AI is everywhere. From writing emails to planning workouts, tools like ChatGPT make life easier. It’s tempting to ask them for health advice too. But when the goal is a longer, healthier life, the kind of AI you choose makes all the difference.

Let’s look at why a popular generalist like ChatGPT can be helpful—but falls short for true personalised care—and how CLIA, working inside the Shae precision-health platform, sets a completely different standard.

ChatGPT: Brilliant Wordsmith, Limited Health Guide

ChatGPT is a language expert. It has learned patterns from billions of pages of text—articles, books, medical papers and everyday conversations. That training lets it explain complex ideas clearly and even follow multi-step reasoning.

It can:

• Translate research into everyday language
• Summarise long guidelines
• Draft patient emails or clinic handouts

Where it stops short is knowing you.
Unless a custom patient model is built on top, ChatGPT does not keep a living, causal map of your unique biology. Two people can type in the same blood results and get almost identical advice—even if their underlying risks, genetics and daily rhythms are worlds apart.

It’s not that ChatGPT is careless. It does have safety policies. But those rules are broad and not medically specific. They help avoid obvious harm; they don’t provide the deep, personalised guardrails that clinical care demands.

CLIA/Shae: Designed to Know the Person, Not Just the Problem

CLIA (Clinical Lab Interpretation AI) was created with one goal: precision medicine.
It isn’t a general chatbot that happens to talk about health. It’s a precision-health engine built from the ground up to understand each individual and predict how their body will respond over time.

CLIA works by:

• Integrating phenotype, genotype, bloods, imaging, microbiome data, lifestyle habits, and wearable inputs

• Modelling cross-system interactions like gut–immune–neuroendocrine loops and cardio–renal links

• Forecasting what will change over the next 6–12 months and adjusting recommendations as new information flows in

Every output is clinically supervised. A specialist panel and evidence-based guidelines define what CLIA can and cannot recommend. If a plan could put health at risk, the system won’t bend to pressure—it simply won’t suggest it.

Real-Life Scenarios Show the Difference

Gene confusion, like MTHFR variants
In online forums, people often wonder whether to take methylfolate based on a single gene result. ChatGPT can explain the pathway and urge caution, but it cannot weigh that gene against full blood panels, medications, diet, stress and lifestyle. CLIA brings all of those pieces together before giving an answer.

Rare but serious conditions
Consider gadolinium deposition disease, a rare complication of MRI contrast. CLIA can link MRI history with neurological symptoms, lab trends and phenotype, raising GDD as a possible issue and suggesting the right next tests. ChatGPT could describe the condition but would not rank it for that particular person.

Two patients, same labs
Imagine two people with the same BMI and similar cholesterol numbers. ChatGPT might provide the same diet advice to both. CLIA will not. It can spot differences in circadian rhythm, food timing tolerance and stress load, then create unique plans with different forecasts for each.

Critical red flags
A cholesterol reading around 500 mg/dL is a genuine emergency. ChatGPT will recommend immediate medical care—good. CLIA goes further: preparing a concise referral summary, flagging phenotypic risk modifiers and suggesting safe interim steps while urgent care is arranged.

Built on Big, Meaningful Data

Precision medicine only works with deep and trustworthy data. CLIA’s engine is fed by:

• Volume – decades of carefully collected, clinically supervised person-level data representing an incredible amount of human follow up data
• Variety – contributions from 140 countries for broad, bias-resistant insights

• Veracity – every data stream reviewed and quality-checked by medical experts

These foundations let CLIA create precision reference ranges for each person—something generic AI simply cannot do.

Proven Impact

Technology is only as good as the outcomes it delivers. Independent audits and internal studies show that people using the Shae app powered by CLIA experience:

• Lowered risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes through targeted lifestyle changes

• Reduced risk of mental health issues in workplace populations thanks to precision coaching

This is real-world evidence that personal data, when analysed correctly, can lead to measurable improvements in health and well-being.

Privacy and Professionalism at the Core

Health data deserves the highest level of care. CLIA stores all identifiable information, including genomic and wearable inputs, in secure, closed systems that meet or exceed Australian and international privacy standards. Users know how their data is used and can opt out at any time.

Equally important, CLIA is not a diagnostic tool. It supports doctors, allied health providers and health coaches by providing a comprehensive review of each person’s data, leaving the clinician firmly in charge of decisions.

Where Each AI Fits

The takeaway isn’t to avoid ChatGPT entirely. It shines in areas like:

• Education and translation of medical language
• Summarising new research for busy practitioners
• Brainstorming discussion questions for clinic visits

Use it for knowledge and communication.
Use CLIA/Shae for individualised health planning and precision decision support.

The Future of Health Is Personal

We all want convenient tools. It’s natural to ask a free online AI about diet or symptoms. But health is not one-size-fits-all. Your genes, microbiome, daily rhythms and environment create a unique blueprint. Acting on generalised answers can delay the care you truly need.

