May 13, 2025 • 44 mins
In this transformative episode of the Confident Sober Women podcast, Dr. Ginny Trierweiler unveils a deeply personal and scientifically-backed journey of health transformation that will challenge everything you thought you knew about dieting, nutrition, and wellness.
Dr. Trierweiler shares her powerful personal story of hitting rock bottom at 55 - struggling with chronic pain, pre-diabetes, and feeling trapped in a body that was rapidly deteriorating. Her pivotal moment came while working in nursing homes, witnessing individuals in their 60s and 70s losing their independence.
Breaking the Dieting Cycle
- Why traditional calorie-cutting approaches are actually making metabolic health WORSE
- How 70% of food in our environment is processed and destructive to our health
- The critical difference between calories and nutrients
- Why intuitive eating can be dangerous for those struggling with health challenges
Emotional and Physical Transformation
Dr. Trierweiler candidly discusses:
- Overcoming alcohol dependency
- Dealing with chronic pain through nutrition
- Reconnecting with her body's true needs
- The emotional journey of healing beyond just physical symptoms
Revolutionary Nutrition Principles
Dr. Trierweiler breaks down her evidence-based approach to nutrition, revealing:
- Abundant Nutritious Eating: Contrary to restrictive diets, she advocates eating MORE of the right foods
- Nutrient Density Over Calorie Counting: Understanding how what you eat matters more than how much
- Holistic Healing: Addressing gut health, hormones, and cellular nutrition
- Sustainable Lifestyle Changes: Creating a approach that feels liberating, not restrictive
Mindset Shifts for Lasting Change
- Breaking free from food and alcohol addiction
- Understanding the dopamine vs. serotonin response to food
- Creating positive emotions around healthy habits
- Treating nutrition as self-care, not punishment
Connect:
- Book Waitlist: Slender for Good Book Waitlist
- Website: Slender for Good
- Facebook: Ginny Trierweiler
- LinkedIn: Ginny Trierweiler
- Instagram: @drginnytrierweiler
Support the show
Oh, and by the way, if you didn’t know, my remote Neurofeedback Therapy program is up and running. Learn more here!
If you aren't part of the Confident Sober Women Facebook group, it's a great place to be. There are over a thousand other sober women there building lives they don't want to escape from. Come on over and join us.
And if you haven't read my memoir, grab a copy today and maybe a second one for a friend. There is so much hope in recovery, and I shared my story so raw and vulnerable so that others would know they aren't alone and that there is a way to live well, manage relationships, parent your kids, and have a healthy body, all while staying sober. Grab a copy of Recovering in Recovery: The Life-Changing Joy of Sobriety wherever books are sold.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hey there, sober ladies.
Thank you so much for joiningme today for the hey there,
sober ladies.
Thanks for joining me today forthe Confident Sober Women
podcast.
My name is Shelby, I am thehost of the show and today we
have an incredible conversationwith Dr Ginny Trio-Weller.
She is an amazing woman inlong-term recovery.
She's the author of a new bookcalled Slender for Good After 50
(00:24):
, eating More, stress Less andNever Diet Again, and I can tell
you that our conversation ispretty intense.
We get into some reallyinteresting conversation about
some of the old ways of thinkingwhen it comes to weight loss,
some of the models around kindof calories and eating less, and
(00:46):
I actually made some statementsbased on the things that I just
kind of know from that and shechallenged me on that.
You'll hear some of that in ourconversation and what I wish I
would have said in the middle ofour conversation about that was
that what we know today and ifyou've watched the documentary
Fed Up which, if you haven't, Irecommend it that a calorie is
not a calorie.
(01:07):
So, like, 100 calories ofalmonds and 100 calories of
Coca-Cola do not process thesame way in your body, so when
you eat almonds you have to chewthem, you're activating your
complete digestive system.
There's fiber and othernutrients that are going to take
a long time for your stomach tobreak down, and when you drink
(01:29):
100 calories of Coca Cola, thatjust hits your stomach in a
completely different way andaccesses the parts of the brain
that are related to cravings andincreases your insulin levels
because of lack of fiber.
So what we know from justscience is that you know, the
same calories are not the sameanymore, and so that old kind of
(01:52):
way that I kind of grew up withand although I do believe that
fundamentally, you know, most ofthe people would still say in
order to lose weight, you dohave to have less calories than
you burn.
However, it doesn't necessarilylook like the same thing.
So what she advocates for is weget to eat more, because we're
(02:13):
eating incredibly nutritiouswhole foods that have a lot of
nutritional value.
They are cleaning yourdigestive tract.
Cleaning your digestive tract,they're giving your body
everything it needs to turn offthose craving receptors, to keep
your insulin levels stable andto keep you feeling satiated
throughout the day.
So we do have a greatconversation.
Just know that there's somekind of pushback from her, which
(02:38):
I'm really glad that she didand I can tell you from my own
personal experience, havingworked with Ginny a little bit
now, even after our conversation, on a personal level, she is
very approachable.
She is very compassionate andaccommodating and just generally
very kind, in addition to herincredible intellectual
(02:58):
knowledge about this subject.
We do have a great conversation.
I think you're going to love it, and all of those women out
there who are kind of in theirforties, approaching 50 or later
, and are very curious aboutthis concept, I would really
encourage you to grab her newbook.
It is out now in paperback formand I think you're going to
really enjoy it.
(03:18):
So grab your big glass of wateror your favorite mocktail and
join me for this incredibleconversation with Dr Jenny.
Hello and welcome to theConfident Sober Women podcast.
(03:39):
I'm your guide, shelby John.
I'm the mother of three, wifeto one and sober since July 1st
2002.
As sober women, we havesomething huge in common and
when we share our lives and ourstories with each other, we feel
that sense of belonging andconnection.
So we know we are no longeralone.
(03:59):
In this podcast you will hearreal life talk about building
confidence and transforming yourlife beyond recovery.
So come on, let's talk.
Hey, it's me Shelby.
Have you ever wondered what'sreally happening in your brain
during recovery?
Are you ready to take controlof your anxiety, sleep better
(04:22):
and finally feel focused andconfident?
I want to introduce you to agame changer that's transforming
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(04:45):
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(05:08):
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(05:32):
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change.
Well, hey there, ginny.
How are you today?
It's great to have you on theConfident Sober Women podcast.
I know my audience is reallygoing to get a lot out of our
conversation, and I know I willas well.
It's a topic that's near anddear to my heart and I'm super
(05:54):
excited to get into it.
But I'm going to first share.
I'm first going to turn the micover to you and let you share a
little bit more about yourstory, and then we're going to
chat.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay, yeah, well, I get emotional when I talk about
my story, so hopefully peoplewill be kind about that.
They generally are.
But I guess I would say, aboutage 55, I started realizing I'm
really in trouble with my healthand my weight and my eating and
my drinking and I had this ideathat I would be in my 80s
(06:26):
hiking in the mountains.
That I'm a particularlyyouthful and, you know,
attractive, successful person.
It's going to be awesome.
But by 55, I could barely walkanymore because I had so much
pain and inflammation in mysystem and in my feet in
particular.
I was pre-diabetic.
I was 60 pounds overweight.
If I dated people, I wasn'tdoing that well.
(06:49):
I was picking guys who were acouple steps down the ladder in
a way, and then I wasn't wantingto stay with them.
It just wasn't working well atall.
So many aspects of my life werebeing influenced by the way I
was eating and drinking and howit was affecting my health.
My sleep was bad.
I had hot flashes.
I was pre-diabetic by the timeI really took this on.
(07:13):
So in my head I'm like thisyouthful person and I had this
wake up call moment.
So I was drinking a bottle ofwine every night I had this kind
of special approach to eating.
Something is yelling, I'm sorry.
I had this attitude that myfood and drink has to be very,
(07:34):
very special.
So I had to buy a specialbottle of wine.
I would spend time doing that,right.
I would have special cheese andspecial bread and special
olives, and it all had to bespecial cheese and special bread
and special olives, and it allhad to be special, special,
special.
And it was ruining my health,it was ruining my life, and so I
was really scared that I neededto change it.
(07:54):
But everything I was finding inthe marketplace wasn't leading
me well.
I just kept trying to eat less,drink less, moderate everything
, and it just wasn't.
You know, it was just makingthings worse.
And my wake up call was I'm apsychologist, I'd started
working in nursing homes and Ithought these are going to be
people in their eighties andnineties and I'm going to help
them, you know, with the lastyears of their life.
(08:14):
Way too many of them were intheir sixties and seventies yes,
they weren't that much olderthan me and they were saying to
me you got to get me out of here, doctor, I don't belong here.
My kids have taken my car andthey're selling my house, and so
I started looking into how canI help them get out of here.
And none of them were gettingout of there, because by the
time you need 24-7 nursing care,you've passed a threshold.
(08:38):
You're not going back anymore,and it was breaking my heart,
but it also made me look at,this is actually where you're
headed, ginny, you're not goingto be hiking in the mountains.
In your 80s.
You already can't hike, youalready can barely walk anymore.
And so I got this like realscared straight moment of okay,
it feels like it's going to bescary and hard and I shouldn't
(08:59):
have to give things up,especially my special eating and
drinking.
But I thought, yeah, well,that's fine, you can argue for
all this indulgence as much asyou want, but you're going to
suffer and you're not going tohave a healthy future.
So I decided I had to change itand I decided there's no one in
the marketplace who is going tobe able to teach me this,
because they're teaching a bunchof things that just make things
(09:21):
worse.
And so, because I was trainedin evidence-based practices, I
went and studied what do weactually know about eating and
drinking and weight and eatingand drinking and heart health
and eating and drinking anddiabetes and all these things
and hundreds of studies reallysurfaced four simple principles.
