00:00:24:09 - 00:00:50:11
Jennifer Loehding
Welcome to another episode of Behind the Dreamers. I'm your host, Jennifer Loading. And we are talking to the achievers, the creators, the magic makers and the dreamers. These are our friends. These are your friends. And they are living the extraordinary. While today's story is all about resilience, health and hope at the young age of 17. My guest faced a life changing diagnosis that could have halted her progress and dampened her spirit.

00:00:50:18 - 00:01:11:16
Jennifer Loehding
Instead, it ignited a lifelong journey of discovery and determination. Over the past 47 years, she's dedicated herself to uncovering and practicing strategies that not only promise but deliver a healthier and more vibrant life. So what does all that mean? Well, you're going to find out in a few minutes. But before first, we have to do a quick shout out to our sponsor.

00:01:11:21 - 00:01:31:09
Jennifer Loehding
This episode is brought to you by Walt Miller's Productions. Need to add excitement to your YouTube videos or some expert hands for editing? Look no further. Walt Mills is the solution. You've been searching for. Walt is not only your go to guy for spicing up content, he's the force behind a thriving film production company with numerous titles in the pipeline.

00:01:31:19 - 00:01:51:15
Jennifer Loehding
Always on the lookout for raw talent. Walt is eager to collaborate on film and Internet productions with a background deeply rooted in entertainment and promotion. Walt Mills leverages years of skills to give you the spotlight you deserve. Want to learn more about Walt and his work? Head on over to Walt Mills Productions dot net and let your content shine.

00:01:52:09 - 00:02:18:16
Jennifer Loehding
All right. So now that we've done that, we get to meet our guests. So meet Tracey Herber, a living testament to the power of never giving up. Tracy's journey is nothing short of inspirational, marked by a monumental 3527 mile solo bicycle ride from San Francisco to New York City. This feat was more of an endurance challenge. It was a demonstration of the efficacy of her life's work and strategies through her message and mission.

00:02:18:17 - 00:02:30:08
Jennifer Loehding
Tracy provides hope and tangible strategies that empower individuals to lead a longer, healthier and happier life. So welcome to the show, Tracy. I am so excited to chat with you today.

00:02:30:19 - 00:02:34:01
Jennifer Loehding
Hey, Jennifer, I'm so glad to be here. It's going to be fun, fun, fun.

00:02:34:06 - 00:02:47:08
Jennifer Loehding
I know you have such a great, fun personality. I love it. I love your energy. I love what you're doing, love what you've done. And I'm just excited to dove into all of this. I know we had such a fun time chatting before this episode when we met the first time.

00:02:48:18 - 00:02:52:19
Tracy Herbert
And then we could be lifelong friends. Because I love your podcast, too. They're wonderful.

00:02:53:00 - 00:03:12:12
Jennifer Loehding
Thank you. Yeah, we have a lot of fun on the show. It's I think, you know, most of these bios have fun putting these together. I love like taking your stories and just kind of creating this little picture of who you are as an individual. But I think the best part of everything is just meeting all of the amazing people that come on here and their stories and the adversity that they've gone through and what they've learned.

00:03:12:12 - 00:03:14:12
Jennifer Loehding
And so that's what this show is really all about.

00:03:15:07 - 00:03:36:11
Tracy Herbert
Well, it's a great one. My journey started, like you mentioned, at 17 years old, I'm lying in ICU and the doctor walks in. He puts his hands on his hips. I mean, weird. And he said, young lady, you've got juvenile diabetes. You're going to be dead in 20 years. You're going to have horrible complications. You're going to go blind, you'll have your legs amputated.

00:03:36:14 - 00:03:53:02
Tracy Herbert
I mean, he kept going on and on and on. Not if, but you will have all these things happen. And he said you're never going to be able to have any children. And as he turned around and sort of walking out, he said, oh, by the way, you have to take several shots a day for the rest of your life because there's not a cure.

00:03:53:20 - 00:04:21:02
Tracy Herbert
And I. 17. My parents are sitting there. We're all just our mouths are wide open going. What did he say? And he left. He didn't have any time to say, Are you okay, Tracy? Do you have any questions? Your nothing but I do. And make him out as a villain because he's not. He's were the best things that ever happened to me because he was so negative, telling me all the things that could have happened that I started thinking, okay, it's not going to happen to me.

00:04:21:08 - 00:04:45:03
Tracy Herbert
So I started going to the local college medical school library section, and I started reading everything I could about being healthy. Now, this was way before the Internet, you know, and all that. And so everything I started researching, I thought, okay, I might be able to try this, I might be able to try that and then my friends and I, our first outing out after my diagnosis, I was going to a movie with all the friends.

