovered the secret to
kicking sugar that I reallydon't think anybody talks about,
which has allowed me to breakfree from my sugar addiction
once and for all me to breakfree from my sugar addiction

(08:28):
once and for all.
So I went from a lifelong sugaraddict to never craving the
sweet stuff again.
And then I started to share myjourney, you know and just
telling, because at first I waskind of quiet about it and then
I would be at a party and justthe birthday cake will be
passing around or you'd bestanding at the dessert table
and other people would bepartaking it and they'd be
noticing that I wasn't eating itand they'd be like what's going
on?
Why aren't you eating something?

(08:49):
And I would share my story thatI just shared with you.
And they were like oh my gosh,you know that's me.
And I discovered I wasn't alone.
And you know my whole life.
I thought that I was broken.
You know that there was just me.
I had no willpower, there wassomething wrong with me, I had
no self-control.
But the more times that I sharedthis story with others, I heard

(09:12):
back from women sharing theexact same story and I realized
I wasn't broken.
You know, these women aren'tbroken.
Our food system is broken.
That's what's here and what'swrong and that sent me on the
mission to found healthyeducation and write I Kick Sugar
and then create the I KickSugar Masterclass Program where

(09:34):
I lay out the exact same steps.
It's super simple, it's notrocket science.
Same steps and revelations thatI used to kick sugar.
I can say now wow, this pastSeptember was eight years for me
and soon, just word got out.
It was crazy.
The internet, you know.
And now we've got over 18,000women from around the world, you

(09:56):
know, who have joined and arereclaiming their health and
happiness.
So to anyone listening, youknow, to this podcast right now,
I just want them to get that itis possible, no matter where
they are, to kick sugar,absolutely yeah.

William Davis, MD (10:11):
So, joyce, you came at this.
It sounds like through logicand learning, but was there some
kind of last straw event thatpushed you over and said, well,
damn it, I've got to do this.
Yeah.

Joyce Laszloffy (10:22):
I don't.
You know, we and I see thiswith my women we sure can
tolerate a lot of suffering, orshould I say put up with,
because our bodies don'ttolerate it.
You know, the abuse is thereand we feel the pain.
We just become almost numb tothe uncomfortableness of these
symptoms that are screaming andthese bells and whistles that
are going off.
My big aha moment that I had,after years and years of trying

(10:47):
to, you know oh, okay, I'm goingto quit sugar and I would, you
know, be off of it for a coupleof days and then be right back
on it, on off, on off neverlasting more than probably a
week.
What, finally, did it?
My aha moment eight years agowas I'm a big journaler and I
was journaling and I was talkingto myself Joyce, you know, just

(11:08):
kick sugar.
What are you doing?
You can do this, you're strongenough.
And I'd be like no, I'm notstrong enough.
I've tried so many times, Idon't know how to.
I love it so much.
And the big aha for me was whenI realized and I told myself
you are strong enough.
I want you to look at your pastbehaviors and things you've
accomplished in the past, andfor me that was that I was

(11:30):
plant-based.
I went vegetarian when I was 22years old and I did that at the
time for ethical reasons, andthen my whole family became
vegetarian, plant-based, andthen I went vegan.
I even went off and worked forPETA for a couple of years and
got into animal rights.
A whole big, long history.
There Didn't care about, youknow, my health at the time,

(11:53):
because you can be a veryunhealthy vegan, which I was,
you know, still eating lots ofsugar, being a vegan.
I would drive to McDonald's andI'd be like I'll have a
hamburger minus the meat and afry and a Coca-Cola.
You know that's how a lot of usate.
And hey, we weren't, we weren'thurting and harming any animals
just ourselves Right.

(12:14):
So it was a process, thisjourney, for me, but what I
learned was that the reason whyit was so easy for me the day
that I declared that I don't eatanimals, that I am vegetarian,
it was a simple thing.
I made a decision in thatmoment.
I had enough information, I hadgained enough, you know
material, to know that this wasfit my philosophy, my belief

(12:36):
system, my being, who I wantedto stand for and be.
And when you put that behind adecision, wow, it makes any
decision simple.
You cut off all other choices,and I did.
I've never looked at a piece ofmeat or been tempted by
anything like that.
It means nothing to me.
The same way, cigarettes and Ipose this to women all the time

(12:57):
Do you smoke?
A lot of them, don't?
Oh, they're grossed out by it.
Why?
To others, it's truly anaddiction to them, but to you
it's not.
So I show people that in alldifferent areas of their life,
they have the power and theyhold that.
When you connect your identityand a belief system behind
something, you can go so muchfurther.
And so I saw this with myselfand I realized I just need to

