22. Brigid Titgemeier: The Pervasive Influence of Diet Culture, Misconceptions About Health + Weight Loss, Unhealthy Cycles and More

You can't have a healthy metabolism without a healthy gut. And so much of that healthy gut is fueled by our prebiotics, polyphenols, and those phytonutrients that are going to be found in those whole real unprocessed foods. So eating more variety of your fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds and foods that are fully intact but also are rich in those phytonutrients that are going to help to fuel a healthier gut egosystem that will help to also support your metabolism.

Hey. All right. Today we have a really special guest. We don't see enough of each other. And it's funny, like, I just, I'm in awe of everything that you're doing. Welcome. Bridget being Bridget. Thanks.

I'm so happy to be here.

Yeah, I hope we do many of these because I'm just so inspired by the impact that you have. And I know we're going to dive into so much of that today. So before we do that, I. Rooted in Wellness is all about ancient wisdom in our modern world and really how we can become more rooted in ourselves, in our health, in our life, but also this inner wisdom that I know we all have to heal. So to start off, I'm always curious, what are three things that help you feel really rooted in your health and yourself?

My first is 100% sleep. I cannot function without sleep.

You're a new mom also.

That's true. I'm like napping as much as I can ever fit in because I am really not able to function and can feel a drop in my mood. Can feel also an increase in cravings and those sorts of things which we know from the science. Sleep absolutely impacts people's cravings. So sleep is my number one that I am religious about and try to be as religious about in this phase of life. Even though obviously that is like, it's so far from what it typically is right now. And I'm trying to just accept that. I like, I can't watch one more episode of the Importance of Sleep, the Science of the Importance of Sleep, or any clips that I see because I'm like, what about new moms that can't. That physically cannot? Or moms of even like 6 year olds who are still waking them up.

In the middle of the night. I know you can't get there. I get that.

Yeah. So sleep. And then I would say my, my nutrition is, is such an important pillar because I'm, I'm very in tune as you are, with how I feel on a daily basis. And so I drive my food choices based on how I want to feel. And in asking myself every morning or in preparation for an event like this, how want to show up, how do I want to feel? And so much of that comes down to what I'm eating not only a few hours before that, but the night before, several days before. So making sure that I'm, you know, in, in in flow with that. And I would say that my third one is probably being in nature that helps me feel so grounded immediately. Like, the second that we are in on a hike in the woods, I'm, you know, like, tapping more into my central nervous system. I think it's a great thing for us to be able to do with my kids and my husband to show them this is how we live. You know, that we're setting these examples at an early age of these are just the things that we do, not from a place of having an agenda, but because it's how we live.

Yes. Yeah. And it's so interesting, like, I think for you as a dietitian, for me as a nutritionist, when we break down things for our clients, that's literally almost the order too, that I focus on. Because first of all, like, if you don't have the sleep, nothing else is going to work. And by the way, you're just in a season, the season is going to pass. But two, I just want to go back to something that you said, being really intentional about what you're going to consume that day based on what you have to do. And the reason why is because I think. I don't think a lot of people out there are really intentional about what they eat outside of the label of eating healthy. Right. It's not like, oh, I've got a really big presentation today. I should probably focus on eating more protein and some fiber this morning or good quality fats for my brain or whatever it is. Right. We focus so much on, like, our hair, maybe our makeup, the clothes that we're gonna wear, but it's like the actual sustenance and fuel for our bodies can help you feel rooted. So thank you for bringing that. So on the other side, you and I both know you've probably worked with many, many people who are treating their wellness like a checklist. And I'm all about a checklist, and sometimes we need it. But when you're not dropping into your wellness activities, a lot of those things on your checklist can also be responsible for uprooting you. You might not even notice that they're the source of things like inflammation or poor sleep or poor mood. Do you have specific things that really uproot you in your life and how you're feeling? Do you catch yourself in the moment?

So not sleeping 100%. I don't want to just do the opposite of everything that I just said, but it kind of is like not sleeping, eating too much added sugar, or even like an ingredient, several ingredients that I wouldn't typically eat. Like, I can feel it immediately where I'm like, oh, that's a great reminder and a great reinforcement. You know, that's something that I work on a lot with clients and that my dietitians work on with clients is like reframing instead of thinking it as it as a failure, that it's like, oh, no, let me just learn from this experience so that I'm not consuming this as often because I can pay attention to and honor what I just experienced in my body so that I'm not going to make those choices moving forward. And then I would say probably my third is just relations. Not having connection, not having the relationships around me, being super isolated, not connecting with my kids, my husband. Like, that really, really is what makes me thrive. So I'd say anytime that I'm feeling extra isolated, I can really notice a difference.

Mm, that's so good. Um, the reason I why I asked this question is because I think a lot of people listening are constantly looking for something else to add in. Right. How else can I feel better? What can I add in? What supplement what food? What protocol? Instead of sitting back and be like, no, no, no, what's missing? How can I just feel more grounded again to feel better? And I know that this is a lot of your dialogue. We're going to dive into a lot of this today. Your entire platform really is about being and expressing your whole self and really using nutrition as a means to do that. And before we started filming, you know, I really want to hone in on the fact that at the Table today is a functional dietitian and a nutritionist. And a lot of the things that we're speaking to today are really about helping people optimize and getting to the root cause. So, like, let's dive into a lot of the things that you and I are seeing happening out in the world that are really compromising the way that people are feeling and the way that they're showing up for their lives. Okay.

Love it.

So, to start off, a recent stat that I found is that almost half of the population in the US Are trying to lose weight. Right in this moment, over almost half the population is trying to lose weight. Right in this moment. That's an insane stat. And when we think about this diet culture. Let's start off this episode by diving into the failures of diet culture. Specifically, what do you think the failures are, and how do you think those failures are impacting our health?

Yeah. So if we zoom out, we have the ultra processed food industry that's been fueling our chronic disease epidemic for the last 50 years. We have the pharmaceutical industry that's been trying to mask the inflammatory consequences of that with drugs, peddling drugs to do that. We have the healthcare industry that you go to and they give you a diagnosis, they tell you that you just need another pill bottle, and that, of course, nutrition has nothing to do with this. And then you have the diet industry, which is the ultimate distraction from all of this that's happening because it's really fueled, in my opinion, the chronic disease epidemic. It teaches people, oh, it's as simple as calories in, calories out. You just need to focus on nutrition for weight loss. And completely ignores the fact that we are feeding our chronic disease epidemic, that we are killing ourselves every day with the food choices that we're making and not having the discussion around the quality of food and how much food can actually improve and optimize our health, prevent disease, help us live longer, help our kids thrive and have the vitality that they. That is their birthright, that they deserve. So I think that what that's really led to are three things. One, more people are overweight, more overweight than ever. 74% of the population is either overweight or obese. We spend 70 billion di. $70 billion on the diet industry every year, and it's not working. Two, we have this chronic disease epidemic, an increase in autoimmune diseases and depression and mental health and fertility rates, infertility rates. And then three, we have more people obsessed, anxious, and concerned about their food choices every single day, feeling helpless and not empowered and feeling like they're not doing enough, like they're shameful of their bodies. All of these feelings of low esteem that the diet industry has really fueled over the last several decades. We've created really almost two generations of people who don't know how to think about food for their health. They think about food for the number on the scale and the number of calories, and then separately, they go to their doctor for medical management. They're like, okay, I'm just gonna focus on these numbers and the scale for my food choices. And then Separately, I'm gonna go to my doctor for my congestion or my joint pain or my other conditions that I'm experiencing. And they think of it as two separate categories. We have two generations, essentially, that don't know how to fuel their health with the food choices that they're making. And thinking of food as medicine. And unfortunately, what that's creating is another generation. You know, I just recently read a statistic that 57% of young girls report using laxatives, engaging in diet activities. I have literally chills just saying that. And it's like, we've already proven that this model doesn't work, so how can we save our kids from going down the same rabbit hole? That doesn't work and leads to lower esteem and leads to an increased risk of chronic disease. And all of these things that we're seeing, like, the work has to start with us in breaking that cycle, and.

We have to continue to be vocal about it. So the people who are listening, it's like, we hear these stats, and it's so infuriating. Like, why is food so complicated? A necessity of life, a foundational truth is one of the hardest things that I have to deal with, especially as a woman. 95% of all diets fail, period. And let's not mistake. The diet industry is not the healthspan industry, okay? The diet industry is. Should not even be considered under the health and wellness umbrella. Every time you go on a diet, most people end up on a diet, what, four weeks, six weeks, then they fail, and they're looking for the next solution, right? And I'm. I'm so curious. When we put this episode out, you might not even know this about me, but pre nutrition, I worked in the fashion industry. It was so toxic. We would go so hardcore in everything. Meaning, like, if we. If we did eat off plan, we would binge eat, and then we would use something like laxatives or fat burner pills that night, Living through high levels of stress, living through hormonal imbalances, and using these fat burners that were massive endocrine disruptors, right? Further causing even more dysfunction. And I think what you and I might be seeing also, by the time people end up in front of us, it's like, look, I've tried everything. I've tried all the diets. I've tried all of the things. My health is getting worse, and I'm still waking up feeling like crap. And I think that we really, really have to own in on some of, like, the broken aspects of this industry. Okay? So the first One.

