Ep 573: Spice Up Your Metabolism with Nagina Abdullah

Introduction and guest background 0:00

Welcome to the Health Fix Podcast where health junkies get their weekly fix of tips, tools and techniques to have limitless energy, sharp minds and fit physiques for life. Nagina Abdullah, welcome to the Health Fix Podcast. Thank you so much, Janine. I'm excited to be here. Hey, I am happy to chat with you because just watching some of your other podcasts with folks and listening into some testimonials with your folks, wow, this girl's got some really great advice that may be a different twist. on what we've been hearing here and there with some of our folks that are kind of awake and like hey let's help our 40 plus 35 plus folks understand what in the world is going on with our bodies and why.

this dang weight is coming on. So of course you have your own personal story here as well and you took off quite a bit of weight and can see it in your pictures there too. Tell us a little bit about what was going on at that time and how you morphed into helping folks with this aswell and ofcourse the slim down programs too Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I mean, I have really I had struggled my entire life with my weight and with My sugar cravings and no matter what I did I would try to eat healthy.

to Atkins, to eat South Beach, eating less, exercising more. And nothing was able to help me lose the weight and keep it off. Nothing was even able get my body to where I really wanted it to be. Because every time I would lose something like 8 to 10 pounds, I'd start eating all the foods that I had been restricting myself with to get there. So then I balloon up and add more on. I gain 12 or 15 pounds because it would just balloon-up. And so what happened for me is that as I was getting older I realized, oh my gosh, I don't want to fight this battle daily for the rest of my life because all I could do every day was think about what am I going to eat, feel guilty about not eating the things I'm going eat.

Feel guilty not working out as much as thought I would. And then the weight, the yo-yo cycle kept going and going. And so after I had two children, now I have a degree in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley as well, and a Degree from NYU Stern, which is my MBA. And so after I got those degrees, I had my two children, and I was working at a very demanding job. I at my heaviest weight because I just had two my children. And I did not feel like myself. Nobody was saying anything to me. So at that point I decided these yo-yo dieting ways I just didn't have time for them anymore with that lifestyle.

And so I started researching all the scientific research I had access to from my degree. So I start seeing that instead of restricting foods, there were other techniques for releasing fat, which included increasing your metabolism. by adding foods that helped rev up your metabolism. And so I started to do this. What I did was I starting combining my foods in certain ways, which I later found out helped me keep my blood sugar even. I start adding other foods which helped increase my metabolism from adding those foods.

Then I also started sprinkling on metabolism boosting spices onto my food which first of all made it taste delicious instead of boring and healthy.

Personal weight-loss journey and midlife regain 3:40

It actually made it taste like I was going to a restaurant. And then I also found out that those had metabolism boosting and fat burning effects as well. So after doing all these things that was very easy, and it was so tasty and I feeling full and satisfied, within nine months I lost 40 pounds. And this 40 pounds to put in perspective for me, I got 20 pounds lower than I had pre-pregnancy, so I was at my most fit weight that I'd ever been, and this was without dieting. I wasn't even exercising that much, it was mainly from food.

And so I kept this weight off for over 12 years, but then something happened to me in midlife where I started getting a lot of bloating in my belly and just overall weight gain. I just gained 20 pounds from doing nothing differently, nothing different me at all. And I starting feeling, you know, pretty mad. Like what was going on? I would go to my doctors. They wouldn't have any answers. This is aging. That's all their answers would be. I'm like, well, what is ageing? What has changed? And so I did a lot more research again using all the access I had.

And I found out that now in my 40s and for women that are in perimenopause and postmenopausal, there's a due to lack of hormones. There's a lot of other complications that are happening in our body that we actually have a name to it versus just aging. And so I made changes. I lost all of that 20 pounds and also gained more muscle. Now I'm at the most fit I've ever been in my life after feeling hopeless again for the second time. So I want to let other women know it's possible when you actually find a new approach for this phase of life.

You know, after I lost that initial 40 pounds, a lot of women started asking me how I lossed it, what did I do to look better after children than before children. And that's where I started my blog, MasalaBody.com, where started writing out advice, writing information, giving talks. that told people what I did, including a lot of my recipes and a lotta my cheats and hacks that I do. And so since then, I've now coached over 1,600 women to lose the weight that they want, anywhere from 10 to over 90 pounds, depending on their goals.

All of clients now are all in midlife, so they're either in perimenopause, but most are post-menopaus. This technique works for them when nothing else was working. Yeah, and that's the thing that you mentioned. You know, you were eating healthy or doing all the things and you're going to the doc and That's where I see people a lot. They're coming to me and they're gonna like what am I doing wrong? Do I just need a GLP one? Like is that gonna be you know? What what? Am I? doing in and You know, before we hit record, I kind of said I sometimes find that there are some habits and behaviors that are blind spots that we don't realize.

