Optimizing Metabolism at Any Age with Jade Teta
15 Dec 2025 · 36 min
Dr. Jade Teta explains why women's metabolism responds differently to exercise and diet than men's, especially during perimenopause. He recommends three high-intensity workouts weekly, prioritizing recovery through walks and rest, and eating protein, fiber, and water-rich foods like soups and salads rather than following male-focused low-carb programs.
Chapters
Hey, J.J. 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 hey, it's JJ 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, the holidays are all.
About family, but at the Chrysler Wrap of the year sales event, it's all about you. Enjoy every mile in the most awarded minivan in America, the 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 of 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.
Hey, this is JJ Virgin. Welcome and thanks so much for joining me. This is is Ask the Health Expert here. I put the power of health in your hands and give you access to the top people in health and wellness. In each episode, I share safe ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your.
Gut, detox and lots more.
So if you want to get healthy and get off the dieting for life merry go round, I'll give you strategies that will help you look and feel better fast. All righty, It's JJ and I am excited about today's show because I have one of my buddies of, oh my gosh, 15 years or so back on the show because he is so amazing. He really to me is like the foremost expert in women's metabolized metabolism and exercise. We kind of bonded early on because we're both fascinated with the hormonal effects of exercise and both when we were both in school, like when I was in grad school, there was no information about hormones and exercise. 0. The first textbook came out a couple years later. I make it sound like I'm 100 years old, but it wasn't that long ago that we just weren't even talking about, you know, cortisol and what happened when you did, you know, long exercise sessions, all that. So it's exciting today because we're going to be talking about estrogen and growth hormone and cortisol and how to really dial in your exercise, which hint, hint means exercise a lot less and some of the great things that you should be doing instead. Believe me, you're going to like it. I'm talking spa time. Yes, I am. That will really make the big difference on you being able to burn fat. So I got my buddy, Dr. Jade Tita, returning to the show. He's an integrated physician, physician, author and sought after expert in the realm of metabolism and self development. He's the founder and creator of the international health and fitness company Metabolic Effect and the author of several books, including the best sellers Metabolic effect diet and metabolic aftershock. He's written a lot of books with his brother Keone, who's also a pal. Anyway, he is just a wealth of knowledge. This is a phenomenal interview with where you're going to learn why you shouldn't be working out like a dude and starving yourself. And you probably already figured out that that doesn't work. So I am super excited to share Jade with you. But before we do, here's a word about one of my other favorites.
Hey, J.J. 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. 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 year reset could.
Be a real goal.
This time. Don't let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use the code virginonarch.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 Corona. When you're on a beach with an ice cold Corona in hand, how can you not feel centered? But did you know you can get that vibe anywhere? That's because whether after work, at barbecues or at a bar with just a squeeze of lime, Corona brings you La Playa mentality. Because while we all want the beach life, paradise doesn't always have palm trees. Corona La Playa awaits. Get yours@ordercorona.com Relax responsibly. Corona Extra Beer Imported by Crown Import, Chicago, IL all righty.
Jade Tita. Dr. Jade Tita, that is. Welcome back to the show. It is so fun to have you here with me.
J.J. how are you? I love you. Of course, a lot of people don't know this, but I'm going to say it. I say it every time. But JJ has been one of the best things that's happened to me in this industry, taking such good care of me and been someone I've learned from. So I always love connecting with you, my dear.
Oh, thank you. So I'm excited to have you talk about, like, women's periods and menopause, which is like, this will be fun. I got such a dude. Like, you're not just like a guy. You're not like a metro guy. You're a dude, buff dude. And we're going to talk about women's hormonal cycles and life stage, all sorts of cool stuff around metabolism, which I get asked about all the time. So I was like, oh, Jade, you got to come on and yak about this. But why? How'd you get into talking about women's metabolism?
It is so funny, right? So, I mean, obviously, as JJ alludes to, I am a big, bald, linebacker, muscular looking guy. And so it is funny to me and funny to most of the women that I do this work with that I am such an expert in this. But it really comes down to what you and I do, jj. Most of the people I was working with in natural medicine were women. And so I had to figure out real quick, I'm a conscientious practitioner, and I had to figure out real quick what is going on with women that is so different than men. Because I saw particular strengths and challenges that women had that were different from men, both for weight loss and in natural medicine. And so I just made myself a student of it and really was kind of in the beginning there, sort of dragged along kicking and screaming by my female clients saying, look, you can't treat us like men. Stop doing that. And you need to figure us out. And so I did. And it's sort of been.
