PILLAR 2: HEALTH, BODY, AND CRACKING THE CODE
PILLAR 2: HEALTH, BODY, AND CRACKING THE CODE
If Pillar 1 was about learning how to build, this is where that same wiring turned inward and became a battleground
My health story didn’t start with food
It started with being watched
After 1 pageant, we were at a hotel restaurant when a talent scout invited me to audition for a commercial in his hotel room. I was thrilled. My Mom and Dad shut that down fast. We all went together
Looking back, I see how shady that moment really was. Show business dangles hope in front of kids with big dreams and innocent minds. Today, you hear the Hollywood headlines and wonder how it happens.
It’s easier than you think… when the kid just believes their dream is finally coming true
I did the audition
Then the feedback came
The scout told my parents my sister should audition. The twist? She wanted nothing to do with pageants. Meanwhile, I was sitting there in full stage makeup, convinced this was my Willy Wonka moment
Instead, the golden ticket floated right past me
Then he said I didn’t have the right look and that we’d need to take about 10 pounds off so I could look “average” on camera, because back then they loved to say the camera adds 10 pounds
I was 10 years old, just starting puberty, and not overweight
That moment didn’t just sting
It rewired something
By middle school, I was drinking SlimFast in the school library instead of eating lunch
By 12, I knew what carbs and the glycemic index were. Most kids worried about recess. I worried about blood sugar
If business had formulas
my body became the equation
I did a real number on my metabolism, but I knew how to make a scale say what I wanted. If it wasn’t falling fast, I thought I was failing. From the outside it looked like discipline. From the inside it was damage
Eventually, in my 40s, the switch flipped. I stopped just wanting to be thin and started needing to understand why bodies fail
That search took me behind the curtain
I’ve tried nearly every diet out there, worked inside the industry, and studied the science behind it
I went on to work with Fortune 500 companies and major weight-loss brands, and I collaborated with people tied to Harvard-level medical research
I studied the connection between the brain, dopamine, sugar, chemicals, and highly processed food
Not just what people eat, but why they can’t stop
Why cravings override logic
Why stress changes metabolism
Why shame fuels relapse
I saw why 95 percent of people fail diets
Why willpower gets blamed for biological damage
Why people think they’re broken when their metabolism is actually protecting them
Meanwhile, my own body paid the price
Underweight
Overweight
Obese
Back and forth
What started as “being good” turned into being inflamed, exhausted, ashamed, and trapped in a loop I could not out discipline
The cycles got louder
Food stopped feeling neutral
Drinking slipped into the picture
Pain showed up more often
Energy slowly drained out of me
For the first time in my life…
Force stopped working
That’s when everything changed
When my Mom was dying, I told her I was going to crack this once and for all. Why people fail. Why the body fights back. Why diets don’t work the way they’re sold
That promise never left me
Today, I am working on something patent-pending tied directly to that vow. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, but I will say this:
If I knew how to manipulate the scale and do it the wrong way, then I sure as hell was going to figure out how to do it the right way. I vowed to use my own body as the guinea pig, testing what actually works so I could help people break the same cycle, especially with diabetes and chronic illness rising at terrifying rates
I didn’t just live the problem
I turned it into a mission