How Nutrition Helped My Health
December 29, 2019
Listen in as we interview three past clients to hear how changing their nutrition helped their health. You will hear from a past client who put her MS into remission by eating real food, someone who was able to get rid of chronic pain by quitting her sugar habit and someone who lost a great deal of weight but her success is about so much more than weight loss. Are you ready to be our next success story?
LEAH: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. To celebrate our 15 years of providing a well thought-out and well-researched nutrition show and podcast, everyone here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness says thank you for listening to Dishing Up Nutrition and sharing the information you have learned with others. My name is Leah Kleinschrodt. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietician and I am delighted to tell you that we have a different kind of show for you today. We have a very special show which includes me interviewing three special guests because we want you to hear from each of them about how nutrition really helped their health. You will hear from Tina Beehler who put her MS into remission through eating real food. And real food has not only helped Tina but helped her entire family, so I'm sure she'll be sharing some bits and pieces from the members of her family and how real food has impacted them, also. Tina has an amazing story about the power of nutrition, and if you or a loved one has an autoimmune disease or heart disease or maybe just have a couple of pounds they need to lose, be sure to stay tuned. You will also hear from Mary Herby, who used nutrition to get out of pain. And before taking the Nutrition for Weight Loss series, she had no idea that every time she ate sugar and those more processed refined carbs, that they would cause her to experience severe body pain. And lastly, you will hear from Lisa Proulx, who came to the realization that when she stopped focusing on the number on the scale and just focused on eating real food, that her body would then turn around and say, well I guess it's time to lose some weight. And lose weight she did, so stay with us because when Lisa stopped dieting and had that mentality around dieting, she lost a great deal of weight. Weight loss is not going to be her main story. It is part of her story, but she also really wants to share her change in mindset around weight loss and around dieting. Her real story is even more important than just the weight loss success. So we are going to start with Tina’s story. So Tina, welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition because you have been on the show several times before. It's been a couple of years. But welcome back to the show; and we just want to start out with, you know, we have some new listeners; they probably haven't heard your story before, heard about your family members. When did you start working with the nutritionist here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness? Or how did you get introduced to this real food concept?
TINA: Well, hello and thanks for having me today. I first became aware of Nutritional Weight and Wellness when Darlene Kvist, the founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness, first started this radio show about 13 to 14 years ago. At the time, my knowledge of nutrition consisted of what I learned from TV, ads and the tips and tricks that I learned at the health club while I was working out. I was drinking a lot of diet pop, eating processed fat-free foods, avoiding healthy fats such as real butter, avocado, olive oil, nuts. And I was feeding myself and my family fast and very easy foods. My young, beautiful and sweet teenage daughter came to me one day. She had been crying and was upset. She told me that she always felt hungry and was concerned about gaining weight and she wanted to join one of those popular weight loss programs. And since I had been listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, my instinct was to schedule an appointment for McKenzie with a nutritionist at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. So this had made perfect sense to me, as everything Nutritional Weight and Wellness teaches is all science-based. It felt very safe to me to bring our precious daughter into Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And little did I know that once we set foot into the Nutritional Weight and Wellness office that our lives would be forever changed for the better.
McKenzie had filled out the Nutritional Weight and Wellness health history, which I think is quite impressive that you do that because nowadays most doctors don't review all your health systems or parts of your body. They usually only have minutes to discuss your case and then they're off to the next patient. At Nutritional Weight and Wellness, your initial appointment is usually two hours long and the time really does fly by fast. Our nutritionist happened to be Darlene Kvist, who is the founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And Dar had noted on McKenzie's health history that I had MS, my sister had MS, my mother had fibromyalgia and my brother has alopecia, which means he's had hair loss since age two and a half.
LEAH: Yeah. Wow. So you guys really have quite the family history of autoimmune conditions.