I didn't realize that. That you had that experience. And I love that you can, like, speak to it firsthand.

Yeah, I, like, we went through bottles and bottles of laxatives. I weighed too much tonight, had too much alcohol. Let's just use some of these laxatives. Maybe that'll get rid of some of the excess. Completely disruptive thinking.

Completely disruptive thinking. That's what I think is the most disruptive, is the thoughts that people can't break themselves out of. It's like the habits, of course, destroy your physiology, but then on a mental level, people can't stop.

And then the women in my industry that I was hanging out with were normalizing it. Right. But what was I doing? I was dehydrating my colon. Right. I was probably killing off an abundance of good quality bacteria that would even support me to lose weight in the end. We'll talk about gut health in a little bit. You know, probably getting more food cravings, contracting hormones. You got it. Yeah. So it just took me on this, like, tailwind of, like, destructive behavior, and then I went to beta blockers afterwards. So it was just like the spiral of crashing and.

Exactly what you're talking about, because I know that you've been on beta blockers for your heart. It's like you lived that.

That.

It's like you used food as a tool to lose weight. And the fat burners and the other things, and that is not wellness. There's no part of that that should be under the wellness umbrella. And then separately, medical management.

Yeah, exactly.

It was like there was never anything that brought the two together. Like, oh, well, you could use food as your medicine.

Never. It was never even brought up. They just wanted to know that I wasn't eating too much McDonald's or drinking too much alcohol or smoking too many cigarettes. Like, that was really it. They weren't asking about anything else in my life. So when I. My health was at its worst, I was really following this model of eating less and moving more. I was on the Atkins diet. I was restrictive eating, like, hardcore. I was working out for an hour and a half, two hours at the gym, and my health was at its worst. The numbers were going up, the inflammation was going up. I had joint pain in my 20s, for crying out loud. So why doesn't this model work?

And probably so much fatigue and brain exhausted. Yeah. I think that it's like, people I've. I've worked with a lot of clients who have said, I will do anything to lose weight at the expense of my Health, Yeah, because that's how much I want to lose weight. So if it means, like, impacting my hormones negatively, I'll do it. If it means impacting my gut health negatively, I'll do it without this realization that it comes full circle. Like, okay, maybe initially that will work for you, but if you take a hit on your hormones, if you take a hit on your gut health, long term, you won't have an optimal metabolism. So I think that when it comes to eat less, move more, you can suppress your caloric intake. And when you suppress it too much, like what has been done in the diet industry, where weight watchers had 200 calorie frozen dinners that were being advertised to moms in the 90s. Absolutely insane, filled with chemicals and highly processed ingredients. But, oh, it's just 200 calories, which is not enough sustainable to sustain anyone. So of course you're still hungry after dinner and then probably having these obsessive food thoughts. But when it comes to those large caloric deficits, they do two things. They make you feel deprived and hungry so that you have to exert the most amount of willpower until you can't take it anymore. And then you go in the complete opposite direction because your physiology has been hijacked. And then two, it suppresses your metabolic rate. So your metabolic rate is your body's ability to burn energy and calories. And the more diets that you do, the more that your caloric, your metabolic rate takes a hit. So it tells your body, I'm not eating enough, so I'm going to decrease my output so that I'm in better balance or homeostasis. Like the body's trying to help you stay alive or stay in survival mode because it's feeling some kind of, like an external threat, like you're not getting enough. So we're going to conserve your energy so that you have it in case you need to run from a tiger or a lion, like we've needed to in human evolution. But when you think about this, calories do matter to some extent. But also what matters is having great metabolic health, having good blood sugar balance, having insulin sensitivity, having hormone balance, having proper gut health, not having too much inflammation, because I think so many people don't realize is that you could be in a slight caloric deficit and not losing weight because you have chronic inflammation or because you have gut imbalances or because you have hormonal imbalances. But people are gaslit into being like, oh, well, if you can't lose weight when you're in a caloric deficit, and you're not, you're not succeeding with this point system or this calorie equation, then there must be something wrong with you. And people feel like failures where they're like, why can't I lose weight? And it's like, because nobody's helping you address what's happening underneath the surface. They're not helping you address the chronic inflammation, they're not helping you with your insulin resistance. They're not teaching you about the way that blood sugar balance can help you actually be in a state where you're able to burn fat at a more effective rate. So in burning fat at a more effective rate, like we think about wanting to be able to burn fat for metabolism so that you're able to build muscle burn fat, it's like, that is where people also fail, is thinking just about the number on the scale instead of thinking about their total body composition. So it's like you could actually be moving in the right direction. But if you're using the wrong metric for your success, then you're going to feel defeated and you're going to give up too early and you're not going to have the success that you're looking for.

You got it? I think, you know, there's two things. One, right now I'm working with a few doctors who are just a firm believer. No calories in, calories out, calories in, calories out. Or strictly doing macros. If someone's going to lose weight, there's a time and a place for macros. If you're the type of person who thrives on it, who can do it long term, and you're doing the right ratios and you're meeting with the doctor consistently to check in on your levels. And more power to you. Me, personally, I don't think that that's a sustainable way to live, especially with, with our schedules. But also this foundation of understanding if your baseline is not correct no matter what you do, this is probably why so many people have tried these different types of diets and they don't work. Or every diet that you do try can work until it doesn't. Right. And then it pitfires. And I really just think that we have to teach more people around these foundational truths of optimizing your baseline first. Because I think that when people also commit to these types of diet, they're not going to their doctors, like, they're not looking at what their baseline labs are. They're not looking at what their deficiencies are. They don't even know if they're going to restrict their calories, what foods they should be focusing on to optimize. Right.

100%. And most people I like, I'm from the Midwest, most people that are going to the doctors, their doctors don't know how to run all of those things, like my team of dietitians. And I run all of that for people because their doctors are looking at, you know, pretty outdated markers where it's just like a general CBC and a cholesterol panel, and that's the extent of what they're getting. So they're also missing the data and the information about their body that they really deserve so that they can have a baseline and then track their health outcomes as a result. Because sometimes people will come through our programs and be like, oh, I didn't realize that that with this intervention, like, I was able to drop my HSCRP or my inflammation by five points. And I haven't yet seen the impact on the scale. But I'm so hopeful because I can see that I'm moving things in the, in the right direction internally so that. But eventually externally, I'll see those results. But sometimes people just jump the gun so much. They want that weight loss so much that they are not seeing all of the results that come from seeing the course.

You got it. When you work with all of your clients, do you run their labs first? Always?

For the most part, yeah.

There's the odd person that might not be able to do it in that moment and we'll get started first. But honestly, it's a prerequisite of mine to be able to start working with someone so that we know what we're dealing with. We can help them achieve and feel more results faster if we understand how.

To nourish the body first 100% and it and helps with them mentally to be able to track that outcome. Yes, I'm interested. Do you have a lot of people that you work with that you that are on. Since you said that you work with doctors that are very much about calories and versus calories out. Do you see people that are like counting their calories and not having the success and they're like, why can't I lose weight even though I'm in a caloric deficit?

No, these are the people that will go into an incredible caloric deficit who are maybe training for a role or training for, you know, a sports event or event that they have to speak at, but they have been so ingrained in diet culture that they will hardcore diet and restrict when it stops. They will Hardcore binge gain everything back, let themselves go. Obviously inflammatory markers go up and every year after year we can like prove that like the inflammation is still there and it's getting worse. Despite your efforts to systematically go through caloric deficit, the system doesn't work. Why don't we try something different? Right. But I think that there's like this diet culture has been around forever. Right? We'll talk about doctors too, and the level of training that they've had with nutrition and stuff like that. What they believe to be textbook or accurate from like a mental standpoint, instead of looking at the da, the data that happens when you actually heal the body is two very different things. But I think that what doctors are often doing is they need to be prescriptive. Prescriptive. They're looking for one specific imbalance. Right. So let's say if it's weight loss, right, they're going to tell you one thing to do based on you need to lose weight, eat less food. Right. As if it was that easy for people.

Yeah, it's so true. That's the other thing is that it makes it seem like, oh, it's just that easy. And I, I think that there's just so many layers to it and so many factors that you have to account for. I just really believe that, like I've seen so many people that are in a caloric deficit that cann lose weight until they start to address some of those imbalances underneath the surface. And I don't think that people recognize like how important that actually is.

You got it. So what other diet aspects need to be debunked? What are some diet myths out there?

I think one is just that you don't have to be so obsessed with the entire process. Like we live in a culture, in a society that creates an obsession. And it's not that people are over what, when we have 74% of the population that's overweight or obese, you know, 50% of people that have prediabetes or diabetes, we have skyrocketing rates of cancer and so many other chronic conditions. And it's not because of a lack of effort. People are trying. Like we know that people are trying. The diet industry is making $70 billion a year. So it's really, it comes down to the fact that we need a different roadmap to help people succeed and one that's less obsessed. Like you can only. It's so sad to see so many people obsessing and not seeing the results. It's not because of A lack of effort that they're putting in. So I think, you know, we saw it and hopefully that everyone understands that even just the low fat craze, like the damage that that did mentally to so many people who were in, you know, like the 90s and were indoctrinated with this idea that fats are bad and fats are unhealthy and didn't understand the. The corruption that was going into that messaging from the obesity researchers at Harvard in the 50s that had been paid to shift the blame to fat and shift the blame away from sugar. Very intentionally and consciously, they changed the nutrition agenda for decades and impacted the industry going into this low fat craze that I think it's hard for people to break out of. Like, when you are taught for so many years and all of the food marketing around you is low fat, this, low fat, this. Everything in your environment is that it's hard to like, just come out of and be like, oh, that's no longer true. Just so you know, now you need to focus on your added sugar and your grains. When everything, you know, if you look at even just Jif peanut butter, like the reduced fat Jif peanut butter, it had the same 190 calories, it had 2 grams less fat. And the reason that they were able to do that is because they added corn solids as the ingredients, as one of the first three ingredients to help to decrease the total fat, the total fat level that it was, so that it increased the amount of added sugar. Like you if it's challenging for people to keep up with all of the changes in the trends, to not only have the education, the awareness, but then also to change their belief system.