00:04:45:03 - 00:05:08:16
Tracy Herbert
And you walk into the movie theater and first thing you smell is popcorn. And I'm remembering my mom saying, Tracy, remember, you can't eat anything. Now, she didn't say that to be mean. She didn't say because we didn't have the money. She was helping me learn discipline because I couldn't have the popcorn. I couldn't have anything. Well, I chose not to because I want to live a longer, healthier life, but because our words are important.

00:05:08:16 - 00:05:23:18
Tracy Herbert
But I went to the concession stand clerk and asked for a cup so I could just get a small cup of water as a drinking fountain. And she looked at me like I was crazy and I said, No, I'll be glad to pay for it. And she said, no. And Jennifer, at that time, I ran out of the movie theater.

00:05:23:22 - 00:05:40:01
Tracy Herbert
I'm screaming, I'm crying because now I'm so depressed because everybody's telling me the same thing. You're going to be dead. You're going to die in 20 years. Because I was horrible complications and then I couldn't even get a cup for a drink of water. You know, we didn't have, like, soft drinks back then. We didn't have bottled water, anything.

00:05:40:14 - 00:06:00:12
Tracy Herbert
And so I'm driving home and I got home and I'm crying in bed. I mean, it's ridiculous. I'm crying. And at that moment, my life changed again. So this is like within two months, I had two major life changes. First, the doctor not even giving me one bit of hope nor anybody in the hospital. But now my concession is concession stand.

00:06:00:12 - 00:06:25:10
Tracy Herbert
Clerk Tracy, you have two choices. You can either be better or you can be bitter. And what are you going to choose? And at that moment I said out loud, because when we speak positive words out loud, it helps to stick in our brains, even when things get tough. And I said, I choose to be better. And so now, 47 years later, I still every day do something I can to make myself better and not bitter.

00:06:25:15 - 00:06:50:10
Tracy Herbert
Because it's not just diabetes. Everybody goes through things in life. What's so important is when you start realizing how the mind has so much importance in what we say out loud and also internally to ourselves. And when you start changing from I can't to I can or what I want to do, your life changes. And then you also have so much more positivity in your life.

00:06:50:16 - 00:07:13:21
Tracy Herbert
And that's what I've been focusing on learning not just for myself, but obviously my clients. But I want to make sure that people there's so many hopeless people out there, they just feel hopeless. And I'm like, No, if I am one thing, one thing that's going to help you build yourself up so you have a little bit of positivity because as long as we have breath, right, we can do something to make some changes in our life.

00:07:13:21 - 00:07:42:15
Tracy Herbert
And that's that's really what my mission is all about. Yes. I've been researching medical stuff for 47 years now because my life depends on it literally. But also I do it because I want to make informed decisions about my own life. And, you know, there's so hard nowadays with the Internet because you have to be very, very careful because there's a lot of people out there right now that say, hey, drink this, drink or take this pill and you won't have whatever problem with it.

00:07:42:21 - 00:07:59:20
Tracy Herbert
You know, it doesn't work that way. You know, it's always I always do my science based research to make sure what I'm getting is the most up to date information out there. And that's what I've been doing and that's what I love. But what's important to me is people that are going through struggles in life. I don't want to lose hope.

00:08:00:12 - 00:08:23:20
Jennifer Loehding
Yeah, this is so good. Okay, so I'm stuck. I'm going back all the way to the beginning of your story, and, like, this just keeps going through my head because I think I'm picturing this 17 year old girl in a room in the hospital. This doctor comes in and is just telling you all these things. And there's this part of you that feels hopeless, but there's this part of you that's going you are not going to tell me that I'm going to be stuck with this and I'm going to die with this.

00:08:23:20 - 00:08:42:14
Jennifer Loehding
Right. There's this bigger part of you, like sort of gave me chills when you were talking about that, because I could see a part of me, and that's only because I've had to deal with doctors. And doctors tell me stuff, not that, but other things. And I've been just furious because first of all, I think we are not our conditions, we are not those things that we have.

00:08:42:14 - 00:09:02:17
Jennifer Loehding
And we can have a quality of life if we choose to do things differently. So that part of me hearing you say that is just I can just only imagine what you were thinking at that time as a child being I'm trusting this figure of authority to tell me something important. And yet all they're doing is giving me doom and gloom and no hope.

00:09:03:01 - 00:09:13:07
Jennifer Loehding
And there's this fiery inside of you saying, but I'm not going to let that stop me, you know? So what a story, you know? And then you can.

