Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Diet Culture Myths Debunked with Ella Caggiano - E15
29 Plays1 year ago
Diet culture is rampant in our society, promoting unrealistic expectations and harmful beliefs. Many people, especially chronic dieters, are trapped in a cycle of trying ineffective and often harmful products and practices that promise quick fixes. As we chase unattainable body ideals, health becomes an elusive goal, leading to repeated cycles of failure and self-blame. In this episode, we address these challenges head-on, guiding you on how to navigate the often confusing health landscape, focus on sustainable habits, and reclaim your confidence and well-being.
Fitness influencer Ella Caggiano is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach, and has amassed a huge community online. Her personal transformation through strength training and nutritional awareness started back when was as young as 11-years-old. Her approach emphasizes whole foods, meal timing, and personalized fitness regimens, advocating progress over perfection. She encourages her clients and entire online community to look beyond the photoshopped, filtered, and glammed-up bodies we see on Instagram, and develop a healthy, personalized approach to true self-acceptance.
“Recovery from these types of things is a process because you have to rewire your brain.” - Ella Caggiano
In this episode you will learn:
- How Ella navigates and debunks misleading diet and health industry claims, and the impact on chronic dieters.
- The importance of individual health approaches, focusing on personal health and confidence over industry trends.
- Ella's nutrition habits, including whole foods, meal timing, and blood sugar regulation for maintaining energy and managing ADHD.
- Strategies for creating an optimal sleep environment and the significance of quality sleep for overall well-being.
- Ella's exercise routine and mindset, emphasizing flexibility, recovery, and gradual progress over perfection.
- Practical tips on starting a fitness journey, the role of strength training, and balancing health with personal enjoyments.
Resources
- Connect with Ella on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellacaggfitness
- Ella’s offerings as a fitness coach: https://ellacaggfitness.com/
- Shop all the products Ella mentions in the episode: https://alively.com/products/ella-caggiano
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
https://alively.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Feeling Stuck and Overworked
00:00:00
Speaker
Every aspect of my life felt like it had come to like a stagnant spot. I was overworking. I was overstressed. I had so much pressure on myself. I was always inward, inward, inward. I work alone. I live alone. I do everything alone. I'm just like, I need to be staying productive or else I'm guilty about it. I got into this just like mindset for a little bit. And it really took just sort of like a final like, I'm sick of this to be like, I need to include something that's greater than myself.
Introduction to Home of Health SPAN Podcast
00:00:29
Speaker
This is the Home of Health SPAN Podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices, and routines they use to live a lively life.
00:00:43
Speaker
Ella, it is great to see you again. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? It's been a good day so far and it's obviously getting better now as we get to sit down and catch up on your story. I enjoyed meeting you the first time and I'm really excited to share your journey and everything you've been working on with our listeners. I've been so excited to come on here and um after meeting you, I've been just like so inspired by your story and your background and the kind of missions and things that you've been working on too. And I really think it aligns with a lot of stuff I'm passionate about. So I'm really looking forward to it.
00:01:18
Speaker
Amazing. Thank you so much. Yeah.
Ella's Fitness Journey: Early Challenges
00:01:20
Speaker
So I i think most people listening to this will know you as someone in the fitness world, right? That's really kind of been a lot of your personal brand to date, but to get to where you are, especially at the age you are, right? You're so much younger than me. It's taken a ah ah unique mindset and one that it sounds like when we first caught up, you developed at an early age.
00:01:45
Speaker
Can you say a little bit about kind of your journey to to developing the mindset you now carry forward? Yeah. And I always kind of think about how I don't always go back and tell my where I came from story as much as I really should, because I think that that is the thing that really draws me to the people that I'm working with, the people that I'm trying to impact and touch. But it's always important to go back and explain like, hey, this is where I came from. I was just like you. These are my experiences. And so I remember literally from the earliest age, 12, 11 years old, being insecure about my body and having just really horrible
00:02:22
Speaker
body confidence and just confidence in general. And as someone who was in the first generation of Instagram and not being in fifth grade, I think I was introduced to the social media realm and as all so kids aren't from this, you know, generation they're on out, but at a really young age and that I think influence and impacted that as well yeah i grew up really hating the body that i was in i was ah always searching to be smaller to be skinnier trying every single diet thing i can find on the internet every fat die every crash die i tried absolutely everything and i just remember
00:02:57
Speaker
My um middle school into my most of my high school experience like being fully consumed by what i look like and how much i wait on the scale like it takes so much of your mental capacity to the point where you know you withdraw socially it just impacts every single aspect of your entire life,
00:03:16
Speaker
And for me, it was all consuming. I was working out
Health Consequences and Recovery
00:03:19
Speaker
so much. I was overdoing the cardio. I was under eating and just believing everything that I saw on the internet for years and years. And I was obviously insecure. And I feel that a lot of girls don't don't really want to speak up about the things that they're maybe struggling with or that they're doing. there you know They feel ashamed of the diets or things that they're trying. like That was me for so long.
00:03:43
Speaker
and um I kind of got to this point in the middle of so of ah high school. My heart rate got so low. I had to cut all exercise. I wasn't allowed to go to any sports. I wasn't allowed to do anything. I had to be you know monitored. My parents were like so confused because if you don't understand that... Was this a malnutrition issue? like what what It was an overtraining plus malnutrition. What was driving that?
00:04:07
Speaker
I think it was just a combination of over-exercising, tons of cardio, tons. I was playing sports for my high school and then also on a separate sports team. Plus, I was going to the gym, running to the gym, working out, going home from the gym. And obviously, you know when you're at that age, not only do you not understand the impacts you're having on your body,
00:04:28
Speaker
but you're also being you know positively encouraged mindset wise when you're eating less moving more and you're losing weight no and then people start to comment and then it starts to be this you you know feedback loop that ends up just kind of spiraling out with no real back or to understand sort of the negative implications of a lifestyle like that and so.
00:04:48
Speaker
You know, over that time, I had to, you know, be monitored my eating and everything was so confusing for my parents and for the, you know, like just my family in general, because if you don't understand what it feels like to to be in that place where you literally just feel like you can't eat because you you know want a certain body or you have such a strong desire that it's so all-consuming, it doesn't make sense to them. right It doesn't make
Shift to Strength and Weightlifting
00:05:16
Speaker
sense to people who don't get that. And so that was a hard thing for me to go through in high school. And so um I remember that when I started to get back into exercise, I had to take cardio slowly, whatever. It was around my sophomore year, junior year of high school.