Yeah, when hormonal women say that to you, you listen, don't exactly. You're like, okay, okay, don't hurt me.
Yes, indee.
Yes, indeed.
I became an expert, you know, and I am better for it, of course.
Well, so how. How besides the obvious stuff? Because I like to say, you know, men are not hairy women. Right. But, you know, I mean, here's what. Here's what we women all know. We decide that we're going to get fit. We eat the same as our significant other, we work out the same. The guy gets ripped, he's losing weight like crazy, and we're sitting there and nothing's happening.
Yeah. Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting because we. Most of the research and you know this, jj, and I'm sure most of your listeners know this as well, but I'll just say it. Most of the research that is in and been done in nutrition and weight loss in terms of exercise has been done on young males. And so most of what gets passed down, trickled down into what we read about in books is male based. And so what has happened, I think part of that is that most women are doing male dominated programs. For example, the latest things right now are keto and intermittent fasting and things like that. These things can be highly beneficial for women, of course, but they are because of the way the female metabolism is built, which I'll explain in just a second. They can also be very tricky for women. And if you think about the metabolism as its major job is as a stress barometer, that's really what it is. It's one big stress barometer. And then you think the female is the gender of childbearing. That stress barometer has to be far more sensitive compared to a man. And so that begins the discussion of why women can cut carbs and end up with more cravings than a man will, or go on a keto diet and end up losing more muscle mass and having rebound weight gain as a result of that, because she is far more stress sensitive and can have more metabolic whiplash as a result of some of these diets. And so this is a big, big piece of it. It's one of many. But I think it's the biggest factor that most women deal with.
I always say men are like VW Bugs and women are like, I don't know, DB9s, Aston Martins.
Yes, they are. They are the more delicate, refined, beautiful sports cars, whereas the men are sort of like the Ford trucks, let's put it that way. You need to be a little more sensitive. How you're gonna. You're not gonna take that Ferrari off road without thinking about it. And so I do think that is a pretty good analogy, actually, to look at for women. And here's. I guess, here's the thing that I would say to women. I personally don't like the idea of saying that women struggle more because they actually have more strengths. For example, women burn more fat at all exercise intensities compared to men, and that's because of estrogen. Women also, whereas men have more of a testosterone advantage when they exercise, women have more of a human growth hormone advantage with exercise. And the combination of estrogen and human growth Hormone for women is where we want to focus our attention for fat loss. And most off the shelf programs don't do that. And so this is a really interesting thing for women. So you might think, oh, well, I'm a female who's having issues losing fat. The truth of the matter is you actually have strengths. If you just make some subtle changes that are different from what, you know, you and I, J.J. might tell a male to do.
Hmm.
So.
What about. Because the difference, one of the big, obviously differences with women is like, not only do we cycle, then we have like, you know, we're very different in our teens versus our twenties versus our fifties. And most of this audience, by the way, is probably perimenopausal, menopausal. We've got some right in the. But we've got some. We've got some, you know, people still probably having regular cycles, too. So we're all over the map. So what can you say about that?
Yeah, well, so the interesting thing is the following, right? Once you understand as a woman that estrogen is an advantage for you, and I'll explain this, because it can be a little.
That's like such a great thing to know, is that estrogen is an advantage.
I mean, besides, it is a huge advantage for women. And here's what happens. It is insulin sensitizing. It speeds up metabolic rate. It has muscle building potential just like testosterone does. And of course, it does cause fat loss around the middle of the body. It takes fat off the midsection. Now, of course, it slows fat release from the butt, the hips, the thighs, and the breast. But that's why you get that beautiful hourglass shape. Now, once you begin to hit perimenopause, you start to lose some of the estrogen and progesterone advantage, because estrogen starts to fluctuate in very high and then very lows. And what you get is a very volatile time. Remember, there's receptors for estrogen all over the body, not just in the uterus and ovaries, but in the brain and the adipose tissue, in the muscle as well. And so what happens at this point in time is you're becoming more insulin resistant, you are losing some of your metabolic potential, and you're also having wild swings in brain chemistry that can cause cravings and things like this. And so what you have to understand is that, okay, now rather than maybe taking a more is better approach in terms of exercise and a less is better approach in terms of diet, you need to get much smarter. So in other words, now it's not just reduce carbohydrates to nothing. It's have enough but not too much. Sort of the Goldilocks effect. So maybe timing carbohydrates only around exercise and at night that begins to make a difference for women during this time. And then with exercise, instead of doing all this high intensity interval training and tons and tons of long duration cardio, we need to spend more time in relaxing yoga and tai chi and long relaxing walks. And so a lot of women during perimenopause don't realize that time in bed is probably better than time on the treadmill. And time walking the dog and smelling the roses might be better than high intensity interval workouts that may overly stress you. And so it becomes a fine tuning for women around perimenopause and menopause because of what's going on with estrogen.
