Motivate Me | Lynette Renda

In this episode, we talk with Lynette Renda, the successful host of the Motivate Me! podcast.   As a form of coaching, Lynette interviews people who have incorporated a passion into their lives, and she encourages her audience to do the same.

Together with Lynette we discuss the art of motivation.   Motivation is one thing on the health and fitness journey that often plateaus. And when that plateau lasts for a while, it can be demotivating.   So how does Lynette apply motivation to her health and fitness journey?   We talk with Lynette about her number one tool to remain motivated.

A sense of community can be an important part of your health and fitness journey. For Lynette, it has been her number one motivating factor.   In fact, by reaching out you reap the benefits of several motivating factors, such as:

• The bond of shared experiences
• Friendship
• Encouragement
• Accountability
• Shared energy
• Confidence

Continually learning from a community of resources and experts, such as professionals in their field, listening to podcasts and joining social media groups is empowering.   Surrounding yourself and reaching out to others who share the interest will help you persevere in your endeavors.

Lynette Renda’s show, Motivate Me!, is interactive with the goal of having listeners learn from the experiences of others while focusing on helping people create a life that excites and fulfills them.   You can learn more about Lynette Renda through her website (motiatemepodcast.com).

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Crack the obesity code

The Obesity Code: Unlocking the Secrets of Weight Loss is the new book by today’s guest, Dr. Jason Fung.   In this episode we talk about a variety of strategies to break through your body set weight, or what we often refer to as a plateau.

Dr. Jason Fung completed medical school at the University of Toronto and a fellowship in nephrology at the University of California. He founded the Intensive Dietary Management program in Toronto that provides a unique treatment focus for type 2 diabetes and obesity.

We discuss with Dr. Fung the role of hormones – such as insulin — and how they drive weight gain and obesity. He feels that only by understanding the role of insulin and insulin resistance can we achieve lasting weight loss. If excess insulin, not excess calories, is causing obesity, Dr. Fung feels the clear answer is in reducing insulin levels.

To do this, Dr. Jason Fung suggests the use of intermittent fasting to break the cycle of insulin resistance and to reach a healthy weight.   The Obesity Code outlines five basic steps to establish lifelong habits that will improve your health and control your insulin levels.   Additional information about Dr. Fung, The Obesity Code and the Intensive Dietary Management program can be found at intensivedietarymanagement.com.

Why am I always hungry? | Dr. David Ludwig

Caught in the dorito effect | Mark Schatzker

Today we talk to Mark Schatzker, the author of The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor.   Mark is a field reporter for The Dr. Oz Show as well as a radio columnist for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail, Conde Nast Traveler, and Bloomberg Pursuits.

We discuss with Mark how food has become complicated. That is because human biology and nutrition are such a complex sciences with many different variables.   Rather than focus on specific nutrients, Mark focuses on flavor in his book The Dorito Effect.

When it comes to our food, we all want flavor. Flavor in our food, however, is undergoing two trends. Whole foods, such as foods we get from farms, do not always have the flavor that they used to, as the heirloom quality has often been removed through generations of breeding and the industrialized nature of our food industry.

We also discuss with Mark how the food industry has mastered flavor technology. Flavor chemicals have changed what we call delicious and drive sales of product, as was the case with Doritos. The food industry is not in the business of making us healthy, it is a business of selling food.   This is where the desire to produce more and the desire to get us to eat more have crossed.

You can learn more about Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect and Steak through Mark’s website (markschatzker.com). Also, his award-winning journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Best American Travel Writing.

Contact Mark Schatzker at:

• MarkSchatzker.com
• Facebook
• Twitter

Ayurveda meets western medicine with Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary

LeAnn gets a personal trainer

In this episode, we meet LeAnn and discuss her journey to health and fitness with a personal trainer.

LeAnn spent most of her adult life being obese. Her weight gain started with her first child.  Over time, the weight issue compounded and by the time she was 48, she was diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. She took medication for all of these.

She was offered an eight-week program held in the backyard of her daughter’s friend. This Bootcamp program was interval training twice a week in the evenings. She did sprints, jumping jacks, and other body weight exercises.

According to LeAnn, when you start with fitness training, you only need your body weight. She said, “You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot by doing too much.”  She saw improvement during the program. She felt better and she slept better. She often felt like quitting during the workouts, but she felt so good afterward she continued.

LeAnn also had a 12-week fit challenge with her coworkers. It included gym workouts, education, and eating healthy food. A financial reward was given to the person who won the challenge, which really motivated her.

She continues to work with a trainer and has lost a total of 91 pounds. She goes to the gym for 45 minutes to an hour. She eats 6 small meals a day.

LeAnn also advises people to measure their progress when doing workouts with a personal trainer and eating healthy. Get the important body measurements by using the Health Measures That Matter PDF.

When to fire your personal trainer

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Get a happy gut | Dr. Vincent Pedre

Dr. Vincent Pedre is a board certified internist. His Integrative medical approach incorporates both eastern and western traditions. He has a holistic, patient-centered philosophy that looks to determine the root causes of illness. He is an expert on healing the body from the inside out with an emphasis on the gut microbiome. Dr. Pedre is also the author of Happy Gut.