00:05:30
Speaker
one of my friends introduced me to like lifting weights. I went to the same gym much the YMCA just in my town. He introduced me to a barbell learning how to back squat. I remember I did that. And I always say like, I picked up a barbell that day and I never put it down for whatever reason. I could not move for like three days was so sore. But for some reason my something about it made me feel powerful and strong and made me feel like I wanted to go back and do more of it so I can maybe live some more way. I was already proud of the weight that I had back squatted. I think it was like 85 pounds or something. I think I had like 20s on each side of the barbell, which for me, that was like so that was my first time. So to me, I was like so excited about that. And that really started this mindset shift where
00:06:19
Speaker
Not only was I able to look at exercise in a different way, where it wasn't always about desiring a certain body, but I was actually excited about what my body could do. and so Subliminally, like that started to really change the way that I felt about what I was doing to my body and like the impact that my exercise was having. and Then, as a result of that, I started to incorporate nutrition. And so I got really, really into it, maybe a little bit too into it to the point where I was super into really healthy eating and very regimented and over time that kind of leveled out. But um you know recovery from these types of things is a process because you just re you have to rewire your brain. and
00:06:59
Speaker
And so all coming out of that, I started ah a little Instagram account my senior year of high school because when I finally had this like real dramatic shift about the way I felt about myself, my confidence, my energy, my focus, everything else in my life was elevated because I wasn't so consumed about these things and was seeing more results was so much happier. And I was like,
00:07:23
Speaker
looking around and just noticing once you go through that you have like an eye for understanding the people's habits and the things that they do around them around you like you can tell when people have these sort of inclinations for the same type of thing it was everybody it was all the high school girls i was around And nobody knew what was going on. And so
Career in Fitness and Social Media Influence
00:07:42
Speaker
I was like, you know what, this is something that I feel like I was meant to share it with other people because I figured out this thing. And it was like I figured out some like secret, right? So I'm like, guys, the diet industry is lying to you. All these things that that were being promised is not true. Like I felt like I needed to tell the world that.
00:08:02
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's sort of like the genesis of it, you know, like fast forward seven years later, almost and next month, it'll be seven years. I have turned it into my career because I've never forgotten why I've started this because it's still so prevalent, but also like I just really feel like this is a message I need to bring to, you know, people around me. And so, yeah, that's the that's the come up story, I guess.
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And it's beautiful. And you know, as you're telling it. At first I was thinking, okay, so maybe there's there's a shift of you're looking on social media and you're trying to run to this image that isn't real, right? that There's so much editing, there's so much, the lighting, everything. So you're running to something that's not real. And in that process, you're running from yourself, from your body. It's whatever I have is not enough. I'm running from this and I'm running to this
00:09:05
Speaker
chimera, right, this mirage in the distance. And it seems like what shifted when you picked up that barbell when you felt that was it became less of running from your existing body or running to something externally to building to and running to your own body of saying, hey, let me see what I'm capable of. Let me see what my body can do. It's not about these pictures I see elsewhere, it's about me. And it's this kind of shifting. Is that fair to say?
00:09:44
Speaker
100% and I just still think about when I was in high school, just wishing I would wake up in like a different body. like i would I was constantly comparing myself to other people and resultantly, I was such a people pleaser. I let people walk all over me because I didn't feel like I deserved to take up space and I feel like that's such an important component of this because my confidence level has but has been the whole reason why I'm here today, why I've been able to do anything of any merit or accomplishment my entire life because of the confidence that I have in myself and without strength training and without finding and falling in love with nutrition and fitness, like that saved my life because I don't know where I would be if I never had the confidence to stand up for myself or let people walk all over me. like That is something that just ended up really making the biggest impact. and
00:10:38
Speaker
is as opposed to or as a result of looking around to all these people and just basically wishing that I could have this unattainable body that was currently trending, which is thigh gap, skinny, whatever, you know, looking around, just wishing that I was, you know, all these other girls who, you know, you end up finding out or struggling with the same exact things. It's all complete facade. um You know, being able to actually look inward and realize that confidence is built not by like tearing yourself down and trying to diminish yourself and become the smallest version of yourself, but like tuning into the things that can actually build you up like that was it takes time like it's not something that there's even like a direct answer to of like how you can, you know, make that shift like that's something you have to just constantly rewire your brain patterns because you just use your thoughts resort to this negative
00:11:30
Speaker
like attacking of your own self every time you look in the mirror, always picking at yourself and always finding all these negative things about you. It's just a consistent effort to rewire. It's an active effort
Debunking Diet Industry Myths
00:11:42
Speaker
that you can't allow yourself to step away from. And so finding and enjoying fitness was like so new to me because I'm like, I only enjoyed fitness because it helped me become skinnier. Like I only got ah like excitement from it when I burned enough calories.
00:11:58
Speaker
for so long. So it just was a huge, dramatic change that like, completely changed absolutely everything about my life. Yeah, I mean, as a father of an eight year old daughter, there's there's just so many points that that resonate. I mean, one that she'll come to the gym with me on the weekends, and we'll live together like she does her kettlebell deadlifts or squats and stuff. And what I keep explaining to her is It's not about the results right now. It's, can you start loving this process? How your body feels as you do this? Because regardless of what sport you choose to do, because is she going to be a jumper? Is she going to be a swimmer? Like what is the thing? If you love this process of just working and getting stronger, you're going to be better than other people.
00:12:42
Speaker
if you can just learn to fall in love with this process. And honor hopefully, that mindset, at the same time, protects or inoculates her from like chasing a number of calories burned or a specific weight or anything. It's about, hey, I'm just loving this process I'm going through. And then there's another fine line to try to balance. I think we're similar in top value, really being around growth, ah learning, growth, expansion. But at the same time, and this is what I really try to reinforce with my daughter,
00:13:11
Speaker
You always can grow, and it's great too, but also who you are today is definitively and definitionally enough. You are as you are enough. And being able to hold both of those in your mind is true at the same time. It's hard, it's hard but in our it helps, I think, a lot in in this world where you're constantly bombarded.
00:13:37
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's so much noise when it comes to the health and diet industry and just all of the things that we are told and essentially indoctrinated from like these industries who are trying to make money off of of us. it's The diet industry is a $70 billion dollars industry.
00:13:53
Speaker
Who do they sell to? Chronic dieters. like Why would they ever give you something that's going to succeed? So it all comes down to like you know the things that were being fed and it comes down to education, which is why I'm so passionate about educating people on this. The reality of what is happening to you, you're being marketed to. And just helping people understand that like these things that we like lay all of our foundation and ideals on, the number on the scale, like the way that we look,
00:14:22
Speaker
are so like they're so unbelievably misconstrued on social media and just like in general that it's almost funny to look back on it like I weigh the same exact weight today like I weighed myself yesterday than I did when I was in high school so I over the course of all seven years of me actually did like legitimately training I weigh the same exact amount today. What does that say? It says that
Mindful Practices for Health and Fitness
00:14:49
Speaker
the skill doesn't not is not a dictation of what you are worth. And there's just so many factors that go into that. Yes, I've bulked before, and I've gone through cutting phases. I've gained and lost body fat. I've been fluctuated up 10 pounds. I've been fluctuated down 8 pounds, whatever. But more or less, I've been within the same range. And that's not everybody's experience. But at least for me, it's something I can look at and be like,
00:15:12
Speaker
This is just all the more reason to like continue to you know instill these values like at a young age, like you're doing with your daughter, of enjoying to be strong. you know You're working out to achieve like performance goals. You're focusing on trying to just get better every day. Because if you're focused on long-term goals, these are uncontrollable. So you cannot say at any given day what exact number you are going to weigh, Because especially as a female, you fluctuate so much throughout a month, throughout a day. It's like literally just trying to win the lottery off one scratch ticket. Like it does not exist. And so it's just about shifting the focus of like people's sort of mentality around fitness from enjoying the process. Because the process is also the definition, the destination. Because the destination is constantly just getting farther and farther and farther. And sure you have a maybe a long term goal, a vision of something that you want. those are
00:16:08
Speaker
great things to have, ah these things that you want, but they shouldn't be focused around on things that you cannot control by daily non-negotiables that you are trying to achieve on a daily basis. and I feel like most people don't see the you know the difference that that can really make an impact on how you feel about yourself and how much more progress you can make because you're just focused on the next step forward instead of you know, I'm not losing weight today. I haven't reached my goal. I haven't reached my goal. I haven't reached my goal. It's just going to cause you to to really turn inward in it such a negative way, because you start to blame yourself for factors that you just like legitimately cannot control most of the time. Yeah. Speaking of that daily work, right. So looking back, you can kind of pinpoint a time where there was a shift of mindset of getting to the gym, putting that barbell on your back and feeling the strength
00:17:00
Speaker
What is your daily practice now? Because you're still living in the same world, an ecosystem that created the unhealthy mindset. Do you have any daily, weekly, monthly practices to try to build that equanimity and and maintain the healthy mindset?