TINA: They're all over the place in my family. And so Dar had explained that there is a link between gluten sensitivity and autoimmune diseases, and that was really a new concept for me. I'd never heard of that. So I remember sitting there looking at Dar and I got really angry because I thought, “Wait, I came in for my daughter, not for me. I don't want to go gluten-free.” And then Dar very nicely and simply explained the science between gluten sensitivity and autoimmune diseases. And then right then and there, a light bulb went off in my head and I thought to myself, “This makes perfect sense.” Dar also explained the link between McKenzie always feeling hungry and gluten sensitivity. She told us that because of the gluten in our diet, McKenzie's brain was not getting the message that she had eaten, and instead her brain was telling her to eat more. And then Dar explained that this was all biochemical and it wasn't McKenzie's fault. It was not a willpower issue. Dar then made us a customized and detailed eating plan that was gluten-free. She also convinced us to give up pop milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
LEAH: That's a tall order for a family.
TINA: It was. It was; especially the pop because that's, I lived on diet pop.
LEAH: Yes.
TINA: So, that same day though, when we got home, McKenzie and I did a total kitchen cleanup. We walked in the door and we went right to the kitchen. We removed all of the gluten and dairy products that we had had. And Nutritional Weight and Wellness was amazing during this time because they, I felt like they held my hand during this going gluten and dairy free journey that we were on. So McKenzie and I really embraced the Nutritional Weight and Wellness way of life where you eat real food; the type of food that my grandparents ate. We were both able to stop drinking pop and eating processed foods.
LEAH: So for you, Tina, you said you had a diagnosis of MS. Can you tell us how, when was that diagnosis made? And then what, can you just tell us a little bit more about MS and how it affected your day to day life?
TINA: Yes, I will tell you about MS. MS stands for multiple sclerosis, and MS is a long lasting disease that can affect your brain, your spinal cord, and optic nerves in your eyes.
LEAH: You mentioned with your history of MS and your diagnosis of MS, one of the things that both you and your daughter went to right away and that Dar had suggested was giving up gluten.
TINA: Yes.
LEAH: Were there any other big changes that you remember making around that time that you remember having a big impact on you?
TINA: Well, I had to start cooking.
LEAH: That's a tall order as well.
TINA: It is. And I realized the cooking is the easy part. It's having the food available.
LEAH: So the planning; the shopping; a lot of the things that we teach in our classes and that we talk about on the radio show a lot.
TINA: Yes. Yeah.
LEAH: Yes, and so with you and your daughter making these changes, what, what was the progression? How did, how did your life change? Did you notice your symptoms disappearing right away? Did they disappear gradually? What did that look like and what time period were you looking at?
TINA: Well, what happened is when I was first diagnosed, my neurologist had me take weekly injections to help prevent me from getting any more lesions. So in the MS world, you do not know what is happening behind the scenes unless you have an MRI or you suddenly lose movement or have vision problems. So the goal of MS treatment is to prevent any more lesions. The year after our first appointment with Dar where she taught us to eat real food and how to prevent inflammation in our brains and in our bodies, I had my annual neurologist and MRI appointment. It was then that my neurologist was just raving over how good my brain and neck MRI looked. He was very happy that I only had my original four lesions. He even thought my lesions had shrunk.
LEAH: Oh my gosh. Well that's wonderful progress after just a year.
TINA: It was and, and he then asked me, he said, “What was I doing?” And I said, “Well, I'm taking my medicine.” And he said, “No, you must be doing something else.”
LEAH: I'm going to stop you right there, Tina. We actually have to take a break. So when we come back from break, I want to hear more about your story and just how amazed your neurologist was and the other changes that you actually brought to life with him. So you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And I am here in studio with three of our Nutritional Weight and Wellness clients who are sharing their success stories with us today. And we'll be right back.
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LEAH: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If the holiday eating has gotten you off track, I'd like to suggest you sign up for our January of 2020 Nutrition for Weight Loss program. If you sign up by January 6th you can save $50 with our early bird special. Our Nutrition for Weight Loss program can help you get back on track and then stay on track through the rest of the year. So we, when we left for break we were interviewing Tina Beehler who was sharing her amazing story about her recovery from multiple sclerosis or MS, which is an autoimmune condition. And Tina you were sharing with us a little bit about how amazed your neurologist was after he completed some testing a year or so after you had made the switch with your family to eating real foods and going gluten free. So I just want to continue that story. And you were about to tell your neurologist what else you were doing besides taking your medications.