Choosing CLIA inside the Shae platform means choosing AI that knows the person, not just the problem. It translates complex science into practical, personalised guidance with proven outcomes.

Bottom Line

ChatGPT is a powerful companion for learning. CLIA/Shae is a trusted partner for living well.
When it comes to your health, choose the AI designed for precision medicine—and step into the future of care that understands you.

Let’s face it, your clients choose you because they are unhappy. Happy people’s pain points are just little dots on the map. They will scroll right past your best laid-out, most provocative social media because they just don’t don’t see it.

Your clients come to you because those pain points you describe in exquisite detail are giant, red pin-drops that read YOU ARE HERE.

They are unhappy with some aspect of themselves that they hope you can help them change. 

And you can. ‘

You are outstanding in your niche and no one does what you do in the way you do it. 

You can’t wait to dive in, but if you take a step back you won’t regret it.

Whether your magic potion is nutrition, fitness, mindset, or an alchemical mix of all three and then some, you’ll support each client more effectively if you make them happy first. 

Why do the basics, when there’s a faster way to get better results that last?

You don’t lead your industry because you do the same things that everyone else does in the same way that they do them.

So why not try something even more left-field?

Instead of latching onto their most hurtful pain point and crafting a path to dissolve it, take a breath, look them in the eye and turn that pain point into a strength. Shift their perspective to see that ugly, awful, hurtful thing in a new, positive light.

What? If they’re happy, then they’ll walk out. 

Contrary to popular belief, (and even what I said at the outset), life actually plays out the opposite of that.

Let’s paint a picture.

Your next client walks in the door because they hate their reflection in the mirror and they’re ready to toss out every bit of their wardrobe because it has all shrunk. 

They are unhappy. 

Your mind will instantly whir with the perfect exercise prescription, the ideal detox, that blood panel that no other health professional thought to order. If they follow your protocols you know they will get results.

Don’t act just yet.

Pause and consider the positives.

Here is where it gets personal:

You must consider the specific upsides to this individual’s particular struggle with the pain point of your expertise; make it personal to the biology, psychology and personality in front of you. The more precise you are, the more profound this technique will be.

Let’s break it down.

Your client is heavyset, has struggled with weight issues all their life to yo-yo style outcomes. They are busy taking care of everyone else’s needs and forget to meet their own. They want you to help them shuck those unwanted pounds and fully expect you to do that through beration and deprivation.

What if, instead, you pointed out that what they see reflected in the mirror is, indeed, their greatest strength? While mainstream society praises the stick-figure, no one talks about the obvious disadvantages. Imagine a skinny person trying to carry six suitcases through the airport. 

Then add some structural heft and muscle. Suddenly you have someone who can not only cart the suitcases with grace, but herd three kids at the same time. You have to be structurally sound to carry other people’s burdens. 

This client sitting across from you naturally does so with ease. 

Chances are, no one has ever pointed this out to them. 

On the flipside, what if your client is that skinny person? Legs and arms sport an unsatisfying amount of muscle, but their last three months of meals seem to have congregated at their waistline. Work is life for them, which means nutrients enter their body at odd hours and in shocking forms.

They expect you to tell them to work less, lift heavier stuff and stop eating junk.

Instead, you point out that their focus on work is admirable and the fat stores are the body’s way of making sure they can fuel their brain to do the big work. Get them talking about why their work is of utmost importance and how they are changing the world.

When was the last time a health professional cared about their mission? 

Um, exactly never.  

It works

This works with any dissatisfaction you can imagine: lack of energy, brain fog, short temper as well as loss of job, relationship, or physical prowess. It doesn’t matter what pain points you are passionate about resolving, nor what ground-breaking, results-garnering method you have developed. Despite the magnitude of your expertise and how elite you are in your niche, tackling your client’s happiness first will catapult you to the next level. 

This approach will be as effective with the next client that walks in your door regardless of the number of times you’ve seen them, or how much they have progressed previously. You can start anywhere with any client and facilitate a positive shift. 

But why does it work?

When we take a moment to appreciate the strengths of the person before us, we help them see their unique perfection in that moment. We’re not selling them on the idea of how great they will be once we help them (our marketing did this). We’re selling them on their individual greatness now. This ticks two boxes related to Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory: Mastery Experiences and Verbal Persuasion. 

Mastery Experiences are about identifying and compiling past successes. With your stout client, helping them recognize the strength in their underlying body structure sets the foundation to build on that strength in ways that will optimize it, not try to make it something it will never be. They are much more likely to feel capable of making their body stronger and healthier than what they have failed at in the past: making it lanky. 

Verbal Persuasion is what the coaching and personal training industry are built on, spurring someone into action through motivational and encouraging words. Your belief in their ability to complete the steps to achieve the goal helps them see it is possible. You do this naturally and probably even add in some case studies of others who have built on their strengths to achieve their desired outcome which takes us into a third of Bandura’s four sources of self-efficacy: Vicarious Experiences. 

