Podcast Transcript
um my name is Rachel Honda with straight jacket podcast happy Halloween my name is Jeff with Mental Health Resource I’m
Alexis uh with brain nutritionist today we wanted to have a nutrition a nutritionist on the podcast
because it’s Halloween and uh we can go over a little bit of the effects on
sugar with the or on sugar with mental health if you want to tell let’s let’s
start with that sure um well
I feel like that’s kind of a loaded question um there’s a lot of different angles that you can you know talk about
it and think about it I come from the school of like intuitive eating and
specifically with substance use where there’s a lot of like black and white
overindulgence I think it’s important to talk about the importance of learning
moderation if you can um and so there’s a school of people that think that you
need to completely cut it out because it’s addictive right some research shows that um and then there’s another school
of thought where you know if you just let yourself have it right enjoy it
without G guilt or shame and you know you realize I feel like crap after I eat
this so maybe next time I’ll think about it and not eat a whole candy bag right
so I personally have been in both both right so I’m 13 years sober and you know
various mental health stuff and I’m a certified nutritionist and so I have gone the
black and white route where it’s like I’m going to completely cut it out like no sugar in any of my foods and then I
realized that that was harmful to me and I was you know going into like a binge eating disorder right which is common in
substance use right and then to more of like a mindful intuitive eating where
it’s like you know what what would happen if I ate this right and let myself have it and it was realizing that
that shame and guilt is what like kept me in like that bench cycle so it’s like kind of the psychological approach right
so being gentle with myself and realizing that it’s not about completely
cutting it out it’s realizing that like I have a choice and if I don’t want to feel like poop then I’m not going to eat
you know a whole bag of whatever I’m going to maybe have some with my food and enjoy it so I feel yeah I like that
better how does that affect how does that affect the mind or like well so let’s say you do eat like a whole bunch
of candy so it’s um affects like your magnesium levels right and magnesium
helps with like sleep and um neural processes in the body right so uh
um I know that if I do have some candy I’m going to be taking my magnesium supplement at night to help me calm down
and help me go to sleep yeah so that’s one of the ways for example um in terms
of like mental health I mean I think our emotions and what we think about things
that we do really affects what how our body is processed like there’s research that shows if you eating something and
you are beating yourself up while you’re eating it or after your body digests it differently so when I talk to clients
and I’m like if you’re going to eat something enjoy it and trust your body that it will handle it right and that
will hopefully get them in the road of like not overeating it cuz that’s really the issue right like having a candy or
two isn’t going to kill anyone but it’s when we eat the whole bag yeah that it
starts regularly that it starts becoming a real issue right in Li of actual Whole
Foods then that’s a whole other issue in itself does that make sense yeah what is
Whole Foods um so one of my groups I dedicate specifically to Whole Foods cuz you
would be surprised how many people don’t know what Whole Foods are I seen the
store that’s like it the I yeah I do love Whole Foods it’s
a little pricey but it is like kind of Candy Land to me I feel like um but
Whole Foods is the way that I explain it it’s foods that are grown and are
naturally and not processed right naturally grown they’re minimally processed so vegetables
fruits um beans um Meats stuff like that yeah and
then you have some processed stuff like brown rice whole oatmeal um rolled oats stuff like that
yeah yeah I know gut how is a huge um topic I guess for nutrition so what do
we need to know about gut health and why is it so important well yeah research is coming out that we have you know
billions of microb boms in our gut right and it’s considered the second brain now
and I pretty passionate about it because you know from the research that I’ve read there’s neurotransmitters that
are created in our gut that affects you know depression and anxiety so if we’re missing these specific microne
we will you know it affects our neurotransmitters right so one of the things that we talked about was candy
and so eating processed foods like refined oils processed carbs and sugars
it does affect our gut micro microne
right so you know and it’s again you don’t want to like completely cut
something out and create this like whole shame spiral so for me it’s about including you know Foods that support
the gut health so kefir which is like a fermented yogurt right
yogurt um sauerkraut that’s like a fermented vegetable right um miso soup
is fermented I like that one yeah likes me so I like kombucha what is all the fermented stuff cuz I always hear people
say like it’s better to eat like fermented food like I think kimchi yeah
kimchi is another one s kimchi yep what is it really doing for you well well it’s feeding that good gut microne that
has because it’s been fermented so it’s you know micro micro micro and I’m drawing a blank
micro I need to understand what a micro bam is I don’t really I’ve never heard that before so it’s you know billions of
gut Flora that’s in your stomach and it feeds off you know so if we digest
something it helps process the foods like the nutrients from the food it
