Unprocess Your Diet

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 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.

Hey, it's JJ Virgin. And welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I talk nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle with some of the coolest people in the world. And I give you tips that you can put into fast action to up level your health so that you can go out there and live the big life you're meant to live. And today's program is super fun. I have Natalie Jill with me and Natalie, who's a neighbor here out in San Diego is awesome. She came from a place you're gonna hear us chattin about our pregnancy weight and some of the things that we were eating during our pregnancy. We have a very similar story there. I'll let you hear all about that. But it inspired her, along with some health challenges, to really start to dig in and learn nutrition. She sort of escaped from the corporate world and dove into fitness and nutrition and now she is this big brand online. Over 2 million social media followers. Crazy does a ton of cool stuff on Facebook and Instagram. And she's the author of seven Day Unprocess yous Diet. What a cool name is that. And she is gonna share with this interview something awesome that will show you how to never feel deprived and how to move into this whole world without feeling like you're giving up a whole bunch of stuff along the way. So I know that sounds fabulous and possibly too good to be true, but it's not. You'll hear it all today from Natalie. So today's guest again is Natalie Jill. So let's do it. Natalie Jill, welcome to the show. So glad you are here with me today.

I'm so happy to be talking to you and doing this.

I love the title of your book. It is so awesome. Unprocess yous Diet. This is so cool. So let's like go back to how it all began. Like how did you start getting into nutrition?

Oh my gosh. It's so funny because I was in corporate America. I really was not doing anything with nutrition or fitness. I was just interested in it. And it wasn't until I went through my own personal rock bottom. I had my daughter and I had gained a lot of weight When I was pregnant, and it wasn't just because of hormones and being pregnant. It was literally from just eating and eating.

Okay, I have to ask this because I was £216 when I gave birth. And you were like, oh, you were pregnant and you're tall. I'm like, well, I'm not seven feet tall. I was eating cake rolls and chili fries, people. So I really. I mean, yeah, I lost my mind a little bit.

So I was eating French fries and ice cream. It was two weeks.

Yes. Eating the junk.

I cannot blame it on me.

Okay, so how much weight did you gain? How much weight did you gain, Alec?

Come on. Well, okay, so I'm five two, so let's put it there first.

Wow. Okay.

I gained 50 pounds, but that's 65 pounds more than I am now. So I was already. I already needed to lose weight before I got pregnant, So I was £65 more than now. And it was. It was not one of the cute pregnancies where it's all in your belly.

Me either. I looked like a walking block with a lot of acne.

Yes, yes. And the thighs rubbing. I remember walking and thinking, my thighs are rubbing together.

Wow. Yeah. No pregnancy glow. It was like a pregnancy sweat. I was like, yeah.

But on top of that, you know, this was at the time when the stock market had crashed and the housing market had crashed and I was going through a divorce. So I added.

Wait, you were pregnant going through a divorce?

Yes, we.

Yeah.

So it was just a big combination of being in a bad marriage. We knew how to end financially, things changing, and then me having this secure corporate job that I knew I had to change because I was traveling full time. So it was the first time in my life where I was not only having this excess weight and all the things that go along with that feeling down, but having the financial stress, the personal stress, knowing I'm gonna be a new mom. It was just. It was literally the worst time in my life. And I remember feeling so guilty, like, I'm having a daughter, I should be excited. And I was just battling this really weird depression. And it wasn't until I always divide my life into two things. Now, I call that my past fake life before this happened to me because I was that person that people thought had this perfect life. And I felt like I had to live up to this expectation. And nobody knew I was going through all of this rough stuff. So no one knew this. I felt trapped and stuck and no one to talk to. And it wasn't until I literally hit that complete rock bottom that I knew I had to figure this out and change. And that is when I started really digging into fitness and nutrition for the first time. Like, really getting serious about it and starting to learn.

Okay, so you started to learn. And what, like, how big of a process was this? Because I think we've all got our, like, journeys that we've gone through. And I know mine, I like, you know, I've done every diet known to man, right? Every diet, marathons, like all this stuff that is going, oh, oopsies, you know, later you're going, well, now I got to heal from all of that stuff. So on your journey, like, what did you discover? And you know, that's bringing to where you are now with this unprocess, your diet? I'm sorry, I just love the title so much.

Thank you.

Keep saying it. I'm keep saying it.

So what happened was I got what everyone else feels now and I get it. I was information overload. I didn't know what to do. You go online, you read magazines, and there's so much information and it's so confusing. Like, don't eat sugar, don't eat fat. Do this.