Studies show that self-efficacy correlates positively with happiness. In short, leading with your client’s strengths instead of zeroing in on the weaknesses, increases their belief in their ability to affect change in their life which, among other things, makes them happy. 

Happy people do life differently. They are open to new ideas, attack things with more energy, make better choices, and surround themselves with better influencers. Anything that you suggest once you’ve helped them increase their happiness quotient, will be better received, followed more closely and lead to lasting change.

So, why is their happiness your job?

Even if they have a smile brighter than the sun and a list of achievements longer than yours, they walked into your office because they are unhappy. They think losing those stubborn pounds, being strong enough to lift their kids, bending over without back pain, rediscovering love with their life partner or fixing chronic gut issues will reignite the joy they’re missing. 

When you do this in the opening minutes of your session, everything you do after that feels like dancing through a field of flowers.

Are you ready to get precise with your clients? It’s simple. To learn how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering check out our, Level 1 Course for Health Professionals.

References

10. L. L. N. Shilpa and R. Prasad, “Self efficacy, perceived stress and happiness among students,” 2017 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), Udupi, India, 2017, pp. 2105-2109, doi: 10.1109/ICACCI.2017.8126156.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8126156

O’Brien, K. M. (2003). Measuring career self-efficacy: Promoting confidence and happiness at work. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 109–126). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10612-007

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191

Yolande van Zyl & Manilall Dhurup (2018) Self-efficacy and its relationship with satisfaction with life and happiness among university students, Journal of Psychology in Africa, 28:5, 389-393, DOI: 10.1080/14330237.2018.1528760

Driver, M. (2011). Coaching positively: Lessons for coaches from positive psychology. Open University Press.

Erika Stoerkel, M, Sc. “What is a strength-based approach?” (Incl. Activities and Examples), Positive Psychology: 2020

https://positivepsychology.com/strengths-based-interventions/#references

Here’s what we know about the human animal. We are big bags of tissues, swirling with chemicals and zinging with electrical signals. Not one bag is the same.
As a health professional, you may be focused on one set of tissues and maybe a few of the chemicals or electrical signals. Yet, the entire bag walked into your office as an inextricable set with genetically crafted tissues, dominant chemicals, and specified electrical signals.

Your office, gym or building is the petri dish in which that set will either thrive or flail. That means the environment you establish for each client will either drive your desired result or hinder it.

Back to your desk.

That stack of files off to the left may be in carbon-dated order, the six pens you love to use are all within easy reach, sprinkled around your array of brightly colored notepads and if you put even one of those pairs of glasses away you’d never be able to find any of them again.

That’s great if your next client will come in, pick up each of your family pictures and peruse it as they listen intently to you set the scene for each one. It’s fatal if your next client can barely lift their eyes from the turmoil of that flat surface while their mind desperately tries to make order from your chaos.

It’s not about judgment. It’s about individual biology and what it needs to feel safe.
Safety is where the body can relax, the mind can open and change can begin to stir.

And the tidiness of your desk is just the beginning.

Temperature, noise, (even the pitch of your voice), activity and atmosphere all come into play. The more of these biological boxes you can check off, the less energy your client expends fighting their environment, leaving more energy to focus on the specific protocols that will bring them results.

How do you know what your next client needs to feel safe?

Because it’s inherent in their biology and psychology, it is evident in the mannerisms that underpin their personality.

Let’s look at how this plays out.

We’ll start with your clients who have an easy smile, ready laugh and happily adapt to whatever you toss their way. Think party. To their biology, chaos is exciting, so thumping music, extraneous chatter, and plenty of action will bring them comfort. A busy park with lots of sunshine is their ideal space. Variety, connection and fun is their safe zone.

Then you have those clients who always bring a list of questions from their own research and hungrily gobble down every bit of information you extol. Once you satisfy their need to know, they follow your guidelines to a T. These people are highly sensitive to their surroundings, so dialing things down makes them feel safe. They do best if you adjust the thermostat to tropical, close the door to control any activity or noise that might leak in and yes, organize the chaos on your desk.

Of course, there are the ones who take ages to onboard, meeting you several times, gathering tidbits of knowledge like squirrels forage for acorns in the fall. They carefully consider every angle, all the needs of everyone around them and then, when all of the pieces of the puzzle fit, they become your client. To them, comfort is safety. This comfort comes from having the space and time to thoroughly explore. Like a long walk through the forest, they do best in a fresh, natural environment where there is room for their minds to expand. Set the temp to cool, turn on some nature sounds and settle in.

On the flip-side, there are those on a mission. They come with a set of firm ideas, always want more data and proof, but will charge through to the end if everything lines up. These people can cut through the chaos with their laser focus, but they will thrive on the respect of a door closed against distractions, the forethought of a clear, organized space and a Goldilocks climate that doesn’t distract from the goal. Logic, order and purpose equal safety to this person.