(13:20):
arm myself now with the power tosee why I don't want to eat
sugar anymore.
What's really so bad about this?
To dive deeper into it and tolearn the psychology and the
science behind it, so that Icould break free from it once
and for all and make thatdecision.
So when women get to the end ofmy course, they're at the point

(13:42):
where which I actually share,because I tell everyone in the
program I don't want them tostop eating sugar.
You know that's the worst thingyou can do.
And they're like what are youtalking about?
You want me to keep eatingsugar.
I just signed up for this, Ikick sugar course and you're
telling me to keep eating sugar.
Yes, keep eating sugar,absolutely, because you've

(14:03):
already tried doing it withwillpower, you've tried with
restriction and that doesn'twork.
You know, when we depriveourselves of something, what do
we want?
We want it more.
You tell a little kid don'ttouch the stove.
What do they do?
They touch the hot stove.
You know.
You tell your daughter don'tdate that guy.
She goes behind your back anddates that guy.
Don't get into the alcoholcabinet.

(14:24):
We want what we can't have.
So we should know, you know,when we learn this, it's such
simple principles that thatdoesn't work.
So what I have, them womenlearn through the course, and
what I learned myself, part ofthe steps to kicking sugar was
that it's a process and you haveto build a foundation first,
and so that requires you tounderstand and learn everything

(14:48):
about sugar, your body and brainand how it affects your body,
the science behind that becausethere is real science for sure
behind all of that as you talkabout in all of your books.
This isn't make-believe Anyaddiction.
There's two sides of addiction.
There's a physical side andthen there's a mental side.
The problem is that most dietsyou know fail because all we do

(15:13):
is talk about the physical side.
And that's actually quite easyto overcome, particularly when
you start incorporating realwhole food.
You know you don't justrestrict calories, because that
doesn't work.
What matters is what thosecalories are made up of.
And when you fill that plate upwith real whole food, the right
foods to feed your gut,microbiome, all those bugs that

(15:34):
tell your brain to stop, youknow talking to you craving and
wanting all of that, then youcan quiet the noise down.
And then when you work on themental side, which is not talked
about, which is understandingthe conditioning that you know
our society, that our upbringing, that our family, that big food

(15:56):
and big, you know, beveragedoes specifically to manipulate
this food and our minds andconnect these emotional
attachments to food, when youlearn all of that and understand
that, then you're building thisfoundation.
So when you get to the end ofthe program, it's not that you
can't have sugar, it's not thatyou shouldn't have sugar, it's

(16:18):
not because I told you followthis protocol and don't eat
sugar again, it's that you don'twant it.
You've learned so much about itthat you're disgusted by it.
I mean, women going through itare like I don't want to eat it
anymore, but Joyce keeps, youknow, making me go through the
program until she gets to theend.
So it's kind of like you'rebuilding a case, you know like
you're in court and you'rebuilding a case against sugar so

(16:40):
that you never want it anddesire it again.
And when you can stand in thatplace, you know of saying it's
not that I can, it's not that Ishouldn't, I don't eat sugar.
When you make that declaration,that is a much more powerful
place to stand by to, where,when you are at a party and
someone says, you know like, oh,do you want a piece of cake?
No, I don't eat sugar.

(17:01):
You know it's a belief for you.
So much more powerful.

William Davis, MD (17:06):
Have you had to deal with withdrawal
phenomena in your audience?

Joyce Laszloffy (17:10):
Yes, absolutely , and that's part of the
physical side and that's a partthat women get scared about when
they think about that.
But I remind them you arepowerful and you've done this
before.
You know it's like willpowercan get you so far.
And those withdrawals, as youknow, like headaches or body
aches, lethargic feeling, maybea little nauseous, you might

(17:32):
even have a little bit morecravings.
All of that is typical with awithdrawal.
Not everybody has it.
Some do, usually typically lastmaybe two to three days, maybe
it will go two weeks.
You can be very, very tired.
I encourage everybody to eatlots of real whole food during
that time, not to worry aboutweight loss, just like you

(17:52):
discussed with your program andwith ladies and gentlemen.
Men that'll come off Like notto focus on that right now.
It's about.
When you switch your food andyour habits, the weight will
come off.
So if you have to eat lots ofhealthy fats, eat lots of
healthy fats to keep yousatiated.
But I remind ladies that youknow, the physical side of that

(18:16):
addiction is actually easy toovercome and so many have.
You know, oh, I want to get inthat bikini for the summertime,
and you know, and they starvethemselves for two weeks and
they're going through.
You know, oh, I want to get inthat bikini for the summertime,
and you know, and they starvethemselves for two weeks and
they're going through.
You know, withdrawals are shakyand irritable and bitchy at
work and they get past it.
Or, oh, you know, they want towear a new dress for a wedding

(18:37):
or Lent, you know, if they havelike a belief system around
religion, and they get throughthat hard time because of that
belief.
So we all have conquered that.
Get through that hard timebecause of that belief.
So we all have conquered that.
And so, again, it's aboutreframing, like this journey,
like why you're kicking sugar,so that you don't see it as that
negative but as somethingpositive.
Look at that as somethingpositive, that your body is

(18:58):
detoxing off of the sugar andyou want to go through that,
Welcome it.
That's again a much morepositive place when you reframe
that for sure.