I'm smiling and yet I'm half pissed off. So let's go back to what you said, because whenever we see these massive shifts in the diet industry and what we should be eating, often those decisions and marketing and advertising and PR is coming from the higher control that be right. They're publishing this information, putting money behind it to push a systemic, monetizing structure for us to go out and follow without having the data or the studies to actually prove it. Right.

And I think too, something that was brought up this past week in the Senate hearing where so many of the wellness influencers and doctors had gone to Senate to testify about the chronic disease epidemic, which was so important, One of the panelists had said, we operate in the United States off of a. Off of a innocent until proven guilty model, whereas European countries operate off of an innocent until proven guilty.

Yeah, sorry.

Guilty until proven innocent in Europe versus innocent until proven guilty. So that's why we have all these trends and changes that happen so drastically with our food, because it's hard to actually prove that, that these things are harmful. Like, think about trans fats. It took two decades of research showing the, the harm of trans fats until they were finally taken out of the food supply in 2018. And there was heavy lobbying going against that. You know, companies paying a lot of money going against those efforts because it would mean they'd have to change their formulations and that would make the food not taste as good and not be as addictive. And they don't have smart enough food scientists, apparently, that can actually change these products. It's like, that's just one of many examples where for so long the, the writing was on the wall where these foods are not helping anyone. They're actually increasing rates of heart disease. And it took so long to be able to actually get them out of the food supply. And for so long, when the awareness was risen about trans fats, companies were then marketing their products as zero grams of trans fat. But the actual guidelines allowed for anything less than 0.5 grams of trans fats to. To be marketed as 0 grams of trans fat. So a food could have 0.4 grams of trans fats in the product. And you round down so on the label it would say zero grams, and on the front of the label it would say zero grams, even though partially hydrogenated oils were in the ingredient list. So you. It only takes 2 grams of trans fats per day to increase risk of heart disease. So you only really need to have four serving sizes of that food. When we know serving sizes, most people are eating more than one serving size. Of course, does the correct corruption and the manipulation and the coercion of our society from the food marketing and the food industry very intentionally is at the expense of American people.

Yeah. And it's not, I think that people out there trying to do the best that they can. And so often we find out that these ingredients are dangerous or toxic or even linked to studies that might be harmful. The FDA is giving these words umbrella terms so that, you know, they might take out something like MSG, for example. Right. And it can be labeled 100 other things instead. So it's so important to read labels. It's so important. Like the fights that are happening right now to, to change the future of our food system are incredible. And I understand that it's upsetting for people because I think the way that it's being received is, well, what do you mean? The government's been selling me food that is harming my health? What do you mean? I've been giving my kid food that is harmful. I get it from my grocery store where it's supposed to be healthy. It's where I go to buy my health food. Right. How can it be harmful? But this is the state that the world is in, and this is why so much upheaval is happening right now. But we finally are being given a voice to make some really positive changes. So when we think about those ingredients, I think that it's important to point out to the people who are listening. First of all, a lot of the foods that we ate as little kids will always go back to something like Cheerios. The Cheerios that people are eating today are not what we ate as kids. Right. A lot of the foods that our grandmother ate are not the same today. They're just loaded with so many chemicals and toxins that are actually illegal, legal. So just recognize that and do your research, read your legal.

They're not actually.

They should be illegal. Yeah.

They're illegal in other countries.

They are illegal in other countries. Yeah. And like, I'm just spending a little bit of time on this because often when I'll post about things like goldfish or Cheerios, like, I get really upsetting messages from moms, like, what do you mean this is that our school, our teachers give this out at school or at snack time. Right. Like, what do you mean they're dangerous? How can you be saying that? The one thing that I give to my kid every day is dangerous. It's like, I know it's upsetting.

Yeah. I think that, like, that I always have a conflict with. I wouldn't say always, but I sometimes have a conflict with even saying, like, oh, these food companies are poisoning our food system and they are poisoning us. Because poison is a very specific word that has a lot of power behind it. And it's hard to prove. Right, it's hard to prove because it's an insidious, like, there's an insidious nature to it that you can't necessarily just show. Oh, yeah. Adding glyphosate to the food supply directly increase the risk of xx. Next. Like, it's very. Again, these companies operate off of an innocent until proven guilty model. So it seems dramatic to say, oh, we're actually poisoning people with the foods that we're feeding. And I also think that there's concerns that I see from people that's like, this is Just, just fear mongering. And in order for moms to have mental health when they're thinking about the food choices that they're giving their kids, or even for moms that have kids that are grown that are like, oh, I can't believe that I fed my kids what I fed them, like, I probably ruined them. And the great thing is that you can come back from an ultra processed food diet. You know, you can remove it and optimize your health, health after you've changed your diet. But I think that there is an element of poisoning happening. When you think about it's not poison that's leading to like a foodborne illness that's creating a direct correlation with an increased risk of a disease that's like happening right away. That's what makes it so hard to prove is that it's just slowly leading to this decline that is like, oh no, that just, that can't be our food. It's probably other factors. There's a million other factors that could be contributing, contributing to the obesity epidemic and increased rates of obesity and allergies and asthma and ADHD and all these things that are correlated with our food supply. There's an abundance of research that shows that. So I think that it can be scary for moms to be like, oh, goldfish, this really is not a good choice. And for a number of reasons it's not a great choice. I sometimes feel like, oh, should I say that's actually toxic? Because toxic is also, you know, like a very powerful word. But I do think to some extent that these things are poison for us, that over time they aren't leading to better health outcomes. That's 100% clear. And the concern is really that they're contributing to this rise. Like what else is contributing to this rise? When we've shifted our entire food system to using glyphosate, to not using regenerative farming, to infiltrating food dyes, artificial flavors, the pesticides, there's so many factors that it's like this change in our food supply is the largest change of anything that's happened in the last 50 years to us. And then we're also seeing the increase in these chronic diseases. So there is 100% a correlation. So if you want to choose a different word that isn't poison, then that's fine. But it doesn't change the fact that these foods are contributing to disease.

You got it. The fact that cancer is rising amongst children, obesity, diabetes, like you name it, they're all going up. So I Agree, there's no need to fear monger. But I think that if there's going to make. If there's going to be people that are going to make changes to food policy, it's parents. Okay? And instead of calling these. These ingredients toxic, let's just go back to the staple. Like, if you don't understand how to read the ingredient or if you don't know what it is, chances are your body won't either. Chances are it probably won't be good for yourself or your kid. Right?

Completely.

Yeah.

And I think, too, that it starts with the parents for advocating for a better and safer food supply. It starts with the parents for trying to stand your ground, too, when you're among other parents. Because that's where I hear a lot of concerns from clients of mine is like, oh, yeah, it's easy to do in our home, but the second that we step outside, they're at birthday parties and they're at school. And you wouldn't believe what they're feeding them at school, because my kids are still young and not in school yet. But I think standing your ground is really important. Not in a way that creates and fuels a new disordered eating culture that's focused more just like on toxic foods and ingredients versus calories. But I think, you know, educating your kids on the fact that these foods can be harmful. And this is why we choose not to eat them. Because we want to have good energy and we want to have healthy hair and we want to have healthy brains and we want to be able to learn in school and those sorts of things, and then educating the parents so sending them clips and things so that you can form more of a community. Because I find that people are very isolated in this fight that they're up against. It's like an uphill battle. And moms are trying to just pack their kids school lunches and other kids at school are making comments about their food or when they're trying to have their kids go to a birthday party. And, you know, they consume 10 food dyes in one hour. And they're like, my kids were completely off the chain for the rest of the day. But I also don't want them to be the weird kid where they're not eating the foods that everyone else is eating and being like, oh, oh, here's this. Because, you know, how bad can they actually be?

Totally. And one of the stats with adults is whatever the food is that you try to restrict the most is likely the food that you're going to end up binging. On. So we just think about setting up food behaviors for kids. I think it's so important that we dive into this. My kids don't know good food and bad food. They know food that will give their bodies health and energy and make them feel good and also contribute to, like, really healthy food. Poops. My kids look at their poops. They understand. Mommy, look. Look at the difference. It's like, this is usually after a birthday party when there's been chips and cake and pizzas and stuff like that that they don't usually eat. They understand the difference of how food moves through their body. So how is this true for adults? Also, like, when we think about this relationship with food, how is it making dieting harder? How is it setting us up to fail?

Yeah, I think that. Can you reread that question?

Yeah. So when we think about our relationship with food. Right. How is diet culture ruining our relationship with food?

