My #1 Question for Fast, Lasting Fat Loss

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Welcome to the Virgin diet lifestyle show.

With your host, celebrity nutrition and fitness.

Expert and New York Times best selling author, JJ Virgin. The number one question I get asked is what should I eat? You know, there seems to be so much focus on what we shouldn't be eating that you end up not knowing what to choose. In this show, I'm going to give you what you should pile on your plate to help you have great steady, sustained energy, burn fat, slow down the aging process and drop the inflammation. First, let's start with protein. So protein is really your building blocks for muscles, bones, hair, skin and nails. You can't make it. So if you don't eat it, you're going to have to break down muscle to get it. And you do not want to do that. There are certain times where we need more of it. That's when you're stressed, you're healing, you're injured, you're having surgery. But in General, I recommend 1/2 to 1 gram of protein per pound of fat free mass. And you're probably going, whoa, hold on, jj. So the deal is you've got your body. I want you to do a body composition scale that tells you how much your body is fat and how much your body is everything else. Everything else is fat free mass. So what you're going to do is step on a body fat scale, find out how much your body is fat free mass and then that amount you're going to say, let's say that you find out that you've got, I've been doing easy math, 120 pounds of fat free mass. That means you're going to do somewhere between 60 and 120 grams of protein. And in general, I'm doing more around 73,4 to 1 gram of protein. 3,4 is average. But again, 1 gram if someone's healing, recovering from surgery, hugely stressed. Now remember that a lot of these sources that I'm going to share with you, grass fed beef and wild fish and seafood and pastured pork and chicken and lamb, these are not all pure protein. They also come with some fat. So the more fat it has, the more that you'll eat of it to get to the protein. And if you're a vegan, the sources you're eating are going to either come with fat like nuts and nut butter, or they're going to come with carbs like legumes and quinoa. So you've got to take that into account. This is critical. So why do we want to eat protein besides them being the building blocks and our body can't make it and you need it, is the big thing that protein is going to also do for you is it's going to improve satiety. When you eat protein, it suppresses ghrelin. This is the hormone produced by the stomach when your stomach is empty to say, hey, eat it also boosts metabolism because it takes longer. Your body has to do more work for you to digest it. So I like to say that you are what you eat ate, you are what you eat ate, meaning what you're eating, what they ate is going to impact you. Which is why we do grass fed beef, not corn fed. And we're looking at things like wild and sustainable seafood and lamb and pastured chicken and pork. And then for protein powders, defatted beef protein. So eggs, I love eggs. If you aren't intolerant to them, if you've gone through the virgin diet and you're not reacting to them. Dairy, I'm not a big fan of. If you can find that you can tolerate dairy, then goat's milk or sheep's dairy that's been fermented. And remember, it's not just you are what you eat, it's also you are what you digest. And I find with a lot of people that they have challenges digesting protein. Remember, if you're over the age of 30 or if you're under stress, probably your hydrochloric acid that's in your stomach to help you digest protein has gone down. I like to put everyone on a trial of digestive enzymes because if you go on a trial of them, you're going to see if you feel better, if you're feeling bloated, more bloated after you eat. If you feel like I ate and I'm just full for hours, try a trial of digestive enzymes. And I use a product that's got enzymes to help digest protein and fat, but also not digest carbohydrates. In fact, block carbohydrate and slow down carbohydrate digestion because we don't need to speak speed that up. So for vegans, some of the protein sources are Legumes, lentils, quinoa, nuts and seeds, and plant based protein powders. For non vegans, I like to use defatted beef protein powder. I don't use whey because whey can raise insulin and you don't want to raise insulin because that will then make you store fat. Alright, let's talk about fat. I recommend two to four servings of fat per meal. And here's the deal, if you pig out on fat, you're going to be full for hours. You'll probably never do it again. One of the most therapeutic things that you can do is make an oil change. Because when you eat the right fats, you reduce inflammation. Besides, fat is great for your mood, it's great for your brain, and it protects your brain. Omega 3s specifically. Omega 3s are also good for bone remodeling. So flax seed meal, chia seeds, hemp fish are also great for bone remodeling and for your brain. Fish oil specifically is great for your brain and neuroprotective for all of these. When you're eating the right types of fats, they are helping reduce inflammation, but also they're helping you stay satiated because they trigger the release of some chemicals in the small intestine to tell your brain that you're full.