00:09:13:17 - 00:09:33:00
Tracy Herbert
Go ahead and what's important is they even had the audacity as to tell my parents, don't waste your money sending her to college because your life expectancy is that long. And I'm so thankful my parents didn't listen to it, nor did I. And I guess that's probably where I got most of my own for in my life is my parents.

00:09:33:05 - 00:09:48:16
Tracy Herbert
But you know, they were all saying, you can't even do that, don't do it. And when somebody tells you you can't and all the time, time and time again, just like you were saying, we're like, no, we're going to do it. Must show you. And that's exactly my attitude. You know.

00:09:49:04 - 00:10:13:07
Jennifer Loehding
You have that fighting spirit. There are a lot, but there are a lot of people that even excuse me that don't they hear that? And they automatically go into that's that's my life. That's what I have, you know, and I think, you know, there are so many things about this story that also another thing I want to point out is that you've spent 47 years dedicating yourself to researching and looking at this because your life is depended on it.

00:10:13:07 - 00:10:35:18
Jennifer Loehding
And everybody I myself have a chronic condition. Anybody that I know that's ever had a chronic condition, we know a lot of stuff about the stuff we're dealing with. Right. Because we have to get versed in it. And a lot of times it is defying a lot of what we know in medicine and having to go outside and explore different things and become knowledgeable in those areas.

00:10:35:18 - 00:10:49:08
Jennifer Loehding
And I you know, I met a lady in one of the clinics because, you know, I shared with you off that I was doing infusions. So people listening to me like, okay, what are these infusions? What I was doing metal detoxing and I was doing iron infusions. But one of the neat things, not that I had to go through all that stuff because I hated all of that.

00:10:49:08 - 00:11:08:16
Jennifer Loehding
But I will tell you, I met some amazing people in the clinic that I was visiting, people with all kinds of stories. I met a woman whose husband had cured himself, a prostate cancer, without ever doing a day of chemo. I met another another person that was going that a rheumatoid arthritis that was in there and was not was not working with that.

00:11:08:16 - 00:11:34:06
Jennifer Loehding
But all of these people. But I will tell you the common thread that I that I noticed with all these people. One is that I felt like I was in my place. And sadly as that sound, I felt like I was in my place with my people because I could talk freely about these alternative solutions I was doing, but also that they were all very versed in their conditions, in the treatments that they were exploring and doing to heal themselves or at least return some quality of life for themselves.

00:11:34:09 - 00:11:54:07
Tracy Herbert
Absolutely. And that's what people well, the doctors always ask me, how are you still alive and what are you doing? Which I think is great, because then it gives me an opportunity to share strategies which my doctor, my first doctor, before he retired, he wanted me to write my book, my first book on diabetes, because he said, you've got to get this message out there to people because people don't know this kind of stuff.

00:11:54:16 - 00:12:12:00
Tracy Herbert
But the second thing is, what are you doing? How do you have more energy in your sixties that I did in my thirties? Because I literally have more energy today than I did even 30 years ago. And it all boils down to doing what works best for you. Just like the infusion seemed to be working well for you.

00:12:12:06 - 00:12:31:19
Tracy Herbert
What works for you may not work for me and vice versa, but you do what works best for you then. Just like eating, you know, certain foods are very, very healthy, but they may not help you. Like I'm allergic to spinach, so I don't eat spinach. Spinach as healthy as Popeye, right? I mean, you know, that's why it's so important.

00:12:31:22 - 00:12:48:05
Tracy Herbert
But when you realize what hurts your body and doesn't help things change and so little simple things like what you're doing is impactful. And it's so important when we don't close our minds to certain things, you know, we got to keep our minds open to what's going to work best for our bodies.

00:12:48:12 - 00:13:01:11
Jennifer Loehding
Absolutely. Absolutely. So I want to talk about your bike ride, because I think this is so awesome what you do. I want to know, like what how this came about for you and what this was like for you. Tell our audience a little bit about this because this is huge.

00:13:02:08 - 00:13:24:18
Tracy Herbert
It all started every decade after my 20 years of living with diabetes. I've always done something to celebrate because I choose to be better, not better, you know? And so as I was approaching my 40th anniversary of my diagnosis and I started thinking, okay, what can I do to celebrate? And I started thinking about it and thinking about it.

00:13:24:23 - 00:13:54:04
Tracy Herbert
And I thought, I'm going to go across the country. I'm a long distance bicyclist. I'm a runner. I mean, I'm a hiker, I'm a backpacker. I'm doing all the things anyway. And I thought, Oh, take my bicycle, go across the country. Not something most people would do. But I did it just for myself to celebrate originally. But on the third or fourth day of my ride, I got a message from my mom and her daughter at that time was six years old and she said she'd had type one diabetes just like I have.

00:13:54:14 - 00:14:12:23
Tracy Herbert
And she said she wants to give up on life. She's so sick and tired of it. She feels miserable. She's had it for two years and the mom was telling me that message on social media message. She said, I went out and bought her a bicycle, a map of the United States, and she cut out a picture of a bicycle and a picture of your head.

00:14:13:11 - 00:14:41:18
Tracy Herbert
And she started tracking me along my ride. And I kept thinking, okay, Tracy, she's on my team, I'm writing for her. And the more people I started reaching, reaching out to me, the more the story. My story got bigger and bigger. It started making me realize, Tracy, this is nothing about you. It's about other people. And so as as I started meeting people, like, I have to share this story because this is one that encourages everybody and the planet.

00:14:42:02 - 00:14:57:09
Tracy Herbert
But I met a lady in Sacramento while I was waiting for the light to turn green, and she just happened to just mention something about, it's nice to ride your bicycle across the city. And I'm like, Well, I'm going to New York City, but okay. And so I really had that gut feeling I need to go talk to her.

00:14:57:15 - 00:15:18:17
Tracy Herbert
So I got off my bicycle and I just went over and start talking to her lovely, lovely lady. She is probably in her early to mid thirties and unfortunately she had a whole lot of extra weight on her body and she's telling me she was embarrassed because she was waiting for her brother to pick her up. She had to walk about three houses down to get home, but she couldn't go that far.

00:15:19:05 - 00:15:36:11
Tracy Herbert
Well, the whole house got to me, came out and I started asking the questions, Could you do this? Could you do that? Everything she said, No, I can't. I finally said, Could you walk to the end of your driveway? And just for a second you could see that glimmer of hope. And she said, I think I can. Well, that's what we needed.

00:15:36:15 - 00:16:00:00
Tracy Herbert
So I told her, watching your driveway rest and walk back and then do that every day, go a little bit further and a little bit further, a little bit further. It's not rocket science, y'all. It's just small steps equals huge changes. And I got a message from her as I was riding my bicycle into New York City, and she said, I just have to let you know, I signed up for my first five k walk.

00:16:00:07 - 00:16:18:12
Tracy Herbert
Okay, 3.1 miles. The same lady you could even walk for three, four or five houses down from the bus stop. And she said, Tracy, what I didn't even realize was not only am I walking all the time, I'm so much healthier, I have more energy, she said. The weight is falling off of me. She said, I'm I've been really changing my diet.

00:16:18:18 - 00:16:40:13
Tracy Herbert
What I'm noticing is when I'm walking more, I want to eat less. And that's and that's exactly what everything is about. My three M formula has the right mindset. Math learned to eat to live, don't live to eat and move. We have to get off our chairs and move more. And she is such a bright example of how anything is possible as long as we start small and do little bitty things.

00:16:40:19 - 00:16:59:10
Tracy Herbert
And I met people along my ride. People were stopping and giving me water, cheering for me. One day in Nebraska, I was sitting, just sitting on the side of the road, resting, and the couple brought me food, a nice lunch to eat. People would stop and give me money, you know, here's some money. You know what? What can we help you with?

00:16:59:15 - 00:17:31:09
Tracy Herbert
You know, I got lost the whole entire time. I could have done lesson $3,500, but I always tell by that 27 miles. Really, it was me. Just drive. You ever have getting lost but it was. It started out about me. Ended up providing so much hope for so many people because I was speaking at hospitals, I was speaking at camps, I was speaking at summer school for young children, you know, and it it just really impacted me because I left Texas thinking, going to California, oh, everybody's in a horrible spot.

00:17:31:14 - 00:17:53:16
Tracy Herbert
You know, everybody's upset with each other. We don't get along. And it ended up saying, no, we get along really, really well because people were out there cheering for me, honking their horns, saying, you've got this, you know, going up those tall, tall mountains and everything else. And it was such a great experience. I'm leaving Reno or heading from Truckee, California, to Reno.

00:17:54:00 - 00:18:13:05
Tracy Herbert
I was always supposed to be on my bicycle for 3 hours that day. Well, I got lost, like I said, all the time. And I'm carrying my bicycle over a mountain because I'm so lost. I had one choice. Either stop the ride or, you know, keep going. So I cycle over huge boulders. I mean, out of water, out of food.

00:18:13:05 - 00:18:17:05
Tracy Herbert
I mean, it's craziest thing. I got back down and got my bicycle start pedaling again.

00:18:18:04 - 00:18:19:00
Jennifer Loehding
You're amazing.