I love hearing this too because I've seen so I mean, I must tell you, I've seen so many women that still subscribe to the whole bank account model of, you know, of dieting. So they just keep trying to do more and more and more. And again now it's gone not just to deprivation dieting, keto dieting. So they'll do CrossFit plus keto. And I see them just going completely downhill.
Yeah, I see the same exact thing that you're seeing. And that is because the metabolism is that stress barometer. When you stress it out too much, it is going to push back against you. So you and I have talked about this a lot and I think we, and we've done a lot to help educate people in this. But you know, the metabolism is most like a boomerang or a seesaw or a pendulum. It basically pushes back against you when you stress it out. So there's a reason why your habit of cheesecake eating at night may be related to your habit of over exercising and over dieting the day before or all during the day. And people don't put these two things together. You push against the metabolism and it will push back against you. As a woman, you are extra sensitive to that. So I call it the metabolic credit card effect. We all know what, using a credit card you can get what you want, but you'd have to pay penalties later. And so you have to be very, very careful at this time to keep stress off the system. And so to me, the workouts that I like to do, and I call them workouts or recommend my female clients to do, especially around the age of perimenopause, are relaxing workouts like time in the sauna, time in an Epsom, salt bath, time with your pets, as long as they're not peeing all over the place and stressing you out, time with loved ones, sex and physical affection, massage, all of these things. Anything that lowers stress hormones most. In particular, walking. You know, the Japanese have done a ton of studies on slow walking. Matter of fact, they call it Shinrin yoku, which means taking in the forest through walking. So they walk out into these forests, bathing under the greenery of forest and walking slowly. And what they find is that cortisol levels are reduced significantly and it takes the stress burden off the metabolism. I mean, think about when you stress out the metabolism, what's it gonna do? The only stress that it knows, it knows one stress primarily historically, and that is starvation. So stress to the metabolism, any type of stress, says starvation to some degree. And then let me hold onto the fat I have and accumulate more fat. And so we need to do everything we can to take stress off that metabolic system. The way to do that is to start looking at rest, recovery, recuperation activities and do enough, but not too much of the high intensity exercise stuff and the severe eating regimes.
Yay.
And everyone is standing up applauding you. You can't hear them, but they are. But, but that's what I mean. My, my top thing, it's funny, when I start to work with people, I say we're going to work on diet first, then we'll start adding these things in. Let's just start by moving more. This is where you should get a dog, you know, because you'll have to walk the dog. Then just incorporate in some interval training every other day. You don't do this every day. And then add a little resistance training. But make sure you're doing some restorative stuff, stretching and yoga. And it's just all that stuff's in sync. And, you know, we've talked about exercise forever because when we both first started, there was no talk about what happened with hormones, with exercise. More was more. And I look back in my 20s and what I used to do to work out in my 20s, I had 10% higher body fat, didn't have the muscle mass I have now. And I worked out four times harder and longer. I mean, and like, you know, it was like two hours a day of these workouts. Now it's like, like I go to the gym, it's 30 minutes is like a big workout, you know, you know, or 20 minutes at home. It's just short things. And then Walking the doggy.
