Topics
- News and updates from Diane & Liz [1:51]
- Balanced Bites Spices
- 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide in Costco
- Diane's upcoming birthday
- Liz joined a gym
- The Balanced Bites Master Class
- Non-recipe recipes and an argument about avocado toast [15:53]
- Spreading the nutrition word as a non-expert
- Diane's Kitchen Tip: Scraps [35:53]
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You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 345.
Diane Sanfilippo: Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast. I’m Diane; a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and the new 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide. I live in San Francisco with my husband and fur kids.
Liz Wolfe: I’m Liz; a nutritional therapy practitioner, and author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller Eat the Yolks; The Purely Primal Skincare Guide; and the online program Baby Making and Beyond. I live on a lake in the mystical land of the Midwest, outside of Kansas City.
We’re the co-creators of the Balanced Bites Master Class, and we’ve been bringing you this award-winning podcast for more than 6 years. We’re here to share our take on modern healthy living, answer your questions, and chat with leading health and wellness experts. Enjoy this week’s episode, and submit your questions at http://blog.balancedbites.com or watch the Balanced Bites podcast Instagram account for our weekly calls for questions. You can ask us anything in the comments.
Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Before we get started, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Liz Wolfe: Today’s podcast is sponsored by Vital Choice wild seafood and organics. The leading source of high quality, sustainably sourced seafood and a certified B corporation. Spring has sprung, and it’s time for light but powerful paleo-friendly fare. Like omega-3 rich wild seafood and delicious grass-fed meat. For something easy on the go, grab one of their tins of sardines, or some salmon or bison jerky. They’ve got our favorite wild salmon and shellfish; plus salmon burgers, dogs, bacon, and even organic bone broths. Check it all out at www.vitalchoice.com.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [1:51]
Liz Wolfe: Hi Diane!
Diane Sanfilippo: Hi!
Liz Wolfe: What’s up with you this week?
Diane Sanfilippo: What’s up? So spring has sprung. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Indeed. Actually not, we’ve got snow outside right now. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Do you? I am feeling the change in the season in the best possible way. I was not observing how affected I was by winter. And I say winter kind of with air quotes, because in San Francisco, we do get winter. But our winter is just kind of gray, and dreary, and rainy. It’s not the worst. But I definitely was feeling a little; I don’t know. I was feeling it. But it’s feeling like spring, and I’m super pumped about it.
Also super pumped that finally Balanced Bites spices are available again for ordering. They’re actually currently only sold through Kasandrinos. A lot of you know my good friend, Tony Kasandrinos, his family’s olive oil that he imports from Greece. And he was so kind a couple of years ago to let me know that they would handle a lot of fulfillment for me. Or I should say all of the fulfillment for me. Which was one of the biggest barriers to me ever starting the spice line years and years ago. I had inklings of a thought about it, and I was like; I just don’t want to manage all of that on my own. So he really kind of stepped in and said, “We can help.”
Anywho. You can head over to Kasandrinos.com or any time you can just type in BBSpices.com and you’ll find it. Or you can link to it from my website. And stay tuned over at the @BalancedBites Instagram for giveaways and recipe ideas and inspo and all of that fun stuff.
What else? So the 21-Day Sugar Detox Daily Guide is finally in Costco. I’m super excited about it. All across the US. I don’t believe it’s in Canada, but if anybody has news otherwise, feel free to let me know. It is under $19; I think it’s like $18.99, which is amazing. So super excited about that. If you’ve been curious about it, you can definitely flip through it in the store and see what you’ve been missing. Because frankly, I think everyone can benefit from this book. Whether you just want the recipes, or honestly the daily guide portion of it is affective for anybody who just wants a little hand holding through positive changes in your life, nutritionally and beyond.