You may have some clients who rush in the door ready to go. They get itchy if conversation lasts past a quick hello. Action is where they find safety. Think of a friendly court side warm up. Loosely guided, chatty, with plenty of room for flowing movement and copious team spirit. Nothing too quiet, too structured or too cold.

Then there are those who volunteer everywhere, field phone calls from family and friends even during your sessions and always want to know about your life. These are the clients who will pick up every picture on your desk and want to hear the back story. Let them. Safety, for them, is in family ties (and you become part of the family). Adopt an open door policy; think living room chat. Turn back the thermostat, offer comfy places to sit (in case they bring loved ones) and leave plenty of time for side conversations and interruptions.

Clients are a complex mix of biological and psychological factors. The more you understand about the entire set of characteristics that make up the next person that walks through your door, the more effective your particular prescriptions and methods will be.

So, will your client fail to get a result if you don’t clean your desk?

Possibly.
But the bigger message here is that if you set up your petri dish to meet the needs of each client, you remove unnecessary stressors and promote the feeling of safety. A more relaxed client has more energy to focus on implementing your protocols to achieve their desired outcome.

If you are interested in getting more precise with every aspect of your client’s needs,  Find out more here.

You’re running down the field, dodging in and out of gaps that seem to open just as you approach. You’re in flow.
You’re standing on the stage in front of a rapt crowd and the perfect words just roll off your tongue. Also flow.
You’re powering through today’s checklist with superhuman speed, tasks just seemingly checking themselves off. Yep, flow again.
We’ve all been there once or twice. Maybe more, if we’re lucky.
Achieving that perfect synergy between mind and body feels so great that we work hard to get back there.
Therein lies the fallacy of flow.
Anything that requires hard work actually takes us further away from the state that we so crave.

True flow is a biologically natural condition

When we look closely at the contemporary definition of flow, we really mean one thing. Productivity. That culls the list of acceptable activities down to a mere handful including athletic, creative and career pursuits. Essentially, we stick flow in such a small box that it’s nearly impossible to achieve without concerted effort.

Now, let’s see what happens when we set flow free from that tiny box.
Biological flow is when you meet the needs of your dominant neurotransmitters and hormones. It is true that everyone on the planet has an array of neurotransmitters and hormones surging through their bodies all the time. However, it’s also true that every individual is born with a biological need for a higher baseline and consistent turnover of one, in particular. This is the one that speaks the loudest and requires the most attention.

A funny thing happens when we listen to our most prominent biological driver.

We discover that each dominant hormone or neurotransmitter has preferences. These loud, opinionated chemicals are also pushy. They will push you toward things they love and away from things they don’t. On the inside, it feels like unconscious preferences or aversions.
On the outside, it looks like you have:
Strengths: Stuff you excel at and stuff you struggle with.
Passions: Stuff that energizes you and stuff that feels like a grind.
People: Individuals and social settings that lift your energy and those that deplete it.
Diets: Foods that rev you up and foods that let you fall flat.
Exercise: Movement that delights you or exhausts you.
Environments: Surroundings that bathe you in pleasure and conditions that inundate you with misery
Timing: Morning or night, long or short, all the time or seldom; everything above has an ideal time attached to it.

When you look at the list above, it’s obvious that these mouthy, bossy molecules are your greatest advocate for everything in the world that engages your biology.

Flow, with this understanding, is when you feel like yourself.

True biological flow looks like this:

A Crusader thrives under the traditional definition of flow. They are happiest when they are knocking down goals and checking off lists in the pursuit of their passion. When you add in a regular rhythm of easily digested foods, endurance-based movement, a group of respected and respectful colleagues aligned with purpose, you’re approaching flow. Add to all of that environmental conditions that are streamlined, limit distractions and support long work hours and you have a recipe for complete biological alignment. 

An Activator thrives in motion, whether that is acute problem-solving, thinking on their feet or running down the field, variety and movement are key. Surrounded by spontaneous-loving people, staying well fueled with lots of small snacks and guarding against the cold and winds, this is Activator flow.

A Connector could be the one running down the field, finding those gaps. They thrive in teams, on and off the field. When they stay fueled with fun, flavorful foods and plenty of sunshine, enveloped in colorful spaces with plenty of opportunity to express themselves, they enjoy flow.

A Guardian thrives when all of the basics of food, shelter, finances and health are met for those they love. Built to protect, their bodies crave lifting heavy things and all day movement, but need to fuel up early in the day to keep going.

A Diplomat thrives on their own time, in their own space. When they feed their brains knowledge, their bodies lots of good veggies and their hearts deep connection, this is when they thrive. Add to that walks in nature, peaceful and beautiful surroundings and heavy things to lift. This is a Diplomat in flow.