00:17:19
Speaker
It's definitely changed throughout my experience being yeah you know through college and then graduating and kind of living on my own and um doing all these different things. It really just comes down to like basic fundamentals. Number one, like the gym is the highlight one of the highlights of my life. I love going to the gym. So going to the gym five to times a week around is not like an effort to me in the sense that I look forward to it. It's something I get to do. It's something I get excited about.
00:17:48
Speaker
So that's something that I do. I don't work out every day. I don't spend every day in the gym. I don't spend five hours in the gym. Only time I do that is when I'm doing stuff for content, filming, or I'm with friends, like I'm distracted. If you train intentionally, there's this huge misconception. You spend like 100 hours in the gym. No, if I really train 90 minutes, I'm good. And sometimes i'm it's under an hour, depending on what I'm doing. And that's okay. I'm being okay with that.
00:18:12
Speaker
And then I also just really like to practice daily slash weekly movement criteria or goals. And like I don't necessarily love to track my daily steps at this point. I personally just feel that placing habits into my routine as opposed to Um, basically feeling like you're trying to catch up to this step goal. It's like something that you, I feel like just induces stress upon you. Oh, I'm not reaching my step goal yet. And for some people you need it. I tracked my calories for like five years. I don't track them anymore. So like there's certain times you need to measure things. It's important. So you understand your caliber for where you need to go. But after doing it.
00:18:49
Speaker
You know, I just try to make sure I put in walk yeah schedule walks, get scheduled walks throughout my day. I walk on the treadmill when I'm warming up and then I also walk when I'm doing some of my work. I have ah like a standing walking desk that I like to alternate back and forth in between um my computer work.
00:19:06
Speaker
and you know other just healthy nutritional habits. I happen to be a very non-emotional eater at this point. i've really not I don't have much of an emotional attachment to food. I don't crave a bunch of BS because i when you feel yourself with whole nutrient dense foods. I've been eating like a ton of red meat, a ton of farm, fresh eggs. I've been cooking with butter. I've been going to like the, there's like a farmer's market here. I've been like using that. It's like an immediate, like you don't crave things when you are fueling your body with the, with the best stuff. And so if I want something.
00:19:40
Speaker
I'm going to just go get it. Because if it's if I'm craving something, then it it's like it's not something that I have in my freezer all the time. If I want to go get ice cream, I'll go get ice cream. I'll make it something I can look forward to. And never feeling guilty about those types of things or feeling like you can't include them. And there's obviously a balance. like I don't allow myself to do that every day. You can say in to yourself, is there something else that you can you know curb your cravings towards? And you know being a little bit self-disciplined, I think that's important.
00:20:10
Speaker
and You know, to a degree, you know, I think that varies with your relationship with food and all that stuff. But as someone who has a healthy relationship with it now, um you know, being regimented and disciplined. So it sounds like I mean, a lot of how you maintain the mindset is through the physical movement, right? Your your body feels better. Your mind feels better as you're moving.
00:20:31
Speaker
by fueling it with the right things. And we'll dive in both of those. Do you do any like journaling or breathwork, anything specific to, hey, let me just focus inside? So I started going back to church and I feel like that's a kind of form of like, um, focus for me outside of myself. That's been like very, I went to church growing up for like 18 years, but then Stepped away in college and I found my way back to and that's been a huge pivotal thing in my life I feel like that's a very Meditative for me in a way where I can step outside of myself and just really just allow People to just you know bring positivity into my life. So that's one thing um I'm a big proponent of journaling and I've gone to therapy multiple times throughout my life to which can really that is that is like journaling You're just done emptying your thoughts. It's like just you know audio
00:21:23
Speaker
I have not gotten really into meditation or breath work, but it's on my like, want to address types of things. I just moved to Tampa a couple weeks ago, and I'm moved here for the purpose of just really trying to recreate a new life, meaning just make new habits for myself and start things from scratch. I've been adding um and trying new things athletically performance wise.
00:21:45
Speaker
and just like you know different various activities and things in my life and including I have a list of things that I want to start to include in my life and um that's something that would definitely be of benefit for me so I wish I could say that I do it but I to be transparent do not.
00:22:02
Speaker
You do a lot that I think touches on it. It's also recognizing what does it for you. I love the the church piece. um Just because ah so many people think Mesel has a hierarchy of needs, it stops with self-actualization of, hey, we go through shelter and food.
00:22:19
Speaker
But actually, there was a sex that he had, and it's serving something outside and beyond ourselves. And I don't think it's an accident when this loneliness epidemic and suicide rates are higher and depression as people stop engaging with civic organizations and with faith-based communities.
00:22:37
Speaker
And so it's just gratifying to hear that that's something you really engage with. I love that you just said that because that was the realization that I came to when I was in Miami. i was in this I was in this rut with everything. It was my training. It was my content. It was my ability to grow entrepreneurially, socially,
00:22:57
Speaker
um Every aspect of my life felt like it had come to like a real like just stagnant spot. like I was overworking. I was overstressed. I had so much pressure on myself. I was always inward, inward, inward. I work alone. I live alone. I do everything alone. I'm just like, if it's not productive, it's not good. I need to be staying productive or else I'm guilty about it. I got into this just like mindset for a little bit and it really took just sort of like a final like, I'm sick of this to be like, I need to include something that's greater than myself. And so that was really what I had realized. um So that's the exact reason why, why I started to include it back into my life for sure as well. So
Nutrition Industry Misinformation
00:23:38
Speaker
now you you talked about a number of times
00:23:41
Speaker
the distortions, the lies, the misinformation in the nutrition industry. What helped you realize, wait, these people are kind of basically pushing a product or a fad or you know something self-serving versus what is true to me and my body in terms of what I need to fuel. What did that journey look like for you?
00:24:03
Speaker
Well, it started with my own personal trial and error and recognizing sort of debunking things one by one, noticing certain products were mislabeled and misinforming, meaning I would do some research on these types of things or i would try them out myself and be like this doesn't work so is a lot of like that personal like like tied to the industry and really being so involved with the fat diet culture and just that whole you know aspect of of of the health industry.