So I know deciding to kind of take on a challenge or something like that can be a little bit of a hot button topic for some people. I think sometimes we make a bigger deal of it than we need to. But I do think that there’s a lot of looking inward that needs to happen when we decide; hey, I’m going to do this thing for 3 weeks. And then do or don’t. I know a lot of people end up stopping after 12 days or 13 days. And I think; it is what it is. I’m never going to police everyone. But I do think it’s important to examine why we say we’re committing to something and then we don’t do it. So that’s really where the daily journaling comes in.
Anyway. I just wanted to share that with you guys. So that’s kind of the big stuff. And then May 6th, I’ll be signing books in Minneapolis with our friend Cassy Joy Garcia. Which is after a fun weekend. So I think that’s pretty much it for me. What’s up with you?
Liz Wolfe: A fun weekend; how vague. How vague of you.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Well this episode will air on April 26th, which will actually also be 2 days before my 40th birthday.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my goodness.
Diane Sanfilippo: Crazy.
Liz Wolfe: I wrote that in my calendar, by the way. So.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s a big one.
Liz Wolfe: I have no excuses.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s scary. I might be having a midlife crisis.
Liz Wolfe: You know what, that’s ok. But just remember that 40 is the new 25.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: And 25, based on what these kids are wearing these days, is basically the new 72. {laughs} I do not understand some of the clothes people are wearing right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I have seen some grandma fashion come back.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh.
Diane Sanfilippo: Some florals that I wore at summer camp when I was maybe 14. And I look back at photos and I’m like; that looks terrible. {laughs} When I was 14; why was I wearing that. Oh the styles.
Liz Wolfe: What were they thinking.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. What’s going on over by the lake?
Liz Wolfe: By the lake. Well, personally, I have big news, which is that I joined a gym {laughs} that’s not a CrossFit gym.
Diane Sanfilippo: That is big news!
Liz Wolfe: I know. Well you know, I’ve had this prejudice for a long time about; I have these kinds of prejudices now about CrossFit because there are things that bother me about it in certain ways. I love the idea behind it. I have loved the CrossFit gyms I’ve been to, because they’ve been amazing and the coaching has been amazing. But I think you and I have both seen people that have gone to gyms that do not really…
I mean the flat truth is I had my level 1 CrossFit certification for however many years they issue them for, and I could not have told you how to do a squat. I couldn’t have given you movement cues. I could not have helped you set up for a squat. And I could have been coaching at my own CrossFit affiliate at that point. So there are problems inherent to that, even though I kind of like the approach of the cream rises to the top. I feel like we’re messing with people’s physical structure, and everyone doing that type of coaching needs to be probably better educated than I was when I came out of the level 1 cert.
So anyway. I still had, because as of 10 years ago, walk into any gym and there was that kind of Jillian Michaels thing going on. Where people were just getting beaten down, but not necessarily being set up for any kind of progression or any kind of, “Lay a good foundation and build on top of that.” It was just kind of about kicking people’s butts. And there’s a time and a place for that.
So when I last went to a bigger gym, that was what I experienced. So since then I’ve kind of had this feeling like; yeah, it’s either CrossFit or something like CrossFit or functional fitness, or nothing. You don’t just sign up at Lifetime Fitness and expect to be successful.
I feel like I have been very handily proven wrong, and I’m really happy about that. So part of the reason we actually did join Lifetime Fitness is because it’s within; and this is not an ad or anything like that. They’re not a sponsor. But we did go ahead and join. It’s a really big gym. Intimidatingly big. And it’s kind of like this full-service gym. They’ve got a café. They’ve got childcare. They’ve got a ton of classes. It’s enormous. They’ve got a spa. They’ve got an indoor pool. And it’s expensive, but it’s actually not any more expensive than CrossFit.
I just kind of decided; I told you this on the phone or on Voxer the other day. I’m not going to waste the fact that I’m close to all of these resources now. It was really hard to leave the farm. But now that we’re closer to things that I could actually use and take advantage of without having to drive an hour and a half to keep myself healthy, I’m going to do that.