A Sensor craves routines and rules with systems and processes for everything. One or two close friends will be privy to occasional deep discussions, but for the most part they prefer their own company. Their minds crave knowledge, need constant, easily accessible fuel to keep up with continuous thought and a bit of highly technical movement to keep things in flow.

Yes, you can power down that field, walk confidently onto the stage or passionately tackle those checklists and hit momentary bouts of flow. But when you tune out the voices that tell you to try harder and work more just to hit an acceptable level of productivity, you leave quiet space to listen to the guidance of your dominant biological driver.

When we tap into the true science of flow, we learn that when we stop striving to ‘get in the zone’, that’s when we achieve it. 

If you are looking to get in flow the biological way and help your clients do the same,  learn more here.

We laugh at the vision of a fish being tested to climb a tree, but do we really know what this translates to in our interactions with our clients?

As health professionals, we want our clients to keep coming back until they get results, but we need them to become self-reliant along the way. This means we must teach them in a way that the information will be absorbed and retained. Unlike the fish and tree scenario, when we speak to and train with a person’s individual biology, we feed the mind and body in the perfect way at the perfect time to ignite the spark of motivation and spread the glue of adherence. 

Nature vs Nurture

There is a popular idea that anyone can learn anything if we nurture this understanding to life using the correct format. Whether there are four, five, seven or more different learning styles, we tend to toss a bunch of them at a client to see what sticks. However, when we turn our focus from ourselves and zero in solely on the client and how they were created biologically, success increases exponentially. The question transforms from: “How do I teach this person?” to “Who is this person and what are they hungering to learn?”. 

For example, we may have the perfect dietary protocol for a client that all of the science proves would bring lasting positive results. We pull out our best visual aids, share our latest podcast, send them to a cooking class and buy them the hard copy as well as the audible version of the most engaging book on the market. Two months later their eating habits are identical to the day they walked into our office, therefore their original issue is two months worse. 

So, we put down our bevy of teaching aids and ask the question, “Who is this person sitting across from me and what does their biology hunger for?”.

This is where the HealthTypes come in handy. Say you have an Activator client, so you know that their biology hungers for action. They need to put tiny bits of information into immediate use. On their way out the door, you hand them a copy of a recipe, tell them you’re challenging a few clients to try it and whoever shoots you a selfie of them cooking first, gets a prize. The drive to win and the thrill of immediate positive feedback will spur them into the action they crave and get them one step closer to the results you both desire.

It’s simple, easy and effective. All you do to get them through the next two months and toward a better life overall is engage variations on a theme, because you also know that Activators love variety.

Is it Relevant?

The fish will never climb the tree, no matter how much you yell, cajole, assist or instruct. Tree climbing is simply not relevant to the fish. Likewise with your clients, offering the irrelevant information in precisely the correct fashion will still miss the mark. 

You love what you do or you wouldn’t devote your life to it. Chances are that the clients who walk through your door don’t care even a tiny fraction as much as you about your chosen profession. So that’s what you give them. Precisely and only the bit of your profession that will engage them. The question becomes, “What aspect of my expertise is relevant to this person?”

In this scenario, we are still looking at ‘who’ is in front of us.

Say it’s a fish and you are a personal trainer. You would take a look at the tree, then to the fish and then lead your fish to the pond. The goal is physical fitness of some sort and you are not going to accomplish that with the fish in the tree. Even if you are a monkey and tree climbing is what first sparked your desire to be a personal trainer. Tree climbing is not pertinent to the fish.

Because it’s not so easy to sort the fish from the monkeys in the gym setting, that’s where the HealthTypes come in handy. Say your fish is a Guardian. You are not going to lead them to the newest, shiniest piece of equipment and tell them to have a play with it while you share the scientific studies that lead to its invention. (You will save that for your Crusader client.) You will toss some weight on the sled, ask about their family and walk beside them while they go for their first 20 yards. 

Whether it’s nature vs nurture or pure relevance, the essence is the same. 

Adherence leads to success. The biggest aspect of adherence is delivering the perfect amount of info in the perfect way at the perfect time. The only way to do this is to pull back from our desire to ‘teach to them’ and to instead engage their biology. Information that is naturally learned is joyful, bolsters self-worth and sparks self-determination. All of these lead to the lasting results we crave.

To learn more about the HealthTypes and how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering, join us for our Level 1 Course. 

As health professionals, we have one job. 

Results. 

We’re not there to make them laugh, lend an ear, or help them pick out what to wear to that important interview.  

Yes, we may do all of that and more during our time with them, but our only objective is to get them from point A (where they are) to point B (where they want to be) in the most effective way.

The big problem we face is how to get them to walk through our door all those days in between.

The answer is simple: Make them fall in love.

Love feels great, right?

Who doesn’t want to be ten feet tall and bulletproof?