00:18:19:05 - 00:18:51:12
Ad
Entrepreneurs. Are you ready to level up your leadership skills? Tune in now for an exclusive offer designed just for you. This is my did you know 63% of consumers prefer businesses aligned with their values, recognize saying your core values isn't just vital for business growth. It's the bedrock of effective leadership and the gains on the ladder. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or an aspiring creator, identifying your core values is a key step in constructing the framework of a successful leader, enabling you to lead authentically, expand your business and live life on your terms.

00:18:51:15 - 00:18:52:08
Ad
Never settled.

00:18:52:08 - 00:18:58:10
Tracy Herbert
On play. Putting the kettle the flame echo 100 a day, foot on the pedal, no breaks.

00:18:58:19 - 00:19:04:00
Speaker 4
Six, nine, eight on my waiting in line 807.

00:19:04:06 - 00:19:19:14
Ad
Are you ready to access tools to kick start your leadership journey, unlock a treasure trove of insights, and get your free resources at WW dot link tree forward slash Jennifer Loading. Take that crucial first step toward realizing your leadership aspirations and elevate your leadership game today.

00:19:19:23 - 00:19:22:09
Tracy Herbert
Ready to shop.

00:19:22:09 - 00:19:44:12
Jennifer Loehding
What a great story. And you know, it's so interesting when you hear these kinds of stories. And I think it's how a lot of things evolve in our businesses and stuff, how we start out doing things for us. And it sort of kind of becomes about other people. I had a gal on my show a while back that was a she did a world record and completed the 7 seconds summits and it all started because she had gotten in this major car accident.

00:19:44:17 - 00:19:59:11
Jennifer Loehding
I sure that. So she got in a major car accident and she came out of that. And I think one of her kids challenged her like, what are you going to do? I she was almost supposed to die from this car accident. They didn't think she was going to survive, and she did. And so she decided she was going to go climb a mountain.

00:19:59:11 - 00:20:18:09
Jennifer Loehding
I think she ended up doing Mt. Everest. And then that wasn't enough, you know. But she told the story in the episode. This is what I remember from all of this, how she got her kids involved at her school. And they and it started becoming more it wasn't just about her climbing this mountain. They were all following her and tracking her.

00:20:18:09 - 00:20:34:12
Jennifer Loehding
And it really became about she didn't want to let them down. And so it started out it was kind of about her, but then it became bigger and it became about the other people that were being inspired by her, her efforts and her feats and all the things she was going through, the journey of it.

00:20:35:03 - 00:21:01:17
Tracy Herbert
That's exactly right. Well, like I mentioned, I wasn't supposed to have children. I have two healthy kids, but I'm also a grandmother of six. At the time I rode my bike cross-country, I only had four grandkids. But it's my daughter, my youngest daughter, she was the one that was really nervous because my kids grew up watching the horrors of type one diabetes with me, because until we had this better technology that we have now, it was really, really, really tragic and scary for my kids.

00:21:01:22 - 00:21:22:04
Tracy Herbert
So my daughter sat down and wrote me out a contract and she said, You're not going unless you sign this, mom. But she was saying, you know, if your blood sugar drops too low or goes too high, you must stop. If you feel bad, you must stop. And it was her way. I mean, she was already out of college by that time, but it was her way is sharing, you know, you've got to take good care of yourself.

00:21:22:09 - 00:21:40:06
Tracy Herbert
And then she was my biggest supporter. My kids are all great. I love my kids, don't get me wrong. But she was such a strong supporter. But until I could convince her that I'm going to take my kid, you know, we have to take care of ourselves first, just like, you know, just like your, you know, interview with the lady that did the other mountains, Mt. Everest and others.

00:21:40:12 - 00:21:52:14
Tracy Herbert
You know, she also has the probably the personality I have. We're going to go for it, go with it with gusto. But in the back of our minds, what do we do if this happens? So we could make a plan to keep going, but regroup?

00:21:53:01 - 00:22:10:05
Jennifer Loehding
Yes. No, it's good. And it takes a lot of determination. And I think you know, and you know, you got to be preparing. And my husband's an endurance athlete. And so he's done nothing like that. But he's done 100 mile races, which are you know, those are intense in themselves because they're like anywhere from, I think, his shortest race.

00:22:10:05 - 00:22:27:09
Jennifer Loehding
He did 15 hours, his longest in 24 hours. And you just people always ask the question, are you running the whole time? Yeah, pretty much. They're just running. It's kind of like you're buying it. They're just going they might stop to go to the bathroom or eat some, but they just kind of keep going, you know? So it does take a certain amount of dedication, but you also got to be prepared for the what ifs.