Dr. Pedre explains that there is a microbiome within the gut that includes hundreds of species of bacteria. There are also viruses and possibly parasites within the gut that play a role in digestive and overall health. In fact, 80% of the immune system is right along the gut lining. This allows for a bidirectional communication between the immune system and the gut’s bacteria.

In fact, the gut can mimic a war zone depending on what food is eaten. Some foods can trigger inflammation, while others can reduce it. As a result, the key to healing our ailments truly begins in the kitchen, as the types of foods consumed will control the way genes are expressed.

In Happy Gut, Dr. Pedre describes Gut Care, or a process through which your gut is reset to a “clean slate.” In essence, you are feeding the good bacteria and starving the bad. The gut is first cleansed through an elimination diet which cuts out foods that are known to be inflammatory and contain excessive sugar. Cleansing the mind of negative thoughts is also beneficial. Through this process, you are activating the gut’s ability to break down proteins and carbohydrates so the nutrients are absorbed efficiently.  The gut can also be restored through the use of probiotics and prebiotics. And finally, the gut lining is enhanced as a result.

After eight weeks on this program described in Happy Gut, you will have a much clearer picture of how food affects you, allowing you to make better diet decisions. Dr. Vincent Pedre’s program is designed to help people achieve exactly that. To connect with Dr. Vincent Pedre directly, visit www.happygutlife.com or www.pedremd.com.

The gut health diet plan | Dr. Christine Bailey

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Why am I always hungry? | Dr. David Ludwig

Dr. David Ludwig is an endocrinologist, researcher, professor. He’s been called an “obesity warrior” by Time Magazine and has been featured on several networks including ABC and NBC. He is also the author of Always Hungry.

It has been said many times that the key to losing weight is to eat less and move more. However, Always Hungry considers another factor at play. There are some people who eat less and move more, yet they still have problems with losing weight. While many can lose weight by cutting calories, the body will begin to fight back by becoming hungrier.

The premise of Always Hungry is to examine the source of this problem—why are our bodies storing extra fat? The underlying problem for most is that fat cells are driven into calorie storage overdrive due to insulin levels. When our bodies make too much insulin, this drives fat cells to hoard too many calories. Then there are too few for the rest of the body, and hunger increases.

The key is to lower insulin by adopting a rich, high fat diet and take out simple carbohydrates, processed foods, and sweeteners. The calories will stay in the blood stream longer and increase the metabolism. This will also be beneficial for physical performance.

The Always Hungry Solution is a three-phase plan. Phase 1 includes a two-week period of eating a diet of rich, high fat foods and eliminating grains, potatoes, and added sugars. This will turn off the starvation response. Phase 2 includes adding back whole kernel grains and a touch of added sugar. Here, the body will determine its optimal weight. Phase 3 follows by reintroducing more processed carbs according to how well the body can adapt.

Dr. Ludwig advises those following this plan to find foods that work for them and eliminate ones that do not. Always Hungry is available on Amazon. To connect with Dr. David Ludwig, visit his website at www.drdavidludwig.com or follow him on Facebook or Twitter via @davidludwigmd.

Crack the obesity code

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music

Why didn’t I lose weight with crossfit?

Today we’re discussing a listener question from Kelley. Kelley has done Crossfit for four years, but didn’t experience much weight loss. She finally decided to stop once her back started hurting. Today, she is swimming and walking every day. She wants to get back into weight lifting but needs guidance on what types of lifting to incorporate and how much to do.

Some important notes about Kelley include that she has metabolic syndrome. This means she is insensitive to insulin, and this overproduction can cause her body to store the excess as fat. Kelley is also maintaining a low carb, high protein diet.

Crossfit is a metabolically challenging program. It includes metabolic conditioning, where one will be moving significantly—running, jumping, lifting. It’s a very dynamic that puts a strong demand on the body to have the endurance to get through. Because of this, one may experience much hunger after a workout, which can lead to eating more. Once again, the body fat loss will typically plateau. This may explain why Kelley did not lose much weight with Crossfit.

Kelley should consider lifting again, as lifting does slightly increase your metabolism over time and can lead to weight loss. However, she should also continue walking and swimming. Also, she may not need as much protein as she’s taking in. If she consumes too much, that excess will be stored as fat. This may be why she is seeing spikes in her blood sugar. If Kelley reduces her protein intake and adds in healthy fats such as fish, grass fed beef, and nuts, this will also help with regulating her hormone cycle.

When Kelley lifts weights again, she should incorporate one full body lifting session in place of one of her other exercises. She should work in the low to moderate rep range and use moderate to heavy weights. Taking these steps will be a great alternative to Crossfit and will assist in attaining the weight loss Kelley is trying to achieve.

You can get the guide on how to manage your hormones at older.fitness/glands.

If you’d like your questions answered, you can contact me on speakpipe and I may include your question on the show.

Nelson finds crossfit

Music: Ben Sound Royalty Free Music