Feeling good in our bodies is a large component of love. Specifically, self-love. And  self-love plays a special role in behavior change. This is a cycle we want to feed.

 Our challenge is to help our clients feel great in their bodies so they fall in love with themselves a little more every time they walk into our workspace.

Here’s the exciting bit: it’s easy.

Most every practitioner in the health industry will address the subject of exercise with each client.

However, when we wave it away with a ‘get in some movement’ suggestion or tap them into the latest fitness craze, we’re missing a massive opportunity.

The more precisely we instruct our clients to get moving, the better they will feel in their bodies and the deeper they will fall in love with the unique human that they are. Then, they will attribute these great sensations to our protocols which will keep them coming back for more. 

Here’s the question:

What is the optimal movement practice for each person to feel great in their body? The answer is in precision. The more we know about the biology and psychology of our clients, the more precise our interventions become. Even if fitness isn’t the main focus of your practice, a simple look behind the words our clients speak reveals a world of information.

Listen up.

“I don’t lift weights because I don’t want to get big, ugly muscles.”

We’ve all heard it, but do we know why? Actually, some bodies do not like to feel heavy. They engage with exercise and movement techniques that make them feel lighter and stronger, providing mental and physical stability. Because these people spend so much time in their head, they crave the interoception of movement to actually feel themselves. For them, activities like yoga, martial arts and aerial fitness are going to help them fall in love with being in their bodies.

“I don’t have time to exercise.”

For those to whom the broad spectrum of exercise choices appears cluttered and unproductive, order and balance are love. The goal here is to craft a structure around movement. A set plan with clear steps and a challenging goal stimulates the perfect hormones in all the right ways. The more specific, the better. One exercise, one muscle group, one side, one goal at a time allows them to pour all their neural energy into the act, nail it and move on. Routine is key. Once it’s in the schedule, it’s a done deal.

“Exercise is boring.”

Unlike the more neurally-centered clients, these prefer to ‘be in’ their bodies and are always on the go. Variety is the spice of life and an abundance of spice is love. Speed triggers interest; challenge sparks buy-in, unpredictability keeps them coming back for more. Handball, parkour, or any activity that hones survival skills will make them feel alive and at home in their skin.

“None of my friends are into fitness.”

If it’s not fun and full of potential friends, it’s drudgery. Think Spin or Pump classes. They’re loud, crowded, and high energy. This is the perfect setting to ignite self-love. Those feel-good vibes ripple through this client, releasing all the perfect chemicals in unison. They feel great, which makes others feel great, which makes them feel even better! It is wins all around when this client finds love!

“My family needs me.”

We all know the one who has a house full of their kids, other people’s kids and their family is always calling or texting them even during our sessions. They are the rock in everyone’s world, so they never have time to take care of themselves. That’s why the key to helping them feel great in their bodies is involvement. When we can get the troops on board with the goal, everything works. “C’mon Mom, it’s time for our walk.” That’s all they need to feel great in their skin and begin to fall in love with themselves. Invite the family, friends, kids along for the journey. Make it a family affair and they will love themselves and YOU!

“I’ve tried everything, I don’t like any of it.”

It’s all hard for this client. And hard is their enemy. Comfort and pleasure are the key to love. They have super strong bodies, like to feel grounded by lifting heavy weights, but any soreness they feel will register as a fail and they will quit. Workout regimes that allow adequate time for flushing out the metabolic waste, coupled with lengthy warmup and cooldown routines will ensure these people love moving in their bodies. 

In short: The human body is built to move. 

What type of movement each body craves is specific. When synergy between body, mind and movement is achieved, we love it! Love is a gateway to successful results. 

Results are our mission.

Give it a try.

To learn how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering check out our Level 1 Course for Health Professionals: 

Attention deficits, mental fog, demotivation, flow, focus and maximum productivity are all buzz words when it comes to how an individual learns. With 4000 strategies to enhance focus, to get the most out of your day, medications to take help you dial in and special foods, exercise and morning routines to get you in the zone, we need to take a step back and realise that our biological make-up and it’s response to the environment are key to unlocking our best mental work.

‘It’s not what you are trying to learn, it’s how you are trying to learn it!’

When it comes to understanding biology and how it influences learning, the HealthTypes are the best lens through which to view.

An Activator with greater release of adrenaline and a higher competitive drive will have intense periods of focus, and then they need to move their body. Make the learning a little competitive and urgent and you have the best environment for high powered brain activity.

A Diplomat on the other hand, for optimal serotonin balance, needs a schedule for their learning, a plan with as few external time pressures as possible. Combine that with some time in nature before learning and watch the steady rhythm of focus flow.

A Guardian, with their nurturing/protective focus needs a steady rhythm again, and if they understand how the learning they are doing will support those people around them, it allows their prolactin to flow and their endless selfless drive to support their focus.