Once I started following thosefor how to eat and drink, I
(09:43):
stopped having all theseproblems.
Everything reversed.
The pain and inflammation I'dlived with for decades went away
, the prediabetes reversed, theweight came off very simply, and
I thought why isn't this whatpeople are teaching?
So once I really discoveredwhat worked, I knew I had to
help other people learn it.
It's not hard.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh my gosh, you're so right, it is not hard, it's
actually very simple.
I think it is hard actually.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's simple, but not easy.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think it's not easy
because we live in the land ofthe plenty.
You know, we live in a land ofabundance where in five seconds
I can be out my door and get awhole pizza.
In two minutes I can be downthe street and get an Italian
cold cut.
I mean, there's just plenty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
With a bottle of wine .
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, or a bottle of wine, like anytime we want
anything, unless it's in somevery remote area, we can pretty
much get it, and that, I think,makes things.
I'm not saying that that's bad.
It's nice to have options, butit can be challenging to
maintain our health.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's a challenging environment for us.
So people in my Slender forGood program tell me all the
time this is actually simple andit's actually easy.
So it's easy to eat in ahealthy way, but it's easy to
eat in an unhealthy way, eat anddrink in an unhealthy way.
So which is what you'repointing out?
So for me it really is.
You end up having to see thetwo paths pretty clearly and
(11:12):
once you do, you can choose thepath that leads to health and
longevity and vitality and thethings that we want.
Like I have confidence.
Now I'll be hiking in themountains in my 80s, like all
that came back, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Well, I love your story so much.
Thank you for sharing that sovulnerably and specifically what
you thought you were and whatyou thought you were going to be
, and then how your choices inyour lifestyle really led you to
being just not that at all.
And I think that's such a big,like you said, a wake up call or
(11:47):
eye opening moment.
But that nursing home exampleis kind of unnerving and sad
really, when you said they weremostly in their 60s and 70s and
that's scary and sad, but I knowit's the reality for so many
people.
But the fact is, we can make adifference by just living well,
(12:07):
living right, making goodchoices, and that's what we're
here to talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I'm so excited I hear people say, over and over, more
than 70% of the diseases thatmake us sick in our later years
are preventable, and I thoughtthat sounded good, but I didn't
know what they were talkingabout until I found these
principles for eating anddrinking.
That changed things and I waslike, totally Like, if you eat
and drink, right, your body ismade to heal all these things.
(12:32):
But even if I'd been having aglass of wine every night,
that's damage to my body everysingle day.
It's damaging my cells, and Idiscovered very similar things
about sugar damaging my cells,and I discovered very similar
things about sugar, and, and and.
The really great thing andmaybe a lot of your audience has
found this is you find I'mreally scared of letting go of
some of these things, but itactually feels so freeing.
(12:55):
Yeah, let go of them.
It's almost like they're achain around our neck.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Well, you know, food is another source of addiction,
right?
Like we know this from scienceand just from our own anecdotal
experiences, right, we know,just for sugar alone, you know
it does hit the same brainreceptors as the cocaine, right?
I mean, like it is an addictivesubstance and it's designed
that way on purpose and foods,to get us to feel addicted to
(13:22):
them.
And so I think that's where thehard comes in, sometimes comes
in actually with that like kindof physical addiction to certain
foods, where you're going tohave and I've experienced this a
little bit myself you're goingto have some detox experiences
to make the changes and that canbe uncomfortable.
(13:44):
Maybe you can say I don't wantto feel that, yeah, that
discomfort.
Yeah, maybe you could speak alittle bit more to what that
looks like, like, what happenswhen you kind of decide to go
down this path and like peoplekind of reach out to you and I
know we'll talk a little bitmore about the principles in a
minute but I'm curious, maybe wecould lead with the kind of the
(14:06):
yucky stuff and share a littlebit about what that, what does
that look like?
So they typically have allthose things that you kind of
mentioned.
And then what are some of theexperiences that people go
through when they make thesechanges?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
at first, yeah, I mean I guess I just hear from
people all the time this is somuch easier than I thought it
was going to be.
But what I really vividlyremember that I was doing this
crying Like for one thing, I hadno one to guide me.
I was kind of finding things inthe research and then
implementing them the best Icould.
It even got clear how muchprotein and fat and how much
(14:40):
fruits and vegetables and youknow how much whole grains
should I have, fat, and how muchfruits and vegetables and you
know how much whole grainsshould I have.
And once I was following theseclear principles, you know I
would be crying because it'slike this is so hard and I don't
have anybody helping me.
And little by little I thoughtthis actually isn't hard.
This actually is reallyrewarding and it's simple and
it's easy.
That's what I hear from Slenderfor Good clients all the time.
(15:01):
It's absolutely simplifying formy approach to grocery shopping
, my approach to foodpreparation, my approach to meal
prep Like it has simplified mylife.
I just don't.
It's like you put food anddrink in their place.
They have a place in life, butthey shouldn't be the be all and
end all goals of our life tohave the most exciting special
(15:22):
food and drink all the time.
That benefits somebody, it'snot us.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yes, you're so right about that.
So do you take a little bitmore of an eat for life approach
versus like pleasure oraesthetic?
I mean, is that kind of likewhere you're coming from?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You know I don't know if anybody here knows Jack
LaLanne he was this reallyfamous fitness guy a long time
ago.
He used to say if it tastesgood, spit it out.
And I think he was going alittle too far with that.
I think having pleasure fromeating and drinking is important
, but I think it was what is hisname?
(16:06):
Epicurus, the guy that talkedabout pleasure.
He said it's really importantto have pleasure in life.
But if your pleasures stealyour life, like they become, the
focus of life is going afterthose pleasures, like a drug,
like food, like like alcoholthen they're taking more than
they're giving and you want tobe careful.
You want to go for moretranquil pleasures.
(16:26):
So if you think about what weknow now about dopamine and how
we can get very addicted tothings that give a big dopamine
hit and we never get a sense ofsatisfaction, we just keep
feeling driven to get more.
He's saying don't go for thatlevel of pleasure, go for a
calmer level of pleasure so wecan enjoy food and drink without
(16:49):
going nuts over it, without Ineed more.
I need more like.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
If you find yourself in the I need more state, you're
in trouble yeah, I think that'slike a great way of saying it,
like it's an indicator, right.
Just like alcohol or any otherproblematic behavior, you know,
if you're spending too much timescrolling or if you find
yourself not being able to pullaway or doing that, that's
you're in trouble, right.
So like it's kind of likeanything that we do too much, or
(17:16):
and so I like that you were,you're kind of putting in that
way if you're finding yourself,you know, not having any
pleasure or like wanting more,more, more, more, more.
Yeah, that's a great indicatorthat you're in trouble and I'm
glad that you are.
You're saying that it should bepleasurable, one of the
principles.
I have some education innatural wellness and that
(17:37):
concept is very much a part oflike utilizing all of your
senses, so and and also it talksa lot about just like the sun
and air and water and just likea lot of other, a lot of other
things from our earth and justthat we need, as humans, to make
oursystems work properly.
Um, but one of the things thatI remember very specifically and
(17:58):
talk about um, my kids make funof me sometimes, or they they
used to their young adults now,but I would always.
They talk about like that it isan aesthetic experience to to
eat food, and so so we should beeating food that is like
aesthetically pleasing, meaningit looks good, it's, it's
beautiful, right?
(18:18):
So there's color, there'stexture, there's different kinds
of things, you know, and thatusually means like vegetables
and fruits, and you know thatlook like they came from the
earth and plants.
And so I would make these big,huge salads and constantly say,
oh my gosh, look at this salad,it's so beautiful.
And they would be like what iswrong with you?
(18:38):
I'm like this color.
Look at this red pepper.
It red like.
God made that pepper red likewow, that is crazy.
Right like these colors but theytalk about that like using all
of our senses to be able toexperience pleasure in a lot of
ways, but specifically now we'retalking about food and so
that's how we can.
(18:59):
Maybe you're, maybe you'regetting used to, or your plate
is, um, maybe smaller, you know,like maybe you're getting used
to, or your plate is maybesmaller, you know like maybe
you're getting used to havingsmaller portion sizes, or like
you're just getting used toconsuming what is, you know,
appropriate for you or whatever.
But like when you look at itand you stop and you slow down
and you smell it and you notice,like all the things that are
(19:21):
pleasing about it, it makes thatexperience light up all of your
senses, not just your tastebuds.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Oh, I love that, you know.
And it's tapping into adifferent chemical system in our
body.
It's tapping into serotonin,which is another feel good
chemical, but it's more of asatisfying, calming, feel good
chemical as opposed to dopamine,which is like whoa.
That was amazing.
Where can I get more of it?
Right?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
right, right, and then hopefully it will like,
like, and then over time we'rejust basically training our
brains I'm assuming, likethrough neuroscience to become
familiar with and then cravethat serotonin release versus
that only that dopamine spike.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, I think too.
We know about habit change.
Like if people find habitchange hard, one of the things
that helps is have make sure youhave positive emotions attached
to the habit change that you'redoing.
So when I'm hearing you talkabout look at how colorful this
is, look how amazing this is I'mhearing some intention to bring
positive emotion to healthyhabits.
(20:21):
So we don't just wait for theworld to give us that.
The world is going to say youknow what you want?
This fat and salt and sugaraltogether, which is something
that doesn't exist in nature andtriggers us so big.
No, I want this.
This looks like food.
This looks like what peopleought to eat.
Yeah, it feels good.
I feel good about it.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I mean it makes total sense when you really think
about it.
I mean it makes total sensewhen you really think about it.
