July 25, 2025 • 39 mins
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Why are you gaining belly fat even while lifting and eating well? Could your sluggish metabolism be a liver problem in disguise?
I sit down with certified supplement expert Sara Banta to reveal how your liver and thyroid work together to control metabolism, muscle retention, and fat loss and why ignoring liver health might be what’s sabotaging your fitness progress. We unpack how stress, sleep, hormones, and toxins overload your body’s ability to function efficiently, even if you’re doing everything “right.”
If you're consistent with training and nutrition but still stuck, this might be the missing piece.
Today, you’ll learn all about:
3:12 – Sara’s health crisis and muscle loss
9:36 – Iodine’s surprising benefits
12:36 – Liver's role in fat storage
17:56 – The real hierarchy of healing
24:29 – What to eliminate—and when
28:15 – Movement and metabolic communication
33:30 – Alcohol, toxins, and your thyroid
36:08 – Final truth: Why proactive health matters
Episode resources:
- Website: sarabantahealth.com
- Facebook: @acceleratedhealthproducts
- Instagram: @acceleratedhealthproducts
- Youtube: @AcceleratedHealthSaraBanta
🎓 Join Physique University for just $27/mo + get a FREE custom nutrition plan with this special link: bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan
👥 Join our Facebook community for Q&As & support
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:01):
Your liver converts thyroid hormones from form to
active form, processes everygram of protein you eat and
determines whether nutrients getshuttled to muscle or fat.
Yet most people, focused onbody composition, never think
about liver health.
Today, my guest explains howthis overlooked organ controls
your metabolic rate, muscleprotein synthesis and fat
(00:22):
storage, and why liverdysfunction might explain why
you're struggling with yourfitness and nutrition.
You'll learn how to recognizewhen liver function is limiting
your results, which common foodsand lifestyle factors can
impair liver performance, andevidence-based strategies to
optimize liver health for betterbody composition.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:49):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're discussing how
thyroid and liver functionaffects metabolism, muscle
retention, fat loss and more.
My guest today is Sarah Banta, acertified supplement expert,
health coach and founder ofAccelerated Health Products.
She's also the host ofAccelerated Health with Sarah
(01:12):
Banta.
Go, give that a follow.
She's got well over, I think,600 episodes covering health
optimization and so many topicsthat you guys really care about.
So give her a follow.
And Sarah, the reason I wantedto have her here is she has
experienced firsthand howaddressing some of these health
issues, some that we don't talkabout enough or understand
(01:33):
enough.
The thyroid, the liver,function, everything going on in
your body, how they can impactyour results, your training,
your metabolism, and why somepeople might get frustrated or
hit plateaus despite doing allthe right things, despite sound
nutrition and sound trainingprotocols.
So today you're going to learnhow thyroid and liver affects
more than just the processing ofwhat you eat and your hormones.
(01:55):
It's evolved in hormoneconversion, nutrient metabolism,
muscle protein utilization, allthat fun stuff that we're going
to nerd out on.
Today.
We're going to explore what theresearch shows about the
function of the systems in yourbody and with your body
composition, look at lifestylefactors that can impair your
health and discussevidence-based strategies, as
always, to support optimalthyroid and liver health for
(02:17):
better results.
Sarah, welcome to the show.
Sara Banta (02:20):
Thanks for having me Super excited.
I love that you mentionedefficiency and energy in your
intro, because I feel like somany people are banging their
heads against the wall withworkouts and not eating enough
or trying to figure out what toeat, when they just have to
figure out how their bodyassimilates and makes energy and
(02:42):
becomes efficient with theresults.
So, anyways, I'm super excitedto dive into this because we're
going to tackle all of thosethings.
Philip Pape (02:50):
So you're saying it's not about cutting out whole
food groups?
Is that what you're saying?
Sara Banta (02:54):
No, it's not and it's not about taking a weight
loss drug.
It is about your body trustingyou.
It's about getting all thesystems on without the clogs in
the wheel per se.
So we need everything to beworking right and the things
that disrupt it.
That's what we're going to getinto as well, and it does come
(03:17):
down to thyroid and liver.
Before we get into that, Ithought I'd tell my little story
.
I've been an athlete all my life.
I was a rower, playedvolleyball in high school, rode
at the national level, and thosearen't.
Rowing especially is not aneasy feat.
All three of my kids have doneit and they've had their own
(03:37):
health issues along the way withit.
But you have to be duelingright.
You've got to have strongmuscle, you've got to have good
cardio.
But what happened to me almostcoming up on a year is I was hit
with spike protein viralactivity.
Well, what was happening to meis my thyroid numbers went down,
(04:00):
so my metabolism slowed down.
Numbers went down, so mymetabolism slowed down, and then
I was eating over 200 grams ofprotein, which, as you know, is
a lot of protein for someone mysize.
But my body was notassimilating that protein and
turning it into muscle.
And then, fortunately andfortunately, philip, I'm really
boring I'm so consistent with myworkouts, with my eating
(04:23):
regimen and all of that.
So anything that goes up ordown, it's kind of there's like
this outside factor that you'vegot to look at.
So I was not only not buildingmuscle, which was my goal, I was
actually losing muscle and mythyroid numbers were going down.
My testosterone was going down.
I've always had a good, healthytestosterone.
(04:45):
So something was amiss.
And when your body is under astressor whether it's financial
stress, your spousal stress oran internal stress of a virus,
an allergy or liver being loaded, an allergy or liver being
loaded, overloaded your bodygoes into this survival mode and
(05:07):
it says, hey, shut down allthese systems.
We're not going to worry aboutbuilding muscle and burning fat,
because we've got to take careof this thing over here.
And so my liver was not.
The wheels had come off.
And what people don'tunderstand is your liver and
your thyroid are directlyconnected.
(05:29):
Now, regardless of what yourdiet is, what you're eating even
you know eating nothing, you'renot going to burn fat and
you're not going to lose weight,because your thyroid is in
charge of your metabolism.
It's in charge of yourmetabolic rate, your body
temperature and for all of youout there going well, I think I
(05:50):
have a healthy thyroid.
My doctor says it's healthy.
They tested my TSH and my T4.
That doesn't tell you the wholestory.
That's two of the many thyroidhormones.
You need to look at the bigpicture.
You need to look at free T3,reverse T3.
That will tell you what yourmetabolism is and what your
level of stress is.
(06:11):
That your body is seeing,because my T3 was low and my
reverse T3, which was my stresshormone, was extremely high
during this period.
What is that telling my body?
You are in survival mode, shutdown metabolism.
Not only shut down metabolism,but we're going to have this
(06:32):
added propensity to store fatbecause we need to protect these
expensive muscles around ourbelly, our liver, our kidneys,
our gallbladder, all of these,our heart.
That's why you get the bellyfat when you're under stress,
(06:53):
right, and you get that thinbutt look and the big belly and
the big shoulder pads.
So your body goes into thesurvival mode and so your body
actually adds on more fat thanyou would in a non-stressed
state.
If you don't have a healthythyroid, you're not getting
energy to the brain and this iswhat you don't realize.
Your body produces T4 and T3,just a little bit of the T3,
(07:17):
which is the active thyroidhormone.
But T4 needs to convert into T3.
T4 is inactive into T3.
T4 is inactive, t3 is active.
80% of T4 has to be convertedinto active T3.
And guess where that happens?
In the liver.
There we go.
So how is my liver going to dothe job for the thyroid if it's
(07:41):
dealing with all of these otherthings over here the
microplastics, the endocrinedisruptors, the PFAs, the
artificial sweeteners and it'sgoing to disrupt your gut?
Now some people could probablyeat it fine without any issues.
I definitely couldn't.
My body said no, so I went backto just whole foods, boring as
(08:05):
it is, I did.
But your liver cannot help yourthyroid if your liver's
overloaded with all of thisstuff.
So when you start seeing aslower metabolism, fatigue, even
though you're eating or you'resleeping dry skin, thin hair,
cold hands, cold feet, the brainfog, weight gain, especially
(08:26):
around the middle that couldmean that your liver is not
converting that T4 to T3.
And that is where the T3 is.
What gives your cells thatenergy, the cellular energy
inside the mitochondria.
That is where the ATP gets up.
(08:47):
Now, part of this issue with thethyroid is a lack of iodine.
And what does that iodine do?
It increases your metabolism,right, but not only that.
It helps with the protein beingused for muscle building and
fat oxidation.