William Davis, MD (19:11):
The Defiant Health Podcast is sponsored by
Paleo Valley makers of deliciousgrass-fed beefsteaks, healthy
snack bars and other products.
We are very picky around hereand insist that any product we
consider has no junk ingredientslike carrageenan, carboxymethyl
, cellulose, sucralose and, ofcourse, no added sugars.

(19:31):
And all Paleo Valley productscontain no gluten nor grains.
In fact, I find Paleo Valleyproducts among cleanest in their
category.
One of the habits I urgeeveryone to get into is to
include at least one, if notseveral, servings of fermented
foods per day in theirlifestyles.
Unlike nearly all other beefsticks available, paleo Valley

(19:54):
grass-fed beef sticks are allnaturally fermented, meaning
they contain probiotic bacterialspecies.
And now Paleo Valley isexpanding their wild pastures
program that provides 100%grass-fed, grass-finished
pastured beef and pasturedchicken and pork raised without
herbicides or pesticides.

(20:14):
And they just added wild-caughtseafood caught from the waters
of Bristol Bay, alaska.
Among their other new productsare pasture-raised fermented
pork sticks, chocolate-flavoredgrass-fed bone broth protein and
grass-fed organ complex incapsule form and new essential
electrolytes in powder form toadd to potassium and magnesium

(20:36):
intake, available in orange,lemon and melon flavors.
Listeners to the Defiant Healthpodcast receive a 15% discount
by going to paleovalleycom.
Backwards slash defianthealthand I'd like to welcome Defiant
Health's newest sponsor,biodiquest.
I've had numerous conversationswith Biodiquest founders Martha

(20:58):
Carlin and academicmicrobiologist Dr Raul Cano.
They have formulated uniquesynergistic probiotic products
that incorporate what are calledcollaborative or guild effects,
that is, groups of microbesthat collaborate with each other
via specific metabolites,potentially providing
synergistic benefits.
They have designed their sugarshift probiotic to support

(21:21):
healthy blood sugars.
Simple slumber to support sleep.
Healthy blood sugars simpleslumber to support sleep.
Ideal immunity to support ahealthy immune response.
Heart-centered that supportsseveral aspects of heart health.
An antibiotic antidote designedto support recovery of the
gastrointestinal microbiomeafter a course of antibiotics.
The Biotic Quest probiotics are, I believe, among the most

(21:43):
effective of all probioticchoices for specific health
effects.
Enter the discount code UNDOC15, u-n-d-o-c all caps 15, for a
15% discount for Defiant Healthlisteners.
So it sounds like you've hadyour share of your own personal

(22:06):
mental and emotional healthstruggles.
Tell us what's become of that.

Joyce Laszloffy (22:11):
Well, I'm not going to lie.
I mean first, yes, I am ahappier, healthier person.
Those manic mood swings thatoccurred so much from my blood
glucose levels right going uphigh, then crashing, then going
back down.
My husband's like who am Igoing to get today, dr Jekyll,
mr Hyde, you know not knowingvery, very moody and manic.
That is definitely leveled out.

(22:32):
It's been eight years now.
I will say, though, that whatand what I teach in my course
with these ladies?
That it is first of allprogress, not perfection, and
this is a lifelong journey to behealthy.
I haven't figured it all out,just like.
You know you discussed in.
You know, after wheat bellyit's like, oh, people were

(22:55):
having great success.
Tell me if I'm mistaken or not.
You know they're doing theprotocol, they're having the
success of cutting out thegrains, but then you know
there's still what.
They're having the success ofcutting out the grains, but then
you know there's still what.
Not everything was a 100%,there's still other issues.
And then you dive deeper and,wow, discovered other stuff.
You know it's like that.

(23:15):
There's other components, andthat's what I'm definitely
figuring out as well.
I mean, when I started thisjourney I wasn't fully aware.
I mean, I knew enough.
But, as you can probably guessyourself, in eight years how
much has been really discoveredon the gut microbiome that
wasn't talked about even as mucheight years ago when I

(23:36):
discovered this and kicked sugarand then wrote the course five
years ago.
I mean, every day now,exponentially, the science is
coming out and the research andpeople are starting to
understand it better, and sowith that new knowledge and
expanse, I'm learning as well.
You know that.
You know what I tell women,because I've had women on my

(23:57):
course who have kicked sugar,they've been sugar free and
they're still having issues withtheir gut.
You know, it's like thebloating.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm stillhaving it, you know, not to the
degree that I did when I was onsugar, but I have learned't know
if I'm celiac.
Years ago, prior to kickingsugar, when I was trying to

(24:33):
figure out what was going onwith me and I didn't want to
accept that it was sugar, I wentto a gastroenterologist, got
tested.
I found out I had two celiacgenes and I had a high IGA.
And the doctor says you don'thave celiac.
I'm like, really.
So he's like, and you'realready gluten free.