00:22:27:09 - 00:22:37:09
Jennifer Loehding
And that takes a certain amount of resiliency in the mindset to be prepared for that. Like you said, carrying your bike over these boulders or whatever, you had to go through, you know.

00:22:37:22 - 00:22:50:18
Tracy Herbert
And we have to expect setbacks, just like in business, just like in health, just like in life. I mean, we all have setbacks, but how are we going to work through those setbacks, which is what I kind of started thinking about before my ride started, you.

00:22:50:18 - 00:22:51:09
Jennifer Loehding
Know, okay.

00:22:51:14 - 00:23:00:00
Tracy Herbert
It's going to be hard. What are you going to think about? And, you know, if I left the Golden Gate Bridge saying, I've got 3527 miles, and so I get to the Brooklyn Bridge.

00:23:00:00 - 00:23:00:07
Jennifer Loehding
Right.

00:23:00:16 - 00:23:19:02
Tracy Herbert
I would have been overwhelmed. But every day, just like we did as kids, I'm going for a bike ride. And I made it fun because again, it's so important whether having the right mindset because you have the right mindset and know something could happen, it probably will along the way. Then we just figure, okay, we'll make will readjust or take a new route.

00:23:19:06 - 00:23:37:21
Tracy Herbert
I, I in Chicago, I was meeting with a large group of people and I got back into my package to my car or my bike and started thinking about things. And I realized I had a message and it was from Dr. Oz's team. And so they wanted me to finish on the ride. Well, I had two choices. Again, it's all about choices.

00:23:38:02 - 00:24:00:01
Tracy Herbert
But I thought, okay, I could either tell them I can't, or I could change my schedule and make it two workouts for them. Because again, my goal is to provide hope for people. So I just slowed down my ride from Chicago back through New York City. I just slowed it down a little bit. It was fine, but it was so well worth it because the message got out even more.

00:24:00:05 - 00:24:12:07
Tracy Herbert
And again, it's not about Tracy Herbert. It's about this grandma who at that time had diabetes for 40 years and what she's doing to improve her life. And she rode a bicycle across the United States.

00:24:12:17 - 00:24:31:22
Jennifer Loehding
This is so fun. Such a great story. And I know you've gotten a peer all over the place. I know we talked before. I think I'd actually sit by the door like I've been speaking everywhere. I'm like all over the place. So would have fun. Just what a fun way to share your story and inspire and give hope to people out there going, you know, whatever they may be going through, that could be a debilitating condition.

00:24:32:08 - 00:24:48:22
Tracy Herbert
That's exactly right. Whatever that is. You know, a lot of people are debilitated just because they're fearful. You know, I'm afraid to take that step. I'm afraid to start that business. I'm afraid for take this new position. You know, it's that's just as devastating as having diabetes or any other disease that.

00:24:48:23 - 00:24:55:12
Jennifer Loehding
Will stop you in your tracks, for sure. So tell us about your books, because I know you've got like several books back there. So tell us a little bit about those.

00:24:55:19 - 00:25:14:11
Tracy Herbert
The first book, like I mentioned, my endocrinologist, who's people who doctors who help people with diabetes, among other things, he's the one that suggested the first book. He said, you've got to you've got to do this. And so I grew up having now we know it was dyslexia back in the sixties you didn't know is dyslexia in early seventies.

00:25:14:11 - 00:25:40:16
Tracy Herbert
But I kept saying I can't I'm not able to read and write well enough. But I had taught myself throughout college as to as an adult. But I just started writing. I just sat down one day, just started writing, and I started realizing, wow, this is really impactful because it helped me realize how am I still alive? And so that's when I really came up with, like I said, my three M formula, my mouth and moved it because that's how I'm still alive.

00:25:40:16 - 00:26:01:14
Tracy Herbert
Today is, by the way, there's three components. And then my second book is Right for Hope, which chronicles my bicycle right across the United States. And then my third book is called Longevity Codes, and it's breaking down the science of how to live a longer, healthier life. And it's I don't want to live a longer life if I'm not healthy.

00:26:01:14 - 00:26:24:20
Tracy Herbert
I don't want to live a longer life if I'm not happy. So it's things that you can start doing right now to improve your health and life. And my husband actually coauthored it with me, which was very interesting because I got to share this story. It he is he's given permission, obviously, but for, I don't know, decades he was overweight and on three different medications not listening.

00:26:25:02 - 00:26:30:00
Tracy Herbert
I don't coach people that don't want to be coached. You know, he didn't have any desire.

00:26:30:05 - 00:26:30:14
Jennifer Loehding
To.

