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You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 255.
Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast with Diane Sanfilippo and Liz Wolfe. Diane is a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo, The 21-Day Sugar Detox, and co-author of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. Liz is a nutritional therapy practitioner, and the best-selling author of Eat the Yolks and The Purely Primal Skincare Guide. Together, Diane and Liz answer your questions, interview leading health and wellness experts, and share their take on modern paleo living with their friendly and balanced approach. 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.
Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone, Liz here with Diane. Hey buddy.
Diane Sanfilippo: Hey!
Liz Wolfe: How you doing?
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m doing. I’m doing well. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Good. You sound bouncy.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know, I just got to see a preview of some of the printed pages of the new book via Skype video chat, and I’m kind of excited.
Liz Wolfe: I thought you were going to say you saw a preview of Bad Moms, the movie.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, but one of my friends, Beth from Tasty Yummies went to see it, and said it was hilarious, and I didn’t even know about this movie, because, how do you learn about movies? Television?
Liz Wolfe: People share the trailers on Facebook.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh. I’m like, if you don’t see commercials, how else do you find out about new movies? Or if you don’t go to other movies, how do you find out about new movies?
Liz Wolfe: People send me letters.
Diane Sanfilippo: If you’re basically a shut-in for 6 months, how do you know what’s playing? I’ve been a shut-in. anyway, I didn’t even know this was a movie.
Liz Wolfe: Well, it is a movie.
Diane Sanfilippo: And now I want to see it.
Liz Wolfe: But I’m a choosing probably not to see it.
Diane Sanfilippo: She said t was hilarious.
Liz Wolfe: Because I cannot; I can’t. I can’t wrap my head around Mila Kunis have two 12 year olds. That makes no sense to me.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Maybe if she had like one 6-month-old, I could get into it.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Maybe. And I told you I’ve been loving Odd Mom Out on Bravo.
Liz Wolfe: Yes. {gasp} Oh my gosh.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, that’s hilarious even if you don’t have kids, because I don’t.
Liz Wolfe: Did you see; first of all, I love that there was a Rhoda reference on Odd Mom Out recently, like a Mary and Rhoda reference.
Diane Sanfilippo: Of course.
Liz Wolfe: And secondly, her shirt the other day {laughs} it was a KISS t-shirt but it was 4 pictures of Mr. T and it said KITH. {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Wait I don’t get it.
Liz Wolfe: Mr. T has a lisp.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: It was 4 pictures of Mr. T, all like the KISS band get up, like that KISS poster that you see.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, the makeup. Yep, yep.
Liz Wolfe: That you see at Suncoast if you go to the mall. And it said KITH.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, I didn’t hear the lisp part. That’s amazing.
Liz Wolfe: Alright, on that note, let’s hear from one of our sponsors.
Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food. Use code BALANCEDBITES to save on your first order at www.vitalchoice.com.
1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [3:45]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. Well, let’s hear from one of our sponsors that will definitely be with the show continuously after an opening like that.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: What are your updates, friend?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, super relevant, right?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: We’re always talking about super relevant. But we know our listeners. They appreciate all of our fun recommendations. Updates? More of the usual. We’ve got a tour coming up, so if you are in any of the following cities, make sure you head over to http://blog.balancedbites.com/events and RSVP. we’ve got lots of folks RSVPing, and before I rattle off all the cities, just in case you’re tuning in for the first time and didn’t hear them for the last couple of weeks; a couple of people have asked if they’re coming to an event, should they preorder a book. The answer is no; definitely get a book at the event. Actually, get multiple books at the event, because you’ll be coming to meet myself and Cassy Joy Garcia as well as Juli from PaleOMG, and you, Liz at one of the events.
So, anyway, here are the cities; in order but I’m not going to rattle off dates too. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Sacramento, Phoenix, Kansas City; and Liz will be there! Denver, Boulder, Chicago, Paramus, New Jersey, and Austin, Texas. And so, I hope to see you guys there. I’m super excited. Somebody was asking; oh no. Not somebody. Scratch that. I was having a conversation with my sister yesterday, which we’re trying to make that happen more often. She lives in London and it’s tricky; it’s tricky with the time difference. But we were talking about the idea of rewards in life for doing work, and she’s talking about doing some writing on papers. She’s in a program right now, and she has to write some papers, and for her, writing the papers is the reward of I don’t know what else; because this sounds completely absurd to me. Sitting down having to write as a reward for anything sounds terrible. {laughs} I have a point here.
I told her that although exhausting energy-wise, touring and meeting people is totally the reward for the hard work of working on a book, or any kind of big project. Because honestly after those events; they are super exhausting, but also exhilarating at the same time. And Liz, I know you and I have super different personalities, but we used to go into events. I remember, we used to teach seminars, and you would have a special kind of anxiety before the event, but then after it you’d always be like, “that was good.”
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: “That was good. I think they learned a lot. And you know, that was good.” {laughs} Like that was your response.
Liz Wolfe: “That was good. I don’t think they hated me. That was good.” Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And people, you know, we can see that we’re enriching people’s lives and empowering them and supporting things that they want to do. So for me, the tour is the reward and I love and appreciate everyone who makes the effort. I know it’s not always in your backyard. But in exchange for our long distance travel, we love and appreciate anyone who makes the effort. So would love to see you there. http://blog.balancedbites.com/events to find out all about the events, or you can just click on the events tab.
