How to Eat Out Without Blowing It!

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Do you think that if you want to get healthier, and you all know we start quite often with losing weight, or we want to shed the belly fat, that means not going out to eat? Or it certainly makes it hard to go out to eat and enjoy the things that you love. If you're in that mindset, today's episode may change things just a little bit, and you may have a little better understanding of why healthy, as we learned it once as young adults, is not quite the same as the healthy that we need for the longevity that we want. Registered dietitian Bonnie London joins me today to talk about how how to eat out without blowing it, and how to decide if fasting is something that you want and need. And if so, how. She also talks about certain trending habits and which ones should stay, which ones should go. Bonnie London is a Sarasota-based registered dietitian since 1999, with a 30-year career dedicated to empowering people to overcome health and weight challenges. Bonnie holds a master's degree in clinical nutrition from New York University. She's blended her early experiences as a personal trainer with her nutrition expertise to develop personalized nutrition plans. Her work has been recognized by the Herald Tribune and shared on platforms like ABC TV7 and her own YouTube channel, Healthy Rebels. Okay, question for you, listener. If you're listening to this episode today and you saw it posted on YouTube or Instagram or Facebook, would you comment how many times a week do you eat out or get takeout of some kind? I am dying to know. Let's take a look at what is this collectively that we're all doing. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness in menopause and beyond before you knew to ask them. The goal: to help accelerate your results with science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman. And it's not just about you, but the 3 generations that you influence. My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert, and an international speaker, to founder of the first and the only exclusively made-for-menopause and beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week I interview experts behind the scenes and the science of optimal hormone-balancing fitness and longevity and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy that you want, need, and deserve. Bunny Linden, thank you so much for joining me.

Well, wonderful to be here, Debra. I'm excited.

Well, yes, and if listeners only knew how much planning this has taken. We're like, you and I are both getting older in the whole process, so I'm so glad really to have you finally here, and we made this work out at the same time. But first of all, 30 years working in nutrition, I'm sure there's a lot of little secrets and behind-the-scenes information we can pull out of you today. But one of the things I want to ask you is, what, if anything, have you completely changed your mind on in the last 3 decades?

Everything. So I cannot I mean, honestly, I graduated in '98 from NYU and most of the things that I learned then are like the opposite. I mean, certainly it's just thinking about main diet recommendations. I mean, back then it was mostly carbs, low fat. Those were the big things. Oh, and, and then even breakfast, pushing breakfast on people. Which I'm not telling people not to eat breakfast, by the way, but I'm just saying it's not a requirement. And I, even if people didn't have an appetite, I'd be doing that. And then also, of course, all the recommendations on protein, everything has changed.

I'm constantly like, and no wonder, you know, that, that any consumer, any of our listeners is confused because as experts, right, we've had to do a heck of a lot of pivoting, a 180 here, a 180 there. Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, that's what I tell people all the time that come to see me, that we live in an era now, unfortunately, where there is just so much information that people are confused. And, and what they think is, quote unquote, healthy, they realize is something very, very different.

So like this, and I want to go back though and unpack this really from the very, very beginning. So you've been a registered dietitian since 1999. Why registered dietitian? And did you know growing up you were always interested in nutrition, or was that something that came to you later? This is what I want to do.

It was definitely later, but I think it was 100% spurned on by my own struggle, to be honest, with my weight and health. And I'm sure a bunch of your listeners will appreciate, in the mid-1980s And I just have to share with you a brief story because I think this kind of explains everything, which is I had this best friend, Susan and I, and we were in her living room. We had the Jane Fonda tape, but we really wanted pancakes. We did. So we were calculating out the calories in the pancakes and how much we needed to work out to work this off. And this is how, you know, I, I grew up. I always wanted to be healthy. So, I did the low-fat chronic cardiovascular exercise, right? And I didn't realize it at the time, but I have something called polycystic ovary syndrome, which has a lot to do with insulin resistance. So, it was really hard for me to be at a weight that I was happy with. And I also had acne. And, and I actually did not go to school for nutrition to begin with, but it was like my hobby was exercise at the gym, you know, all of that kind of stuff. And actually worked in fashion for a little, a little bit. Uh, and then I became a personal trainer and that is when I was like, OMG, this is it. I love this. I love the science. I love helping people and done.