helps you know with thousands of different neurotransmitters stuff like that yeah and so you want to eat foods
that support that so that you can grow and increase your gut micro microone mhm
yeah yeah that is hard to say yeah I’m still like so confused on what it is
yeah so it’s just what do the neurotransmitters do I guess
um I feel like that’s like a clinical psychologic yeah I know you wonder you
can tell yeah so neurotransmitters are ways that our brains communicate with itself right
with you know which we can create new neurop Pathways so if we have like a
positive thought or a negative one or positive habits um but how it relates to
the microne microne now I’m a little confused because with the neurotransmitters and that um I guess
what it’s because what you’re saying right is if we’re feeding that microb bone then that’s feeding the good
neurotransmitter exactly and if we’re not if we’re eating a lot of processed foods a lot of sugar then it negatively
impacts it your microne yes okay so it will decrease a good gut bacteria so it
decreases the absorption of nutrients and digestion exactly you can absorb
like the good stuff as well exactly yeah and so and the stuff that helps you absorb the good stuff better is like fer
fermented stuff exactly yes yes yes yeah yep so kimchi miso soup what was the
other stuff kombucha okay cuz that’s like a fermented tea uh I really thought
all that was just a myth I don’t know no I mean there’s research on it now yeah I
mean yeah there’s research on the importance of it on not just mental
health but digestion or you know if you’re taking a whole bunch of vitamins and your body is not able to break it
down and absorb it well you’re you know you’re missing out on all of that that
was actually my next question what vitamins are the vital ones to take and
where are we taking too many okay well that’s everyone’s
different right so in terms of what are we missing in the substance
use when someone comes into treatment a lot of times they’re not eating while
they’re using or drinking right they’re pretty malnourished so what I like to
suggest is to do blood work and really see where they’re deficient in because
if you’re deficient in like vitamin D right that’s a really big one um most
people are deficient in that yeah and that affects depression anxiety our
energy levels our mood right um so like that’s one that I would say people don’t
get enough of but we get that from the sun right but then we also need Vitamin A and K to help absorb it and most
people don’t get that from food so maybe that’s one that people can look into I
do suggest getting blood work to see it’s such a tailored how would you about
doing that getting the blood work I mean if you’re in a treatment center sometimes they’ll offer it they’re empty
yeah they’re empty and then I’ll have a registered dietitian um look at the lab
so she can help work and create a plan yeah so vitamin D is a big one vitamin
B’s are also important um magnesium is a really big one so magnesium we get from food like
nuts and seeds and greens so if you’re not and we need to eat that daily to
really feed that magnesium so if we’re not getting that then we’re deficient right and that affects sleep and a lot
of other different um factors in our body yeah yeah and really just depends
on someone’s you know like their diet and how active they are so it’s hard to
you know see to so what I’ve been doing is um looking up exactly like the
vitamins and then what foods give me that and then just eating more of the foods I love that I rather eat it you
know just the natural way yeah yeah and then there’s that whole thing of like well why wonder you know if the vitamins
I’m taking or even getting absorbed well right it is best from food yeah that is
I don’t do any of it I didn’t even know really I’m going to start though no gut health is huge too like I’ve been super
into that yeah yeah and even just like bringing in Foods I like to like switch
it up so like one week I’ll do I usually always do kombucha there’s like
alcohol-free kombucha right cuz I know that’s like a big thing yeah cuz we’re not allowed to have the client SE set
yeah but there’s alcohol-free kombucha yeah I love that one and um but I’ll switch up like the kefir
and the yogurt one week and then the next week I’ll do like the kimchi with sandwiches stuff like that yeah and then
also vegetables and fruit feed that good G bacteria so yeah wow so how did you
get into being a nutritionist so just with my own internal
battles um I don’t know I feel like yeah how deep do you want me to get with it
as much as You’ like um I mean I battled with an eating disorder right um and that kind of went
hand inand with like my alcohol addiction so
um and for me like it stemmed from like sexual trauma right so it was about coping with food at a young age right
and using like my body image as a way to control like the way people saw me and treated me and just being to cope with
you know a wild atmosphere that I lived in right um so yeah I mean I was pretty
active in high school I really enjoy working out um I was a runner I was in track and then um yeah I partied a lot
in high school right and I didn’t no one ever said like hey you know you getting
drunk and pump legs isn’t normal like it you know it was just kind of you know it was just [ __ ] show like spinning out of
control and then um I was around I was like 21
when I realized like maybe this isn’t normal you know like the blacking out
all the time and all of that so I got sober and then one of the things that
happened was um I started gaining weight and that was a really big trigger for me
which I see it is for a lot of clients yeah especially my female clients yeah
