Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 309 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast!
So, In This episode we get real about food. I think it’s safe to say that is a favorite topic for most of us.
I used to say I’m not that person that’s going to be strict on food, I don’t want to be. I want to live and be able to eat what I want. Which included biscuits and pancakes and sandwiches, cupcakes, pizza, and Mexican food. Eric and I used to eat Mexican once a week which included regular margaritas and lots of chips and salsa, and also pizza once a week (thin crust so it was healthy right?) which would include a beer. On top of that we would eat chinese with all the rice and egg rolls and sugar donut at the end. We would do that once a week. And on Sunday like I talked about it episode 307, we would have pancakes and mimosas. We thought we were being healthy because the other times we would have eggs and toast or oatmeal with brown sugar and dried fruit. Or tacos with no cheese or sour cream just the tortilla and the meat. We thought we were being healthy because we didn’t eat fast food, we didn’t drink cokes (usually, sometimes I would have a root beer instead of a beer with our pizza we would have every week) but we thought we don’t drink juice with all that sugar. We thought we were being healthy because we ate frozen yogurt once a week instead of full on ice cream but I also added the little crumbled peanut butter cups and chocolate chips and chocolate syrup on top. And don’t even get me started on the almost daily milk shake dressed up like a protein shake I was getting at the gym as a reward for my workout. The mocha madness. That was what I thought was healthy. This was our nutrition. I wondered why I was putting on weight. We thought we were healthy because we exercised 3-4 times a week. But I also wondered why I felt tired, grumpy and my joints hurt. We were getting our entertainment and our excitement from eating foods that were literally killing us and we didn’t really know it.
We love to think about food, talk about food, smell food, eat food. Food is kind of an addiction. Especially if you live in America. No snarky comments if you don’t live in America. We know we love food. And we also know it has become a HUGE problem in more than one way. We’re bigger than ever. We’re unhealthier than ever. Our food in a lot of cases doesn’t even constitute as food, it’s designed to look and taste like food but it is not giving any nutrition to our body whatsoever. Some of the ingredients we use are illegal in other countries. Literally illegal. So yeah. The so called “food” that makes up about 60% of the American diet isn’t even food at all.
I can say this without a doubt because I looked up the definition of food. Here it is: any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth.
So if you eat something that is causing your body harm and has no nutritious value at all, it isn’t food. It’s something else. We think that just because the food industry wraps it up and puts it into a grocery store, well it’s food. But food in order to be food has to have nutritious value, ok so then it’s not actually food. And studies show that’s If it’s not actually food, and that’s the majority of what we are eating, how are we still functioning? Well I’m gonna just say it. Barely. Most of us are not even close to functioning at our best, not even close and we don’t realize it because that’s just become the norm.
When I was eating the way I talked about in the beginning of this episode, I can tell you I had headaches all the time, which I would take ibuprofen for a lot. Sometimes I would have a headache because I hadn’t had sugar for an hour or so and my body was craving it and I knew more sugar would fix that headache but only temporarily, so I’d grab a Twix bar to fix it and it would! My body was literally demanding certain foods or it would revolt. I had created a monster that was always hungry. And I didn’t know why when I exercised I was still putting on weight. So I started cutting out things little by little No more pizza, no more regular margaritas no more frozen yogurt no more blueberry pancakes and mimosas. I started cutting things out and it helped a bit but I still felt tired.
And when I had finally had enough I decided to get my bloodwork done with a functional nutritionist Dr Osborne and wow when he came back and told me “You are basically malnourished”. Your cells are not getting nutrition. I realized taking things out that were hurting me was only part of the equation. I had to add whole foods, foods with actual nutrients, actual food back into my diet.
And it’s super confusing if you listen to people who are supposed to be in the know as far as food goes, because they don’t know either.
When you hear trainers tell you that you don’t eat enough. I think that is one of the most confusing things. I used to be super frustrated when I heard that. Eat enough what? They are not saying you don’t eat enough bread or pasta or cheese or energy drinks or protein shakes. But if that’s what you want to hear then you start eating more and we know where that ends up. And look they may have heard that or read it somewhere and they may not even know exactly what that means. They just know, same as you know that something isn’t working. You’re not getting enough something to build muscle or feel good or balance out your weight.
