Good Habits for Weight Loss
June 7, 2020
Two nutritionists share lifestyle habits, some surprising, that lead to weight loss. Plus, an amazing success story to get you inspired to begin your own story.
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Transcript:
SHELBY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you're just tuning in this morning, I'm Shelby Olson. I'm a licensed nutritionist. And in studio with me is Leah Kleinschrodt who is a registered and licensed dietitian. Let's face it. We are in the midst of some of the most stressful times we have had in our country over the last several decades. So when we think about stress as nutritionists and dietitians, we are looking at stress so differently. We understand that stress can affect our sleep. Stress can affect our cravings and really stress can affect all aspects of our physical, our mental, and our emotional health. You know, when I'm working with clients and they're struggling with sleep, they ask me, well, Shelby, what if I took some sleeping pills? Would that be a fix? Would that kind of get me over the hump? And the real answer is really coming back to your nutrition and your lifestyle habits. If you are just joining us, our topic for today is centered around this idea of good habits for weight loss. Now, as nutritionists and dietitians, we can help you with a plan specifically to help you with weight loss, but we can also help to make sure that you're getting a good night of sleep, we can stop those cravings, and we can really put together an individualized plan to help improve your physical, your mental, and your emotional health. Now because of the COVID-19 restrictions and some of the stay at home orders, we have pivoted. We are doing all of our counseling via zoom video chats or phone. If you have questions or if you're interested in learning more about that, give us a call at (651) 699-3438. Or you can go to our website at weightandwellness.com to schedule that. Now, before we went to break, I just wanted to kind of highlight one of the things that Leah said. With our name, Nutritional Weight & Wellness, even though the weight comes first, we are so focused on wellness. And I remind my clients and my class participants this day in and day out. When you have total health and wellness, the weight loss comes. So as nutritionists and dietitians, we are wanting to problem solve any of those lifestyle or nutrition habits to help you have that wellness. And we are not going to put together a plan that would sacrifice you feeling crummy day in and day out just to see the number on the scale move. So even though we're Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we want be very clear that we're looking at you as a whole person. And we want to make sure that that wellness is coming into play. So before we went to break, we were talking more specifically about our first habit that we shared of eating a balanced breakfast. And Leah, I know you could talk about eating a balanced breakfast in your sleep.
LEAH: I think we all could.
SHELBY: But we're looking at the component of some animal protein, some colorful carbohydrates, like some berries or some spinach, or maybe even having some sweet potato, and having some natural fat like butter or almond butter or having a half of an avocado or even having some canned coconut milk.
LEAH: Yup. Yeah. Having that balance of the three is something we talk about day in and day out.
SHELBY: Right. Right. And I know that you love the research. So can you tell us a little bit more about what the research says about a balanced breakfast?
LEAH: Yes, absolutely. We have to talk about the research. I mean, a lot of what we do here is based on the research. So what have they, what has research found about eating that balanced breakfast? So there's numerous studies out there that show a beneficial effect of eating a higher protein breakfast. So let's highlight protein just for a second. Protein, as Shelby mentioned, and we do, we are big proponents of those animal based protein, things like a eggs and chicken and fish and beef and turkey and pork, but a high protein breakfast has a wonderful effect on our appetites, on balancing out our hormones, and keeping energy levels stable throughout the day. And especially in teenagers.
SHELBY: Ooo, uh hmm.
LEAH: So yeah, I know maybe you can relate to Shelby. I know, when I was a teenager, breakfast was not my favorite thing. I was definitely not a morning person, so I needed something like super easy and I didn't, I know I definitely didn't make the best balanced choices at that point.
SHELBY: Oh, Leah, my dad's still, my parents listened to the radio show and my dad says, "you forgot to tell him about the toaster strudels or the waffles or you forgot to tell them how we would buy, you know, cereal and that sort of thing." So yes, I was totally eating high sugar breakfast kind of Standard American Diet stuff. Or running out the door without anything.