So good. I love it. And nobody would guess looking at you now that you've ever had a weight problem. I mean, I know we're seeing you from the shoulders up, but I've seen the rest. I've seen the shoulders down. Trust me, everybody. She's the whole package. Package. So she's walking the talk for sure. What's the biggest obstacle? You've worked with women for 30 years, and you're somebody who literally they do open up to about their nutrition because they come to you for that. What do you think that is truly the biggest obstacle in achieving weight or health goals that nobody talks about?

Two things I want to say, to be honest. I don't want to say just one. The first one I want to say is that I think people are focused on the wrong thing, which is losing weight. And I know that you echo my message here and that, you know, so I'm very passionate about getting people to measure their body composition and focusing on muscle and losing fat. So I would just say that because that has been also my passion since I was a trainer like 30 years ago. But the other big issue that no one is talking about as far as healthy eating goes, is where people are sourcing their food. It might come as a surprise to your listeners to know that 55% or more of food dollars go to food that is prepared outside the home. So I am, of course, talking about dining out, getting takeout, but also the prepared foods in the grocery stores. And of course, you know, they're not caring about us the way that we do. And I find this to be a really huge sticking point as less and less people are actually cooking. But as I have mentioned, I've struggled, which is why I do come up with solutions with people because let's face it, socializing is a huge part of life as well. So I certainly do not tell people not to go out to eat, but I give them guidance about how to do it better. But certainly where we can reel it in, right, and not doing the prepared foods or perhaps doing takeout as much, I feel like that would be a place for people to focus on to balance this out better.

If we could choose and we were purely choosing, and I know we don't do this because food is emotional, food has memories tied to it. There's so much there that's layered in. It's just human behavior, creature of habit.

But if we could—

if you could suggest, all right, somebody's going to eat out or they're going to get takeout, which we do so much more commonly now thanks to the pandemic making it easier.

Yep.

What, what would be some of your healthiest choices if somebody were going to treat themselves and not do the cooking themselves? What would you suggest? Okay. As a, as a dietitian, where do you go if you're going to look elsewhere and somebody, somebody else making it?

I think, well, what might be important to discuss first is what are the biggest concerns when we do get food outside? Yeah. So number one on the list with me would be the getting high quality protein sources. Because unfortunately in our modern world, we don't want to just be thinking about what we're eating. If you want to be healthy, you want to think about eating animals that are also healthy. So grass-fed meat, wild fish, and, but these you can't always get at restaurants, but you can ask questions. And if none of those things are available, and you notice I did not mention poultry because poultry is very difficult to get organic out. And even if it is still fed primarily the corn and soy. So I do not tell people not to eat chicken, but I back off on the chicken. I've actually talked about this quite a bit. I actually done a whole video, save the chicken, moo. Now, okay. That being said, the more I learn about the cow, if that's the only thing on the menu and it's conventionally raised, that is what I'm getting. 100%. Although, of course, if wild fish, I might do one of those two options, something like that. Now, the next concern on the menu is the kind of oils that they're using, because unfortunately, these vegetable oils that were once touted as the healthier option, we understand now are rancid, inflammatory. They actually become part of your cell membrane. So, we really wanna think about what they're cooking our food in, asking for real butter, maybe getting steamed vegetables with real butter or olive oil on the side, or salad dressing. You think you're making a healthy choice by getting salad, but then you're getting salad dressing with canola oil, maybe high fructose corn syrup in there as well. I mean, certainly there's fine restaurants that make their own and we know who those are, but I have a lot of clients, for example, that will go to the grocery store here and get, oh, the packaged salad with the packet dressings on there, but it's just becoming aware because we're not going to be perfect. That is not, you know, to me, sustainable anyways, and that is fine. But this does bring to this other point I wanted to make just as far as picking your food. Because I like to put the food in 3 categories, right? Like the food that I think most people, and I'm sure your audience also know that we want to be eating most of the time. Healthy animals, vegetables, and healthy fats, and maybe some, you know, maybe some more starchy carbs, but from whole foods. And then there's the food that I say is in the second category that to me is a total fine indulgence unless you have an allergy once in a while, like, you know, even pizza or, you know, chicken parm or pasta. I really don't think it's a problem again, unless you have a sensitivity. However, what I will tell you is now there's a third group of foods that I think should never, not even on cheap night. And I'm talking about like French fries or anything like that, because we need to appreciate that these oils that are rancid stay in our bodies for 680 days. So you cannot go to the gym and run off those French fries. Something to think about.

