She Was Obese, Got Diabetes & Reversed It All at 60 — Then Opened a Gym | Sheila | MOGUL Radio
46m 5s
Sheila Sherman shares her transformative journey from being obese and diabetic to achieving fitness and health. After being diagnosed with diabetes, she realized she had been in denial about her lifestyle. She cut out sugar and carbs, prioritized sleep, stopped late-night eating, and became active. Within a year, she reversed her diabetes and now co-owns Hot Works, a Calgary fitness studio that combines infrared sauna heat with 15-minute high-intensity interval training. Sheila highlights the benefits of detoxification, stress relief, and efficiency. She also discusses the importance of building muscle and flexibility for longevity, especially for women over 50. Her favorite exercises include rowing machines in the sauna (Hot Thunder), hot stretch classes, and dead hangs. Sheila reflects on her parenting journey, admitting she was once a perfectionist who wanted her six children to meet her ideals. However, she learned to accept them unconditionally after realizing her own hypocrisy. She shares a powerful story about accidentally setting her family’s house on fire at age 10. Her parents never scolded her, and the fire department advised keeping her involvement a secret to prevent trauma. This experience taught her the value of unconditional love, which she now applies to her children and her own self-acceptance.
But when I was younger, about 10, I accidentally set the house on fire. [MUSIC] Welcome to MoGa Radio, a platform where we sit with today's innovators, visionaries, creatives, and friends. Join us as we dive into a conversation uncovering their stories, what challenges they face, and what inspires them. Whether you're creative and enthusiast or you're just curious, this is your space to connect and grow. Let's get started. Today, I have with me a workout guru. I have Sheila Sherman. Sheila Sherman, but I'm not a workout guru. What would you go yourself? Just getting started. You said you were just getting started. What did you mean by that? Well, basically, I never was like a sports person. I was never as a younger person, competed in things, or, you know, I played around with stuff. That was it. And then I had six kids. And in the duration of having six kids, I probably did even less movement. And then, yeah, then I was like obese for 20 years. And more recently, diabetes crept in. And so over this last year, I transformed my body and my health by a reverse the diabetes. And I'm happy. That's an inspiring story. Yeah. When you were told, or when you, yeah, when you were told you had diabetes, what was that emotion? Like, what was that feeling? Like, shock, because my mom was diabetic. And she's no longer with us. She passed away. And when she passed away, I was really like, I can't ever get diabetes. So I thought I was living a lifestyle that would prevent me from doing that. But I was really just kind of lying to myself. I realized now, didn't know it before. And so when they told me, first it was pre-diameteries. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like, your nuts. But I went with that. I was like, okay, pre-diameteries, what do I have to do? Started moving, started doing different little things that I wasn't doing. I cut out sugars. I cut out carbs. And I did that. And I still ended up becoming diabetic. And about six months after that, I had diabetic numbers. And then it was like tears. It was really like, what the heck is going on? I don't know what's going on. Only I didn't say heck. But I don't, I'm like, what? And so I did my research and I did what I had to do to change it all around. What was some habit you had to cut off to get to this stage, or you're out now? Every habit. Every habit on the planet. I had to start going to sleep on time, not stay up all night. That was a contributor. Absolutely. Yeah, you got to go to bed. I had to stop waking up in the middle of the night and rating the refrigerator or cabinet or whatever it was and getting gummies or cookies. Or it didn't matter what it was as long as it was just something at three o'clock in the morning. And then I just go back to sleep, had to stop doing that. I had to stop buying pizzas and eating them before I got home so that my family didn't know that I bought a pizza. I had to get moving. I was sedentary, but I didn't know I was sedentary because I didn't really know the definition of sedentary. But sitting on the computer all day long, doing stuff, not getting up and moving, that's called sedentary. So I had to stop doing that. You want more? No, that's impressed. The sleep one, I'm still flabbergasted about that. I didn't know sleep could be a contributor. Yeah, I can't explain all the science right now. I researched it, but you actually can raise your insulin and become insulin resistant because you're not getting the sleep. So if you want to know how that works, you're going to have to look it up because I can't repeat it, but in my head I know. And I started following it and it was it worked. It truly is an inspiring story the way you've just changed, I guess, the course of your life in a year. It was a year. You started hot works. I think this is the first one in Calgary. This is the second one. The second one. Yeah, fitness studio. Who would have thought that I'd be doing this along with my daughter? Yeah, I love the studio. I love this. I love fitness now. I have muscles. I didn't have muscles. I have muscles. If you want me to flex on my will. And I'm showing them off all the time because I'm proud of it. And I never thought it was a thing. Like I knew muscles were a thing, but I never knew that I should have them in a defined and work towards them. But at this age, my message to every woman, this age, that I'm not going to say, but over 50. Over 50 is that you have to build muscle. It's for longevity to live. So now it's about how do I want to live? Do I want to live long? Do I want to live strong? Or it's either going to go up or down. You just don't have a choice. Yeah. Out of all the sonners in here, what are you three favorites? Oh, oh, that's easy. I absolutely love what we call hot thunder. Hot thunder is roaring machines. And they're in the sonners. 125 degrees, 15 minute workout. And I hate it, roaring machines. We have a roaring machine at home. And my husband would go, good, get on the roaring machine. I'm like, absolutely not. It's the worst exercise on the planet. And I love it here. I love it. I believe that's why I have the definition that I have now that I've never ever had, even when I wasn't overweight. And I was thin and I was younger. I've never had this definition of my arms. So that's number one. Number two would be we have hot stretch. I really am also proud of being as flexible as I am, which is also something for longevity. You need that flexibility. And my daughter and I, we have a hypothesis. We don't know if it's true, but we made it up. And that hypothesis is the more flexible you are in your body, the more flexible you are in life. Go with the flow. The more you can flow in your body, the more. It might be true. We kind of made it up. But if it is true, it's true for me because I know people that aren't flexible and they aren't flexible, they're rigid in everything that they do. And I'm very flexible. And so I'm a real flexible. Let's go with the flow. Go with the flow. Yeah, you have that mindset of it would all work out. I do, because it does. It works out however it works out, but still works out. It still works out. It still works out, but. And what's your last one? Oh, my last one. Well, I don't know if it's my favorite yet because I haven't done it. Oh. But I feel like it's going to be my favorite once I do it. And that is hot buns. And hot buns is a bun, a butt workout. And that's where I fall short quite a bit. And I know it's going to hurt. So I haven't done it and I'm resisting it, but at the same time, I'm really like, you got to go for stuff, right? So don't. You just, you know, you got to do it. But I do have a favorite thing now that's not in the sauna. Okay, which is? Which I love that I wouldn't tell everybody about. Is the dead hang? Do you, have you ever done that? Yeah, yeah. On the floor, on your back and like moving opposite legs. No. I'm talking about a bar and then you just hang from the bar. Oh. Yeah. So I guess that's a sign of longevity, like your hand strength. So I have hand strength now. And when I started to do that dead hang, I was. could do it for 10 seconds. And I'm up to 50 seconds. That's almost a minute. And I guess a minute is like pretty good for anybody, right? So my goal is to build up to more like a minute and a half. And it is an indication of your overall health, I guess. That's what they tell me. No, it's good. Dead hangs are good. I heard. Do you do it? Yeah, I can do along. How long? I've never timed it. Okay, we can time it after. We gotta do it. Yeah. You gotta know. Yeah. I do it more to like just stretch out. I don't know what you're talking about. You're talking about dead bugs or whatever that is. You lay on. It's more of a core thing. Lay on your back. And like you're moving opposite limbs straight in the mouth while the other ones are still. Yeah.
And I do more to stretch my back if anything. It's pretty cool. Yeah, definitely. It's good for the shoulders and the ligaments and strengthening those connective tissues. So something good, things about it. Yeah. What about hot works interested you and made you want to open your own gym? All right, so I have a great story for that. Let's get into it. I've had a sauna at home for 20 years. And as I told you, I have six kids. And I also homeschooled my kids. So I had six kids, pretty much 24/7. And the sauna was my happy place. That is where I went. Nobody bothered me. Nobody come around. That was where I went to just regroup, reset, whatever it is. But I used to sit in there and go, I wish I could work out in the sauna. Because when you have six kids, who could just sit? You can't just sit. You got to multitask. You got to do something else. And I wanted to be able to do that. But the sun was our small. I had a two person sauna. And it's small. So I just sat. And then fast forward 20 years later, I literally saw the ad of hot works working out in an infrared sauna, in infrared sauna, which was my idea 20 years ago. So I knew it was for us. Our whole family used it. The kids used it with their sports for recovery. And they had injuries sitting in the sauna. You got a cold, go sit in the sauna. You need to relax, go sit in the sauna. You're working out, go sit in the sauna. And I knew it was a perfect match for us as a family, but I also knew that the benefits that we could bring to Calgary, to people in Calgary, our members, were huge, because I experienced them myself. Yeah. For those who don't know about working out in the sauna, this essentially versus a commercial gym. If you were to sell it to them, just pitch it to them. What would you say about it? OK. I'm not real good at pitching. So I think I would just say that number one, toxins, to detox from the toxins in the world. I'm a real big-- I'm a real big. Everything is toxic, kind of a person. But they're there. I'm not scared of them. There's nothing you could do about it. It's air, it's water, it's wherever it is. And that's why I got my son in the first place, because we need to detox. If we don't detox, it contributes to disease and all that kind of good stuff. So I would tell people-- Good stuff. Oh. I would tell people that they need to detox. I would tell people the relaxation. And then I would tell people, for me, again, that de-stress-- life is stressful, which is also-- can be toxic to the body, right? So you want to get rid of that stress. The other thing is the efficiency. So we do 15-minute hit workouts. You go do that rowing for 15 minutes in the infrared sauna. Then that's all you need. And you will have a 45-minute hit workout. Your body will feel it like that without the soreness. Because then you also have recovery at the same time. So that's what makes us different is having those-- not just exercising out of a sauna. There are places that have saunas. And then you exercise at a gym. And then you go sit in the sauna to relax, which is great. But we don't have a lot of time in life. So let's combine it. And then it makes it more efficient. And then there's sauna places that you don't exercise. You just relax, which is fine. But then you've got to take the time to go and work out, too. So that's kind of-- Yeah, I think it's a really strong competitive advantage. Because average workouts, maybe an hour or 30, if you're really into it two hours versus 15 minutes in the sauna and 15 minutes in the grand scheme of things, it's nothing. So people will come, members will come. And they'll-- I see them walking in the door. And before I know it, they're walking out. Because some people just want to do that. Some people want to do the longer workouts. Some people will do two or three hit workouts, right? Because if you can, if your body can do that, they are tough. They are challenging. But go for the challenge. Do it. Just do it. That's where I'm at right now. We're starting to do it. I'm inviting the team. Also, you're allowed to swear. I know. I did that on purpose. Oh, OK. Just be yourself. Yeah. I know-- actually, I never swore. And then do you want me to tell this story? Yep. So I just had a philosophy of not swearing. I just never swore. And as my kids grew up, everybody was swearing. Like the kids. They would swear. Everybody was swearing with me. And I finally thought, why? I'm the only person that's swearing in this house. And so I finally-- I don't know what I said. But I finally said, what the hell? Or something? And all the kids turned and looked at me. And they were like, mom, did you just swear? And I'm like, well, everybody else is swearing. Why shouldn't I swear? So that's the story. Why did you stop? Why did you not swear in the first place? Oh, you really want to know that? OK. So I was a very-- well, my kids say I was a crazy lady when they were growing up. And they called-- We got into that later. They called me the straight hair Sheila. So I used to-- I used to flat iron my hair. And the straight hair Sheila was crazy. And when I started wearing my hair curly for some reason, I became more-- I don't know-- me. She'll, yeah. Maybe? I don't know. So I got a little less crazy. And I felt like-- not that I think this is crazy. But I felt like it was not a God thing to do, just swear. But not I don't feel like that. Now, I just don't even really think it's a thing. Yeah, that's why. I don't think God can. I think it's-- yeah. I think we made that up. Yeah. We made up the whole swear thing. It's a form of expression. I can. I don't think I've ever gone a day without swearing. I could try, but probably not. Yeah. Because they're frustrating things. And I want to just get out there, you know? Yeah, just don't get frustrated. Who are your kids scared of? The crazy lady. Oh, yeah. I don't know that they were scared of me. I think they-- I just got on their nerves. All right. So I was like-- I was a very confident bordering on cocky mom. You know, like new moms are like, oh, we don't know. I was like, yeah, I know everything. I know how to do these kids. I know everything I'm going to do. And I have my own idea of what I wanted my kids to be. Or grow up to every parent has that. But my idea was perfect. You need to be perfect. You need to do everything I say perfectly, even though I wasn't that kid for my mom. Maybe that's why I really wanted them to be that. But I realized that I really wanted them to be my idea and perfect, perfect in my idea being-- you know, I raised them with biblical principles in the Bible, that kind of a thing. All while being a hypocrite myself and not really realizing it myself. So that sauna, that sauna time where I went into for my kids. So I got a funny story. Because I got to tell a funny story. So I would get in my sauna. And I would put on my gospel music. And I'd be in there. And I'm like crying, crying, crying, and praying, and crying, and praying. And then my son came in, knocked on the door, and I was like, oh, baby, whoa. Don't you ever do this again. I just want to have you to myself. Don't come to me anymore. They've handled it. And he was like, whoa, what's wrong with her? But it was just like, oh, here I am so holy that it was like, stop it, you crazy kids. You had it. And they didn't bother me in the sauna anymore. They stayed up away from me in the sauna. But I just thought I needed them to be what I needed them to be. So that's why they call me crazy Sheila. But I'm really grateful to them for not giving in to me and being who they are. Because I learned to accept them that unconditional love that I believe my mom showed me. And I don't know that I was doing that with them. I loved them. But at the same time, I wasn't appreciative of the nuances of kids growing up and becoming who they are. So I appreciate that they didn't give in to straight hair crazy mom because it taught me a lot. And it taught me to accept. And it taught me that they don't have to be perfect. Why would they have to be perfect? And I wasn't perfect. It showed me a lot of hypocrisy in myself. [BLANK_AUDIO]
And I love them, the way they are, good, bad, ugly, and different, whatever they are, they're, I love them. So yeah. Do you think you're a bringing might have sort of, I guess, trickled down and that's where you wanting them to be quote unquote perfect? Well, it was like, that's a good question. I think it all, no one doesn't come away unscathed from their parents, right? We do our best, I don't blame parents for stuff. We do our best and if there's a parent that society says false, short or was, you know, but I don't like, and it doesn't matter whether I like it or not, I guess, but I don't like when people say, well, look at the parents or the parents were, or I wonder what kind of parents they were, or what, you know what, I've seen perfectly awesome parents have kids that, you know, kind of go astray or whatever, and I've seen horrible parents have awesome kids. So why do we do that? You know, so I don't blame parents for stuff because there's so many different factors that will go into what happens with the kids and even if a parent is to blame for something, maybe that parent still did the best that that parent could do, right? I don't know. I just, I just tend to want to believe that people do their best, even if they're best false short. So anyway, did my parent, I had a wonderful mother, she wasn't perfect, but I just love the mother that I, that God gave me. Everything with the imperfections, with, she had so much that I admired about her that, you know, and we had a rocky relationship. She had so much that I admired about her that I, all that other stuff didn't, didn't matter. What I knew, so, okay, I got another story for you. So what I knew is that my mother loved me, no matter what, and so when I was younger, about 10, I accidentally set the house on fire. And it wasn't a little fire. It was like a big fire. It was a, my brother had to run upstairs and wake up my baby, my younger sister and save her. And they couldn't get back down the stairs because then the stairs were, was on fire. And they had to jump out the window. He had to bust a window, jump out the window on the second floor. It was written up in the newspapers, the local newspaper because my brother saved my sister. He got like this. Who's a hero? Yes, he was a hero. And, and yeah, that was me. And so do you know my mom and dad never once said a negative thing to me about it. They never scolded me. They never, I don't know what they may have felt. They never scolded you. Oh no, they never did. In fact, the fire guy said don't tell people that she did it because she'll be traumatized for life. So just say it was an electrical fire that it just kind of just happened kind of a thing. And I hid behind that lie for almost 10 years. I couldn't talk about it. I couldn't tell anybody. I didn't want to tell anybody that it was me. But after that point, I started slowly fessing up to my siblings and calling them up and saying, you know, guess who set the house on fire? And they were like, what are you talking about? I was like, yeah, that was me. And then I tell them, so it was an accident though. I was playing with candles. And we got a candle maker for Christmas. And I made candles and I was lighting the candles and my parents weren't home. And the candle fell somehow. I must have knocked it over. And it got on the bed. And then it just. You were making on the bed. I don't really remember exactly. I just remember the candle ended up under the bed. So it must have fallen off the shelf and fell under the bed, which was near the shelf. And so that happened. And then I didn't want to get in trouble. So I didn't tell anybody. So I tried to put it out by myself. So I ran to the kitchen. I ran to the kitchen with a couple of water. And I threw it on the. But by the time I came back, it was like that. It's grown in. So I was like, okay, I need a picture of water. So I went to the kitchen and I got like a picture of water. And I came back and it was like the whole bed. I'm like, well, that's not going to work. And then I realized it was out of control. So I told my older brother who ended up saving my sister. And I was like, fire! So fortunately there was someone older than me there that knew what to do. What to do. And but it was out of control. Fana, if I mean, after 10 years the statute of limitations are up, so. Exactly. So yeah. And then my sister, who we saved, we were adults. And she said, so when Sheila set the house on fire and he was like, what are you talking about? And then she was like, you don't know Sheila set the house on fire. And he was like, no, I didn't know Sheila set the house on fire. So even many years after I started festing, I guess I didn't tell him. But yeah, it was traumatizing. Yeah. And I think it's good that the fireman said what he said where, don't tell it because I'm guessing that would have traumatized you more. Right. Yes. That's what he said. I don't know. So there's good and bad with everything. It also made me go. Well then we can lie about stuff. That's so bad. That was a bit. So I actually kind of became a compulsive liar for a while after that. So I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't expect that, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got an inch and a mile. I started lying to my parents and. You have a big family. Six kids like you said. Three grandkids. Almost four. Almost four. Four and about three weeks. Yeah. And make. Congratulations in advance. Thanks. And you're running this business. Yes. Your daughter. Yes. How does that feel? I love it. I love this. This is like a second beginning. I love my kids and I gave them everything and I still do. But I keep a little bit for myself now. And I love the people. I love the members. I love the. I love seeing people love this more than anything. I love the stories that are coming out of our studio already. There are people showing me their muscles. We're flexing together. People are getting those transformations. I had that transformation. And so I love seeing the transformation. And I love talking about myself. So all the members, they're like, "What are you doing now?" And I could tell these stories to them and they'd like appear to be genuinely interested. I think they are, but whether they are or not, they're going to hear it. And yeah, they're just wonderful. This makes me want to cry. It's like a dream life, really a dream life. I mean, you worked hard for it. All those stories shaped who you are today. Yeah. You were there. I love who I am. All the, you know, we should love who we are. And if there's things that we need to change, we should recognize it or we choose to change, recognize it, and then do it, but we don't have to beat ourselves up. I think what that fire thing taught me was to not beat myself up. I was never a. Like, I don't know. People say, "Oh, that was so dumb of me." I don't think I've ever said that in my life. Even with the fire. And, you know, I've never blamed. I just don't do it. So I don't see the point. I just think the thing is to just say, "I fall short." Even when I was crazy straight here at mom, I didn't blame myself. I wasn't like, "Oh, you're a horrible mom." I'm like, "No, I'm a great mom." But I have to clean up some stuff, I have to change and recognize the change. And when I do, I try to do that. And I try to change for the better. And I just. It's nothing wrong with being wrong. It's nothing wrong with falling short. It's nothing wrong because we all are going to do that. So we're not going to be perfect parents. We're not going to be perfect kids. We're not going to be perfect anything. So why beat ourselves up? Yeah. So I've never done it. And I love my life.
love who I am despite shortcomings. I think that's a good philosophy to keep in mind. You have self-awareness, great self-awareness, whereas other people don't have that self-awareness. So they can't even admitting, yes, I was wrong, can be a problem for many people. It was a problem for me, too. Is it? Yeah, I mean, it takes time. You don't just, well, maybe people do. Some people do. Some people do. Some people don't. I was that person that just had to be right. That was part of crazy mom. I just had to be right. My daughter said something to me once and she said after she got old enough to feel like she had a voice. She said, "Mom, you were always right," meaning I thought I was always right. And she said, "So if you were always right, that meant I was always wrong." So to her, she felt like, well, her thoughts are feelings, her whatever, must be wrong if she's always right. So she had to make a choice. And that choice was either mom's right and I'm wrong or either I'm right, her speaking of herself or mom's wrong. So that's the choice she made. I thought this is Sierra. This is Sierra, yes. And I'm so freaking proud of her for that. I am. I'm glad they didn't listen to me. I mean, they listened to me. Yeah. For the most part. Whenever they just chose that that was what they should be doing. But I'm glad that they shaped me. They really did. Interesting. They don't even know it unless they listen to this. Which they would. I can't remember. Have you ever admitted that to them? No. Would you admit it to them? Oh, yeah. I'd say it in a minute now. I couldn't admit it before. But we laugh about it, right? Crazy straight hair mom. We like you better with curly hair kind of thing, you know? And we just laugh about it. We have fun. So if you were to pick one mode of transportation you could take for the rest of your life between boat or ship or whatever or airplanes, jets and whatnot. I'm not doing either. I'm not. I'm just you have to pick one. Okay. Listen. I won. I win. I've won trips and I won a Mediterranean cruise. You got to fly over there. I said, I'm not going. So I didn't go because I don't want to fly over to get on a boat. I'm not doing that. Okay. That's it. I just want it because I wanted to see if I could win it. And I did. So after I won, I was like, no, I'm not going. So I've done that several times for several trips that I've won. And then I just don't go. So if you can't drive there, you're not for I would not fly for 10 years of my life. Okay. So let me tell you why. So I used to be good with flying. And then I was pregnant with my last son. And I think my hormones were all kind of wonky, I think. And we were going to the airport to visit family in Texas from here. And you know, the Bible. So I'd bring the Bible with me on my flights. And I forgot. And I was like, tell them my husband, turn around get the Bible. And he wouldn't because we were going to be late. So now I'm freaked out. And I'm like, I am not getting on the plane with the without my Bible. If if I'm going to go down, I want the Bible in my hand, right? So I cried the whole trip, never experienced that at all, ever, ever. I cried the whole trip there. I had major trauma. And then this was Texas from Calgary. And I told my husband, I'm not getting back on the plane. So he had to rent a car and we had to drive back. I wouldn't get back on the plane. And then I would not fly for 10 years. I just refused. Interesting. So we had to drive everywhere we wanted to go. And so people were like, don't you want to see? I'm like, no, I'll see that when I pass away and I'm floating in there or something. I don't need to see it now. You can ask. You drove back Texas to Calgary? Yes. Four days. Four days. Yeah. And then everywhere. And we had to go back. We had to drive. I wouldn't get on a plane. I was so freaking scared of the plane. So I think the hormonal thing and something went into my DNA or something made me afraid of flying. And the only reason why I got back on the plane is because my brother had passed away and I had to go to Detroit and I wasn't going to drive to Detroit from here. So I got on a plane and it kind of broke it. Best of it. I like it. Fair enough. So until something extreme happens, you know, something extreme and they had to do it. So now if I have to, I'll do it. If I don't have to, I won't. You are. Fair enough. Being keeping fit and just the workout culture and just working out and being active, it takes discipline. What are some habits that you had to unlearn or eradicate just to keep stay on this journey and be treated to this journey? I have to do a whole 180 really because one habit is sleep. So I'm a late night person. I love staying up late. I love sleeping in the day actually. I guess I was the vampire or something. I'm not a vampire. I think that was their deal, right? They would sleep in the day. Yeah, during the day and there. Yeah. So I love sleeping in the day. I used to work at midnight shift. I love staying up at night. It's quiet, you know, I don't know. So I had to, and I'm still struggling with that. I had to switch that around. So for me to get in the bed by 10 o'clock, it