So diet culture has ruined a number of people's relationship with food over the last several decades. They have created this obsession with calories in versus calories out. Not being able to think outside of that from a quality of food standpoint. Just thinking of food as numbers instead of as a way to fuel and nourish your body. And so I think that that's number one. We see in our programs an enormous level of anxiety and fear around food. And almost like, I wish I just didn't have to eat because it's too overwhelming and it's so complicated. And they have shame in their bodies. They have shame in their choices. They feel like they're a failure because they've gone on and off diets. So they're like, oh, I must be the problem here. Without realizing that the majority of diet diets fail. This is why the diet industry is tapping into Ozempic and these obesity drugs, because their diets aren't working. Like, Weight Watchers now sells Ozempic. And doesn't that seem weird? A company that's helping people lose weight that has created this disorder of. Of this eating disorder among our population for the last several decades, that's like, oh, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. And these toxic messages that. That were indoctrinated into people, and now this is the company that's selling the obesity drugs because they are like, oh, this is our new shift in our repositioning ourselves as a health company and a wellness company that's helping you think about your health as more than your. Yeah, total health is more than just your weight. And the fact that these drugs are a Great tool. It's like, this is very concerning that. That I think what it does is it shows what you have done and created has led to an enormous rise in these eating disorders. And they're not traditional eating disorders. It's not like anxiety and depression, but an obsession around food and weight. And then, oh, our diets don't actually work well enough. So we're going to layer in these drugs to help you lose weight, because we're not able to. And what we've designed. The problem isn't in people. It's in the roadmap. People have the wrong roadmap. And I think that that is like the best example of it. The weight loss industry is expected to go from 70 billion to $90 billion in 2023 because of these obesity drugs that they're adding to their company models. So I think that, you know, Jenny Craig, south beach diet weight watchers, all of them created this culture that then was passed down to kids watching their moms counting calories and talking about how fat they are and talking about how bad they look in their jeans and how they wish that they were thinner and all these things that then creates a whole nother generation, like the 57 of young adults, young females that are thinking about or that are using, you know, medications for constipation, that are using laxatives and those sorts of things to try to lose weight, because that's what they see. So the change has to start with us and walking away from this model that is, you know, all around us to say, this has failed too many people. And I am not engaging in these practices. I can see that the food industry is to some extent poisoning us with the food choices that they're incorporating and marketing, spending $2 billion marketing to kids, and at the same time, the diet has completely failed and led to this disordered eating culture. And I'm going to choose differently for myself because I want to be able to model that to my kids. I want to be able to model to my kids what it looks like to choose food, to nourish our body and to think about our energy and how we want to feel on a daily basis so that that becomes the pull for us to make choices that help to decrease our disease risk and that help us live longer and all those sorts of things that are just what we do. It's not because we're focused on a specific number on the body box or a specific number on the scale, is because this is how we want to feel and this is the energy that we want to show up with this is the impact that we want to have on. On the world. And the only way that we can have the greatest impact on the world is if we're feeding our bodies with whole food quality ingredients. And I think that really, that's what kids need to be taught. We need to, like, remove ourselves. And I know it takes a lot of work and clients that I work with, it's very, very hard, hard for them to pull themselves from what they have been taught and what they have practiced for so many years and sometimes decades. But it's so incredibly important.

And it's such a big topic because, like, you know, it's not just about the food. It's the food marketing and advertising. It's what the kids want. It's about parents not having any more time. The parents are also way too tired to cook. We don't have the flexibility or the village or the community at home to support us and cook and prepare us. Like, it's just all gone. So we have to really reimagine what this is going to look like. And I'm so curious, too. Like, I wonder how big the community is for people like Beachbody and the Jenny Craigs and the Weight Watchers. Like, you have these people with these massive platforms connected to hundreds of thousands of people around the world, globally, millions of people, demonizing food. Okay, we're demonizing the one thing that's designed to help us feel good in our bodies, help our bodies thrive and even, like, for, like, the enjoyment of it. I love food. I love the taste of food. I love how it makes it feel. Makes me feel. I love the community engagement aspect of things. Like, we've become so sidetracked to believe that we have to eat a certain way based on conditioning for looking a different way, as opposed to the foundational aspect of like, as opposed to just feeling our best. Best. Right?

I could not agree more.

And I say this, I think I've said this on many podcast episodes. Like, imagine as kids or as teachers or mothers, if we were to teach our kids, like, the value of this one body, this one vessel that you get for your entire life, and every single thing that you put into it is going to dictate how you're going to feel, how you're going to show up, your creativity, maybe how much fun you have, the joy that you have, have how your brain functions, how your. Your heart and your energy is. Like, literally your body's coherence. Like, how different would people treat their bodies if that were the case? It's almost like just putting up this massive reflection saying no, like no to this up toxic diet industry that's making us fat and sick. I'm going to take ownership and control back over my life and I'm going to go back to doing what my ancestors did. I'm going to eat real food. I'm going to do with the people that I love. And it's just we're still so far from that, which is like really sad. It's disheartening.

It is. Oh, I love that so much. But it's. Everyone can choose to do that in their life. And I think that it starts with realizing how much what you have been taught or the lack of modeling that you had for this healthy relationship with food has influenced you so that you can break free of that diet philosophy or belief that you've had to choose a different path like the path that you just explained. And I think that that is not only one of our greatest roles and responsibilities that we have for ourselves, but also for our children.

You got it.

It is one of the most important responsibilities that I feel as a mom to be able to model what a healthy relationship with food looks like and to protect my children from the ultra processed foods that they are targeted with from the food industry that's spending $2 billion marketing unhealthy junk food to kids.

I think dieting so much over time to that point is when you've done the toxic foods for too long or the over processed foods for too long. When you've tried too many diets for too many years on this cycle, you've ultimately become completely disconnected from the natural cues of your body. 100% you're no longer in tune with. Is that hunger? Is that anger? Is that my, is my digestion, my, my gut telling me something? Is my anxiety? You know, is that a secret meaning for something else? Is my low sex drive indication of me needing to incorporate more healthy fats into my life? Like there's no, there's no connection to the wisdom that's within our bodies anymore.

But that's what makes that, that's what makes, makes the whole system work together so well against the. It's like not in the name of health, it's in the name of staying in this cycle of like staying on the diet, saying, consuming the ultra processed foods because they're addicting you, staying on the drugs because they're helping you conceal any of the symptoms that you're experiencing or mask the symptoms that you're experiencing. Go to the doctor who's going to give you more drugs, drugs that completely takes you out of your body so that you just stay on the system. It's like, oh, the system that continues to fuel the largest companies in our country because we're not able to pull ourselves out of it if we aren't in tune with our body. If people were more in tune with their body, they would see how much all of it is failing them. Yeah, but the, it's like the connection, it's like that's the wheel that keeps it moving where it's like all of these, these organizations stay in business and continue to profit off of us when we are not able to wake up to the fact that these things are happening to our body. When we're not able to feel the fact that we have no energy and feel the fact that we have brain fog and feel the fact that we cannot show up for our lives because we're counting calories and we're eating ultra processed foods that are harming our health and then medicating our way out of it.

You got it. Constantly looking for the quick fix.

Constantly the quick fix. And I'll say too, I'm talking about this topic. I am probably about 20 pounds above my normal weight because I have a 4 month old and a 16 month old and I actually don't own a scale, so I don't know exactly how much, but if I had to guess, I'd say probably about 20 pounds above my normal weight. And so I'm saying this is someone that isn't at the perfect weight and is just like a nutritionist that's like, oh, wait, doesn't matter because I don't know what it's like, like to occupy a larger body at some points. Like obviously I'm postpartum. But giving yourself grace in the experience that you're in and having the faith and the trust that my body, if I'm giving it the right inputs, it knows what to do. And it might take longer for me to lose all of my weight by not counting calories, which is something that I'm choosing not to do. But I have, I have the faith that I can continue to tweak things and continue to reflect on, oh, I really feel like these genes I've been in for the last two months and I'm excited to get back to my normal genes that I know what to do and I can continue to modify. It's not that my metabolism's broken and I think that it's so easy for people to be like, oh, this is just taking too long. So I give up. And then it's like, well, what's the other route? Going back to the ultra processed foods that are only going to make you gain more weight, that are going to make you also feel horrible, that are going to drive more of your hormonal imbalances. Like there is no other way. So you need to stay the course with whole real foods 100% or not 100%, but 90% of the time.

Let's pretend we're two just non health related girlfriends having coffee. Okay? You know, probably you're saying I'm 20 pounds overweight, I don't know what to do, I really need to get this weight off. You know, the conversation probably goes like, oh, have you tried longer fasting? Have you tried the keto diet? Have you tried going paleo? Have you tried fasting on Mondays? It's like, no, I haven't tried any of those things. But okay, I guess I need to try something else. It's like really hardcore and restrictive again, right?

It's so true.

Instead of the conversation being like this, oh my God, Brigid, you just gave birth. Oh, just trust your body and the wisdom that it's going through. Right now your body is telling you exactly what you need to know. And the more that you nourish yourself, you know your body's going to come back into balance, the weight's probably going to fall off and you're going to go back to what you were. But right now your body needs this weight as you transition.

I could not agree more.

Doesn't that feel so much better?