LEAH: Yup. Same here. Parents tell it all sometimes don't they? Yeah, but eating so eating that more high glycemic breakfast, so a breakfast that really has a big impact on blood sugar, something like that cereal and the skim milk, the waffles with the syrup, a high carb breakfast bar, those are not going to be very satisfying. They don't have a lot of protein in them and they are going to start you on that blood sugar roller coaster throughout the day. And when your blood sugar is on a roller coaster, so is your energy level, so are those cravings…
SHELBY: Your moods. Are high and low and high and low. Yeah.
LEAH: Exactly. Everything. Everything else goes on that roller coaster also. So in one particular study that I was looking at - this one was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition back in 2013. They did a comparison of teenage girls having a high protein breakfast around four to five ounces of protein in the morning versus a lower protein breakfast somewhere only around two ounces. And they actually found, so not only were their appetites better in the morning, but actually come dinner time that these girls felt more satisfied. They kind of had less brain activation or less cravings at that time. And then they had a tendency to eat less of the sugary or the fatty treat types of foods later on in the day. So that kind of brings us back to the import... How important it is to have enough protein at breakfast. That stabilizes you for the rest of the day.
SHELBY: Right? So when you say brain activation, Leah, you're really talking about kind of that hyperactive like, ooo, I just kind of need something, like maybe you had dinner or, you know, maybe you, you had a balanced dinner, but after dinner, they're really finding that these teens and this would extend to other adults as well. But these teens were going back to the kitchen for ice cream or maybe a bowl of cereal or, you know, back to the kitchen for a brownie or something that is more high sugar, high fat. And this makes a lot of sense to me because one of the clients that I've been working with recently says that when she eats breakfast, she doesn't feel like bingeing at nighttime.
LEAH: Yeah.
SHELBY: So having that protein at breakfast really affects the brain.
LEAH: Yup, absolutely. It does. So we do have to take our second break and we'll come back to more habits on the other side. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We invite you to join us next Saturday to learn how you can stop stress eating. This is going to be with Cassie and Teresa, and they're going to offer some really great tips on putting a stop to stress eating. And we'll be right back.
SHELBY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I have an exciting new supplement to share with you listeners this morning. We have now started to make our very own collagen powder called Key Collagen. Now, as a nutritionist, I've been keeping my eye on collagen for quite some time. Many of you may be unfamiliar with collagen peptides, so I want to kind of bring you into this part of our discussion. When we're thinking about collagen peptides, oftentimes we're looking at the specific types of collagen and what they're doing in the body. And so one of the things that I'm very proud to share is that NutriKey's Key Collagen actually has four different types of those peptides. The first one is Tendoforte, which is really specific in strengthening the tendons and the ligaments. So if you've got shoulder stuff, if you've got knee stuff, great addition, great part of that, that college. The second collagen peptide is called fortigel. Fortigel supports cartilage regrowth and joint health. So that's one of the reasons why I encouraged my mom to be taking the Key Collagen after her hip surgery. It also has a third type that I'm sure many of your ears will perk up after you hear this. Verasol. Verasol is the type of collagen peptide that supports healthy skin and nails. Don't we all just want to have wrinkle free skin. Some of the research around Verasol was actually looking at the collagen formation, not only with skin health, but also looking at kind of the texture of our skin. So very exciting. And then the fourth one is Fortibone. Fortibone builds bone mass to protect against osteoporosis and can be very helpful with osteopenia as well. Now, when we think about a complete collagen product, like NutriKey's Key Collagen, we know that it's very easy to add that into water. You can mix it in and it doesn't have a flavor. I personally love to kind of put it in a smoothie, or if you're interested in trying something new, you can get on our website at weightandwellness.com and check out some of the other ways that you could use that in like a chia seed pudding or a smoothie or those sorts of things. Now to tack on some more good news, because this is a new product and we want people to try it out, we are offering a 15% discount to help you try out our new Key Collagen. If you are interested, you can order that on our website: weightandwellness.com - click on the products tab and that will show up. Or you can give the office a call and kind of figure out if you're local to the twin cities area, one of our seven locations should be able to help you find that. Leah, I don't know if you got a chance to read the article that one of our colleagues Nikki had written about collagen, but I heard already this week from a few clients that they were just itching to get their hands on our new collagen product. And so it'll be really interesting to get some more feedback from our clients and really see how they're using collage. I have been using it, the collagen for the last probably four weeks or so. That's kind of the perk of being behind the scenes people. You could try things out before.