You know, jj, I've seen the same, I've seen the same with women across the board. And that's why I say, and I know you've seen it. I've seen it. Men can get away with that to some degree by the way. They start suffering the same thing as they get up into their late 40s, 50s, 60s. They can start running into issues too as they start to lose some of their testosterone. But again, we cannot look at men and say, oh, we should be doing that. Younger men athletes can typically do the more is better thing for a time. I would even argue it's not best for them either. But definitely women who have this more sensitive, refined stress system need to be way more careful about that. So, you know what I would say is if we're talking about exercise, we need to make a distinction between what is just movement. You and I are now aware of the term neat non exercise associated thermogenesis, which for everyone on the line that just means activities of daily living. This is walking, this is getting out and moving. They're now showing in research that if you are an individual who moves all day and gets accumulated steps up, you may, you're probably going to fare better in terms of weight loss and health than someone who sits all day but then goes and doesn't work out. So again, you can move all day, not work out and fare better than someone who sits all day and then goes and does a 30 minute workout. Mostly the reason behind that is, is because non exercise associated thermogenesis, this activities of daily living, not only is it one of the biggest parts of our changeable metabolism, but it also sensitizes the body to insulin and lowers cortisol. So this is not a calorie burning phenomena, this is a hormonal related phenomena. And remember as a woman, the hypothalamus, the pituitary, the areas of the brain that hear your hormonal signals that then feed back to your ovaries, these have to remain sensitive and able to hear the hormonal orchestra that's going on in your body. And stress shuts that down. And so just walking and relaxing and spa time and sauna and manicures and pedicures and massage and all of these kinds of things are wonderful to do that. But how many people do we know that are planning those things the way they're planning their exercise and diet regimes? It's critical.
Awesome. So if you want to get fit, you need to get more manicures and pedicures and get in your sauna. There you go.
I would, I would absolutely say that.
But I did my sauna last night and I just. Because I have a sunlight and sauna and I just came back from a manicure pedicure and then I'm going to go walk the dog after this. So. See, it is all there. And that's, it's so critical because if you're not, you know, I talk a lot about sleep and sleep is going to have the same effect on your stress hormones if you're not, if you're stressed out, if you're not sleeping well, if you're go, go going, you are going to struggle with your weight. You're going to have a belly. Because everyone always asks how to lose belly fat and they think it has to be work out harder and eat less. It's like, nope, that's not why you belly fat in the first place.
I agree completely. And let's not get it twisted. For some people, they'll say, well, does that mean we not we don't exercise and eat at all? Of course that's not what I'm saying. I mean you, you absolutely want to put in the time. But here's what most people do. They say, oh, I got seven days out of the week I'll exercise. Like I'll do high intensity interval training or crazy workouts six days out of the week. What I'm saying is bump that back to three times per week and add in walking every single day and at perimenopause, you're probably going to see better results doing it that way. By the same token, instead of doing extreme workout or exercise, I'm sorry, diet programs, right, where you're cutting carbs extremely and doing keto diets and all that. Add enough but not too much of these things. So I would say focus on. I'll give you a really simple thing actually. For those who are looking for to dos, here's what to do. In terms of diet. You want to focus on protein, fiber and water foods to make sure that your hunger and your cravings are kept suppressed and you don't get a huge calorie load. Well, think of the four S's. It's soups, salads, scrambles and shakes. Soup, salad, scrambles and shakes. You can almost say it like a rhyme. Soup, salad, scrambles and shakes. This is 90% of what you should be eating. That has water in it, vegetables in it, protein in it to satiate you. Then add enough but not too much of starch, sugar, fat, alcohol, those things Enough to make your diet enjoyable, but not so much to push you over the edge. So that's another 10%. Then add on to that lots and lots of walking to reduce the stress burden and three maybe high intensity workouts per week. And now you're getting much closer to a female specific fat loss program as women get into perimenopause and menopause versus the go, go, go, go, go. Cut carbs, down to nothing, do keto. All these crazy things that some of the younger guys and younger women are doing. Again, women are not men. No duh. But older, more mature women are also not younger woman. And then each woman is of course, unique. And so we need to become metabolic detectives in our ability to know how our metabolism is, what our psychology is, and what our personal preferences are. So I think what we really need to be thinking about is how do I build a lifestyle to minimize stress and do enough, but not too much with my diet and exercise?
