From Banker to Miss Universe: The Journey to Health and Happiness | Angela Beyer
Episode # 26
Angela Beyer, a renowned trainer, online coach, and professional health coach, has an extraordinary journey that led her to become a personal trainer and health coach specializing in helping women build muscle and achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Angela Beyer's achievements span a wide range, from successful bodybuilding competitions to winning titles such as Miss Florida, Miss USA, and Miss Universe. She has also delved into celebrity training and authored a health and fitness book. Furthermore, Angela founded House of Shape, offering women the guidance they need to attain their fitness goals.
“I felt lonely. I felt not good enough.”
Summary
In this episode of Life After Trauma, host Jessica Vanrose speaks with health coach Angela Beyer about her transformative journey from struggling with body image and health issues to becoming a successful coach. They discuss the importance of mindset, the benefits of weightlifting for women, the role of nutrition in building muscle, and the significance of breathwork and mindfulness in mental health. Angela emphasizes the need for women to embrace strength training, understand their metabolism, and practice gratitude and journaling as part of their healing journey. The conversation concludes with insights on collagen's benefits for skin health and a call to action for listeners to prioritize their health.
Takeaways
Angela's journey highlights the importance of mindset in health.
Weightlifting is crucial for women's health and metabolism.
Nutrition plays a key role in muscle building and recovery.
Breathwork can significantly improve mental health.
Mindfulness in eating fosters a deeper connection with food.
Gratitude journaling can enhance overall well-being.
Collagen is essential for skin health and overall vitality.
Strength training is the most effective way to influence body composition.
Women often underestimate their strength and capabilities.
Taking action towards health should start now, not later.
“You always have a choice to be happy.”
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Angela Beyer and Her Journey
04:47 Overcoming Struggles and Finding Self-Love
09:41 The Importance of the Journey Over the Goal
14:23 Empowering Women Through Strength Training
19:11 Understanding Muscle Health and Longevity
24:09 Practical Tips for Beginners in Strength Training
31:13 Understanding Progressive Overload
36:20 The Importance of Journaling
43:04 Nutrition for Muscle Building
55:01 The Role of Collagen in Skin Health
“Start taking care of your health now.”
Jessica Vanrose (00:00.948)
Welcome or welcome back to Life After Trauma. I'm Jess, your certified trauma informed life coach. If you're new to the podcast, we bring women from around the world together through conversations that will empower, support and inspire you on your healing journey. Today we have health coach Angela Bayer with us to talk about nourishing our body, mind and soul. Angela is a renowned trainer.
online coach and professional health coach. Her achievements span a wide range from successful bodybuilding competitions to winning titles such as Miss Florida, Miss USA and Miss Universe. She has also delved into celebrity training and authored a health and fitness book. Furthermore, Angela founded House of Shape offering women the guidance they need to attain their fitness goals.
Today, Angela works with CEOs, entrepreneurs, high level executives, top class athletes, and clients worldwide empowering them to rapidly increase their energy levels, transform their bodies, and enhance their mental clarity. Hi, Angela. It's so nice to have you on the show. Thank you for being here.
Angela Beyer (01:17.188)
So yeah, thank you for having me. Super excited.
Jessica Vanrose (01:21.07)
Same! So your list of accomplishments is impressive and you have such an interesting history. Can you tell us about your story? Like how you got to where you are now?
Angela Beyer (01:38.146)
Yeah, well, it was not always that pretty. So what happened was typical scenario after college, I started in the workforce, I gained a lot of weight, was in my early 20s. I actually have a finance degree and I was in banking. So I was a banker and very, very ambitious. And for me, the career was very important and I climbed up the ladder and...
For me, I felt the social pressure and how I needed to look to be accepted, to have a social network, to be successful at work. the relationship I was in at the time wasn't really helping. My ex-boyfriend was very controlling, very...
mentally abusive so to speak. I felt like never enough and by having this kind of like chaos going on the only thing you can control is actually food and by being overweight and not in the right size body I felt like a failure and I'm like I gotta fix this this is like the one and I get so fixated on weight loss and controlling my food intake
that I literally went overboard and I ended up the typical like where you end up as a yeah if you get crazy hung up in it with an eating disorder, over exercising and a ton of health issues. So in that time it's so interesting you saw this picture of this woman who had success at work, who had a great relationship, he was Mr. Charming and
Jessica Vanrose (03:18.19)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (03:32.32)
Inside I was really suffering. I felt lonely. I felt not good enough. I felt defeated, very depressed. And it got so extreme until at one point it's so interesting how the body says, okay enough is enough. You can't do no more. And I ended up in the hospital with major health issues and I knew at that point
That was my lowest where I'm like, wow, I weighed 109 pounds. was nothing left of me. Yeah. And I still, it's so funny how you have those conversations in your head. Like still you weigh 109 pounds and you're still always like, should I eat this? Can I eat this? I shouldn't eat this. If I eat this, then this happens. And then I have to go on the treadmill or the...
It's the weirdest thing. And I was in that vicious cycle and I decided after that episode to get a nutrition degree. And I'm like, okay, I learned everything about food. And if I have the science down, nothing can go wrong. And it's not the science. It's so much of the mindset and accepting and finding self-love to heal.
Jessica Vanrose (04:46.976)
You
Jessica Vanrose (04:58.904)
you.
Angela Beyer (04:59.168)
And so this part was still missing and I continued on my journey, got into bodybuilding and strength training and I really tried hard, but again, hitting a wall after wall after wall, it didn't get anywhere. And again, I ended up with major health issues and I said, this is enough. this was, think about it. It started in my early twenties and this happened when I was 29.