Yeah, definitely something to think about. And tell, tell listeners, so what kind of damage are those oils staying in our systems doing?

Well, unfortunately they become part of our cell membranes because they're also considered what is called essential fats. And what that means is that you must get them from your diet. And so even if you are eating some healthy, let's just say sockeye salmon that has a lot of good omega-3s in it, but then we're using, you know, the salad dressing or whatnot with the soybean oil or the French fries. So this can really impair the functions of your cells, your mitochondria, your energy. They've been actually correlated with almost every condition, but certainly with weight, it is big. But also obviously, you know, heart disease is still the number one killer. And you, you do not want your LDL cholesterol to be made out of these kinds of fats, because what that does is these fats now become more vulnerable to becoming oxidized. And that is the real dangerous LDL, is those damaged LDL particles. But unfortunately, in the past 100 years, these oils have become so ubiquitous. I mean, there was a study recently saying that canola oil is actually exactly the same as motor oil. And understand that these oils have been deodorized, so you don't realize you're consuming something that is rancid. My biggest concern with these would be to stay away from the liquid, like the cooking oils when you go out to eat. But personally, I feel eating a conventional chicken or even beef that was fed soy or corn, I find that to be a lot less problematic, in my personal opinion, than, you know, the flat-out oils. You see what I'm saying?

Hey, this is Debra Atkinson, and there is one thing you can't do in the gym at your age, and that's get all the protein that you need. You've got to do that in the kitchen. To make it easy for myself, not only to get the protein, but the fiber, the fruits and vegetables I want daily, I started drinking a smoothie a day 30 years ago. But when I realized all the junk, the sugar, and the extras that you don't want, that I don't want, hiding in most protein powders, that's when I finally caved in after years of saying I will never, ever, ever sell supplements. Stop skipping skimping and sabotaging yourself in the morning after workouts by always being prepared. Look, yep, I agree, real food first. But it's just not convenient to carry a turkey sandwich. Sometimes the protein— and don't forget the fiber— they kill cravings and they boost satiety. And you've got to make it easy to do the right thing. You can use code podcast for 10% off your first order at flipping50.com today. Yeah, absolutely. So we've talked about healthy foods. Are there others? I mean, being the vegetable oils, because yeah, everybody thought, you know, back in the day that was that's what we should do. And now it's like, wait a minute, I have to rethink this. What other healthy foods have you seen that were healthy at one point that now we know, oh my goodness, we have to rethink this? What else is there that, that people have this misconception about?

I mean, other than vegetable oil? Well, certainly sugar. Back in when I graduated, I feel the way it was always presented was kind of, not that it's health food, but it was innocuous.

It's low fat.

It's, it's low fat. I mean, Snackwells. I mean, are you kidding? I mean, all, all of that stuff, it's fat free. And so sugar is actually, that's another thing that's been in our food supply because it makes, it does make food taste good. And, and the, and the problem is not having a dessert once in a while. I don't think that is an issue at all. But the problem is unfortunately that it's in everything. It's in bread, it's in salad dressing, it's in foods that are actually savory because it makes them more rewarding. And we understand now that, that it actually is a drug. Oh, I know. Well, the biggest thing now that I am thinking along the line with sugar is that we need carbs for energy and they are like on the top that we should be eating, you know. Carbs, like, all day long, like crazy. And I mean, that is just— and now we know that actually carbs, especially ones that can break down to fructose, which is a part of carbs, okay, can actually make you tired, take your energy, and actually turn on the fat switch.