00:26:30:19 - 00:26:50:18
Tracy Herbert
Say that. He didn't have any desire to learn anything. Yeah, did. One day, I guess it's a light bulb went off for him and he woke up and he said, All right, I need help. What do I do? So we just started kind of working on some strategies for him to do. And now 2018, 19 years later, he's still off all this medication and he's not overweight anymore.

00:26:50:18 - 00:27:06:17
Tracy Herbert
You know, we first started bike riding. He could ride a mile, a mile and a half, and now he can go on 40 mile bike rides with me. So it's just when you think you can't or you don't want to, you're not going to change. It's not until it gets bad enough or you start feeling tired or whatever that strategy is.

00:27:06:21 - 00:27:07:17
Tracy Herbert
You got to change.

00:27:08:09 - 00:27:13:22
Jennifer Loehding
That's so good. You said so many things there. I was laughing because I might. Yeah. Spouses are not good for coaching. Yes.

00:27:14:03 - 00:27:14:10
Tracy Herbert
Yes.

00:27:14:21 - 00:27:31:19
Jennifer Loehding
We really like to help people. We just have to reframe from that part because they have to be like open receivers to hear, I'm with you on that one. But I do think, you know, like. Yes. And I said so many good points here really about just starting, you know, and I think so often people try to make huge changes.

00:27:31:19 - 00:27:42:22
Jennifer Loehding
And I always talk about this in the work that I do, that when I'm working with people on the business side of things is something we touch on to the health stuff. And a lot of times I send them off to people that do that, but I feel like we always kind of come back to the same thing.

00:27:42:22 - 00:28:10:14
Jennifer Loehding
These people, they come in and they want to make these big instrumental changes in their life and they take on so much change at one time and a lot of that change is not something that they've been doing their whole life. They haven't been doing it for any period of time. And if you know anything about the whole like, state of learning, we know that it takes years for us to get to a place where a habit that we add in becomes an unconscious, competent thing, like driving our car, brushing our teeth.

00:28:10:14 - 00:28:39:13
Jennifer Loehding
These are things we're so used to doing. But most people come in and they're like, I want to make these big changes. And they they put them in a place where they're not really primed for success. They're just not in a great place for success. And so this whole idea of, you know, really small and instrumental changes, I think are incremental, whatever you want to say, I think are so huge because when we can create these small changes and then we create wins, positions of wins, we build confidence in ourselves and our ability to do more things.

00:28:39:13 - 00:28:51:01
Jennifer Loehding
And that's where you're seeing these, you know, these successes. And I'm sure, you know, as you were training for your bike ride, you were probably doing a lot of these little small incremental change, you know, increases in mileage and all of those things.

00:28:51:12 - 00:29:14:12
Tracy Herbert
But I've done that my whole life with diabetes because, you know, it's there's no it's it's not rocket science. It's just to, you know, do the right things. You need the right foods and get the right movement. I mean, so people always say, how did you train for it? I've been training my whole life. I was an athlete before I was diagnosed, but then I was not allowed to participate in school sports my senior year because of my I was sick.

00:29:14:19 - 00:29:45:20
Tracy Herbert
My daughter back then, they didn't know what they know today. Right. I but the important thing is, though, you know, I don't like people saying, oh, I need to get healthy because I'm going on vacation. I want to lose £20 to go to the beach or my doctor told me I have to lose weight or I have to get healthy, you know, because what it's all about is it doesn't it's got to come from internal like we talked about earlier, but also what's so important is you have to do it for the right reasons and it's not for a specific time and things.

00:29:46:01 - 00:30:02:02
Tracy Herbert
It's I want to live longer so I can play with my great grandkids. I don't want to sit on my rocking chair the rest of my life. You may want to, but do something to prevent you from having to sit on your rocking chair or going into a nursing facility when your age. You know, that's what's so important.

00:30:02:02 - 00:30:12:13
Tracy Herbert
So you don't think about your health as a specific timeframe. You think about for the rest of your life, what am I going to do today to make tomorrow even better and the next day even better?

00:30:13:02 - 00:30:21:22
Jennifer Loehding
That's so good. So I heard someone put it one day and I don't know who this was so funny and, and I actually like this because I kind of say the same thing. He said, I don't want to die of something stupid.

00:30:22:08 - 00:30:26:00
Tracy Herbert
Yes, yes, yes, yes, I because this is me.

00:30:26:00 - 00:30:53:13
Jennifer Loehding
I tell myself that I ought to die because I over eight or eight junky food. You know what I mean? I want. But that's not really it. It's really I want to live. It's a quality of life. We want a quality of life. Right. And that's what I think. And I think what you're hitting on here is it's more about a lifestyle operation versus I'm losing weight to fit in the bathing suit or to go on like I'm going on a cruise next the next month.