What else is big? If you are, let’s see. Oh no; this one. Hey, if you're on my email list, check your inbox if you didn’t yet. You should have received the sushi pizza/sushi cake recipe this week. And I know sometimes people are not seeing the emails, so I’m just giving you the heads up that that should be in your inbox as of now, if you’re listening to this.
I know. It’s a sushi pizza or a sushi cake. It depends on how high you stack it.
Liz Wolfe: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. It’s just; it’s basically just sushi in like a tower or whatever. Listen; it’s good.
Liz Wolfe: You need to add somebody that names recipes to your team. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: This is what people are Googling, Liz. You’re obviously not on Pinterest.
Liz Wolfe: They’re Googling pizza sushi cake? {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: No! It’s sushi.
Liz Wolfe: I can’t. This is terrible.
Diane Sanfilippo: Sushi pizza or sushi cake. It’s just the shape of the thing.
Liz Wolfe: You're right, I’m not on Pinterest, so I don’t get it.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. I’m not either, somebody told me this is a thing. Actually Jenny Castaneda sent me a picture and she’s like, we have to make this when I come visit you. And we made it on a live Facebook video, so it’s on my Facebook page. We had a blast doing it. But if you’re at work, just put it on your second monitor and listen to it, because it’s kind of ridiculous. But anyway.
I am hopped up; what is going on?
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I think it’s the green tea I’m sipping on. So anyway, check your inbox for that. But then the only other thing is the Master Class, still in the pipeline. We’re going to have the beta group soon. I’ve been mentioning it, and I’m psyched because I just saw a preview of the platform we’re using and it’s cool, so there you go. Anyway. There’s that. {laughs} I always feel like a jerk when I ask you what’s up, and you’re like, “nothing.”
Liz Wolfe: I know, well I feel like a jerk always having to say nothing.
Diane Sanfilippo: Because things are up, but I’m in this work zone/work mode, and you have real life things you’re dealing with. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Well, you’ll be excited about…
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, what’s up?
Liz Wolfe: One of these things. So I hired; I’m all about the hiring right now. Not that; you know how they say, “hire before you can afford it.”
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, because I say that.
Liz Wolfe: Yes.
Diane Sanfilippo: But I don’t mean it like; you’re now broke and destitute.
Liz Wolfe: No.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, you think; because people think they can’t afford things that they can, they just have to make it happen. Anyway.
Liz Wolfe: Well, in many ways, time is money.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So at this point in my life, I think we need a little more to be going out in order to improve our quality of life.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So I made the executive decision to have someone mow our lawn once a week, and I am also making the executive decision to have a professional organizer come tomorrow from the Kansas City area to organize our basement.
Diane Sanfilippo: From the Big City!
Liz Wolfe: From the Big City, and they’re going to organize the basement. And our basement is like one of those dungeon basements. It’s not a real basement.
Diane Sanfilippo: Unfinished.
Liz Wolfe: It’s bigger than a crawl space, but it’s a catchall. It’s unfinished, there are drains in the floor.
Diane Sanfilippo: Will they think that you’re hoarders?
Liz Wolfe: Well, the funny thing is. I was like, I don’t know if this is like; I don’t need somebody that wants to come over and fold my clothes for me.
Diane Sanfilippo: I do.
Liz Wolfe: I need someone that’s had some experience; well, I do too, but priorities. So I actually did Google Kansas City organizer hoarders. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: And I did come up with a company that had worked with I think the show Hoarders.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh gosh!
Liz Wolfe: So I was like, so they’re not going to judge me. It’s not trash and 15-year-old half-eaten yogurts down there. It’s just a lot of stuff. It’s decorations, all kinds of stuff. It’s gross, and I can’t go down there and do it with the baby.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: It’s not safe for her down there, I’m not going to wear her to clean up our nasty basement. So I decided to go ahead and hire it out because then I’ll feel much better about it. It will be done, we can get rid of a bunch of stuff, we can have Got Junk come and take a bunch of stuff like the gigantic big screen TV that the previous owners left sitting in the basement. Physically impossible to have gotten that big screen downstairs, so it must have been built down there.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Maybe.
Liz Wolfe: Or, the house was built around it, 100 years ago. I have no idea. So that’s exciting for me.
Diane Sanfilippo: I love it. I’m kind of jealous, and I want to know how it goes because maybe one day I’ll do something like that. We were just talking before this show started about how there’s just junk in all of our houses.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: And look, this is relevant to health and wellness, because the clutter totally weighs you down. When you're trying to focus; I’m saying you. Forget that. When I’m trying to focus.
Liz Wolfe: One. You say one.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: It weighs one down.
Diane Sanfilippo: But really it’s me. This is just about me. When I’m trying to focus on something, when I was trying to focus on writing the book and editing and all of that, all I could think about was all the other things I wanted to do in the house, which is weird because basically most days I don’t think about doing these things, because I don’t want to do them. But I said this before, I think on the show, all I could think about was organizing the closet. Which, that doesn’t mean taking an organized closet that I don’t like the way it’s organized and then organizing it. That means the two laundry baskets of, “are these clean or are these dirty” clothes, {laughs} with vacation clothes that I only wear when we go on vacation and actually doing some organizing. It’s taking up mental space, you know?