So you're going to increasethat fat oxidation and increase
(09:10):
that muscle protein synthesis.
Iodine helps that metabolismslow down after, during weight
loss.
If you're in a cut and youusually see a metabolism slow
down, iodine can keep thatmetabolism boosted because it
increases that ATP within thecell.
So if your thyroid can't workproperly, it's going to make it
(09:33):
harder to gain the muscle, toassimilate the protein that
you're taking in and turn itinto muscle, and easier for you
to gain fat.
Iodine helps with cleansing theblood so the liver can do its
job.
It increases the efficiency ofthe mitochondrial function.
Without healthy mitochondriayou will not have fat oxidation
(09:57):
or muscle performance.
You will also have better brainactivity.
Iodine deficiency is the numberone cause of brain fog,
depression, anxiety.
Most people on antidepressantsare not getting their thyroids
tested.
Most people on antidepressantsif they just corrected their
(10:17):
thyroid, they probably would letgo of their antidepressant
medication.
So iodine also helps balanceout the hormones growth hormone,
testosterone and even theestrogen, progesterone.
Most men and women aresuffering from estrogen
dominance.
What does that look like?
Man boobs not able to developthe muscles in the body, low
(10:42):
testosterone levels.
Our testosterone in our men, asyou know, I'm sure, is just
plummeted.
Well, iodine plays a key role inhormone regulation, not just in
the thyroid but through thewhole endocrine system, and it
also boosts that detoxificationin your liver and your lymph.
So the iodine is supporting thethyroid, but it is also
(11:06):
supporting the liver and helpingcleanse the heavy metals, the
plastics, the xenoestrogens, thehalogens.
So, with that being said, likeI mentioned, it helps with the
focus and if your focus isbetter, guess what you're going
to do in the gym?
You're actually going to havebetter performance because
you're more motivated.
When you have brain fog oryou're depressed, who wants to
(11:29):
work out?
I just want to sleep in bed,right, so that is all related.
But then it gets to the liver.
Philip Pape (11:38):
Early on in what you were just talking about with
your own personal experience.
I love that you brought up thefact you were super consistent
and quote-unquote, boring withyour routine.
Those are actually my favoriteclients because then you could
easily tease out the variablesNot easily, but you could at
least isolate the variables,like you said, and try to
understand what else might behappening.
You know we're doing all theright things but still
(11:59):
something's frustrated.
Is it menopause?
Is it because I'm old?
Right, you get all the classickind of reasons or excuses and
it might be some cascade withyour liver, your thyroid, the
environmental inputs coming intoyour body with the modern food
environment.
So I think that's reallyimportant for people to
understand first is don't assumeand fearmonger for yourself
that it's like the sky isfalling all over the place.
(12:19):
It's, if you can be consistentyou can help tease these out.
The second thing you mentionedis this big cascade between the
thyroid and the liver, which isprobably news to a lot of people
, and it's not surprising to mehow interconnected everything is
, because we see, for example,muscle and bone are more
connected than we ever thought.
Hormonally, right, Fat andmuscle cells are more connected,
(12:43):
and so your personal experienceof, okay, checking my hormones,
looking at and seeing the T4,the T3, this that you know when
you first do that, people arestill overwhelmed, they don't
quite know what's going on andthey slap a bandaid on it with
just they might go straight toHRT.
That may not be the solutionright.
And the fact that it's thenlinked to your metabolism.
Now we get to the special saucehere of weight loss resistance.
(13:06):
And why can't I lose fat?
And why is all the fat that Iam gaining going to my belly?
Why am I eating so much protein, like you did, and not able to
utilize it?
And finally, that gets us totwo things incoming toxins and
then mitigation of those toxinsin the body.
So when we talk about toxins,I've talked about it before in
the context of chronicinflammation right, Because we
(13:27):
often blame inflammation on,like, specific foods, but it's
really the context of yourlifestyle and the environment
and everything coming together.
Answer this question for me,Sarah is our liver capable of
detoxifying quite a bit of junkthat comes in from the outside
if we are doing other thingsright, or is there a point at
which, like it's just kind of alost cause and we really have to
(13:50):
unload those toxins coming in,If you, if that, if you feel me
on that and we really have tounload those toxins coming in.
Sara Banta (13:55):
if you feel me on that, from what I've gone
through and the way I live mylife, I truly believe at this
point in modern day society wehave to support our livers with
the proper supplements.
But the other thing I wanted totouch on was you mentioned
hormones like let's get on HRT,or I had doctors saying, oh, you
need to get on a free T3medication or you need to get on
(14:18):
testosterone.
Your testosterone is too low.
My body was in a survivalstress mode.
It was adapting to thiscondition that I was dealing
with.
If I had thrown hormones on itwhich my liver would have had to
process on top of everythingelse I was dealing with, if I
had thrown hormones on it whichmy liver would have had to
process on top of everythingelse I was doing, it was going
(14:39):
to make me feel worse.
And in fact a side scenario wasmy own 18-year-old daughter,
whose menstrual cycle pain wentfrom a five level five to a 12,
where she's throwing up andwanting to yelling at me saying
mom, help me, pass out, just hitme.
I can't deal with this pain,something a mom should never
(15:03):
have to witness.
It was horrific.
And but what I witnessed wasthe doctor put her on
progesterone to bring up herprogesterone.
Well, that was going to back upher liver because she was
fighting a viral issue as well,and her liver was overloaded.
Within one day of using theprogesterone, she got even more
(15:27):
nauseous.
She couldn't even drink water.
She got that bad.
So throwing on more hormones orthings that your liver, your
liver's got to processeverything, good and bad.
So you don't.
You want to remove as much asyou can.
When we talk about muscle growth, it starts in the liver.
(15:49):
Your liver plays that huge rolein amino acid metabolism,
protein synthesis.
This is the other thing, philip.
When I was eating, all thatprotein didn't matter because my
liver was not able to break itdown and repackage it, those
amino acids to send to my bicepsand my quads.
It wasn't doing what I thoughtit was supposed to do.
(16:11):
So this is where the bodybuilds and repairs muscle
tissues.
And so if your liver cannotproperly convert amino acids or
clear out ammonia from proteinbreakdown, you won't see results
.
And the toxins, the plastics,heavy metals, excess estrogens,
they get stored in the fattissue when your liver's too
(16:32):
backed up to eliminate them.
And so when you try to burn fatwithout supporting the liver,
those toxins just get reabsorbed, trigger inflammation, slow
your metabolism and yourhormones.
We're talking about hormonehealth, the thyroid hormones,
estrogen, testosterone, insulin,cortisol.
They're all activated, brokendown or detoxed in the liver.
(16:55):
If your liver isn't working,you're going to see a sluggish
metabolism, estrogen dominance,low testosterone, insulin
resistance, cravings, highcortisol.
So all of these things andwithout that strong bile
production.
So bile is that detergent forthe fat, so it and I put people
(17:19):
through a liver cleanses whereon that last day of a two week
process of eating real food andtaking some some herbs, on that
last day you do a drink of oliveoil and citrus fruit.
But that olive oil is kind ofthat.
It emulsifies with the bile topush all that bile and the dirty
(17:40):
toxins out of the body in onebig push.
But without that strong bileproduction you can't absorb fat
soluble vitamins like A and D, eand K.
So here you are popping yourmultivitamin, not doing you any
good because your body's notusing it.
Philip Pape (17:58):
Let's take a step back before we get to.
But you mentioned briefly, nota protocol, but kind of a
hierarchical approach thatpeople should take.
Where they do the basics, theydo the foundations, let's start
there.
When it comes to you mentionedgut health.
You mentioned, of course,stress and the link between
stress and your thyroidmetabolism, and that's such a
loaded topic.
(18:18):
Other things to come to mindwhen you talk about fat, like
just being recovered andsleeping and being consistent
with your training and maybe notdieting all the time.
So, yeah, what does thathierarchy look like?
So people are like okay, I'vedone that, I've done that and
I've done that.
Now I should look at the next,like the 1%, the 5% solutions
that I haven't dealt with yet.
Sara Banta (18:37):
So number one is is free?
It's that sleep.
None of this stuff matters.
I don't care what you eat, whatyou do, what supplements you
throw down your throat.
You're not sleeping, you've got.
That's step one, and it'seasier said than done.
My, I wear my aura ring, andit's, it's my, my priority.
(19:03):
And what's also interesting,though, is your liver.
If you're waking up at three tofour in the morning, that's
your liver waking you up.
