155: {Interview} Prioritizing Health as a Foundation for Success with Jamie Javed

In this conversation, Jamie Javed discusses the importance of mastering metabolism and health for women who have achieved success but may have neglected their well-being. She emphasizes that true success includes feeling good in one's body and that health is essential for achieving personal and professional goals.

takeaways

• Many successful women struggle with their health.
• Mastering metabolism is key to feeling confident.
• Health drives the ability to scale in life.
• Success is not just about achieving goals, but feeling good.
• Understanding metabolism helps in energy conversion.
• Women need to prioritize their health alongside success.
• Feeling good in your body is essential for true success.
• Nutrition plays a vital role in personal growth.
• A holistic approach to wellness is necessary.
• Empowerment comes from mastering one's health.

Connect further with Jamie on IG @jamiejavedcoaching 

Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:01.452)
Welcome, Jamie.

Jamie Javed (00:03.32)
Hello, welcome! Thanks for having me, Caroline.

Caroline Pennington (00:06.936)
So you and I met in real life at DGML a couple of weeks ago and I immediately was just drawn to your energy and loved the work that you were doing and loved learning more about you. So for everyone that's listening to this podcast now, you're a weight loss and energy coach, you're a speaker, podcast guest, and you specifically work with high achieving women. So tell me, how did you get to where you are and all the things?

Jamie Javed (00:33.006)
Well, thank you for that. I fully received that and I felt like I was just drawn to you too. And I came from bedside nursing and I feel like I traded saving lives and delivering life saving procedures for really empowering women to take their own lives back. And as a high achiever myself who is built and scaled and checked the boxes and you know, done all the things, I feel like my health somewhere along the line.

didn't make it with me and I abandoned myself in that process, not knowingly, but I feel like a lot of the women I help have done the same thing. They've built and scaled the business or they achieved the career and somewhere along the way that hasn't made it with them. so...

Can I start over this? That went like the complete wrong way. Can you ask that question again? All right, hold on.

Jamie Javed (01:31.214)
Sorry, I was like, that started out really funky. I was like, hold on please. Okay, go again. Okay.

Caroline Pennington (01:39.192)
ask it again. Okay, so you're a weight loss coach, an energy coach, you're a speaker, podcast guest, you specifically work with high achieving women. So tell me, how did you get there?

Jamie Javed (01:52.259)
Yeah, so I really left a career in bedside nursing, delivering life-saving procedures, medications for really empowering women to take their own lives back, their own health back. And I feel like I checked all the boxes. I got the D1 scholarship. I played college tennis. I went to nursing school. I got the career and then stepped into entrepreneurship. And I feel like somewhere along the way, I unknowingly abandoned myself.

I woke up one day really not knowing who I was and feeling so disconnected from myself, not only in my health, but just kind of like, who am I? And I feel like so many women that I've connected with in this space, and I'm sure your audience can relate with, is like, they've achieved a mountain of success, but somewhere along the way, health didn't make it with them. And what I really help women now do is really master their metabolism. And I think metabolism is a big word that...

can be hard for people to wrap their head around, but it's really just how we convert food to use it for energy to power ourselves, how we take stress, emotions, thoughts, sleep, all of these lifestyle habits and convert it to energy to power a lot of the legacies that your women are building. And I want them to get there and feel confident in their body, to feel energized in their body. And I feel like...

Their health is really the driver behind what's gonna help them scale and actually feel good when they get there. Because we're not after the goal, we're after the feeling we think that goal is gonna give us. And I want them to get there and have both.

Caroline Pennington (03:28.565)
that you wrote off the energy piece because I literally get on here all the time and pop off about how why energy is currency and it literally is how people are drawn to you like how clients interact with you how people experience you how you serve your family whatever that looks like fill in the blank so okay you help high achieving women boost their metabolism feel more energetic what is the number one challenge that your clients are facing

Jamie Javed (03:37.07)
you

Jamie Javed (03:56.302)
The number one challenge is that these women have built the success and they don't recognize themselves. They don't feel good in their body. The symptoms that they're having are usually like stubborn weight gain. They can't seem to lose the weight. They have no energy. They're chasing it with caffeine and they feel like they...

are amazing and successful. They've built this business, but somewhere along the way, they feel so disconnected from themselves. And so the challenge they have is how do I scale this business without losing the momentum in the revenue? They feel like if they slow down, they're gonna lose it all. And so I feel like the challenge they have is how do I put systems in place? How do I really optimize my nutrition? How do I actually...

build this new relationship with myself when I have externally all these things to do and all these boxes to check. And so it's really teaching them not only the systems and strategy, but who they're being behind those habits. Like you said, energy is everything, it's currency. And I think the best compliment and the best business success driver is your energy, right? It's not like, oh, Caroline, look so amazing on stage. You're such a good speaker. It's like, you have such good energy. Like that was the best compliment. People are magnetized to that.