TINA: Yes. So then I did tell him, I said, “Well, I'm a client of Nutritional Weight and Wellness where I was taught to eat gluten and dairy free, eat real food and to eat in such a way that prevents inflammation in my brain and my body. And then he asked for the Nutritional Weight and Wellness phone number because he had rheumatoid arthritis and he thought that made perfect sense.
LEAH: And rheumatoid arthritis being another autoimmune condition.
TINA: Yes. Yeah, so then now fast forward 15 years and my neurologist took me off all of my MS medicine. So my neurologist told me that he's prepared to let me free after my next visit next September.
LEAH: Isn't that the best news that you could hope for; to be free of those medications and the twice yearly follow ups? Like, it doesn't get better than that.
TINA: No, it doesn't. It’s unbelievable.
LEAH: That's a wonderful. That's such a powerful story. And Tina, you also, we talked a little bit about your daughter having some amazing success with real food, but tell us about your husband, Dave, because he also has a very impactful story.
TINA: Well, David had a very sudden and tragic heart attack. It was a big one. This is obviously something that no one can plan for. And so when I started my Nutritional Weight and Wellness journey, I realized that this meant cooking real food. And this was a new concept for me, but I really embraced it and I do love to cook now. So, after David had his heart attack, he was in the hospital. And it was very difficult. We had been on vacation and we just got back. And luckily I had had things in my freezer. When I cook now instead of doubling the recipe, I usually will triple or quadruple it and put it like in Mason jars; quart size or two cup size.
LEAH: The get out of jail free stuff in your freezer.
TINA: It's just so nice to have. And so when he was in the hospital, I would, in the morning I would eat a breakfast, like maybe spinach with eggs cooked in butter and with a half of sweet potato on the side. And then I would make a batch of protein shakes, put them in my Mason jars and then grab some of the chili or whatever I had in my freezer. And then I would go see him. I made sure that I went home every night and slept. And the nurse has promised me that they would call me if there were any changes. And so, because I knew I needed to take care of myself because I had to be strong for my husband, my family, and my extended family.
LEAH: Yes, and sleep is such a big part of that. We do talk about sleep a lot and the importance of sleep in our classes and in the counseling room because we know too, when you don't sleep, and I know this as a new mom, when you don't sleep, your cravings for the not so great food starts to go up. You can't think as clearly. And then you can't make really great decisions. And when you have a family in medical crisis, it's important to be on your game at all times, right?
TINA: Yes.
LEAH: Yes, so eating, we know most of the time that hospital food is not going to be great quality, real food that's going to help your brain think and to help you have the power that you need to to take care of your family.
TINA: And at the time even had a fast food restaurant in the lobby.
LEAH: Oh my goodness. Yes. So talk about bad fats, processed foods. It's about as bad as it gets. Yes. So just prioritizing that self-care for your husband and your family is super important. Yes.
TINA: So when David came home after his quadruple bypass operation, he ended up embracing my gluten and dairy free way of life. Before that he, before his heart attack, he used to travel all the time for work and he needed to eat out all the time and just ate whatever. So now David felt very fortunate to come home to a household kitchen and food that helped prevent inflammation in his heart, blood vessels, and his body. He exercises every morning and he doesn't drink any alcohol. And he even lost 70 pounds from his heart attack in March until the 4th of July of that year.
LEAH: Wow.
TINA: And his heart attack was four and a half years ago, but two and a half years ago with his cardiologist’s blessing, David went off all of his medication and he has had echocardiograms which measure how effectively your heart pumps blood and various blood work done since he went off all his meds. And at one of his appointments, his cardiologist told him that he defies modern medicine by how good he's doing.
LEAH: Wow. Yes. And again, how much better news can you get from there? Yeah, that's amazing; and unfortunate sometimes that those medical crises are the things that turn us around or change our thinking or kickstart some of those healthy habits. But it was great that he already had you in his corner doing a lot of this already and you were able to just pick up the reins right there and move forward. Your mom: let’s, I wanted to touch on your mom really quick because she also has an amazing story. Do you mind; just take a minute or two and share just some of the success your mom has also had?