That's your liver screaming atyou that it wants some support.
So sleep is number one.
Stress, Stress, easier saidthan done, though, right, I mean
stress is the killer.
It's the killer.
It causes cancer, it causesbrain fog, it causes headaches,
it causes your hair to fall out.
Why is your hair falling out?
(19:24):
Because your thyroid shuts down, and your thyroid says we need
to conserve energy.
I don't know if we're gonna gothrough a famine for six months,
or if we're being chased by atiger, or if I'm fighting with
my husband.
It doesn't care.
It is going to shut down yourmetabolism.
Philip Pape (19:42):
So for all these things we talk about where your
thyroid is suspect, if you justwent and got blood work, would
it show up in your numbers?
Sara Banta (19:50):
Okay, but you have to get the full thyroid panel.
Sure, the TSH tells you nothing.
That is a thyroid stimulatinghormone, that's actually a
pituitary hormone.
So it's telling your thyroid toproduce T4.
But T4 does you no good unlessthe liver converts that T4 to T3
.
And so I even have a veryastute thyroid client who just
(20:16):
got her thyroid numbers done,and she had.
I saw the TSH, I saw the, theT4.
And I'm looking, I see thereverse T3, and I'm keep looking
down her test.
I'm like where's your free T3?
And then I went back becauseI'm like no, my eyes are just
not seeing it.
I said where's the free T3?
She goes oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve we didn't do it.
(20:37):
And that is it.
That is your metabolism.
Now your reverse T3 says a lotas well, because that's your
stress hormone.
Philip Pape (20:47):
So just to put a cap on this right, like, if you
get that blood work and it looksgood, is there still
potentially an issue?
Sara Banta (20:54):
Yes.
Philip Pape (20:54):
Okay.
Sara Banta (20:55):
Okay.
So you are different than me,Just the way that your cells can
be resistant to insulin.
Your cells could be moreresistant than mine to thyroid
hormone.
So what's floating all in theblood doesn't tell the whole
story, and it's a snapshot,because did the person take
(21:19):
their thyroid medication an hourbefore or or not, you know?
Not at all before they got theblood test.
Did they just have a spike ofcortisol from a huge stress
moment right before their bloodtest?
Have they been under chronicstress for months?
All of these things you have totake into account and it's just
(21:40):
a snapshot.
So your thyroid numbers can goup and down and personally I'm
super sensitive.
I feel my body go hypo and hyper.
It does this and so it'sconstantly.
I'm managing and I takedifferent doses of supplements
for my thyroid based on how I'mfeeling.
(22:00):
And what do I look for?
Better digestion, edema or alack of edema?
My energy, of course.
How is my brain working thatday?
Those are just signs, without ablood test to say, okay, your
thyroid's on point today or it'snot.
And when it's not, I go okay,let's go back to the
(22:20):
fundamentals.
Where's my sleep, Where's mystress?
And it's never.
It's never about caloricrestriction or I need to work
out more, because that those,those thoughts of working out
more or eating less is anadditional stress.
Right, and not even just that,but not even just doing anything
(22:44):
different, but thinking aboutthe fact that, oh my gosh, I'm
going to gain fat because mythyroid's not working.
Do you not think those thoughtsaren't going to affect the way
your metabolism, your systemsare working?
Your thoughts are so powerful.
So that's another thing andthat's free.
So train your thoughts.
But with food, I prioritizewild animal protein.
(23:09):
I love my venison, my bison,wild fish those are my go-tos.
I'll eat grass-fed,grass-finished beef so your body
is able to assimilate wildanimal protein, wild fish, much
more easily.
And when I was going throughthis huge issue with my liver
(23:30):
and realized what was going on,I essentially tended to eating a
mostly pescatarian diet, whichdrove me nuts.
Philip Pape (23:40):
And I got as an elimination effectively.
Sara Banta (23:43):
And it was just for a month, just to like my liver a
little bit of a break andbreathing room.
And I was shocked that Iactually saw a difference in my
muscle tone and things improving.
And I thought wait a second.
I thought I would get all ofthat from my all the good red
meat I was eating, not the wimpylittle fish.
(24:04):
But what was happening was themore animal land meats were
harder on my liver.
Now my liver's healthy now Ieat tons of those meats now.
So these things are notlong-term Fixed.
Yeah, they're just a short termto get your body back.
Philip Pape (24:21):
So, okay, you mentioned sleep, stress, food,
but you also mentioned the wholeconversation about T3 was, I
think, one of the takeaways forlisteners.
There is the importance ofbiofeedback and the importance
of really understanding yourbody and that hormones and all
of these things can vary withinthe day, day to day, week to
week.
It's going to depend on yourstress levels and everything
else.
Just like when we talk aboutfat loss and muscle building,
(24:43):
it's like different times of theyear.
You're a different person.
You might even weigh adifferent amount, you might have
.
You know it's winter versussummer.
There's different things goingon.
I like the thing about.
I like what you talked abouteliminating as well.
Is there a standard kind ofelimination protocol that you
suggest for people Like doing aI hate to say carnivore, because
, again, I'm not I don'tadvocate specific diets ever,
(25:04):
but like cutting out what peoplethink of as the trouble foods,
let's say, like dairy or glutenor something like that?
Sara Banta (25:10):
Yeah, I do tend to prioritize wild animal protein.
Fill in with the carbs and thefat, depending on your health
goals.
Personally, I tend to likecarbs more than fat.
Most people have fatty liverdisease.
Fatty liver disease for theAmerican population is over 50%.
(25:33):
If your liver is backed up,like mine was, it cannot process
that very well.
So any ketogenic diet, any highfat, low carb diet, is probably
not going to work for you.
So that's where the protein isnumber one and then you fill in
with the fats or carbs,depending on what your
(25:53):
preference is.
I noticed when I started addingin more carbs, my metabolism
went up.
Imagine that when I started notfasting like I used to, my
metabolism went up.
Why?
Because my body is trusting me.
How much money do you have inthe bank?
You only got $20.
You're only going to spend avery little amount.
If you've got millions in thebank, you're going to spend more
(26:17):
money and your body does thesame with its metabolism.
So it's not about protein,carbs or fat.
It's more about the specificwrong or right proteins, carbs
or fats, and I'm sticking to themore whole foods or wild animal
proteins like the bison, theelk, venison these foods also,
(26:41):
phillip, there are so manyranches around the country.
You just Google at delivery,bison, delivery and you will
have plenty of websites show up.
They're family owned, they'rehigh quality meats.
They're directly delivered toyour doorstep in these nice dry
ice frozen packages, no moreexpensive than going to get your
(27:04):
meat from the market and itmakes it super easy.
So it's not a cost thingbecause the ultra processed
foods those costs a lot of money.
Your Starbucks costs a lot ofmoney compared to this, the
these whole foods that we'retalking about.
Philip Pape (27:18):
Yeah, we had a cattle rancher on recently and
she was talking about like oneof the best places you get food
is just your local farmers, yourfarmer's markets, like just you
know, cause at least you cantalk to the people raising the
food and ask them about theirprocess and what's in it and
pesticides and all that stuff.
I like that tip.
Berkeley (27:35):
Hello, I am Berkeley and I wanted to give a huge
thank you to Philip of Wits andWeights.
He has helped me so much, gaveme a completely free 30 minute
call where he answered all of myquestions, gave lots of great
insight into programming andnutrition.
All of his content is reallywonderful and he has a great
(27:57):
Facebook group that issupportive and informational.
He has tons of free resourcesthat I really really enjoy and
they're all super science-based.
What I really love about Philipis that he always updates his
guides and he makes time toanswer any questions, even
though I am not currently apaying client.
(28:20):
He really has helped me so muchand I'm just so grateful.
Philip Pape (28:26):
So now, what about movement strength training?
So I'm obviously so grateful.
So now, what about movementstrength training?
So I'm obviously huge in thestrength training and one of the
things that surprised me beingin this industry now is how much
that unlocks your body'scapability, is the way I'm going
to put it like down to thecellular level, how much of our
body is tied to.
It's not just having musclemass and looking good, it's the
(28:46):
act of training the myokinesthat get released and the
signaling and you're using yourbody in space like we're meant
to do.
What are your thoughts on that?
Tied to liver and thyroidhealth?
Sara Banta (28:56):
Oh, it's huge.
Your cells are communicatingright, and so when you are
strength training, you'reessentially telling your brain I
want to be strong to live life,I want to be more capable, I
want to be more grounded.