That drives revenue, that drives sales, that drives connection. And that is what I help women build.

Caroline Pennington (05:26.871)
Okay, so how can, I think everybody of all ages, well, let's just say adulthood, wants more energy. So what are some things that you can start doing to find more energy? And you might be listening to podcast and thinking, okay, I got a million things to do, Caroline. I got like, you know, a million things in my business. I got kids, I got whatever, I'll fill in the blank. But what are some things people can be doing to start fueling themselves with more energy?

Jamie Javed (05:55.128)
think beyond just the metabolic habits, like nutrition, having really blood sugar balancing plates and getting protein and fiber and complex carbs and healthy fats and the hormonal habits that help balance that is the woman. And I feel like she is very disconnected. She's running on autopilot and it's efficient, but it's not sustainable. And so I think it really starts with, this is probably not the answer you're assuming I'm going to give, but it starts with building this new relationship with herself.

One, that's from calm, grounded energy so that then she can show up for those habits I'm gonna teach her. And so it starts with how are you connecting with yourself in the morning before you're maybe jumping online and letting the world and social media dictate how you should feel, your mindset for the day. So I think it starts with, and this is really hard for the high achiever, start spending maybe just like two minutes with yourself in the morning. Like hand on your heart, I love you, I'm listening.

What are those thoughts running through your mind and really starting to build that relationship with yourself and witness those? Because I truly and firmly believe that those subconscious beliefs are the silent driver behind all of your results. So if we can get a hold on those, if those can be ones that actually serve you, that drive you into action, then everything I'm gonna teach you with nutrition and...

you know, syncing with your circadian rhythm and balancing hormones is actually going to be sustainable. So I think start spending time with yourself, right? Like when you first dated your husband, you spent time with him. You spent, you spoke lovingly to him. You got to know him and how deeply does your audience really know themselves. And so I think it really starts there.

Caroline Pennington (07:37.905)
I love that answer and you're so right and I'm guilty of this too. It's hard to just spend time with yourself, spend time with your thoughts in the mornings. You got like a million emails coming in, you got social media distractions, city like you've got the dogs barking, like they need to be fed. But that's how you start your morning is how your day is gonna go and I love that answer about sitting with yourself.

Jamie Javed (07:43.649)
you

Jamie Javed (07:56.609)
Yeah.

Caroline Pennington (08:04.834)
So let's talk about nutrition, because I follow you on Instagram obviously, and I see that you do a really great job with food prepping and meal prepping and, let's talk more about that, because I do the same thing and yes, it's mundane, yes, I eat the same things, but I don't have to think about it. So that's what's worked for me. But tell me about the backstory behind your food prepping.

Jamie Javed (08:26.657)
First of all, I think the most successful people on this journey, business, nutrition, health habits, are boring. They're willing to do the same things over and over again, because they realize that consistency creates the results. But my nutrition journey, that's actually where my journey started. When I was feeling so disconnected, when I woke up one day and I was like, who am I? What's happening? I started with food as medicine. I went and got certified in lifestyle medicine. We actually started vegan, whole food plant-based.

and got rid of all the meats, all the processed foods, and initially felt amazing. My journey has evolved to adding animal products back in, realizing that's how I feel best, but really eating a clean whole foods, lots of fiber. I feel like the protein conversation is huge. Like get your protein. We even saw probably at DGML, the women living on chopsticks for their protein source, right? But fiber is a huge part of that and gut health and really

how that detoxes hormones and how that really produces good energy. And so our journey started as Food is Medicine, really removing all the processed foods, finding the path that worked for us. But I think it does take a little bit of prep. So like your audience who's like, I don't even know how to like build those meals online, like keep it really simple. And so I teach all my clients to really do like a Sunday mini meal prep.

We're busy. We don't have time for hours of meal prep. Nobody wants to the same exact meal every day. But how can you prep a couple protein sources, because protein is the most satiating macronutrient to keep you full, keep you energized for your work day? And then how can you maybe roast a sheet pan of vegetables? And then you can throw the protein, the fiber, and the vegetables in a salad, in a rice bowl, in a quinoa bowl, and make that different ways. And so I think.

getting to know what nutrition works for you and energizes you, and then having a plan in place to actually implement that within your lifestyle.