TINA: Sure I will. I'm really proud of her. So mom had been a yo-yo dieter or for as long as I can remember, and after my dad died about 10 years ago at the age of when my mom was 70 years old, I suggested that she try the Nutrition for Weight Loss program. And mom took the classes and literally did what the program suggested to do. She was very child-like and just followed all the instructions. She didn't question. She just did it. And even though she was newly widowed and cooking for one, she cooked and she embraced batch cooking. She figured out how to prepare all her breakfasts for the week all at once because she hates cooking breakfast. And she is to the point now; she cooks many meals all at once. She lost 12 pounds during the 12-week Nutrition for Weight Loss plan. But she continued on it and that whole year she ended up losing a total of 70 pounds. And she just blossomed. She's been enjoying life. And two years ago her family practice doctor wanted her to see a preventative cardiologist. Have you ever heard of one of those?
LEAH: I have. But tell me a little more.
TINA: Yeah. Well it was really great because her family practice doctor was concerned my mom had a… her dad died very young of a stroke and wanted mom to go there. And so this preventative cardiologist ran blood work on mom every six months for two years. And it was fun to go to these appointments with mom because he would rave about how good her cholesterol levels were. And like her last triglyceride level was 60, which is very good for an 80 year-old. Her fasting blood sugar was like 87. And at the last appointment he ended up graduating her and said she doesn't need to come back. And so she's 80 years old, lives independently, drives, cooks, and has a thriving social life. And this makes me really happy as a daughter.
LEAH: Oh, wonderful. Those, all of those, your story, your daughter's story, your husband's story, your mother's story: those are all so powerful. And while they are different stories in reality, they all have the same foundation of needing to eat that real food nutrition. And that's what's really the driving force in improving their health and their livelihood. So thank you so much Tina for sharing all of those stories. And now what we'd like to do is transition over to Mary Herby and hear her story. So welcome, Mary, to Dishing Up Nutrition. And I know you came to Nutritional Weight and Wellness after your doctor had recommended that you start taking diet pills because you needed to lose weight. And you came to us having tried a lot of other programs and a lot of other strategies before. But you had mentioned that you had never really truly learned how to eat and so you weren't able to stay successful long-term with some of the other programs. And then you had gained quite a bit of weight because you were in pain and had to be put on a steroid medication called prednisone. So I want to open it up to you now just to tell us what that beginning of your journey looked like and why you decided to choose Nutritional Weight and Wellness.
MARY: Well, I started having extreme joint pain and just horrible fatigue back in 2012. And no matter how much I slept, I was still very tired. And my doctor ran all sorts of tests and sent me to specialists. I was checked for Lyme, thyroid, heart, had MRIs, you name it. And finally I was told that I was suffering from low vitamin D. It took several months before I began feeling better. But my vitamin D level was still on the low end.
LEAH: Oh. Do you know what that number was? Because I always ask my clients that; like you get the okay from the doctor, but what was your number?
MARY: Well, back then it was at seven, which really explained why I wasn't able to function.
LEAH: Wow. And I know usually the lab recommendation is over 30 and they say you're okay. So under 30, you're vitamin D deficient at that point. So your number was seven.
Wow.
MARY: And now at my last appointment it was 78.
LEAH: Oh my goodness. That's wonderful. And we always tell our clients our goal range for vitamin D is between 50 to 80, so that just speaks to, it's important to know your number, not just to get the thumbs up or thumbs down from your doctor, but to actually know your number. Yeah. So you, you said you had some serious health problems and you know, before we dive a little bit more into what those health problems were and the pain that you were in and some of that journey, I think we need to take our second break. So just hold those thoughts. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Attention: I have a nutrition alert. In the new year, ask your doctor to check your vitamin D level. Mary just shared with us that she started to develop some of these serious health problems and only to find out that her vitamin D level was seven, and we recommend the optimal range to be somewhere between 50 to 80. A low vitamin D level can lead to bone pain. It can lead to depression, autoimmune disease, and even cancer. So to maintain a sufficient vitamin D level, most people, especially those of us living here in Minnesota, need to supplement somewhere around 3,000 to 5,000 IUs is fine for most people. Some people need a little bit more even. And we'll be right back.