Perfect. This is exactly what I teach everyone. I love having everything you're saying. I'm just smiling over here because this whole idea of being a detective or really connecting the dots beyond just what you eat and when you eat it, but also how you're moving, how you're living so that you really see which, which things are working, which things aren't. But you're also designing both your diet and your exercise and your life around how you want to live. You know, like they always talk about, okay, the best time to exercise in the morning. Well, I hate exercising in the morning. I hate it. I don't. That's, that's not when I want to do it in the morning. I want to sit, have coffee, do my journal, do my creative work. It's. And then I want to do that in the afternoon. So I've designed those types of things to fit into my schedule the way I like to do them. I don't like to work out at night, I don't like to work out in the morning. I'm not going to do it.
Yeah, I love that. Because think about this, right? Take, take, take someone who loves chocolate, they just absolutely love chocolate or love wine. And then we say, I never want you to have chocolate or wine ever again. What's going to happen? We're going to eat a ton of chocolate and a ton of wine, right? So the key is, I'll give you one more sort of key here that I like to talk about, the idea of buffer foods and trigger foods. Buffer foods are foods you love that also suppress and manage appetite Trigger foods are foods you love but send you off of the rails. And so there are some people can have a little Hershey's Kiss and be fine as a result of having that little piece of chocolate, they eat better the rest of the day. That would be a buffer food for that particular woman. Now, there's other people that have that little piece of chocolate, and they would actually go off the rails and go crazy and end up eating more chocolate, have more wine, eat a bunch of junk food later. So it's part of what JJ just said of like, understanding your own personal preferences. Understand, when it comes to food, there will be buffer foods that you really need to include. Despite what anyone else tells you that they're bad. If you know they help you eat better, include them. Also understand your trigger foods, the foods that when you include them, they can really put you off the rails. For example, with me, wine is a buffer food. If I have wine with my dinner, it helps me eat less. At that meal, I'm less likely to get dessert. I'm less likely to drink a lot. Other people I know, they have wine and it basically makes them drink more wine, want more dessert, eat more starch, and do all the wrong things. This is a critical understanding and just what JJ said. Exercise where you feel the best. If it's in the morning, do it in the morning. If it's at night, do it at night. I also even would say, and I'd be interested to hear your take on this, jj. There are some people who don't like eating in the morning and some people who don't like eating at night. My approach would be to do the things that keep your hunger, your energy, and your cravings. I call them heck hec, hunger, energy, and cravings in check throughout the day. So if you're someone who doesn't like to eat breakfast, then maybe you don't eat breakfast. But you also say to yourself, when I don't eat breakfast, is my heck in check the rest of the day or is my heck out of check the rest of the day? If not eating breakfast, you can then get to lunch and are just as likely to have a salad and eat good the rest of the day. That might be a good choice for you and a good metabolic detective work for you. However, if you skip breakfast and then find yourself eating cheesecake later, your heck being out of check, that's not a good choice for you. And so these are the kinds of things that you want to be filtering through as you start understanding. Okay, as a woman, I have this sensitive stress barometer. I know I need to take care of that. And I also need to be working on buffer foods and trigger foods and different food timing and different things like that to understand how I work compared to every other woman.
So I loved all of that. That was just absolutely perfect. And I gotta go back to the trigger foods thing. Cause it's so right on. You know how they talked about, okay, nuts are so healthy. You should have nut butter. And I kept ending up in front of the refrigerator with a jar of nut butter and a spoon, you know, and trying to get down to the. And I would literally eat a whole jar of nut butter. I'm like, you know what? It's ridiculous. It's like, stop it.
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's funny. But nut butters are my worst, too. I just cannot have them in the house. So they are trigger food for me. I don't care how good they say they are for you. And. And, you know, so they're. It is so funny, right?
Too much healthy food is unhealthy. That is one of the key things. It's like, it could be healthy, but not if you eat the jar of it. The pound of it, you know, the. Whatever it is. Dark cherries. Dark cherries are another one. I can't have a dark cherry. I will buy. I remember buying a pound thing from Costco of dark cherries and eating the entire thing, which, by the way, really gives you really, like, gas. That's unbelievable. Just in case you were wondering, don't do it.
Like I'm saying, you know what? I'm gonna send you as a gift, a whole pound of dark cherries.
So, you know, you gotta know those things. I think it's mean to bring food in the house. That's your trigger food. No, just because it's healthy. If you can't handle, it goes out. So I love that description of all of that, because it was just perfect.
