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Mandy White Eskelin joins The Lindsey Elmore Show to break down why restrictive diets can wreak havoc on your hormones, metabolism, and mental health. A former fitness pro who once stood dehydrated on stage with a trophy in hand and a collapsing body, Mandy now helps women heal their relationship with food by starting at the root—the gut.
She unpacks how chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, and cortisol imbalances stall weight loss and fuel emotional burnout. Mandy shares simple, sustainable strategies for balancing your plate, resetting your gut, and ditching diet culture once and for all.
If you’ve been burned by the “clean eating” trap, this is your permission slip to reset and rebuild—inside and out.
Key Takeaways:
00:01 – Mandy's emotional breaking point and diet rock bottom
01:24 – Welcome to the show & Mandy’s background
02:42 – From trainer to chronic dieter: Mandy's weight loss journey
04:12 – The competition that wrecked her health
06:25 – Hormone issues, food sensitivities & ER visits
07:37 – How gut damage begins & why healing it changed everything
09:21 – The gut: your second brain and hormone HQ
11:59 – Diet diversity, protein cycling & why food variety matters
14:43 – What happens when you can’t digest “real food”
17:58 – 21-day metabolic reset & removing inflammatory foods
20:16 – Using food sensitivity testing for personalized healing
24:05 – Why women need fat (and should fear sugar instead)
25:44 – The truth about fruit: it’s not a snack
27:42 – Good fats vs. bad fats (and what’s ruining your cells)
31:00 – Reprogramming your palate away from sugar addiction
34:55 – Reintroducing foods post-reset: listening to your body
36:56 – Why Mandy chose holistic nutrition over conventional training
39:25 – It’s not just food: primary vs. secondary nutrition
40:39 – The gut-brain connection and how food impacts mental health
Resources & Next Steps:
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lindsey-elmore-show--5952903/support.
Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify
Mandy White Eskelin joins The Lindsey Elmore Show to break down why restrictive diets can wreak havoc on your hormones, metabolism, and mental health. A former fitness pro who once stood dehydrated on stage with a trophy in hand and a collapsing body, Mandy now helps women heal their relationship with food by starting at the root—the gut.
She unpacks how chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, and cortisol imbalances stall weight loss and fuel emotional burnout. Mandy shares simple, sustainable strategies for balancing your plate, resetting your gut, and ditching diet culture once and for all.
If you’ve been burned by the “clean eating” trap, this is your permission slip to reset and rebuild—inside and out.
Key Takeaways:
- Restrictive diets lead to hormonal imbalance, gut damage, and metabolic burnout.
- Gut health controls serotonin, dopamine, and your body’s stress response.
- Eating the same “healthy” foods daily can create new food sensitivities.
- High cortisol levels contribute to fat storage, especially around the midsection.
- Balancing blood sugar with whole foods reduces cravings and restores energy.
- Fats don’t make you fat—sugar and stress do
- Fruit should always be paired with protein and fat to prevent insulin spikes.
- Processed food wrecks your gut microbiome, which affects everything.
00:01 – Mandy's emotional breaking point and diet rock bottom
01:24 – Welcome to the show & Mandy’s background
02:42 – From trainer to chronic dieter: Mandy's weight loss journey
04:12 – The competition that wrecked her health
06:25 – Hormone issues, food sensitivities & ER visits
07:37 – How gut damage begins & why healing it changed everything
09:21 – The gut: your second brain and hormone HQ
11:59 – Diet diversity, protein cycling & why food variety matters
14:43 – What happens when you can’t digest “real food”
17:58 – 21-day metabolic reset & removing inflammatory foods
20:16 – Using food sensitivity testing for personalized healing
24:05 – Why women need fat (and should fear sugar instead)
25:44 – The truth about fruit: it’s not a snack
27:42 – Good fats vs. bad fats (and what’s ruining your cells)
31:00 – Reprogramming your palate away from sugar addiction
34:55 – Reintroducing foods post-reset: listening to your body
36:56 – Why Mandy chose holistic nutrition over conventional training
39:25 – It’s not just food: primary vs. secondary nutrition
40:39 – The gut-brain connection and how food impacts mental health
Resources & Next Steps:
- Try the EverlyWell Food Sensitivity Test
- Explore Mandy’s 21-Day Metabolic Reset on Mandy’s website.
- Follow Mandy White Eskelin on Instagram: @mandywhiteeskelin.
- Read: The Microbiome Diet by Raphael Kellman
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lindsey-elmore-show--5952903/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Had this pile of clothes on the floor and I
just sat on them and cried, felt like a stranger
in my own body, and that's when I took the
drastic measures. Again, it's not anything by any means that
I recommend, because the damage that I did to my
body and my hormones and my metabolism by doing that,
that to took me years to correct and fix.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome everybody to this week's edition of The Lindsay Elmore Show.
Throughout history, there have been so many different fad diets
out there right now. Tons of people are doing carnivore,
the Dolly Parton diet, the grapefruit diet.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
People have eaten baby food.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And there are even people out there who believe that
they can subsist on air and sunlight alone. Today, we
are going to be talking with Mandy White Escalin about
why ultra restrictive diets throw us into a state of
metabolic burnout where we have so much cortisol that we're
(01:06):
actually storing fat when we could be eating a healthy,
balanced diet. We're going to also be talking about how
sugar and not fat is actually making you overweight. Welcome
to the Lindsay Elmore show a podcast for people who
(01:29):
deserve to be healthy. With honest, open and enlightening conversations
with doctors, thought leaders, creatives and spiritual gurus. You'll walk
away with simple and tangible tips and tricks that allow
you to live your healthiest life so you can pursue
your dreams, overcome obstacles, and leave your mark. Mandy White
(01:53):
Eskalin is a retired celebrity personal trainer, holistic nutrition expert,
certified gut health specialist, and WBFF fitness pro who placed
third in the world at the pro level. Mandy White Escalon,
Welcome to the Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Thank you so much. I'm so honored to be here
with you. I am really really honored. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I am so excited to get to talk to you
because we're talking about some of my favorite topics today, stress, cortisol,
mental wellness, gut health, and we're really going to talk
about how this impacts weight loss. And you have been
on your own weight loss journey.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Tell us about that. I have actually, as a now
fifty year old mom of two, when after I had
my kids, let's see, seventeen years ago is my youngest.
I had about thirty pounds to lose, and after two
C sections, I knew that it was going to be
a little bit of a challenge. And I have to
(03:00):
say that, even though I was still a certified personal
trainer back then, I did it in a very unhealthy way.
I did all the crazy restrictive diets, starvation, you name it,
I tried it, I did it. I was so desperate,
so desperate to lose the weight. I remember that day
where I made that decision. I was in my closet
(03:21):
and I was trying on all of my clothes and
nothing fit, like, nothing fit me. And I just had
this pile of clothes on the floor and I just
sat on them and cried, and I'm like, I don't
want to feel like this. I felt like a stranger
in my own body. And that's when I took the
drastic measures. Again, it's not anything by any means that
I recommend, because the damage that I did to my
(03:44):
body and my hormones and my metabolism by doing that,
that to took me years to correct and fix. So
that's why I'm so like passionate about women and helping
women do it the right way and have a healthy
relationship with food. And do it in a way that
supports their hormones and their cortisol and their metabolism.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Talk to us about some of the craziest diets, trends,
fads that you tried along the way.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Let's see you name it. I probably did it, like
juice cleanses, water cleanse, juice fast, I tried keto, I
tried ittermnted fasting. I tried honestly everything, like I had
tried some eleven day cleanse in detox. I did Master
read the Master Cleanse again, you name it, I did it.
(04:35):
But the hardest thing for me was unlearning and fixing
all of the damage that I did to my body
as a result of those crazy diet And then what's
really crazy is I actually after I lost the weight,
the craziest story happened. I had some friends doing a
fitness competition here in Las Vegas, where I live, and
(04:55):
so I went with her to like a pool party
after and I had just like lost all the weight. Honestly,
it's probably about twenty five pounds at that time, and
some people came up to me and they were like,
oh my gosh, how did you place. I'm like, I
didn't compete I'm just here supporting my girlfriend that competed.
I'm here to cheer her on. And they're like, well,
if you look like that without trying, you would do
(05:18):
amazing competing, and that's when the seed plants it. I'm like, oh, really, well,
I don't know what that looks like. So I hired
a coach at that point, and that coach took me
from where I was to competition prep ready, and then
it was a whole other level of unhealthiness with eating
and working out, and it just took my I didn't
(05:40):
want to say bad habits like all of that, and
enhanced it. Now. I did step on stage that very
first time, and I was definitely terrified of doing that,
but I did it scared, and I remember when I
did earn that pro card that they were like, okay, okay,
first place goes to Mandy White, and I couldn't even move.