I know that when I feel toothin or not enough muscle on my
(29:21):
body, I feel very weak in themind.
So there's this mind bodyconnection there.
The muscle is going to burnmore fat and burn more calories.
Your muscles are glucosestorage banks.
So the more muscle you have,the more carbs you are able to
eat and sponge up.
(29:42):
And the chronic cardioespecially for women, it's not
going to pay off.
Your hormones are going to bewrecked, your hair's going to
fall out, your skin is going tolook awful and your body's going
to go back to that bank thoughtof hey, I'm not getting enough
money in my bank to be expendingon an eight mile run right now.
(30:06):
So I'm going to lower mymetabolism and maybe I'm going
to burn a lot of calories duringthat run.
Then I'm going to shut it down.
So with I'm a huge believer instrength training.
I lift heavy weights.
I try to bulk up.
It's very difficult, women.
You're not going to get bulkyunless you're taking
testosterone shots, and eventhen it's going to be difficult,
(30:29):
so I'm a huge proponent of that.
Philip Pape (30:32):
My general thought.
Having watched the industry andseeing how things have gone, my
general advice to people is butI'm curious about your thoughts
on the fasted training piece,cause that's where a lot of
people go to like EAs, even ifthey have no problems handling
the muscle, the protein comingin right and the amino acids, if
they're very efficient withthat, do you find them valuable
or not?
Sara Banta (30:52):
Yes, so I tend to work out early in the morning
and I take my iodine.
I take the essential aminoacids after and then I really do
follow up with a big meal tohelp fill in and support my
caloric need.
Personally, that works for me.
Some people need a meal in thebeginning or in the morning
(31:14):
before their workout, especiallywomen.
I feel like men can get awaywith a lot more.
Women need to really thinkthrough their hormonal balance
and how they're feeling.
So do you have to be fasted in aworkout?
No, Is it a possibility?
Yes, but you really need to belistening to your own body and
where you are.
(31:35):
If you're in a very stressedperiod of time in your life, not
a time to be fasted, right, wewant to.
If our bucket's full of stress,we don't want to add another
one.
Just like if our liver bucket'stoo full of toxins, we don't
want to add another one.
We need to take care and seewhere we are, and it might be it
(31:57):
might be it might change in amonth from now and then change
back again for you.
If you are constantly doing thesame routine every single day,
with the same workouts and thesame food, your body's not going
to make any big adjustmentsbecause it's just going to
settle right into that routine.
(32:18):
You know there's that studywhere they've looked at
different tribes around theworld where they're doing a
whole lot more physical activitythan we are, but they're eating
the same amount of caloriesbecause their bodies adjust.
You know your metabolism isgoing to adjust.
So the two biggest things whenyou're talking about fat loss or
(32:41):
muscle building and gettingresults is your liver and your
thyroid.
And, like I said, if you chooseto eat a meal before your
workout or if you choose to befasted, that's not going to make
or break you if you have notaddressed the thyroid and the
liver.
And those things are alsorelated to your sleep and your
(33:02):
stress.
So it's all interconnected.
The cells are talking.
Your cells are, just like inyour interview about bone and
muscle, how they're interrelated, which is super fascinating and
makes total sense.
All of our cells are talking,All of our organs are talking.
(33:22):
You're not just having the headdoctor and then the liver
doctor and the kidney doctor andthe muscle doctor.
They're all connected.
Philip Pape (33:31):
I feel like Eastern medicine has known this a lot
longer than we have, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's one littleelephant little or big elephant
in the room.
People are thinking because wesaid liver about 100 times and
that, of course, is some of thebiggest toxins that we're all
aware of that maybe we shouldn'timbibe in on a regular basis.
Let's just hit on those Alcohol.
But I also want to talk aboutsmoking.
(33:52):
You would think by now anybodyhealth conscious would not even
think about smoking, let aloneaddiction and all that.
But I'm even curious about potand like cigars and pipes and
all that because I've gotfriends who are like, yeah, I
celebrate with my cigars, no bigdeal, but they're super health
conscious everywhere else.
How much toxic load does thatstuff put on your liver?
Sara Banta (34:11):
Oh, it's not even just your liver.
All of the toxins from smokinglove your thyroid.
Oh, yes, love your thyroid.
So you're slow, you thinkyou're suppressing your appetite
and you're going to have aweight loss effect from that
smoking.
It's actually slowing down yourthyroid.
But, yes, all those toxins arehitting your liver.
(34:32):
Alcohol is a poison.
There's no storage capacity foralcohol in the body and you
might think, oh well, that'sgood news, that means that I can
drink and nothing's going to bestored.
No, what that does is the bodysays, okay, stop, we got to stop
everything else, anything thatcomes in, other than the alcohol
(34:53):
, the carbs, the protein, fat.
We're going to store it in ourfat cells because we got to burn
, burn, burn this alcohol rightnow, right.
And so the liver is just underattack.
And you know I have alcoholismin my family and I don't tend to
drink.
I've not, I have not said tomyself oh, you're never going to
(35:14):
be, you're never going to drink, because I don't want to do
that to myself.
But it's so funny because I'llgo out and I'll be offered a
drink and I'll think.
You know, I feel too good, Idon't want.
It takes me down when youoptimize your thyroid and your
energy is up and you feel good.
You don't want to be taken down.
(35:34):
My kids, you know, they'veexperimented a little bit with
alcohol.
They don't care for it becausethey feel good on a regular
basis and most people aresuffering from anxiety and
depression and they're using itas a coping mechanism.
So the problem is, is alcoholand other drugs, but
(35:56):
specifically alcohol makes youmore impulsive when you're not
drinking.
It makes you more depressedwhen you're not drinking and
obviously your tolerance goes upand you need more and more and
more.
And it's also empty caloriesand alcohol also crosses the
blood-brain barrier.
There are so many things thatyou're looking at it going.
Why would I do that?
(36:18):
It's true.
Philip Pape (36:20):
Okay, yeah, I know I just wanted to address that
because again, people thinkabout that.
I'll call that an easy one, butit could be a very hard one
depending on your history.
But easy in that has a hugepositive impact if you can
reduce or eliminate and, likeyou said, reframe and focus on
what is life without it and howgreat can that be and how
wonderful it is when we're doingthese health-focused activities
and foods and drinks.
(36:40):
Okay, is there anything I'llsay like a misconception or a
big thing we didn't hit onrelated to this topic that you
want people to leave with?
Sara Banta (36:49):
I would just say we are no longer in our
grandparents' generation,especially if you're wanting to
live a vibrant, energy-filledlife, and that does require
addressing your thyroid, yourliver, your stress, your sleep,
and more chronic disease thanever before is occurring in
(37:13):
everybody, in all ages.
Our children one out of threechildren have a chronic disease
that is going to last a lifetime.
One in three 25% of childrenhave fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease used to bean alcoholic's disease and now
our children have it.
There's something going on thatwas not here before and it's
(37:38):
it's time to wake up.
It's time to face the fact thatif you want to live a vibrant,
healthy life and enjoy themuscle building, the fat burning
, but just the energy, thepain-free lifestyle, lack of
inflammation or disease, you'llhave to be proactive, but you
don't have to be constrained orrestricted.
(37:59):
Like I mentioned, the foodguide has hundreds of foods that
are delicious, that will helpyour body heal instead of
causing inflammation and causingyour chronic disease to worsen.
So there are answers.
Philip Pape (38:13):
Yeah, and that's the empowering message that, at
the end of the day, we want totake from this.
If you focus on yourself, youlisten to yourself, you act like
an engineer and stabilize someof the variables here and tweak
one thing at a time and reachout to and listen to podcasts
like ours and Sarah's, I thinkyou'll be empowered, and then
it's just a matter of yourchoice and your actions.
So, speaking of taking action,sarah, where can people learn
(38:35):
more about you and your work?
Sara Banta (38:37):
Everything's at sarahbantahealthcom.
I've got free group coachingbecause after today you might be
going.
Wait a second.
I have questions.
You post the questions in thegroup chat.
I answer daily, seven days aweek, almost 24 hours a day,
unfortunately for me and myfamily.
But I also post tips and tools,new podcasts, new articles.
(39:00):
I write tons of articles.
I love writing articles,protocols.
You can also get your freeprotocol off of my website.
Just write in what yourcondition is and I will put
together a supplement protocolwriting articles, protocols.