Yeah, everybody heard that, right? Yeah, that gets everybody's attention. Certainly. Okay. So the other, the flip side, we've touched on it a little bit, but what about fat? How has your, as an RD, how's your opinion of fat changed over the years?

Good question. I always have this picture of an avocado doing affirmations in the mirror. I'm the good fat. Sorry, that just came to mind. I wanted to share, but no, seriously, we understand now that fat is not the devil. We need fat. It's a, you know, it's a precursor to hormones. It obviously it's satiating. And if you're hungry, I mean, how is this all going to work for you? I mean, let's face it. So to me, fat is fantastic, but I try to stick with the most natural ones. Real butter. I mean, I can't imagine back to butter like that was like, you know, back, back in the day. But butter, if you can find high quality extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil. And then, and actually there's been a lot of talk more recently, even about going back to using animal fat from pasture-raised animals, of course. I just think of my great-grandmother who I had the— I grew up with, and we used to make soup and she would take all of the fat from the soup and keep it. And she lived to 100, by the way. Of course she did.

Of course she did. I really want to touch on this because this is fair game, probably for any podcast guest here where we're talking about nutrition. But what is your opinion of fasting? Does it have its place? What and when would that be?

Yes. And this also goes with your other question of something else that we were taught in the '80s about eating 15 hours a day and having snacks every 5 minutes.

So those were the days, weren't they?

Yes. Like you're going to pass out. But listen, the fact is when you're eating carbs and you're not eating enough protein or fat, which I didn't do any of those things, first of First of all, let's describe. There's intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, and then there's longer fasting. Intermittent fasting, and I prefer to say time-restricted eating because time-restricted eating is actually a form of intermittent fasting, but it speaks to the time that you're eating window, basically. And there's no question that we do not need to be eating, you know, from 7 AM till 11 o'clock at night. And I don't know about you, but when, you know, when I was much younger, I mean, we would eat breakfast at like 7:00 AM and dinner at 6:00 PM. And I guess I was intermittent fasting and didn't know it. Like then, you know, the food part of the day was over. So that is intermittent fasting, 12 hours. There's a lot of good research just on the benefits of the 12 hours. So the way I start people out, day one is we get rid of all snacks. I mean, obviously if there's an emergency or dinner's delayed, but you get basically that's the idea. And then I do work with a lot of women. They're just not that hungry. So we do move to 2 meals and for them it totally works. So, and just squishing in the window. But so I do think there is some, you know, benefit to it. But of course, if you're continuing to wanting to lose weight, because that's another issue. I mean, your body gets used to everything, so it's going to get used to not eating till 11 and then stopping at 5.

So true. And so what do you think about rotating? Rotating the eating window?

I've developed my own plan on this.

Okay.

I called it, I call it the 4-2-1 plan and you can steal it from me. Okay. Okay.

Okay.

So, yeah, so you do your normal eating for like 4 days and then 2 days, maybe you just squish it in. Okay. And you can take it as far as you want, but the idea is your body gets used to it. But then, believe it or not, I do encourage people to do what I like to call, after they've been working with me for a while, a feasting day. We don't call it cheating day because we're not on a diet and it should go with your normal life. You go out to brunch, you're having family dinner, or whatever it is that you're eating more on that one day. I mean, even for maintaining weight, I think it's fine. But think about weight loss from evolution, from your body's view of the world. I feel like I have this conversation a lot with people. So let's just, you know, standard dieting advice. Oh, well, I'll just decrease calories, exercise more, or something like that. Well, guess what happens? Your body, after 2 weeks, it adapts to this new lower caloric intake and it slows down. Like, this totally doesn't work. It's not that much fun either. I mean, let's face it. So, yeah, I think, I think there is something to be said for that, but it should go— it shouldn't be so regimented. It should go with your natural life, I would say. But then, as far as extended fasting, I really have not engaged in that. Myself with clients too much as far as like 2, 3 days. And of course, my concern is we just want to make sure that we are maintaining muscle, that we are staying active. And one of the things that I have done with a few people is I give them aminos, which I found to be very helpful. And like I mentioned, so I have a machine that measures people's body composition. So I have had one person, she went 72 hours. And she actually lost fat and maintained muscle.