(06:04):
I was so dehydrated that my calfs were cramped, my
cheeks were cramped up. But I realized that I had
done so much to my body that oh my gosh,
I'm gonna fall on my face and I didn't want
to do that, so I stood there. They obviously gave
me the pro card anyway. But it was after that
that I started having massive metabolic burnout. I didn't have
(06:26):
a period, and my hormones were messed up. I didn't
have a period for almost a year. I had severe
anxiety and depression both at the same time, which back then,
this was thirteen years ago, I didn't know that all
of that was simm me for my gut which we'll
talk more about. And I also had developed food sensitivities
to even healthy foods that I ate on a daily basis,
(06:48):
including eggs and chicken, and so I didn't know at
that time that all of that stuff was going on,
which led me to finally just stop after a couple
of years of competing. I had to. I ended up
in the emergency room a couple of times, and one
of the times I fell over in so much pain
I looked like I was six months pregnant but with
(07:08):
four pack apps like it was that bad. Yeah, something's wrong,
something is wrong with my body. So that's when I said,
you know what, I'm going to take my health in
my own hands. I put myself through holistic nutrition school,
became a certified gut hell specialist because I wanted to
learn how to heal my body. And then that's when
I started to fall in love after that with helping
other women and helping other women have a healthy relationship
(07:31):
with food heal their gut. So that's where my story
kind of evolved into like where I am today, right right.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And I'm so glad that you mentioned that you were
so dehydrated that you felt like you couldn't even move
and that it led to this anxiety and this metabolic
dysfunction and food sensitivities. Talk to us about why these
(07:59):
ultra there were restrictive diets lead to so many health problems.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
There's so many reasons. A big number is when you
constantly eat the same foods over and over and over,
your body can form a sensitivity or an intolerance to
those things. And what happens is being so dehydrated, having
so much stress and inflammation in my body, my digestion
(08:28):
was off as well, Like I was so constipated. Like, look,
we're talking real talk here, we're women. I mean I
was so constipated. Like, but what happens is with all
that inflammation that I had going on in my gut,
it had caused these microscopic tears in my gut lining.
And when those that inflammation was there and those microscopic
tears happen. Now, even some healthy food that I was
(08:50):
eating was permeating through that gut lining and causing like
my body to start attacking and inflamma, you know, like
antibodies against those foods in particularly, And then my body
started rejecting those foods, which caused more inflammation in my body.
And it just started to like compound and snowball into
something that no one could figure out. What was the
(09:13):
root cause of it all? What was why did all
of this start? And it was just such a compound effect,
so that I understood now, okay, if I can go
back to all of it, which is the gut. The
gut is the second brain. The gut regulates seventy percent
of our hormones, seventy percent of our immune function, ninety
percent of our serotonin, which is our happy hormone. It's
(09:34):
what makes us feel happy. Seventy percent of our dopamine
is producing our gut, which makes us feel motivated. But
if your gut isn't functioning, neither is any other aspects
of your entire life. And so what I had learned
in going to holistic nutrition school is that if I
can heal that gut and I can remove those foods
that were causing my body inflammation. And I did this
(09:58):
back then because this was twelve years ago. We didn't
have the little home test that you can do for
food sensitivities that I recommend everyone to do, but I
had to do it by process of my own elimination
and putting those food the things. It took me so
long to realize that one of the main foods that
I was having daily, which was eggs, was causing the
(10:18):
most issues in my body. And it was the craziest
thing to finally figure that out. But of course gluten
and dairy were on there. But then I figured out
it was eggs. Then I figured it out it was chicken.
And I realized that those were two foods that I
was constantly eating, and so I'd put them off to
the side for a week or two the inflammation would
go down in my gut. I started drinking bovine bone
(10:40):
broth and I'd drink it every day, three times a day.
But what's really cool is once I knew that that
was the type of collagen that I needed, to heal
my gut lining and then keep those inflammatory foods out.
It took me about two years before I could have
gluten again. It took me two years before I could
have eggs again. And not to say that it's permanent,
but I did that process for a really long time
(11:02):
to heal my gut. And once I started focusing on
healing my gut, literally it changed everything in my entire life.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's interesting. So I have a history of bolimia, and
when you repeatedly vomit over and over and over again,
your body gets conditioned when you eat just to vomit.
And it sounds the same same but different to what
you're saying, which is I was eating the same foods
(11:31):
over and over and over again, and it was eventually
your body is just like I need some diversity here.
So I'm going to create some allergies. I'm going to
create some inflammation. I'm going to create these microtears which
allow inflammation to flood into the body. Now, I mean,
why on Earth, as a part of your competition prep
(11:54):
is diversity in the diet not encouraged?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It is, however, for I stuck to eggs, chicken, ground, turkey,
and back then Talafia, like that was my main sources
of protein, you know, So that was it, and I
didn't know back then, oh you need to cycle out
your protein. I didn't have, you know, a coach that
really knew what they were doing, so I limited it
(12:20):
to that. Here was the four proteins, here was the
carbs that I could have, you know, And here was
the vegetables. I was deathly terrified of eating fruit. Couldn't like.
I had a horrible relationship with food. I was scared
to death. It was so bad. And my extreme is
different than yours. I would carry a food scale with
me two restaurants, like in my purse, and I would
(12:43):
weigh every single piece of food, like every piece of protein,
everything that I would put in my mouth, I had
to weigh at first. That's not us not healthy, right,
It was not healthy. It's just such not a healthy
mentality and relationship with food. But I could have, and
I should have, knowing what I know now, gone back
(13:03):
and cycled out those proteins not just daily but weekly,
and had other sources other than just like those four
main sources, because that's where my body started to create
that intolerance and that inflammation.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Towards talk to us about what protein cycling even is well, instead.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Of like people think, oh, have chicken and broccoli for dinner,
and then the next day eating the same exact things
and the same exact things and the same exact things.
And that's what I did, versus having some different protein
sources in there, having a little lean red meat, having
ground turkey, having salmon, having ground buffalo, whatever those things are.
(13:46):
But knowing that, I tell people now, one of the
worst things you can do is have the same foods
every single day. Your body comes resistant to it. Even
if you don't have the gut issues, your body will
start to be resistant to it. That's like the same
thing of doing the same workout every single day. Your
body will completely be resistant in plateau and you're not
(14:07):
going to get the results that you really want. And
so I didn't know what I know now, and knowing
that I would have cycled out my proteins more on
a daily basis, and then maybe my body wouldn't have
created those intolerances and those sensitivities to them. But I
also look at it that that had to happen for
me in order for me to go to nutrition school
(14:28):
and become a GUD health specialist and then be able
to change tens of thousands of lives around the world.
So I'm grateful that it all happened, but I also
know that I can take that story and really help
other women not repeat the same pattern that I did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because you said like a
dirty word a moment ago. You said it took me
two years before I could eat gluten. And one of
the things in Chinese medicine is that an inability to
digest real food is a symptom, and so many people
(15:07):
completely avoid gluten, and yet they backfill it with all
kinds of artificial rice flowers and ultraprocessed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Foods, you know, throughout your.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Holistic nutrition school, And I really want to I want
to talk more about that. But what did you learn
about a body that cannot digest real foods?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Oh? My gosh, that it's so common. It is so
common for people because we do eat those ultraprocessed foods
and gluten in our dairy here in the United States.
We could go on a whole other other podcast about
that and the quality of our food here compared to
what it is in Europe. But when you start looking
(15:57):
at the processed foods that we consume on a daily basis,
and I'm talking the average American here consumes on a
daily basis. It is so ultra process It has so
many preservatives and chemicals and things that our bodies do
not need. And then what happens is our body doesn't
know what to do with that, and so our body
starts attacking all of it. And then that's where it
(16:19):
causes that inflammation in our gut. Now, our digestion is
not working. It's shut down because we also with a
lot of the chemicals that we eat. It slows down
digestion right, It kills a lot of the digestive enzymes,
It kills a lot of the prebiotics and probotics that
is already in our gut that we need in order
(16:41):
to break down food. But the processed food is destroying
that gut microbiome. And now when that gut microbiome is
being destroyed, now it's not even digesting our healthy food
that we're eating. Now we become nutrient deficient envitamins, rentals, enzymes,
and antioxidants because our body is not absorbing all of it. Now,
(17:03):
those nutrient deficiencies cause a lot more disease and illness.
