Weight-Loss Truths: Less Jogging, More Tasty Meat (& Other Surprising Facts!)
One of my favourite podcasts, The Diary of a CEO With Steven Bartlett, recently had heart surgeon Dr Philip Ovadia MD, on his show, and it had some very interesting and actionable takeaways - especially for those looking to optimize their metabolic health and lose weight.
Here were my key-takeaways I believe are most powerful to share with you ASAP…
Meat is NOT “unhealthy”. Say YES to any and all animal products that taste good to you & make you feel good. You’re not crazy - they are highly bioavailable nutritionally dense fuel.
So many of my current clients are actually ‘recovering vegans’ as I call them - women switching from plant-based diets to incorporating more and more meat, dairy, & eggs into their meals in order to feel more energized and whole at a deep cellular level. Well, this intuitive knowing is now being backed by science (yay!). Meat is an excellent source of high-quality protein, iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin D, and vitamins B6 and B12 - the latter can only be obtained from animal-source foods. Fish contributes high-quality protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, selenium and iodine. Dairy foods are also rich in high-quality protein, as well as calcium, iodine and B vitamins (source).
While I’m not saying I agree or disagree with ‘a carnivore diet’ - nor does Dr Ovadia state in any extreme way either - it’s clear that animal products are certainly nothing to steer clear of. I know I’ve always felt this blissful nourishment from eating foods like lamb and whole sheep yogurt…but when I was in my depths of orthorexia and subscribing to toxic wellness - I tried my best to convince myself out of these felt-senses and tried to use my ‘head-brain’ to stick with the “healthy vegan choices”...thank goodness I healed that miscommunication!
Exercise doesn’t help with weight loss…stop relying on a connection that does not work in your favour.
I have been explaining this for YEARS…I am so happy to hear it being spoken about more often and widely in the mainstream health & wellness community (finally!).
So here’s the deal - exercise and weight-loss should simply be considered as two separate things…because…well, they are. I’m certainly not saying you shouldn't do or avoid exercise…I’m just saying it’s time to stop viewing exercise as a means to weight-loss - there is ZERO scientific evidence to support the connection.
The truth is, cardio actually has more means to support weight-gain versus loss. WTF?! Yes, you read that right. The reason why is because when you perform long intense cardio (think: running for 20-30 mins…ew), your body actually then goes on 1) be hungrier later on (hence: you eat more afterwards - canceling out any weight-loss benefits) and 2) your body burns LESS calories later on in the day to offset the adjustment of the increased caloric burn from during the run. Yeah, clearly not the best strategy for weight loss.
Look, if you ENJOY going for a run…I’m not here to try to convince you out of it. I’m just saying it’s certainly not necessary, and engaging in more ‘Zone 2’ cardio (activities you can comfortably talk while performing - for example walking!) is much more effective at burning fat (& more enjoyable!) anyways.
On the topic of exercise, the benefits as it relates specifically to weight loss are solely tied to resistance training (i.e. weights!). This is because this type of exercise doesn’t increase hunger in the same way that cardio does, and it actually trains your body to burn MORE calories following the workout. That’s what I call efficiency training! Whenever I work with clients who are specifically looking to burn fat & get sculpted, I put them on a series of short yet highly effective 15-20 min strength-based fitness sessions.
Just being skinny isn’t the goal…because you could still be “skinny fat”.
“Skinny fat” is a term that refers to having a high percentage of body fat and a low amount of muscle.
I’ve recently started incorporating the apparently ‘triggering’ word “skinny” into my marketing and I’m not backing down any time soon. I will continue to call it as I see it, and the facts are pretty straightforward: being overweight or obese is not healthy. Being skinny is not necessarily healthy either. But you simply cannot be obese and be healthy. Let’s not feed so much into a “self-love” empowerment movement whereby we blatantly ignore clearly defined factors to poor metabolic health.
The approach with ALL of my clients is getting them towards their version of their very best “skinny bitch” self - which includes being “lean” (i.e. low percentage of body fat) with at least a level of muscle that keeps them metabolically flexible, strong, and resilient.
Wrapping things up, I highly recommend you add this podcast episode to your playlist for this weekend while you’re on the move - which actually reminds me of the last little highlight I wanted to hit: prioritize MOVEMENT over exercise. Basically, Dr Ovadia reminds us that just hitting the gym for an hour is NOT as effective as having shorter bursts of physical activity at higher frequencies throughout the day. So whether it’s on your bike, folding laundry, gardening, etc. - listen along as you move through life!
P.S. Are you currently struggling with excess weight? (Be it fat or even just annoying periodic bloating). I’ve recently launched a joint-collaboration with a colleague of mine who specializes in energetic-based mental and spiritual healing alongside my more structured work in reprogramming the gut-brain around food. It’s a 12-week program (self-paced + group + 1:1 coaching calls) to finally drop your excess storage and step into the slim feminine goddess you know is deep inside of you. If this peaks your interest, you can join us here: RADIANT.
