Joe Dunaway 0:02

Welcome to the VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory. One story at a time. What is up? Thank you for joining us today as we explore our latest purpose-driven journey, Beyond the Grind, where we learn about the optimization pivot, how to stop punishing your body for corporate performance, the truth about eat less, move more myth for women over 40, and the tactical root cause methodology required to sustain high-level leadership without sacrificing your health. We treat our business like high-performance machines, but we treat our bodies like tanks we can just run on empty. We're told that if we just push harder, count more calories, and train longer, the results will come. But what happens when the math stops working? Today's guest knows exactly what it's like to manage life or death trauma for others while being unable to save herself from her own silent health crisis. The Sarah Gibson. She made a comment and we immediately connected from there. She's a uniquely high-impact guest. Her background as a trauma emergency medicine professional gives her immense credibility. But her personal story of breaking the system to heal herself is what makes her relatable to our audience of high-performing leaders. She understands the CEO mindset of pushing the body to get results and is the perfect guide to help our listeners transition from survival mode to optimized vitality. Today we are exploring biological leadership. How do we stop settling for normal lab results and start optimizing for true peak vitality? As always, we'll filter Sarah's journey through the Vici pillars faith, family, fitness, and of course finance. Sarah, from perfect strangers before a TikTok post to podcasting about helping people live healthier, welcome to the show.

Sarah Gibson 2:35

Thank you so much for having me.

Joe Dunaway 2:36

Appreciate it. Absolutely. So let's jump right in. You spent 20 years in high-stakes, split second world of trauma and emergency medicine. You were used to solving complex problems instantly. Take us back to that 2 a.m. moment in the bathroom when you were 60 pounds overweight, doing everything right, and the system failed you. What was the internal turning point where you stopped being a patient and started being an investigator of your own biology?

Sarah Gibson 3:05

Yeah, great question. So the biggest thing is I've always been an overachiever type A personality. I was a triple major in college. I was the president of the class in my master's degree program. I had four children in four years. And then of course I was working in high-intensity medicine, night shifts, et cetera. And I got to a point where I was a college athlete as well. So all of the things that I had done in my 20s to maintain my weight and my health just started getting less and less effective. And I became so much busier that I just kind of let my health go to the side. It was, I was in survival mode at that point. And I woke up and I was like, okay, I am 60 pounds heavier. I got to lock in. And so I went to my doctor. I, it wasn't just the weight. I didn't feel well. I didn't have energy. I couldn't sleep because my wake sleep cycles were disrupted. Um, plus having four small children, my hormones were all over the place. So I went to my doctor and he said, Oh, your labs are fine. This is just part of getting older. You're just a stressed-out working mom, right? And so I did all of the things that I knew what to do. Um, I trained and ran a full marathon, 26.2 miles. It took me eight months to do it. And it was a great accomplishment. But even at 60 pounds overweight, I only lost a few pounds. And then I thought, okay, yeah, this is a discipline problem. I have to lock in even more. So I did a medically supervised 17-day fast, which was nothing but water and electrolyte salts, to try and get autophagy going and to manage inflammation. And at the end of that 17 days, no broth, no protein drinks, no nothing. I had only lost three pounds. And that was the point where I thought, okay, there is something else going on. My labs can't just be normal because there's no way for me to exercise more than marathon training. And there's no way for me to eat less than water, right? And so I was at an impasse at that point. And I thought, okay, one of two things is going to happen. I'm 35 years old. I can either accept that this is my new normal of brain fog, exhaustion, being overweight, like tanking my self-confidence, or I can do what I do best and dive into the research and figure out what's actually happening. So at that point, it took me six years. I read every journal article I could get my hands on. I went and spoke with specialists and found out that at the age of 35, especially high-performing people, your hormones start to change and shift. And it was something that the medical, traditional medical system had completely aborted for the last 20 years, talking about perimenopause and menopause. And that it wasn't just about those sex hormone changes, but that how it impacted every metabolic system within your entire body. So your thyroid, your insulin resistance, your adrenal glands, and your cortisol dysregulation, even vitamin D, which is a huge metabolic regulator. And so once I figured out what the science said, I retested my own labs. I had all five of those imbalances, and I was able to treat the root cause, you know, using some functional medicine combined with traditional medicine. And in eight months, I dropped 60 pounds. I started sleeping through the night. I was thinking more clearly. I felt like I was back to my old self. And so it was at that point that I said, okay, I'm going to quit traditional medicine because I've spent 20 years and I needed help at the worst time in my life, and I couldn't find anyone to help me. So I'm going to open up my own medical practice and practice medicine the way that I needed to be treated, um, in a way that does whole person medicine, doesn't accept that your labs are normal even when you feel terrible, uses some advanced techniques. And I did that. And within two weeks, there was an eight-month waiting period to meet with me just for a free consult. And so I knew that I had to start and build a business. And so that's what I've spent the last four years doing.