You can also get your freeprotocol off of my website.
Just write in what yourcondition is and I will put
together a supplement protocolfor you.
And I truly believe that God'sput me on earth to help all of
you, and that's my mission.
Philip Pape (39:22):
And I can get on board with that.
I feel you, that is our intent.
We are trying to help in everyway we can and lots of people
need it and thank goodness forthese platforms like our podcast
.
We're going to send folks tosarahbantahealthcom for all the
stuff you just heard about theQ&A, the Tips to Pools podcast,
the resources, the articles,everything.
And Sarah, it's been a blast.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Wits and Weights, thanks, thankyou.
Your liver converts thyroid hormones from form to
active form, processes everygram of protein you eat and
determines whether nutrients getshuttled to muscle or fat.
Yet most people, focused onbody composition, never think
about liver health.
Today, my guest explains howthis overlooked organ controls
your metabolic rate, muscleprotein synthesis and fat
(00:22):
storage, and why liverdysfunction might explain why
you're struggling with yourfitness and nutrition.
You'll learn how to recognizewhen liver function is limiting
your results, which common foodsand lifestyle factors can
impair liver performance, andevidence-based strategies to
optimize liver health for betterbody composition.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
(00:49):
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday we're discussing how
thyroid and liver functionaffects metabolism, muscle
retention, fat loss and more.
My guest today is Sarah Banta, acertified supplement expert,
health coach and founder ofAccelerated Health Products.
She's also the host ofAccelerated Health with Sarah
(01:12):
Banta.
Go, give that a follow.
She's got well over, I think,600 episodes covering health
optimization and so many topicsthat you guys really care about.
So give her a follow.
And Sarah, the reason I wantedto have her here is she has
experienced firsthand howaddressing some of these health
issues, some that we don't talkabout enough or understand
(01:33):
enough.
The thyroid, the liver,function, everything going on in
your body, how they can impactyour results, your training,
your metabolism, and why somepeople might get frustrated or
hit plateaus despite doing allthe right things, despite sound
nutrition and sound trainingprotocols.
So today you're going to learnhow thyroid and liver affects
more than just the processing ofwhat you eat and your hormones.
(01:55):
It's evolved in hormoneconversion, nutrient metabolism,
muscle protein utilization, allthat fun stuff that we're going
to nerd out on.
Today.
We're going to explore what theresearch shows about the
function of the systems in yourbody and with your body
composition, look at lifestylefactors that can impair your
health and discussevidence-based strategies, as
always, to support optimalthyroid and liver health for
(02:17):
better results.
Sarah, welcome to the show.
Sara Banta (02:20):
Thanks for having me Super excited.
I love that you mentionedefficiency and energy in your
intro, because I feel like somany people are banging their
heads against the wall withworkouts and not eating enough
or trying to figure out what toeat, when they just have to
figure out how their bodyassimilates and makes energy and
(02:42):
becomes efficient with theresults.
So, anyways, I'm super excitedto dive into this because we're
going to tackle all of thosethings.
Philip Pape (02:50):
So you're saying it's not about cutting out whole
food groups?
Is that what you're saying?
Sara Banta (02:54):
No, it's not and it's not about taking a weight
loss drug.
It is about your body trustingyou.
It's about getting all thesystems on without the clogs in
the wheel per se.
So we need everything to beworking right and the things
that disrupt it.
That's what we're going to getinto as well, and it does come
(03:17):
down to thyroid and liver.
Before we get into that, Ithought I'd tell my little story
.
I've been an athlete all my life.
I was a rower, playedvolleyball in high school, rode
at the national level, and thosearen't.
Rowing especially is not aneasy feat.
All three of my kids have doneit and they've had their own
(03:37):
health issues along the way withit.
But you have to be duelingright.
You've got to have strongmuscle, you've got to have good
cardio.
But what happened to me almostcoming up on a year is I was hit
with spike protein viralactivity.
Well, what was happening to meis my thyroid numbers went down,
(04:00):
so my metabolism slowed down.
Numbers went down, so mymetabolism slowed down, and then
I was eating over 200 grams ofprotein, which, as you know, is
a lot of protein for someone mysize.
But my body was notassimilating that protein and
turning it into muscle.
And then, fortunately andfortunately, philip, I'm really
boring I'm so consistent with myworkouts, with my eating
(04:23):
regimen and all of that.
So anything that goes up ordown, it's kind of there's like
this outside factor that you'vegot to look at.
So I was not only not buildingmuscle, which was my goal, I was
actually losing muscle and mythyroid numbers were going down.
My testosterone was going down.
I've always had a good, healthytestosterone.
(04:45):
So something was amiss.
And when your body is under astressor whether it's financial
stress, your spousal stress oran internal stress of a virus,
an allergy or liver being loaded, an allergy or liver being
loaded, overloaded your bodygoes into this survival mode and
(05:07):
it says, hey, shut down allthese systems.
We're not going to worry aboutbuilding muscle and burning fat,
because we've got to take careof this thing over here.
And so my liver was not.
The wheels had come off.
And what people don'tunderstand is your liver and
your thyroid are directlyconnected.
(05:29):
Now, regardless of what yourdiet is, what you're eating even
you know eating nothing, you'renot going to burn fat and
you're not going to lose weight,because your thyroid is in
charge of your metabolism.
It's in charge of yourmetabolic rate, your body
temperature and for all of youout there going well, I think I
(05:50):
have a healthy thyroid.
My doctor says it's healthy.
They tested my TSH and my T4.
That doesn't tell you the wholestory.
That's two of the many thyroidhormones.
You need to look at the bigpicture.
You need to look at free T3,reverse T3.
That will tell you what yourmetabolism is and what your
level of stress is.
(06:11):
That your body is seeing,because my T3 was low and my
reverse T3, which was my stresshormone, was extremely high
during this period.
What is that telling my body?
You are in survival mode, shutdown metabolism.
Not only shut down metabolism,but we're going to have this
(06:32):
added propensity to store fatbecause we need to protect these
expensive muscles around ourbelly, our liver, our kidneys,
our gallbladder, all of these,our heart.
That's why you get the bellyfat when you're under stress,
(06:53):
right, and you get that thinbutt look and the big belly and
the big shoulder pads.
So your body goes into thesurvival mode and so your body
actually adds on more fat thanyou would in a non-stressed
state.
If you don't have a healthythyroid, you're not getting
energy to the brain and this iswhat you don't realize.
Your body produces T4 and T3,just a little bit of the T3,
(07:17):
which is the active thyroidhormone.
But T4 needs to convert into T3.
T4 is inactive into T3.
T4 is inactive, t3 is active.
80% of T4 has to be convertedinto active T3.
And guess where that happens?
In the liver.
There we go.
So how is my liver going to dothe job for the thyroid if it's
(07:41):
dealing with all of these otherthings over here the
microplastics, the endocrinedisruptors, the PFAs, the
artificial sweeteners and it'sgoing to disrupt your gut?
Now some people could probablyeat it fine without any issues.
I definitely couldn't.
My body said no, so I went backto just whole foods, boring as
(08:05):
it is, I did.
But your liver cannot help yourthyroid if your liver's
overloaded with all of thisstuff.
So when you start seeing aslower metabolism, fatigue, even
though you're eating or you'resleeping dry skin, thin hair,
cold hands, cold feet, the brainfog, weight gain, especially
(08:26):
around the middle that couldmean that your liver is not
converting that T4 to T3.
And that is where the T3 is.
What gives your cells thatenergy, the cellular energy
inside the mitochondria.
That is where the ATP gets up.
(08:47):
Now, part of this issue with thethyroid is a lack of iodine.
And what does that iodine do?
It increases your metabolism,right, but not only that.
It helps with the protein beingused for muscle building and
fat oxidation.
So you're going to increasethat fat oxidation and increase
(09:10):
that muscle protein synthesis.
Iodine helps that metabolismslow down after, during weight
loss.
If you're in a cut and youusually see a metabolism slow
down, iodine can keep thatmetabolism boosted because it
increases that ATP within thecell.
So if your thyroid can't workproperly, it's going to make it
(09:33):
harder to gain the muscle, toassimilate the protein that
you're taking in and turn itinto muscle, and easier for you
to gain fat.
Iodine helps with cleansing theblood so the liver can do its
job.
It increases the efficiency ofthe mitochondrial function.
Without healthy mitochondriayou will not have fat oxidation
(09:57):
or muscle performance.