Then we've all kind been bamboozled, all of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s in terms of the low fat culture and the, you know. work harder, sweat it out, stop eating altogether. And then now in the most recent culture, we're looking at do I have a parasite? Do I've got bugs? do i have, you know, other other things like is it my thyroid? Is it, my adrenals? is, it you, know what not and and really It seems, like you're saying, we're going back to the food again. We're goin' back the the foo. And the thing that intrigued me about you so much was the spice, the sweet spice cheat sheet.

Guys, by the way, were gonna be putting that in the podcast notes at DrJCrossND.com as a little freebie from Nagina, but let's talk about the Sweet Spice Cheat Sheet because a lot of folks aren't gonna think about spices, blood sugar, balancing, and you were kinda talking about the different foods. Perhaps folks have heard that, but not spices. So let's talk about spices! Yes, well, absolutely. Now, spices are not only spicy, this is the first myth to bust here, because a lot of people feel like if they don't like spicy food, then it's hard to use spices but there's only a couple spices which include things like cayenne pepper.

Basically, they have a compound called capsaicin, which is in jalapenos. cayenne pepper, paprika, red chili powder, but that's just one type of spice. Most spices are neutral, neutral in taste, like cumin, coriander. But the favorite spice of mine, as well as so many women that I share this with, is the sweet spice, which actually is a great replacement for sugar. And that spice is so commonly found in our kitchen cabinets, most of you watching and listening likely already have it, and that is cinnamon.

And what cinnamon does is by sprinkling it into your coffee, sprinkled it in your tea, into a smoothie on top of your fruit, what it does, is it helps you bring down your blood sugar. And this is something that no other sweetener can do, especially sugar, which actually increases your Other things like monk fruit and stevia are healthier, they keep your blood sugar even, but cinnamon actually brings your sugar down. And the reason that is really important is because when you have elevated bloodsugar, which is a big part of what's happening in midlife for us to be putting on fat, is that our blood is rising more quickly than it did before.

because it's natural to become more insulin resistant as we are getting a little bit older. But just as long as you recognize this, then you can make steps. You can take steps to kind of go against it or work around it. And so what insulin resistance means is that if you eat something that breaks down to sugar or something is sugar, What's gonna happen is that your blood

Cinnamon, blood sugar, and the sweet spice cheat sheet 9:20

sugar is gonna rise and then insulin is released to bring your Blood sugar levels down and that sugar Is brought out of your and stored in your cells as fat and so ideally we want to keep our blood Sugar even throughout the day and once I started getting my bloodsugar even that is the secret that helped me lose 40 pounds was that I just started keeping my blood sugar even by adding and eating foods that were keeping bloodsugar low and combining foods in a way where if I was eating something that was a little bit higher in sugar or higher carbs, I would be eating it with something balancing it out and keeping it even and my weight just dropped so quickly.

And so the way that I actually got started with that 40-pound weight loss was the first step that took was to add cinnamon into my coffee. And I really loved having high sugar. I didn't use sugar, I used Splenda at the time, but I use a creamer that was French vanilla that is definitely sweet in my coffe. and I just couldn't imagine not having a sweet coffee because it was like the best part of my morning. And so I couldn't imagine having like a black coffee or just having it with nothing else in it really, or having milk or cream and no sweetener.

And when I found out about cinnamon, I started trying it out. So I added some cinnamon. I would add a little bit of sweeteners, but then as the days went on I was able to reduce my sweetner and then just add the cinnamon And this was the first step where I felt like I started having less sugar cravings. Because once you start reducing the amount of sweets and sugar you have, you actually don't have as many sugar cravings because sugar makes your body want more sugar. It's a drug. And so I started adding cinnamon, and my coffee tasted so amazing.

So I've started to add cinnamon on top of my fruit. I literally now have what's called a spice missile that you can get on Amazon. And I put my cinnamon in there and put it in my purse so that when I'm going to other places that don't always have cinnamon I always it with me. because it really keeps my blood sugar low, keeps me on track, and it's so delicious. And so the sweet spice cheat sheet is something where I share, that's something we're gonna be sharing as a gift, is where share three health benefits of using cinnamon.

I'm also gonna talk about five ways to use it in your day, most of which are no cook. The best part of the cheat is that I have what's called a fire tea, which is a fat burning tea that fires away belly fat because of using cinnamon and a cinnamon stick as well. A cinnamon sticks helps fire away a belly of fat and you use it in your, in this tea, that's really great at night time. And so it's very soothing at nighttime. It also helps you decrease other sugar temptations that you have at nights. So I'm really excited about that because I kind of pack everything into that cheat sheet where you can just get started with it.