And I think probably with your basement, it’s taking up mental space to think about all the things you want to do work-wise, and then in the back of your mind; I also have to do that. I also have to organize that, because it’s just looming. So when that stuff is actually cleaned up and organized, and purged; I think that’s a big one too. It’s not about just organizing the stuff we have, but getting rid of a lot of stuff we don’t need. I think that makes you feel lighter. Don’t you feel lighter and, I don’t know, less burdened when you look around and things are less cluttered? Is it just me.
Liz Wolfe: No. it’s a complete heavy burden lifted. I thought you were all about the Kon Mari stuff?
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, I’m all about it. But making it happen.
Liz Wolfe: Oh, you like it in your mind, but in practice it’s slightly different.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, here’s the thing. I haven’t done it 100%, and I think until you go through it 100%, it’s hard. It’s actually getting easier for me to maintain it in the areas I’ve done it the most. So in my drawers. {laughs} not in my “draws” not in my pants. {laughing} In my dresser drawers, those stay really organized and all sushi rolled up socks for the most part, I guess. But yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t done it 100%. Anyway, I digress.
Well I’m excited for you and I can’t wait to hear how it goes. I think you should definitely post a before and after picture on Instagram.
Liz Wolfe: {groan} It’s kind of embarrassing.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, but do it. It’s real.
Liz Wolfe: Maybe I will. It’s been kind of my husband’s domain; we have like 4 freezers down there. But I went down there the other day, and he’s literally thrown shelves sideways and upside down just on top of the pile.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Yes
Liz Wolfe: He’s just, can’t be bothered with this right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Because he’s got stuff to do outside with living things that is much more important.
Diane Sanfilippo: For sure. Priorities, man. Priorities.
Liz Wolfe: Yep.
Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo has opened a new location on the East Coast. Since they’re still operating out of San Diego, as well; this means local produce and meat coming from both coasts. And drastically reduced shipping prices. Check out their new and improved website, www.PetesPaleo.com to take advantage of low shipping rates; and be sure to use coupon code 1FREEBACON. That’s the number 1; free bacon, and receive a free half pound of bacon with the purchase of a meal plan. Go to www.PetesPaleo.com.
2. Shout out: Favorite listener comments about accidental dieting [15:23]
Liz Wolfe: Alright; we have a shout out, I think. It’s a nice little shout out. You want to go for it?
Diane Sanfilippo: I’ll do this part, and then you want to read them?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, We’re shouting out to you guys this week; our listeners. We received a lot of really great feedback on our accidental dieting episode. We are so glad you liked that topic, and we’ve got a few of your favorite; your favorite. Our favorite, your comments, {laughs} our favorite comments of yours that we want to read here on the podcast.
Liz Wolfe: Ok. This first one is from Sarah. “Thank you so much for this episode. I’ve been listening to you both for a few months now, and I feel like I’ve finally found the paleo/nutrition/real food voices I’ve been looking for. This was definitely a pivotal episode for me, though. I’ve been trying to follow a “paleo lifestyle” for over 5 years, but it’s always been a diet thing for me, for sure. I could never quite put my finger on why I always felt like a yo-yo, getting on and falling off the paleo wagon and punishing myself for being such a failure.
I’m a fitness instructor, mom, and wife and I’ve always felt this pressure to set a perfect example. People around me watch what I eat and comment if I’m making a choice that doesn’t fit into the standard they think I live by, and I realized today that I do the same thing to myself. I try to put a label on what kind of eater I am; what plan I’m following. When I listened to your podcast, it was like I flashed back to the 90s, and realized I’ve always made it about a diet. Low-fat, low-carb, no-sugar, paleo, clean, whatever. The point was always to stick to the plan. Thank you sincerely for opening this discussion and creating space for imperfect people to take off the masks and acknowledge at the end of the day we need to focus on the most important things, like loving ourselves, our bodies, and our families in all their imperfect glory. Can’t wait to see you guys in Austin.”
Alright, this next one is from Christopher. “Hi! About a month ago, I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Once I satisfied the skeptic in me that, yes, it’s a real thing; I set about the daunting task of altering my diet and lifestyle for the future. I get lots of support from my wife, family, and friends; bless their hearts. But this insightful and couldn’t be more timely for me podcast has really helped put many of my internal struggles in perspective. Relax, it’s all good. Try something, observe, and adjust to what works for me. I’m new to this way of thinking of what I feed my face, and want to thank you both for what you do and for understanding what I’ll call the real-world struggles of us everyday Joe’s.”
This one is from Jillian. “The accidentally dieting podcast honestly blew my mind. I always say or tell myself that this is a lifestyle, but everything Liz mentioned was part of my inner dialogue. The part that blew my mind was when you talked about being an abstainer versus moderator. I’ve always thought I was an abstainer; I eat all of the food or none of the food. When you suggested that the swings in behavior suggest Liz was a moderator, my jaw literally dropped. I have those same swings. I find it hard to think of myself as a moderator, because so much for me is black and white or good and bad. That moment really threw some much needed perspective my way. Great episode.”
Thanks everybody!
Diane Sanfilippo: I love those so much!
Liz Wolfe: I know.
Diane Sanfilippo: How fun.
3. Maintaining and gaining weight [18:45]
Liz Wolfe: Ok. Onto today’s topic, if you’re ready.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I mean, I think our topic is really just some questions, right? I don’t think we have one topic today.
