Okay, friends. Pull up a chair. I want to tell you about a study that made me grin all the way through my morning coffee. Stanford researchers (Crum & Langer) gathered 84 hotel housekeepers — women already on their feet all day, scrubbing tubs, hauling linens, climbing stairs. They split them into two groups. One group was told, simply: the work you are already doing counts as exercise. It meets the federal activity guidelines. The other group was told nothing. Nobody changed their behavior. Nobody added a workout. Nobody changed what they ate. Four weeks later, the women who knew their movement counted had measurably lower weight, lower blood pressure, lower body fat, lower BMI, and a smaller waist-to-hip ratio than the women who didn't know. Same bodies. Same buckets. Different story — different physiology. Let that land for a second. Because this isn't only about exercise. This is about every step you take toward your health, and the story you tell yourself while you're taking it. The glass of water you actually wanted. The walk you took because the light was beautiful. The dinner you cooked slowly because you wanted to smell the garlic hit the pan. The stretch you did because your shoulders were asking for it. None of those things are small. And the way you feel about doing them is part of the medicine. This is why joy sits at the center of everything I teach. Not as a garnish. Not as a reward you earn after the "real" work. As the mechanism. The research keeps confirming it. A one-year follow-up of new exercisers in Frontiers in Psychology found that enjoyment — not motivation, not discipline, not goals — was the single strongest predictor of who was still moving a year later. A 2025 study in Taylor & Francis found that the felt experience of movement (joy, calm, accomplishment) determined whether people came back to it, more than intensity or duration. And a review in PMC concluded that enjoyment is one of the strongest psychological predictors of habit formation, period. We repeat what feels good. What we repeat compounds. What compounds becomes our metabolism.

Tomorrow at 8 pm EST I will be discussing an abundance joy first approach to reversing prediabetes. We will also discuss the newest studies and why the new target is normal blood sugar not simply maintaining. When you register, you will receive the replay.

In my Friday YouTube I talked about the power of food to help reverse prediabetes. Some foods we use everyday help support a diverse microbiome —-> short chain fatty acids——> L cells large intestine——> Glp-1 Garlic, fresh herbs, fermented foods, beans and spices. Using these foods abundantly, not only adds flavor and texture to your meals, but also supports your health. Let me know your biggest takeaway after watching the video. Would you be interested in a Food as Medicine workshop?