Okay, okay. So cinnamon, a lot of us have heard about cinnamon right in terms of capsules and things of that nature adding regular cinnamon. Is there a particular kind of cinnamon that you recommend whether it's Ceylon or you know the different types? So I really recommend just starting with any cinnamon, and that's a little bit different maybe than people that are really, really studying a lot of benefits of cinnamon. But I do want to share, I mean, there are two different kinds of cinnamons. There's the Ceylon cinnamon and then there's Cassia cinnamon Ceylon is healthier for you in larger quantities, because it's made from a different bark of a tree.

It's a made-from-a-certain-bark-of-different-tree. So, Celon, a lot of times, if you're reading really in-depth, like, health types of things about Celon versus Cassia, you'll hear that Ceylon is recommended. So after doing a lot of research around it, I've seen that ceylan is better if you're having over two and a half tablespoons a day of cinnamon. But if your having less than that, you can have the cassia cinnamon, which is the normal cinnamon that you usually find in the spice aisle. So unless it says Ceylon, it's usually cassia.

But the main thing is that you are adding more cinnamon, and that's helping you to get started, like jumpstart your reduction in blood sugar. And then the next step is going to be for you actually pair and combine your foods in a way that is increasing your metabolism and keeping your bloodsugar low as well. Gotcha. So what's the most interesting thing you've put cinnamon on out of curiosity? I really like just having it on normal things because I just like to eat foods that I want to. Having it in my coffee, having in on my fruit, I love putting it into my smoothies.

I have a mint and strawberry metabolism boosting smoothie recipe that i love to have every day or as much as I can. because it really gets your metabolism going right away. And so in that smoothie, I can share the recipe. You either add any kind of non-dairy milk like almond milk, oat milk or water. I recommend almond or milk just because the sugar is less in those. Then you add a scoop of protein powder, which is really important to help balance blood sugar. Adding more protein is one of the key areas.

to focus on more and that helped me lose 40 pounds is prioritizing protein of 30 grams starting at breakfast. So 30g of protein with my protein powder. If you don't have protein, you can use Greek yogurt. There's a lot of Greek yogurts that are 20 or 25 grams of And then adding a cup of spinach, a couple of strawberries, and you can also add two tablespoons of flaxseed or chia seed, which I call a secret ingredient. And that actually helps you because it has more fiber. It's going to help you stay full for longer.

Also, in midlife, adding more fibers is really helping your gut health. and helping you excrete certain foods that are causing inflammation. And then finally, you can add three to four sprigs of mint that you muddle, put that in there, and mint has the additional benefit of helping decrease overeating and decrease sugar cravings. Then sprinkling in about a fourth teaspoon of cinnamon is gonna keep your blood sugar low, so that's just a perfect concoction for a low sugar, high metabolism breakfast, you just blend that together.

It takes literally one minute to make and it takes like three to four minutes to drink and then you have everything you need and you're going to feel like your sugar cravings are maintained with that mint and that cinnamon as well as the protein, the flax seeds and its going get you all the way through to lunch and your not going feel hungry or feel craving. So that's kind of one of the interesting things that I like doing is putting it in my smoothies and it just feels like a really great treat, but it's also helping me.

Nice, nice. And so I'm wondering, going back to your personal story with the really sweet coffee, was that the only thing you were doing for breakfast? So were you skipping breakfast or were eating something else on top of that? Then you are finding like 10.30 AM, you're like, what's next? And then noon and then it is 2. 30, What's Next? Did that seem to be how things were playing out? in the place where eating less equaled more weight loss. And so it kind of felt easy for me to just kind delay breakfast and skip it.

Though I would also have breakfast, like at that time I'd have coffee, I mean it would be, sometimes I had breakfast sometimes it wouldn't, but I have a breakfast of, um, always do like a skinny bagel with like peanut butter on it, with fruit, or I will have like two eggs sometimes, two with the coffee and a piece of healthy toast, whole wheat toast. I would do something like that. So I wouldn't have those and those sound like they're healthy breakfasts. But what I found later on is that I was missing out on certain things and I adding a little bit too much of certain thing and mainly I wasn't eating enough of other foods.

And so, especially the metabolism boosting foods and so I eating but I didn't eat the right formula of the foods that were increasing my metabolism, helping me release fat. Once I started doing that, it just started literally melting away. It makes sense. And so, you know, one of the big things I see, of course, like you had mentioned, is eating the protein, right? And a lot of folks are like, okay, a smoothie every day, I can't do it. I do like eggs, how do I mix this up? Because yes, so a lotta times people will do a piece of toast and peanut butter.

has some protein, but it also has a lot of fat. So how do, like what other examples of breakfast do you have? Because I think that's one of the biggest things that people will really stumble upon is like, what the heck do I do for breakfast? You know, how to I get enough protein? Two eggs anyway aren't going to give you enough proteins either. How do coach people on getting that protein amount up? Yes, thank you. What a great question, because two eggs sounds like it is good protein, and if someone has two, I used to feel good about having two.