A Crusader, with a need for Dopamine and to feel like an expert, needs to see the importance of this learning to their overall greater purpose/interests, then give them the reference information, a list of priorities, a short 5-10 breathing session and watch them fly, particularly if they get to tell others about what they have learnt!

A Connector is all about oxytocin, trust and fun. If learning starts out easy, with some quick wins (start the job with a mate and help each other), they’ll feel great and want to focus. Have them talk their ideas out loud and watch them solve problems with the best of them. Ultimate task switchers, don’t fight the shiny light, just make it fun to come back to finish the previous task.

A Sensor is the poster child student, feeling best when they can follow rules, gather information and work through a list, their strength is in mental focus and completing things diligently. The big distraction for Sensors come from a cold, noisy, busy environment. So ensure that they are warm, it’s quiet and they had a comfortable warm meal.

As you can see the ‘optimal learning environment’ is different for different people. There is no one-size-fits-all morning routine, productivity hack or learning aid that will work for everyone.

Want to understand more about your own learning style and that of the people you work with?

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Stress is a common and normal physical response to challenging or new situations.  It can be positive: inspirational, motivational, manageable, challenging or it can be moderate and push a person out of flow, causing us to feel ‘stressed out’ or it can be extreme and become chronic.

Our bodies and in particular our nervous system are designed to switch between our rest and digest state, the parasympathetic nervous system and our ‘action’ mode, the sympathetic nervous system. The strategy here is to be able to be triggered into the stress state to meet a challenge, then to be able shift back to a more relaxed state. 

So, how do you build a life where you feel confident that you can face life’s challenges, even when some of these challenges can be distressing? What can you create that will improve your resilience?

 A traditional analogy for looking at stress  is a boat on the sea. Imagine that you’re sitting in a boat and you’re surrounded by the ocean. In this analogy, the ocean is life. The boat is the environment that you create around you, and the tiller is your mind or brain function. Then it is our consciousness over-looking this- the observer.

 An old proverb says ‘smooth seas don’t make good sailors’  and there’s a reason for that-  meeting challenges can be very positive for our growth and is a built in feature- think of the baby learning to walk. When they take those first steps they smile or laugh then look around to see who is watching. They look for extrinsic reward but they definitely have intrinsic reward first!

Think about the sea. Some days are plain sailing. The sun is shining, the breeze is perfect, and there’s not too many waves. We can cruise along with little effort.  Sometimes the weather is more challenging;  it’s windy or the water is choppy and you have to pay a little bit more attention to what’s going on. Do I need to adjust my course?, is my ship in good shape if the weather get;s rougher? How do I feel in this weather? And this perception of life and how you are meeting the challenges is a completely personal one to you. 

Other times in our life it appears that there’s a tsunami or we’re floating along in the ocean and then there’s a massive rogue wave and that rogue wave may actually even capsize your boat. 

That brings us to your boat- the environment you have created to see you through challenging events, including who you invite into your environment. Let’s use tips from the HealthTypes to have a life that has you stress-ready!

The Crusader

• Your environment needs to be set up to support your mission: it will be efficient and productive
• Your boat needs to be a ‘hydrofoil’, designed to travel straight ahead at high speeds
• Feel like you are progressing towards clear goals
• Have people around you who respect you and your expertise and who really listen when you have the ‘microphone.

The Guardian

• The Guardian’s boat needs to be more like a ferry- comfortable, stable, close to nature and most importantly, to be shared with others
• The environment needs to be nourishing with a sense that there will always be ‘enough’
• A community of people who can appreciate the generosity of  the Guardian 
• Time for long and deep conversations and connections.

The Connector

• The Connectors boat is more like a fast boat that is big enough to bring a group for fun!
• This is the ‘party’ boat, full of entertainment, joy and laughter
• Deeper connections where the Connector feels loved
• A bright space, preferably sunny, with loads of colour.

The Sensor

• The Sensor boat needs to be a lightweight sailing boat where the Sensor can catch the breeze and fly with the wind
• The environment needs to be serene: aesthetically beautiful, warm and calm.
• Stimulation is kept to a minimum to soothe their very active mind
• TheSensor is very independent and whilst they love being loved- like everyone- they also love solitude
• Like the Crusader, they are forward thinking so a safety plan is well advised

The Activator

• The action-packed Activator is like a jet ski, moving fast and easily, but a jet ski that has the most fun with others around.
• Feeling like they have a team, that is on the Activators side- being their buddy and cheer squad if times get tough works to have the Activator put their problem-solving genius to work whilst being supported
• The freedom to move and express will have the Activator well-placed to manage stressors
• Having people around who accept the Activator for exactly who they are is wonderful.

The Diplomat

• The Diplomat has a slow and steady body with a busy mind and they are like a maxi- yacht. They take some time to get going but once they get the wind in their sails there is no stopping them.
• The Diplomat’s environment needs to be comfortable and pleasurable and they need  open space- physically as well as in their mind
• The Diplomat will want others on their boat- people they feel close to and comfortable with
• Having the time to gather information so that they can weigh up decisions will help the Diplomat in stressful situations- they do not do well having to react quickly.

