[Bonus Episode] How to Become a Fat-Melting Machine with Leanne Ely

Hey, it's J.J. here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating, and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order. Hey, JJ here. Can you believe how fast the holidays are knocking at the door this year? One minute it's pumpkin spice season, the next you're getting your guest room ready and wondering where their wrapping paper went. And that's when I turned to Wayfair. From bedding and towels to holiday decor and last minute stocking stuffers, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home and holidays together fast. And for way less. With Wayfair, I know I can refresh my guest room in no time. Maybe I'll add a soft new comforter or a few holiday throw pillows. With Wayfair, it's so easy and everything arrives super fast. Plus, there's free shipping for any order over $35 easy and total peace of mind. So whether you're hosting, gifting, or just adding those final festive touches, Wayfair has your back. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less, head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style, every home that's W a y F A I R.com the holidays.

Are all about family. But at the Chrysler Wrap up the Year sales event, it's all about you. Enjoy every mile in the most awarded minivan in America, the Castle Chrysler Pacifica with the most standard safety features in its class, available stow n Go seating and the available stow and back built in vacuum. Make the most of the holidays with a great deal at the Chrysler Pacifica Wrap up the Year sales event based on Ward's small van segment. Based upon the latest available competitor information, Chrysler is a registered trademark of FCA US llc.

First of all, like best name ever. But what, what exactly is the hot Melt diet? Because I got to tell you, it sounds like like some cheese melted on a piece of bread. And I'm sure it's not that there is no dairy. I just am like pretty darn sure. I was like, I'm pretty sure. Doesn't it sound like a hot melt sandwich? Hey, it's JJ and welcome to Ask the Health Expert. But this isn't just any old Ask the Health Expert session.

This is your bonus session.

Yes, it's the weekend and cause it's the weekend. We are going to take some time with an amazing expert. So be on the lookout for these.

Saturday Ask the Health Expert bonus sessions where we're going to go deep into.

An amazing subject with an incredible expert to give you actionable items that you.

Can put into your life.

Hey, it's JJ with a super exciting guest today. For those of you who love recipes, which I know is like everybody, I've got my buddy, New York Times bestselling author Leanne Ely. Know, is she a New York Times bestselling author? But she is an author of 10 published books. And the reality is, you know, we really look at it. Cause she created the very first menu planning website Saving Dinner and has been doing recipes ever since. She is probably one of the most prolific recipe writers on the planet. And you're gonna be getting some of her awesome faves today.

I'm gonna give you that right now.

Just so you make sure you get it. If you go to jjvirgin.com hot melt and we'll explain why that name, hot Melt is being used because it's kind of fun. You will be getting this. And Leanne, I will tell you, I met Leanne because she literally pinged me on Twitter. She tweeted at me and she was like, hey, I've got some recipes. You're writing diet programs. Let's talk. So we hooked up and literally we got to be buddies online. And then I was going to North Carolina, where she lived at the time. So I went and stayed at her house. I mean, how crazy is this? And she cooked. It was amazing. We did a bunch of fun videos and the rest is history. So I'm really excited to finally have my buddy Leon Ely on the show with me today. Now, before we dive in, I want to share one of my favorites with you.

Hey, jj, Virgin here. Okay, real talk. So often the holidays sneak up on me, travel, gifts, hosting, you know, all the things. And suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. And it's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt hangover. And honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season, Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of your reset could be a real goal this time. Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with the code Virgin.

This episode is brought to you by Buffalo Trace Distillery. Powerful, yet smooth. Contained, but never tame. Proudly going their own way but never going alone. This is the spirit inside Buffalo Trace Bourbon. Made at Buffalo Trace Distillery. The world's most award winning distillery. Buffalo Trace is always perfectly untouched. Tamed, distilled, aged and bottled by Buffalo Trace distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky. 90 proof, 45 alcohol by volume. Learn more at buffalotrace distillery.com Please drink responsibly.

All right, Leanne Ely, about darn time you got on this show.

Well, thanks for inviting me.

Finally, what's a girl got to do to get like her one of her oldest pals on her podcast Cheese Cheese. Anyway, it will be well worth it for all of you wondering the same questions because. Because Leanne has been up to some fun stuff in the kitchen. Hopefully you've been over checking out her Facebook when she does some of her cooking, some of that looks a little wine induced. Some of it, you know, I was like going, you should like the wine, the, you know, cooking with wine.

And sometimes I put it in food.