Breakfast protein strategies and meal examples 18:40

But it turns out that each egg is only six grams of protein. So if you have two egg, you're eating 12 grams, that's good, but you are still going to be hungry and your body does not have what it needs to start burning fat. And so there's a couple of great things that you can add on to those two eggs. And I really like to help people keep it easy. So you could either do two-eggs like you make, you cook it, or you buy hard-boiled eggs that are already peeled and you eat those. In fact, this morning I just had those because I didn't have as much time and I also ran out of eggs and so I had just the hard boiled eggs there that I already had ready to go and it was so fast and easy but other days I make my eggs so it just depends.

On your on your schedule for that morning, but having two eggs is great But then you can add on and this is really easy you add On a half cup to one cup of egg whites that you Can purchase in the liquid form and so when you combine that your making if you're making your eggs You're, making them anyway and you just add in a Half cup two one, cup, of, egg, whites and a, half, Cup of eggs whites is 10 grams of protein a full cup is 20 grams a protein and So you're adding that to the 12 grams in your eggs and you are getting 30 or more than 30 which actually more then 30 is even better actually.

And so that's really easy to do. You can mix in any veggies that you want and then what I recommend is on the side of that breakfast the egg and egg white scramble is having a cup of berries. because berries are low sugar fruit, but they're high in fiber. And fiber is one of the other critical pieces that we need in midlife. First of all, to keep us full so we're not tempted by sugar and tempted other foods. But second of, all to push food out from our gut so that it helps reduce inflammation to really have a high fiber diet.

And then, of course, like I mentioned before, adding some cinnamon on top of those berries, that would be amazing. And if you don't have berries or want other options, you could have something like two tangerines or a small apple or small pear or half an apple, or A full apple repair is pretty high in sugar. It's going to elevate your blood sugar more than is going help you lose fat. So the two eggs plus the egg whites. But the other thing you can do is if you just don't want to do those egg white or you want something different, you could do two egg plus Greek yogurt.

Greek yogurts, 20 grams. The brands that I love are Oikos 20. And there's another brand that you find in a lot of places that has 25 grams, and it's something like Rhone. That brand is something that. And then you can also have cottage cheese. So you could have two eggs and cottage Cheese. Or you Could do two Eggs with smoked salmon or two Egg with chicken or Two eggs with tofu. You could do any of those combinations of high protein and then some low sugar, high fiber fruit on the side. Those are some really great go to breakfast.

And if you don't want to have eggs, you Can do Greek yogurt. You can add in berries into your Greek yogurt, add some cinnamon on it, and then you can also sprinkle in some nuts or chia seeds for that extra fiber and also the healthy fats that you get with nuts. Or you could do the smoothie recipe. And so a lot of times, really going between the smoothies or the eggs, or then also, the quick grab and go, which is the Greek yoghurt, those are really a lots of great options. I would just really, really recommend that you prioritize having your breakfast, even if you're not hungry.

Because if your skip breakfast your metabolism is actually slowing down and there's a certain amount of calories and protein that our body needs. every day and if you're feeling like you are eating more towards the end of the day, and possibly have cravings later at night, the reason actually tracks back to your morning and your afternoon and the fact that you didn't give your body enough during those times and it's coming to catch up with you in an uncontrollable sugar craving language because your bodies needing fast energy at that point which is by sugar.

And so if you give your body these foods along the course of the day, it's not going to react where it is going be craving unhealthy foods because you are going take care of yourself. This really comes to self-care and taking care of ourselves by feeding ourselves with healthy foods before we get unhealthy with restriction and then ending up eating foods that are actually harming us and not really supporting us. So it's like getting ahead of it is really important. And it really makes a difference.

Eating breakfast with 30 grams of protein is the number one way that my client said that their weight loss started activating. like they started activating it went from stalled and stucked to activated and revved up was adding this 30 grams of protein in the morning. That makes sense. That make sense, I mean, most of us don't realize how the evening goes. In terms of eating more, like it's sometimes for a lot of people a blind spot, or it a spot where you're like, well I am more hungry then. And then, you know, that's not the time of day that we're gonna be as most active.

Then of course in American culture that where we eat the biggest meals, at least because we've been, trained more or less to do that. So, makes perfect sense now one of the things you had mentioned is not skipping, you know, avoiding certain foods or making sure that you're still eating the things you like because a lot of different folks, if we're looking at diet culture, it's avoid dairy, avoid gluten, and of course avoid all snacks and processed foods at all cost. And obviously, and this is one of the things that I kind of talked about in a previous podcast and one before this, is just admitting to yourself what you can and can't do.

And what isn't realistic and even getting food, like meal service programs just to help you out. So give us a little background on like when people think about like is it during the weight loss phase that you cannot have, I wanna hear your opinion. I'm kind just throwing out things we hear. Like during the weight loss phase, you cannot have any sugar. You cannot any of the processed stuff. What's your take on that? Yeah. So I mean, I think that's really, that is the way that people stay on yo-yo diets is focusing on what they can't have.