and um so I relapsed right and then I started training for a bodybuilding
competition cuz I thought you were relapsed yeah as I was drinking yeah and
so yeah I was at the gym like 2 three hours a day so it was like a whole other Obsession right and um yeah and but I
learned a lot you know I learned about like eating protein and fiber and like
really planning my meal so I you know there’s things that I’ve taken from that
time in my life and like applied throughout the years right cuz I was in my early 20s and
then I um yeah I mean I and then I just kind of spiraled out of control again CU
I was still drinking and blacking out and um so I got sober and yeah I was
still kind of doing the whole like training thing and bodybuilding stuff but along with you know now working a
program or whatever um and yeah it’s just been a wild right since then I that
was August 20th 2011 when I got sober and then about 3 years in um I got a
divorce and I really spiral with my eating disorder after that and um and I
gained a ton of weight and I was really binge eating like you know trying to cope with food
essentially um so I went into a program for that um and then that kind of where
it all manifested I realized you know the importance of like selft talk um you
know dealing with my traumas from you know what I was going through but even as you know a teenager and a little girl
like what were things that led to my behavior at that moment um yeah and I became super
passionate about like nutrition and I decided to go to school for it and then
um so I got a a 2-year certification from from sadle back and then I got my degree um in pre-clinical Psychology so
I really like to combine the two um because they’re both you know I feel like they’re both pretty yeah
intertwined and um can be utilized together I love that so now um are you
doing like do you do work with uh people with eating disorders so I work mainly
in substance use at the moment yeah so it’s um just kind of teaching the basics
of Real Food why it’s important um you know dessing digestion
stuff like that um and then we also started doing some exercise groups just
to kind of get their bodies moving and get those endorphins CU exercise also improves our gut Flora so um so just you
know getting them into movement and stuff like that uh I do have a registered dietitian that meets with
clients one-on ones and she is specialized in Eating Disorders okay
yeah so she we’re kind of a team and yeah yeah that’s amazing yeah so what um
what would you say is the most important things for people to know like about
nutrition in general I think just being mindful of the foods that we’re eating sometimes
life is really busy so we’re is kind of on the go and will you know kind of rely
on fast food on convenience but being really intentional and mindful of what
we’re putting in our body so that we can feel our best and that’s one of the things I try to remind the clients is
you want to if you feel well you do well right and we feel well by feeding our
body’s you know proper nutrients that it needs to really Thrive because if we’re missing some of the nutrients then we’re
not going to be at our best and we’re going to feel like crap and it might lead to a relapse right and just like
discipline too I think it’s like just being able to have that control of like what’s you know going into your body
yeah well and when you’re more prepared you’re more likely to choose something that’s you know healthful versus you’re
starving you’re like just give me whatever that’s another big one right so when you plan for Success you’re more
successful in that way have you ever seen any of those uh I guess kind of like Miracle cases where somebody
changes something in their diet and then something like completely changes with their mental health or like their you
know uh cuz I’ve heard about random stuff like that like I don’t know I had
there was a current client and I won’t say her name but she was in detox and
she’s pretty receptive to what we were talking about in groups and one of the dishes we made was whole chicken uh
chicken soup and so chicken broth is really good to like help heal our gut and help you know to help absorb
nutrients and stuff like that so I you know they ate the chicken soup then they had some extra chicken broth and I
suggested have this for morning before you eat or as a snack and she you know
one of the day she’s like oh my gosh I’ve been drinking the chicken broth and she was
like there was like a sparkle in her eyes which was kind of I don’t know it was amazing to see and kind of
surprising because she was in detox res right so it was a very short period of time but it was awesome to see like she
was actually putting in the work to like be mindful of what she was eating and
not you know and she felt instantly better she felt yeah she and she knew it
she was like I’ve been doing the broth and the you know yogurts and the chicken and she felt better and she you could
tell by her you know demeanor and her energy and stuff like that yeah so that was pretty cool that’s
amazing and I think you’re right with the discipline too because sometimes it’s like if they know okay it gives
them something to focus on yeah and that’s another thing I touch on is out of all the things that can feel maybe
out of control you know we’re processing a whole bunch of stuff this is something that you can really work on as a
self-care or selflove or devotion right to really realize that you this is your
body and you want to nourish it right and you want to take care of it so that
you can feel your best yeah yeah and can you talk a little bit about superfoods
like I hear that term all the time like dragon fruit and stuff yeah yeah sure I
I think that a lot of it is maybe just social media you know Trends trying to
