Losing Those Winter Pounds

Transcript:

LEAH: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Today we have a very timely and popular topic to discuss with you. Many of us are thinking at this time of year about the ways to shed that weight that we've gained over the course of the last few months, over the course of, of winter. Perhaps this was weight that started to come on around Halloween time. It continued through the holidays, and then pretty soon it's Groundhog’s Day, or it's Valentine's Day, or we're coming up on St. Patrick's Day and our heads are just kind of coming above water, coming out of winter right now. And we're starting to realize, oh, maybe I've kind of slipped into some habits that really weren't serving me or my metabolism.

And it, this is a very common thing that we hear that, oh, over the last, you know, five, six months during the winter season, I put on maybe it was 10 pounds, 15 pounds, 20 pounds, maybe even a little bit more. So our question that we want to help you answer this morning is, how can we start making improvements to our diet and our lifestyle habits now so that we are feeling lighter, more energized, and like the best versions of ourselves come the long awaited springtime? And here in Minnesota, that's been a very long awaited springtime.

TERESA: Every year.

LEAH: Every year it feels like it. Yes. So before we get too much further into our topic, let me introduce ourselves. My name is Leah Kleinschrodt. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And I have worked with clients over the past five years here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And weight loss is certainly the big popular topic there. And we teach people how to shed those winter pounds through real food nutrition. And joining me today is Teresa Wagner. She is also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And the two of us will be sharing our thoughts and some of our expertise and just for years working with clients about the habits that you can start practicing today that will lead to that weight loss.

TERESA: Yes, it is that time of year where we're starting to think about getting into less clothes, right? I mean, we're heading into March. People are getting ready for a spring break, or just thinking ahead to those warmer months when we start, you know, shedding some of these bulkier clothes. We're not all covered up anymore with the big sweaters and the down jackets; the kind of clothes that maybe a little bit more forgiving when you've put on a couple of pounds over the winter.

LEAH: Yep, absolutely.

TERESA: So our show today is all about healthy habits to shed those winter pounds. Think about the habits you have had over the past several months that could have lead to weight gain. After all, you're the expert in you, right? So you probably know some of those things that maybe have changed over these winter months that you might need to work on. Well, today we want to help you create awareness of habits that support weight loss, and maybe some habits that interfere with weight loss as well.

Weight loss habit: don’t skip breakfast

LEAH: Mm-Hmm. Yeah. So let's dive right in to one of those first weight loss habits. And this one, it's on paper, it's really simple, but it's not always an easy habit for some people. So here's a question for our listeners. Have you been skipping breakfast over the winter? Maybe your mornings, just kind of thinking through, you know, in October, November, December, especially as it's getting colder and darker out and kids are in school, you're kind of got, you're into that routine of the school year. But do you always feel rushed? Are you rushed to get the kids ready for school? Are you rushed to get yourself ready for work and out the door on time? And a lot of times then that eating gets pushed to the wayside. It's not necessarily a priority in the morning when you're just trying to kind of get everything together. So our first tip would be, could you find a way to get some nutrition into you right away in the morning?

And it doesn't have to be as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning, but when we push things off a little too long, we can get into the deep end really quickly. So can we get some nutrition into you, maybe in the first hour or two of getting up in the morning? So again, this habit sounds simple, it's just, it's not always the easiest thing to achieve. And it's not always the no-brainer that some people think it is. It is easy to wake up to pour your coffee into a travel mug. Maybe you add, maybe you add your scoop of collagen and a little heavy cream in there, but then you're out the door and your adrenaline is pumping, your mind is already working on the to-do list as you're driving your kids to school. And so, again, like you're kind of already hitting the ground running as soon as you're getting up and getting out the door.

So the next thing that happens is, all right, now you're at work, you're clicking away on your computer, you're getting through your emails, your meetings. Now it's 10:30 or 11 in the morning and you're noticing, okay, I'm kind of hungry; maybe even starving by this point. But you think, ugh, lunch is just an hour away.

TERESA: Yeah, I might as well just wait.

LEAH: Yeah, I can, I can make it till then. I can just kind of white knuckle through it. It's like I, I just, I can, I can push it off at this point cause it's, it's coming up soon. But then you get to, yeah, noon, 12:30. I personally like to take a little later lunch myself. So then it might even be one o'clock in the afternoon and you haven't eaten anything yet today. So that's going to make a big difference then in your hunger levels, craving levels, your energy levels, how well your brain is working.

So I guess my question is, does that sound familiar to our listeners? Does that scenario kind of ring a bell for you? So we have to think about what you eat for breakfast and when you eat your breakfast. That can really set the stage for the whole day. It's going to determine if you feel full, satisfied, kind of calm, clear-headed, craving free and energized. Or are you experiencing that gnawing hunger, lethargy and now you're reaching for that sugary pick me up that you know isn't great for your metabolism. But again, by the time maybe 10:30, 11:00 AM rolls around, you just need something so that you can continue pushing through the morning.

TERESA: Yeah. You might be thinking, well I haven't eaten anything yet today, so it wouldn't hurt to have this, this treat. Right? Or this, whatever that pick me up is: the donut, the sugary coffee, whatever.

LEAH: Yep. Absolutely. Yeah, we can, I mean there's lots of ways we rationalize things in our brain, right? We're as humans, that's just something we're really good at.

TERESA: Yeah. I always, I say to my clients, if you have to justify it, that's probably something to think about.

Balanced breakfast ideas

LEAH: That's such a good point. You're absolutely right. So we know that not all breakfast meals are created equal. What we teach our clients and what we help clients practice is a balanced breakfast that includes some kind of animal protein. And we're going to give some examples here in just a minute. Some animal protein, having some healthy carbohydrates. So whether that is some sauteed vegetables, maybe a little bit of fruit or even a slice of like whole rye toast and you top that with some beneficial natural fat like, like butter, that is going to keep your blood sugar balanced. It's going to give you some nutrients and especially your brain, give your brain some nutrients to run off of. And then you're also going to feel full, satisfied and ready to tackle your day.

On the flip side of that, you know, a bowl of cereal with skim milk. So something that is just very high in those processed carbs, very minimal protein, very minimal fat. These are the types of things that it's going to lead to that intense hunger and cravings. And yeah, by 9, 10 AM you're going to be looking for something else.

TERESA: Yeah. I often hear people say, if I have cereal for breakfast, I'm better off just not eating anything. Cause I'm hungrier because I ate that.

LEAH: Yep. Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Same.

TERESA: Another option you can try is eggs, you know, that's a very traditional breakfast. Have some eggs. Maybe you have some bacon with it. Sauté up some spinach, have a half a cup of sweet potato. That's sort of that perfect balance that produces good energy, keeps your cravings at bay because you have all the nutrients that your body needs to really thrive. And you can even speed that up because sometimes people are like, well I don't have time to cook in the morning.

LEAH: Yeah. I'm not going to roast a pan of sweet potatoes like in the oven in the morning.

TERESA: Yep. But that's an easy one to pre-make, you know, so if you're making dinner the night before and the oven's already heated up, throw in a couple of sweet potatoes and bake those off right away so they're ready to go. Baking can be pre-done. And so really eggs, they, whether you scramble or fry them, really take only just a couple of minutes.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: And if you scramble it up with that spinach in it, then it's all in one pan. And it really can be pretty fast in the morning.

LEAH: Mm-hmm.

TERESA: But if it sounds like too much work, you know, another quick option that's protein packed could be using a full fat cottage cheese with a half a cup of blueberries and then just sprinkling maybe something like a half or some walnuts on top. So you get that nice combination of sweet and savory and crunchy and smooth. It's just kind of a, a really, really yummy way to start your day.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: Another quick way to start the day is a protein shake. It's tasty and refreshing. It kind of feels like a treat. So if you like that sweetness that cereal is in the morning, sometimes having a protein shake is a good option because it's sweet. I, we have lots of recipes on our website. The website is weightandwellness.com, but my personal favorite is vanilla protein powder, some organic, frozen dark cherries, canned coconut; so we've got our protein in the protein powder, we've got our carb in the cherries, we've got fat in the coconut milk cause we want the use the canned kind.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: And then I always try to put some veggies in there too, because usually they disappear in that protein shake. So I like to use either spinach or frozen riced cauliflower, or my favorite, I still have some zucchini in the freezer from my garden last summer.

LEAH: Nice.

TERESA: So I dice that up and it's all diced and ready to go so I can just throw it in. Put a few ice cubes in there, loosen it up with some water, blend it and it's ready to go.