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LEAH: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Next Saturday, January 4th of 2020, join Kara and Nell as they explain why it is often necessary to give up dieting to lose weight. Nell lost 90 pounds eight years ago by eating real food in balance and has maintained that 90 pound weight loss for over eight years. And as a lot of us know, sometimes that maintenance phase or keeping the weight off is even harder than the weight loss itself. So that's an amazing story. Nell is a great speaker and she's always willing to share her tidbits to help other people. So we were interviewing Mary Herbie, who was telling us about her chronic pain. She shared that she had an incredibly low vitamin D level of seven, which was contributing to some of her pain. But Mary, you were also just about to share another diagnosis that you received around that same time. So why don't you tell us about that?
MARY: Well, it was in 2016 that I was diagnosed with chronic gout. I was put on prednisone for over a year to help with the pain, but it caused a steady weight gain. And then when I was finally able to taper off of it, I began experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms. And again, the treatment was another medication that caused weight gain. So I knew I needed to lose weight for my health. But when my doctor suggested diet pills that really scared me. I knew a friend who had lost weight and kept it off by following the Nutrition for Weight Loss eating plan. So I decided right then and there to give it a chance.
LEAH: So you took a couple of the $10 classes first and then eventually got into our 12-week Nutrition for Weight Loss series. Your husband joined you for that. Can you, even through that first series, can you remember some of the big things that stuck out to you or just what was your connection between your pain and the sugar you were consuming?
MARY: Basically, I learned that the, there was a direct effect on the level of pain and inflammation in our bodies. And 90% of our health is due to what or what not we're eating. And sugar increases the inflammation that causes the aches and pains and it's not just the sweets also. I had a big sweet tooth, but it was interesting when I learned that it was also the starchy foods like chips and white bread, pasta and French fries. Our bodies turn them into sugar. The formula they brought out was four grams of carbohydrates equal one teaspoon of sugar in your body.
LEAH: Yeah. That equation usually catches people's attention. So can you say that one more time? What was that equation?
MARY: Four grams of carbohydrates equal one teaspoon of sugar in your body.
LEAH: Yeah.
MARY: So it's like if you ate just two French fries, it's like eating a teaspoon of sugar.
LEAH: Yeah. That's a great visual. And who stops at two French fries?
MARY: I haven't had a French fries since I learned that.
LEAH: That's wonderful. There you go. Yeah, the power of just those visualizations sometimes, right?
MARY: Yeah, I was just very shocked when I learned that the many of the foods that I thought were good for me were really what was causing my pain. And now I'm eating real food like I did as a child back in the fifties.
LEAH: Yeah. You have actually a cute story, thinking about your husband, you guys have a cute story about your husband going through and cleaning out cupboards. Can you just share in your words what that story is?
MARY: Well, John had decided to clean out the cupboards one morning. It was shortly into the program and he went and he threw out all of our cereal, even the boxes that weren't opened.
LEAH: Wow.
MARY: And if he didn't stop there; all the chips and all the junk food basically he threw out. And his comment was, “If it's not good for us, it's not good for anyone.” So it went into the garbage.
LEAH: Yeah. Oh that's wonderful. That is a huge support system for you. You and your husband were doing this together because we know we have lots of clients who take, whether it's husband and wife, sisters, mother-daughter pairs; we have lots of pairs and friends who take our classes. And just having that extra support system and having an extra set of ears helps them be successful; more successful in the long run. Now you mentioned, yeah, your chronic pain really was much more under control and you were able to eliminate that by just decreasing your sugar consumption. But your husband also had some success as well because I think you've mentioned he was... was he diagnosed with type-two diabetes?
MARY: Yes. He had been dealing with diabetes for a few years now.
LEAH: Yeah. And they measure type-two diabetes. They measure an A1C usually every couple of months or the amount, the kind of the overall amount of sugar circulating in the blood over the course of three or four months. And what did his numbers look like?
MARY: Well they were fluctuating between 7.8 and 11.1.
LEAH: Oh wow.
MARY: So they were out of control.
LEAH: Yeah. And anything over 6.5 is considered type-two diabetes. So he was well within that range.