has to take like the intention and I still don't always hit it. So I plan every night to go to bed by 10 o'clock and it's usually 10 30 sometimes 11 sometimes 11 30 creeps back in. So that's a big one because it really, really matters for recovery for our health, for regenerating our organs. Everything depends on this. If we don't do it, yeah, it doesn't catch up with us generally right away, earlier in life, but it will catch up with us. So that's a huge one. This is something I was already good at, but it's something I want to mention is don't stress over stuff because stress is huge, right? So then you're going to, if you, there's a certain amount of stress we should have, but if you have too much stress again, that's just going to defeat all your, your purpose, right? Of what you're trying to do, which is to get in shape and to be healthy and to be physically fit and to be, you know, the best you could be. So that's just a little, little added extra. Don't, nothing is worth worth the stress. Nothing, nothing, nothing on this planet worth the stress. You got it? Yeah, I'm one that doesn't, I don't, okay, that's a lot. Tell people that. I don't, but I don't stress as much as the average person. I know. And I hardly, I don't stress at all. If I do feel a little stressed, I go to sleep. Can you sleep on demand? I can. Okay, listen, I can sleep anywhere, anytime, any place. Yeah. On anything. I think that's one of the best talents to ever have. I'm the same way. I can, if I really wanted for this evening, I could. Yeah. And I love that. I could go to sleep right now. Yeah. Many people, I find most people I talk to, they can't, to take their role in bed. Yeah. You, and I know why men of course will do it for a lot of women. I'm finding out that it messes up the, the sleep pattern. So, you know, that's a deeper dive and you have to figure out why. And you could, you know, they say, watch the sun come up and watch the sun go down. That will help. And, you know, throw some essential oils on you and don't scroll on your phone. That kind of thing. So just do what you got to do. Yeah. Figure it out. Yeah. I'm a big on the don't scroll before bed. Yeah. Yeah. But I, some people say you can work out, then go to bed after it, because you'd be tired. But I find you just have a lot of energy after working out. So it's hard to sleep. I don't know if it's the same for you. Yeah. I don't work out that much. I guess fan of it's 15 minutes. But I want to, I want to do even more. I want to be, I choose to, don't say want if you want something you're in a state of lack. Yeah. So I choose to develop my body into an extremely physically fit person. Would you ever do like a marathon or high rocks? Yes. I would. Maybe not a marathon because running is not that great for women anymore. Oh, interesting. After a certain age. It's so much cortisol and yeah, that kind of thing. So it's a hormonal thing. But something
that involves strength and, you know, that kind of thing. Muscles, muscle work. Yeah, I think you'd love a hierarchy. Yeah, I think I would do actually. Yeah, yeah. I would love to do what I wouldn't try. Is like those American ninja things, like where you need that stuff, I would love to do that kind of stuff. I would love it. But I don't, I won't try out for that. Why not? I don't know, maybe I will. Yeah. Maybe I will. Why not? You might as well, what's the, there's no harm. Would you rather be strong or be flexible? You can have both. Strong. Would you never go in the sauna again or never work out again? Never go in workout. Never workout again. Really? You pick the sauna over. I pick the sauna. So it's more, I guess it's more beneficial. Fair. Yeah. I could stretch in the sauna. Fire. Would you be straight head Sheila for 24 hours or have someone tell you what to do for 24 hours? It depends on what they're telling me what to do. No, you can't pick one. We're not diving deep. Okay. I've gotten rid of straight hair, Sheila. I'm not doing her anymore. Yeah, you could tell me what it doesn't mean I'm going to do it. No, you got to tell me. Fair. No. Would you expand hall works or expand your family? Would you rather expand hall works or expand? Hot works. It's a clarifying grandkids. Grandkids. That's what. Oh. Hot works. Fair enough. Would you rather get perfect sleep every night or never stress at all? Perfect sleep every night because then you will never stress. It leads to that. Hmm. Kill two birds or one stall. Multi-task. Would you rather eat a plate of only carbs or fly on a plane? Fly on a plane. Oh. Nighty-ing carbs anymore. Interesting. No, it'll kill me. It will. They'll kill me. Okay. Fair. I'm not saying that, kill me too, but I think I got a better chance of living. The plane. Not to be morbid or anything. The plane will kill you faster. And that's better. I think that's a worse. I personally, I think that's better. Oh. Yeah, I don't know. I've never done either. I've never died before. I don't know. Do you think we're coming to the tail end of things? Yeah. Yeah. When focused on health and wellness in general. They're always very focused on the physical. How important is the