You will also have better brainactivity.
Iodine deficiency is the numberone cause of brain fog,
depression, anxiety.
Most people on antidepressantsare not getting their thyroids
tested.
Most people on antidepressantsif they just corrected their
(10:17):
thyroid, they probably would letgo of their antidepressant
medication.
So iodine also helps balanceout the hormones growth hormone,
testosterone and even theestrogen, progesterone.
Most men and women aresuffering from estrogen
dominance.
What does that look like?
Man boobs not able to developthe muscles in the body, low
(10:42):
testosterone levels.
Our testosterone in our men, asyou know, I'm sure, is just
plummeted.
Well, iodine plays a key role inhormone regulation, not just in
the thyroid but through thewhole endocrine system, and it
also boosts that detoxificationin your liver and your lymph.
So the iodine is supporting thethyroid, but it is also
(11:06):
supporting the liver and helpingcleanse the heavy metals, the
plastics, the xenoestrogens, thehalogens.
So, with that being said, likeI mentioned, it helps with the
focus and if your focus isbetter, guess what you're going
to do in the gym?
You're actually going to havebetter performance because
you're more motivated.
When you have brain fog oryou're depressed, who wants to
(11:29):
work out?
I just want to sleep in bed,right, so that is all related.
But then it gets to the liver.
Philip Pape (11:38):
Early on in what you were just talking about with
your own personal experience.
I love that you brought up thefact you were super consistent
and quote-unquote, boring withyour routine.
Those are actually my favoriteclients because then you could
easily tease out the variablesNot easily, but you could at
least isolate the variables,like you said, and try to
understand what else might behappening.
You know we're doing all theright things but still
(11:59):
something's frustrated.
Is it menopause?
Is it because I'm old?
Right, you get all the classickind of reasons or excuses and
it might be some cascade withyour liver, your thyroid, the
environmental inputs coming intoyour body with the modern food
environment.
So I think that's reallyimportant for people to
understand first is don't assumeand fearmonger for yourself
that it's like the sky isfalling all over the place.
(12:19):
It's, if you can be consistentyou can help tease these out.
The second thing you mentionedis this big cascade between the
thyroid and the liver, which isprobably news to a lot of people
, and it's not surprising to mehow interconnected everything is
, because we see, for example,muscle and bone are more
connected than we ever thought.
Hormonally, right, Fat andmuscle cells are more connected,
(12:43):
and so your personal experienceof, okay, checking my hormones,
looking at and seeing the T4,the T3, this that you know when
you first do that, people arestill overwhelmed, they don't
quite know what's going on andthey slap a bandaid on it with
just they might go straight toHRT.
That may not be the solutionright.
And the fact that it's thenlinked to your metabolism.
Now we get to the special saucehere of weight loss resistance.
(13:06):
And why can't I lose fat?
And why is all the fat that Iam gaining going to my belly?
Why am I eating so much protein, like you did, and not able to
utilize it?
And finally, that gets us totwo things incoming toxins and
then mitigation of those toxinsin the body.
So when we talk about toxins,I've talked about it before in
the context of chronicinflammation right, Because we
(13:27):
often blame inflammation on,like, specific foods, but it's
really the context of yourlifestyle and the environment
and everything coming together.
Answer this question for me,Sarah is our liver capable of
detoxifying quite a bit of junkthat comes in from the outside
if we are doing other thingsright, or is there a point at
which, like it's just kind of alost cause and we really have to
(13:50):
unload those toxins coming in,If you, if that, if you feel me
on that and we really have tounload those toxins coming in.
Sara Banta (13:55):
if you feel me on that, from what I've gone
through and the way I live mylife, I truly believe at this
point in modern day society wehave to support our livers with
the proper supplements.
But the other thing I wanted totouch on was you mentioned
hormones like let's get on HRT,or I had doctors saying, oh, you
need to get on a free T3medication or you need to get on
(14:18):
testosterone.
Your testosterone is too low.
My body was in a survivalstress mode.
It was adapting to thiscondition that I was dealing
with.
If I had thrown hormones on itwhich my liver would have had to
process on top of everythingelse I was dealing with, if I
had thrown hormones on it whichmy liver would have had to
process on top of everythingelse I was doing, it was going
(14:39):
to make me feel worse.
And in fact a side scenario wasmy own 18-year-old daughter,
whose menstrual cycle pain wentfrom a five level five to a 12,
where she's throwing up andwanting to yelling at me saying
mom, help me, pass out, just hitme.
I can't deal with this pain,something a mom should never
(15:03):
have to witness.
It was horrific.
And but what I witnessed wasthe doctor put her on
progesterone to bring up herprogesterone.
Well, that was going to back upher liver because she was
fighting a viral issue as well,and her liver was overloaded.
Within one day of using theprogesterone, she got even more
(15:27):
nauseous.
She couldn't even drink water.
She got that bad.
So throwing on more hormones orthings that your liver, your
liver's got to processeverything, good and bad.
So you don't.
You want to remove as much asyou can.
When we talk about muscle growth, it starts in the liver.
(15:49):
Your liver plays that huge rolein amino acid metabolism,
protein synthesis.
This is the other thing, philip.
When I was eating, all thatprotein didn't matter because my
liver was not able to break itdown and repackage it, those
amino acids to send to my bicepsand my quads.
It wasn't doing what I thoughtit was supposed to do.
(16:11):
So this is where the bodybuilds and repairs muscle
tissues.
And so if your liver cannotproperly convert amino acids or
clear out ammonia from proteinbreakdown, you won't see results
.
And the toxins, the plastics,heavy metals, excess estrogens,
they get stored in the fattissue when your liver's too
(16:32):
backed up to eliminate them.
And so when you try to burn fatwithout supporting the liver,
those toxins just get reabsorbed, trigger inflammation, slow
your metabolism and yourhormones.
We're talking about hormonehealth, the thyroid hormones,
estrogen, testosterone, insulin,cortisol.
They're all activated, brokendown or detoxed in the liver.
(16:55):
If your liver isn't working,you're going to see a sluggish
metabolism, estrogen dominance,low testosterone, insulin
resistance, cravings, highcortisol.
So all of these things andwithout that strong bile
production.
So bile is that detergent forthe fat, so it and I put people
(17:19):
through a liver cleanses whereon that last day of a two week
process of eating real food andtaking some some herbs, on that
last day you do a drink of oliveoil and citrus fruit.
But that olive oil is kind ofthat.
It emulsifies with the bile topush all that bile and the dirty
(17:40):
toxins out of the body in onebig push.
But without that strong bileproduction you can't absorb fat
soluble vitamins like A and D, eand K.
So here you are popping yourmultivitamin, not doing you any
good because your body's notusing it.
Philip Pape (17:58):
Let's take a step back before we get to.
But you mentioned briefly, nota protocol, but kind of a
hierarchical approach thatpeople should take.
Where they do the basics, theydo the foundations, let's start
there.
When it comes to you mentionedgut health.
You mentioned, of course,stress and the link between
stress and your thyroidmetabolism, and that's such a
loaded topic.
(18:18):
Other things to come to mindwhen you talk about fat, like
just being recovered andsleeping and being consistent
with your training and maybe notdieting all the time.
So, yeah, what does thathierarchy look like?
So people are like okay, I'vedone that, I've done that and
I've done that.
Now I should look at the next,like the 1%, the 5% solutions
that I haven't dealt with yet.
Sara Banta (18:37):
So number one is is free?
It's that sleep.
None of this stuff matters.
I don't care what you eat, whatyou do, what supplements you
throw down your throat.
You're not sleeping, you've got.
That's step one, and it'seasier said than done.
My, I wear my aura ring, andit's, it's my, my priority.
(19:03):
And what's also interesting,though, is your liver.
If you're waking up at three tofour in the morning, that's
your liver waking you up.
That's your liver screaming atyou that it wants some support.
So sleep is number one.
Stress, Stress, easier saidthan done, though, right, I mean
stress is the killer.
It's the killer.
It causes cancer, it causesbrain fog, it causes headaches,
it causes your hair to fall out.
Why is your hair falling out?
(19:24):
Because your thyroid shuts down, and your thyroid says we need
to conserve energy.
I don't know if we're gonna gothrough a famine for six months,
or if we're being chased by atiger, or if I'm fighting with
my husband.
It doesn't care.
It is going to shut down yourmetabolism.
Philip Pape (19:42):
So for all these things we talk about where your
thyroid is suspect, if you justwent and got blood work, would
it show up in your numbers?