Liz Wolfe: Yes. Our topic is questions. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Ok. This one is from Rachel. This is about maintaining and increasing weight; which surprisingly; this is actually a surprisingly large contingency among the people that we talk to. A lot of times we think it’s all about the dieting, the weight loss, and all that stuff. But there are actually quite a few people that are having this struggle so this is timely. “Love the show. I listen to it every week on the way to work, and wish you did one every day.” Oh my god, that would be so difficult!
Diane Sanfilippo: We would literally die.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh. But thank you.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah that would be a lot.
Liz Wolfe: That’s incredibly flattering.
Diane Sanfilippo: Very kind.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: I basically do this stuff every day on Snapchat. Sort of. Not really.
Liz Wolfe: Ok. Think about one weekly podcast diluted further; the quality diluted further into 7 podcast.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: Oh.
Diane Sanfilippo: Brutal.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, brutal. Alright, thank you for listening Rachel. “So I’ve been doing paleo, the AIP variety, sadly for about 5 months. I have an autoimmune issue, chronic giant papillary gland conjunctivitis. It basically means eczema, which I get generally anyway, on the inside of my eyelids, which rubs on my eyes and itches like hell. My eczema under my eyes still gives me trouble, but my body eczema is gone. Anyway, that’s not the question.
Since doing paleo, I’ve lost a lot of weight. I’ve gone from 54 kilos to 43 kilos. The first 8 or 9 happened in a month, and the other just in one month. The thing is, I’m looking pretty skinny. A coworker referred to me as gaunt.” Charmer.
“I’m wondering how I can maintain my weight, in the least, and what I can eat to put on weight. I’ll put my meals below. Height is 5’3”, size is 6-8 in British units;” what is that, BWs? No. No, that’s not what it is. British units.
Breakfast: Parsnips, 4-5, cooked in goose fat and a tiny bit of maple syrup or a bowl of Swede or meat patties.” I’m guess Swede, I don’t think that’s a typo, I’m guessing it’s a think I don’t know about. Swede patties?
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know what that is.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t know. Sounds good though. “Generally parsnips. Lunch AIP burgers, approximately 200 grams plus of mince,” oh my god I’m loving this. Mince. “Or two chicken breasts with roasted vegetables and two sweet potatoes; or a sweet potato and butternut squash. Dinner steamed vegetables, sweet potato chips; can’t help it, I love them, in olive oil. Beef steak, duck steak, or generally some big ol' piece of meat. Snacks cooked bacon, avocado, fruit, AIP blueberry cupcakes, AIP banana bread with goat’s butter. The deal is, I eat a huge amount. Huge. I feel like Diane needing to romance my turkey just to finish a meal.” {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know what that means.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing} This is the best.
Diane Sanfilippo: What does that even mean? This is amazing.
Liz Wolfe: This is so good. “Side note; pretty sure I don’t have worms.” Alright. “Exercise 10 minute to and from work. I have 2 horses and exercise them a…” this is so British I can’t stand it. I love it so much it makes me miss Ladies of London. “I have 2 horses, and exercise a couple of times a week, not as much as I’d like, and care for them in the evenings if I get time. I’m a trainee solicitor so I work from around 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.” I think; is that a lawyer? Solicitor?
Diane Sanfilippo: I have no idea.
Liz Wolfe: I’m so happy right now.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, a solicitor usually is someone who is trying to get people to do things, buy things. I don’t know.
Liz Wolfe: Alright, Google it while I.
Diane Sanfilippo: I only understand 80% of this question, I’m so American.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my god there’s more! Rachel, I love you so much. Thank you. Thank you for this question.
Diane Sanfilippo: I love it.
Liz Wolfe: I decided to reintroduce dairy by way of a tub of clotted cream. But my eczema went crazy, and sadly I think it’s not going to happen. Same with cashew nuts; very sad because I found an awesome chocolate tart recipe, and I reintroduced eggs by way of some paleo pancakes, and couldn’t decide whether they affected me or not. Anyway, thanks in advance and can’t wait to hear your thoughts on what I can do to keep the weight on.
Not strict paleo, organic cider or wine, couple of glasses once a month if that. It makes my eczema flare, but it’s so tasty. You win some, you lose some, right?”
Diane Sanfilippo: I love her.
Liz Wolfe: I do too! I really do. So what was the question again?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: Oh. Maintaining or gaining weight. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: We got so wrapped up in how much we love her. Yeah. So here’s the thing, and this is covered in the digestive health chapter in Practical Paleo. And you know, I think at some point we might not all be able to do this stuff totally on our own, so I think she may need to be working with someone. I’m not really sure what the options are overseas versus what we have here in the States. But dealing with possibly a digestive system that is not breaking down and then able to assimilate and absorb our nutrients is; it’s really common, especially when you're dealing with autoimmunity. Because when you think about it, your digestive system is impaired, and the function and the ability to absorb the nutrients we’re trying to get from our food, it’s just not working properly.
So, going through the 4R protocol, which is outlined in the digestive health. It’s the guide to digestion in the first edition of Practical Paleo. I fleshed it out quite a bit more in the second edition because exactly this reason; folks are not really kind of aware of it or realizing that we don’t need to go from removal to reintroduction immediately. There are two more steps we can be taking in repairing the gut lining and then reinoculating it before we reintroduce certain foods. And that’s not just to reintroduce foods, that’s also to digest and absorb the foods we were eating in the first place.