LEAH: Absolutely. Yes. I know. I nabbed them as well and I recommend collagen all the time for my clients, especially I know for myself, the big reasoning is for the knees stuff. I've got lots of wear and tear in my knees. And so for my clients who have that same type of thing, whether it's knees or back or shoulders, I recommend the collagen a lot. And my favorite is putting it in my coffee. So I just mix that right in and it works really well.
SHELBY: It doesn't have a flavor.
LEAH: No, it totally works out.
SHELBY: Now, before we went to break Leah, we were talking more specifically around the research with eating protein and how that changes the brain. How that really calms the brain with cravings and compulsive eating, but also looking at that protein as a way to jumpstart our metabolism. So for those of you who are just tuning in, we are talking about good habits for weight loss. So if you are looking for ways to incorporate more protein, might I suggest you have a couple of eggs with maybe a few strips of nitrate free bacon. Maybe you have a side of sauteed spinach. Maybe you have a half of a sweet potato or a half of a cup of strawberries. That's really what we're talking about with that first habit for weight loss is eating a balanced breakfast: animal protein, some colorful carbohydrates, and some real fat. Now to round out that breakfast of eggs and bacon and some spinach and some sweet potato, put a little bit of butter on top of that sweet potato. That would be delicious. For some of you, you may need a really quick protein packed breakfast. Maybe you would do something like a half of a cup of fresh blueberries with some full fat cottage cheese, and then sprinkle some walnuts on top. Mom, if you're listening, I know this is a breakfast you would love, but another quick breakfast option that I turned to when I need something portable and on the go is a protein shake. Now, listeners, if you are looking for a tasty protein shake recipe, go to our website at weightandwellness.com. There's one on there called a strawberry basil smoothie that is delicious.
LEAH: Ooo yum.
SHELBY: The peaches and cream smoothie is another one that I've gotten lots of feedback from. So once again, our first weight loss habit to practice is eat a balanced breakfast with about two to four ounces of protein to get your metabolism going.
LEAH: Perfect. Start that day off strong. Now we had teased you a little bit earlier listeners with a client story. So, and we really want to start diving into her story and sharing some of the things that she found was super helpful for kicking that metabolism up and then sticking with it and making this a lifestyle change.
SHELBY: So what you're saying Leah is it's not doing it one day or one week. It's building it in.
LEAH: Yup, absolutely. Yes. It doesn't have an end date or a timeline in two or three months. This is something we're talking about long term, because as you mentioned before, Shelby, when we talk about health, we don't ever want our health to end. Right. So why would we do…
SHELBY: There's no time stamp on that.
LEAH: Exactly. We want health for as long as we can possibly make it. That's why we say real food doesn't have an end date either, right? So this client, we're going to call her Donna. Just to protect her privacy. But Donna decided that everything that was going on these last couple of months, that this was a great opportunity to really focus on her path of getting healthy and losing weight this year. So in January, the number on the scale for Donna was 213. And I hear this from clients a lot. Like they know that top number, they know where they were at their heaviest and they're like, I have to do something else. Something has to change. So then by the end of May, so we're looking around four ish months or so, the number on the scale for Donna was 171. So in those four months, she lost more than 40 pounds.
SHELBY: Wow. And Leah I'm sure all of you that have been thinking about weight loss, you don't say I lost about 40 pounds. You say I lost 42 pounds.
LEAH: Exactly.
SHELBY: That two pounds really makes a difference.