Yeah. You know what's so bad about it is it's not only that there's so much information, it's conflicting information.

Yes.

That's the challenge. It's like, yeah, it's low fat, high fat, vegan Paleo. You're like, okay, wait a minute, eat.

Every two hours or a fast or like, it was so confusing. And I felt really frustrated and overwhelmed. And then that's just. Even in the diet part, the workout part was a whole nother level of frustration. Like, okay, I gotta go to a gym and what do I do? And do I need a trainer or do I take a class? And how long and how. It was just really confusing. And when you don't feel good about yourself to begin with, it makes it even harder because you're depressed and now you're feeling like a failure because there's so much to figure out and you don't know where to start and you feel like you're doing it wrong and it's confusing. So for me, I thought, okay, I've gotta dial this back to basics and I've gotta change my attitude and my very first step, and I tell everybody this now when they are trying to change their body, their life, anything is you have to first decide that it's possible and you're gonna make it happen. That's the absolute first step. You have to Decide. And until you decide, you know, everything's just completely overwhelming. But once you decide that I am determined to make this work, you start getting more focus on figuring out what that plan is. So that was my very first step.

Good. And you know what? Here's the biggest thing that everybody. I love that takeaway. Because anything starts with the decision and commitment. It's like, ultimately, all the strategies are out there, but if you don't back it up and go, all right, step one. And it does always go back to the basics. Right.

And then I thought, you know, I have to learn. I have to understand things. Like, I can read about eating every two hours or fasting or giving up sugar or staying away from artificial sweeteners or whatever. But if I don't understand why and how that's going to affect me, it's. I don't think it's going to stick. So I got deep into that in just trying to understand why someone's saying something. So I didn't just take, like, you know, eat this way. I dove into, well, what happens if you don't? Or if you do? And I really took time to learn it and study it. And I even went as far as getting my own Master of Sports Nutrition certification just to. Just because I wanted to learn. And I decided, you know, I'm gonna do this on myself as I'm going, and I'm gonna take the mindset of I'm gonna add more good and not worry about all these bad things. So what I mean is, like, I'm reading, okay, eat more vegetables. Eat more healthy proteins. Drink more water, move more. I'm gonna focus on all the good things I can add, which will make less room for the bad.

I love this. Add before you take away. It's a great mantra.

Yes. I started focusing on that, and it really made a big difference because you can feel proud at the end of the day with what you added. And believe me, when you're eating a lot of vegetables, there's less room for Twinkies. You're not gonna eat. There's less room for the bad. So to me, that seemed more rewarding that I decided and I was gonna focus on what I could add. Good.

You weren't really eating Twinkies. I dropped my pen when I heard you say Twinkies. I was like, oh, my. You weren't really eating Twinkies, were you, Natalie?

It didn't go that bad. But I think that sometimes people are so focused on what they can't have, and it's like, okay, before you say you can't have it, let's figure out what can you have and let's get that in first. And if you really still want that other thing later, you're probably gonna eat less of it because you filled up on the good things.

So what's your diet like now? So what does this all take you to? So take me through a day.

So my whole lesson in everything is there's a lot of trendy terms out there. Gluten free, paleo, whatever. There's a million terms. But what everyone can benefit from is unprocessing their diet, just going back to basics. What are things that once grew and ingredients that you can pronounce? If we keep it as simple as that, it gets us away from all that crazy information overload. It seems doable. And I really realized with myself and with everybody I work with now, there's such a disconnect with that. Like everyone's so focused on the term. I have to do this versus just can we understand what we're eating? Is it real food?

I know. And then they start to die on that hill. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm not getting in between that vegan and the paleo, you know?

And it's like, really? It's funny, especially the vegan and paleo thing. They're so different, but they're so similar in a lot of ways too, you.

Know, I mean, they're both very plant based when you get down to it. And they're both. Well, unless every. Haven't you noticed every diet has its like junk food area of it. Like all of a sudden there's paleo treats and there's like, whether it's gluten free or vegan or paleo or all of them end up with the junk food side of it. It's crazy. It makes me nuts.

I'm a celiac myself, so I can't have gluten anyway and I'm not a fan of gluten. But when people say, does everyone need to be on a gluten free diet? My answer is a little funny. It's okay, everyone doesn't need to be on a gluten free diet, but everyone needs to be on an unprocessed food diet. And guess what? Unprocessed food diets are gluten free because you're not eating anything. Because you could be on a gluten free diet and gain all kinds of weight.