00:30:53:19 - 00:31:09:08
Jennifer Loehding
It's just I don't even have it. Like I have no goal for going on the cruise. My whole goal is to have fun and relax. I want to go to the beach. I don't care what I look like, I just want to go. But so that's what we do, right? It's like I'm getting in the Beijing, I'm going on the cruise, I got the big dress, I got to look the part.

00:31:09:08 - 00:31:13:17
Jennifer Loehding
But it's really what you're saying and you're embodying is lifestyle change.

00:31:13:23 - 00:31:30:12
Tracy Herbert
Exactly. Just like my friend that we I we talked about earlier in Sacramento, who could I walk? Could even walk four houses down, three or four or five houses down to her house. She had to wait for her brother and she was mortified. But she didn't do it for any other reason, except she just went to be able to walk home.

00:31:30:19 - 00:31:50:00
Tracy Herbert
And from that it just went, you know, perpetually, just high skyrocketed in her life. She has changed. So I'm glad she didn't say why I want to do it for this reason. Just like going to the beach, you know, because it's not going. You may you may look good if that's what you want. But the problem is it's not going to stay because you haven't learned the consistent behavior.

00:31:50:05 - 00:31:54:02
Tracy Herbert
And that's why you don't want to do it like that. You want to slow and steady wins the race.

00:31:54:16 - 00:32:12:08
Jennifer Loehding
You have got. Well, I love it. I love what you're doing. I'm loving that you're sharing the message, inspiring people and what a testament to embody in this. I think it's so amazing that you didn't let this become who you are, instead took that adversity and made it. You made it your thing like you own took ownership of it.

00:32:12:08 - 00:32:31:08
Jennifer Loehding
I think that I want to say something else like a sales body. You tackle that thing, right? I love it. I want to tell you. Thank you so much. This has been fun. I know you and I could chat forever. Yes, practically. Neighbors, which is maybe we'll get to do lunch or something soon. If even if our audience wants to get in touch with you, maybe they want to pick up your books.

00:32:31:08 - 00:32:36:10
Jennifer Loehding
They want to find out your story more about you. Connect with you. How or where do you want us to send them?

00:32:37:05 - 00:33:01:05
Tracy Herbert
Everybody go to my website. Tracy Herbert dot com. Tracy y hrb r ecom and there's free resources on there and you can get my books. You know, if you can't get my books, I can send you a book. I mean, it's so important that you get healthy, whatever you're struggling with. And I even offer a 45 minute free strategy call, and I don't even sell you anything.

00:33:01:05 - 00:33:17:15
Tracy Herbert
Even at the end, a lot of people say, Oh, it's free. I'll talk to you for 45 minutes. The only thing I sell you is hope that you can. And you, I guarantee you, walk away with three things you can do as soon as you hang up that phone that can help you. That's why it takes me about 45 minutes so I can kind of hear what they're saying.

00:33:18:00 - 00:33:33:22
Tracy Herbert
What do you need? What do you want? And then I kind of start, okay, think about this as do this or think about that. And then you hang up. People always hang up the phone saying, But you're not selling me anything. I said, No, no, you know, this is about you and what do you need? So, yeah, I'm here to help.

00:33:33:22 - 00:33:40:20
Tracy Herbert
That's that's what that's what my calling is, is to help people have hope and be able to outlive what they think they can do.

00:33:41:08 - 00:33:57:23
Jennifer Loehding
So often, Tracy will, we appreciate you. And I know that this is people are going to love this hearing your you know, your story and your inspiring wisdom, all the cool things, the good fuzzy feeling things here. So I want to tell you, thank you so much for sharing with with me and giving us your time, giving the audience time.

00:33:57:23 - 00:34:02:06
Jennifer Loehding
And so you you go, girl, keep doing your thing. Kudos to you.

00:34:02:06 - 00:34:06:04
Tracy Herbert
Thank you so much. We are planning another adventure. More to follow.

00:34:06:18 - 00:34:26:12
Jennifer Loehding
Very cool. Well, you have to keep us posted on that for sure. Let me know so we can put you know, I. I would love to know personally, but also so we can put something out there to, to encourage and kind of cheer you on. And with that, I do want to say to our audience, of course, if you enjoy us, we appreciate you being here and supporting the behind the dreamers and all these amazing guests that come on here.

00:34:26:19 - 00:35:03:18
Jennifer Loehding
Head on over to Apple. Give us a review there. You can also hit that subscribe button on YouTube so we can keep sharing all these fabulous stories. And as I always say to it, live the extraordinary you must start. And every start begins with a decision. You guys take care, be safe, be kind to one another. And we will see you next time.