So I was really impressed with what I learned on my tour there. I talked to some of the trainers who work upstairs. And they were talking about corrective exercise, and the neurological component to exercise and how a lot of the work that people need to do to get healthy is figuring out your movement cues and doing that really brain heavy stuff, where you're figuring out how your body needs to move and figuring out why you’ve been compensating in different ways. So I was really impressed with that.
And when I sat down. You know, they give you a free consultation with a trainer. And I sat down basically expecting to roll my eyes a little bit. But when I sat down with this trainer, and he basically talked about four pillars, or something like that to get healthier. And he was totally on board with the fact that I was not in this for vanity, I just want to get healthier for my family. Take advantage of these resources. He sat down and he said; “The most important things you're going to need to think about when you come in every day is how stressed are you? Because if your stress level is high, you're going to need to modify your workout accordingly.” And I was like; oh my god, people know this? This is incredible.
And then he talked about nutrition, and how that was important. He talked about sleep. And I’m just sitting there basically wanting to give this guy a hug, like; oh my gosh, people are talking about this! This is amazing!
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Amazing.
Liz Wolfe: So I was kind of sold from that point on. So I haven’t actually used the childcare yet. I’m still a little bit leery of that. Because obviously I’ve just got the one kid, and I’m still in that place where I’m like; I can’t just leave her in a drop-in childcare room!
Diane Sanfilippo: All the parents with multiple kids are like; just drop them off.
Liz Wolfe: Drop them off. We’re good. And you know, I’ll get there. So it’s been good. And I’m excited about it.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s awesome.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Dare I ask; have you gone and worked out? Or you just joined.
Liz Wolfe: We just joined. And I will continue to update in the episodes to come.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yes. I’ll be asking.
Liz Wolfe: I think I’m going to do some personal training. I’m going to do their fitness assessment, which I was really excited about. So I’ll just kind of keep folks updated on what’s going on.
Diane Sanfilippo: I love that.
Liz Wolfe: My husband actually just took my daughter to their indoor pool while I was doing this podcast. So it’s been good so far.
Diane Sanfilippo: I love it. I was; I don’t know what I was writing down when you were talking about it. But I’m curious if you're going to go to classes. That’s what I’m really curious about. Because as much of an Obliger I am not, having a class to go to. I don’t think it’s an Obliger thing. I think; and if you don’t know what we’re talking about. I just consistently basically pimp out Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies framework because I think it’s so helpful.
But having a class time scheduled really helps me commit and do the thing. And actually signing up and knowing that if I don’t go, I’m going to lose my credits. Class credits that I have for this spin place that I’ve been going to. That really helps me. Because I’m like; I don’t want to lose those credits. So I’ll just go and do the thing. But it really is helpful.
But I thought also strategy of convenience is one of the things she talks about a lot. And you and I are both totally nailing that. You're like; it’s here. I have to take advantage of it. It’s right here, and I’ll go because it’s right here. Or the convenience of being able to drop your kid off, to have some childcare, and all of that. If it’s easy, then we will do it. If it takes you 30 minutes to drive there, you might not.
Liz Wolfe: Right. I’m definitely planning on doing classes. I’ve always liked classes. You know, we have the same spin shoes. I always liked spin classes and that was one of the draws to CrossFit. That class environment. It’s motivating to be working out next to people. So I’m definitely planning on doing that.
My thing right now is that it has been so long since I’ve done any kind of meaningful movement. And I know; ever since, first of all, I gave birth via C-section. I’ve got all kinds of wonky stuff going on in the lower abdominal area, lower back. All kinds of compensatory physiology for that scarring and for what happened down there. And then breastfeeding, where you're hunched over for two years straight. So I’ve got a ton of rib flare, and my scaps are always out. And I’ve got a lot of stuff to work on.