I mean, you know, like we allhave that um, like maybe that
dish that maybe our parents made, or like maybe we make it like
some kind of something thatmakes a casserole or something,
and maybe it doesn't really looklike like Ooh, but it is really
super yummy, and maybe it isn'teven really unhealthy, but it
doesn't like it doesn't havelike that same appeal.
And that's okay too, as long asthe ingredients are good.
(21:03):
But I do think, when we can havejoy and like they even talk
about a natural wellness around,like you know, sitting down
when you're eating you know,like making it an event, almost
like eating that material that'sgoing into your body, that's
using, that's giving you energy,like its purpose is to fill
yourself with energy.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, I've become so aware that you know our body
needs calories for energy, butit also needs nutrients and we
have plenty of calories in ourenvironment.
I don't know if you know thisstatistic, but more than 70% of
the food in our environment isprocessed.
It's not healthy food.
So we could get lots and lotsof calories.
And it changes our hormones.
(21:44):
So our body keeps saying we'restill hungry, get more food.
So we could get lots and lotsof calories.
And it changes our hormones.
So our body keeps saying we'restill hungry, get more food.
So we just keep eating.
We can't get the sense ofsatisfaction.
We should focus.
Instead of on calories, weshould focus on nutrients.
How do I get tons of nutrientsin what I'm eating?
So when you talked about maybewe eat less, I actually teach
people to eat more Because ifyou're, you need to eat enough
(22:07):
of the nutritious foods for yourbody to go.
I don't need to store excessfat anymore.
It seems like we're gettingplenty of food in this
environment.
Good.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Exactly yeah, I think they.
I think some of the expertscall those non-nutritive foods
non-nutritive or something.
Yeah, I call them highlyprocessed, non-nutritive or
something.
Yeah, I call them highlyprocessed, non-nutritious food,
like substances, and the problemis is what we know too from all
of the science that we have now, is that they destroy the
microbiome in our gut, whichthen doesn't allow our bodies to
(22:36):
properly absorb the nutrients,even when we do eat proper
things.
So if we don't eat thesehealthy things continuously,
then we don't have the propergut health to absorb the
nutrients that we are consuming,and that can be frustrating,
because then you're like, well,I am eating a big salad every
day, or I'm eating lots of like,but you're also doing these
other things, so that your gutisn't able to do its job, and
(23:00):
that's frustrating.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So true, and like people will tell me I think I'm,
I do okay, having one glass ofwine, I go back to this.
But one glass of wine you'reputting alcohol into your gut
and what's in your gut that youneed is bacteria and you're
killing the bacteria in your gutand that makes a huge
difference for your immunesystem, for inflammation.
(23:22):
Like I had no idea all thatinflammation would stop that I'd
had since I was a teenager whenI changed my eating and
drinking, I had no idea if I'dknown how many years I could
have had of being well and beingmore functional than I was.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I was drinking partly to treat the pain, right,
because I had so much pain eversince high school.
And that is a bottomlesssituation.
Like all it does is feeds thewhole system.
That's making you have the pain, but you feel like, oh, but I
need it because it makes thepain quiet down.
I have to say, too, I was so outof touch with all of my
(24:02):
feelings, like I didn't knowwhat I was feeling.
I would get to the end of theday and I would have said in the
morning I'm not going to drinktonight, I'm not going to go
crazy, I'm just going to eathealthy food.
And by the end of the day,driving home, yes, I am.
You know, it's like I did thathundreds of days of my life and
you feel like crap, right, likewhat is wrong with me?
(24:24):
I thought I was a better personthan this.
I thought I had more integrity.
You know, I just can't keepthis promise to myself.
But that idea of sitting withsome of the feelings I was
having, some of this discomfort,I would have to go.
I feel upset.
What am I upset about?
Like I was just so out of touch, I would have to sit and think.
(24:44):
And I'm a psychologist right.
It's like this isn't good Right.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, I totally agree with that, it's.
I always try to remind myself.
I was, you know, raised as anathlete and I was a distance
runner for a long time and mykids were all athletes and
things.
And you know I've been, I'vebeen sober for kind of a long
time, which is which is great,so I like I don't have that
question anymore, like I don'thave to really worry or think
about whether alcohol is goingto contribute or take away from
(25:10):
my health at all, but then it'sthe food for sure for me.
But one thing that I constantlyremind myself of, or even say
to other people if it comes up,is like, if you follow any you
know, know, like fitness person,any athlete, any high level,
like that's, like that's theirjob or fitness, they don't drink
, they don't they don't drinkbecause they can't.
(25:32):
They know.
They know that it's poison.
So right also know that itwrecks their entire health.
So to me it's just like so odd,it's so obvious.
You know you're well if theseare like the healthiest people
in our country or our world.
Yeah, they're not drinking atall.
They don't drink.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
They're not trying to moderate it, they're not saying
, but you know it's, you know,just here and there, just once
in a while, which was always alie for me.
I couldn't do here and thereonce in a while, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So when you're like I'm super curious if you could
say more about when people aresaying to you constantly like,
oh, this is so easy, and evenyou're saying like it simplifies
your life and it's easy, whatkind of things have, like, the
people that you that have comeinto your world, maybe what have
they shared with you in theirhistory, kind of leading up to
getting here?
What have they tried that hasbeen hard, like what were the
things that they've done?
(26:21):
That's that didn't work, andthen why does yours feel so easy
?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So many things.
I mean any kind of caloriecutting, dieting almost.
It produces temporary weightloss that never lasts.
So there's really good researchshowing this just doesn't last.
So if you look at people twoyears down the road, almost no
one has kept their weight loss.
So it's what the doctors andthe nutritionists tend to tell
us just cut your calories, andit just simply isn't an
(26:48):
effective approach.
And that's what I just.
I'm publishing a book, I thinknext week slander for good after
50, eat more, stress less andnever diet again.
And if people take nothing elseaway, I want them to never diet
because they are making theirmetabolic health worse, worse
and worse and worse every timethey do it, besides making
(27:11):
themselves feel bad about whydoesn't this work or why can't I
stick with this.
It's not a sustainable approachbecause you already are
undernourished in these times.
If only, let's say, 50% of whatyou're eating is nutritious, if
you're doing better thanaverage, you're not getting
(27:31):
enough nutrition.
That's why your body's storingexcess fat.
Now you try to solve thatproblem by eating less.
Your body is going to ramp upthe hunger.
It's going to slow down yourmetabolism, right, it's going to
make you anxious and it's goingto put more cortisol into your
system.
It's going to cause you to eatmore.
(27:52):
So until you learn how to eatthe things your body actually is
screaming for, if you eat whatyou know, what the society is
encouraging you to eat, you'rein trouble.
You're not going to get therefrom here.
It makes me so mad I'm gettingpassionate.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Yeah, I love that, I love the passion.
Yeah, I mean what you kind oftouched on.
The reality of our medicalsystem is not in our favor.
I'm hoping that maybe my kids'day or in their kids' day, that
things will shift in thatcommunity, that the Western
medicine model will change andthey will get more than five
(28:30):
minutes of training andnutrition and understanding.
I think that there's glimmers.
Like I know there are somepractitioners here and there who
are curious and are wanting toconsider these things a little
bit more.
I've heard a little bit hereand there, so that's great.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
It's not the mainstream.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
but it becomes that way because they are not trained
in nutrition.
They're trained to deal withsymptoms, they're not even
trained to look for a root cause.
So that's not going to help us.
So that's why you have to goout and do your own research.
You have to find resources likeyou to help you in a very
holistic way.
(29:03):
So I'd love to get like kind ofreally into the nitty gritty
and I don't want to give awayall your secrets.
I want people to read your bookand kind of come into your
sphere.
But what are some of the tools,what are some of the steps that
you share with your clients?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So I broke it down into four categories, four
simple fundamental principles,and you were just asking about
what are.
What are some things that don'twork?
Like intuitive eating.
Like if you ask your body what,what do you want, it's going to
tell you calories, get mecalories, get me sugar.
(29:40):
Like the answers are not goingto be what leads you to health,
they're going to be what getsyou through.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
today I'm so glad you brought that up.
I hate that because I said Ialways say if somebody told me
and I'm an addict, right, solike it's even worse If somebody
said you should eat intuitively, then I'm going to eat pizza
and ice cream every day.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Every day.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I want pizza and ice cream.
I don't care how healthy I am,yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Your gut is yelling for calories and sugar.
It's not thinking about thefuture.
You have to bring your frontallobe, the smart, wise part of
your brain, online to makebetter choices and not ask your
body.
After you start eating reallyhealthfully what I call it
simply wise eating your bodystarts to really like it and
(30:22):
trust you again.
But just ask your body rightnow, living in these times, what
does it want?
It wants calories and sugar and, yeah, all the worst things
that are going to ruin yourhealth.
So I people have to go awayfrom that.
So I come from an evidence-basedpractices background and what I
learned in all that research isthere should be if you have an
(30:44):
effective intervention, thereshould be a handful of guiding
principles.
You should be able to write itall out in a manual.
People should be able to have achecklist.
They could tell if you're doingit or not.
So part of what people aresaying when they say this is so
easy is that it's super clear,like I know exactly what and how
much to eat every day and howmany meals and all those things,
(31:07):
and that just saves tons ofenergy looking for answers and
well, well.
But somebody else says this andsomebody else says that I don't
care.
I'm just following Ginny rightnow, because what she's teaching
makes sense and it just makesthings simpler for them, right,
and they're not trying to throwsee what I see us doing.
What I was doing is looking formaybe there's one more tip
(31:30):
today that's going to changeeverything.
It's going to just give me theanswer, finally.
I mean, I did that for a long,long time and then I thought
this doesn't work in any otherfield, that you just throw
hundreds of tips together andyou get great results.