Oh my gosh. Eating those terrible gluten free things that the chips and the Cookie. And you know what's so funny is for years I've been taking people off of gluten and challenging them with it. And I learned pretty quickly that you can't just have people go gluten free because they go into cupcakes. And I went, wait, you weren't eating cupcakes before, you know, so. But now you go to the store. Instead of looking for things like squash and wild rice and berries and nuts, you're looking for like gluten free junk food. So stop it.

That doesn't work. And then, you know, and I go into the whole sugar thing too. Like every. We all agree sugar is bad, but let's break this down a little bit. People are not obese because they had too many carrots. That's really not what it is, you know? Yeah, yeah. Do carrots have sugar? Of course they do. But is. But that's not the same as eating jelly beans. So it's taking it in steps. So my first step to people, and that's what my whole book, Seven Day Jumpstart Unprocess yous Diet is teaching people about understanding what they're eating, really thinking about it. Did it once grow? Can I eat those foods first? And if I'm eating something from a package, can I define the ingredients? What is actually in here? Because if you really want something that's in a package, if it has three or four simple ingredients, it's a lot better choice than, you know, the box of Skittles for a listener.

By the way, best thing ever if you are. Because I get a lot of questions for like, how do I feed my kids? Best thing ever. This concept so good for them. So I know what everybody's thinking. I know I can read. I can read their minds. And they want to know, Natalie, what do you eat every day? I can tell you. I can promise. So, like, walk us through a day.

Of what Natalie's eating. If it once grew, I eat it. That's it. So what's the basic step? So. And I'm. And I'll go through so. Well, the first rule is if it's a protein, so if it came from an animal, if it's a nut seed, healthy. I love coconut oil. I love ghee. I love olive oil. So good oils. I'm a big fan of vegetables and fruits, mostly glycemic fruits. And if I'm gonna eat starchy carbs, it's typically gonna come in the form of a potato or a yam or maybe a little bit of rice. I'm not a big grain eater at all, but I'm not gonna say I never do it though. It's the better choice. But primarily fruits, low glycemic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and definitely proteins. So I do eat eggs, I do eat fish, chicken, but I like organic. No antibiotics, nothing added. The most natural I can get of things. So I used to have all these rules about oh my gosh, gotta eat every two hours and I have to balance everything, protein, carb and fat. And I've really gotten away from that. And I really feel when you eat a natural unprocessed food diet, your body really learns what it needs and it will tell you and it's very hard to overeat. And whether you eat nothing until three o' clock in the afternoon or you're eating all day, if you're eating a natural unprocessed food diet, your body is really in tune with that and it's really a lot easier to become a fat burner versus I know you talk about being a sugar burner when you are eating those natural foods and you're giving your body what it needs.

Amen.

So what I do now, I have a few different breakfast go tos but lately I have to admit and actually you know what jj, this is funny. I should have told you this beginning of our conversation. I credit you 100% to this. I never drank coffee in my life until about six weeks ago. And I listened to your podcast. I listened to your podcast with Dave Asprey about you were talking something about bulletproof.

I know Dave is one of my bestie bestie friends and now I've clicked with him. We're here too.

So I ordered bulletproof coffee. I've never drank coffee in my life and here I am like not even knowing what I'm doing. I made but now it's like my I crave it now in the morning. I do like a modified bulletproof. So lately what I've been doing is I'll do the coffee with the brain octane. I'll do like a teaspoon of it. I add. He said I shouldn't be doing this, but this is what I do. I add a natural whey protein to it and I add about a tablespoon of ghee and I add some raw cacao. That's what I and I drink that. It's like my first thing and that keeps me going for quite some time. I might add a piece of fruit if I I want some carbs. But then days, if I want more of a Solid breakfast. There's a lot of things I can do. I'll do either eggs with some avocado and some fruit. That's a big go to for me. The whole egg. I'm a fan of the whole egg.

Yes, must eat the whole egg.

Yes, must eat the whole egg. Or I'll do. There's a natural turkey or chicken sausage. I get that. I like. And I'll do that and I'll add. I'll cook that in coconut oil and I'll do like a big side of berries. That's another big go to for me. There's some smoothies I love. I'm a big fan of berries because they're low glycemic. And I'll butter, I like almond butter. And I'll add some protein or I'll do some hemp or chia seeds. So I get creative with smoothies. But I would say those are kind of my main go to breakfasts I have. There's a lot, there's a lot of ways to build a meal from it. But my thought is typically protein, healthy carbs and some good fats. Or if I'm not really wanting a big meal, I'll do my coffee.