Yeah. And, you know, it's also mean to deny yourself of foods that some people would say are unhealthy that actually act as buffer foods for you. I mean, I know some people. I had one friend who loved. What's that synthetic, nasty marshmallow stuff. I think it's called fluff or puff or something like that. Yeah, like, something like that. And the interesting thing is she would have this in her refrigerator and just take a spoonful of it, like maybe once or twice per day, and it would keep her from binging on other stuff. And it's funny because this is not a food I would ever recommend anyone consume. And I doubt JJ would either. But when you see things like this, you start going, isn't that interesting? So the little bit of calories and insulin kick she gets from that is not nearly as bad if she doesn't have it and then ends up eating pasta and cheesecake and Doritos and everything else as a result of not having it. So I think we need to give ourselves some room within reason. And this, I think, also, by the way, one of the interesting things is that researchers look at the psychology of diets in general and say that all that self editing is, again, a stress. And so taking some of the self editing off by having some of these.
Tools, I think is just, boy, we really. We beat ourselves up like nobody's business. We'll bring those things in, tell ourselves we're not gonna eat them, tell ourselves we're gonna have all those salads. We don't do it. Then we're angry at ourselves, and we tell ourselves we're. And it's like, you know, so I love the whole detective thing. It's what I teach, where you really figure out which foods work for you, which foods don't. Both from, say, a food intolerance standpoint, but also a trigger food standpoint is super important because just because it's healthy, if you can't handle it, you know, if it's. If it's your nut butter story, then stop it. Right?
Yeah. You know, I'm glad you bring that up, because it's one subtle distinction. Right. When I. When we talk about trigger foods, JJ and I, I guess we see them, there's two different types of trigger foods. There's trigger foods that are silent trigger foods that have sort of these silent immune reactions that we might not necessarily be aware of. And then there are trigger foods that sort of kick off hunger, energy, and cravings, and you want to be thinking about both. So, like, JJ and I, who love nut butters, you know, we don't know. Those are definitely causing us to overeat. They also may be causing inflammatory reactions as well, which you do an amazing job. And, you know your books talking about that.
Well, thank you so much. All right, so we. We, my friend, must hang out, because this is, like, lame that we have to use podcasts to hang out, and we're just yakking away, going away over time, so. But I'm super excited. I know that everything you said was very intriguing to everybody. And the cool thing is you're going to get more by going to jjvirgin.com forward/metabolic effect. And what we're going to have there is your. What is it? You have some training videos. What do you have exactly? J. Yeah.
Well, you know, one of the things you and I often talk about when someone learns the new sort of science of metabolism, because a lot of this stuff can be very new for people. They're like, wow, I've never heard metabolism talked about in this way. And so what I did is put a course together, a free course that allows you to get this education in depth so you can begin to sort of get some of the answers to the questions where you're like, oh, I didn't realize. Never heard someone talk about metabolism as a stress barometer. And how does that work? And all those things, those questions will be answered for you and give you a really good framework that you can now begin to take these pieces that you're learning everywhere from all these different sources of information and put them in a way that you can access them more easily.
Yay.
Cool. So again, jjvirgin.com metabolic effect. I've known you now, what, 15 years? Long, long time.
It's a long time. And I love you so much, jj. You are just the best. And I totally miss you, dude.
Yeah, we, we, our lives are good. No complaints at all. All right, so again, I'm going to remind everybody we have amazing show notes and we're going to have the link to the super cool video training series. And Jade, you are awesome. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. I look forward to hanging out with you in San Diego. That is a big arm twist. Yes, it is.
Jj, thanks for everything you do. Seriously, you're just amazing. Thanks for all the help for everyone and all your work.
Thank you. Now, after the break, we are going to be answering a listener's question, so stay with me. This episode is brought to you by McAfee.
I got a message that our flight was canceled, but they can put us on another flight and we just need to confirm our credit card info.
Wait, I got a security alert from McAfee.
It flagged that message as a scam.
McAfee's scam detector automatically spots and alerts you to suspicious texts, emails, and deep fake videos. Learn more@mcafee.com online protection.