That's not how the world works.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, no it doesn't, and I totally think you're right
.
Like this is why I do thinkthat the whole, it's simple
concept is so powerful, becausethe whole calories in, calories
out situation is the science ofweight loss.
Like that's how it works, likeit's really just this model, so
how you lose weight, you eat inthe calorie deficit, right, and
(32:07):
so it's really actually notcomplicated at all.
I'm not saying that it's notemotionally hard at times, but,
you know, I have somebody in mylife that came to mind right
when you said that that'sconstantly and this person is,
you know, significantly olderthan me and they constantly are
over the over lifetime wouldalways be like, oh, you know
such and such like lost so muchweight.
(32:28):
Did you see that?
Like I wonder how they did it,you know, and I'm like, ooh,
like I'm going to guess.
Like that she just ate lessthan she burned.
Oh, I'd like.
But every time so I'm like whatare you looking for?
Like, what answer are youlooking for?
Like she took the pill, shetakes the shot.
Now, whatever, what, like thosethings can be helpful tools if
(32:49):
that's your thing, but like thereal model is eat less than you
burn.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I don't agree, no, you don't Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I don't.
That's the science behindweight loss, Tell me.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
You tell me, that's the calorie that's the calorie
model, the calorie deficit model.
It might be, ultimately, thatwe end up having to have less
calories to get lasting weightloss, but focusing on that is
the wrong focus, right?
So what?
So?
The first principle in my planand you could say it's the whole
principle the central principleis eat abundant.
(33:23):
Say it's the whole principle.
The central principle is eatabundant nutritious foods.
And so abundant is a lot morethan people think.
Like our plates are full.
When people look at us eating,they're like.
I have a client who graduatedrecently.
She just had a great experienceeating this way.
She wants to do it the rest ofher life.
And she said when she goes outwith her girlfriends, they're
(33:44):
all calorie cutting focused.
So they're all eating likebirds and they have success in
the sense of not beingoverweight.
And she is eating this platefull of nutritious food.
So she's not focusing on eatingless, she's eating a lot, but
she's eating the things that herbody actually needs and that
don't hurt her body or make itfight back.
(34:04):
So, um and like, as far as thenumber, the amount of vegetables
, as I dug into the research, itwas four to 10 times the amount
that most of us are eating.
Yeah, so when you fill yourplate with really nutritious
things that your body needs,your body reacts very
differently, very fast, and theand one of the things that it
(34:27):
does is it starts letting go ofthe excess weight.
It may be that when we do this,we're eating less calories, but
it is not our focus, and Ithink it's.
I think the focus is notworking for people.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Well, yeah, I think the science of the weight loss
only works when you are eatingless calories than you burn.
That's the science.
But the focus and the mentalpart like is, yeah, it's got to
be shifted.
Like, do you have to trackeverything?
Like you're saying no.
Like you're saying no, youdon't just fill your plate with
nutritious, healthy foods, eatas much as you want.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I'm not saying that either.
I, I weigh my food because Iwon't eat enough.
Otherwise, oh yeah, and that'swhat I find with most of us we
will eat half as much as weought to be eating.
Okay, we don't weigh it.
So, yeah, it's, it's abundant.
So that really is the firstprinciple.
And I I can tell you I havethree different proofs in my
(35:24):
book about why cutting caloriesis not the answer scientifically
either, because our body is notjust following physics, it's
following biochemistry.
Okay, yeah.
So anyway, yeah, we're, we're,yeah, maybe coming down
(35:46):
differently on this, but I knowit's it's a scientist, so I
trust your experience with it.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
I just know that that is a concept that we can all
kind of identify with it's aconcept we can identify with.
So, but I think what you'resaying is is that there's so
much more involved, like ourlike you mentioned already, like
the hormones, you know ourhormone structure, our microbe,
our microbiome, so like if thosethings are kind of out of whack
because we're eating the kindof the wrong foods, that it's
(36:15):
not going to create anenvironment that allows your
body to all function the bestway possible.
So then, even when you might be, even are eating in a calorie
deficit or you're tracking,you're not going to get the
results.
I think that's what you'resaying so true.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I have a client, lily , who's very, very disciplined
person and it was very much aeat less, exercise more, and
once she hit menopause, all shedid was gain weight doing that,
and that's one thing we find.
So the body is not just dealingwith the.
You know, calories are ameasure of heat and that is not
the only thing the body'sdealing with.
(36:49):
The body is trying to get tohomeostasis.
That's its priority.
So if we are starting to eatless or exercise more, our body
is going to try to correct forthat and it's got all these
systems to do that.
So, yeah, I think what we needto balance is are we giving our
gut and are we giving ourhormone systems, and are we
giving our liver what they needand our cells what they need to
(37:12):
heal and recover, etc.
And then all those systems workreally well, like they're
supposed to.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, yeah, and all of us, if you're, if you're
sober for any length of timelike we win, first of all cause
we've already done a hugeservice to our body and our gut
by cutting out the alcohol anddrugs and just being completely
clean in that way.
So then it's just a matter oflike beginning to understand
what are nutritious foods andthen like, how do I get them?
(37:39):
So I would really love to kindof end with that Like what are
some of the kind of?
If you were to give like a kindof a snapshot of a day or two
meal plan, like in general, whatwould you normally eat or what
do you advise people?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, well, we usually have a whole grain in
the morning and a protein andfruit, and we don't have a tiny
amount of fruit, we have kind ofa lot of fruit, like six ounces
.
Some people feel like I don'twant to have anything sweet in
the morning, so then they mightdo vegetables in place of the
fruit, but a lot of us are goingto benefit from eating more
(38:14):
fruit than we're eating too.
And then at lunch we have agiant like a giant salad with
protein and and fruit again andsome fat, and then at dinner we
have a protein, a fat and agiant portion of vegetables.
And so we one of the thingsthat makes it easy is we never
(38:35):
feel hungry.
Yeah, it's way easier to eatwhat works for weight loss when
you're losing the weight and notfeeling hungry.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Facts yeah Right, I can't stand the feeling of being
hungry.
That's a big, because I'mdefinitely always, always hungry
.
So the grain in the morning isthat like oatmeal.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
What grain do you use ?
I usually have oatmeal.
Yeah, some, I don't know.
People can do all differentkinds.
I tried buckwheat recently.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
That was really good.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, there's one or twocereals, but basically 99% of
the cereals are not somethingthat are really going to serve
us.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Sure Right.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
But a whole grain, so it could be rice, could be, you
know, quinoa.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I don't know.
I never like a glycemic value,like an insulin resistance and
stuff.
They're very against grain likegrains.
So I'm curious about what yourthoughts are on that.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Well, from what I've seen in the research.
So I'm very it's very researchbased like what works, is my
question all the time.
What works for heart health?
What works for sugar health?
What works for weight loss thatdoesn't come back is it looks
like it's better for most of usto have some grain like on a
regular basis.
So people lose more weight whenthey have a grain in their diet
(39:52):
.
They have healthier heartsright and healthier blood sugar
when they have a grain.
So it might be the way peopleeat grain that they're trying to
discourage them from doing,because if you're eating
processed grain, it's nothelping you Like buying any of
those box cereals almost arejust going to make things worse
for your cells and your system.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yeah, they all have to be whole foods, which people
are becoming more and morefamiliar with, but basically
that means completelynon-processed, like a buckwheat,
like a, and you know, like youknow a grain.
That's like you have to cookyourself.
What are some examples ofprotein sources?
I would love to hear some ofyour favorite, like protein
sources and fats for yourself.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Interesting.
You know, the first year that Iwas doing this I was so scared
I was going to feel like I waslosing something, that I was
making shrimp like grilledshrimp and grilled scallops and
steak, like I just needed tomake sure my protein was really
delicious.
And now it doesn't feel likethat to me at all, eight years
(40:53):
later, or whatever.
Like I'd like to have a littlebit of feta cheese and some nuts
or seeds on my salad and I'musing a salad dressing.
But I think even better is ifyou just eat like olives or
avocados, if you eat your fatinstead of having it processed
like that.
But I find it works like that'swhat I look at what works.
(41:16):
It works for people to have atablespoon of dressing on their
salad.
The thing I watch out for ismake sure it doesn't have too
much sugar, because sugar willmake me want more sugar, both
because what it does in my brainand what it does in my gut.
I hate that feeling of cravingsugar and it's gorgeous when
that just goes away Like, oh, Iwant to live here, I know.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
You're so right, because then you're like, you're
so unbothered by it, you can goout and be like in parties or
do whatever, and you're justlike.
You're like I don't even reallylike, want that, like, oh, give
me some more veggies, you knowoff the tray.
You know, um, and also you know, back to what we sort of
started with.
They are, you know,aesthetically pleasing Look at
all the colors on that veggie,with the carrots and the green
peppers and the cucumbers likethere's just so much kind of
(42:03):
beauty there, um, yes, awesome.
Yeah, I think that, uh, we haveso much access to good things
too, like really good clean,like olive oils and things like
that, so, like you could make Imake my own dressing with apple
cider vinegar and olive oil andlemon juice, and it was just
very simple, um, kind ofdelicious.
We're just used to it.
You know, I kind of grew up onmy dressing as well, but, um,
(42:26):
and you know I think it's justnice because I don't really
measure it or anything, but it's, you know I know everything in
there is good.
I made it myself, so I I knowwhat's in there.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yeah, that helps yeah , dressings are trouble.
Any kind of condiments aretrouble, as far as how much
sugar they add to them.
Yeah, you really.
Are you got to read every label?
Yeah, I love that you're doingsomething super simple.
I was thinking I need like apacket of seasonings, but no,
I'm overcomplicating it.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
So simple and I always have those things in my
pantry, so like I just have likemy little bottle, I could do my
extra light olive oil with myapple cider vinegar.