We all want someone to tell us what to eat. But we know what to eat. We just would rather have a quick fix. And Im talking from experience here. I know. I know it takes time to make a big salad every single day but that’s what you need. I know making an omelet or a savory breakfast every day takes time, but that’s how you get nutrition, it’s not from the egg bites and late’ at Starbucks and in a pinch I’ll eat that but I know it’s just causing me not to be hungry for a moment, I don’t eat it thinking Im getting nutrition, because Im not.
So Dr Osborne gave me a 10 week protocol. To which I had to play tricks with my mind about it. I at first said there’s no way Im going to stay on this for 10 weeks, so I told myself I would take it week by week and see, I gave my brain an out, which is maybe not the best way but it worked for me and then a week went by and I started feeling a little better and my tastebuds started to get acclimated to the salads and lean protein and lack of refined sugar. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard for the first 10 days or so but then your body really does start craving healthy food. I don’t eat bread anymore or rice or pizza out or tortillas. I eat a huge salad every day. I eat eggs every day. I will eat an apple and almond butter I eat bacon and sardines. I do have a protein shake after I work out but it’s one I make at home, vegan organic protein with half a banana, frozen zucchini, fresh ginger, spinach and almond or cashew milk. It’s Devine. It is so good. Way better than the milk shake I was getting at the gym. And look, Im not being judgey here, Im being real with you. I love you and want you to feel and look your best. I want you to be living a Wildly successful healthy lifestyle where your thriving, not just surviving. that is definitely possible for each one of us. We just have to wake up and realize we are bombarded with food commercials and food smells and food porn and confusion about what to eat just about every second of the day. The less you allow that in, the less you will be tempted by it. What that means to you, I’m not sure. But…Im very careful about what I let in my brain because if you’re bombarded with cheeseburger or pizza ads, you’re eventually gonna have a cheeseburger or a pizza and like my older sister pointed out they send those ads right about 5:00 in the evening.
We have to realign our ideas of health food. We cannot rely on the food industry or even our medical doctors anymore to tell us what’s healthy. Not when they’re telling us nutrition doesn’t matter and chocolate milk is healthy. Literally they used to have a big stand alone sign at the gym saying to drink chocolate milk for the protein and the health benefits. Do you know how confusing that is for people that aren’t doing their own research? Very! But remember it’s corporations job to make money, not look out for your health. It’s your job to look out for your own health and filter out the things that in your gut that you’re like that doesn’t seem like a healthy choice. If your seeing an ad for it, it probably isn’t. How many ads do you see for salad? How many ads do you see for berries or fish or eggs, you know the whole foods, the ones that will lengthen your life? You’re not seeing ads for those. Next time you see an ad, let it trigger you to say ok not gonna eat that. It’s not fool proof but it would be a good start.
We are our own best dr. And if you’re having problems, I encourage you to find a holistic nutritionist to work with. If that’s not in your budget, follow the good ones on social media. Dr Casey Means, Dr Peter Osbourne, Dr Mark Hyman, Listen to free podcasts, the information is out there.
Because you are your own best Dr. You must Get real with yourself about your diet. Are you eating for nutrition or entertainment? Are you eating real “food” or filler food? Is your body malnourished and that’s why you’re having mood swings and headaches and joint aches? My guess is yes. Because I don’t have headaches anymore, My joints are well on their way to repair and I don’t have huge swings in energy due to carb highs and lows.
My challenge to you today is to simply write down everything you eat for the next three days. Just three days. What percentage of it is processed, filler food and what percentage is whole foods? Studies show the average is 60% processed which is why we are where we are. A good first goal would be to flip that. Try making it 60% whole foods, 40% processed. That is a good goal to start with. So, work in a huge homemade salad for at least one meal every day this week and don’t drink your calories. Just for one week. Stick to black coffee, sparkling water and unsweet tea. See if there’s any improvement in your moods or your headaches or your energy at the very least. It’s not easy, but you’re worth it. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