LEAH: Yeah. Yum. Love that. No, I have been turning my clients onto the frozen riced cauliflower a lot too. I love that, cause cauliflower really doesn't taste like anything till you do something with it. The zucchini is pretty mild too, so…

TERESA: Yeah. It disappears.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm. It disappears. And anywhere that you can just add some of those veggies in is going to be a great antioxidant boost. It'll give you more of that fiber and it's, it's such a great add-in. I had a client oh, maybe two weeks ago now. This is the first time, and I don't know that I can go this far, but she said she puts okra in her smoothies.

TERESA: That's hardcore. I, yes, yes. Bold is the right term. Yeah. It's, but it makes me feel like we should try this: challenge accepted. Right?

LEAH: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And I don't remember everything else that she threw in there, but yeah, she had gotten it, it was a recipe through another program that she did and she just loved it and she's like, I, I won't go back.

TERESA: Yeah. That's fantastic.

LEAH: Yeah, it was like more power to you.

TERESA: Yeah. Well, and if we're thinking about weight loss, the more veggies you eat, research does say the more veggies you eat, the smaller the waistline.

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely.

TERESA: And then the fiber is very filling, so it's a great thing to add to breakfast.

LEAH: Absolutely. Yes. So we do have to take our first break. You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. I am Leah Kleinschrodt and I'm in studio with Teresa Wagner. We are both registered and licensed dietitians. And if you're frustrated with the weight that you've gained over the winter, please stay tuned. We've started delving into some of those reasons and solutions around that weight gain, but we have so much more packed in the show that we are going to get to in a little bit. So we'll speak to the many reasons that weight gain can occur, provide you those solutions. So please stay tuned and we'll be right back.

BREAK

TERESA: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you're looking to start eating better so you can start feeling better for spring, now is the perfect time to sign up for our virtual 12-week Nutrition for Weight Loss program starting Thursday, March 16th. This is the only Nutrition for Weight Loss class that will be offered until May. So don't put it off any longer. For more information and to sign up, visit our website, weightandwellness.com or call us at (651) 699-3438.

Sign Up for Nutrition 4 Weight Loss

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: So before break, we were talking about one weight loss habit that we can start to incorporate if we have been missing doing it through the winter, if we've been skipping breakfast, now is the time to bring that habit back and start, start eating a, a well-balanced breakfast and, you know, that balances that protein, fat and carb. And now we'll move into our next idea.

Beverage choices: what to avoid/what to do instead

LEAH: Our next habit. Yep, absolutely. Yeah. So we look at the beginning of the day, what's going on there. So another question, and I, I was posing this question. I taught a corporate class this last week and I really highlighted this as, as one area that, again, simple that people can focus on. But what are those beverages that you've been drinking over the fall and the winter. Where, those liquids that you're drinking, what's all involved in those? Did you start making a habit of treating yourself to the, to the holiday themed lattes that, you know, come out again around that Halloween time or maybe early November and kind of continue on until New Year's? Did you know that that coffee house specialty latte, and again, like this is just one example. It's give or take a little bit, but these can have upwards of 20 teaspoons of sugar.

So not only are you potentially, again, you're getting that coffee for the caffeine boost, but now you're starting your day with 20 teaspoons of sugar not in addition to what you're also eating. I mean, that's the same amount as in like take the equal size of a Mountain Dew. It's basically the amount, same amount of sugar as a soda. All right. So sugary coffee drinks are a weight gaining beverage. There's no way around that. So again, I'll talk to my clients about, okay, where, what's coming in in liquid form, what are those beverages looking like? And if there's any kind of sugar bombs that are coming in, even if it's just a few times a week, we kind of negotiate and say, all right, is there, are these some things that you're willing to let go of? Even if just for a couple of weeks to see like, hey, can we goose some of this weight loss out for you?

And I, I do have many clients who, when they just kind of clean out those beverages that they do start losing the weight. It might even be just those couple extra pounds on top of changing their food and then they replace those, some of those sugary coffee drinks with just say, regular black coffee, maybe a little heavy cream in there because we want that good fat. And then if they still need that little something sweet, some stevia drops can be really helpful. There's stevia drops out there that have different flavors to them too if you just, if you want that vanilla flavor, if you want that hazelnut flavor, if you want that little bit of kind of chocolatey mocha type of flavor. Those options are out there.