So it's just this madness of what happens when we
destroy that gut microbiome in our body. Balancing the gut microbiome,
you know, really taking care of it because it runs everything.
Even though it's called our second brain, to be honest,
it it controls a lot more than this upper brain
(17:26):
actually does.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Talk to us about some of your favorite foods that
help to either if somebody is in a situation where
they have a ton of food sensitivities, how do they
begin to build and restore the microbiome. And if someone
is relatively healthy but is still got a little bit
(17:49):
of excess belly fat or a little bit of high
blood pressure or whatever it is, what are some of
your favorite foods to balance out the microbiome.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
First of all, I love the question. One of the
things that I recommend doing, and I run these all
the time. And it's a twenty one day metaboq reset.
Not for the principles of a diet. This is actually
the opposite of that. But what we do is we
take them the eight main inflammatory foods that cause most
(18:20):
people issues, we put them off to the side for
twenty one days.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So yeah, so we're talking trenuts, peanuts, fish, gluten, milk, giry.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Gluten, dairy, soy, artificial sweeteners, sugar, alcohol, sodas, and even
grains and legumes. Just for twenty one days we put
them on a shelf. Is not a diet.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So these are different than the primary eight allergens that
we just named. So you're just talking about pro inflammatory
foods and microbiome disrupting foods. Yeah, exactly, interesting like that. Okay,
all right, so twenty one day metabolic reset.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Because I wasn't allergic to any of those foods, right Like,
they did a blood allergy test when I was in
the er. I was not allergic to any of those
So but what I found out was I was intolerant
to them, which won't show up on a blood allergy panel.
There is a whole other thing that like even Amazon.
I love the everly Well Everly Well on Amazon food
(19:26):
Sensitivity tests the ninety six foods. It's about one hundred
and fifty dollars, but it tests ninety six of ninety
six foods. I recommend that all day, every day because
the only way that we can get a true snapshot
as to what is going on in our body. Is
that you get it at home, You prick your finger,
you put the thing a little card. It gives you
(19:47):
everything mailed off, and in like seven to ten days
it shows up on your app. You're high, your moderate,
and your mild sensitivities. Right now we can go, oh wow,
I just had another girl do it last week. Garlic
was on her high category. It was something that she
eats with everything, but that you keep putting something that
(20:08):
your body is sensitive to and then you're causing a
constant inflammation in or gut. And she has not been
able to figure out what's going on. So I take
the nine gut disruptor or sorry, the eight gut disruptor
food and I have put them on the side. Put
them on the side. You can choose to do the
food sensitivity tests if you want. I recommend it because
(20:29):
it really gives us a true snapshot of what's going
on in your body and what your body is like. No,
please stop putting that in me? Right? And then I
help by taking those inflammatory foods out. It allows the
body to kind of go down in that inflammation. Then
we teach people how to balance the plate with a
(20:52):
lean protein, and we have a chart with like twenty
lean proteins that you can have, right, A healthy fat
like avocada, like coconut oil, like avocado, like olive oil
as well. Right, So we have a chart of those
healthy fats that and we teach you how to portion
it on your plate. And then the carb on your
(21:13):
plate is fruits and vegetables. Now we have certain ones
because we want to use real food to create hormonal balance,
to stabilize blood sugar, which is going to reduce cravings
as well as help your body go from fat storing
mode to fat burning mode. So now when you're putting
in there the non inflammatory foods now your body is
(21:38):
it's going to react differently than when you're constantly putting
something in there that is inflammatory and your body is
reacting to we take out the main eight. But a
lot of times I do recommend for people that have
digestive issues go do that little find out those ninety
six because who would have known that garlic it would
have been on this girls my son. I had my
seventeen year old son do it last sight because he's
(22:01):
like mom, and we knew gluten and dairy were disruptors
right for him. We knew it, but he's a teenager,
so he has it all the time. There's we've got
to pick our battles here with our kids. But I said,
let's just do it and see what else is coming
up on there. You're going to be so surprised when
you shock when you hear this. Blueberries and pineapple and
eggs were on his high.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Okay, pineapple I can believe because of the Barama lane
that's in there, but blueberries and apples, blueberry, blueberries, eggs, pineapples.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And we knew gluten and dairy were going to be
on there. But what happens is when you when you've
already got the inflammation going on in the gut, and
you constantly are putting something in there that, even if
it's healthy, if that little bit, just one tiny little
bit permegates that gut lining, then your body is going
to react and cause a sensitivity and an intolerance to
(22:55):
even a healthy food like pineapple. And this this other
girl garlic. I mean it was the only thing on
her high category, which is crazy garlic. So now obviously,
like we want to try to eliminate those things for
that twenty one days, but then teach your body in
that in that same time, how to heal that gut lining.
And this is where the right type of supplementation can
(23:17):
come in to support the gut lining healing itself, to
support digestion, to support the rebalancing of the gut microbiome.
Now your body is going to absorb the nutrients again.
Now we can truly using food allow your body to
reverse some of the disease and illness because again we're
(23:37):
fixing it at the root level, which is our gut.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
What would you say to women who were scared to
eat fat, because you know women my age, your age
in the eighties, it would you know, fat was the
absolute enemy, and unfortunately, you know, sugar came into all
of our foods, and I think that some women still
hold onto that to this day. Why do women need fat?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh? Great question. Yes, I remember the whole like eighties
of you know, like fat free everything. But we didn't
realize back then that when you take out the fat,
they have to replace it with something else, right, women,
especially our age like that. I mostly coach women you know,
like in that thirty five to forty and over range
(24:26):
because of perimenopause. But we need good healthy fats for
our testosterone production. We need good healthy fats in order
to burn bad fat. Let me say that again, we
need good healthy fats in order to burn the bad
fat in our body. We have to have it. We
(24:49):
need it. And not to say that you need to
go and just eat a whole avocado every day, but
when you learn how to portion it properly, you're going
to see more benefits from having those healthy fats for
your testostero production, for even like your healthy cholesterol levels,
to be able to burn the bad fat. That's where
(25:11):
I feel it's so important for people to understand the
relationship of what really goes on their plate because we
do need those healthy fats. Like, you should be more scared,
I'm not joking. You should be more scared of the
sugars that you consume because of what that does, because
sugar is really what makes us fat, not fat. Fats
(25:31):
do not make a spat. Fats don't make a spat.
It's sugar that makes us fat. And so if you
would understand that, you would not want to touch anything
that I'm talking like white sugar, processed sugar, all of
that stuff. I'm not talking fruits. Fruits we need, but
fruit By the way, I'm gonna pause here for a second.
(25:52):
Fruit should never be eaten alone. Fruit is not a snack.
It's not a meal. You never want to eat fruit
bite itself. Fruit should be paired with a healthy fat
and a protein always. They should always be paired together
so that it doesn't spike your blood sugar. Because what
happens is if you eat fruit by itself, your body
(26:12):
is still going to convert it to sugar, and then
if it's not utilized, it's going to be stored as fat.
But when you learn how to balance that plate, so
food becomes your friend, and you know, Okay, if I
really want you know some, let's just say raspberries. Raspberries
is one of my favorite. Raspberries have so many health benefits.
But if I'm going to have some, if I'm like
(26:34):
I'm craving raspberries, well then I'm going to put it
with Maybe I'll have a couple of hard boiled eggs
with it, so that I've got my healthy fats in
the yolk and I've got my protein and then i
can have my berries. Like it's just it's such a
now after doing this and living like this for years,
it just like I can't. I wouldn't never be able
to just eat that by itself, because the goal is
(26:56):
to balance blood sugar, because even fruit will spike your
your insulin levels, and if your body doesn't utilize it,
it's going to store to fat. The other thing is,
if you just eat fruit by itself, in about an hour,
your blood sugar levels are gonna crash, and then now
your body is like, ugh, I need some more sugar.
(27:16):
Feed me, I need more, and now you're gonna create
more sugar versus learning how to eat and stabilize those
blood sugar levels so that your muscles are fed, and
then your body is not gonna hold onto any of
that fat.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I want to go back to what you mentioned about
good fats versus we need good fat to burn bad fat.
What is good fat and what is bad fat?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
So good fats would be like avocados, olive oil. Those
are like good healthy fats versus like bad fats. Now, butter,
I can I can see on the right, So I'm
not saying butter, but I'm really talking about like the
(28:02):
unhealthy fats that are added to other ones, you know,
like like.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Your canola oils and your seed oils.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yes, like seed oils is such a bad one. That is,
it's all high in what we call omega sixes. So
we this is all right, so we need omega threes.