And that the, way I really had a negative relationship with food. It creates a very constrained relationship, with foods where you're scared of eating, eating foods. Then as a result, you just end up binging on things because your body still needs food and you don't, have time to think about it. You just go for whatever's in front of you. And so that's why I, you know, so far, and I always really focus on what to add. And as a natural result of what add, for example, we talked about adding 30 grams of protein.

We talked prioritizing protein, adding cinnamon. When you start adding those foods and you're focusing on other foods as well, your body naturally doesn't want unhealthier foods. So instead of just taking foods out, you always have to replace it with something. If you're going to take out dairy, what are you going eat instead dairy? Or if you take sugar, What are going take it out? What you gonna eat it instead it? And the mistake that all these diet and weight loss companies make is they keep telling us what not to do and they're not telling what to except for sometimes eat their supplements or bars or eat very small portions of processed foods, which does not work.

And especially in midlife, that processed food is actually affecting our gut health really, really negatively. So I also think everything is in balance. I mean, I will eat processed in certain situations, though I definitely don't eat it every day. But if I'm traveling or if someone's house, you know, It's not like I failed if I ate it. And so the diet culture teaches us that we either win if we're perfect or we fail if do even one thing wrong. Instead of that, I like looking at it as a lifestyle and a sustainable lifestyle.

In creating a life style, you want to move forward step by step. And it doesn't matter if you do something a little bit off of that lifestyle once in a while, because it's not like you failed. It's just a way of living that you enjoy, and you're not being forced to do this at all. But in terms of those specific foods, like dairy, I have found that it is really personalized. Some people are lactose intolerant, some people can tolerate it more. A lot of people that are lactose intolerant can still eat things like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese because they are pasteurized in a way where there's less sugar, there is more protein.

It's a cleaner protein, it's cleaner form of dairy. And you know, I found for me when I took out dairy that really helped me release a lot my weight and I didn't know that I was lactos intolerance. I did not have any symptoms towards it but once I take it out it really helps me. And for gluten, gluten is really, you know, that's something where if it's your, if you have an autoimmune condition, or if have you an allergy towards gluten then you should take it out. But otherwise you don't have to take out because guess what, there's a lot of gluten free foods that are pretty bad for you as well.

They have a lotta chemicals in them and they have lots of unhealthy carbs. And so just because you're eating something gluten-free doesn't mean that it is gonna be good for So it's really about understanding, you know, I really like to bring it back to eating real foods. Eating real food as much as you can that are being cooked or being prepared naturally with natural spices that increasing your metabolism and making the

Food rules, diet culture, and GLP-1s 28:20

food taste good. And really avoiding, as much as you can, the processed foods, because they have chemicals in them that are affecting our gut health in midlife that's actually creating more inflammation than it did before. We could get away with it before, it's just not that easy anymore. But when you change things up, that starts to feel easy, cause you start eating different foods and loving it. So I like to focus on adding and not subtracting and replacing, not just taking things out. that makes sense, that make sense.

And I mean, oh my gosh, being a naturopathic doctor, we're kind of known for different diets and things of that nature. I know I've messed with some people's mental health on certain things. One of the biggest things is the food noise. This is where GLP-1s, a lot of folks will tell me taking the peptides reduces their food nose. Well, wouldn't we have less food noises if we balanced our blood sugar in the first place? And that's where, you know, I tend to kind of tell folks, so if that the only thing it's helping you with, then we aren't doing our job on protein, or protein balance.

It has to do with protein. On blood sugar balance, and that what I'm hearing you say here as well. Yes, yes, absolutely. So I mean, I've worked with many women who they have been able to lose weight simply. I means, it is actually simple once you start doing it by adding the right combinations of foods, keeping their blood sugar low by, adding protein, always combining their foods in ways where, for example, if you're having a carb, you are always pairing it with a fat or a protein. You're never eating a carbs alone, and you never eat a fruit alone.

you're eating it with something else. And so we really work on these principles in the form of actual meals. So once people start doing it, many women are actually under-eating. That is the reason that they're not losing weight. Because under eating used to work, but now under eat just keeps you stuck because your body doesn't have the nutrients that it needs to process all of the food and excrete it. Reduce inflammation and actually get your metabolism up. And so once you start eating enough, a lot of things start happening.

And when you eat enough you don't have that food noise. You're very satiated, you feel very good. So given that, there are a few people that I have worked with that they did start taking GLP-1s and they had been... they'd been seeing results, but then it really, there was something with their body that kept them going, that it helped them accelerate or help them keep up their results. And there's some people that they did as much as they could, and then the GLP-1 helped get over another hump. But I can say that's for about 3% of the women that I worked with.