(24:53):
So just just stick with what.
If that's working for you,stick with that.
And so I stayed gluten free fortwo years.
I went to go see then shortlyafter another gastroenterologist
because I was also.
You find what you're lookingfor right?
I really almost wanted thisdiagnosis so bad, to be celiac,
so I could say that would solveeverything.
That's the reason why I don'tneed to be on gluten anymore and

(25:16):
I can keep eating sugar andjust go on my merry way.
And I went to her.
She looked at everything, didsome more.
She's like no, you'redefinitely celiac, you know
you're on the right path.
So what do I believe?
So I stayed very strict, glutenfree for two years.
Who do you believe I teach mywomen?
You believe your body, listento your body, it's wise, all it.

(25:38):
Just like you say in Undoctoredyou are your own best doctor,
you know your best.
So I was stayed on gluten, wasstill eating sugar felt better,
better, but, you know, still hadsome episodes here or there and
finally one day, because Ididn't have a reason, a belief
behind it, I didn't have enoughknowledge to gain in power, like
what was going on with gluten,I went back to eating.

(26:01):
I had pancakes one morning andboo, you know, from there I had
gluten and I didn't have anyflare ups.
So I thought you know what thatfirst doctor must be right.
I'm not celiac and I don't knowif I am or not, but I do know
that gluten doesn't work for mystomach because through the
years, I mean, I eat very smallamounts.

(26:21):
And then I'll say why are youhaving a flare up?
Why is your stomach, you know,bloated?
Why do you not feel good?
And I, you know, and then I'mlike I'm eating so healthy.
Well, maybe it wasn't sohealthy.
Maybe those gluten-free wrapsthat you had, you know, made
with rice flour or one of theother ingredients, maybe it's

(26:43):
not.
Maybe you need to startlistening to Dr Davis, you know,
and so it's a process is what Itry and tell all my women.
I don't want to overwhelm themwith all of this, because then
you're just paralyzed and youdon't move anywhere.
But what I do encourage and Isay at the very beginning, which

(27:03):
is why, like my program,instant access, lifetime access.
It's like my coaching goesbeyond, you know, the eight
weeks, because once you'vedeclared your day and you're
sugar free, you don't just,don't leave, don't quit and say
goodbye.
It's almost like alcohol'sanonymous.
You need that support you.
You need a positive community,people just to talk about the
conversation and learn what thelatest thing is, Learn the

(27:26):
latest science, Understand morebecause the field is constantly
growing and expanding and tokeep moving on.
Like you know, I'm going tostart getting into making your
yogurts now.
I didn't do that eight yearsago or these eight years, so I'm
just going to keep gettinghealthier and healthier.
You know it took me 50 or 40some years to get to this place.

(27:46):
It's going to take me another40 to get, to continue on with
this place.

William Davis, MD (27:50):
So yeah, hopefully that answered the
question.
How has this gone over with therest of the family?

Joyce Laszloffy (27:57):
Oh they, they love it.
I mean.
Well, first of all, my parentswere, were big advocates and
full supporters they supported.
I have an older sister, twoyears older, who's actually type
one diabetic, ironically, andshe was diagnosed in her early
twenties, like 21 years old.
And then my uncle on my mom'sside was also type one diabetic.

(28:23):
So diabetes runs in our familyand so I need to be aware of
that too, that I do believe thatI'm very gluten sensitive, that
I am, you know, carb sensitive.
You know it doesn't have to bea candy wrapper, it could just
be, you know, a tortilla.
That's going to throw me offand raise my glucose levels for
sure.

(28:44):
Again, I want women to start ata starting point, so it's not
like you wipe everything outright away.
What I do work on in theprogram is we're focusing on you
know there's a hard line with.
I want to teach them to stayaway from ultra processed sugars
, you know, like high fructosecorn syrup or artificial

(29:05):
sweeteners like sucralose thatare in.
You know, like high fructosecorn syrup or artificial
sweeteners like sucralose thatare in.
You know, diet sodas and dietcandies.
Aspartame, I mean that, we know, without doubt affects our gut
microbiome and it is unhealthyand that's what's being pumped
into 80% of supermarket shelfproducts these days.
You know all this ultraprocessed foods stay away with.