get someone to you know buy a product most likely right so I like to think
about in the 90s like fat was a bad guy right everyone was lowfat everything
lowfat butter lowfat yogurt and now we know fat is important yeah you know it’s
a very important part of our diets it helps with hormones and hunger satiation
and our brain health so it’s important to incorporate fat right there a certain type of fat right of course yes like yes
exactly um not like the seed oils or saturated unsaturated exactly yeah so
like avocados whole milk whole yogurt um whole milk
yogurt what cheese right but obviously in moderation so we talk about you know
I like to refer to our hands so for protein size you want to have something
that’s like the size of your palm so if you’re looking at a meal and you’re thinking like how much should I be
eating so your palm should be your your protein and then carb should be right
here and the fat should be this much okay yeah and then star or um your
vegetable should be two handfuls so it’s your protein and your fiber that’s like
the most the fiber is like making everything go right well all it’s all kind of syn synchronizing together in
our body so the protein helps you it helps fill you up right and it helps heal our ligaments our muscles if we’re
working out it’s very important it helps fill us up and then the fat slows down the digestion of our food right so then
that prevents like the sugar insulin spikes and it helps us stay full longer
right because it slows down the digestion and then the fiber same thing it takes work for our bodies to break
down the fiber and so it slows down the digestion so that gives you the normal
sugar levels which is which then gives you like normal energy levels and then
the starch gives our body energy so
nowadays why okay I feel like we’re kind of like going away from your question so
nowadays carbs are the bad guys right the whole keto thing oh yeah right like
that’s like a whole other mainstream thing and but carbs are our bodies I love carbs yeah our carbs are our body’s
natural fuel source right and obviously it’s whole grains right so like brown
rice um oat like rolled oats wheat bread wheat pasta stuff like that um because
it has that fiber and but it gives our body energy and so if you take it away
our body has to work a lot harder to use energy from the fat that we’re eating right and then take fiber away you said
yeah well you’re taking a little bit of the fibers um H has nutrients like nin B vitamins stuff like that so then you’re
missing all of those right which are important for like energy and all these other functions and so you know I like
to talk about you know just having portion control so the starches should be the size of your palm it should not
be the biggest part on your plate because then that’s when you go into hypoglycemia which is an increased sugar
you know and your blood levels and lethargy after you eat right like a food coma right we all know what that feels
like too too much pasta right then we feel like we’re sleeping so a lot of um
some of my clients have like diabetes um so what should they be
eating higher protein higher fiber limited starch and again so not cutting
out the starch but just enough so that their body can get energy from it right and the nutrients and stuff like that
and more often so a lot of people skip meals and that is one of the culprits
because then they’re loow their blood sugar dips and then they end up snacking
on like sugar processed food and then so then it’s maybe the cycle of like then
they’ll want some more for their next meal versus like having a snack that’s like beef jerky hardboiled eggs with
some fruit right and that’s a snack and then having their meals at appropriate times instead of skipping meals like I
see a lot of people um especially in recovery do right oh yeah yeah I skip
meals sometimes accidentally yeah what do you think would be like the ideal uh
like I guess day of eating for like I guess we’ll say me would be like for you
I mean or how active are you uh exercise like probably like 70 minutes a day I
think it’s been like days a week or seven days five okay I do
five days it’s I just like a normal split like pull push legs pull push
CrossFit or what are you doing or just like lifting weight weight lifting okay making sure you’re getting enough
protein yeah I get like I get so like this is what I’m doing now I’m doing
uh uh 10 ounces of egg whites in the morning okay two packets of oatmeal uh
uh scuba fiber scuba flax seed a scuba protein and
then there’s one other thing oh like uh almond butter okay and
that’s for breakfast that’s like really the only meal that I really truly control cuz then like lunch is like yeah
you’re out and about I’m probably eating like Wing Stop or something Wing Stop’s good yeah I love Wings dinner I eat with
you know I if I get home early enough I ate with the family but like I always eat it at home okay right um and then
that’ll be like pretty healthy like chicken breast and like you know maybe one of those like protein Mac and
cheeses okay um I forget what it’s called but like you know they’re good
for kids cuz like kids need the protein and stuff yeah is it the B pasta I think
I think made out of chickpeas weat those too and then so then that and then like
after I do that I’ll do like three scoops of like way I slit okay few hours later no like right after I eat and then
I’m just like yeah I feel you’re done yeah I don’t by the end of that honestly I’m not really usually hungry by dinner
but I like force myself sure yeah you know I would say you’re not eating
enough you think so yeah I need to eat more yeah I mean you’re and it makes