Completely. And I think that that also is something that as women like, we don't do. We don't give ourselves the space for that. We don't give ourselves the, the credit or the acknowledgment for that. And there have been times like with me being in LA and having so many events and things like that so that I had to go to the mall to get new clothes because I am not in my regular sizes. And I was like, oh, it'd be really nice to be in my normal size. But I'm like, it's fine. I just gave birth to two amazing humans. Like, this is an amazing phase of life. And even though I don't feel maybe as confident as I would if I were at my normal weight, I'm trying to really embrace like this is a phase and it's important for me to have gratitude for my body and what it just went through and to not, but to not Go in the direction of, like, an extremely long fast or a keto diet or something that, like, hormonally, I really don't think is a good idea for a lot of women that are postpartum, that are already experiencing so more. So many hormonal fluctuations, who really do need whole food carbs. Like, we are seeing such a demonization around carbs now where it's like, this is a phase of life. I mean, we could get into, you know, like, carbs. And I do think that people eat too many carbs in general, if we're looking at national statistics. But a lot of our clients that come to us, they are on an extremely low carbohydrate diet, and they're like a year postpartum or even two years postpartum, and their hormones are still all over the place. And they're like, why is my fasting glucose still high? And I'm like, could you try adding more carbs to your diet? Like, gluconeogenesis tells us that you could eat a low carb diet and still have an elevated fasting glucose level. Because. Because you're taking your stored form of carbohydrates. And with higher levels of cortisol that come from, you know, going too long without eating or not eating enough carbohydrates in your diet, that will increase your fasting blood glucose levels, which also will make you feel, like, more wired and anxious and those sorts of things. So that is also some of the harm that can be done when you're just, like, talking to girlfriends that are like, oh, you should try this. It worked for so and so where it's like, it might not be the right thing for your unique body.

You got it. Yeah. And I think that this is where, you know, working with a practitioner is so key, because they can give you a different framework for what you need to be doing based on your cycle.

Could not agree more.

So we need to break up with dieting. We need to break up with a broken food and healthcare system.

Today. Today, Yesterday, actually, like, 20, 30 years ago. But it's. For as frustrating as it is, even just with the Senate hearing that happened this past week, it's, like, so empowering. But also there's been a sense of me that just feels a real sadness that it's like, why has it taken so long?

I know. I thought the exact same thing. Why is it taking so long? And why can I still walk into one of the healthiest grocery stores on the planet and see so many foods that are full of these Ingredients that we know to be harmful.

So true. And why are the companies fighting so hard to keep food dyes in the food supply? Like, I was thinking about if I were a baker, let's say, and I was feeding, I was making bread for a local school and giving them all of their school lunches. And I've been doing it for 20 years, and I'm going in every day and seeing the kids, and I'm seeing that they're all becoming less healthy and that over time they're becoming more overweight. Wouldn't you have the desire to be a little reflective, to be like, could there be something that I'm doing that's contributing to the changes that I'm visibly seeing in front of my face that are happening year after year? Like, we are killing ourselves every day with the food choices that we're making because of the food that is in our food supply. And where has our health care system been? Where have our government officials been and the public health agencies? Where has the pharmaceutical industry been? Where has the food industry been? Like, where has everyone been? To just watch if you. I got my master's in public health nutrition. So if you have studied public health, you know what the obesity means maps look like from 1990 compared to 2010 or 1990 compared to 2020. They continue to have to add more colors to the maps because there's a larger amount of the population within each state that's experiencing being overweight or obese. And they teach you this when you're going through your master's in public health. They beat it into you. So where are all these educated people that are seeing these changes that are like, like, huh, something's really wrong here. Like, my mom doesn't have any backgrounds in medicine, but she could see when I was in school, like, wow, it's so interesting that so many kids in your class are. Have. Are so overweight. We didn't have anyone in our class that was overweight or it's so interesting to see all of the teachers that are so overweight. We didn't have any overweight teachers. And it's not to say that it's just about weight, because we were talking about, like, the toxicity of diet culture. But this is one metric that we're seeing that's completely changed in the last few decades, where it's like, where has everyone been?

Yeah. And I think this is where, like, another area that has to be highlighted is when you walk into a grocery. Grocery store and you walk down that aisle, Whether it's like, the, the protein bars and like the health food section or the kids snacks and cookies and bars. I think that many of those, I'm not going to say all, many of the founders of those companies may have had good intention to create something health, healthier than what was out there. But what happens as these companies try to scale how to increase profit? Then they increase the addition of ingredients to make it taste better, to make it more highly palatable, highly addictive. And I promise you, if I were to go to every single one of those companies, their goal isn't to continue to deliver a healthier product for the rest of their lives or like to deliver, you know, a fruit bar that a kid is going to love until they're not kids anymore. The intention of that company is to sell one day, right? They're going to do whatever it takes to scale to get people addicted so that they can sell off their company for millions of dollars and likely go back in and create another product that's going to do the exact same thing. We live in a for profit world. We do not live in a personal empowerment or like just like this humanitarian aspect of healing is gone. It's gone, it's gone. And I always talk about like the time at the ashram, I have to take somebody when they first start seeing me, they are spinning in this world of I can't lose weight, I'm not healthy, my blood biomarkers are off. This is so hard, I can't do this. For me, to be healthy is going to take so much hard work and then break them out into like this more global aspect. Like find people in your community or a girlfriend who is also going through the same struggle. Do it with her. You have a community program where you get people enrolled because you know the success is going to be higher if you're amongst other people trying to do better things, who are making healthier choices, who are eating better foods. And all of a sudden your healing journey, your weight loss journey becomes so much easier. It's not even called dieting anymore. It's called a healthy way of life. You're thinking about the future. It's so much less about being stuck in the here and now and how hard it is, because it is hard. Hard. It really is.

Yeah, it can be hard. And I think, you know, I witnessed that when I was at the Cleveland Clinic center for functional medicine under Dr. Hyman. We had initiated group programs. And he said, I want everyone to go through the group program, the group nutrition program with the dietitians before they see the doctor, they can't schedule an appointment with the doctor until they go through the group nutrition programs because 50 of those people will not need to see a doctor because they'll heal whatever it is they need to heal through the group and the community, through the coaching and through the food. And he was so right. We saw a decline in the number of people that needed to see a doctor because we had such a long wait list for the doctors, which was a one on one model where you saw a doctor, you saw a dietitian, you saw a health coach, because we really embodied this idea of using food as medicine. But when we initiated the group nutrition programs before seeing a doctor, it decreased the number of people that needed to see a physician. And so it really is the magic of not only the food and the coaching, but the community support. And so many people don't have that community. So I do agree. I think that finding that community is so key for not making it feel so rigid. Like finding your approach shouldn't feel like you're white knuckling. It shouldn't feel rigid. It should feel like something that I learned from, from my grandfather, my 93 year old grandfather that, you know, he had embodied every single day, that it was like never because he was trying to lose weight or because he was focusing on calories. He just ate to fuel his body, because he liked feeling good. He moved because he wanted to continue to age well and was like, this is something that, you know, like, I know that when I stopped moving, that's when people age. He was in nature because he could feel that that's what helped his nervous system. Like all of these things that it doesn't have to be so rigid.

Brigid. This is all of our cultures. This is literally the inspiration for this podcast, right? Like looking at what all of our ancestors did. Do you ever tell your clients to eat like your ancestors?

Yes.

Yeah. Yes. Do what they did. They had it right. They were really onto something.

But something else I would say, like I was at Nestle one time where they invited like a number of dietitians to show them, to show the dietitians what they've been working on. And, you know, they're considered the number one nutrition, the largest nutrition organization in the United States because they're a nutrition organization or company. And I was at Nestle headquarters and I almost didn't go because I was like, why would I go to Nestle? This is outrageous. But I was like, actually, I'm interested to see what they have to say. So they're presenting to this group of us, and I'm by far the youngest in the room. And they're showing us the Stouffer's Mac and cheese sodium restriction that they just implemented where they've been able to decrease the sodium rates by 50%. And it's so amazing that they're able to. And I just remember being like, I'm so confused how you would think that reducing the sodium in an ultra processed foods like Stouffer's is doing anyone any good. Why wouldn't you just try to reformulate and make products that actually help people be healthy? And they said to me, because if we stop selling Stouffer's Mac and Cheese, like, people would be upset. That's what people want. So that's why we have them on our shelves. Like, if we started just selling a bunch of fruits and vegetables, no one would buy them. They would just stay on the shelves and they would die. We're selling this because this is what people want. And I was like, what if people don't want it though? Like, what if they buy it because they've been indoctrinated to believe that this is how you feed your family? Because this is the American way of doing things.

Things.

And it actually could be so much better. Like, what if people want to feed their food, their family, healthy foods, and you're not giving them the opportunity to do so? And there's so many examples. At that time, there was already examples like Primal Kitchen and other companies who had shown you can be profitable with including high quality whole foods in your formulations and not increasing the rates of chronic disease with the foods that you're choosing to feed people. Like, I'm sorry, but decreasing the sodium in Stouffer's Mac and cheese is not helping our kids.

People are convinced that the more certifications that are on the front of a box, the better it is for them. Meanwhile, I mean, anything that comes from a box is, is dead food. And let's just call it as it is. Like, a lot of these big food companies are essentially drug companies. They want people to be addicted so that they go back and buy more, period.

They are. I agree.