So I would definitely ask her to go back and check that out. Do some gut healing, and this is going to be for anywhere from one to two or three months, and then along that journey, it doesn’t have to be exclusive. Each step doesn’t have to be entirely separate; while you’re removing foods you can also start to repair the gut lining and then reinoculate and those steps can overlap. And dealing with trying to heal the gut is probably the most important focus here, because that’s what’s going to make the difference in actually absorbing the nutrients that you’re eating. So that’s what we talk about a lot with anybody who is having trouble gaining weight.
This can also be a factor of kind of looking at everything else that might be stressful in your life; and we don’t know, you know even based on the question and all of the details we have here, we don’t know what other stressors could be happening. So if your life does include some other stressors; maybe you have some kind of emotional stress. Maybe there’s relationship stress. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for work is a very long day; maybe that’s pretty stressful. Anything that’s stressing your system is going to make it tougher to digest and absorb what’s supposed to be coming from your food.
So that’s really where I would look first. Don’t know if you have any other insights on this one for her.
Liz Wolfe: No, you said everything I was going to say, actually.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think at this point it’s not just about the food, or you know, eating more. Because if you’re saying you're eating tons, we need to look elsewhere.
Liz Wolfe: “Tons” T-O-N-N-E-S you mean.
Diane Sanfilippo: Is that what she said? Did she say that?
Liz Wolfe: No, that was a little British joke. Maybe. I think it was a British joke.
Diane Sanfilippo: I need to understand what she means by “romancing her turkey.” Is this an expression?
Liz Wolfe: No, I think you were talking about…
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I don’t know what that means!
Liz Wolfe: It sounded familiar. I don’t know, I didn’t sleep a whole lot last night, but when I read that it sounded familiar to me.
Diane Sanfilippo: Huh.
Liz Wolfe: She listens to us better than we listen to us.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know. Maybe. I’m going to Google that; is that an expression. Ok who’s up next?
4. Preparing for surgery [27:09]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, this next one is from Jennifer on prepping for surgery. “Hi Liz and Diane! First, I want to say that I love your podcast and all you do. Super excited for the new edition of Practical Paleo. My question is in regard to surgery; specifically preparing for surgery. I’ll be having surgery in 6-8 months, and really want to focus on putting my body in a condition that will give me the most optimal recovery. I really feel that I’m at an advantage in that I have so much time to prepare. That being said, what should I focus on? Are there any specific foods I should incorporate into my daily diet? Vitamins, minerals?
Breakfast is usually grass-fed yogurt, Ezekiel toast with grass-fed butter, fruit, usually berries or cantaloupe, and eggs. I’ll have a protein shake prior to breakfast if I work out in the early morning, which is when I prefer to do my work out. Lunch is usually a salad with a protein of turkey, eggs, chicken, or tuna, salad veggies include lettuce, cucumber, artichokes, tomato. I try and do oil and lemon for the dressing, but lately I’ve been getting an organic premade dressing. Sometimes for lunch I’ll have leftovers from dinner. Dinner is usually a protein and more veggies; chicken, ground turkey, shrimp, pork chops. I don’t eat much red meat, not because I think it’s bad for you, but I just don’t care for it. I also don’t eat much seafood other than shrimp and Wild Planet tuna. No sardines or organ meats. Not that I dislike them, I’ve just never had them. I love all the veggies; you name it, I like it. Occasionally I’ll have rice, potatoes, or other starch at dinner. However it’s not the norm. Snacks are rare, but usually almonds, hard boiled eggs, raw veggies.
I usually sleep 8 hours per night, and work out 3-5 times per week, preferably in the morning. Sometimes I do get less sleep because I wake up early to work out; I’m working to correct this. I do not take any vitamins or supplements. I usually have a few alcoholic drinks a month. When I drink I tend to get the munchies and grab less than optimal food choices. Non paleo/primal cheats, Ezekiel bread daily as mentioned, protein shake almost daily, beans a couple of times a month, dinner roll a few times a month, and then out at restaurants regular cookie or cake once a month.”
We’ve talked about this before in past episodes, but might as well just throw out some little tidbits. Unfortunately, organ meats and the lower food chain seafood is probably what I would load up on at this point. I’d almost just point folks towards a Wahl’s protocol with carbs. Just the focus on organ meats and sulfur rich veggies is really, really important. Red meat is important, since you’ll be wanting some blood builders, really, I think after surgery.
Something that we’ve talked about a little after surgery, and this is something that I’ve recommended to my post c-section clients, is to first of all make sure you get some good connective tissue based foods. So broth, and stocks, and maybe some collagen peptides, and some bovine tracheal cartilage, which is kind of like a super powered rebuilding supplement that I think is really effective. And you can get that from I think Vital Proteins actually carries it. I’m not 100% sure, but BTC is what it is. DrRons.com and Vital Proteins probably both carry it, so that might be something to look at as well.
But I think to a degree recovery from surgery also has to do with what you’re not taking in, and if you’re not taking in a ton of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a ton of junk food, you’re going to be set up well or better than most people in the same situation. But definitely the organ meats and the low food chain fish. Not big on fish oil supplementation. Liver would be really, really critical for vitamin A, which is also helpful. You got anything Diane?
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I like it. I was digging up the episodes that we’ve talked about surgery recovery and nutrition for that, and I think there are more than this, but episodes 9, 57, and 195. It looks like we’ve talked about it in varying formats, so something folks can look into.