I usually do like some mustardor spicy brown, some lemon juice
and then salt and pepper andthat's it.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Oh, you know what?
I used before too, is likehummus, and then I just put
water in it to to make it like adressing.
Yes, nutrition, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, and also, yeah, super nutritious.
I love that.
Oh my gosh, this has been suchan important conversation.
I'm so glad that we're havingthis and I'm so glad that you
have your book out there andsuch such access for people.
Whether you're, whether you are, you know, kind of over 50 or
older woman or not, everybodycan benefit from this
information.
So where do you like people toreach out and find you if they
(43:40):
want to get more information?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, they could go to slender for goodcom slash
book waitlist.
Oh, where the heck did I putthat Waitlist book?
Waitlist book.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Got it Awesome.
I'll make sure I link to thatin the show notes below and you
know just.
Thank you again for yourexpertise and for your time and
your talent and I really hopeour worlds cross paths again.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Okay, yay.
Thank you for joining me forthis week's episode of Confident
Sober Women.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, hit the subscribe
button above so you won't missany upcoming episodes.
And, hey, if you really lovedit, leave me a review.
You can learn more about thesober freedom inner circle
(44:28):
membership atwwwshelbyjohncoachingcom.
Forward slash inner circle.
See you next time.
Well, hey there, sober ladies.
Thank you so much for joiningme today for the hey there,
sober ladies.
Thanks for joining me today forthe Confident Sober Women
podcast.
My name is Shelby, I am thehost of the show and today we
have an incredible conversationwith Dr Ginny Trio-Weller.
She is an amazing woman inlong-term recovery.
She's the author of a new bookcalled Slender for Good After 50
(00:24):
, eating More, stress Less andNever Diet Again, and I can tell
you that our conversation ispretty intense.
We get into some reallyinteresting conversation about
some of the old ways of thinkingwhen it comes to weight loss,
some of the models around kindof calories and eating less, and
(00:46):
I actually made some statementsbased on the things that I just
kind of know from that and shechallenged me on that.
You'll hear some of that in ourconversation and what I wish I
would have said in the middle ofour conversation about that was
that what we know today and ifyou've watched the documentary
Fed Up which, if you haven't, Irecommend it that a calorie is
not a calorie.
(01:07):
So, like, 100 calories ofalmonds and 100 calories of
Coca-Cola do not process thesame way in your body, so when
you eat almonds you have to chewthem, you're activating your
complete digestive system.
There's fiber and othernutrients that are going to take
a long time for your stomach tobreak down, and when you drink
(01:29):
100 calories of Coca Cola, thatjust hits your stomach in a
completely different way andaccesses the parts of the brain
that are related to cravings andincreases your insulin levels
because of lack of fiber.
So what we know from justscience is that you know, the
same calories are not the sameanymore, and so that old kind of
(01:52):
way that I kind of grew up withand although I do believe that
fundamentally, you know, most ofthe people would still say in
order to lose weight, you dohave to have less calories than
you burn.
However, it doesn't necessarilylook like the same thing.
So what she advocates for is weget to eat more, because we're
(02:13):
eating incredibly nutritiouswhole foods that have a lot of
nutritional value.
They are cleaning yourdigestive tract.
Cleaning your digestive tract,they're giving your body
everything it needs to turn offthose craving receptors, to keep
your insulin levels stable andto keep you feeling satiated
throughout the day.
So we do have a greatconversation.
Just know that there's somekind of pushback from her, which
(02:38):
I'm really glad that she didand I can tell you from my own
personal experience, havingworked with Ginny a little bit
now, even after our conversation, on a personal level, she is
very approachable.
She is very compassionate andaccommodating and just generally
very kind, in addition to herincredible intellectual
(02:58):
knowledge about this subject.
We do have a great conversation.
I think you're going to love it, and all of those women out
there who are kind of in theirforties, approaching 50 or later
, and are very curious aboutthis concept, I would really
encourage you to grab her newbook.
It is out now in paperback formand I think you're going to
really enjoy it.
(03:18):
So grab your big glass of wateror your favorite mocktail and
join me for this incredibleconversation with Dr Jenny.
Hello and welcome to theConfident Sober Women podcast.
(03:39):
I'm your guide, shelby John.
I'm the mother of three, wifeto one and sober since July 1st
2002.
As sober women, we havesomething huge in common and
when we share our lives and ourstories with each other, we feel
that sense of belonging andconnection.
So we know we are no longeralone.
(03:59):
In this podcast you will hearreal life talk about building
confidence and transforming yourlife beyond recovery.
So come on, let's talk.
Hey, it's me Shelby.
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Well, hey there, ginny.
How are you today?
It's great to have you on theConfident Sober Women podcast.
I know my audience is reallygoing to get a lot out of our
conversation, and I know I willas well.
It's a topic that's near anddear to my heart and I'm super
(05:54):
excited to get into it.
But I'm going to first share.
I'm first going to turn the micover to you and let you share a
little bit more about yourstory, and then we're going to
chat.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay, yeah, well, I get emotional when I talk about
my story, so hopefully peoplewill be kind about that.
They generally are.
But I guess I would say, aboutage 55, I started realizing I'm
really in trouble with my healthand my weight and my eating and
my drinking and I had this ideathat I would be in my 80s
(06:26):
hiking in the mountains.
That I'm a particularlyyouthful and, you know,
attractive, successful person.
It's going to be awesome.
But by 55, I could barely walkanymore because I had so much
pain and inflammation in mysystem and in my feet in
particular.
I was pre-diabetic.
I was 60 pounds overweight.
If I dated people, I wasn'tdoing that well.
(06:49):
I was picking guys who were acouple steps down the ladder in
a way, and then I wasn't wantingto stay with them.
It just wasn't working well atall.
So many aspects of my life werebeing influenced by the way I
was eating and drinking and howit was affecting my health.
My sleep was bad.
I had hot flashes.
I was pre-diabetic by the timeI really took this on.
(07:13):
So in my head I'm like thisyouthful person and I had this
wake up call moment.
So I was drinking a bottle ofwine every night I had this kind
of special approach to eating.
Something is yelling, I'm sorry.
I had this attitude that myfood and drink has to be very,
(07:34):
very special.
So I had to buy a specialbottle of wine.
I would spend time doing that,right.
I would have special cheese andspecial bread and special
olives, and it all had to bespecial cheese and special bread
and special olives, and it allhad to be special, special,
special.
And it was ruining my health,it was ruining my life, and so I
was really scared that I neededto change it.
(07:54):
But everything I was finding inthe marketplace wasn't leading
me well.
I just kept trying to eat less,drink less, moderate everything
, and it just wasn't.
You know, it was just makingthings worse.
And my wake up call was I'm apsychologist, I'd started
working in nursing homes and Ithought these are going to be
people in their eighties andnineties and I'm going to help
them, you know, with the lastyears of their life.
(08:14):
Way too many of them were intheir sixties and seventies yes,
they weren't that much olderthan me and they were saying to
me you got to get me out of here, doctor, I don't belong here.
My kids have taken my car andthey're selling my house, and so
I started looking into how canI help them get out of here.
And none of them were gettingout of there, because by the
time you need 24-7 nursing care,you've passed a threshold.
(08:38):
You're not going back anymore,and it was breaking my heart,
but it also made me look at,this is actually where you're
headed, ginny, you're not goingto be hiking in the mountains.
In your 80s.
You already can't hike, youalready can barely walk anymore.
And so I got this like realscared straight moment of okay,
it feels like it's going to bescary and hard and I shouldn't
(08:59):
have to give things up,especially my special eating and
drinking.
But I thought, yeah, well,that's fine, you can argue for
all this indulgence as much asyou want, but you're going to
suffer and you're not going tohave a healthy future.
So I decided I had to change itand I decided there's no one in
the marketplace who is going tobe able to teach me this,
because they're teaching a bunchof things that just make things
(09:21):
worse.
And so, because I was trainedin evidence-based practices, I
went and studied what do weactually know about eating and
drinking and weight and eatingand drinking and heart health
and eating and drinking anddiabetes and all these things
and hundreds of studies reallysurfaced four simple principles.
Once I started following thosefor how to eat and drink, I
(09:43):
stopped having all theseproblems.
Everything reversed.
The pain and inflammation I'dlived with for decades went away
, the prediabetes reversed, theweight came off very simply, and
I thought why isn't this whatpeople are teaching?
So once I really discoveredwhat worked, I knew I had to
help other people learn it.
It's not hard.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Oh my gosh, you're so right, it is not hard, it's
actually very simple.
I think it is hard actually.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's simple, but not easy.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think it's not easy
because we live in the land ofthe plenty.
You know, we live in a land ofabundance where in five seconds
I can be out my door and get awhole pizza.
In two minutes I can be downthe street and get an Italian
cold cut.
I mean, there's just plenty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
With a bottle of wine .
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah, or a bottle of wine, like anytime we want
anything, unless it's in somevery remote area, we can pretty
much get it, and that, I think,makes things.
I'm not saying that that's bad.
It's nice to have options, butit can be challenging to
maintain our health.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
It's a challenging environment for us.
So people in my Slender forGood program tell me all the
time this is actually simple andit's actually easy.
So it's easy to eat in ahealthy way, but it's easy to
eat in an unhealthy way, eat anddrink in an unhealthy way.
So which is what you'repointing out?
So for me it really is.
You end up having to see thetwo paths pretty clearly and
(11:12):
once you do, you can choose thepath that leads to health and
longevity and vitality and thethings that we want.
Like I have confidence.
Now I'll be hiking in themountains in my 80s, like all
that came back, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Well, I love your story so much.