So 97% percent of women are able to lose weight, and able to curb their appetite and curb food noise simply by understanding and being more educated about what they're eating, which includes balancing their blood sugar, increasing their metabolism, and eating the right amounts for their body. Those three things. And that's what we specialize in. That's we know for every woman, depending on their weight. It's different. It is very personalized. Once that happens, it's amazing what can happen afterwards because you're giving your body the nutrients that it needs.

You're getting your metabolism high and the fat starts releasing. But GLP-1 does have a place for some people that I've seen. Yeah. For sure. I'm not going to hate on them. One of those things that we need to be really cognizant of is it teaching us new behaviors? Because once we come off of them, then we have to make sure that we are on point with how we're eating. Because unfortunately, I'm sure you've seen as well as I have, is people come up and the weight comes right back on because they didn't work on balancing blood sugar, working on the behaviors, because GLP ones are balancing your blood trigger for you.

That's why you don't have the food noise. And so, nevertheless, it's one of those things that I think it's very clear to think about it. Now, one of the things I wanted to ask about too, because you gave us some good examples with breakfast, I still think we're a little bit not sure as to what the protein to carb to fat ratio looks like and I and i believe it's different for everyone not everyone but you know what do you start with how do You start like say someone's listening to us right now and they're like well I I don't really know how to balance my plate I Don't, really, know, what should be on there what how, do, you coach folks up on that?

Yeah, so that in this really this understanding this formula can change your complete body. I mean, just understand this normally, because a lot of times you might, especially for those people that are already healthy, you're eating healthy foods, but it's the proportions that you are eating it in that is different and that's not optimal and exactly what I see when I start looking at what people are who tell me that they're already healthy. They are healthy, but they are not eating in the right portions.

And then we make some new switches and their weight loss starts just literally coming off so fast. So I have a framework called the fat burning food framework. The framework shows that on your plate, 50% of your plates for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is protein. You have protein taking up 50%. The other about 50%, 40-50% is vegetables. And at breakfast, it can be fruit, low sugar fruit. So if you just envision that in your head, you're just looking at your plate. You're like, OK, about 50% is protein.

We talked about options at practice, but at lunch it could be things like chicken, tofu. It could still be eggs. It could be anything like that. It can also be Greek yogurt, and it can be beans or lentils with hemp seeds. If you add hempseeds, that leans out beans and lentil. So it's more helpful to lose weight, especially for vegetarians or vegans. You have 50% protein, then you have 40-50% veggies. Just envision your plate like, but then at two of those meals, you want to have a serving of fat.

A serving a fat are things like If you're having two eggs, you are getting a serving of fat. Serving of that is 14, about 14 grams of fats. So you have that about in the two egg. It's also a tablespoon of olive oil. Olive oil is really amazing to reduce your bloat. If it has a lot of properties that have been scientifically proven that help you reduce bloating, help with anti-swelling. And so if you were to add a table spoon of oil over your food, on one of your meals, make sure you're adding it over so that it's not getting cooked in the pan, it is not being released anywhere, you are literally consuming it.

That's going to really be helpful, and that's 14 grams of fat. But also, a lot of proteins have fat in them. So salmon is a protein and a fat, so if you have a dinner of salmon and vegetables, that a perfectly balanced meal right there. That amazing. About four or five ounces of Salmon would be great, which is about the size from the bottom of your palm to the top of middle finger. that about four to five ounce and like a half inch a half inch to three-fourths inch, so less than an inch thick.

Balancing plates with protein, carbs, fats, and vegetables 35:40

And then if you have a food scale, it'll help you because it does help to show, because the fat, I'll talk about why it's important in a moment to understand the amounts you're eating. But you could do beef that also has that and also some, there's other meats also that have, that are also have fat in it. Or you can do half an avocado or you do two tablespoons of some kind of nut butter. So you have that in, say, for example, your breakfast and your dinner. That's what I recommend. And then in your lunch, you had healthy carbs.

You have about a half cup to one cup of healthy carb. Healthy carbs are carbs that are very, very high in fiber. I'll give some examples, but the reason this is important is because if you more fiber in carbs, usually carbs get broken down very quickly, and that's elevating your blood sugar. But when you add fiber into your carbs or when your eating foods with fiber, it slows the digestion of that food. And then you're also having this carb along with vegetables, which I mentioned before was in the fat burning food framework.

Vegetables also have fiber and then protein, both protein and fiber digest very slowly. So you are eating your carb with these other foods and so that's how you able to eat your carbs but you not elevating your blood sugar because you combining your foods in this way. Some examples of healthy carbs, the best ones are beans or lentils. which you can either make or you could purchase, you know, if you have something like a southwest salad for lunch, You have a salad with chicken on top, salsa, veggies, and then you also add some black beans.