Joe Dunaway 7:06

That's amazing. I love that preventative maintenance root cause approach to I actually have a business past in uh plant-based food. When plant-based was getting big, I still believe to this day, like that with good healthy meat is a better diet because it definitely addresses more of the root cause of our food system issues. Um, but I met some really incredible people during that journey that have opened my eyes to, you know, the the medical practice is about fixing something that's already wrong, not fixing something before it goes wrong. So I can really appreciate um addressing that. And then for uh our high-performing women or men listening, uh, the idea of eating more and exercising less sounds counterintuitive. It sounds like failure, right? How do you shift a leader's mindset from punishing the body to nourishing the body for a better ROI of their energy?

Sarah Gibson 8:06

It's just about working smarter and not working harder. So it's the things that maybe worked in your 20s don't necessarily work in your 30s, 40s, and 50s. And in our 40s and 50s, we're training for longevity, we're training for performance, and we're training for aging. Um, I love to say that traditional medicine is in and healthcare within the US is the exact same as car insurance. I've been paying car insurance for ever since I was 16 years old, right? For the last 30 plus years. And not once has it gotten me a better vehicle. If I want a car that's not going to break down on the side of the road, that's gonna reliably get me places safely, you know, protect my children at 2 a.m., um, I need to invest in a reliable vehicle. And health insurance is the same way. Traditional medicine is set up to give you medications after you're sick, after you're diseased, put you on blood pressure medication or diabetic medications. It's not there to optimize your body. It doesn't optimize your nutrition, your fitness. And so we have to take that into our own hands. But as high performers, you don't have time to spend five hours a day in the gym. Or if you do, then you're sacrificing something else, especially if you're running a company and a household and everything else that is demanding within your life. So it really comes down to personalization. What does your body composition look like? What is your lifestyle like? Do you love to meal prep, hate to meal prep? Do you eat out? Do you travel? Are you a night shift worker? And then just reverse engineering from where your goals are and just designing a plan that's just smarter based on your own biology and where you are in life.

Joe Dunaway 9:46

It makes total sense. And what are the hidden hormonal markers that most executives are ignoring while they focus solely on calorie counting?

Sarah Gibson 9:56

I mean, the big ones are the sex hormones, low testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone. Um, there are so many benefits of all three of those hormones beyond just weight management and feeling good. It's also cardiovascular protection, protecting against osteoporosis and protecting against multiple different types of cancers. But beyond that, if someone has been told you can't use hormone replacement therapy, or there are a lot of providers that won't prescribe testosterone therapy to women because it's not FDA approved, right? And so beyond that, you have really four other metabolic markers you can look at. Vitamin D is probably the easiest one because it's a simple blood test. In traditional medicine, we say it's normal if your lab is 30 to 100. But if you look at all of the literature and the research and you want mood regulation, you want decreased inflammation, cardiovascular protection, osteoporosis protection, your levels have to be at least 60 to 80. And so when you go to your doctor and it's at 32 and you feel terrible and you're very inflamed every single day, they say, oh, it's normal, there's nothing to do, which is completely false and incorrect. So we got to get you up and optimize that one. So that's just the easiest one. Um, thyroid function, metabolic dysregulation with insulin resistance, prediabetes and diabetes. Um, and then for high performers, that cortisol response. Are your adrenal glands overproducing? Are you burning yourself out? Is it impacting how clearly you can think and how well you sleep at night? So those are just some of the markers. And it doesn't take complicated testing. It's literally a simple lab slip that you send off, you know, go to any outpatient facility. It's covered by insurance. Just have to pair it with someone who knows how to read your symptoms and your labs together.