Thank you for sharing that sovulnerably and specifically what
you thought you were and whatyou thought you were going to be
, and then how your choices inyour lifestyle really led you to
being just not that at all.
And I think that's such a big,like you said, a wake up call or
(11:47):
eye opening moment.
But that nursing home exampleis kind of unnerving and sad
really, when you said they weremostly in their 60s and 70s and
that's scary and sad, but I knowit's the reality for so many
people.
But the fact is, we can make adifference by just living well,
(12:07):
living right, making goodchoices, and that's what we're
here to talk about.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
I'm so excited I hear people say, over and over, more
than 70% of the diseases thatmake us sick in our later years
are preventable, and I thoughtthat sounded good, but I didn't
know what they were talkingabout until I found these
principles for eating anddrinking.
That changed things and I waslike, totally Like, if you eat
and drink, right, your body ismade to heal all these things.
(12:32):
But even if I'd been having aglass of wine every night,
that's damage to my body everysingle day.
It's damaging my cells, and Idiscovered very similar things
about sugar damaging my cells,and I discovered very similar
things about sugar, and, and and.
The really great thing andmaybe a lot of your audience has
found this is you find I'mreally scared of letting go of
some of these things, but itactually feels so freeing.
(12:55):
Yeah, let go of them.
It's almost like they're achain around our neck.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Well, you know, food is another source of addiction,
right?
Like we know this from scienceand just from our own anecdotal
experiences, right, we know,just for sugar alone, you know
it does hit the same brainreceptors as the cocaine, right?
I mean, like it is an addictivesubstance and it's designed
that way on purpose and foods,to get us to feel addicted to
(13:22):
them.
And so I think that's where thehard comes in, sometimes comes
in actually with that like kindof physical addiction to certain
foods, where you're going tohave and I've experienced this a
little bit myself you're goingto have some detox experiences
to make the changes and that canbe uncomfortable.
(13:44):
Maybe you can say I don't wantto feel that, yeah, that
discomfort.
Yeah, maybe you could speak alittle bit more to what that
looks like, like, what happenswhen you kind of decide to go
down this path and like peoplekind of reach out to you and I
know we'll talk a little bitmore about the principles in a
minute but I'm curious, maybe wecould lead with the kind of the
(14:06):
yucky stuff and share a littlebit about what that, what does
that look like?
So they typically have allthose things that you kind of
mentioned.
And then what are some of theexperiences that people go
through when they make thesechanges?
Speaker 2 (14:18):
at first, yeah, I mean I guess I just hear from
people all the time this is somuch easier than I thought it
was going to be.
But what I really vividlyremember that I was doing this
crying Like for one thing, I hadno one to guide me.
I was kind of finding things inthe research and then
implementing them the best Icould.
It even got clear how muchprotein and fat and how much
(14:40):
fruits and vegetables and youknow how much whole grains
should I have, fat, and how muchfruits and vegetables and you
know how much whole grainsshould I have.
And once I was following theseclear principles, you know I
would be crying because it'slike this is so hard and I don't
have anybody helping me.
And little by little I thoughtthis actually isn't hard.
This actually is reallyrewarding and it's simple and
it's easy.
That's what I hear from Slenderfor Good clients all the time.
(15:01):
It's absolutely simplifying formy approach to grocery shopping
, my approach to foodpreparation, my approach to meal
prep Like it has simplified mylife.
I just don't.
It's like you put food anddrink in their place.
They have a place in life, butthey shouldn't be the be all and
end all goals of our life tohave the most exciting special
(15:22):
food and drink all the time.
That benefits somebody, it'snot us.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yes, you're so right about that.
So do you take a little bitmore of an eat for life approach
versus like pleasure oraesthetic?
I mean, is that kind of likewhere you're coming from?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
You know I don't know if anybody here knows Jack
LaLanne he was this reallyfamous fitness guy a long time
ago.
He used to say if it tastesgood, spit it out.
And I think he was going alittle too far with that.
I think having pleasure fromeating and drinking is important
, but I think it was what is hisname?
(16:06):
Epicurus, the guy that talkedabout pleasure.
He said it's really importantto have pleasure in life.
But if your pleasures stealyour life, like they become, the
focus of life is going afterthose pleasures, like a drug,
like food, like like alcoholthen they're taking more than
they're giving and you want tobe careful.
You want to go for moretranquil pleasures.
(16:26):
So if you think about what weknow now about dopamine and how
we can get very addicted tothings that give a big dopamine
hit and we never get a sense ofsatisfaction, we just keep
feeling driven to get more.
He's saying don't go for thatlevel of pleasure, go for a
calmer level of pleasure so wecan enjoy food and drink without
(16:49):
going nuts over it, without Ineed more.
I need more like.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
If you find yourself in the I need more state, you're
in trouble yeah, I think that'slike a great way of saying it,
like it's an indicator, right.
Just like alcohol or any otherproblematic behavior, you know,
if you're spending too much timescrolling or if you find
yourself not being able to pullaway or doing that, that's
you're in trouble, right.
So like it's kind of likeanything that we do too much, or
(17:16):
and so I like that you were,you're kind of putting in that
way if you're finding yourself,you know, not having any
pleasure or like wanting more,more, more, more, more.
Yeah, that's a great indicatorthat you're in trouble and I'm
glad that you are.
You're saying that it should bepleasurable, one of the
principles.
I have some education innatural wellness and that
(17:37):
concept is very much a part oflike utilizing all of your
senses, so and and also it talksa lot about just like the sun
and air and water and just likea lot of other, a lot of other
things from our earth and justthat we need, as humans, to make
oursystems work properly.
Um, but one of the things thatI remember very specifically and
(17:58):
talk about um, my kids make funof me sometimes, or they they
used to their young adults now,but I would always.
They talk about like that it isan aesthetic experience to to
eat food, and so so we should beeating food that is like
aesthetically pleasing, meaningit looks good, it's, it's
beautiful, right?
(18:18):
So there's color, there'stexture, there's different kinds
of things, you know, and thatusually means like vegetables
and fruits, and you know thatlook like they came from the
earth and plants.
And so I would make these big,huge salads and constantly say,
oh my gosh, look at this salad,it's so beautiful.
And they would be like what iswrong with you?
(18:38):
I'm like this color.
Look at this red pepper.
It red like.
God made that pepper red likewow, that is crazy.
Right like these colors but theytalk about that like using all
of our senses to be able toexperience pleasure in a lot of
ways, but specifically now we'retalking about food and so
that's how we can.
(18:59):
Maybe you're, maybe you'regetting used to, or your plate
is, um, maybe smaller, you know,like maybe you're getting used
to, or your plate is maybesmaller, you know like maybe
you're getting used to havingsmaller portion sizes, or like
you're just getting used toconsuming what is, you know,
appropriate for you or whatever.
But like when you look at itand you stop and you slow down
and you smell it and you notice,like all the things that are
(19:21):
pleasing about it, it makes thatexperience light up all of your
senses, not just your tastebuds.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Oh, I love that, you know.
And it's tapping into adifferent chemical system in our
body.
It's tapping into serotonin,which is another feel good
chemical, but it's more of asatisfying, calming, feel good
chemical as opposed to dopamine,which is like whoa.
That was amazing.
Where can I get more of it?
Right?
Speaker 1 (19:45):
right, right, and then hopefully it will like,
like, and then over time we'rejust basically training our
brains I'm assuming, likethrough neuroscience to become
familiar with and then cravethat serotonin release versus
that only that dopamine spike.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, I think too.
We know about habit change.
Like if people find habitchange hard, one of the things
that helps is have make sure youhave positive emotions attached
to the habit change that you'redoing.
So when I'm hearing you talkabout look at how colorful this
is, look how amazing this is I'mhearing some intention to bring
positive emotion to healthyhabits.
(20:21):
So we don't just wait for theworld to give us that.
The world is going to say youknow what you want?
This fat and salt and sugaraltogether, which is something
that doesn't exist in nature andtriggers us so big.
No, I want this.
This looks like food.
This looks like what peopleought to eat.
Yeah, it feels good.
I feel good about it.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
I mean it makes total sense when you really think
about it.
I mean it makes total sensewhen you really think about it.
I mean, you know, like we allhave that um, like maybe that
dish that maybe our parents made, or like maybe we make it like
some kind of something thatmakes a casserole or something,
and maybe it doesn't really looklike like Ooh, but it is really
super yummy, and maybe it isn'teven really unhealthy, but it
doesn't like it doesn't havelike that same appeal.
And that's okay too, as long asthe ingredients are good.
(21:03):
But I do think, when we can havejoy and like they even talk
about a natural wellness around,like you know, sitting down
when you're eating you know,like making it an event, almost
like eating that material that'sgoing into your body, that's
using, that's giving you energy,like its purpose is to fill
yourself with energy.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Yeah, I've become so aware that you know our body
needs calories for energy, butit also needs nutrients and we
have plenty of calories in ourenvironment.
I don't know if you know thisstatistic, but more than 70% of
the food in our environment isprocessed.
It's not healthy food.
So we could get lots and lotsof calories.
And it changes our hormones.
(21:44):
So our body keeps saying we'restill hungry, get more food.
So we could get lots and lotsof calories.
And it changes our hormones.
So our body keeps saying we'restill hungry, get more food.
So we just keep eating.
We can't get the sense ofsatisfaction.
We should focus.
Instead of on calories, weshould focus on nutrients.
How do I get tons of nutrientsin what I'm eating?
So when you talked about maybewe eat less, I actually teach
people to eat more Because ifyou're, you need to eat enough
(22:07):
of the nutritious foods for yourbody to go.
I don't need to store excessfat anymore.
It seems like we're gettingplenty of food in this
environment.