We get so much omega sixes, which are those unhealthy
fats in our diet, just from processed foods and oils
and extra things like I see it. I see it
(28:32):
on things that you think are healthy. And then you
see all of these seed oils or canola oil or
just all the oils. It's just yuck added to there.
Those are super high in omega sixes, and omega sixes
are high inflammatory oils. In order to combat those omega sixes,
(28:55):
we need more omega threes, which would be salmon, right,
like wild not a wild salmon, not not farm raised,
but like wild salmon. That's a great source of omega threes.
We don't need any more omega sixes. We get them omega.
Think about omega sixes on a cellular level form like
(29:18):
this hard candy coating over ourselves. Okay, think about like
an eminem, right right, Think about the hard candy coating
that goes on the outside of an eminem. So omega
sixes cover our celts and in order for us to
remove that. We need to combat it with lots of
(29:40):
omega threes. Lots of omega threees will help destroy and
break apart that inflammatory omega sixes. Another thing our body stores.
And by the way, most people don't know this, toxins
are stored in our fat cells.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Do you know what your brain is, It's mostly gonna
be fat.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So a lot of these chemicals and omega sixes are
stored in our fat cells, including our brain. So when
you start thinking about your brain on a cellular level,
and now you've got all of these omega sixes that
are covering the cells of our brain. Now what happens
(30:24):
is this can lead to Alzheimer, dementia, Parkinson's, all of
those brain related illnesses. It's a really scary thing because
you know, I see it with my parents and getting
older and their generations and what they eat. Like I'm
on my parents all the time about don't eat that,
(30:44):
Like replace canola oil and vegetable oil with coconut oil
or avocado oil. Like, we need the good, healthier omega
threes to combat the damage of the omega sixes that
we consume from our process foods. It's so so important.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
So if somebody is just getting started and this and
they're currently basically eating one hundred percent ultra processed foods,
their palette is so conditioned to this like bliss point,
the nandamide point where they've got that optimum balance of
(31:23):
the sugar and the fat and the carbs and everything.
And so how can people start to change their palettes
where they actually like eating real food.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
That's a good question. It takes time, right, it does
take time. And I know that you know this because
you're so bralland I love when you and not having
thank you you are. There was a study that was
done and they learned about this in holistic nutrition school
that that sugar has the same effect on the brain
(31:55):
as cocaine does. They've done brains and that's why, well,
you know, that's why people also have a tough time
not eating sugar. There's another one there is, and I
think I'm saying it right. So cheese has a chemical
in there, and I believe it's called gluttlemorph caison.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Oh uh huh, yeah, yeah, yeah, glutamorphine, caso morphine, caso morphin.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thank you, thank you, keitous caso morphine. It has the
same effect on the brain as morphine does, and they've
done scans, which is why people cutting out cheese and
sugar are some of the hardest things to cut out. Now,
I still love my cheese, but it's all about like
a moderation, right. But when your brain is also so
(32:44):
addicted to not only the palette, but chemically in your
brain addicted to the sugar and to the cheese, we
have to That's another reason why we do that metabolic reset,
because we put those foods on the side for twenty
one days and we're reprogramming our brain and our palettes
(33:06):
that it's going to crave differently because we are like
taking an addict off of a drug right where we've
got a deep box. We have to detox our body
and it will change. Like I know, even for me
years ago, like I was, I had this thing for
uh what was the yellow packets? Splenda Splenda?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Oh okay, I thought we were talking Velveda but different
yellow packets.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yes, So it took me a long time to get
away from sugar. I grew up in the South sweet
tea like you name it, but I grew up that way.
Then I switched to Splendor, which are the yellow packets
which is sucralose. And because I tasted that, it took
me a while to knowing how much of a gut
(33:52):
disruptor that sucralose is. But I still had a tough
time switching over and adjusting my palette to something like
a stevia or a monk fruit. Now when I taste
that other artificial now it's like, oh my gosh, that
is like gross and it tastes terrible. But it does
take time to help your palette right. And it's also
(34:14):
a mental thing because your brain is trying to tell you, no,
that doesn't taste good. But when you're just like, no,
I'm gonna eat this because I know that I need
to eat this. It's fuel for my body, It's fuel
for what I need. Eventually you're going to crowd out
those bad cravings. Eventually, stabilize the blood sugar enough. You're
going to balance that gut microbiome. The diversity in your
(34:36):
microbiome is going to signal to your brain, oh wow,
this is good food. I like this. It's gonna in
all three right. I know it sounds crazy, but you
will reprogram your palette from what we do between your
brain and your guts and it took a little bit
of time. But once you do it and you start
(34:57):
feeling better. Because most people are in that chronic live
in this chronic inflammatory state, and they don't even realize that, oh,
I'm craving sugar. Well, let's teach you why you're craving sugar.
Let's balance your blood sugar with real food, and watch
how your cravings come down. Now your body is gonna
crave more of the good stuff and less of the
bad stuff. So we kind of crowded out. But then
(35:19):
when we bring those inflammatory foods in after twenty one days,
we teach people how to properly do that. Right, don't
just go, Okay, I'm gonna go have pizza and I'm
gonna go have all of this stuff because your body
is gonna act like it you just had a bowling
ball in your stomach. So we teach people how to
properly now, after twenty one days, bring those inflammatory foods
(35:41):
back in. Listening to your body because now you have
a different foundation. Now you have a foundation of no inflammation.
Your body is absorbing nutrients, your digestion's working, your metabolism
has sped up, your cortisol levels are regulated, you go
and throw all of that in there, you will notice
if your body wants it or doesn't want it, like
(36:03):
I have somebody, I mean so many people like, oh
my gosh, I realized my body just doesn't like that anymore.
Because we've taught your body and your brain and your
gut to want more of the good stuff that you've
been having for twenty one days and less of the bad.
And then that's where this becomes a lifestyle. We programmed
their body and their brain and their gut to want
more of the good stuff because that's how they've been.
(36:24):
They feel so good.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
You know, we're rapidly running out of time. But I
want to hit on why you chose Holistic Nutrition school
versus like a traditional nutrition degree or a dietary degree,
a functional dietitian degree. I mean, there's all kinds of
(36:48):
dietary degrees and nutrition degrees out there. What made you
go to Holistic Nutrition School?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Great question. There was a couple of reasons. Number one,
because I did not agree by any means with the
food pyramid that that is taught to register dietitians to nutritionists.
Uh to, It's not like you have to operate under
you required with your certification, with your licensing to operate
(37:20):
under the food pyramid, the traditional food pyramid, which I'm sorry,
I do not agree with that whatsoever. And I was
not about to have someone come and tell me that
I could only coach and operate and guide people under
those regulations, because I don't believe in that where bread
was one of the big ones and dairy was one
(37:41):
of the big ones, and sugar. Now they've got like
cereals on there, which oh gosh, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
It's I heard I heard somebody called cerial human kibble
I think it.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Was, and I won't name there was one company I
won't name it on here that designed a specific cereal
to suppress tassosterone levels and raise estrogen levels. Is this
not crazy? Insane? Which is why you see young, you know, eight, ten,
twelve year old boys with like these man boobs, and
(38:15):
then it goes on into puberty and all their life,
all right, So that's yes, human kibble. I mean, it's
just it's horrible like anyway. That was one of the
main reasons that I chose not to go to that
traditional because I did not want to be forced to
regulate under that food pyramid. Guideline that there were so
many other things out there. And another thing I chose
(38:37):
Holistic Nutrition school for is because it's not always just
about the food that you're putting on your plate. That
is actually our secondary food. What's our primary foods is
what's going on in our life, our relationships, our career,
our you know, self love, our there's so there's a
whole circle of what we call primary foods, and it
(39:00):
has to do with things that are not even on
your plate that affect what you want to put on
your plate. So I wanted I wanted outside things. I
wanted to be able to operate under guidelines with you know,
ancient Chinese herbs and plants and those sort of things
in order to help people truly heal their body. And
(39:20):
that that's I found it, and I'm like, that's exactly
what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Okay, all right. I love that so much because I
think that there is confusion out there about what is
the difference between functional, holistic, integrative. We've got all these buzzwords,
but they don't always mean anything. And I like the
fact that you're saying, you know, it's not only about
(39:47):
what's on your plate, you know, I think of like
if you're having an argument while you're trying to eat.