So what are some signs that people's diets aren't working outside of maybe not losing weight? What are some other symptoms that they're experiencing?

So if you're experiencing a lot of fatigue and a lot of brain fog, if you're experiencing a lot of cravings and an enormous amount of hunger, like those are all signs that something probably isn't right. If you're on a diet and you feel extremely deprived, like, you're not able to eat foods that you enjoy, then there's a huge problem. Although I do think that it does take time for taste buds to evolve. And taste buds do evolve because your taste buds create what you feed them. So this is based on our microbes, the microbes that are living inside of us. We have tens, we have hundreds of thousands of microbes, actually more than that, and they actually impact our cravings. So when we think about changing our diet, sometimes it does take a little while for your cravings to evolve to the point that you really are like, wow, this is so delicious. But even with that, you know, the diet slogan of like, nothing tastes as good as skinny feels it makes. It's this idea that you can't actually eat in a healthy way that also tastes good, and that diet foods should just taste like cardboard and that anything else that actually tastes good would be bad for you. And so thinking about incorporating foods into your protocol that are sustainable, that you really enjoy, so that you're able to go the long run and stay consistent, because I think that so many people drastically underrate the importance of consistency. And we are, like, over and over and over again drilling into people like, it is consistency over perfection, consistency over perfection. And it takes so long for people to understand how true and how important that is.

As you're speaking, I'm imagining a listener who has really adopted a dieting lifestyle. It's all they've ever known. It's something that they're really, really good at doing. And to your point of nothing feels as good as skinny is, if this person is suffering really from any symptom, like, I think it's so important to pay attention to not only just fatigue and brain fog, you know, poor sleep, low sex drive, if your hair is falling out, if you are suffering from anxiety, if you don't have energy or creativity in your life, there's so many symptoms that I think that if you're ignoring it, ultimately what you're doing is increasing the level of imbalances that you're gonna have to deal with in the future, despite the number on the scale. Like, let's just really own in on how important listening to those symptoms are.

Could not agree more. And I would say even going off of that with the anxiety, like heart palpitations, are also something that we see, as, you know, is your background background. And waking up in the middle of the night, like insomnia, if you're on a diet and you're not able to sleep at night, there's a problem. And that also is something that, you know, we see with women that are too low carb and fasting for too long and those sorts of things that I think, you know, there's 100% of time and a place for fasting and for low carb, and they can be wonderful for so many people. But again, it comes down to honoring what works best for you.

Absolutely. All right, let's dive into the. The trifecta. Okay, so if we are not going to focus necessarily on the diet, let's think about if we're going to fuel weight loss, what are the three things that we need to address? Inflammation.

Inflammation, Gut health.

Gut health and blood sugar.

And blood sugar.

Let's start with blood sugar.

Okay, so blood sugar is. When we think about supporting your metabolism, it really comes down to not having high amounts of inflammation, to having a healthy gut microbiome, and to having balanced blood sugar. So having balanced blood sugar. So that one, it helps to increase your levels of satiety, because we know that anytime that you have an increase in blood sugar levels, let's say you eat an English muffin for breakfast that is, you know, like, has two muffins with the refined carbohydrates and maybe an apple and a cup of coffee with some cream with sugar in it. And that's creating a large blood sugar rise. So what happens after that blood sugar rise is, you know, you'll reach your peak around one hour, two hours after you'll experience more of that crash. So your blood sugar goes up and then it goes down, typically lower than where it started. And usually when it. When we look at the research, the lower that your blood sugar goes is actually impacting your cravings more and more later on that day. So when we think about blood sugar, this is. Is the first thing that we work with clients, because if you can keep your blood sugar more stable and have more of a steady rise and a steady drop and a steady rise and a steady drop so that it stays very coherent throughout the whole day, for the most part, then that's going to drastically improve your level of satiety and decreases in cravings that you experience. So I've been doing a program called the Blood Sugar Reset for the last three years, and we've had over 20,000 people go through the program. And the three biggest things that they report from learning how to stabilize their blood sugar just for 10 days, just eating meals that help to support blood sugar balance for 10 days is an improvement in cravings an improvement in energy and an improvement in mood. Like we game changer time over time, over time. And these 20,000 people hear those three things. When you can control your blood sugar, that drastically improves your ability to self regulate the other food choices that you're making for, for the rest of the day. It drastically improves your mood. We know that there's an entire department at Harvard that's focused on the psychology, on how food impacts your psychology and your mental well being. And so thinking about anxiety and depression, this is absolutely tied to blood sugar imbalances. Not for everyone, but for many. And it's one of those low hanging fruits that you can really focus on and then see if you need, you know, a medication or medical intervention and working with your doctor. So blood sugar is also, blood sugar imbalances are also tied to hijacking your metabolism. Most people don't realize that when we're thinking about that calorie in, calorie out equation, if you do not focus on blood sugar, it will feel like you are on an uphill battle of trying to lose weight. Because blood sugar impacts our, our ability to lose weight, because it impacts our insulin sensitivity. So if you are insulin resistant and you are experiencing these blood sugar increases and crashes all day, your insulin is also increasing. Insulin is a pro inflammatory fat storing hormone. So if you are, if you are experiencing insulin surges throughout the day, then it's going to hijack your metabolism and make it much harder for you to lose fat. Specifically. Specifically. So insulin is like the carrier where you, you know, it's like the bus driver where you're picking up the glucose from the blood and carrying it into the cell. And we need to have a normal amount of insulin in order to be able to function at our best. So that is a huge part blood sugar balance and insulin sensitivity.

Absolutely. I'll still wear a glucose monitor myself once or twice a year. And I'm always amazed at, at the data one, how it supports me with my energy, with my hormones. Also how specific foods are impacting my health, which often changes. And I'll do this with my clients also because I think that when we put the lens on, even for prevention, if we're constantly having these blood sugar surges, we're putting so much pressure on our blood vessels. And that in the future is one of the biggest precursors for cardiovascular disease which women suffer from. From more. So whether you come from a family that has a family history of diabetes, understanding your metabolic health is really, really essential.

Essential for everyone.

Yeah. All right. Inflammation, the Buzzword.

So inflammation, we have a chronic disease or, sorry, we have a chronic inflammation epidemic. We have an enormous rise in people that are experiencing chronic inflammation on a daily basis and they're not really aware that it's happening because doctors aren't checking the inflammatory markers very often. And sometimes you actually could even have higher levels of inflammation on a more in depth, like cellular level that aren't even tested in conventional panels. So chronic inflammation is really one of the largest drivers of every disease, every chronic disease that we're experiencing. Blood sugar imbalances and chronic inflammation are the two largest drivers of every chronic disease that we're experiencing. All the leading causes of death in the United States. Also, I think it's important to highlight that 50% of heart attacks happen in people with normal cholesterol levels. And so much of it is because inflammation can also drive heart disease. And that's something that not even a lot of cardiologists are talking to their patients about. I think there's more awareness, but definitely not enough. So we have chronic inflammation that to. If you are chronically inflamed, it will be impossible for you to lose weight, even if you're, you know, in a calorie deficit. So thinking about chronic inflammation and how that impacts things, it can impact your thyroid. It also can fuel blood sugar imbalances, it can fuel gut imbalances, and it can suppress your metabolism. So addressing your inflammation levels is so important for supporting your overall health.

This is where I think it's really key to putting point out, like ask for these labs from your doctor. Because I think that what most western doctors are trained to do is they're waiting for something specific to become inflamed, like your liver to become inflamed. Right. And then they'll treat the liver. The liver just doesn't become inflamed, though. There's like most likely some systemic inflammation that happens first that triggers something in the body or the thyroid. I always say it's often, not always the thyroid. The thyroid is out of balance from something else. So. So really, really request these labs from your doctor. Third is gut health.

So over the last 10 years, there's been an enormous increase in research that has shown that having imbalances in the gut microbiome impacts people's weight. So you want to have a thriving, diverse community of bacteria and healthy levels of short chain fatty acids in order for you to have a healthy functioning metabolism. So when there are imbalances in healthy bacteria versus less healthy bacteria, it actually suppresses your metabolism. So it makes your metab metabolism less efficient. When you have healthier levels of bacteria that are supporting you, that helps you actually have a higher metabolic rate so you're able to burn calories more efficiently. So a lot of times, times people don't realize that their microbiome is imbalanced. So many people, and most people, I think, think that they eat healthy. Like, pretty much everyone that comes into our program is like, but I eat pretty healthy. Everyone says that. So, like, what? And then they see their labs and they're like, why is my, my gut so imbalanced? Like, what could be driving that? And I'm like, where do you want me to start? It could be a history of too much alcohol at some point in your life. It could be overuse of antibiotics at some point in your life. And when I say overuse, it doesn't equal a lot. It could be like two to three rounds in one year. That's a large amount of antibiotics for your bacteria to come back from. When we think about the overall diversity and egosystem of your gut microbiome, when we think about NSAIDs and the toll that that takes on your gut lining and how hard that is to come back from, when we think about added sugar, when we think about glyphosates and the impact that has on our gut health, when we think about stress. Stress takes an enormous toll on our gut microbiome and is often one thing that I think people, you know, they're so quick to try to control their food and not address their stress. And that is absolutely something that negatively impacts our gut microbiome. So you want to think about all of these factors. And for a lot of people, food sensitivities can be a huge one. Like, gluten is an absolute. I think that, you know, there's a lot of people that will say, oh, there's not enough evidence to show that there's any harm to the microbiome for people that don't have celiac disease. And that could not be further from the truth, especially with growing rates of people that have non celiac gluten sensitivity, which is an actual term now that's being used in the scientific research.