(29:26):
You can't read the label andyou can't read the ingredient.
I mean, you know all this ultraprocessed foods stay away with.
You can't read the label andyou can't read the ingredient.
I mean you shouldn't be puttingit in your body, you know?
Make it simple.
I don't know what to eat.
It's so confusing.
Six ingredients or less, and ifyou can pronounce it, great.
If you can't, that's a clearindicator.
Or even better no label.

William Davis, MD (29:42):
Shop the perimeter you know anything that
?

Joyce Laszloffy (29:44):
has a label is a warning sign right there.
It's like eat real whole food.
I don't prescribe a particulardiet because, as I shared, I'm
plant based, but I have tons ofcarnivores and people who eat
meat and I explain we'll pickout the healthier meats.
You know, look for grass fed,look for, you know, farm raised.

(30:05):
It's like don't buy.
You know, something that's beenon the feed lot that's pumped
with antibiotics and growthhormones.
It's like go spend a little bitmore money and have something
healthier.
And I do that because you knowit's, it's real whole food.
So and everybody is differentand I want everyone to get that,
it's about cutting out thoseultra processed sugars.

(30:27):
And just from women, so manywomen think that soda was okay.
I mean it's a big aha moment.
You don't have to do a lot toget a lot of results and big
results.
And it's those baby steps.
Because if I had started rightnow, like if you would introduce
me on day one, make the yogurt,take this test, do this, do

(30:49):
that, cut out the glue and I'dbe like, ah, you know, my life's
falling apart and so it's aslow and gradual process that
even I'm on my husband's super,on board my son, I mean both of
them are clear examples how Ibelieve, just from reading and
understanding about the gutmicrobiome, that they have good
bugs.
I mean they've got some reallygood bugs.

(31:13):
I was not so blessed or Idestroyed my bugs.
Perhaps I also was on a lotmore antibiotics than my husband
or my son ever were.
You know, growing up I was onso many and so clearly that's an
integer they didn't have thecravings that I have, you know,
and I talked about this in mycourse, like that, I loved

(31:33):
Halloween and I was always like,oh my gosh.
You know, when I was a kid itwas a pillowcase that I would
fill up and I would finish thatpillowcase in like two, three
days and hide it in my room.
You don't touch that pillowcase, that's mine.
My grandpa wants a piece ofcandy.
No, grandpa, you're not gettingany.
You know, then, when my son, Ihad my son he's 18 now when he

(31:54):
was little, we take himtrick-or-treating.
I mean, the kid's still in hiscart.
He can't even eat candy.
You know, he's less than a yearold and I'm pushing around, who
do you think's eating the candy?
Me, you know.
And then he's finally fiveyears old and he doesn't even
want to go trick-or-treating.
And he's like, he's like Idon't really like
trick-or-treating.
It's like it's a dumb holiday.

(32:15):
You know, when he's never beeninto Halloween, he didn't want
to dress up, he didn't want togo.
When I did make him go, prior tothat, it's like we'd go to the
store I'm like to pick out.
You know what he's going to putthe candy in, and he'd pick a
little dinky plastic pumpkin.

(32:35):
I'd be like that's how muchcandy can we get in that?
You know it's like.
So there's.
I teach too that there is sugarsensitivity.
I firmly do believe thatKathleen DeMoss from Potatoes,
not Prozac, she reallyintroduced me to that concept
and seeing that, and I thinkthat almost there's a spectrum,
I don't use that as an excuse,though, or to to play this

(32:56):
victim role, because we can, ifso much of that revolves around
our gut microbiome right thatspectrum, so we could turn that
around and change that, withoutdoubt.
So, yeah, they're.
They, you know, look at me andthey don't get it in the sense
like they're not addicted tosugar and think about it the way
I did.
But we all live a pretty,pretty clean, healthy life now,
which is is fantastic, and I'mso happy for that, for my son

(33:18):
and my husband.

William Davis, MD (33:20):
So what do you find is the entry point, the
starting point for a lot ofyour followers?
Is it because they'restruggling with weight?
Is it because they'restruggling with emotional
problems?
Is it because they are diabetic?
What brings people to you?

Joyce Laszloffy (33:32):
Yeah, it's all three of those.
So they do.
They're all.
The majority are diabetic,pre-diabetic.
I mean I have women that youknow come in that have A1Cs that
are in the nines, you know,nines to sevens Doing my program
.
They drop down to the sixes,into the fives, the low fives.
They're resting.
You know their glucose morningglucose is above 200 in the two

(33:56):
fifties.
They drop it down to a hundredto in the nineties, you know,
doing the program.
Um, but what really gets like ifyou look at at I get all my
ladies through advertising onFacebook and it's really focused
on what grabs people in to evenbe interested in learning more
about this is the emotional side, is just sharing and connecting

(34:20):
.
Like what I just shared, youknow, right now, with our
listeners about my story of howI struggled emotionally and how
I would hide the food and how Iwould eat it.
They think they're alone inthat area, they think they're
weak in that area and they'renot weak.
They've just got some reallystrong bugs, you know, and
they've got a lot of chemicalsand food going in them.