I'm a huge fan of the work of Janine Roth,
and she talks about how if you're not calm and
relaxed while you're eating, well, guess what, You're not digesting
any of that food. You're not extracting any of the
(40:09):
nutrition from it. Now, again super rapidly, running out of time,
but in just two minutes or less, we mentioned dopamine
serotonin and how important it is for our gut, and
we talked about how the brain is primarily made of fat.
You know, what is your take on how incorporating how
(40:32):
we eat, when we eat, and what we eat can
can have an impact on our mental wellness well.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Without a doubt, without a doubt, because our gut and
I'll say this story quickly. Most people don't understand the
gut brain connection. And so when we were an no,
when we were an embryo, not even a fetus, our
gut and our brain were one yes through into the fetus,
(41:00):
our gut and our brain separated, but they stayed connected
through one thing called the vegas nerve. So we as people,
we have a connection the second largest nerve in the
body is the vegus nerve that connects our brain to
our gut. It's like a two way highway. It communicates
both ways. And so if you think about that highway
(41:20):
and when you've got things going on in your gut,
now your gut is not producing the serotonin, the dopamine,
the gabba, any of that, and it's signaling. There's nothing
signaling to your brain. Now your brain is like, Okay,
I feel depressed, I feel anxious, I feel sad, I
feel overwhelmed and burnt out. I can't function. I've got
brain fall because there might be the communication from the
(41:43):
top to the bottom, but the other way, if it's
not communicating, if it's not sending those little neuro oh
my gosh nerd transmitters up to your brain and back down,
that's going to determine how you feel. So depending on
what you eat will determine how you feel. It will
determine your mood, your motivation, your cravings, mental clarity, the
(42:10):
anxiousness or sadness, whatever those feelings are. All of that
is determined what goes on inside your gut, and it
all is determined by what you actually eat and what
you put in your body.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
I love all of this so very much. Mandy White Escalin,
thank you so much for coming in and being a
guest today. I think that we have learned so much
about the connection between the way that we eat, what
we're eating, what's on the plate, and really how adversely
(42:44):
ultra restrictive diets can impact not only our body weight
and our body composition, but also our mental wellness. So
thank you so much for coming in and being a
guest today on the Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Thank you so much for having me. I am so
honored to be here. I can't wait for Part two.
Had this pile of clothes on the floor and I
just sat on them and cried, felt like a stranger
in my own body, and that's when I took the
drastic measures. Again, it's not anything by any means that
I recommend, because the damage that I did to my
body and my hormones and my metabolism by doing that,
that to took me years to correct and fix.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome everybody to this week's edition of The Lindsay Elmore Show.
Throughout history, there have been so many different fad diets
out there right now. Tons of people are doing carnivore,
the Dolly Parton diet, the grapefruit diet.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
People have eaten baby food.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And there are even people out there who believe that
they can subsist on air and sunlight alone. Today, we
are going to be talking with Mandy White Escalin about
why ultra restrictive diets throw us into a state of
metabolic burnout where we have so much cortisol that we're
(01:06):
actually storing fat when we could be eating a healthy,
balanced diet. We're going to also be talking about how
sugar and not fat is actually making you overweight. Welcome
to the Lindsay Elmore show a podcast for people who
(01:29):
deserve to be healthy. With honest, open and enlightening conversations
with doctors, thought leaders, creatives and spiritual gurus. You'll walk
away with simple and tangible tips and tricks that allow
you to live your healthiest life so you can pursue
your dreams, overcome obstacles, and leave your mark. Mandy White
(01:53):
Eskalin is a retired celebrity personal trainer, holistic nutrition expert,
certified gut health specialist, and WBFF fitness pro who placed
third in the world at the pro level. Mandy White Escalon,
Welcome to the Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Thank you so much. I'm so honored to be here
with you. I am really really honored. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I am so excited to get to talk to you
because we're talking about some of my favorite topics today, stress, cortisol,
mental wellness, gut health, and we're really going to talk
about how this impacts weight loss. And you have been
on your own weight loss journey.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Tell us about that. I have actually, as a now
fifty year old mom of two, when after I had
my kids, let's see, seventeen years ago is my youngest.
I had about thirty pounds to lose, and after two
C sections, I knew that it was going to be
a little bit of a challenge. And I have to
(03:00):
say that, even though I was still a certified personal
trainer back then, I did it in a very unhealthy way.
I did all the crazy restrictive diets, starvation, you name it,
I tried it, I did it. I was so desperate,
so desperate to lose the weight. I remember that day
where I made that decision. I was in my closet
(03:21):
and I was trying on all of my clothes and
nothing fit, like, nothing fit me. And I just had
this pile of clothes on the floor and I just
sat on them and cried, and I'm like, I don't
want to feel like this. I felt like a stranger
in my own body. And that's when I took the
drastic measures. Again, it's not anything by any means that
I recommend, because the damage that I did to my
(03:44):
body and my hormones and my metabolism by doing that,
that to took me years to correct and fix. So
that's why I'm so like passionate about women and helping
women do it the right way and have a healthy
relationship with food. And do it in a way that
supports their hormones and their cortisol and their metabolism.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Talk to us about some of the craziest diets, trends,
fads that you tried along the way.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Let's see you name it. I probably did it, like
juice cleanses, water cleanse, juice fast, I tried keto, I
tried ittermnted fasting. I tried honestly everything, like I had
tried some eleven day cleanse in detox. I did Master
read the Master Cleanse again, you name it, I did it.
(04:35):
But the hardest thing for me was unlearning and fixing
all of the damage that I did to my body
as a result of those crazy diet And then what's
really crazy is I actually after I lost the weight,
the craziest story happened. I had some friends doing a
fitness competition here in Las Vegas, where I live, and
(04:55):
so I went with her to like a pool party
after and I had just like lost all the weight. Honestly,
it's probably about twenty five pounds at that time, and
some people came up to me and they were like,
oh my gosh, how did you place. I'm like, I
didn't compete I'm just here supporting my girlfriend that competed.
I'm here to cheer her on. And they're like, well,
if you look like that without trying, you would do
(05:18):
amazing competing, and that's when the seed plants it. I'm like, oh, really, well,
I don't know what that looks like. So I hired
a coach at that point, and that coach took me
from where I was to competition prep ready, and then
it was a whole other level of unhealthiness with eating
and working out, and it just took my I didn't
(05:40):
want to say bad habits like all of that, and
enhanced it. Now. I did step on stage that very
first time, and I was definitely terrified of doing that,
but I did it scared, and I remember when I
did earn that pro card that they were like, okay, okay,
first place goes to Mandy White, and I couldn't even move.
(06:04):
I was so dehydrated that my calfs were cramped, my
cheeks were cramped up. But I realized that I had
done so much to my body that oh my gosh,
I'm gonna fall on my face and I didn't want
to do that, so I stood there. They obviously gave
me the pro card anyway. But it was after that
that I started having massive metabolic burnout. I didn't have
(06:26):
a period, and my hormones were messed up. I didn't
have a period for almost a year. I had severe
anxiety and depression both at the same time, which back then,
this was thirteen years ago, I didn't know that all
of that was simm me for my gut which we'll
talk more about. And I also had developed food sensitivities
to even healthy foods that I ate on a daily basis,
(06:48):
including eggs and chicken, and so I didn't know at
that time that all of that stuff was going on,
which led me to finally just stop after a couple
of years of competing. I had to. I ended up
in the emergency room a couple of times, and one
of the times I fell over in so much pain
I looked like I was six months pregnant but with
(07:08):
four pack apps like it was that bad. Yeah, something's wrong,
something is wrong with my body. So that's when I said,
you know what, I'm going to take my health in
my own hands. I put myself through holistic nutrition school,
became a certified gut hell specialist because I wanted to
learn how to heal my body. And then that's when
I started to fall in love after that with helping
other women and helping other women have a healthy relationship
(07:31):
with food heal their gut. So that's where my story
kind of evolved into like where I am today, right right.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
And I'm so glad that you mentioned that you were
so dehydrated that you felt like you couldn't even move
and that it led to this anxiety and this metabolic
dysfunction and food sensitivities. Talk to us about why these
(07:59):
ultra there were restrictive diets lead to so many health problems.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
There's so many reasons. A big number is when you
constantly eat the same foods over and over and over,
your body can form a sensitivity or an intolerance to
those things. And what happens is being so dehydrated, having
so much stress and inflammation in my body, my digestion
(08:28):
was off as well, Like I was so constipated. Like, look,
we're talking real talk here, we're women. I mean I
was so constipated. Like, but what happens is with all
that inflammation that I had going on in my gut,
it had caused these microscopic tears in my gut lining.