So my goal is really to start extremely slow and really build layer by layer. That’s kind of why I’m considering the personal training. Because I would like to work with someone who’s actually looking at my movement and giving me the appropriate cues for me. Not just; you need to do this with your pelvis. Or whatever it is. This cue resonates.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think that’s a great idea. It’s also a great idea for accountability. Even when we moved back here a few years ago; I’ve gone through so many several-month stents of not working out for various reason, mostly on the heels of different reasons that I had where then; you know, two weeks goes by and that can quickly roll into two months, and four months, and six months.
And yeah, going back and working with a trainer where I was showing up. Someone else is standing there waiting for you. And paying the money and doing the thing. That was definitely really helpful. And then exactly what you said. When you come off of a time. I think this is valuable for everyone. When you come off of a long period of time of not working out, depending on what you want to be doing. I think that is so important to say; hey, can someone who is educated and going to watch me, help me slowly move back into this and not just, I don’t know, pop off the couch into heavy squats and then mess myself up again and kind of be derailed. So I think that’s a really smart idea. Yay! I’m excited for you.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah I’m excited. It will be good. And then professionally, our Master Class. Just another reminder for folks. It’s opening up again in June. So stay tuned for more information. You can also get on the list by going to www.blog.balancedbites.com and just searching for Master Class.
I’ve had a couple of people email me recently that are like; “Hey, are you guys still doing the Master Class?” It’s funny to me because we talk about this stuff on the podcast. But you just never know where people are waiting for that information.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. We’ll be sharing out a lot more over social media. But we also don’t like to share about it all the time, every minute of your life. Because it’s kind of like; you just need to know about it for a month when it’s opening. But we’ll get better at giving you guys a heads up further and further out as time goes on. But yeah, I’m excited about that. We’ve got a few new things coming. So that’s going to be fun, as well.
2. Non-recipe recipes and an argument about avocado toast [15:53]
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright. So this week, we’ve got a little segment we’re calling a non-recipe recipe. {laughs} It’s sort of like the idea of, cook it until it’s done. But this one doesn’t even get cooked. So for my non-recipe recipe, I’m just going to talk a little bit about the guacamole that I make. And it’s super easy. You can do it with as few as four ingredients, or you can add a couple more if you want to. And I’ve posted about it on Instagram a bunch. I recently made some to bring to a friend’s housewarming barbecue. I think I emailed out the recipe, I say with air quotes, a couple of weeks ago as well.
So anyway, ripe avocadoes, lime juice, shallot, and cilantro. Those are the basic ingredients.
Liz Wolfe: Shallot?!
Diane Sanfilippo: So listen.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m going to tell you; you don’t have to use shallot. But let me explain. If you want to use the fewest ingredients as possible; this is without salt and pepper, of course. You will put salt and pepper in. But things you would buy at the store and have the fewest things to chop. If you use shallot, it’s sort of replaces both onion and garlic. And shallot is so much smaller that your chances of chopping it up smaller and not having that huge chunk of onion that some people love and some people don’t are better.
So if you want to keep it really simple, buy the fewest things at the store. Avocado, limes, cilantro, and shallots. If you want to go with onions and garlic, you totally can. I like using a microplane grater for the garlic so you don’t get big chunks of it, but it adds a little kick. If you want to do jalapeno, of course, I love that as well. If you like it a little bit spicy.
I don’t tend to put tomatoes into my guacamole. That’s kind of where I draw the line. I think it’s starts to add a wateriness, and I’m just not into it. But yes. I say shallot. I say also; I’m sure a lot of us are like; what the heck do you do with shallots? This is the perfect time to use them. And I don’t think most people have them on hand all the time, so you don’t have to. But that’s my go-to. And in general terms, use more lime than you think. Because more lime juice will make it taste better. Sometimes you think you need more salt, but you really just need a little more lime juice. And yeah, that’s pretty much the basics.
Are you a guac fan? I feel like this whole, Liz hates avocado toast, thing. Which, it’s a thing by the way. Many, many people are like; she obviously has not eaten it.
Liz Wolfe: I have had several messages of support in my stance on avocado toast, just so you know.