LEAH: Yes! You keep track! You make sure...you're making sure that story's accurate. For sure. We asked what, you know, that weight loss, was it the result of a magic pill or special diet plan? And the answer is no. When we'll talk more about that, it was the result of practicing those good weight loss habits day in and day out. So here's some of the weight loss habits that worked for Donna. Number one, one of the big ones for her was she stopped eating out for lunch. And because of that, stay at home order... you know, restaurants were closed. She was working from home and she didn't have to try to piece things together for lunch. So then she was cooking all of her own meals at home. Donna also came to realize that she was very gluten sensitive. So she made sure to avoid all gluten grains. And because she was cooking all of her own meals at home, she was using only healthy, natural fats in her food. So she had all the control over her food so she could decide what was going into that meal and what she was keeping out. A good weight loss habit is to use only those natural beneficial fats, because oftentimes again, going back to the restaurant scene, what they're usually using as those oils that they're frying foods in or cooking foods in those are the more refined oils like canola oil, soybean oil, corn oil, cotton seed oil. These are very refined oils. They're damaged fats. They've been through a whole process to get to the state that they're in. And these types of oils slow down metabolism. They kind of put this coating over your cell receptors, over the little...kind of doorways on your cell and they interfere with how your body can burn calories. In essence, it interferes with metabolism. So these refined oils in the unhealthy fats, they also lead to inflammation and aches and pains. So when our clients, and Donna included, start using those more natural, beneficial fats, not only do they lose weight, but they notice that, oh, my hands or my fingers don't ache as much. Or my back feels a lot better. Or my knees don't bother me when I go up and down the stairs. And so switching over to those beneficial fats, like coconut oil, butter, olive oil, avocado oil. These are just wonderful substitutions that we can make to get in those good nutrients, but also get something in to stabilize blood sugar and reduce inflammation.
SHELBY: Right, right. So we're saying upgrade the fats that you're eating. And Donna had success because she wasn't having to ask the waiter, well, what sort of fats are you cooking in? She could pull something out of her pantry and look at the label. So listeners, if you're not sure what type of fats you are currently eating, start flipping over the products that you're using and see if you see on the ingredient list, if you see corn oil or canola oil or soybean oil, or even cotton seed oil. Those are the things that are going to put that crust or that coating on the outside of your cell and block your metabolism. Not what we want for weight loss.
LEAH: Absolutely. That was a great summary Shelby. So we will come back to more habits on the other side of break, but you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition and our entire staff here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness want to thank you our listeners for listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, live on the radio show like you are this morning, or Dishing Up Nutrition as our podcast. Our company has supported this nutrition education radio show and podcast for the past 15 years. And because of all of you who tune in and listen each and every week and want to learn about that power of eating real food, we will continue our efforts to present nutritional information and support your health and wellness. So because of you, our listeners, we have weathered the storm. And again, we just want to say, thank you so very much. And we'll be right back.
SHELBY: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Because of the restructuring of how we're currently doing business, like many other businesses navigating COVID-19, we are currently unable to offer any of our in-house classes at this time. But rest assured, we miss you guys. We can't wait to see you in person. The good news is we have several online classes that are available to you. We have one time classes like our Magic of Minerals. We've got Jumpstart Your Metabolism. Or we have two ways for you to take our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series. This series is available online. You can sign up on our website at weightandwellness.com. That online Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series guide you through 12 weeks of habit change. It's really taking what we're highlighting today and walking you through it. Now, the other way that you can take our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series is our virtual program through zoom. So it doesn't matter where you are in the country. You are able to join us for a specific time each week for our class. Now we offer this as a new way to take Nutrition 4 Weight Loss, because we want to allow for more interaction with the class participants and really mimic what we would be discussing and that collaboration of being in a class with like minded people. Now I will say Leah, I have been so fortunate to be one of the, one of the Guinea pigs. I've been one of the nutrition educators that started a different zoom Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series about a month ago. And I have to say, people are loving it. We have a full group. Mary, another nutrition educator, we are sharing the series. And I think we've got about 20 people and it has been so fun. We still are all able to connect at the same time each week. But if you are interested in taking any our classes, give our office a call with any of your questions. You can call us at (651) 699-3438 or you can check out our website. We've got lots of great information there. That is weightandwellness.com.
LEAH: That's wonderful Shelby that, both you and Mary, you guys are still able to offer your expertise and your compassion and your guidance to these students. And they get to do it at home in their slippers. It's great. That sounds like a win win to me.