sense why you’re having such a big dinner because you’re skipping like snacks well I’m not even hungry at dinner right yeah cuz your body’s an
overdrive from go go go so it shuts down your metabolism your ability to really listen
to your body cues right cuz you’ve been in your head and running around all day so yeah I mean it’s good that you’re
eating so a lot of clients will be like I’m not hungry I’m like right sometimes you got to you know for if it’s a meal
time and it’s been hours like sometimes you got to force yourself because you’re not just you’re missing nutrients from
that meal that you would be getting you wouldn’t be getting if you don’t eat
right so it’s important should be adding like what like peanut butter and app so
breakfast sounds great you’re getting your F 900 calories on that that meal alone 100 900 n okay yeah cuz of the egg
weight I don’t really like to do calories counting just you know looking at the portion so you’re getting your
protein your starch your fat your fiber you know if you could add the spinach
instead of the fiber and that way you’re getting like the
vitamin A and C and stuff like that from the spinach right some more nutrients feed that good good bacteria Etc and
then what time is breakfast and then what time do you have lunch breakfast is at like 9: lunch is probably it’s like
lunch is like the one that really varies because it depends on like what I’m doing sometimes I’ll eat it as early as
11: but then sometimes I’ll eat it as late as 3: and if I eat it late as 3: like dinner’s like done for yeah like
I’m not even like close to hungry so then what happens is your metabolism slows down because when you go let’s say
5 plus hours your metabol you start eating your muscle masses energy right
so that’s why like bodybuilders will eat like every 3 to 4 hours because you want
your metabolism to be increased right always going but if you’re eating your
metab your muscle mass as energy that’s going to decrease your metabolism because they’re related your mus your
metabolism is related to your muscle mass yeah so that’s interesting yes so
eating 3 hours late so 12 I know I should eat at 12 I have it on my phone
like I have like a that’s I was going to suggest that doesn’t work out that way yeah cuz it goes off you’re like maybe
you need to car snacks with yeah that’s what I was going to suggest like planning I don’t know I just sometimes
like I’ve been in these modes where it’s like I’ll do like the really good breakfast and then it’s like you know plan for like pretty much like rice
and uh like protein at L and then like like basically eating clean and I just
can’t like like taking BR myself to do it like it’s like it’s almost I feel like I’m torturing myself I’m like I
don’t like this with just the chicken and rice and broccoli for lunch yeah cuz it doesn’t have to be like that it
doesn’t have to be like chicken rice and broccoli for lunch like it can be different things just as long as you’re
feeding your body look up a yummy like ground beef recipe with vegetables and
rice like soy sauce or something you know what I mean like it doesn’t have to be just like Blain and boring yeah and
that’s another misconception like it can be like food is meant to be enjoyed
right like there’s literally happy hormones that go off when we eat yummy food right and so we don’t have to
torture ourselves that way it’s like our culture is so obsessed with self torture I feel like yeah I’ve always done better
with just eating but like you said in moderation also what helps is like to
look at what the benefits are of that food so if I see like walnuts they help
with your memory eating a bunch like what are these doing here
really you saw I love that yeah well there’s tons of
different they’re healthy fat right so nuts and seeds have different vitamins
and that’s what I tell clients it’s like a puzzle piece right so if you’re eating these different foods it’s like a puzzle
piece that you’re putting together for your body to really Thrive so maybe one week you’re doing walnuts next week do
pistachios okay you know but also try and have a balanced meal so have you
know a handful of walnuts with some fruit right to really help Sati and but
that’s a snack right that’s not a meal so hopefully you’re eating two to three hours
yeah I need the meal part I’m good at the snack part what is your uh
daily like meals look like the way that you eat I mean it varies but I try and
stick with a breakfast dry so making sure I have my protein I’ll have eggs today I made um there’s protein um Rich
pancake mix oh yeah that’s you eat that too I’ve had it you’ve had it so my
daughter loves waffles so in the morning that’s what I make her right cuz I’m trying to make sure she gets enough
protein and whole wheat and all that need protein yeah yeah I mean everyone does right and if we’re eating High
process meals we’re not getting enough right so like it’s especially hard to get protein in kids though I don’t know
at least my son doesn’t really like he likes chicken nuggets a lot yeah dino
nuggets Dino like that type of thing I feel you yeah my daughter is very picky too yeah we eat a lot of the same thing
so I started giving her um Whole Food multivitamin just to kind of fill the
gaps and yeah but I feel like kids is a whole different right game yeah that’s
like a I mean it’s not and it is you know um but yeah so for me breakfast
making sure I get enough protein so I had that waffle pancake with two eggs um
some turkey bacon um um some grass-fed butter on my on my Waffle right with
some maple syrup that was my breakfast with some machati and then for a snack I’ll do
like a yogurt um so I like to get like the plain yogurt and like the sweet and yogurt and I’ll mix them both so the the
sweet yogurt has a lot of sugar so but it tastes yummy so I’ll mix both of them so I’m getting both and then some
