44 - Stories of Transformation with Thubten Comerford

07/24/17 • 48 min

Welcome back to the Fitlandia Podcast! Today we have the pleasure of meeting with Thubten Comerford for another inspiring story of weight loss and transformation.

Thubten Comerford has come a long way from his elementary school days when his mother placed him on the Cambridge Weight Plan and he was constantly being reminded he was bigger than the other kids in his class. Growing up active but not athletic, Thubten always struggled with his weight. Upon entering college, he was in the early stages of substance abuse due to conflicting religious boundaries relating to his decision about coming out about his sexual identity. Thubten describes himself at that time as, “a “hot mess.” With no attention being paid to nutrition, he gained the "freshman 50” during his first year of college. He left school soon after and joined the National Guard and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After leaving the military, he went back to his parents’ house for a short time and then returned to school only to find himself living in a fraternity house, which escalated his negative drinking habits.

A few years after college Thubten became a practicing Buddhist Monk. While traveling and still struggling with his weight, he found himself reading Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo’s, Eat Right 4 Your Type and was quickly motivated for change. He soon dropped 50 pounds by eating right for his blood type and after starting a prescribed diet, dropped another 50!

Today, Thubten is 29 years clean and sober, describing it as a yo-yo rollercoaster journey that so many of us can relate to regarding dieting and self-mastery. He has lost another 40 pounds this year, on what he calls “the potato-based coffee diet” and is working to share his impactful story.

Books like, Presto! How I Made Over 100 Pounds Disappear and Other Magical Tales, by Penn Jillette, have inspired Thubten during his transformation journey. He’s learned it’s about finding what works for his body while being aware that things change depending on time and environment. Today he knows how to be mindful of his actions since they are often related to deep-rooted thought patterns and forgiving of himself when working past negative emotions or during a setback.

As an avid entrepreneur, Thubten was searching for his next career endeavor when he asked himself, “How do I do food as a business that is an expression of me?”

With his vast knowledge of business and marketing, culinary skills and understanding of video and YouTube, he recently started producing a cooking show, Thubten’s Kitchen, a 13-episode, multi-segment program that will launch soon on YouTube and be formatted for network television. His Facebook site is live, and has more information, but here’s what each episode offers:

The first segment is a culinary training program where expert chefs come into Thubten’s Kitchen and teach him (as the student) to prepare their signature plant-based dish.
The second segment is with a farmer in the field.
During the third segment, Thubten meets with an artisan making a plant-based cured or fermented ingredient.
The closing segment concludes with Thubten making a wonderful plant-based dish using all the ingredients from the episode.

The business allows you to pick and choose the cured or fermented ingredients, including Thubten’s own line of products. There’s also a monthly pop-up episode, available on Feastly Portland where Thubten shares his very own recipes and plant-based meal tips.

Stay tuned for the Thubten’s Kitchen website for his great information on weight loss, healthy eating and everything nutritionally plant and nutrition based.

Closing Tips:

Start somewhere and do something – measure something small that you can feel positive about
Eat the rainbow and increase your plant based meal options
Stay connected with Thubten and his favorite canine companion through Instagram for videos, food as they continue to work on launching his show and website!

Feeling overwhelmed on how to break free from a sugar addiction, join our 7-day No Diet Detox challenge for FREE. It starts with awareness. Sign up today!

Huge shout out and thank you to today’s sponsor, Portland Community College and their holistic nutrition program. This 100% online program is 1 year and provides students with science-based principles while integrating in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda for a well-rounded perspective on nutriti...

Welcome back to the Fitlandia Podcast! Today we have the pleasure of meeting with Thubten Comerford for another inspiring story of weight loss and transformation.

As an avid entrepreneur, Thubten was searching for his next career endeavor when he asked himself, “How do I do food as a business that is an expression of me?”