5. Wedding weight loss [31:21]
Liz Wolfe: Alrighty. This next one is from Kelsey. This is about wedding weight loss. “Hi ladies! I’m getting married in one month, and I’ve been trying different things to shed a few pounds for the big day. I really don’t weigh myself often, and I’m happy with my body, but I just want to feel my absolute best on this day. I was intrigued by the few podcasts with Diane talking about upping carbs, and tried that, but I seemed to put on weight. The only time I’ve ever really lost weight is when I’ve gone extremely low carb, less than 50 grams per day. I’m tempted to do this just for the next few weeks just for the wedding, but I’m nervous I’ll mess up my whole hormonal system, which is finally just getting back on track. What are your top tips on getting ready for this big event? Diane, what did you do before the wedding? I would love any input at all. Thank you so much.
I’ve been eating a mostly paleo diet for about 4 years now. Breakfast consists of a banana with almond butter or whole grass-fed yogurt with fruit and nuts and seeds. Lunch is usually some type of protein; tuna, leftover pork, or beef, and some type of green; and dinner usually consists of eggs, bacon, and avocado. We do this three to four times a week, and on other nights, make a beef or pork dish that we get from a local farm. Snacks include nuts, primal bars, and at night, coconut flakes toasted with cinnamon and dark chocolate. I teach a practice yoga about 3 times a week, run one to two times a week, and strength train one to two times a week. I take vitamin D, magnesium, probiotics, fish oil, vitamin C when I remember, and adaptogens. Wine on weekend along with cheese and Mary’s seed crackers.”
Diane Sanfilippo: So, this is super loaded, huh?
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So Kelsey, to answer one of these questions; “Diane, what did you do before the wedding?” Nothing. I was probably at one of my heaviest weights in our wedding photos. And a part of me is like; oh that’s such a bummer. But honestly, my face looked a lot younger than it would have {laughs} if I had tried to lose weight and I know that sounds crazy and sort of vain, but I looked at the pictures, and I was like; well, my face looks nice and young.
But I; this is my thought process on the whole short term weight loss/fat loss goal for aesthetic reasons. And I have been there, and I’m kind of there right now, but I think there’s also a lot behind this that I need to just kind of get out there. It’s not something you can do in a few weeks. Bottom line; what can you do in a few weeks? Nothing. You can change your habits so that every single day you’re making healthy choices that you feel good about and, you know, do the best you can, but I know she wants a practical, tactical, tell me exactly what to eat answer. And unfortunately, there is no answer for the next 3 weeks that’s going to be a healthy way to do this. If you’re trying to do something in a few weeks, it’s going to be drastic and unhealthy if it’s going to work in that much time.
So that’s the bottom line on that. And I think, you know over the winter when I did a meal plan that was 12 weeks long, it took like 6 weeks to get most of the progress that I was making in that meal plan. And you know, it was really more about making some lifestyle shifts. And I’m doing something again now, but I’m going into it with more of a mindset of, I’m just trying to get myself back on track, and it’s going to take a while, and I can’t have a short term, you know, by 6 weeks from now I have to lose X amount of pounds. Unfortunately, all that does is set you up for failure, because when you don’t hit that, then what?
I just think there’s so much going on there, and I hate to say this to her, but honestly, if you’ve got a month before the wedding, just make the best choices that you can. Feel good while you're eating! If you’re trying to eat extremely low carb and you’re worried about your hormones; what’s it worth to try and lose; realistically in one month the most you can lose in a healthy way is a handful of pounds. It’s not going to be that much, especially if you don’t have a lot of weight to lose. The less you have to lose, the less you’re going to lose each week. And this is just the reality of it.
So she was intrigued by me talking about upping carbs, but what she maybe is failing to realize is that; ok, here’s the practical side. When I upped the carbs, I dropped the fat pretty significantly. I don’t recommend you just jump into this and say, ok I’m going to do this on my own, and I’m going to up the carbs and lower the fat without having a plan that actually makes sure that you are eating enough food all day. Because if you’re going to under eat significantly, you’re also going to screw up your hormones, and perhaps do something in the short term that then backfires in the longer term, and I don’t think anybody wants to do that. I don’t think anybody wants to lose 5 or 10 pounds for a wedding, only to then gain back 10 to 20 after because you’ve messed up your hormones.
So, you know, probably not what she wanted to hear but I think what she needs to hear is that I didn’t lose weight for my wedding. It is what it is. It was just another day, and yeah there were lots of pictures. And you know, in my life there are lots of times when I’m dressed up and I have makeup on and someone is taking pictures of me, and so maybe it’s a little bit less special for that reason, but it’s not. I mean, having those pictures of Scott and I to look back on that I cherish; you know, my body was what it was, and that didn’t detract from how I feel about the day or how I feel about our marriage and the nice photos that we have or any of that. I don’t know; it’s just so loaded and I feel sad about it for her, because I get it. I was there. I was in this place where I thought; ok, for the next 2 months I’m going to do this. And I didn’t do it, and the fact of the matter is, when it comes down to one month before the wedding and you’re not already on a plan for the last 6 months to just kind of get yourself, I don’t know, figured out. If it is about just fat loss, we need to be doing that over a much longer period of time in order for it to be healthy in my opinion. So I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t have an answer or a plan for you to lose the pounds in a month. It’s just not what I do. And so there’s that. That’s my input.