MARY: Right. But now since switching to eating real food his A1C has been at 6.1.
LEAH: Wow. So eating real food really brought that A1C down within below that 6.5% range, which is amazing. Yeah. So Mary, you lost weight. You have less pain since you've been eating real food: the Weight and Wellness Way. Do you notice now if you eat something or drink something or is there anything in particular that might bring your pain back or cause it to flare again?
MARY: Sugar.
LEAH: Sugar. Yeah.
MARY: A few weeks ago, John and I went out to dinner with our granddaughter and her husband and in the past we often ended our meal at this restaurant with a slice of carrot cake that we just shared. And I quickly learned that the taste wasn't worth the pain. Within an hour of eating that piece of cake or part of it, my joints were just hurting so bad. It was the sugar I'm sure that caused that flare up.
LEAH: Yeah, within an hour. That's a really quick response. And for some of our clients it is that quick: within an hour. Sometimes it's the next day, but that sugar brings back that inflammation, like you said, and brings back that pain.
MARY: And the pain didn't just go away. It lasted a couple of days.
LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. So that's a huge motivation for a lot of people to say, “Okay, maybe next time I'm going to pass on the carrot cake.” Yeah. You are also a grandmother. So now when your grandchildren come over these days, what are you giving them as either treats or for snacks or what do you feed them?
MARY: Well, we still have chocolate in the house, but now it's good, dark chocolate. And instead of cookies and chips like we always had, they get fresh fruit and vegetables.
LEAH: Oh, wonderful; real whole foods. And you took Nutrition for Weight Loss. You took that series twice now. Your husband was with you both times. What did you find was the most helpful for you in each of the classes or each of the series that you took? Well, all the teachers really shared great tips and they each brought their own experience and knowledge to the class so you could learn different things from them.
But a visual aid all of them shared was containers with teaspoons of sugar in them. This showed the amount of sugar your body turns different foods into. It's changed how I look at food. And after the class I now understand how what I eat affects the way I feel.
LEAH: And for you now at home, you and your husband having taken these series together, do you do all of the cooking or is it a joint effort? What does that look like at home? Well, it's been a joint effort for the past 49 years.
LEAH: Oh wonderful.
MARY: But now we're planning ahead for the meals. We're making sure that there's always food in the fridge, like chili or soup for meals and snacks. We're cooking the Weight and Wellness Way.
LEAH: Yeah; wonderful; so yeah, just another great success story that we wanted our listeners to hear. When those husbands and wives take classes together or friends or sisters, mothers and daughters, whatever the relationship is, it is definitely so wonderful to have that additional support; someone in your corner cheering you on; and this particular couple, Mary and her husband are influencing the next generation by teaching their grandchildren about healthy eating and eating; and what treats can look like. It can look like real food. So thank you so much Mary, for sharing your story and being willing to share some of the struggles that you've had and the successes that you have. And we are actually going to take our third break before we jump into our third interview. So you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you have a friend or family member with a serious health problem such as MS, chronic pain or obesity, I suggest you have them listen to the podcast of this particular show. Today's guests are not actors. They are real people with real stories who can give your friends and/or your family members some hope and encouragement to get the help that they received to learning all about real food nutrition at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. So just direct your family member or your friend to our website which is weightandwellness.com. And is spelled out: a-n-d. And have them click on podcast. And we'll be right back.
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Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Our Nutrition for Weight Loss program starts the week of January 13th of 2020 at all seven of our locations and online anytime. So check the dates, times and locations that work best for you and be sure to take advantage of our early bird special for the in-house 12-week Nutrition for Weight Loss program when you sign up by January sixth. You can go to weightandwellness.com or you can call any one of our offices and speak to our excellent front desk staff at (651) 699-3438. And you can sign up then or you can ask your questions. And we were just about to move into interviewing our third guest on the show this morning, which is Lisa Proulx. So Lisa, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being on. And you actually came to Nutritional Weight and Wellness about 15 years ago. So can you tell us how you heard about us and what you actually came to us for?