The first segment is a culinary training program where expert chefs come into Thubten’s Kitchen and teach him (as the student) to prepare their signature plant-based dish.
The second segment is with a farmer in the field.
During the third segment, Thubten meets with an artisan making a plant-based cured or fermented ingredient.
The closing segment concludes with Thubten making a wonderful plant-based dish using all the ingredients from the episode.

Stay tuned for the Thubten’s Kitchen website for his great information on weight loss, healthy eating and everything nutritionally plant and nutrition based.

Closing Tips:

Start somewhere and do something – measure something small that you can feel positive about
Eat the rainbow and increase your plant based meal options
Stay connected with Thubten and his favorite canine companion through Instagram for videos, food as they continue to work on launching his show and website!

Feeling overwhelmed on how to break free from a sugar addiction, join our 7-day No Diet Detox challenge for FREE. It starts with awareness. Sign up today!

Previous Episode

43 - Releasing the Guilt of a Sugar Addiction with Daniel Thomas of Evolution Eat

This week Christa is joined by Daniel Thomas, CEO of Evolution Eat, to help you release the guilt of a sugar addiction. Daniel is also partner and cofounder of Rich 20 Something, an education platform for millennials and entrepreneurs. Daniel teaches a counter-intuitive strategy to weight loss, dieting and lifestyle transformation that’s all about mindset, habits and skill development. Where self-development meets diet and wellness, Daniel helps individuals all over the world connect with their truest selves to begin a life of control over their bodies, minds and spirits; releasing all guilt from the past.

Daniel didn’t always associate with such positive principles or self-discovery. He describes growing up as a difficult time of being overweight, allergic and inflamed, feeling as if he had no control over his overall health. With a loving mother who saturated him with love and food, he was quickly tied into an unhealthy relationship with food. Being an only child, Daniel often felt bored and lonely and found a reward loop with food that made him feel loved and entertained but lead to a reliance on food for fulfillment and to displace boredom.

This pattern continued for years after attending the best private high school in New York City, Georgetown University for undergrad, and almost stepping into Law School, as Daniel felt immense pressures to perform. He continued to gravitate towards things like caffeine, sugar and illegal uppers as a dynamic to feel better instead of looking for a solution from the inside.

When discovering the Paleo Diet, (before it was a hip thing), Daniel found it was the first time he had sunk into an “embodiment of control” over his emotions, cravings and old habits. He says that Evolution Eat was created almost by accident when the community surrounding him were so curious about his new discovery that as Daniel taught himself he built his practice by coaching others simultaneously.

Daniel says, “The second you can be honest about who you are, we can actually connect and help each other.”

He dives deep with his clients, as he states on his Website’s About Me, “The process of mastering a skill, diet, mindset, or lifestyle requires relentless effort, deep focus, and enthusiastic concentration. You must go deep to get something out of it.”

This is married with one of his core values of transparency as that it sets the stage to promote change. Being aware and externalizing your fears, guilt, shame or setbacks allows you to objectively look at it and release it from defining you any longer. Many of us live in fictional worlds and are never able to make a change or impact because we’re constantly maneuvering around what others think.

As we’ve discussed in other podcasts, everyone is so different and learning what your triggers are and the emotions that follow them, will continue to vary.

Daniel’s tips on how to bounce back from cravings:

Be aware and understand your dependencies - it’s incredibly important to be aware of the foods you consume as they may bring you down through addiction or bring you up through health.
Approach new ways of lifestyle with a new perspective - instead of focusing on the things you must eliminate, embrace the mindset of eating more of the good stuff! When your blood sugar dips, you need to fulfil up with protein and healthy fats, and LOTS of it.
Treat the journey as a long process and a skill that you can develop. When you make a mistake don’t carry it with guilt but invest in that mistake, it takes time!
Get out of your fixed mindset - no one is going to be perfect all the time and that’s okay.
Become curious about what’s happening in your environment when you’re craving sugar.
Educate! Immerse yourself in self-development of your awareness, mindset, external demands and habits.
Plan by prioritizing yourself - be proactive while planning food out and stick to it.
Implement a keystone habit - this is something that is good for yourself that you commit to every morning that brings you closer to connecting with the world from the inside out.
Meditation - trust that you’re all you’ll ever need to make yourself completely well!