Yeah, that's me. So I wanted to own in on these three, because, you know, you've brought up my heart palpitations, also addressing those three pillars. Others, when I do that consistently, my heart palpitations go away. This isn't for everybody. This is me in my specific case, but this is exactly the trifecta that I supported When I went to live at the ashram, eating a high fiber plant based, plant focused meal meant that I was increasing the variety of bacteria going into my gut microbiome. I was focusing on sleep, I was lowering inflammation, I was processing emotions, I was lowering my stress. It's like, like this kind of holistic, holistic aspect of healing that will bring down inflammation to all of the systems. Right.

And I think too that even if that isn't the case for other people like that they haven't had heart palpitations. If you have imbalances in this trifecta of gut health, inflammation and blood sugar, it will manifest in other symptoms for you. Right. So these are like three core pillars of health that if you have imbalances in, in will be likely the cause of the joint pain that you're experiencing or the constant bloating or the fatigue or whatever the symptom is that you're, that you're experiencing. Like that is really the three legged stool or our foundation of health.

You got it. Do an assessment or a scan of your body every day yourself. No one else has to do it, just you. So I could talk to you for hours and hours. My goodness. Let's go over some just like practical strategies that people can incorporate into their diets every day to optimize blood sugar levels.

To optimize blood sugar levels. The first one is to eat whole and processed food. When you look at even the difference between eating an almond versus an almond cracker, where you know they're using almond flour, not the almond flour is bad, but even the processing of an almonds into almond flour will change the glucose response. So I just use that as an example to say the more, more whole the foods the better. And of course incorporate things like almond flour which is going to be a lower glycemic flour than something like whole wheat flour or any kind of grain based flour. But whole and processed foods, 100% number one. Most important also because of the fact that they have polyphenols. And I think that in this diet focused culture that we have that's like oh, low fat, oh, artificial sugars to help to decrease my exposure to sugar. And then you're just eating more sucralose and things that also have side effects. And then thinking about even this protein craze that people are in with the more protein the better, which is absolutely not the case. Although protein is very important for helping to support our body composition. We have to also think about the polyphenols and the phytonutrients that really support our gut health health, which is then able to support our metabolism. So like I said, you can't have a healthy metabolism without a healthy gut. And so much of that healthy gut is fueled by our prebiotics, polyphenols, and those phytonutrients that are going to be found in those whole real unprocessed foods. So eating more variety of your fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds and foods that are fully intact, but also are rich in those phytonutrients that are going to help to fuel a healthier gut egosystem that will help to also support your metabolism and then of course, help with blood sugar balance. I think that this is also something that we talk about in the blood sugar reset that so many people are like, wow, I never knew that. Is that your gut health fuels your blood sugar health. So if you are following, let's say a ketogenic diet and you're only eating like 50 grams of total carbs per day, there's a time and a place for that for some people that have like extreme gut issues or those kinds of things. But if you're only eating that amount of carbohydrates, then you're restricting a lot of the foods that actually fuel the healthy ego system for the gut that then improves your metabolic health. So your metabolic health actually, like the foundation of it starts with your gut. So you have to have healthy short chain fatty acids that fuel off of these phytonutrients and polyphenol phenols in order to then support your metabolism.

You got it.

And. And your blood sugar levels.

Yeah. Your gut not only fuels metabolic health, it will fuel weight loss as well. We now know that there's specific gut bacteria that are responsible for a healthy weight. So eat the polyphenols. I'm going to rephrase that. For people to say, when you go to the grocery store, eat as many purple reds, blues, oranges in the produce section as possible. Keep it that simple. Eat the rainbow. If you have a little kid, get them to choose all the colors of the rainbow and. And you're already a step ahead and.

Make it fun and engaging. Like I just had. I just saw the most beautiful purple brussels sprouts on Monday.

Purple cauliflower.

And I was like, purple Brussels sprouts? I have never seen Brussels sprouts this purple. I couldn't get over it. I was like taking pictures, texting it to my family, like, can you believe how purple these Brussels sprouts are? It was so Amazing to me. And I feel like it can be a process that you really fall in love with where it's like, not only am I doing good for my body, but but I'm falling in love with this process and I'm teaching my kids to do the same thing. Like when you fall in love with it, it becomes so much more consistent and so much more sustainable and so much less miserable. Like, you want a routine and a plan that's helping to add vitality to your life and not feeling like you're white knuckling your way through it.

Got it, yeah. To go back to blood glucose levels too, I think that we've become an incredibly sedentary society. Our ancestors moved so much more. So in that program, how do you tell people to move? Are they walking first thing in the morning? Do you tell them to walk after meals? Do you tell them to make it a family occasion? What's your strategy?

I think the best strategy is going to depend on every person, but typically walking after meals, even if you can just get 10 minutes. And then for some people that isn't even realistic. If they like have back to back meetings all day or I'll say even if you just do some squats after a meal, that's great for helping to support your blood sugar balance and the utilization of the glucose that, that you just, well, the food that you're converting into glucose. So I would say that generally speaking, I try to recommend 7,000 steps per day and using a way of tracking that. So most people tend to have more success if they start their day with getting at least a few thousand steps so that they're not working out of, you know, like a 100 step starting point at 11am in the morning.

Morning.

So I think that the earlier in the day that you can start, the better. And trying to track your steps with the fact that we have research that shows that 7,500 is really the minimum that you want to aim for. But at the same time, if you're starting at 4,000 steps a day, just increase by a thousand. Like try to get to 5,000 steps per day or try to get to then 6,000 steps two weeks later so that you're continuing to build something that's more reasonable. Instead of trying to go from 00 to 100 like most people, you got it.

For a lot of people who work from home, I don't know if you do this, but next to my office at home I have a rebounder. So in between my hour long zoom calls, I'll just Hop on it for like a minute. And it's a game changer. You get your circulation going, you feel better, you're more optimized, you feel more motivated. So that's another easy way to. I love that.

Which is a mini trampoline.

A mini trampoline. I love it. Okay, so we're moving away from diet culture. We understand the importance of moving away from ultra processed food foods. We understand metabolic flexibility and optimizing our blood sugar levels by eating a rich fiber full diet. We're going to go into gut health and then we'll wrap it up with like if we're going to look at a plate, what we're going to build. So we talk about the importance of gut health when that's connected to regulating our blood sugar when it comes to lowering weight. Also healthy aging. But what would you say, like, you know, specific dietary habits that are harming our gut health?

Dietary habits that are harming our gut health. There's a lot of. Lot. Too many artificial sweeteners are absolutely harming our gut health. There's. There was a big paper that came out two years ago that showed. Yeah, two years ago that showed that there is an increased risk of taking a hit on our microbiome as we're eating more of these artificial sweeteners. So they, even though they have zero calories, they don't have zero impact. And I think that's really what people need to understand. And also something that, that's difficult where our food environment is like it's just about 100 calories of this versus 100 calories of this. All calories are the same and something could have zero calories but impacts your body still. So artificial sweeteners have zero calories but they take a huge toll on our gut health which then indirectly impact our metabolism. I also suspect that that's the case with food dyes and pesticides and other things that we don't have any as much as strong of research around. But of course there's just. No, it's not that there's no impact. Right. There's an impact. So I would say artificial sweeteners. Absolutely. Even a lot of the protein packed foods that people are buying now because they're trying to increase their protein to support more of a healthy body composition that are impacting our gut because they have so many processed ingredients. That is a big one that I'm seeing very commonly. I think alcohol takes a very big hit on people's gut. I think that even too much caffeine can have a Negative impact on people's gut when they don't really realize it. There's plenty of research to show the benefits of drinking coffee every day, but there is a toll that it takes if you're drinking too much caffeine. And every person's threshold for the amount of caffeine that they can tolerate is very different in unique.

So good. We could do this for, like, three hours. I know. I love it, right? It's just such a big topic, and I think people want strategy. I think let's wrap it up by, like, talking about what you and I would eat. Let's go over how to build a plate. So we talked about that. Like, there's so many things that contribute to poor gut health, right? From our environment to everything that we're consuming and we're digesting. I think a good rule of thumb, if it comes from a package or a box, you have to read the ingredients. You have to then also know where those ingredients come from and know if the manufacturer or processor or grower, the care that went into it. Like, there's so many steps of ingredients that are going into your body outside of what you see on just the ingredient label. So for someone listening says, okay, you know, I'm ready to take a lot of these things out of my diet. I'm just gonna focus on the good. But how do I even know if my gut is out of balance or being harmed to begin with? What are some symptoms?