Caroline Pennington (10:29.6)
Yeah, I agree with you. mean, we, if you looked at what I eat, you would be completely bored. And the 80 20 concept is what's worked for me. I'm with you. I've tried different things. I've been a pescatarian. I've been a vegetarian. I've been a carnivore and it's okay to try different things and just see what works with your body. and in the food prep department, my husband, he grills chicken every single Sunday afternoon and we eat grilled chicken on our salads for five days a week.

Jamie Javed (10:55.425)
I love it.

Caroline Pennington (10:55.922)
And it sounds boring and simple, but it works for us. And we are able to have healthy lunches every day. So thank you for sharing that. And yeah, I love that the vegetables, I mean, you're right. You can just mix them in, reheat them, like easy, not to think about it. Okay. So I want to talk to you about regulating your nervous system because you and I have had some exchanges about I love for sunsets and why.

Jamie Javed (11:08.917)
Okay.

Yeah.

Jamie Javed (11:18.767)
Yes

Caroline Pennington (11:21.236)
Why does spending time outside or even watching the sunset or sunrise or even if you don't have the opportunity to see those beautiful views, like why is regulating your nervous system so important?

Jamie Javed (11:32.117)
Yeah, so I believe chronic stress and know that it is, it's the silent driver of disease. And it's the one that most of us don't want to lean into. Like, I want to slow down and do breath work. I don't want to slow down and just like sit at the, stare at the sunrise. But chronic stress over time, if we're running off cortisol, adrenaline, like our body is in survival and we think we...

thrive in chaos and I thought this about myself for a long time until I didn't. And so we have to have those interruptions. Our body was never meant to live in a chronic state of stress because in that state, you know, blood is literally in our extremities thinking it's running away from a tiger. So digestion is not a priority. It's like in our extremities, not in our digestive organs, absorbing those nutrients, breaking down food. We can have bloating. We can have all the problems with that. Fertility is not a priority.

thyroid down regulates, metabolism down regulates, our mood is disrupted. so prioritizing having those interruptions, getting in that rest, digest, heal state rather than the fight or flight is so important and it's finding a way that you enjoy. So I love watching the sunrise and sunset. It's super calming to get you in that parasympathetic rest, digest, heal state and also grounding, putting your feet in nature. I know Shelly loves to like go walk out on her big property.

It can be breath work, it can be a 10 minute meditation, a 15 minute meditation, but if that's not what you love, find a practice that works for you. And so how are you having those interruptions? Like my clients have these busy schedules. I'm like, want you to put it in your calendar, like a doctor's appointment, between calls. How are you having that energy reset to come back into that calm so that you can move forward stronger, right? We think it's slowing down, but it's actually speeding you up in a more powerful way.

Caroline Pennington (13:24.022)
Yeah, I agree with you. I for some reason, don't know what meditations never worked for me, but like I can focus for like two to three minutes and watch the sunrise or the sunset. And so you just have to find out works for you and like what I'm with you. have to, you have to calendar. If you don't calendar, it's not going to happen. Okay.

Jamie Javed (13:39.691)
Yeah, I will offer you something on the meditation though, because I learned the most important lesson from a meditation teacher, because as high achievers we're like, we've got to silence all these thoughts, right? We've got to set them down, and that's actually not the goal. The goal is to actually witness them. So instead of being in the stress storm of all those thoughts, like on a cold blizzard winter day, being freezing cold, barely being able to see 10 feet in front of you, you're actually behind a window, kind of looking at them, observing them, creating some distance from you and your thoughts, and being like,

Gosh, I'm like saying like I have no time today. I'm just like rushing around. It's like, like is that true? Do I wanna believe that? How is that making me feel? It's making me feel anxious and scattered. And so it's like, okay, like choose it to a more empowering thought. Like I have time to prioritize the things that are important to me today. And so it's becoming that witness. And so if that's helpful, that was really helpful to me, cause I thought I had to like quiet all of it.

Caroline Pennington (14:35.186)
No, that is helpful to me because yes, my brain is going a million miles a minute and I am sitting there sometimes. I've tried a meditation. I don't know how many times I sit there. Every single time it's the same thing. It's like, I feel like a squirrel, but I'll take what you just suggested to my next session. okay. So.

Jamie Javed (14:38.956)
Mm-hmm.

Jamie Javed (14:47.541)
Yeah.

Jamie Javed (14:52.684)
Yes, try it out. I love it.

Caroline Pennington (14:58.338)
So all the high achiever women listening to this podcast today, why is it so hard for us to pour into ourselves first and prioritize ourself and our health and our energy and all of that? Because I feel like we always put everyone else first. So why is that more difficult for us as women?