And your dressing could be salsa actually, that could amazing. You can use chickpeas, kidney beans, anything like that, or lentils. But you can also use Ezekiel bread, which is a healthier kind of bread. Sourdough bread and rye bread also work well. And then you could also what I call slimming grains. So these are grains that don't elevate your blood sugar like rice does. These are things like millet, couscous, farro, buckwheat. Those are great. And then you can also have potatoes that you cook, but then, you cool it.

And you could always warm it up again. But when you call them, they create a resistant starch that doesn't elevate your blood sugar as much. So potatoes are really important for women in midlife because they really help fuel our thyroid and help decrease hypothyroidism, which a lot of women do face in Midlife. So if you imagine your plate at lunch, it could be something like chicken or fish with green beans or broccoli or a salad, and then also a cup of millet or one to two slices of Ezekiel bread with a little butter on it.

And that's a full meal. You're actually going to feel full and satisfied that you learned how to eat more protein, eat healthy carbs, make sure you're having more vegetables also, which is really important. And so you start off with the protein and the veggies, and then you layer on either a fat or a healthy carb for each meal. And this is just absolutely so simple, yet so life-changing. It helped me lose 40 pounds. Then by prioritizing adding in that olive oil and adding more anti-inflammatory foods, I was able to lose that other 20 pounds that I gained through midlife bloating.

Gotcha. Yeah, the bloating is a big deal. And interesting with olive oil, do you have a particular type of olive that you love, like a brand or where it's imported from or whatnot? Yes, I do. I have this brand from Whole Foods that I love. The thing about olive oil is that it has a lot of polyphenols, and what polyfenols do is they help you bring your bloating down. And so the name of it I just don't know at the moment, but I'll try to find it before we are done. No worries, no worries. I always like to ask because one of the biggest things that kills me is that the more cost-effective olive oils are often blends and sometimes we'll end up with a little bit of canola and olive oil and so finding a good quality source is really important.

Now the other thing that some women have and this is one of the things that happened to me when I started to go into perimenopause I Started to become part squirrel and I joke about this a lot on the podcast because I just like wanted to eat nuts all the time and part of it I think was just ease because they could go, you know stick my hand in a bag and have that as meal and I was being lazy and not making food and to this day I still have this issue with the nuts right so I have to watch it and in terms of fat I learned that it really did matter it does matter how much fat like you were saying one has and how you know, fiber.

And so what have you seen with clients who crave fat? Have you found it like the protein and fiber really to be the secret for them? Or have found that there were different like needs, like maybe olive oil, different types of fats. So you wouldn't gravitate towards the raw nuts or seeds or things like that. Yeah. Oh my God. This is such a good question and actually something very, very common that people don't even realize because nuts sound so healthy. And so you just feel like, OK, I'm being healthy, you know?

And, so wait, before we do that, did find that olive oil is called Costarina, K-O-S-T-E-R-I-N-A. It's an amazing olive. Although it's from Whole Foods. And it is just very clean, has really great amount of polyphenols, which is the reason that all of oil so beneficial. That's the reasons berries are also so kind of beneficial, because they have poly phenols in them, and which really make a difference in bloating, especially in midlife. And so the thing about fat is that fat, is very calorically dense.

So if you have two tablespoons of peanut butter, that's almost 200 calories. And it can be really easy to eat double that, or triple that. If you don't, I mean two tablespoon goes in a moment if don' realize what you're eating. The same with nuts, it's something like two table spoons is 14 grams of fat. and 200 calories, 180 calories. And so two tablespoons seems like so little, so if you're kind of going in the bag and adding it, you could likely be eating 600 calories of that, which is a significant amount of your daily calories and it doesn't have any protein in it.

it could be 30% of your daily calories maybe or more. And so really what you wanna do is make sure that you are, this is the one food that I say that really wanna look at the portion sizes for. I mean I always advocate eating more vegetables, eating protein, but for fat I advocate really making sure you're eating the right amount, which is one serving size, or 14 grams, at two different meals and then you can have one snack. So my saying is 14 fat three times a day and each serving of fat is fourteen grams.

This is really, really important because this is the number one reason I mentioned that women are not losing weight in midlife is because they're under eating. The number two reason that I've seen that woman are losing not weight mid life is that they are mistakenly eating too much fat and it's because it is healthy. If you're craving fat sometimes you just don't realize how You don't realize alternatives to fat. You do not realize how much, how many calories are in fat, so once you start being conscious of it, you can start adding other things.

But what will happen is that if you will start eating enough protein you'll start to feel more full and satiated. But you also want to have the right amount of fat. If you under eat fat, you're going to be craving it as well. So you really want eat that right about but be full from other foods like protein, vegetables, the fiber from vegetables etc. So that's why, you know, fat is not bad. Because if you under eat fat, it's not helpful. And in midlife, we actually, there's, their fat helping us reduce swelling and inflammation that is caused because our hormones are declining.