“Living healthily is a skill you can train, it’s not a race to some desired outcome.” Daniel states.

There’s a solution to every single problem and we can change our lives at any second through Mind Zoning® and meditation, connecting with community, healthy eating and daily movement. Daniel does this every day by running down to the beach by his house at 4:45am, meditating for 20 minutes and then jumping in the freezing water. This daily practice sets him up for success, whatever his ...

Next Episode

45 - Overcoming Fear & Setbacks to Creating a Healthy Lifestyle

Today we welcome DeShawn Fontleroy of Sports Mastery. Sports Mastery was created to bridge the communication gap of between the student athlete and their parents and coaches. He begins by mentoring athletes first on how to overcome fear and then by making the most of any obstacle or setbacks they may face. All while challenging their sacrifices and social conflicts to help them reach their goals.

DeShawn begins with many of his clients by first explaining the process of fear, followed by a list of everything that they find to be a fear in their own life. Common fears are rejection, criticism, ill health, poverty etc., which as DeShawn says, “Are all taught by our friends, family and environment.” He describes the only true fears we’re born with is the fear of heights and of loud noises. These are fears engrained in us, but not often found when looking at what cripples us on a daily basis.

The true definition of fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous and likely to cause pain or threat.

DeShawn says, “The opposite of confidence is doubt and fear.” Your desire to improve has to include overcoming that fear factor if you truly want to overcome the emotions that are holding you from acting towards your dreams.

Many of us have these fears when it comes to making lifestyle changes or even a taking a break from things like sugar, caffeine, alcohol and refined carbs. It’s easy to wonder if you’re even capable. Well, you are!

Christa’s corner stones to fitness:

Daily Movement
Eating healthy
Positive mental thoughts with Mind Zoning® and meditation
Community

Life comes with challenges and the brain likes to go back into old habits in these times in an act to keep you safe. If your setback is a place that returns you to community it will bring you back to a place of progression. Being a part of a community, with mentors or what DeShawn calls a “corner man,” that always demonstrates acceptance and inclusion, will make you feel welcomed no matter where you are in your journey. This support will fuel you forward.

Sports Mastery Champion’s Blueprint

Legacy – This isn’t solely on what your goals look like, but how do you want to be remembered for the work you’ve put in? What are you doing every day which will reflect this?
Vision – When you have goal, what does it look like when you get there and how is it going to feel? Visualizing this goal will help your brain to follow that specific emotion, making it far more achievable when you get to work.
Mindset – What systems and strategies are you going to have in place for success and for setbacks? Success intoxication, as DeShawn describes, is when you fall back into an old mindset or set of habits when achieving a goal quickly. Keep moving forward!

The Power of Community

Both Fitlandia and Sports Mastery are deeply ingrained in the concept of community as a fundamental component to success, including the need to be deeply intimate with yourself. This intimacy includes all your accomplishments and your weaknesses. It’s important to know how to recover without feeling guilty when setbacks occur and to have that community of people in that time of need.

Recovering from setbacks quickly:

Have a plan in place so when you do have a setback, you immediately know what you’re going to do to recover
Have a couple people who keep you humble no matter how successful you are
Have a few “cheerleaders” you can always turn to

DeShawn says, “It’s all about planning for success and knowing what you’re going to do when fear creeps in so you can get back to the road moving forward.”

Make sure to list out your fears, work towards your goals by accepting the wins and the setbacks and go to iTunes and rate Fitlandia and Sports Mastery both with five stars! And if you haven’t already, click to join the closed (but completely open to everyone) Facebook group to be welcomed into the community!

For more of Sports Mastery, check out DeShawn’s Podcast and make sure you download his PDF to learn basic definitions and...