Good.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Exactly yeah, I think they.
I think some of the expertscall those non-nutritive foods
non-nutritive or something.
Yeah, I call them highlyprocessed, non-nutritive or
something.
Yeah, I call them highlyprocessed, non-nutritious food,
like substances, and the problemis is what we know too from all
of the science that we have now, is that they destroy the
microbiome in our gut, whichthen doesn't allow our bodies to
(22:36):
properly absorb the nutrients,even when we do eat proper
things.
So if we don't eat thesehealthy things continuously,
then we don't have the propergut health to absorb the
nutrients that we are consuming,and that can be frustrating,
because then you're like, well,I am eating a big salad every
day, or I'm eating lots of like,but you're also doing these
other things, so that your gutisn't able to do its job, and
(23:00):
that's frustrating.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So true, and like people will tell me I think I'm,
I do okay, having one glass ofwine, I go back to this.
But one glass of wine you'reputting alcohol into your gut
and what's in your gut that youneed is bacteria and you're
killing the bacteria in your gutand that makes a huge
difference for your immunesystem, for inflammation.
(23:22):
Like I had no idea all thatinflammation would stop that I'd
had since I was a teenager whenI changed my eating and
drinking, I had no idea if I'dknown how many years I could
have had of being well and beingmore functional than I was.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
I was drinking partly to treat the pain, right,
because I had so much pain eversince high school.
And that is a bottomlesssituation.
Like all it does is feeds thewhole system.
That's making you have the pain, but you feel like, oh, but I
need it because it makes thepain quiet down.
I have to say, too, I was so outof touch with all of my
(24:02):
feelings, like I didn't knowwhat I was feeling.
I would get to the end of theday and I would have said in the
morning I'm not going to drinktonight, I'm not going to go
crazy, I'm just going to eathealthy food.
And by the end of the day,driving home, yes, I am.
You know, it's like I did thathundreds of days of my life and
you feel like crap, right, likewhat is wrong with me?
(24:24):
I thought I was a better personthan this.
I thought I had more integrity.
You know, I just can't keepthis promise to myself.
But that idea of sitting withsome of the feelings I was
having, some of this discomfort,I would have to go.
I feel upset.
What am I upset about?
Like I was just so out of touch, I would have to sit and think.
(24:44):
And I'm a psychologist right.
It's like this isn't good Right.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, I totally agree with that, it's.
I always try to remind myself.
I was, you know, raised as anathlete and I was a distance
runner for a long time and mykids were all athletes and
things.
And you know I've been, I'vebeen sober for kind of a long
time, which is which is great,so I like I don't have that
question anymore, like I don'thave to really worry or think
about whether alcohol is goingto contribute or take away from
(25:10):
my health at all, but then it'sthe food for sure for me.
But one thing that I constantlyremind myself of, or even say
to other people if it comes up,is like, if you follow any you
know, know, like fitness person,any athlete, any high level,
like that's, like that's theirjob or fitness, they don't drink
, they don't they don't drinkbecause they can't.
(25:32):
They know.
They know that it's poison.
So right also know that itwrecks their entire health.
So to me it's just like so odd,it's so obvious.
You know you're well if theseare like the healthiest people
in our country or our world.
Yeah, they're not drinking atall.
They don't drink.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
They're not trying to moderate it, they're not saying
, but you know it's, you know,just here and there, just once
in a while, which was always alie for me.
I couldn't do here and thereonce in a while, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So when you're like I'm super curious if you could
say more about when people aresaying to you constantly like,
oh, this is so easy, and evenyou're saying like it simplifies
your life and it's easy, whatkind of things have, like, the
people that you that have comeinto your world, maybe what have
they shared with you in theirhistory, kind of leading up to
getting here?
What have they tried that hasbeen hard, like what were the
things that they've done?
(26:21):
That's that didn't work, andthen why does yours feel so easy
?
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So many things.
I mean any kind of caloriecutting, dieting almost.
It produces temporary weightloss that never lasts.
So there's really good researchshowing this just doesn't last.
So if you look at people twoyears down the road, almost no
one has kept their weight loss.
So it's what the doctors andthe nutritionists tend to tell
us just cut your calories, andit just simply isn't an
(26:48):
effective approach.
And that's what I just.
I'm publishing a book, I thinknext week slander for good after
50, eat more, stress less andnever diet again.
And if people take nothing elseaway, I want them to never diet
because they are making theirmetabolic health worse, worse
and worse and worse every timethey do it, besides making
(27:11):
themselves feel bad about whydoesn't this work or why can't I
stick with this.
It's not a sustainable approachbecause you already are
undernourished in these times.
If only, let's say, 50% of whatyou're eating is nutritious, if
you're doing better thanaverage, you're not getting
(27:31):
enough nutrition.
That's why your body's storingexcess fat.
Now you try to solve thatproblem by eating less.
Your body is going to ramp upthe hunger.
It's going to slow down yourmetabolism, right, it's going to
make you anxious and it's goingto put more cortisol into your
system.
It's going to cause you to eatmore.
(27:52):
So until you learn how to eatthe things your body actually is
screaming for, if you eat whatyou know, what the society is
encouraging you to eat, you'rein trouble.
You're not going to get therefrom here.
It makes me so mad I'm gettingpassionate.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Yeah, I love that, I love the passion.
Yeah, I mean what you kind oftouched on.
The reality of our medicalsystem is not in our favor.
I'm hoping that maybe my kids'day or in their kids' day, that
things will shift in thatcommunity, that the Western
medicine model will change andthey will get more than five
(28:30):
minutes of training andnutrition and understanding.
I think that there's glimmers.
Like I know there are somepractitioners here and there who
are curious and are wanting toconsider these things a little
bit more.
I've heard a little bit hereand there, so that's great.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
It's not the mainstream.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
but it becomes that way because they are not trained
in nutrition.
They're trained to deal withsymptoms, they're not even
trained to look for a root cause.
So that's not going to help us.
So that's why you have to goout and do your own research.
You have to find resources likeyou to help you in a very
holistic way.
(29:03):
So I'd love to get like kind ofreally into the nitty gritty
and I don't want to give awayall your secrets.
I want people to read your bookand kind of come into your
sphere.
But what are some of the tools,what are some of the steps that
you share with your clients?
Speaker 2 (29:18):
So I broke it down into four categories, four
simple fundamental principles,and you were just asking about
what are.
What are some things that don'twork?
Like intuitive eating.
Like if you ask your body what,what do you want, it's going to
tell you calories, get mecalories, get me sugar.
(29:40):
Like the answers are not goingto be what leads you to health,
they're going to be what getsyou through.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
today I'm so glad you brought that up.
I hate that because I said Ialways say if somebody told me
and I'm an addict, right, solike it's even worse If somebody
said you should eat intuitively, then I'm going to eat pizza
and ice cream every day.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Every day.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
I want pizza and ice cream.
I don't care how healthy I am,yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Your gut is yelling for calories and sugar.
It's not thinking about thefuture.
You have to bring your frontallobe, the smart, wise part of
your brain, online to makebetter choices and not ask your
body.
After you start eating reallyhealthfully what I call it
simply wise eating your bodystarts to really like it and
(30:22):
trust you again.
But just ask your body rightnow, living in these times, what
does it want?
It wants calories and sugar and, yeah, all the worst things
that are going to ruin yourhealth.
So I people have to go awayfrom that.
So I come from an evidence-basedpractices background and what I
learned in all that research isthere should be if you have an
(30:44):
effective intervention, thereshould be a handful of guiding
principles.
You should be able to write itall out in a manual.
People should be able to have achecklist.
They could tell if you're doingit or not.
So part of what people aresaying when they say this is so
easy is that it's super clear,like I know exactly what and how
much to eat every day and howmany meals and all those things,
(31:07):
and that just saves tons ofenergy looking for answers and
well, well.
But somebody else says this andsomebody else says that I don't
care.
I'm just following Ginny rightnow, because what she's teaching
makes sense and it just makesthings simpler for them, right,
and they're not trying to throwsee what I see us doing.
What I was doing is looking formaybe there's one more tip
(31:30):
today that's going to changeeverything.
It's going to just give me theanswer, finally.
I mean, I did that for a long,long time and then I thought
this doesn't work in any otherfield, that you just throw
hundreds of tips together andyou get great results.
That's not how the world works.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Yeah, no it doesn't, and I totally think you're right
.
Like this is why I do thinkthat the whole, it's simple
concept is so powerful, becausethe whole calories in, calories
out situation is the science ofweight loss.
Like that's how it works, likeit's really just this model, so
how you lose weight, you eat inthe calorie deficit, right, and
(32:07):
so it's really actually notcomplicated at all.
I'm not saying that it's notemotionally hard at times, but,
you know, I have somebody in mylife that came to mind right
when you said that that'sconstantly and this person is,
you know, significantly olderthan me and they constantly are
over the over lifetime wouldalways be like, oh, you know
such and such like lost so muchweight.
(32:28):
Did you see that?
Like I wonder how they did it,you know, and I'm like, ooh,
like I'm going to guess.
Like that she just ate lessthan she burned.
Oh, I'd like.
But every time so I'm like whatare you looking for?
Like, what answer are youlooking for?
Like she took the pill, shetakes the shot.
Now, whatever, what, like thosethings can be helpful tools if
(32:49):
that's your thing, but like thereal model is eat less than you
burn.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I don't agree, no, you don't Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
I don't.
That's the science behindweight loss, Tell me.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
You tell me, that's the calorie that's the calorie
model, the calorie deficit model.
It might be, ultimately, thatwe end up having to have less
calories to get lasting weightloss, but focusing on that is
the wrong focus, right?
So what?
So?
The first principle in my planand you could say it's the whole
principle the central principleis eat abundant.