00:24:38
Speaker
So started there, but then once I started to educate myself on basics, basic things about nutrition, about macronutrients, about like your metabolism, about what things impact your body and why, it just became like glaringly obvious that the things that were being promoted were ridiculous. But I for years didn't know that. And so for me, I was falling for this for so many years. And if you have some something um persuasive, you know, it's at least advertisements are designed to
00:25:16
Speaker
Market a subsection of chronic dyers. It's mainly women and certain age demographics. you know It's everybody, but you know it's a very like large percentage for females targeted. you know the There's a certain body type that's trending from the social media, just celebrity realm. They tell you what's wrong with you. They offer you the solution to fix it.
00:25:39
Speaker
This solution costs money that you have to pay, whether it's a new diet product, a new freaking Jenny Craig thing. I remember doing the Wii when I was in literally middle school. There was a Jillian Michaels fitness bootcamp. That was the only Wii game out of play. is this like friggin' It's crazy to think about. But i you know I tried everything like that. And these things are designed to be short term because if you can stick with it number one you can't because it's all extreme however if in an ideal world you do this and it fixes you. Then they lose you as a customer so thats you can buy. yeah
00:26:17
Speaker
So the point of these industries is to keep you so confused they they want to keep you in this box of people who are constantly failing diet and looking for the secret because that's how it's sort of marketed towards people this is the secret this is the diet that's going to get you these results.
00:26:36
Speaker
When in reality it's an extreme calorie deficit packaged and given to you in a different box or an extreme exercise program or completely useless exercise program that is using marketing words like toning fat burning things that people ideally want because this is things that we are told is what we need to want.
00:26:58
Speaker
And that's not to say that you should you know not care about what you look like. I think you should care about what you look like. I think it's very important to want to be healthy and stay fit. And I think there's an aspect of physical. It's having confidence. It's you know being able to you know not, quote, let yourself go. You should care about your the way that you appear, but not to the extent that these people or these industries are persuading your belief that whatever you have does not matter what it is.
00:27:27
Speaker
Is wrong because this is what's in style. So therefore you got to do this this this this And it's a cycle of failure. You lose a bunch of weight You get really excited or you just don't stick to it enough at all. Does that drop off? But then these things are designed to be unsustainable meaning at some point you are going to gain back this weight and like there's 91 of college students surveyed college women have eating disorders like there's so much of this in the you know in the space and it's so problematic and when it comes to yo-yo dieting crash dieting. Around eighty percent of people who lose weight do these crash diets gain the weight back within a year so of course statistically this is what it's this is what we are supposed to be doing according to these you know big de industries the goal is to make money they don't have your best interest at heart.
00:28:24
Speaker
If there was a silver bullet, right the medical community, the government, everybody would be behind it. right It would lower medical costs. It would do so much. If, hey, here's the one thing, it works for everybody and you do it. But you know you say that outward appearance and care about it. For me, it's mostly that outward appearance is a signal of your inner health.
00:28:44
Speaker
Right? Your skin tone, all of this because stuff you won't see is the information is all this. So when you get out of bed and you're achy in your joints and you're not you don't have arthritis yet, well youre you're carrying this inflammation. So thinking about those foods that cause it for you because it's as I'm starting to learn there isn't on one size fits all right you go here Jordan Peterson who's air frying steaks every night and it cured all his issues like great that totally works for him and then other people like oh I went all plant-based raw and look at my skin blah blah blah like amazing that works for you
00:29:23
Speaker
And what I like about what you do, you experiment, hey, let me see, is this working? Is this not to dial it in for me? And what changes over time is our microbiome. So what may work for us one day, a year or two later, might not. And and you have to be open to that changing. So yeah as of today, I mean, you mentioned a lot of grass-fed whole bread meats, farm fresh eggs.
00:29:50
Speaker
What what is does your kind of weekly nutrition profile look like? So at this point in my life, I stick to a lot of the same basics. Those foods still make me very happy. I allow myself to be flexible to a degree, especially moving to a new city. I'm like going out with random new friends. I'm meeting on weekends. That's something that I want to incorporate in my life. I you know drink socially here and there. There are certain aspects of things I'm doing in my as a 23-year-old girl that maybe I won't be doing you know in years years like later. However, um you know from an overall standpoint, I focus a lot on like meat sources. So I don't really do a lot of protein powder as much anymore. I'll put it in there um you know as a convenience option, of course, but it's sprinkled into my diet. And I personally um have had um negative experiences with incorporating too many artificial sweeteners. I went through
00:30:49
Speaker
ah many years of basically only having things that were sugar-free or low sugar because that was my current trend thing that I was obsessed with which kind of really that made a huge impact on my on my gut microbiome and now after being really um You know intentional about cutting most of it out. I noticed that it does impact my gut health like almost like right away So a lot of meat sources um I stick to like ah a couple of my favorite fruits a couple of my favorite veggies. I don't make things complicated um You know, I'm not even like really much of like a spice person I just genuinely enjoy food that makes me feel good because I think it tastes good also and But at the same time, I am far more focused on the fact that my food makes me feel satiated, makes me feel energetic, especially when it comes to um you know being an entrepreneur. And I noticed, especially um regulating my blood sugar levels, my blood glucose, um as well as my meal timing has been a game changer for me. I noticed my cognitive focus has completely changed because of things like that.
00:32:00
Speaker
so When you say
Intuitive Eating and Teaching Mindful Habits
00:32:01
Speaker
meal timing, do you do time restricted feeding? like What does your meal timing look like? sort of Naturally at this point. um and It's really just become part of like what I prefer in terms of how i to optimize focus and function of my brain. As someone with ADHD, that's something that's like very important and something that very much impacts me in many ways. And I find nutrition and proper supplementation goes a really, really long way with things like that. um So I tend to just like not eat right when I wake up. That's really like the main thing. um I don't even have caffeine right in the morning. I'll have caffeine at some point mid afternoon throughout the day. But try not to up late at night, obviously try to cut it, um you know, after that, like three, 4pm type of thing.
00:32:50
Speaker
I'm not always good about that. and Sometimes I need the extra push for my workouts, but um ah I won't tend to to drink as much as I as i used to. I used to be very much pre-workout focused. But yeah, and then usually um the thing that when I stick to this consistently, I notice the most benefit is I'll take a couple of my supplements in the morning when I wake up.
00:33:11
Speaker
with a lot of water, I'll just keep water around me, cold water so that I will drink it and just keep it as a habit, right? And then um really just start with protein. Like that's really the main thing that I do. um Curbs my appetite um and cravings just really for the rest of the day, gets the protein in right away. When it comes to my training, it's great to center your carbs or on your training. So if I'm going to eat before I work out,
00:33:34
Speaker
and and or after you know you want to fill your glycogen stores slash refill them though though that's really great time to have your carbs for ah optimally but it's also just like what i enjoy now at this point um and i don't tend to eat super late at night anymore so i have like a smaller feeding window but not because It's on purpose. It's really just setting a clock of like, yeah this is i can have yeah yeah yeah, and like maybe if I did and I worked on like, you know, the fasting with the autophagy and all the different things and the benefits, the healing benefits that come with fasting. There's a lot of things about that. I don't tend to focus on that. It's really just like what works best for me. And like, I also am someone that my weight, my um hunger fluctuates a lot throughout the week and throughout the month.