So I'm gonna back you up just for listeners. So for you and I, we know exactly what that means. For a good percent of my listeners, they also caught what you mean as aminos, but elaborate on that. So the whole term is essential amino acids. So you are giving in supplement form because they can't eat enough, they can't manage to get that in, in their window, they're getting too full, or why might you supplement?

Yes. Thank, thank you for clarifying that. This is true. Well, so amino acids is the reason that we consume protein for the, there's 9 essential amino acids, and then we have, you know, conditionally essential amino acids. And the problem is, first of all, I find it hard sometimes getting people to eat enough protein. Yeah. And so this seems to really help, or I don't know if any of your listeners do more plant-based and vegetarian or vegan.

Yes.

So this has been fantastic for me. So I actually put it with their meals so that we really know they are triggering muscle synthesis because we really want those aminos and they don't have calories. So if you are fasting and even if it's just a short window, like let's say it'll 12 o'clock. I do suggest it. I do. I have people taking aminos in between, especially— we know as we get older, we need more protein.

Yeah, love that so much. The other advantage, especially if you're eating it, you all, is that there's a greater satiety when you bump up your protein intake. You're just going to feel more full and satisfied, especially if pair that with fiber. And the other thing that might come as a surprise to you— there's two things actually— is that often when you start taking essential amino acids, I will hear women report, I'm sleeping better, and I can't believe how much more energy I have. Both of those. When you recommend essential amino acids, they're generally in capsule form, or there's a powder form. Bonnie, what do you recommend most often? What do your clients prefer?

They like the powder because it's just easier and they're the pills. They're like horse pills.

Yes.

In fact, there's kind of an issue going on right now because I found these mocha amino acids from someone here who has this company out of Clearwater, Florida. They're on backorder. I know. We love them because we put them in our coffee and we're like, where? I mean, I've contacted the company. So I have done the other pills, but I mean, the thing is they're very big. So I think the powder is just easier. I mean, we should enjoy this and not feel like we're being tortured. But I just wanted to mention what you were talking about, satiety, because of course there is no one in this audience who has not heard about the weight loss medications. And I would tell you, I have people here who, I mean, you can't imagine the eating that they did before, but as soon as they get to do the protein, they're like, I'm not thinking about food. I mean, after you've eaten 4 eggs, trust me, you're good for a few hours. And the thing is, it's not that many calories when you hash it out, but they're, it's extremely satiating. So to me, this has been a game changer working with people and they're always shocked. And of course, the biggest meal of the day. To address this is absolutely breakfast. Now, when I say the word breakfast, I'm going to put it in air quotes because as we were just talking, it doesn't have to be an hour after you wake up. It can be 3 hours later, but that first meal of the day, because you have not eaten now for 12, 16 hours, let's just say for argument's sake. So we know it is so important to trigger like that that, you know, anabolic effect. And of course, in our country, traditionally, what are we doing at breakfast? Right? We're not eating meat. We've been eating like oatmeal, cereal, things like that. And that is usually the biggest flip-flop that I get people to do when they come in is because obviously, and then what you eat at breakfast, that is going to help how you feel, right? At that 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the afternoon time.

Help or hurt, right? Yeah, depending on which way that goes, right?

Right.

Okay, so we've talked about fasting, and there are probably some other trends. I think they're smaller because I think fasting, gosh, is probably gonna be one of the biggest things out there. What other trends are there, Bonnie?

I, I just— makes me think of just all the different diet camps out there.

Yeah.