Diane Sanfilippo: I empirically think that it’s wrong. There are preferences, and I’m usually pretty respectful of preferences. Like, somebody doesn’t love the taste of seafood. I understand where that could come from. But if somebody likes avocado, and they like toast, because who doesn’t like toast, I feel like there’s just a lack of, you haven’t had a good one.
Liz Wolfe: I believe that mushy stuff does not go; I can’t even. I don’t know how to describe the texture of toast except for just saying toast. Because it’s not exactly crunchy. It’s like soft and crunchy. And I just can’t. I can’t get there. But I love avocados.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think you could get there. I’m accepting the challenge. I think you could get there.
Liz Wolfe: I mean, when I see you in Minneapolis. If you want to try and make it happen. I’m skeptical.
Diane Sanfilippo: I need to be in my domain to make it happen. I need to bring you to my home, and present you with delicious avocado toast. Anyway. I digress. You can also use guacamole.
Liz Wolfe: Ugh! No!
Diane Sanfilippo: As your avocado toast.
Liz Wolfe: Never.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, it’s a thing.
Liz Wolfe: Never.
Diane Sanfilippo: Listen.
Liz Wolfe: I do love guacamole though. But I have a very deep dislike for guacamole with garlic.
Diane Sanfilippo: OK, so there you go.
Liz Wolfe: I do not like garlic.
Diane Sanfilippo: So you could do the shallot version.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah I would totally do that. I love Chipotle’s guacamole, because I like the crunch of the red onions. I do like that.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, so there you go.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I like it a lot.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, you could do that. Alright, so that’s my no-recipe recipe. Do you want to share one?
Liz Wolfe: Alright, I have a no-recipe recipe, as well.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok good.
Liz Wolfe: OK. So the other day I shared this on my Instagram. A very, very ugly picture. But a picture nonetheless of a shredded beef verde enchilada casserole. Which sounds so fancy {laughs} but it’s really not at all. I just happened to have sprouted corn tortillas. Which you can get in the freezer section of Whole Foods or Natural Grocers. I had US Wellness Meats precooked shredded beef. I had some prepackaged clean enchilada sauce. And I had some grass-fed pepper jack cheese. And I just thought; well this all would make me happy if I put it together.
And I love enchiladas, but these corn tortillas. The sprouted corn tortillas, they don’t really roll well. So I always use them to kind of make a casserole. So basically I just layered some sautéed onion with the shredded beef and added the verde sauce and layers of sprouted corn tortillas and pepper jack cheese and put it in the oven until the cheese got nice and bubbly. And I put avocado slices on top. And it was a very dense, very delicious dinner.
Diane Sanfilippo: So I saw this picture that you posted. I just need to verify; was the avocado added after it was baked?
Liz Wolfe: Actually no. I added it before, and then I put some cheese on top of it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, here’s where I’m going to have to debate. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: What.
Diane Sanfilippo: I feel pretty adamant about not cooking avocado. And I think there are probably a lot of people who would argue. I feel like I’ve seen avocado wrapped in bacon and baked together or something.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. And there’s like fried avocado.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. The idea of warm avocado to me. That; no. That’s a definite no to me.
Liz Wolfe: Well, I wouldn’t be big on warm avocado. But slightly warm avocado under a layer of slightly crisped cheese was actually quite good.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ll need to be proven wrong on this, the same way you’ll need to be proven wrong on avocado toast.
Liz Wolfe: Fair enough.
Diane Sanfilippo: I like the coolness of avocado with something like a baked enchilada.
Liz Wolfe: Yes, that’s kind of the point. I agree with you on that. I definitely agree.
Diane Sanfilippo: But I don’t want it to then be warm. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: But you know I don’t’ think about things this hard.
Diane Sanfilippo: I do know! {laughing} You think about a lot of things much harder than this. Just not food.