LISA: Well, the first time I was introduced to Nutritional Weight and Wellness was actually a community education class with one of the local school districts. So my mom and I went and it was such radical, different information. We learned a ton. We love the class. The instructor was great. We were excited about a lot of it, but some of it was like really like we weren't quite ready to hear it. But because of some of the things that were shared in the class later in the year, I just had gone through this period of like chronic sinus infection. I couldn't get rid of it. And I would go back to the doctor, back to the doctor and then just antibiotic after antibiotic. And I just remember thinking of that class and some of the things that the instructor shared at the time and like, you know what? Why don't I just give it a shot? So I made an appointment. I walked out of there about 90 minutes later with a food plan that was supposed to like help this sinus infection. Within two weeks that thing was gone. And I still, after 15 years have never had one again.
LEAH: Oh my gosh.
LISA: And I did keep going and of course that was why I went in. But I did lose weight and I felt great.
LEAH: So sinus problems. And many people don't think about that, like going to a dietitian or a nutritionist, especially a real food dietician or nutritionist for sinus problems. And it sounds like this was something that you had, you had battled with for a long time on your own with lots of antibiotics trying to knock out those infections and it just kept coming back. Do you remember what was it in that first community ed. class that really stuck with you and then made you think later like, well, maybe nutrition is worth a try for this sinus stuff?
LISA: Well, it was that idea that the symptoms are being treated but the problem isn't actually ever getting solved and there was really a bigger systematic issue. So with the sinus thing, she sort of touched on it in a way, but I didn't know I was going to; I didn't connect it at the time, but that sugar. Sugar in my body was causing this sort of yeast overgrowth, this system, which made total sense. That's how it felt. It just, everything was so stuffed up. And also, gut health. And I didn't really know how to fix that on my own, but I knew enough, something from that class even in that little bit, something about knowing that the antibiotics was actually, yes, it was helping those symptoms, but it was also exacerbating the bigger problem. So if I could just get ahead of it and fix the, the overall issue that we make to prevent those infections from happening in the first place. And that's what I, I don't know, I just, and I went there not knowing what would happen and it really did work, so…
LEAH: Yeah. That's wonderful. Yes. So even those one-time classes, that community ed class, the $10 classes that Mary was talking about, that's our hope is that people could walk away, even if it's just one or two bits of information, that they can walk away with that and come back to it when it makes sense for them in their life.
LISA: Well, right. And like Tina and Mary said, like we had been, my mom and I just talked lately, like now we talk and say, well we had the wrong information for so many years and that was the first, you know, pathway into this. And then, you know, the radio show was just starting and the teacher or the instructor at the time shared like this radio show is starting. So then we would just listen to that. It was like a class every Saturday; could hear it again on Sunday if you wanted to. So that was, that was the first pathway in and we did that for a long time.
LEAH: Yeah, those are great. Yes. These, these shows are just a great entry point for a lot of people because it’s; it is like a free class every single week. With your journey, so you said the sinus infections just cleared up; haven't had any issues since then. And you mentioned that you did lose weight along the way, but, and you lost a lot of weight, but we also talked before going on the radio here about a change of mindset for you. So can you tell me a little bit about what that shift was for you? Like what, what, what were your thoughts originally with weight loss and then how did that change over time?
LISA: Yeah. I think the biggest difference for me is, you know, dieting and the food thing, I can kind of remember being like six and seven years old trying to, you know, worry about my size, my weight, my shape, and, and trying to restrict food and be on a certain diet. Like I, it, that was, that was my whole life. So I, in a way, I was so attached to the dieting and the food, like I tried to take the plan of this real food and this lifestyle and turn it into a diet. I kept up with that black and white thinking that I was either on the plan or off the plan. And so I just, even like I had all this information, but I, it still was resulting in, I mean, I was just, and I was getting sicker. I had a lot of things going on, not just the weight, but I was still so worried about just that number on the scale.
I was just so focused on it. And as long as I was focused on that number, I was just going to keep getting the same result. I'd have success sometimes. I lost a lot of weight lots of times, but I always gained it back and then some, cause it was just like the overall, the reason it was coming on there was like the weight was a symptom, just like the sinus infection. The weight was a symptom of something bigger happening, but I was only addressing a piece of it and it was never fixing the overall problem.