So you, I've, you've been all over the place. And I kind of want to start back, kind of rewind because, gosh, you know, when I first met you and you literally, for everybody listening, I met Leanne because she tweeted at me. Yeah. And kind of were like going, wow, I've got, I've got a program, you've got recipes, let's get it all together. But you've been cooking and doing amazing recipes for, gosh, how long, my friend.

Well, my very, very, very, very first book with a publisher who will stay unnamed at this point was in 2000. So that was my very first cookbook. And then, yeah, I've done 10 of them. So there's been a few.

10 of them. And that's, I mean, you've done 10 cookbooks, but you've got, I don't know how many recipes because of your, you know, recipe, meal to meal service and all that stuff. You just have so much stuff out there, it's crazy. So prolific recipe queen is, is who we have here now with Leanne Healing. Right. I mean, it's true. And what's interesting is you keep reinventing yourself, which is what makes it even cooler.

Yeah, Me and Madonna.

Yes. There you go.

It's our 18th year, believe it or not. We just, this is the. January was the 18th, we beginning of our 18th year at saving dinner. So it's been, it has been quite a journey.

Very fun. So let's talk about. Because, you know, when you first started cooking, I'm assuming it's always been healthy cooking, right?

You know, pretty much. I mean, not back when I first learned how to cook professionally was in the 80s and of course, you know, it was with French chefs. And you know, that was kind of a whole different thing. Although that's kind of made a comeback. But, you know, a little bit of a difference there, of course. But yes, I reinvented it to be healthy right after I started having children.

Yes. So she's been doing healthy cooking forever now. I remember way back when, remember when healthy cooking was cooking light and like, oh my gosh, thank God it's not there anymore. Now your latest thing, because you started stepping into this with your part time paleo and now you've gone into kind of a new spin on keto and I love the name of this, it's like so cool. This hot melt.

Yeah.

So, like, first of all, how did this all come to be? Was it just like one night having some wine and this brilliance downloaded or what happened?

Yeah, exactly. There's always wine involved.

I just, I know you too well, so.

Yeah, well, we've, we've tipped a glass or two together. Or five.

Yeah. So let's, let's, let's. I want to learn how this happened, and then we're going to share with everybody this. And just for everybody listening, by the way, you're going to get your hands on some awesome recipes, and I'm going to tell you, you can get them. I'll tell right now the link, it's jjvirgin.com hotmilk so you'll be able to get recipes. So as you're listening to this going, I want those recipes. You're getting them. Don't worry. So let's back it up and say, all right, how did you figure out this whole hot melt thing? How did. How the hot meltdown not become a hot mess? Or maybe it is.

Let me just say, I thought keto just generally by itself. And, you know, if you go onto Pinterest, you can understand what I'm talking about. But if you, if you go to Pinterest and, and look for keto recipes, you see all kinds of nightmares in there. And it's just what, what really drove me nuts is there was not enough nutrients in there. And that, and that is always the basis of, of how I create a recipe. Is it nutrient rich? So, so what happened was I just got a lot of customer service questions, like, is a keto diet safe? Is a keto diet healthy? Can I do this? And so I started, you know, of course, just like anybody else, I started doing the research on it and was really amazed at how long the keto diet's been around and how much it has influenced different.

Can we talk about that? Because, like, someone just posted that, and I remember when they called the Virgin diet a fad, and I'm like, it's an elimination diet. They've been around for decades. Keto diets has been around for thousands of years. So the idea that this is a fad is like calling Paleo a fad. No, this was how we ate 5,000 years ago. I mean, it's just, I hear these things. I'm like, I can't. My head spins and then falls off. So this is not a fad for everybody listening. I mean, we'll take any diet and make it A fad application. But Julius Caesar actually used keto to control a seizure. So not a fad.

Right, not a fad. And when it really got grabbed, medical community's attention was back in the 20s, if you can believe that. And there was a doctor who came out with this showing the connection between just like Julius Caesar, epilepsy and having a very high fat diet. So it's evolved a lot since then and they've noticed that it really helps with diabetes type 2, it helps with PCOS and it helps with all kinds of hormones.

Brain injuries.