And personally, I just, I want to put out there, I'm an omnivore. I listen to both sides. I have, I've read all the books on the other side. So I think when people go from eating the traditional standard American diet, that's obviously highly processed. So I think part of the issue is whichever diet they go to, that's going to be eliminating a lot of these foods. They're going to feel better temporarily, but do they have the genetics that this diet is really balanced for them over the long term? That is a concern of mine that it's become not as individualized, but yet like there are these camps. And I will say I am big into definitely much more, I would say low carb. I think keto can be good, but not for everyone and not long term. But I definitely lean towards low carb. I just— not saying that's the only way that we have to do this, but I do feel it is one of the easier ways. And thinking about— I'm sure your audience is interested in belly fat, my biggest topics. So when we think about belly fat, we have to think about what is feeding the belly fat. Okay. And this is everything to do with. Insulin, which is the energy storage hormone. So what is triggering insulin? And the, and of the 3 macronutrients, first of all, fat has no impact on insulin or very little. Protein is fantastic. So we're left with one. And that is, that is carbohydrates. So now, of course, you can go on a low-calorie diet, which would also work at some point, but come on. That it's not, it's again, it's not sustainable is what I would say. And I've been doing this again for a while. And to me, we have just, you know, this whole carbohydrate diabetes, all the conditions has just been like backwards.

Bonnie, is there a question that knowing we're talking to women over 40 and, you know, we've got some pushing 80 who are in this crowd. Feel more active and want longevity. It's about feeling good in the moment, but it's about also storing up, stocking up, maybe making sure that we're strong for the decades ahead. What have I not asked you that I should?

If we're going to talk about exercise, I would say I am huge into, you know, do it, doing interval training of some sort. And I'm sure your listeners have heard about like HIIT training as an example. Yes, a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Okay, so high-intensity interval training. So to, to me, okay, when we think about aging, we think about— we know now there's two markers that they have discussed that really help with longevity, and one of them has to do with your oxygen capacity or your VO2 max, which you can get measured. And by the way, this has to do with belly fat too, so this is really important and exciting. So the best way to improve your oxygen capacity, hands down, is doing these intervals or HIIT training, however you want to describe it. But the way I describe it to people is that, you know, you, you do want to push yourself for like a minute or something so that it feels a little bit uncomfortable, just as a signal to your body that we need more reinforcement here. And by the way, I, you know, exercise has never demonstrated to help directly with weight loss. However, it does help with this mitochondria, and this is where we're burning fat and it helps where we lose the weight. And then the second part of this, which I have been doing this since I'm 15 years old. And that is weights. I mean, walking the dog or walking or running, it's, it's not enough. We need to start lifting heavy stuff. And that's pretty much what I've been doing forever. So obviously safety first, number one rule, do not get hurt. I mean, everyone's playing pickleball out there now. It's like cuckoo. I mean, right? So don't get hurt. You know, so I rotate workouts every day and really focus on, to me, building muscle, which gets back to our, our amino and protein discussion. But as far as longevity goes, are you kidding me? This, this is like money in the bank, people. And, and by the way, this is something else that has changed that I learned recently, which I think is so fascinating. So I worked in long-term healthcare. And I'm sharing this with you because nothing is more dangerous than when someone sustains a hip fracture.

Mm-hmm.

Because you can lose so much muscle within weeks. But guess what? When you're not exercising, you actually need to eat even more protein to sustain that muscle, which is kind of the opposite how we were trained. And as a trainer, Not that you don't need protein when you're working out, of course, but the fact that if you are on bed rest, then you really want to be pushing those aminos and proteins even more. And there's so much research on this, and I think that's just an important message to get out there too.