Joe Dunaway 11:41

Yeah, it's crazy how I don't want to say brainwashed, just uneducated so many of us are on our own bodies and what what's normal, because it's normal is not normal anymore. Um, and for those the high functioning people, right? Like in the finance pillar, we focus on compounding interests and asset allocation. You view health the same way. How does one's metabolism function as a financial asset for a career?

Sarah Gibson 12:10

I mean, pretty easily. If your metabolic function is low and your energy is low, or you have brain fog and difficulty concentration, your output is going to suffer. So I've worked with tons of high performers that say, you know, my health is just a disaster. I can't think clearly, I can't get up early in the morning, I'm not as motivated as I used to be. It increases it impacts your productivity significantly. So I've had professionals that we've, you know, healed their body, got them back to feeling well, and they've said, I lost at least a million dollars last year in productivity. It's just one of those things where if you don't feel well, you don't perform well. And you can't push your body past that. You can't starve through that, can't work hours and hours at the gym, makes you more exhausted and takes up all that creative space.

Joe Dunaway 13:02

What is the cost of biological bankruptcy, we'll call it, on a founder's ability to make high-level decisions?

Sarah Gibson 13:10

I mean, I don't think that you can put a cost on it. It's just a huge detriment. Um, you know, when we finally get to our 40s and 50s, we have all of that experience, life experience, business experience. And you have to be able to lead as a leader. You don't have to be in your day-to-day. You know, that's part of leading an organization. But you have to be able to pivot quickly and make solid decisions. And if you can't think clearly, if you can't show up with energy, you're you have clouded judgment and clouded thinking, and your business's ability to grow is significantly stunted.

Joe Dunaway 13:46

So and I always like to highlight there's a mental health aspect too of not being healthy, not working out, not eating right too. So it's hard to actually keep up with a high performing business if you're not high performing as well. Um, let's shift back over to fitness then. In the fitness pillar, you advocate for training that aligns with your hormonal health rather than marathon level punishment. How can you, how can a busy executive optimize their fitness in under 45 minutes a day to actually reduce cortisol rather than spiking it?

Sarah Gibson 14:21

Well, things that spike cortisol or are going to be long, prolonged runs, hit intensity classes that are longer than I say 30 minutes for women, 40 minutes for men. Um, those are going to, of course, give you that adrenaline rush. But if your adrenal glands are already burned out, it just makes the whole issue worse. And so it's strategic movements, you know, lifting for your muscle type, um, you know, body recomposition training, and then just moving. So even gentle movements like walking, yoga, things that are going to help with the mental health in addition to then that strength training as well.

Joe Dunaway 14:58

I can't say enough. Walking is so underrated. And I think that's the biggest problem with the hustle and grind culture is if it doesn't hurt, people don't think it works, right? I see so many people burn themselves out and they go hard on the treadmill. They go hard after not doing something and they get hurt or they don't get the results. Something as simple as walking every single day or at least uh several times a week, it may seem like it's not doing a lot, but it's doing so much, especially for uh a culture that's so sedentary, right? It gets you outside, it gets you around nature, it gets your blood flowing. And from a mental health standpoint, it's just it just helps you think through things. I mean, I can't any day that I don't convert on my you know 6 a.m. walk, like I feel the impact of that. If positively, if I do it, negatively I don't. So um I love that you mentioned walks. I can't say enough about walks. Um all right, let's jump into the uh family pillar. You are the mother of four and a medical professional. In the family pillar, how was reclaiming your health changed your capacity to be present at home?