Brain injuries galore. Yeah. I mean, you know this from personal experience. So a keto diet in and of itself is something that a lot of, a lot of practitioners kind of take issue with. They say don't do it forever, do it seasonally. There's. And there's not a lot of research out there, at least what I have found that says doing keto 100% all the time is a good thing. But I sort of part ways a little bit with the traditional keto diet. And what I look at instead is do you have the fat balanced in your diet for what it is that you're trying to do and for what works for you? Because as you know, it's all extraordinarily individual. It's never one size fits all. So I look at it from the perspective of, for example, I've got one lady that's in one of my groups who, it just didn't work for her at all. She felt crappy on it and he did all kinds of things up and down and it was just her particular body type it did not work for. I had another woman who just. Absolutely. And this is why I called it hot melt, because she was just hot melting like butter on a stove, man. This woman was just shedding it. Now she had more weight to lose than, than this other lady and she was in a different place hormonally. She had all different things going on. And of course, you know, you know how it is. You're not a doctor and you can't say, oh, well, this is going to work for you. And this is not. But there's a genuinely, I think there's a, a plumb line for everyone. And that is making sure that you have enough fat in your diet. And it's not so much about the ketones as it is about being in a fat burning zone. Yeah.

And here's what people need to understand too. They feel like you have to be in ketosis, extreme low carbohydrate to Produce ketones. No, not true. So I think what you're saying here, and I've been, I've been really looking at this lately because here's the thing, all diets actually work in some way. I, you know, I just went and did this Dr. Oz segment and our buddy, Dr. Alan Christensen, as I was driving to flying to do it because it was on potatoes, said, have you read the potato hack diet? Literally, here's a diet where all you eat are potatoes, okay? Then we've got, you know, juice cleanses, we've got fasting, we've got keto diets. So but they all actually work for a period of time. And so you know, what you, what you can do with these things is go, okay, I'm gonna like go intensive, use this therapeutically based on my genes and my lifestyle, my, like what's going on with my health at the time and what my goals are and then see where I want to stay, which it sounds like is what you've really created here is, you know, test how you feel best and then create it so that you've got good optimal fat, which we all feel better on. I'm sorry, no one ever has told me, you know, I took the fat really down low in my diet and I feel awesome.

Yeah, exactly.

And it tastes so good too. You know.

When I was getting my certification way back in the 90s, that's what I was taught. So it was when I was first started creating my recipes, it was all low fat, non fat.

This right? Oh my God. I was down to like 10 grams of fat a day.

Oh, me too.

And not very, very nice either.

And my hair was straw and my.

Acne, all that non fat milk crap, we're still recovering from that. It still makes me angry. All those missed, you know, terrible, terrible. Like fat free pasta meals. Gut. So here we are. Now we've got hot milk.

Yeah.

So. So let's talk about just benefits to keto diet in the first place or just benefits to lowering your carbs and increasing your fat in the first place.

Well, I mean, you already hinted to the part about the brain. And I think this is one of the things. I just had a conversation with a mutual friend of ours, as a matter of fact, who has switched to a keto diet simply because he did his gene test and found there was one marker for an increased risk of Alzheimer's. And so nobody wants to hear that. Right? But what we understand from ketogenic diets is that it increases brain mitochondrial biogenesis, meaning that you can produce Entirely new mitochondria. And of course we know that each and every cell in our body has the mitochondria, which is like the engine, the, the energy source for each cell. When that's improved, when you improve your energy metabolism, that's one of the reasons why it is keto so good for any kind of a brain thing. Whether you're healing your brain from any kind of brain disorder. They're showing it even for bipolar, they're showing it for Alzheimer's, epilepsy, all kinds of things. And of course also add on to that, it's, you know, it's the messenger. Your messenger system is your hormone system and you're in your body and it completely greases the apparatus for that so those hormones can communicate with, with your, your body parts. It's really fascinating study. That's my biggest thing.

All right, so, so then, so you created this thing. And what is, you know, what is this thing? What's that like, first of all, like, best name ever. But what, what exactly is the hot melt diet?

So the hot melt diet is, is.

Because I gotta tell you, it sounds like, like some cheese melted on a piece of bread. And I'm sure it's not that there is no dairy. I just, I just am like pretty darn sure. I was like, oh. And I'm, I'm pretty sure, like, doesn't it sound like you know, a hot melt sandwich? Right? Like, I'm sure it's not that. It couldn't be that he didn't turn the leaf over like that.

Well, you, you've known me for how many years now and you remember when I was really struggling with rosacea, so, you know, I'm not a big dairy fan. Dairy is, is usually not our friend. And even if, even if people can tolerate dairy, it's still inflammatory. So this is, is anti inflammatory and it's very nutrient rich. That's the, the biggest part of the, of the puzzle for me is getting those nutrients up and then we just start jacking up the fat a little bit. We're adding lots of avocado, we're adding some ghee. We are not shy on sauteing those vegetables in a little ghee. They taste delicious. And you're going to thank God because.