So the, the coffee switch, it can, again, it can be simple. It might take a little bit of a taste adjustment, but it's just a matter of breaking into that routine and, and that habit and seeing where you're able to make either some compromise or some reductions or just changing that habit. So how can you change that order in the coffee shop to reduce that sugar? And even stopping to ask that question, is this a habit that I need to change? Is this really serving my metabolism and my weight loss goals?

TERESA: Right. I had a client actually that did this thing where she, this very thing that we're talking about is she was giving up the coffee drinks and she's like, I can just make this at home. And one of the ways that she kept herself motivated, not only was it just knowing that it was good for her, but she also kept track of how much money she was saving.

LEAH: Oh yes.

TERESA: And so she could watch the money pile up and she kept a separate account that she would put that money into. And then at the end of the month, she would have money to spend.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: And if you think about that, so say you, you get a cup of coffee before your workday. And say you're working five days a week, I'll just say it's $5 for a cup of coffee. Even though we know it can be more than that. But just for easy math, five times five: $25 a week. And that's not, if you know you're not getting any coffee on the weekend. And you're only getting one per day. Because some people, you know, they stop before work and then sometimes midway through the day get a coffee.

LEAH: Yes.  

TERESA: So we're just going at the bare minimum. Right. $25 a week, that's a hundred dollars a month. That's $1,200 a year.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: That's a lot of money. So not only is it good for your health, but it's great for your, your budget too. Right?

LEAH: Absolutely. Yeah. Again, it's those little changes day in and day out. It might not look like much on paper like in the day-to-day, but it makes a huge difference when you look at it on a monthly basis or on a yearly basis. It adds up.

TERESA: Yeah, it absolutely does. So switching gears from the morning to the evening, what about your beverage choices in the evening hours? As the days got shorter and the evenings got longer. Boy those evenings get long, don't they?

LEAH: Very long in the winter. Yes.

Changing the wine habit

TERESA: Did you get into the habit of maybe pouring a glass of wine once it got dark outside? You might be thinking, well what's wrong with having a couple of glasses of wine to end the day? It might surprise you that those two glasses of wine will slow your weight loss and can cause you to have more body fat. Obesity researcher Dr. Michael Jensen from the Mayo Clinic reported that alcohol intake is associated with a bigger waistline. Because when you drink alcohol, the liver burns alcohol instead of that fat. So if you're trying to lose weight and you're putting alcohol into your system, you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot because it's going to make that alcohol the priority.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm. Yep.

TERESA: To lose weight, do you need to change that alcohol habit? What would it take for you to say no to a glass of wine? Instead of a glass of wine or a cocktail, what would you be willing to do instead? You know, so we don't want to take everything away. We want to replace it. Right. That makes habit change easier.

LEAH: Absolutely.

TERESA: Many of my clients find that a sparkling water with a squeeze of a lemon or lime is a refreshing and relaxing way to end the day. Sometimes it's just that habit of putting something in that glass sitting down with it and relaxing.

LEAH: Yes.

TERESA: We're know that you're not going to be, we know you, you're not going to be fooled by this, that there's a big difference between sparkling water and wine. But it's just that habit of putting something in that glass and then relaxing.

LEAH: Yeah. That ritual at the end of the day.

TERESA: And once you switch to that special non-alcoholic beverage, you may find that you don't need that cocktail. It's like changing any habit. The first few days are going to be a little bit difficult. It's going to be, you know…

LEAH: It's just different from what you're used to.

TERESA: Yep. It's a little uncomfortable. There's a little resistance to that change. But after a few days to a week or so, that habit starts to set in and it continues to get easier and easier and then you don't miss that, that thing and then you can save it for special occasions.

LEAH: Totally. Absolutely. I love that mindset. So you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Today we're talking about healthy ways to shed the winter weight gain. But we also have some very interesting, a very interesting offer for our listeners who suspect they're in perimenopause or menopause and that might have something to do with their weight gain. So stay tuned. We have a solution for you after the break. We'll be right back.

BREAK

TERESA: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. As Leah mentioned before the break in the Menopause Solution six-hour seminar, we cover many topics near and dear to our clients, such as hot flashes, sleep, anxiety, cravings, mood swings, and of course weight gain. Included in the class is a menopause reference guide e-book that is 79 pages long filled with helpful resources you can hold on to forever. Six hours of classes taught by experts plus the guidebook all for only $247.