Liz Wolfe: I think it’s definitely weighing potential short term damage against long term overall health.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, especially if there’s some kind of extreme dieting happening. But what I think is the bigger issue is how sad it is for us that we put so much stock in how we look in those photos. I honestly feel like; it’s hard to look good in photos to ourselves. We are always so critical of ourselves. And unless you’re some level of, I don’t’ ‘know what. I’m just not sure that we’re ever going to look at those photos and feel happy if we go into them thinking, “I needed to lose weight before those photos.” If that makes sense.
I don’t know. I mean, I’m not an expert on this stuff, but I’ve been there, for sure. And I can’t say that I’m not still there to some degree, so I don’t want to talk about it as if I have it all figured out, because I don’t. I mean, I’ll be on tour in another 5 weeks, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind that people are going to be looking at me. And yeah, I’m on a meal plan now because I want to focus on this stuff, and I want to just do the best I can for myself in this time, but I’m honest when I say I’m not trying to lose a certain amount of pounds or, you know, if I don’t achieve XYZ aesthetic then I’m not going to be happy or I’m going to go into this thing feeling unsatisfied with what I’ve done. My goal is; let’s make each day filled with healthy choices that I feel good about, I can feel my body feels physically good, and I feel emotionally good that I did something supportive of myself leading up to something.
And I think it’s fine that we have things that we put on the calendar and we want to do this before that time. I think it’d be really crazy to say that that’s not a healthy way to look at things, because it’s a benchmark. It’s vacation, it’s whatever. But I do think that it’s important to shift the mindset and really be more about, this is a timeframe that is kicking me off in a sense of, I want to make sure that I’m doing what’s best for me and I’m consistent and I’m making positive choices for myself, and not create a moral issue out of it and also not beat ourselves up when the day comes and the pictures are taken and we’re just not physically aesthetically whatever in some place. Because that place is just a mirage anyway. I’ve been there; I’ve been super lean and super unhealthy, and I think those pictures would honestly just remind me of sadness if I saw them now. So anyway. {laughs} There’s so much going on there. It’s so loaded.
Liz Wolfe: It is loaded. I’m curious, and I hate to keep talking because you really just explained that so nicely. I am curious though; she says “the only time I’ve ever really lost weight is when I’ve gone extremely low-carb.” And she seemed to put on weight when adding carbs. I’m just wondering if that was, you know, like a; I don’t know what the word would be, not dose response, but you know, a wide swing from one extreme to the other.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, totally.
Liz Wolfe: You’re low carb and then you start eating carbs.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: And we’ve talked about this before on the podcast; how that, I hate to say makes you retain water, but carbohydrates do involve more.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Water retention and that can feel like a pretty dramatic shift, and then you have to take some time for your body to reach equilibrium again, and who knows if that time was allowed to pass.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So there’s; yeah, we just don’t have.
Diane Sanfilippo: There is a practical side to that, and the practical side to what she said about adding carbs to her diet; like I said. If she didn’t; you can’t just add something. You have to rebalance your plate. You always have to rebalance. It’s just like anything else; you don’t add anything to your life without having to rebalance other things, right? There’s not an infinite amount of time in our day. You can’t all of a sudden go to the gym and not take time from something else. So the same applies to the nutrition that we have.
But yeah, to your point exactly; not only do carbohydrates potentially have us retain water a little bit in the beginning; I mean, they are partially water. That’s partially what carbohydrates are, just at a molecular level. But when we eat low-carb for an extended period of time, we may be slightly insulin resistant; and it’s not pathogenic, it’s not, “Oh, we have diabetes; we’re insulin resistant and that leads to diabetes.” It just means that our body has down regulated some of our insulin response, and so to the point that you’re making, in the short term immediately following a low-carb diet, adding a bunch of carbs back in might cause you to retain water, and also to gain some weight because your body is not in a state where it’s constantly processing those carbohydrates as efficiently as it did before.
So here’s another interesting thing for people who are; and this is probably of the entire episode, what people will be most excited about. But people who have been interested in low-carb diets for the benefit of ketosis and what that can do for us in terms of burning fat, or burning ketones for fuel, Christ Masterjohn recently; I think he had a podcast episode, and then there’s probably also a blog post and tons of information about how we don’t need to necessarily eat a strictly low-carb diet to have the benefits of ketosis. So some of that he was talking about adding MCT oil to different meals, and I did not read all of the information, so that’s a caveat right there. I would love for people to go ahead and read it; I’m just not interested in a ketogenic diet right now, so I didn’t go dive into it, and {laughs} I’ve got a lot of things on my plate. Not literally, figuratively.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: But I think that might be interesting for people to look at, because maybe there’s some way to get the benefit without dropping to that point. Because as we know, low-carb diets work for some people for some periods of time, and it may not be for everyone all the time, and I can’t stress that enough. Because I’ve been there too; I lost weight on a low-carb diet myself, years ago, so I know what that’s like. But I do think that it’s worth rebalancing and finding a new normal. But anyway, hopefully that’s helpful. Some practical tips in there, for sure, but some I don’t know. Some love, I think. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: So basically we didn’t answer the question at all, but we kind of did. We answered the question that we created out of the question.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I would say, also. Before you check anything else, just make sure your dress doesn’t have, you know, puffed sleeves, like Anne of Green Gable style. Like, I’m way more ticked off about my dress than I am about any other component of the pictures at this point. I had this gigantic, gigantic bruise on my arm from trying to teach my dog to use the treadmill {laughs}.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Hold; what?