They were giving us a protective effect for inflammation. Now that they're declining or are gone, We don't have that protection anymore. That's a huge reason that there is so much more inflammation and bloating. And what fat does is it's anti-inflammatory and it is anti swelling. And so the most effective fats for these benefits are olive oil like I mentioned, flax seed oil, and then avocados. The reason for this is because The swelling in our body, a lot of the imbalance of inflammation, it's caused because we don't have that protection from our hormones, but we also have, its very common to have an imbalance, of what's called Omega 6. fats and omega-3 fats.

And so usually the fats that we're eating in most foods, including nuts, and including processed foods including lots of things, they have more omega 6s. When you have when you more Omega-6s than Omega 3s, that causes swelling. So to get that balance right, you want to add more foods with Omega threes. Flacc seed is one of the best. flaxseed oil is amazing and then also salmon is Amazing and Then you're having the olive oil and the avocados those are great fats for those polyphenols for other anti-swelling effects But if you if You reduce the fat your swelling is going to increase so you really like you want to have the right amount of fat and what I found that to be within the context of the fabric food framework is fat three times a day and one serving each,

Fat intake, bloating, and healthy fat choices 45:40

which is about 14 grams each. So this is really game changing because we do look at the amounts of fats that women eat. And the moment we bring it to the right place, and then they're also their protein is right, it's just all released. But a lot of times if their proteins is, right but their fat is too high by mistake, they won't lose weight. It's important to know how much you're eating, but not under eat fat, not overeat fat. Make sure you're starting by adding more protein and then moderating your fat.

Makes sense, makes sense. Thanks for bringing that down. Cause I think that's a big issue that we don't talk about as much cause blood sugar, blood, sugar. You know, it's kind of a hot topic, but it is something that I found with myself. I was overeating on the fat and the protein was up, But it just wasn't the right amount. So I like, like folks to hear that too. Alright, so we've talked a ton about, we dove into all kinds of different things. Let's talk about your slim down programs because you have three of them and I'd love for folks to kind of hear the different ways that they can work with you.

Yes, absolutely. Well, the first thing I want to let people know is that I am having a free metabolism boosting workshop specifically for midlife women. And during this workshop, what I'm going to be doing is it's a five day metabolism boost workshop for Midlife Women. Every day I'll be teaching for an hour. And I'm going to be teaching on very specific things for women in midlife. For example, metabolism boosting breakfast routine. I am going be talking about how to balance your blood sugar without feeling tired or restricted and how actually get off of sugar.

And i'm gonna be going in detail in the fat burning food framework including sharing templates and a very in depth workbook that helps you frame out what you're gonna eat and the right amounts and I will walk you through all of that. And so this is, so the five-day metabolism boost, it's really you're going to get a simple five step plan to naturally boost your metabolism through delicious food. And you can get your spot here.

Programs, workshop, and closing resources 47:45

It's starting really soon, and it is missolabody.com forward slash boost. We'll have the link below as well. So that is something really helpful. And during that I'll talk more about my programs as well. I do have three programs. Well, I have my 12 month slim down transformation program, a six month Slim Down Transformation program and then an eight week Slimdown Jump Start. And that is where I help women. You have your own personalized coach. We meet you where you are and we personalize your journey so that you learn exactly what to eat, what do to in different situations Co-create a lifestyle with you by giving you very personalized feedback and also a lot of accountability And so these programs are really effective and the length of time really depends on you know what you're looking for for yourself Because my longer programs is six months in the 12th month include what's called a bloat bust where we go deep into releasing inflammation around your belly once we get the fat off there's still inflammation and they're two different animals and And so we address the bloating by using those higher fat, healthy omega-3 type foods and really showing you how to add that in.

But the first stage is the fat burning food framework where we really burn fat for you. So those are a little bit about my upcoming five-day metabolism boost, which I would love for to attend, learn all of this. I'll share more even about how work together, but it's a really great value. there in that five-day metabolism boost that's totally free too. Awesome, awesome, I'm excited to hear about it. I will definitely check it out and then we'll have it in the podcast notes guys at drjcrowsend.com.

Oh my gosh, Nagina, thank you so much for coming on. So much great info. The olive oil with bloat, it was not aware of that, so this is fascinating. And then cinnamon, of course, being able to put on so many different things. Think this a good thing for folks to be able start with and heck, You know, easy things we can do. I appreciate you coming on and sharing so much information with us. Yes, absolutely. And also, I just want to mention my sweet spice cheat sheet that I will also have linked, which is we talked about it with an easy fat burning, fat-burning fire tea recipe.

Five ways to use it in your day. We'll also link that below and you can just click on that. So I look forward to having you check that out as well. Thank you so for coming. Hey fellow health junkie, thanks for listening to the health fix podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please help support me to get the word out about the podcast, subscribe, rate and review and just get that word. Thanks again for