SHELBY: Yes, it's very, very fun. So Leah, before we went to break, you were sharing a little bit more of your client's story. We are calling her Donna. But Donna was really looking at cooking at home and how easy it is when you're at home to look to see what sort of ingredients you have in your kitchen.
LEAH: Especially those fats.
SHELBY: Yes, we kind of highlighted those good fats. Now I wanted to highlight another healthy habit that is very supportive for weight loss. And that is getting eight to nine hours of sleep most nights. And I know you shared with me that this was a habit that Donna had established: going to bed, being in bed, and asleep by 11:00 PM most nights, and getting about eight hours of sleep. And we say "about" because we know that there's a little give and take, not huge fluctuations, but Donna, like most people, had to give up some of those negative habits. Some of those habits that were going against her sleep. So Donna chose to no longer stay up late and play those computer games or watch the news. We see from the research that going to bed and getting a consistent night of sleep is very supportive. So I want to share some research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They found that when people lacked sleep, their cravings for sugar were sky high. Cravings for high sugar processed carbohydrates went up as people were missing out on sleep. Now study after study shows that a lack of sleep leads to a lack of impulse control.
LEAH: That's so interesting.
SHELBY: For those of you who feel like, you know, your car is just driving you right through the dairy queen lane, or if you feel like you see a brownie and you just have to eat it, are you willing to focus on your sleep to change your behaviors, to change your habits? Now, one other interesting study found that when people were inconsistent in the amount of time that they slept, they actually had less weight loss. So if you sleep, you know, an example would be, if you sleep six hours one night and then the next night you try to quote unquote "catch up" and get nine hours of sleep. You think, Oh, I'm averaging it out, right? Well, not so much. Your body is confused. So you're not going to be losing weight. A consistent eight hours of sleep every night is one of those habits that will support your metabolism and your wellbeing. It's really important. It's key to weight loss to establish those good sleep habits. Now, remember Leah's client Donna lost over 40 pounds eating real food that she cooked at home and prioritizing her sleep. Eight hours most nights.
LEAH: Yes. Again, these are, they might not seem like habits that are other worldly. These are just those small little changes that you practice day in, day out, time after time. And those little changes and those little benefits start to add up.
SHELBY: Yeah.
LEAH: When we think about old weight loss habits or things that, you know, we hear a lot of our clients, they come in and they tell us their story and things that we hear time and time again. There comes this theme about takeaway foods and diet…
SHELBY: Restriction.
LEAH: Yes. Restriction. So we're taking away protein. We're supposed to take away all those beneficial, healthy fats. But usually, I mean, thinking back, did that work for people? Did that result in slimmer bodies or better energy or better cardiovascular health? And most of our clients, by the time they come to us, they know that answer. It just... It didn't work the way we wanted it to. So are you locked into those old weight loss habits and belief that less is more. I mean, maybe you've heard that eat less and move more or calories in calories out is the only thing that matters. These are just some of those old beliefs.
SHELBY: Right. People are really in the mindset that they have to kind of cut things out or remove things, to be able to increase their metabolism. Now, as a company of nutritionists and dietitians, we're working with these complex metabolism problems with our clients and here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we challenged those old, outdated beliefs. We believe more is better. Like the weight loss habits that we had shared: sleep more, eat, more protein, eat more frequently, you know, having that breakfast, that lunch, that dinner. Using more of those natural, real fats. Drinking more water. Planning more and cooking more. I know we, we could talk for hours and hours about some of these other weight loss habits, but planning and being intentional or mindful about what you're eating and of course the best part is you can have more fun shopping in your own closet or shopping for a smaller size.
LEAH: Yup. Yeah. More. And even the concept of more scares clients right away. If we can get them to try it, say, for even for a couple of weeks, it is quite amazing just how much better they tend to feel. And then we can build on that success.
SHELBY: Eating more nutritious foods.
LEAH: Yep. Right. Absolutely. So our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It is a simple yet powerful message that eating real food is life changing. So thank you for listening. Be healthy and be safe.