berries or and and or some peanut butter just to depending on what I got and what
you think about doing a lowfat yogurt with like the honey or like whatever is that kind of just defeat the purpose or
what um so remember one of the functions of fat is to help slow down the
digestion and keep us full helps feed our brains and our hormones right so if you’re having low sugar then or low fat
yogurt then you’re missing that component right so you’re essentially like prepping yourself for insulin Spike
so you should just have the noral milk yeah whole milk have the whole milk
yogurt yes what about uh oh I’ll let you go on sorry it’s okay uh okay and then
lunch I mean it varies so if I eat out but just making sure my protein my fiber
my starch and my fat so if I’m making something I love tuna I like tuna a lot
of the times sometimes I’m like turned off by it but but you can make it good
you know some a tuna can with some pickle juice some pickle celery um on a whole wheat toast with
avocado and some hot sauce and that’s pretty like Fast meal right um maybe
some Ceta chips with it I love Ceta chips I don’t know I don’t know it’s a
brand no you the P chips no it’s a brand see there a brand oh know okay they use
whole healthy like fats so they use like Al aado oil instead of canola oil or
hydrogenated oil on their chips yeah I can’t believe you guys haven’t heard of it yeah they actually just got bought
out by Kelloggs I guess for like billions so we’ll see what happens to
their yeah but um so that’s my lunch and then another snack sometimes I’ll have a
smoothie you know some protein powder peanut butter some milk some yogurt some
spinach okay and then dinner is just I we do a lot of taco they’re
easy um yeah today so I really am really excited about this we made pumpkin and
ghost Pizza earlier this week so we’re going to make that when I get home after this yeah so it’s like whole wheat
powder whole wheat with some yogurt and then we put some tomato sauce and some U
mozzarella with some pepperoni and we made it into like little pumpkins and this was with the client so
I’m going to try and do it with my daughter I love that it’s idea yeah so
um that’ll be our lunch today to yeah so I’ll try and pack on a lot of cheese maybe add some ground beef or something
so I really try and get enough protein protein’s really I think protein
is super important at least for me yeah same are there any highlights yeah that like you would want to like that you
really think people should know like the audience I guess about nutrition just incorporating Whole Foods okay you know
and really getting to the root cause of why we are resistant to doing it so a
lot of times I think we can car you know create barriers to making our own meals
right um maybe we don’t have enough time so maybe Outsourcing it having help with
that but food is so vital to our health
and it makes such a big difference it’s something that we can’t Overlook right
so um I don’t know I don’t know how to explain
how important it is because if we’re not feeding our bodies properly we’re eventually going to you know get sick
and our bodies will request that we you know buy Hospital stay or you know what I
mean eventually it’ll am I going to going end up in the hospital I mean you know it is what we
do now will impact our future years how bad off am I would you say no I think
you’re pretty good okay I feel like I’m like getting I’m like squeaking I’m like not healthy but I’m not like completely
unhealthy yeah no I think you know you eat a lot of at home meals and yeah and
then the one that I eat out is bad though yeah so be mindful you know maybe
if you go to Wing Stop getting grilled chicken nuggets no with the grilled ones
with the with the hot sauuce I mean did that at Chick-fil-A and it was pretty
good yeah honestly Chick-fil-A like you could modify it pretty well gred chicken nuggets aren’t bad yeah with I put the
the hot sauce wing on it the sauce hot what is it buffalo sauce Buffalo the
buffalo in it and then with the kale salad that they had that was pretty balm
yeah so just like little hacks like that yeah could do that with Wing Stop but I might try- yeah I’ll have to check out
Wing Stop you never had it I’ve had it but I haven’t looked to see what alternatives okay I I love I mean I love
buffalo sauce yeah you got to get them like super well done if you go to Wing
up oh really M all Flats well done I get it if you like it with B all Flats yeah
what is that it’s just the way the wing is um the flat instead of taste better oh I like the I like the
the round on yeah I do really I don’t know yeah just get super well done like
just tell them like almost burn it but don’t burn it and then like you I’m telling you well I don’t know you’re I
don’t want you to like I don’t want to derail your nutrition I I remember I’m all about moderation and you know one
time eating out is not going to derail like what I do 90% of the time that’s the biggest thing is what are you doing
majority of the time that really has the effects versus you know a couple times a
week yeah and I love how you talked about how it relates to mental health because it’s like a bunch of people just
eat fast food all the saturated fats and then they’re like I feel like crap yeah
they don’t connect those two things yeah yeah I and there’s a lot of like
misconception I me maybe sometimes overwhelmed with the information so it’s they give up as well so that’s why I’m
pretty passionate about like talking about and educating people because we don’t learn about it in school unless
you go to school for it so yeah are there any uh cultures that you would say
like reflect you know it pretty pretty well cuz you my so like my