We know stressors are inevitable and it’s a great idea to think about how you are traveling through your life.  Are there any changes you could make to tackle stress in a way that makes life feel more harmonious?

A 13 minute masterclass on the 3-phases of stress and personalized stress management strategies.

From alert to tired, clear to foggy, motivated to sluggish. The function and behaviour of your mind is a clear and ever-present indicator of your body’s response to the world around you, but in these cases in particular your food. The foods you consume directly and indirectly change the function of your brain, which can influence how you work, perceive people around you, your patience and general resilience.

Not eating enough of the right things can create deficiencies which alter critical pathways needed for sharp thinking in your brain. Inadequate macros can leave your brain tissue on empty (carbs), unable to repair (essential fatty acids) or without key nutrients for neurotransmitters (amino acids). Too much of the wrong thing (processed sugar, high fat, high calorie non-nutritious processed foods, irritants/allergens) can cause inflammation, blood sugar and blood fat spikes which short term can send you on a rollercoaster of mental energy. Food contents, nutrients and fibers change your gut microbiome which has a powerful link with brain function, mood, mental health and energy levels. Then even old faithful ‘caffeine’ creates whole system changes that quickly alter your mental state for better, worse and everywhere in between. 

Another way of saying it is that the right foods enhance your mood, mental function and zeal, while the wrong foods will cause pain, discomfort, inflammation or a reaction that DISTRACTS your brain and makes it tougher to stay focused.

Drawing from the knowledge the scientific world has now, it is very clear that it’s not about whether a food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ persè, it’s about whether it is good or bad for the INDIVIDUAL, because we are all different. 

Based on a number of factors captured by the Shae HealthTypes (genetics, hormones and developmental pathways, current state of health and stress) we all have some differences in what is likely to have great, and/or very negative effects on our mental function. Knowing these differences in metabolic pathways and organ function allow us to be more specific with nutrients and foods that are going to have the most positive impact on our mental function faster.

Lets have a look at how food affects brain function differently, in different people.

The Sensor

Sensors typically have lower BMIs, have difficulty thermoregulating (due to low muscle and fat mass), and are particularly impacted mentally by the cold. Warming their body from the inside has an immediate and positive impact on mental clarity and focus. Make sure their meals are warm when eaten, include warm drinks throughout the day, whereas cold foods will genuinely DISTRACT their mind and reduce their mental output.

The Crusader

Crusaders are likely to have heightened use of their pre-frontal cortex due to the way dopamine influences them to be highly goal oriented, and thrive best when a good supply of nutritious laden carb-rich foods are provided for ongoing mental performance around every 2-3 hours. However, when a crunch is added to the food, this can increase their attention and focus through some fascinating feedback loops. Crunchy carbs can dial them right back in to better focus when fatigued.

The Activator

Activators have a brain that is designed for high intensity activity, a good supply of amino acids. Animal proteins provide the building blocks for the right balance of neurotransmitters that support this activity, but also keep their glucose levels stable, supporting focus as well. Rather than being distracted and searching for their next meal (they are likely to get hangry), these foods satiate and stabilise. Deliver these foods straight after exercise for even greater mood stability and performance.

The Connector

Connectors have a body and brain that requires variety. Generally they thrive with an omnivore diet, but this intake needs to have change and new tastes to satisfy this need for variety. They do well with a jolt of energy from fresh fruits, preferably with a low GI profile so it doesn’t spike them too much. Citrus fruits are often great for this purpose. It provides energy, great flavour and quality nutrients to stay focused and not get distracted looking for something new to do. Get the variety from the food to maintain focus on the task!

The Guardian

Guardians develop with a greater incidence of insulin resistance, and are more sensitive to spikes in glucose. To support this, being semi-fasted through time-restricted eating is one of the best ways we’ve seen for Guardians and will also help to improve their focus. Generally a very light dinner and tripling vegetable consumption through the day makes a very fast and important difference. Alginates – a biocompatible polysaccharide combined with sodium found in seaweed and algae constrict the stomach and contribute towards feelings of fulfilment, which can support a Guardian when attempting to lower their meal frequency. 

The Diplomat

Diplomats are in their best mental state when they are calm, and enjoying the day with a well laid out schedule. Great serotonin production system wide is very important for this. Similarly, they are more influenced by the health of their gut more than other types. A good dose of magnesium rich leafy greens provides support for the gut itself, contributes to a positive environment for the microbiome and these nutrients are supportive of serotonin balance. 

Food is a powerful influencer of focus and mental performance. However, as everyone’s biological makeup is slightly different, the foods to support the mind need to be tailored to the individual! To find out your type, or the type of your clients, check out the PHA Level 1 course and learn more about the power of personalized nutrition.