mental? Oh, gosh. The mental is huge, but I believe they go together. So I know that when people have some type of mental stress, lifting weights actually helps with that. So people need to lift weights and then lifting weights will then help with your muscle development. And then muscle development, like who knew? I didn't know. Muscle development builds your immune system. Muscle development, skeletal muscle helps older people from falling down and breaking stuff. And it also helps with keeping your sugar levels into. It's not about the looks, but the looks tell you that you're doing something beneficial for your body. Now of course, people can go overboard and whatever that might look like for some people. And they only focus on that. But I think the mental, I don't think you have good mental health without good physical health. And I think you can have poor mental health if you have good physical health, but you need but that good physical health can help you with the mental health. They go together, they go together. And that looks, you know, it's not bad. It's not bad to want to look good, right? We kind of made it be bad in society to want to look good. Like we're just going to, no, I think I look good and I'm glad I look good. And I don't need anybody. Look at me. I have a husband. We've been married 40 years. So I don't need to look good for anybody else. But I look good. I love that confidence. Yeah. Well, at the end of things, this last question, it's the mogul box. It called the mogul box. For new covers to your gym, what to, would you recommend they definitely try out to fall in love with this new? Oh, don't try the rowing machine. Don't do the rowing machine. Everybody gets mad at, no, I'm joking. People don't care for the rowing machine at first because it is difficult. I would say the two things are stretch, come in for a nice, relaxing stretch. And then if you like hot yoga hot Pilates, I know you said too, but I talk a lot. Is that do something that you're familiar with? Do something you're familiar with, hot Pilates, cycling, do whatever you're familiar with and that you're comfortable with and then branch out from that. Okay. Well, thank you for sitting with us. Sheila, we appreciate you. That's Sheila, everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Sheila Sherman reversed type 2 diabetes and obesity in one year through lifestyle changes.
She overcame unhealthy habits like late-night eating, poor sleep, and sedentary behavior.
She co-founded Hot Works, a fitness studio combining infrared sauna with 15-minute HIIT workouts.
Sheila emphasizes building muscle and flexibility for longevity, especially for women over 5
She recounts accidentally setting her house on fire at age 10, but her parents never blamed her, teaching her unconditional love.
Summary:
Sheila Sherman shares her transformative journey from being obese and diabetic to achieving fitness and health. After being diagnosed with diabetes, she realized she had been in denial about her lifestyle. She cut out sugar and carbs, prioritized sleep, stopped late-night eating, and became active.
Within a year, she reversed her diabetes and now co-owns Hot Works, a Calgary fitness studio that combines infrared sauna heat with 15-minute high-intensity interval training. Sheila highlights the benefits of detoxification, stress relief, and efficiency. She also discusses the importance of building muscle and flexibility for longevity, especially for women over 50.
Her favorite exercises include rowing machines in the sauna (Hot Thunder), hot stretch classes, and dead hangs. Sheila reflects on her parenting journey, admitting she was once a perfectionist who wanted her six children to meet her ideals. However, she learned to accept them unconditionally after realizing her own hypocrisy.
She shares a powerful story about accidentally setting her family’s house on fire at age 10. Her parents never scolded her, and the fire department advised keeping her involvement a secret to prevent trauma. This experience taught her the value of unconditional love, which she now applies to her children and her own self-acceptance.
FAQs
She transformed her health over a year by cutting out sugars and carbs, improving her sleep, stopping late-night eating, and becoming more active.
She stopped staying up late, eating in the middle of the night, buying and eating pizzas secretly, and being sedentary on the computer all day.
She explains that lack of sleep can raise insulin levels and cause insulin resistance, though she recommends looking up the science for details.
Her favorites are Hot Thunder (rowing machines in 125-degree sauna for 15 minutes), Hot Stretch for flexibility, and she anticipates Hot Buns (a butt workout) will become a favorite.
Dead hangs improve hand strength and are a sign of longevity and overall health; she increased her hang time from 10 to 50 seconds.
She had a sauna at home for 20 years and wished she could work out in it. When she saw an ad for infrared sauna workouts, she knew it was a perfect fit for her family and wanted to bring the benefits to Calgary.
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