my wife is from Argentina and they’re like pretty like like reasonably healthy
yeah you it’s like a lot of like Whole Food familiar and then I’ve had you know of course like Vietnamese food so it’s
like it’s pretty it’s pretty healthy it’s a lot of you know I guess whole
it’s not a lot of fried stuff oh it’s not okay not really I’m trying to I always is it like
f that’s like the like normal one yeah what would you say but is there any culture that like stands out to you as
far as I know they’d say like what Mediterranean it’s like almost what I was going to say yep yep cuz they use a
lot of like healthy fats whole grains yogur exactly I love Yeah kebabs yeah
Indian’s pretty healthy too like they have a lot of vegetable option options if you’re for people who are vegetarian
cuz they don’t get I mean they need to get their proteins more so then and S nutrients are missing from the yeah from
not having it so then with um Indian food they still get the chickpeas the
lentils all that stuff so and the spices are all good for I love Indian food yeah
it’s very anti-inflammatory yes yeah turmeric very good for you any joint pains yes yeah I
have like a my mom I’m Indian so she always has a little um you know medicine
for everything and it’s always food it’s Ginger or ginger for the stomach or
something and yeah so that’s I mean it helps it really does yeah I’m a big fan
of like Indian culture yeah yeah I the
yoga is Kundalini Yoga part of the Indian culture I think it sounds like I think it is yeah I love it’s
like okay yeah and then like the herbs and stuff like that I’m not like a herbalist but I do you
know um holistic Alternatives when I can yeah but I’m not on herbalist so I can’t
give like that exact I can’t give like you know advice on herbs to take but
there’s some I feel like that are normal I like MAA is a good one for like energy
um adaptogenic help with like stress level stuff like that um I need that one
yeah awanga yeah sometimes I’ll add those to smoothies is there any uh like fast way
like what would you suggest for somebody that like is on the go to like try to eat like reasonably healthy like meal
prepping or something or like just like yeah go to like Mediterranean look up all the
Mediterraneans yeah I mean meal prepping is a big part planning is a big part so
getting a sheet and writing out like Monday Tuesday I like to double cook so
like Monday I’ll cook enough for Monday Tuesday so I’m not always in the kitchen
um so planning those meals out does that make sense so we’ll have like spaghetti
Monday Tuesday so I make enough for Monday Tuesday and it’s just me and my daughters so it’s not a lot and if you’re single if you’re cooking for a
whole family sometimes it’s it’s more work you know it is what it is um but
yeah I make enough and planning for each meal so like I’m going to have tuna for
my lunch this week um and then one of the week days maybe I’ll eat out at chickfila and have you know the grilled
nuggets with the Kel salad right so I kind of have in my head orall pool Loco I love po Loco cuz you know you could
get a taco chicken taco with some beans
right um har po Loco is pretty like I have this one friend that swears by the PO Loco chicken
nachos actually he’s like there I think I’ve had the I’ve had their chips and I think I’ve had their nacho sauce he it’s
$6 I have to try it yeah I don’t know yeah so it’s you know making sure you’re
having enough protein and you know at each meal so I think it’s also about like learning what to look for and stuff
like that so when you do go eat out you know what to order it’s like Mediterranean I love their salmon right
grilled salmon with their rice and their vegetable salad so just making sure you
know I only eat a certain amount of the rice right because they give you like a whole bunch so again referring to your
hand like this is what I should be having you know so they gave you this whole thing of rice so I’m not going to
eat that I should eat like this much right so I don’t go into a food coma
after because I want to feel good after I eat and not have to go take a nap yeah it’s true the energy levels exact yeah
so I know a lot of people probably don’t eat healthy out of convenience but what would you say to those that aren’t
eating healthy out of cost yeah I mean I feel that and that’s
one of the complaints that a lot of clients have yeah it’s expensive so I think a big part is
knowing how to shop which is something that I talk about like in my group so um
you know and making sure that you’re planning because if you’re not then a lot of food sometimes goes to waste
right so making sure that like okay I’m really going to make this like spaghetti with bell peppers so the bell peppers
don’t go bad right um and then also buy in frozen foods frozen vegetables that’s
another good way right so one of the things with vegetables is once they’re frozen they get locked into the
nutrients from when they were frozen so like with fresh vegetables their
nutrient density kind of goes down as they get older right but with frozen vegetables they don’t go bad oh yeah
I’ve heard that cuz it’s fresh to it’s Farm to yeah right right so depending on how far it took to get here and right
for the fresh but if it’s frozen then it’s locked in yeah exactly so that’s a
good way canned beans is a good way so having canned beads with your meals to
add some protein and starch right with your vegetables and then your protein source so some chicken or ground turkey
or something like that do you suggest a 93% lean or do you think did you just get whatever um I’ll alternate okay yeah
yeah between the bo between the two yeah it’s a whole food so I’m all for
just switching it up yeah just kind of getting nutrients from all sources yeah