And now through March 17th, we are offering $50 off our online Menopause Solutions class. For those looking to supplement this in-depth education with a customized plan to address their unique symptoms, concerns, and health goals, we are offering $100 off the online Menopause Solutions class plus an initial nutrition counseling appointment for you with that a hundred-dollar discount. So it's a great deal. I suggest taking advantage of it.

Sign Up for Menopause Solutions- Online

LEAH: Yeah. I'm really excited for that actually. It's you know, a great deal, especially if you can tag on the personalized part of it. You're going to get tons of great information just through that seminar, but then when you sit down with one of us for that 90 minutes because, so you get that 90 minute consultation and then our clients then are coming in with a great background of knowledge and we can just really help them take it to the next level. And I've never seen, I've never seen Nutritional Weight and Wellness do this kind of offer before. So I'm really excited just to see just to see how it takes off and just to see how clients respond to it and how helpful it is just to again, take, take it to the next level.

TERESA: Yes. Cause that class is filled with so much good information. I mean it is, it is jam-packed with it.

The restaurant food habit: what to look out for

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely. Yes. So before break we were, we've hit on a couple of different kind of weight gaining habits and how do we kind of navigate through some of those. We left off with like what beverages do we drink in the morning or maybe even as that pick me up in the afternoon. And then also, what are we drinking in the evening when we finally get home, sit down on the couch, maybe turn on Netflix and what's going on at that point.

So let's transition then to just another one of those habits. So as the when with those winter nights when it gets dark so early and you're getting ready to leave work and you're still trying to ask that question of like, okay, what's, what's for dinner tonight? What can I do? What can I pull together? You know, did you slide into that habit of ordering a restaurant delivery instead of cooking real food at home?

You know, with all the delivery apps these days, it's so easy to, you know, get on your phone, look at the menu, make your selections as you're, again leaving work or like you're sitting in your car. And then to have it really being ready to be delivered to your door by the time you walk in the door when you get home. But we know most restaurants, unfortunately, even though it's convenient, they're not using ingredients that typically are going to help us along that weight loss journey. I mean, namely, they're kind of probably loaded up with a lot of salt, extra sugar and those vegetable oils.

So again, we need fats, but we want the right types of fats. And the oils that most restaurants are going to cook their foods in or fry the foods in are the more refined vegetable oils. So think soybean oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil or probably the likelihood is it's all a mix of these things. So they use these oils because they're cheap, they're a much lower cost, but they wreak metabolic havoc on our bodies. They damage our cells and they slow down our metabolism.

Healthy, simple meals ideas: ingredients to keep on hand

TERESA: Right. So a lifestyle habit to develop: rather than ordering takeout or Door Dash or whatever, you know, whatever convenient app there is to use, keep ingredients for simple meals on hand.

LEAH: Yeah.

TERESA: So an example could be like taco salad.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm.

TERESA: Keep some ground beef on hand. Have some of the taco seasonings in your spice cabinet. We usually, we'll hopefully have a variety of vegetables at home. So maybe have some lettuce or some, you know, bell pepper, some onion. Maybe you have an avocado around or some, you know, maybe you keep those guacamole individual packets around. Maybe you have some sour cream, and you can really build a taco salad from there. Quick and easy. Probably takes less than 20 minutes to throw that one together.

LEAH: Right. Yeah. Cook the meat and that's the, but you know, the extent of cooking that probably has to go along with that.

TERESA: Exactly. Another idea could be… usually we all have eggs in our refrigerator. Right. So we could have breakfast for dinner. Scramble up some eggs. Maybe you have a piece like that toast you were talking about that rye bread, you know, a really healthy toast option or maybe you have fruit instead or you sauté up some vegetables with those eggs. Maybe you have some bacon around, but you can just kind of look through your refrigerator and your, and your cabinets and just kind of see what you can pull together there. And being a little mindful when you're grocery shopping of keeping some of those quick options so that they're available to you to use on those nights where you're just not really in the mood for or a more extensive dinner plan.

LEAH: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. When you, when your brain just can't go there, I love that eggs idea. I, you know, breakfast for dinner is always a win in my book. So again, like scramble up a couple eggs, even throwing frozen veggies in there and yeah, a like a little bit of fruit on the side, bing, like super easy.