Sara Banta (19:50):
Okay, but you have to get the full thyroid panel.
Sure, the TSH tells you nothing.
That is a thyroid stimulatinghormone, that's actually a
pituitary hormone.
So it's telling your thyroid toproduce T4.
But T4 does you no good unlessthe liver converts that T4 to T3
.
And so I even have a veryastute thyroid client who just
(20:16):
got her thyroid numbers done,and she had.
I saw the TSH, I saw the, theT4.
And I'm looking, I see thereverse T3, and I'm keep looking
down her test.
I'm like where's your free T3?
And then I went back becauseI'm like no, my eyes are just
not seeing it.
I said where's the free T3?
She goes oh my gosh, I can'tbelieve we didn't do it.
(20:37):
And that is it.
That is your metabolism.
Now your reverse T3 says a lotas well, because that's your
stress hormone.
Philip Pape (20:47):
So just to put a cap on this right, like, if you
get that blood work and it looksgood, is there still
potentially an issue?
Sara Banta (20:54):
Yes.
Philip Pape (20:54):
Okay.
Sara Banta (20:55):
Okay.
So you are different than me,Just the way that your cells can
be resistant to insulin.
Your cells could be moreresistant than mine to thyroid
hormone.
So what's floating all in theblood doesn't tell the whole
story, and it's a snapshot,because did the person take
(21:19):
their thyroid medication an hourbefore or or not, you know?
Not at all before they got theblood test.
Did they just have a spike ofcortisol from a huge stress
moment right before their bloodtest?
Have they been under chronicstress for months?
All of these things you have totake into account and it's just
(21:40):
a snapshot.
So your thyroid numbers can goup and down and personally I'm
super sensitive.
I feel my body go hypo and hyper.
It does this and so it'sconstantly.
I'm managing and I takedifferent doses of supplements
for my thyroid based on how I'mfeeling.
(22:00):
And what do I look for?
Better digestion, edema or alack of edema?
My energy, of course.
How is my brain working thatday?
Those are just signs, without ablood test to say, okay, your
thyroid's on point today or it'snot.
And when it's not, I go okay,let's go back to the
(22:20):
fundamentals.
Where's my sleep, Where's mystress?
And it's never.
It's never about caloricrestriction or I need to work
out more, because that those,those thoughts of working out
more or eating less is anadditional stress.
Right, and not even just that,but not even just doing anything
(22:44):
different, but thinking aboutthe fact that, oh my gosh, I'm
going to gain fat because mythyroid's not working.
Do you not think those thoughtsaren't going to affect the way
your metabolism, your systemsare working?
Your thoughts are so powerful.
So that's another thing andthat's free.
So train your thoughts.
But with food, I prioritizewild animal protein.
(23:09):
I love my venison, my bison,wild fish those are my go-tos.
I'll eat grass-fed,grass-finished beef so your body
is able to assimilate wildanimal protein, wild fish, much
more easily.
And when I was going throughthis huge issue with my liver
(23:30):
and realized what was going on,I essentially tended to eating a
mostly pescatarian diet, whichdrove me nuts.
Philip Pape (23:40):
And I got as an elimination effectively.
Sara Banta (23:43):
And it was just for a month, just to like my liver a
little bit of a break andbreathing room.
And I was shocked that Iactually saw a difference in my
muscle tone and things improving.
And I thought wait a second.
I thought I would get all ofthat from my all the good red
meat I was eating, not the wimpylittle fish.
(24:04):
But what was happening was themore animal land meats were
harder on my liver.
Now my liver's healthy now Ieat tons of those meats now.
So these things are notlong-term Fixed.
Yeah, they're just a short termto get your body back.
Philip Pape (24:21):
So, okay, you mentioned sleep, stress, food,
but you also mentioned the wholeconversation about T3 was, I
think, one of the takeaways forlisteners.
There is the importance ofbiofeedback and the importance
of really understanding yourbody and that hormones and all
of these things can vary withinthe day, day to day, week to
week.
It's going to depend on yourstress levels and everything
else.
Just like when we talk aboutfat loss and muscle building,
(24:43):
it's like different times of theyear.
You're a different person.
You might even weigh adifferent amount, you might have
.
You know it's winter versussummer.
There's different things goingon.
I like the thing about.
I like what you talked abouteliminating as well.
Is there a standard kind ofelimination protocol that you
suggest for people Like doing aI hate to say carnivore, because
, again, I'm not I don'tadvocate specific diets ever,
(25:04):
but like cutting out what peoplethink of as the trouble foods,
let's say, like dairy or glutenor something like that?
Sara Banta (25:10):
Yeah, I do tend to prioritize wild animal protein.
Fill in with the carbs and thefat, depending on your health
goals.
Personally, I tend to likecarbs more than fat.
Most people have fatty liverdisease.
Fatty liver disease for theAmerican population is over 50%.
(25:33):
If your liver is backed up,like mine was, it cannot process
that very well.
So any ketogenic diet, any highfat, low carb diet, is probably
not going to work for you.
So that's where the protein isnumber one and then you fill in
with the fats or carbs,depending on what your
(25:53):
preference is.
I noticed when I started addingin more carbs, my metabolism
went up.
Imagine that when I started notfasting like I used to, my
metabolism went up.
Why?
Because my body is trusting me.
How much money do you have inthe bank?
You only got $20.
You're only going to spend avery little amount.
If you've got millions in thebank, you're going to spend more
(26:17):
money and your body does thesame with its metabolism.
So it's not about protein,carbs or fat.
It's more about the specificwrong or right proteins, carbs
or fats, and I'm sticking to themore whole foods or wild animal
proteins like the bison, theelk, venison these foods also,
(26:41):
phillip, there are so manyranches around the country.
You just Google at delivery,bison, delivery and you will
have plenty of websites show up.
They're family owned, they'rehigh quality meats.
They're directly delivered toyour doorstep in these nice dry
ice frozen packages, no moreexpensive than going to get your
(27:04):
meat from the market and itmakes it super easy.
So it's not a cost thingbecause the ultra processed
foods those costs a lot of money.
Your Starbucks costs a lot ofmoney compared to this, the
these whole foods that we'retalking about.
Philip Pape (27:18):
Yeah, we had a cattle rancher on recently and
she was talking about like oneof the best places you get food
is just your local farmers, yourfarmer's markets, like just you
know, cause at least you cantalk to the people raising the
food and ask them about theirprocess and what's in it and
pesticides and all that stuff.
I like that tip.
Berkeley (27:35):
Hello, I am Berkeley and I wanted to give a huge
thank you to Philip of Wits andWeights.
He has helped me so much, gaveme a completely free 30 minute
call where he answered all of myquestions, gave lots of great
insight into programming andnutrition.
All of his content is reallywonderful and he has a great
(27:57):
Facebook group that issupportive and informational.
He has tons of free resourcesthat I really really enjoy and
they're all super science-based.
What I really love about Philipis that he always updates his
guides and he makes time toanswer any questions, even
though I am not currently apaying client.
(28:20):
He really has helped me so muchand I'm just so grateful.
Philip Pape (28:26):
So now, what about movement strength training?
So I'm obviously so grateful.
So now, what about movementstrength training?
So I'm obviously huge in thestrength training and one of the
things that surprised me beingin this industry now is how much
that unlocks your body'scapability, is the way I'm going
to put it like down to thecellular level, how much of our
body is tied to.
It's not just having musclemass and looking good, it's the
(28:46):
act of training the myokinesthat get released and the
signaling and you're using yourbody in space like we're meant
to do.
What are your thoughts on that?
Tied to liver and thyroidhealth?
Sara Banta (28:56):
Oh, it's huge.
Your cells are communicatingright, and so when you are
strength training, you'reessentially telling your brain I
want to be strong to live life,I want to be more capable, I
want to be more grounded.
I know that when I feel toothin or not enough muscle on my
(29:21):
body, I feel very weak in themind.
So there's this mind bodyconnection there.
The muscle is going to burnmore fat and burn more calories.
Your muscles are glucosestorage banks.
So the more muscle you have,the more carbs you are able to
eat and sponge up.
(29:42):
And the chronic cardioespecially for women, it's not
going to pay off.
Your hormones are going to bewrecked, your hair's going to
fall out, your skin is going tolook awful and your body's going
to go back to that bank thoughtof hey, I'm not getting enough
money in my bank to be expendingon an eight mile run right now.