00:34:21
Speaker
when it's very timed with my my hormonal cycle, very much timed. But also, if i don't if I know that I didn't eat as much as you know maybe I should have one day, it will I will naturally compensate the next day. I will naturally add more food. I will naturally be more hungry and add more food. And I tracked calories for years. So this is not just me saying intuitive eating is the is the thing that you should do. I think tracking your food, if you can you know if you can do that healthily, is so, so, so, so, so, so important. But it's not something that you should have to do your whole life. I can probably guesstimate within
00:35:03
Speaker
200 calories, 150 calories, how many calories my plate of food is because I eat similar things all the time and I don't really eat out that much and I know what I like and I know what my servings are and I also know what my satiety levels are. I'm so in like in tune with satiety. I never overeat past my point of fullness like ever because I'm eating foods that properly fuel me but they're not like crackers that you are just like, you know, or ice cream or like just processed stuff that you will are designed to be over eight or over consumed. You know, it's even it's a question because my daughter, she'll go get a big ice cream. Right.
00:35:43
Speaker
And then an eighth of the way through, she's like, can I just throw this away? I want to eat some of the cone. And then she throws that away. And her grandparents coming from a very different generation, like, this is so wasteful, you have to finish it. No, let's not train her to eat if she doesn't want to eat. right Her body is telling her, I have had enough of this thing I'm enjoying. Let me just enjoy it and not make it a job.
00:36:07
Speaker
Oh my gosh. If it's your peas and carrots, right like whatever it is, hey, this is my body. I'm good with this. Now, some level of you can't just only eat ice cream and zero peas and carrots, but it's being thoughtful about it.
00:36:22
Speaker
Yes, I love that you just said that because culturally, the clean plate club, you got to finish your, you got to finish your food before you can go do this. That's like very common. And I, you know, in aspects, that was a lot of, you know, the way I always felt about my nutrition, whether that was instilled by my parents or not, I don't really think it was, it was mainly a me thing, but our ah our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. And so if you are not, you know, you you eat so fast that your body doesn't register,
00:36:51
Speaker
the fact that you are full because it takes 20 minutes from the time that you finish eating for the registration your body to say hey I'm full now stop eating and most people just scarf their food down because there's like this obsession with that right this quickness this you know getting you know attacking the it's just comes down to having a negative relationship with with food right um or at least not being mindful and I even just say to my clients I'm like One of the best ways to not overeat is number one, whenever you eat, you have to be sitting down with a plate in the kitchen. Just do that. Just do that.
00:37:33
Speaker
The amount of times you'll catch yourself grabbing a snack when you pass the pantry or grabbing something to eat in bed or grabbing something for the couch while you're watching TV or eating while you're standing up or just mindlessly like we do so many things on autopilot. And if you do it long enough, it's a habit. And so I'm like, just do that one thing for me. Just try. And it's it in in inherently completely makes you just present with what you are doing every time you do it and makes you realize that you're making a decision. It's not something that your body is just, oh, well, how did I get a value of chips on my bed all over the place, right?
00:38:13
Speaker
yeah Being mindful and just not letting yourself you know go past that full point is something that is so like so many people struggle with because of that. Yeah. I mean, speaking of the mindfulness on what you're consuming. So you said you're not big on protein powders. You're trying to get it from actual animals. But sometimes you do supplement for convenience. And then knowing you're trying to avoid sweeteners, are there any kind of go-to proteins that you say, hey, this one I really do enjoy and vouch for?
00:38:43
Speaker
Well, not not really in like the supplement protein space, like my whey protein isolates. I'm not against that. I think a little of anything is fine. I love Diet Coke. I still drink that every once in a while. there are so There's still some stuff that I like to include. I made a whole bunch of like protein ice creams with the Ninja Creamy last night that I love. That has protein in it. That has artificial sweeteners in it. But it's about really understanding that it has to be made in moderation.
00:39:12
Speaker
Because I went through a phase where I drink Diet Coke for water telling you that was all I drank no water just Diet Coke Yeah, that really messed up my stomach big time. So yeah, no specific Recommendation that I found or pursued like tried to find um But I'm sure that there are up there are some out there that you know are made for more natural ingredients What did you use for the ninja creamy? protein ice cream I used Alpha Lion Protein, which is a company that I've worked with. And I i love their their stuff so, so much. um And they have, you know, digestive enzymes in it. And I've always found that that was like an easier one on the stomach. And then oat milk, as well as um a little bit of sugar free jello mix. So Alpha Lion is the protein brand? Mm hmm. Let's check it out. What flavor did you do?
00:39:58
Speaker
Oh, peanut butter always. I love peanut butter flavoring, it's my favorite. But yeah, so I like that. And I'll also have like, just like the grab and go at the convenience stores, like, um what do you call it, like the pure protein shakes or the, you know, that kind of thing. I'll grab those here and there, especially if I'm on the way home from the gym, and I know I don't have a ton of stuff, like I'll just go and grab a protein shake. But it's more just about um focusing on including more um of the stuff that I want in my diet and just um not necessarily focusing on excluding, you know, add versus subtract, you know. And on the adding, are there other supplements, Ray? Like you try to get as much as you can from foods, but due to soil degradation, its etc., you just can't get everything. I'm not crazy about it. yeah i just I think just having good supplements, things that really work for you, which is just super important. I don't
Supplements and Cognitive Health
00:40:51
Speaker
try to get all my macros and micros and stuff from my food every single day. Yes, it's important, but I eat ah a variety of healthy foods enough where I know that most of my stuff is
00:41:01
Speaker
you know I've covered the basis of what's required and I supplement for the rest of the things that there might be gaps or that I want enhancements with. And some of these things that I take supplements for are not even necessarily for nutrient quality, it's for cognitive benefits. so my top like three or four. So, number one is I take L-tyrosine in the morning, um amino acid. It really has changed my life when it comes to ADHD and just my cognitive functioning. It just repairs all of the fried neurons in your head. Everybody got everybody has um you know neurons and and certain firings that are are damaged or you know overused due to um caffeine stimulants or just um high stress, things like that. This is going to enhance your cognitive function, focus, energy, um and just overall um really makes a big difference in the morning for me. I am a huge big proponent of L-tyrosine.
00:42:02
Speaker
take that in the mornings with a bunch of water. And then I always like to make sure I do my coveralls, which is multivitamin, official oil, Omega 3 and 6 and 9. I take like the whole bunch. There's because there's benefits to all of them. I just get like a coverall. Do you use the same brand for all your supplements? Or do you have like, here's my favorite multivitamin that's different than my Omegas?