Who wants steamed vegetables? That's not yummy. No, it's really not yummy. No, that's not yummy.

Ray Ban Meta glasses come with open ear audio so you can listen to your favorite music without blocking out the world around you.

Hey, Meta play, gorgeous.

Here's Gorgeous by Doja Cat.

You can also ask Meta AI questions.

Hey, Meta, when's Doja Cat's next concert?

Doja Cat is playing at the Los Angeles theater next Tuesday.

Sweet Ray Ban. Meta glasses available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers.

So.

So that's the. So that's kind of the basis for it. And it's knocking back maybe the protein by an ounce or two. But again, what I do is I always say you have to test and figure out where your protein needs are, because we are all different. And if you do, if you already know where that is and you knock it back maybe an ounce, and then you increase your fat up just maybe another tablespoon or even two during a meal, you can see if this particular combination is working for you. And the other big thing that, where I part ways with the keto diet is if you have ever done your research on this, it'll make you insane by looking at what these people live and die by the pee sticks. They're peeing all over their hams. You just know they are trying to get a pee stick to see if they're in ketosis or not.

They're.

They're buying expensive blood meters and, and sticking their fingers to see if they're in ketosis or not. They're. They're calculating macros. And at the end of the day, you look at that and you and I both know this. We've been. How long have we been nutritionists, right? You cannot sustain that.

Well, also, you're looking at a snapshot of a moment in time. You could be in ketosis one minute and out the next. And that's actually not the point. You know, it's really not looking at this single moment in time going, am I there?

No. Exactly. That, that is such people obsess over this and they think that this, this is going to be like the golden ticket to weight loss. And it's not, because again, it's back to that whole thing where you might be in ketosis when you wake up in the morning, but at the end of the day you're not. But what you can be is in a fat burning zone versus something, somebody who's constantly using their glycogen as, as fuel. So it's a shift is what it is.

And, you know, here's the thing. You could eat a super high fat diet and really chow down on that, which is hard to do because it's filling, but you still could and be in ketosis and not lose weight. So, I mean, totally, you know, it's one piece of the therapeutic puzzle. And there's times when this will work well for you, and that's why I like you having, you know, the zone piece of it. Because people will need to be in varying amounts of carbohydrates depending on what's going on with them. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

All right, so what else? So. So I love. I love everything I'm hearing that it's not this, because what I find with most people in diets, and this makes me crazy, I'd like to put everybody in room because my whole takeaway is they all work people, they all work, and let's all just get along. Could we all be friends? But you put people in a room, you put a ketogenic diet person in the room and a paleo person and, you know, and then a vegan, and it's just like, it's gonna get bloody, and it's like, it's. I go, well, what. What if, like, what if we just had a couple lentils? What would happen would be. Be okay, we'd survive, you know, so. So walk us through the process of this. Of this hot melt diet and how it works.

So the. The way it works is we like to start everybody off with a nice, yummy smoothie in the morning. That works really well. Everybody likes them. We're used to doing them. We know that it's. It's one of the ways to go. And we just start slipping some avocado in there, Might put a little MCT oil in there, and something that usually maybe was never in there before, but it puts some fat in there. What I found personally is that when I have a smoothie with a little avocado in there and maybe, you know, a handful of some power grains or whatever, but I make a green smoothie in the morning with matcha tea and protein fiber, you know, the whole nine yards, and then I add these green elements to it. I can go six hours without eating. That's a long time. And we also like to put into this some intermittent fasting, and women need to do it differently than men, too. And you know this because.

Yes, women don't skip breakfast.

Well, no, they don't. And they don't.

They can skip dinner. Not breakfast. I mean, it is. I remember I was doing a talk at Bulletproof Conference, and I. And I got, like, bombarded by all these women who were like, we can't skip breakfast. I'm like, I know. And, you know, you know, just eat breakfast a little later, have dinner earlier, skip that. Don't skip breakfast.

It's just, you know, it's, it's. So my recommendation on this, and it is in the hot melt, is to do it every other day and for 18 hours. So you can do. It's super easy, early dinner and a little bit later of a breakfast and you're, you're there. You know, it's hard.

It is. It's very. Especially on the weekends. Oh, my gosh. It's like, yeah, sleep in. There you go. It's so simple. Okay, that thinks. That makes sense. Total sense. So any other key tips and tricks that you have up your sleeves that you want to share with this?