Jamie Javed (15:16.106)
lot of the work I do is going back to those beliefs that you've maybe held since childhood, that you had to perform to be worthy of love, that you had to achieve and you were praised for that. And so these beliefs that we hold, that we've practiced over and over again since childhood have got us really far, have allowed us to achieve amazing things, but they're not gonna get us to that next level and we're not gonna get there with that joy.

And I think it's so hard because we think success is survival, right? It's our survival to achieve, to be worthy, to be loved. When really, when we can repattern that and move from like, am inherently worthy and have those actions reflect that, then we'll actually lean into choosing ourselves first because we realize that the relationship with ourself actually impacts.

every single relationship in our life and makes them better in business, in personal life, and everything else.

Caroline Pennington (16:21.014)
Yeah, I mean, I feel like when I'm happiest and healthiest, I'm able to be a better wife or I'm able to be a better business person. And when I'm not or in a place of being reactive or maybe I don't feel good or I'm in a bad mood or I didn't sleep well, you you don't make the best decisions sometimes when you're in state. We all go through them.

Jamie Javed (16:41.772)
For sure. Yeah, it's not the time, it's not the money, it's not, you know, like any of that. It's learning how to choose yourself again from those subconscious beliefs and drivers of them and then actually realizing how that's the best gift to yourself and everybody around you.

Caroline Pennington (17:01.514)
And some of those pathways from our childhood run deep and they take a lot of work.

Jamie Javed (17:05.5)
Yeah. But it's so like that is the most profound work that I do with women. And I think that's what makes me different is I combine the mindset and the metabolism work because who you're being those beliefs you're holding are going to create your ceiling of how much success, how much joy you can actually achieve. Right. Have you read The Big Leap? I actually have it here. It's such a good book. But they talk about this upper limit problem of we only rise to not what we're capable of because your audience is extremely capable.

it's we rise to what we believe we are worthy of. And so what are those subconscious beliefs? Do you have a coach to really help you kind of like unravel those, right? For me, it's like I wasn't emotionally given what I needed as a child during a hard time. And so I became fiercely independent. I can do it all myself. I can hold it all myself. And that got me really far until it didn't allow me to call in help, to really lean on other people, to have those mentors that could get me there so much.

faster and with the support I actually needed, right? And so it's just looking at those patterns, not in shame or judgment, but gosh, how did I develop this and how can I really unravel that? And that takes time, right? We're always like the most strongest force in the human personality is to stay consistent with who we already believe we are. So when we go to challenge that, our ego's like, man, no, like you've been like maintaining this. So like the power of a coach to really hold you accountable, to show you where

you're falling back into it to keep you back on this path. And it's not just like shouting affirmations, it's aligning it with action that prove that new identity true, right? If I believe I'm worthy, who's the version of myself that believes that? What actions does she take? And how do you start building the confidence by doing those actions to affirm that's actually who I am now? And so it takes a lot of practice, but it's so worth it.

Caroline Pennington (18:57.022)
So worth it. And one of my favorite books is Worthy by Jamie Kroon Lima. And I've read it. I don't even know how many times because I need to remind myself of that exact same thing.

Jamie Javed (19:00.853)
Yeah.

Jamie Javed (19:05.067)
Yeah, and that's okay, right? Not making any problem. I love Jamie for Lima. She was, I've seen her speak twice. She's just incredible human.

Caroline Pennington (19:16.768)
So what is lighting you up about some of the clients that you're working with right now?

Jamie Javed (19:21.989)
I have called in a lot of, since DGML, just women that have built and scaled even bigger businesses that I've helped clients with in the past. And I'm really excited for the challenge of an even higher level of performance, helping them integrate the health piece, helping them integrate the identity piece. Cause a lot of them are capped at this, this spot. And I heard this in the room at DGML of like,

They've built and scaled multi-six, seven-figure businesses, but they're kind of stuck of like, they don't know how to delegate, they're still holding it all themselves, their health is collapsing, and they're like, I need to pivot, I need to do something else, but I can't keep going at this rate. And so I'm excited to really help that even higher level entrepreneur take the work that I do and implement where they are so they get to really keep scaling, but with their health and like their joy and talk.

It just lights me up to see women realize they can have both. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Caroline Pennington (20:23.766)
Yeah, and I'm a big believer that health is wealth, you know? It's such a true statement. Okay, how can our listeners find you?

Jamie Javed (20:26.847)
Yeah.

Jamie Javed (20:33.227)
I'm over on Instagram, I'm a real human over there at JamieJavidCoaching. So drop me a DM, say what really resonated with you. I'd love to just have a chat and connect with you and see if in any way I can serve you on your journey to building the legacy you wanna build and bring your health with you.

Caroline Pennington (20:51.116)
Thanks, Damie.

Jamie Javed (20:52.53)
Aw, thank you, Caroline.