00:42:26
Speaker
Yeah, it really does depend. um And I am not currently like working with or I'm sponsored by a certain company. So I'm not gonna push a specific company for any given reason. There's just certain ones I've gotten out of convenience and other ones I just have, like, you know, for creatine, for example, if the only ingredient is creatine monohydrate, it does not matter what brand it is, it can say a fancy name on it. But if it's the same thing, that is it's going to do the same job. So Yeah, it's commoditized. Right. And so you know doing your due diligence in terms of like research, I found certain ones that are on my Amazon storefront about you know your body's ability to to digest the capsule ah around a certain supplement. There are some like really crappy made supplements that
00:43:14
Speaker
you know, your body doesn't actually weaken all of the nutrients that are within the supplement because your body can't fully digest the capsule that it's around. But for the most part, um it's just generally like a trial and error type thing slash do your research, you know, all that kind of stuff.
00:43:31
Speaker
So then I also, I take magnesium at night, but obviously there's, there's a couple of different types of magnesium. So making sure that you use the right one is super important. So when it comes to like, um, sleep, de-stress, that kind of thing, magnesium glycinate. Is it the one that's going to chill you out? Cause people get Epsom salt bath. things when they order magnesium, you know what I'm saying? So you want to be aware of what you're getting. You know, it's good for better sleep. So that's super important. And I also take um L-theanine at night too. I just get like the single use um like the capsules from ah
00:44:05
Speaker
you know, they have them out like really in any store, but um I'll take a capsule of those, the capsule magnesium. And then I also, I sometimes will take um magnesium L3 and 8, which is like really the one that's going to be for cognitive function, memory, and like it just is a good brain fog support. um So I find that with the L-tyrosine is super great. um And then creatine. Creatine is not only does it if you're working out and you want to get stronger and you want to increase your performance substantially and it's very rare that people have negative side effects if you do what it says which is to drink a crap ton of water you if you're not doing that you're going to get bloated and yes that's true but if you do drink enough water you know it's rare that people have like serious adverse effects some people could break out and all these things but
00:44:58
Speaker
People get scared of that. It's like, you know, it's a trial and error thing. Not everything's going to work for everybody. But for the most part, you should be taking creatine. It's also a brain support, like it makes your brain much better, which I think is so cool. And I didn't even know until after I've been taking it forever. I'm like, oh, this is a great benefit. ah it Creatine is a funny one because it was a real big thing in the athletic community in the 90s.
00:45:21
Speaker
yeah And my mother was a physician. She's like, oh, no, no, there are these problems with kidneys. And it's probably if you're not consuming enough water along with it, the filtering could be a problem. So she never really let me do it in high school, so I didn't. And and kind of fell out of favor. I hadn't heard a ton about it. And then recently, it's become a lot more around cognition. So that's why I started coming back into it and started taking it. I was like, oh, it helps on cognition and brain performance. and and And then you start researching like, wait, out of all supplements out there, this is probably one, the cheapest to the most well-documented on positive effects without side effects. Like if there's one thing people should be throwing in, it's it's this dirt cheap. Just go ahead and start doing some creatine. It'll help you physically and mentally.
00:46:11
Speaker
It's so funny because when you really think it really is the number one, it should be a no brainer for anybody. Like genuinely you should be taking it even just to prevent your, your muscles from deteriorating as you get older. It's like, it's so important for everything in your life, but it's also the cheapest. It only is one ingredient and yet people can package it and repurpose it and put it into a fancy bottle and then upcharge you. And this is like the whole aspect of this whole industry. Um, when in reality it all comes down to basics.
00:46:39
Speaker
literally always,
Sleep, Stress Management, and Flexible Fitness Routines
00:46:40
Speaker
you just have to strip everything else away. And I think just having education on these things is so important. Try things out for yourself. Sure. But, um, you know, there's, you're going to find a million things that are going to be marketed as muscle growth, muscle improvement, formulated this, that shop, like booty growth, like pills, like all these things like overnight weight loss transformation. I'm like, okay, so it has vitamins in it.
00:47:07
Speaker
I'm like this is like a multivitamin but it's just is a different thing because inherently like you might be able to lose weight if you are have a healthy diet which includes more it's like so wrong it's so wrong and so much more money so it's good to just be be aware what you're taking and why you're so thoughtful and structured.
00:47:28
Speaker
across rate how would you how you feel your body how you move your body how you engage with your community around you the mindset you cultivated how do you. Rest and recover your body like what your what your sleep routine or recovery routine it sounds like a pretty good hey i'm not in the gym every single day so how do you decide which days ago which not how do you think about that sleepma recovery set.
00:47:52
Speaker
Yeah, so I just to preface struggled a lot with this not I mean in various aspects throughout my life. um Growing up could not skip a day from the gym cannot skip a day from exercise. And then through entrepreneurship and starting my own business.
00:48:08
Speaker
I found it really hard to feel like I could turn my brain off. So there's like a lot of things there. I mean, I think it's it's all one and all correlated in the way that my I think. But there's a couple of things that i um I work on. Number one is I curate my sleep environment very carefully. This means like food, computer, work, anything that's a stressor. It is so important to not put that in your room.
00:48:38
Speaker
Inherently, our brains will automatically associate a space and an environment with the things that you do in it. like If you go to school, you know you're there at school. you're not going to like you know you'll You start to feel a certain way. right The LED lights above, like you know in school classrooms, they give a certain classroom type of feeling. like That's on purpose. Same thing with your room. and I think it's you know something that really is so important for me. um I leave food out of my room. I leave work out of my room. I don't use like bright LED lights. All of my like lights, aside from sometimes I'll have an overhead light on like off to the side, which is also yellow tinted, but still, um all of my lamps are replaced with sun bulbs. They essentially mimic sunlight, so they're ah less of a harsher
00:49:30
Speaker
light source on your eyes in terms of raising your cortisol but also like they help you stay awake and alert but then in my room they are tinted like darker yellow ah little of other like little undertones and things like that.
00:49:44
Speaker
Um, so that's a, that's a really, really big one for me. Um, and then when it comes to like training in and out of the gym, I really just focused on trying to get all five of my sessions in every week. So I'll train, you know, for the most, but my my split changes really, depending on my goals, so I hit every everybody part at least twice, but what I'm primarily focusing on might be different depending on what I'm doing.
00:50:08
Speaker
Currently I'm training two to three lower body focus days. One of those days is is really accessory focus, less intense. um And then like one of those days is full body sort of like full body pump type of thing. I just enjoy that type of thing. And then I'll do something that's really dedicated to like all the upper body muscles. And, you know, when I do legs certain days, like I'm really inherently training back because I'm doing deadlifts, things like that. So, you know, there's a mix of that those types of components in there. um But yeah, if I get all five sessions in per week, um and I just focus on, you know, continuing to go on walks, things like that, I'm good. I don't necessarily need to
00:50:48
Speaker
you know, go, I don't I don't feel guilty about skipping a session if I know that I can get it in the following day before the weekends, you know, because it's just a non-negotiable to get them all in at the end of the week. Yeah. And and on that, I mean, it sounds like mostly you're you're trying to get to the gym and that can be kind of a social aspect, too. Yeah. But if you're traveling or do you have yeah I know we talked about kind of the the walking pad to put under your desk so you can see moving during the day. Are there other kind of at home thing, things that you really like?