Sarah Gibson 16:14

Yeah, uh this is a hard, hard one just because it's it brings up a lot of emotions. Um, so I had four children in four years, and which means I wasn't, I didn't have a baby turn one without already being three to six months pregnant with the next one until my youngest was one year old. And so it was a wild ride. It did took a huge toll on my body. But again, I'm a very intense person and I wanted them to be close in age and and they are best buddies, you know. I mean, they're 16 through 20 right now, and they are their own support system. And so um, you know, pouring into them and raising them has always been my greatest joy. I love being with them. Um, but when they were younger, you know, being 60 pounds overweight and nursing and being exhausted, like they we would show up to church together and they all looked so cute and their like dresses and their hair done and their little outfits. And I looked like I just rolled out of bed, no makeup, you know, sloppy clothes on because I was overweight. I didn't have anything nice to wear. And I didn't, I didn't want to buy larger clothes. It was just, I was just purely surviving. And so I feel like during those years, I don't have photos with my kids. I have photos of my kids, but I would hide behind them in photographs on vacation. I'd be like, no, no, no, let's let me just get a picture with you guys. Um, I would see myself in a photo and I'd try to angle it a certain way so that you couldn't tell how large my face was. I just didn't feel very confident because I didn't recognize myself. You know, this wasn't the person that I'd knew known my whole life. And so, you know, throw on top of that exhaustion and just trying to survive day to day, it was very, very difficult for me to show up as a mom that, you know, teaches them healthy habits and and helps them eat three square meals a day that are and snacks that are well balanced and not junk food and things like that. And I really did focus on that for them. I think the struggle for me was I felt like a fraud because as a medical provider and as a mom trying to, you know, teach my kids certain habits and and help them, you know, even my patients, you know, help them get healthier. At that point, I thought I I can't even get healthy myself. You know, how am I supposed to educate others and help others and raise these children? And so for me, focusing on my health exponentially helped me increase my, you know, my being there for my children and, you know, practicing what I preached because I knew what the right things were to do. Because I wasn't overweight for a lack of information or a lack of trying. I was overweight because I didn't know what my body personally needed. And it's different for women and men, um, which is really hard because then your spouse doesn't quite understand, you know, like I see you exercising. Are you hiding and just eating like nachos every night? Like, I don't understand why you're you should be losing the weight. And and I just couldn't.

Joe Dunaway 19:21

So yeah, it's very complex and dynamic. And I'm glad that you're able to peel back the layers and and customize these plans for people because we're all different. Now, how does feeling yourself again impact the culture you build within your own family?

Sarah Gibson 19:38

Oh, it's great. I mean, I my kids and I go out all the time. We experience life, really, is the big thing. We travel, we spent last summer a couple of weeks in London. Um, we just go on adventures together. And and I have so many more photos of them now of us just living. I don't think about how I'm gonna look in a photo. I don't think about, you know, having to put on my makeup and do my hair. I'm like, hey, let's go out hiking. And yeah, let's snap a photo because it's me just living in real time. And that's a huge release off of your shoulders. I just feel like myself again. And my kids are, you know, in their 20s now. And I still feel like I'm in my 20s. So now hanging out with them, I just feel like I'm one of them, even though they remind me all the time how cringe I am. And I'm not, I'm not as cool as they are. Um, but in general, I just am able to show up as like just a young, vibrant version of myself. And it's just so much more enjoyable.

Joe Dunaway 20:42

Yeah, it's good to be able to keep up with them. It's I I've I've got a couple older kids as well, 17 and 15. And it's good to be able to go do CrossFit with them, go on a hike. And it's like they have, I I I can practice what I preach, right? And they can, they, they know that I'm not a phony, that I that what I'm saying is actually true. And, you know, they have other people that I bring them around in those environments that can attest to that too, like, you know, listen to your dad, or because you know, their kids don't listen to us. So it's always good that they hear it from somebody else that's not related to them. Um, so yeah, uh it's it's good to be able to keep up with them for as long as we can. Um, now let's let's circle back to uh the faith pillar. You work in functional medicine, which is all about the body's innate ability to heal. Where does your faith or sense of purpose play into that work you do?