And when those that inflammation was there and those microscopic
tears happen. Now, even some healthy food that I was
(08:50):
eating was permeating through that gut lining and causing like
my body to start attacking and inflamma, you know, like
antibodies against those foods in particularly, And then my body
started rejecting those foods, which caused more inflammation in my body.
And it just started to like compound and snowball into
something that no one could figure out. What was the
(09:13):
root cause of it all? What was why did all
of this start? And it was just such a compound effect,
so that I understood now, okay, if I can go
back to all of it, which is the gut. The
gut is the second brain. The gut regulates seventy percent
of our hormones, seventy percent of our immune function, ninety
percent of our serotonin, which is our happy hormone. It's
(09:34):
what makes us feel happy. Seventy percent of our dopamine
is producing our gut, which makes us feel motivated. But
if your gut isn't functioning, neither is any other aspects
of your entire life. And so what I had learned
in going to holistic nutrition school is that if I
can heal that gut and I can remove those foods
that were causing my body inflammation. And I did this
(09:58):
back then because this was twelve years ago. We didn't
have the little home test that you can do for
food sensitivities that I recommend everyone to do, but I
had to do it by process of my own elimination
and putting those food the things. It took me so
long to realize that one of the main foods that
I was having daily, which was eggs, was causing the
(10:18):
most issues in my body. And it was the craziest
thing to finally figure that out. But of course gluten
and dairy were on there. But then I figured out
it was eggs. Then I figured it out it was chicken.
And I realized that those were two foods that I
was constantly eating, and so I'd put them off to
the side for a week or two the inflammation would
go down in my gut. I started drinking bovine bone
(10:40):
broth and I'd drink it every day, three times a day.
But what's really cool is once I knew that that
was the type of collagen that I needed, to heal
my gut lining and then keep those inflammatory foods out.
It took me about two years before I could have
gluten again. It took me two years before I could
have eggs again. And not to say that it's permanent,
but I did that process for a really long time
(11:02):
to heal my gut. And once I started focusing on
healing my gut, literally it changed everything in my entire life.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
It's interesting. So I have a history of bolimia, and
when you repeatedly vomit over and over and over again,
your body gets conditioned when you eat just to vomit.
And it sounds the same same but different to what
you're saying, which is I was eating the same foods
(11:31):
over and over and over again, and it was eventually
your body is just like I need some diversity here.
So I'm going to create some allergies. I'm going to
create some inflammation. I'm going to create these microtears which
allow inflammation to flood into the body. Now, I mean,
why on Earth, as a part of your competition prep
(11:54):
is diversity in the diet not encouraged?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It is, however, for I stuck to eggs, chicken, ground, turkey,
and back then Talafia, like that was my main sources
of protein, you know, So that was it, and I
didn't know back then, oh you need to cycle out
your protein. I didn't have, you know, a coach that
really knew what they were doing, so I limited it
(12:20):
to that. Here was the four proteins, here was the
carbs that I could have, you know, And here was
the vegetables. I was deathly terrified of eating fruit. Couldn't like.
I had a horrible relationship with food. I was scared
to death. It was so bad. And my extreme is
different than yours. I would carry a food scale with
me two restaurants, like in my purse, and I would
(12:43):
weigh every single piece of food, like every piece of protein,
everything that I would put in my mouth, I had
to weigh at first. That's not us not healthy, right,
It was not healthy. It's just such not a healthy
mentality and relationship with food. But I could have, and
I should have, knowing what I know now, gone back
(13:03):
and cycled out those proteins not just daily but weekly,
and had other sources other than just like those four
main sources, because that's where my body started to create
that intolerance and that inflammation.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Towards talk to us about what protein cycling even is well, instead.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Of like people think, oh, have chicken and broccoli for dinner,
and then the next day eating the same exact things
and the same exact things and the same exact things.
And that's what I did, versus having some different protein
sources in there, having a little lean red meat, having
ground turkey, having salmon, having ground buffalo, whatever those things are.
(13:46):
But knowing that, I tell people now, one of the
worst things you can do is have the same foods
every single day. Your body comes resistant to it. Even
if you don't have the gut issues, your body will
start to be resistant to it. That's like the same
thing of doing the same workout every single day. Your
body will completely be resistant in plateau and you're not
(14:07):
going to get the results that you really want. And
so I didn't know what I know now, and knowing
that I would have cycled out my proteins more on
a daily basis, and then maybe my body wouldn't have
created those intolerances and those sensitivities to them. But I
also look at it that that had to happen for
me in order for me to go to nutrition school
(14:28):
and become a GUD health specialist and then be able
to change tens of thousands of lives around the world.
So I'm grateful that it all happened, but I also
know that I can take that story and really help
other women not repeat the same pattern that I did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because you said like a
dirty word a moment ago. You said it took me
two years before I could eat gluten. And one of
the things in Chinese medicine is that an inability to
digest real food is a symptom, and so many people
(15:07):
completely avoid gluten, and yet they backfill it with all
kinds of artificial rice flowers and ultraprocessed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Foods, you know, throughout your.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Holistic nutrition school, And I really want to I want
to talk more about that. But what did you learn
about a body that cannot digest real foods?
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Oh? My gosh, that it's so common. It is so
common for people because we do eat those ultraprocessed foods
and gluten in our dairy here in the United States.
We could go on a whole other other podcast about
that and the quality of our food here compared to
what it is in Europe. But when you start looking
(15:57):
at the processed foods that we consume on a daily basis,
and I'm talking the average American here consumes on a
daily basis. It is so ultra process It has so
many preservatives and chemicals and things that our bodies do
not need. And then what happens is our body doesn't
know what to do with that, and so our body
starts attacking all of it. And then that's where it
(16:19):
causes that inflammation in our gut. Now, our digestion is
not working. It's shut down because we also with a
lot of the chemicals that we eat. It slows down
digestion right, It kills a lot of the digestive enzymes,
It kills a lot of the prebiotics and probotics that
is already in our gut that we need in order
(16:41):
to break down food. But the processed food is destroying
that gut microbiome. And now when that gut microbiome is
being destroyed, now it's not even digesting our healthy food
that we're eating. Now we become nutrient deficient envitamins, rentals, enzymes,
and antioxidants because our body is not absorbing all of it. Now,
(17:03):
those nutrient deficiencies cause a lot more disease and illness.
So it's just this madness of what happens when we
destroy that gut microbiome in our body. Balancing the gut microbiome,
you know, really taking care of it because it runs everything.
Even though it's called our second brain, to be honest,
it it controls a lot more than this upper brain
(17:26):
actually does.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Talk to us about some of your favorite foods that
help to either if somebody is in a situation where
they have a ton of food sensitivities, how do they
begin to build and restore the microbiome. And if someone
is relatively healthy but is still got a little bit
(17:49):
of excess belly fat or a little bit of high
blood pressure or whatever it is, what are some of
your favorite foods to balance out the microbiome.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
First of all, I love the question. One of the
things that I recommend doing, and I run these all
the time. And it's a twenty one day metaboq reset.
Not for the principles of a diet. This is actually
the opposite of that. But what we do is we
take them the eight main inflammatory foods that cause most
(18:20):
people issues, we put them off to the side for
twenty one days.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
So yeah, so we're talking trenuts, peanuts, fish, gluten, milk, giry.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Gluten, dairy, soy, artificial sweeteners, sugar, alcohol, sodas, and even
grains and legumes. Just for twenty one days we put
them on a shelf. Is not a diet.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So these are different than the primary eight allergens that
we just named. So you're just talking about pro inflammatory
foods and microbiome disrupting foods. Yeah, exactly, interesting like that. Okay,
all right, so twenty one day metabolic reset.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Because I wasn't allergic to any of those foods, right Like,
they did a blood allergy test when I was in
the er. I was not allergic to any of those
So but what I found out was I was intolerant
to them, which won't show up on a blood allergy panel.
There is a whole other thing that like even Amazon.