(34:40):
Right now that is making themaddicted and craving and having
these thoughts and so when I canshow them that and share my
story with them.
That brings them in, you know,into the community, and then I'm
sharing you know more about andwe get to the weight right, in
the sense that the weight is thelast thing I think it's the
same with you to to to worryabout and focus on, because

(35:04):
every other diet, that's whatthey focused on and that doesn't
work.
You know you've got to stop theblaming and shaming.
Now it's very crucial that theyunderstand where their weight
is and all of their markers.
That's part of the one of thefirst things in module one that
I have women do is because theonly way change can occur is
through awareness.
So a lot of times they may be250, 300 pounds coming into my

(35:27):
program and they're not evenreally fully aware that they're
overweight.
They're not aware of even theirphysical symptoms.
You know that, hey, their watchis making a mark on their wrist
.
You know that they can't gettheir wedding ring off.
You know, oh, there we go.
You know that their ankles, youknow, are all swollen and their

(35:47):
socks are indenting in theselittle things that I point out
in the course, and so I havethem get just a basic like BMI
scale.
I want them to get on that.
I want them to to know whattheir body percent fat is.
Don't care really too muchabout the BMI.
I think that's inaccurate.
You know I could have a bithigher BMI because I've got a
lot of muscle on my body, butthat I want them to learn about

(36:10):
visceral fat, so important.
So to measure that, and eventhough scales might not be 100%
accurate, like a DEXA scan, it'sa marker right, and if they
just keep using thatconsistently, they'll see the
change, whether it's the mostcomplete, accurate change.
And it's not to blame and shamethem oh my gosh, this is what

(36:30):
you are.
I want them to take startingphotos.
I want them to really look atthemselves so that they can
really see who they are, whattheir body, what they've done to
their body, and again, it's notto put fault on them, but to
have a wake-up call, get theirhead out of the sand, and then
from there we can move forward.
We can go forward with that,and one of the other reasons why

(36:52):
I don't want them to kick sugarwhen they're starting because
one of the tasks I have also isI want them to download an app
like, for instance, myfitnesspal, and I want them to track what
they eat on average.
You know, on a daily average oftheir food.
You know everything.
And I want them to have a foodscale so they can really see.
You know what a bag of potatochips you know it's like.

(37:14):
One serving of potato chips iswhat?
Like 12 chips?
It's nothing right.
28 grams.
I mean, I know this off the topof my head, but you know you
need to.
That's empowering.
It's not to become obsessiveabout it, but you need to.
That's empowering.
It's not to become obsessiveabout it.
It's to have knowledge and fromknowledge, when you have that
power, then you can make sounddecisions and the best decisions

(37:35):
for yourself.
And so I have them track that.
What's interesting is when Istarted the course myself and I
had written the course threeyears after I had kicked sugar,
so I'd already kicked sugar, I'dbeen sugar-free for three years
and after talking to people,that's when I said you know what
, I'm going to write this.
So I had to go back andremember how much sugar was I
eating and I tracked it and Iwas consuming on average about

(37:58):
186, 180 grams of sugar a day.
Out of sugar.
I thought that was a lot.
I mean particularly becausewhen you read, like, what the
average American consumes, theysay it's not even that much.
I'm like they're delusional.
Who's ever coming up with thesenumbers?
Because my ladies, I coach themand see them face to face every
month and I talk to them andthey all share when they do this

(38:20):
task.
They are consuming on average,you're not, I mean, you might
believe this, but anywherebetween 400 to 500 grams of
added sugar a day.
Because I wasn't eatingMcDonald's then.
You know, I was just eating.
Well, just, I was just having aroll of cookie dough and two
tubs of ice cream and some M&Ms,but they're eating that.

(38:42):
And then they're also eatingthe French fries and they're
having the Coke.
I wasn't drinking soda.
They're drinking a lot of soda.
I mean, you know one soda yougot 46 grams of sugar in that
right there, and they could havetwo, three, four a day.
Or they'll have a Big Mac andthey don't realize.
The bun hey, that's probablylike eight, 10 grams of sugar
right there.
The ketchup there's anotherfour grams.
I mean it adds up and that'swhere they have that oh my gosh,

(39:05):
aha moment.
And as much as it's like wow,it's also very exciting and
liberating because I mean, ifthey just cut that out, just the
added sugar, that added sugar aday, imagine what it will do to
their life.
You know so cause then a lot oftimes they'll start and they'll
say, well, what about honey orDate Paste or Stevie or Monkford

(39:30):
?
I'm like, let's not worry aboutthat.
You know, when you get to whereI am, then we can start
analyzing how good is that.
Let's just work on this rightnow, and that alone is going to
friggin change your life, and itdoes I mean these women that
I'm talking about getting theirA1C from nine down to sixes and
fives.
They haven't even gotten liketotally physically fit yet.