We tell everyone your coffee actually fits the same thing. It's protein, fat and fiber is the perfect trifecta just for great blood sugar balance, which, that's what it all comes down to, to be able to feel good throughout the day.

And I'm obsessed with it now. And I never drank coffee literally until like six weeks ago.

It's so funny. I was just recently working on a project and they pulled all the participants off of coffee and they were all miserable. And I go, well, why did you do that? And they go, well, because there's this urban legend around it. I go, you know, coffee actually lowers liver enzymes. Like it actually, you know, they on detox programs, they'll pull people off coffee. But I go, but it lowers liver enzymes. Like what's. You know, get mycotoxin free organic coffee. But you know, little coffee is great for focus, helps with fat burning, helps with insulin sensitivity, is an amazing antioxidant. So, you know, you gotta watch out for these urban legends of things that are out there. And coffee is one of them.

I'm a total fan of him now. You know, we love our Dave.

We love brother Dave. I just spent the last couple days with him. He's the real deal. One of my super best, best. He's family, so very, very much love him. He has a great book too, because we're right up against the clock now. We went down the rabbit hole of food and now we're like stuck there. But let's go through real quick just like what are a couple lunch and dinner ideas? Sure.

Lunches, you know, and I love like the concept build a meal because you really, in my book, I talk about a seven day plan because I know some people want the black and white, like tell me what to do. And I get that. But I also really teach people how to swap things out and choose. So my lunches are typically. It starts with a big vegetable base. So I love salads. I'll, you know, the more the better, the more greens. I'll put kale. I'll put chard. I'll dark lettuces. I'll use radishes and just a lot of vegetables. And then I'll add nuts or seeds. A huge fan of nuts and seeds. I typically don't have peanuts, but I'll do.

They're not a nut anyway.

Right. They're a legume. So I'm not a big fan of that. Plus my daughter is highly allergic and in my mind anything that can kill my daughter I don't want. So, you know, But I'll do almonds or walnuts. Big fan. I loved like shredded coconut. That's another big thing. I'll use another. And I'll put. And then I'll top with either a fish or chicken, probably more fish than that. And always like add some avocado and then I'll use some good oils like coconut oil or olive oil. And then I'll usually add either some red wine vinegar, I like that better than balsamic vinegar. And I'll use that. Or I'll use lemon. Or I'll even use some apple cider vinegar sometimes on that. And some Himalayan rock salt. That's like a big go to lunch. And that might sound boring, but it's not because it's salt.

Pretty much every day. Every day too. You get it.

You got it very similar right there with you.

What about din?

So dinner. Same kind of concept. What I know and what I teach everybody that does my plans is we all want those starchy carbs sometimes, but everyone has to be very careful with those because when you do eat potatoes or rice, there is a trigger. And you will get that craving for more and more and more when you stay away from them. You don't necessarily have that. And when people ask me, are you low carb? I'm not low carb. I'm just the right carb. I mean I ate tons of vegetables.

Watch your triggers. Like, you know, it's like if sweet potato's a trigger for you, then have butternut squash instead. You know, don't, don't bring the enemy into the house. Right.

And I'm a big fan of upping the fats and proteins when you do that. So like I love, I love sushi. So I'll do the white rice but I'm gonna make sure I've got a lot of avocado and fish on there too. So it's, it helps me to balance that out. So, so sushi's a big dinner. I love fish. I'll do all kinds of nut crusted fish. I'm really big into. Like, you know, I'll take an almond and coconut crusted fish or do that with chicken. I'm not a big red meat eater, although I'm not against. Definitely has a place. It's just a meat. Personally I don't eat it but I think it's fine for people as long as my big thing is to make sure you're getting the really good natural meats, the ones without antibiotics and hormones added because that's what's the animal being fed. That's important to me because we're consumption.

You are what you eat ate. Super important. I'm just, I'm just watching because we obviously are going to have to do this again. Clearly we have to do this again because we didn't even get into the fitness side of things.

Oh my gosh.

I know. I mean and it's wow. Well anyway, we'll do this again because I'm sure people are going to be craving more with you. And of course you can get more by just going to nataliejill fitness.com what are they going to find when they get to nataliejofitness.com I know you have this book out. Tell us about it.

I have so much stuff on there. But my biggest, the thing that I'm most proud of right now and I really want to get out there because it helps everyone is my book the Seven Day Jumpstart Unprocess yous Diet. You can get it in bookstores but you also, you can find it right on my website. It'll take you directly where to get it.