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, so when it comes to like recovery, for example, um I work a lot on my like stretching and muscle recovery a lot because as someone who has a desk job, or I guess technically, because I work on my computer most of the time, not that I go to an office, but I do tend to sit at a desk most of the day, my um back, my hips, my glutes, my traps have really really been struggling in certain times in my life, especially like in times where I'm just sitting more and more focused and concentrate and notice my posture starts to slip and I'm just catching myself right now. I'm leaning over like this. That will make a huge difference.
00:51:58
Speaker
in your life when you have a bat when your back hurts, when you feel sore and you feel achy, I feel achy like after I sit at my desk for you know a long time, even though I get up and go for walks and I use breaks and I go to the gym in the middle. like So i um I do a lot of like the myofascial release using like certain, I have like little tools that I use to kind of like break up some of that that um tightness and some stretching and things like that.
00:52:26
Speaker
um There's a song in my building i've been using and also i have my lucky to have an apartment jam so. You know there's some days where i just cannot get to the gym i have too much going on so i'll just i'll just do a dumbbell workout i'll train as hard as i can within my means and what i have i'm still trying to hit you know a certain number of exercises and try and hit certain number of body like body parts and.
00:52:51
Speaker
you know training with a high intensity. Maybe I'm only using a 10 pound weight. It doesn't matter. It has to do with your intensity. um And that makes me feel good. I like to do that even if it's just for 30 minutes.
00:53:01
Speaker
um i've really um you know It's always about doing something over doing nothing and just having that all or nothing mindset is such a deterrent for um almost everybody who's really starting with this with the fitness. It's all rubbed into the whole mindset that we were already talking about, but getting rid of that is so important.
00:53:20
Speaker
It's not just in fitness. right it's This is a constant conversation I have with my daughter as well. of like Constantly chase what you want versus subtracting from what you desire to be happy with what you have.
00:53:31
Speaker
yeah And I think the number of times, last summer, I had knee surgery, so I couldn't get in the ocean, couldn't swim and all that. And I had a friend who was like, oh, you know, I hurt my ankle, so I couldn't run, so I put on 20 pounds. right And me, I never missed a day in the gym. I just, I wasn't able to get in the water. That was this one thing. But I was able to do all these other things that were still possible. I had malignant melanoma, had to have surgery on my shoulder, couldn't do a bunch of upper body.
00:53:58
Speaker
So, but I could go cycle, do a bunch of lower party, right? Like it it wasn't about, oh, because I can't do this thing. I can't do anything. It's saying, what can I do? And I love what you're saying of, yeah, maybe the gym doesn't have everything that I would want or be used to on that day of working out. And maybe I don't have 60, 90 minutes, but guess what? 30 minutes, the difference between 30 minutes of some dumbbells and zero is infinitely greater than the difference between thirty and ninety minutes with my barbell and everything else. great that That lift from zero to something is where you're going to get the biggest gain. So moving your body, doing something, yeah that is such an important point.
00:54:39
Speaker
It's one of the biggest things as a fitness coach that I have to work really hard on when I work a lot with girls and females and people who struggle with this desire to do everything perfectly. Start with these really intense programs that they cannot stick to intense diets, which cause such high rebounds because number one, you're going into these really stressful states for your body that you cannot sustain, but two,
00:55:05
Speaker
it and instills this belief that if you're not perfect, you might as well just say, F it, I'll just start over again tomorrow and go balls to the walls and promise yourself, you're never gonna have any of these foods anymore ever for the rest of your life. Never, you're gonna never look at sugar ever again. So you might as well eat everything that you can. And that's really common. I struggle with that really horribly for a long time. And it, you know, you can call it binge eating or not. It doesn't necessarily, it's really just a mindset or frame like a frame the way that you frame things and you know people's ability to recognize that if you can't if you can't go to the gym, if you can do something in your house, if you can't even have 30 minutes, I promise you that you can go for two 10-minute walks that day.
00:55:48
Speaker
like It's just something about just knocking that belief out of your head that will change the way that you feel and think about progress and exercise because it won't always be you getting back on track, restarting over. It's about what can I do within the compounds and confines and limitations of what I have available.
00:56:08
Speaker
And just understanding that if you only have 50% that day, but you put 50% in, that's 100%. You don't have to be at 100%. You don't have to have 100% of your resources available. You don't have to have everything that you ideally want in your ideal workout program that's going to make you get a six-pack tomorrow. It doesn't work like that. And you're never going to be in perfect circumstances all the time. So to expect Perfect circumstances in an imperfect situation because no one's perfect and nothing is perfect and you have things that come up and just things you need to move around and you know, whatever and Like you're just basically it's like you're essentially just going to get already ready start going you're gonna run into a cement wall like that is literally what you're preparing to do it's like
00:56:56
Speaker
When you can look at it objectively like that, it seems silly, but it's a real unlearning of like a brain rewiring process. You have to actually catch yourself when you start to feel that slip of, oh, well, if I can't do this, I might as well this. If this, then that, right? As opposed to,
00:57:15
Speaker
looking at what you have as an available opportunity for something as opposed to an excuse to fall off track because it will provide you temporary comfort for the guilt that you have for not being perfect, which is not even real in the first place. You
Essential Health Practices and Community Support
00:57:31
Speaker
know, what are your five must have? We just said all this about hey you don't have to have myself, but five must have products, practices that you say these are my five go to.
00:57:43
Speaker
Number one, I have to have my water bottle with me everywhere I go. This is very, very important. I think that if you can have a water bottle that you enjoy drinking out of, this is very important. And you also have a way that you can keep it cold, like whether for you have an ice machine or you need to have the ones that are like a cooler. It doesn't matter. I prefer ice water. Have something that you will constantly have around you. It's going to be your best friend. It's so, so, so important.
00:58:04
Speaker
Number two, I think investing in a gym membership is just obviously like a universal and most important thing um for me. I know not everybody has access or availability, but like there are like I did work out at Planet Fitness for a long time. People just like to you know hate on these memberships that are one, two, three dollars. so or have access to a place where you can just really go and and try things out even with limited equipment i think that is super important number three i would say would be a notebook this is so important in my life i have a notebook for every category of my life and i would say i'm while it's important to digitize it keeps track of things my life exists
00:58:43
Speaker
by daily tasks, checklists, non-negotiables, to-do lists, ways that I can plan out my goals, see things that I can look across and I can draw out a 30 days of consistency where I can track my habits, where I have something objective that I can not close this tab. It's something I can put up on my wall or it's something that I can open every single day.
00:59:03
Speaker
I genuinely like find that tangible paper. and and Also, when it comes to training in the gym, i bring up I bring a notebook when I'm on certain training programs to track my progressive overload. Having a notebook is so important to me in my life. I don't know where I would be without that.
00:59:20
Speaker
Another one would be invest in your sleep situation, your sleep area. I think that I mean, that's different for everybody, but I think good quality sleep. There's a difference between sleeping for eight hours and getting high quality sleep for eight hours. And there are little things that I've been able to do that have drastically changed my sleep quality, that have drastically changed my life. And that includes just um certain like back support or certain things that, um you know, like aligning your hips.