The number one thing is to focus on symptoms. There are ways to look at labs, but I would say the number one is symptoms. So I usually recommend that people start out with a food symptom journal so that they can correlate how they're feeling with what they're eating. And being able to recognize if there's any patterns in the foods that you're eating that are contributing to GI symptoms. The issue is, is that GI symptoms are the number one symptom category that people will experience with gut imbalances. But because our gut is the center of our health, having a gut imbalance could also manifest in a number of symptoms outside of the gut. So the second most common area of the body is the brain that people will experience some kind of symptoms around. So that could be anxiety, depression, brain fog, fatigue. All of those can absolutely indicate that you have an imbalanced gut, even if you don't have gut symptoms. So that's where it can be a little confusing for people, because they're like, oh, I must have a healthy gut, because I don't have Any bloating or constipation or acid reflux or typical GI symptoms. And it's like, actually you could have a ton of GI imbalances and you're seeing it manifest in other areas. So I think a symptom, overall analysis and just rundown is really helpful for understanding if there is something. And like I said, our gut is the epicenter of our health health. So if there is an imbalance, then you're going to experience symptoms in one way or another. And you might be normalizing the symptoms because so many people have even said, like, I can't believe how much of my congestion was impacted by my food. I can't believe how much my asthma was impacted by my food. Like, they come in with an intention of doing lowering their blood sugar, or they come in with an expectation of improving their energy or of losing 10 pounds, and then they're like, wow, I can't believe how much I normally normalize the fact that, you know, I've been so lethargic and I have to take a nap every day after lunch and I can't even clean my house because I don't have the energy to do anything outside of just, you know, taking care of my kids every day. Or they don't realize, like, how much their, their productivity is down or their mental clarity. Like, I've worked with a lot of Fortune 500 companies and their executive leadership teams, and that's like one of the first things that we hear from people is from these executive teams is like, what? Wow, our productivity is so much better. Our mental clarity is so much better. But they thought they were mentally clear before. Like, it wasn't that they thought there was a problem, it's that they didn't realize that it was a problem until it started to get better. So I think that if you can sense that there's something off, that it's important to listen to that and to lean into, then starting to ask questions of like, well, what could it be? Could it be my gut? Maybe I should look a little bit further into this so that I can, can really feel my best and give my all to my job and my kids and my family.

I love that so much. Start with the gut. There's so many aspects, especially for women in menstrual cycles also, like optimizing your gut microbiome can completely change that. You experience having your cycle, PMS symptoms or not. Right?

And people don't believe that.

They don't believe it until you actually live through it. But, like, all of your symptoms can completely change down to whether or not you get PMS or get moody before you get your cycle. Right. If. Think. I believe that if there's less to actually purge in terms of residue or toxins within the gut microbiome, your body's gonna function so much better, and your hormones are gonna manifest in that way, too.

And this is the key for nutrition, is that the ultimate goal is to really increase our resiliency so that in any phase of life, whether it's every month that we're going through a cycle, or it's transitioning from, you know, pregnancy to postpartum, or it's transitioning into. From perimenopause into menopause, like, you don't have to suffer. And I feel like the message that's so pervasive in our society is like, oh, I'm just gonna expect to feel bad on my cycle. I'm just gonna expect to feel bad and have these hot flashes and slow sex drive and no energy and brain fog when I'm going through menopause. I'm just gonna expect that feeling horrible. Postpartum is just like, something I need to live with. And it's normal. Like, yeah, your doctors tell you, you this is normal. Like, why? They almost make you feel silly. Like, why would you expect to have energy at this phase of your life? Like, no, there's nothing else. This is normal. Have a good day. Like, I've had patients in my 30s tell me that their doctor is like, you probably just have joint pain because you're aging.

The best is when it's prefaced by, how old are you?

I'm 34.

And then. The best is when doctors say, oh, oh, well, they preface it with, how old are you? And they're like, oh, well, that's why that's normal. Right? It's like, it's your age. Getting older is supposed to come with this list of symptoms that we've also normalized. Okay, so to sum everything up, what is the best diet that we should be eating?

I think that the best diet is a whole food, whole real food, as much organic as you can get and afford diet that helps your body thrive, that gives you the protein and the phytonutrients and the polyphenols and the fiber in the prebiotics and the probiotics that you're able to have great levels of nutrients. Because we do see a ton of nutrient deficiencies. And I do believe that that is a huge problem in our food supply in general. So eating as much whole unprocessed real food that is as much organic as you can get. I think that it is important to highlight that if you cannot afford to buy organic products, produce, still buy the produce. Right? Because you want to get those nutrients into your body, into your family's bodies. So that would be the overall premise that I would recommend. And then trying to have a specific balance around it, and that's going to look different for each person, but incorporating the protein, incorporating the whole food, carbohydrates at some meals or all of your meals if you need it, non starchy vegetables and those healthy fats that are really the center of optimizing blood sugar, sugar, decreasing inflammation and supporting your gut health.

So you and I are going to go for lunch because I feel like people, they just, they want a visual. So we're going to go for lunch and when we look down on our plate, we're going to have a high quality source of protein. We're going to fill our plate with colorful veggies that come from the earth. We're going to see lots of color. We're going to give our meal a good, healthy dose of a good quality fat, maybe an extra drizzle of olive oil or some nuts and seeds. And we're going to eat some carbs. Like it's okay to have some starchy vegetables on there. We want to eat carbohydrates, but it's looking for this, like, trifecta of food. Foods that are going to help us feel nourished from the inside out. We're not going to feel deprived, we're going to feel satiated. Not only from the tastes and the flavors that are coming in, from the vibration of the food that's also coming in, but also how it looks. Right? It's going to be this beautiful experience that we're going to share together. Healthy eating, weight loss, health optimization and health span can come with a strategy of eating just like that.

I could not agree more.

Okay.

And I think too, like, that it comes down to finding a way to enjoy it and finding so much like love and gratitude for our food. Where I have always said that, like, if you think about food and like where it's coming from and the farmers that are growing it and the process that it took to get to your plate to get in front of you. Like, there's so much magic in that process and the more gratitude that you have, the less likely you are to overeat because you're like, like just in your present for the experience and you're like, wow, this is really amazing. And even if you're a postpartum mom like me, where I'm not like sitting down for every single meal because I'm just, like, trying to navigate both of my kids and I have four month olds, and so I'm like, eating standing up much more than I usually do. I still try to take a 0.5 seconds to be like, oh, thank God for this egg, this dish of eggs that I'm eating right now. Like, it's really so, so important for fueling my body with the nutrients that it needs right now. And then I get back to the chaos of my life. But I think that even if it's just 0.5 seconds where you're like, thank God for nourishing foods, like, this is what we're made of and how we are able to serve the world. And so I think that, you know, just being connected to that process is so important.

I love it. It's such a love language. And I'll say that in front of my kids a lot, too. Like, thank God these farmers are alive. Thank God they grew our food. Like, how can. How do we get this on our plate?

It's thank God for the farmers. I know.

Thank God so much. All right, to wrap things up, I'm going to do a quick round of rapid fire questions. What are the most common mistakes or misconceptions that you're seeing women make with their health?

Obsessing over the scale and not thinking larger in the context of their overall health?

You got it. Think about how you want to feel. I love it. What is one way that women are making healing and health too complicated?

By focusing so much on rigidity and numbers and a specific like equation that sometimes it can just have a lot more grace in the overall experience.

Beautiful. What is your favorite ancient healing remedy?

Turmeric.

If you had to pick something about modern medicine that excites you, what would it be?

Fecal transplants.

Wow, good one. I will talk more. Do you know Kieran Krishnan?

Someone just. I just got dinner with Caleb. Microbiome labs telling me about her.

Yeah, well, we'll continue on that. You'll come back on the show for that one. All right. What are three things that are. What are three things that we can start doing right now to optimize our health?

Eating whole and processed foods, getting in nature and sleeping.

If you could leave our listeners with just one takeaway that you're most passionate about right now, what would it be?

I would say having the courage to continue to lean into what Feels good. In a society that doesn't necessarily normally normalize. Taking agency of your health and having a conscious choice over the food choices that you're making.

What a powerful word, Courage. I think, you know, it's easy for us to come on an episode like this and talk about no more dieting, just break up with dieting. But for some people, it's honestly at this point built into their DNA. And I think it is going to take a lot of courage. But I'm so grateful because you've given us so many tips, tips and tools and like, even the small takeaways that you get from this episode, put them into practice, but like just own them with agency that you're taking control over your health and the way that you're going to feel in the future and you're going to feel the payoff. And I think that you can make the most dramatic changes actually to your health and how you're feeling with the smallest transitions in how you build your plate every day. And I just wanted to thank you. Two of my favorite words when it comes to comes to healing and optimizing health is building coherence within the body and building resiliency within every single one of our cells. And I think that you've given us a lot of tools to do that. If you could close off with just like a vision that you have of the future with freedom of the diet culture, what does it look like?

Freedom of the diet culture, I think is such a beautiful vision of allowing people to connect with their food and how it makes them feel in a way that isn't tied to an agenda around how much they, how much weight they need to lose, of not constantly feeling like, oh, I need to start, start a diet on Monday. Diet starts on Monday. Diet starts next month. Diet starts then. Like just having the ability to own food is health. And I can continue to make tweaks like I said over time, but have the faith in my body and the beauty, beautiful system that it is to do the work for me when I give it the right inputs.

Incredible. And so beautiful. You are doing so many impactful things in this world. Where can people find you?

Being Brigid is my Instagram and my website is beingbridget.com that's where we have like my nutrition programs and those sorts of things. We have blood sugar reset coming up this fall that I can send you a link for.

I love it. Yeah, amazing. We'll put all the link outs below. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah. Until next time.