Liz Wolfe: I know. So you know, I was watching Cesar Milan back in the day, and he would talk about, he would put dogs on treadmills to work them out, and it always was so elegant and the dogs loved it, and we had been traveling, and the dog hadn’t got that much exercise, so I was trying to teach him to use the treadmill and it was this huge disaster. I fell, hit the side of the treadmill, and ended up with this bruise the size of an acorn squash on my arm, so I had to go get some of that stage makeup, that you set with powder.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: To put on my arm, so you can see that in the pictures, too. But you know what, it was the best day ever. That’s all you're going to remember.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, honestly. You know, just avoid certain angles from the photographer; you’ll be fine.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean; {laughs} I was like, ok, well just please don’t shoot me from this angle. Fine.
Liz Wolfe: Don’t do every picture with the Paris Hilton hand on hip.
Diane Sanfilippo: The chicken wing arm.
Liz Wolfe: Because that just gets so old.
Diane Sanfilippo: The chicken wing arm?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Shoulders back, arm dropped.
Diane Sanfilippo: Arm dropped, shoulders back.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I’m good with that.
Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.
Liz Wolfe: Alright. Congratulations on the wedding; I hope it’s an amazing day.
6. Pre and post-workout snacks [46:37]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. How about this is the last one?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Ok.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Alright, this is from Emily. Pre-workout and post-workout snacks. “I was wondering what pre-workout and post-workout snacks you’d recommend. I have significant allergies to dairy and malt, and mild allergies to beef. I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to have pre and post-workout.”
Oh, {laughs} there’s more.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} But wait!
Liz Wolfe: “My workouts are mostly Crossfit style with an addition of swimming, yoga, and long runs.” This sounds like somebody that definitely needs some decent pre-and post-workout nutrition.
Diane Sanfilippo: Nutrition. Yeah. So on this point I should mention; I should have mentioned this in my what’s up, but I’ll remember it next week. We have some fun freebie downloads that are going to be coming out for preorder bonuses for second edition Practical Paleo, and one of them is going to be a workout nutrition eBook. I think it will still be called Eat Better Faster; it was part of the thing that I did with Jen Sinkler a couple of years ago, so it addresses this, but I’ll tell you right now what I tend to do is a combination of protein and carbs, and generally in a very easily digested way. Not “whey” as in W-H-E-Y protein {laughs} but easily digested manner.
So she’s saying she’s allergic to beef, or mildly allergic. What I’ve been using a lot lately is collagen peptides. And you can get them from; what’s the one we were using for a long time? Vital Proteins is one now, and then Great Lakes has one as well. You want to get the hydrolyzed version from Great Lakes, or the collagen peptides from Vital Proteins, either is fine. I think we have them linked on the shop page on http://blog.balancedbites.com if you're like; “what did she say?” And you’re in your car and you need to find it. Just go to the shop page. But they do have a marine version now, so it’s fish based from Vital Proteins that you can use and dissolve that in some kind of carbohydrate, so I’ve been using coconut water. I find that works really well. You don’t really want to do something that’s slow to digest, so not something that has tons of fiber.
And you could easily do this as well; if you don’t want to do a liquid form, because sometimes we don’t really need that. It does sound like she’s working out to a level that she might need that. But for some people, pre and post-workout nutrition is a little bit; it’s just extra food, and you may or may not really need it depending on how intense the activity is and if you’re just kind of sitting all day. But you could also do something like a couple of slices of deli turkey for just about, somewhere 20-30 grams of protein, and the same with carbs, about 20-30 grams of carbs. So something that’s easily digested.
If you’re doing paleo stuff, some sweet potato, fruit is probably not the best choice, since it’s going to replenish liver glycogen versus muscle glycogen, but something that does break down into simple sugars more easily generally just not fructose as a preferred source. So, that’s kind of my take, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been feeling pretty good doing that. So that’s it. Nothing too crazy there. But I would say also to keep a notebook and write down; you know, I had this pre-workout, how do you feel. Generally for me, post-workout is whatever the next meal is within a reasonable amount of time; you know, 30 minutes to 60 minutes later I’m out of fight or flight mode, I'm in rest and digest mode and I can eat some food, and it’s usually just solid real food, not some kind of shake or something like that.
Liz Wolfe: Very good. I’m so, so far from needing pre- and post-workout nutrition right now. I’m just basically; I need the workout first. {laughs} I need to find a way to do that.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
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, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, and apply for one of their new scholarships, go to http://www.NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia, so chances are you’ll be able to find a venue that works for you. The scholarship application window closes August 15th, so don’t wait.
7. #Treatyoself: Farmer’s market goodies [51:51]
Liz Wolfe: So, Diane do you have a treat yoself?
Diane Sanfilippo: I do. I would like to recommend that everybody treat yoself to some seasonal goodies at the farmer’s market. Is that a sad treat yoself?
Liz Wolfe: No!
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Heirloom tomatoes, berries, peaches. I love all that stuff. I love it at room temperature. I like berries to be chilled, but I think peaches are awesome at room temperature; heirloom tomatoes if you can find them, or just some really good ripe tomatoes. Maybe it’s in your own little garden, maybe it’s not a farmer’s market. But that’s what I want you to treat yoself to this week. Post your pictures, let me see them.
Liz Wolfe: 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.