(39:52):
It's just from changing that,going from 500 grams of added
sugar a day down to maybe even80.
Now I'm prescribing not toconsume more than 25 grams of
added sugar a day.
That's the goal.
But again, it's not aboutperfection, right, it's progress
.
25 grams of added sugar a day,and I like to say that added
sugar should be coming fromsomething like maybe the honey.

(40:15):
If you bake, you know, I makethis delicious banana bread.
The entire banana bread has onetablespoon of honey in it, you
know.
And then either some darkchocolate chips or chalk zero
chips that's sweetened with monkfruit, you know so like.
Add that up just so you have anidea.
But don't worry about the fruit.
Eat the fruit whole, right, notfruit juice, but whole, with
the fiber, the vitamins, theminerals, packed with all that.

(40:38):
The way nature intended us toeat fruit to slow down the
absorption of the sugar and tofeel full.
You know then, if you eat that,if you eat the real whole foods
, you won't be craving thatultra processed food and you'll
be able to kick it so mucheasier for sure.

William Davis, MD (40:56):
Well, you've gotten to a point of fairly
sophisticated level ofunderstanding and enlightenment.
What happens when you talk tomy colleagues, the doctors?

Joyce Laszloffy (41:05):
They've actually been really supportive
of the community.
I think they really get it.
You know, I mean of coursethere's going to be some with
egos.
I mean I just had a woman sharein the group, literally like
two weeks ago, say she went toher doctor, she had gray socks.
She was wearing her eye kicksugar, sugar socks.
It said, sure, the doctor'sbeen monitoring her and you know

(41:27):
, keeping her eye on everything.
And she was on metformin.
She's off of metformin now.
And the doctor says so, did youreally?
She's like did I really what?
Did you really kick sugar?
Does sugar really suck?
She's like did I really what?
Did you really kick sugar?
Does sugar really suck?
She's like, yeah, I really did.
You know it's been eight monthsnow and she's lost over 60
pounds.
You know her A1C is down, herblood glucose level off

(41:49):
metformin and he's.
And he walks around.
She tells us in the group shewalked, he walked around his
desk and he pulls out a littlemini Snickers bar and says you
sure?
And he pulls out a little miniSnickers bar and says you sure,
I mean it's horrid, it's justhorrible that you know, I mean
that's you and I get that.

(42:15):
Look, sometimes, you know, atcertain doctor's offices like
really, you did, you know.
But you see, in the medicalindustry I mean I'm healthier
than you know most nurses anddoctor's offices that I go into
if I have to get something doneor get some labs done.
But yes, I think in the general, in the community that we're
amongst you know doctors likeyourself who are the cutting
edge and who are looking beyond.

(42:36):
You know Western medicine orprescribing Ozempic.
You know that they'redefinitely welcoming and open to
these conversations and can seeand saying to me you know more
power to you.
You know if you can get yourmessage out there and help
people, it doesn't matter how.
And I don't claim to be a doctor, I'm not a doctor, I'm not.

(43:00):
You know, I have no degree inany of that.
You know, yes, I went to mylove for the body, human body
and anatomy started in massageschool some 20, I don't know
five years ago, 24 years ago Ifriended a doctor in the clinic
who was a naturopathic doctor,who taught at the school there
big naturopathic school inPhoenix, tempe and he welcomed

(43:23):
me in under his wing to like thecadaver labs and a bunch of his
extra higher advancedphysiology biology classes and I
just like, oh my God, you know,seeing inside the human body
was like wow, you know, justamazing to me.
And I just, I just can't getenough of this stuff.
And I tell women though, likethis is, I have no credentials.

William Davis, MD (43:45):
Don't believe me, you know do what you tell
them.

Joyce Laszloffy (43:49):
You know, do the research yourself.
You know.
I hope that I stirred enoughquestions for you.
And if I don't have an answer,you know, look it up.
You know, and and even when Igive you an answer question, my
answer, look it up, you know.
And even when I give you ananswer question, my answer, look
it up.
I'm not the one.
You should do your own, becausethat is going to just keep
reinforcing even more.
You will learn more, you willread more, you will write more,

(44:10):
you will understand more andthat will ingrain and build that
foundation.
So I was raised to questionauthority and that's what I try
and teach my ladies.
When I go into doctor'sappointments, like for family
members, and I'm always there tosit and I ask the questions,
Usually if the doctor doesn'tknow me, they're like Are you in
the medical profession, Are youa doctor?