LEAH: I love that analogy, that the weight itself was just a symptom. That number on the scale was just a symptom. It wasn't, that wasn't driving your sinus problems. That wasn't driving some of the other chronic issues that you have, but it was just another symptom that said, “My metabolism is off,” or “I have imbalance in my body and somehow I need to get to the root of that.” That's such a beautiful story that I love; wonderful. Yeah. So Lisa, you know, if there were times where your, maybe your weight was stalled or that was just something that you didn't want to pay attention to. It wasn't in the forefront of your mind. Did you notice other things in your health that were improving?
LISA: So the things that I did notice was, you know, I was eating so that I wasn't as inflamed. So my joints: I had terrible back pain, knee pain, hip pain. My feet hurt all the time, my ankles. That was all gone. So guess what happened? I wanted to move more. I had terrible headaches. Those are gone. I don't have those anymore at all. I, I guess I didn't realize that it was anxious, but I was. I can see that now because my, that was my normal. I didn't know that I could feel any differently. So there was some anxiety, some low moods. I had chronic hives. Those are, I used to have like 10 to 12 episodes of that a year. Now it's down to like two and they're really mild. Acid reflux; I had hormone and thyroid issues. Like I had all this going on the whole time; high blood pressure, all of those blood tests they take at the doctor's office were off. They're all better. So all of all of that is, you know, much improved. So that's really exciting.
LEAH: Yeah, that is absolutely amazing. And Lisa, one thing I wanted to ask you too, or even just clarify and maybe have you share is I think at the beginning, I remember you saying your request was, “I have to do this all with food; like I actually didn't even turn to supplements.” So it just, can you tell us a little bit about that?
LISA: Well, very initially, I, you know, I'm a solo parent and I was going in for this, you know, nutrition consultation for the sinus thing. I mean, I had to kind of scrape up the dollars to go, but I was that miserable; like I was that desperate to get some help. So, once I realized that, you know, yup, you're going to want to take some things out of your diet, but we've got to put some things back in, you know, you've got to, you've got to put some of this back in. I just challenged the dietician because I, I don't have any money left to do this. And that was at that time 15 years ago. And so I said, “Can you just do this with food?” So, that plan, you know, she did do that. And that's what, that's part of what made me see that this piece with, the weight and all these other health issues that I could do that just with food also, so…
LEAH: Yeah, absolutely. So just laying that foundation of good food; removing the foods that were causing you inflammation and putting in those healing foods, those real foods, those healthy foods with lots of nutrients…
LISA: Yup.
LEAH: …got you a fair portion of the way there, which is again, it speaks to the power of that real food.
LISA: Yep. So I was in that cycle that so many people get into that you make yourself so hungry during the morning and the afternoon you come home, eat big and fast. It's like, you know…
LEAH: You're in a low blood sugar state at that point.
LISA: Totally. And your body's going to win at that point, right? You cannot, it's like not even in your control. And then you feel bad about it in the morning so you don't eat all day and you keep the cycle going. I gained the most weight doing that, so…
LEAH: Yeah. So when you were able to balance things out a bit more throughout the day using those real foods and that combination protein, carb, fat, that was able to really keep things on a more even keel for you.
LISA: Did it like medicine, just like, that's my medicine. That's what I'm going to do this, like this plan has to, has to, I have to stay with this in order to be successful as the first domino for sure.
LEAH: Absolutely. So Lisa, thank you and also to Mary and Tina, thank you so much for you guys all coming in and sharing your stories; sharing your personal success stories with us this morning and everyone at Nutritional Weight and Wellness and everyone in our audience. I really think everyone in the audience is going to be able to take away something from all of your stories; something is going to resonate with everybody, so thank you so much for being willing and daring to get on the radio and to share your stories. And from everyone at Nutritional Weight and Wellness, thank you for listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, for attending classes, participating in our one-on-one nutrition counseling, and choosing our supplements, which we believe are some of the best quality on the marketplace today. We're wishing you may that 2020 be your best year yet. Dar, Kory and the entire staff thank you for believing in the power of nutrition and everyone have a Happy New Year.