I love the everly Well Everly Well on Amazon food
(19:26):
Sensitivity tests the ninety six foods. It's about one hundred
and fifty dollars, but it tests ninety six of ninety
six foods. I recommend that all day, every day because
the only way that we can get a true snapshot
as to what is going on in our body. Is
that you get it at home, You prick your finger,
you put the thing a little card. It gives you
(19:47):
everything mailed off, and in like seven to ten days
it shows up on your app. You're high, your moderate,
and your mild sensitivities. Right now we can go, oh wow,
I just had another girl do it last week. Garlic
was on her high category. It was something that she
eats with everything, but that you keep putting something that
(20:08):
your body is sensitive to and then you're causing a
constant inflammation in or gut. And she has not been
able to figure out what's going on. So I take
the nine gut disruptor or sorry, the eight gut disruptor
food and I have put them on the side. Put
them on the side. You can choose to do the
food sensitivity tests if you want. I recommend it because
(20:29):
it really gives us a true snapshot of what's going
on in your body and what your body is like. No,
please stop putting that in me? Right? And then I
help by taking those inflammatory foods out. It allows the
body to kind of go down in that inflammation. Then
we teach people how to balance the plate with a
(20:52):
lean protein, and we have a chart with like twenty
lean proteins that you can have, right, A healthy fat
like avocada, like coconut oil, like avocado, like olive oil
as well. Right, So we have a chart of those
healthy fats that and we teach you how to portion
it on your plate. And then the carb on your
(21:13):
plate is fruits and vegetables. Now we have certain ones
because we want to use real food to create hormonal balance,
to stabilize blood sugar, which is going to reduce cravings
as well as help your body go from fat storing
mode to fat burning mode. So now when you're putting
in there the non inflammatory foods now your body is
(21:38):
it's going to react differently than when you're constantly putting
something in there that is inflammatory and your body is
reacting to we take out the main eight. But a
lot of times I do recommend for people that have
digestive issues go do that little find out those ninety
six because who would have known that garlic it would
have been on this girls my son. I had my
seventeen year old son do it last sight because he's
(22:01):
like mom, and we knew gluten and dairy were disruptors
right for him. We knew it, but he's a teenager,
so he has it all the time. There's we've got
to pick our battles here with our kids. But I said,
let's just do it and see what else is coming
up on there. You're going to be so surprised when
you shock when you hear this. Blueberries and pineapple and
eggs were on his high.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Okay, pineapple I can believe because of the Barama lane
that's in there, but blueberries and apples, blueberry, blueberries, eggs, pineapples.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And we knew gluten and dairy were going to be
on there. But what happens is when you when you've
already got the inflammation going on in the gut, and
you constantly are putting something in there that, even if
it's healthy, if that little bit, just one tiny little
bit permegates that gut lining, then your body is going
to react and cause a sensitivity and an intolerance to
(22:55):
even a healthy food like pineapple. And this this other
girl garlic. I mean it was the only thing on
her high category, which is crazy garlic. So now obviously,
like we want to try to eliminate those things for
that twenty one days, but then teach your body in
that in that same time, how to heal that gut lining.
And this is where the right type of supplementation can
(23:17):
come in to support the gut lining healing itself, to
support digestion, to support the rebalancing of the gut microbiome.
Now your body is going to absorb the nutrients again.
Now we can truly using food allow your body to
reverse some of the disease and illness because again we're
(23:37):
fixing it at the root level, which is our gut.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
What would you say to women who were scared to
eat fat, because you know women my age, your age
in the eighties, it would you know, fat was the
absolute enemy, and unfortunately, you know, sugar came into all
of our foods, and I think that some women still
hold onto that to this day. Why do women need fat?
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Oh? Great question. Yes, I remember the whole like eighties
of you know, like fat free everything. But we didn't
realize back then that when you take out the fat,
they have to replace it with something else, right, women,
especially our age like that. I mostly coach women you know,
like in that thirty five to forty and over range
(24:26):
because of perimenopause. But we need good healthy fats for
our testosterone production. We need good healthy fats in order
to burn bad fat. Let me say that again, we
need good healthy fats in order to burn the bad
fat in our body. We have to have it. We
(24:49):
need it. And not to say that you need to
go and just eat a whole avocado every day, but
when you learn how to portion it properly, you're going
to see more benefits from having those healthy fats for
your testostero production, for even like your healthy cholesterol levels,
to be able to burn the bad fat. That's where
(25:11):
I feel it's so important for people to understand the
relationship of what really goes on their plate because we
do need those healthy fats. Like, you should be more scared,
I'm not joking. You should be more scared of the
sugars that you consume because of what that does, because
sugar is really what makes us fat, not fat. Fats
(25:31):
do not make a spat. Fats don't make a spat.
It's sugar that makes us fat. And so if you
would understand that, you would not want to touch anything
that I'm talking like white sugar, processed sugar, all of
that stuff. I'm not talking fruits. Fruits we need, but
fruit By the way, I'm gonna pause here for a second.
(25:52):
Fruit should never be eaten alone. Fruit is not a snack.
It's not a meal. You never want to eat fruit
bite itself. Fruit should be paired with a healthy fat
and a protein always. They should always be paired together
so that it doesn't spike your blood sugar. Because what
happens is if you eat fruit by itself, your body
(26:12):
is still going to convert it to sugar, and then
if it's not utilized, it's going to be stored as fat.
But when you learn how to balance that plate, so
food becomes your friend, and you know, Okay, if I
really want you know some, let's just say raspberries. Raspberries
is one of my favorite. Raspberries have so many health benefits.
But if I'm going to have some, if I'm like
(26:34):
I'm craving raspberries, well then I'm going to put it
with Maybe I'll have a couple of hard boiled eggs
with it, so that I've got my healthy fats in
the yolk and I've got my protein and then i
can have my berries. Like it's just it's such a
now after doing this and living like this for years,
it just like I can't. I wouldn't never be able
to just eat that by itself, because the goal is
(26:56):
to balance blood sugar, because even fruit will spike your
your insulin levels, and if your body doesn't utilize it,
it's going to store to fat. The other thing is,
if you just eat fruit by itself, in about an hour,
your blood sugar levels are gonna crash, and then now
your body is like, ugh, I need some more sugar.
(27:16):
Feed me, I need more, and now you're gonna create
more sugar versus learning how to eat and stabilize those
blood sugar levels so that your muscles are fed, and
then your body is not gonna hold onto any of
that fat.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
I want to go back to what you mentioned about
good fats versus we need good fat to burn bad fat.
What is good fat and what is bad fat?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
So good fats would be like avocados, olive oil. Those
are like good healthy fats versus like bad fats. Now, butter,
I can I can see on the right, So I'm
not saying butter, but I'm really talking about like the
(28:02):
unhealthy fats that are added to other ones, you know,
like like.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Your canola oils and your seed oils.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yes, like seed oils is such a bad one. That is,
it's all high in what we call omega sixes. So
we this is all right, so we need omega threes.
We get so much omega sixes, which are those unhealthy
fats in our diet, just from processed foods and oils
and extra things like I see it. I see it
(28:32):
on things that you think are healthy. And then you
see all of these seed oils or canola oil or
just all the oils. It's just yuck added to there.
Those are super high in omega sixes, and omega sixes
are high inflammatory oils. In order to combat those omega sixes,
(28:55):
we need more omega threes, which would be salmon, right,
like wild not a wild salmon, not not farm raised,
but like wild salmon. That's a great source of omega threes.
We don't need any more omega sixes. We get them omega.
Think about omega sixes on a cellular level form like
(29:18):
this hard candy coating over ourselves. Okay, think about like
an eminem, right right, Think about the hard candy coating
that goes on the outside of an eminem. So omega
sixes cover our celts and in order for us to
remove that. We need to combat it with lots of
(29:40):
omega threes. Lots of omega threees will help destroy and
break apart that inflammatory omega sixes. Another thing our body stores.
And by the way, most people don't know this, toxins
are stored in our fat cells.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Do you know what your brain is, It's mostly gonna
be fat.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
So a lot of these chemicals and omega sixes are
stored in our fat cells, including our brain. So when
you start thinking about your brain on a cellular level,
and now you've got all of these omega sixes that
are covering the cells of our brain. Now what happens
(30:24):
is this can lead to Alzheimer, dementia, Parkinson's, all of
those brain related illnesses. It's a really scary thing because
you know, I see it with my parents and getting
older and their generations and what they eat. Like I'm
on my parents all the time about don't eat that,
(30:44):
Like replace canola oil and vegetable oil with coconut oil
or avocado oil. Like, we need the good, healthier omega
threes to combat the damage of the omega sixes that
we consume from our process foods. It's so so important.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
So if somebody is just getting started and this and
they're currently basically eating one hundred percent ultra processed foods,
their palette is so conditioned to this like bliss point,
the nandamide point where they've got that optimum balance of
(31:23):
the sugar and the fat and the carbs and everything.