(44:32):
Like no.
But I, yeah, like I surprisedthem, I know my stuff and, like
you've said, I'm not ashamed tosay it I think I do know a lot
more than most doctors, for sure.

William Davis, MD (44:45):
You know it's sad, joyce, but to this day
many perhaps most of mycolleagues and the American
Diabetes Association continue tosay that once you have type two
diabetes, you can never becomea non-diabetic.
You're seeing this every day,aren't you?

Joyce Laszloffy (44:59):
Yes, yes, i're seeing this every day, aren't
you?
Yes, yes, I am seeing thisevery day.
I don't prescribe to what theAmerican Diabetes Association is
.
I mean they're just, they're abig, big industry.
You know nonprofits with abunch of people at the top who
have big salaries, and you knowthey're making a lot of money
off of people's donations, nothelping people.
You go to their fun runs, theirevents, and what are they

(45:22):
offering you?
Orange juice and bagels, youknow, and muffins.
It's really, it's criminal,frankly, it really is criminal.
And you know people put theirtrust in that.
You know they believe that Oneof the little mini videos that I
have my ladies watch is anexpose in module six and it's

(45:43):
with Michael Moss.
I know, you know Michael Mossand uncovering the journalist
with the expose on big food andthey're just, they're angry.
That's one of the things I wantthem to do.
I want them to get angry atwhat the food industry, what our
government, what the FDA, ourmedical profession, is, is, and
I don't want to say doing to usbecause no one can do anything

(46:05):
to you.
You know we have allowed itbecause they put their trust and
faith in you know what'ssupposed to be protecting us and
unfortunately it doesn't.
You know you have to be yourown advocate and you are your
own best advocate, and so my jobis to empower women, and one of
the ways of empowering womenagain is to get them to
challenge themselves, challengeauthority, starting with me, and

(46:28):
think outside the box, for sure.

William Davis, MD (46:31):
Well, Joyce, thank you for sharing your story
, including some personal detail.
I really do appreciate it.
So if someone wants more ofyour world, what's the best
starting place?

Joyce Laszloffy (46:40):
Yeah, hopefully you'll put this link.
I offer a free sugar sleuthtoolkit and I'll make sure you
have the link for that wherepeople can come.
Women can just enter in theiremail address and they will get
a free guide email to them thatwill show them.
I mean, we're starting with thebasics here, right?
Basic step one learn how toread food labels.

(47:06):
That's the first thing toempower and you and I might take
it for granted because we'vebeen doing it for so many years
and we think everybody knows howto read a food label and they
don't, and there's nothing to beashamed about that.
So it's to learn that, to learnwhere the hidden ingredients
are.
You know 67 different names ofsugar.
There's even more now.
I just learned from you knowreading Wheat Belly.
I mean all the different namesof gluten and all the wheat
products.
You know we have to empowerourselves with that and so

(47:29):
starting at that's a greatstarting point for them.
I also offer a free two hourworkshop where I teach the three
secrets to kick sugar.
They can either take that itcomes with a workbook and do it
on their own or, if they wantthat extra support and
accountability, they can jointhe community and be a part of
it and then meet me face to face, you know, monthly, on the live

(47:53):
, monthly coaching calls whichare so powerful.
Community is key and having thatsupport system beyond even you
know once you kicked it to havepeople in your corner because
you become, you know, as a.
Who said it?
I forgot who said it, thefamous quote, you know you were
the five people you hang aroundwith the most.
So it's like if you don't havethat in your family, in your

(48:15):
life, in your circle of friends,they're all eating unhealthy,
they're not moving their bodyand exercising and reading these
books and listening to thesepodcasts.
Join us, join, you know you sothat they can have that
community, because that iscrucial and that makes the world
of a difference.
For sure, and that's one of thereasons why I do what I do.
You know this keeps it alivefor me, so that I continue on

(48:39):
that journey because I stillneed it.
Then I meet someone like youand you know it just continues
on, without doubt so crucial.

William Davis, MD (48:46):
Well, thank you, joyce, and thank you for
doing what you do.
It's really so critical.
You know this.
The right message is not comingfrom the place that are
supposed to be, americanDiabetes Association.
Don't make us laugh, right.
Most doctors, sad to say, notdoing their job.
So thank you for doing what youdo.
It is so critical, so important.

Joyce Laszloffy (49:05):
Thank you, and thank you for what you're doing
and thanks for having me on.
It's been a pleasure.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Don't miss out on the NFL Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts' exclusive week of episodes recorded in New Orleans!

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

Today’s Latest News In 4 Minutes. Updated Hourly.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.