One of my favorites again, if I just kind of need something easy and and, and just something that comes together pretty easily, our hamburger soup recipe, that's one of my favorites. And it makes a ton. That's my, my other favorite piece about that. Like, we have some soup recipes that make, you know, maybe four servings. You're going to get a lot more out of the hamburger soup recipe. It's ground beef, it's whatever veggies you have on hand. Here in Minnesota, those wintery type of veggies, like your carrots and your onions or things like parsnips or butternut squash.

Like this is the soup for those kind of things if you just need to use some of those up. It all goes in the pot. You dump a couple cans of diced tomatoes in there and you let it just kind of cook on the stove top for, you know, depending on the veggies, like 30 minutes, 45 minutes, something like that. And boom, you've got a great soup because you're in Minnesota in March, like it could be 20 degrees one day and it could be 50 the next. So like, it's just, it's nice to have a soup that that covers that range.

TERESA: Right. It's still soup season.

Creating positive sleep habits

LEAH: It is absolutely soup season still. So, yes. So I love those ideas and, and still even thinking about like those cold dark winter nights. Another question to ask yourself, you know, did you, did you over time find yourself, you know, you get through dinner and you just need to plop on the couch, relax for a little bit and binge a show.

Or maybe you're just, maybe you're going through your phone scrolling on social media or maybe you're doing some last minute checks on your email, but then you look up or you look at your phone and you realize the time is maybe like an hour and a half past where, where you thought it was. You've lost that track of time and now you had planned to be asleep maybe 30 minutes ago already. So you've lost track of time, it's cut into your sleep. So we do need to think about, all right, how much sleep were you getting each night over those winter nights. In order to achieve ideal weight loss, we need to be getting, you know, at least seven and a half for really most people and more ideally like eight, eight and a half, even nine hours of sleep for some people. So is this something, is this a, a change to a habit that needs to happen for you? Maybe for you instead of, we're kind of reversing things, instead of setting an alarm in the morning, and you probably still should do that because nobody likes to be late for work.

But do you need to set an alarm in the evening too to remind you of, okay, this is the time I need to start with my routine of brushing my teeth or taking my magnesium or making sure the dog's been out and so on and so forth. And after that, then do you need to leave your phone, you know, charging outside the bedroom somewhere or just leave it on the kitchen counter somewhere where it's not a distraction or it's not tempting to just reach for that, you know, just before you go to bed or when you wake up during the night.

One of my favorite tips that I've heard in the last couple of years is actually turning your smartphone into a dumb phone at night. And that just means, that could look like a lot of different things, but at certain hours, I know for most phones you can disable notifications so that it's not dinging all the time and calling your attention. You can turn off the Wi-Fi on that. Cause when you don't have Wi-Fi, there's no like getting on Google. There's no like scrolling through social media. On my husband's phone, I know his screen goes gray after a certain time. So again, like when those colors and like some things when you're looking at the screen, you need the colors to kind of get that full experience. But when it's gray you're like, don't really care so much about that. So I thought that was just kind of an interesting little technology hack.

TERESA: Yeah, I love that. Turn your smartphone into a dumb phone. That's great.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. And so tons of research to back up that we do need adequate sleep, especially in the realm of weight loss and energy in controlling our cravings. There was a study in the American in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They found that when people lack sleep, their cravings went up for the high sugar processed carbs. And and we know this just from experience, when you're short on sleep, you don't crave a pork chop. You don't, you don't crave the broccoli. It's, it's all those other things that will give you that quick hit of energy. And study after study shows that a lack of sleep then also leads to a lack of impulse control. It's like, you know, again, like that toddler brain comes out a little bit more, as you would say, Teresa, that toddler brain comes out a little bit more and that adult brain takes more of the backseat and the toddler brain is going to want the Cheetos and the chocolate and, and all the things out of the pantry.

One other interesting study found that when people were inconsistent in the amount of time that they slept, they lost less, they lost less weight. There we go. So, so here's in context: If you slept six hours one night but then slept nine hours the next night, your body is a little confused and you can't completely erase the effects of that night of lost sleep. So then as a result, less weight loss occurs. So a consistent eight to nine hours of sleep every single night doing the best that you can, or even if it's six out of seven nights, that's going to support your metabolism and your wellbeing. So establishing those good sleep habits, whatever that looks like for you, is really key to weight loss.

TERESA: Right. And when you're sleeping, you're not snacking. Right?

LEAH: For most people, right?

TERESA: Yeah, for most people, yes. Correct. And not that we're, we have anything against snacking, but when you think about what you're snacking on late at night, it's not typically that you're nibbling on bell peppers and cucumbers.