And so how can people start to change their palettes
where they actually like eating real food.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
That's a good question. It takes time, right, it does
take time. And I know that you know this because
you're so bralland I love when you and not having
thank you you are. There was a study that was
done and they learned about this in holistic nutrition school
that that sugar has the same effect on the brain
(31:55):
as cocaine does. They've done brains and that's why, well,
you know, that's why people also have a tough time
not eating sugar. There's another one there is, and I
think I'm saying it right. So cheese has a chemical
in there, and I believe it's called gluttlemorph caison.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Oh uh huh, yeah, yeah, yeah, glutamorphine, caso morphine, caso morphin.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Thank you, thank you, keitous caso morphine. It has the
same effect on the brain as morphine does, and they've
done scans, which is why people cutting out cheese and
sugar are some of the hardest things to cut out. Now,
I still love my cheese, but it's all about like
a moderation, right. But when your brain is also so
(32:44):
addicted to not only the palette, but chemically in your
brain addicted to the sugar and to the cheese, we
have to That's another reason why we do that metabolic reset,
because we put those foods on the side for twenty
one days and we're reprogramming our brain and our palettes
(33:06):
that it's going to crave differently because we are like
taking an addict off of a drug right where we've
got a deep box. We have to detox our body
and it will change. Like I know, even for me
years ago, like I was, I had this thing for
uh what was the yellow packets? Splenda Splenda?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Oh okay, I thought we were talking Velveda but different
yellow packets.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yes, So it took me a long time to get
away from sugar. I grew up in the South sweet
tea like you name it, but I grew up that way.
Then I switched to Splendor, which are the yellow packets
which is sucralose. And because I tasted that, it took
me a while to knowing how much of a gut
(33:52):
disruptor that sucralose is. But I still had a tough
time switching over and adjusting my palette to something like
a stevia or a monk fruit. Now when I taste
that other artificial now it's like, oh my gosh, that
is like gross and it tastes terrible. But it does
take time to help your palette right. And it's also
(34:14):
a mental thing because your brain is trying to tell you, no,
that doesn't taste good. But when you're just like, no,
I'm gonna eat this because I know that I need
to eat this. It's fuel for my body, It's fuel
for what I need. Eventually you're going to crowd out
those bad cravings. Eventually, stabilize the blood sugar enough. You're
going to balance that gut microbiome. The diversity in your
(34:36):
microbiome is going to signal to your brain, oh wow,
this is good food. I like this. It's gonna in
all three right. I know it sounds crazy, but you
will reprogram your palette from what we do between your
brain and your guts and it took a little bit
of time. But once you do it and you start
(34:57):
feeling better. Because most people are in that chronic live
in this chronic inflammatory state, and they don't even realize that, oh,
I'm craving sugar. Well, let's teach you why you're craving sugar.
Let's balance your blood sugar with real food, and watch
how your cravings come down. Now your body is gonna
crave more of the good stuff and less of the
bad stuff. So we kind of crowded out. But then
(35:19):
when we bring those inflammatory foods in after twenty one days,
we teach people how to properly do that. Right, don't
just go, Okay, I'm gonna go have pizza and I'm
gonna go have all of this stuff because your body
is gonna act like it you just had a bowling
ball in your stomach. So we teach people how to
properly now, after twenty one days, bring those inflammatory foods
(35:41):
back in. Listening to your body because now you have
a different foundation. Now you have a foundation of no inflammation.
Your body is absorbing nutrients, your digestion's working, your metabolism
has sped up, your cortisol levels are regulated, you go
and throw all of that in there, you will notice
if your body wants it or doesn't want it, like
(36:03):
I have somebody, I mean so many people like, oh
my gosh, I realized my body just doesn't like that anymore.
Because we've taught your body and your brain and your
gut to want more of the good stuff that you've
been having for twenty one days and less of the bad.
And then that's where this becomes a lifestyle. We programmed
their body and their brain and their gut to want
more of the good stuff because that's how they've been.
(36:24):
They feel so good.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
You know, we're rapidly running out of time. But I
want to hit on why you chose Holistic Nutrition school
versus like a traditional nutrition degree or a dietary degree,
a functional dietitian degree. I mean, there's all kinds of
(36:48):
dietary degrees and nutrition degrees out there. What made you
go to Holistic Nutrition School?
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Great question. There was a couple of reasons. Number one,
because I did not agree by any means with the
food pyramid that that is taught to register dietitians to nutritionists.
Uh to, It's not like you have to operate under
you required with your certification, with your licensing to operate
(37:20):
under the food pyramid, the traditional food pyramid, which I'm sorry,
I do not agree with that whatsoever. And I was
not about to have someone come and tell me that
I could only coach and operate and guide people under
those regulations, because I don't believe in that where bread
was one of the big ones and dairy was one
(37:41):
of the big ones, and sugar. Now they've got like
cereals on there, which oh gosh, all right, so.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
It's I heard I heard somebody called cerial human kibble
I think it.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Was, and I won't name there was one company I
won't name it on here that designed a specific cereal
to suppress tassosterone levels and raise estrogen levels. Is this
not crazy? Insane? Which is why you see young, you know, eight, ten,
twelve year old boys with like these man boobs, and
(38:15):
then it goes on into puberty and all their life,
all right, So that's yes, human kibble. I mean, it's
just it's horrible like anyway. That was one of the
main reasons that I chose not to go to that
traditional because I did not want to be forced to
regulate under that food pyramid. Guideline that there were so
many other things out there. And another thing I chose
(38:37):
Holistic Nutrition school for is because it's not always just
about the food that you're putting on your plate. That
is actually our secondary food. What's our primary foods is
what's going on in our life, our relationships, our career,
our you know, self love, our there's so there's a
whole circle of what we call primary foods, and it
(39:00):
has to do with things that are not even on
your plate that affect what you want to put on
your plate. So I wanted I wanted outside things. I
wanted to be able to operate under guidelines with you know,
ancient Chinese herbs and plants and those sort of things
in order to help people truly heal their body. And
(39:20):
that that's I found it, and I'm like, that's exactly
what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Okay, all right. I love that so much because I
think that there is confusion out there about what is
the difference between functional, holistic, integrative. We've got all these buzzwords,
but they don't always mean anything. And I like the
fact that you're saying, you know, it's not only about
(39:47):
what's on your plate, you know, I think of like
if you're having an argument while you're trying to eat.
I'm a huge fan of the work of Janine Roth,
and she talks about how if you're not calm and
relaxed while you're eating, well, guess what, You're not digesting
any of that food. You're not extracting any of the
(40:09):
nutrition from it. Now, again super rapidly, running out of time,
but in just two minutes or less, we mentioned dopamine
serotonin and how important it is for our gut, and
we talked about how the brain is primarily made of fat.
You know, what is your take on how incorporating how
(40:32):
we eat, when we eat, and what we eat can
can have an impact on our mental wellness well.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Without a doubt, without a doubt, because our gut and
I'll say this story quickly. Most people don't understand the
gut brain connection. And so when we were an no,
when we were an embryo, not even a fetus, our
gut and our brain were one yes through into the fetus,
(41:00):
our gut and our brain separated, but they stayed connected
through one thing called the vegas nerve. So we as people,
we have a connection the second largest nerve in the
body is the vegus nerve that connects our brain to
our gut. It's like a two way highway. It communicates
both ways. And so if you think about that highway
(41:20):
and when you've got things going on in your gut,
now your gut is not producing the serotonin, the dopamine,
the gabba, any of that, and it's signaling. There's nothing
signaling to your brain. Now your brain is like, Okay,
I feel depressed, I feel anxious, I feel sad, I
feel overwhelmed and burnt out. I can't function. I've got
brain fall because there might be the communication from the
(41:43):
top to the bottom, but the other way, if it's
not communicating, if it's not sending those little neuro oh
my gosh nerd transmitters up to your brain and back down,
that's going to determine how you feel. So depending on
what you eat will determine how you feel. It will
determine your mood, your motivation, your cravings, mental clarity, the
(42:10):
anxiousness or sadness, whatever those feelings are. All of that
is determined what goes on inside your gut, and it
all is determined by what you actually eat and what
you put in your body.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
I love all of this so very much. Mandy White Escalin,
thank you so much for coming in and being a
guest today. I think that we have learned so much
about the connection between the way that we eat, what
we're eating, what's on the plate, and really how adversely
(42:44):
ultra restrictive diets can impact not only our body weight
and our body composition, but also our mental wellness. So
thank you so much for coming in and being a
guest today on the Lindsay Elmore Show.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Thank you so much for having me. I am so
honored to be here. I can't wait for Part two.
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