Well, I mean, again, you know, I keep going back to this whole thing of understanding. It's like what you said is like, we could have this bloodbath of everybody saying, no, it's this and no, it's that. Or we could just drop back a minute and just say, oh, okay, cool, that works for you. Let me find what works for me. And one of the things that, I mean, I wrote this itty bitty small ebook called how to be your own nutritional guru, because I think at the end of the day what happens is that we are always looking for somebody to tell us what we're supposed to feel, how it's supposed to work for us, and therefore it is. And it's not that way. It is not that that hard. And hard cast. There are certain principles involved, of course. We're always going to be eating nutrient rich food. We're always going to be drinking a lot of water because we know that that helps with everything that we're trying to accomplish. We're always going to be going with some clean protein. We're always going to be looking for a lot of fiber as well in our diets. Right? So you put that all together and then you just figure out what ratios work well for you, and that's where, that's where we can then honor everybody's diet. And that's where we can always also pull it in and see, hey, this isn't exactly working me. Well, J.J. virgin said, or Leanne Ely said. And so it's like, pay attention to your body.

It doesn't matter what all of us said. It matters how you feel.

Bingo. That's, that's my biggest takeaway and that's that if I could get everybody on this planet to understand that, I think, you know, I don't think we'd have the obesity crisis that we have. And I don't think we'd have people being so Confused and bopping around from thing to thing, they'd find the thing that works for them and they dial it in according to what their body needs.

Yeah. Find your thing. I mean, the biggest thing that, that really my through line in my business is that, you know, you've got to be your own personal health detective. You're going on your journey. You need to, to connect the dots between what you're eating and how you feel. It doesn't matter if someone else tells you that kale is going to be amazing for you. If kale makes you feel crappy.

Exactly. So.

Right. I mean, and I think as we learn more and more and more about our genes, about our microbiome, we'll realize, oh, well, there's a reason I can't eat spinach or whatever this thing is that makes you feel crappy or you just can't stand the taste of. Right. I know. I'm a super taster. So really bitter stuff like broccoli rabe, broccolini, they're just like, oh, I'm like George Bush with those things, you know, I just can't take it. So, you know, so don't like. Just because it's good for someone doesn't mean it's good for everybody. It's super important that we get that. So I love that you're out there pushing that message out to the world now. You have recipes that you are going to be gifting everybody. Tell us, tempt us with a couple of those yummy ones.

Well, one is my best, my basis for everything, which is the mighty mitochondria soup. We were just talking about the mitochondria. This soup has every vegetable in it but the kitchen sink, you know, and lots of bone broth. And it's quite delicious. People love this soup. It's been shared all over the place. It's one of our most pinned things on Pinterest. And I'm giving that soup recipe out because that soup recipe is super easy to make into to a keto type of a bowl of soup just by adding some lean protein and maybe even adding a little bit of stirring some ghee in there or some peace stew, which is pistu, is like a pesto without the cheese and it's delicious and it makes the whole thing taste wonderful. So there's. Yeah, you would like this. You would like this. I just had this.

I just want you to make it for me as the thing.

All you have to do is come out here and I will. I cook for everybody, you know that.

So, yeah. Well, there's that.

Just a small detail. And then there's a salmon recipe in there, I believe, as well. And that salmon recipe is one of my favorites. And it's on a bed of cauli rice. And actually I do a caulif risotto that tastes a lot like what you would experience, like a mushroom risotto, but without the cheese. And then on top of that is some salmon and there's some, some avocado involved and some other things. And then the other one, I don't know. I don't remember.

And there's a surprise. No, just say it's a surprise.

It's a surprise.

That's what we get. It's a surprise. So again, I'm going to put all of those@jburgeon.com forward slash hot melt. They are my favorite price free. So again, I like to pull out every single excuse anyone could ever have for why they can't be healthy because we put so much information out. You do, I do. So many of us. That is so easily accessible. And so it's really just the big thing now is to get the recipes and take action. That's it. That's, that's, that's your part as the listener. All right, so again, it's jjvirgin.com forward/hot melt. And Leanne, thank you so much for being on with me today. Awesome, awesome time. It's really pathetic that this is what I have to do to get some time with you, but, you know, whatever I have to do.

Works that way.

Sometimes it just does, doesn't it? All righty. So thank you. I appreciate you.

I appreciate you back.

There was your Deep dive bonus episode of Ask the Health Expert. We will be dropping these bonus episodes as amazing experts and incredible titles come to us. You don't want to miss out on this, do ya? Stay in the know. Be the first to know. Go to subscribetoj.com and I'll hook you up.

Hello, listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately. And I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader, and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.