Plus they'll get goodies, right?

If they go to your website, go to nataliejillfitness.com book. I've got some free bonuses listed out with it, all kinds of things. But you get this is more than a recipe book. It's an entire plan. It's a way of eating and it really breaks things down for people simply. And there's 84amazing, awesome recipes that I've never released before that are all based on unpasted food.

Yay.

And simple.

I love your philosophy. It fits.

Keeping it simple.

Yay. Yay.

Yay.

So thank you so much, Natalie, for joining me today. Now, everyone listening again. That was NatalieJillFitness.com and after the break, I'm going to be answering a listener's question. So be sure to stay with me.

Nestled within Oregon's lush Willamette Valley, so Delicious Dairy Free has been bringing joy to dairy Free lives for more than 25 years. They offer an array of delicious dairy free delights you can feel good about sipping, biting, pouring, scooping, licking and chugging throughout your day. From their world class allergen testing program to their innovative work they do creating products made with only the highest quality ingredients, so Delicious is committed to doing the right things for people and the planet. Visitaryfree.com and make it so easy and delicious to say yes to what you love.

Visit.

Today.

Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. And today's question is awesome because it's about kids. And I just love this one. It's from jli. I hope I said that right. And she wants to know, I'd like to know how to translate transition young children off sugar. I'm doing a little dance over here. Jli, for example, I'm looking at this. I think it's jaila. Anyway, you get the idea, for example, how to pack lunches without using bread for sandwiches, how to stop using so much pasta. You know why this is so important? I mean, kids are eating more sugar than ever. It is like crazy amount they're eating. And now we have childhood obesity where it like used to be rare to ever see a kid who was obese. It's now one in five. It's craziness. And an obese child is 70% more likely to be an obese adult. And it's like all, you know, the major medical problems can be either created by or exacerbated by sugar intake. So I love that. And of course I'm going to say read sugar impact diet. And there's tons and tons of food swaps in there. And this is important because exposure equals preference. And this is when you want to start teaching your kids to prefer things. You know, when you look at a lot of the processed food out there and especially kids foods which make Me crazy. They use sweeteners in them so that kids want progressively sweeter and sweeter and sweeter foods. So this is when you can change that by never giving your kids juice. Oh my gosh. Try water with a little bit of fruit essence in it. Or grab my girlfriend Kara Golden's hint water. It's incredible. My kids grew up thinking, you know, sparkling water and water with fruit and it was the norm. And then in terms of lunches and things, first of all, the more you involve your kids, the better because they will tend to support what they create. And you can use things in their lunches. You can make little roll ups using a coconut wrap and those are delicious. You can do quinoa pasta and spaghetti squash pasta, which are fantastic. We do those all the time. So you can move away from it. But my rule of thumb with pasta is one half cup of pasta, 1/2 cup of veggies. Do them half and half and then also, you know, think thermoses. For lunches, I love any types of more stewie soups with beans and vegetables in them because you can hide a lot more vegetables. And also think of smoothies. Those are another great thing that you can pack for lunch. But the biggest thing I could say there is grab the sugar impact diet, look at all of the low sugar impact swaps because they're delicious stuff and then involve your kids, involve your kids at the grocery store, involve your kids while they're preparing things, take them to the farmer's market because again, the more involved they are, the more likely they are to to eat the foods. Even when they're small. You can have them, you know, help help you plan a dinner. And yes, it's more time consuming on the outset, but it's gonna save you tons of time long term and their health's gonna be better. And it's like amazing to me how many adults I now know who just don't know how to cook because it's like this lost art. So that's where I'd bring them back in to do that. And I follow the sugar impact diet swaps going from high to medium sugar impact and the medium to low sugar impact to help. Alrighty. Love that you asked that question. Thank you. I think it's jaila.

Thank you.

Awesome. And if you'd like to submit a question, just go to jjvirgin.com ask and you can leave a voicemail for me. I can't wait to hear from you. And one more way, I'd love to hear from you. I would so appreciate it if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review from me. It helps a bunch and be sure to subscribe and share the show with your friends. Alrighty. This is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you that you are worthy Dare to live a life that matters.

Toyota Thun is on so stop by your local Toyota dealer and test drive a spacious grand Highlander or Ready for anything RAV4 with great financing and lease options available to qualified customers. Visit buyatoyota.com for more Toyota Let's Go.

Places the holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft. But LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our US based restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply.