Food, Diet, Nutrition - How eating right helps you live better, longer

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Living to 100 Club roundtable discussion. We're going to be talking today about living longer and the link between living longer and healthy eating. We have a couple of panelists who are going to be discussing this in, in more detail. Just a little background about our topic today. Living to 100, or at least the mindset to live— living longer and healthier, requires us to make decisions every day about what behaviors, like eating, staying active, maintaining social connections, pursuing meaningful activities, which of these behaviors help us live our best life. But with all the information available about foods we should eat and foods we should avoid, We're going to take a closer look today at some of the best nutritional science available, what lifestyle habits contribute to healthy eating patterns, and can we really live longer if we eat better. And lastly, I hope to touch on any— whether any chronic physical conditions can be reversed with changes in our diets. First, a little background on our panelists. Dr. Sabrina Falquier-Montgrain is board certified in internal medicine and specializes in culinary medicine. She was born and raised in Mexico City to Swiss and American parents. She has a large primary care practice in San Diego and has incorporated culinary medicine into her practice. She promotes culinary medicine in lectures, recipe development, cooking demonstrations, and expert panels like this one. Her brand, SensationSalud.com, focuses on awakening the senses and empowering people to better health through nutritional knowledge. Stella Louis-Jean is a national board-certified health and wellness coach. She was born and raised in France and early discovered the power of personal transformation and healthy eating. She now helps clients all over the world think outside the box so they can establish healthier habits and live a longer and happier life without giving up the foods they love. Bella is the best-selling author of the book Sleep It Off: A Revolutionary Guide to Losing Weight, Beating Diabetes, and Feeling Your Best Through Optimal Rest. We have two perfect panelists for our discussion today. Thank you again for both joining us. Let me start with this question. Stella, let me begin with you. People are often confused about what makes up healthy eating patterns. Why is this? Why is there so much confusion?

Yeah. Well, first, thanks for having me here, Joe. I'm very honored. Well, I think there are many reasons why people are confused, but the main one that I see when I work with clients is that a lot of the messages out there are about fine-tuning rather than covering our bases when it comes to healthy eating. So you see, for instance, the last research on how cinnamon can help us sharpen our memory. And then the focus goes to, oh, cinnamon. We need to add cinnamon to our food, which is, yes, great and amazing. But if what you're eating is actually a cinnamon bun, it might not have the effect, you know, that you're expecting. So there's a lot of focus on the fine-tuning— how many carbs should I eat exactly, you know, like how many grams of carbs a day— when actually, you know, if, if we are eating mostly highly processed foods, no, no whole foods, no vegetables, then the, the The amount of carbs in a day is not really what matters. We need to cover the basis first. And I think the confusion comes a lot from that, from the fact that you have to make the news, you know, like the messages have to make the news. So it's going to make the news way more if you talk about the last research on a specific, very specific like food or eating pattern that can make a difference, rather than just tell people, you know, eating whole foods, a lot of plants, is a good way to improve your diet.

Yeah, that's an interesting perspective that we get too focused, we narrow in on what exact steps we should take, and we sometimes should maybe just take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture of our total diet. Sabrina, what do you think about that?

I'm in complete agreement, Stella. One of the things that you met as you talk about, you know, had the French background, is we— I feel like in the U.S. we live in this kind of one-fix wonder society. We want the quick fix, we want the magic pill, we want the magic cinnamon or otherwise. And it's that loss of realizing the big picture. Are there any vegetables on your are there any whole grains? And, and I was traveling in Europe and was telling people about culinary medicine and this idea of really going to food in non-processed form. And the place we were traveling, this is still how people have eaten for centuries and it hasn't transitioned. Like, so we don't get it because that is how culturally, really, if you, if you go back in time to really all cultures, that's how it was. It was foods in their whole form. It was predominantly plants. And a lot of that came because animal products were more expensive, hard to come by. I mean, you had to raise the animal. But even in that sense, that animal was much healthier than how animal products are used now. And so really reminding people— and sometimes you have to be reminded of them. Generations back of saying, let's go back to your cultural beginnings.

How—

so, for example, here in San Diego, Mexican food is eaten a lot. And there's such a— you know, there's such a difference, a spectrum of what Mexican food can look like. And one of the parts— and my favorite part is a lot of times when people think of healthy, it's sterile. It's, ugh, I have to eat that way. So I'm either going to be on the diet or off the diet. And bringing them back and asking, what are foods that you enjoy? So saying, okay, you love Mexican hash. Let's teach you how to use the cumin, the paprika with vegetables. So, or the cinnamon and spice and using that. So essentially bringing it into the foods that they love and stop thinking of it as this one fix wonder. It's like, it's, it's slower, it's education, and it's longer lasting than the buzz. Latest, uh, article that came out, or the, the magic cinnamon pill, or otherwise.

Yeah, I can see that. That makes a lot of sense. So rather than expecting people to switch over to a whole new lifestyle, a whole new change or pattern of eating, we're talking about making these small shifts, kind of shaping the behavior and finding what they're used to that can also be made healthier. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, so there are, you know, we, we see the rise in obesity rates in the U.S. and probably around the world. Well, not entirely around the world, but definitely in the U.S. I saw 60% of the U.S. population is now considered overweight. So there are certain lifestyle habits that are contributing to this, and it contributes, as we all know, to chronic disease and diabetes and cardiac problems. So what are some of these lifestyle habits that are contributing to poor diet and poor eating habits? What's the link there? Why are people so prone to overeating because of their lifestyle? Too busy? They have to get processed food, they have to get the fast food because they're working so hard? Or what are some of the barriers that get in the way?

So, Joe, how much time do we have? Yeah, I'll take a stab at this one to start with. So, yeah, it's multifactorial. Of course, there's so many pieces of, you know, certain areas when we think of, like, here in San Diego, again, the areas that have the highest obesity rates. So we have areas that don't it's usually, you know, like in Southern San Diego near, near the Mexican border. So you have people that lower income areas, food deserts, which I know that term is being discussed whether that's the most appropriate term, but areas where they're not, there's less access to fresh fruits and vegetables. There are households that sometimes have 3 or 4 jobs to make ends meet. So, so time is crunched, resources are crunched, and what's surrounding them are fast food joints, joints. So it's a sense of this misinformation that healthy is expensive. So saying, OK, well, to feed my family of 4, I can only do the junk food that's around me, and that's what's around me. So you don't see alternatives. So part of it is a structural system. And then the other part is lack of knowledge and education. And I don't mean that as far as how many years you went to school at all. I mean, as far as learning that healthy does not need to be expensive. And knowledge is power, right? If you have children and you are now feeding your children, if you realize the dire consequences of the food that you are giving them, and you're giving them because that's what you can afford, or there's also some discussions that because you have 4 jobs, so you want to give them the treat because that's a way that you can show love to them. So there's a way to bring it back and educating and saying, with that really squeezed time, there are still ways that you can feed your family and yourself in a way that really promotes health long-term. So it's not condemning them for the bad choices that they've made. It's really empowering them to teach them with the budget, with the resources available, how to move that needle towards better health. I'll stop there because I could go on for hours. I want to hear what Stella has to say on this one.

Yeah, Stella.

Yeah, I think we're totally on the same page, and especially on the fact that, you know, like, blaming is not empowering and doesn't lead us anywhere. When it comes to those behaviors, the lifestyle habits that we might have here in the US, I'm just going to talk about the US compared to France, just because those are the two I know the best. But one thing I noticed when I moved to the US is that food and meals are not prioritized the same way. And to sum it up, it's a little bit like here in the US, we live our life, we do things, we're busy, and then we fit meals. Whenever we can in there. And when I would go back home on a vacation, I would realize, well, it's completely the opposite. We have meals and then we fit our activities in between. And like the meals are, it's just happening. You don't schedule a meeting at lunchtime. You don't go on a hike at lunchtime. Everything happens, you know, before lunch or after lunch or before dinner or after dinner. And I think this is something that we are, unconscious about here. And I was like, when I first moved to the US 20 years ago, I, um, I started doing the same, just plan my activities and, and do my meals whenever I could. And that's only when I went back home that I realized, oh my gosh, this is how I used to live. I used to have my meals, you know, and then I had to kind of reinstate that for my children. So that, I think that's a big difference, you know, not having that structure, that kind of like the entire culture that forces you to sit down for a meal and take some time to enjoy it. And that's also a big part of a big difference that I noticed. And as Sabrina was saying earlier, very often we have that attitude that we're either healthy or not healthy. We're on a diet or off a diet, right? And I think that's also a big difference between the two cultures where food is not perceived the same way. Here, there's a lot of guilt and shame around treats and desserts and chocolate and that kind of things. And it makes it more, I don't know, tempting. And there's the bad food and the good food. And that also leads to a lot of— a lot of a lack of confidence in people. They're like, oh, okay, you know, I can't do this, I can't be healthy, I'm not, I'm not that person. And we— I see people giving up before trying just because it seems daunting.

They're questioning their own confidence in what they know, and a lot of the guilt and self-blame about making the wrong choices in the past, kind of either all good or all bad. And that's, that's hard. That's hard to come out of that kind of frame of mind. I could see that. So it really is a gradual shift. And again, it's the lifestyle change. And I'm not sure how we address that. You know, what do we say to our audiences that, okay, we need to slow down a little bit and take time for meals and not be so rushed. But our whole lifestyle puts the premium on productivity and rushing and getting a lot done and getting more done than we have time for. So it's hard to reconcile those two forces, I think.

It's interesting, Joe, because one of the parts, as Stella was just saying, is that sense of returning the kitchen and the cooking as part of our day-to-day activity. So part of what I would rebuttal to that or say, okay, so part of productivity is, okay, I need kind of in this this is going to kind of the parenting household of that sense of, and it could be the sandwich generation, right? So you have somebody who is taking care of a younger generation, trying to help them with homework, and then taking care of an elderly that might be in the same household or managing, you know, doctor's appointments, et cetera, through, you know, helping them make those appointments. And one of the parts that I really try to educate is, okay, how about we bring that into the kitchen? So you see, okay, your kid wants to talk about their day, or maybe we have somebody that we're caretaking, bringing them into the kitchen. And instead of saying, okay, I'm going to go do this thing I don't like to do, making meals, if that's even happening, while everybody else is playing video games, doing homework kind of separately, and saying, okay, how about we bring them into the kitchen and have my children tell me about the day and say, hey, while you're telling me about your day, can you chop this lettuce? And it seems, again, Going back to what I was saying, when I was traveling in France, people— mental note, I was like, OK, don't move here and try to do culinary medicine because where I was, it's the day-to-day existence. And so teaching people to bring that back and saying every age range, if you have a toddler, they can tear lettuce. If you have a teenager, they're so hungry and there's a sense of competitiveness of, hey, why don't you plate the meal and see who plates it the best? So, this kind of, this utilizing where people are at to incorporate meal preparation and giving them a life skill, right? So, we think of, we want our kids to have 8 million different sports and so running around doing all these things. And we forget that knowing how to do laundry, how to cook, how to feed themselves in a nutritious way, it's something that's been lost so much. So, bringing them back slowly to that. And I know, Joe, a lot of, uh, with, with Living to 100 is a different generation. And a lot of it is also if you have people who has somebody else that was cooking for in their household, and now that person has passed away and, and to realize, okay, the canned food, the microwave meals are what are left of— I've, one of my favorite things has been to do classes for people that are older. And, and, and there's just some light to say, wow, I can feed myself by doing a simple overnight oats where I'm literally putting 3 ingredients into a Mason jar, shaking it up, and I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow and I've been my own precious little chef. So that those pieces of it doesn't matter what stage of life that you're in, but bringing it back and then waking up all your senses when you are having that meal.

That's great. I love that. Yeah. Helping them see there are more doors to open and it's not— the future doesn't mean it's based on what happened yesterday or last year. 5 years ago, yeah, and opening those doors, creating more opportunity. I love that. I love that model. Yeah, yeah. So in terms of— well, go ahead, Postel, please.

Yeah, no, I just wanted to bounce back on that. You know, when, when Sabrina, you try to educate, you know, people to make it easy also on themselves, right? It doesn't have to be complicated. And one thing I've noticed is that a lot of what we do for food is very cultural, right? So for instance, I was working with a client and she had great breakfast every morning, right? She had a good healthy breakfast, but then she was really struggling getting dinner on the table. And I told her, you know, it's very interesting because what you call breakfast food in my country is dinner food, like scrambled eggs with vegetables. That's what I have for dinner. In France. And why, why couldn't you just make breakfast also for dinner once in a while and get that on the table? It's healthy food, you enjoy it, go for it. It doesn't have to be complicated, you know. So I just wanted to, yeah, to, to jump back on that, the, the fact that often again we go for the complicated. We think we have to prepare a complicated meal for it to be healthy. But no, we don't. We just, um, sometimes just having a few snacks on a plate, that's your dinner, you know. Why should that be snack food, you know? Uh, nuts and cheese and crackers and a piece of fruit doesn't have to be snack food. It can be dinner.

That's an important message, that kind of looking at making these smaller changes and taking the small steps rather than And I think we've touched on this in a few different ways today, but taking these small steps and getting closer to our goal rather than this overnight, you know, 180-degree change in our behavior. And I think it's those small steps that help to give us the rewards, and we see some reinforcement for that behavior, and that, that builds our confidence. And I think it maintains that momentum. So I think that's really an important message. It's, it's not a major transformation. It's these small additions to our diet. Or small additions to activities around the meal preparation. It doesn't mean it, you know, it doesn't have to be that kind of total change. That's such a, that's, I think that's a very powerful message to communicate to people. I like that. Yeah.

Joe, can I add one more thing to that message too? Is, I think of things that we wanna change in our life, right? So we want to eat healthier, we want to quit smoking. And if we compare with smoking, our goal is zero. Our goal is no cigarettes at all, whereas something like changing food is something that we can't go to zero. We shouldn't go to zero. And so I always say, OK, so if one starts off and, OK, so you had that cinnamon bun because you read about cinnamon and that's the first thing that comes to mind, and then you realize that wasn't the best choice, is in 3 to 4 hours later, you have this incredible opportunity to be able to make a better choice. So really looking at it as new opportunities rather than, oh, I messed up my day. I might as well do another drive-through. Through so that the beautiful life opportunities keep giving themselves. That's, that's—

yeah, we're continually presented with these choices, with these decision-making opportunities. Yeah, so I can make a poor choice yesterday, I can start all over today, and I can have a different, uh, different frame of mind for it. Yeah, I like that. So, um, in terms of— I always wonder, like, what's the down to the basics. What's the basic common denominator for food choices? I know that's a big question, but what's the ideal picture look like? You both have a lot of experience with diet, nutrition, and recommending. What does the big picture look like? What should households incorporate if you could influence somebody to make these major choices. What's the big picture look like? And we hear about a lot of the specific— what does the big picture look like in terms of meals and grains and processed, non-processed? What do you recommend to the average household?

So I will let the doctor step in there because as a health and wellness coach, I don't make nutritional recommendations directly. So I let Sabrina Start with this.

This is probably a good thing to say my caveat that this is nutrition or for informational purposes only what we're doing today, and to please seek out your, your medical— your primary care doctor. Yeah, so essentially the biggest thing, and especially in the United States and many other countries, is there are not enough vegetables and fruit. So I always like to think of if we simplify it to having a plate. So here I have my round plate and really trying to fill half of it up with vegetables and fruits, a quarter of the plate with whole grains, and a quarter of the plate with well thought out proteins. And if we think of that way, and if we want to simplify it even more, is more fruits and vegetables and finding ways to do that again in a really simple way, like Stella said. So having an edible piece on your kitchen counter apple is, um, and, and eating it throughout the day. So it's visibly there. Um, you know, if I have a bowl of cookies, I'm much more likely to reach for that. So, so having fruits and vegetables that are readily available from even the way you organize your refrigerator, right? So if I have a— my top drawers are always going to have fruits that need to be refrigerated, so berries, grapes, and then the top right drawer is going to have vegetables that can be eaten raw. So making it really simple. And that's if I had one piece of advice, more vegetables and fruits.

Good, good. Any additions, Stella?

Yeah, maybe just, you know, to go off of the World Health Organization's recommendations. It's also, you know, trying to make sure that we keep the food intake proportional to what we use during the day, like how active we are, right? We don't want to eat more than what we need. And I find that one small change that can be very helpful for a family is to just take, you know, take away those big dinner plates, which again, when I moved to the US and I saw those big dinner plates, they looked like platters to me, like what we put under the plate, right, in the restaurant. So take those away and just get a few smaller plates. And I'm not talking, you know, tiny dessert plate, but like the 9, 10-inch plate. And always having your food set on a plate, not eating from containers, and put the food on the plate. And then if you want to go for seconds, you go for seconds, but at least you start with a portion that is going to be probably smaller than if you eat on a dinner plate. And if on top of it, yeah, you can have half of that plate covered with vegetables, or if you don't really know what kind of vegetable, just go for green stuff, you know, if it makes it easier at first, half of your plate is green and the plate is not too big, and that will be a huge step forward.

Good advice. Yeah. So half of the plate, smaller plates, and I just read about that recently, like 9-inch plate is not too big or not too small. It's a nice size. And half is for fruits and vegetables and a quarter is for grains, whole grain. Like what, Sabrina? What, what, what do you put in that quarter?

It could— I mean, this is where it's the variety is the spice of life, but one of the parts that I love. So if you're a rice-eating household, let's start with something simple like that. If you can transition from white rice to brown or red rice, black rice, forbidden rice, the darker you get, the higher the nutritional components are going to be. And just to, just to give a visual. So essentially a whole grain has 3 parts. So you have the husk, which is the outer component. You have the germ, which is where the healthy oils and minerals are. And then you have the endosperm, which is the white starchy stuff that white flour is made from. The outer husk and the germ are the part that has all the nutrients. So in our society, the fast food nation, we have removed the two parts with the healthy. We give it to the animals and we eat the starchy, um, components that have no nutrients. So anything we can do to return to the kernel at its at its wholeness. So that's why I say if you're a rice eater, go darker on the color. If you are a pasta eater, do whole wheat pasta rather than white pasta. And if that is a big change, you can use capellini, which is essentially thin pasta, because some people find the texture to be off-putting if you're used to white pasta. So capellini or shaped whole wheat pasta is a really good transition. So any, any shape you like, it's all going to be the same. And if you're a bread eater, this is the few nutritional label reading I'm going to recommend today, is make sure that each slice has at least 3 grams of fiber per serving, ideally greater than 5. So being a wise consumer, not falling for the front of the box, which is an advertisement, but turning that box around and looking at the, the simple aspects of nutritional labels.

Great, great. So good choices, the grain cost of bread and make the adjustments on each of those. That's helpful. Stella, any additions? Are you— would you add anything to the whole grains quarter section of our plate?

Yeah, no, I mean, I think what Sabrina said was, was perfect. I might want to add that, you know, when we don't really know what's whole, because as you were saying, Sabrina, there's a lot of advertising on the front of the package of a lot of products. So if you don't really know what whole means, if you can recognize what it is, like if it could grow, you know, from a tree or from the ground, this is what we call whole. If your great-great-grandmother would know what that food is, then chances or it's going to be a whole food, pretty much.

Okay, okay, good, good. And then let's talk about the protein. Like, quarter of our plate should be protein. What does that look like? I'm not talking about hamburgers, I'm sure. We're talking about—

so, Stella, do you want to take— do you want to take this one first?

Yeah, sure. Um, so yeah, um, The idea is to go for leaner protein, right? Because we want to avoid getting too much saturated fat in our diet. And that is mostly, you know, in meat, red meat and dairy. So the idea is really to try and get leaner proteins such as, you know, fish is a good example or shellfish and also plant-based protein are great sources of nutrients too, such as, you know, peas like chickpeas, beans, lentils, and things such as edamame, tofu. You want to make sure that it's as little processed as possible, but those are all great options. I find that eggs are a great way, you know, an easy and usually very affordable option to get some protein in. So it's just about trying again to to limit the, limit the red meat, um, because it's really not the, the best source. It brings you a lot of saturated fat, which is not the ideal fat that we want to feed our body with.

Great, great. Thank you, Sabrina.

Yes, I totally, yeah, uh, yeah, to piggyback on Stella, on board. I love, I love to see that you and I are definitely on the same page on all of this. I look forward— I'm excited that I've met you today, and I'm excited to continue this.

I saw that complementary kind of styles too, as I have talked with each of you over the past months. Yeah.

And so it's one of the— so one of the ways— so just really going, if there are any more— some people talk about Meatless Mondays or really incorporating more beans, lentils. Also, if you're not somebody that cooks, buying things like hummus, plain yogurt, making some hard-boiled eggs and having those readily available because that especially, um, because I know Joe with, with this Living to 100, protein is something often that as people get older, the idea of even going out and buying meat and then cooking it is overwhelming. So having ways to incorporate, you know, simple meals. So we have hummus, whole wheat pita bread and then grabbing some vegetables or a couple of pieces of fruit. And that's like, like Stella said, that's a meal right there. So, so really focusing on more plant-based meals, plant-based protein since we're on that planet right now. And then if we look at the other side and again, I always like to focus more on things to add rather than things to take away. But if we look at red light foods, especially in that protein section, things that are— things like bacon, hot dogs, and deli meats are really— they've actually been— they're considered now carcinogens. So even though they're easy to grab and easy to cook, and especially things like bacon that are really commonly used as a staple for breakfast in this country, those are really red light foods. I always say those are very once in a while foods. Foods and really focusing more on moving towards the yellow, the green light foods, which the full green light would be the plant-based. And then, and then also, if we are filling up half that plate with vegetables and fruits and we do want a steak dinner, so to speak. So now maybe instead of spending the money on 4 giant steaks that fill up that 14-inch dinner plate, what about going to the 9-inch plates and then, and then getting grass finished beef or 100% grass-fed beef, because that right there makes a big difference. It's higher price point, but now you're now feeding a family of 4 with one steak. And the fat content in grass-finished beef is night and day different from the run-of-the-mill corn-fed. Because as you say, we are what we eat. And the cows that have been fed corn have a lot more— this is getting a little technical here, but a lot more omega-6 or pro-inflammatory fat that is in the meat itself versus grass-finished beef, which means that they grass their entire life. And so their fat content in the meat that you're eating is a lot more omega-3, which is anti-inflammatory.

Great, great. Yeah, I'm noticing the time here. I want to shift to— that's very helpful information, by the way. Thank you both. Let's take a look at living longer, right? And you both work with clients and patients as well. What, what are some of the characteristics of people who have adopted these changes that you recommended? What are, what are some of the kind of what the mindsets of that people have made when they've made these decisions, maybe to reduce their high blood pressure or lose weight or sleep better? What, what's going on in their minds when they actually start to shape their behavior in a positive way? What have you seen, Sabrina? There must be some characteristics that we can tease out about people that are making these choices, making these better choices, healthier choices. What have you seen?

So it's the first— and they have in their house is a scale. And so often people get frustrated because their, um, because the weight coming down as quickly as they would want. And, and that shift of saying, focus on what you're choosing to eat and how you're moving your body today. So what are you doing for your body rather than that black and white number? And within 2 weeks of going from kind of a junk food to more whole foods, people will start noticing their joints feel better. So there's kind of this immediate investment, so to speak. And, and then they had the— to really kind of fast forward of saying, okay, now we're noticing if they're getting blood draws, say they're in for a blood pressure check, and we're starting to notice the lab numbers are looking better, the cholesterol, especially the triglycerides, which is much more— reflects much quicker dietary changes in those numbers. So there's this beautiful empowerment, aha, of saying, wow, I may not see that black and white number. And I, and I tell them this from the beginning, focus on how you're feeling rather than that number, cuz that may take a while to respond and you're still seeing positive changes. And it's so beautiful to them to see that on a day-to-day. That's been one of my favorite things of being in primary care almost 16 years is to know people over a those wake-up moments that sometimes happen from the first appointment, sometimes 6 years in, and, and finally have a moment of saying, wow, I really do have a say in my health on a day-to-day.

That's great. Yeah, so they see the positive changes, and again, that's very reinforcing for that behavior. So they're going to continue that behavior. It's giving them the rewards, and it's reaching the helping them get closer to their goals. Yeah, I can see that. Stella, have you seen any, any typical characteristics? And yeah, like what?

Yeah, for me, like what I've observed, and that's the most remarkable and the fastest result that they get, is that they get more energy. So they end up, you know, having that energy needed to, to play with their grandchildren, to, you know, go and meet their friend and friends and play cards. Like, just they get that, that love of life again, you know. Like, the energy makes a big difference, you know. When everything in your day is a chore because you're tired, you feel sluggish, it's really— life is hard. And then when you get that energy back and you can do things again, this is really what I've noticed. The most, uh, the most amazing change that I can observe in, in people.

Again, as Sabrina is saying, it's that feedback that they're on the right track and they're going to continue that behavior. Yeah, I was watching your, your, uh, show last night, uh, Kitchenistas, uh, Sabrina, and I was really impressed with that little spot about the shared appointments where you had a group of patients in the room at one time. And I remember reading about shared appointments years ago, and I thought that was when you have the multidisciplinary treatment team in the same room with a group of patients. And that helps with, I think, goal setting. So I want to ask you about goal setting. How do you— what do you suggest to patients when they're starting out?

What—

how do they set some goals? What, when you're making these recommendations about, do you need to do these things? What are their goals? How do they start their goal setting?

Joe, I love what you just said because there are goals I have for them, right? Before they come in for their appointment, I've already looked at their labs or again, I've known patients for decades, not decades, yeah, some of them decades. And so I have my goals, but they may be completely different from where they're at. And, and I think that's the key, is to tease out what their goals are, right? So is it like Stella said, is it being able to go out to dinner with your friends and not be so uncomfortable and, you know, hoping that there's a close parking spot so you, so you don't use all your energy getting to the restaurant? Is it being able to happily walk your child down the aisle? Is it being able to go back to Zumba classes. I mean, it could be all over the place. And, and there's— and essentially asking, what are your goals? And, and then with that, saying, okay, from what I'm hearing that you want to do, this is what I see could be a really good starting point. Do you feel like this could be a good first goal for you? And not have a laundry list. I always picture, you know, back before electronic devices, that people would show pictures of their grandkids, like, you know, 100 pictures come out. If I tell my patients, okay, I want you to do these 100 things between now and 3 months from now, A, that's too long of a gap, B, that's too much, right? So I will have them tell me, okay, so it sounds like what we've talked about today is this goal. Does that seem reasonable to you? How do you feel like that could begin for you? And that's inching away and that's chipping away, chipping away, chipping away.

Yeah, yeah, I think that talks about where the motivation is going to come from, because it's not going to come from the doctor, it's not going to come from the health advisor, it's going to come from internal decision, right? And that's the whole argument behind motivational interviewing— where, where is the person rather than being told what to do. So I think that's, that's really an important component there to make sure the person can articulate. Maybe they don't have any goals, so they need some help. But it has to come from where they are first. So Stella, what do you do with your clients in goal setting?

Yeah, so one thing I do when they decide on their first steps— so they have the long-term goals, and then they have steps to get there, right? And what we try to do is really to look at those steps. Like, for instance, they say, OK, I am going to eat a cup of raw vegetables every day. So we call that a step. What I tell them is look at this as an experiment. This is not a goal for this week. It's an experiment. And we know when you have a goal and you don't reach it, you feel like you've failed and that is not helping anyone. But if you look at it as an experiment, then whatever happens, you will learn from that experiment. So we experiment with that. And then a week later, we look at it and we see, okay, how did the experiment go? How can we change it? You know, how can we tweak? How can we build on it? So it's really about experimenting. Some things are not going to work and others will, but it's kind of putting the pressure away from the person and putting it— putting the pressure on the experiment itself to see what happens with that experiment.

That's some great advice. Thank you both. That was really good. Yeah, so I see we're out of time. Before we break though, I just want to ask you to tell people how to contact you if they want to get in touch with you, or maybe you can share your website with our group. Sabrina?

So absolutely. So my company is called Sensation Salud, and it's really about waking up your senses, and salud in Spanish means health. It also means cheers. So it's cheers to life and all that comes with it. So my website, sensationsalud.com. And then I'm also on social media, same, same handle. So please reach out. I really would love to hear if there are things that are helpful for you as far as steps to take. So that's the beauty of being a really new business is that I'm growing and excited to take this journey with you. So thank you.

Great. SensationSalud.com. That's great. Thank you. Stella?

Yeah. So my, my website is allonsycoaching.com. A-L-L-O-N-Z coaching.com. Allons-y stands for let's go, um, in English. So that's the French of let's go. And, uh, it's all about, yeah, getting started, like meeting you where you are and going from there to, to be able to, uh, to reach your goals. And, um, there's a contact form on my website. That's the best way to get in touch with me and tell me, you know what, I'm always creating content, uh, creating classes. And, and I love to hear from people what they need so that I can really provide what it is that you need to, to reach your goals.

Great. Alonzeecoaching.com. Thank you. I've seen both of your websites. They're beautiful websites, so I compliment you on, on that as well. Thank you both very much. This has been a wonderful treasure of a conversation. I hope we have a lot of people who are gonna watch this and, you know, impart this really important information. So thank you both for sharing your ideas and your expertise and your recommendations.