So almost a decade of struggle and fighting and yo-yoing and going up and down was harsh times. So my twenties weren't the best, but a lot of experience, a lot of learning. And then I put a hard stop on all this. I quit my job. I broke up with my boyfriend. said, if this is so funny, because if you're in your comfort zone and it's still comfortable, you're not changing.
Jessica Vanrose (05:29.537)
Okay.
Jessica Vanrose (05:38.542)
Yeah.
Angela Beyer (05:56.526)
But to that point, I promise you, no matter what it takes, you're going to change. And you don't care about the consequences. And that's what I did. I quit my job, moved to the United States. It was always my dream to learn English. So I got to a school where I was able to do a course, English as a Second Language. I started there. And that's when the healing began.
Jessica Vanrose (05:56.632)
huh.
Angela Beyer (06:23.332)
And that's where I was able to just find myself. In that time, I really fell in love with the country. I wanted to stay. And now look at this pattern. It's a fascinating thing. What did I do? I went to the first bank I saw and asked for an internship to go back to banking. Even though I knew this is not my passion. This is not what I was meant to do.
I struggled there. I was able to do it, but that was not my happy place. That's not the place where I'm meant to be. It's a funny...
Jessica Vanrose (06:56.832)
It was that sense of security, but not. Yeah.
Angela Beyer (06:59.734)
Exactly. That's exactly what it was. The comfort again, the security, knowing what I was doing. So during that time, of course, I wanted a work visa. I wanted to be official. I wanted to get established. And I will never forget the conversation with my immigration lawyer. She actually said to me, if I have any special skills, because as a banker, there is no way of getting a work visa. There are so many bankers in the States.
You can't stay. And I'm like, well, I don't have any special skills in banking, but I can lift things up and put them down really well. I'm good at bodybuilding. And she's like, well, okay, if you're good at bodybuilding, if you can get a world champion title for the United States, you can get a green card.
Jessica Vanrose (07:40.762)
you
Angela Beyer (07:52.898)
That's how it started. huh. Wow is right. I sat there and I thought like, is a joke. And she was serious about this. I'm like, okay. Well, I had nothing to lose Jess. So what do I do? I'm like, okay. I'll dial it all in. I do my best. I have nothing to lose. I prepped for Miss Florida and I see how it goes. So I prepped to compete in the physique class.
Jessica Vanrose (07:55.307)
Wow
Angela Beyer (08:23.446)
in natural bodybuilding and what happened during that time, dialing it in and really focusing on that goal and going on that journey and being in, how can say, like this happy place of where I belong, but I'm really good at it. I'm really good at, and now even more, but when I started scanning bodies and sculpting them, I know what I need to do.
to create a certain look. And that's what I did in that journey. boy, was so much, I mean, think about it. I'm talking about a bodybuilding prep where you are on a strict diet where you have to work out every day. Like there's no way around it. And I'm like, this was the best time of my life. But this was the best time of my life because I was able to just experience.
my body and how I felt. I had time to just dial in to my feelings and who I was. And that was more of the process. Being in that, and this is what it is, the journey. Being on that journey and not, when I have this, then I will be happy. And when I reach this, I will be happy. That was my life back in Germany.
if I get this title and if I get the better office or if I get, you know, like this bonus and then I can, like, I always had this, if I can have this, I'm happy attachment kind of thing. And when I went on this, yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (10:05.846)
I was just gonna ask. So how did you find that you were able to separate that in this instance? Because this seems like the big ticket, like, oh no, I have to leave America or I can't go to America if I am not able to accomplish this. So how were you able to, in that, like, in that instance, separate that feeling of like, I need this to be happy?
Angela Beyer (10:36.164)
very good question. So for me it was, I took everything day by day. I was not focused on that competition, so to speak. I was focused on doing the best today. And I always told myself, today you can do this, just today. And then see how it goes. And then there was another good day and another, and all of a sudden there was a string of good days.
And that's when it clicked that the important thing is the journey, not the end game, like the goal that, yeah, that was huge for me. And that makes, that I'm coaching clients, the coaching approach different as well, because I'm not, I want to talk about goals and where a person wants to end up or why we are doing this, but
Jessica Vanrose (11:10.86)
I that.
Angela Beyer (11:32.612)
the end game is always getting on the right path, being on the road of health and staying on it. And that's the journey again. So it's funny because back in the days when I competed, it was about a look, not so much about health, to be honest. You ate healthy and you worked out a lot, which are all beneficial, but then it transitioned to...
Why am I doing this and what are my goals? And health became like the major driver for all of this.
Jessica Vanrose (12:09.698)
That's amazing. Like really amazing. And you went on to win other titles too. So you didn't stop at Miss Florida.
Angela Beyer (12:19.63)
No, so yeah, I won Miss Florida. I'm like, wow, got qualified for Team USA. So I just kept going. And then I competed at the Miss USA in Los Angeles. I won Miss USA. I was able to represent the United States at the Miss Universe show, which was a crazy huge show. And I remember I wanted only to get to the finals because it was for me like, my gosh, winning that is like, yeah.
Okay, I give it a shot, but I didn't even expect that. I just wanted to be able to be in the finals because in the morning you have prejudging in a black bikini and everybody does the mandatory stuff and in the evening you can wear your bling bikini and you can do the posing routine and you have fun with the audience and stuff and that's what I wanted. I wanted to present my routine and yeah, when they This is also interesting. when they announced.
the fifth place winner, fourth, third, second. And then I was last one standing. I went, my gosh, I just won Miss Universe. You know what I felt? This is the funniest thing. Like for me, it was a surprise. I felt relief.