LEAH: Right.

TERESA: It's more like crackers, popcorn, cereal, ice cream, those types of things, which will hinder that weight loss as well.

LEAH: Yeah. Yeah. I know one of the stats in some of our sleep classes that we share is when you are sleep deprived, I believe it was Eve Van Cauter, it was out of the University of Chicago, she showed that when clients are sleep deprived, they eat 300 more calories of junk food every day, but they also eat 300 calories more of real food. So now we're potentially overeating by 600 calories a day. So, and again, over time that will add up. So there's, as to your point, there's just like more opportunity to eat. Right?

TERESA: Right. And weight loss habits, they take a real commitment to your self-care. And we'll get into that commitment to self-care as we come back from the break here.

LEAH: Yep. So you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And after the break we're just going to continue this, this great discussion of habits that you can start making today to start shedding those winter pounds and we'll be right back.

BREAK

TERESA: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. In our Menopause Solutions online course, we offer an in-depth look into this life transition through our six one hour long classes. You'll get everything you need to know about how to get through menopause gracefully through real food nutrition and healthy lifestyle habits. It's amazing the difference real food can make. To learn more, visit our website, weightandwellness.com.

Sign Up for Menopause Solutions – Online

Practicing self-care habits

And we will be talking now back to our topic as far as the, the habits that we have that may be caused weight gain over the winter, and some of the things that we can do to shed some of those winter pounds coming into springtime here. And we left off talking about having some self-care habits. And weight loss habits really take a commitment to your own self-care. It's so easy to resist changing your habits and practicing self-care. Taking time to practice healthy habits is actually a sign of practicing self-care. It's not just bubble baths and vacations. That's self-care too.

LEAH: Yep.

TERESA: But it's the day-to-day things that we're doing that are those healthy habits that are truly self-care. So developing a consistent sleep routine, like we were talking about before, replacing sugary beverages with eight to 10 glasses of purified water: that could be another positive weight loss habit. Practicing self-care and you know, and even thinking about the winter, sometime in the winter, sometimes in the winter we don't drink as much water because we don't have as strong of a thirst mechanism because we're not hot and sweaty and desiring that water. And so adding more water in could be another thing to help with that weight loss.

LEAH: Mm-Hmm.

TERESA: Buying real food from the grocery store instead of ordering takeout through the delivery apps. That's practicing self-care as well.

LEAH: Yeah. And even to some of the like that nightly wine habit again, like that's another area where you can practice self-care. Because then especially at the end of the day, that's the time of day where you're, again, like most people are seeking out like that relaxation factor, that wind down factor or, or just a distraction or just how do I de-stress? And instead of going for the wine, can we fill that in with something else that will achieve the same means, but help your metabolism along the way. Yep.

Here's another way that we love to help our clients just kind of reframe or refocus on those weight loss habits. So when you think about your food, your beverages, the activities that you do and your sleep, thinking about what you can add to enhance your life, not always what you have to take away. That that's a very kind of old weight loss mentality: thinking about those habits when you think about taking things away.

And, and honestly that's, this is what I talk with a, with, excuse me, talk about with, with my clients a lot of, of that mental mentality around diets that they've done in the past. You know, was it always about taking away, was it about restriction, depriving yourself? Was it about, about the struggle and, and trying to summit that mountain? So you take away healthy proteins, you take away those beneficial fats. Maybe you, maybe you're taking away salt, maybe you're taking away cholesterol out of your diet.

But the question then we have to look at is, alright, did that help you achieve the weight loss that you wanted? And were you healthier on the backside of that? And most of us, most of our clients know that answer because if, if they, if it had kind of checked all those boxes, they probably wouldn't be meeting with us at that point. So, so check in with yourselves, listeners. Are you locked into some of those old weight loss habits and the belief that the less you do, the better those results are going to be? You know, that belief that says eat less, move more. Or the one that says, well a calorie is a calorie. It's just a math equation. It's calories in versus calories out. And that's the only thing it is to weight loss.

TERESA: Yeah. And as a company of nutritionists and dietitians who work daily with clients, all of us at Nutritional Weight and Wellness challenge those old, outdated beliefs. We believe that more is better, like these weight loss habits: sleep more, drink more water, eat more protein, eat more frequently, and use more of those natural beneficial fats.