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So let's talk about the types of fats you should be eating. One of the fats that's in coconut oil is something called medium chain triglycerides. I love these because they're energizing. In fact, when I take them I start to sweat, which means great, my energy's up, they're being thermic, I'm burning fat. Omega 3s are fantastic too, especially omega 3s from fish because you're going to get DHA and EPA from them. So good sources of omega 3s chia hemp flax are sources of something called ALA. It takes a lot to get ALA to move all the way down the pathway to elongate to EPA and dha. So I really recommend eating fish and taking fish oil and if you are a vegan or a vegetarian using an algae source. Now other great sources, Avocado, coconut, olive oil and olives. Great sources of monounsaturated fats and some saturated fats in the coconut. Low roasted or dehydrated nuts. I like to soak nuts. This is going to help with their digestibilities and reduce their lectins and phytates some of the anti nutrients. Another oil that you rarely hear about that's amazing is Red palm fruit oil. Now you want to make sure you're getting a sustainable red palm fruit oil because otherwise they could be deforesting to get it turns out red palm fruit oil is our richest source of this beautiful vitamin E called tocotrienols and it resists high heat. So things that you can use for high heat Coconut oil, red palm fruit oil and macadamia nut oil. One of the most amazing oils of all time. This is actually how I cook my fish and what I use for my salad dressing. Nut butters are another great one. Coconut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter, key pecan butter and then grass fed butter and ghee and grass fed beef. Remember you're going to get some fat from that and wild fish, remember you get some fat for that as well. I talked about digestive enzymes earlier, but the enzymes that really help here, lipase is hugely important to help you break down your fats. And again, I see as people get older or under stress, they tend to struggle with protein and fat. Digestion. Carbohydrates. Oh, my gosh. Probably the most misunderstood. Well, it depends what year we're in. Some years carbohydrates are the most important thing to eat. Some years we shouldn't eat them at all. And here's the deal. It's not about eating no carbohydrates. It's about eating low sugar impact, high fiber carbohydrates. The big thing you're getting from carbohydrates is fiber. And fiber is key because it slows down stomach emptying, keeps ghrelin suppressed so you feel fuller, longer. Of course, that fiber helps give you poops you can be proud of, increases the size of your stool and keeps them moving along. You don't want things sitting in you for long periods of time. I want you just to consider, if you pooped and left it sitting there all day long, what would it do? It would stink. Think about it. Sitting all day long with you, you should be pooping one or two times a day. And so fiber is very detoxifying, can help lower your cholesterol. It helps with blood sugar control because it helps release sugar slowly and it feeds the good bacteria in your gut. So critical. Do you know if you have too much bad bacteria, they actually extract more calories from the food you eat and they store them as fat. All right, and then so carbs, things that are carbs here, Quinoa, lentils, legumes, low sugar impact fruits like berries and grapefruit. Squash. Squash is some of the most amazing food that we never talk about. Pumpkin, kabocha, butternut. These are some of my favorite. Slow, low carbohydrates. And then of course, non starchy vegetables. Please eat at least a pound of these a day. Five to ten servings a day. One of the things that I teach people to do is to use my product Green Balance, which is a green drink, because then I know that you finally got some greens in. Of course I want you eating your greens too. That's kind of your green health assurance. Big thing you want to do with your non starchy vegetables is eat from the rainbow. So get a broad variety of colors here so you get a load of antioxidants and also tons of fiber. The cool thing about non starchy vegetables is you're getting tons of plant nutrients, phytonutrients, a lot of antioxidants, a lot of fiber, a lot of nutrients with very little calories, so you can get the bulk up in your diet. So if you're someone who wants to eat like a big bowl, make a big bowl of arugula and spinach and peppers and onions and cucumbers and radishes. I'm thinking of what I had for lunch. Throw that all in there, all those great vegetables, because again, five to ten servings a day. And I want you to think of for your non starchy vegetables, that's half a cup cooked or a cup of raw. For slow, low carbs, again, the quinoa, the lentils, the squash, one or two per meal. And with fruit, I only want you having one or two pieces of fruit a day. And for legumes, that's a half a cup serving. For grains like quinoa or wild rice, it's a half a cup serving. For root vegetables, that's a half a cup servings. For squash, they kind of slice straddle the non starchy starchy, that's a cup serving there. Now, one thing I want to shout out about here is resistant starch, which is really cool for curbing your appetite for fast, fast loss and improving your insulin sensitivity and in lowering blood sugar levels and improving your gut health. Now, reason resistant starch is called, that is it resists digestion and it remains intact until it arrives in your colon where it breaks down that resistant starch to short chain fatty acids that the colon cells then use for. So it really helps build your healthy gut. It also works like a prebiotic like inulin and feeds your healthy gut flora and it reduces inflammation, reducing your risk for a lot of different conditions like Crohn's disease and constipation and diarrhea. The deal is when you eat by the plate with those clean, lean proteins, healthy fats, low impact carbs, including resistant starch and non starchy vegetables, you should be able to go four to six hours before you need to eat again. And a great reinforcement strategy for this is to journal so that if you're hungrier than four to six hours, you can look back and go, where did I fall short? So for a picture of the perfect plate and how much of each of the four food groups you should be eating and what's in those four groups, text 58885 and enter JJPlate Space, your first name space and your email address. Again you text to 5 and 8885 and you enter JJplate space, your first name space, and your email address in the Sugar Impact Diet. I help you clear up the confusion around sugar and take back the control that sugar has over your life. In just two weeks, you'll lose your sweet tooth and shrink your waistline, so why wait? Start those two weeks today. Hey everyone, did you like this episode?

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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 fraud 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.