Jessica Vanrose (13:39.114)
relief. Okay.
Angela Beyer (13:41.24)
What I felt in that moment, everybody thinks, that must have been the happiest moment in your life. Actually, I felt relieved because I knew I got my green card. I am able to create what I want to create now. I'm established. I can move forward. And this pressure fell off of me. know, again, it was not like this.
point in my life where I said, my gosh, this is the happiest, the happiest was the journey getting there.
Jessica Vanrose (14:13.026)
Yeah, which I mean, that in itself is a huge lesson because so many times we set that goal and we think we're not going to be happy until we have it. And I feel like we've all done that before. We've had that process and then we get that goal and we're like, this actually doesn't really change anything. And I'm not happy. So it's it's learning to.
enjoy the journey of it and that happiness is actually a choice. Like you get to choose to be happy in your current circumstances on the journey you're on.
Angela Beyer (14:49.154)
apps.
Angela Beyer (14:55.778)
Right, absolutely. And I think if you keep the fun in your life, the happiness and all this just makes life better and you always have a choice. And it's interesting to see how many people choose not to be happy. It's a choice, absolutely.
Jessica Vanrose (15:16.36)
Yeah, totally. So that's incredible. And I want to talk a little bit about why it's so important for women to lift weights.
Angela Beyer (15:31.844)
very good question. Okay, this is an interesting thing what's happening right now in general with the whole how people or women have to look. We are very focused on the scale. We measure body fat. That's like one indication if you're good or bad in this judgment.
and what we forget. And again, here we are talking about why are we doing all of this? And I think that the main reason to have the right size body, a good body composition, stuff like that is all about health. And we always talk about longevity and talk about how long we wanna live and we wanna expand that.
And I talk about not the lifespan, I talk about health span. How long do you want to live healthy? and dandruff? And there is, I looked it up for the United States, an interesting like number. The average lifespan in the United States is right now 79 years. The average health span is 63.
So there's a 16 year gap between healthspan and lifespan, meaning the last 16 years of your life, you have some sort of disease and you're not able to take care of yourself, enjoy your life, your hobbies, be independent. And interestingly, it's more women than men.
Jessica Vanrose (17:16.269)
Yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (17:22.241)
Really?
Angela Beyer (17:24.376)
Because women are the ones who take care of the men.
Jessica Vanrose (17:28.462)
Yep.
Angela Beyer (17:30.884)
Yeah, that's one of the reasons. But also because we are not taking care of our muscles. What happens is we are going or we start losing muscle in our 30s. And over time, we lose more and more muscle tissue. So that's sarcopenia that goes on, like I said, starts in the 30s. You lose like 1 % per year, which doesn't sound much, but over time.
Now, what happens in your 40s, and this is where I get a lot of my clients, they say, I woke up and all of a sudden I have this belly fat and I don't know where this comes from and something happened to my metabolism and yada yada. And it's not really the metabolism, it's the loss of muscle and not having good quality muscle. So we take on
the whole issue with weight loss from the opposite side. We are focused on the body fat and on a number of the scale. Where we should look is in our quality of muscle and healthy muscle tissue because our metabolism, what is the metabolism? It's eating food energy, digesting it and converting it into cellular energy so our cells can use them. So that's basically metabolism. Now,
When you eat carbs, for example, you digest them, they go into your bloodstream as glucose, then the pancreas gets the signal to produce insulin, and insulin is the hormone or the key that opens up the muscle cells to get the glucose out of the bloodstream. If you don't have enough cells, enough muscle cells, or broken down or damaged ones, the sugar can't go anywhere even though you make insulin.
It doesn't go anywhere because the insulin cannot open something what's not there or what's broken. So the sugar stays into the bloodstream, goes back to the liver, spills over and you create the visceral fat, the body fat. So yeah, it's super interesting. You can dial down the diet as much as you want. As long as you don't build the muscle, you're not going to fix your metabolism. And what I just described,
Jessica Vanrose (19:42.205)
Jessica Vanrose (19:45.749)
Yeah.
Angela Beyer (19:56.93)
That's the start of insulin resistance, a metabolic syndrome. And then you go into pre-diabetes and diabetes. So that's the beginning of the first sign. And it's a very easy fix. Get into strength training and keep the muscle up, keep healthy muscle. The other thing too, what is super fascinating to me, muscle and bone are like a married couple. They go together. So if you have...
Jessica Vanrose (20:00.653)
Hmm.
Jessica Vanrose (20:21.902)
Hmm.
Angela Beyer (20:24.772)
Healthy muscle, you have healthy strong bones. Same thing, if the bones are brittle and not strong, usually the muscle is not healthy at all. So they go always together. If you strength train, and to be honest with you, where can you put an influence or a benefit on your body? Easiest way is strength training. That you can control. You can't tell your bones to get stronger. You can't...
Jessica Vanrose (20:34.734)
Mmm.
Angela Beyer (20:53.012)
eat anything to make them stronger, you've got to have some resistance, some outside force to tell the body to be more robust. And that's what you do with strength training. You always get the most bang for your buck if you lift heavy weights. And the same thing with the endocrine system. If you have healthy muscle, it signals to all of your hormones, cortisol, insulin,
Jessica Vanrose (21:11.149)
Yeah.
Angela Beyer (21:22.368)
sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone to balance, work properly. So again, the more healthy muscle, the better hormones are. Same with cognitive function or actually training gives you more self-esteem because you accomplish something hard every day. So there is a lot of mindset as well, which is very helpful. So it always goes together. And like I said, the most
leverage you can have or control is by the muscle tissue in your body, nothing else. Then we start with medications or crazy diets and I've been there, I've done it all. You name the diet, I did it, yeah. And I know how it feels and why it doesn't work. So to simplify the whole system is I think key too. Like not so...
Jessica Vanrose (22:17.774)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (22:19.492)
hard and rigid and strict about everything. just having the education or making smart choices, it's not really that complicated. And taking a little bit of time a day to focus on your body and take care of
Jessica Vanrose (22:36.352)
Yeah. Yeah, I know that the messaging for women has like predominantly been I do feel like this is changing, but predominantly it has been that we need to do cardio, because cardio is what you need to lose weight. But that's not actually true, right? Like, I mean, cardio is obviously important. But you're going to have
more weight loss or better weight loss. I'm not sure how to word it exactly. If you're building muscle.
Angela Beyer (23:09.092)
Absolutely. because I mean, what are we okay? The more muscle you have the higher your basal metabolic rate is meaning if you do nothing just to maintain your body and You need a certain amount of calories the more muscle you have that's active tissue It's very very valuable the more you can eat now the more dieting you do and if it's extreme diet you tear down more muscle
Your basal metabolic rate gets lower and lower and lower. So every time you go back to the normal diet you did before, you even pack on more weight. And the cardio, yeah, that's why it's yo-yoing because you're destroying with every harsh diet, more muscle tissue. It's the funny thing, the balance, and it's not really, again, that complicated, but you're absolutely right. I mean, I remember when I was a trainer at the gym.
Jessica Vanrose (23:50.679)
Wow.
Angela Beyer (24:07.768)
When the guys walked in, they showed them the weightlifting room and all that. A woman walks in, look at all the stairmasters Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. cardio is important. Absolutely. And to be honest with you, you can do short spurts of high intensity workouts, very short, 10 minutes, twice a week.
Jessica Vanrose (24:15.64)
Here's the treadmill. Yeah.
Angela Beyer (24:35.618)
really beneficial for your metabolism. And if you take walks, brisk walks after every meal to get the flux going, to get the carbs out of your bloodstream into the muscle, so much more beneficial. Or moving during the day a little bit. It doesn't have to be this hour long cardio session at the gym. Absolutely not. It can be very simple, easy.
Jessica Vanrose (25:01.482)
Yeah, exactly. And I think that has been like my biggest lesson on my health journey is like, so I started out before. So currently, I'm down, I think about 30 pounds. Yeah, thank you. It's been it's been a long journey. But so before,
Angela Beyer (25:20.866)
Wow, good for you!
Jessica Vanrose (25:29.48)
It was very much where I felt like I had to be doing specific things like cardio, and that it had to be a long time. Like I needed to be on that treadmill for like an hour, hour and a half. And the more knowledge I've gained, I found strength training. I love it. You cannot tear me away from strength training. I love it so much.
Well, and it's like you said, it's that feeling of accomplishment. Like, I feel like a baddie when I am lifting heavy weights. I'm like, I can do anything.
Angela Beyer (26:07.94)
Exactly, and you can. I think women underestimate how much they can actually lift. I think that's so great. I have those clients where here we are, dangling around with the pink weights or five pound dumbbells and we don't want to lift more because we don't want to be bulky. And I always have those conversations. And yeah, you got to lift a lot of weight to put on muscle. And if you do, if you
put on a lot of muscle very quickly. Good for you. I'm happy for you. And if you want to tone it down, guess what? Just lift less. Super easy. It goes quickly down. So yeah, don't be afraid of lift heavy. Yeah, good for you.
Jessica Vanrose (26:47.81)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Vanrose (26:53.856)
Yeah, thank you. It's it's been a great journey. And I also love my walks. Love them. That's that's probably my preferred method of cardio is walking. I do want to try and get more into the high intensity, which it actually kind of leads me into my next question. So what I'm wondering is for somebody who's just starting out, what would you recommend as like a workout split for a week?
Angela Beyer (27:25.064)
Yeah, okay. if somebody is just starting out and the person never lifted weights, I always like at the beginning total body where we hit the muscle, all the muscle groups in one day, but with let's say two exercises of each muscle group, because what we're doing at that point is creating neuro pathways. You need a muscle mind connection. You need to understand
how it feels to train certain muscles. And you have to get the technique down. I want you to have good form. And the other thing is too, it's ligaments, tendons. There is so much more what needs to get used to movement. for example, muscle has way more blood flow than ligaments and tendons. So the recovery time is a little longer. So there's a difference. So that's why I like to have like,
Jessica Vanrose (27:56.046)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (28:22.084)
three day workout where we lift weights, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, total body, Tuesday and Thursday, for example, you can do some balance exercises, flexibility exercises, you can do some high intensity workouts. And if I say high intensity, I'm not talking about go out and sprint and run or jump. I'm talking about if you are comfortable on a bicycle or on a rowing machine or...
literally standing on a mat and just do air squats for 30 seconds as many as you can and then take a break and you go again or stuff like that. Like it has to again make fun. You want to do it and you have to get used to it. So start with small steps and increase it slowly. And what you want to do with strength training is increase
Jessica Vanrose (28:57.422)
Mmm.
Angela Beyer (29:21.27)
always progress. You always want to get a little bit better next time. So if you feel like gosh this is a plateau, this is a weight, I can't increase it, squeeze out one more rep. That's what you do or have shorter breaks in between the set. That's how you can dial it up until you're able to go to the next heavier weight. So it's not always about crushing it and going overboard.
Jessica Vanrose (29:23.054)
I
Jessica Vanrose (29:34.818)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (29:50.634)
You wanna have a good resistance. You wanna have a force on the body where you say, okay, that's difficult. I feel the resistance. I gotta work this. Like you wanna wake up the body, but you don't wanna crush it or tear it down. And especially at the beginning.
Jessica Vanrose (30:08.98)
Yeah, for sure. Is that is it called progressive overload? Am I right on that? Yes. Yes. Okay. Can you maybe build on that a little bit? I am a little fuzzy on what it is because basically it's it's that you're building up your weight, I believe that you're lifting.
Angela Beyer (30:15.254)
Out, yes. Overload, yeah.
Angela Beyer (30:33.604)
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (30:35.97)
but then at some point you like drop down and I, that's where I get lost.
Angela Beyer (30:40.964)
Actually, you're not dropping down. Okay, what's happening is if you want to build muscle, you always have to give the muscle a little bit more weight than it can handle. Now, I'm not talking about the one rep range, one max. So that's what athletes do. It's like the one max
Jessica Vanrose (30:45.536)
Okay. Okay.
Angela Beyer (31:10.774)
rep what they do to see where they're at and then we work from there. Now if I want you to progressively get better, for example you have a workout plan where you are on on squats with 15 pound dumbbells and you can do 15 reps of them and the last three reps are hard but you can do it. So the next time
you do 15 reps and you push 15 pounds and you push it to 17 reps. And then you go up to 20 reps. You can do that and the muscle will grow. Now, when you're at the 20 rep mark, I say always, yeah, you've got to stop. It's too time consuming as well. Then grab the 20 pound dumbbells. So from 15 to 20 is a big jump. You feel those five pounds. Now, if you can start out with 10 reps,
and see how you do. And then you, that's what you mean with dropping. Exactly. So you have way more weight. That's a big jump from 15 to 20, but then you're doing 10 reps and then you work your way up to 12 reps, 14 reps, 16 reps, and then you go to the next weight and then you work your way up again. So every time you increase the weight, your body tells you, whoa,
Jessica Vanrose (32:13.655)
Yeah, yeah.
Angela Beyer (32:37.42)
what's going on and that's the progressive overload. And that's what forces you to build more muscle fiber. Yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (32:45.12)
Yeah, that makes that makes so much more sense. Thank you. Thank you for breaking that down because I was like, what? I do what? Thank you.
Angela Beyer (32:55.684)
Well, yeah, now it makes sense what you said, yes.
Jessica Vanrose (33:00.534)
Yes, yes. So on a slightly different topic, I was checking your Instagram the other day and I saw your reel about box breathing. I personally love breath work and box breathing is probably my favorite. I'm wondering if you can share with the listeners what box breathing is and what the benefits are.
Angela Beyer (33:11.076)
Really?
Angela Beyer (33:30.156)
yeah, so.
Why I like breathing exercises in general is because we're always stressed and usually we are in the sympathetic nerve system. We are operating out of the sympathetic nerve system, not parasympathetic nerve system. So we are in the fight, flight or freeze mode. Now with box breathing exercises, which is super simple, you're able to get into the parasympathetic nerve system. And that's...
where you recover, where you digest, where your body is able to heal. Now box breathing, a box, four equal sides. you inhale for four, so you count always four. So you inhale for four, you hold for four, you exhale for four, you hold for four. And that gives you such, like I said, grounding and calming.
experience and especially when you're stressed just take a minute and do a couple of box breathing exercises and I love the simplicity again of it and it does help so much and like I said unfortunately nowadays we are always stressed and we come from a place of like I said fight flight or freeze mode and there are so many things that are happening
chronic inflamed, not digesting properly. And that's where we get into health issues or depressed or anxious or so many things happening.
Jessica Vanrose (35:11.958)
Yeah, that actually leads me very nicely into the next question, because I literally have written down here tips with stress and anxiety. what my question is, so we believe in holistic health, which means like caring about your complete self, body, mind and soul. What are some activities or exercises that you find most beneficial for
improving or maintaining your mental health with the stress and anxiety.
Angela Beyer (35:48.686)
Yeah, so I love this. Again, you can not only take care of your body. it's always the whole approach. And what I like with my clients always to do is to incorporate journaling. So there are different ways of journaling. There's, for example, I have...
or I work with somebody, she has the Wave of Mind journals, it's a six month program actually developed by therapists where she can work through all kinds of issues with just journaling. That's how powerful journals are. But I just like a gratitude journal in the morning just to get the day started right. And that's where you put in the breathing exercises. Another thing at night, same thing, journaling.
writing down your accomplishments of the day. And to be honest, like tapping yourself on the shoulder and saying, hey, I did all those things. And what I also do with clients at the beginning of our journey, when we start working out, I let them write down depending on how depressed they are, but if they are really depressed and we are getting started, I always let them create a badass list. So I want them to write down
Jessica Vanrose (37:09.262)
Angela Beyer (37:11.886)
where they were a badass. And I want them to read it out loud and tell me all the times where they were a badass. And that's how we get started with our journey. Yep.
Jessica Vanrose (37:23.704)
that. That's so cool. That's really, yeah, because like, it helps them to notice times in the past where they've already done this. And that's like some cognitive behavioral therapy right there being like, I can do this because I've done it before. Yeah.
Angela Beyer (37:28.815)
The sweetest part. Yeah.
Angela Beyer (37:44.984)
Exactly. And when we go on a health journey, what I see, I describe it, we talk about it, and it's a straight line. That's how you get from A to B to C to D. That's how our conversation will go. Then I know reality, and we will hit stop signs, detours, we go down the ditch, we have to go back on, and then it's always good to have a badass list.
When you're down the ditch, pull it out, read it out loud, remember, and then go back on your horse and continue.
Jessica Vanrose (38:21.312)
I'm gonna make a badass list. Yeah, that sounds awesome. I need this list. For Yeah, definitely. For your gratitude journal. I'm just curious do you use the Five Minute Journal. That's the way you described it. It sounds like the five minute journal. Yeah, okay. I do as well. And that journal is a game changer. Like
Angela Beyer (38:22.884)
I wanna know
Angela Beyer (38:31.812)
Well, I think everybody does.
Angela Beyer (38:41.12)
Yes. Yes, I do.
Angela Beyer (38:49.218)
Yes.
Jessica Vanrose (38:50.062)
I have felt the difference. So I've used it before. And then at the end of using it the first time, like the first book, I was like, I don't know if I really feel a difference. And so I stopped, I didn't buy another one. And I went, I don't know, maybe six months or a year. And I had a moment where I was like, you know, in general, I'm just not feeling as good as I was like the year before.
and realized that it was that. It was that I wasn't practicing gratitude. And it's not that you have to have this journal to do it. It's just a really nice format that is so easy to follow. But yeah, it made such a huge difference when I brought it back in.
Angela Beyer (39:39.33)
good for you. Yeah, I do it. I don't even know how many years I'm doing it. It's just a routine in the morning. It's a habit now. And yeah, that's what I do. And also another thing, what I think is very important is connect to nature. Take a time out, go outside, ground yourself, take a fresh breath of air, and see sunlight. Actually, be outside. And that's...
Jessica Vanrose (40:04.962)
Yes.
Angela Beyer (40:06.84)
super helpful if you're stressed or depressed or anxious.
Jessica Vanrose (40:11.36)
Yeah, I have had days like so during the day I'm mostly in the house because I work from home and so unless I have a reason that I need to leave or I set the intention to like go out for a walk or something I'm just at home all day and there have been weeks where I will realize at the end of the week it's like wow I haven't left the house in like four days and you can
feel it and as soon as you get outside it's like well I mean one it's so refreshing but two what I've noticed that I love love love is that whenever you have something going on in your life that's I mean I'm not gonna say something massive like like if you've lost somebody or something like that that this is not going to magically cure that
But when you have like the small day to day drama happening and you go outside, it helps put things into perspective that like, I'm such a small part of this world. And this thing that I'm dealing with is even smaller than that. And it's not going to matter in like tomorrow.
Angela Beyer (41:37.462)
Isn't that well spoken Yeah, I totally agree. And I think there is, like you said, an appreciation of what's out there and all the things that are working together. And we are a part of this. And I think that's super important to acknowledge and to embrace, actually.
Jessica Vanrose (42:00.492)
Yeah, definitely. So I feel like this, maybe you have some other things as well, because I was going to ask about connecting with your soul and what we're just talking about. I feel like that is connecting with your soul. But do you have anything else that you would add to that for connecting with your soul?
Angela Beyer (42:19.845)
Yeah, this is actually it maybe sounds so small but I think to have a mindfulness when you eat and again to have appreciation what is in on your fork and what you're eating and to actually have that time and take a timeout and disconnect
and actually be with your meal. sounds so funny, understanding that whatever you're going to eat right now is going to be the future you because I mean, we are a living 3D printer all the time. We are renewing cells and to understand that concept and actually appreciating and then
Jessica Vanrose (43:00.238)
Mmm.
Angela Beyer (43:16.42)
putting the right food in us and building the new future Jess I think that is such a huge connection and good for the soul to understand I did something good for myself. This is what I'm putting in my body and this is what I'm creating and you're creating constantly.
Jessica Vanrose (43:39.306)
Wow, I never really thought of it that way. And that is like so true. You're making me think of the book Atomic Habits. Have you read that? You need to read this book because I think you would really like it. But yeah, there is one part of it where it's talking about improving and that
Angela Beyer (43:49.956)
I heard of it, I haven't read it.
Angela Beyer (43:59.396)
Well, it's on my list.
Jessica Vanrose (44:08.342)
We don't have to try and like, we don't have to put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect like right now. And as long as we're getting 1 % better each day, then you're still going to end up in like a much better place than you would. It could just be from one small choice each day. That's what that just made me think of is, you know, making that choice for your future self.
Angela Beyer (44:30.126)
Yeah. Isn't that true? Yeah.
Angela Beyer (44:37.07)
Yeah, absolutely. And that's, I think, very important for your soul.
Jessica Vanrose (44:41.898)
Yeah, definitely. Since you mentioned food, I have another question for you, which I feel like might be going back to kind of the beginning of the episode. But I'm wondering what, I don't know if it's what kind of diet or like what food do we need to eat to help us be building muscle? I know we need the protein.
Angela Beyer (44:43.587)
Yep.
Jessica Vanrose (45:09.806)
but from like, so I was vegan for seven years. I'm not anymore, but I still don't eat very much meat. And even then it's only chicken and that's like once in a while I'll have eggs, but that's about it. So I'm wondering from like different perspectives, what might we be able to eat to help us build that muscle?
Angela Beyer (45:39.116)
Okay, this is a really good question. So I just describe my perfect plate, what I do and again simple easy. change out the food but my perfect plate is always a robust protein intake and that means you need a certain amount to be able to trigger muscle protein synthesis. I was vegan
And what happened to me is, this is unfortunate, you learn by doing, if you read a food label or nutritional information on a package, it's so funny. They describe the fat, saturated fat, unsaturated, trans fats. You go to the carbs. it tells you how much fiber, how much added sugar, how much carbs in total it is, and then protein. That's it.
Jessica Vanrose (46:31.662)
sorry.
Angela Beyer (46:33.718)
It's not how it works. You need a complete amino acid profile in order to trigger muscle protein synthesis. Certain aminos help to do that. For example, leucine and leucine is not enough in plant-based protein. So you're not triggering it. The other thing is too, if you have a person who grazes during the day and have a lot of small tiny meals and never has a robust amount of protein in one sitting,
Jessica Vanrose (46:56.323)
this.
Jessica Vanrose (47:01.486)
you
Angela Beyer (47:01.71)
you're not triggering muscle protein synthesis. Very harmful. So that's a problem. So I like three meals a day, very simple. And then I have a robust amount of protein where I want to make sure that I trigger a building. So you're actually healing, recovering, and all the work you just did at the gym will benefit you because you have the right building blocks. So then you have this, then I add always fiber to it.
Jessica Vanrose (47:04.792)
Hmm.
Angela Beyer (47:30.072)
You always want to have a ton of fiber because the fiber is actually like a broom cleaning out the colon. It slows down the absorption of the food. So you're not feeling as hungry. Same with protein, actually. Protein is very filling, like satiety sets in very quickly. And also the benefit of protein is it has a thermogenic effect by digesting it.
So you're actually burning 20 to 30 % of the protein you're taking in just by digesting it. Yeah, it's really beneficial to have a high protein diet. Carbs is between two and 5 % and fat is zero. It gets absorbed without even like, there is no energy necessary. It's easy for the body to absorb it. So I have the protein, I have the fiber.
I always have some antioxidants in my meal. So could be some citrus, could be some berries, could be some spices, believe it or not, like spices have a lot of antioxidants, could be raw cacao, like the raw cacao powder, super high in antioxidants, could be that, like in my smoothie, for example, that's what I put the raw cacao in.
Like I said, the fiber could be vegetables, could be some seeds, stuff like that. And the antioxidants. And then I have healthy fats. Super important, anti-inflammatory, the omega-3s for your brain, for everything, actually, joint health. The healthy fats are non-negotiable, as the other things I just mentioned. And then at the end, I always have some fermented foods, some probiotics.
So either like if it's lunch, sauerkraut, kimchi, but it could be a kombucha or kevita drink, some fermented drink could be kefir or yogurt or something like that. yeah, protein, fiber, healthy fats, antioxidants and probiotics. So that's usually my plate.
Jessica Vanrose (49:43.726)
Okay, I have many questions. Okay, so one, when you say a robust protein, I'm assuming that's different for everybody. But how can... how do know if it's enough?
Angela Beyer (49:45.988)
Okay.
Angela Beyer (50:02.668)
Yeah, so super easy. You take your ideal body weight. Everybody knows their ideal body weight, where they're supposed to be. And let's say, for example, it's a woman with 120 pounds. So per pound of body weight, one gram of protein. Super simple. Easy math. So let's say 120 grams.
120 pound woman, 120 grams divided by three meals. I want the three meals usually to even out the protein intake. So divided by three. So here we have a 40 gram protein portion, which is huge. That's a big amount of protein. But you will be full. Now you can play what I like to do if somebody has a hard time with lunch where I have a lot of clients who
struggle with lunch. you do book endings like the first and the last meal with a super high amount of protein, you can even up this to 50 grams if you want to. And then lunch is a smaller amount of protein because you're in the office or something and you can't really make a meal and you have to carry whatever a can of tuna or whatever it is, you know, and it's just the 20 grams. You can get away with it. It's
not perfect. The body can handle it though, it's okay. But I like to even it out because we can't store amino acids. So you want to be evenly during the day. So yeah, 40 grams, for example, that's a lot.
Jessica Vanrose (51:46.018)
That is a lot. Yes. And I don't think I could ever hit that on a plant-based diet. But so since plants do not have the complete amino chain in the proteins.
Is it not possible to be getting your correct protein intake?
Angela Beyer (52:23.63)
No, it is absolutely possible because what you do is you combine different plant-based proteins together to make it complete. So for example, if you buy a plant-based protein powder, super fascinating, they have always different sources in it if it's a good quality protein powder. So for example, it's the pea protein, the brown rice protein, and the hemp protein. So they have three different plant proteins in the powder.
Jessica Vanrose (52:38.19)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (52:53.322)
make it complete. So yes, you can do it. For example, soybeans would work as well. what you can also do, this is like, see now we are, that's how I did it. If I had a plant-based meal, I always added branch chain amino acids to the meal as a supplement. So it's a powder, you put it in water, mix it, drink it, and
add it basically to the meal to cover the bases to have the leucine which is missing. So because you're absolutely right, if you want to have the protein from one plant source, it's caloric devastating. I did the measurement one time like with quinoa, it would have been like 10 cups or so. I'm like, yeah, I'm not happening. Yeah, I totally agree.
Jessica Vanrose (53:44.75)
It's a lot. Yeah.
Angela Beyer (53:49.634)
I had my struggles with it as well. And like I said, I used tofu, tempeh, edamame, stuff like that to get away with it. And I used the branch chain amino acid drinks with the meals to cover my bases. But yeah, I went back to animal protein sources as well.
Jessica Vanrose (54:10.445)
Yeah.
And was that the reason why? Because you just felt like it was easier to get what you needed?
Angela Beyer (54:19.576)
Yeah, and I had a hard time keeping my strength. Like I felt it in my workouts. I'm like, wow, it's not the same. At the beginning, no issues. And then I hit my seven years. All of a sudden it didn't work anymore. And I'm like, okay, I gotta change. have to do something.
Jessica Vanrose (54:23.533)
Hmm.
Jessica Vanrose (54:31.831)
Yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (54:38.766)
Yeah, it's crazy because when when I decided to go vegan, it was because of health reasons. Like, I was not feeling well on a daily basis. And I knew that there was something in my diet that was causing it. I wasn't 100 % sure what it was. But I did one of those like elimination diets where I cut out everything. And at the end of a month, I felt so much better.
And I did bring some things back in, but I was like, no, like I'm not going back to eating meat. And I did it for seven years, but then all of a sudden I just started feeling like I was missing something. Like I don't know how else to explain it. It just felt like my body needed something else.
Angela Beyer (55:24.897)
yeah.
Angela Beyer (55:32.036)
But see, I'm so glad you're saying this because that's actually intuitive eating and we lost that. We are so disconnected. We are not listening to our bodies anymore and that you actually like were able to address it and saying, hey, my body is telling me there is something missing. I have to put meat back in. That's amazing. That's really good.
Jessica Vanrose (55:55.35)
It was a really hard choice to make to go back, but I felt like it was what I needed. you know, I, and it was an interesting dilemma because I'm sure you felt this way when you were vegan, but it, it's also a label and it became part of me and it was like an identity that I had. And so,
It was not just choosing to eat meat, but it was also choosing to let go of an identity that I had had for seven years. So, yeah, but that's for another time.
Angela Beyer (56:38.456)
Yeah, that's a same kind of story. And for me, it's just important if you eat animals that you know your source and that you support the local farmers if possible, that the animals are outside, grass-fed. I mean, that's super important to me. I do not buy any conventional factory-made meat. I don't want anything to do with it.
and that's bad karma to me. yeah, I choose very wisely what kind of animal source I consume.
Jessica Vanrose (57:16.704)
Yeah, and that's, I think that's the biggest part for me too is like, if I'm going to eat it, I need to know that like, that the animal had the best life possible. Yeah. So as a little bonus for anyone who has listened to the end, I watched part of your replay on your live on collagen and healthy skin.
Angela Beyer (57:28.324)
That's what I want. Seriously, that's important. Yep.
Jessica Vanrose (57:47.03)
I'm wondering if you can share some tips and helpful info for our listeners, aka me, who I'm in my late 30s and I know I need some collagen.
Angela Beyer (58:00.836)
Collagen is so important and I think it's such a great supplement and for women a non-negotiable. I talked about skin health but it has so many other benefits like tendons, ligaments, it's actually good for the muscle as well. But like I said to have elasticity and the glowing skin you need to add collagen in. There different types of collagen and you always have to read if you buy
a supplement that you have all different types to get the most benefits out of it. Again, with the collagen, vitamin C and vitamin A, super, super important. Always add this in so you have a better absorption of the collagen and you get more benefits out of it. Hydration, same thing. It's actually interesting if you're dehydrated it, you're not able to lose weight either. Mildly dehydration. Not talk... Yep, very good. Here we go. Perfect.
Have your water, yes. And that goes with collagen together. So super, super important. And yeah, I would totally add it in every supplement regime for women if they can.
Jessica Vanrose (59:15.704)
So I know it comes in different forms. Like, I bought a liquid one. Honestly, I did no research. I just saw collagen and I bought it and I haven't even tried it yet because I'm kind of grossed out by the idea of it because it's like, yeah, because it's like animal skin. Yeah. I, yeah. So it's been sitting in there for months.
Angela Beyer (59:22.404)
Mm-hmm.
Angela Beyer (59:38.667)
Yep.
Angela Beyer (59:46.532)
That's funny. Well, first of all, if they advertise plant-based collagen, it's fake. There is no such thing. There is plant-based protein sources which support collagen, but there is no such thing. And you can use actually bone broth. And bone broth, collagen, super beneficial for the skin, also beneficial for your gut lining. So if you have something going on with your digestion,
Jessica Vanrose (01:00:12.43)
Alright.
Angela Beyer (01:00:15.49)
take that and yeah I mean I have a powder form you can do liquid you can the key thing with collagen is being consistent don't just take it once and think hey what's going on nothing happened no you have to take it consistent and you will see results and it will improve yeah
Jessica Vanrose (01:00:27.254)
Okay.
Jessica Vanrose (01:00:36.406)
And so the, what's the word, method, the format, the, if it's a, if it's a liquid or a powder, that doesn't matter.
Angela Beyer (01:00:42.148)
Yeah, we're not going to work. Yeah!
No, whatever you prefer. This is the thing, like whatever you prefer and you're able to do and take, go with that. If you don't like powder and you don't want to dissolve it somewhere and you like bone broth, have the bone broth for lunch, add it in. If you like your liquid, go with the liquid. Yeah.
Jessica Vanrose (01:00:48.299)
Okay.
Jessica Vanrose (01:01:07.03)
Okay, I might just have to suck it up and try it.
Angela Beyer (01:01:10.628)
That's another video. I want to see that too.
Jessica Vanrose (01:01:14.094)
Well, Angela, this has been amazing. Do you have any final thoughts or advice?
Angela Beyer (01:01:24.834)
Well, for everybody who listened, I would like you to take action now and start taking care of your health. Don't wait for the perfect moment. We just talked about it. There is no perfect moment than now. So just get started.
Jessica Vanrose (01:01:43.756)
Yeah, I completely endorse that message.