(30:06):
So I'm going to lower mymetabolism and maybe I'm going
to burn a lot of calories duringthat run.
Then I'm going to shut it down.
So with I'm a huge believer instrength training.
I lift heavy weights.
I try to bulk up.
It's very difficult, women.
You're not going to get bulkyunless you're taking
testosterone shots, and eventhen it's going to be difficult,
(30:29):
so I'm a huge proponent of that.
Philip Pape (30:32):
My general thought.
Having watched the industry andseeing how things have gone, my
general advice to people is butI'm curious about your thoughts
on the fasted training piece,cause that's where a lot of
people go to like EAs, even ifthey have no problems handling
the muscle, the protein comingin right and the amino acids, if
they're very efficient withthat, do you find them valuable
or not?
Sara Banta (30:52):
Yes, so I tend to work out early in the morning
and I take my iodine.
I take the essential aminoacids after and then I really do
follow up with a big meal tohelp fill in and support my
caloric need.
Personally, that works for me.
Some people need a meal in thebeginning or in the morning
(31:14):
before their workout, especiallywomen.
I feel like men can get awaywith a lot more.
Women need to really thinkthrough their hormonal balance
and how they're feeling.
So do you have to be fasted in aworkout?
No, Is it a possibility?
Yes, but you really need to belistening to your own body and
where you are.
(31:35):
If you're in a very stressedperiod of time in your life, not
a time to be fasted, right, wewant to.
If our bucket's full of stress,we don't want to add another
one.
Just like if our liver bucket'stoo full of toxins, we don't
want to add another one.
We need to take care and seewhere we are, and it might be it
(31:57):
might be it might change in amonth from now and then change
back again for you.
If you are constantly doing thesame routine every single day,
with the same workouts and thesame food, your body's not going
to make any big adjustmentsbecause it's just going to
settle right into that routine.
(32:18):
You know there's that studywhere they've looked at
different tribes around theworld where they're doing a
whole lot more physical activitythan we are, but they're eating
the same amount of caloriesbecause their bodies adjust.
You know your metabolism isgoing to adjust.
So the two biggest things whenyou're talking about fat loss or
(32:41):
muscle building and gettingresults is your liver and your
thyroid.
And, like I said, if you chooseto eat a meal before your
workout or if you choose to befasted, that's not going to make
or break you if you have notaddressed the thyroid and the
liver.
And those things are alsorelated to your sleep and your
(33:02):
stress.
So it's all interconnected.
The cells are talking.
Your cells are, just like inyour interview about bone and
muscle, how they're interrelated, which is super fascinating and
makes total sense.
All of our cells are talking,All of our organs are talking.
(33:22):
You're not just having the headdoctor and then the liver
doctor and the kidney doctor andthe muscle doctor.
They're all connected.
Philip Pape (33:31):
I feel like Eastern medicine has known this a lot
longer than we have, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think there's one littleelephant little or big elephant
in the room.
People are thinking because wesaid liver about 100 times and
that, of course, is some of thebiggest toxins that we're all
aware of that maybe we shouldn'timbibe in on a regular basis.
Let's just hit on those Alcohol.
But I also want to talk aboutsmoking.
(33:52):
You would think by now anybodyhealth conscious would not even
think about smoking, let aloneaddiction and all that.
But I'm even curious about potand like cigars and pipes and
all that because I've gotfriends who are like, yeah, I
celebrate with my cigars, no bigdeal, but they're super health
conscious everywhere else.
How much toxic load does thatstuff put on your liver?
Sara Banta (34:11):
Oh, it's not even just your liver.
All of the toxins from smokinglove your thyroid.
Oh, yes, love your thyroid.
So you're slow, you thinkyou're suppressing your appetite
and you're going to have aweight loss effect from that
smoking.
It's actually slowing down yourthyroid.
But, yes, all those toxins arehitting your liver.
(34:32):
Alcohol is a poison.
There's no storage capacity foralcohol in the body and you
might think, oh well, that'sgood news, that means that I can
drink and nothing's going to bestored.
No, what that does is the bodysays, okay, stop, we got to stop
everything else, anything thatcomes in, other than the alcohol
(34:53):
, the carbs, the protein, fat.
We're going to store it in ourfat cells because we got to burn
, burn, burn this alcohol rightnow, right.
And so the liver is just underattack.
And you know I have alcoholismin my family and I don't tend to
drink.
I've not, I have not said tomyself oh, you're never going to
(35:14):
be, you're never going to drink, because I don't want to do
that to myself.
But it's so funny because I'llgo out and I'll be offered a
drink and I'll think.
You know, I feel too good, Idon't want.
It takes me down when youoptimize your thyroid and your
energy is up and you feel good.
You don't want to be taken down.
(35:34):
My kids, you know, they'veexperimented a little bit with
alcohol.
They don't care for it becausethey feel good on a regular
basis and most people aresuffering from anxiety and
depression and they're using itas a coping mechanism.
So the problem is, is alcoholand other drugs, but
(35:56):
specifically alcohol makes youmore impulsive when you're not
drinking.
It makes you more depressedwhen you're not drinking and
obviously your tolerance goes upand you need more and more and
more.
And it's also empty caloriesand alcohol also crosses the
blood-brain barrier.
There are so many things thatyou're looking at it going.
Why would I do that?
(36:18):
It's true.
Philip Pape (36:20):
Okay, yeah, I know I just wanted to address that
because again, people thinkabout that.
I'll call that an easy one, butit could be a very hard one
depending on your history.
But easy in that has a hugepositive impact if you can
reduce or eliminate and, likeyou said, reframe and focus on
what is life without it and howgreat can that be and how
wonderful it is when we're doingthese health-focused activities
and foods and drinks.
(36:40):
Okay, is there anything I'llsay like a misconception or a
big thing we didn't hit onrelated to this topic that you
want people to leave with?
Sara Banta (36:49):
I would just say we are no longer in our
grandparents' generation,especially if you're wanting to
live a vibrant, energy-filledlife, and that does require
addressing your thyroid, yourliver, your stress, your sleep,
and more chronic disease thanever before is occurring in
(37:13):
everybody, in all ages.
Our children one out of threechildren have a chronic disease
that is going to last a lifetime.
One in three 25% of childrenhave fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver disease used to bean alcoholic's disease and now
our children have it.
There's something going on thatwas not here before and it's
(37:38):
it's time to wake up.
It's time to face the fact thatif you want to live a vibrant,
healthy life and enjoy themuscle building, the fat burning
, but just the energy, thepain-free lifestyle, lack of
inflammation or disease, you'llhave to be proactive, but you
don't have to be constrained orrestricted.
(37:59):
Like I mentioned, the foodguide has hundreds of foods that
are delicious, that will helpyour body heal instead of
causing inflammation and causingyour chronic disease to worsen.
So there are answers.
Philip Pape (38:13):
Yeah, and that's the empowering message that, at
the end of the day, we want totake from this.
If you focus on yourself, youlisten to yourself, you act like
an engineer and stabilize someof the variables here and tweak
one thing at a time and reachout to and listen to podcasts
like ours and Sarah's, I thinkyou'll be empowered, and then
it's just a matter of yourchoice and your actions.
So, speaking of taking action,sarah, where can people learn
(38:35):
more about you and your work?
Sara Banta (38:37):
Everything's at sarahbantahealthcom.
I've got free group coachingbecause after today you might be
going.
Wait a second.
I have questions.
You post the questions in thegroup chat.
I answer daily, seven days aweek, almost 24 hours a day,
unfortunately for me and myfamily.
But I also post tips and tools,new podcasts, new articles.
(39:00):
I write tons of articles.
I love writing articles,protocols.
You can also get your freeprotocol off of my website.
Just write in what yourcondition is and I will put
together a supplement protocolwriting articles, protocols.
You can also get your freeprotocol off of my website.
Just write in what yourcondition is and I will put
together a supplement protocolfor you.
And I truly believe that God'sput me on earth to help all of
you, and that's my mission.
Philip Pape (39:22):
And I can get on board with that.
I feel you, that is our intent.
We are trying to help in everyway we can and lots of people
need it and thank goodness forthese platforms like our podcast
.
We're going to send folks tosarahbantahealthcom for all the
stuff you just heard about theQ&A, the Tips to Pools podcast,
the resources, the articles,everything.
And Sarah, it's been a blast.
Thank you so much for coming on.
Wits and Weights, thanks, thankyou.
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