Yeah, great distinction. And, and so some of our listeners, you'll remember Dr. Doug Padden-Jones and Blake Rasmussen, I've mentioned before, from University of Texas Medical Branch, started doing research in 2008. 8. I hosted a protein symposium in 2013 at Iowa State University, and we talked a lot about this. Your muscle protein synthesis is higher if you're active, if you're athletic, but if you're at bed rest or sedentary, it's lower. So the only two ways we have of elevating muscle protein synthesis is by eating protein or lifting weights. If you're not doing this, you have to do this more, right? The protein has to go up to compensate. So the image here is you're sitting at the table with your 15-year-old son and your 95-year-old mother. Which one of you needs the bigger steak? Mom. Mom needs it. And then you need the next one, and you're gonna let that 15-year-old have what's left over because he's already got it. He's there. He doesn't even have to move and he's got muscle protein synthesis. So he needs it less. And it's funny, it's— we've always said, oh, you need it, you're, you're 20, you're, you need it, you're lifting weights. But it's no, it's you're not lifting weights, you need it more. So glad you brought that up. Yeah, right.

Yeah, it is crazy.

And then for healing, right? So if you're sick You're— something's broken, you had surgery, that healing process. Also, what's the first thing a woman does, Bonnie, when she's not going to be as active?

Oh yeah, they're not hungry and they're not eating the protein.

Yeah, we think immediately, well, I'm not burning much, so I have to cut back.

It is crazy. So yeah, that was very different because I worked, you know, when I was a trainer with all these bodybuilders, it was just constant protein powders all over the place. It's true.

Yeah, it's like, you know, I remember the first time I started to— like, I was traveling and I started flying with my protein powder, and I would put the scoops of stuff in baggies. And I thought, I wonder if they're going to think this is cocaine. I just wonder if they're going to stop me, right? You know, TSA.

I did get stopped once.

I just got stopped a couple of weeks ago and I, he said, I think it's your fiber. I'm like, are you serious?

So I got stopped with the fiber and the guy looks at me and this is in like a foreign country. And I looked at him, I go, I just want to be a regular girl. I'm like, yeah, no, you should see all the bags. And he says, okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know what to do with that. I'm going to not touch that.

Okay. You go be regular.

Bonnie, thanks so much for being here. But you have this great gift. We're going to let everybody know where they can get their hands on it because dining out is a fact of life. Dining out is, you know, it's a perk of getting to midlife and beyond and being able to afford the luxuries of a social life, of a nice meal out. And you've made it easy to be healthy and enjoy that. Where can they find that cheat sheet?

Well, I put together, it's called the Dining Out Cheat Guide, and you can just download it and it will take you as far as you're interested in going in your dining experience. That's what I would tell you.

So good. So we're going to put the link to that in the show notes today, everybody. So that'll be one of the resources and I'll tell you where to go and get that in just a moment. And Bonnie, where else? Tell us your website, your social media sites. Everybody's going to want to stalk you just a little bit. Where can they do that?

Well, the name of my website, it's londonwellness.net. And I have a YouTube station, which is Healthy Rebels. And I have Instagram, which is Bonnie London RD. I'm on LinkedIn., and I'm also on, you know, whatever, Facebook. I don't even know what everything is. I'm just being honest.

I know, and I love that about you, to tell you the truth. That's so good. All right, everybody, so I have the link. She doesn't know where to find her, but I know where to find her. I will, I will get you hooked up. Bunny London was our guest today, and you can find her and all the links to reach her at flipping50.com/flipping50. Eat out without blowing it. Bonnie, thanks so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you for listening. To listen to a decade of episodes and to get the show notes, visit flipping50.com where you'll be able to find all the previous episodes. And I made it super easy to make the most of your listening time and get exactly what you want to listen to as top priority by getting the top 10 episodes in the areas you most care about, like how much protein do you need, weight loss, and other 3 ultra important topics we've identified as our community's top 5. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than you midlife women. So go and listen right now. Do you have a question for a podcast? A question you'd love to ask, or maybe a story you want to tell? Did you know we have a special group just for podcast question roundups and the answers? My community coaches and I provide answers daily inside of this group, but it's also where I go when I occasionally say, okay, open call for podcast questions or tell your story. Would you like to be a guest? So if you're looking for a community of women who are also interested in optimizing their health, strengthening their mindset, and looking forward to every new year, join the Flipping 50 D Insiders Group. That's Flipping 50 Insiders on Facebook.