Liz Wolfe: True. You know, and I think part of it might have been I had already sliced up the avocado, and I was like; oh crap, can this sit out on the counter for 30 minutes {laughing} while I bake this? Will it get brown? So that’s probably why I did it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Threw it in. Well, it looked great. And I loved that your little one, recently in one of your stories, was like; this is delicious. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Yes! {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: With beef in the freezer.
Liz Wolfe: She knows exactly where the US Wellness Meats section of the freezer is, because I reach for it so often. That’s where the liverwurst is.
Diane Sanfilippo: So cute.
Liz Wolfe: So cute.
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3. Spreading the nutrition word as a non-expert [23:38]
Liz Wolfe: Ok, so. Today we are going to answer two questions. First of all, let’s talk about sharing paleo information when you don’t necessarily feel qualified to “teach” or spread the word. This one is from Ashely from Minnesota. “I’m a new personal trainer at a conventional gym.” How funny. I actually did not realize when I was talking about personal training at a conventional gym at the beginning of this episode that we’d be answering this question. “And I have a bulletin board available to me to post related topics. I love to post about nutrition; maybe Diane’s guide to fats and oils, for example. But it technically goes against my NASM training and obviously conventional wisdom. How can I approach posting some of these supposed controversial nutrition topics without any nutrition background beyond my own research into the topic? Thanks.”
This is an interesting one. Diane, are you familiar with the NASM training? I’m actually not super familiar with what they’re told about what they can and can’t do relating to nutrition.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know what the certification says they can and cannot do. But in terms of what she’s saying the training includes. I think that’s more what she’s talking about; what they teach as healthy nutrition. Where it’s probably much more conventional wisdom healthy nutrition, with lean proteins and whole grains and, you know, not too much fat and probably avoiding saturated fat. I mean, the line of conventional wisdom is that, basically.
So, yeah. I think understandably. We’ve heard this also from a lot of registered dieticians, where it’s much more of a complicated line. Because they are holding a license in that way; that registered dietician will have a lot more of a struggle.
I think as a trainer; what she’s kind of using as an example here of actually posting my guides. It’s like the ones you can print off at www.blog.balancedbites.com. The guides from Practical Paleo. I feel like that’s almost a good way around it. Because it’s not like she’s saying that this is my end-all be-all. This is my take. Here’s what you should eat. It’s kind of like; hey, I’m just sharing this thing that I think you would find helpful. It kind of puts that responsibility on the third party. Which would be me in that case.
And actually, when you look at the nutrition laws by state, for the most part even in red states, if I’m reading this correctly. Because we went through a lot of this when we were looking at creating our coaching programs and the 21-Day Sugar Detox coaches. If you are working in a capacity that’s not one-to-one prescriptive nutrition; you to a client, here’s what I’m “prescribing” you to eat. You actually are fine to share general nutrition information. Or, even in a group capacity, without being prescriptive in a one-on-one setting.
I think anytime anyone is nervous about what they’re saying, as a coach or as a nutritionist. Just remember that the really sort of sticky area is in a prescriptive one-to-one situation.
And I feel like we probably talked about this a couple of years ago, Liz, when there was somebody that got in trouble for a blog. Or maybe in a comment they were being prescriptive with somebody. And it was like; I don’t know, somebody stepped over a line somewhere. They lived in a red state. Red state when it comes to these nutrition laws.
So, with those overarching rules, and actually everybody can go. We have a link to it on our 21-Day Sugar Detox coaches program info page. In the FAQs, we talk about a link to nutrition laws by state. You could actually just Google nutrition laws by state. Or nutrition coaching. Or whatever you want to type in. Laws by state, and you should be able to come across a website that actually shows you were you're at.
I think that’s a really good way to go. But I do think sharing things through that third-party approach is a good idea. Being very general. And that’s kind of; I don’t know. I think that’s an easy way to do it, having books in your office. If you have a little office there. Or if there’s a shared office. Keeping a copy of Practical Paleo, Eat the Yolks, 21-Day Sugar Detox, whatever you want to keep around to just show people what to look for.
If you're at all nervous that anything that you were taught is; you're kind of bucking against that, then just be delicate in the way that you say it. Instead of being super focused on saying what’s; I don’t know; telling people to eat as many eggs as they want. If that makes you nervous because you're just not sure if you can or should be saying that, then focusing on eating whole foods and not tossing the yolk. Getting away from the processed carton of egg whites in favor of whole eggs. And you don’t have to say, “there’s no limit to how many eggs you can eat.” You know what I’m saying? There’s a difference between expressing the whole food is an optimal choice and taking it to an extreme that might be a place you get a little nervous.
So what’s your take on that?
Liz Wolfe: I agree. You know, for a second, before what I was thinking my answer would be, just keep working with your individual clients and let the results speak for themselves. And then people are going to gradually be interested in what you're doing. But I think that you unpacked it in a really, really interesting and great way. So I agree with what you're saying.
I also think that a lot of times, at least this is how I was when I first started doing this. I really felt like in order for me to speak about these things, I had to speak in an authoritative, almost prescriptive way. And now I’m much more comfortable. I don’t feel that it takes away from my knowledge base to pose things in a way that’s, like you said, delicate.
You can say, “I really can’t give you one on one counsel about this. But I can share with you a few of my favorite books. And I can tell you that a lot of people that have followed the meal plans in this book, etc., etc., have done incredibly well. I think it’s intelligent. It’s sustainable. It’s based around whole foods. Here you go.” Have a lending library, or send people out to get these books.
You don’t have to; you’re already walking people through so many things as a trainer. It shouldn’t be, and is not within your purview to walk them through this food stuff anyway. At some point, you have to basically share what you can, and then send them on their way.
So, yeah. I really like what you said, Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think that also kind of speaks to the evolution of our podcast, as well. I think it’s funny, because we obviously know more than we did 6 years ago about nutrition. About how the body works. But interestingly, we are less and less directly prescriptive about things. Or definitive about, here is the answer. And I think that has made a lot of people uncomfortable.
Because when I go and look at reviews, or just like, hear comments, there are some people who; they miss the way we used to do things. And I’m like; yeah, but when you know better, you do better. And when you know that trying to be super prescriptive, super “I have the answer” oriented, ultimately you will end up pigeonholing yourself or having to backtrack more than you really want to in a sense. Because the truth is, there is no single right answer for everyone.
And yes, we’ve done a lot of questions where it’s a very specific person and here’s what we thing might be helpful. But the reasons why we take a much more general approach now, is that we see that 80% of the problems are resolved by addressing lifestyle and mindset and general health. And generally; are you eating real food? More so than the minutia and the micromanagement of exact problem, exact solution, and only focusing on food.
So it’s kind of a tangent, but I was just making notes that it does speak to the way that we even operate now with the show. And it’s ok for her to not feel like she has to present them with something that’s so specific to them. And I think your point was great. Where she could say; hey, these are the books that I recommend.
Obviously it’s important that personal trainers talk about nutrition with their clients. And it’s actually almost easier as a trainer to present the books and say; “I’m not the expert on nutrition. I know a lot about it. I know what’s worked for myself and lots of my clients.” But to kind of just stand up; and I don’t know if this is really the way I want to word it. But own up to the fact that it’s not your area of expertise exactly, but you know a lot about it.
Which is, I think, kind of what she’s saying. She knows that eating real food is the right way to go. But she may not have the depth of knowledge that we might have about how food affects the physiology and everything that’s happening in your body. And that’s fine. But I think your clients will respect you saying, “This is what has worked. This is what I see. I’ve seen a lot of people trying to do diets, and eat artificial sweeteners and all of that. And this is really what is helping people get healthy.” I think that’s as far as you need to take it, really. And then refer them to those other resources.
It’s funny. Because I think people; coaches and trainers, assume that authority is the most influential element that they could stand and represent authority, and that will make someone listen. When actually, what helps somebody make change more often is social proof. And encouragement of a peer. So I think this is also where we get a little bit confused about what influences people. And I think the reality is; imagine you're a client. Her friend saying, “I got this book, and here’s how I’m doing. And my acne cleared up. I lost 10 pounds. I’m not craving sugar all the time.”
When you realize that someone’s friend doing the thing is more influential than you standing and saying, “I’m an authority, I know what to do, you should do this.” Then you start to realize that you don’t need to have that same level of authority in order to help influence and affect change. You really need to come at it as more of a friend in that situation.
That’s just another aspect of it. And I think it’s important to note that, as well.
Liz Wolfe: Very good.
Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants (including me; I’m an NTP), emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, properly prepared, nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal.
The NTA’s nutritional therapy practitioner program and new fully online nutritional therapy consultant program empower graduates with the education and skills needed to launch successful, fulfilling careers in holistic nutrition. To learn lots more about the NTA’s nutritional therapy programs, go to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada and Australia. And a brand new NTC venue in Vancouver, Washington. So chances are, you’ll be able to find a venue that works for you.
4. Diane’s Kitchen Tip: Scraps [35:53]
Liz Wolfe: Ok, Diane. I think you have a kitchen tip for us.
Diane Sanfilippo: I do. So this is kind of a two-part tip. And we’ve probably talked about this a little bit before. But this is about saving scraps of vegetables. So when you're chopping up things like carrots, onions. Which I almost never have celery in the house unless I’m specifically cooking a Thanksgiving dinner or I know I want to make a certain soup, and I’ll get some celery. But saving the tops of your celery. Saving just the ends of your onions, or the tops or bottoms of your carrots. Even your carrot peels. Especially if they’re scrubbed off a little bit. Saving all of that in a giant gallon sized zip top freezer back and using them when you make bone broth. Because it’s a great way to not be wasteful. You don’t need to take the most perfectly chopped up onions every time you make broth. Because you're really just straining all of that stuff out.
Now, this isn’t the same as when you would make soup where you're keeping the onions in there, for example. But any time you have any of those scraps. Especially if you're not composting at home. Which, we have compost as a city, so we do a lot of composting. We fill our little bin probably at least once a day, if not twice a day. The little countertop bin. But if you're not composting, this is a great way to not be wasteful. So you could also do this with green onions.
Although, I learned from, I think it was my friend Laney, at Life is But a Dish, over on Instagram. If you put green onions, if you take the couple of inches of white at the bottom with the little bulb. And you’ve cut off the green tops. You can actually just put those in a cup of water and they’ll grow. And you guys know I’m all about plants that survive pretty much just on water. I think it’s the most amazing thing, if plants don’t need soil and I can just grow them in water like my beloved pothos plants.
So if you take green onions and put them in water, the bottoms of those, it will start growing. And I have one that I’ve grown. I didn’t believe it would happen, so I just did it with one. So I have this one regrown green onion. But I’m pretty pumped about doing that regularly. So that’s the tip.
You can also obviously do this with chicken bones, or any other kind of bones. Especially if you do chicken wings. We love to do that. We will chop the wing tip off, if I buy whole wings. And put that whole wing tip, raw, just freeze it. That actually makes a very nice, gelatinous broth, if you're using wing tips and all of these other bones and veggies. So that’s the tip. It’s time saving and a budget tip, as well. It’s a great way to get your broth made for pretty much free.
Liz Wolfe: When you say wing tips, all I can think about is my Doc Martins from 1995.
Diane Sanfilippo: Shoes. {laughs} I definitely had some wing-tipped Docs. Amazing.
Liz Wolfe: Alright, that’s it for this week. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and you can find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Join our email lists for free goodies and updates that you don’t find anywhere else on our website or on the podcast. While you’re on the internet, leave us an iTunes review. See you next week.
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