(33:23):
Say it's the whole principle.
The central principle is eatabundant nutritious foods.
And so abundant is a lot morethan people think.
Like our plates are full.
When people look at us eating,they're like.
I have a client who graduatedrecently.
She just had a great experienceeating this way.
She wants to do it the rest ofher life.
And she said when she goes outwith her girlfriends, they're
(33:44):
all calorie cutting focused.
So they're all eating likebirds and they have success in
the sense of not beingoverweight.
And she is eating this platefull of nutritious food.
So she's not focusing on eatingless, she's eating a lot, but
she's eating the things that herbody actually needs and that
don't hurt her body or make itfight back.
(34:04):
So, um and like, as far as thenumber, the amount of vegetables
, as I dug into the research, itwas four to 10 times the amount
that most of us are eating.
Yeah, so when you fill yourplate with really nutritious
things that your body needs,your body reacts very
differently, very fast, and theand one of the things that it
(34:27):
does is it starts letting go ofthe excess weight.
It may be that when we do this,we're eating less calories, but
it is not our focus, and Ithink it's.
I think the focus is notworking for people.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Well, yeah, I think the science of the weight loss
only works when you are eatingless calories than you burn.
That's the science.
But the focus and the mentalpart like is, yeah, it's got to
be shifted.
Like, do you have to trackeverything?
Like you're saying no.
Like you're saying no, youdon't just fill your plate with
nutritious, healthy foods, eatas much as you want.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I'm not saying that either.
I, I weigh my food because Iwon't eat enough.
Otherwise, oh yeah, and that'swhat I find with most of us we
will eat half as much as weought to be eating.
Okay, we don't weigh it.
So, yeah, it's, it's abundant.
So that really is the firstprinciple.
And I I can tell you I havethree different proofs in my
(35:24):
book about why cutting caloriesis not the answer scientifically
either, because our body is notjust following physics, it's
following biochemistry.
Okay, yeah.
So anyway, yeah, we're, we're,yeah, maybe coming down
(35:46):
differently on this, but I knowit's it's a scientist, so I
trust your experience with it.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
I just know that that is a concept that we can all
kind of identify with it's aconcept we can identify with.
So, but I think what you'resaying is is that there's so
much more involved, like ourlike you mentioned already, like
the hormones, you know ourhormone structure, our microbe,
our microbiome, so like if thosethings are kind of out of whack
because we're eating the kindof the wrong foods, that it's
(36:15):
not going to create anenvironment that allows your
body to all function the bestway possible.
So then, even when you might be, even are eating in a calorie
deficit or you're tracking,you're not going to get the
results.
I think that's what you'resaying so true.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I have a client, lily , who's very, very disciplined
person and it was very much aeat less, exercise more, and
once she hit menopause, all shedid was gain weight doing that,
and that's one thing we find.
So the body is not just dealingwith the.
You know, calories are ameasure of heat and that is not
the only thing the body'sdealing with.
(36:49):
The body is trying to get tohomeostasis.
That's its priority.
So if we are starting to eatless or exercise more, our body
is going to try to correct forthat and it's got all these
systems to do that.
So, yeah, I think what we needto balance is are we giving our
gut and are we giving ourhormone systems, and are we
giving our liver what they needand our cells what they need to
(37:12):
heal and recover, etc.
And then all those systems workreally well, like they're
supposed to.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yeah, yeah, and all of us, if you're, if you're
sober for any length of timelike we win, first of all cause
we've already done a hugeservice to our body and our gut
by cutting out the alcohol anddrugs and just being completely
clean in that way.
So then it's just a matter oflike beginning to understand
what are nutritious foods andthen like, how do I get them?
(37:39):
So I would really love to kindof end with that Like what are
some of the kind of?
If you were to give like a kindof a snapshot of a day or two
meal plan, like in general, whatwould you normally eat or what
do you advise people?
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, well, we usually have a whole grain in
the morning and a protein andfruit, and we don't have a tiny
amount of fruit, we have kind ofa lot of fruit, like six ounces
.
Some people feel like I don'twant to have anything sweet in
the morning, so then they mightdo vegetables in place of the
fruit, but a lot of us are goingto benefit from eating more
(38:14):
fruit than we're eating too.
And then at lunch we have agiant like a giant salad with
protein and and fruit again andsome fat, and then at dinner we
have a protein, a fat and agiant portion of vegetables.
And so we one of the thingsthat makes it easy is we never
(38:35):
feel hungry.
Yeah, it's way easier to eatwhat works for weight loss when
you're losing the weight and notfeeling hungry.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Facts yeah Right, I can't stand the feeling of being
hungry.
That's a big, because I'mdefinitely always, always hungry
.
So the grain in the morning isthat like oatmeal.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
What grain do you use ?
I usually have oatmeal.
Yeah, some, I don't know.
People can do all differentkinds.
I tried buckwheat recently.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
That was really good.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, there's one or twocereals, but basically 99% of
the cereals are not somethingthat are really going to serve
us.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Sure Right.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
But a whole grain, so it could be rice, could be, you
know, quinoa.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I don't know.
I never like a glycemic value,like an insulin resistance and
stuff.
They're very against grain likegrains.
So I'm curious about what yourthoughts are on that.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Well, from what I've seen in the research.
So I'm very it's very researchbased like what works, is my
question all the time.
What works for heart health?
What works for sugar health?
What works for weight loss thatdoesn't come back is it looks
like it's better for most of usto have some grain like on a
regular basis.
So people lose more weight whenthey have a grain in their diet
(39:52):
.
They have healthier heartsright and healthier blood sugar
when they have a grain.
So it might be the way peopleeat grain that they're trying to
discourage them from doing,because if you're eating
processed grain, it's nothelping you Like buying any of
those box cereals almost arejust going to make things worse
for your cells and your system.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
Yeah, they all have to be whole foods, which people
are becoming more and morefamiliar with, but basically
that means completelynon-processed, like a buckwheat,
like a, and you know, like youknow a grain.
That's like you have to cookyourself.
What are some examples ofprotein sources?
I would love to hear some ofyour favorite, like protein
sources and fats for yourself.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Interesting.
You know, the first year that Iwas doing this I was so scared
I was going to feel like I waslosing something, that I was
making shrimp like grilledshrimp and grilled scallops and
steak, like I just needed tomake sure my protein was really
delicious.
And now it doesn't feel likethat to me at all, eight years
(40:53):
later, or whatever.
Like I'd like to have a littlebit of feta cheese and some nuts
or seeds on my salad and I'musing a salad dressing.
But I think even better is ifyou just eat like olives or
avocados, if you eat your fatinstead of having it processed
like that.
But I find it works like that'swhat I look at what works.
(41:16):
It works for people to have atablespoon of dressing on their
salad.
The thing I watch out for ismake sure it doesn't have too
much sugar, because sugar willmake me want more sugar, both
because what it does in my brainand what it does in my gut.
I hate that feeling of cravingsugar and it's gorgeous when
that just goes away Like, oh, Iwant to live here, I know.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
You're so right, because then you're like, you're
so unbothered by it, you can goout and be like in parties or
do whatever, and you're justlike.
You're like I don't even reallylike, want that, like, oh, give
me some more veggies, you knowoff the tray.
You know, um, and also you know, back to what we sort of
started with.
They are, you know,aesthetically pleasing Look at
all the colors on that veggie,with the carrots and the green
peppers and the cucumbers likethere's just so much kind of
(42:03):
beauty there, um, yes, awesome.
Yeah, I think that, uh, we haveso much access to good things
too, like really good clean,like olive oils and things like
that, so, like you could make Imake my own dressing with apple
cider vinegar and olive oil andlemon juice, and it was just
very simple, um, kind ofdelicious.
We're just used to it.
You know, I kind of grew up onmy dressing as well, but, um,
(42:26):
and you know I think it's justnice because I don't really
measure it or anything, but it's, you know I know everything in
there is good.
I made it myself, so I I knowwhat's in there.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yeah, that helps yeah , dressings are trouble.
Any kind of condiments aretrouble, as far as how much
sugar they add to them.
Yeah, you really.
Are you got to read every label?
Yeah, I love that you're doingsomething super simple.
I was thinking I need like apacket of seasonings, but no,
I'm overcomplicating it.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
So simple and I always have those things in my
pantry, so like I just have likemy little bottle, I could do my
extra light olive oil with myapple cider vinegar.
I usually do like some mustardor spicy brown, some lemon juice
and then salt and pepper andthat's it.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Oh, you know what?
I used before too, is likehummus, and then I just put
water in it to to make it like adressing.
Yes, nutrition, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
Yeah, and also, yeah, super nutritious.
I love that.
Oh my gosh, this has been suchan important conversation.
I'm so glad that we're havingthis and I'm so glad that you
have your book out there andsuch such access for people.
Whether you're, whether you are, you know, kind of over 50 or
older woman or not, everybodycan benefit from this
information.
So where do you like people toreach out and find you if they
(43:40):
want to get more information?
Speaker 2 (43:41):
Yeah, they could go to slender for goodcom slash
book waitlist.
Oh, where the heck did I putthat Waitlist book?
Waitlist book.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Got it Awesome.
I'll make sure I link to thatin the show notes below and you
know just.
Thank you again for yourexpertise and for your time and
your talent and I really hopeour worlds cross paths again.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Okay, yay.
Thank you for joining me forthis week's episode of Confident
Sober Women.
If you enjoyed thisconversation, hit the subscribe
button above so you won't missany upcoming episodes.
And, hey, if you really lovedit, leave me a review.
You can learn more about thesober freedom inner circle
(44:28):
membership atwwwshelbyjohncoachingcom.
Forward slash inner circle.
See you next time.
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