Welcome back. This is the time, my favorite time, where I answer a listener's question. Remember, I always pull these off of social media. So Facebook, jj Virgin Official or Instagram JJ Virgin. We look for questions that fit well with whatever I'm talking about. So, of course, I sought out an exercise question for today. Joan in Riverside says, JJ, I am training for a marathon, but I heard you say that I shouldn't be doing endurance exercise, so why not? And is there a way I could still do this and stay healthy? All right, so, you know, it's interesting. So I was on Dr. Phil for two years back when he first launched the weight loss challenges, and we had two gals who wanted to train for a marathon. And we were really clear with her. Robert Reams, who was the trainer on the show as the nutritionist, and then Dr. Diaz, who was the doc on the show, that this was going to be make it super hard for them to be successful on the program. But they persisted and insisted, and actually they were the two that didn't win. That really kind of slid back. And here's why. Endurance training is super stressful on our bodies. And you've already heard that our bodies are much more like Ferraris, Aston Martins. Right. And this creates a lot of stress hormones. So what happens when you're doing this moderate intensity endurance training is you create a lot of oxidative stress, which is very aging. And you raise stress hormones and break down muscle, and you actually make your body worse at storing at burning fat. So you're aging faster, you're lowering your immune system, you're breaking down muscle, you're raising stress hormones. These are all actually the opposite of what we're trying to achieve. Right. And I mean, it takes a lot of time. So rather than that, I have people do just what Jade was talking about. Go out and walk your dog. You know, take those leisurely strolls, especially in the sunshine. So you're also getting your vitamin D and boosting your serotonin. Great. If you're doing with your dog, you know, it's perfect. That's why I think everyone should have a dog. That. Because it's also a great, you know, doggies are just a great way to, to just balance out and lower your stress hormones. So my perfect thing would be doing that and then doing some high intensity interval training. Sure. You only need to accum 48 total minutes of bursting. So that's three days a week, you know, and it's, I don't know, 10, 20 minutes, and then you can add some resistance training in after that. But if you do, absolutely. You want to do this marathon, it's a personal best thing. You just want to check it off your bucket list. And I've had people do this. I had another client do this. And so what I did was that we did the minimal amount of endurance style training that we needed to do. And then we added in burst style training within that endurance training. And then we made sure we were doing a lot to help her recover from the stress hormone activation. So one of the big key things to do is a lot of antioxidants to help neutralize all the oxidative stress, but also vitamin C, which is super key and really important because it lowers those stress hormones. So I was majorly upping the vitamin C to help there as well. But the biggest takeaway, again here is if you're doing that type of training because you think it's going to get you leaner, fitter, healthier, it ain't. You're going to get better off by doing the things that Jade talked about, which is get in your sauna. I'll put in the notes the references for the sunlight and sauna that I have that I use in my garage that I love so much. Get more sleep. Eight to nine hours of quality sleep. Do some great walking, you know, with your friends. Have walking dates, walk your dog. But remember, I don't count that as exercise. That's simple, easy, that's not meant to be out there. Sweaty, hard. Do some things that are relaxing, calming for you. That could be some restraining restorative. Yoga, could be massage. You know, find those things that work for you. I personally like massage more than yoga, I admit it. Facials, mani pedis, that kind of stuff. And then some high intensity interval training and resistance style training, which I like to put together when I'm really time crunched because then I just did a 15 to 20 minute workout. I got everything in. So that's the cool news here, is that you can do all this, save a lot of time, get better results. All right? And I have seen it time and time again, people. It's the crossfitting keto keto. And it does not, we do not wear it well. I see people getting more belly fat, getting losing muscle and looking more haggard, and I'm pretty sure that's not the outcome you're going for. All right? So thank you so much for that, Joan. And I want to thank wens and heels, wens and heels, winds and heels. I love that for a five star review. I'm just assuming it's a her because it's Wednesday heels. Okay, I'm gonna make a guess. Fantastic information. She says this was an amazing podcast. J. JJ Always delivers the most amazing guest. Honestly, life changing. And thank you for that. You know what? I do get these great guests. I am so fortunate to know just an amazing crew of people and I love, love, love sharing them with you. And I also love reading these reviews and they help a lot, by the way, people trying to decide who they're going to listen to. They see your reviews and they go, I'm in. So if you haven't left one yet, can I ask for a little help here and leave a review? I'd love to feature you on my next podcast. All right, see you next time.
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 check 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 what Should I read next podcast.com to find out more.
More from JJ


Healthy Revisit: Heavily Meditated - Transforming Your Emotional Landscape with Dave Asprey