Sarah Gibson 21:34

I mean, it's pretty incredible what the human body is designed to do. And so it's very difficult not to have faith and recognize that there's something way beyond us that has put this together. So, I mean, I think, you know, I don't talk about it with my patients and my team necessarily. Um, but the biggest thing is when you give your body the right tools that it needs, it can heal itself. It can reverse some of these chronic diseases. Your body wants to be healthy and it thrives by giving you energy and allowing you to sleep through the night and, you know, helping with mood and stability. And so I think, you know, when it comes to faith, I do believe that things happen for a reason. And I do believe in intentionality. And so, you know, with the trajectory of my life, I've been through some really, really difficult things. But through all of those difficult things, I've learned resilience. And I've also been able to have these beautiful outcomes with my family, with my patients. And so, um, you know, just being able to, as a leader, know that ultimately I'm not the one in charge, that there's a, you know, a design behind the curtain. And my role is just to use all my capacities, help people, help raise wonderful humans, and then just have faith.

Joe Dunaway 22:58

So yeah, it definitely helps in times to know that you're not walking alone in with these issues. And that, you know, I I've been through a lot and our audience knows this. Uh, you know, I like my story similar to like the story of Joseph, that like for me, like I had to go through those things to be the version of myself, to help my family and help my clients and help my team be the best version of themselves. So if that's what it took, and you know, now I can go through when I when I deal with adversity, like it's I almost chuckle, I smile. I'm like, okay, all right. Noted. Like, what what what am I learning here? What do I need to learn here? You know, like we'll make it through this. Um, and you know, what's what's the greater story here in the lesson? So um, yeah, faith has been a big part of uh me being able to regulate and and uh be the best version of myself. Um, so great. We are at the rapid fire section of the podcast. So uh tie your shoes. We're going for a run here. Um uh what is the one lab test every high performer should ask their doctor for today?

Sarah Gibson 24:13

Oh, you're only giving me one lab test. I'm going to say vitamin D. It's the easiest to fix and it makes the biggest impact when it's optimized.

Joe Dunaway 24:22

And being a northeasterner, you and I, it vitamin D is definitely something that we all talk about here in the Northeast, and I'm sure out in the Pacific uh Northwest as well. Um, what's one daily habit that moves the needle more than any supplement?

Sarah Gibson 24:39

Oh, well, you kind of already gave it away, but the morning walking outside, just having that time of solitude, starting the day on the right way, and uh clearing my head for the day.

Joe Dunaway 24:50

Yeah. More gets done in that conversation with myself and God in that hour that I get all day. And it really sets the tone. Awesome. Um, so we uh also say Vici also stands for victory. It's one of our methodologies internally that we use, the Vici path to victory. What does victory look like for Sarah Gibson in 2026?

Sarah Gibson 25:14

Resilience. I mean, with growing a business, uh, there's been a lot of different pivots. And so um just that relentless pursuit of, okay, I've just figured out one more way of something not working. What's the next one? Maybe this one will be the one to work. So it's just persistence and resilience and not giving up. Um, and then also focusing on, you know, the raising good humans, on investing in my children every single day, spending time with them one-on-one and actually talking to them and continuing just to foster an environment of I'm not judging you, let's just have an open conversation, what's really going on, so that I can help walk alongside them in life.

Joe Dunaway 25:54

Well put. Well put. Just want to recap for our audience. You don't have to choose between your health and your success. Stop punishing, start optimizing, intrigue your biology like the ultimate business asset. If you're ready to stop settling for normal, please visit vitalityhealthmatrix.com to apply for a consult or check out Sarah's book, Empowered Weight Loss. You can all of also chat with Sarah on her many social handles, which are in the show notes, but she prefers to uh work through her Instagram, uh Sarah Gibson Coaching. Sarah, any uh final thoughts for our guests?

Sarah Gibson 26:37

No, feel free to reach out. No case is too complicated. And um, I love to meet people right where they are and just help them live their best life possible.

Joe Dunaway 26:47

So that's beautiful. Sarah, thank you so much for your time, your energy, and really breaking things down so that we can understand it on a more complex level. To our guests, reclaim your energy, master your metabolism, and lead from a place of strength. We'll see you on the next episode of the VICI Code. Thanks for tuning in to the VICI Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels a fight, and your comeback is already in progress.