I’ll typically get the lean but if it’s not available then I’ll get the other one okay yeah it’s not like a make you
know what I mean it’s more important that I eat than focus on yeah the little
details this my one friend always says he’s like a bodybuilder he’s like um or
like competing bodybuilder he like he’s like there’s like always an unhealthy or there’s always a healthy way to eat like
everything he’s like you can make a burger but if you you can make it healthy sure if you make make nachos but
or even like the like the hot wings we’re talking about that let’s say you get some chicken breed it with some
whole wheat and put in the air fryer that sounds good yeah and then some um
what is that one hot sauce that’s really good that one’s good no no NOA no no
it’s like the wing sauce oh it’s hot sauce red sauce no
like Frank’s Hot Sauce or something is that what it is I don’t know but it’s like really good and you can put it on
wings I don’t know I’m getting hungry I think it’s lunch time I’m like you have a
catering maybe we should uh I want I want to start one yeah know I’m down if
I actually used to have a meal PR Company in my 20s we’ll support it we’ll support oh my gosh I would definitely oh
yeah all like Whole Foods and proper portions and stuff like that yeah cuz I
think my biggest thing is on being on the go like he said and that’s what I would cater to one of my big clients was
these three guys and they owned a EV Vape company and they were busy and so I
made them like home meal homemade meals yeah but I was young and it was really my
first business so it was yeah it’s a good idea though yeah it is yeah tell us
about a little bit about you know probably have to wrap up pretty soon but just tell us about uh like the services that you provide
now with what you’re doing sure so I do nutritional groups right so educative
but also like group discussion type and then we also do Hands-On cooking so like
at the detox and res we made the pizza on Monday and yesterday we made Monster
muffins made with like sugar-free chocolate and like spinach and so they were like green yeah they were pretty
yummy and um and then at my PHP IOP we’ll do a lot of like things that you
can make without a kitchen right cuz it’s in facility kind of like this where it’s there’s no kitchen so we’ll do like
tuna recipe smoothies chicken recipe stuff like that just to like get them
you know in the kitchen cooking starting to you know get familiar with it so it
doesn’t seem so so are your groups in the kitchen or are they in like a group room both oh wow it’s really cool yeah
so we’ll do the groups and then we’ll migrate patients like that teach how to
cook what you’re doing and I love the application piece of it because otherwise they get bored
yeah that’s probably why they like moving they’re from one room to the other they like that um and then we also
do some breath work and meditation in some of the groups because that helps with digestion right like if we’re in
fight ORF flight sometimes our hunger cues get you know out of whack we’re not familiar
with it right like you’re just running around and you’re not hungry sometimes at dinner right be crazy yeah yeah and
so really getting into our bodies um and then I just started adding exercise
group so I used to be a trainer in my 20s and you know was into bodybuilding and stuff so we started doing movement
classes and the clients really love that um and then I partner with the dietitian
and she does a one-on ones where she’ll work with clients that have different diagnoses and helps them with like plans
and suggestions and um DBT on like certain you know coping things that they
need help with and yeah and eventually I would love to offer like meal prep and stuff like that but I feel feel like
that’s maybe a little down the line line yeah yeah a little down the line yeah
cool we’d love to support you however we could thank you so much yeah would love that ucation how I can help you guys if
you for Mental Health Resource for sure it’s just helping people with mental health yeah and you know I think a lot
of the stuff is really educational yeah I think it’s one of the things I wanted to kind of talk about was you know when
people come in and they start gaining weight weight right and you know kind of
reminding them that their bodies were probably in Starvation mode because they weren’t eating and stuff like that so
our bodies maybe our metabolism has obviously slowed down it you know and
fight or flight our stress levels are altered probably if we’re just getting sober right um working through trauma so
just being like gentle with ourselves through the process so that you know we
can get to a healthy weight for our bodies um but giving Grace to themselves
during that period back to Baseline once they start you know putting the healthy
Nutri exactly yeah and it’s kind of like a fire pit right so I saw a video this
guy had like a little um match like a little what is
that a lighter a lighter oh that’s my oops um and then he had you know like
he’s like do you want your metabolism to look like this or like this and they have like a strong torch right so it’s
like the more you feed your body those good Whole Foods your your metabolism
and your body will know what to do you’ll have energy to move more even if you do put like bad stuff in it occasionally right yeah that makes sense
yeah I mean our bodies are amazing they’re they know how to heal themselves
right if we give them the proper nutrients and tools we just have to help it right we can’t just expect to feel
well and be well and do well if we’re not feeding our bodies the proper things it needs to to get
there yeah it’s amazing well thank you for coming on Happy Halloween you guys
yeah happy Halloween