00:59:48
Speaker
whatever it might be for you. I'm a side sleeper, so I use a certain pillow to align my hips and just put under my back. This has made like genuinely the biggest game changer like ever when I started really doing this because I didn't realize how possible it was to wake up and feel so refreshed until I started really focusing on my quality of sleep. um And that comes with your wind down routine and all that stuff too, but like seriously, it's so, so, so important.
01:00:16
Speaker
So, yeah, I would say that. And then my last one, this is just like something that is very important to me that maybe doesn't it's not for everybody. Fine clothing that you can work out and go to the gym in that you feel good in. That doesn't have to be like a certain thing.
01:00:33
Speaker
But when I started to dress for my body type, dress in the things that made me feel good, like I've learned what certain things look flattering on me versus don't. Things that I see on someone on Instagram maybe isn't just like a cut, like know your body type, be okay with size, weight fluctuations, things like that. Have things that make you feel confident and good. I always am wearing, I dress Like in cute outfits for the gym, I like to have a little makeup on. I like to look good. And it's for nobody else other than the fact that I walk into the gym feeling confident and good about myself. And I think that that's the first step for anybody who's looking to get into training or just wants to have even more of a reason to go because it's just a way for you to walk out the door feeling good about yourself.
01:01:18
Speaker
just find clothing that you feel confident in it could be a trash bag it doesn't matter what it is it just has it really comes down to what you feel is gonna be best for you and as opposed to trying to fit into a certain thing that you see on an instagram model or someone that you you know see or ah you know online or whatever might be and just assuming that not everything's gonna look good on you. Like I'm so glad I stopped wearing high waisted pants. I have no, I have no way. So like once I changed that by myself, I'm like, wow, I actually feel like I feel so much more confident in jeans because I changed that thing. Cause I thought high waisted pants were in like what I was supposed to wear until I learned my body type. And I'm like, wow, these little things make the biggest difference. So I know it's more of a girl thing, but I think it applies to guys too. um That confidence factor in the gym is really something that
01:02:09
Speaker
will change everything about the way you train because you're not focused on what you look like. It's not a factor anymore. And that's something that a lot of people, gym insecurity is real. And I think that if you can mitigate that as much as possible, especially if you're new, that is something that I think will change the way that you feel about training, for sure.
01:02:29
Speaker
That's amazing. You're you're obviously on a certain stage in your own journey. You work with clients that are at all different stages as they come to you and and where they are for someone kind of generically listening to this. If you're saying here's one thing to kick start to get going with. I mean, is it the notebook? Like what is the thing you say? Here's the thing and if I had to pick one to just get started.
01:02:53
Speaker
So for nutrition, number one is aim to include protein as the main character of your food. That's the one thing you should start with. If you, every time you eat, you know, I know not every snack is going to be like this when you start, but just as a theme, if you can make protein the center focus of any time you eat, that is just the first step into really transitioning. Not only you're going to know as dramatic way difference in the way that you feel,
01:03:20
Speaker
But it is going to reframe the way that you think about nutrition because you're already starting this process of being mindful about what you're eating. Just try to include protein. It doesn't matter what it is when you start. Just do something like that. And then when it comes to the the weight room and and and strength training or getting into exercise, first of all, if you're just starting, start with three days a week, upper lower, full body, three days of full body. Doesn't really matter. One of those two.
01:03:48
Speaker
and grab a set of dumbbells, watch some YouTube videos, get a plan you find on on and on ah like freaking Google images. It does not matter what kind of plan it is, know what you're doing, know how much of it you're doing, know what is going on and where you know where certain things are.
01:04:08
Speaker
Regardless, you just need to have a set of exercises that you're going to go in to do. You can grab a set of dumbbells and go and hide in the bathroom for all I care. It does not matter where you go, but I think the first step is starting with dumbbells, getting into a gym environment and having a list of things that you are going to do when you get there and knowing what they are, meaning you look them up or you have a coach or you educate yourself or you get some advice from a friend.
01:04:33
Speaker
That is that it doesn't have to be the best plan it doesn't have to be the best anything. It's just about getting acclimated and adjusted to strength training and what that all entails how it makes you feel. If you can do those two things that is like the first that's those the first steps for sure. Yeah, amazing. So we've talked a lot ah about healthy habits routines, everything. Do you have one particularly favorite guilty or total guilt-free thing that might be an unhealthy thing just to say, look, yeah there's balance to my life. First of all, Cheetos are my favorite food um of all time. um Right now, they're it's currently Cheetos. Do I have them all the time? No, but um I really love them and I um want to get a cat soon and then I met Cheeto and get an orange cat because I love him so much. my first one And then, um, you know, not guilty, but just something that I do that maybe isn't the healthiest is like, I go out and I drink tequila sodas on the weekends. Like I do that for with my friends socially. I'm a very moderate drinker and I am very good with my limits slash my, um, you know,
01:05:42
Speaker
a couple of drinks type of thing is great for me. And that's something that does impact muscle recovery. There's negative sound alcohol, sure. um But that's something that I do and I'm not ashamed to say that. And I'm also um not going to like you know change that just for the betterment of my overall health right now because it's that's where I'm at in my life situation. That's a personal choice. Now everyone has to have that choice. it's um That's a me choice. I'm also a fitness coach. I work with a lot of college students. I work with a lot of girls who don't want fitness to be so all-consuming that they want to have their life. And that was always me. And so um being able to represent someone who can you know go out and have fun and enjoy life and do do both, if you will, with moderation, you know I'm a big proponent of that. And so um yeah as long as you're intentional you know and you have um the right, you know you do it the right way, there's a wrong way to do do that. you know
01:06:40
Speaker
yeah But there's a dive into tips and tricks about it. But, you know, yeah, yeah like drink socially on the weekends, um not every weekend. And I love Cheetos. Those are my two things that I really like to do. Fantastic. This has been amazing. Thank you for everything you shared. Before we sign off, are there any other kind of healthspan role models you think we should be talking to profiling their stories, their journeys, sharing with the audience?
01:07:07
Speaker
So one of my really, really close friends has been a really big impact and pivotal person in my life recently, has brought me back you know to the church, but is also really popular on social media. And I just always like love to share her content with other people because of what she does. um Her name is Liv Carbonaro. Fit Foody Living is her thing. She makes healthy recipes for people to show people you can eat what you want and do what you love. She has the biggest heart of all time and just has really true intentions with the things that she does. And as someone who has been in this industry for a while, um she's ah she's a gem um in terms of you know the intentions that she has, what she wants to do. And genuinely she is so passionate about um what she does. And it's actually crazy to see how free and creative this girl is with the stuff that she makes. So she is someone that is definitely worth a follow. So um yeah, she's ah she's awesome.
01:08:07
Speaker
Thank you so much. Ella, this, again, this has been amazing. Thank you for the time. Thank you for your story, your journey. I think there's, you know, the best time for people who have learned a lot of this was 10, 15 years ago. The second best time is today. And so I appreciate you sharing this with us today. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure.
01:08:29
Speaker
Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home of Health Fan podcast. And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other health fan role models on the lively.com. Enjoy day.